WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 92: I Was Once a Madman of Chu (14)
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“Wow. I was completely fooled.”
The alchemists were dumbfounded.
“With that gentle-looking face, what did he say? ‘I know little about elixir refinement, so I’ll leave it to you masters.’ Hah. Honestly.”
They were talking about Yeon Sowol.
“And what did he say to us afterward? ‘Do you know the heavens?’ Hah.”
“Then he said, ‘I do.’ Didn’t he?”
“Exactly. I was truly shocked. How could someone be so arrogant?”
One alchemist, who had been quietly listening, snorted.
“Don’t tell me you actually believed that polite act he put on at first?”
“You didn’t?”
“Why would I? Do you still trust people of the Jianghu?”
“Ah...”
“Tsk, tsk. You’re all old enough to know better, yet you’re so naïve.”
“No, but he’s the Hero of Hengyang. I thought perhaps he truly was different.”
“You should think about it the other way around.”
The alchemist wagged a finger as they spoke.
“He must be an exceptional martial artist to become the Hero of Hengyang. That means he must be even stranger than most people of the Jianghu. That’s what you should have thought.”
“Mm.”
“Well...”
The alchemists nodded with low hums of agreement.
Then a younger-looking alchemist asked worriedly.
“But what should we do? Do we really have to refine the elixir that way? If we assume he truly saw something as immense as the universe... wouldn’t we need to make a Golden Elixir, or at the very least a supreme-grade Spirit Elixir?”
The room suddenly fell silent.
As outstanding alchemists, they understood the implications of those words better than anyone.
“Urgh... I suppose so. Medicine must be prepared to precisely fit the vessel it is meant to fill.”
If the vessel to be filled was absurdly large, then preparing the medicine required equally absurd effort.
The process that followed would be as dangerous and difficult as a martial artist’s closed-door seclusion, perhaps even more so.
Naturally, none of them wanted to take on such a task.
“...How about this?”
One alchemist lowered their voice.
“We pretend to follow his wishes, then refine something a level lower.”
Everyone’s eyes widened.
The alchemist who had spoken lowered their voice further and waved their hands.
“No, listen. This would be better for Young Master Yeon too. If we refine the elixir exactly as he said, a heart demon will come for him without fail, won’t it? Wouldn’t that be a disaster?”
“Mm...”
“That too...”
The alchemists were slowly beginning to lean that way.
“Silence!”
The oldest among them, an alchemist with lush white eyebrows and a beard that made him look like an immortal, thundered at them.
“How can a Daoist alchemist try to deceive someone? Do you think you can form an elixir while harboring such wicked thoughts?”
“No... Master Yang. That’s not what I...”
“Quiet! We will refine the elixir exactly as Young Master Yeon said, without the slightest deviation!”
“Master, what if Young Master Yeon falls prey to a heart demon...”
“You fool! Are you asking to be punished? An alchemist should be thinking about how to devote even greater care so that does not happen! How dare you speak of deceiving him!”
“No... I... Well...”
The Daoist stammered before finally bowing their head deeply.
“I’m sorry, Master Yang.”
Only then did some of the redness fade from the old man’s face.
“Yes. I understand why you said it. But even so, there are times when one must do what must be done. No matter how unfavorable or unsettling the circumstances, there are lines that must not be crossed. Are we not practitioners who seek the Great Dao through elixir refinement? Never forget that.”
His voice was gentle as he admonished them.
Shame passed through the other Daoists’ eyes, followed by a small realization and then firm resolve.
“Yes, Master.”
It was also a matter of pride.
Elixir refinement had originally been the foundation of practice in the Daoist tradition. They took pride in it.
* * *
“So unusual things will occur, and we need you young masters to stand guard for us.”
Several days passed.
Once all preparations for the elixir refinement had been completed, a haggard Yeon Sowol faced the alchemists.
“Stand guard?”
“Yes.”
“You say unusual things may occur?”
“Yes.”
Yeon Sowol could not quite understand.
‘They’re making medicine, right? What could be unusual about that? And they want us to guard them? Guard them from what? Are we supposed to keep rats and cats from getting close?’
