In Chapter 330 of “The Tang Clan Chronicles,” Tang Mujin entered an empty house and slept for an entire day, only to wake up feeling far from refreshed. Despite his exhaustion, his sleep was plagued by nightmares so intense that he awoke drenched in sweat.
As he surveyed his surroundings with a bewildered gaze, he managed a faint smile, brushing the hair off his damp forehead. “Thank goodness, it was just a dream,” he muttered to himself.
The nightmare had been particularly horrific, involving Hyun Gong surpassing the pinnacle of martial arts, leaving Tang Mujin as the only one in their group unable to reach such heights. It was an unthinkable scenario, one that should never come to pass.
Just then, the door swung open, and Hyun Gong entered the room. He didn’t just walk in; he made a grand entrance, exuding an air of superiority that made Tang Mujin’s fists itch.
Hyun Gong looked down at him with a smug expression. “I figured it was about time you got up.”
”…”
Though the arrogance was something from his dream, the reality was that Hyun Gong had indeed become a martial arts master, both in the dream and in real life.
“Oh, heavens!” Tang Mujin silently prayed that this was still a dream, but the vivid sensations in his body told him otherwise.
With a face full of frustration, Tang Mujin asked, “What brings you here?”
“Do you not remember what you said when you left for Jungkyung?”
”…What did I say?”
Tang Mujin racked his brain but couldn’t recall. It must have been something he said without much thought.
“You asked me to gather herbs and poisonous plants, remember?”
“Oh, right.”
The memory came back to him. He had half-forgotten because he never expected his friends to actually do it. Who would want to bend over and scour the fields and woods for plants? It was neither fun nor beneficial for martial training.
But Hyun Gong continued, “I’ve collected a bunch of herbs and poisonous plants in the storage next door.”
“Really?”
Surprised by the unexpected news, Tang Mujin listened as Hyun Gong added, “You might need them. Not everyone has to excel in martial arts. Someone like Hong Geolgae might find life tough without martial skills, but you have other talents, so you’ll manage.”
”…”
Though Hyun Gong’s tone was gruff, Tang Mujin sensed a mix of superiority and pity. Internally, he grumbled, “Hyun Gong, you jerk.”
Hyun Gong gave him a knowing look, smirked, and then left the room.
Realizing that staying put would only make him more miserable, Tang Mujin got up and headed to the storage room. As expected, a significant amount of herbs was piled up.
“This isn’t something you gather casually. He must have worked hard,” Tang Mujin thought as he inspected the storage.
He then went to see Doctor Yeom, who was teaching Seolhwa how to read. Surprisingly, Hyun Gong was also in the room, sitting cross-legged in a corner, occasionally glancing at Seolhwa.
Doctor Yeom greeted Tang Mujin warmly. “I heard you arrived yesterday and slept all day. Feeling better now?”
“Yes.”
“Good, good. You have no idea how much we missed you.”
Unlike Hyun Gong, Doctor Yeom’s joy seemed genuine, which comforted Tang Mujin.
Doctor Yeom asked, “By the way, did you see the herbs we gathered?”
“Yes.”
“Since we’re on the topic, why don’t we check if there’s anything useful together?”
“That sounds good.”
“Wait a moment. I’ll bring the herbs.”
“No need, please stay seated.”
Tang Mujin called out to Hong Geolgae, who was passing by, and asked him to bring the herbs from the storage. Hong Geolgae obliged, filling a large sack with herbs and dumping them on the floor. He then sat next to Hyun Gong, seemingly with nothing else to do.
Tang Mujin wondered why Doctor Yeom hadn’t sorted the herbs himself, but the answer soon became clear. His friends had gathered all sorts of unfamiliar plants, making it difficult to sort them without risking discarding something valuable.
Even familiar herbs could be misjudged, and poisonous plants even more so. Tang Mujin, too, had to carefully assess the properties and toxicity of each unfamiliar plant.
It was a tedious task, but worthwhile, as southern herbs and poisons were hard to come by back home.
As Tang Mujin sorted through the herbs, he mused, “So, I won’t need the poisons anymore?”
He had initially sought poisons because Tuhee, Wi Jinan-hyang, had requested a painless death. But since Tuhee no longer had a reason to die, the poisons weren’t immediately necessary.
