The Mental Secret Realm Reaches Tier Two

After renting a room at a safe inn, Jin Somyeong waved his hand.

One by one, he laid out the items he had stored in his subspace and began organizing his gains. First, he swept through the pile of spirit herbs.

So I have two Foundation Establishment spirit treasures left.

He had gathered seven Foundation Establishment spirit treasures in the secret realm. He had exchanged five of them for Foundation Establishment Pills, leaving him with two Jade Essence Nourishing Flowers.

I’ll keep them for now.

They were precious spirit herbs; to someone, they would be desperately valuable. Even after he reached Foundation Establishment himself, there was a high chance they would prove useful. He sealed them in jade boxes so their medicinal effects would not dissipate, then sorted dozens of different spirit herbs one by one. Selecting only those whose roots were still alive, he activated the divine ability of the Mental Secret Realm.

Flash!

Jin Somyeong arrived on a blue hill that seemed to calm the heart, and his eyes brightened.

It was because of the small field he had recently made with his own hands on one side of the hill. He approached the plot of land where he had scattered spirit-rich soil—spirit earth—and carefully planted the herbs he had just collected.

…Not bad.

The various spirit herbs, planted in neat rows, made for a pleasing sight. Seeing an actual spirit herb garden appear in the once-empty Mental Secret Realm left him feeling strangely proud.

What else would it need… water?

Jin Somyeong rummaged through his subspace. He had obtained no small number of Dharma Treasures from the Red Cloud Secret Realm, so there was a good chance at least one of them belonged to the water attribute.

Oh, found one!

He took out a blue-green clam and infused it with spiritual energy. Moisture condensed in midair and transformed into clouds.

Pat, patter.

After watching the fine drizzle dampen the spirit herbs, he nodded.

This should be enough. At least it’s better than leaving them uprooted.

Properly cultivating spirit herbs required far too much effort. He decided to be satisfied with a reasonable compromise.

Flash!

Returning from the Mental Secret Realm to the inn, Jin Somyeong continued what he had been doing. He was inspecting each miscellaneous Dharma Treasure and separating what he would sell from what he would keep, when—

Wuuung!

The Boundless Divine Sword at his waist vibrated. It sent out a pulse of spirituality as it gazed upon the mound of Dharma Treasures.

“…You want to eat these too?”

After a brief moment of thought, Jin Somyeong gave permission. The Boundless Divine Sword had helped him in many ways, both seen and unseen. Something like this was nothing.

He held out the sheathed Boundless Divine Sword and stirred it through the pile of Dharma Treasures.

Crack, crackle!

As he watched the Dharma Treasures split apart the moment they touched it… even Jin Somyeong, who had not thought much of it at first, could not help but freeze.

“Uh. Hm.”

The Boundless Divine Sword’s appetite was no ordinary thing. It had already devoured well over ten. When it absorbed its fifteenth Dharma Treasure and still showed no sign of stopping, Jin Somyeong’s mouth fell open.

Watching the Dharma Treasures turn into scrap metal made his heart ache.

“Ugh. You’re not a pig, so how much do you have to eat before you’re satisfi—gh!?”

His palm stung. The Boundless Divine Sword had released a sharp edge, as though taking offense.

“…”

Jin Somyeong opened and closed his mouth, then narrowed his eyes. Lately, it felt as though the Boundless Divine Sword’s spirituality had been growing at a startling pace.

“Sigh.”

He started to say something, then simply let it go. The instincts of a swordsman told him this would not be harmful to him. Emptying his mind, he focused on continuing to feed the sword.

…Until every last miscellaneous Dharma Treasure ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had disappeared.

Looking at the enormous heap of scrap metal, Jin Somyeong thought despite himself.

How much did it eat, exactly?

He almost began calculating by reflex, then stopped in a hurry. If he knew the answer, it would only hurt more. He forcibly turned his eyes away from the Dharma Treasures that had lost their spirituality and become trash.

Shiiing!

He drew the Boundless Divine Sword and examined it closely. The blade, clean enough to reflect his face and flawless as ever, remained unchanged.

Good.

Judging by the spine-chilling sharpness it exuded, it seemed far keener than before.

Whoosh!

