Acquiring the Murim with Money - Chapter 12

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 12. Pung Geun’s Tears

A peaceful morning at Baegyun Trading Company. The Training Grounds, before the sun had even risen, thrummed as always with savage shouts and the reek of sweat.
“Heyah! Behold the strength of the Transport Division! We are the heart and lifeblood of this company!”
Gwang Du, captain of the Transport Division and a product of Cheongsuche, thundered across the Training Grounds with a log the size of his own torso balanced on his shoulders.
The laborers from Cheongsuche who trailed behind him bellowed in unison, their malice and grit honed sharp as blades. The dead eyes that had once rotted in the slums were gone; in their place burned a fierce determination to protect what was now theirs.
In a corner of the Training Grounds, a cluster of figures watched this display with unmistakable resentment. They were the remnants of Heuksabang, now the makeshift menial crew of Baegyun Trading Company.
“Lord help us… those brainless oafs. Feed them a few times and they crawl like dogs. Tsk, tsk.”
Gwang Du, passing nearby, came to an abrupt halt.
“Hey, you Heuksabang rats. Not earning your keep? If the manager saw fit to take you in, you should be licking dirt, not running your mouths!”
“What? Rats? Listen here, you smooth-skulled bastard! Just days ago we owned the back alleys of Luoyang—”
Gu Sang’s voice rose in indignation, when a massive shadow fell across his shoulders. It was Pung Geun, the Training Grounds master.
“All right, menial crew! No time for loitering. Logs in hand—ten laps around the grounds, now!”
Under Pung Geun’s pressure, Gu Sang and the Heuksabang remnants hoisted the logs with the reluctance of people forced to swallow bitter medicine.
Gwang Du barked, “Time to beat some sense into that skull of yours!” and hounded Gu Sang mercilessly, the two groups stirring up clouds of dust as they bickered their way around the Training Grounds.
“Manager! I’ve already finished all twenty laps! Fast, right? Hehe.”
Seo Seo darted through them like a squirrel, reporting his progress.
The children of the Cheonireumang information division needed swift feet, so they trained primarily with sand-weighted leg wraps. Baek Un Hui handed water to the sweat-drenched children and smiled with quiet satisfaction.
‘Good. The foundation stones are growing strong and solid.’
Shortly after, the Heuksabang remnants sprawled across the ground began to whisper among themselves.
“Ah, dear… Vice-captain, or I suppose captain now. How did we end up rolling around since morning, and now sweeping and doing odd jobs in the afternoon?”
“Keep quiet! I’ve crawled far worse than you. For now, let’s watch how things develop. We don’t know what Pungcheon Trading Company will do, and if we get cast out from here, we could disappear without a trace.”
Gu Sang groaned and glanced nervously around.
“But why does that muscle monster keep singling me out?”
“Because your muscle condition is the worst of all—”
At that moment, Pung Geun’s massive hand appeared from nowhere and hooked Gu Sang by the scruff of his neck.
“There! You menial crew member requiring extra personal training! Slacking off again? Add ten laps in the Horse Stance!”
Beyond that raucous cloud of dust, a raised platform in one corner of the Training Grounds occupied an entirely different atmosphere. It was the domain of the company’s high-ranking martial masters.
Baek Yeon Hwa moved through a sword form with such intense focus that she seemed unaware of anyone around her.
“Phew…”
“Tsk. Merely stuffing Qi into the Sword Body is no great feat.”
Dang So Yu, sprawled sideways on the platform with a wine gourd dangling from his fingers, tossed out an offhand remark.
Whip!
Dang So Yu’s fingers flicked lazily, and an invisible silver needle sliced through the air, piercing a fly that had been circling toward Baek Yeon Hwa’s blade and pinning it to the post with perfect accuracy.
“Your footwork is refined, true enough, but you’re tensing your wrists too much. You should channel seven parts of your Qi into the blade and let three parts flow through—only then will your Sword Path bend without breaking, flowing like water.”
At Dang So Yu’s casual words, Baek Yeon Hwa’s eyes snapped wide.
The moment she eased back the accumulated Qi at her blade’s core as he had instructed, the Sword Aura dancing at the tip became sharper and refined with new elegance.
Baek Yeon Hwa bowed quietly, her expression one of genuine gratitude.
“I am honored by your instruction, Dang.”
“Hmph. I was merely thinking aloud.”

