‘It’s cold.’

Thousand year old snow ginsengs grew on top of moss covered by frost.

Just getting close to it made his hand cold.

“Human, won’t you get frostbite if you grab it?”

“Right?”

He nodded his head at Raon’s question and looked at Choi Jung Soo.

“Hey, Choi Jung Soo.”

“What is it?”

“Do you have any helpful advice for consuming an elixir?”

Choi Jung Soo smiled brightly.

“I don’t really know since I’ve never eaten one.”

‘…I knew I shouldn’t ask this punk a question.’

Cale remembered that fact, something he had forgotten for a moment.

Something appeared in front of his eyes at that moment.

“I asked for them just in case, Cale-nim.”

Three pairs of white gloves were visible in front of Cale.

Choi Han was handing it to him with an embarrassed look on his face.

“…Thank you.”

‘I guess the years of experience of a paternal cousin once removed cannot be ignored.’

Cale thought about Choi Han’s years of experience as he put on all three pairs of gloves.

“Human, hold on for a moment!”

Raon cast a temperature management spell on the innermost glove as well.

Cale shared his honest thoughts.

“You are the smartest.”

“Of course! I am a great and mighty Dragon! I am smart, good, and cool!”

“Yes, yes.”

Cale just responded before touching the snow ginseng.

It wasn’t that cold.

‘But this is still an elixir. I didn’t expect to consume one like this.”

To be eating an elixir in such a chaotic setting…

Most wuxia novels had people place themselves in refined areas, calm their hearts with silence, ready their bodies, and then consume the elixir.

“Human! Hurry up and eat it! I will watch over you! I will take you to grandpa Ron immediately if something happens!”

“No. You can’t do that.”

“Why can’t I do that? Choi Jung Soo, Mr. I only eat and sleep all day, tell me!”

“Umm, in wuxia novels, you can’t touch a person while they are consuming an elixir. Touching them might harm them severely.”

“I see.”

Choi Han nodded his head and commented in agreement. The two of them then made eye contact and quickly looked away.

Raon asked Cale instead.

“Human, I shouldn’t touch you?”

“Yeah. Don’t touch me.”

Cale shouldn’t fall into Ki Deviation since he hasn’t studied Martial arts, but it wouldn’t hurt to be cautious.

He felt as if he was out of energy.

So he just ignored the three of their ramblings and brought the snow ginseng up to his mouth.

A thousand year old snow ginseng.

He thought that it would be big after surviving for a thousand years, but…

It was the size of a typical ginseng.

It was small enough for him to eat in one bite.

That was why he just ate it.

“Ugh!”

Cale groaned.

“Human, does it hurt?”

“Cale-nim!”

“Hey, are you okay?”

The two people and one Dragon rapidly asked him questions while Cale shoved the snow ginseng into his mouth so that he could respond.

“It’s bitter.”

He then closed his eyes.

It felt as if everything became quiet for some reason, but he didn’t care.

He needed to focus on this thousand year old snow ginseng right now.

According to wuxia novels, the aura of the elixir spreads throughout your body the moment you swallow it.

‘Ah, I don’t think I can swallow it.’

It felt more bitter as he chewed.

It even seemed to taste like dirt.

‘No, is it moss?

Some wuxia novels had elixirs melt immediately and spread throughout your body.

Those seem like total lies.’

Cale’s frown became worse as it continued.

“…Human, the medicine must be very bitter. Your expression is quite bad.”

He ignored the Dragon’s mumbling.

‘Let’s swallow it.’

Cale swallowed it immediately after chewing it for a bit.

He then became anxious.

‘What will happen now?’

Will a strong aura roar inside his body, starting a fight between the thousand year old snow ginseng and him?

Or will there be pain in the process of absorbing that aura?

It was at that moment.

– Wow!

‘Hmm?’

– I’m so excited!

The Vitality of the Heart. The old crybaby seemed quite excited.

He suddenly had an ominous feeling.

– Cale, let’s wake the noonims!

It was at that moment.

‘Ugh!’

No noise came out of his mouth.

Boom.

His heart beat wildly.

