Grand Scheme at the Family Banquet
Baek Mujin, the family head with grand ambitions, held a modest welcome feast for his daughter and younger brother upon their return from a brief outing. The inner hall was laid out with exquisite delicacies from land and sea, and Gok Elder, finding himself with some free time, joined the gathering as well.
"So, did you enjoy sightseeing in the outer districts?"
"...Yes, it was a valuable experience."
"I heard from your uncle that you've broken through to five stars?"
"...I was just lucky."
"Good. Keep building your foundation like that, and reaching Core Formation should be smooth sailing."
"...I'll keep that in mind."
As her father asked with a pleased smile, Baek Cheong forced the corners of her mouth upward and nodded. Normally, she would have played the part of the demure, lovely daughter, but her mind had been elsewhere—devouring the fascinating posts on Moomyeongbang during the journey home. She was dying to bolt to her room and dive into some serious gallery trolling right now.
Fortunately, her uncle jumped in excitedly to save the day.
"Brother, that Manseong Pavilion auction was truly spectacular. The Five Elements Pill crafted by Elder Gok ended up in the hands of the Heaven-Rending Sword Sovereign himself!"
"Really?"
Baek Mujin's eyes widened at the news. Gok Elder, mid-sip of his tea, set down his cup with evident interest.
"Have I ever lied to you, brother? And that's not all..."
Baek Muyeong vividly recounted the Heaven-Rending Sword Sovereign's overwhelming bid and the extra sword manual illustration he had thrown in on top.
"Haha, for the Heaven-Rending Sword Sovereign to claim my humble work—truly an honor."
Gok Elder stroked his goatee modestly. But Baek Muyeong's real point was just beginning.
"And the Inscription Qi Gathering Pill that Elder Gok specially bestowed for Cheong's training! I committed the grave discourtesy of auctioning that precious item at Baekgeum Pavilion without your permission. Yet the impact has been tremendous—the Baek Family Merchant Group's reputation soars by the day, and everyone is praising you, Elder Gok."
"...An Inscription Qi Gathering Pill."
Gok Elder's thick brows twitched faintly at the unfamiliar tale. He glanced sideways at Baek Cheong, who was hanging her head like a criminal in silence. But he didn't call out the truth to scold her. Instead, he chuckled heartily and played along with Baek Muyeong's tune.
"It was just a whim, a bit of idle tinkering. You've overhyped it too much, Pavilion Master Baek—mere Qi Gathering Pills with a simple inscription."
Baek Mujin was deeply moved by Gok Elder's transcendent humility, downplaying his own feat as trivial.
"I don't know how to thank you for your boundless pill-refining spirit and profound generosity. Come, a toast to Elder Gok's health and the Baek Family's prosperity!"
The welcome feast warmed up, and the adults' conversation stretched on. Baek Cheong seized the moment to slip away and log into Moomyeongbang—but as she scanned her surroundings, her eyes met Gok Elder's. The usual kindly gaze was gone, replaced by a meaningfully piercing stare.
Tomorrow at the pill room, I'm not even gonna leave with my bones intact.
Cold sweat trickled down her spine at that look. She instinctively sensed the horrific pill-refining hell awaiting her wouldn't be a walk in the park. With a resigned inner sigh, she averted her eyes—bracing for a gallery drought—and began madly drafting nonsense posts for Moomyeongbang.
She's lost in thought again.
Meanwhile, Baek Muyeong mulled over what the Heaven-Rending Sword Sovereign had said. A genius who grasped the sword manual's essence in one glance and attained sword intent. He feared whether the narrow confines of the Yeonha Baek Family could contain such immense talent.
For now, we can hide her under the family's protection, but as time passes, word of Cheong's gifts will inevitably spread. Then the vultures will swarm.
Deeming it premature but planning ahead, he resolved to fortify the family's backbone. And the surest way to strengthen the Baek pillar was for his brother, the family head, to shatter the Core Formation Great Perfection wall and ascend to Gold Core.
"Brother, now that you've reached Great Perfection, why not enter secluded cultivation immediately to prepare for Gold Core?"
Baek Muyeong raised his cup to Baek Mujin, his resolve firm. Baek Mujin paused at his sudden brother's urging and set down his cup.
"With mountains of family affairs piling up, how could I focus solely on my own training? It's not the right time yet."
But Baek Muyeong pressed on.
