Chapter 9
Chapter 9
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: Small Return Pill
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The night sky was red.
It was because of the massive demonic energy spilling out as the full moon opened wide.
It was a sight he'd have to endure for decades to come, but the man with his gray hair disheveled in wild strands didn't know that yet.
He merely wandered amid the carcass of the gigantic wolf that had flattened the entire mountain—once the seat of Hubei Province's foremost Daoist sect—and the lake of blood it had spilled, occasionally rummaging through chunks of corpses scattered on the ground.
"Master."
His right arm was gone, bitten off by some beast, leaving it hollow. Blood streamed from the untreated stump, trailing his footprints.
"Father."
Spotting a corpse and staggering toward it, the man dropped to his knees on the dirt for a moment.
Not my father—he muttered, head bowed, before rising and walking on.
"Primordial Heavenly Worthy."
How long had he walked? The man growled in a parched voice.
"Primordial Heavenly Worthy."
The supreme deity of Daoism flowed from his lips once more—not as the admiring title other Daoists bandied about like an exclamation, but with the raw weight of calling the being himself.
Gnashing his teeth, fury welled in the man's eyes.
And then.
"An-swer... me!"
His scream erupted like a beast's wail, echoing through heaven and earth.
The young Daoist's cry—elevated to absolute mastery by insights gained in battle against the monstrous wolf—reached beyond the clouds.
Yet no answer came.
Enraged by the cold silence, veins bulged in his neck.
"You... goddamn thing. You filthy son of a bitch. Why? Why did you abandon Father? Master? Why did you let those fools who lived chanting your name alone die?!"
The longer the silence stretched, the fiercer his rage burned, fueled by heartbreak that tore at his guts like snapped ropes.
The shockwaves from his qi-infused roar upheaved the earth, and the heat from his surging inner energy began evaporating the blood pooled around him.
Was ignoring a world plunged into suffering the lofty justice of the heavens?
What were his senior immortals doing up in the Immortal Realm?
Did the gods that Wudang Daoists believed in without doubt even exist?
Crying out to the Supreme Emperor, the Divine Warrior, the Buddha, and the Queen Mother of the West, the man kept demanding answers.
After a long while, a streak of blue lightning flashed far off, splitting the sky.
Rumble! Thunder followed belatedly, unleashing a downpour.
'Ah.'
Standing still as rain like blood soaked him, the man realized.
There was no such thing.
No justice, no sages, no gods... Nothing had ever existed from the start.
He was a Daoist.
But a Daoist was nothing special. They couldn't commune with heaven any more than anyone else, weren't particularly closer to it.
Just ordinary humans arbitrarily assuming some entity overlooked them from above that eternal sky and begging it for answers.
What a foolish thing to do. The thought drew a hollow laugh from him.
Nonexistent gods couldn't have abandoned his sister and father.
Then who?
Who had let them die?
The man slowly lowered his head.
Blood from his shoulder mixed with heaven's rain in a puddle, faintly reflecting a face.
There.
He finally found his answer.
His remaining hand rose toward his bloodshot eyes.
It was the day Hyeonseong lost half his light.
Wudang Sect's Medical Hall.
Gathered there were most of the "Mu" generation disciples, excluding the elders away on excursions—to see Hyeonseong, still unconscious since the yokai battle.
"Heavens. Primordial Heavenly Worthy. How could this happen..."
"They say he blocked the yokai to protect the common folk from harm. If he just wakes up safe, he'll be hailed as Wudang's hero forever."
"I just talked some villagers out of building a shrine to the Little Divine Farmer. Can't have calamity strike just 'cause we put up something for a guy who's not even dead yet."
"Ahem. I've got an idea... Heard there's a Divine Physician practicing medicine in Jiangxi. What if we... kidnap—no, politely invite him here?"
"He's already been kidnapped."
"What? When? By which damn rogue..."
"Dunno. Rumor has it the Beggars' Sect's behind it... Overheard it from Elder Wind-and-Fire Beggar. Didn't pay, so might be bunk."
"That beggar blames everything on the Beggars' Sect first. If the sun rose in the west tomorrow, he'd rant it's their sect leader's scheme."
Some wore bitter expressions reciting Daoist titles, while elders pondered ways to rouse Hyeonseong from his bed. Their voices blended into a chaotic din.
"Enough."
Mugwang silenced the murmuring elders and turned to Medical Hall Master Mugeon.
"How is Hyeonseong's condition?"
"Every bone in his body has cracks, severe muscle tears too. His right arm's badly dislocated—might've damaged nearby vessels or nerves. Worst, broken ribs pierced his organs, causing serious internal injuries. We're draining the stagnant blood, but... Hmm. Hard to say when he'll wake."
