Almighty God of War - Chapter 31

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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031

After the duel ended, the remaining procedures were conducted in the Main Hall under the supervision of Mawolchang Yu Hansaeng, the head of the Namchang Yu Family.

Hwa Seokdae, the head of Hwaga Trading House, struggled to hide his expression twisted with humiliation as he tremblingly stamped his seal on the promissory note to send ten thousand taels of silver to Bamboo Forest Manor within three days.

This ceremony, conducted before Yu Hansaeng and many other witnesses, was a humiliation worse than death for him.

Unable to remain any longer, he left the scene with a rigid expression alongside Jin Mun, as if fleeing.

Guyang Cheongang, the Heo father and daughter, and Elder Hwang also headed to Bamboo Forest Manor, leaving behind the pouring congratulations.

Crash! Thud! Clatter!

Returning to Hwaga Trading House, Hwa Seokdae could not contain his rage and smashed the furnishings in his office.

Just then, the manager of the medicine warehouse came rolling in with a pale face, practically tumbling through the door.

“Master! Disaster has struck! There’s a huge problem with the medicinal herbs stored in the warehouse!”

“What are you talking about?”

Seized by an ominous premonition, Hwa Seokdae rushed to the medicine warehouse with Jin Mun.

Creeeeak-

The moment the heavy door opened, he immediately understood what problem the manager was referring to.

The massive warehouse that should have been filled with precious medicinal fragrances was instead filled with suffocating dust and musty, stale odors.

He staggered toward the nearest box containing the finest grade Purple Glow Grass.

When he opened the lid, what hit his nose was not the sharp medicinal fragrance, but the nauseating smell of dirt and dust.

With trembling hands, he picked up a handful of Purple Glow Grass.

In his palm, the precious herb worth three taels of silver per root crumbled helplessly into powder.

“Ah… aah… aaahhh!”

A pained moan burst from his mouth like a scream.

Having lived his entire life as a medicinal herb merchant, he realized immediately.

The mountain of medicinal herbs filling the warehouse had lost all their medicinal properties and become nothing more than a pile of weeds.

The ten thousand taels in compensation to be paid to Bamboo Forest Manor, plus the damage from the ruined medicinal herbs.

The total amount reached more than half of Hwaga Trading House’s liquid assets.

No matter how wealthy Hwaga Trading House was, counted among Nanchang’s richest, this was serious damage that could shake the very foundation of the family.

“Uuugh…!”

Hwa Seokdae’s face, reeling from shock, contorted hideously with despair and rage.

“Hwa Doryeong…! All of this is because of that damned bastard! I’ll immediately…!”

Completely forgetting that his own greed and arrogance had caused this entire situation, he raged while placing all the blame on his son.

Jin Mun watched Hwa Seokdae and sighed deeply to himself.

His eyes held contempt along with self-reproach for his own failure.

‘Was it a mistake from the start to try to use such a pathetic fool? But Heo Ilbi… how could his sword technique change so drastically overnight? It was like watching a completely different person’s sword. What kind of fortune did he encounter…?’

His mind raced with complex thoughts.

Heo Ilbi’s sudden growth was an ‘unpredictable variable’ not accounted for in this plan.

‘How do I report this failure to my lord…?’

He frowned as he thought of that person in Hubei Province.

The failure of this affair was not simple.

It had caused major disruption to the grand plan of the lord he served.

Jin Mun fell into contemplation about how to report this failure.

* * *

Meanwhile, after the duel with Hwaga Trading House ended in overwhelming victory, Bamboo Forest Manor was swept up in a festive atmosphere.

The massive compensation received from Hwaga Trading House would substantially fill the family coffers, and above all, everyone rejoiced at having humbled the arrogant Hwaga Trading House.

Additionally, the supply of medicinal herbs needed for Dragon Nourishing Pills would resume smoothly.

The celebration banquet hosted by Heo Ilbi continued late into the night.

Though Guyang Cheongang did not touch alcohol, he sat in one corner of the banquet hall with a pleased smile, watching the genuinely joyful Heo Ilbi and Heo Choryeong, and the lively appearance of the Bamboo Forest Manor people.

His satisfaction was considerable at being able to play even a minor(?) role in helping them.

However, even in this atmosphere, his mind was already beginning calculations toward the next stage.

‘This joy is only temporary. We’ve suppressed the threat from Hwaga Trading House, but the greater mountain of Golden Tower Manor and Dong Hyeondo remains.’

After the banquet ended, in the deep night when everyone was asleep.

Guyang Cheongang sat in the separate pavilion that served as his quarters, lost in deep thought.

In his hand was a single ordinary Dragon Nourishing Pill.

‘Akasha, while I can earn funds for rebuilding the family estate with these Dragon Nourishing Pills, I can’t stay cooped up in the alchemy room making elixirs forever.’

Deep anguish was contained in his words.

‘To uncover all the secrets of the Nine Dragons Ten Thousand Mountains Painting and find a way to treat my illness, I must venture into the wider world. Isn’t there a way for the family estate and Bamboo Forest Manor to continue Dragon Nourishing Pill production even in my absence?’

Akasha’s calm voice resonated in his mind.

[It’s a difficult problem, Doctor. The core process of Dragon Nourishing Pill manufacturing, ‘special low-temperature aging,’ requires the Pure Yin Energy from your Transcendent Impermanence Divine Art as essential. Your absence would mean production cessation. Pure Yin True Energy is an irreplaceable energy source.]

‘As I thought… Then I have no choice but to mass-produce them beforehand and then leave? But that’s only a temporary measure, not a fundamental solution.’

[Hmm… Doctor, if we can’t ‘replace’ the energy, how about ‘storing’ it? Creating a kind of ‘rechargeable cooling battery.’]

