Chapter 51
Baek Mu-Ae issued a strict order to all Clan Members, enforcing a gag order regarding Yak-seon’s Heavenly Tribulation and the existence of the Inscribed Five Elements Pill.
Furthermore, to prevent rumors from leaking out, he strictly restricted the Clan Members from leaving the premises for the time being.
The Yeonha Baek Clan’s Mansion sank into silence, completely cut off from the outside world.
.
.
.
Amidst such a solemn atmosphere,
The appointed day to consume the Inscribed Five Elements Pill finally dawned.
Baek-Cheong finished purifying her body with spiritual spring water early in the morning.
It was to clear away distracting thoughts and Refine her body and mind to their purest state.
“Huu…”
Neatly dressed in a pure white Plain Cotton Robe, she headed to the Supreme Clan Head’s Hall with a determined look.
Upon arriving at the Supreme Clan Head’s Hall and stepping into the Pavilion, she felt as though she had entered another dimension. All impure energies vanished, leaving the space filled only with clear, pure energy.
“grandfather, grandfather Yak-seon.”
Baek Mu-Ae and Yak-seon Gok Jang-Ro sat in the Lotus Position with solemn expressions, waiting for Baek-Cheong, on the Jade Flat Platform in the center of the Pavilion.
The Clan’s Old Ancestor, who was looking toward the Late Golden Core Stage, and the Alchemy Great Grandmaster, who had stepped into the fifth tier as a Golden Core Cultivator.
It was an Unprecedented sight - two Golden Core Cultivators acting as protectors to assist a young child at the Qi Condensation Stage in consuming a pill.
“Are you mentally prepared?”
When her grandfather asked about her resolve, Baek-Cheong took a deep breath and nodded.
“Yes, grandfather.”
“Good. Sit in the center of the Platform.”
Baek-Cheong took her Seat on the Jade Flat Platform and pulled the ornate jade box from her robes.
The lid opened, and the Inscribed Five Elements Pill, engraved with a Silver Cloud Pattern, revealed its brilliant form alongside a radiant Five-Colored halo.
“Swallow it in one gulp without hesitation, then close your eyes and focus your consciousness on the spirit root in your Dantian. Even if you feel any pain or foreign sensation, you must never let go of your consciousness. If things seem to go awry, we will step in to help, so trust us.”
At Yak-seon’s firm instruction, Baek-Cheong picked up the pill with a resolute gaze.
The moment the Silver Cloud Pattern on its cold surface touched her fingertips,
A faint tremor transmitted the profound Qi of Heaven and Earth.
Gulp.
The Inscribed Five Elements Pill slid down her throat.
There was no intense sensation of burning heat or freezing cold like with ordinary pills.
As if swallowing air, a peaceful and calm energy slid down toward her Dantian.
However, this tranquility was merely a precursor.
This was the moment the pill’s energy touched the Five Elements Spirit Root deep within her Dantian.
Baek-Cheong’s consciousness was violently thrown from the shell of her physical body, cast into a distant and infinite mental landscape.
“This place is…”
What unfolded before her eyes was an empty white space.
In the middle of that space, the Inscribed Five Elements Pill hatched like a primordial egg, beginning to pour out Five Elements Qi.
The energy of water surged as clear life-giving water, soaking the Earth, while the energy of wood sprouted green shoots above it, forming a dense forest.
The energy of fire rose as a scorching sun to warm the land, the energy of Earth uplifted solid mountain ranges, and the energy of metal condensed into sharp ore veins to forge the mountains' framework.
A single pill had cultivated mother nature within her mind.
The mutual generation and overcoming of the five elements interlocked perfectly like cogwheels, displaying the Circulation Loop of all things being born, growing, declining, and perishing, compressed from eons of time into a single moment.
Baek-Cheong was mesmerized before the great and beautiful Principles of Nature.
Overwhelmed by awe, she failed to realize that her very sense of self was slowly fading away.
Instead, an intense yearning encroached upon her soul - a desire to cast off the shell of her existence, melt into that vast and peaceful nature, and join the eternal Circulation Loop.
It was a bizarre phenomenon where the Fragment of Heavenly Dao contained within the Inscribed Five Elements Pill attempted to assimilate her soul, reducing it to a mere part of nature.
‘Ah, it’s so peaceful… Like this, forever…’
Just as her sense of self was about to scatter transparently into the landscape of nature.
From beyond the horizon of the Mental World, an intense light surged upward, so blinding she couldn’t even keep her eyes open.
At the same time, a massive Blue Giant Star rose, looking as though it would swallow the entire sky.
As soon as the Blue Giant Star appeared, the peacefully turning Circulation Loop of the five elements twisted, erupting into bizarre discord.
The verdant forests withered away, and the clear rivers evaporated without a trace.
Even the scorching red sun was crushed by the blue sun and lost its light, while the Earth and mountain ranges crumbled like sandcastles.
And all the Five Elements Qi that composed nature was sucked toward the Blue Giant Star, filling the sky.
“No…!”
Baek-Cheong’s consciousness, which had been assimilating into nature, snapped back to reality.
