Book 1 Chapter 14: The Owner of Elixir Already Exist(1)
Translator: Hwarang
Editor: Jay
When we arrived home, the news about the Yang Clan had already spread.
“I find it hard to believe.” It seemed as if my father was disappointed to learn that Yang Gi Chul hired mercenaries to deal with our family. No matter how badly his son got beaten up, my father never thought Yang Gi Chul would be so shameless as to hire mercenaries.
“He is someone who was more sinister than we thought. If he didn’t clash with this man Hyeol Gun, we could have been in major trouble.”
My father only nodded to what I was said, but mother couldn’t hold back her excitement.
“I think the heavens are on our side! I am relieved that were able to pa.s.s this tribulation unscathed.”
“Yes mother!”
Then father said, “But still we have to pay back our debt to the Yang Clan.”
“Yes.”
Since I knew that my father, who was a righteous and honorable man, would come out like this, I already told the new Bangju of the Yang Clan, Jung Yeo, to forget the debt that the Byuk Clan owes to the Yang Clan. I told him to make up a story about how the Yang Clan will forget the debt owned by the Byuk Clan as an apology for hiring the mercenaries against the Byuk Clan.
“Also, here you go father, I have read it well.” I returned the Brightmoon Sword Art manual back to father.
“So how was your training?”
“I made some improvement.”
“That’s good.”
I was out training for only a couple of days, so my father wasn’t expecting great improvements. He was just satisfied by the fact that I had changed.
My mother looked at me with a smile. “Son.”
“Yes mother?”
“Are you alright?” It was a short question, but full of meaning. She was happy, but still worried about my changes.
“Of course mother, I have never been better.”
“All right.”
“I will excuse myself for now.”
As I was about to leave I turned around and said to father, “Father &h.e.l.lip; I hope you don’t worry too much about this.”
Because he received some comforting words from his son, my father’s face became full of surprise and emotion. However, the person who was really surprised was me. This was the first time that I said the word father.
There was no such thing as father in my past life. I was raised by my single mother, so I never said nor thought about the word father.
“Go and get some rest.”
“Yes father.”
It wasn’t hard to say after saying it the first time.
And so, my life returned to normal.
There were two major tasks in front of me. One was protecting my Clan, while the other was protecting myself. So, I decided to start with the easier task.
The next day I went to find Seo Jung.
After dismissing everyone from the Sword Hall, Seo Jung came out and faced me with a questionable look.
“What do you want?”
His stare had become softer than before. I think my recent actions made him see me in a new light, especially after the incident with Yang Gi Kang where I rescued Kw.a.n.g Du.
“Please take this.”
“What is this?”
What I gave him was three thousand Nyang. It was only a fraction of the money that I had gotten from Yang Gi Chul.
With a surprised expression, he looked at me. “Where did you get this?”
“It was something that I have been saving up.”
“What?”
I couldn’t avoid his glance. He looked at me suspiciously.
“It was something that I have been saving so that I could give it to a girl that I liked.”
Since I said something that was more like the old me, he became a little less suspicious. Because I took so much money, he must have thought that I was hiding some money somewhere. Even though I wanted to give him more money, I decided to limit it to three thousand.
“Why are you giving me this?”
“With this, I want you to reorganize the Sword Hall and give yourself a raise that you haven’t gotten in awhile. Also, invite new members while you’re at it.”
Seo Jung wasn’t surprised about the fact that I gave him three thousand Nyang, but he was surprised at my request.
“Do you think we are staying here because of the money?”
“I know that you’re not. But I can’t allow your families to suffer because of money.”
“Why didn’t you give it to the Gaju-nim personally?”
“Because I know that you will never accept the money my father gives you.”
Seo Jung frowned because I had read his mind perfectly.
He was someone who was very loyal. Even if my father gave him money to reorganize the Sword Hall, he would find ways to pay off the Clan’s debt. He firmly believed that he could operate the Sword Hall all by himself.
“Daeju-nim and the Sword Hall is the clan’s pillar. If you and the Sword Hall fall, the clan will be in crisis.”
