Chapter 6

Precautions for Taking Spirit Medicines
—Includes the inner cores of spirit beasts.

One: When taking a spirit medicine, one must continuously circulate their energy to ensure its power completely melts and fuses with one's own strength. And, one must absolutely not stop until the complete power is obtained. A sudden stop in energy circulation carries the risk of severe side effects, so be especially careful. After taking a spirit medicine, one can go without food for several days without any impact on life, so do not stop and continue to circulate their energy.

Two: Do not carelessly consume spirit medicines or inner cores in which the power of either Yin or Yang is excessively concentrated. You could die from eating it incorrectly. In this case, it is best to consult an expert. One must find a mutually generative spirit medicine to take with it. If you mistakenly take a mutually destructive spirit medicine, it is certain death! That is, you will surely die. To take mutually destructive spirit medicines (or inner cores) together, a spirit medicine that can neutralize the two is absolutely necessary. If you are not confident you can obtain it, it is better not to consume them. If you value your life and wish to live long, you must keep this in mind. Also, when taking mutually generative spirit medicines, one must always pay attention to the ratio. If the ratio of the medicines is wrong, the risk of inducing side effects later is very high. Deep caution is required.

Three: Pill-type spirit medicines like the Great Recovery Pill can be taken without much issue. Of course, circulating your energy is essential. Pills are generally prepared with all component ratios taken into account, so the more famous the spirit medicine, the safer it is to take just one. Therefore, always be wary of nameless spirit medicines, fakes, or similar products.

Four: Take it thirty minutes after a meal. Taking it on an empty stomach does not have major side effects, but it is better to refrain. Also, be aware that if you take it immediately after a meal, a significant portion of the medicinal effect will be digested along with the food. Of course, you must refrain from taking it after overeating.

Five: Always be cautious of the risk of side effects. If you see signs of side effects, it is best to immediately seek the advice of a nearby doctor or expert.

Six: After carefully familiarizing yourself with the precautions, consume the medicine.

After calmly mulling over the precautions for taking spirit medicine that my master had taught me, I swallowed the Doll Snow Ginseng in one gulp. A clear fragrance spread throughout my mouth, and with an ecstatic sweetness, the Doll Snow Ginseng melted like snow and flowed down my throat into my stomach. A moment later, I received a tremendous shock, as if a huge, unprecedented power was swirling inside my body. I was still too young and lacking to control the immense and vast, unprecedented power I was experiencing for the first time in my life.

The power of the Doll Snow Ginseng tried to wrap around me and swallow me whole like an angry wave or a giant vortex. I had the illusion that my soul was shedding its physical shell and being sucked into a giant golden vortex. Unconsciously, I had no choice but to desperately operate the Thunder Spirit Heart Method. If I had let my guard down for even a moment, I would have been swallowed by the huge, unprecedented power and left without a trace. And an eternity of time passed.

How much time had passed? Returning from the world of unconsciousness to the world of consciousness, I slowly opened my eyes. The moment the waves of light rushed in, I came to my senses. I couldn't even guess how much time had passed. I even felt a reverent feeling, like a seeker of truth who had experienced a new world. I felt a refreshing and powerful flow of energy throughout my body, and at the same time, it was so light and nimble I felt like I could fly.

My mind was in a state like a clear and quiet lake. All the turbid energy in my body had drained out, and only clear and bright energy remained, filling my body. I had gained power. A very strong, clear, and immense power...

Returning home with a mind and body that felt like they could fly, I was scolded by my master for having been gone for four days and for where I had been and what I had been doing. My master sternly interrogated me, saying I had been slacking off because I didn't want to work, but I kept my mouth firmly shut and remained silent. It was because I didn't feel the need to explain the situation. No, I thought I had to keep it a secret no matter what.

Why would I confess the truth to my master, only to face some harsh consequences! It was obvious what would come out of my damn master's mouth without even hearing it.

"You utterly mannerless brat. You ate such a precious thing all by yourself instead of offering it to your master who is like the heavens to you! No, if you had something so precious, you should have immediately run and offered it to your old master, or at least shared it. You ate it all by yourself to live a long, disease-free life! Even if the heavens permit your long, disease-free life and the Doll Snow Ginseng helps you, I will not tolerate it. You just try dying by my hand today."

If not that, then,

"Aigoo, how much money would that have been if you sold it, and you just gulped it down! Are you trying to plate your stomach with silver? If only you had sold that for its proper price, you would have earned enough money to live extravagantly for two hundred years. To kick away such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity without a word of consultation, aigoo, what a waste!"

It was obvious I would hear such nonsense. I didn't have the confidence to handle the aftermath. So it had to be kept top secret even more thoroughly.

