I Found Ginseng!!
Mumyeong answered.
That's right. Ordinarily even I would struggle to sense something this clearly, but in terrain this saturated with spiritual energy, my sensory range seems to have risen to its absolute limit.
“…My god.”
It was a single strand of hope I had barely managed to grasp—a ray of light itself, glimpsed while I was being buried alive.
My breath caught in my throat.
I had no idea how much time passed after that.
Dark clouds writhed like dragons. Lightning began to hammer the earth. I slipped and went down hard. Even with my knees scraped raw I felt no pain as I scrambled up and ran. Weather changes in the mountains were nothing like those on the plains. No sooner had it grown dark than a torrential downpour swept across the land in an instant.
“Hah! Hah! Hah!”
With every ragged breath, raindrops clinging to my lips sprayed wildly in all directions. My chest felt ready to burst. I tasted blood in my throat. Muddy water splashed with every footfall. Footprints stamped into the mud vanished at once under the pounding rain. Steam rose thick from my entire body.
“How much farther do I have to climb?!”
The higher into the alpine zone I went, the steeper the slope became until it turned into sheer cliff. I finally began scrambling up on all fours like a beast.
You still have to climb as far again as you've already come.
I braced my body against the cliff before I could slip and shouted through the rain, voice thick with fury.
“Damn it! Is it really in a place like this?! There's not even a single blade of grass!”
Trust me. If the Host dies, I die too. I have absolutely no desire to die.
The rock my left foot had been resting on gave way and went tumbling endlessly downward. My fingers, tempered through eight weeks of hellish training under Pahwanggun, clamped onto the protruding footholds like suckers and refused to let go even in the slippery rain. Even as rain cascaded down the cliff like a waterfall, I climbed three times, then lowered my head to catch my breath, then shot upward again with spider-like speed. I had already climbed so high that the treetops of the zone where I had started were no more than faint blurs below me.
Even as I climbed, I felt it. This was terrain no one would ever reach unless they came deliberately, certain something was here. It felt as though I hung alone in a world filled only with barren rock, torrential rain, and a howling gale gone mad.
-Chatter-chatter-chatter, clack.
My teeth chattered violently. Even though my body temperature ran high from eating the body-fortifying porridge for eight weeks, I was failing to hold out against the downpour.
If I don't get there fast, this is going to get dangerous.
I kept my body moving diligently. I could feel my fingers growing cold and stiffening. Even with my reinforced body, I had to overcome the risk of tumbling down three more times before I finally reached the summit.
-Wooooong!
As if it had been waiting, the moment I set foot on the peak, the Jade Stream Ring shook with a violence I had never felt before, on the verge of bursting. No—beyond mere shaking, the vibrations exploded until I couldn't have picked up chopsticks, and it poured out light to its absolute limit.
“Th-this is…!”
Even a complete illiterate like me could tell.
-KRA-KOOM.
Thunder crashed down once more. I wiped away the rain that blocked my vision. Just as if a formation had been laid, three ginseng plants were buried in a triangle.
“Ah… ahh!”
I crawled forward, tears and snot streaming down my face. I crawled through the rain with a body covered in wounds and mud.
“Gi… gin… seng…”
It was certain. Beyond any doubt. Three vivid green plants stood clear upon the earth. Anyone could see they were radiating an extraordinary aura. Through chattering teeth, I howled with the joy surging up from the deepest part of my chest.
There was a saying among people. Spiritual herbs never scatter; they gather in one place. Ginseng types in particular often clustered together, so the advice was that if you dug up one, you shouldn't act rashly but carefully search the surroundings. But confirming the real thing right before my eyes left me breathless. Who in this world would ever have imagined three ginseng roots sitting atop a stone mountain peak like this? The ginsengs were positioned higher than the detection range of the Jade Stream Ring that could sense spiritual energy. Even if someone had passed right beneath this stone peak, they would have discovered nothing.
“At last… something like this for me.”
After roaring at the top of my lungs for a long while, I knelt before the ginsengs. The rain that had poured as if the sky itself had been punctured was beginning to ease. I stripped off my upper garment and spread it on the ground.
These are called Heavenly Hundred Ginseng. Even on the Ten Thousand Star Mountain of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult they are rare—spiritual medicines among spiritual medicines said to possess seven attributes.
I dug them up one by one. I carefully extracted each one, afraid of damaging even a single rootlet, and laid them upon the cloth. Each ginseng root was about the size of a palm. They had shapes so bizarre they almost resembled human forms—true spiritual creatures. One was a withered, scrawny ginseng with yellow-tinged leaves and a thoroughly dried surface; another stood out with vivid red leaves.
After digging up two, I looked at the third remaining one. The last, third ginseng was the largest of the three and radiated the most intense energy. Even just holding it in my hand, it poured out a cold so frigid it seemed ready to freeze me solid.
No. Leave that one alone.
“What? This one's the biggest!”
Mumyeong stopped me as I lunged to consume all three at once even if it tore my stomach open.
The three ginsengs are called Heavenly Snow Hundred Ginseng, Heavenly Fire Hundred Ginseng, and Heavenly Thunder Hundred Ginseng, each possessing the attributes of ice, fire, and thunder respectively.
“…And?”
You still don't understand?
The chest that had been ready to burst with joy went cold.
The others could potentially harmonize if taken together, but the Heavenly Snow Hundred Ginseng and Heavenly Fire Hundred Ginseng, with their fire and ice attributes, would collide and cause you to explode. Moreover, since the ice-attribute Heavenly Snow Hundred Ginseng is also the largest, the imbalance makes drawing any harmony between the two impossible.
“I-isn’t there some way?”
