Inscribing the Rune: Birth of the Miracle Chwi-ryeong-dan
Several days had passed since the rune-inscribed Chwi-ryeong-dan.
The atmosphere on the Moomyeongbang had completely shifted after Baek Cheong's guide on multi-spell deployment swept through. The Dou users no longer mocked her as a "Core Formation old monster."
Instead, a consensus had formed that she was a mad, vicious Qi Refining genius with bizarre ingenuity and freakish intellect. Of course, that didn't mean anyone revered or praised Baek Cheong.
Her history of polluting the boards and spiking cultivators' blood pressure hadn't vanished, so labels like "person of interest" and "troublemaker" stuck firmly. But the culprit herself, Baek Cheong, had no time to bask in the shifted public opinion on Moomyeongbang.
"The flames are too wild! Hold your breath and track the energy flow!"
Gok Elder's thunderous command echoed through the pill refining room. Baek Cheong wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead, standing guard before the furnace. Her dream of a free gallery-lurking life had once again sunk deep into the hellish swamp of pill-refining tutoring.
The root of this crisis was a single offhand question Baek Cheong had tossed out days ago.
"Gok Grandpa, are there rune-inscribed versions of low-grade Chwi-ryeong-dan too?"
It stemmed from her pure(?) desire to rapidly gather spiritual energy, break through realms, and post illustrations freely. But that question became a massive catalyst igniting the pill refiner's soul.
"Inscribing a rune on a 1st Circle low-grade pill... Heh heh, what a fresh and ingenious perspective."
Gok Elder stroked his goatee, eyes sparkling. 1st Circle low-grade pills were commonplace consumables even Qi Refining scrubs popped. What lunatic pill refiner would pour blood, sweat, and massive energy into rune-inscribing such a generic item? It was pointless labor with no payoff, a waste of time.
But the quirky idea from this overflowing genius was enough to pique a master refiner's curiosity.
"Indeed, if we can inscribe a rune on a basic 1st Circle low-grade Chwi-ryeong-dan, that might truly approach the essence of pill refining. Cheong-ah, why don't you prove it yourself?"
From that day, Baek Cheong's sole task was forging Chwi-ryeong-dan. Gone were the glorious days of flaunting her talent with mid-grade 1st Circle pills like Su-hwa-dan or Ji-hyeol-dan. From dawn to dusk, she stuffed nothing but Hwang-gi roots and Cheong-sim grass into the furnace.
Of course, for Baek Cheong—who'd effortlessly handled up to mid-grade 1st Circle pills—making basic Chwi-ryeong-dan was child's play, doable with eyes closed. After days of repetition, she reached the realm of casually producing geukpum-grade ones.
"Am I a genius after all?"
Baek Cheong smirked at the freshly forged geukpum Chwi-ryeong-dan. But Gok Elder's verdict was merciless.
"It's a flawless geukpum without a speck of impurity, but no rune. Do it again."
Baek Cheong pouted and sat back before the furnace. Producing geukpum was worlds apart from manifesting a rune. Geukpum just meant burning away all impurities cleanly, but a rune was a mystical phenomenon where the herbs' innate vitality and heaven-earth energy wove perfectly onto the pill's surface without loss.
Hundreds of furnace runs yielded no rune. Frustrated, Baek Cheong sought advice.
"Gok Grandpa, how on earth do you make a rune appear? My flame control is perfect, impurities fully removed—why won't it show?"
Gok Elder cleared his throat and clasped hands behind his back.
"Runes don't form by force. You refine the heat tirelessly over days, waiting with sincerity for the moment herbs and energy unite."
Sincerity and waiting? To Baek Cheong craving a clear answer, it only amplified her frustration. She pursed her lips and trudged back to her residence.
"Ugh, why do all these boomers explain things that way?"
After washing her weary body, she flopped onto the bed and logged straight into Moomyeongbang. If Gok Elder wouldn't spill, the horde of cultivators there would yield answers faster. She typed [Rune] into the info board search bar.
A flood of posts poured out.
Amid the daunting titles, one familiar post caught her eye.
