I Possessed a Cultivator Destined to Die at the Hands of the Protagonist - Chapter 25
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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25.
“So that means it’s unrelated to the current Hyeonganmun.”
“The disciples of Paecheonmun were active at least a hundred years ago, after all.”
“What will you do about the foundation?”
“Destroy it.”
Fortunately, our thoughts regarding the Tosin Foundation seemed to align perfectly.
The moment we confirmed our objectives matched, we immediately destroyed the Tosin Foundation.
As we did, the turbid energy flowing from the Tosin Foundation began to gradually dissipate.
I scattered water-attribute spiritual power abundantly throughout the surrounding area.
While not a true purification, this would accelerate the rate at which the turbid energy dissolved away.
“You’re going to help the people in Nakryeong City?”
“Yes, that’s what I’m thinking.”
“Helping the perpetrators, no less… You certainly are an unusual one, Yu Do-u.”
“Petrification sickness isn’t a normal contagion, so if it was caused by Paecheonmun, I think we should help all the more.”
“Well, I won’t stop you. But I’d recommend keeping your distance from the perpetrators—there’s nothing good that comes from getting entangled with them.”
“Why?”
As I tilted my head and asked, Jin Seok-jun looked at me as if I were a curious specimen.
After a moment of contemplation, Jin Seok-jun asked carefully.
“If I may ask, how old are you, Yu Do-u?”
“I’m twenty now.”
“Cough—didn’t you say you were at the fourth stage of spiritual cultivation? Your talent is truly remarkable.”
Jin Seok-jun was a cultivator of the fifth stage like Kang Jin-heon, and he said he was seventy years old.
‘No matter how many times I hear this, I can’t seem to get used to it.’
Kang Jin-heon and Eun Hui-gyeom were my age, so I could overlook that, and Baek Un-jin was my master, so I could let that slide.
But hearing the ages of other cultivators and brushing past them without reaction was far from easy.
In truth, age was merely a number to cultivators and held little real significance.
Typically, by the time one reached the fifth stage of spiritual cultivation, one would be around Jin Seok-jun’s age.
“In any case, if you’ve only recently become a cultivator, it’s understandable that you’d be concerned about the perpetrators.”
“Now that you mention it, my master said something similar too. I wonder why everyone says that?”
In the original work, only the stories of cultivators were primarily covered, so there was no need to worry about such matters.
“Your master? Who is your master, Yu Do-u? You must make them quite proud.”
“Ha, is that so? My master still tells me I’m lacking and nags me constantly. Oh, my master is the Serene Immortal.”
The Serene Immortal was an alias of Baek Un-jin.
Truth be told, since I’d never interacted with cultivators from other sects before, I had no sense of how to introduce my master.
“The Serene Immortal? You mean Senior Baek Un-jin?! Yu Do-u, you’re Senior Baek’s disciple?!”
“U-yes.”
“I’ve never heard that Senior Baek took a disciple… So is Kang Do-u as well?”
“No, only I and one other are my master’s disciples.”
Jin Seok-jun was startled to learn that Baek Un-jin had another disciple besides me.
“I’d very much like to meet them if the opportunity arises.”
“Haha.”
“Anyway, the conversation took quite a turn, but isn’t time the same for both monastics and demons?”
For the monastics, what was a blink of an eye often meant decades had passed for the demons.
“Since caring for demons leaves only emptiness behind, that’s likely why the seniors speak that way.”
“Is that so?”
“Ah, I didn’t mean to criticize you two for helping the demons in Nakryeong City.”
Jin Seok-jun quickly corrected himself, worried we might misunderstand.
“I know. Everyone has their own way of thinking.”
“Thank you for understanding. Ah, would it be alright if I asked one more thing?”
As we talked, we had somehow made our way outside the mine.
“What is it?”
“I’m aware that the Tosin Foundation’s spiritual energy causes catastrophic illness in demons. But I’ve never heard of a medicine that can cure it.”
When Jin Seok-jun first pursued the Paecheonmun, he apparently healed several demons with his spiritual power to gather clues.
However, spiritual healing only affected early-stage patients at best.
“Right. There’s a fellow traveler in our group who’s skilled in pharmaceuticals.”
I hadn’t expected Eun Hui-gyeom to have such aptitude either.
He died quickly in the original story, after all.
Both Eun Hui-gyeom and I were disciples of Baek Un-jin, but Eun Hui-gyeom seemed to be closer to his true lineage.
‘That’s probably why Master took him as a disciple in the original.’
The fact that Baek Un-jin never took another disciple after Eun Hui-gyeom’s death made sense—perhaps he judged there was no talent worthy of inheriting his legacy.
“I see.”
