Chapter 5

Kwangma Jeongsaeng (5)

It hurts.

It really, really hurts.

My insides ache so much that I can't even fathom how I've managed to endure it so far.

They say that pain becomes familiar over time, but the older I get, the more it hurts.

"Perhaps this is my body's warning to heal quickly."

At just eleven years old, I had trained my body to the point where I could climb a steep cliff with my bare hands, but while my exterior looked fine, my insides were a different story.

The external energy and yang qi continuously clashed, causing my internal organs to ache, and despite my meridians being severed, my internal energy was still building up but couldn't flow properly through my body, leaving me constantly numb and in pain.

"It's time to treat the Gongyang Meridian Blockage."

Easier said than done, treating the Gongyang Meridian Blockage is far from easy.

I've been reciting the incantations of the Gongyang Meridian Blockage every day without fail, but my meridians have hardly recovered.

There are two methods to treat the Gongyang Meridian Blockage.

First, one can consume a medicinal herb with strong yin energy.

Examples of such herbs include the thousand-year-old or ten-thousand-year-old snow ginseng or the Mita Holy Water, which are as hard to obtain as picking stars from the sky.

There are also the ten-thousand-year-old ice crystal and the inner core of the Ice Horn Snake, both of which are only found in the Northern Sea Ice Palace, but acquiring them is just as difficult as the thousand-year-old snow ginseng.

Of course, it's possible to purchase them through merchants, but even the cheapest thousand-year-old snow ginseng costs as much as an entire mansion.

The second method is to consume any inner core or medicinal pill that isn't too yang, and to keep eating them until you become strong enough to control the yang energy on your own.

This is the second method.

When I was Tian Qilin, I treated the Gongyang Meridian Blockage using the second method.

Of course, treating it requires more than just medicinal herbs.

A master to help with the circulation of energy, or a physician to assist, would be necessary.

But now, none of that is needed for Murong Jin; what he really needs are a lot of medicinal herbs with strong yin energy or a steady supply of ordinary medicinal herbs.

However, due to the family's financial situation, obtaining them is almost impossible.

Recently, Murong Xue's face has been looking increasingly grim when he goes to the academy.

And the quality of the meals served every day has been getting worse and worse.

"Ah... If it were the old Murong Clan, I would have recovered quickly. Why did I have to destroy the Murong Clan? There was the Hebei Pang Family below it, so why did I have to destroy the Murong Clan? Sigh... I wonder if some kind-hearted, powerful expert with strong yin energy will appear."

This is the third method, but it's practically impossible, so I didn't even mention it.

While there might be some medicinal herbs available, the existence of a kind-hearted, powerful expert with strong yin energy is almost nonexistent.

Experts with strong yin energy are extremely rare, and if they do exist, most of them are from the evil sects.

Would they risk their lives to treat my Gongyang Meridian Blockage?

That's impossible from the start.

Even if they offered to do it for free, I wouldn't accept it.

Not because they are from the evil sects, but because I find it unsettling.

Treating someone else with one's own energy is not an easy task.

"Sigh..."

Murong Jin sighed and started descending the mountain path instead of the cliff.

Seeing the sun setting, he knew that Murong Xue would soon return, so he had to get home before then.

"If he finds out I went to the back mountain again, he'll be furious. I need to hurry back... Ah, what am I going to do? Was I being too optimistic? This is not easy at all."

He wanted to raid the medicine cabinets of the martial arts alliance or the demon sect, but with his current skills, he couldn't even get close.

What good is enlightenment and technique if his body and internal energy can't support it?

Murong Jin, looking at his current self, was at best a third-rate practitioner.

Even considering his young age, he was still third-rate.

No more, no less.

Running down the mountain, Murong Jin arrived home in about an hour.

Murong Jin's house was now deep in the mountains.

They didn't always live here.

They moved from Zhengsuo Village to this place exactly two years ago.

Why is there a house in such a dense forest? Simply because they couldn't afford to live anywhere else.

Even the nearest village, Zhengsuo Village, was a half-day's journey away, but Murong Jin actually liked living in this house.

The energy felt good, being at the foot of the massive Taihang Mountains that span Hebei, and the beautiful scenery and steep cliffs were very appealing to him.

It was a great environment for training.

"Alright, I should practice my energy circulation before Father comes back."

The mountain was so quiet that even small animals didn't live there, so Murong Jin found a spot and started his energy circulation.

Circulating both the Waiyuan Gong and the Rehuo Shen Gong.

Using two internal energy cultivation techniques simultaneously was an absurd feat, but nothing was impossible for the Demon King.

After risking his life to force it, Murong Jin could now use both techniques without any burden.

However, there was a problem.

Murong Jin had to stop his energy circulation after a short while.

"Is it really too much?"

The problem wasn't with the cultivation techniques.

The problem was with Murong Jin's body.

His body was like a powder keg, one step away from exploding.

Even with the Rehuo Shen Gong continuously burning yang energy, the amount generated as he aged far exceeded the amount burned, and the resulting internal energy made his body even more cramped.