Baek Cheong's face twisted as she read.
"What the hell is this?"
These were words she'd blabbered herself, but with someone else's logical commentary and annotations, they felt like alien tongue. Deploying arrays inside a furnace? Rotating via Taiji principles? For a 4-star Qi Refining girl like her, it was impossibly advanced insight, beyond comprehension or application.
"Is this real pill-refining genius?"
Only then did Baek Cheong grasp the harsh reality. Dou(553.24) had turned her nonsense into a miracle because they were a true pill-refining prodigy. She could hack geukpum with shallow knowledge and vast mental energy manipulation, but she hadn't grasped pill refining's profound truths.
"I wrote it, and now I'm stuck on my own post."
Baek Cheong stomped in injustice. She pored over Dou(553.24)'s guide dozens of times, scrutinizing replies from other refiners. But digesting the esoteric theory with her meager knowledge was impossible.
Finally, she ditched the tough theory, cherry-picking intuitive bits, and brainstormed her own rune method. She dragged out paper and brush from her room's corner, scribbling wildly from Moomyeongbang theories.
[Harden the herb surface via sudden temperature shifts.]
[Instead of metal energy carving, clump impurities with earth energy to settle them.]
[To preserve vitality, drape water energy like dew in the final condensation stage.]
She pieced together compatible snippets from other Dou, blending them into Gok Elder's basic flame control to forge her own hacky refining method.
"Theory established."
The next day, Baek Cheong dove into bizarre experiments in the pill room.
"Cheong-ah! The flames are too fierce! The herbs will burn!"
"It's fine! Just lightly scorching the surface for coating!"
"Coating? What nonsense is that?!"
Ignoring Gok Elder's shocked protests, she stubbornly pushed her hack method. Black smoke billowed from the furnace, explosions rocked the room dozens of times a day. Her geukpum assembly-line skill vanished; piles of ash and shit-brown failures mounted.
Gok Elder just clicked his tongue, watching her reckless challenge. But Baek Cheong didn't quit. Mobilizing her 15 mighty mental energies, she meticulously recorded and analyzed every failure's energy shifts inside the furnace. Optimal timing for water draping to preserve vitality? Flame temp threshold for surface hardening? Brutal repetition and mental prowess whittled down the error margin.
Thus, nearly a month flew by in desperate trials and errors. Baek Cheong's face was smeared black with soot, her silk robes caked in ash long ago.
This time, it feels right.
She focused intently on the furnace. Hwang-gi roots and Cheong-sim grass melted in the flames, exuding clear essence.
Now!
Baek Cheong drew water-attributed energy from her dantian, shoving it into the furnace. Cool moisture settled like dew on the bubbling essence, forming a thin film. She spiked fire-attributed heat to harden the surface. Suppressed clashing energies with earth attribute, then infused wood attribute's vitality to finalize the form.
Wooong.
A pleasant vibration hummed from the furnace, wafting a pure, profound pill fragrance—clearer and richer than any Chwi-ryeong-dan before.
"Open it."
Gok Elder, watching beside her, urged in a tense voice. Baek Cheong cautiously slid open the lid. At the bottom lay a single, round Chwi-ryeong-dan glowing softly blue. And on its surface gleamed a vivid silver rune, flowing like graceful clouds.
"It appeared... it appeared!"
Baek Cheong snatched the pill, jumping and cheering. Amid countless failures and ashes, she'd succeeded in her own way: a rune-inscribed Chwi-ryeong-dan.
"This is truly..."
Gok Elder examined the pill with trembling hands. Even to a master refiner, a rune on a 1st Circle low-grade pill was unbelievable.
"A method wildly deviant from orthodoxy yields such excellence... Cheong-ah, your genius topples this old man's lifetime of knowledge."
He let out a hollow laugh laced with profound praise.
Now I can stuff my spiritual energy full blast!
But Baek Cheong ignored the praise entirely. Saliva pooled at her mouth thinking of devouring the rune pill, filling her dantian, and hurling illustrations onto Moomyeongbang.
"Hehe."