Return of the Heavenly Sword

Chapter 17. Young Master Ghost Sword (3)

Ten-Thousand Year He Shou Wu.

The spiritual medicine that the leader of the Great Tiger Fortress ate.

The reason I recognized it at a glance could be said to be thanks to the Poison Immortal.

Whenever I suffered a major injury during a duel or a life-and-death battle and visited the Poison Immortal’s hermitage, it was routine to spend a few days there for recovery.

The first few times, I just stayed cooped up in my room, but from a certain day, the Poison Immortal would give me a few books as if giving alms.

They were mostly books related to medicine or poison.

In one of the books I read back then, there was a description of the Ten-Thousand Year He Shou Wu.

There were descriptions of other spiritual medicines as well, but the Ten-Thousand Year He Shou Wu, in particular, was deeply engraved in my memory.

It was because of a sense of kinship.

He Shou Wu.

Although used as a medicinal ingredient, it was not an expensive one but an ordinary herb.

Such an herb, after enduring long years, transformed into a spiritual medicine, and that was the Ten-Thousand Year He Shou Wu.

While reading the description of the Ten-Thousand Year He Shou Wu, a hope like that had come to my mind for some reason.

If I, too, could overcome this harsh training and penance, wouldn't I be able to reach a higher place someday? I wondered.

Lost in sentiment, I later told that story to the Poison Immortal who came to treat me.

- Crazy bastard. Are you now jealous of a blade of grass?

The Poison Immortal, who lacked all sensibility, had just shaken his head at me.

Recalling that day's memory, I let out a chuckle and approached the Ten-Thousand Year He Shou Wu.

I felt it was a strange fate.

The Ten-Thousand Year He Shou Wu, which started as an ordinary herb and transformed into a spiritual medicine after enduring years of hardship.

And I, who started with ordinary martial talent and, after enduring all sorts of adversities, obtained a miraculous encounter and got to live a second life.

Of course, I had only just started anew. I had not reached a special state like the Ten-Thousand Year He Shou Wu.

But I was confident that I could. Especially, even more so with that fellow.

“He Shou Wu. In your past life, you were discovered by a filthy bandit and ended your life in vain, but this time, I will let you be used for a righteous cause.”

As I spoke to it as if it were a person, the leaves of the Ten-Thousand Year He Shou Wu swayed in the wind.

The sight looked as if it were nodding its head.

After reaching the Ten-Thousand Year He Shou Wu, I knelt as if performing a sacred ritual and carefully dug away the soil covering its roots.

Once the roots of the Ten-Thousand Year He Shou Wu were exposed, I carefully pulled it out, roots and all.

I immediately stuffed the Ten-Thousand Year He Shou Wu into my mouth and sat in a cross-legged position.

After chewing and swallowing the He Shou Wu, a clear energy endlessly gushed out from it as it went down my esophagus.

I began to absorb the energy of the He Shou Wu by operating the Jade Cloud Divine Art.

The immense energy from the Ten-Thousand Year He Shou Wu endlessly circulated through my blood vessels, and the energy, assimilated by the Jade Cloud Divine Art, was sucked into my Dantian.

Pain was felt throughout my body from the huge energy, too great for my narrow blood vessels and narrow Dantian to contain.

My Dantian, in particular, felt like it would shatter at any moment.

In fact, spiritual medicines weren't unconditionally good.

- Medicine and poison are one and the same. Even the same grass can be medicine to some and poison to others. The same goes for spiritual medicine. A spiritual medicine that doesn’t match the energy of the martial art one is learning is a poison, and a spiritual medicine that is too good for one’s level is also bound to be a cause of internal injury.

It was a story I had picked up from the Poison Immortal.

In that sense, for me, who had only been learning martial arts for about a fortnight, the spiritual medicine was closer to a poison than a medicine.

I swallowed the Ten-Thousand Year He Shou Wu whole, even though I knew that fact perfectly well.

It was because I had something to believe in.

Compared to the energy I handled in my previous life, even this was not enough.

I had practiced martial arts for thirty-eight years in my previous life.

Around the twenty-year mark, I had achieved complete mastery of the Jade Cloud Divine Art, and around the thirty-year mark, with the help of the Poison Immortal, I had even created the Revolving Cloud Divine Art.

Thanks to that, by the time I died, I had an amount of internal energy just short of one Gapja in my Dantian.