"Truly... no way to help him?"
Heavenly Communication Pavilion Master Muryul asked in a grief-stricken voice. He'd just moved a sobbing Hyeon-ye—who'd collapsed after two days and nights without water—to the pavilion.
He'd held out not to show weakness as master, but Muryul's eyes were bloodshot, hair unkempt.
Medical Hall Master Mugeon glanced pityingly at the two fellow disciples.
"Well... Elixirs and guided qi circulation for luck-replenishing meditation could work, but... That requires enough consciousness to move one's own qi with guidance. And we lack proper elixirs besides."
"We have an elixir."
Leaning against the Medical Hall wall, stroking a man-sized Japanese sword, Sanbon said curtly.
All eyes turned to him.
"The archives have spares, of course... But nothing short of Great Purity Pill quality in quantity and purity will do. And we're out now..."
"Not even a Small Return Pill?"
No one called out Sanbon's casual speech to his senior brother Mugeon.
Not even Discipline Hall Master Mujin.
"Small Return Pill?! How would Shaolin's supreme elixir end up here..."
The words from Sanbon's mouth held the power to render sect rules irrelevant in that moment.
Shaolin's Small Return Pill—bar the legendary Great Return Pill, it was the pinnacle elixir of the orthodox sects.
Wudang's Great Purity Pill came close, but with Medical Hall Master Mugeon and a few disciples scraping together herbs and funds over years, they could make just one.
Small Return Pills, by contrast, were crafted by dozens of high monks specializing in pill refinement.
Enough went to Shaolin's junior disciples, but that was internal. On the market, they fetched whatever price the seller named.
For their near-half-jia of pure natural qi and compatibility with any cultivation method.
So the elders questioned how such a treasure was in Sanbon's hands.
"Shaolin gave it as thanks for aiding the Henan Demon Moon subjugation, right, Uncle Master?"
Hyeon-gong—seated as next sect leader—hurriedly defended Sanbon.
But Sanbon shattered the courtesy outright.
"Stole it."
"W-what? How?"
"Lord, Primordial Heavenly Worthy! There's stuff you steal and stuff you don't—that brat Sanbon can't shake his thieving habits!"
"Enough, all of you."
A resonant voice quelled the commotion.
"Elders, is a mere elixir more vital than your martial nephew's life? To Shaolin, with rosaries full of them, losing one Small Return Pill is trivial amid countless elixirs. Losing Hyeonseong is losing Wudang's future. Sanbon merely happened upon a Small Return Pill that 'somehow' leaked from a chaotic Shaolin during the great Henan Demon Moon gate-opening. Isn't that right, Sanbon?"
"Yes."
"Then no issue. I trust no elder opposes feeding 'Sanbon's' Small Return Pill to Hyeonseong. Keep this hushed to avoid disputes."
The battle-hardened elders swallowed hard.
Avoid disputes? It meant war with Shaolin if it came to it.
One might think fighting over an elixir absurd, but stealing a Small Return Pill carried that weight.
Unlike Demonic Heaven riffraff who fought daily, with sects wiped out routinely.
Shaolin and Wudang—the twin pillars of the righteous sects, linked from the Nine Great Clans to the full Righteous Heaven Alliance.
Minor frictions between warriors were one thing; direct confrontation had no precedent. The fallout was unimaginable.
"Hmm. Sect Leader Brother's words aren't wrong. Small Return Pills do hit the market sometimes, even as prizes at Righteous Heaven Alliance leader tournaments. If caught, we can always talk our way out..."
But arms bend inward, after all.
Better a sect disciple rise than those bald ungratefuls withholding even one pill after Wudang's top sword dispatched to help.
Medical Hall Master Mugeon muttered in his usual drawl, and other elders nodded, persuaded one by one.
"Good. But we can't just wait for Hyeonseong to wake, as Mugeon says. Feed him the Small Return Pill first. Muryul and I will attempt qi guidance—you guide the circulation paths, Medical Hall Master. Muryul, your thoughts?"
At Mugwang's proposal, resolve lit the hollow-cheeked Muryul's eyes.
"A disciple risks himself worrying for his master..."
Muryul rolled up his robe sleeve and spoke.
"How could a master not cherish his disciple over future risks?"
The elders nodded as one. Worries of clashing with Shaolin over top sect status were long gone from their hearts.
As Mugwang took the small wooden box Sanbon tossed and drew out a brown pill to feed Hyeonseong—
"Gasp!"
The prone Hyeonseong sucked in breath and bolted upright.
"Primordial Heavenly Worthy!"
The elders startled, crying out their invocation.
Hyeonseong's face crumpled like Sanbon's nickname.