“Still, since I’ve gathered them, I should be thorough.”
Tang Mujin categorized the herbs and poisons into three groups: unfamiliar but potentially useful, familiar and valuable, and useless.
He planned to keep the unfamiliar but useful ones for himself and leave the familiar, valuable ones for the villagers of Samgu Village, as they could be sold for money.
While sorting, Seolhwa showed interest in one of the unfamiliar herbs, which Tang Mujin had classified as potentially useful.
“That’s Soyangchilyeopcho.”
“You know this herb?”
“Yes. If processed well, it can become a great elixir.”
An elixir, huh? Intrigued, Tang Mujin asked, “Do you know how to make it?”
“No, I don’t.”
Of course not.
Tang Mujin chewed on a leaf of the Soyangchilyeopcho. If it was used in elixirs, it might have significant energy on its own.
The herb had an intense spiciness and a strong yang energy, comparable to a mid-to-high-level elixir. If the raw material held this much energy, the processed elixir would be extraordinary.
However, there was a serious issue: the energy of the Soyangchilyeopcho was extremely unstable.
The yang energy dissipated before it even reached Tang Mujin’s throat.
“Ugh.”
Elixirs come in many forms: extreme yin, extreme yang, or balanced. But they all share one trait: their energy must be stable.
Unstable energy can only lead to two outcomes: no effect or harm to the body.
Fortunately, the Soyangchilyeopcho fell into the former category, having no effect.
Tang Mujin didn’t know how to stabilize the energy of the herb. He speculated that it would require combining it with an elixir possessing extremely stable yin or yang energy.
But none of the elixirs here could stabilize the Soyangchilyeopcho’s instability.
“It’s a shame to just give up.”
Tang Mujin ground the Soyangchilyeopcho in a small bowl to extract its clear juice. He then experimented by mixing it with juices from other promising herbs.
However, none of the combinations yielded satisfactory results. None could stabilize the unstable yang energy of the Soyangchilyeopcho.
Then, Tang Mujin stumbled upon an intriguing result. It wasn’t a harmonious blend with a stable herb.
Instead, it was a mix with another herb that also had extremely unstable yin energy, the juice of the herb known as Nohoe.
Typically, mixing unstable yin and yang energies would neutralize each other, resulting in no effect.
But when he combined the juices of Soyangchilyeopcho and Nohoe, a peculiar result emerged. A liquid possessing both extreme yin and yang properties was created, though at the cost of even greater instability.
Tang Mujin scratched his head.
“I’ve never heard of something like this being possible.”
Despite knowing the risks, Tang Mujin tasted the liquid, hoping it might offer a clue to reaching the pinnacle of martial arts.
As expected, nothing happened. The energy was too unstable, dispersing as soon as it touched his tongue.
Ultimately, it was an interesting but meaningless discovery.
“What happened?” Hong Geolgae asked. He had been quietly observing Tang Mujin and Doctor Yeom’s work from the corner of the room.
Tang Mujin explained simply, “It’s full of yin and yang energy, but it’s too unstable to use.”
“Why is instability a problem?”
Tang Mujin pondered for a moment before explaining in the simplest terms, “It’s like trying to balance two leaves against each other. They can hold each other up, but…”
“As you know, energy flows through a living person’s body, much like a stream. If you place two delicate leaves on the water, they’ll just float away.”
“Is it bad if they float away?”
The question was so basic that it left me momentarily speechless. Then I remembered that Hong Geolgae had never properly studied medicine. It wasn’t surprising that he didn’t know.
“Of course, it’s bad. For a potion to work, its energy needs to settle at the bottom of the stream, not drift away.”
“Hmm.”
Hong Geolgae seemed to grasp the concept, more or less.
After a moment of contemplation, he asked me again.
“So, if you use an unstable potion on a living person, it can’t overcome the body’s natural energy flow, and it won’t work at all, right?”
“Exactly. Like being swept away by the current.”
“Then what happens if you use an unstable potion on a dead person?”
The question was absurd, and I immediately scolded him.
“What kind of nonsense is that? Why would you use a potion on a dead person?”
Hong Geolgae’s voice grew quieter.
