Part 1,
Chapter 45. Great Desert Solar Palace
So-hwa could not answer immediately.
Even in the Central Plains, there were those who trained in the Fire Art, which utilized scorching internal energy, or the Ice Art, which contained cold internal energy.
But this was of a different nature.
It was not heat gathered by filtering the energy of nature, but heat drawn from the body itself.
This heat, which had stealthily entered another’s body, was clearly internal energy.
Yet it permeated like natural body heat and was destroying the body as if it had always been there.
In the distant past, there were people who could burn or freeze others with just their innate true energy. True energy imbued with heat and cold. The descendants of the Solar Palace and Ice Palace, said to be born with extreme yang and yin energy.
Their Fire Art and Ice Art were legendary divine arts passed down like myths, but they were also martial arts that no longer existed.
The Five Palaces of the Outer Regions, to which the Solar Palace and Ice Palace belonged, had long disappeared.
To learn such unique martial arts, one had to be born with a unique body. So even if they knew the secret formulas, martial artists of the Central Plains could not master them.
Without a body that could endure the heat and cold seeping into one's body temperature, even attempting to learn the arts would be life-threatening.
Now that the Palace Lords and their descendants had fallen, even if the martial arts still existed, there was no one who could wield them.
‘……Yes, there shouldn’t be.’
So-hwa lifted her head and met the branch leader's gaze.
For a moment, a suffocating silence fell.
Everyone had the same thought.
Could it be that the lineage of the Solar Palace still continued?
The Solar Palace was one of the Five Palaces of the Outer Regions that had disappeared long ago, but with the Blood Sect—once thought annihilated—now ravaging the Central Plains, it wasn't impossible to believe that descendants of the palace lord had survived.
Unlike the Blood Sect, the Five Palaces of the Outer Regions had no particular conflict with the Central Plains. More precisely, they were a distant external force with no cause for resentment or grievance.
However, the fact that such martial arts had been discovered in the Central Plains was another matter entirely.
A group possessing powerful martial arts. That a descendant of the Solar Palace or someone who had mastered that martial art was alive. And that this person had attacked a member of the Murim Alliance.
The worst-case assumption quickly formed.
Had the Blood Sect absorbed the Five Palaces of the Outer Regions?
Feeling the burning heat pouring from the patient, So-hwa lowered her gaze.
To be able to implant heat without burning the meridians. Just how high a level must one reach to wield such a delicate heat-based martial art?
So-hwa clenched and opened her bloodless hand.
The one positive fact was that now that the cause of Myungdan's condition had been identified, a treatment could be attempted.
Looking at the bewildered branch leader, So-hwa spoke in a calm voice.
“We need to draw out the heat that has seeped into his body.”
At those words, the physician from Shaanxi asked,
“Draw out the heat?”
So-hwa nodded.
Most true energy, unless it belongs to someone who has trained in the Ice Art, contains a certain degree of heat.
Martial artists who have just begun training sometimes injure their meridians and blood vessels while circulating their internal energy. When that happens, they experience pain as if their meridians and blood vessels are burning.
Occasionally, a kind master would directly channel their own true energy to alleviate their disciple’s pain, bringing the heat energy into their own body to purify it.
Of course, this was only possible for masters who had reached a high level in controlling their internal energy, and only those kind enough to care that deeply for their disciples.
So-hwa took out a wooden box she had kept inside her sleeve.
It was one of the medicinal herbs she had taken from Tang Min before leaving the Tang Clan.
Handing the herb to Muso, who stood behind her, So-hwa asked,
"May I ask for your help, Great Hero?"
Muso's gaze dropped to the wooden box.
Inside was a herb of unknown identity. It was so thoroughly dried that it was hard to guess its original form.
"What is this?"
"It's Extreme Ice Grass."
Her reply caused a stir in the room.
"Extreme Ice Grass? Are you talking about the Extreme Ice Grass that grows in the North Sea region?"
When the Shaanxi physician asked in surprise, So-hwa nodded.
Extreme Ice Grass is a plant that grows in extreme cold regions, imbued with cold energy. Among those who practice ice-based martial arts, it is considered an elixir and is traded as a precious herb even in the North Sea.
"Where in the world did you get this?"
Muso asked in shock.
"I can't say."
It had been Tang Min who obtained the Extreme Ice Grass.
Whether he had snatched it from someone's pocket—or, more conscientiously, extorted it face-to-face—was unclear. There was also a chance he had brazenly looted someone's archive, so it was difficult to reveal the source.
When she first entered the Poison Pavilion at the age of fourteen, Tang Min had asked her to make a poison that would let someone experience the pain of the Eleven Hells. Something not fatal, but torturous enough to bring someone to the brink of death.
She didn't know whom he had intended it for, but he had eagerly handed over rare medicinal herbs with eyes sparkling like a child's.
At the time, she hadn't known how to make it. After all, she had just entered the Nine Turns Pavilion, barely fourteen years old.
But terrible rumors surrounded the Poison Pavilion in the Tang Clan.
The place where the essence of the Tang Clan's geniuses was stored.
Most rumors about Nine Turns Pavilion were like this:
That it held the results of human experimentation that created the Eight Great Poisons; that one could create poisons far more vicious than even those eight; that it could even kill martial artists born with a body immune to all poisons.
Because it was a place few could access and security was strict, the exaggerations were endless.
