I’ll Take One Person With Me

The Medicine Immortal took Namgung Hyeok’s pulse.

In Namgung Hyeok’s room, only Gyo-ha, Namgung Jin-yeong, and the Medicine Hall Chief remained.

Because the Medicine Immortal had driven everyone out, saying they were noisy.

Unlike his blunt tone, his gaze was more serious than ever.

And the Namgung Clan martial artists who were kicked out stood guard with sharp eyes.

Inside the Beggars’ Union branch lodge.

It could have been seen as discourteous, but the Beggars’ Union disciples understood generously.

If their successors were in the same situation, they would have done the same.

Because of that, a suffocating silence settled over the place.

Soon, the Medicine Immortal withdrew his hand.

“How is he?”

When Namgung Jin-yeong asked carefully, the Medicine Immortal nodded.

“It’s good you hurried. If you were even a little later, recovery would’ve been difficult.”

At the Medicine Immortal’s words, Namgung Jin-yeong’s expression brightened.

It meant he could be saved.

But the Medicine Immortal wasn’t finished.

“The loss of internal energy can’t be helped.”

Namgung Jin-yeong nodded.

Internal energy could be built up again. It was as good as life to a martial artist, but with the Namgung Clan’s power, it wouldn’t be difficult.

“First, I’ll tell you the herbs I need.”

“Please wait a moment.”

The Medicine Hall Chief took out a box from the side.

Inside were all kinds of medicinal herbs. And that wasn’t all.

When he put his hand into his chest area, small boxes came out.

“Ho.”

Even the Medicine Immortal showed a surprised expression.

He had already predicted the condition and brought the related ingredients.

He was capable. Worthy of overseeing a hall.

“We only need a few more. Selfheal, silkworm thorn, motherwort seed, galangal…”

The Medicine Immortal stroked his beard and called out the names of the ingredients.

At the unfamiliar names he’d never heard in his life, Gyo-ha’s eyes widened, but the Medicine Hall Chief memorized them at once and ran out.

“Now then, let’s look at your body.”

For some reason, the Medicine Immortal’s eyes gleamed more than when he examined Namgung Hyeok.

It wasn’t the eyes of someone looking at a patient, but the gaze of someone looking at prey.

When Gyo-ha glanced quietly at Namgung Jin-yeong, Namgung Jin-yeong cleared his throat and rose.

“I ran after so long, and now my joints ache.”

If that was the case, there was a physician here, so he could get examined.

One of the Three Great Physicians, no less.

But Namgung Jin-yeong left as if he was trying to run away.

With a sigh, Gyo-ha quietly let his body be examined.

“Hooh, hm? Well now.”

What was so amusing?

The Medicine Immortal would furrow his brows, then burst out in admiration.

“In the time I haven’t seen you, you’ve become even more of a monster.”

With the examination alone, the Medicine Immortal grasped Gyo-ha’s condition.

When Gyo-ha smiled awkwardly, the Medicine Immortal sighed.

“That’s not a compliment, you brat. Your body now makes it hard for not only poison, but even medicine to do its job. It means if you’re injured, you’ll have to treat yourself.”

It meant even the Medicine Immortal couldn’t do anything. If the Medicine Immortal couldn’t, it meant other physicians couldn’t either.

Gyo-ha blinked.

The Medicine Immortal wasn’t finished.

“And what is that piled up in your middle dantian? It’s an ominous power.”

This time, Gyo-ha’s eyes widened. He realized that the Medicine Immortal had recognized the yokai qi.

Many physicians had examined Gyo-ha, but not once had they noticed it.

“Consider it fortunate you don’t have internal energy in your dantian. If you had a lot of internal energy, the two powers would’ve collided long ago and ruined your body.”

I see.

When Gyo-ha nodded vaguely, the Medicine Immortal sighed as if frustrated.

“If you’re of the Taoist sect, you study the middle dantian. But that’s because it’s the passage that leads to the upper dantian. If the lower dantian governs qi, then the middle dantian governs Essence.”

Gyo-ha nodded. Gyo-ha also knew from learning it before from Yun Heo.

And the upper dantian governs Spirit.

That’s why in Taoism, one trains to open the upper dantian and ascend.

