Chapter 60: Jackpot!
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 60: Jackpot!
The Snow Wind Sword Saint, Baek Un-han, feigned ignorance.
-Master, I didn't think you were that kind of person… To think you had a secret stash you never even told me about!
The Cold Snow Demon Queen, Jang So-ryeong, began to pour out a barrage of nagging.
"I told you, I don't even know if it's still there."
-Y-Yeah! It was such a regret that I never got to sell those off!
-Then you should have at least given me a hint!
"Ahem, who are you talking to?"
"You don't need to know."
Currently, Hyeok Ryeon-yeom was walking westward from the Ice Palace, accompanied by the Divine Physician, Seong Yi-han.
"Ugh, if the spiritual herb could be found just by wandering around aimlessly like this, it would have been found long ago!"
"I suppose so."
He couldn't tell the Divine Physician, but he hadn't come out here planning to find a needle in a haystack.
The Sword Venerable’s Secret Cave.
It was uncertain whether a secret cave created three hundred years ago still existed. However, if they could just find it…
You’re sure it’s there, right?
-Yes. I didn't realize it would become a legendary herb, but it was an ingredient I used to eat quite often back in the day.
To think that something he ate often three hundred years ago had now become a legendary medicine. Time was truly heartless.
"Elder Divine Physician, you should consider yourself lucky to be alive thanks to me."
The father-in-law had looked ready to actually kill him. Just how much had the old man embezzled for the Ice Palace Lord to react like that?
"Ahem. I thought I could return after some time had passed, but…"
"Why did you come back to the North Sea despite being treated like that, Elder?"
"Nanman was too hot. I'm sick and tired of the heat now."
"Did you treat people and take their money there as well?"
"I didn't just take money. Others think of me as some kind of saint or immortal, but I have never once provided treatment for free."
A doctor of the Divine Physician's caliber would have treated countless people and gained much in return.
"If you love money so much, Elder, why did you volunteer to check Lady Seol’s pulse for free?"
"The Young Lady was the first patient in my life I couldn't cure. But then, word reached all the way to Nanman—that the Young Lady of the North Sea Ice Palace was showing signs of recovery."
Ah.
Only then did Hyeok Ryeon-yeom realize why the Divine Physician had returned to the North Sea. It must have been out of a physician's pure curiosity to see how a patient he couldn't save had been cured.
"And I also wanted to catch the cool North Sea breeze while I was at it."
"Thanks to that, I've bought some time."
This was the truth. If it weren't for the Divine Physician, he wouldn't have been able to come out looking for ingredients like this.
"Don't be too grateful. I plan to demand something from you as well."
"I haven't received any treatment from you, Elder."
"Am I not treating your future wife?"
"Coming from a quack who can't even cure a person without the right ingredients."
"What?!"
Anyway.
Is it still far?
-Well. It’s been so long that the surrounding scenery all looks the same to me.
It seemed like finding the secret cave by sight alone would be difficult.
-Wasn't there anything memorable nearby?
-There was, but…
What was it?
-Looking at the state of things, it seems to have all disappeared.
Just tell me what it was.
-It was next to a hot spring. I used to enjoy the warm spring water and then rest in the secret cave.
At those words, Hyeok Ryeon-yeom stopped walking. He felt like he had just heard something very strange.
*
At the same time Hyeok Ryeon-yeom’s group was searching for the hot spring.
"I offer my apologies with a deep bow."
The Soft Jade Poison Demon bowed his head to the Ice Palace Lord, Seol Baek-ho. Seol Baek-ho shook his head.
"I know it wasn't the fault of the Poison Demon's son."
"However, I must admit that my son was possessed because his martial prowess was lacking."
Furthermore, if Yayul Jin hadn't brought the Seven Steps Soul Severing Poison, this wouldn't have happened. While it was natural for a demon artist practicing poison arts to carry poison, bringing such a sinister toxin on a joyous day was clearly a mistake.
"Enough. I believe the Third Young Master will save the Young Lady again."
"You seem to place a great deal of trust in the Third Young Master."
"I do. I'm almost grateful to the Heavenly Demon."
Yayul Cheon-woong couldn't help but find Seol Baek-ho's reaction intriguing. Even though he had seen Hyeok Ryeon-yeom's changed appearance, the boy was so night-and-day different from his time in the Demonic Cult that it still didn't feel real.
"More importantly."
Seol Baek-ho's eyes began to glint.
"Do you have anyone in mind who might have orchestrated this?"
Seol Yerin believed that since Hyeok Ryeon-yeom would find a way with the Divine Physician, Seol Baek-ho should do what only he could do. And that task was…
'Catching the culprit.'
A group or organization that poisoned his precious daughter and tried to frame the Demonic Cult for it to drive a wedge between the two powers.
"I judged the masked men to be warriors from the Martial Alliance and the League of Four Tyrants."
"I received that report as well."
"If it wasn't the Martial Alliance or the League of Four Tyrants, we need to find out where those bastards actually came from."
It was definitely sorcery that had controlled Yayul Jin. Or perhaps a type of illusion art. The sects capable of using such techniques were limited.
"A sect that wants to kill the Young Lady while resenting our alliance."
"Hyeok Ryeon-yeom said that when Yayul Jin unleashed his poison art toward the Young Lady, his eyes turned red."
At the mention of the eyes turning red, the Soft Jade Poison Demon, Yayul Cheon-woong, stroked his chin.
"They couldn't be resurfacing, could they?"
"By 'they,' you mean…"
"The Blood Cult."
At Yayul Cheon-woong's words, Seol Baek-ho shook his head.
"It has been over a hundred years since the Blood Cult disappeared."
"It has also been a hundred years since a Martial God of the North Sea last appeared."
Seol Baek-ho's expression stiffened at the Poison Demon's mention of the Martial God.
