Martial Arts Ain't Anything Special-Chapter 110: Alchemy Master (2)

Seojun closed his eyes, resting a hand over the cauldron, then spread his qi sense. The scene inside unfolded vividly in his mind, almost tangible.

The Five Elements Formation was already mapped out in his head. All he had to do was guide the qi within the pill using his own inner qi and trace the formation—that would be the end of it.

Normally, one would need to match the time intervals precisely. But Seojun didn’t even bother.

The reason for matching time intervals was simple:

If the circulation cycle of the Five Elements Formation wasn’t followed, the flow would be disrupted, leading to a completely different outcome. But that only mattered for people who couldn’t control the flow directly.

It was just that not many humans were capable of that. That’s why most had to follow the time intervals.

However, Seojun was an exception.

Ignoring the usual timing constraints, he traced the Five Elements Formation effortlessly, making his progress incomparably faster than others.

This is easy.

A small smirk tugged at the corners of his lips.

*Namgung Youngbo watched Seojun for a moment before losing interest.

Sure, the Young Master could create divine-level martial arts from thin air, but that didn’t mean he’d have any success in alchemy.

Still, he had hoped that a fresh perspective on alchemy might spark some insight—maybe a simple “Shouldn’t you do it this way?” would lead to an “Oh? This might actually work!” kind of realization.

After all, martial arts and alchemy didn’t share much beyond handling qi.

I should just finish what I was doing.

Just as he was about to leave, he caught sight of the two women’s expressions.

Namgung Suah looked full of hopeful anticipation. Meanwhile, the woman named Chunbong, was watching the Young Master with a blank expression.

The contrast was amusing enough that Namgung Youngbo stopped in his tracks.

Hmm. Since I’m already here, should I take a short break and watch?

Falling instantly to the temptation of the demon, he sat down on the floor.

It’s not like a day or two will make much difference. A short rest should be fine.

Of course, others couldn’t afford such luxuries, but he was the Hall Master. If they had complaints, they could become Hall Master themselves.

His conscience, in the form of lingering impatience, tried to nag at him, but he was too exhausted to care.

A well-earned rest after so long...

His expression softened considerably.

*Chunbong continued to stare at Seojun blankly.

She didn’t know much about alchemy, so she had no idea what any of this was supposed to mean.

Yet one thing was certain.

It involves controlling qi?

Then there was no need to question the result. She could declare it with certainty.

If it wasn’t something completely beyond his level, there was nothing her big brother couldn’t do with qi.

This was Lee Seojun—the man who had been playing cat’s cradle with inner qi since the Peak Realm.

The alchemy method was too complex? Well, as long as it didn’t involve manipulating nature qi, it would be more surprising if he couldn’t do it.

And then—

“Oh, done.”

Seojun, eyes still closed, lifted his hand from the cauldron.

Namgung Youngbo, who had been watching from the floor, let out a hollow laugh.

Even geniuses have their limits, huh...

He hadn’t expected much, but he had hoped, just a little. The disappointment left a bitter taste in his mouth.

“It’s not easy, is it?”

“Uh... yeah. Well...”

“It’s natural you couldn’t do it. Alchemy’s a completely different field from martial arts.”

Namgung Youngbo dusted off his robes and stood, approaching the cauldron.

He had already prepared a few polite words since Seojun was the Young Master of the clan.

“Oh, even getting this far is.. Huh?”

Inside the cauldron, the medicinal ingredients had solidified evenly. Their volume was gradually shrinking, condensing into several distinct lumps.

Namgung Youngbo swallowed hard.

“I-Impressive. For the ingredients to naturally clump together like a pill... that means the finishing process was done cleanly... Hmm...”

Wait. What is this? Why did it look so clean?

As if...

As if it had actually succeeded.

Faced with a completely unexpected situation, Namgung Youngbo’s thoughts tangled.

No way... It couldn’t have...

Alchemy required absolute precision.

For a spirit pill like the Heaven-Man Divine Pill, even a single second of miscalculation would render the entire process useless.

In the Young Master’s case, the timing had been far too short. It was only about one-tenth of the usual time. No matter how skilled someone was, creating a proper spirit pill in such a drastically reduced timeframe should have been impossible.

Had he just... cleanly finished the final step?

Namgung Youngbo picked up the pill, staring at it blankly.

A smooth sphere.

Bringing it closer, he took a sniff. The scent was balanced, harmonious.

