Chapter 110: Alchemy Master (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 110: Alchemy Master (2)
Seo-jun closed his eyes and rested his hand atop the cauldron. He extended his Qi sensing. Instantly, the internal state of the cauldron mapped itself out in his mind, as clear as if he were holding the contents in his bare hands.
The Five Elements Formation was already etched into his memory. All he had to do now was use his internal energy to guide the Qi within the pill and trace the pattern.
Normally, an alchemist would have to match the timing intervals precisely, but Seo-jun couldn't care less about that.
The reason for those strict intervals was simple: if one failed to follow the natural circulation cycle of the Five Elements Formation, the flow of Qi would shatter, ruining the pill. However, that wasn't an issue if one could just forcefully control the flow itself.
It was just that humans capable of such a monstrous feat were exceedingly rare. Thus, ordinary alchemists had to rely on precise timing.
Seo-jun, however, was the exception to every rule.
Because he could draw the Five Elements Formation without worrying about timing, his progress was incomparably faster than anyone else's.
'This is easy.'
The corners of Seo-jun’s mouth curled up into a slight smirk.
* * *
Namgung Yeong-bo watched Seo-jun for a moment before quickly losing interest.
While it was true he held some expectations for the young master—given the boy was someone who could casually whip up martial arts on the level of Divine Arts—those expectations didn't extend to him actually succeeding at alchemy.
He had merely hoped that by looking at alchemy from a fresh outsider's perspective, the boy might provide a clue for a breakthrough. To put it simply, he was hoping for a moment of realization triggered by a naive question like, "Can't we just do it this way?" which might lead to an epiphany of, "Oh? That direction might actually work."
Aside from the fact that both involved manipulating Qi, martial arts and alchemy shared almost nothing in common.
'I should get back to what I was doing.'
As Namgung Yeong-bo prepared to leave, the expressions of the two women nearby caught his eye.
Lady Namgung Su-ah looked as if she were clinging to a sliver of hope. Beside her, the woman named Chun-bong was staring blankly at the young master.
The contrast was striking enough that Namgung Yeong-bo halted his steps.
'Hmm, since things have turned out like this, shouldn't I rest a bit while I watch?'
Succumbing to the temptation of Mara in an instant, Namgung Yeong-bo plopped down onto the floor.
It wasn't like the heavens would fall if they were delayed by a day or two. A little rest wouldn't hurt.
Of course, the other alchemists weren't allowed to slack off, but he was the Hall Master. If they had a problem with it, they could become the Hall Master themselves.
A tiny sliver of conscience named 'impatience' nagged at him, but he had been in this game far too long to feel pain from such minor lashes.
A sweet, long-overdue break.
Namgung Yeong-bo’s expression softened into a blissful smile.
* * *
Chun-bong watched Seo-jun with a flat expression.
She had no particular knowledge of alchemy. Consequently, she didn't really understand what this refining process entailed.
However, there was one thing she knew for certain.
'It's about manipulating Qi?'
If so, then there was no reason to doubt the outcome. She could say that with absolute certainty.
Unless it was something that transcended his level entirely, there was nothing her brother couldn't do with Qi.
This was Lee Seo-jun, a man who used to play cat's cradle with internal energy back when he was only in the Peak Realm.
The alchemy method was too complex? Well, unless it involved manipulating the natural energy of the world itself, it would be more surprising if he couldn't pull it off.
And then—
"Oh, finished."
Seo-jun, who had been sitting with his eyes closed, lifted his hand off the cauldron.
Namgung Yeong-bo, who had been lounging on the floor, let out a hollow chuckle.
'I suppose even a martial arts genius has his limits...'
He hadn't expected much, but since he’d harbored a tiny sliver of hope deep down, he couldn't help but feel a bitter taste of disappointment.
"It wasn't easy, was it?" Namgung Yeong-bo asked.
"Uh... yeah. Well..."
"It's a field quite different from martial arts, so it's only natural that you'd fail."
Namgung Yeong-bo dusted off his backside and stood up, approaching the cauldron. Since Seo-jun was a young master of the clan, the Hall Master had a few flattering words loaded and ready to soothe his ego.
"Oh, but to have achieved even this much is...? Huh?"
Inside the cauldron, the medicinal ingredients had solidified evenly. Their volume was slowly shrinking, coalescing into several perfect lumps.
Namgung Yeong-bo swallowed hard.
"T-That's impressive. For them to clump together into pills on their own like this means the finishing touches were quite clean... Hmm..."
What was this? Why was it so clean? It looked as if he had actually succeeded.
The situation was so absurdly unexpected that Namgung Yeong-bo’s thoughts momentarily tangled into a knot.
'There's no way he succeeded...'
Alchemy was, above all else, extremely sensitive to time. For a spiritual medicine like the Heaven-Man Divine Elixir, even a single second's deviation would render all previous efforts futile.
In the young master's case, the time spent was far too short—barely a tenth of what was required. Regardless of skill, a spiritual medicine couldn't possibly be crafted properly with the time shortened that drastically.
