Episode 175

Yoon Jong blinked as he looked at the five Soul Vitality Pills in front of him.

“This is…”

Yoon Jong slowly raised his head to look at the sect leader.

And Hyun Jong looked at them with the most benevolent expression he could.

“Eat.”

“…T-this?”

Yoon Jong alternated between looking at the pill and Hyun Jong.

“You mean us?”

Hyun Jong solemnly nodded very slowly and tried to answer yes. But Hyun Young, who was next to him, spat out before he could speak.

“Then what? Should I eat it?”

Yoon Jong looked at Hyun Young with startled eyes.

“Isn’t that how it should be done? The elders should eat first….”

“Oh, you’re spewing such nonsense.”

Hyun Young resolutely cut Yoon Jong’s words short.

“What are we going to do after eating this? Wait around until we die of old age? It would be a waste of these things for us to eat them.”

Everyone was shocked by the statement, but they couldn’t refute it. Then Hyun Young smiled.

“This Soul Vitality Pill is something you searched for and brought back, so it’s natural that you should eat it. Even if it wasn’t you but us who found it, it still has to be you that takes it.”

“… Elder.”

“There’s no reason to get hung up on this. It’s nothing special. Even if you take five pills, there are fifteen more left! That’s still sufficient for us to study it. No, it’s more than sufficient. So don’t feel burdened by it.”

At that time, Hyun Jong added.

“Finding the purple wood grass in Yunnan won’t be easy. So, taking this will be of great help to you all.”

Hyun Young turned his head and glared at Hyun Jong, but Hyun Jong didn’t look at him and simply kept his peaceful smile.

‘It’s obvious that I was the one that wanted to give this to them from the start.’

‘Just stay put! It’s enough already! Can’t you save me some face now that I’m giving them pills too!?’

The two elders exchanged glances and communicated through their eyes before coughing in unison.

“So, we can eat this, right?”

Chung Myung, who had been silent till then, casually reached out and picked one pill up.

“Huk!”

“Brat! Take it easy! Do you know how precious that is!?”

“Yayayaya! It’ll break! It’ll break!”

“Yeah! Devil!”

Chung Myung recoiled from the violent reaction of the people around him.

“No, how dare you handle that pill like that!”

“Do you even know what kind of pill that is!?”

“Even if we sold you, we wouldn’t be able to buy that!”

Chung Myung’s eyes grew cold.

‘This disgusting sect. Even if you grew up in poverty without any pills….’

No, even if that was the case.

Humans are lesser, and this pill is greater? How could that be?

“Ugh.”

All of this was due to the lack of pills in the sect.

‘This is why, no matter the cost, we need to get those ingredients.’

It wasn’t just for Mount Hua now; this was necessary for the future of Mount Hua.

Anyway!

“I can have this, right?”

“…”

“Why won’t you answer? Sect leader?”

“That…”

Tears welled up in Hyun Jong’s eyes.

Giving the Soul Vitality Pill to Chung Myung wasn’t a waste. Even if they failed to revive the manufacturing method and the twenty remaining pills were all they could use, he still understood that he needed to feed them to the disciples.

But…

‘We might never have them again.’

These pills weren’t just something used to improve strength. They could also be used as a medicine to heal internal injuries that couldn’t be treated by any other means.

Rather than spending them now, it would be better to feed them later if the kids got hurt…

His hard life, which had led Mount Hua for decades, left him unable to overcome his sense of anxiety. If Hyun Young heard his thoughts, he would curse him out for acting like a beggar, but what could be done? That was the truth.

In the future, Mount Hua would surely experience many things and come to suffer more, and the number of children getting injured would increase….

“Eat it!”

But Hyun Young had neither blood nor tears.

“If we save it forever, it turns to ash. Don’t worry and just eat it.”

“That…”

“Am I wrong? Sect leader?”

“… Of course. That’s how it should be. You need to eat it.”

‘I’m the sect leader here! Me!’

Chung Myung, who wasn’t interested in the subtle exchange of thoughts between the two elders, gently nodded and immediately put it into his mouth.

Baek Cheon, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, also got up and bowed to the two elders.

“I, Baek Cheon, will never forget the grace that the sect leader and elder have shown.”

“Grace?”

Hyun Young smiled warmly upon seeing his reaction. This kid was always polite.

However, Hyun Young felt much better about people like Chung Myung rather than those polite people that would keep their courtesy as Mount Hua became poor.

See.

Wasn’t Chung Myung drooling in anticipation of taking the pill while the others were still unsure?

‘Right. Right. My eyes don’t hurt even seeing you eat something so valuable, you brat!’

‘Eat it. You need to eat and grow stronger to earn us more money!’

“I will never forget the grace shown.”

Except for Chung Myung, the rest followed Baek Cheon and bowed. Hyun Young, who was too lazy to return the courtesy, looked at Hyun Jong.

“…Get up.”

“Yes, sect leader.”

“The best way for you to repay us is to consume the pill as soon as possible and relieve us of our worries.”

“We will do as we are told.”

Baek Cheon picked up the pill with slightly nervous eyes.

‘This…’

The Soul Vitality Pill, a pill that was known to be even better than the Shaolin sect’s medicine. Such an enormously amazing pill that was rumored to push people into higher realms, the day had come for them to receive it?

‘Is this really all thanks to him?’

Baek Cheon smiled bitterly.

What kind of life would they all be living if Chung Myung hadn’t come to Mount Hua? He couldn’t even imagine it.

