So? Did Someone Force You to Become the Heavenly Demon?

Chapter 37: Intoxication (3)

Master’s immense energy surged from his palm through my back and encased the Explosive Demonic Pill’s volatile energy raging within my meridians.

Up to this point, nothing seemed unusual—it was a straightforward process.

However, I didn’t realize then that this was just the beginning.

The immense energy wrapped around the wild force. Despite being intertwined, the energies remained distinct, becoming even more immense upon merging.

Then, that immense energy began burrowing into my frail, underdeveloped meridians—frail, underdeveloped meridians that could barely handle five years of internal energy.

“!!!”

My eyes flew open at the unexpected, intense pain, and I nearly let out a scream.

Even amid the excruciating pain, a thought crossed my mind.

‘So this is why he warned me not to faint or open my mouth!’

Of course, Master wasn’t simply cramming all that massive amount of internal energy into my meridians in some brutish way.

Like drawing a thread from a spool, he used his own internal energy to carefully guide the pill’s potent force.

‘But even that’s too much for my meridians!’

“Hng!!!”

I clenched my teeth so hard they might break, trying to endure the pain. Even without looking at a mirror, I knew my face was currently contorted in agony.

Meanwhile, the pill’s energy continued to ravage my meridians, following the path carved by Master’s internal energy.

—Don’t lose track of the flow of energy guided by this old man.

Clutching to that warning like a lifeline, I forced myself to focus on the energy’s movement with every shred of my being.

Ironically, once I concentrated on something else, the pain became somewhat more bearable.

Furthermore—

Thump!

I began to grasp what was happening within me.

‘So my meridians weren’t narrow to begin with.’

The Explosive Demonic Pill’s energy wasn’t tearing my meridians apart. To be precise, it was surging through while forcefully cleansing out the impurities that had accumulated throughout my body.

In other words, the pain I was feeling was from those impurities being forcibly expelled from where they had blocked my meridians.

Perhaps because they’d been purged, refreshing and soothing sensations gradually replaced the agony in areas the energy had passed through.

This, however, was agonizing in its own way.

‘Urgh!!’

Fresh pain erupted at the forefront where the energy drilled forward, while relief washed over the cleared meridians behind. This unsettling blend of agony and ecstasy threatened to push me beyond some indefinable boundary.

How long did I endure this torment, locked in battle against myself?

‘It’s… it’s finally over…’

Adhering to the circulation method of the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword, the energy surged through the final meridian and stormed into my dantian.

Or so I thought.

‘!?’

For some reason, instead of settling to the dantian, the Explosive Demonic Pill’s energy was heading back toward the meridians as if planning to do another round of its tour.

The thought ‘I’m doomed’ flooded my mind, but surprisingly, the second round caused little pain, perhaps because the initial run had cleared most of the impurities.

Worse, just as it was about to return to the dantian after completing the second round.

‘!?’

This crazy old man started directing the Explosive Demonic Pill’s energy back into my meridians again.

‘Why again?’

Before I could even finish that thought, the crazy old man showed me the reason himself.

‘Why there!?’

Under Master’s guidance, the surging energy splintered into dozens of smaller fragments, diverting from the major meridians into the network of finer vessels throughout my body.

A realization struck me.

‘You fucking old coot, if you could split it into smaller pieces, why didn’t you just do that from the start?!’

Now I realized it wasn’t that he couldn’t split it smaller—he had chosen not to.

And I understood why he did that.

It was to maintain sufficient energy to forcefully push out the impurities blocking the meridians in one go.

But it didn’t change the fact that I had suffered terribly because of this crazy old man.

And now, these dozens of fragmented energy streams were delivering a new kind of pain.

If the pain of clearing the major meridians felt like being repeatedly jabbed with something blunt all over my body, clearing the minor meridians now felt like having dozens of ants crawling inside my body and biting everywhere.

It was horrific torture.

I couldn’t tell if I was absorbing an elixir or being tortured.

Just as I teetered on the brink of unconsciousness, ready to surrender to oblivion—

“Well done. You endured well.”

Master’s voice sounded from behind me.

‘Endured my ass.’

I really almost died.

Torrents of profanities were already at the tip of my tongue, but—

“Hmm?”

When I finally came to my senses, I experienced a sensation I’d never felt before in my life.

How should I describe it?

It felt like suddenly being cured of a lifelong illness.

My body felt incredibly light, better than ever before.

Though physically impossible, I felt like I could actually fly through the sky.

“Hohoho. Quite amazing, isn’t it?”

“Is this the power of the elixir, Master?”

I could understand why martial artists would go crazy over elixirs, but for some reason, Master shook his head.

“Your internal energy hasn’t increased that much. This is less due to the elixir and more the result of Bone Marrow Cleansing.”

“!?”

I inspected my dantian and realized my internal energy didn’t increase that much.

Perhaps only about ten years’ worth of power?

Since my dantian initially could only hold about five years’ worth of power, it had tripled in capacity.

It is said that the Explosive Demonic Pill contained about 30 years’ worth of energy, so effectively only about one-third had been added to my dantian.

But more important than that was the word Bone Marrow Cleansing.

Bone Marrow Cleansing.

The term, common in martial arts novels, referred to a procedure performed on newborns in prestigious families or large sects.

It was a crucial procedure in which a master used their internal energy to refine an infant’s bones and meridians, making them ideal for martial arts cultivation.