“Ordinary humans can’t build internal energy in the middle dantian. And what’s in your dantian doesn’t seem like natural qi. In a way, that might be fortunate.”

“Fortunate?”

Fortunate when it was an ominous power.

Then the Medicine Immortal looked at Gyo-ha with a meaningful gaze.

“I told you before not to show your body carelessly, didn’t I?”

“Ah!”

He had forgotten. The Medicine Immortal let out a chuckling laugh.

“There are beings who, unlike humans, build qi in the middle dantian. Do you know what the world calls them?”

“…No?”

“They’re called spirit creatures.”

Only then did Gyo-ha understand what the Medicine Immortal was getting at.

“…No way.”

“That’s right. The dantian those spirit creatures have is called an inner core. They’re the best elixirs. In other words, you’re no different from a spirit creature wearing a human shape.”

Gyo-ha was about to accept it, but as if something came to mind, he tilted his head.

“…Mm, I did have qi in my middle dantian before too.”

The power taken by the fog. That was clearly qi in his middle dantian.

Back then, even the Medicine Immortal hadn’t known that power existed.

At Gyo-ha’s question, the Medicine Immortal’s eyes lifted.

As if he hadn’t expected that, the Medicine Immortal rested his chin in his hand.

“Hooh. Was it so faint that I didn’t notice? No, that’s not it. Perhaps it was qi close to nature. Have you carried it since birth?”

The Medicine Immortal began muttering to himself.

But he quickly snapped out of his thoughts.

“Originally, the middle dantian and upper dantian are hard to detect with the eyes, unlike the lower dantian. It’s not strange that I didn’t notice. But now it’s different.”

Gyo-ha worked his lips. Because he knew the reason.

Yokai qi.

It was far too alien a presence.

Since he was the one holding it, he knew it all the better.

“If it’s fortunate, it’s that because it’s different from ordinary qi, it’s hard to absorb carelessly.”

You had to be careful when consuming elixirs and inner pellets.

He had been taught that early on.

“Of course, there are many who wouldn’t care.”

After saying that, the Medicine Immortal lifted the corner of his mouth.

Just because it didn’t suit them, they wouldn’t give up easily.

“From now on, you’ll have to be wary of not only physicians, but martial artists too. Be grateful the physicians who took your pulse lacked the skill.”

It wasn’t possible that every physician lacked skill.

Even Tang Ja-gyeong, whom Gyo-ha had met, was one of the Three Great Physicians like the Medicine Immortal.

‘…The scroll.’

The honey he ate inside the scroll, and Mok-geum, the butterfly yokai.

That was the only cause.

Back then, he absorbed yokai qi.

Even when he took theLesser Revival Pill at the Namgung Clan, his yokai qi increased, but by then, it was already settled in his middle dantian.

It wasn’t just being treated like a spirit creature. He had become one for real.

‘Well, it can’t be helped.’

It had already happened.

Gyo-ha scratched his cheek.

And starting the next day, the Medicine Immortal began treating Namgung Hyeok.

Just because he was the Medicine Immortal didn’t mean he only handled medicine.

He brewed pills and also performed acupuncture alongside it.

In the meantime, the Medicine Hall Chief returned, and Namgung Hyeok’s condition visibly improved.

After crushing the pill and letting it flow into his mouth, the Medicine Immortal let out a breath.

Namgung Hyeok’s appearance was different from before.

He was covered in mud like an earthen man.

It wasn’t ordinary mud, but mud mixed with medicinal ingredients. Countless needles were stuck through the hardened, stiff mud.

He was no different from a hedgehog.

“I’ve done everything I can now. With time, he’ll recover.”

“…I won’t forget this favor.”

Namgung Jin-yeong bowed once again.

Then the Medicine Immortal pointed at Gyo-ha.

“If you want to thank someone, thank that brat. I only kept my promise.”

Namgung Jin-yeong nodded.

There wasn’t a big difference in age between the Medicine Immortal and Namgung Jin-yeong, but Namgung Jin-yeong used honorific speech. Because he was a lifesaver.

Gyo-ha waved his hands, but Namgung Jin-yeong bowed to Gyo-ha as well.

“Thank you.”

Gyo-ha looked at the Medicine Immortal with an awkward expression.

