Seven days.
In the outside world, the sun rose and set over the Blue Dragon Sect. Disciples practiced their sword forms, ate their meals, and worried about the upcoming tournament. In the Underground Lab, time was measured only by the dripping of fluids into stone gutters.
Jin Ryeong stood over Subject 05. This one was a rogue cultivator Elder Baek had purchased from a border slaver. A man of few words and many scars, likely a bandit in his past life. Now, he was just raw material.
"Scalpel," Jin Ryeong commanded quietly.
He wasn't talking to the beetle. He was asking for the obsidian blade. Elder Baek, who was mixing a bubbling vat of green serum in the corner, didn't look up. "Cut deep, Assistant. The Iron-Back Wolf spine requires a complete lumbar replacement. If you nick the spinal cord, he becomes a vegetable."
Jin Ryeong gripped the blade. His hands were steady, surgical gloves slick with blood. His Diagnosis Eye overlaid the patient's back with a glowing blue grid.
Target: Lumbar Vertebrae L1-L5.
Objective: Remove human bone. Graft beast bone.
Material: Spinal column of a Tier-2 Iron-Back Wolf.
Risk: 88% Paralysis.
Jin Ryeong sliced. The skin parted like wet silk. He worked with the rhythm of a butcher who had become an artist. Slice. Clamp. Drill. Fuse.
He wasn't just following orders anymore. He was improvising. Baek's original design was crude—brute force grafting that relied on the subject's willpower to survive. Jin Ryeong's method was elegant. He wove the nerves together using the Qi Needle technique, minimizing the trauma and preventing the "Rejection Shock" that killed the weaker subjects.
"Heart rate stabilizing," Jin Ryeong announced, his voice flat. "Graft complete. Closing."
He picked up the silver needle and the gut-thread. But as he leaned in to stitch the neck, he paused.
Baek was busy.
The vat was hissing loudly, filling the room with acrid steam.
Subject 05 was unconscious, deep in a drug-induced coma.
Jin Ryeong's eyes narrowed. Now.
He didn't just stitch the skin. He gathered a tiny, condensed ball of his own Qi—infused with the necrotic essence of the Thousand Venom Hand. He compressed it until it was the size of a grain of rice. A Ghost Cyst.
He slipped the cyst deep into the flesh, right next to the C7 vertebrae—the intersection of the spinal cord and the brain.
Implant.
He sealed the wound over it. To any other doctor, it would look like a small knot of scar tissue, a natural byproduct of such invasive surgery. But to Jin Ryeong, it was a remote-controlled bomb. If he sent a specific pulse of Qi into that spot, the cyst would rupture, flooding the spinal cord with neurotoxin.
"Done," Jin Ryeong said, wiping blood from his gloves.
Subject 05 was wheeled away to the recovery cages, joining Subjects 02, 03, and 04. A growing army of monsters. Subject 02 had the legs of a Wind-Leopard. Subject 03 had the eyes of a Night-Stalker Owl. Subject 04 had skin grafted with Armadillo Scales.
And every single one of them had a bomb in their neck.
[System Notification]
[Proficiency Increased: Medicine (Intermediate) - 48%]
[Proficiency Increased: Ghost Cyst Formulation - 12%]
[Hidden Trait: 'The Puppet Master' is germinating.]
"Excellent," Baek walked over, inspecting the sutures. "Your stitching is getting better. Cleaner than mine."
Baek looked at the row of cages. The heavy breathing of five modified humans echoed in the cavernous space.
"Five successes in a week. The Sect Leader will be pleased.
We are ahead of schedule."
"And the failures?" Jin Ryeong asked, pointing to the covered cart in the far corner.
Baek shrugged, already turning back to his notes.
"Burn them. Or dump them in the acid pit. They are just meat that couldn't handle the blessing."
Baek rubbed his temples.
"I need to rest. The serum refinement is draining my mental energy.
Clean up the lab, Jin. And dispose of Subject 06.
He didn't survive the Tiger Heart transplant."
"Yes, Elder."
