At the mention of ‘Mandok Bulchim Ji Che’ (Body Impervious to All Poisons), Seo Daeryong was startled.

If one achieves Mandok Bulchim, no poison in the world can penetrate. It means he cannot be killed by poison. Since poison was the greatest threat in the martial world, this meant his greatest weakness would disappear.

“You say this can be achieved so easily?”

“Your master will achieve it easily. For me to do this task, it was a long and difficult journey.”

Seo Daeryong admired Sword Dance Master anew. How could he explain the fate of being brought for treatment only to become Mandok Bulchim Ji Che?

“Envious?”

“Not at all.”

“Why not? You look like a greedy man.”

“That greedy man knows his limits. I believe everyone has a vessel sized for their fate. Mine is the size to exhaust everything to win the So-ryong-jeon tournament. And meeting Master greatly enlarged it. Before, it was really just the size of a soy sauce bottle cap.”

Recalling his dark and gloomy personality filled with revenge against his senior at Hwangcheongak and resentment toward the Heavenly Demon Sect, he thought even a soy sauce bottle cap was a large container.

“I have seen how large your fate vessel is many times. I still see it now. I’m more grateful than jealous. Because I gained another thing to tell my grandchildren someday while sitting on their knees.”

“Then why do you look so uneasy?”

“I wonder what fate you will fulfill to walk such a path. Since I am inadvertently your right hand, I cannot avoid that fate either.”

“If you think your vessel will break, just run away.”

“Even if everyone runs, I can’t. You showed me how you carried him here nonstop and paid five hundred thousand nyang. Thanks to that, I’m completely ruined. Since I can’t run away anyway, isn’t there some great technique to make Master stronger? Please make him stronger.”

“All the carefully saved ingredients are going in there. Even if I want to, I can’t help anymore.”

The medic massaged her shoulder again as pain surged.

Seo Daeryong massaged her shoulder in return.

“No, you can make others into Mandok Bulchim Ji Che but can’t heal your own aching shoulder?”

The medic answered bitterly with a smile.

“Everyone lives like that. Do you think you’re different? Ah, over there. A little more to the right. Yeah, right there. Ah, that’s good.”

Sword Dance Master stayed immersed in the barrel for two more days.

The medic kept adding materials, and the smell grew worse.

When she added the last ingredient, an amazing thing happened.

The terrible stench inside the barrel began to change into a fragrant smell.

It was truly unbelievable. But the last ingredient wasn’t some perfume that masked the stench.

It was as if the combined foul smells transformed completely into something new and different.

Seo Daeryong put his hand on the barrel and prayed silently.

“Master, stay strong!”

At first, it truly felt like death.

He thought he’d rather fall into the world’s most foul-smelling and dirty place than enter that barrel. Ah, no, that wouldn’t work. This barrel was the foulest place in the world.

“Take this medicine and go in.”

“What medicine is this?”

“It’s medicine that kills you over two days. If you’re scared, you can give up now.”

“Give up? I welcome it. It’s a place I’d never enter alive.”

Without hesitation, I swallowed the medicine the medic gave me.

I closed and opened my eyes after swallowing, and I was lying on a bed.

Only then did I realize two days had passed. I had no dreams or memories. I had truly died and been reborn over those two days.

When I opened my eyes, Seo Daeryong was looking down at me. He said seriously,

“After consideration, I decided not to repay the five hundred thousand nyang.”

No one but Seo Daeryong could make me laugh right after waking up.

“I never lent you five hundred thousand nyang.”

At that moment, the medic came in and said,

“Leave this whining, overthinking brat here. I’ll take him as my disciple.”

Seo Daeryong jumped [N O V E L I G H T] back in shock.

“I wish I could, but I have a big task ahead.”

“Finish the task and come back. How about it?”

“Sorry, but I already have a master. The scariest person in the world.”

“Not scared of bugs?”

“Of course bugs are scary, too.”

I sensed there was truth beneath the medic’s joke.

Seo Daeryong glanced at me, asking what I was doing, silently pleading for me to stop her.

Of course, I didn’t stop her.

“Trying a new life isn’t so bad, is it?”

“You try to cut off the right hand first thing after waking. I can’t cut that right hand. When you paid five hundred thousand nyang, my arm changed to eternal iron.”

I laughed and said to the medic,

“I’ll contact you when this eternal iron rusts and breaks.”

Though Seo Daeryong wouldn’t agree, I thought that if I found another suitable person, I would definitely recommend her as a disciple.

“Stay outside for a while.”

“Yes.”

The medic sent Seo Daeryong out.

“You can get up now.”

I got up from the bed. Though I had lost consciousness for two days, my body felt light. Truly, this was the power of profound medical art.

“My body smells good.”

“It’ll keep smelling for days.”

“I hope this fragrance lasts.”

“If it does, you won’t be able to sneak anywhere for life.”

“Living without sneaking around isn’t so bad, is it?”

“If you become Heavenly Demon, maybe you can live that life.”

The medic poured me a drink.

“Here, have a glass of my wine.”

I drank the cool wine she poured. She didn’t drink but kept refilling my cup. After three cups, she stopped pouring. Though I drank, she revealed her true feelings.

“Honestly, I was very tired. Both body and mind. Helping orphans may have been my struggle to protect myself. Like a support to stop me from collapsing or going berserk.”

I understood. I had similar experiences. When I was a ronin, Seojin protected me; when I was gathering great medicine materials, my desire for revenge played that role.

The medic continued.

