Chapter 197

Cleansing the sinews and washing the marrow.

The term meant shedding one’s hair and cleansing one’s bones and muscles. It was a treatment performed only by prestigious, long-established major sects.

Using internal energy to artificially reshape the bones and muscles and remove the waste accumulated inside the body, it transformed one’s constitution into one suited for learning martial arts.

Cleansing the sinews and washing the marrow had to be performed steadily over multiple sessions. The problem was that its conditions and process were extremely complicated.

After hearing Jeok Cheongang’s explanation, I asked:

“Is it really that complicated?”

Jeok Cheongang nodded.

“You’re artificially changing the body you were born with. Did you really think that would be easy and convenient? If it were, there wouldn’t be anyone in this world who wasn’t a master.”

Fair enough.

An ordinary person had to exercise for months, gritting their teeth, just to carve a six-pack onto their abs.

If you were changing your bones, muscles, and constitution entirely, it went without saying that it would be even more difficult.

“There are three conditions necessary for cleansing the sinews and washing the marrow.”

He said it was incredibly difficult, but there are only three conditions?

That thought vanished the instant Jeok Cheongang continued.

“First. An internal-energy master with at least two jiazi of internal energy.”

“…Yikes.”

The difficulty level was brutal right from the start.

Two jiazi amounted to a full one hundred and twenty years. How many people in the world could possibly possess that much internal energy?

There had to be very few—and Jeok Cheongang standing before me was one of them.

He raised two wrinkled fingers.

“Second. Financial resources.”

“Why do you need money?”

“Because you need to obtain elixirs for the recipient to absorb. The practitioner has to guide and circulate the qi filling the recipient’s body. Every sect has a different method, but it would not be an exaggeration to say that it costs a thousand gold.”

“It would be difficult for anyone outside the Nine Sects and One Gang or the Five Great Families.”

“Not merely difficult. Extremely difficult. Was it Baek Museong? That Huashan-something fellow seems to have undergone it.”

This was an investment in the literal sense. The sects selected promising young talents whose futures looked bright and performed the treatment on them.

If Baek Museong was the equivalent of a blue-chip stock, then Huashan would have considered him worth investing in.

“Then what about Cheongpung?”

“Do you think the Sword Saint would have simply watched? He must have gradually refined him from a very young age.”

Damn it. I’m the only one who didn’t get it.

I had thought the Jin Family of Taiyuan was at least something like a silver spoon in the Murim. But compared to the diamond-spoon babies who underwent cleansing as casually as double-eyelid surgery, we were nothing.

“What is the third and final condition?”

“Patience.”

“Pardon?”

“Cleansing the sinews and washing the marrow is a technique that changes the bones, muscles, and constitution one was born with. The bones and muscles twist and settle into place again, and that process inevitably comes with tremendous pain.”

“How painful are we talking?”

Jeok Cheongang answered without hesitation:

“Painful enough to kill you.”

“…Painful enough to kill me?”

“People really do die.”

“Gasp.”

“In the Sichuan Tang Clan, they fill a jar with more than a thousand different poisons and then…”

The more Jeok Cheongang continued, the more it felt as though my stomach was shrinking. I swallowed hard and asked:

“T-That’s just how the Sichuan Tang Clan does it, right?”

“Of course. Our sect has a separate secret method.”

“Do you perhaps stack up more than a thousand logs, climb on top, and set them on fire…?”

“…”

“Apparently not. Sorry.”

“What the hell do you think our sect is?”

Jeok Cheongang glared at me with round, bulging eyes before shaking his head.

“Cleansing the sinews and washing the marrow cannot be prepared overnight. Today, this old man will only straighten your bones and muscles with internal energy. Whether you stuff yourself with elixirs afterward is your business.”

“Ah. Okay.”

Come to think of it, Jeok Cheongang had come empty-handed. If he had intended to perform the procedure properly, he would have brought elixirs and all sorts of other necessities.

“Then should I take off my clothes?”

“If you ask me that one more time, I’ll skin you alive.”

I stripped off every piece of clothing I was wearing at the speed of light.

Jeok Cheongang’s gaze traveled over my completely naked body, and his expression grew strange.

“This is…”

“Yes?”

“Ah, never mind. It’s nothing.”

What was that? Why did the atmosphere suddenly become so ominous?

