Chapter 146: Requesting the Nascent Condensation Pill
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Translated by Frog in the Well
Read it only at Nineheavens.org
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Certainly, obtaining fame made the treatment different.
Jin So-myeong, who visited the Medicine King Sect together with Wu Yeong-jin, was immediately guided to the VIP room.
In the reception room subtly permeated with medicinal fragrance that cleared the mind, the Medicine King Sect Sect Master and Supreme Elder were waiting together.
“Greetings, Senior.”
Jin So-myeong and Wu Yeong-jin paid their respects first to Supreme Elder Yeom Un-cheong, who was an outstandingly skilled Rank 4 elixir refiner and the highest expert of the Medicine King Sect, and a gentle smile returned.
“Haha, I am truly glad to see junior Jin who shook his name in the Southern Province. You are the son of Fellow Daoist Wuyang?”
“Yes.”
“My age has exceeded a thousand years, so I wish to speak informally, is it by chance uncomfortable?”
“Not at all. Please speak comfortably.”
Following the Supreme Elder, he exchanged greetings with the woman sitting modestly.
“I am the Medicine King Sect Sect Master, Yeom Chae-ryeong.”
“I am Jin So-myeong, and this side is Wu Yeong-jin.”
Yeom Chae-ryeong was a woman with an attractive tear mole, and unlike her haughty-looking impression, she harbored a soft smile, radiating a warm feeling.
As could be told by Yeom Un-cheong and Yeom Chae-ryeong having the same surname, the two were in a father-daughter relationship.
‘She is said to be the daughter the Supreme Elder fathered in his later years, correct?’
Although she possessed a lively, beautiful appearance like someone in her early twenties, in truth she was over three hundred and fifty years old, and her realm was the 9th layer of the Golden Core stage.
It was a realm where it would not be strange even if she became a Nascent Soul at any time, but she had been famous for lacking talent since childhood.
Although she achieved the 9th layer of the Golden Core after pouring in resources to the point of pulling out the foundational pillars of the Medicine King Sect, she had already challenged the Nascent Soul stage twice and failed.
She was a figure followed by assessments that the possibility of forming a Nascent Soul was faint due to lacking talent.
Of course, no matter how disastrous her aptitude was, it would still be better than Jin So-myeong’s excluding the Supreme Great Abilities. Because he had a mixed spiritual root at the time he began cultivating.
In any case,
Yeom Chae-ryeong, a woman anyone in the world would answer was a beauty if asked, stared intently at Jin So-myeong with a curiosity-filled gaze.
As they naturally made eye contact, she smiled brightly.
“Actually, I truly wished to meet Fellow Daoist Jin. I finished closed-door cultivation a few days ago, and my goodness, I was so startled by the world? A Golden Core defeated a Nascent Soul stage expert…! I am sorry, but at first I could not believe it.”
Speaking as if pouring out words rapidly without even a gap to butt in, she suddenly knitted her neat brows and asked with a worry-filled expression.
“The Yin Moon Old Devil. You fought with that vicious fellow, could you by chance have been hurt anywhere?”
“I am fine.”
“Wow, you don’t even have internal injuries? You are amazing! Even though the Yin Moon Old Devil had a bad personality, he was famous for having outstanding skill. Especially since he excelled in prolonged battles and starved people to death…”
“Mmh.”
“Ah, indeed! They said Fellow Daoist Jin cleaved the Yin Moon Old Devil in less than fifteen minutes since starting the fight. Is it true? How could you do that?”
Yeom Chae-ryeong had a bright and active personality, contrary to her seemingly haughty impression at a glance.
Unfitting for the head of a sect, her expression of emotions was abundant, and she spoke truly a lot.
In the midst of the harmonious atmosphere, chat. No, just as he was listening to her unilateral chatter.
“Could it be that the reason you two visited our Medicine King Sect is because of the Nascent Condensation Pill?”
“Correct.”
“Then my father… Ah, I am sorry. You will have to talk with the Supreme Elder.”
As Yeom Chae-ryeong, who chirped endlessly as if she had so much to say, backed away slightly, the Supreme Elder who had been watching with a gratified expression from behind stepped forward.
“The Nascent Condensation Pill… Hmh.”
Caressing his snow-white beard for a fairly long time, the Supreme Elder asked a somewhat out-of-the-blue question.
“Junior Jin. Do you by chance have a Dao companion?”
“…I have none.”
Dao companion. To put it in other words, it was asking if he had a married woman.
Asking such a thing in a place where he was together with his daughter. It was not difficult to guess with what intention he asked the question.
Yeom Chae-ryeong, whose eyes grew wide, quickly lowered her head to hide her flushed cheeks. As if it were not a matter discussed in advance, she bit her lips and glared at the Supreme Elder.
“Ahem! My apologies. I am behaving foolishly in my old age. However, since it is not a joke, ponder it seriously. Because there will be nothing bad about belonging to our Medicine King Sect.”