To me, who had handled that much internal energy, the energy contained in a single Ten-Thousand Year He Shou Wu was not that much.

So, as long as I didn’t lose my concentration, handling and absorbing the immense energy of the Ten-Thousand Year He Shou Wu was no big deal.

The problem was that intense pain surged every time due to my terribly weak blood vessels and Dantian, but it didn't matter much.

The Jade Cloud Divine Art was a very stable divine art, so the possibility of something going wrong was low, and thanks to having been pushed recklessly for the past fortnight, the level of my Jade Cloud Divine Art had also increased.

Furthermore, I was the type whose concentration increased the more it hurt, so it was actually better.

As long as I could improve my skills, pain was practically a synonym for joy to me.

Now, whenever I felt pain, I felt delighted.

It was because it felt similar to when I trained in the sword or movement arts.

The more painful it was, the higher my concentration became, and at the end of it, lines began to appear in my vision.

And by moving along those lines, I could improve my skills at an explosive rate.

Absorbing the Ten-Thousand Year He Shou Wu was no different.

The more painful it was, the higher my concentration became, and thanks to that, the level of my Jade Cloud Divine Art rose sharply, and the speed of absorbing the Ten-Thousand Year He Shou Wu was increasing.

It could be called the best virtuous cycle.

In such a wonderful virtuous cycle, trivial pain was not even a problem.

I clenched my teeth every time I felt pain.

It felt like laughter was about to burst out without me knowing.

How long did I operate the Jade Cloud Divine Art with a bitter smile on my lips?

From a certain point, I no longer felt pain anywhere, be it my blood vessels or my Dantian.

My blood vessels and Dantian had both become incomparably larger and stronger than when I had started the energy circulation.

The energy flowing from the Ten-Thousand Year He Shou Wu had also become faint before I knew it.

“Sss. Hoo.”

After repeating a few more deep breaths and finishing the absorption, there was no more energy left in my blood vessels.

I led the energy that filled my Dantian and made it race through my blood vessels.

As a final step, I roughly estimated the amount of energy contained in my Dantian.

It seemed to be about half a Gapja.

Right after estimating the amount of internal energy in my Dantian, I finished the energy circulation and opened my eyes.

I had started the energy circulation around sunset, but the sky was now stained with darkness, and only the moonlight and starlight were faintly illuminating the world.

It meant that my internal energy, which had been less than a year's worth, had instantly increased to nearly half a Gapja(A unit of time, 60 years). In just a few Shichen(A traditional Chinese unit of time, equivalent to two hours).

***

The next morning.

I found a place where water flowed to quench my thirst, and hunted and boiled a rabbit nearby to eat.

After a moderate meal, I launched my body towards the cliff I had descended.

As I moved my limbs while operating the internal energy that filled my Dantian, my body shot forward, and the surrounding scenery flew by.

After running at a speed incomparable to that of yesterday, I was able to arrive right in front of the cliff before long.

Looking up at the cliff, a sigh escaped me on its own.

It wasn’t because I was at a loss for how to climb due to the cliff’s steep slope.

It was the exact opposite.

“It’s too easy.”

As I felt while running here, it seemed I could climb a cliff of this level with no problem.

The problem was that it was so easy it wouldn't even be training.

Isn't it true training only when the body is pushed to its limits, screaming to be saved, like yesterday?

“Should I climb without using internal energy?”

I soon shook my head.

That would be a serious waste of time.

It would take at least a few Shichen to climb without using internal energy. If I were to use movement arts to travel, I could go down Wondrous Ridge Mountain and find another village in that time.

“……Should I just pass by quickly and find the next village?”

Looking at the cliff, a feeling of regret naturally arose.

A steep cliff that wasn't too high. Protruding rocks and tree branches here and there.

It was truly a natural feature optimized for training in movement arts.

To think I had to just pass by a place like this.

But I couldn't afford to leisurely train here either.

“The best way would be to go up all at once, short and intense.”

If possible, I wanted to climb by exerting extreme concentration while watching the trajectory.

The problem, as expected, was my condition.

I didn't feel any tension even looking at the steep cliff right now.

Even when I ran here using movement arts, no trajectory whatsoever appeared in the air.

It seemed that simply improving my skills wasn’t always a good thing.

Until I absorbed the Ten-Thousand Year He Shou Wu, I hadn't even imagined there would be such a problem.