“When I saw you, I felt something like fate. An emotion I’d never felt before. Ah, to be honest, when I knew you mastered Heavenly Pulse Strengthening Technique, I knew the time had come. Finally, the indifferent sky gave me a chance.”

She looked out the window to the sky. My gaze naturally followed hers.

“That damn sky was truly a cursed sky—at least regarding my research.”

Her eyes turned back to me.

“Do you know what was in the wine you just drank?”

“I felt nothing.”

“It contained invisible poison.”

I was startled.

Invisible poison is colorless, odorless, and tasteless but extremely powerful—called the king of poisons. The best in the world of poisons and the heavenly best. Naturally, it’s hard to make and even harder to detoxify.

“I’m fine.”

“Congratulations. Now no poison in the world can kill you.”

Her words meant the test succeeded and I had become Mandok Bulchim Ji Che.

“Invisible poison? Didn’t you test me with something too strong?”

“Now you don’t have to test twice.”

Creating Mandok Bulchim Ji Che herself, then giving the final test with invisible poison was the crowning moment of her lifelong dream.

I was witnessing a master achieve a lifelong wish. I felt her joy, relief, bittersweetness, and regret. Maybe this is the feeling I’ll have when I kill Hwamu Gi someday.

I bowed deeply to her.

“Thank you.”

“I’m grateful too. This was my lifelong wish. Now I don’t have to roam the world looking for poisonous insects anymore.”

Her body’s pain was the result of the diseases acquired while hunting poisonous insects.

I went to her and massaged her shoulder.

“Ah, that’s refreshing.”

“Come to think of it, I never massaged my father’s shoulders.”

“You’re an unfilial child.”

“You don’t know, but massaging his shoulders is a life-risking job.”

The medic laughed amusedly.

While massaging her shoulder from behind, I felt her energy was lower than when we first met. Like she had released the final climax and was starting to descend.

“What’s your goal from now on?”

“What goal? I’ll just live comfortably.”

“No.”

“No?”

Someone who passionately devotes herself to something will start aging terribly and get sicker once she stops.

“You have to keep researching and developing new things for the martial world. So give me more.”

“You’re the real greedy one here.”

I moved forward and grabbed her wrist, pretending to check her pulse. She looked at me intently.

I faked the pulse check and said,

“You’ll live comfortably for the next fifty years. Keep working!”

She showed an expression that she understood why I said that.

“Hey, you. Living fifty more years while saying you’re in pain? Don’t curse me.”

“I’ll come back and heal you for sure.”

“Even if it’s just empty words, thanks.”

“I owe you thanks for life. Thanks to you, I won’t worry about poisoning again.”

“This could have succeeded or failed. But you risked your life bravely. Think of it as a reward for your courage.”

“I will repay this favor forever. If you ever need me, notify me at the Western Lake Guesthouse in the Central Plains, and I will come.”

“Do that.”

We went outside together.

Seo Daeryong happily greeted us.

“Congratulations to you both.”

As we finished our farewell and prepared to leave, the medic offered the poisonous insect.

“Eat this before you go! It’s tasty.”

“Sorry, but I don’t like bugs either.”

I dashed off first, followed by Seo Daeryong.

Watching their departing backs, the medic looked up at the sky.

“As a doctor, my mission is done.”

After a moment staring skyward, she habitually massaged her shoulder and went inside.

“Ah, my arm.”

I carried Seo Daeryong on my back and ran quickly.

He seemed less tired than before, partly because of experience and increased internal energy.

He worried about everything while being carried.

“Do you think I can win? Who will be my opponent? Will I be disqualified for arriving late? Or will I die at the Fourth Strong match like in my dream?”

“Stop useless worrying!”

“It’s my way. I imagine the worst, drain my energy, so it doesn’t happen in reality.”

“Did it work?”

“I don’t know. The worst hasn’t happened yet.”

“So it’s useless worrying!”

We barely made it back on time, but an unexpected situation awaited.

“Huh?”

Seo Daeryong looked at the martial alliance’s bulletin board with surprise. It was news about the So-ryong-jeon tournament.

“I’ve advanced to the finals?”

There was an accident in the next group’s Eighth Strong match.

A competitor suffered a fatal wound due to the opponent’s intentional foul play. Thus, Seo Daeryong’s opponent at Fourth Strong was disqualified, and he advanced automatically to the finals.

“I told you dreams are opposites. I said worrying is useless, didn’t I?”

Though I said that, Seo Daeryong couldn’t take his eyes off the bulletin.

“Is it really okay to go to the finals like this?”

“No trick, no cheating. Why not? It’s said that no matter talent or effort, luck beats them all.”

“I wasn’t a lucky person before.”

“Luck changes in life.”

Seo Daeryong looked at me, his eyes full of emotion. That luck was all thanks to the Master.

“When I decided to enter the So-ryong-jeon, I wanted to win to help the Master. Now there’s only one step left.”

“That last step is the problem.”

The final opponent was a candidate no luck could change. The granddaughter of the martial alliance leader, Jin Ha-ryeong, had advanced to the finals without any surprises.

Thus, the finals would be a match between the unpredictable Seo Daeryong and the unbeatable favorite Jin Ha-ryeong.

“What should I do? I’m so nervous I might not even draw my sword.”

“You might not draw your sword, but can you read?”

“Eh? What do you mean?”

I took a lucky pouch from my bosom—the strategy pouch given to Seo Daeryong by the Blood Heaven Butcher.

“This means the time to use it has finally come.”