The Supreme Elder, who smiled gently, continued speaking in a subtle tone.
“Does not forming a Nascent Soul equate to completing the thousand-year Great Dao anyway? Since you cultivated through hardships, you should enjoy the remaining life.”
“I shall ponder it.”
Cultivators who reached the Nascent Soul stage were divided into exactly two categories.
Those who cleanly gave up and enjoyed life since the Soul Formation stage was the realm of legend, or dreamers who seriously chased the legend.
Jin So-myeong?
Naturally, he was a person who dreamed of reaching the stars floating in the sky. He had no intention of stopping at the Nascent Soul stage.
However, was there a need to show his inner mind to someone he met for the first time? As he merely replaced the reply with a quiet smile, the Supreme Elder muttered as if regretting.
“Although my daughter is a bit lacking in talent, her beauty is truly fine… if you have thoughts, speak at any time.”
Now that her earlobes had turned completely crimson, Yeom Chae-ryeong mercilessly poked her father’s flank with her elbow, and the Supreme Elder who retreated while pretending to be defeated returned to the main point.
“In any case, you desire the Nascent Condensation Pill?”
He proposed to him, who was smiling quietly as if asking what they would give in return.
“If you refine the pill for us, I shall give you the pill recipes obtained from the Eastern Province’s Heavenly Elixir Sect.”
“Heavenly Elixir Sect’s pill recipes? What kind of pill recipes are they?”
The Medicine King Sect and the Heavenly Elixir Sect merely had the Dead Soul Wilderness in between and were geographically extremely close. It could be said they were in a relationship of fierce competition for a fairly long time.
Secret transmission pill recipes obtained from a rival sect?
If putting this on Earth, it was identical to the product blueprints of a rival company. It was difficult for an elixir refiner not to show interest.
As he presented the dozen-odd pill recipes obtained from the chief disciple of Perfected Red Heaven, a Rank 4 elixir refiner of the Heavenly Elixir Sect, the Supreme Elder, who scanned them here and there, nodded briefly.
“Not bad.”
At the slightly ambiguous reaction, he pulled out one more jade slip.
“There is also the Nascent Condensation Pill recipe here.”
“The Nascent Condensation Pill? Huh! That is not a secret transmission easily leaked.”
The Supreme Elder, whose eyes widened in genuine admiration, spoke.
“May I decide after looking? I speak staking my honor, if that recipe is of help to our Medicine King Sect, I shall refine the Nascent Condensation Pill for you.”
In name, a Nascent Soul stage expert would not go back on his word.
When he presented the jade slip, the Supreme Elder, who inspected it for about a minute, nodded heartily.
“It is sufficient. If we properly study only these pill recipes, the pill refining skill of our Medicine King Sect will rise one step higher.”
“Does that mean…?”
“If you guys simply procure the ingredients, I shall refine the Nascent Condensation Pill for you.”
Just as a smile formed naturally at the joyous news.
“However, I recommend returning seven… no, five years later.”
“Five years later?”
“Because you guys are not elixir refiners so you do not know well, but there are quite a lot of points to learn from this Heavenly Elixir Sect pill recipe. If we study it well, it seems the success rate of manufacturing the Nascent Condensation Pill will rise by two more tenths.”
“If it rises by two-tenths more than now… are you saying it can be made with a seventy percent probability?”
“That is so.”
Pondering briefly, Jin So-myeong agreed. Anyway, he was not yet a Golden Core 9th layer. He did not need the Nascent Condensation Pill right now. He could fully wait for around five years.
Glancing away, he saw Wu Yeong-jin knitting his brows and struggling. Unlike Jin So-myeong, he was already at the Golden Core 9th layer, so he could not help but be troubled.
Whether to make the Nascent Condensation Pill right now with a fifty percent probability, or to make it five years later with a seventy percent probability.
How much time had passed? Letting out a long breath, Wu Yeong-jin reached a decision.
“I shall wait as well.”
“A good decision. Do the remaining talk with our Sect Master. I must begin the research on the pill recipes.”
Watching the Supreme Elder who left in a hurry as if his hands were itching, he grew puzzled.
He wondered what remaining talk there was, but a more proposal than expected entered.
“You two, do you by chance have a place to consume the Nascent Condensation Pill? To challenge the Nascent Soul stage, a Rank 4 spiritual vein will be necessary.”
While Jin So-myeong and Wu Yeong-jin paused, her voice continued.
“If you wish, we shall lend you the Rank 4 spiritual vein possessed by our Medicine King Sect. In exchange, if you ascend to the Nascent Soul stage, please assist our Medicine King Sect for a hundred years.”
“A hundred years…”
In truth, if one could become a Nascent Soul stage expert by serving for a hundred years, any Golden Core would not refuse.
Although it was not an unreasonable condition, Jin So-myeong already possessed the Secret Realm of the Mind that had reached Rank 4. Therefore, it was not a particularly appealing proposal.
“I shall ponder it a bit and contact you if needed.”