Noticing his expression, the alchemist spoke again.
It was Master Yang, the older man who had quietly taken on the role of leader among the alchemists.
“Young Master, what is it like when martial artists enter closed-door seclusion?”
“It is extremely dangerous.”
“Elixir refinement is the same. Especially when we must produce a Golden Elixir, or at least a supreme-grade Spirit Elixir, as we do this time.”
Yeon Sowol blinked.
“I don’t understand why it’s dangerous.”
“Young Master, you have learned an inner cultivation method, have you not?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know that inner cultivation methods are practices derived from elixir refinement?”
“What?”
It was something he had never heard before.
Master Yang explained in a calm voice.
Originally, elixir refinement had been the only practice through which one could become an immortal.
All practitioners crossed mountains and fields in search of medicinal ingredients infused with rare energies, seeking to make the Golden Elixir that would allow them to become immortals.
“Then one practitioner had a thought. Human life is itself a miraculous thing born from the harmony of heaven and earth, so why seek medicine outside one’s body?”
Master Yang continued.
“Draw the medicine from the human body. Make the human body an Elixir Furnace, make the breath into fire, and brew one’s innate energy into an Elixir. Then one may become an immortal. That was the birth of the Internal Elixir, and of inner cultivation methods.”
Memories suddenly flashed through Yeon Sowol’s mind.
‘The introductory stage of an inner cultivation method is called kindling the inner fire. It means gathering fire. From this point onward, your body becomes an Elixir Furnace.’
‘The unrefined essence and qi within you are called medicine. Cultivating internal energy is the process of gathering and brewing that medicine into an Elixir. You have finally stepped onto the path of true internal cultivation among the orthodox schools.’
They were teachings Yi Yubaek had given him in the past.
Everything fell neatly into place.
Master Yang said, “How, then, could the process of elixir refinement differ from a martial artist’s closed-door seclusion? There is little danger when refining an ordinary elixir. But when seeking to refine an elixir of great spiritual power, the energies of heaven and earth rage, while all manner of strange beings and ghosts run wild. We will make our own preparations, but that may not be enough. You young masters must stand guard for us.”
Master Yang finished with a faint smile.
“You will also commune with the Elixir’s energy at close range, so its effects on you should be greater as well.”
Yeon Sowol looked at Jin Geol and Won Huiseung.
There was nothing to discuss.
The three nodded at the same time.
* * *
The alchemists gathered their materials and entered the refinement chamber.
Yeon Sowol caught a glimpse inside: there were nine cauldrons of different sizes, mountains of charcoal and firewood, and all kinds of precious medicinal ingredients, carefully sorted by type.
Master Yang gave them repeated instructions.
“Once we close this door, no one must enter or leave until the refinement is complete.”
“Yes, Master.”
“When the refinement is finished, we will open the door and come out ourselves. No matter what happens, you must never open this door. If you open it carelessly, all our work will collapse, the refinement will fail, and even our lives may be endangered. You must remember that.”
“Yes. We will.”
“The workings of strange beings and ghosts are more sinister and cunning than you can imagine. Be especially careful.”
“Yes.”
They had heard the same warning enough times for it to be drilled into them, so Yeon Sowol’s group answered reassuringly without further questions.
Looking slightly relieved, Master Yang smiled faintly and clasped his hands in salute.
“Then when we meet again, we will bring you the finest elixir pill.”
Master Yang entered the refinement chamber and closed the sliding door.
Rrrk! Thud!
The sliding door was covered with talismans, giving it an eerie appearance.
This was an old shrine deep within a valley on Mount Heng.
According to the alchemists, it was a blessed place where pure yang and yin energies flowed in turn, so it was often used for difficult elixir refinement.
Perhaps because of that, the building showed signs of careful maintenance despite its age.
Going up the stairs from the courtyard led through a short corridor to the cozy room where Yeon Sowol, Jin Geol, and Won Huiseung now sat.
Beyond the sliding door farther inside was a large hall where the Primordial Heavenly Venerable was enshrined. That was where the elixir refinement took place.
‘They said we must never open the door during refinement, but it’s a little unsettling when that door is only a thin sliding door.’
