Chapter 14: Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng
This time, I was certain I could obtain the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng. My martial arts had significantly improved since my second death, I had saved money over three years as a guard, and crucially, I came to Huangshan without any particular enmity or grudges. There was no one to specifically hinder me.
Moreover, while working for Sagong Escort Agency, I had acquired extensive maps and geographical information of Huangshan. The preparation over the last three years was meticulous enough that failure this time would be mentally devastating.
The reason for my near-obsessive pursuit of the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng was simple. Once I consumed it, I would no longer hover below the top masters but could certainly challenge them.
Top masters were rare in this world. They were said to number less than five hundred in the vast Central Plains, which had a population of tens of millions. Their martial prowess could change the world’s balance, and they easily gained wealth and fame. Although people often claimed to have seen top masters, most of these were just first-rate martial artists. True top masters were harder to find than hundred-year-old wild ginseng.
What would my life be like once I gained such power?
The anticipation made me even more excited.
To search for the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng in Huangshan, I meticulously prepared climbing gear and food supplies. Using the map of Huangshan’s inner peaks that I had obtained, I planned my search direction carefully.
Huangshan had seventy-two peaks in total, but I only needed to explore thirty of them. The Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng was certainly not on the 24 outer peaks, and I had to exclude the 12 peaks near the Huangshan Sect. Additionally, the Huangshan Sect’s base occupied six peaks, leaving thirty peaks to explore.
Of course, thirty peaks were still formidable, each rising over five to six hundred meters. Searching one peak could take at least a month, meaning my journey might take three to four years. It might even take ten years.
“Humph, even if it takes ten years, it’s worth it for the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng.”
I steeled my resolve. No matter what happened, I wouldn’t give up.
I started my first peak search the day after arriving at the base of Huangshan. I left my bundle at a nearby inn and began climbing with my gear. To thoroughly search the mountain, I had to venture beyond the paths, making the first day exhausting and time-consuming.
After the first day’s search, I returned to the inn quite tired. I tried to sleep, but couldn’t. Despite searching the mountain all day, I had found almost nothing.
“This isn’t efficient. Using the inn as a base shortens my search radius.”
I needed to focus on the inner peaks, not the outskirts. Walking at least thirty li a day, returning to the inn would waste time.
It was better to build a hut or cottage in the mountains and live there.
The next day, I started building a hut at the entrance of Huangshan’s inner peaks. I had built a cottage before, so it was relatively easy. I found wooden pillars, cut them to the right size, laid them as a foundation, and covered the roof with materials to shield from rain and dew.
Building a hut alone was immensely tough, but I had learned a lot from the builders while working as a guard. Even a basic structure could be built with physical and manual strength.
It took about four days to complete the hut. I spent whole days working on it. Though it wasn’t pretty, it was functional, providing shelter from rain and dew. The floor was covered with straw, and there was no heating or kitchen.
But this was enough. I had endured hardships before, and I could improve it gradually while living there. The priority was finding the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng, not comfort.
With my shelter set up, I began my search in earnest. I bought food from the village or the inn when needed, washed in nearby streams, and occasionally caught small wild animals if I didn’t want to spend money. The innkeeper initially thought I was crazy and considered reporting me to the authorities but soon accepted that I was just trying to live in the mountains from a young age.
About two months into the search, I had roughly explored four of Huangshan’s thirty inner peaks. Thoroughly searching four mountains was extremely taxing, but I managed with my internal energy. Interestingly, despite having only about two hours a day for internal training, the daily exertion seemed to strengthen my internal energy.
By then, half of the money I had saved over three years was gone. At this rate, I would be penniless in a few months, so I pondered my options and finally decided.
“I need to work.”
I couldn’t completely sever ties with the world. I wasn’t a born hunter, and living off wild animals was not sustainable. Hunting required immense physical effort and was a grueling process. I needed to earn money to buy food.
Fortunately, the innkeeper’s suggestion decided my next course of action.
“You’re living in the mountains, right? Then cut down trees and sell the wood to the lumber yard. They’ll buy it from you.”