“Perhaps, if a hundred years is burdensome, please speak. Because the period can be reduced depending on conditions.”
Aside from the Rank 4 spiritual vein, several proposals entered.
Whether they had intentions to become a Medicine King Sect Protector or elder, that they wished to form an alliance if establishing a sect or family, that they would directly refine pills for them if not as difficult as the Nascent Condensation Pill, and so forth.
“Even if there is no business, visit often. Is it not that the more friends, the better?”
Proposals mixed with goodwill poured to the point of being close to flirtation, but he postponed the answer by saying he would think about it.
*
Just as Jin So-myeong, who finished his business, was returning to Natian City, he paused.
A part of his Divine Sense grew minutely hot.
A feeling of someone tapping? That it lacked hostility or pain, it seemed as if merely sending a signal.
‘Who is it?’
Although this place was not inside the Medicine King Sect, strictly speaking, it was Medicine King Sect territory where outsiders found it difficult to enter.
Because the range detected by his Divine Sense was usually too wide, Jin So-myeong, who passed over most unimportant information, concentrated his mind.
Utilizing his Divine Sense like a radar, he found out who was calling, and unexpectedly a familiar face was visible.
‘…I must meet them.’
Jin So-myeong, who reached a decision, spoke to Wu Yeong-jin who was flying beside him.
“Fellow Daoist Wu. Return first.”
“Huh?”
“I remembered a place I must stop by briefly.”
“Mmh… understood. Lightly, here is the Rank 4 Longevity-Extending Pill that was the promised payment.”
Receiving the jade box tightly sealed so that not a single speck of energy leaked, Jin So-myeong grew puzzled.
“The Nascent Condensation Pill is not even made yet, is it fine to give this already?”
“One way or another, did the Medicine King Sect Supreme Elder not accept the pill refining request? If we wished, it could have been made today immediately. So it is correct to give it to you.”
Pondering briefly, Jin So-myeong nodded his head.
In any case, there was no need to decline what was given. If it was something absolutely necessary. The Rank 4 Longevity-Extending Pill was a pill precious enough to even extend the lifespan of a Nascent Soul stage expert.
Having packed the Rank 4 Longevity-Extending Pill and saw Wu Yeong-jin off as he departed, Jin So-myeong quietly turned his direction.
Flying toward the one who sent the signal through Divine Sense, a rocky mountain where rocks larger than average buildings were scattered in all directions appeared.
Inside a minutely split rock crevice, there was a fairly spacious cave, where a woman dressed in a gorgeous court robe embroidered with phoenixes was biting her lips anxiously with an uneasy expression.
‘Cheong Hwa-ran.’
Seeing her again, whom he had met in the Red Cloud Secret Realm during the distant Qi Condensation days, was glad.
By the way, for what matter did she call him?
After verifying using Divine Sense that there was no trap. He quietly entered the cave.
“Fellow Daoist Cheong. It has been a long time.”
“Yes? What do you mean by a long time?”
Although he greeted harboring curiosity and gladness, a bizarre reaction returned. She treated Jin So-myeong as if he were someone she met for the first time.
For her to be the one who called him all the way here by giving a signal to his Divine Sense, yet fail to recognize him?
Puzzled and thinking about it, he remembered that he was in a disguised state when he met her in the Red Cloud Secret Realm.
“Around fifty years ago, at the deepest part of the Red Cloud Secret Realm, you made a Rank 1 Longevity-Extending Pill for me, do you remember?”
“…Ah! You were that person back then!”
Cheong Hwa-ran, whose face brightened completely, bowed her head deeply.
“Looking at it now, you were my savior! Thanks to your warning back then, I was able to safely escape from Red Yang Market. Thank you.”
At the time, Jin So-myeong had warned her that there was a Foundation Establishment cultivator targeting her.
“By the way, for what business did you call me so secretly like this?”
“Ah… that is.”
Biting her lips and hesitating for a long time, over a minute, she closed her eyes tightly and opened her mouth.
“Do not trust our Supreme Elder too much.”
Yet the content was quite suspicious.
Jin So-myeong, who tapped his scabbard like a habit, fell silent for a moment. Looking at Cheong Hwa-ran who carefully inspected the surroundings several times out of anxiety, he spoke.
“Do not trust the Supreme Elder. What does that mean?”
She, who could not easily open his mouth, let out a deep sigh, then began to explain the detailed circumstances.
“Yeom Chae-ryeong was born with the precious status of being a child of a Nascent Soul cultivator, but her aptitude is not that good. For her to merely have a high-grade spiritual root. Can you believe it?”
“Uh, mmh.”
“Why is that?”
“…It is nothing. Please continue speaking.”
A bitter smile came out naturally at the sight of her tilting her head.
It felt like being hit out of nowhere.
‘I also have a high-grade spiritual root.’
Furthermore, this was the result of his aptitude being improved. At first, it was the lowest-grade, mixed spiritual root.
In any case, without cutting off her words, he listened quietly, and the explanation continued.
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