The sun was setting, casting long, blood-red shadows across the white stone paths of the Inner Sect.
Jin Ryeong followed the Enforcement Disciple up the winding mountain stairs. With every step, the air grew colder and thinner. The noisy, chaotic energy of the Outer Sect faded below them, replaced by a suffocating silence.
Here, disciples didn't shout. They whispered. They didn't brawl in the streets. They duelled in secluded courtyards behind high walls.
They arrived at the Hall of Hundred Herbs. Up close, it was even more imposing than it had looked from the servant quarters. It was a fortress of dark wood and grey stone, smelling of sulfur and ancient dust. Smoke poured from the chimneys, carrying the metallic tang of mercury.
"This is as far as I go," the Enforcement Disciple said, stopping at the main gate. He looked at Jin Ryeong with a mix of pity and disgust. "You are now property of the Medicine Hall. Do not speak unless spoken to. Do not look the Inner Disciples in the eye. And for the love of the gods, do not touch anything glowing green."
The disciple turned and left, eager to be away from the smell.
Jin Ryeong stood alone at the gate. He tightened his sash, feeling the comforting weight of the Bone-Rotting Powder and the Ape Heart.
'I am not property,' Jin Ryeong thought, pushing the heavy timber doors open. 'I am an invasive species.'
The interior of the Hall was a hive of activity.
Apprentices in grey robes rushed back and forth carrying trays of steaming herbs, buckets of blood, and crates of writhing insects. They moved with the frantic energy of people who were terrified of being too slow.
"You. The new meat."
A voice sliced through the noise.
Jin Ryeong turned. Standing on a raised wooden walkway was a man in the pale grey robes of a Senior Assistant. He was tall, gaunt, and had the pale, waxy skin of someone who hadn't seen the sun in years. His eyes were sunken, rimmed with dark circles that looked like bruises.
"I am Han," the man said, descending the stairs. He didn't bow. He circled Jin Ryeong, sniffing the air. "You smell like the Outer Sect. You smell like dirt and cheap grain."
"I am Jin Ryeong. Elder Baek assigned me—"
"I know who you are," Han cut him off, his voice dripping with venom. "The 'Veterinarian'. The rat who amused the Elder for five minutes."
Han stopped in front of Jin Ryeong, invading his personal space.
"Listen to me, rat. Elder Baek has moods. One day he likes a new toy. The next day, he dissects it to see how it works. I have survived here for three years because I am useful and invisible. You are neither."
Han shoved a heavy wooden crate into Jin Ryeong's arms. It was surprisingly heavy, and something inside scratched against the wood.
"Your quarters are in the basement, next to the furnace. Drop your things, then report to the Processing Room. You have the night shift."
"What is the task, Senior Brother?" Jin Ryeong asked, adjusting his grip on the crate.
"Sorting," Han smiled. It wasn't a nice smile. It was the smile of a man passing his suffering onto someone else. "We received a shipment of Corpse-Eating Beetles. They need to be de-shelled before dawn. If you crush them, they release a neurotoxin. If you are too slow, they bite. Good luck."
Han turned and walked away, his grey robes fluttering like a moth's wings.
"Oh, and Jin Ryeong?" Han called back without looking. "Don't steal. The walls have eyes. And the Elder counts every beetle."
The "quarters" was a generous term. It was a converted coal storage closet.
It was hot, loud, and vibrated constantly from the massive alchemy furnace roaring on the other side of the wall. There was a straw mat, a bucket for water, and a single oil lamp.
It was heaven.
For the first time in his life, Jin Ryeong had a door that locked. He was alone.
He set the crate of beetles down and sat on the mat. The heat from the furnace was oppressive, but to his Constitution (8), it was manageable.
He reached into his inventory.
[Item: Skill Book - Basic Breathing Technique (Grade F)]
He held the tattered manual. This was it. The barrier between a mortal and a cultivator. He opened the first page.
The text was simple, almost childish. It described a rhythm of inhaling for three counts, holding for two, and exhaling for four. It instructed the user to visualize "drawing the mist of the world" into the navel.
To a genius like Jian or Yeo, this manual was toilet paper. To Jin Ryeong, it was the key to the universe.
[System Notification] [Would you like to learn 'Basic Breathing Technique'?]
"Yes."
The manual dissolved into particles of light and shot into his forehead.
[Skill Learned: Basic Breathing Technique (Lvl 1)]
Passive Effect: Qi Recovery +1 per hour while resting.
Active Effect: Increases Qi Absorption from items/pills by 5%.
Current Qi: 2/2.
Jin Ryeong closed his eyes and tried it. Inhale... Hold... Exhale.
He felt... almost nothing. A tiny, pathetic trickle of warmth entering his nose. It was like trying to fill a swimming pool with a dropper.
'Slow,' Jin Ryeong opened his eyes. 'Too slow. At this rate, it will take me ten years to reach Qi Condensation.'
But he wasn't a normal cultivator. He was a scavenger. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a chunk of Pill Slag he had stolen from the Disposal Wing.
[Item: Failed Blood-Clotting Pill Residue (Toxic)]
He popped the charcoal-like lump into his mouth and chewed. The toxins hit his tongue. The System flared a warning.
'Combine them,' Jin Ryeong thought. 'Use the breathing technique to filter the slag.'
He engaged the breathing rhythm. Inhale. The heat from the slag exploded in his stomach. Usually, this energy would run wild, damaging his organs (Meridian Silt). But now, the breathing technique acted as a crude funnel.
