Chapter 181
Chapter 181
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 181
Chapter Title: Dawnbringer's Diagnosis
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“Who are y…….”
He didn’t even finish asking.
The man in white standing at the end of the corridor closed the distance in a flash.
Wi Seongcheon was startled and flustered, but instead of screaming, he merely took a small step back.
“Are you perhaps Lord Dawnbringer?”
The man’s presence was undetectable.
He had approached from far away in an instant, right before Wi Seongcheon’s eyes.
Yet Wi Seongcheon couldn’t read his movements at all.
Wasn’t it obvious? The opponent was an unfathomably superior master.
How many people could the White Night Witch refer to as an “old codger” and act familiar with?
The Ten Righteous Heroes of the Orthodox Faction wouldn’t come all the way to the Black Forest either.
“Yes, I am Dawnbringer’s True Retainer.”
Dawnbringer spat out the words, his eyes darting wildly.
Then Dawnbringer glanced up at the White Night Witch.
“I apologize for the rudeness of entering without a word.”
“You wouldn’t need to apologize if you’d thought to ask permission before barging in.”
“Well, sure, but I was startled and in a hurry. We’re not strangers, so don’t scold me too harshly.”
“If you don’t want scolding, then think about what I just said.”
“……If our little sister asks, there’s nothing I wouldn’t help with.”
“Ask? Me? You should be punished first for sticking your filthy feet in my palace.”
The White Night Witch spoke with a cold smile, and Dawnbringer chuckled while waving his hand dismissively.
“You scare me…… Don’t bully me so much.”
“The one who should be asking is this kid, not me. He’s the desperate one.”
“Let’s put that talk off for a bit. I have business here too.”
With that, Dawnbringer stared intently at Wi Seongcheon.
Wi Seongcheon instinctively tensed his senses under Dawnbringer’s gaze, which seemed to pierce straight into his lungs.
“You’re not a Celestial, are you?”
Dawnbringer blurted out suddenly. It was out of nowhere.
“……Yes.”
“Then why did you eat the Dawn Celestial Divine Pill?”
There was an edge to Dawnbringer’s voice.
The horizontal wrinkle across the center of his forehead twitched.
No, it wasn’t a wrinkle—it was a scar. The flesh around the writhing scar slowly parted.
“I never gave you the Dawn Celestial Divine Pill.”
What emerged from the parting scar was a large eyeball. Dawnbringer glared at Wi Seongcheon with the third eye in the center of his forehead.
“Tell me. Why do I sense the energy of the Dawn Celestial Divine Pill in you?”
“……The Taiji Sword Lord gave it to me.”
Wi Seongcheon answered with a sullen expression. At his words, Dawnbringer’s third eye rolled around wildly.
“The Taiji Sword Lord gave it to you? Why? Are you some secret disciple he’s been hiding?”
“No. The Taiji Sword Lord said that of the two Dawn Celestial Divine Pills, you were to give one to a Celestial and the other to whomever he pleased.”
“So the Taiji Sword Lord gave you a Dawn Celestial Divine Pill? Has that old coot lost his mind? He didn’t even give it to his sword dragon disciple, but fed that precious thing to you, someone with no connection?”
“There was no other choice. I was dying after being poisoned by the Blood Poison Demon Fiend…….”
“Blood Poison Demon Fiend? Oh ho! So you’re that Heavenly Flower Sect’s young sect master!”
Dawnbringer clapped his hands as if he finally understood.
Having spent decades in the Demonic Cult, he knew almost nothing of the murim’s rumors.
That was why he hadn’t recognized Wi Seongcheon, who was making a name for himself as the Hidden Dragon.
But even the Demonic Cult knew that the Blood Poison Demon Fiend had suffered humiliation at the hands of the Heavenly Flower Sect’s young sect master.
“Now I get why the Taiji Sword Lord gave a Dawn Celestial Divine Pill to you, who seems to have no connection. A kid dying from poison after humiliating the Blood Poison Demon Fiend is worth saving.”
His rolling third eye scanned Wi Seongcheon from head to toe.
“Consider yourself lucky, kid. If you didn’t have that value, I would’ve squeezed you alive to recover the remnants of the Dawn Celestial Divine Pill.”
“……Ah, yes.”
Why make a fuss now after handing it over to the Taiji Sword Lord?
Wi Seongcheon frowned with that thought.