It wasn’t too soft or too hard. Most strikingly, a faint blue glow shimmered across its surface, smoothly connected.

Exactly like the Heaven-Man Divine Pill that Namgung Youngbo had envisioned.

“Huh?”

His hand trembled.

With an urgent motion, he split the pill in two.

The interior was uniform. There were no irregularities or lumps. And the qi that spread from the broken pill was so delicate and precise that it sent chills down his spine.

“Huhhh...?”

Namgung Youngbo turned to Seojun with trembling eyes.

Seojun, in contrast, simply looked confused.

“Is something wrong?”

“...Is this... the Heaven-Man Divine Pill...?”

“The Heaven-Man Divine Pill? Wasn’t that the formula we were making?”

“Wha...?”

“Huh?”

“Uh, uhh...”

“Excuse me...?”

Namgung Youngbo stood frozen.

Seojun, growing increasingly concerned, started to wonder if the man had finally snapped from overwork

That... wasn’t entirely wrong.

“Kyaaaaaah...!!!”

Namgung Youngbo suddenly screamed and began jumping up and down.

Yang Songbaek, who had been observing from the side, became terrified.

“W-Wait, Hall Master! Even if you pretend to be crazy, you still can’t skip work!”

“Vacation...!!!”

“Even if you actually go crazy, you still can’t!”

“What are you all doing?! Pack up! It’s vacation time!”

“This is serious...”

A moment later, Yang Songbaek also started jumping alongside him.

“Va-Vacation...!!”

And soon enough, the entire Heavenly Medicine Hall was jumping in celebration and happiness.

“Va-Vacation...! Vacation...!!”

“Is this real...?”

“Vacation...!!”

Watching them, Seojun’s expression twisted strangely.

“...Big sis, they’re not actually being treated like slaves, right?”

“I don’t think so...?”

If they were, even freed slaves wouldn’t celebrate this much...

Seojun seriously worried about their well-being.

*The liberated slave, Namgung Youngbo, shouted.

“I love you, Young Master!”

“...I like women, though?”

“That’s fine with me!”

“No, what—what the hell are you saying?”

Seojun was momentarily startled, but Namgung Youngbo just kept grinning from ear to ear.

“Hahaha! I believed in you from the start! I should’ve asked for your help sooner! But Yang Songbaek kept insisting it was impossible!”

“Haha! That’s right, Hall Master! This all seems to be my fault!”

“Exactly, exactly! Hahaha!”

Seojun, still staring at them blankly, spoke.

“...But isn’t the situation exactly the same? The formula hasn’t actually changed.”

Silence.

The cheering stopped instantly.

Have you ever witnessed humans denying reality after having every last shred of hope ripped away before their eyes?

Seojun felt like he could answer that question now.

The way they exchanged vacant glances, their bloodshot eyes devoid of words, was unsettling.

Even the great Seojun couldn’t help but feel a bit of sympathy.

He quickly added,

“I think the formula can also be simplified.”

That day, Seojun became a god.

*The alchemy process for the Heaven-Man Divine Pill was similar to sorcery.

While binding the ingredients together, one had to use inner qi to etch a Five Elements Formation within the pill itself.

The problem was that the Five Elements Formation was absurdly complex. Positioning and harmonizing the energies drawn from the ingredients into their respective positions was nearly impossible for a human.

On top of that, if the formation wasn’t inscribed at precise intervals, the entire flow would collapse, leading to a completely different outcome.

For Seojun, controlling the flow itself was second nature, so it wasn’t an issue. But that wasn’t the case for most people.

So, Seojun simplified the entire process.

He left the Five Elements arrangement intact but optimized the qi flow connecting them.

Timing was still crucial, but with the streamlined process, alchemy became far more manageable.

That said, the difficulty remained high enough that even Namgung Youngbo couldn’t guarantee success every time.

“Why can’t they do this?”

Seojun was genuinely curious, but that didn’t solve anything.

In the end, he drew from past experiences to create a martial art.

The Heaven-Man Divine Pill Art.

He barely thought about the name. That wasn’t the important part anyway.

Inspired by the Thirteen Lightning Flashes he had previously created, this new martial art allowed practitioners to construct the Five Elements Formation inside the pill by simply following pre-set movements without too much thinking.

One week after handing over the secret manual with the sutra and explanations to Namgung Youngbo.

A smiling Namgung Youngbo came to find Seojun.

“Hahaha! I’ve succeeded, Young Master!”

