The Terminally Ill Young Master of the Baek Clan

They call it the Heart of the Evil Dragon.

Yi-gang pondered on how significant the Dragon’s Heart truly was.

It was certain that this ‘heart’ did not refer to an organ that actually pumped blood through the body.

Otherwise, it would not be something that looked like a gem, but rather a piece of meat dripping with blood.

‘Are you talking about that thing you said you would give me?’

「Yes, that was it.」

Zhang Sanfeng, during his lifetime, had defeated an Evil Dragon with his human body.

Though he ascended afterward, it was indeed a remarkable feat.

The dragon was a creature among spirits, considered to be the finest of all, possessing power nearly equal to that of an immortal.

When Zhang Sanfeng was enticing Yi-gang, he explained that if one were to consume an elixir made from the Dragon’s Heart…

‘It could heal my body, you had said.’

「It could indeed connect the major meridians…」

Each time he connected a major meridian, the difficulty of connecting to the next one increased exponentially.

Even if Yi-gang were to regain the spiritual energy left by the Immortal Divine Sword, he could no longer connect to a major meridian.

In essence, the Heart of the Evil Dragon hidden by Zhang Sanfeng represented a formidable opportunity that was hard to come by for Yi-gang.

‘But when I actually went to look, the seal they said was in place had been broken, and the Sword Emperor had eaten it all up.’

「Yes, that’s right…」

‘I’m not trying to blame the Sage, but the seal was not as tight as you were confident it would be.’

「…」

Zhang Sanfeng had a somewhat gloomy expression.

But Yi-gang really had no intention of blaming Zhang Sanfeng.

If Zhang Sanfeng had truly sealed it carefully, it wouldn’t have come undone on its own.

There might have been external interference. The problem was that there were no clues to uncover the details.

Regardless, it was found here in the Imperial Palace’s Medicine Vault.

The issue was that it was located in a place where fifth-grade elixirs were stored.

“That one has just been prepared by the imperial physician… It probably belongs to either the fourth or fifth grade of elixirs.”

The royal physician who guided the Medicine Vault said so.

Instead of responding, Yi-gang glanced sideways at Zhang Sanfeng.

‘Is this correct?’

「It seems different from the Heart of the Evil Dragon upon a closer look. For starters, it doesn’t even seem to be a tenth of the size.」

This one was a bit bigger than an acorn, so the Heart of the Evil Dragon must originally be about the size of a fist.

Then what exactly could it be?

“It seems to be an inner elixir, but whose inner elixir is it?”

“That might be…”

The royal physician, who had been confident until just moments ago, now displayed an unsure attitude.

It made sense.

The royal physician obviously had extensive knowledge about medicinal herbs.

Managing the Medicine Vault, he must have deep knowledge about elixirs, but most of that was focused on herbology.

Knowledge about spirits or yokai, especially their inner elixirs, would rather be more profound with Dam Hyun or Yu Jeong-shin.

The pondering physician rifled through several documents and then stammered out, “It seems like the inner elixir of a Flood Dragon.”

“A Flood Dragon?”

“Yes, a Flood Dragon is… well…”

“I know what a Flood Dragon is.”

Yi-gang knew what was being referred to by a Flood Dragon.

But his question remained unanswered.

‘Isn’t a Flood Dragon an alligator?’

「An alligator…?」

A Flood Dragon originally referred to an alligator.

However, it was clearly distinct from a dragon. It’s unlikely for a normal alligator to possess an inner elixir.

“Ah, but this wasn’t a typical Flood Dragon. It was hunted in Yunnan and was reportedly three zhang in length.”

“It must have been a spiritual creature then.”

It was definitely not an ordinary alligator.

But still, it was nothing compared to the Evil Dragon that Zhang Sanfeng had caught.

「It’s incomparably smaller than a real dragon, haha.」

‘So then…’

Could it be worthless?

Assessing the value of an inner elixir was not easy.

Yi-gang pondered whether to keep the third-grade elixir, the Purple Spirit Phantom Herb, or the uncertain efficacy of that inner elixir.

And then, an idea occurred to him.

The Scripture of Inexhaustible Mind and Emotion he had acquired earlier from the Imperial Palace Armory.

He recited it again in his mind.

……

May I soon gain the eye of wisdom.

Certainly, he remembered his vision changing after reciting the Scripture of Inexhaustible Mind and Emotion.

Zhang Sanfeng mentioned that the upper dantian was stimulated, causing a temporary opening of the spiritual eye.

……

May I soon attain the body of truth.