“What are you saying? The clan’s pillar is the Gaju-nim!”
Even though he tried holding it in, his reaction was still surprised. Similar to my parents, Seo Jung was surprised that someone who was trash like me would say something like this.
“Will you accept my request?”
After some time Seo Jung nodded.
“Can you, as the Daeju and as a Martial Artist, promise to me that you will only use this money for the Sword Hall?”
I said this because I was afraid that he might have returned the money back to my father.
“I promise.”
I bowed to him wholeheartedly “Thank you Daeju-nim!”
As I was leaving he called me, “Dan-ah”
“Yes?”
“Thank you.”
I smiled at him. He was someone who was like Kw.a.n.g Du, I didn’t have to say much to him, since he would see the change in my actions.
There was a change in the atmosphere around the Sword Hall. Even though I wasn’t part of the Sword Hall, I could still sense the change. Some of the martial artists from the Sword Hall smiled and bowed to me whenever they saw me.
They had all been nervous the last couple of days because of the bout against the Yang Clan, but since they learned that the money they received came from me, they had a change of mood. With a personality like his, Seo Jung was not the type to hide these things.
Since the mood in the Sword Hall got better, it carried over to our house and the mood in the house got more lively.
Even the servants’ att.i.tude toward me changed. At first, the servants’ att.i.tudes towards me were not so great, because they all believed that the change in my att.i.tude was a precursor to some major trouble. But now they all believe that I had truly changed.
There was even advertis.e.m.e.nts for recruitment. Even though we might not be able to recruit too many people with three thousand Nyang, it was enough to recruit about twenty new members. Most importantly, with this the morale in our clan went through the roof. The clan was finally lively and full of energy again.
When my mother heard the news, she questioned where I got so much money from. In the end, she could only believe me, since I was acting more mature and responsibly.
The next day my mother got together with other women from different clans near us and held a meeting. One of the maids said that she boasted of everything about me in front of them. She made it clear that the money that I spent on the Sword Hall was the money that I have been saving for the clan, not for some girl.
Although I was taking care of family issues, I didn’t get complacent in my physical and martial practice. Through my exhausting training regime, my body started to show some changes. All the soft fat turned into muscle and my body was more vigorous than ever before.
The problem lay within my cultivation. The last three stances of the Ashura Soul Chasing Sword Art required greater cultivation. The fourth stance required sixty years of cultivation, the fifth stance required one hundred and twenty years. and the final stance required one hundred and eighty years worth of energy.
For now, I set the goal of obtaining sixty years of cultivation. Just by being able to use my fourth stance, the Soul Escaping Stance, I would have gained another trump card. Although I knew that I could casually take care of most experts with first three of my sword stances, there could be some unexpected circ.u.mstances that would require me to use the fourth stance.
Even though I devoted every moment aside from the time spent sleeping towards cultivating, my Divine Protection Technique was still not enough. It would require, even with the enhanced effect of Divine Protection Technique which allows me to cultivate three times rate of normal cultivator, twenty years of cultivation for me able to use my fourth stance.
There was only one solution to this.
“I must open my eight extraordinary meridians and the twelve princ.i.p.al meridians.”
If I open both these meridians, the rate of my cultivation would double and I would be able to cultivate six time the rate of a normal cultivator, and the time that would require me to cultivate sixty years’ worth of energy would go from twenty years down to seven.
But it is impossible to open both my meridians with only five years’ worth of energy in my dantian. Instead, it would require me to acquire some profound medicine. By adding in the effectiveness of the medicine, the fastest that I would be able to reach sixty years’ worth of energy would be in two or three years.
At one point in time, medicines were surplus commodities. However, in this age and time, they were a luxurious item. I was only able to reach one hundred and eighty years of energy before my battles against the Demonic Alliances only because I was the Mengju.
I would like to acquire the Ten Thousand-Year-Old Ginseng or the Great Revival Pill, but with my budget I knew acquiring them would be very unlikely. Even finding someone who sells these medicines would be highly unlikely. Even if I found someone who sold it, the cost would be in the millions. So, these items probably wouldn’t be sold in the common market.