Enjoying the pleasant sensation that came from the cold weight of steel, Jin Somyeong thrust into empty air. The Sword Qi that naturally answered the motion erupted with a tyrannical force.

“Oh?”

Something was different from usual. The sensation of being guided by the sword had become much clearer. He even came to understand several methods for handling Sword Qi as if they were only natural.

With strong enough mental power, I can extend Sword Qi?

Normally, Sword Qi’s power dropped sharply if it was not condensed. But there was a way to escape that limitation. If he could fuse his Divine Sense and Sword Qi into one, it would even be possible to send slashes flying from a distance.

Whoosh! Whish!

To digest the teachings the Boundless Divine Sword had given him, Jin Somyeong swung his sword for quite some time before suddenly stopping.

I should finish what I was doing.

Clack!

Suppressing his regret, he sheathed the sword. Then he thoroughly organized all the gains he had obtained from the Red Cloud Secret Realm. Worried he might have missed something, he carefully inspected even the jade slips, and there he discovered an unexpected harvest.

To think there was a secret art like this in the Great Unity Medicine King Scripture.

The Great Unity Medicine King Scripture was a secret inheritance that combined alchemy and cultivation arts. This technique, obtained from the deepest part of the Red Cloud Secret Realm, contained an extremely unusual secret art.

It was a method for resolving the pill toxins created by consuming medicinal pills.

Seondanjisul.

If he properly mastered this secret art, he would no longer need to worry about pill toxins. Even if he consumed several times more pills than others, they would not hinder his cultivation.

Not bad.

He was immediately drawn to it. Even if he did not learn the whole Great Unity Medicine King Scripture, he wanted to master Seondanjisul at all costs.

But as Jin Somyeong straightened his posture and studied the jade slip, his expression turned strange.

The original purpose of Seondanjisul was far more vicious than he had expected.

To drag immortals down to earth and sever their path of cultivation…

This secret art involved condensing the pill toxins produced from consuming medicinal pills and refining them into beads, which could then be used as hidden weapons. A hidden weapon refined from pill toxins was, naturally, deadly.

If one so much as grazed the target, the victim afflicted by pill toxin would find it several times harder to raise their realm.

Alchemists have weak combat strength, so is this how they protect themselves?

No one wished for their cultivation to become more difficult. If it became known that an alchemist who had mastered the Great Unity Medicine King Scripture possessed such a secret art, no one would dare touch them lightly. Harass them carelessly, get struck by pill toxin, and the loss would be yours alone.

In any case, even excluding the effect of using pill toxin as a hidden weapon, the art was useful enough. What Jin Somyeong wanted was simply to consume more pills, and to do so more often.

If I master Seondanjisul, my cultivation speed will rise even further.

After reviewing the Great Unity Medicine King Scripture several times, he judged that it was possible to learn only this secret art separately. In that case, there was no reason to hesitate.

He immediately tried registering Seondanjisul to the Proficiency System—and was shocked.

It costs one hundred Boundless Great Ability beads?

The registration ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fee was more expensive than expected, and just as he wondered why, the information that surfaced in his mind gave him the answer.

Aptitude improvement!

He had wondered how the wish he had made in the past would be fulfilled, and now he understood. The more advanced a cultivation art was, the stricter the conditions required to enter it. Constitution, talent, gender, age… sometimes even race. One could only begin learning an art if one satisfied its requirements.

But now, Jin Somyeong was free from those restrictions. When he registered a cultivation art or spell technique into the system, it forcibly made him satisfy the minimum conditions necessary to learn that art.

The cost increased because I’m trying to learn a secret art without knowledge of medicinal pills.

Originally, Seondanjisul was a secret art for handling pill toxins based on vast knowledge of spirit herbs. The system solved that problem in another way: by raising his physical regenerative power to the extreme and increasing his resistance to pill toxins.

He could not help marveling at the true utility of the Proficiency System. From now on, he could learn any cultivation art, no matter how difficult its conditions were.

As long as I have enough Boundless Great Ability, that is.

Jin Somyeong nodded and consumed one hundred Boundless Great Ability beads.

Crack—crunch!

A horrifying sound came from his spine.

“…!”