And then…

“Keuk.”

Yi-gang staggered.

The Honorable County Princess was startled.

“Yo-you’re bleeding from the nose.”

Yi-gang casually wiped under his nose with his hand.

Bright red blood was smeared. The physician quickly brought a dry towel and offered it.

Fortunately, the nosebleed stopped, but his head still felt heavy.

「It would be better to space out the recitations of the Scripture of Inexhaustible Mind and Emotion.」

‘That would be wise.’

But there was certainly merit in reciting the Scripture of Inexhaustible Mind and Emotion.

“I’ll take that one.”

Yi-gang confidently pointed to the Flood Dragon’s heart.

“Ah… Why not choose one of the third-grade spiritual herbs?”

“This one is fine.”

“Sigh, this hasn’t been properly categorized yet. It seems I need to get permission from the imperial physician…”

He had never imagined that someone would choose the Flood Dragon’s heart.

“Is it not allowed?”

“Not that… Uh.”

Yi-gang looked eager for it, and the Honorable County Princess beside him crossed her arms and looked on.

For a mere physician, the pressure was overwhelming.

“Since it’s definitely below third grade, I’ll give it to you.”

No sooner had he spoken than Yi-gang took the Flood Dragon’s heart.

A smile was playing on his lips as he turned away.

‘I definitely saw it.’

The clear vision that came after reciting the Scripture of Inexhaustible Mind and Emotion—

At that time, the Flood Dragon’s heart was emitting a distinctly bright red spiritual energy.

Inside the Medicine Vault from which Yi-gang and his party had departed the Royal Physician Choi Seo diligently organized the elixirs in the repository.

His assigned section ranged from third to fifth-grade elixirs.

While these were of lesser importance, the volume of work required was by no means small.

In the midst of this, he had to attend to Yi-gang and his party coming to collect an elixir, which only added to his backlog.

“I’m swamped…”

Choi Seo moved briskly.

He checked if the elixirs were well arranged in their proper places and adjusted the humidity and light.

Even a slight mishap could cause these valuable medicines, difficult to acquire even for a hefty price, to lose their efficacy.

After organizing the third and fourth-grade areas, Choi Seo started cleaning the area that stored the fifth-grade elixirs.

Most of the items here were ordinary ones that could be found even in low markets.

Of course, there were exceptions.

Things like the inner elixirs of spiritual creatures, rare regardless of their efficacy.

As he wiped down the blood-stained workbench, the earlier incident came to mind.

Specifically, Yi-gang taking away the inner elixir of the Flood Dragon.

“He’s an unusual man. It wasn’t even that remarkable an item.”

Though a bit taken aback, Choi Seo had ultimately handed over the Flood Dragon’s heart.

He checked because he was worried, but the Flood Dragon’s heart was something that could be handed over without any issue.

An elixir should originally augment Qi and possess clear medicinal effects, but the inner elixir of the Flood Dragon clearly lacked in this respect.

However, it bothered him that it was an item personally processed by the imperial physician…

“You rascal. The sun is already setting, and you’re just starting to clean!”

At that roar, Choi Seo was startled as if his heart had dropped.

As they say, speak of the tiger and it appears—the imperial physician had returned.

“Y-you’ve arrived. Hiccup.”

“You’re even hiccupping from the shock. Euhahaha!”

The imperial physician laughed at Choi Seo, who was hiccupping.

Choi Seo had never imagined that the imperial physician would return to the Medicine Vault today.

However, the imperial physician, who seemed to be in a good mood for some reason, personally helped clean the fifth-grade medicine area.

“Hehe, it’s finally over.”

“Really?”

“That’s how it is.”

The smile of the imperial physician gradually faded as he rummaged through the fifth-grade medicine area.

His hands seemed to speed up, and then he asked, looking flustered, “Where did it go?”

“What are you referring to?”

“That thing, you rascal. That thing!”

“What ‘that thing’…”

“The inner elixir extracted from the belly of the Flood Dragon. The one I personally processed!”

“Are you talking about the one classified as fifth grade?”

A bead of cold sweat formed on the nape of the imperial physician.

Royal Physician Choi Seo felt a knot of tension tightening in his stomach.

“That, tha-that…”

But telling the truth was the only option he had.

He explained what had happened earlier.

He said that someone called the Crown Prince’s teacher had come under the orders of King Gye-yeong to collect an elixir.

He told everything, including that he had given away the inner elixir of the Flood Dragon, while the Honorable County Princess was boldly standing next to him.