[System Synergy] [Breathing Technique (Active) + Toxic Slag Ingestion] [Filtering Impurities... 20% Success.] [Qi Absorbed: +4] [Constitution Damage: Negligible.]
Jin Ryeong exhaled a puff of black smoke. The impurities. He checked his stats.
[Qi: 6/2 (Overcharged)]
He grinned, his teeth stained black with soot. The Grade F manual was trash on its own. The Pill Slag was poison on its own. But together? They were a Cultivation Method.
"I am an engine," Jin Ryeong whispered. "I burn garbage, and I produce power."
The Processing Room was a nightmare of chitin and clicking sounds.
Rows of long tables were covered in metal trays. The crate Han had given him contained roughly five hundred Corpse-Eating Beetles. They were the size of a fist, black as obsidian, with mandibles strong enough to snap a finger.
Jin Ryeong stood at his station. He was supposed to use a small metal pick to pry off the carapace without damaging the venom sac inside.
He picked up the first beetle. It hissed and thrashed, trying to bite his thumb.
Snap. Jin Ryeong barely pulled his hand back in time. The mandibles clicked on empty air.
"This will take all night," Jin Ryeong muttered. "And if I get bitten, I lose a finger."
He looked around. The room was empty. Han was asleep in the upper quarters. The other assistants were in their own hells.
Jin Ryeong's eyes glowed with the [Diagnosis Eye].
[Target: Corpse-Eating Beetle] [Weak Point: Ganglion Cluster (Base of the skull)] [Status: Aggressive]
He couldn't use [Anesthetic Touch] on every single beetle. It cost 1 Qi per minute. Even with his Overcharged Qi (6 points), he would run out in six minutes. He had hours of work.
He needed a better way.
He looked at the beetle's biology again. 'They eat corpses. They are attracted to necrotic Qi.'
He remembered the Bone-Rotting Powder in his sash. It was a necrotic poison. But he also remembered the Pill Slag. It was full of "Toxic Ash."
Jin Ryeong took a piece of Pill Slag and crushed it into fine dust. He sprinkled the dust onto the metal tray.
The beetle stopped thrashing. Its antennae twitched. It smelled the toxins. To the beetle, the toxic slag smelled like a delicious, rotting meal. It scurried toward the dust and began to eat. As it ate, it became lethargic. The toxins in the slag were too heavy even for a Corpse Beetle. It entered a food coma.
Jin Ryeong smiled. He sprinkled the dust over the entire crate. Within five minutes, the deafening clicking sound died down. Five hundred beetles stopped moving, gorging themselves on the trash Jin Ryeong carried in his pocket.
Now, they were still. Jin Ryeong picked up the pick. Pop. Pop. Pop.
He moved with the speed of Agility: 9. De-shelling a sleeping beetle was easy. He popped the carapace, extracted the venom sac, and tossed the meat into the "Processed" bin.
He worked in a rhythm. Dust. Eat. Sleep. Pop.
By 3:00 AM, he was done. The crate was empty. The "Processed" bin was full of high-quality beetle meat and venom sacs. Not a single one was crushed. Not a single drop of neurotoxin wasted.
But Jin Ryeong wasn't finished. He looked at the pile of discarded Carapaces (shells). Han had said to de-shell them. He didn't say what to do with the shells. Usually, they were ground up for fertilizer.
Jin Ryeong picked up a shell. It was hard. incredibly hard. [Item: Beetle Carapace] [Properties: Magic Resistance (Low), Physical Hardness (Medium)]
He thought of Ma Goo. The brute had bone-armor now, but his skin was still soft. He thought of himself. He had no armor at all.
Jin Ryeong took a handful of the best, largest shells and slipped them into his sash. Then, he noticed something else. At the bottom of the crate, burying itself under the sawdust, was a beetle that hadn't eaten the slag.
It was larger than the others. Its shell had a faint golden sheen.
[Target: Corpse-Eating Beetle Queen (Larva)] [Status: Dormant] [Potential: High. If fed high-grade poisons, it can evolve into a Golden Scarab.]
Jin Ryeong froze. Han hadn't noticed. To Han, it was just another bug. But the Diagnosis Eye saw the genetic potential.
Jin Ryeong looked at the "Processed" bin. He took a piece of high-quality beetle meat, wrapped it around the Queen Larva, and put the entire package into his pocket.
"You are coming with me," Jin Ryeong whispered. "I have plenty of trash to feed you."
Dawn broke.
Han walked into the Processing Room, yawning, expecting to find a disaster. He expected to see Jin Ryeong swollen from bites, crying over a half-finished crate.
Instead, he found Jin Ryeong sitting calmly on a stool, reading the breathing manual. The crate was empty. The bins were perfectly sorted.
Han blinked. He walked over and inspected the venom sacs. They were pristine. "You... you finished?" Han asked, suspicion clouding his face. "Did you crush them? If the yield is low, Elder Baek will skin you."
"Zero waste, Senior Brother," Jin Ryeong said, standing up and bowing. "I found a rhythm."
Han narrowed his eyes. He looked at Jin Ryeong's hands. No bites. No swelling. 'Impossible. Even I get bitten once or twice.'
"You got lucky," Han spat, snatching the inventory list. "Don't get cocky. This was the easy job. Tonight, you clean the Leech Tanks."
Han stomped away, confused and irritated.
Jin Ryeong watched him go. He patted his sash, feeling the hard shells and the sleeping Queen Larva.
He had survived the first night. He had cultivated using poison. He had stolen resources right under their noses.
The Hall of Hundred Herbs wasn't a prison. It was an all-you-can-eat buffet.