Defying the Heavens Scholar - Chapter 17

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Unorthodox Scholar — Episode 17

Episode 17. The Resonance Pill.

Even after the victor was decided, the Training Ground grew louder still.
Though sword had ceased striking sword, one name tumbled endlessly from the mouths of the crowd.

“Kang Myojin, wasn’t it?”
“Champion from Oemu-dae, I heard.”
“He brought down the Mu-dang Sect with a wooden sword? That’s absurd.”
“Perhaps the Mu-dang’s third disciple was simply weak. A young man with no lineage to the Nine Great Sects shouldn’t be capable of such strength.”

Wind stirred, and the banners of various sects rippled. Though their silks bore different hues, the tremor that ran through them was much the same.
Among the throng, some let slip a contemptuous laugh, diminishing the disciples’ standing, while others held their lips sealed and let only their eyes betray their thoughts. Yet all shared one conviction.

‘Who is this man?’

Even at the Elder’s Seat, the air shifted with subtle unease. Words were sparse, but glances spoke louder than speech.

“Oemu-dae champions tend to be of lighter standing… but this one carries weight.”
“The Mu-dang Sect’s Taehye Sword Technique, no less.”
“The Unheung Form—that’s not a technique one learns simply through instruction.”

Cheong Heo Jinperson, elder of the Mu-dang Sect, folded his fan with deliberate slowness.
Though his face bore the years, his movements held not the slightest trace of slackness.
His spine was straight, and his knuckles bore calluses hard and deep.
The closing of his fan was precise as a scabbard snapping shut, and his expression remained utterly composed.
Only his eyes deepened. That gaze turned toward the place where Myojin had stood.

Then, from the Gongdong Sect’s section, one figure rose first.
Jingak, the elder.
A nobility flowing like an unobstructed current—and within his benevolent countenance, the faint shadow of an unyielding strength.

Jingak rose from his seat and struck the armrest with his palm—a sharp, clean crack.
As the low sound rang through to the far end of the Training Ground, the murmuring hesitated, then stilled.

“Today’s victory has already been adjudged by the judges’ panel. The rules of Oemu-dae are those you yourselves have set.
To question and prattle further is not to diminish the Gongdong Sect’s honor, but to tarnish that of the Nine Great Sects themselves.”

At last the tumult subsided, and the Training Ground returned to its solemn air.

With those words, the Training Ground was, for the moment, settled. But this was merely a temporary measure, nothing more.
Jingak knew as much. Though his lips had sealed the matter, rumors would, in the end, spread.

‘Still, the Mu-dang Sect will handle it of their own accord.’

An unexpected warrior had bested a Mu-dang disciple.
The Mu-dang Sect that Jingak knew was not one to let such rumors lie undisturbed.
Of course, with so many eyes upon the matter, they would not resort to crude methods—but soon enough, they would send agents to twist the narrative into a shape more palatable to themselves.

‘Young Master Myojin harbors many secrets. In a way, this may serve him well.’

As he departed, he let his gaze drift with studied indifference.
At the edge of the Training Ground, threading through gaps in the crowd, he spotted a single figure slipping away.

Myojin.
He moved while cradling the Resonance Pill—the prize for victory—against his chest.
His outer robe was plain, his footfall quiet, yet his presence had already left an unmistakable mark.

In Jingak’s memory, the scene of first meeting that man in the inner chamber overlapped itself.
A young man carrying his dying father, offering a bow.
And the fact that he had given him quarters without asking a single question.
The Gongdong Sect had not pried into Myojin’s circumstances. Instead, they had offered him a room for treatment.
And it was Jingak himself who had made that decision first.
His eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

‘It seems the Foundation has forged an unexpectedly deep bond.’

Jingak smiled.
His suspicions about Myojin had long since dissolved.
He had already spent a month watching the young man devote himself to caring for the elderly stranger, and his character was plainly humble.
Whatever he might be hiding, his nature was unmistakably good.