The innkeeper was right. The quality and utility of Huangshan’s wood meant there was a dedicated lumber yard in the village. The lumber yard processed and supplied wood where needed. I made a deal with the lumber yard owner, got an iron axe, and started cutting trees in my spare time.
Of course, cutting down trees was easy, but transporting them to the lumber yard was another task, so I settled for cutting and moving just two or three trees at a time. The lumber yard owner was astonished at the sight of the massive trees I brought.
Whenever I needed money, I would cut trees for the lumber yard. The rest of my time was spent either training my internal energy or exploring Huangshan. Gradually, I adapted to life in the mountains.
A year passed like this.
I was searching the ninth peak and still hadn’t seen any trace of the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng. In terms of progress, I was only about thirty percent done. This was within my expectations, so I felt at ease.
The innkeeper often struck up conversations with me.
“You seem like you were a martial artist. What brings a young man like you to live in Huangshan?”
“I just don’t like people.”
“Heh, I see…”
The innkeeper clicked his tongue, and I just smiled.
Saying I didn’t like people wasn’t entirely false. Until I found the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng, I wanted to avoid becoming widely known or drawing unnecessary attention. Living quietly and diligently searching for the ginseng was the best course.
Three more months passed.
A heavy rain destroyed my cottage. I rebuilt it, making it much larger this time. I sensed this would be a long-term endeavor, and the wind and rain often made it extremely cold. I even built a fence to block the wind as much as possible.
Three more months passed.
A cold wave hit the village, ruining the year’s crops. The tenant farmers looked desperate, and the landlords seemed bewildered, making the village atmosphere tense. With people struggling to survive, I couldn’t sell wood to the lumber yard and earn money. The lumber yard’s business was tied to agriculture, and as an outsider, it felt awkward to try to earn money. For a month, I had to hunt wild animals like snakes, boars, and deer to survive.
During this time, I made a bow and started using it skillfully. Though I could hunt wild animals with a sword or spear thanks to my martial arts, the bow proved to be more convenient. A wooden bow with a stone-tipped arrow was sufficiently lethal and became my preferred tool.
Then, after exactly two years in Huangshan, I realized I had explored 16 peaks. This was slightly slower than expected, but I had covered more than half. I bought some liquor from the village and drank it in my cottage.
“Ugh… damn it…”
It was the first time in this life that I drank alcohol. I was so frustrated that I wanted to get drunk. Despite still being sober, I grumbled.
“Where on earth is this place where ‘white and black lotus flowers bloom together’?!”
I had never asked anyone about this sole clue. I wanted to avoid anyone else getting interested and searching for it. However, just searching based on that one sentence was mentally exhausting.
By now, my body had fully matured into an adult, and I had grown quite a beard. The prospect of searching for several more years tested my patience. Falling asleep while drunkenly mumbling felt miserable.
‘No, I need to start asking around. If I search all 30 peaks and find nothing… my mental strength won’t hold.’
I had to stop being foolish.
Having searched this much, even if someone else got interested and started looking, I’d be ahead. I decided to ask around the village and nearby areas, even if it raised some suspicion. I was even ready to die if it came to that.
The first person I questioned was the innkeeper.
“Huh? Have I seen a black lotus flower?”
The innkeeper tilted his head in thought. After a moment, he spoke as if he had remembered something.
“I think I heard some monk grows them!”
“What monk?”
“I don’t really know. Just heard it somewhere.”
Next, I asked the lumber yard owner. Along with the innkeeper, he was the person I was closest to in the village at the base of Huangshan.
“A black lotus flower… grown by a monk… I think I heard something like that too.”
The lumber yard owner pondered for a moment and then said,
“It must be about Baekhwansa. I heard the head monk grows them, and there was some buzz about it. People went to see, but they were disappointed because it was just a black-colored lotus and nothing special.”
“I see.”
“Baekhwansa is on Baekhwan Peak.”
It seemed the temple’s name, Baekhwansa, came from being located on Baekhwan Peak.
I felt a bit disheartened, thinking I should have asked sooner if finding a clue was this easy. But then I reconsidered—because I had lived in Huangshan for two years before asking casually, no one suspected anything. Had I asked such questions shortly after arriving, people would have taken an interest in my actions.