“You lucky bastard. You ate a Dawn Celestial Divine Pill?”
The White Night Witch, who had been listening quietly, looked at Wi Seongcheon with a surprised expression.
“No, more than that. You handed two Dawn Celestial Divine Pills to the Taiji Sword Lord, that old coot?”
“……He looked ready to kill me if I didn’t.”
“Then you should’ve given just one. Why two?”
“I tried to give just one, but that damned old coot shoved his sword at me, asking who I thought I was fooling!”
It had happened decades ago, but recalling it still filled Dawnbringer with resentment and grievance.
Wi Seongcheon couldn’t imagine the mild-mannered Taiji Sword Lord wresting the pill away with such rough tactics.
‘……Well, they did say his temper was like fire decades ago, unlike now…….’
“You idiot for handing it over after being threatened. So how many Dawn Celestial Divine Pills do you have left now?”
“……None on hand. After decades, maybe one’s newly completed in the cauldron.”
Dawnbringer muttered that, then scanned Wi Seongcheon again.
‘……What the hell is this guy?’
His third eye shone right through Wi Seongcheon’s body. Dawnbringer couldn’t help but be flustered by what he saw.
He had come rushing after sensing the immortal qi of the Dawn Celestial Divine Pill in a non-Celestial.
Once he heard the story and calmed down……he could see just how absurd Wi Seongcheon’s body was.
How could anyone live with a body like that? Flustered, an intense curiosity followed.
To Dawnbringer, Wi Seongcheon’s body didn’t look like something that could move or live.
The qi and blood pathways radiating from the dantian—how were they tangled like that? It was astonishing.
“Hmm……!”
Curiosity was followed by the scholarly zeal of a physician. Dawnbringer moved without hesitation.
Tap-tap-tap!
His long index finger struck various acupoints on Wi Seongcheon’s body in an instant.
“Ugh?!”
Wi Seongcheon recoiled in surprise. His muscles twitched, and his qi and blood moved on their own.
Flustered, Wi Seongcheon hurriedly circulated his inner power.
“Hah! Even the acupoint positions are all different. And as expected, you can alter your qi and blood at will. What the hell is that body? Congenital? No, that can’t be. There’s only one muscle-bone structure in the world I don’t know.”
Dawnbringer muttered excitedly as he reached for Wi Seongcheon again.
Wi Seongcheon had no intention of submitting meekly. He bristled with hostility and stepped back further.
“Why are you backing away? Don’t be scared, come here. The world’s greatest physician will examine your body personally.”
“No need.”
“Your opinion doesn’t matter. It’s been decades since I’ve seen a body this intriguing! Is your body something forged postnatally? That makes even less sense. How could an ordinary body transform like that? That would mean some congenital aptitude, but there’s only one muscle-bone structure in this world that I don’t know.”
“Then maybe I was born with that one.”
“Ha ha ha! Then are you saying you’re the Heavenly Killing Star?”
Dawnbringer burst into laughter as he asked.
“Heavenly Killing Star……?”
“Yeah, the Heavenly Killing Star! The only muscle-bone structure in the world I don’t know is the Heavenly Killing Star’s. But you, the Heavenly Killing Star? No way. If you were really the Heavenly Killing Star, you wouldn’t be standing there so meekly.”
The Heavenly Killing Star was a vicious incarnation from legends in the murim.
Its origins were too ancient to trace, but it was a favorite topic for storytellers.
The Heavenly Killing Star possessed god-given talent in martial arts bestowed by the Demon King, and an innately wicked disposition that inevitably grew into a demonic figure.
“Isn’t that just something from stories?”
Wi Seongcheon knew of the Heavenly Killing Star too.
A staple in novels about the murim or tales from wandering storytellers.
If a Celestial was a human sent by heaven to save the world, the Heavenly Killing Star was one sent by the Demon King.
In most novels or stories featuring the Heavenly Killing Star, they called the Heavenly Demon that.
“Kid, every baseless rumor and legend has a seed of truth. I’ve never seen one myself, but the Heavenly Killing Star exists.”
“……You don’t mean like in stories or novels, where the Heavenly Demon is the Heavenly Killing Star…….”
“That’s bullshit. The current Heavenly Demon isn’t the Heavenly Killing Star.”
Dawnbringer waved his hand dismissively.
