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Chapter 107
Chapter 107
Chapter 107
After finishing their meal, the two headed to Zhuge Rin’s office to drink tea.
Leaving behind mountains of various documents and messenger birds, they sat facing each other at the desk.
Yoo Ho brought tea.
It was jujube tea.
It held the fragrance of the now-passed autumn.
“What did you want to talk about? It must be important since you didn’t mention it in the communal dining hall.”
At those words, Jin Cheon-hee nodded.
“I want to venture into the martial arts world.”
At those words, Master’s expression froze for a moment. Soon, it changed back to a gentle smile.
“I see. The martial arts world, it’s a bit late for your achievement… This time, you’re not going around to find the Ten-Thousand Fire Carp…”Zhuge Rin’s eyes half-opened. He finished his thought.
“Is it because of the five spirit beasts and seven spirit medicines you mentioned last time?”
Jin Cheon-hee was slightly surprised at those words.
In the past, when Jin Cheon-hee talked about how he knew the location of the Ten-Thousand Fire Carp, he had added this:
-How did you know it was there?
-Actually, I know the locations of at least five spirit beasts and seven spirit medicines.
Of course, Zhuge Rin hadn’t forgotten those words from back then.
And once again, he caught Jin Cheon-hee off guard by asking first.
Jin Cheon-hee nodded obediently.
“I want to get them before someone else discovers them first.”
“That doesn’t seem to be all.”
“…”
In fact, there was one more reason.
The protagonist of “Supreme Heavenly Demon” is Yeo Ha-ryoon.
This guy suffers due to the karma of the Heavenly Killing Star, but he doesn’t actively commit evil deeds.
Moreover, when he naturally ascends to the position of Heavenly Demon, he starts reforming the Demonic Sect in his own way.
In the Demonic Sect that worships strength, the Heavenly Demon is the law.
When Yeo Ha-ryoon becomes the Heavenly Demon, the structure of the Demonic Sect changes once again.
On the other hand, the real enemy in the “Supreme Heavenly Demon” novel is the Blood Immortal Sect.
The Blood Immortal Sect.
The absolute evil of “Supreme Heavenly Demon”. The real name of the Demonic Sect is the Sacred Demonic Divine Sect, which can be said to be a religious organization that worships both the sacred and the demonic simultaneously.
It’s like how the Wudang Sect or Huashan Sect worship the Primordial Heavenly Lord within Taoism.
The Blood Immortal Sect is more heterodox.
Although it’s a branch of Taoism, it worships the Penetrating Heaven Sect Leader as a god instead of the Primordial Heavenly Lord.
It’s a religion that follows the Golden Crow Island, a group of legendary fox immortals. And they can be said to be one of the main enemies in “Supreme Heavenly Demon”.
Above all, because they worship fox immortals, their favorite food is problematic.
They offer living humans as sacrifices.
‘Actually, there are several other enemies besides the Blood Immortal Sect.’
But thinking about the future, it’s right to interfere with the Blood Immortal Sect’s activities at this stage.
However, if he told Zhuge Rin this, it would really lead to confinement.
It meant he was going to fight a group even worse than the Demonic Sect, not just a simple venture into the martial arts world.
‘Hee-ya, it’s okay if your legs break. They’ll heal in two months, so why don’t you ask this master again then? It won’t interfere with your life as a doctor.’ He might gently snap Jin Cheon-hee’s legs.
He would carefully touch them with fire energy to prevent the regenerative power of the Five-Elemental Divine Technique from working well.
‘Even if my mouth is torn, I can’t say that. No way.’
Jin Cheon-hee rolled his eyes.
“That’s all, Master.”
For now, it was best to tell only the truth to Zhuge Rin.
Even if he didn’t tell the whole truth, he absolutely couldn’t lie.
If he got caught, the consequences would be severe.
“That’s your main purpose?”
“Yes.”
It wasn’t a lie.
Two of the five animals would be taken by the Blood Immortal Sect first.
Also, four of the seven spirit medicines would be taken by others unrelated to the Blood Immortal Sect.
They are also Yeo Ha-ryoon’s enemies.
‘Ha-ryoon, your brother is struggling like this. Just wait. I’ll pave the highway for you!’
Having saved Master’s life, now it’s time to clear the thorny path ahead of Yeo Ha-ryoon!
If Jin Cheon-hee swallowed up two spirit beasts and four spirit medicines first?
Obviously, their power would be reduced.
‘I’ll do some body nourishment for you too, bro.’
If the enemy is going to eat it anyway, isn’t it better for Jin Cheon-hee to eat it instead?
Besides, there were several other things to take care of.
The Blood Immortal Sect, true to its reputation as the epitome of evil, is committing terrible acts even at this moment.
It’s impossible to stop everything.
But he could certainly scatter some thumbtacks in their path.
If he dealt with those things in advance, the future would be brighter.
“…”
Master fell into thought.
Jin Cheon-hee gulped. Finally, Master opened his lips.
“However, there’s a condition. Learn one more martial art before you go. If you master it within the given time, I’ll allow your venture into the martial arts world. If not, stay quietly in the medical pavilion until the Dragon Phoenix Gathering ends. Yoo Ho! That thing!”
At those words, Yoo Ho brought something from somewhere with a sour expression.
It was a shackle.
“It’s a specially made shackle from Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron. Hee-ya, since you’re hiding something from your master, I’ll be strict too. Are you prepared?”
In the past, Yoo Ho had said this:
-Huhuhu, he was looking for Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron anyway. Seeing him estimate young master’s ankle size by eye, it should be completed soon.