Yeon Sowol quietly stared at the talisman-covered door.
The sliding door, made of wooden lattice covered in paper, looked fragile enough to topple over in a strong wind.
Unlike the uneasy Yeon Sowol, Jin Geol was completely at ease.
“Hm. This atmosphere isn’t bad! It feels rather mysterious. Come on, let’s have a drink.”
He rummaged through his belongings and brought out some alcohol.
Yeon Sowol gaped at him.
“Are you crazy? They said this is as dangerous as closed-door seclusion. How can we drink when we’re supposed to be standing guard?”
“What’s the problem? We can just burn off the alcohol with qi. They said it could take ten days at minimum, maybe a month. Isn’t that too cruel without any alcohol...?”
“Still.”
“And besides.”
Jin Geol grinned.
“They said there might be strange beings and ghosts, right? People say you can sense strange beings and ghosts more easily when you’re drunk. So drinking in moderation would actually help us identify the enemy!”
“That doesn’t make any sense...”
Yeon Sowol tried to stop him, but Jin Geol had already tipped back the bottle and started gulping it down.
Jin Geol was the kind of person who had given up the civil service examination and run away from home to become a Jianghu man, all so he could live as he pleased. There was no way he would listen to Yeon Sowol trying to stop him.
“Jin Geol, pour me a drink too.”
“Of course! Here, Huiseung.”
Even Won Huiseung joined in, and the two began passing the bottle back and forth.
Yeon Sowol’s head hurt, but he did not try to stop them any further.
As Jin Geol said, first-rate masters could expel their drunkenness with internal energy whenever they wished.
“But, Sowol!”
Jin Geol suddenly called out.
“Do you really think strange beings and ghosts exist?”
Yeon Sowol answered, “I don’t know. Don’t they? The alchemists said they do.”
In truth, Yeon Sowol had seen beings called Ghost Kings before. They were the bizarre presences that had burrowed into his body when he had first fallen into this world.
Considering that, it seemed true enough that unknowable strange beings existed. He did not know how much influence they possessed, though.
“Right? I heard from my family elders that strange beings and ghosts exist too. But I’ve never seen them with my own eyes, so I can’t quite believe it. If they really exist, why have I never seen one?”
Won Huiseung took a long drink and answered.
“Because they don’t exist. You cannot see what does not exist.”
“Oh?”
Jin Geol looked intrigued.
“You think they don’t exist, Huiseung? The elders all said they do.”
“My master and senior martial brothers said the same. But no matter how I think about it, it sounds like something they made up to tease me when I was young. If such things truly existed, why have I never seen them?”
Jin Geol nodded, then suddenly asked as if something had occurred to him.
“But Huiseung, you believe in dragons, don’t you? You haven’t seen one of those either.”
“...That’s different.”
“Is it?”
“It is!”
Watching the two bicker, Yeon Sowol let out a small sigh and turned his gaze away.
‘Nothing strange in sight.’
Still, they had not been asked to stand guard for no reason, so he did not lower his vigilance when...
?
Yeon Sowol suddenly felt something off and looked back at his friends.
“...?”
At some point, both their faces had gone stiff.
Their gazes were fixed on the talisman-covered sliding door, without moving in the slightest.
“...What’s wrong?”
When Yeon Sowol asked, Jin Geol answered with a pale face.
“Sowol. Didn’t you hear that just now?”
Yeon Sowol tilted his head. He had not heard anything.
“What?”
“A scream.”
The moment Jin Geol finished speaking, there was a crash!
Won Huiseung suddenly shot to his feet, knocking over his chair as though he had heard something that startled him.
Shing!
He drew his sword.
He stared at the talisman-covered sliding door as though he would cut it down and rush inside at any moment.
“What? What’s wrong?”
As Yeon Sowol jumped in front of Won Huiseung in alarm, a bow creaked.
Jin Geol, cold sweat gleaming on his face, nocked an arrow to his bow.
“Who are you?”
He even asked that while staring at the sliding door, though Yeon Sowol could not hear a thing.
“Damn...”
Yeon Sowol’s spine was beginning to prickle.
Footnotes:
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