Wi Seongcheon, unaware of Dawnbringer’s time in the Demonic Cult, couldn’t help but find his certainty puzzling.
“Not the Heavenly Killing Star, and different from any muscle-bone structure I know. Congenital……hereditary? Inherited from bloodline…… Hmm, that makes sense.”
“What are you even talking about?”
“Your body absolutely couldn’t have been made through postnatal effort alone. You must have inherited a foundation from your father or mother, built upon with postnatal effort. That explains it…… Hah, haha! Even your massive innate qi is hereditary?”
Those words hit home, making Wi Seongcheon flinch. The massive innate qi must be from the Dragon Jade.
Dawnbringer, peering at him with his third eye, suddenly shuddered and twitched.
“……Did a bug crawl into your pants or something?”
“Take off your clothes.”
“Pardon?”
“Strip and lie down quietly. Now!”
“Enough, old codger. You trying to show filth to my eyes?”
The White Night Witch glared at Dawnbringer, eyes wide.
Filth? Is he talking about my body?
Wi Seongcheon drooped his shoulders dejectedly.
“If the location’s the issue, we’ll do it somewhere else. Come on, let’s go!”
“I never said I’d do it.”
“If you hate stripping, I’ll at least let you keep your clothes on. If you stay still, that is.”
“That’s not the issue.”
“Then what is? The great Dawnbringer is offering to tend to your body personally?”
“What’s there to tend? I have no complaints about my body and have never felt any discomfort.”
“Don’t lie. You really don’t know the dangers your body holds? Walking around like a thunderbolt bomb that could explode any moment?”
Wi Seongcheon flinched a bit at that but shook his head without showing it.
“That’s my problem to overcome on my own, so don’t worry about it.”
“Hmph! Talking nonsense.”
“If what you say is true, my body is a constitution inherited from my parents, and my father, the Heavenly Flower Sect Leader, is still alive and well. His body has never exploded either.”
It was the Heavenly Demon he met in the Demonic Realm who had shattered the Heavenly Flower Sect Leader’s dantian in that state.
Before meeting the Heavenly Demon, he had been fine, and even now without a dantian, he wielded his innate qi freely, impossible to call weak.
‘Father never even warned me about the dangers of this body…….’
“You stupid kid. Do you think you’re exactly like your father?”
Dawnbringer sneered incredulously.
“What’s the difference?”
“Did your father eat a Dawn Celestial Divine Pill?”
“……No.”
“Kid, this is my guess, but your ridiculously massive innate qi wasn’t innate—it was bloated postnatally.”
“……Isn’t that speculation?”
“No, it’s a guess, but I’m certain. Why? If your innate qi were truly congenital, you wouldn’t have survived this long.”
Dawnbringer’s voice quickened.
“You’ve undergone marrow cleansing and bone transformation, right? Don’t lie. My third eye sees right through your body.”
“……So what if I did…….”
“It’s not just seeing—I understand your body as a physician. Opening only the middle dantian and achieving marrow cleansing on your own is impossible, so you must have had some fateful encounter. Probably one that amplified your innate qi, allowing marrow cleansing and absurdly massive innate qi in the process.”
Wi Seongcheon didn’t answer and simply listened to Dawnbringer.
“That alone is more than your body can handle, but you even swallowed a Dawn Celestial Divine Pill before that! If you were born a Celestial or with immortal bones, you could contain all its immortal qi, but you’re neither. Actually, that alone wouldn’t be a huge problem. Even if not fully absorbed, the Dawn Celestial Divine Pill is an incredible elixir. The issue is your bizarre body.”
“I get it, so explain it in a way I can understand…….”
“You ignorant kid! How much simpler can I make it?”
Dawnbringer thumped his chest in frustration. Then he leaped down from the corridor into the garden.
“……What’s going on?”
Baek Ri-hyang, who had been watching from afar, approached the White Night Witch cautiously and asked.
But Dawnbringer was focused on Wi Seongcheon, more than even his own creation Baek Ri-hyang, and the White Night Witch ignored her to watch Dawnbringer.
Her question went unanswered, so she pursed her lips and glanced around awkwardly.
“Here, look.”
Dawnbringer waved his hand. As his hand moved, a diagram formed on the dirt ground.
“If an ordinary person takes an elixir, they absorb most of its qi, and what can’t be absorbed is naturally expelled.”
Dawnbringer drew a large circle and filled it with a small one inside.