“Well, you said it wouldn’t work on the living…”
“What would be the point? It’s not like you can bring the dead back to life or kill them again. What kind of foolishness is this?”
Hong Geolgae nodded, then looked at me with a mischievous glint in his eye.
“So, are you going to try it?”
“Of course, I have to.”
When something sounds ridiculous, it often means there’s a chance for an interesting outcome.
I’d never heard of anyone trying a potion on a corpse, and the logic behind it was oddly compelling.
But there was one problem: where would we find a body?
Just then, Hyun Gong, who had been sitting cross-legged in the corner, spoke up.
“How about we experiment on Cheonpae’s body?”
”…You fought a life-and-death duel with Cheonpae, didn’t you?”
“That’s right.”
“What do you think of someone you’ve dueled to the death?”
Hyun Gong looked at me, puzzled by my question.
“If you carve a piece of wood into a bowl, who owns the bowl?”
“I do.”
“If you weave straw into sandals, who owns the sandals?”
“I do.”
“Then if you cut down a person and create a corpse, who owns the corpse?”
I was appalled. Even the most notorious villains wouldn’t think of such a thing. The logic was disturbingly sound, which made it all the more shocking.
‘Why is this guy part of the righteous sect?’
Seeing my hesitation, Hyun Gong tried to persuade me again.
“Think about it. If a hunter shoots a bird with an arrow, the bird belongs to the hunter. It’s the same principle.”
“Unless you want to become a public enemy, don’t ever say that out loud.”
”…”
“While we’re on the topic, go ask the villagers if they have any animals they’ve hunted. Judging by the hides hanging around, there must be a few hunters.”
Following my instructions, Hyun Gong grumbled as he got up and left.
A short while later, he returned with a dead goat, laying it down in the snow-covered yard.
“There were no hunted animals, but there was a goat that died of illness. It had been weak for days and passed away last night. I got it cheap.”
I wondered if it was right to test the potion on a sickly dead goat, but there were no other options. If I refused, Hyun Gong might actually dig up Cheonpae’s body.
I went out to the yard and looked at the goat, pondering my next move.
Typically, potions are ingested. But a dead goat can’t swallow anything.
After some thought, I came up with an alternative.
Just as ink spreads through water when you dip a brush into it, I figured the potion might spread through the goat’s blood and affect the entire body.
I took out a knife and made a cut on the goat’s chest. Cold blood trickled down, staining the snowy ground red.
‘Testing a strange potion on a dead goat… What am I doing?’
I poured the liquid I’d just prepared into the goat’s wound.
I expected nothing to happen, but to my surprise, smoke began to rise from the goat’s body. Startled, I stepped back, dropping the goat.
“What… what is this?”
Smoke without fire was indeed bizarre.
The smoke didn’t dissipate; it grew thicker. Hyun Gong observed the scene thoughtfully.
“You said the potion contains unstable extreme yang and yin energies, right?”
“Yes.”
“It seems the yang energy was much stronger. In the five elements, water extinguishes fire, but if the fire is too strong, it can evaporate the water.”
Hyun Gong’s explanation was surprisingly plausible.
But all I could think was how glad I was that we hadn’t tried this on Cheonpae’s body.
The poor goat’s body continued to emit smoke, and after a while, the smoke subsided.
When the smoke cleared, all that remained was a faint pile of ash. It was far too little for a whole goat.
I cautiously approached and sifted through the ash with my hand. I felt something resembling bone, but when I picked it up, it crumbled into dust.
Turning bones to ash without fire was astonishing.
”…”
Everyone was speechless. The real question was whether there was any practical use for this potion.
It seemed both potentially useful and utterly useless.
Hong Geolgae, in particular, looked shocked. He hadn’t expected such a bizarre outcome from what started as a joke.
Since the idea was more his than mine, I asked him, “What should we call this potion?”
After a moment’s thought, he replied, “Since it turns bones to dust, how about ‘Bone Dissolver’?”
It was a fitting name.
After a long silence, Hyun Gong spoke up.
“Shouldn’t we test if the Bone Dissolver works the same on a human body?”
He still seemed keen on trying it on Cheonpae’s corpse.
“Let’s not, for humanity’s sake.”
I decided that if Hyun Gong ever died, I’d sprinkle him with the Bone Dissolver.