Wi Jicheon thought back to his past life.
He had called it vengeance, but too much blood had been spilled.
Even if that life was behind him — even if time itself had been rewound — the sins he carried would not disappear.
Could a man like him now pretend to be righteous?
No.
Heaven would never permit it.
'Then I'll become an Asura who protects them all. I'll be the demon who brings happiness to my family.'
With that vow—
Fwoosh!
Wi Jicheon's gaze deepened, his aura thickening like the sea before a storm.
In an instant, he had ascended to the pinnacle realm.
He immediately began circulating his internal energy.
Even physicians practiced minor forms of Qi cultivation to perform medical arts, so Wi Jicheon's body contained a small reserve of internal strength.
It was meager compared to true martial artists, but it would suffice.
The Blood Immortal Demonic Art.
He had once obtained a demonic manual called Blood-Breaking True Art during his darkest days — and by merging it with the Heavenly Immortal Divine Art, he had created this unparalleled technique.
The original Blood-Breaking True Art was nothing more than a standard high-level demonic art.
But fused with the Heavenly Immortal Divine Art, it had become a world-shattering power, rivaling the Ten Great Demonic Arts of the age.
Gwooom—
His internal energy surged, guided by the Blood Immortal Demonic Art through his meridians.
'Hm? Its nature feels… different from before.'
The Blood Immortal Demonic Art had originally inherited the destructive nature of the Blood-Breaking True Art.
But now, after he had resolved to protect rather than destroy, the energy within him felt subtly changed.
'This isn't the nature of Destruction (破) anymore. It's the nature of Dominion (覇).'
Killing and breaking alone would never achieve his goal.
If he wanted to protect everyone he loved, there was only one way—
He had to become so overwhelmingly powerful that no one would ever dare to threaten them.
He had to become a conqueror.
At that moment—
Crack. Crackle.
The Blood Immortal Demonic Art began forcing open his blocked meridians.
'The power has grown stronger since it took on the nature of Dominion.'
The energy flowed through his body far more smoothly than before.
Time passed.
Beads of dark sweat began seeping from his pores.
Pop. Pop.
His joints cracked, bones shifting into alignment as if rediscovering their proper places.
Old skin peeled away like a serpent shedding its husk.
"!!"
Wi Jicheon's eyes snapped open.
He had achieved Rebirth and Bone Renewal.
'I didn't expect to reach that stage so soon.'
A smile tugged at his lips. The faster he grew stronger, the better.
'By current standards… this should be roughly the pinnacle level.'
Feeling light enough to float, he stood—
And froze.
"Wait… how am I supposed to clean this up?"
His impurities had been expelled, leaving his clothes and surroundings filthy.
He could wash himself quietly in the bathhouse, but the robe—
'Ugh, of all things, I had to be wearing my apprentice's robe. I can't just burn it. If I'd known this would happen, I would've changed first.'
He sighed. Washing it was the only option.
Thankfully, it was late; everyone should be asleep.
He hurried to the bathhouse, cleaned himself, and began scrubbing his robe.
'Damn it, why won't this come out? And why did the robe have to be white?'
He was once the Fiend Demon, one of the Three Calamities, a man who had stood half a step from transcendence itself—
And yet here he was, wrestling with a washboard for over an hour.
He had just finished scrubbing the top when—
"Huh? Who's using the bathhouse at this hour? What's that smell? Like… rotten excrement?"
'What?'
Bang!
The door swung open.
Wi Jicheon's eyes met those of his elder brother, Wi Jigang.
"..."
Wi Jigang's gaze slowly swept up and down his brother—then stopped at the washboard.
At the pair of trousers lying across it.
Specifically, at the rear of the trousers—
Where some… residue still remained.
"You… don't tell me…"
"It's not what it looks like! Brother, please, just listen—"
But what could he possibly say?
He couldn't very well admit that he'd undergone bone renewal using a forbidden demonic art.
And so, after a brief moment of stunned silence—
Wi Jigang erupted.
"You… you actually shat yourself?!"
As the saying went, walls have ears.
By morning, the story of Wi Jicheon's "incident" had spread throughout the Divine Healer Clan.
Eventually, Wi Jigang came to apologize.
"I'm sorry. People make mistakes. As your brother, I should have shielded you instead of shouting."
"…I didn't soil myself."
"Of course, of course. You're right."
When Wi Jigang nodded with a patronizing look, a vein pulsed in Wi Jicheon's forehead.
"Yes, Kang, yesterday you were too harsh. Bowel mishaps are natural for any human being."
"…I said I didn't soil myself, Father."
"Yes, yes, Cheon, you're absolutely right."
"Pfft!"
Wi Jicheon tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling.
