Chapter 218: Let's Hold a Spar

Could a broth made by simmering all sorts of medicinal herbs and vegetables overnight be anything ordinary?

Even before adding rice and bringing it to a rolling boil, the fragrant mix of bittersweet medicinal scents and the freshness of various vegetables had the master and disciple swallowing hard, mouths watering.

Finally, the boiling porridge was ladled into bowls. A raw egg was cracked in, stirred vigorously, and voilà—medicinal herb vegetable egg porridge was ready.

Smiles spread across their faces. Spoons materialized from somewhere, and after blowing carefully on the steaming mixture, they took their first bite—

“Hm.”

“Hmm.”

Their expressions turned peculiar.

“…Haven’t you tried this before?”

“My master just told me to consume elixirs, he never made me an Elixir Bath. Ahem.”

The thing was, an Elixir Bath was bathwater brewed for soaking, not a broth meant for eating.

Naturally, it was bland and watery, with a bitter taste overwhelmed by the grassy, raw smell of all the plants.

“Let’s add some salt first. Do you happen to have any?”

“Isn’t that obvious?” Cheon asked.

Qing didn’t understand why carrying salt was obvious, but she figured if she didn’t know, she could learn.

A great realization dawned upon her.

I should always carry some rock salt and dried herbs. And some dried meat too. There’s not a single piece of meat in this…

The salt helped a bit.

Egg porridge was usually delicious even if it was just a raw egg whisked into hot rice soup with a pinch of salt.

Here, however, the grassy, bitter broth ruined the flavor. Still, with enough grimacing, a somewhat edible medicinal porridge was achieved.

“Mm. Tastes healthy,” Qing remarked.

“Guess ‘eating elixirs like meals’ wasn’t meant positively. Elixirs should be consumed as elixirs, not turned into meals.”

Truthfully, Qing ate anything.

And ‘anything’ included rotten garbage or bugs that would make an ordinary person sick. So, a merely tasteless egg porridge went down easily enough.

However, Cheon Yuhak, who had grown from a precious young master into a middle-aged man, seemed to be truly suffering, struggling to swallow it.

Still, knowing it was an elixir, he forced down one bowl. But true to his upbringing, he’d made far too much, his generous hand leaving a huge amount of porridge leftover.

Eventually, Cheon Yuhak, his appetite completely gone after one bowl, put down his spoon.

He watched Qing, utterly fascinated, as she scarfed down the rest without batting an eye.

There had been enough for four adults to have two full bowls each. By simple calculation, Qing had just devoured seven bowls by herself.

Even in Qing’s homeland, a world overflowing with entertainment, watching a beauty gorge herself, shoving food down without tasting it, was a popular spectacle.

So popular, in fact, that people would throw money at them, urging them to eat more.

So, for someone from the primitive, ancient, entertainment-starved Central Plains, it was a whole new world, a sight that left one utterly mesmerized.

“You said you came from beggars… Wow, how does it all fit…?”

“Oh, this is definitely nutritious porridge. I feel energy surging and spreading through me already.”

“It’s not nutritious porridge, it’s elixir porridge. And you don’t ‘feel’ the energy spreading, it is spreading. Circulate your qi immediately and absorb it.”

“Ah.”

Qing tried to sit cross-legged, but her belly protruded so much it was difficult. She settled for stretching her legs out straight, supporting herself with her hands behind her back.

Her stomach wasn’t some convenient, infinite pouch; it simply stretched to accommodate whatever she shoved into it.

Though her posture was utterly lax, Qing closed her eyes and observed her qi and blood.

It was a good opportunity to see how 4 always brought an unpleasant wave of sadness.

But she needed to understand how she was different to at least pretend to be the same kind of human, the same kind of living creature.

Hm, maybe ‘living creature’ is okay?

I’m definitely not human. Maybe a monster, or something similar that isn’t quite human. But at least I’m alive, right? Not inanimate.

Or am I? Is a game character inanimate?

Suddenly, Qing’s head drooped.

Maybe the elixir’s energy was quite potent; her eyes seemed to sting a little.

Stop thinking such depressing thoughts and focus on the True Qi…

The elixir’s energies penetrated her dantian, distributing themselves among her various True Qis. Except for the True Qi that had already reached Great Completion (maximum level), the energy seemed to spread evenly among the others.

Then, Qing began circulating the Awakening Divine Art. The remaining elixir energy abruptly changed direction, concentrating and being absorbed into the Body Awakening True Qi.

So, if I just eat it and do nothing, it spreads evenly among the incomplete True Qis. But if I eat it and circulate my qi, it gets added to whichever internal energy cultivation technique I’m using at the time.

What about other people…?

“Master? Is this how elixirs normally work?”

“Hmph. You need to tell me what ‘this’ is first before I can say if it’s right or wrong.”

“Uh, I can’t really explain it well. How is it supposed to work normally?”

“The natural energy contained within the elixir spreads towards the body’s extremities. Roughly one-tenth remains in the meridians, while the rest escapes through the skin.”

That was why one needed to quickly circulate qi before all the elixir energy escaped, capturing it and storing it in the dantian.

The difficulty of this absorption varied based on an individual’s skill in handling True Qi, the type of internal energy cultivation technique learned, and even the specific elixir itself.

“This is why martial artists sing praises of Divine Arts and yearn for them. The results differ even after consuming the same elixir. And better elixirs are easier to absorb and don’t burden the meridians as much. You think the Great Restoration Pill is called the best elixir under heaven for nothing?”

The one-tenth of energy remaining in the meridians wasn’t always beneficial. If its nature was too coarse, it could damage the meridians and harm the body.

Raw, natural elixirs often had this property, which was why people went through the trouble of refining them into pills, even at the cost of losing some energy.

