Defying the Heavens – The Inscribed Five Elements Pill
Baek Cheong stared at the ominous Heavenly Tribulation clouds, her small chest pounding so fiercely it felt like it might burst. The mere fact that her careless ramblings had led to the creation of a Reverse Heaven Pill capable of summoning such a calamity left her utterly unsettled.
What the hell did he forge with the pill refinement method I taught him?
In the moment when everyone held their breath, eyes fixed on the sky, the violently swirling black tribulation clouds suddenly halted their rotation with a jolt. From the eye of the storm-like circular void, lightning bolts intertwined like serpents, condensing into a single mass.
BOOM!
A deafening roar that shook heaven and earth erupted as a massive bolt of lightning plunged toward the ground. The bolt struck precisely where Gok Elder was secluded in his pill refinement chamber.
With a blinding flash, the roof of the chamber shattered into pieces, debris flying in all directions.
"Gok Elder!"
Baek Muyoung cried out urgently, his body lurching forward, but Baek Mu-ae extended an arm to hold him back.
"Don't go any closer. If you step into the domain of the Heavenly Tribulation, you'll get struck too. This is karma that Gok must overcome on his own."
As the thick dust and smoke settled, the horrific sight of the half-destroyed pill refinement chamber came into view. Amid the wreckage stood Gok Elder, his robe torn to shreds and his face charred black. Yet his eyes burned sharper than the lightning itself.
In his utterly disheveled state, Gok Elder stood tall, spreading his arms wide toward the tribulation clouds in the sky.
"The pill script is no longer the domain of Heaven!!!"
His thunderous roar, bellowing from his aged body, shook the Baek family estate. It was an arrogant, heaven-defying declaration that humans could inscribe pill scripts—something only heaven itself could bestow—through mortal power alone.
The gathered retainers gasped in shock at the blasphemous cry, mouths agape. As if enraged by Gok Elder's provocation, the heavens boiled with even fiercer lightning in the tribulation clouds.
RUMBLE!
A second bolt of tribulation lightning reared its head before crashing down immediately. It targeted the glowing pill cauldron at Gok Elder's feet—the will of heaven seeking to destroy the Reverse Heaven Pill within.
"Heaven!"
Gok Elder refused to yield even before the overwhelming pressure of the tribulation. Instead, he glared fiercely and lifted the pill cauldron with both hands.
"Are you afraid of defying heaven?!"
With Gok Elder's shout, the second bolt slammed mercilessly into the cauldron's surface. A flash so intense it could blind struck, its shockwave rippling out to the training grounds and staggering the retainers.
Baek Cheong squeezed her eyes shut, shielding her face with her arms as she huddled behind Baek Mu-ae.
As the glare faded, they saw Gok Elder still standing firm. His arms, scorched black from the lightning's impact, dripped blood, but the raised cauldron held its form intact.
Flash!
BOOM!
But heaven drove in the wedge with a third bolt in quick succession. This one dwarfed the previous two combined in size and destructive power.
The moment the lightning hammered the cauldron, even Gok Elder couldn't hold, vomiting blood and dropping to one knee.
"Urk...!"
His body tumbled to the ground, the cauldron clanging loudly as it rolled away. Yet perhaps heaven's wrath was sated. After unleashing three bolts, the tribulation clouds visibly calmed, beginning to dissipate.
Warm sunlight pierced through the parting dark clouds, illuminating the ruined pill chamber. Then, cracks began to spiderweb across the fallen cauldron.
Crack.
Deep fissures formed on its surface, which had endured three bolts with its body, before it split cleanly in half with a sharp snap.
From the shattered gap poured a dense, iridescent pill fragrance unlike any they'd ever smelled, enveloping the area in an instant. Just inhaling it made their dantians writhe as Qi Gatherers, meridians expand, and souls feel purified—an illusory bliss.
From the ashes within the broken cauldron, a cluster of radiant multicolored light bloomed, revealing the elegant form of the spirit pill at its center.
"Th-the Five Elements Pill!"
A trembling voice shattered the silence. Nestled in the ashes was unmistakably the Five Elements Pill, hailed as Gok Elder's masterpiece.
But it was on another level from the one Baek Cheong had consumed. Its surface gleamed with iridescent multicolored hues, densely etched with mysterious silver cloud patterns swirling with lightning strikes.
