The Miraculous Divorce Technique

Chapter 11

"Ugh..."

The patient, who was constantly groaning, was wrapped in bandages all over his body.

The physician from the Imperial Medical Office, after placing the last needle, stood up and said.

"He will need to recuperate for at least a year. Even if the bones heal, whether he can live a normal life depends on rehabilitation. I can't believe these are injuries from a spar."

As Ju Nokjeong nodded, the physician went outside to prepare a decoction.

"I'm... I'm sorry, Princess... Ugh..."

Wi Chung was in such a critical condition that he couldn't even get up and speak.

But he was struggling to get up in front of the princess.

"Stop your bullshit and lie down."

At Ju Nokjeong's cold words, Wi Chung swallowed his groan and relaxed his body.

"Wi Chung. You've faced him, so you must know for sure, right? Is he that monk named Muheo or not?"

"Considering the one palm he showed at the end, he can't possibly be a young martial monk. In my humble opinion, no one but the Drunken Buddha, Grand Master Muheo, could show such martial prowess."

Above all, such an immense level of internal energy.

If the bastard was the culprit and a young martial monk, it would only be possible if he had eaten elixirs like rice since birth.

"Then are you saying that old man isn't him?"

"A-at this point..."

Wi Chung answered in a voice as small as a crawling ant.

He felt his connection being cut off in Ju Nokjeong's gaze.

'I guess the flying fish robe is out of the question in this life. No, my position as Cheonho might even be in danger... Phew... Should I go back to my hometown and open a chicken soup restaurant...'

Wi Chung instinctively felt that a dark cloud had cast a shadow over his future.

Ju Nokjeong, at Wi Chung's appearance, gritted her teeth and asked again.

"How effective is that Thousand Li Tracking Incense? If that old man named Muheo held the hand of that bastard who had the Thousand Li Tracking Incense on him, couldn't the scent have been transferred?"

Ju Nokjeong was asking if Grand Master Muheo might be hiding the existence of his disciple and trying to cover up the incident.

"It can be transferred secondarily, but the part where the Thousand Li Tracking Incense is on the bastard is his palm. No matter how much they are master and disciple, would they have held hands?"

It was common for men not to hold another man's hand, even their father's, once they reached the age of about fifteen.

Unless they were a pervert who was into homosexuality.

"Couldn't it have happened while giving martial arts guidance or sparring?"

"The guards moved shortly after the bastard caused that trouble. They wouldn't have had time for that..."

Wi Chung answered cautiously.

Ju Nokjeong smiled bitterly and opened her mouth.

"Let's do this. Suddenly, their master-disciple relationship became so affectionate that they held hands, and the Thousand Li Tracking Incense was transferred. Unless we saw a ghost, we have no choice but to assume that and dig into it."

Ju Nokjeong summed up the situation and gave an order with a frosty aura.

"Wang Wook, Jin Mubaek. Dig into Muheo's background and secure the culprit's person. You must bring him before me by any means necessary. Until then, you are forbidden to return to the imperial palace. I will provide whatever support you need."

CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.

Wang Wook and Jin Mubaek, who were prostrated with their heads bowed, answered in unison.

"Yes! We receive the command."

* * *

Medicine King Hall.

It is the medical facility of Shaolin Temple, an institution that treats patients and researches medicinal herbs.

This place, along with the Abbot's Hall and the Scripture Pavilion, was one of the three most heavily guarded institutions in Shaolin.

This was because the Great Recovery Pill, one of the most famous elixirs in the world, its manufacturing method, and various other elixirs were stored there.

SWOOSH.

Cheok Sagyeol's eyes shone as he watched the Medicine King Hall from the dark bushes.

'As expected, the Eighteen Arhats are on guard, just like the Abbot's Hall.'

They were not openly visible.

But he could tell that there were Eighteen Arhats in a hidden state.

THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.

In Cheok Sagyeol's enhanced hearing, their heartbeats sounded like thunder.

'There's no opening to squeeze through from the front.'

He watched for a long time, but as expected, he could not find any carelessness in the Arhats.

Cheok Sagyeol moved like a slippery snake and moved to a building about ten zhang away from the Medicine King Hall. And in the foundation stone there, there were several holes about the size of a fist.

'Is it possible... I hope I don't get stuck in the middle.'

Those holes were a kind of ventilation shaft that led to the underground secret repository of the Medicine King Hall.

They served to regulate the temperature and humidity for the elixirs.

Cheok Sagyeol was planning to use that place.

WIGGLE. WIGGLE.