“Alright, hearing you chatter means you must have absorbed it all? Not that there was much natural energy in that one bowl anyway. I’m going outside to catch up on the sleep I missed. You soak yourself in the bath and suck it all up.”

“Are there any special precautions?”

“According to the prescription, it stings a bit. But it shouldn’t be unbearable.”

Qing narrowed her eyes.

“Are you sure this time? It just stings? It doesn’t hurt?”

“I’m just telling you what’s written. How would I know? I haven’t done it myself! Based on martial theory, it should sting a little, right?”

Normally, the natural energy of an elixir is ingested, spreading outwards from the stomach—the body’s center—and escaping through the skin.

However, the Awakening Divine Art was a peculiar technique capable of absorbing qi through the entire skin, not just through breathing.

Of course, while peculiar, its efficiency was less than a fraction of a fraction… well, it was utter crap compared to respiratory absorption methods.

The idea was that since skin absorption efficiency was garbage, one might as well just soak in the elixir directly.

This training method, absorbing elixir energy through the skin using the Awakening Divine Art, was the Elixir Bath.

Since the energy was penetrating the skin, it was bound to sting.

“According to the records, once you get used to it, it actually feels rather refreshing. Why don’t you try it and tell me how it feels? Hmm. Agugu, I’m dead tired. Besides, what’s there to be afraid of when you still have to continue the Flaying Muscles and Squeezing Bones?”

“You just called it Flaying Muscles and Squeezing Bones again, didn’t you?”

“When did I say Flaying Muscles and Squeezing Bones? I said Lithe Grace Refinement. Is this young wench already going deaf?”

“That’s strange. I could have sworn you did…”

“Ha. Don’t say such frightening things where others might hear. What master in the world would subject their disciple to Flaying Muscles and Squeezing Bones?”

“Hm. I must have misheard. Sorry.”

Cheon Yuhak sounded so certain that Qing simply assumed she must have been mistaken.

“That whole tub cost two hundred gwan. Every single drop is worth tens of wen. Be careful not to waste a single drop.”

Cheon Yuhak added this instruction as he headed outside.

Hearing that a single drop cost tens of wen, Qing truly realized this was an insane amount of money being spent.

With extreme care, Qing submerged herself in the bath.

The medicinal water reached right up to her chin. An itchiness spread all over, making her want to scratch.

But that sensation was brief.

As she began circulating the Awakening Divine Art, a stimulus like hot carbonation flooding her throat began, making her entire skin feel like it was burning hotly.

But that was the extent of it.

It wasn't unbearable, but it wasn't comfortable enough to keep her mouth shut either. It stung and burned like chugging a large glass of soda in one go, yet there was also a strangely cool, refreshing feeling mixed in.

By the time she had absorbed energy until no more would enter, time had flown by, and it was the dead of night.

Checking her progress in the Martial Arts Window, she saw the technique had instantly reached the Eighth Star realm.

Wow, what the— So this is how good elixirs are.

Her internal energy cultivation technique achievements were determined simply by the total amount of internal energy gathered using that specific method, which was why she had reached such a high level unusually quickly.

Cheon Yuhak, unaware of this reason, was simply astonished.

“Eighth Star? No, what the—?”

So this is why they’ve emphasized taking in talented disciples for generations, Cheon Yuhak vaguely understood.

Well, whatever the reason, good was good.

“So. How is it? The feeling of your body being awakened.”

“It still stings…”

She felt as if she had scrubbed herself raw, peeling off a layer of skin.

Her entire body tingled, felt hot, and stung, but at the same time, it was incredibly refreshing.

“That’s likely because the fine channels near the skin have become desensitized to the stimulus. Once you get a good night’s sleep, you’ll truly understand why the Awakening Divine Art is called the study that awakens the body.”

“Oing? It wasn’t Awakening Divine Art?”

“It’s Awakening Body Art. Didn’t I give you the Secret Manual?”

“The title was ‘Night Exercise Twenty Days’. And I’m sure the Oral Formulas didn’t say anything like that…? Where in the part about feeling the flow of heaven and earth with your body does it mention awakening the body?”

“Aren’t Oral Formulas usually just filled with grandiose-sounding phrases? That way, each person who learns it can complete it slightly differently according to their own understanding.”

The reason martial arts Sutras often sounded vague like chasing clouds was partly intentional, to avoid rigidly forcing a single interpretation or form onto every practitioner.

“I thought it was a Divine Art…”

She thought it was Awakening Divine (神) Art, but it was Awakening Body (身) Art.

No wonder it was gold-colored, Qing added silently.

She felt thoroughly tricked.

“It is a Divine Art. Does it have to have ‘Divine Art’ written in the name to be one? Just get a good night’s sleep and see.”

“What do you mean?”

“For a Divine Thief—no, for any martial artist—isn’t the thing they dream of most having sharp senses? While the Awakening Divine Art might be third-rate in terms of accumulating internal energy, when it comes to the effect of awakening sharp senses, it’s an unparalleled, world-class Divine Art. You’ll feel even the slightest breeze vividly. You’ll understand how wondrous it feels to perceive the flow of heaven and earth.”

“Oooh.”

Qing’s eyes sparkled.

Even a gold-colored technique can have such an effect?

Cheon Yuhak chuckled at her reaction, then cleared his throat. “Hmm,” he began.

“The Murim Conference starts tomorrow, doesn’t it? You’ll be busy, so I should probably go sell some restorative medicine in the meantime. Let’s meet again in eight days for now. We need to do the second session of Lithe Grace Refinement. Do you want to do it for one shichen, or three shichen?”

The memory of excruciating pain flooded back…

The focus vanished from Qing’s eyes.