“But your bizarre body swallowed the Dawn Celestial Divine Pill and held onto even what it couldn’t absorb, without expelling it.”
“The impurities?”
“You stupid kid! You think the Dawn Celestial Divine Pill has impurities? What couldn’t be absorbed wasn’t impurities—it was immortal qi.”
“Immortal qi?”
“Maybe it would have been expelled over time. But you had some unknown fateful encounter that granted marrow cleansing and amplified innate qi.”
Dawnbringer moved his hand again. The border of the large circle containing the small one thickened.
“Your body, having achieved marrow cleansing and gained massive innate qi, is trapping the unassimilated immortal qi from the Dawn Celestial Divine Pill that can’t escape. That alone turns your body into a thunderbolt bomb ready to explode at any time. Immortal qi is a power different from the inner strength stored in the dantian. But your body doesn’t just have immortal qi!”
Dawnbringer drew another small circle inside.
“The amplified innate qi suppresses the immortal qi. On top of that, you have an absurd amount of inner strength. How many elixirs have you swallowed?”
“Uh……the Summoning Pill and…….”
“You lucky bastard. Even the Summoning Pill? There’s truth to the saying that fools die quick. Every being in the world is a vessel with limits, big or small. But you’ve stuffed yours too full.”
Dawnbringer glared.
“Stuff too much, and it overflows. As I said earlier, normally you wouldn’t digest the Dawn Celestial Divine Pill’s immortal qi! You’d let it overflow and expel it. But! Your bizarre muscle-bone structure and innate qi became a lid blocking the overflow.”
“A lid…….”
“What do you think happens? It needs to overflow but can’t—the lid presses down tight. Of course it’ll explode.”
“But I’ve never felt any such premonition.”
“It’s not at the point of exploding yet! Maybe it’s even reached some balance inside. But kid, what were you about to do just now? What’s in your hand?”
“……Ultimate Blood Leopard, Millennium Snow Ginseng, Azure Spirit Oil…….”
“Swallowing even one would make your body burst beyond endurance. They’re all fine elixirs, but unrefined ones carry hefty impurities. You think of cramming more into your already saturated body?”
New small circles filled the large one, protruding out the sides.
“Then it explodes. Or the lid blows off! In that case, the lid would be your head. Know why? Kid, humans have three dantians. Point out their locations.”
“……Lower dantian below the navel, middle at the heart, upper in the head.”
“Right. You know well. You’ve opened the middle dantian, but not the upper. The inner strength, immortal qi, innate qi, and impurities filling your body won’t harmonize—they’ll surge up. Passing through the open middle dantian toward the upper, but since the upper isn’t open, boom—it explodes.”
Dawnbringer pointed at Wi Seongcheon’s neck.
“Starting there, your head flies off. That’s if the lid blows. If the vessel shatters? That’d be worse. Your whole body’s qi and blood rupturing, swelling like a pig’s bladder inflated with air, then tearing apart in shreds.”
At that point, Wi Seongcheon’s expression had to turn serious.
He had never imagined that taking those elixirs would cause such side effects.
“Then what should I do?”
“Harmonize it.”
Dawnbringer answered immediately to the earnest question, as if he’d been waiting.
“The great Dawnbringer will harmonize your body personally.”
“That’s it?”
“I’m the only one in the world who can. As a bonus, I’ll refine the Ultimate Blood Leopard, Millennium Snow Ginseng, and the other elixirs for you to take.”
“……You’re not just saying that because you want to examine my body?”
“Of course that’s part of it. Why would I help you out of pure goodwill? Naturally, I want to dig into your body during the harmonization.”
“What if I die in the process?”
“That can’t be helped…….”
“No.”
The White Night Witch cut in.
“The Black Demon King said not to kill Heavenly Academy students.”
“……If they die during treatment, it can’t be helped…….”
“Make sure he absolutely doesn’t die. If the kid dies, I’ll kill you before the Black Demon King does.”
Dawnbringer blinked at the chilling warning.
“Is this kid your disciple or something, little sister?”
“No.”
“Then a hidden child? A relative?”
“Do you want to die?”
“Then why are you going so far?”
“Your ‘Dawnbringer’ title is a joke now. You can’t even guarantee a patient won’t die during surgery.”
“What the hell?”
Dawnbringer’s eyes rolled back at the White Night Witch’s jab.