Baek gathered his robes and headed up the secret spiral staircase to his meditation chamber.
Jin Ryeong waited until the heavy stone door clicked shut. The silence of the tomb returned.
He walked to the covered cart and pulled back the sheet.
Subject 06. A young man, barely twenty. His chest had been cracked open, the ribcage expanded with metal spreaders to fit a heart that was too big for a human cavity. He had died of shock on the table an hour ago.
"Waste," Jin Ryeong whispered. "But not for me."
He reached into his pocket. "Scalpel. Dinner."
Bzzzzzt.
The Iron-Vein Scarab flew out. It was bigger now—the size of a grapefruit. Its black shell had developed faint, glowing red veins, mimicking the Magma Qi of the Ape Arm it had been snacking on earlier in the week.
The beetle landed on the corpse's chest. It didn't eat the flesh. It went for the modifications.
The Iron-Tiger Heart inside the corpse was a Tier-2 beast organ. It was hardened, metallic muscle, infused with aggressive metal-element Qi. To a human, it was deadly. To the beetle, it was a battery.
Scalpel's jaws revved up.
CRUNCH. TEAR.
The beetle burrowed into the open chest cavity. It ignored the soft tissue and clamped onto the metallic heart. The sound of grinding bone and tearing gristle filled the room.
[System Notification]
[Pet 'Scalpel' is feeding.]
[Consuming: Iron-Tiger Heart (Tier 2).]
[Attribute Gained: Explosive Torque.]
[Effect: Jaw bite force increased by 30%. Can now shear through Low-Grade Steel.]
Jin Ryeong watched coldly. This was the perfect crime. Baek thought Jin Ryeong was dissolving the bodies in acid.
In reality, he was feeding the best parts to his pet and dissolving the rest. He was recycling the Sect's expensive failures into his own personal weapon.
"Eat up," Jin Ryeong muttered, stroking the beetle's hard shell. "We need you strong. The walls of this place are getting thicker."
While the beetle feasted, Jin Ryeong walked around the lab, taking inventory.
He had stolen three scrolls of medical theory from Baek's shelf.
He had siphoned two vials of Paralysis Serum. And he had modified five Chimeras to be his sleeper agents.
He was no longer just surviving the Blue Dragon Sect. He was hollowing it out from the inside.
Knock. Knock.
Jin Ryeong froze. The sound didn't come from the secret stone door. It came from the Ventilation Shaft.
The lab was deep underground, but it needed air. A narrow, grate-covered shaft led up to the surface, emerging somewhere in the rocky cliffs behind the Medicine Hall.
It was too small for a human to crawl through, but sound carried.
Knock. Knock.
Someone was tapping on the grate from the outside. Rythmic. Urgent.
Jin Ryeong recalled Scalpel instantly. The beetle, slick with blood, vanished into his sleeve. He walked to the shaft and looked up. Through the slats of the grate, fifty feet up, he saw a slice of moonlight. And a face peering down.
"Assistant Jin?" A female voice echoed down the metal tube. "I know you're down there. I can smell the blood."
Jin Ryeong cursed internally. Mei. The Inner Disciple he had extorted for the manual.
"This is a restricted area," Jin Ryeong called up, his voice echoing.
"I don't care," Mei hissed. "Come up. To the woodshed. Now. Or I start screaming that Elder Baek is practicing demonic arts."
Jin Ryeong's hand went to his needle pouch. Threatening me? Again? She hadn't learned her lesson. Or perhaps desperation had made her stupid.
"I'm coming."
The Woodshed - Surface Level
Jin Ryeong emerged from the secret panel behind the herb rack, closing it silently. He walked out into the cool night air of the backyard.
Mei was waiting inside his shed. She looked better than last time. Her arm was fully healed, though she wore a long silk glove to hide the scars. She wore the azure robes of the Inner Sect, embroidered with silver thread—the mark of an Elite. But her face was pale, her eyes darting nervously toward the shadows.
"You took your time," she snapped, her voice trembling.