There is none.
Mumyeong cut me off flatly. In the end, after long deliberation, I decided to leave the largest Heavenly Snow Hundred Ginseng behind and take only the Heavenly Fire Hundred Ginseng and Heavenly Thunder Hundred Ginseng. Mumyeong’s advice that the thunder and fire attributes might, with a little force, coexist without colliding played a large part in that decision. I thought I would find some method later.
“In that case.”
The rain stopped. I wrapped the two Heavenly Hundred Ginseng roots in the cloth, secured them at my waist, and looked down from the impossibly high stone mountain. I descended the cliff swiftly.
Actually, I was debating whether to tell you.
“Hm?”
There were so many people it might have been a mistake. It seemed a group of men was following behind the Host. Just in case, it would be best to get as far from the Heavenly Snow Hundred Ginseng we're leaving behind as possible, and also move somewhere free of human presence.
“…Got it.”
I came down the cliff half-rolling. The moment my two feet hit the ground, I put as much distance as I could between myself and the place.
I can't run into anyone.
The spiritual energy the ginseng I carried radiated was on a completely different level from what ordinary terrain gave off. If anyone happened to pass nearby, they would notice the ginseng’s existence through the vibration of the Jade Stream Ring, and the moment that happened I would be in deep trouble. Even a single ordinary spiritual herb brought waves of bloody calamity; two roots of Heavenly Hundred Ginseng needed no further explanation.
Damn it.
My heart felt ready to explode. Right now I was a weakling. An officially recognized third-rate weakling, one of the most notable even in Chunmu Hall. Though no one was around, cold sweat poured down me. On top of that, Mumyeong’s words that someone seemed to be chasing me were more than enough to turn me into a complete coward. I would have been less terrified walking the night streets naked with gold necklaces draped all over me. If anyone came within three jang of me, it was over.
Until I've completely absorbed them, at all costs!
Therefore the realistic measure I could take was to head somewhere as remote as possible, a place with no spiritual energy whatsoever.
“This should be far enough.”
It was a deep ravine where not a single ray of light entered, thick with shade. I had no idea how deep into the interior I had come. The forest was so dense, the ground so barren, and the absence of any life so complete that I could tell no human presence had reached this place for hundreds of years.
“Mumyeong.”
Perfect. There's no one.
Hurry.
Time was pressing. Even though I had come to a remote place, I couldn't overlook variables. Hiding my body in the deepest blind spot of the ravine, I took out the ginseng.
From here on is what matters. Look closely at the ginseng.
I lifted the Heavenly Fire Hundred Ginseng and the Heavenly Thunder Hundred Ginseng. The Heavenly Thunder Hundred Ginseng was a single scrawny root. In contrast, the Heavenly Fire Hundred Ginseng was thick and plump, and below the leaves a single root split into two as it went downward.
I'll explain the plan now. There are two options the Host can choose.
When it came to survival, both of us always spun our brains at full power—that was something we had in common.
First option: consume only half of the Heavenly Fire Hundred Ginseng.
“What? Why only half again?”
I passionately voiced my dissatisfaction.
Among the seven attributes of the Heavenly Hundred Ginseng, the most powerful are, without question, ice and fire. The Heavenly Fire Hundred Ginseng already possesses a strong fire attribute, and it's even larger than the Heavenly Thunder Hundred Ginseng. If you consume both roots at once, the excessively powerful fire attribute combined with the thunder attribute creates a high probability that your body will collapse.
“Then what about the remaining half?”
You'll have to abandon it here. The moment you take even half away, those who sense it will turn this place into hell. Storage is also impossible since it's already damaged into a half form.
“…And the second method?”
Mumyeong spoke flatly.
Consume it all. Even if it means taking the risk.
“….”
Whichever you choose, the overall process is the same. First consume the Heavenly Fire Hundred Ginseng, then immediately follow with the Heavenly Thunder Hundred Ginseng. After that, seal every qi and blood vessel in your body and circulate the energy along your internal meridians, absorbing it slowly the way dry paddy fields soak up water. The absorption will proceed through five stages in total. I'll assist with the entire process, so the Host only needs to endure.
I moistened my parched lips with my tongue. Mumyeong's explanation continued.
Once the five stages of absorption are finished, no matter how gifted the Host's body is, residual internal energy that couldn't be absorbed will remain. I will gather that into the Host's left hand and expel it to prevent qi deviation. The problem is if the qi and blood tangle during the process and it fails… no. I'll skip that.
-Huu.
I took a deep breath.
“Don't hide it. Tell me. What happens if I fail midway through the five-stage absorption process?”
…At minimum, half-body paralysis. Simultaneously, loss of sight and hearing.
My throat burned dry with tension. If he had just said I would die, I might have been less tense. Half-body paralysis plus loss of sight and hearing. That despair struck so vividly that my heart felt ready to burst.
Choose. Which of the two will you pick? I recommend prioritizing stability by first consuming only half of the Heavenly Fire Hundred Ginseng. Even then, at minimum half a gapja of internal energy—yes, ‘that much should be enough.’
-Riiip.
I tore off the remaining upper clothes and flung them aside. I picked up the Heavenly Fire Hundred Ginseng. With a gulp, a scorching energy swirled around me.
“Mumyeong. Do you know what the most useless and harmful words in this world are—the ones I learned through living at the bottom?”
What are they.
I steadied my breathing as I looked at the Heavenly Fire Hundred Ginseng.
“‘That much should be enough.’”
-Crunch.
I chewed and swallowed the Heavenly Fire Hundred Ginseng without leaving a single rootlet.
You crazy bastard.
Mumyeong sighed.