Chapter 4
I first heard of the Millennium Snow Ginseng when I had just entered my early 30s. I figure that was about 20 years before I would die. Back then, I was steadily building my career as a bounty hunter and lived day-to-day; those were my most peaceful and leisurely times.
The first person to discover the Millennium Snow Ginseng was the young head of the prestigious Danmok Clan, Danmok Seo. A young martial artist, Danmok Seo loved exploring mountains and hills. It was during one of these excursions that he discovered a peculiar place in Huangshan. Despite being a mountain area, the location was said to never melt its ice throughout the year. There, Danmok Seo collected the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng.
That’s when the problems began.
Danmok Seo wasn’t alone when he discovered the Millennium Snow Ginseng; he was accompanied by the exceptionally talented martial artist O-ryong1 from the Righteous Faction. O-ryong noticed the ginseng Danmok Seo had found and soon started fighting to take possession of it. A deadly struggle ensued, involving various martial arts clans from around Huangshan, causing a month-long disturbance.
In the end, the Millennium Snow Ginseng became the property of the leader of the Righteous Sky Alliance, putting an end to the chaos. I’m not privy to the details because, at the time, I was just a low-ranking courier struggling to make ends meet.
‘But one thing is certain. The Millennium Snow Ginseng exists in Huangshan, and I can find it before anyone else does.’
To find and consume the Millennium Snow Ginseng before anyone else!
Could there be a more certain and compelling fate in this world?
The legendary elixir, the Millennium Snow Ginseng, is said to increase one’s internal energy by two cycles in a single gulp and guarantees eternal youth. Given the fact that even the highest-level martial artists from top-tier sects rarely achieve such levels of internal energy after decades of practice, the ginseng was unquestionably worth risking one’s life for.