Chapter 3: Purchasing Medicine and Inspecting Relics (Acquisition)
After eating and drinking his fill, Seokheon finally found time to observe this city, which was starkly different from modern society and steeped in antiquity. Recalling the path toward Seongnam as he looked around, today seemed to be market day, for the streets were packed with people. Both sides were lined with street vendors selling daily necessities, making it seem as though they had been here for a long time. Those selling vegetables were largely concentrated on a few streets among them. Once he passed these few streets, they could only be sparsely seen at a few street corners in the direction of Seongnam.
Although it was June, there were still many people on the streets wearing dopo. Some even fanned themselves while wearing dopo, presenting an incongruous sight.
Seokheon arrived at Seongnam Sujeong Street and sought out the largest and most crowded pharmacy. When he reached the entrance, he saw a signboard with three characters written in a script resembling Wei-style calligraphy: Tongrendang. Seokheon was suddenly surprised. Tongrendang was truly impressive; even its branches had come to this other world.
The moment he stepped through the door, he went straight to the counter and saw the owner calling out to customers. The timing was perfect. He greeted the apprentice inside the counter with a smile and listed several medicinal ingredients from his prescription. The apprentice saw that though two of the herbs were precious, the shop had a relatively large stock of them, so he asked Seokheon nothing, wrapped them in oiled paper, and handed them over.
“The total is four nyang and three jeon of silver.”
Seokheon was secretly surprised at the high price of the prescription. It had only contained a few of these ingredients. At this rate, his assets would suffice for only about fifty or so batches. The herbs he bought in one go would last for roughly six doses over three days. If his soul did not enter the Zhanghun stage even after half a year, he would go bankrupt. It truly made sense that poor, learned Daoists who had ruined their households were destitute. Of course, martial artists did not have such wondrous and precious prescriptions either. Generally, the prescriptions that martial artists used for tempering the body cost several dozen nyang of silver per year, while precious prescriptions cost one to two hundred nyang. This was terrifying as well. One had to remember that Seokheon’s small garden was worth only two to three hundred nyang of silver.
Though surprised, he showed no sign of it on his face, fumbled for a silver ingot, paid, and left. Then he visited several more herb shops to complete the prescription’s ingredients. When divided and purchased from several places like this, others could see the rarity of the prescription through the purchased medicinal ingredients. It caused unnecessary trouble.
Afterwards, he went to a butcher shop and told the owner that he wished to buy a dog meat feast for his relatives, asking the owner to have four live dogs delivered to the small courtyard west of the city.
Seokheon returned to the small garden, sat down, and rested for a long while. After regaining his composure, he went to the left sarangbang, found the three prepared medicine decoction pots, chanted an incantation, regulated the resonance between the five elemental energies of his body and the heaven and earth, and cast a dust-removal spell to clean the pots thoroughly. Then, according to the final medicinal ingredients, he divided them into three portions and placed them in according to the prescription’s measurements and quantities. At times like these, he could not use frequently used medicine containers. No matter how much they were washed, residual medicinal properties remained in commonly used pots. While normally this was not a problem, since this prescription was similar to pill refinement, even a trace of extra medicinal property could cause failure.
Carrying the pots into the kitchen, he set them down by the small furnace where the old Daoist used to refine medicine, then found firewood and lit a fire using an ignition art. Seokheon began to feel slightly tired. Ah, his soul was too weak. While in the Qi Nourishing stage, he could move the five elemental energies of the physical body, but doing so ultimately consumed the power of the soul. Of course, the five elemental energies of the physical body in the Qi Nourishing stage were also the reason Seokheon could temper his body and move the soul of primordial spirit.
Seokheon gathered his wits; he could not be negligent. He controlled the fire-secrets well, chanted incantations, and performed the refining technique. Carefully adjusting the intensity of the flames, the most difficult part before him passed after thirty minutes. Now, maintaining a gentle flame, he only needed to endure two more hours slowly.
Only then did Seokheon let out a sigh. His entire body was simply dizzy. He quickly sat cross-legged and exhaled. It was only after some time that he regained the strength to move. By the time Jeong Sonam, the butcher shop owner, sent two black and yellow dogs, Seokheon’s complexion had returned to normal.
Tying up the four dogs, Seokheon drew a bucket of water from the small well, drank it refreshingly, and came inside to organize the old Daoist’s remnants.
It was Seokheon’s first time entering the old Daoist’s room since his death, and the room was very tidy. Seokheon searched all around. Aside from a few articles of clothing and frequently used implements, there was only a gray bundle. Such clothes were not of great use to Seokheon, and since they did not fit his frame and he did not know how to sew if he were to alter them. The old Daoist seemed to have had a vague premonition of his own death, for he had packed everything into a bundle.
Opening the bundle, there were three items inside. The first was an ancient scripture, the Gui Zhen Jing. It was the true transmission the old Daoist had obtained, the Dharma method he had cultivated before this body cultivated. However, Seokheon now possessed the fundamental great law that pointed directly to the great path, the Shangqing Wuyu Zhenchuan Dao’e Dedao Baolu. Thus, the cultivation methods in this scripture were not of great use. Still, the Dao techniques in the Baolu were all derived from this fundamental great law. Except for a few divine abilities requiring external object cultivation, most were Dao arts that could only be practiced at the Golden Core stage and beyond. The Gui Zhen Jing contained relatively many Dao techniques that could be used. Although they were all arts, their limits were restricted and their power was not great, but the techniques were wondrous and had many useful aspects.