As a result, his dantian was being compressed again, and with his meridians all severed, he couldn't use the internal energy properly, making it almost impossible to expel.

That's why Murong Jin wanted to treat the Gongyang Meridian Blockage as soon as possible.

As he got up from his cross-legged position with a bitter smile, he noticed a familiar face walking up from the foot of the mountain.

It was Murong Xue, returning home from work.

However, Murong Jin's expression was strange as he watched him.

His brows were furrowed.

But as Murong Xue got closer, Murong Jin's eyes blazed with anger.

"What...? Where did you get beaten up?"

Murong Jin was so angry that his face turned red.

He was angry because Murong Xue's appearance was terrible.

His already worn clothes were torn and tattered, and his eyes had clear signs of bruising.

"Father!"

Unable to contain his anger, Murong Jin ran towards his father, who tried to hide his face in embarrassment.

"What happened! Why does your face look like that!"

"Ah... It's nothing. I just tripped. Don't make a fuss, let's go inside."

Although he said that, Murong Jin already knew it wasn't true.

Having seen countless people beaten up in his past life, he knew very well that Murong Xue's injuries were from a beating.

"Are you calling me an idiot! Your face is already as black as a panda! What if you become a panda bandit!"

Murong Xue, slightly choked up, didn't know if this was teasing or comforting, but knowing Murong Jin's true feelings, he shook his head and pushed him.

"It's really nothing. Let's go home."

Even after they got home, Murong Jin persistently questioned him, but Murong Xue refused to say anything.

The next morning.

Murong Jin was smiling brightly as he watched his father's back as he left for work.

"If you won't tell me, I'll just see for myself."

He secretly followed his father to find out what was happening.

Keeping a certain distance, Murong Jin followed Murong Xue using the Yin Yue Xun Bu.

Yin Yue Xun Bu is a footwork technique.

Footwork techniques are one of the martial arts that allow for quick movement.

Yin Yue Xun Bu is a very secretive and fast footwork technique, once used by a demon named Suo Pidu, known for his swift lightness.

Murong Jin learned it after beating the demon and found it quite useful, often using it in his past life.

Of course, he couldn't infuse it with internal energy yet, so he was just imitating the movements, but even that made his footsteps as silent as a ghost.

Swish!

A loud noise was made as a tree branch brushed against him, but Murong Xue didn't notice.

Although he ran a small academy by learning the dao techniques of the Hebei Pang Family, he was only a third-rate martial artist.

Even if Murong Jin were to face him now, with his many experiences and skills, he could easily win.

'This is my first time leaving home.'

Murong Jin had never gone far from home in this life.

If you really think about it, he only left briefly when they moved, and before that, he had always stayed at home. Since moving here, he had only been in the mountains and never went down to Zhengsuo Village.

The main reason he didn't go to the village was because of his father, Murong Xue.

There was a superstition about the Gongyang Meridian Blockage, which was that if a child with the blockage survived to twelve years old, they would live a long and healthy life.

Believing this superstition, Murong Xue forbade Murong Jin from leaving the house to protect him from any potential threats.

This remained true even after Murong Jin became healthier and even after he knew about his martial arts training.

Murong Jin didn't rebel against this.

In fact, he was secretly happy.

It was like being given free time to do as he pleased while his father was away.

For Murong Jin, who believed that "only training can save you," this was a gift.

As he descended the cliff, stepping on rocks, Murong Jin smiled with a sense of excitement.

The closer he got to the village, the more he thought about the Dongpo Meat and Huazhu he used to enjoy in his past life, and his mouth watered.

His body was that of an eleven-year-old, but his mind was that of the martial arts alliance leader, Tian Qilin, so it was inevitable.

'Dang Yong. The Dongpo Meat he made was really the best. Ah... I want to eat it again...'

Dang Yong was one of the elders of the Sichuan Tang Family when Tian Qilin was the martial arts alliance leader, and he was not a chef.

He was sent to secretly assassinate Tian Qilin and laced the Dongpo Meat, which Tian Qilin loved, with poison.

Of course, Tian Qilin knew the Dongpo Meat was poisoned.

But he ate it as if he didn't know.

The reason was simple.

He was curious about the taste of the poisoned Dongpo Meat.

Surprisingly, the taste suited Tian Qilin's palate, and he made Dang Yong his personal chef.

Naturally, Dang Yong continued to poison the Dongpo Meat he made for Tian Qilin, but Tian Qilin ate it as if nothing was wrong.

Because it was delicious.

Tian Qilin, the Demon King, ate the heavily poisoned Dongpo Meat, saying it was delicious.

Murong Jin, secretly following his father, had a new goal: the rice cake crumbs that would be behind the beating incident.

"Alright. Finish it quickly and have some Dongpo Meat and Huazhu! If not, I'll have a cup of Chuye Qing. Hehehe."

Forgetting that he was just an eleven-year-old boy...