Chapter 51
Chapter 51
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 51
Chapter Title: Chang'an Ink Sword Grove Tang Medicine Hall (2)
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It had only been a few days, but the Tang Medicine Hall felt just like stepping into the Tang family stronghold.
The faint aroma of medicinal herbs wafting through the air, ingredients that looked faintly dangerous, things that screamed poison at first glance, small mortars, decoction pots, and so on.
Tang Sohye headed to one of the patient beds in the Tang Medicine Hall, hesitating for a moment.
"Sit down. Let's take a look right away."
At my words, Tang Sohye quietly climbed onto the bed and sat cross-legged.
I sat down behind her, pressed my palms firmly against her back, and probed her internals.
But what I found left me stunned.
I immediately withdrew my qi, pulled my hands away, and spoke to her at once.
"Hey. Take off your clothes."
"Pardon!?"
"No backtalk. Take off your top."
Tang Sohye hesitated, her face dazed.
Then she fidgeted, loosening the ties of her martial robe and baring her upper body while covering her chest.
"Hey. I figured it'd come to this. How could you let it get this bad?"
Tang Sohye's abdomen, sides, and back were pitch black.
Not just black, either. Some patches were mottled and inflamed, others a sickly blue.
"It's neutralizing the toxins, so there's no need for concern, Grove Lord."
After revealing her condition, Tang Sohye spoke matter-of-factly.
Her earlier hesitation was nowhere to be seen.
"Oh man. Is everyone in the Tang family like this? Toughing it out by soaking up all the poison in your own body?"
"Once you conquer a poison, it never affects you again, Grove Lord."
"I get the principle. But why go about it so brutishly? What a shame to ruin such a beautiful body."
I'd infused my qi to check inside Tang Sohye's body, and the state was a sight to behold.
The Tang family's spirit elixirs, gathered to protect Dang Myeong-un's dantian.
I'd assumed they'd absorb smoothly once bundled and inserted, but apparently it wasn't that simple.
No wonder she'd made that request.
And now here she was, pretending it was nothing. So stubbornly.
"Stay still. I'll handle it quick."
With that, I placed my hands on her body again and pushed qi inward.
The spirit elixir energies clung thickly to her dantian.
All jumbled together, they weren't absorbing fully—hence the toxins seeping out to her skin.
I painstakingly peeled them away from everywhere but the dantian, gathered them up, and began sorting them one by one.
Separating tangled spirit elixir energies was tedious work.
Like sorting red bean oil from blue sesame oil?
Not impossible, of course. Not even that hard. Just time-intensive.
I sorted them meticulously. I had no clue what specific elixirs they were—I wasn't from the Tang family, after all.
Still, once separated, she'd absorb them properly.
At the very least, she wouldn't foolishly gulp them down wholesale and wreck her body like before.
With full focus, I classified every last strand of elixir energy. By the end, I'd sorted them into nearly thirty types.
Ha. The Tang family was something else. I'd figured there were a lot, but this many?
Then again, saving Dang Myeong-un? Thirty types wouldn't faze them—they'd throw in more if needed.
Once I'd separated all those thirty-plus elixirs and finished processing, I withdrew my hands.
Tang Sohye, who'd watched the whole process unfold inside her in real time, gazed at me with admiration.
"Grove Lord. I have a question."
"What."
"How are you so masterful with qi manipulation?"
It was a bit of a ridiculous question, but given the martial arts of this world, her confusion was perfectly reasonable.
How to put it? Right—like the gap between modern medicine and traditional Chinese medicine.
Internal energy application was much like TCM. An ultra-advanced version, even.
Supplement deficiencies indirectly with concentrated herbs, boost the patient's natural recovery, and hope for the best?
But not me.
I sensed her internals as clearly as if peering inside with my eyes, manipulating them directly with precise qi flows.
Same principle as surgery. No scalpel involved, but the idea was identical.
Truth be told, I wasn't an expert on modern or traditional medicine—just going off rough knowledge.
A real pro might nitpick it full of holes.
Anyway, I could answer her simply enough. So I did.
"You can do it too. Internal energy, true qi—whatever you call it. With enough willpower from the user, it can be shaped however proficiently you like. No need to limit it to sword qi, sword auras, or sword gangs. Though you might need solid qi mastered first to pull it off."
"Solid qi..."
"Willpower alone won't cut it. You need skill backing the will. But that skill doesn't always demand years of grinding. Here, let me toss a question your way. What is enlightenment?"
Words I'd shared with Seolha and Yeonha before. Time to give them to this girl too.
"Grasping the essence, recognizing one's limits, and achieving a realm breakthrough—I believe that's it."
Tang Sohye's answer was spot on.
The standard murim definition of enlightenment. Textbook.