"I was working," Jin Ryeong said, leaning against the doorframe, blocking the exit. "What do you want, Senior Sister? Does your arm hurt again?"
"My arm is fine," Mei said, clutching her sword hilt. "It's my... team."
"Your team?"
"The Inner Sect Tournament starts in two weeks," Mei said, pacing the small room.
"I am the leader of Squad Azure. We are favorites to reach the semi-finals. We must reach the semi-finals."
"Congratulations," Jin Ryeong said dryly.
"Send me a ticket."
"Shut up!" Mei spun around.
"We were favorites. But yesterday, my vanguard... he collapsed."
Jin Ryeong raised an eyebrow. "Collapsed?"
"He was training. Suddenly, he started foaming at the mouth. His Qi went chaotic. The healers say it's 'Qi Deviation', but..." Mei looked at Jin Ryeong with fearful eyes.
"...it looks like poison. The skin on his hands is turning grey.
And it smells sweet. Like rotten flowers."
Jin Ryeong's expression didn't change, but internally, he smiled. Rotting Orchid Poison.
"And you think I did it?" he asked innocently.
"I think I did it!" Mei whispered frantically. "I practiced the Thousand Venom Hand for months before you took the manual.
The residue... it must have been on my clothes, or my sword. I sparred with him yesterday, Jin! I cut him—just a scratch! But now he's dying!"
She grabbed Jin Ryeong's robe.
"If the Elders find out it's Rotting Orchid poison, they will trace it back to me. They will check my meridians.
They will find the residue. I will be executed for harming a fellow disciple with Demonic Arts!"
Jin Ryeong looked at her desperate face. She was right. The Thousand Venom Hand was insidious. Even after she stopped using it, her Qi was tainted. She was a walking contagion, and she didn't even know it.
"You want me to fix him," Jin Ryeong deduced.
"He's in the infirmary. Under stasis. The healers are baffled.
They haven't reported it to the High Elders yet because they don't want to admit incompetence. But by tomorrow... they will call an expert."
Mei pulled out a heavy pouch. "One hundred taels. And... a token."
She held up a jade talisman. [Item: Inner Sect Guest Pass] Description: Allows a servant temporary access to the Inner Sect grounds and the Archives for 'maintenance duties'.
Jin Ryeong stared at the token. He didn't care about the money. But the Archives? That was where the real manuals were. The breathing techniques that could take him past Level 10. The maps of the surrounding regions.
And the Tournament... If he saved her teammate, he would have leverage over a Tournament Squad. Or... He could sabotage them further.
"I can't go to the infirmary," Jin Ryeong said.
"I'm a servant. If I touch a patient, the healers will kill me."
"I'll sneak you in," Mei promised.
"Tonight. The night shift healer is... lazy.
He sleeps. You go in, extract the poison, and leave. No one knows."
Jin Ryeong weighed the options. Risk: High. If caught, he dies. Reward: Very High. Access to the Inner Sect. Access to a dying cultivator (a perfect test subject for his needles).
Plus, extracting the Rotting Orchid poison from a victim... He could feed that poison to Scalpel. Or absorb it himself to increase the potency of his Venom Hand.
"Fine," Jin Ryeong took the jade token. "But the price has gone up."
"What?" Mei blinked. "One hundred taels is—"
"I don't want just the token," Jin Ryeong said, his eyes gleaming in the dark.
"If I save him, and you win... I want the prize."
"The prize?" Mei gasped. "The prize is a Spirit Refining Pill! It's worth a thousand taels! It's for breaking through to the Foundation Establishment realm!"
"Deal or no deal?" Jin Ryeong asked coldly.
"He dies by morning. You get executed by noon. Or... you give me the pill in two weeks."
Mei gritted her teeth. She looked at her gloved hand. She looked at the token. She looked at the servant who was somehow more terrifying than an Elder. "Fine. If we win... you get the pill."
Jin Ryeong smiled. "Lead the way, Senior Sister."
He patted his sleeve.
Inside, Scalpel clicked its mandibles.
Tonight, the Ghost Doctor makes a house call.