‘It would be a waste to simply let him go like this.’

* * *

When I returned to the quiet quarters, the smell of medicinal herbs brewing pricked at my nostrils.
Drawing my breath low and measured, I crossed the threshold slowly.
The moment I entered, Yunso looked up first.

He had only just passed into the Age of Fifteen Milestone. His face still held traces of baby fat.
Yet that did not mean his abilities were childish in kind.
The fatigue of sleepless nights lay faintly beneath his eyes, and his wrists and the backs of his hands bore the rough marks of medicine broth and water, and yet his gaze remained sharp.

“You’ve returned?”

At his greeting, I slowly withdrew a jade box from my breast.
And the moment the lid opened—
the air in the room transformed.
At the fragrance that burrowed into the lungs and stirred the Qi, Yunso’s eyes widened.

“……A Resonance Pill!”

That single word bloomed into something like laughter. Yunso stood speechless for a moment, his hands hovering in empty air.
It was the gesture of someone whose joy had made him reach forward, only to catch himself.

Yunso recalled what had happened days before.
The day he had felt puzzlement upon witnessing the old man’s recovery progressing more swiftly than seemed natural.
Though the elders had praised his skill, the patient lying here had seemed so difficult to treat that it should have taken far longer.

“Young Master Myojin…… surely you haven’t already taken measures on the elder’s behalf?”
“……I have.”

Yunso could only be astonished. It had been only days since he’d given him the Medical Manual.
In that span, Myojin had not only exhaustively studied it but gone beyond that—he had already internalized it well enough to see results.

‘Perhaps even more so than I…….’

Talent so overwhelming that even envy could not take root.
For a moment Yunso’s mind grew tangled, but soon he settled his heart.
What mattered was not personal feeling, but the patient’s condition.

“The elder’s meridians have certainly improved greatly. But it remains insufficient.”
“A medicine to aid the regeneration of the torn blood meridians was needed.”
“Precisely. Yet the means of obtaining such a medicine…….”
“I have an idea. A Resonance Pill—I heard it is the prize of this tournament.”
“Ah, you heard from the senior! If the senior were to achieve first place…….”
“It would be unreasonable of me to ask for more than that. So I’ve decided to participate in the Martial Match.”

Those were the only words Myojin had left before vanishing.

“You really…… brought it.”

I nodded briefly and spoke with courtesy.

“It’s thanks to your help.”

My tone carried weight. The days I’d endured, dragging Kang No all the way here.
In that span, the Medical Arts and judgment Yunso had shown me were far more than simple aid.
Without him, I wouldn’t have had the chance to learn the Medical Arts within the Reverse Formation in the first place.

Kang No lay on the bed. His eyes were bound with white cloth, and his face was pale as parchment.
Yunso approached Kang No at once and felt for his pulse.
Once, twice. The small fingers focused keenly, then slowly settled. Yunso spoke.

“Young Master, I believe half a pill would suffice for your grandfather in his current state.”
“Half a pill?”
“Yes. His body cannot fully absorb all the medicinal properties at present. I think it better that he take only half, and you take the remainder.”
“……I see.”

I asked nothing further. I trust Yunso’s judgment.
Yunso carefully cut the Resonance Pill, dipped half into the medicinal broth for just a moment, then brought it to Kang No’s lips.
As Kang No swallowed the medicine, Yunso placed the remaining half back in the Jade Box and spoke.

“It’s best to consume the other half within the day. A divided Resonance Pill loses its potency as time passes.”

Soon, Kang No’s breathing grew shallow, and once Yunso confirmed he was peacefully asleep, he turned to leave and opened his mouth.

“We’ve done all we can for now. You’ve endured much…… truly, Young Master.”
“Thank you. Yunso, I’ve received an enormous debt of gratitude from you.”

Watching Yunso’s retreating form, I finally exhaled in relief.
But I couldn’t sleep.
I still carried Spirit Medicine in my possession.