"Right. That's the common view. So, does gaining enlightenment require some prerequisite qualification?"
"A certain level... is necessary, from what I know. Like how a child without even a handful of internal energy can't suddenly become a peak expert through enlightenment."
"Wrong. It's just vanishingly rare, so folks assume it's impossible. It isn't."
"It isn't impossible?"
"No. Enlightenment's not hard. Walking the same road day in, day out—then one day veering onto a side path and realizing it's the shortcut. That's enlightenment. Swinging your sword thousands, even tens of thousands of times daily, then one swing feeling fresh and new, leading to a discovery. That's enlightenment too."
Tang Sohye clamped her mouth shut, lost in thought at my words.
"Drawing internal energy from inside the body to form sword qi externally—that's what makes a peak expert. Turn that into a sword aura, you're super peak. Manifest a sword gang, and it's Transformation Realm. But that's not the whole story. It's just one formula. Most murim folk fixate on those milestones, chasing them blindly. They're not the essence. Grasp the essence, and the rest follows naturally."
Tang Sohye stared at me.
Her eyes held that frustrating almost-there-but-not-quite clarity.
Too soon? Well, it wasn't something a few words could unlock.
Me? I'd toiled away in that empty Black Wall Cavern long enough to piece it together.
Not just that, either. I had a mountain of references.
Ironically, wuxia novels.
Stories born from someone's imagination.
Tales penned so vividly, it felt like the author lived them.
They sparked my imagination, gave me ideas to test.
Call it collective wisdom, maybe.
Point is, I hadn't conjured it from thin air.
"Anyway, mull it over at your leisure. Rushing won't make it click. Let's talk your body instead. You said earlier—alternate absorbing deadly poisons and spirit elixirs?"
"Yes, Grove Lord."
"Then you know what all those elixirs I sorted are?"
"Yes. I can tell from their energies. And I remember every one used on Brother Myeong-un, so no mistakes."
"Good. Makes this way easier. So you have to release them in sequence, right? Can you manage?"
The thirty elixirs inside Tang Sohye now were like sealed capsules.
Anyone else could've pricked tiny holes to siphon the energy slowly.
Not her. She had to seal the rest shut and open them one by one in order.
"I'll try."
"Wrapping each in your qi to seal them completely? Think you can?"
Tang Sohye bit her lip faintly before replying.
"I'll try."
"Sigh. Blindly saying 'I'll try' gonna cut it? Sometimes you gotta ask for help when you can't. Fine. I'll check on you whenever I'm free. We're under one roof—what's the big deal?"
"That would... trouble you endlessly, Grove Lord."
"No trouble. Just go ahead. Come find me anytime."
"...Understood."
"So what's first? Which one do I open?"
"In that case... start with Yao Fox White Silk Fang."
"How the hell would I know what Yao Fox White Silk Fang is? Hold on."
I placed my hand on her back again, infused qi, and arranged the thirty orbs in a ring around her dantian.
Then I nudged the final one before withdrawing.
"The last one I touched—that's number one. Clockwise: two, three, four... got it? Which number?"
"The seventeenth."
I laid my hand on again and pierced that orb.
Tang Sohye flinched slightly, then swiftly gathered the energy to absorb it.
I watched her work after pulling away.
But cross-legged with hands at her dantian, facing forward would've exposed her bare torso completely.
Couldn't have that. Gentleman through and through, me.
So I examined the pitch-black, mottled skin along her side and back instead.
Up close, it looked gravely serious.
This okay? Even this damaged, could it fully heal back to normal?
Pity stirred. Such flawless skin otherwise. Scars would be a damn shame.
Hm. Jumping the gun. She hadn't offered herself up yet anyway.
No need to fret that far ahead.
After a good while, Tang Sohye let out a deep breath.
She hurriedly donned her martial robe and straightened her front.
"Absorbing it?"
"Yes. I've guided it to the dantian for absorption."
"Well done. That it? Nothing else?"
"Yes. Thank you, Grove Lord."
I rose from my spot, and Tang Sohye stood too, posture impeccably polite.
"Yao Fox White Silk Fang, huh? What's that made from?"
"Gallbladder of an aged fox, and silkworm husks from a specific region in Yunnan."
"Impressive. You lot crafting elixirs from stuff like that? Legends. Anyway, let me know when that's fully absorbed. Anytime works."
"Yes, Grove Lord."
With her answer, I turned and left the Tang Medicine Hall.
Even so, as I walked out, her snowy-white back and the nape peeking through her short hair flashed in my mind.
Wow. Seriously. How does that pop up right away? Total uncle vibes. Tragic.
Shaking off those thoughts, I hurried back to my residence.
And as always, pulled Seolha and Yeonha into my arms.
More fiercely than usual.