'Did he just finish the final processing neatly?'
Namgung Yeong-bo dazedly picked up a pill.
It was a perfectly smooth sphere. When he took a light sniff, the medicinal scent was flawlessly balanced.
It wasn't too soft, nor too hard, and above all, the faint blue flow of Qi that had formed on the surface connected seamlessly.
It looked exactly like the completed Heaven-Man Divine Elixir Namgung Yeong-bo had always envisioned in his dreams.
"Huh?"
Namgung Yeong-bo’s hands trembled.
With frantic, desperate movements, he split the pill open.
The interior was perfectly uniform without a single lump. The flow of Qi that burst out the moment the pill broke was not just delicate—it was chillingly precise.
"Uh... uh...?"
Namgung Yeong-bo looked at Seo-jun with quivering eyes.
Seo-jun looked back at him with a puzzled expression.
"Is something wrong?"
"Is this... the Heaven-Man... Divine Elixir...?"
"Is it the Heaven-Man Divine Elixir? Wasn't that the recipe I was following?" Seo-jun asked, tilting his head.
"Ugh...?"
"Pardon?"
"Uh, uh-huh..."
"Excuse me...?"
Suddenly, Namgung Yeong-bo froze like a statue.
Seo-jun genuinely began to worry about him. He wondered if the old man had finally lost his mind due to severe overwork.
He wasn't entirely wrong.
"KYAAAAAAAH...!!!"
Namgung Yeong-bo shrieked, suddenly jumping up and down on the spot like a madman.
Yang Song-baek, who had been watching him from the corner of his eye, was horrified. "H-Hall Master! Even if you pretend to be crazy, you can't get out of work!"
"It's a vacation...!!!"
"Even if you've actually gone mad, you can't!"
"What are you all doing?! Pack your bags! It's a vacation!"
"This is bad..."
A moment later, Yang Song-baek was also jumping up and down alongside Namgung Yeong-bo.
"V-Vacation...!!"
Soon, every single member of the Heavenly Medicine Hall was so overjoyed they were practically flying around the room.
"V-Vacation...! Vacation...!!"
"Is it really a vacation...?"
"It's a vacation...!!"
Watching them, Seo-jun’s expression twisted strangely. He turned to Su-ah. "Sister, you're not actually treating these people like slaves, are you...?"
"I don't think so...?"
If that were the case, even liberated slaves wouldn't be this happy...
Seo-jun was seriously concerned for their well-being.
* * *
Namgung Yeong-bo, the liberated slave, shouted at the top of his lungs.
"I love you, Young Master!"
"I prefer women, though...?"
"I don't mind!"
"No, I do...?"
Seo-jun was appalled, but Namgung Yeong-bo continued to grin from ear to ear.
"Hahaha! I believed in you from the start! I should have asked for your advice sooner! This fellow Yang Song-baek kept saying it was impossible!"
"Haha! You're right, Hall Master! It's all my fault!" Yang Song-baek chimed in.
"Exactly, exactly! Hahaha!"
Seo-jun, staring blankly at the celebrating duo, asked, "But the recipe hasn't changed, so isn't the situation exactly the same as before?"
Silence.
All cheering stopped instantly.
Have you ever seen a human being deny reality after having all hope violently snatched away right before their eyes?
Seo-jun felt like he could finally nod in understanding.
The sight of them exchanging hollow stares with bloodshot eyes, unable to utter a single word, was downright eerie.
It was a sight so pitiful that even the great Seo-jun couldn't hide his sympathy. He quickly added, "I think I can simplify the recipe too."
That day, Seo-jun became a god.
* * *
The refining process of the Heaven-Man Divine Elixir was akin to sorcery.
While harmoniously weaving the medicinal ingredients together, the alchemist had to use internal energy to draw a Five Elements Formation made of pure Qi inside the pill.
However, that Five Elements Formation was so incredibly complex that the process of placing and weaving the energies drawn from the ingredients into their respective spots was nearly impossible for a normal human.
Furthermore, if the formation wasn't drawn with precise timing intervals, the flow would shatter, resulting in a completely ruined pill.
In Seo-jun's case, he forcefully controlled the flow itself, so it wasn't an issue for him. But there weren't many people in the world who could replicate that feat.
So, Seo-jun simplified the entire process.
He kept the placement of the Five Elements exactly as they were, but he optimized the flow of Qi connecting them. Precise timing was still important, but since the process itself had become streamlined, refining the pill was vastly easier than before.
Even so, the difficulty remained so high that even a master like Namgung Yeong-bo couldn't easily guarantee success.
"Why can't they do this?"
Seo-jun was genuinely curious, but wondering about their incompetence didn't solve anything.
In the end, Seo-jun drew upon his past experiences to create an entirely new martial art.
Its name was the 'Heaven-Man Divine Elixir Art.'
He had named it haphazardly. The name wasn't what mattered.