“But, isn’t Bone Marrow Cleansing only possible for young children?”

“Hohoho. It becomes more difficult with age, but it’s not exclusively limited to young children.”

“I hadn’t initially planned to perform Bone Marrow Cleansing. Even for me, attempting it on a fifteen-year-old boy would be a gamble. I had intended to just clear out the impurities on your major meridians and finish there.”

“Then why…?”

“First, your body harbored far fewer impurities than I anticipated. Likely due to a childhood lacking in proper cooked meals and meat. Furthermore, your remarkable endurance allowed me to preserve more of the Explosive Demonic Pill’s energy than expected. However, your dantian was too small to contain such potent energy. Thus, I had no choice but to extend the cleansing to your smaller meridians.”

Coming from a poor family, and later becoming an orphan, I hadn’t been able to eat well. Yet, that had turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

“Your body now possesses the purity of a newborn who has undergone Bone Marrow Cleansing. While your immediate gains in internal energy are modest, your potential for future growth has greatly increased.”

But as I listened to the explanation, one question came to mind.

“But Master, is Bone Marrow Cleansing possible with just twenty years’ worth of internal energy?”

If it were feasible with so little energy, wouldn’t all martial arts families perform Bone Marrow Cleansing on all their children?

Master chuckled.

“Hahaha. How could that be possible? To preserve the pill’s energy, I relied mostly on my own power.”

“!!!”

It then dawned on me that, throughout the cleansing process, Master’s internal energy had been enveloping the pill’s energy all along. In other words, the energy directly confronting the impurities was mostly the Master’s internal energy, not the Explosive Demonic Pill’s.

The fact that the pill still retained one-third of its total accumulated energy meant that Master had expended at least thirty years of his own energy.

“Thank you, Master!”

Gratitude washed over me, erasing the lingering resentment.

“Think nothing of it. Your late entry into the martial arts was my only regret, but now that disadvantageous condition has been eliminated.”

Despite losing decades of energy—something more precious than life to a martial artist—he wore a satisfied smile, happier than I, the recipient of this fortune.

* * *

Following the elixir absorption and Bone Marrow Cleansing procedure, I changed into fresh training clothes provided by Jin Hayeon.

My previous clothes reeked from the expelled impurities.

After swinging my sword several times under Master’s watchful eye.

‘This is insane.’

I couldn’t help but be amazed at the effects of Bone Marrow Cleansing.

Before, I only felt lighter, but now, actually moving and circulating internal energy, the difference was like night and day.

My internal energy flowed unimpeded through my widened meridians. It was like a single-lane road expanding into a four-lane highway.

Moreover, since even the smaller meridians had been cleansed, there was no such thing as energy blockage.

If there was one problem, it was that the meridians had become too large compared to my internal energy.

They could easily accommodate fifteen years’ worth of cultivated energy. My strikes were faster and more powerful, but I couldn’t sustain them for long.

But that was a trivial concern.

‘Since my meridians have widened, the amount of energy I can absorb through meditation has greatly increased too.’

Indeed, after depleting my energy and practicing meditative breathing, my energy replenished at an astonishing rate.

Had those born into prestigious clans always cultivated under such advantageous conditions?

The disparity between them and those like me would only widen with age.

By adulthood, they’d flaunt titles like Five Dragons and Two Phoenixes (五龍二鳳) while spouting arrogant drivel such as,

—I earned this through hard work! Your mediocrity is due to your laziness!

I could easily imagine those arrogant brats from prestigious families spouting such lines.

‘So even in the martial arts world, you need to be born with a golden spoon.’

Or win the lottery like me.

“Hehehe.”

Having the Heavenly Demon as my master was a jackpot in itself.

How long had I been training the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword while being intoxicated by the elixir and Bone Marrow Cleansing effects?

Movements that once felt awkward now flowed seamlessly.

The power and speed were incomparable to before, making wielding the sword incredibly enjoyable.

When my internal energy ran out, I would meditate, and when my dantian filled up, I would swing the sword again.

‘No. I need to swing faster here.’

‘Not enough! My pace is still clumsy! I need to decelerate slightly at the end to transition smoothly into the next movement!’

With each sword swing, I would identify even the smallest imperfection, and after recovering my energy, I would work on fixing those flaws.

“I’ll be going now.”

“Travel safely, Master! Thank you so much!”

Master, who had been observing with evident satisfaction, departed Windrock Palace as the sun dipped below the horizon.

Even after the sun had hidden behind the mountains and darkness had fallen.

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

‘Still not enough!’

Lost in my pursuit of perfect swordsmanship, I continued to practice tirelessly.

How long had I been lost in this sword-drunk state?

“Huff. Huff.”

When a coppery tang filled my mouth, my muscles screamed in protest, and my sword-gripping palm finally felt a searing ache.

Only then did I come to my senses and realize an important fact I had forgotten.

The elixir inevitably boosted my martial arts progress. And with Bone Marrow Cleansing on top of that, my mastery of the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword had skyrocketed.

And my increased mastery of the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword meant its side effects had also worsened.

I realized I had been swinging my sword like a madman, intoxicated by these side effects.

Thanks to that, I had made incredible progress in just one day, but that wasn’t the concern here.

Memories of last night’s nightmare resurfaced.

Perhaps, that nightmare wasn’t a nightmare, but in fact, a premonition.