"He inscribed... pill script on a Five Elements Pill."
Even Baek Mu-ae muttered in disbelief at the impossible sight.
Having artificially inscribed pill script—something heaven forbade—onto a heaven-defying pill that forcibly grew O-yeong-geun aptitude, it was no wonder heaven had raged with tribulation.
"Truly... a Reverse Heaven feat."
A never-before-seen divine pill, the genuine article worthy of the name Reverse Heaven, had been born.
As everyone held their breath in rapture, admiring the inscribed Five Elements Pill, Gok Elder staggered to his feet from the ground.
With bloodied hands, he carefully lifted the pill script Five Elements Pill and placed it tenderly into a prepared ornate jade box. Then, with unsteady steps, he pushed through the crowd toward one person—Baek Cheong, frozen in place.
"G-Gok Grandpa..."
Seeing Baek Cheong's genuine worry, Gok Elder smiled kindly through his charred face.
"It's thanks to you, Cheong-ah. If you hadn't shown me a new path, I'd have spent my life waiting for heaven's bestowed pill scripts at the right times and seasons."
With trembling hands, he handed the jade box containing the pill script Five Elements Pill to Baek Cheong.
"So this pill was made solely for you."
The weight of the jade box in her arms felt like a thousand tons. She'd just witnessed the tribulation's might firsthand.
"N-no! How could I accept something this precious? You risked your life and endured Heavenly Tribulation to make it. It's way too much for me!"
As Baek Cheong stubbornly refused, Gok Elder burst into hearty laughter.
"Now that I've grasped the principles of this new refinement method, I can produce even monthly-grade pills not as a quasi-Fifth Realm refiner, but as a true Fifth Realm one without issue. And with further pursuit, I've reached the level to inscribe scripts on Fourth Realm pills. What's one scriptless, ungraded pill like the inscribed Five Elements Pill compared to that?"
His words brimmed with the confidence and leisure of a grandmaster who had opened new horizons in pill refinement. With his skills advanced, he could recreate even Fourth Realm inscribed pills anytime he wished—not just the Five Elements Pill—so she needn't worry.
Only then did Baek Cheong clutch the jade box tightly and hesitantly speak.
"But Gok Grandpa... you said before that taking Five Elements Pills multiple times irks heaven and isn't good. This one even has pill script, so heaven must be watching it closely. What if I eat it and get marked, drawing tribulation?"
At her innocent concern, Gok Elder laughed heartily once more.
"The karma of defying heaven with this pill—didn't I and the pill pay it in full with our bodies under the lightning? We've already endured the tribulation, so the sin won't extend to you upon consumption."
Baek Cheong let out a sigh of relief.
"Then... should I take it now?"
She cautiously asked how to handle the precious inscribed Five Elements Pill.
Her grandfather, who had been watching nearby, approached with a complicated expression.
"Even if the karma is cleansed, it's a Reverse Heaven Pill tempered by Heavenly Tribulation. Whether a Qi Refining body can withstand its potency and might is uncertain. It could rupture your meridians or overwhelm your spiritual roots, turning you into a cripple. We must proceed with caution."
As her grandfather warned sternly, Gok Elder nodded in agreement.
"The Baek fellow is right. Even I can't guarantee the inscribed Five Elements Pill's power. We'll stand guard as your protectors, so let's set a proper auspicious day."
Baek Mu-ae nodded and gently stroked his granddaughter's head.
"Indeed. The estate is in chaos today from Gok's tribulation, and the qi is murky. A few days from now, on an auspicious day, take it before us. If anything goes awry, we'll assist."
Baek Cheong nodded obediently, pushing aside her disappointment. It wasn't urgent, so no need to rush.
"Yes, Grandfather. I'll hold out and wait patiently."
Meanwhile, she anticipated escaping her fake Heavenly Spiritual Root upon consuming the inscribed Five Elements Pill. Her small chest swelled with excited anticipation.
Suddenly, she recalled that a dominant spiritual root overshadowed others, suppressing their presence. But she had no idea how this would affect the growth of her Five Elements Spiritual Roots.
It'll be fine.
With two Gold Core elders as protectors in this overly generous honor, any worry vanished.