‘Let’s not think about it.’

This wasn’t the time to get emotional. It was important to take the pill, absorb the elixir completely, and make it his power.

Baek Cheon sat cross-legged with a slightly nervous face and brought the pill to his lips.

Chomp.

And put it into his mouth; the pill melted the instant it entered his mouth and quickly slid down his throat. A clear feeling of refreshment spread throughout his body as if taking a sip of pure water from the deepest valley in the mountains.

But

The pure water that was falling drop by drop soon turned into a stream and then grew into a terrifying waterfall as it began to swirl inside Baek Cheon’s body.

He trembled at the overwhelming weight of it.

‘This is the Soul Vitality Pill…!’

The qi rushed in like an explosion.

It was hard to understand how eating one small pill could produce such results.

‘Concentrate!’

Baek Cheon instantly abandoned all other thoughts. He started to focus on his dantian and guided the growing qi from the Soul Vitality Pill.

Swish!

It felt like a dam had broken inside his body. The rushing qi was violently washing away the impurities within his body and expanding his qi.

Baek Cheon had begun this when he tried to lead the qi, but the Soul Vitality Pill’s qi quickly escaped his control and began to roam about at its own discretion.

However, rather than feeling a sense of crisis, Baek Cheon felt indescribably exhilarated.

It felt like his entire body was filled with qi. He worried that he would lose his mind as he felt enchanted by the immense qi that he might never be able to feel again.

The qi was widening the meridians and opening the smallest blood vessels one after another. Even the clogged meridians were being cleared; Baek Cheon felt like he was completely reborn.

Everything could be felt so vividly; every single detail, even down to his fingertips, was clear to him. Every fiber of his being felt the fresh sensation of his body being reborn.

‘This is the power of the Soul Vitality Pill!’

Only then did he finally realize why so many people were ready to risk their lives for even a single pill. No matter how hard a person trained, they could never feel like this on their own. There were some things that human effort alone could not accomplish.

Now, the qi from the Soul Vitality Pill was casually doing what humans were unable to do for themselves.

But

‘This is too much.’

The qi from the pill was still overflowing within his body, but he couldn’t absorb all of it and make it his own.

Basically, the pill’s energy would remain trapped within his body and slowly be absorbed over time. Baek Cheon was no longer greedy and slowly gathered the qi.

He knew that greed was always a shortcut to failure.

The qi from the pill, swirling around his body, began to rush into the dantian following his guidance.

After confirming that the qi from the Soul Vitality Pill had settled in the corner of his dantian, Baek Cheon slowly opened his eyes.

“Well!”

And his body shook.

His body felt like it was full of qi, more than he had ever felt before.

It feels like he could get anything done so long as he put his mind to it. The pill’s overflowing vitality gave him a tremendous sense of confidence.

“Sect leader! I…”

It was the moment when Baek Cheon, who trembled with emotions, tried to say something nice.

“Sect Lead…”

‘Huh?’

Baek Cheon tilted his head and looked at Hyun Jong.

‘Um?’

Hyun Jong looked a little weird.

It was unlike his usual expressions, where he solemnly kept his mouth shut or had a benevolent smile. Uncharacteristically, he was looking at something with his mouth and eyes open wide.

‘Where is he looking?’

It felt odd.

He was looking a little above.

A little higher than where a person would be standing. Why the hell was he looking at a place like that in a room where everyone was sitting down?

Not just Hyun Jong, but even Hyun Young’s gaze was fixed on the same point. Baek Cheon followed their line of sight in confusion.

And…

“T-this crazy bastard! What is this?”

Unsurprisingly, he was startled and stepped back.

At the end of that gaze, of course, was Chung Myung. However, it was difficult to say he was simply at the end of the gaze.

Why?

Because that gaze had ended near the ceiling.

‘Why is there a man floating in the air?’

Baek Cheon was shocked.

Sitting cross-legged, Chung Myung floating in the air. Hyun Jong and Hyun Young couldn’t take their eyes off this bizarre sight.

‘I’ve heard that Masters who reached amazing heights could float in the air when cultivating, but….’

He had never seen such a thing himself, so he thought it was just flowery words made up to make others look good. He never imagined he would see it with his own two eyes.

Of course. It cannot be said that it happened because Chung Myung’s skills had reached the extreme. It would be more correct to consider it a temporary event in the process of Chung Myung absorbing the enormous qi from the Soul Vitality Pill.

However, even knowing that didn’t change the fact that they were seeing something spectacular.

“Huh? What is this?”

“… Oh, my God.”

One after another, the others all opened their eyes, and everyone felt equally shocked. But the surprise didn’t die yet.

Goooooo!

Suddenly, a five-color radiance shone from Chung Myung’s body.

“Five, Five Qi Choayuan?”

“Ah-No. It seems a bit different…?”

Hyun Jong looked carefully.

This was something that didn’t fit with any knowledge they had. But one thing was certain.

‘I can feel that something amazing is happening.’

Gooooo!

At that moment, the air around Chung Myung began to get sucked in.

Dudududud!

At the same time, the room they were in began to shake.

“E-eik!”

“I-is is going to collapse?”

“Get out! Get out right now!”

At that moment, Hyun Young shouted, and everyone began to run.

Baek Cheon cried out without realizing it.

“No, that crazy bastard can’t even cultivate without causing trouble! He’s seriously a troublemaker! I’m going crazy!”

It was a statement that echoed the feelings of everyone there.