"Leave the affairs to me—I'll handle them alongside the merchant group. Cheong's talents are blooming by the day. When she spreads her wings in the future, the Baek Family must be her sturdy shield. For that, you as family head need to establish Gold Core authority. Only then can Yeonha Baek lay the cornerstone for a millennium-long foundation."
Baek Mujin hesitated again at his brother's earnest plea, centered on his daughter. He gazed at Cheong, blankly staring into space, and toyed with his cup. After a long silence, torn between paternal duty and personal ambition, he finally spoke heavily.
"Once these talks with the Biun Sect wrap up... I'll entrust all affairs to you and enter seclusion."
The hall erupted in cheers at Baek Mujin's declaration of his Gold Core challenge. Baek Muyeong, thrilled by the breakthrough amid stalled progress, raised his cup high. The feast reached fever pitch, filled with laughter late into the night.
The next morning, Baek Cheong dragged her feet toward the pill room like a cow led to slaughter. Pushing open the door, she found Gok Elder standing with hands clasped behind his back before the furnace, awaiting her.
"So, did you have fun trading on this old man's name again?"
Baek Cheong shrank at the rebuke, unable to muster a defense.
"I racked my brains all night on how to punish your insolence. Steel yourself from today onward."
Knowing it was coming, she squeezed her eyes shut in resignation—when Gok Elder abruptly thrust a jade vial before her eyes.
"Open it."
With a puzzled look, Baek Cheong took the vial and uncorked it. Inside lay a single Inscription Qi Gathering Pill, identical in form to the ones she'd made. Faint silver inscription runes writhed on its surface.
She hadn't made any extras, so this was purely Gok Elder's handiwork.
"This... you made it, Grandpa Gok?"
Baek Cheong asked in astonishment, and Gok Elder's stern face softened into a grin.
"I closely watched those bizarre antics you pulled at the furnace before. Hardening the surface with water subduing fire, then forcibly inscribing by trapping vitality with fire subduing wood—that absurd pill-refining method."
Baek Cheong finally realized he'd grasped and replicated her technique just by observing.
"Inscribing runes artificially, unbound by heaven's timing—this could revolutionize pill refining. However..."
Deep furrows creased Gok Elder's brow.
"The higher the pill's grade, the exponentially trickier it gets. I tried applying your method to a second-tier low-grade Condensation Pill and failed over a dozen times straight. Couldn't suppress the energy clashes at all."
Baek Cheong inwardly stuck out her tongue at his lament. From the Five Elements Pill to the Inscription Qi Gathering Pill—Gok Elder's insight and skill in piercing and mimicking her odd methods were terrifying. Even at Gold Core, he rivaled near-fifth-tier refinement, living up to his title.
At the same time, a brilliant idea struck her to escape pill-refining hell.
With curiosity like that, if I spill the half-baked refining nonsense I blurted out, he won't bother me for a while.
She recalled the meticulously annotated Five Elements pill-refining commentary by Dou (553.24), based on her Moomyeongbang drivel. Though Baek Cheong understood none of the esoteric content, Gok Elder could surely comprehend and master it.
"Grandpa Gok, actually, I came up with another new refining method recently."
Eyes sparkling, Baek Cheong broached the topic for the sake of her gallery marathons. Gok Elder listened intently, deeming it worthwhile from such a brilliant child despite the sudden shift.
"Not just hardening the surface with water subduing fire... but deploying a chaos domain inside the furnace with formations, then rotating the herbs' vitality in taiji orbits to draw heavenly resonance. It might even work for inscribing high-grade pills artificially. I gave up because it was too hard for me, but I bet you could do it, Grandpa Gok."
Baek Cheong recited verbatim from memory the guide post by Dou (553.24) on Moomyeongbang. As she spoke, Gok Elder's eyes bulged and his goatee quivered.
A long-stagnant horizon in pill refining burst open in an instant, shockwaves of enlightenment crashing through him.
"Deploying a chaos domain with formations... rotating vitality in taiji orbits..."
Muttering her words like a madman, Gok Elder bolted to the furnace. The fury over her insolence had long evaporated from his mind.
"Absurd, yet it makes sense... This could work even for high-grade pills artificially..."
In a frenzy, as if devouring the furnace itself, he hurled herbs in and ramped up the flames wildly. His eyes burned with fanatical obsession for the new method alone.
Mission accomplished.
Baek Cheong smirked inwardly from behind and quietly backed away. She'd narrowly escaped plummeting into pill-refining hell. For now, her gallery sessions were secure.