‘Crazy! I thought it was a joke then? It was real?’
What is Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron?
It’s the iron used to make the world’s finest swords, said to be indestructible no matter what you do to it, truly a supreme treasure.
It’s iron that can’t be obtained even if you throw money at it.
What madman would get Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron to make shackles?
Jin Cheon-hee realized. That madman was his master.
And he himself was another madman trying to go fight the Blood Immortal Sect while avoiding his master.
Master said gently,
“There’s nothing to be afraid of, Hee-ya. If you win this bet with your master, this won’t happen.”
“What martial art do I need to learn?”
“Poison arts.”
“The time limit…?”
Master’s eyes curved gently.
“One week. If you don’t like it, we can forget about venturing into the martial arts world. We can go around together after the Dragon Phoenix Gathering ends.”
That won’t do.
If they went around together, the plan to secretly sabotage the Blood Immortal Sect would fall apart.
It would mean Jin Cheon-hee’s most important goal would vanish.
Jin Cheon-hee’s lips set into a straight line.
‘Learning poison arts in a week. It’s usually impossible.’
Even Jin Cheon-hee knew it was crazy.
But he felt a strange confidence rising from deep within him.
It was the solid self-esteem that had gone through countless hardships.
“I’ll try.”
‘Whatever, if it doesn’t work, I’ll wear the shackles!’
Master smiled coldly at Jin Cheon-hee’s expression.
“It seems our disciple really wants to do something he can’t tell me about. Fine. Let’s have a bet.”
***
The next day.
In the training room.
The Five-Elemental Divine Technique inherently has high resistance to poisons.
This is because the energy of the five elements burns, neutralizes, pushes out, and absorbs poisons.
However, even that had limitations when facing the orthodox poison arts of the Tang family.
If it weren’t for the previous duel, he wouldn’t have realized this.
To truly counter Tang family-level poisons, it was right for Jin Cheon-hee to learn poison arts himself.
Poison arts inherently contain the paradox that one must detoxify one’s own poison.
Just as snakes don’t die from their own venom, and the Tang family doesn’t get poisoned.
Those who have learned poison arts are naturally strong against others’ poisons.
It was an interesting point.
Among various poison arts, Jin Cheon-hee chose only one.
The Five-Elemental Poison Arts.
It’s a poison art that only those who have mastered the Five-Elemental Divine Technique can learn.
It involves infusing poison energy into the five elements’ energy. Originally, it was a poison art created by the Yunnan Five Poisons Sect after researching the Five-Elemental Divine Technique.
However, to learn the Five-Elemental Poison Arts, one needed to have achieved a certain level in the Five-Elemental Divine Technique, and learning the Five-Elemental Divine Technique itself required extreme self-discipline.
Naturally, there were very few in the Five Poisons Sect who had mastered the Five-Elemental Poison Arts.
As a result, over time, the Five-Elemental Poison Arts flowed into the Zhuge family.
The main family members modified it again to prevent assassinations by poison.
From the Zhuge family’s perspective, they didn’t want to actively train in poison arts, which wasn’t their specialty.
They were already kept in check for their intelligence, and it was obvious how the martial arts world would view them if they used poison arts on top of that.
Therefore, the Five-Elemental Poison Arts had some effectiveness as poison arts, but most of its focus was on resisting such poisons.
Jin Cheon-hee spent a day memorizing the verses related to the Five-Elemental Poison Arts taught by his master.
The next day, he began training while ingesting the Five Elements Conflicting Poison.
Jin Cheon-hee received the Five Elements Conflicting Poison from Yoo Ho.
“It doesn’t have any smell?”
“Of course not, young master. Even if it’s training poison, it’s still poison.”
“Will I die if I drink this wrong?”
“You won’t die. But I heard you’ll suffer quite a bit.”
“Suffer?”
“There’s an antidote, but as a side effect, you’ll have bloody diarrhea for a whole month, they say.”
Indeed, this era’s educational human rights were fitting.
It meant such things never existed in the first place.
“…”
It meant that even if he failed in cultivating poison arts, he’d end up confined to the medical pavilion due to his bowels.
‘Isn’t this too much of a winning deal for Master?’
Just thinking about what would happen if he lost the bet was terrifying.
‘Cheon-hee, don’t be scared. You can win. A week is enough time to create heaven and earth. You can do anything.’
Jin Cheon-hee encouraged himself and gulped down the Five Elements Conflicting Poison.
“This is quite sweet?”
“It’s a poison suitable for putting in snacks. Since it directly seeps into your internal energy, it will have similar but opposite effects to spirit pills.”
Sure enough.
He felt it dissolving quickly before he even finished swallowing it down his throat.
At the same time, breathing started to become increasingly difficult.
‘It’s poison alright. Shit.’
His body alternated between feeling hot and cold.
His lungs hardened like stone.
‘Bloody diarrhea isn’t the problem. This…’
Jin Cheon-hee sat in lotus position and recited the verses his master had taught him.
Yoo Ho said,
“Identifying the poison is the first stage, and gathering it is the second stage. Most people struggle in the second stage, they say.”
There are five stages in total.
Jin Cheon-hee started to identify the Five Elements Poison that had entered his body.
‘There’s a long way to go before gathering.’
Whether expelling it from the body or fusing with it, he needed to be able to gather it all together.
Jin Cheon-hee didn’t respond to Yoo Ho’s words.
It wasn’t that he was ignoring Yoo Ho, he simply didn’t have the energy to respond.