In any case, perhaps due to the effect of the Doll Snow Ginseng, my Thunder Spirit Heart Method progressed tremendously from that day on, and my Command Thunder Hand also lightly surpassed the 6th level, finally reaching the stage where I could play the Thunder Zither. In addition, I was also able to receive the lessons on handling the Flying Thunder Dagger that I had dreamed of.

What was even more strange was the fact that even after being worked to the bone all day at the blacksmith shop, I didn't feel tired at all, and instead, my body was overflowing with so much energy that it was hard to control. If I hadn't eaten the Doll Snow Ginseng back then, I might still be barely maintaining a life I couldn't die from while suffering from tremendous hard labor and my master's inhumane treatment, or I might have already died from overwork and been buried in the ground. People need to think about the future with a long-term perspective rather than just the immediate results. From this point of view, my choice back then could be said to be truly excellent.

"Clang! Clang!"

At the sound of the sledgehammer hitting the iron, Bi Ryu-yeon was startled out of his thoughts. A long reminiscence if you call it long, a short one if you call it short. Awakening from his thoughts, Bi Ryu-yeon suddenly looked at his left hand.

"Huh, what's this? Why is there a lump of scrap metal here? Where did the sword that's supposed to be here run off to, and why am I holding a shabby scrap metal bar?"

The sword that Bi Ryu-yeon had clearly intended to make by hammering the heated iron was gone without a trace, and all that was there was a single scrap metal bar, crumpled like taffy, held as if in shame. To be precise, it was a scrap metal bar held in the tongs in his left hand.

The iron, which according to the original plan was fated to become a shining, pure white sword and show off its form, had, due to someone's mistake, ended up with the fate of becoming a dark, crumpled scrap metal bar like a stick of taffy. If he left it like this, the old owner would surely deduct the damages from my wages without mercy.

"Damn it, to think I was lost in other thoughts while making a sword! When making a sword, I should have focused all my nerves on the sword... This is all because of that damn master. Phew, can't be helped. I'll have to make it again from the beginning. He's no help at all, no help."

Bi Ryu-yeon's gaze, as he tried to quickly rectify the situation and prevent the tragic event of his wages being cut, suddenly turned to the window. The evening sun was already beginning to cast its glow, dyeing the sky red.

"Oh, the sun is already setting! When did the time fly by like this? Can't be helped. I have to keep to my quitting time like clockwork. Unpaid overtime goes against my principles."

Burning with the sense of duty to keep to his quitting time like clockwork, Bi Ryu-yeon carelessly tossed the scrap metal bar that should have been a sword into a corner and got up, dusting himself off. The sun was already hanging over the western mountains, about to set. With the red-glowing sunset behind him, Bi Ryu-yeon headed for home. Towards the home where his tiresome and damn master was waiting...

It had been three years since he started working at the blacksmith shop. His skills were recognized, and he became a swordsmith, and as a result, his pay rose from 3 silver taels a month to 11 silver taels a month, but Bi Ryu-yeon's work attitude remained the same.

---

The Unlucky White Tiger

That incident became the catalyst that changed my destiny completely.

That event taught me a new destiny.

You might curse me for moving purely based on interest, but I did it because it seemed fun.

Bi Ryu-yeon, age 20, on a certain day...

"Grrrr..."

It was a huge tiger. A king of beasts, a tiger whose body seemed to be at least four times the size of Bi Ryu-yeon. And its eyes shone like the sun, and its fur was a silvery-white with a bluish tint. Judging by its build and the look in its eyes, it was clearly the boss tiger of this mountain. There was probably no reckless beast on this mountain that would dare to challenge a creature with such a physique and intimidating presence. It seemed it was probably prowling around looking for lunch. And now, in front of that king of beasts, stood Bi Ryu-yeon, the successor of the Flying Thunder Sect who served the incarnation of evil as his master, looking perfectly calm.

The silvery-white great tiger was glaring at him, its two eyes shining like the sun with a fierce momentum as if it would pounce on Bi Ryu-yeon at any moment. It seemed to be sizing up its prey right now. A preliminary step to cook its meal for sure. However, the eyes of Bi Ryu-yeon, standing in front of that house-sized tiger, were just calm. No, rather, a faint, triumphant smile even lingered on his lips. Why was he smiling? Of course, it was clear that he wasn't happily thinking about an after-meal stroll with the white tiger inside its stomach. The reason was soon revealed.

"Yahoo, what a windfall! I don't remember dreaming of a pig last night. A watermelon just rolled in with the vine. And a pure white watermelon at that. No, should I say a silvery-white watermelon? I hit a big one today, I'm lucky."