* * *

I walked a path the disciples didn’t frequent. A narrow stone stairway where only wind passed, a place where lantern light was dim.
Behind the tall, deep Mountain Gate of the Gongdong Sect, a shadow no one paid attention to.
That small Rocky Crevice where I’d last opened the Reverse Formation.
Upon arriving there, I drew a deep breath and opened the Reverse Formation.

A thin line upon the earth.
One line split into two, and two became one again as they returned.
Layering, parting, interlocking—until at last the Form was complete.

The Reverse Formation.

The moment the final stroke touched down, the air grew impossibly thin, then quietly sealed again.
The world had not changed. The wind remained the same, the darkness remained the same.
Only time flowed slower within it.

Having stepped into the Reverse Formation, I carefully opened the Jade Box.
Half a pill. It lay there like a small light. I closed my eyes for a moment.
Then I placed the half pill in my mouth.

It was neither bitter nor sharp as I had expected.
Pure, lucid Qi seeped into my body along the delicate fragrance—cool and crystalline.
As the cold current traced down my throat, the pathways within my body sharpened one by one.
So acutely that it was startling.

‘Perhaps because this is my first time taking Spirit Medicine, the effect feels stronger than I expected.’

So it was that I spent a long time within the Reverse Formation, concentrating on the flow of my Inner Energy.
Opening the pathways, smoothing the way for the medicinal Qi to pass, pressing down the clear currents that tried to surge upward.
I immersed myself entirely in receiving that pristine energy.
And at some point, the medicinal Qi ceased to disperse.
It did not rise upward either. Everything descended, settling quietly somewhere deep within my body.
The word “settling” fit perfectly. Like something adrift finding solid ground, it found its place of its own accord.

‘……It seems like more Qi is accumulating than I expected.’

Though it was clearly only half of a Spirit Medicine, why was the effect manifesting so dramatically?

‘Surely…….’

Then I understood. The pathways I had created earlier by repeatedly twisting and releasing my Blood Meridians before treating Kang No were now being expanded and strengthened according to the properties of the Resonance Pill.
The Qi continued to accumulate deep within my Dantian.
And only after firmly establishing that foundation did my Inner Energy, refined through the Heavenly Circulation, begin to fill my Dantian.
After managing the Resonance Pill’s Qi for so long, I realized it had been completely absorbed into my body.

“Ha…….”

Taking a deep breath, I swept away the lines I had drawn in the dirt with my fingertips, dissolving the Formation.
The moment time resumed its normal flow, the wind caressed me cold once more.
Having dissolved the Formation, I turned my steps back toward my Quarters.

“Who are you?”

Returning to my Quarters, I spoke quietly upon seeing someone standing before the weathered gate of woven branches.
The martial artist, wearing a black Bamboo Hat pulled deep over their brow, slowly raised their head and fixed me with an unwavering gaze.
Then they opened their mouth softly.

“I watched your Martial Match well. Quite fascinating, I must say.”

Though their attire was clearly martial robes typical of a man, I could not be certain whether their voice belonged to a woman or a man. I answered with a martial salute.

“You’re too kind. I merely won through good fortune.”
“Fortune, you say…….”

The figure paused briefly before stepping closer, stopping five paces ahead of me.
They studied me even more intently, and through the Bamboo Hat that half-hid their face, offered a faint smile.

“For mere fortune, the timing was far too precise. I cannot speak to what others observed, but in my eyes, it seemed from the start that you had already read the entire flow of the Mu-dang Sect. Is that not so?”
“…….”
“Well. You needn’t answer if you’d rather not. If that is what I saw, then I am unlikely to be mistaken.”

Their manner of speaking suggested they saw through everything about me.

“Now that we have exchanged proper greetings, I shall take my leave. Perhaps we shall meet again someday.”

They returned a light martial salute before disappearing slowly down the narrow path.

‘They conceal their Qi naturally……just as I have trained to hide my energy within the Reverse Formation…….’

For some reason, a strong premonition took hold of me that I would encounter this person again.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————