* * *

After the storm of External Cultivation training ended, the Internal Cultivation and breathing exercises began under Baek Yeon Hwa’s guidance.
“Fix your consciousness on the Dantian. Expel the Turbid Qi. Do not squeeze the Qi by force—let it flow as water flows.”
Under her instruction, the laborers crossed their legs and closed their eyes. The children of Cheonireumang proved especially adept at Internal Cultivation.
With bones and muscles still pliable, they absorbed the clear Qi as sponges drink water, steadily building a foundation of pure energy.
Baek Un Hui’s gaze, watching the peaceful morning training, drifted to one corner of the grounds.

While everyone else sat in meditation, regulating their breath for Internal Cultivation, Pung Geun stood alone in a shadowed corner, his upper body bare, running through the forms of the Iron Root Divine Body Technique.
“Just a bit more… hunh!”
Each time Pung Geun’s cauldron-lid fists split the air, a weighty sonic boom erupted—yet Baek Un Hui’s eyes narrowed imperceptibly.
‘Strength overflows, but the Qi in his lower body can’t keep pace with his upper body’s speed.’
What the Golden Divine Eyes had discerned was clear: a bottleneck in Pung Geun’s ankle region was creating a choke point in his Qi flow. Though Baek Un Hui could see the problem, he was an amateur in martial arts and helpless to offer guidance—the frustration gnawed at him.
“Foolish bear. What good is building bulk so crudely?”
At that moment, as though reading Baek Un Hui’s thoughts, the idle Dang So Yu clicked his tongue.
“His Meridian Path is blocked—he can’t extract his full strength. If I pricked his Blood Vessels with silver needles laced with a trace of Seven Step Poison, it would dissolve them in a heartbeat. Ah, and applying the new potent toxin I formulated yesterday directly into his Qi channels would make for a most intriguing experiment indeed.”
A chilling murmur that laid bare the strange depravity of the Ten Thousand Poison Grandmaster’s nature.
Baek Un Hui’s eyes gleamed as he turned toward Dang So Yu, speaking as though he had been waiting for this moment.
“What if we provided formal support for that physician’s medical research under our company’s name?”
At Baek Un Hui’s words, Dang So Yu’s attention shifted.
“Physician, I’ve heard that your expertise in poisons and antidotes runs deeper than anyone’s—not merely in medicine, but in those arts as well. We would gladly provide as many medicinal materials as you require for your poison and antidote research. But that is not all. Searching for the evil technique of the Blood Heaven Sect alone is like hunting for a needle in an endless sea. From now on, I shall place the entire intelligence network of Baegyun Trading Company at your complete disposal. Even after your father’s treatment is finished, would you not consider becoming an official Guest Advisor to our company?”
Dang So Yu, who had been planning to stay at the company regardless, felt an itch in his bones lately, and at this audacious manager’s honeyed proposal, the corners of his mouth lifted.
“Smooth words, boy. Very well. As earnest money, I’ll loosen that stubborn beast’s shackles first.”
Before the words had even finished, Dang So Yu flicked his wrist and drove a sinister Poison Needle deep into the Taixi Acupoint near Pung Geun’s ankle as he trained.
“Agh! Master Dang! What is the meaning of this?”
“Quiet. Just cultivate your Qi.”
The technique of Using Poison to Counteract Poison—melting stagnant blood with toxin.
As sinister poison coursed through his blood vessels, Pung Geun’s entire body suddenly swelled as if his veins would burst. The horrible sensation of blood vessels aflame—an extreme prescription that no ordinary physician would dare attempt.
But Dang So Yu was not called the Master of Ten Thousand Poisons for nothing. It was no exaggeration to say his mastery of poison formulation and application had reached the pinnacle of the Central Plains.
“Gack—kaaaagh!”
Pung Geun could not help but cry out. With it came a gush of dark stagnant blood. In that instant, an avalanche of Internal Cultivation poured into his Taixi Acupoint.
Pung Geun grasped at his own leg with trembling hands, as if unable to believe it.
“This… this cannot be! Three years. For three years, no amount of training could break through, and I thought I would spend my life as a second-rate warrior with nothing but size—”
Tears welled up at the corners of Pung Geun’s eyes, thick with emotion.
“Master! Or rather, Physician Immortal. I shall never forget this grace as long as I live!”
With his massive frame, he wept freely, then prostrated himself before Dang So Yu with a heavy thud.
“Ugh. Those tears from that bulk! You should know to rest when injured instead of blindly training like a fool. No wonder the stagnant blood hardened like stone from overwork. And save your gratitude for that manager of yours, not me.”
Pung Geun bowed repeatedly to the reproaching Dang So Yu, then tried to prostrate himself before Baek Un Hui instead. Baek Un Hui laughed and stopped him.
“There’s no need for bowing. I merely invested so that our company’s valuable asset could better fulfill its potential. I expect great things from you going forward.”
“There is no question. Thank you, Manager!”
Pung Geun’s footwork as he struck the ground was incomparably faster and sharper than before.
At last he had shattered the barrier of the Iron Root Divine Body Technique that had blocked him for years, leaping to become a first-rate master. It was a moment when Baegyun Trading Company’s martial strength advanced another dimension.
“Agh! Instructor! Can I please stop now! My legs are about to break!”
In that touching instant, So Ryang cried out in desperation from the middle of the courtyard.
He had been caught trying to skip morning training and was now stuck in a special Horse Stance drill, being forgotten.
“Master So! Your muscle mass is already insufficient—and you tried to skip morning training? The lower body is the source of all strength! Come now, lower your hips further!”
Before Pung Geun’s benevolent (?) smile, now that he had broken through his limit and his spirits soared, So Ryang’s vision went yellow as he ground his teeth.
“Baek Un Hui! You never said I’d be treated like this when you brought me here!”