The Medicine Immortal’s promise had been to look at Gyo-ha’s body, not to cure Namgung Hyeok.

But there was a reason the Medicine Immortal said it that way.

Gyo-ha’s body had now gone beyond what the Medicine Immortal could handle.

The one who could no longer keep the promise was the Medicine Immortal first.

So he was substituting it like this.

The Medicine Immortal tapped the hardened mud.

“His internal energy may have decreased, but his body will be better than before.”

As people’s gazes gathered, the Medicine Immortal spoke evenly.

“I don’t know if it was Namgung training or something he did himself, but he drove his body to its limits and repeatedly treated it with pills. The human body is strange, in that when it’s injured, it has a nature that tries to heal itself. Muscles grow by that same principle.”

People tilted their heads. They knew muscles grew with training, but they didn’t know the exact principle.

“He’s become an optimal state to accept medicinal efficacy. It won’t reach blade-and-sword immunity, but at least it’ll be around the level of Rock-Solid Body.”

Rock-Solid Body.

It meant sturdiness like a great boulder.

It was said that if you mastered Iron Cloth Shirt, you could reach such a realm.

Since it was the Medicine Immortal speaking, it wouldn’t be a lie.

Admiration spilled from the Namgung Clan martial artists’ mouths. As Murim people, they knew what this meant.

“The yin qi that seeped into his body also played a part in slowing wound recovery. If his wounds had fully closed before I came, you wouldn’t have seen results to this extent.”

And above all, even if it had been another of the Three Great Physicians here instead of the Medicine Immortal, it would’ve been the same.

They could heal the wounds, but they wouldn’t have produced this effect.

The phrase ‘a blessing in disguise’ fit well.

“There is a side effect, though.”

“What is it?”

Namgung Jin-yeong asked urgently. His face was full of worry.

“From now on, his growth will be slow.”

“Ah.”

Someone let out a sigh.

It was a phenomenon that often appeared in those who learned external cultivation from a young age.

Hearing it, Namgung Jin-yeong let out a relieved breath.

“It doesn’t matter. Since he gained Rock-Solid Body, we must accept that much.”

Because he knew how difficult it was to train external arts.

Unlike internal cultivation, even with the help of elixirs, there was a clear limit.

It was a realm you could only reach through long years of training on your own.

The other martial artists nodded too.

They seemed to think it wasn’t a big deal.

But Gyo-ha alone was cautious.

‘…He won’t like it.’

Because he knew how much Namgung Hyeok cared about height.

But then Gyo-ha’s thoughts went to another point.

“Then how much stronger does he get?”

Does he become like me?

Gyo-ha’s eyes glittered with anticipation.

As if he noticed it, the Medicine Immortal clicked his tongue.

“Even so, his body won’t become like yours. Your breed is different.”

Even if you achieved blade-and-sword immunity, your skin would only become hard like iron.

The same went for strength.

Gyo-ha’s muscles weren’t just hard and tough, but even flexible.

He hadn’t compared him to a beast for nothing.

At the Medicine Immortal’s words, the Namgung Clan martial artists looked at Gyo-ha with renewed eyes.

They knew he had decent skill despite his cultivated internal energy, but they hadn’t known it was to the point the Medicine Immortal would say that.

“I told the rest to that guy, so he’ll handle it.”

The Medicine Immortal jerked his chin at the Medicine Hall Chief.

The Medicine Hall Chief bowed with a firm face. His eyes were full of respect.

It seemed he had learned a lot while staying by the Medicine Immortal’s side.

For a martial artist, it was like one of the Twelve Heavens had given instruction.

It was a fortuitous encounter not only for Namgung Hyeok, but for the Medicine Hall Chief as well.

As the Medicine Immortal was about to leave, Namgung Jin-yeong stopped him.

“Please allow me to repay you.”

Even if it was because of Gyo-ha, he couldn’t just send away a lifesaver.

At Namgung Jin-yeong’s stubborn attitude, the Medicine Immortal frowned briefly, then spoke.

“Hm. If you insist, then I’ll take one person with me.”

Who was he going to take?

In this place, there was only one person he could mean.

At the Medicine Immortal’s words, the Namgung Clan martial artists’ gazes naturally turned to the Medicine Hall Chief.