The Vitality of the Heart. No, his heart was starting to roar.

Boom!

The moment his heart beat wildly once more…

“……!”

Cale’s jaw dropped.

‘What the hell? What is going on?’

He wasn’t in pain.

However, he could feel it.

“Choi Han, the human is cold right now!”

“Let’s watch for a bit.”

Cale could feel a cold aura spreading through his dropped jaw and his entire body.

And because of that…

‘It’s cold.’

His whole body was full of intense coldness.

A thousand year old snow ginseng.

The yin energy it had gathered while being buried under snow for a thousand years… That and coldness swirled inside of Cale.

‘What if I get hypothermia?’

The moment he had that thought…

Boom!

His heart beat wildly once more. It was so wild that his whole body moved.

At that moment…

– I’ll send it to water noonim!

The blood flow that started from his heart…

All of the blood inside Cale’s body was absorbing the coldness.

They then started to move it.

Cale didn’t know where this power was moving to right now.

However, he could feel one of the seals on the numerous sealed ancient powers in his body breaking.

That image was being drawn in Cale’s mind as he kept his eyes closed.

– To shield noonim as well!

The location where the coldness had moved…

Cale flinched.

“…Choi Han. Something is weird. I smell the scent of forest from the human.”

Cale could smell that scent of a tree that Raon was talking about.

No, it was not just one tree; it felt more like a vast forest.

For an existence that is like a blade of grass to handle the thousand years of coldness and yin energy, they needed to have a forest in that small body.

– Great! Wonderful! It doesn’t hurt, right?

The crybaby was right. It did not hurt.

Cale could feel all of the blood in his body wrapping around a seal to break once again.

‘It’s cold.’

However, his whole body was not cold.

It felt like he was standing in the middle of a forest right after the first snow of winter, taking in the refreshing air.

Cale subconsciously fell deeply into a trance at that wonderful feeling.

The coldness and scent of a forest rose up even more as he did that.

Choi Jung Soo, who was blankly watching this, nonchalantly commented.

“…It’s Rok Soo.”

“Hmm?”

Choi Han slowly changed the topic as Raon reacted to Choi Jung Soo.

“People are gathering outside.”

“They are not very close yet, sir.”

The Choi duo was chatting awkwardly with each other. Choi Han then slightly opened the small window of the room.

The residence that Cale was staying in…

Nobody was walking past the walls of the residence that had its own training ground and yard.

However, people were quietly gathering around it.

There weren’t too many people.

However, they were all looking toward the room with shocked expressions on their faces.

The Sword Saint and Namgung Ma Hyuk were there as well.

“… Father.”

“How surprising.”

The Sword Saint truly seemed amazed.

“Even if the thousand year old snow ginseng is an elixir, I didn’t know it could release such an aura.”

“…Changing the surroundings to match the trait of the elixir while consuming it- this is surprising.”

“That’s right. Maybe that is the Nature Realm.”

The duo’s conversation could not be heard beyond the wall.

Choi Han saw that the Sword Saint was one of the people and closed the window.

“It looks like it will be fine.”

As long as that man was there, nothing that would harm Cale would happen.

“Choi Han, the human looks so happy.”

As Raon mentioned, Cale was now seated peacefully with a smile on his face.

That refreshing winter air was starting to fill the room.

But just enough to not be cold.

– Cale.

Cale heard the crybaby’s voice.

And…

– It was delicious! It was the taste of a new plant!

The Indestructible Shield. He heard the glutton priestess’s voice, and…

– …That mother**ing god bastard. Was it the God of Balance? Is he the one who sealed you?

The Sky Eating Water. He could hear her swearing as well.

‘How much of the seal was released?’

The shield and water answered one after the other.

– 70%.

– 53%.

The seals on the two ancient powers were not completely removed. However, Cale could still hear their voices.

He used a precious elixir like the thousand year old snow ginseng so this level of release might be disappointing, but…

‘It’s not like that. Even this much is a significant result.’

This was especially true because the fact that he could use 70 percent of the Indestructible Shield was very good.