“Oh? So it’s vacation time now?”

“Hehehe...! That’s right! I plan to not leave my house for months!” frёewebnoѵēl.com

Overcome with excitement, Namgung Youngbo’s lips twitched as he continued.

“This is a massive achievement, Young Master! I’ve already informed the Clan Head, so there will be a reward. Most importantly, you’ll be the first to receive the Heaven-Man Divine Pill!”

“Ah, right. By the way, you said the ingredients weren’t that rare, right? Does that mean it can be mass-produced now?”

“Not quite! While the ingredients themselves aren’t extremely rare, it takes over seven years to process and treat them with medicinal products before use. So mass production is still a ways off.”

Fortunately, since there was already quite a lot of already processed ingredients remaining, they could start producing pills immediately.

Once that was done, he would finally be free.

Finally...!

For ten long years, what had started as his own boasting had spiraled out of control, growing bigger and bigger.

It was Namgung Youngbo’s own karma, but now that everything was resolved, he felt weightless. It was like his body might float right into the sky, carried by an enormous sense of liberation.

“From now on, it’s vacation! But if you ever need me, please call anytime...! If the Young Master calls, I’ll come running... even if I’m in the middle of bathing, stark naked...!”

“No, I’d really prefer if you came dressed.”

“Then I’ll quickly dress and rush over...!”

Namgung Youngbo truly looked like he’d dive headfirst into a fire pit if Seojun wanted him to.

Smiling at the sight, Seojun suddenly thought of something and asked,

“About the Heaven-Man Divine Pill... can I make it myself?”

“Of course! If it’s not too much trouble for you, Young Master, by all means!”

“Really?”

“Yes! I’ll inform you as soon as everything is ready!”

It seemed his idea might actually be possible.

Twisting the Five Elements of the Heaven-Man Divine Pill to go against the natural order. That is, the Reverse Five Elements and Heaven Defiance.

If he were to name a spirit pill created that way, it might be something like the Heaven-Man Demonic Pill. Or perhaps the Heaven Demon Divine Pill.

If it worked as he envisioned... he might be able to use the Heaven-Defying Sun-Moon Reinforced Qi with ease, even under normal circumstances.

And beyond that—the possibility of a realm beyond the Transcendent Realm. The Unrestrained Realm, the Supreme Demonic Realm... or something entirely new. A realm yet to be defined. This could be the first step towards reaching an unprecedented realm...

Seojun’s mind raced.

*Inside the Clan Head’s hall of the Namgung Clan.

A man glared at Namgung Jincheon with cold, sharp eyes.

Namgung Jincheon, unfazed by the piercing gaze, remained silent.

The man’s expression twisted as he shouted,

“Clan Head...! Do my words sound like nonsense? This disregards the very history of the Namgung Clan! It could even cast doubt on the legitimacy of the successor! How could you act unilaterally on such a matter!”

“Great Uncle, does that truly matter...?”

The man was Namgung Jincheon’s paternal great uncle—his grandfather’s brother. In other words, Namgung Jincheon’s granduncle.

Namgung Hyeok simply couldn’t understand the situation.

The Sword Form of the Emperor—something even he had failed to master. It would be shocking enough if a direct descendant, one who wasn’t the successor, had learned it. But to teach it to an outsider?

One couldn’t commit such an act unless they were insane.

“Then what is important!?”

“Family... My family... Are you saying that a mere martial art holds more weight than family...?”

“Family? Yes, of course, family is important! But that and the Sword Form of the Emperor are entirely separate matters! And you know it!”

“I have no interest in continuing this debate. But let me be clear—there will be no interference with my family...”

“Clan Head!”

Namgung Hyeok shot to his feet, slamming his foot against the floor.

“Then what of me, Namgung Hyeok? Am I not part of the Clan Head’s family? No, perhaps not. We’ve barely seen each other over the years, so I suppose there’s little to say on that. But a warning? To your own great uncle? What, do you intend to cut off my head if I dare lay a hand on your family?”

“If necessary...”

“My goodness...!”

Namgung Hyeok clenched his eyes shut, then opened them again, glaring at Namgung Jincheon.

“This will be my last warning. A son-in-law is, in the end, an outsider. Mark my words—you will regret this.”

“That won’t happen...”

Namgung Jincheon’s lips curled into a faint smile.

“My son-in-law’s contributions are no less significant than the Sword Form of the Emperor... Especially when considering the future...”

In terms of justification, it was more than sufficient.