With the Indian Yoga Divine Art, he not only made his muscles flexible but also his bones. No, beyond being flexible, they were stretching like taffy.

After his arm went in, his shoulder went in, and his head went in, and he moved through the ventilation shaft like a snake.

It was a bizarre sight that would have caused a commotion, with people shouting 'sorcery' or 'monster,' if anyone had seen it.

WIGGLE. WIGGLE.

'Success. Hehe.'

As he landed on the floor through the ventilation shaft on the other side, small drawers were packed tightly on all sides.

Since not only elixirs but also general herbal medicines were stored, the amount was too vast.

There were so many that he would have to stay up all night to check them one by one.

'Did these bastards only collect medicine for a thousand years? Why are there so many? The Demonic Cult's Demonic Medicine Hall is just a drop in the bucket.'

Cheok Sagyeol opened a few drawers and rummaged through them, but it seemed hopeless to find the Great Recovery Pill.

The problem was that he had other places to visit besides the Medicine King Hall, so he couldn't waste time only here.

Cheok Sagyeol thought that he would have to give up on the manufacturing method of the Great Recovery Pill.

'Let's focus on the elixirs.'

Cheok Sagyeol decided to steal only the elixirs through selection and concentration.

Then, the Indian Yoga Divine Art was activated again, and his sense of smell began to be tremendously enhanced.

SNIFF. SNIFF.

The refreshing and pungent scent of the elixirs.

Cheok Sagyeol's sense of smell caught them, and he was opening the drawers without hesitation.

'Ooh. Thousand-year-old He Shou Wu.'

There were as many as five roots of something that was hard to buy even with money.

In the drawer next to it, there were about a hundred roots of hundred-year-old He Shou Wu, but after seeing the thousand-year-old He Shou Wu, he didn't even glance at them.

Since the amount he could take was limited, this also required selection and concentration.

'Gasp. This is a human-shaped snow ginseng!'

It was a precious item also called a thousand-year-old snow ginseng because it was said to take on a human form after aging for a thousand years.

There were three roots of this, which was said to increase one's internal energy by twenty years per root.

'Oh my god. Ten-thousand-year-old ginseng king.'

His heart pounded and his breath quickened.

The ten-thousand-year-old ginseng king was a treasure of the ages, called the ginseng of ginsengs, the elixir of elixirs.

The internal energy that could be obtained from this was a whopping one cycle.

It was the internal energy that an ordinary person would have to obtain by breathing and operating their cultivation method for sixty years, that is, their entire life.

'Gasp. Gasp. Azure Jade Marrow.'

What need was there for an explanation?

If the ten-thousand-year-old ginseng king was the king of elixirs with fire properties, this was the king of elixirs representing water properties.

'Ah... I think my lifespan is going to shorten.'

It was the first time he had experienced his chest tightening with joy.

Cheok Sagyeol continued to take elixirs from dozens of drawers after that.

The funny thing was that there was not a single animal-based elixir like an inner core, only plant-based elixirs were full.

'Are they like that because they're monks?'

In the midst of that, the target of his visit to the Medicine King Hall finally appeared.

'Here it is, the Great Recovery Pill. And the Small Recovery Pill.'

Was it because he had already gotten all his excitement out? He wasn't as happy as he had expected.

As expected, it is twice as joyful when you encounter it without any expectation.

Unfortunately, there was only one Great Recovery Pill left, and although it was inferior, there were about a hundred Small Recovery Pills.

Cheok Sagyeol gathered the elixirs he had found in one place.

Now it was time to take them out.

'Looking at it like this, it's still too much...'

Even with selection and concentration, it was enough to fill a sack.

It was impossible to get out through the small ventilation shaft.

RUSH.

Cheok Sagyeol hurriedly rummaged through the drawers.

He was looking for something that should naturally be in a medical facility.

'There it is!'

What he took out from the drawer was a ball of thread. To be precise, it was suture thread. It was the thread used to suture wounds.

'Huh? This is...'

Next to the suture thread, there was an object that was not easy to see.

'It's definitely heavenly silkworm thread!'

It was a treasure whose strength could not be cut even with sword qi, and if clothes were made with it, it would become a treasure robe that was impervious to water and fire.

'Come to think of it, I heard that heavenly silkworm thread is also used as suture thread.'

He had heard it from the head of the Demonic Medicine Hall.

With general suture thread, the stitches had to be removed after the wound had healed to some extent. But because of that, if one had an internal injury, general suture thread could not be used as it was unless it was specially treated.