“Then shall we part ways—”
“I’ll help too.”
“You as well, Jin?”
“Even if I’m tracking the Paecheonmun, my next destination isn’t set. More hands make the work easier, don’t they?”
“Understood. I appreciate it.”
From Kang Jin-heon’s expression, he didn’t seem opposed either.
A few days later, Eun Hui-gyeom returned laden with pharmaceutical materials.
Eun Hui-gyeom was startled to see our group had grown by one.
“What? Hyeonganmun? But Hyeonganmun is…”
“We cleared up the misunderstanding about the talismans.”
I explained to Eun Hui-gyeom the seal hidden behind the talismans, just to be safe.
“I see. It’s actually fortunate we have more hands to help.”
Eun Hui-gyeom brushed off his robes and shook them out thoroughly.
Rumble, rumble, rumble.
An enormous quantity of medicinal ingredients tumbled out like a mountain of supplies.
There was so much that it piled up to the ceiling in an instant.
“Do you know how hard I worked to carry all of this?”
“Isn’t this way too much?”
“Once refined into medicine, it won’t amount to much.”
Well, that makes sense—medicine is small, after all.
Jin Seok-jun fingered through the stacked medicinal materials.
“Listen here, Eun, junior.”
“Why am I your junior?”
“I heard you’re a disciple of Yu Do-u, which makes you my junior. Besides, I heard you’re only a 3-star Qi Cultivator.”
“Ah, yes.”
Eun Hui-gyeom scratched his cheek, sensing the logic was sound yet feeling oddly uncomfortable about it.
Jin Seok-jun brought over a stack of bark and shook it.
“Isn’t this Mok Ryeong bark?”
Mok Ryeong bark referred to the bark of trees that grew commonly along the edges of Yeong Mountain.
Everything from Yeong Mountain was imbued with spiritual essence, making it universally useful as material for spirit pills or medicinal elixirs.
But Mok Ryeong bark was the most worthless material among them—a single low-grade spirit stone could buy dozens of pills’ worth.
If one had to find a use for it, it was typically only used as kindling to keep fires burning longer when crafting medicinal elixirs.
“Junior, are you perhaps planning to burn down an entire mountain?”
“Burn it down? But this is medicinal material.”
“Mok Ryeong bark as medicinal material?”
“Yes.”
“This here is residue from Baek Dok Bulchim Pills, and this is Blue Water Grass that people won’t even use if given to them. You’re telling me all of this actually becomes medicine?”
“Of course?”
….
“It won’t be very effective for cultivators like us, but it works for ordinary people. This much is sufficient, isn’t it?”
Even though it was Mok Ryeong bark, since it came from trees grown on Yeong Mountain, it faintly retained spiritual essence.
The same applied to Baek Dok Bulchim Pills and Blue Water Grass.
“This is astounding.”
“What? It’s nothing special, so why are you like this?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. I’ve seen several patients in the terminal stages of petrification sickness. Spiritual power was useless against them. Yet you can create medicine that cures such patients this easily—it’s remarkable.”
The medicine Eun Hui-gyeom initially created had no effect on severe patients.
Perhaps bothered by those he couldn’t save afterward, Eun Hui-gyeom devoted himself to researching Vitality Pills.
As a result, he managed to create Vitality Pills effective against most patients, except those dying imminently from petrification sickness.
‘I never knew Eun Hui-gyeom possessed such talent.’
In the original story, he died early and never had the chance to bloom.
Eun Hui-gyeom spoke dismissively.
“Really? Isn’t this something anyone can do?”
“You’re quite an unlucky junior.”
The Hyeonganmun sect, to which Jin Seok-jun belonged, had little connection to things like pill refinement or life cultivation techniques.
‘The materials are simple, though….’
The stacked materials were, as Jin Seok-jun said, not difficult to obtain for any cultivator with a few spirit stones.
In fact, people would mock you for paying money to buy such things.
But the very idea of using them to create such medicine wasn’t something just anyone could conceive.
Eun Hui-gyeom rolled up his sleeves and pulled out a large cauldron from the storage shelf, setting it down with a thud.
“Anyway, you can’t forget that you promised to help us.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Under Eun Hui-gyeom’s guidance, we crafted the Vitality Pill—a medicinal remedy capable of treating petrification sickness.
The method was surprisingly straightforward, as simple as the ingredients themselves were to procure.
We merely needed to boil spirit spring water with wood-bell bark and cinnabar in a cauldron, add finely ground azure herb to the boiling liquid, and once it thickened, incorporate the residue from the White Toxin Unpierceable Elixir, then compress and dry the mixture until complete.
“Sister! How many times are you going to ruin it now! Even Popi could make it better than you!”
“Who is Popi!”
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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