‘As long as the Vitality of the Heart and the Indestructible Shield are there, he should not be harmed seriously.

He also had the Sky Eating Water, which did not lack anything in offensive strength, so he should be able to last a while even if he had to fight.

– I’ll fix everything up now!

The smile on Cale’s face became bigger at the Vitality of the Heart’s now bright voice.

‘Not bad.’

Consuming an elixir… It was bitter as he ate it, but Cale was satisfied that he was not in pain and that everything went smoothly.

‘I should get a lot of elixirs from here on.’

Of course, it would be difficult to find elixirs at the level of this thousand year old snow ginseng since even the Namgung Clan, one of the wealthiest clans in the Orthodox faction, considered it a treasure.

‘But I’m sure the Imperial family will have some.’

It should be fine if he waited since Chief Eunuch Wi said that he would procure some for Cale.

‘If not, I’ll tell Central Plains to spill where precious elixirs are located.’

Of course, that punk might blame balance and say that he wasn’t allowed to tell Cale, but…

‘He’ll tell me if he wants to save his world.’

It was none of Cale’s business.

‘It should be okay to open my eyes now, right?’

– Yeah, yeah!

The happy Cale looked past the old man’s lively response and opened his eyes.

The coldness and scent of a forest that was surrounding the area were instantly absorbed into Cale at that moment.

“…Cale-nim.”

Choi Han asked calmly.

“Did it help?”

Cale was confident that he could respond without any hesitation.

He was going to say that it was very helpful.

That was all he had to say.

– All done! Let’s just throw out some waste to finish up!

‘Hmm?’

The Vitality of the Heart spoke in a refreshing manner.

– There are dregs in the blood from undoing the seals! We need to throw it out! It won’t hurt!

‘Ah.’

Cale almost sighed.

But he could not do that.

“…….”

Blood flowed out of his open mouth.

“H, human! Human! Are you sure you are okay?”

Raon chucked the candied fruit in his front paw in shock and approached Cale.

“Choi Han, the human is weird! He is smiling and coughing up blood with an extremely relaxed look on his face! I’ve never seen something like this before!”

“Mm.”

Choi Han seemed anxious as well.

Choi Jung Soo picked up the candied fruit that Raon chucked before looking at Cale with bewilderment.

“…Cale-nim?”

Cale coughed up a handful of dark red blood, wiped away the blood that was now dripping down the corners of his mouth, and answered.

“I’m fine. Actually, I feel great.”

The two Chois and the young Dragon all scowled.

Cale didn’t care and answered honestly.

“Really, it was great. I want to keep eating elixirs. I feel like I’m getting healthier. No, I am actually getting healthier.”

Cale said all of that because he was feeling emotional for some reason and then avoided the suspicious gazes of the other three.

Chhh.

The door opened at that moment.

There were only a few people who could open the door to the room Cale was staying in without saying anything.

“…….”

He made eye contact with Ron.

Cale subconsciously covered the blood on his mouth with his long sleeve.

“…I’ll bring some clothes for you to change into, young master-nim.”

Ron smiled benignly before disappearing to get clothes.

Cale looked away after feeling a mysterious sense of discomfort and made eye contact with Choi Jung Soo.

“Uhh, uhh-”

Choi Jung Soo stuttered a bit before speaking.

“G, good luck?”

Cale’s gaze turned cold and he looked away from Choi Jung Soo.

That night…

All of the martial artists residing in the Namgung Manor were talking about that cold yet refreshing aura that had risen from the best guest house in the manor.

‘Our benefactor is in the Nature Realm!’

This was the moment that rumor became an established fact in the Namgung Clan.

Of course, those rumors did not make it past the tall walls of the Namgung Manor.

“I, is that so?”

But it was enough to make the pupils of the Lord of Anhui Province shake as soon as he received an urgent report from his subordinate who was staying in the Namgung Clan.

* * *

The next day.

Cale spoke to the Sword Saint and the patriarch.

“I am thinking of heading to the Martial Arts Alliance right away.”

Now that he found Choi Jung Soo and some of the seals were released…

All that was left was to take care of the Blood Cult.