It was possible to obtain the medicine that I require with only thirty thousand Nyang, but it would be very difficult. All I needed to break through my meridians was a medicine that could fill my dantian with ten years of energy. But since I had no experience buying these medicines, I wasn’t very confident with the prices.
Thirty Thousand Nyang.
Could I really buy what I need?
Two days later I entered one of the merchant store in the Jaenam District. This was a store owned by the Black City Merchant Guild.
There was a saying like this in Kang Ho, ‘If you can’t find the thing that you’re looking for in the Black City Merchant Guild, then the thing that you are looking for doesn’t exist in Kang Ho.’
This Merchant Guild had everything that someone from Kang Ho might need.
It received its name as the Black City Merchant Guild since they have dealings with the Black Market. But all the products that are shown and sold in their store are all high-quality and reasonably priced product.
Someone who was always watchful of Black City Merchant Guild was Chancellor Kal Sa Ryang. He always had a watchful eye and ear within the Guild, so he was able to obtain a lot of different information. Sometimes the information sold within the Guild was much faster and more accurate than some of the information acquired by someone within the Alliance. Thanks to Chancellor Kal, I learned many things about this Guild, where they are located and how each store is run.
There were three Black City Merchant stores within the city, and the biggest one was in Jae Nam district.
After telling my parents that I was going on a trip for a couple of days, I went straight to Jae Nam district on horseback. I wanted to bring Kw.a.n.g Du, but decided against it.
When I told one of the workers of the store that I was looking for cultivating medicine, a maid led me inside to a well decorated room and served me tea. I didn’t even think about drinking the tea.
When I was still the Alliance master, many people often asked me this question: ‘What’s the secret behind staying alive in Kang Ho for so long was?’ My answer was always the same. ‘Beware of everything.’
You must have a habit of being wary of everything. There was a point in my life where countless a.s.sa.s.sins tried to kill me. There were truly some skilled a.s.sa.s.sins. They were all waiting for the day when I made even the slightest mistake.
‘You want to live long, never drop your guard even for a second.’
An elderly man dressed in a fancy robe entered the room. Since cultivation medicine was a rare commodity, it wasn’t rare for the manager to make the trade.
“I heard that you came to buy cultivation medicine?”
From his atmosphere, I could sense that he was a hidden expert. Even though I couldn’t accurately sense my opponent like before, I still had my instinct, which roughly allowed me to tell how strong someone was.
Since this old man was the manager of this store, he must have had some sort of history in his past. Thus, they trusted him with the most important merchandise.
“So what kind do you wish to buy? Pills? Incense? Medicine b.a.l.l.s?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Are you here on an errand?”
Since I covered my face with a hat, he could only hear my voice. But, even my voice was slightly changed. For transactions like this, staying disguised was the best. When I was still the Alliance Master, there were many occasions where I had to put on disguises. I had learned the art of changing the voice back then, so I had many different voices that I could use. This was one of those voices.
“No.”
“Skilled young lad then. Alright, have you ever been here before?”
“No.”
Even with my short answers, the old man asked me all sorts of questions. I could tell where he was going with this.
In my past life, I used to ask questions like this to figure out my opponent. Since Black City Merchant Guild was somewhat of a dangerous organization that deals with many people, I couldn’t let my guard down. What I learned through this conversation was that this old man has been working at this store for a very long time.
I answered his question without revealing anything to him. Even though my responses were short it seemed as if the old mas was very satisfied with my answers.
“It seem you aren’t like most of the youngster these days.”
I didn’t reply to his comment. I answered all of his questions so that he would remember me in the back of his mind the next time that I came here to do some business.
“You’re in luck. There hasn’t been a single cultivation medicine in the past six months, but some just arrived two days ago.”
It seemed cultivation medicines were truly valuable.
“What is it?”
“It’s Thousand Year Basho Root.”
The Thousand Year Basho Root! This was something that I needed. It is said its medicinal property would give at the minimum ten and the maximum of fifteen years worth of energy.
“How much is it?”