The scourge of the martial world… now branded the Poop Demon.
The Fiend Demon, reduced to the Poop Demon.
'Still… maybe this is happiness too?'
He had longed for these warm, ridiculous moments with his family.
So yes — it was happiness.
A miserable, humiliating happiness.
'But still… "Poop Demon"? Really?'
He sighed deeply.
If this was how things stood, he might as well use the situation to his advantage.
"Brother, you owe me for last night."
"Yes, yes, I know. I'm sorry."
"Then grant me permission to enter the Pill Pavilion."
"!!"
Everyone froze.
"The Pill Pavilion? Why?"
'To replenish my inner energy, of course.'
The fastest way to rebuild his strength was through elixirs.
Of course, he couldn't simply take the clan's medicinal stock — those were meant for patients, not cultivation.
'Then I'll make my own.'
He remembered a formula — not a powerful elixir, but a modest tonic that could accumulate several years' worth of energy.
It would be enough for now.
"There's a section on prescriptions I don't fully understand. I'd like to practice compounding medicine myself."
"Hmm. Truly?"
"Yes, and besides… after last night's rumors, it might be good to show the disciples that I'm serious about studying."
"…Very well."
Normally, Wi Jigang would have argued, but guilt silenced him.
"However, the Pill Pavilion isn't under my supervision. It's Sang-ah's."
His eccentric sister, Wi Jisang-ah, was the pavilion's overseer — and she rarely let anyone inside.
Wi Jicheon's eyes narrowed.
"I heard her laughing behind the door last night."
"..."
And so, he was granted access to the Pill Pavilion.
After Wi Jicheon left with his sister—
"..."
"..."
Wi Jiseon and Wi Jigang sat in silence for a moment, gazing at the space their youngest had left behind.
"It's the first time, isn't it?" Wi Jiseon murmured. "The first time he's asked to study on his own. I'd always thought of him as our useless child."
Wi Jicheon had been the family's fragile one — the youngest, born late, and raised without a mother.
Out of pity, Wi Jiseon had always indulged him.
As long as he stayed healthy, that was enough.
So what if he wasn't talented? He was gentle and kind.
Yet now… he was changing.
Even if it was only a small request to study medicine, a parent could not help but feel moved.
"Do you really believe him, Father? It won't last a week."
"You say that, yet you were worried sick when you heard his lamp burning late into the night."
"I— I never said—!"
"Then why were you walking by the bathhouse so late? You were checking on him, weren't you?"
"Ugh."
Wi Jiseon was right.
Wi Jigang hadn't passed by coincidence — he'd gone to look in on his little brother.
He huffed stubbornly.
"Still, I don't trust it. He'll relapse soon enough."
"Maybe. But what does it matter?"
"…Father?"
"He's my son, your brother. Isn't it enough that he's trying, even a little?"
"Father, it's because you always spoil him that he turned out like this."
"And you — scolding the disciples yesterday for gossiping about him? That wasn't spoiling him?"
"..."
Wi Jiseon smiled faintly.
"Come. The patients are waiting. It's a fine day."
Wi Jigang glanced outside.
Yesterday had been gloomy and gray — but today, the sky was clear and bright.
As though the heavens themselves were promising that the future of the Divine Healer Clan would shine just as brightly.
Meanwhile, at the Pill Pavilion, Wi Jicheon faced an unexpected obstacle.
He wasn't allowed to make medicine.
"What do you mean I can't compound it myself?"
"You? No. Stay here, next to me. Don't wander."
He was forbidden from touching anything.
'Right… of course. They'd never let an untested apprentice handle real medicine.'
The pavilion was filled with physician apprentices who merely observed as the formal healers prepared concoctions.
Even as the patriarch's son, he couldn't throw his weight around.
If anything, the other apprentices were watching him even more closely — afraid the "useless" Wi Jicheon might cause trouble.
'This is bad. I need to make an elixir soon, or I can't advance to the next stage.'
Then, his sister's voice cut through his thoughts.
"Cheon, watch carefully. This is how you prepare a tonic."
She seemed uncharacteristically cheerful — no doubt pleased to show off her skills in front of her brother.
Wi Jicheon watched as she began mixing the ingredients slowly, explaining as she went.
But something felt… off.
'Wait. Why is she preparing it like that?'
He wasn't well-versed in medicine.
The elixir recipes he knew were crude formulas he'd picked up by chance while wandering the martial world.
But his understanding of Yin and Yang, of Qi and essence, was deeper than that of any physician alive.
After all, both medicine and martial arts dealt with the same truth —
the relationship between the human body and the great universe.
And by that logic… her method made no sense.
'Let's keep watching. She's called a genius for a reason — maybe there's something I don't know.'