It seems that even the magnificent black stripes of this tiger, called the king of beasts, looked to Bi Ryu-yeon's eyes like nothing more than stripes drawn on a white watermelon. Even the king of beasts, the tiger, was regarded by Bi Ryu-yeon as nothing more than a cute kitten. However, he was not without a sense of gratitude towards this tiger. It was a golden opportunity that had come again a full year after he had hit it big last year. It was a perfect chance to earn a lot of money easily.

Was it last year? While searching the entire mountain as if with a fine-toothed comb for prey, he had met that creature. A giant bear that looked like an old tree! After beating it without difficulty (he caught it, but he definitely didn't beat it to death with his hands), he had cut out its gallbladder, the thing people called bear bile and were crazy about, and sold it for a pretty high price.

Bear bile was known as a panacea, as if it were the inner core of some spirit beast. Well, even if it wasn't a panacea, it was a precious medicinal ingredient with excellent medicinal effects, so there was no problem with the negotiation. Furthermore, he had even shown the business acumen to skin the creature and sell its hide to a person of quite high status in some martial arts faction. And he got a pretty high price for it, so all in all, it was a satisfactory transaction.

Bear hides were not a very popular item on the market. For that reason, he hadn't expected a high price. But he had managed to get information that the vice-leader of a martial arts faction called the Great Bear Gang was looking for a bear hide as a birthday present for the leader. He was in a bind because he couldn't find a top-quality bear hide worthy of being a gift for the leader, and that's when he heard that Bi Ryu-yeon had a bear hide. He was very happy, saying he had never seen a top-quality bear hide without a single scratch like the one Bi Ryu-yeon had. He then paid a lot of silver for the hide and took it. It was an unexpected windfall.

And as for the bear's paws, he cut off the right and left paws from the top and bottom and sold them to the largest and most famous restaurant in the village. It was very good quality, top-grade meat, so it sold for a high price. In this way, he sold off everything he could, and the rest he took home and made bear bone soup. It tasted pretty good.

The money earned this way was a considerable amount, so Bi Ryu-yeon entrusted two-thirds of that money to the largest and highest-interest-rate money-lender in the village. Of course, how much he earned from that bear and how much he entrusted was Bi Ryu-yeon's secret alone. Of course, he didn't tell his master either. No, it was something that must never be found out by his master. It was terrifying to even imagine, but if that happened, it was as clear as day that he would be robbed of almost all the money he had earned, and only the dregs would be left.

When Bi Ryu-yeon brought the bear home, the bear's corpse—to put it more gently, the meat—was cut into dozens of pieces, so his master had no idea that the soup he ate at that time was bear bone soup. He cleverly used spices to make it taste similar to wild boar meat and then lied to his master, saying he had cooked a mix of wild boar meat and two other types of meat. Of course, his master was easily fooled. Happily, a large sum of money was saved.

A year after that, the heavens had given him another chance to hit it big. The heavens had by no means abandoned the protagonist of this pitiful destiny. And now, wasn't that money-lump prowling right in front of Bi Ryu-yeon's eyes?

The white tiger itself probably had no idea that it looked like a wanted criminal shouting, 'Please, just catch me!' How could it possibly guess that it, which had always reigned as a being of terror to people, looked like nothing more than a bundle of money!

The king of beasts, the tiger, completely unaware of what evil and terrible crime Bi Ryu-yeon was planning to commit, continued its search, contemplating its usual dilemma of how to cook this lunch. The white tiger, which had been earnestly contemplating whether to tear it to shreds or bite it to death, decided to ambush the weak human in front of it in an instant and kill it with a single bite, and moved its huge body like lightning. The expected target was the weak human's neck.

That attack was a fatal blow that had never missed before, so the white tiger did not consider its own mistake at all. The white tiger opened its maw wide, showing off its sharp fangs, and roared so loudly that the mountain rang, "Keoheong." But even in this moment of crisis, Bi Ryu-yeon was happily contemplating the hunting method that would allow him to make the most of this money-lump.

As if a decision had been made, Bi Ryu-yeon's gaze turned to the white tiger that was closing the 15-meter distance and charging at him. His left hand was naturally lowered. A Flying Thunder Dagger slid down his left arm and rested in his left hand. As Bi Ryu-yeon lightly gripped the hilt of the Flying Thunder Dagger, the Thunder Blade revealed its hidden form from within. The Thunder Blade, which appeared in an elegant semicircle curve, was emitting a bluish, sharp aura.