What should I do to raise my concentration and see the trajectory?

While I was pondering that and examining the cliff, something caught my eye.

At a glance, it looked like an ordinary protruding rock, but it was actually the hive of some kind of hornet.

That hornet was quite familiar to me, who had considerable experience in Jianghu.

Tiger Head Inch Hornet.

A one-cun hornet on a tiger's head. The one cun here did not refer to the entire length of the hornet. It meant that the length of the stinger it shot was one cun, and the total length of this hornet was about the size of an adult man's finger.

It even had venom, so if stung in a vital spot like the head or chest near the heart, it was instant death.

Even if it wasn't a vital spot, being stung multiple times often led to death due to the terrible pain and poison.

Because of its danger, it was also known by the infamous names of Grim Reaper or Disaster among miraculous encounter hunters and pharmacists who sought out spiritual-looking places.

“I was lucky yesterday.”

While descending the cliff, if I had unknowingly gone near that hive, I would have likely crossed the Yellow Springs right then and there.

“And I’m lucky today, too.”

A good idea came to mind, so with a pleasant smile on my lips, I immediately operated the internal energy in my Dantian and sent it flowing to the Surging Fountain acupoint on the soles of my feet.

Fwip!

Following that, I pushed off the ground with all my might, and I was able to jump up to a height of about half a Zhang in one go.

Though it was at a shabby level, it could be called a kind of Controlling Qi to Soar.

Next, I landed with both feet on a tree branch sticking out from the side of the cliff.

As I made my body as light as possible according to the principles of lightness techniques by operating my internal energy, the branch tilted downwards but did not break.

Though it was also at a shabby level, it could be called a kind of Flying on Grass.

Perfect Flying on Grass should allow one to stand on a single thin blade of grass, but right now, I was making even a tree branch shake, let alone a blade of grass.

But a smile was already hanging on my lips.

“A technique I wouldn't have even dared to try until yesterday.”

Movement arts were a very important type of martial art.

To chase down fleeing evil bastards and smash their heads, one's movement arts had to be outstanding.

So, shouldn't I raise the level of my movement arts by any means necessary?

While maintaining my balance on the tree branch performing a shabby Flying on Grass, I quickly threw a stone I had picked up from below the cliff beforehand.

Towards the hive of the Tiger Head Inch Hornets.

Thwack!

With a dull sound, the large hive shook, and then, a brief silence fell.

Following that, the hive shook even more violently, and huge hornets befitting the large hive began to pour out in a swarm with an unpleasant noise.

Bzzzzzzzzzz!

A booming wing sound, incomparable to the ordinary hornets commonly seen throughout Jianghu, resounded fiercely, fitting their size, and they flew towards me at an incredible speed.

After waiting for them to get close, I launched myself into the air again by performing Controlling Qi to Soar.

Crack!

Thanks to me flinging my body upwards with all my might, the tree branch I was standing on finally broke.

But my body had already soared upwards.

Tap.

This time, I stood on a protruding rock. After searching for the next place to land, I launched my body again.

Like that, I soared into the air an additional three times.

As expected, it seemed hard to beat a flying creature in speed, and a few of them finally caught up to me.

To push away the hornets flying in to sting me, I quickly drew my sword and swung it at them.

Bzzzzzzzz.

The hornets moved at strange angles in the air, avoiding my sword.

Crack.

As I focused on swinging my sword, my center of gravity shifted, and the tree branch supporting my body finally broke.

As I fell, my heart dropped. I quickly operated my internal energy and simultaneously reached out with my left hand, somehow grabbing onto the cliff.

I avoided the fall, but the feeling that I was about to die made my heart pound.

But that wasn't the end.

While I was momentarily stopped, dozens of Tiger Head Inch Hornets had surrounded me, pointing their rears at me.

While holding on with one arm, I swung my sword diligently, but one of them finally broke through the gap and thrust its stinger in.

I managed to block the vital spots, but of all places, the spot it stung was the forearm of my left arm, which was holding onto the cliff.

I felt a terrible pain in my forearm as if it were being seared by fire.

I had been stabbed countless times in my previous life, but that pain was nothing compared to this.

But for some reason, I laughed.

Was it because of the terrible pain of being stung by the hornet, or was it because of the sense of crisis that I could fall off the cliff and die right now?

“Kehehehehe.”

Before I knew it, countless trajectories were drawn in the air, embroidering all directions.