The moment the Blue Giant Star swallowed up her entire inner space,
She instinctively realized that her Dantian would collapse miserably, and she would forever be reduced to a mortal.
She forcibly grasped the Five Elements Qi being sucked toward the Blue Giant Star, desperately resisting in order to return the Circulation Loop to normal.
However, the tidal wave of energy unleashed by the Inscribed Five Elements Pill easily ignored her control, never ceasing its rampage toward the Blue Giant Star.
“Everything is going to be sucked in at this rate!”
The only fortunate thing was that the overwhelming and powerful Blue Giant Star had only partially revealed itself beyond the horizon.
It showed no signs of rising any higher into the sky.
But this alone offered little comfort.
Its inherent gravitational pull was so immensely strong that it was sucking up all the nearby Five Elements Qi without leaving a single drop behind.
If this continued, her Inner Mental World would be utterly annihilated. Even the Blue Giant Star would eventually run out of nourishment to consume, leaving absolutely nothing behind in the end.
In that desperate moment, two streams of strong and magnificent energy, akin to massive stars, appeared from nowhere in the form of a binary star, cleaving through the sky as they surged forward.
The binary star’s energy charged without hesitation toward the Blue Giant Star that filled the sky.
The binary star’s energy collided head-on with the Blue Giant Star, causing a massive distortion.
Then, an astonishing sight unfolded.
The binary star’s energy wrapped around the Blue Giant Star as if binding it with a giant rope, forcibly dragging its enormous bulk and pushing it far away into the distant space beyond the horizon.
Suppressed by the power of the binary star, the Blue Giant Star was helplessly pushed back.
Eventually retreating to a suitable distance, the Blue Giant Star was reduced to the appearance of an ordinary star. With only a fraction of it visible on the horizon, it lost the overwhelming presence that had covered the entire sky, now emitting only a subtle blue halo.
As the Blue Giant Star moved away, the Qi Rampage of the Five Elements Qi that had been madly sucked in finally ceased.
The crumbling Earth was restored, and life-giving water flowed once more through the dried-up rivers.
The Five Elements Qi finally regained its stability and returned to the Circulation Loop, as nature and the Blue Giant Star began to operate in an exquisite balance.
However, in the aftermath of the Blue Giant Star’s predation, the fantastic moment of nearly assimilating into the awe-inspiring and peaceful nature had vanished.
That was the moment when the binary star’s energy fulfilled its duty and disappeared without a trace.
Baek-Cheong’s consciousness was forcibly ejected from the Mental World, plummeting back into her physical body in reality.
“Gasp…!”
Baek-Cheong’s eyes snapped open as she let out a ragged breath.
Her entire body was drenched in cold sweat, her Plain Cotton Robe clinging damply to her skin.
And a fullness she had never experienced before tightly packed her Five Elements Spirit Root, powerfully exuding its presence.
“Have you come to your senses?”
Hearing the voice from above, Baek-Cheong blankly shifted her gaze.
The thick palms of her grandfather and Yak-seon were firmly planted on her shoulders.
“Grandfather… Grandfather Yak-seon…”
Baek Mu-Ae and Yak-seon offered pleased smiles, yet they couldn’t hide the cold sweat trickling down their necks from what had just transpired with Baek-Cheong.
Outwardly, there hadn’t been the slightest sign, but within her mind, an incredibly perilous event had taken place.
Fortunately, because it was a pill crafted by Yak-seon himself, he was able to notice the shift and intervene before it was too late.
At the same time, they had come face-to-face with the existence of a mighty spirit root.
Something entirely different from the Five Elements Spirit Root…
“What just happened…”
Looking at the two elders, Baek-Cheong immediately understood.
The powerful binary star energy that had suppressed the rampaging Blue Giant Star in her Mental World and had restored balance belonged to her grandfather and Yak-seon.
“There is no need to dwell on what transpired within your mind. You have been in a state of enlightenment for five whole days, so your body and mind must be exhausted. Return to your Abode and get some proper rest.”
Baek Mu-Ae deliberately diverted her thoughts, fearing that her Granddaughter might try to delve back into that mental state on her own.
Normally, there would be no need to worry about such a thing, but given her outstanding comprehension, special precautions were necessary.
“Ah…”
Unaware of his inner thoughts, Baek-Cheong let out a sigh and nodded.
She then left the Supreme Clan Head’s Hall, her steps heavy with many thoughts.
“Gok-Cheon.”
Watching her figure until she disappeared, Baek Mu-Ae spoke carefully.
“Can you engrave a pill pattern on a third-tier Realm-Breaking Pill as well?”
“Didn’t you say you wouldn’t rely on pills?”
“When I look at my Granddaughter, it seems I can’t just rely on the natural order of things.”
“I have no reason to make a pill for the likes of you.”
Yak-seon - no, Gok-Cheon - spoke frankly.
He had discovered a prodigy in his old age and intended to teach her merely to pass the time, but instead, he had stumbled upon a fortuitous encounter of his own, ending up with a considerable debt to her.
Furthermore, to a man without a single child of his own, she was a child who felt more like a Granddaughter than a real one ever could.
“But if it’s for that child’s sake, I suppose it can’t be helped.”