In fact, neither the innkeeper nor the lumberyard owner seemed to pay any attention after answering my question. They had no reason to be suspicious.
After learning the location of Baekhwansa, I headed towards Baekhwan Peak. It was one of the 14 peaks I hadn’t searched yet. The journey was over 40 li, but I kept walking with determination until I reached the base of Baekhwan Peak.
Now I had to explore Baekhwan Peak.
‘Before that, maybe I should meet the head monk of Baekhwansa?’
I thought it would be good to see the black lotus flower the head monk was said to be growing. With that in mind, I climbed the stairs to Baekhwansa and soon met the head monk. He was not a martial artist, just an ordinary old monk.
The head monk was so old that he seemed like he could pass away at any moment. His shoulders and hands trembled, indicating he was suffering from old age. If I had come any later, he might have already passed away.
“Y… you… want to see… the black lotus…?”
“Yes. I’ve heard it’s a very unique flower…”
The head monk smiled faintly.
“Unique… indeed… I brought it from Seolwon…”
Seolwon!!
‘Could it be?!’
“About ten years ago… I slipped and fell into a valley… but the snow was so deep… I was unharmed… There was a pond in that Seolwon… and the lotus flowers in the pond were pitch black… hahaha…”
“And you brought it back?”
The head monk seemed excited as he spoke.
“I brought back… some lotus seeds… hahaha…”
“Where is this Seolwon?”
“I don’t really… know… It was very foggy…”
Fog?
“Excuse me. Please step outside now. The head monk is not well…”
“Understood.”
A monk from Baekhwansa led me out. When I asked the monks about the black lotus, they took me to the back of the temple. As expected, there were black lotus flowers blooming. I gazed at the black lotus flowers and spoke.
“These are only black lotus flowers.”
“Normal lotus flowers are white, so these are quite unusual. Still, the roots and leaves of this black lotus are beneficial, so we often consume them.”
“I see. Have you tried looking for the valley the head monk mentioned?”
“We had no reason to. Though it’s an interesting terrain, Huangshan is vast. There’s no need to search for such places.”
Judging by the monks’ expressions, they were telling the truth. They were just monks training in the mountains, without any involvement in martial arts conspiracies. While it was a bit anticlimactic, fewer complications were better. I devised a plan.
‘If I search Baekhwan Peak thoroughly, I will definitely find Seolwon. There must be a connection between Seolwon and the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng!’
My exploration resumed.
This time, I was determined to find the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng within a year. The sheer determination and grit fueled my arduous life. Reflecting on the hardships of the past few years living in the mountains made me clench my teeth.
I will find it.
I will find it.
I will definitely eat the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng!!
“Woo… Ahhh…!!”
I shouted with joy.
Today marked three years and two months since I entered Huangshan mountains. It was well over a year since I started searching Baekhwan Peak. While searching the middle of Jangnam Peak, far from Baekhwan Peak, I discovered a strangely twisted cliff. Cutting through vines and branches, I pressed forward.
And now.
Before my eyes lay a pristine white snowfield. The peculiar terrain behind the valley was a dome-shaped area where yin energy condensed year-round, making the air above it extremely cold and perpetually wintery. The snow never melted.
I also saw the pond the head monk had mentioned.
Just as I had heard, it was the place where [white and black lotus flowers bloom together].
‘Ah… not yet. Just a little more…!!’
I gritted my teeth, enduring the cold of the snowfield, and searched through the snow. Centered around the pond, I cleared away the snow. Then, I found a cave where no snow had piled up. Big enough for two or three people to enter, I walked in calmly.
At the innermost part of the cave was another snowfield. And in the center, where sunlight seemed to reflect down, was something large.
Something as big as a person’s forearm—wild ginseng.
It had the distinctive white willow-like patterns I had only heard about.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!”
I screamed in excitement.
Then, I knelt and cried tears of joy.
“I found it!!!”
Three years and two months.
To be exact, six years after being reincarnated—
I finally found the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng I had been seeking.
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