As a child, So-hwa had been too proud to admit she didn't know and had brushed Tang Min off, telling him she might make it later if she felt like it. It wasn't until ten years later that she came up with a formula, received the ingredients from Tang Min, and made the poison he wanted.
She didn't know how he had used it in her past life. Or if he had even used it at all.
In any case, back then, Tang Min had five roots of Extreme Ice Grass, and the cold energy in them was so powerful that even a single leaf was enough to achieve the effect he desired.
But since Tang Min didn't know that, So-hwa had taken all five roots before she left.
In the past, no one had been able to lower the body heat of Wudang Sect’s head disciple, so So-hwa had planned to try extracting the heat through the meridians.
Just like the Heat-Cold Internal Energy Poison she had once made for Tang Min.
As she plucked a single leaf from the Extreme Ice Grass, So-hwa spoke.
"This should be enough to draw out the heat."
Muso, who had inadvertently received the Extreme Ice Grass, listened to So-hwa's explanation.
"The heat is concentrated near the Baihui point. You can pass over the other areas quickly, but near the head, please let the cold energy drift slowly."
"Young lady."
The divine physician called out to So-hwa in a calm voice.
"The patient has already taken many medicines to lower the fever. Recklessly introducing cold energy could be dangerous."
Hearing his advice, So-hwa shook her head.
"I'm not trying to lower his body temperature with cold energy."
She explained to Jin-cheol.
“I’m trying to create a flow of energy within Myungdan’s body using cold energy.”
It was the same principle as the Heat-Cold Internal Energy Poison she had given Tang Min.
"Cold energy and heat energy collide, affecting the movement of the surrounding air. This phenomenon, I understand, is called qi flow, isn't it?"
So-hwa moved her finger along Myungdan's meridians.
“If cold energy flows along the meridians, the heat that was nearby will follow, creating a qi flow.”
The heat that was destroying the organs and the cold energy flowing through the meridians would clash within the body.
The heat swept up in that flow would be drawn into the meridians, causing the pressure in the meridians to increase, and the cold energy would be rapidly pushed forward.
Following the receding cold energy, the heat would rush even faster, and this cycle would repeat until the qi flow stabilized.
Because heat and cold energy alternately battered the meridians and blood vessels, the poisoned victim would feel immense pain. Nevertheless, the qi flow would become increasingly violent, and the blood vessels, unable to withstand it, would be destroyed.
So-hwa closed her mouth, recalling that slow and painful poisoning process.
... It seems that in this life, she really must find out who Tang Min intended to use it on.
At that moment, Muso asked,
"If I infuse cold energy into Myungdan's meridians, are you saying the heat that has seeped into his organs will be drawn into the meridians?"
She nodded.
"Yes. That is correct."
Since even the heat from the damaged organs, harmed by poison, had been drawn in, this heat that mimicked body temperature would also be absorbed into the meridians.
Muso fell silent, seemingly unable to understand.
So-hwa understood his reaction.
Unlike blood vessels through which blood flows, the meridians, where internal energy circulates, were invisible pathways. Yet they had a close, powerful effect on the body.
Some martial artists’ internal energy, after circulating through the meridians, would move to the bones and organs, repairing them as good as new within a day.
The Tang Clan's Medical Hall had once pondered whether body heat or medicinal herbs could affect the meridians, and though it had not been perfectly proven, experiments revealed that both body heat and medicinal substances did indeed influence the meridians. One such result was the Heat-Cold Internal Energy Poison.
Muso, who had remained silent, spoke again.
"But how can you be so sure that the heat spread through Myungdan's organs is a trace of internal energy?"
Unable to confess that she could sense internal energy, So-hwa told a fitting lie.
"I'm not certain. I'm only making a conjecture."
At her words, Muso furrowed his brow.
"A conjecture? And with that, how do you expect me to trust you and go along with such a dangerous method?"
Muso raised his voice, and it put her in a difficult spot.
She couldn't say she had studied the corpse examination report of someone who had died with the same symptoms in a past life, nor could she say she had once created a poison that burst a martial artist's meridians and blood vessels using qi flow formed from body heat and yin energy.
After a moment of consideration, So-hwa opened her mouth again.
"The Tang Clan's Medical Hall is probably larger than any other sect affiliated with the Murim Alliance."
Muso let out a disbelieving laugh.
"So you're saying that someone trained in the Tang Clan's Medical Hall knows a treatment method even the divine physician doesn't?"
He meant, how could she know something even the descendant of the Yeonju Group didn't know.
But despite the mockery, So-hwa's expression remained unchanged. Her cold, emotionless face calmly gave an answer.
"The reason the Tang Clan's Medical Hall is so large isn't because it has many physicians, but because it stores countless medical archives."
Boldly, the eldest daughter of the Tang Clan continued, proudly speaking of her clan's Medical Hall.
“If you ask how I was able to tell it was due to Heat Art just from the patient’s symptoms, I have no way to answer. If I had to choose between the life of an outsider and the rules of the Tang Clan, I would, of course, choose the latter. So, the decision must be yours, Elder Muso."
She handed a leaf to the silent Muso and asked,
"But really, would anyone offer up a precious Extreme Ice Grass for something they weren't confident in?"
In truth, Muso had no choice now.
Wasn't it better to try something—anything?
Muso looked at the dried leaf in So-hwa's hand and finally opened his mouth.