In an instant, a fantastic flash of light flickered from Bi Ryu-yeon's left hand like lightning and flew into the white tiger's maw. A fantastic thunderous light flew into the tiger's maw as if being sucked in. If seen from the side, it would have looked as if the white tiger had swallowed lightning. In that moment, the white tiger, which had leaped through the air to pounce on Bi Ryu-yeon, trembled violently, lost its balance, and fell limply to the ground. The king of beasts could not withstand the huge power that exploded violently and swirled fiercely inside its stomach.

It was the absurd end of the king of beasts, the fiercest of the fierce, the ruler of the forest, the Silvery-White Tiger. He, who had reigned for a long time as the king of kings in these mountains, had rushed in without knowing how dangerous, ruthless, and absurdly strong the human he had considered his lunch was.

With a single twitch of his left index finger, the Flying Thunder Dagger that had left Bi Ryu-yeon's hand returned to his hand as if by magic. The Flying Thunder Dagger was clean, without a single drop of the silvery-white tiger's blood on it. It was a strange thing. With this, he was able to obtain a tiger hide without a single scratch.

Bi Ryu-yeon's ever-present dagger swam freely between the body and hide of the Silvery-White Tiger. In an instant, the silvery-white tiger's hide was stripped off and left its owner's body forever. Judging by Bi Ryu-yeon's very adept and skilled workmanship, one could guess that he had been doing this for quite a long time. All that was left now was the unsightly, shiny body of the skinned tiger.

As the proverb goes, a tiger leaves its skin when it dies. Moreover, that skin was even more valuable because it had a very high price. This hide would now be sold for a high price. A tiger hide this huge would be rare, so it would surely sell for a high price. Besides, a silvery-white tiger hide with a bluish tint was a rare and precious item that was not easy to obtain.

At this thought, Bi Ryu-yeon's mood became very good. He decided to destroy the evidence and split the tiger's belly in half. A large amount of blood flowed out from the tiger's belly. It was a natural result, seeing as the Flying Thunder Dagger had entered its stomach and churned up its insides. The meticulous Bi Ryu-yeon did not waste a single drop of blood and collected it in a leather pouch. The blood of a great spirit beast white tiger like this would surely sell for a high price, so there was no way Bi Ryu-yeon would just throw away something so precious on the bare ground.

After splitting the belly, he rummaged through the internal organs and found that, fortunately, the tiger's liver was intact. Bi Ryu-yeon let out a sigh of relief. The tiger's liver was also an important item that would be traded for a high price. Isn't there a proverb, if you boil and eat a tiger's liver, your courage will grow? Well, there's a story that a side effect could be a swollen liver, but regardless of its truth, the fact that it was a high-priced item remained unchanged.

After cleanly removing the internal organs of the king of the forest, the tiger, he pierced the tiger's torso from anus to mouth with a wooden skewer and hung it over a bonfire. Then, he sprinkled salt and various spices and seasonings on it and slowly turned the skewer, waiting for the meat to cook. As the meat received the heat and began to cook to a golden brown, the aroma was incredible. Bi Ryu-yeon, who was extremely hungry from the unexpected morning exercise, cleanly devoured the whole roasted tiger, which gave off a savory aroma and was well-cooked to a golden brown. The king of beasts was also first-class in the taste of its meat.

After the meal, only the white bones, presumed to belong to the one who was once the king of the forest, were left at the scene. Not a single piece of flesh was left on those bones. At this point, Bi Ryu-yeon was thinking of just leaving, let alone holding a funeral with the remaining white bones. But Bi Ryu-yeon, who had been walking away, hesitated for a moment, then returned to the meal site and began to collect the bones of the tiger that was once a white tiger. After carefully packing the white tiger's bones, Bi Ryu-yeon offered a moment of silence for the beautiful sacrificial spirit of the silvery-white tiger that had sacrificed itself for him, then slung the tiger's hide over his shoulder and went down to the village with a happy heart.

His collection basket was full of the 20 tiger claws he had pulled out before cooking and the bones he had collected after cooking. As big as its body was, there were many bones left. He planned to make tiger claw necklaces with the claws and sell them at the general store. It seemed he could get a pretty high price. He had never seen a tiger claw necklace made with claws this big and sharp before. The rarer the item, the greater its value.

And, these uncontrollably numerous white bones would also be traded for a high price at the apothecary. Tiger bones have been used as a major medicinal ingredient since ancient times, and their efficacy is widely recognized. Truly, from its hide to its bones, there was nothing to throw away from a tiger. A spirit beast was a spirit beast, it seemed.

The money gathered this way would be used to carry out his grand and great plan. Perhaps because he had feasted on the white tiger, Bi Ryu-yeon's steps as he went down to the village were as swift and light as a flying tiger.