The Heaven-Man Divine Elixir Art was heavily inspired by the Thirteen Lightning Sword Forms he had created previously. To put it simply, it was a technique that allowed one to draw the Five Elements Formation of the Heaven-Man Divine Elixir inside a pill just by following the instructions on autopilot.
A week after handing over the manual containing the oral chants and explanations to Namgung Yeong-bo...
The Hall Master visited Seo-jun with a face full of radiant smiles.
"Hahaha! We succeeded, Young Master!"
"Oh, so is it vacation time now?"
"Hehehe...! That's right! I don't plan on stepping foot outside my house for several months!"
Greatly excited, Namgung Yeong-bo continued, his lips twitching with uncontainable joy. "This is a tremendous achievement, Young Master! I've already informed the Family Head, so there will definitely be a reward. And above all, you will be the first to receive the Heaven-Man Divine Elixir!"
"Ah, right. Come to think of it, you said the ingredients aren't that rare, right? Does that mean we can mass-produce them now?"
"Not quite! While the ingredients themselves aren't extremely rare, it takes over seven years to process and treat them with medicine, so mass production is still difficult."
However, since there were quite a few batches of ingredients that had already finished processing, they could produce the required amount immediately.
Once that was done, he would truly be a free man.
'Finally...!'
What had started as his own boastful undertaking had dragged on for over ten years. It was Namgung Yeong-bo’s own karma, but because of that heavy burden, now that everything was resolved, the sense of liberation was so immense he felt as if his body might float right up into the sky.
"My vacation starts now, but if you ever need me for anything, please call me at any time...! If the Young Master calls, I'll come running even if I'm in the middle of a bath, stark naked...!"
"No, I'd prefer it if you put some clothes on first."
"Then I shall dress in haste and come...!"
Namgung Yeong-bo looked ready to jump into a pit of fire if Seo-jun truly wished it.
Seo-jun chuckled at the sight, then asked as a new thought occurred to him.
"About the Heaven-Man Divine Elixir. Can I make my own?"
"Of course! If it's not too much trouble for you, Young Master, you are more than welcome to!"
"Is that so?"
"Yes! I'll let you know as soon as the preparations are ready!"
If that were the case, what he was thinking might actually be possible.
Twisting the Five Elements of the Heaven-Man Divine Elixir to defy the natural order. That would be a Reverse Five Elements, and thus, Heaven-Defying.
If he were to name the spiritual medicine created that way, would it be the Heaven-Man Demonic Elixir, or perhaps the Heavenly Demon Divine Elixir?
If it could be made exactly as he imagined... he might be able to use the Heaven-Defying Sun-Moon Astral Qi much more easily in his daily life.
Furthermore, it might be the first step toward reaching a realm beyond the Super Peak—something entirely new, neither the Transcendent Realm nor the Extreme Demon. A realm never before trodden by man...
Seo-jun’s mind raced with endless possibilities.
* * *
Meanwhile, in the Family Head's hall of the Namgung Clan.
A man glared at Namgung Jin-cheon with icy eyes. Namgung Jin-cheon, the recipient of the hostile gaze, showed no particular reaction.
At that, the man’s face contorted in rage as he shouted, "Family Head...! Do my words mean nothing to you? This is an act that outright denies the history of the Namgung Clan! It could even pose a problem for the legitimacy of the successor! How could you perform such an act on your own authority?!"
"Grand-uncle, is that what's truly important...?"
The furious man was Namgung Jin-cheon’s grand-uncle—his grandfather’s brother. In other words, he was an elder of immense standing within the clan.
Namgung Hyeok simply could not understand this situation.
The Emperor Sword Form was a supreme technique that even he hadn't mastered. The fact that a direct descendant who wasn't the official successor had learned it was already a grave matter, but to teach the Emperor Sword Form to an outsider?
One would have to be completely insane to commit such an act.
"Then what is important?!"
"Family... My family... Is a mere martial art more important than family...?" Namgung Jin-cheon replied calmly.
"Family! Yes, of course it's important! But that and the Emperor Sword Form are completely separate matters! You know that as well as I do!"
"I have no desire to continue this argument..." Namgung Jin-cheon’s voice dropped, carrying a chilling weight. "However, I will give you one warning... Do not touch my family."
"Family Head!" Namgung Hyeok stormed up from his seat. "Are you saying that I, Namgung Hyeok, am not the Family Head's family? No. Fine, I suppose that's possible. Since we've only seen each other's faces a few times, I have nothing to say to that. But to threaten your own grand-uncle?! Do you intend to take my head if I touch the Family Head's family?"
"If necessary..."
"Hah...!" Namgung Hyeok squeezed his eyes shut, trembling with fury, before opening them to glare daggers at Namgung Jin-cheon. "I will say one last thing. A son-in-law is ultimately an outsider. You will surely regret this."
"That won't happen..."
Namgung Jin-cheon smiled faintly.
"My son-in-law's contributions are by no means smaller than the Emperor Sword Form... Especially when considering the future..."
They were more than enough to serve as justification.