Jin Somyeong’s eyes flew wide. The intense pain that struck him without warning was so overwhelming he could ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠not even scream. He clenched his trembling hands as though afflicted by a nervous disorder and barely endured.

Who knew how much time had passed?

The pain vanished as if washed away, and a freshness he had truly never felt before in his life washed over him. From the ends of his limbs to the smallest corners of his body, he felt as though his entire flesh had been purified.

“Hoo…”

Near his dantian, he sensed a bead smaller than a grain of millet—no more than a speck. It was a hidden weapon formed by condensing the pill toxins that had accumulated when he took pills while training over the past few days.

He had successfully entered Seondanjisul.

Flash!

He had been taken aback by the unexpected pain, but it was fine. He had gained a difficult secret art practically for free; what was there to complain about? Now, even if he consumed twice as many spiritual pills as others, pill toxin would not build up in him. Everything about it was good.

Now I need to grow the Mental Secret Realm.

Jin Somyeong gathered everything he intended to sell from his subspace and estimated its rough value.

Calculated in Spirit Stones… eight thousand!

And that was after excluding anything he would personally use or anything difficult to sell. The sweetness of the harvest was enough to make his head spin.

With eight thousand Spirit Stones, he might be able to raise the Mental Secret Realm to Tier Two.

Since the thought had occurred to him, he tried it immediately. Wearing the Faceless Mask, he visited several shops and disposed of all kinds of items. Then, carrying the eight thousand Spirit Stones he had collected, he moved into the Mental Secret Realm.

Holding a strange tension in his chest, he shouted.

“Strengthen the mine!”

The heaps of thousands of Spirit Stones began disappearing without a trace.

Rumble!

The peaceful hill shook without end.

As the production of Spirit Stones surged wildly, a notification appeared in his mind.

He nodded firmly.

“Keep strengthening it!”

When production reached eighty stones, an unexpected requirement appeared, but it was no problem. After fighting and defeating a great Foundation Establishment cultivator, he had obtained forty-seven medium-grade Spirit Stones.

He consumed twenty medium-grade Spirit Stones in addition.

The moment daily production reached one hundred Spirit Stones—

Boom!

The Mental Secret Realm shook as though an earthquake had struck, and it continued expanding. Only after it had become nearly five times wider than before did it stop.

It was now embarrassing to call it a modest hill. As he looked out at the broad knoll spread with green grass, his chest opened wide.

“Ah!”

He closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. The smile that naturally formed on his face would not disappear.

He instinctively understood what change had occurred in the Mental Secret Realm… but to make certain, he focused his mind.

Flash!

There was no need to look at anything else.

Tier Two!

Only a single number had changed from Tier One, but much had transformed. His Mental Secret Realm had now reached the Foundation Establishment level.

“Hahaha!”

The spiritual energy generated deep within his body was unbearably sweet. It was dense and pure, almost viscous. As he freely absorbed the spiritual energy that had reached Tier Two, he suddenly froze.

“W-wait.”

A chill ran down his spine at the power that kept pouring in. The way his dantian and meridians began to ache was not normal.

The nightmare he had experienced in the deepest part of the Red Cloud Secret Realm came to mind, and goosebumps rose across his skin.

…Whew.

He remained alert for quite some time, tense with caution, but it was not to that extent. Thanks to his trained body, he could endure a Tier Two Lower Grade spirit vein well enough.

That’s a relief. Still, I should wait until after Foundation Establishment for the next strengthening.

Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, he gave a bitter smile. Too much of anything was harmful. Judging by the state of his dantian and meridians, further strengthening would likely cause problems.

After catching his breath, Jin Somyeong gauged the level of spiritual energy in the Mental Secret Realm and stroked his chin.

Will it take around three years to reach the ninth layer of Qi Refining?

Foundation Establishment truly did not feel far away now. Three years was a span that would fly by with one or two sessions of closed-door cultivation.

Thinking over his future training plans, he left the inn. He intended to rent a suitable ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠cave residence, create a Fire Spirit Root, and train in Ojangbaekryeongyeol.

Once I open my heart, the body among the three gates of essence, energy, and spirit will be as good as resolved. …No, wait.

Now that he thought about it, spirit was no problem either. After all, he had already awakened Divine Sense.