As I wondered what was wrong with the old man, I realized something and grinned.

“Come on, now. We’re all friends here. Why are you acting like that?”

“…?”

“Honestly, this size is absolutely not normal. I was shocked myself when I first saw it. Do you know the Amazon? There’s something called a black anaconda there. It’s just—whoosh. Really enormous. Whew.”

“…!”

“I understand that you’re surprised, but you still can’t touch it. Got it?”

Whoosh—whack!

With a short rush of wind, a tightly clenched fist slammed into my temple.

Ding.

System

Status effect: Unconsciousness has been removed.

I came to with the System notification and stared up at a familiar ceiling before muttering:

“Damn, you could’ve just said you wouldn’t touch it. Why hit me?”

Did he really want to touch it that badly? Was he offended because I rejected him so firmly?

I rubbed my throbbing temple and sat up. Several System messages I had not yet read were floating before my eyes.

“Huh? It’s over? The cleansing?”

I looked around, but Jeok Cheongang was nowhere to be seen.

It seemed he had finished the treatment in a flash and left while I was unconscious. The messages confirmed it.

System

Cleansing the Sinews and Washing the Marrow has been successfully completed.

Muscles and Bones and Sinews and Meridians have increased by 5 each.

Strength, Stamina, and Agility have increased by 1 each.

“Oh…”

A weak exclamation of admiration escaped me.

It was definitely good. I was certainly better off than before. This was the sort of improvement that normally took one level-up plus steady training to achieve.

But…

“Is that really all?”

Form is temporary, but class is forever.

Even if it had been performed as a makeshift procedure without proper preparation, this was still cleansing the sinews and washing the marrow.

I had expected some incredible effect. Instead, I was so disappointed that I was practically bewildered.

“What the hell?”

In Murim novels, these things were practically cheat codes.

Bone Transformation and cleansing the sinews and washing the marrow were practically basic requirements for any protagonist.

Even a sickly weakling could undergo both of those procedures, suddenly turn into a thug, and run rampant through the Murim.

So why was I like this?

“Did he do too cursory a job?”

Just then, the door opened, and Hyuk Mujin cautiously poked his head inside.

“May I come in—gasp.”

As I pulled on the clothes scattered across the floor, I said:

“Just so we’re clear, if you get any strange ideas, I’ll smash your skull. And by skull, I mean your head.”

“Then why are you naked?”

“The old man checked my body.”

“Your body? While you were completely naked?”

“…You’re making that sound strange.”

Hyuk Mujin flinched and hurriedly waved his hands.

“No, that’s not what I meant. Great Hero Jeok’s expression when I ran into him earlier was so strange that I came to see if something had happened.”

“His expression was strange?”

“His face was completely rigid. He looked like someone who had been startled by something, or perhaps someone who was angry.”

“Really?”

“Yes. He looked so frightening that I couldn’t even bring myself to speak to him.”

“Why?”

“How would I know?”

I tilted my head. Had something happened all of a sudden?

Jeok Cheongang walked along, lost in thought.

The people who recognized him bowed from every direction, but his mind was filled with only one person.

Jin Taekyung.

His assessment of the young man had changed several times over the past few days.

From an interesting fellow to an infuriating bastard who had burned his sect’s martial arts manual. And today, when he saw Jin Taekyung’s naked body for the first time, Jeok Cheongang thought:

What a strange fellow.

Even at a glance, Jin Taekyung’s bones and muscles were exceptional. It seemed a shame for such a body to waste away in a backwater like this.

But after seeing the body hidden beneath his clothes with his own eyes, Jeok Cheongang realized it was beyond anything he had expected.

How can a body be this perfectly balanced?

The human body grew over time, but balance was another matter.

One’s usual posture and even the smallest habits related to clothing, food, and shelter could throw that balance off.

A swordsman who used a sword in his right hand would naturally have more muscle and greater strength in his right arm.

It was as natural as water flowing downhill.

But Jin Taekyung was different.

…What is this fellow?

The length and angles of his bones. The shape and form of his muscles.

Every part of him was in perfect balance.

It was as though some omnipotent, unknown being had drawn half of Jin Taekyung on an empty sheet of white paper, folded it in half, and unfolded it again.

Could he have undergone the treatment steadily since childhood? No. Even cleansing the sinews and washing the marrow couldn’t achieve this.