Thinking that their power was not great, Seokheon thought of the divine abilities requiring external object cultivation in the Baolu. The Taiyin Feiyang Gengjin Sword Qi: to train this divine ability, one had to find a piece of Geng metal and absorb its energy into the lungs using secret methods. Enduring day and night with secret methods, it would finally take shape. According to its description, its power was immense, and it did not require chanting time like spell-casting techniques. It was incomparably swift to use, and even a sorcerer of the Shenhun stage would be unable to block its sharp edge. Of course, that was only if he hit them. Because this divine ability had distance limits and usage limits. Naturally, if one slowly mastered the sword qi, its power and range would expand.
However, it was merely a thought. This divine ability required the lowest stage of Soul Egress to cultivate. Because without minute control over one’s own soul, how could one control the energy of Geng metal? Without strong internal qi power, how could the lungs possess the sharpness to contain the energy of Geng metal? Moreover, was Geng metal so easy to find?! Of course, it was fine not to use Geng metal. Taiyi True Gold, Western Gold Essence, Mount Tai White Gold Essence—one could obtain these legendary items used to cultivate immortal swords. Only the divine ability’s name would change. Naturally, these were likewise things one might encounter but could never obtain.
Strangely, the Baolu stated that the Qingyun practitioner must absolutely cultivate this divine ability and four other divine abilities before reaching the Golden Core stage. (Shaoyin Xinyang Xushi Zhenhuo, Jueyin Ganyang Qingmu Huasheng Jue, Taiyin Piyang Shanyue Zhenxing Gong, Shaoyin Shenyin Bingbai Shenguang) Only then would entering the Golden Core stage yield tremendous benefits. Exactly what benefits were these? The Qingyun practitioner kept that secret.
Returning to the main point, the Gui Zhen Jing was likewise a fundamental part of Dao technique true transmissions, yet it lacked even the basics of refining qi and refining pills; truly a pity.
Seokheon set the Gui Zhen Jing aside and suddenly thought to himself that he would specialize in the Baolu. Then Old Daoist Seo’s Dao lineage would not have been lost in vain. Although he and Old Daoist Seo had no true master-disciple bond, Seokheon had seen through memory fragments Old Daoist Seo’s consideration for Dubaek. Now that he had become this physical body, he had to feel that grace and repay it. In the future, when he wandered the world on his own…
Seokheon saw another item: a bundle of talisman papers. There were roughly ten or so sheets, prepared by Old Daoist Seo in his final year as protective items for his disciple. Once one entered the Qi Nourishing and Zhanghun stages, one could use magical arts, but at that time the arts had many procedures and took a long time, so one always had to draw talismans in advance. Then a single incantation, or even stimulating the talisman with the power of the soul, would suffice. As an expert of the Soul Egress stage, the number of talismans Old Daoist Seo left behind would be greater than those of a disciple like Seokheon.
Seokheon examined the talismans below in detail; there were seventeen in total. Among them, four kinds had four sheets each: talismans for concealing the body and hiding one’s breath, drawing in earth to create armor, pulling air to strike thunder, and the golden Soul-Shattering Talisman. Another was drawn in Shanggu Yunzhuan (the Baolu contained the content of Primordial Thunder Marks and Shanggu Yunzhuan): the Taiyi Explosive Heavenly Thunder. Upon it, faint lightning light shimmered, and the calligraphy was crude, making it seem impossible that Old Daoist Seo had drawn it. It had not been inherited when obtaining the true transmission, but rather encountered by chance during his travels.
The last item was a mirror with a note the master had attached on top. The note said the master had obtained it from a ruined divine temple in the mountains west of the lake. Written on it was that this mirror had been unknown to the hundred old ghosts inside the divine temple for several decades. At that time, the master had been traveling, passed through an unclear place, moved the mirror, and freed the ghosts from their predicament. In the process, the master had nearly died. In the end, when the truth was revealed, he used one of the two Taiyi Explosive Heavenly Thunder talismans he had obtained to kill those hundred old ghosts, and the mirror was also shattered by the blast. Old Daoist Seo could not identify the mirror’s material, but in the end he picked up the largest fragment and returned, remaking the mirror. However, it did not have its former power, nor did it have an algorithm. Because of its innate strangeness, it could only target relatively weak ghosts.
Still, because the materials were excellent, Master Seo had wanted to leave it to his disciples, thinking that if the opportunity arose later, it might be reforged into a magical artifact again. As mentioned before, before the Golden Core stage, spellcasting had many procedures. Though higher realms could greatly reduce casting time, because spellcasting was slow, various substitutes were devised. For example, talismans, or for example, magical artifacts. Borrowing external objects in the Baolu to cultivate divine abilities could also be considered a kind of substitute.
Magical artifacts—refined using appropriate materials, appropriate restrictions, and significant time—were powerful and convenient to use, making them the items sorcerers preferred most. Of course, they were also precious. Magical artifacts were divided into four tiers: Dharma Artifacts, Spirit Artifacts, Dharma Treasures, and Spirit Treasures. Refining a Dharma Artifact required corresponding Earth Sha restrictions. If the Earth Sha of the Dharma Artifact was perfectly synthesized using Heaven Void restrictions, it could advance to a Spirit Artifact, and only then could one continue refining Heaven Void restrictions. The restrictions for Dharma Treasures and Spirit Treasures were respectively called Treasure Gold and Spirit Gold. In any case, Dharma Artifacts and Spirit Artifacts were items of the Refining Qi stage, while Dharma Treasures and Spirit Treasures were items of the Primordial Spirit stage.
After inspecting the remnants the old Daoist had left behind, Seokheon tucked the scripture close against his body, placed the talismans in his belt and the dark pockets inside his sleeves for convenience, and only the mirror went into his own bundle. For now, lacking both suitable materials and refining techniques, it was useless to even entertain such thoughts.
After Seokheon rested briefly, it was time to decoct the medicinal ingredients.