‘Cooling battery?’

Guyang Cheongang’s eyes sharpened.

[Yes. Doctor, do you remember the material of the jade statue Dong Hyeondo sent?]

‘Ten Thousand Year Warm Jade?’

[Correct. That’s a treasure that can continuously emit warm energy by containing yang energy for countless years. Just as nature has the principle of yin and yang, there exists in the world a precious object with properties opposite to Ten Thousand Year Warm Jade.]

A single term that he had seen commonly in both the ‘Heavenly Secret Blood Medicine Manual’ and the ‘Classic of Life and Death’ flashed through Guyang Cheongang’s mind like lightning.

‘…Are you talking about Ten Thousand Year Cold Jade?’

[Yes. If Ten Thousand Year Warm Jade contains and releases yang energy, then Ten Thousand Year Cold Jade could be the optimal medium for storing yin energy, especially your pure and cold Pure Yin Energy.]

Akasha’s hypothesis was both bold and logical, but Guyang Cheongang soon frowned.

The wall of reality was too high to harbor hope.

‘The mountain keeps getting higher. Both books described in detail how difficult these items are to find – surely you haven’t forgotten that?’

[Doctor, those books’ records assumed ‘ordinary’ cases. But you are by no means an ordinary case. I’m not suggesting illogical hope like ‘seek and you shall find.’ This is a matter of probability.]

‘Probability?’

[Yes. First, you have ‘search’ capabilities that others couldn’t even imagine – me and the nanobots. Second, the very fact that Dong Hyeondo possesses Ten Thousand Year Warm Jade proves that such precious objects still exist somewhere in Gangho and ‘can be discovered.’ Third, you yourself, through Nine Yin Severed Meridians and Transcendent Impermanence Divine Art, can resonate more strongly with ‘yin energy’ than anyone else in this world.]

Akasha’s following voice contained absolute conviction.

[Probabilistically, Doctor, you have the highest likelihood of finding Ten Thousand Year Cold Jade. So we must search for it. The data says we ‘can find it.’]

When Akasha spoke with such conviction, he couldn’t give a dispiriting response.

Nodding, Guyang Cheongang asked.

‘…Fine. Let’s say we obtained it. But no matter how precious Ten Thousand Year Cold Jade is, how could we make it into a vessel for containing the Pure Yin Energy of Transcendent Impermanence Divine Art?’

[That’s where my role and the nanobots come in.]

Akasha’s following voice overflowed with confidence.

[We’re not simply trying to contain Pure Yin Energy. I’ll use nanobots to rearrange the molecular structure inside the Ten Thousand Year Cold Jade and carve ultra-microscopic energy circuits that can efficiently ‘charge’ and ‘discharge’ energy.]

‘Hmm…’

[Doctor, you would take time to fully inject and ‘charge’ the circuits with the Pure Yin Energy of Transcendent Impermanence Divine Art. Then later, someone trustworthy like Elder Hwang could use the circuit-engraved equipment to reproduce the low-temperature aging process.]

‘Your plan is excellent, but how much Ten Thousand Year Cold Jade would be needed to make it feasible? If we need a house-sized amount, it would take a lifetime just to find it.’

[No, Doctor. Quantity is completely unimportant. What we need is not overwhelming quantity, but perfect ‘quality’ and ‘structure.’]

‘Quality and structure?’

[Yes. Think of 21st-century semiconductor chips for easy understanding. A chip the size of a fingernail’s performance isn’t determined by a massive silicon chunk, but by hundreds of millions of ‘ultra-microscopic circuit patterns’ carved in nanometer units on its surface.]

Guyang Cheongang immediately grasped what she was trying to say.

[Ten Thousand Year Cold Jade would serve as the perfect ‘substrate’ for us, like a semiconductor wafer. We wouldn’t use the cold energy of Ten Thousand Year Cold Jade itself, but utilize that material’s ‘unique property of conducting yin energy stably without loss.’]

Akasha continued in a calm tone.

[Using nanobots, I’ll carve ‘energy control circuits’ on the Ten Thousand Year Cold Jade surface that perfectly resonate with the Pure Yin Energy waves from your Transcendent Impermanence Divine Art. These microscopic circuits would become the core of a ‘cooling battery’ that stores your Pure Yin Energy without loss and precisely releases it when needed.]

She reached her conclusion.

[Therefore, we only need a fist-sized piece of high-purity Ten Thousand Year Cold Jade. With that, we can create dozens of high-efficiency ‘Pure Yin Energy storage vessels’ capable of simultaneously low-temperature aging dozens of Dragon Nourishing Pills.]

The scattered pieces of the plan in Guyang Cheongang’s mind came together as one, and he could see the thread of a solution.

‘Good.’

The next goals he needed to achieve as quickly as possible were clearly drawn in his mind.

‘First, obtain the Ten Thousand Year Cold Jade. Second, create a ‘Pure Yin Energy Storage Vessel’ from the Ten Thousand Year Cold Jade according to Akasha’s design. Third, charge as many vessels as possible with Pure Yin Energy before I leave the Family Estate. Fourth, transfer the production technology to trustworthy people and establish a system that allows Dragon Nourishing Pill production to continue even in my absence.’

Only after all these preparations were complete would he finally be able to leave on his own path with peace of mind.

Guyang Cheongang clenched his fist tightly.

From the next day onward, rumors spread throughout Nanchang that Hwaga Trading House had suffered massive losses from this incident, and that they had violated commercial ethics and disrupted the market.

Meanwhile, the trust that merchants and common people had in Bamboo Forest Trading House and Heo Ilbi, who had always valued integrity, only grew stronger.

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