* * *

The next morning, as Baek Un Hui sipped tea in his office, So Ryang burst through the door with his face scrunched up. In his hands he held a thick Settlement Ledger.
“Manager, are you really going to keep that old-timer as a Guest Advisor or whatever he is?”
So Ryang threw the ledger roughly onto the table.
“This is the material requisition list that old Guest Advisor submitted this morning. Just because he comes from the Sacheon Tang Family, his eyes are ridiculously high! For compounding one measly numbing poison, he demands premium Dragon’s Blood Resin and ten-year-old Heavenly Hemp! He’s going to strip our company bare!”
Baek Un Hui laughed awkwardly and took a sip of tea.
“We’ve brought in such a valuable resource, so we have to accommodate him. Though perhaps there’s some way to cut costs…?”
“You think I just sat idle?”
So Ryang let out a scoff and flicked an old Abacus.
“Premium, my foot. I settled it with leftover Dragon’s Blood Resin stock and dried Centipede Poison. The potency is nearly the same, but the cost is one-tenth or less. Pressing connections through Gu Sang at Heuksabang turned up some reliable medicinal material dealers who proved quite helpful.”
So Ryang folded his arms smugly.
“I told the old man, ‘Surely a true master can draw ascending poison even from inferior materials, can he not?’ He coughed a few times and pretended to yield, then took it anyway. If I hadn’t done that, we’d be sucking our thumbs starting today.”
A satisfied smile spread across Baek Un Hui’s lips.
“Ha! That’s our steward for you. You’re the real backbone of this company.”
“Backbone nothing. Just make sure my wages are generous. Oh, and word just came from Geumshin Pawnshop. The patron wants you brought there at once.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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