"It has been said since ancient times that heroes appear in times of chaos."
History proved it. A hundred years ago, two hundred years ago, and three hundred years ago. Every time a Martial God appeared in the North Sea, a Heavenly Demon existed in the Demonic Cult, and…
'The Blood Cult also ran rampant.'
Both Yayul Cheon-woong and Seol Baek-ho knew this fact well.
"Such a thing… must not happen."
Yayul Cheon-woong knew why Seol Baek-ho spoke this way.
"Do not turn a blind eye. You, Palace Lord, should know better than anyone that both of them might have been seen as the favorite prey of the Blood Cult."
In the Jianghu, there were people the Blood Cult targeted every time they rose. Warriors with unique constitutions. The Heavenly Martial Body, the Heavenly Killing Body, the Extreme Yang Body, the Extreme Yin Body, and so on. The fact was that the Blood Cult had always targeted warriors with these special constitutions.
"There is only one way. If the Third Young Master and the Young Lady don't want to be targets, they have no choice but to cure those unique constitutions."
The furrows between Yayul Cheon-woong and Seol Baek-ho's brows began to deepen.
*
A hot spring?
A hot spring is a spring where groundwater is heated by geothermal heat and rises to the surface. It usually refers to water that is warmer than the average temperature of the groundwater.
And such a hot spring existed in the North Sea?
-There used to be many. Soaking your body in the gently rising hot spring water was truly paradise.
It was plausible that they existed three hundred years ago.
Then…
Instead of wandering around like this, it might be faster to dig into the ground and see if groundwater gushed out.
Wait.
The water gushed out?
According to the Sword Venerable, there was a possibility that geysers or similar features existed in this area. That meant there would be a vein of hot spring water flowing toward a geyser beneath this freezing North Sea ground, and that meant…
If I find the geothermal vein of the groundwater, it might lead to where the secret cave is.
Hyeok Ryeon-yeom quickly began to press his face against the ground.
"……."
He felt nothing.
"Is there anything we can help with?"
"Hmm?"
He was pressing his head against the ground with immense concentration.
"When did you get here?"
"Protecting the Young Lady's safety is our job. If there's anything we can do, please tell us!"
The Little Snow Unit had caught up to Hyeok Ryeon-yeom and the Divine Physician, who had set off earlier.
"I've come as well."
Cheon Deung-jin, the Young Palace Lord of Potala, was also there.
"Lady Cheon was with you too."
"What are you looking for with your face against the ground?"
Hyeok Ryeon-yeom debated whether to tell them or not, but after much thought, he spoke up.
"I'm looking for a hot spring."
"A hot spring, all of a sudden?"
"You were looking for something absurd."
The Divine Physician let out a deep sigh after hearing Hyeok Ryeon-yeom's words.
"Did you switch to a hot spring because you thought you couldn't find the herb?"
"I didn't switch. I can't tell you the details, but the location of the herb is related to the hot spring."
He couldn't explain the whole story, but at the word that finding the hot spring would lead to the herb, the members of the Little Snow Unit also began to press their heads against the ground.
A bizarre situation unfolded as the entire Little Snow Unit stuck their heads to the floor to find a hot spring.
"Everyone… has gone mad."
The most bewildered person was the Divine Physician, Seong Yi-han. Even in Nanman, they didn't look for things in such an ignorant way. To begin with, the idea that finding a hot spring would lead to a medicinal herb was nonsense.
The problem was…
'Those kids who believe him so blindly are strange ones too.'
No matter how ignorant the people of the North Sea were, there was a limit.
'Is it because he's from the Demonic Cult?'
Communication was impossible. Since they were the type to act first and think later, they didn't get along with the Divine Physician's temperament.
'Hmm?'
But the strange thing was that he felt a sense of anticipation for some reason. It was clearly visible to the eyes of the Divine Physician, Seong Yi-han.
'Extreme Yang Qi is seeping into the ground.'
He was searching beneath the surface using Extreme Yang Qi to find the hot groundwater below.
'Perhaps…'
He began to harbor the hope that they might actually discover a hot spring.
'No, that's impossible.'
This was the North Sea. The Divine Physician had never once heard of a hot spring bursting forth in the North Sea in his entire life.
He flinched. Just then, Cheon Deung-jin stood up and spoke.
"Captain!"
"Yeah, I think I felt it too."
As Cheon Deung-jin stood up, Hyeok Ryeon-yeom did the same.
Vroooom—
Soon, Extreme Yang Qi began to boil throughout Hyeok Ryeon-yeom's entire body.
'Ugh.'
It was hot. A heat more intense than the sunlight he had felt in Nanman radiated from Hyeok Ryeon-yeom. The Divine Physician took a few steps back.
'What is he planning to do?'
Soon, the Extreme Yang Qi gathered in Hyeok Ryeon-yeom's fist.
"Don't tell me…"
BOOM!
Before he could even finish the thought, Hyeok Ryeon-yeom's fist struck the ground.
Thwack—
The ground was gouged out instantly. The power of the fist, enveloped in immense heat, was staggering.
"A little more!"
BOOM!
"Your fist will break first!"
The Divine Physician tried to stop him in a hurry, but…
"It's fine!"
Vroooom—
The internal energy enveloping his fist, and the Yang Hard Qi Gong layered over that energy.
"Ha."
In all his life, he had never seen anyone manipulate Extreme Yang Qi so skillfully. The speed at which the ground was being excavated was truly marvelous.
"One more time!"
BOOM!
After pounding and pounding like that…
SPLASH!
"Crazy."
Hot spring water began to gush upward.
"Jackpot!"
Looking at the cheering Hyeok Ryeon-yeom, the Divine Physician, Seong Yi-han, reached a realization. It was he himself who had been defining the limits of human potential.