“It wasn’t anything significant… It was an item that the imperial physician himself had classified as fifth grade…”

The imperial physician trembled, his ashen beard quivering.

He glared at his assistant, Choi Seo, then swiftly grabbed the knife he had used to cut open the belly of the Flood Dragon.

“You foolish brat!”

“Hiiiek!”

Knowing the imperial physician’s fiery temper, Choi Seo immediately laid flat on the ground.

“P-please spare my life, imperial physician!”

“So you really intend to drive me to my grave. I went through all that trouble to get it, and you just handed it over?”

“I didn’t know anything…”

The imperial physician had personally obtained it.

So that was why he had personally processed what was barely a fifth-grade inner elixir.

The reason why the imperial physician had done such a thing became clear from what he said next, “Should I replace the Flood Dragon’s heart with your own heart? Should I send it to Huangtian Palace to give to those guys from the Seven Great Immortals instead?”

“Gasp!”

Even after yelling, the imperial physician abruptly shut his mouth with a gasp.

He had said too much to a lowly physician.

“Ugh…! What madness is this because of those people.”

The Seven Great Immortals, under the guise of serving the Emperor, had taken numerous elixirs from the Medicine Vault.

Not stopping there, they had recently made an even stranger demand.

They wanted an inner elixir of a Flood Dragon said to live in Yunnan.

Even if it were to be reported to the imperial physician in Beijing, it would have been impossible to obtain it.

However, for months, the demands had been made with an attitude that was indistinguishable between threat and persuasion.

The imperial physician also sought to escape this pressure, and had inquired everywhere, finally succeeding in acquiring the inner elixir of the Flood Dragon through a coincidental connection recently.

“…Ugh. It’s done!”

But now it was like spilt water, beyond recovery.

The only fortunate thing was that he hadn’t mentioned having secured the Flood Dragon’s heart for the Seven Great Immortals.

“Keep today’s events strictly confidential! For your own life’s sake!”

“I-I will!”

The imperial physician firmly warned the royal physician.

If it had already passed to the Honorable County Princess and the Crown Prince’s teacher, it was an item that could no longer be retrieved.

Throwing the knife to the ground, the imperial physician turned around.

‘Nothing seems to go right…’

Then, he went into the deepest part of the Medicine Vault.

Passing the areas for third grade, second grade, and first grade, he reached the very back of the wall.

The items here were indeed the most important ones in the repository.

Click—

Activating a mechanism on the wall, a door made of iron slid open.

Only the imperial physician managing this Medicine Vault could enter here.

Not even the Emperor himself or any members of the imperial family were allowed.

This was because it housed only the most critical elixirs.

As he stepped inside, where a chilly gust met him, the iron door closed automatically.

This place, kept cool using the ice spirits from the North Sea, was truly a refuge in the imperial physician’s heart.

“Alas… what is to become of this country.”

In this inaccessible place, one could freely curse both the Emperor and the Seven Great Immortals.

But that didn’t ease his mind.

And for good reason, as the crystal boxes storing the special-grade elixirs were all but empty.

“I should have guarded the vault…”

Originally, there were about twenty different elixirs here.

This place had gathered the most precious elixirs that existed before the founding of the dynasty.

Not even the Emperor knew what kinds of elixirs were sleeping here.

Otherwise, past Emperors would have taken all the special-grade elixirs for themselves.

The export of elixirs was allowed only when prescribed to the imperial family through consultations at the Imperial Institute of Medicine.

“Pure Sky Oil too… Man-Shaped Snow Ginseng as well…”

However, since the imperial physician took over, more than seven-tenths of the special-grade elixirs had been taken.

The Emperor was confined in Huangtian Palace and the Seven Great Immortals continually demanded the special-grade elixirs.

It was because of the relentless pressure exerted on the Imperial Institute of Medicine and its head, the imperial physician.

It was unclear how they could even use such potent elixirs that one alone would be difficult for a human body to assimilate.

“I will protect the remaining ones with my life…”

The imperial physician stood in front of the last remaining crystal box.

Five elixirs.

Among them, the most radiant caught his eye.

‘If they knew this existed, they wouldn’t have asked for something as trivial as the Flood Dragon’s heart.’

It was a fist-sized gem that seemed almost like a red jade at first glance.

That self-illuminating object was indeed among the rarest of the special-grade elixirs.

‘The Heart of the Great Dragon slain by Lu Dongbin.’

Lu Dongbin, the Sword Immortal who had become an immortal after defeating the Great Dragon, before Zhang Sanfeng.

The heart of the dragon he had slain was still here.