In the past, Jeok Cheongang had agonized and conducted extensive research for Jangcheon, whose bones and muscles were lacking. He had eventually found the best possible method and performed the treatment on him.

The result had been successful, but that experience had taught him one thing.

Even cleansing the sinews and washing the marrow has its limits.

The words perfect balance did not suit the human body.

Even if one spent ten thousand gold instead of a thousand, minute flaws would remain. But Jin Taekyung was different.

Jeok Cheongang had kneaded and touched his unconscious body from head to toe.

He had felt the tough, elastic skin and the strength filling both the surface and the depths of his body. He had circulated his internal energy through Taekyung’s body and confirmed the broad, sturdy Sinews and Meridians within.

And then he had been stunned.

How can a body like this exist?

It was perfect. He almost wondered if this was what the legendary Bone Transformation he had only heard about would look like.

Jeok Cheongang had met several Supreme Peak masters in his life, including the peerless master Mae Jonghak, the Sword Saint.

But he could say this without hesitation: Of all the bones and muscles he had seen, Jin Taekyung’s were the finest beneath heaven.

Could it be…

Jeok Cheongang, who had been staring blankly for quite some time, trembled at the thought that suddenly flashed through his mind.

The Murim held sayings passed down like legends from the distant past.

The Heavenly Martial Physique, said to be born once every several hundred years—or perhaps once every thousand—through a caprice of Heaven, was one such legend.

The Heavenly Martial Physique? I must be out of my mind.

But the more Jeok Cheongang examined Jin Taekyung’s body, the deeper his doubts grew and the more tangled his thoughts became.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that there was nothing about that body that needed correcting.

After completing a formality barely worthy of being called cleansing the sinews and washing the marrow, his worries only deepened.

If that boy really possesses the Heavenly Martial Physique, what would happen if he learned even greater martial arts than he knows now and absorbed elixirs?

The thoughts continued, chasing one another, even after he left the pavilion.

And at last, the desire coiled deep in Jeok Cheongang’s heart raised its head.

“What if… I taught that boy?”

The mutter escaped him before he realized it, and Jeok Cheongang was startled.

A Disciple?

His only Disciple had betrayed their sect and was no longer of this world.

The wound from that betrayal had not even healed, and he was already thinking of taking another Disciple.

Furthermore, he was over a hundred years old, and his mind had already grown hazy from old age.

Even if I don’t do it, Mae Jonghak could find a worthy talent and carry on our sect’s legacy.

He had told no one, but Jeok Cheongang had planned to seek out the Sword Saint Mae Jonghak as soon as he left the Jin Family of Taiyuan.

Mae Jonghak possessed martial arts counted among the strongest in the world and had no selfish ambitions. Jeok Cheongang wanted to entrust the succession of the Fire Gate Clan to him.

And yet I’m having this absurd thought now? Jeok Cheongang, you stupid bastard. You fool.

Jeok Cheongang was repeatedly sighing and looking up at the sky when a voice reached him.

“Great Hero Jeok. Are you troubled by something?”

The polite voice belonged to Jin Wikyung, a giant of a man.

Jeok Cheongang, who had been thinking of Jin Taekyung at that very moment, flinched.

“Uh, yes?”

It was already the third day since Jeok Cheongang had begun staying at the Jin Family of Taiyuan. Seeing him behave differently from usual, Jin Wikyung asked cautiously:

“Is there perhaps something making you uncomfortable…?”

“No, no. It’s nothing.”

“Then that is a relief.”

Jeok Cheongang waved a hand while gazing at a distant mountain.

“There’s nothing wrong with this old man. I’m perfectly fine, so go about your business.”

“Um, did you perhaps have something specific to say to me?”

“I said I don’t.”

“Are you certain?”

“I said I am! Don’t worry about it and be on your way.”

“…Great Hero Jeok?”

“Ah, what is it?”

After Jeok Cheongang finally exploded, Jin Wikyung hesitated before speaking.

“Great Hero Jeok, the place where you’re standing is directly in front of my office.”

“…”

“Would you care to have a cup of tea and chat?”

After a brief silence, Jeok Cheongang cleared his throat.

“Ahem. Give me liquor instead of tea.”

Whatever he might have been thinking, Jeok Cheongang’s feet had been telling the truth.