But heavenly silkworm thread was different.

Even if it was used for internal sutures, it would dissolve and be absorbed by the body over time, so it could be used conveniently in an emergency.

'Let's take this too.'

After taking the ball of heavenly silkworm thread, Cheok Sagyeol began to untie the general suture thread and tie the elixirs one by one.

Although it was a large amount when viewed individually, it did not take as long as he thought.

When the work was finished, Cheok Sagyeol grabbed the end of the suture thread and began to exit the ventilation shaft.

WIGGLE. WIGGLE.

As he came out of the ventilation shaft, he pulled the thread he was holding and grinned.

'Is it because it's elixir fishing? The feel is amazing.'

The elixirs were coming out in a line through the ventilation shaft.

When all the elixirs had been pulled out, Cheok Sagyeol swept them into a sack, immediately took them to his residence, and then moved busily.

'Now, it's time for the last treasure hunt.'

His figure shot quickly in the direction of the Abbot's Hall.

Unlike during the day, only six of the Eighteen Arhats, one-third of them, remained in the Abbot's Hall.

The rest of the Arhats had clearly gone to guard Grand Master Musan, who had gone to bed.

'Six is a piece of cake.'

Basically, the Abbot's Hall was a place for official business, so the mission of the Eighteen Arhats stationed here was to guard the Abbot. Therefore, at night, the guard was concentrated at Grand Master Musan's residence.

Although he did not use a concealment technique imbued with internal energy, Cheok Sagyeol was an absolute master.

The senses of the six Arhat monks could not catch him, who had suppressed his breathing and presence with the Indian Yoga Divine Art.

After infiltrating the Abbot's Hall, Cheok Sagyeol moved straight to the Abbot's office.

'I saw it somewhere here...'

He had carefully observed the Abbot's office while going in and out, and he had found that there was a hidden closet in the wall.

It was so hard to notice that he wouldn't have if he hadn't enhanced his inner vision and magnified it dozens of times.

'Hehehe, there's always a secret safe in the office of the head of any place.'

CLICK.

When he opened the closet, there was a black safe with a lock inside.

'Huh... it's made of a solid piece of black iron.'

It was black iron, the hardest metal except for the sky iron that was said to be sent from the heavens.

'If it's black iron, I have no choice but to use internal energy... Ugh... just thinking about it makes me want to throw up.'

The image of the Buddha that had appeared on his lower abdomen had faded, but it seemed he could circulate his qi one more time.

CRUNCH. CRACK.

As the extreme external arts of the Indian Yoga Divine Art and the immense internal energy of the Bodhi Lotus Art were unleashed, the black iron lock was easily crushed and shattered.

Cheok Sagyeol gagged, but since he had only used a little internal energy for a short moment, he did not reach the point of vomiting.

However, it seemed that he would need time to use his internal energy for a while.

'Is this the Green Jade Buddha Staff?'

Inside the closet, there was a green stone staff that boasted a noble appearance.

A stone staff is a monk's staff, also called a stone staff or a earth staff. Therefore, the symbol of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva was this staff.

The Green Jade Buddha Staff was the command token of Shaolin.

In other words, just by having this, one could issue commands equivalent to the Shaolin Abbot.

'How much money do these monks have to make a staff out of jade? Damn it, you bald monks.'

Cheok Sagyeol clicked his tongue and then wrapped the Green Jade Buddha Staff in the cloth he had prepared.

It was because the faint jade light emanating from the Green Jade Buddha Staff would interfere with his escape.

As soon as Cheok Sagyeol got out, he ran as if his tail was on fire.

'Let's hurry before I get caught.'

After slinging the bundle of secret manual manuscripts and the sack of elixirs from his residence, Cheok Sagyeol flew like a bird under the moonlight.

As he left the mountain gate and climbed the opposite ridge, a loud shout echoed from afar. It was a voice that Cheok Sagyeol was also familiar with.

"Martial Brotheeeeeeer!"

'Huh? How did he find out so soon? Was there some kind of alarm system?'

In any case, the protagonist of the lion's roar that was tearing apart as if vomiting blood was Grand Master Musan.

If he found out that he had even stolen the elixirs from the Medicine King Hall, he might really vomit blood.

"You're having a hard time. But what can you do? It's the crime of having a worthless martial brother. Hehe.'

It was then, as Cheok Sagyeol was grinning and looking down at Shaolin Temple.

'What are those guys?'

Although they could not be identified accurately because it was dark, the figures of two people were approaching in a straight line from afar as if they knew where he was.

(End of Chapter)