Almighty God of War - Chapter 50

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

050

About a month had passed like this, just a few days before the new year.

Guyang Cheongang quietly opened his eyes in the middle of his energy circulation and breath control.

A special signal that only he and Elder Hwang knew had come from outside the door.

“Come in.”

Elder Hwang entered through the door and spoke in a whisper-like low voice.

“Young Master, someone has come from Bamboo Forest Manor. They say they’re waiting at the promised location.”

“It’s about time they came.”

Guyang Cheongang immediately went to find his father, Guyang Baek.

“Father, someone has come from Bamboo Forest Manor with the sales proceeds from the Dragon Nourishing Pills.”

Guyang Baek and Guyang Cheongang secretly left the family estate, avoiding the eyes of their household members.

The place they arrived at was a secret residence about ten li away from the estate, where Bamboo Forest Manor regularly sent medicinal herb carriages.

When they opened the old door and entered, Han Sung, the chief steward of Bamboo Forest Manor, and his guard warriors were waiting for them.

“Young Master, Family Head. We’ve been waiting.”

After Han Sung respectfully performed a cupped fist salute and gave a look, the Bamboo Forest Manor warriors behind him brought forward two heavy boxes.

“Young Master, Family Head. This is the proceeds from the past month that the Manor Lord sent.”

When the lids of the boxes opened, Guyang Baek unconsciously swallowed.

Inside, instead of miscellaneous coins, were heavy horseshoe-shaped silver ingots and gold ingots packed full.

Han Sung continued speaking.

“The total sales for the past month were 75,000 nyang in silver coins, and the net profit excluding costs was approximately 56,000 nyang. According to the agreement between Young Master and our Manor Lord, dividing the net profit seven to three, the Guyang Family Estate’s share was 39,375 nyang in silver coins.”

He paused briefly and pointed to the boxes.

“For convenience in settlement, we brought 39,000 nyang in silver coins first. Here are thirty-five gold ingots (1,000 nyang each) and eighty silver ingots (50 nyang each).”

Guyang Baek doubted his own ears.

He picked up one heavy gold ingot with trembling hands.

Han Sung looked at Guyang Cheongang with a troubled expression and continued.

“Young Master, even though the Manor Lord limited the daily sales volume of Dragon Nourishing Pills and restricted sales to Jiangxi Province, he still can’t keep up with demand.”

Guyang Cheongang asked.

“How much are we short on supply?”

“The inventory is already exhausted, and now we’re selling as soon as they’re produced from the Heavenly Mechanism Pill Furnace… There are so many reservations that they sell out immediately. And even though it’s only been a month, we’re already being flooded with contacts from major trading companies in various provinces wanting to obtain sales rights.”

Since this was an expected situation, Guyang Cheongang nodded with a calm expression.

Then he said to Elder Hwang.

“Elder, give what we brought to Chief Steward Han.”

Elder Hwang set down the large wooden chest he had been carrying on his back in front of Han Sung and opened the lid.

Han Sung’s eyes widened.

The wooden chest was packed full of Dragon Nourishing Pills and Yin Dragon Pills.

“Young Master, have you completed the Heavenly Mechanism Pill Furnace at the family estate as well?”

“That’s correct.”

“That’s fortunate. With this, we should be able to meet demand to some extent.”

Han Sung finally conveyed Heo Ilbi’s message.

“The Manor Lord asked me to inquire whether it would be alright to increase the operating hours of the Heavenly Mechanism Pill Furnace beyond the current level.”

Guyang Cheongang answered with a slight smile.

“Please tell him that operating hours can be increased up to nine shi-jin (18 hours). However, for three shi-jin (6 hours) each day, operation must be stopped and the device must be cooled. Otherwise, the Heavenly Mechanism Pill Furnace could break down from overload.”

“I will convey that to the Manor Lord.”

Guyang Cheongang took out a jade box from his chest and handed it to Han Sung.

“This is the item I promised to give to the Manor Lord. Just deliver it to him.”

The jade box contained fifty of the one hundred premium Dragon Nourishing Pills he had made with Supreme Blood Moss and Dragon Brain Jade Mushroom.

Han Sung received the jade box.

“Understood, Young Master.”

After he respectfully bid farewell to the Guyang father and son, he left the secret residence with the warriors carrying the wooden chest.

As the door closed, silence settled over the secret residence.

Guyang Baek looked back and forth between his son and the pile of silver ingots and said.

“I… don’t know what to say.”

Guyang Cheongang answered with a gentle smile.

“Father, this is just the beginning. We need to go much further.”

Guyang Baek silently placed his hand on his son’s shoulder and patted it several times.

That was enough.

* * *

One night, after finishing dinner with his family, Guyang Cheongang crossed the back garden shrouded in silence to return to his quarters in the separate building.

The cold night wind of early winter blew, brushing against his collar and seeping in.

Moonlight poured down through the bare tree branches, casting chaotic shadows on the ground, and dry fallen leaves rustled under his feet.

His eyes caught sight of a woman strolling through the back garden as if taking a walk.

She was Shangguan Wana.

When Guyang Cheongang approached, she sensed his presence and turned her head.

Her face was pale in the moonlight, but her eyes shone as clearly as stars in the night sky.

“Young Master, do you have time for a brief conversation?”

Her voice was calm and somehow sounded similar to Akasha’s.

“Of course, Young Lady.”

The two walked slowly side by side.

The cold silence of night enveloped them both.

It was Shangguan Wana who broke it.

“People in the world say that the Guyang Family Estate wouldn’t last a day and would collapse without Golden Tower Manor’s help.”

Her gaze turned toward the nearby buildings.

Old roof tiles and faded paintwork were revealed forlornly under the moonlight.

“Looking at this place, those words don’t seem entirely groundless. But… it’s strange. I don’t see any despair or frustration in Young Master’s eyes at all. Rather, I sense composure.”

Guyang Cheongang replied with a slight smile.

“Since it’s true that our family would have difficulty surviving without grandfather’s help, I can’t say the rumors are wrong.”

“You know that’s not the point of what I’m saying.”

Shangguan Wana turned her head to look directly into his eyes and continued.

“Young Master doesn’t lie. But you’re not telling the complete truth either. It’s like showing just one piece of a massive iceberg while hiding the rest beneath the surface.”

Guyang Cheongang’s eyes deepened.

‘This woman has extraordinary insight.’

He responded in a calm tone.

“Interesting words. On the day Young Lady fully recovers, let’s discuss again what exactly lies beneath the surface.”

At those words, a faint smile also spread across Shangguan Wana’s lips.

“I’ll wait, Young Master.”

The two exchanged light bows and walked toward their respective quarters.

Guyang Cheongang returned to the separate building and never left the training room except when sleeping and checking on Shangguan Wana’s condition.

In one of the two stone chambers in the training room, the Heavenly Mechanism Pill Furnace he had created operated quietly, continuously producing hundreds of Dragon Nourishing Pills and Yin Dragon Pills each day.

In the other stone chamber, Guyang Cheongang devoted all his heart and strength to martial arts training.

When he closed his eyes and sat in lotus position, his mind entered the virtual training space of the mental world designed by Akasha.

It was an endlessly expanding white space.

According to his will, hundreds of virtual enemies who had mastered supreme martial arts would appear, or dozens of Black Horn Flood Dragons would attack in groups.

Guyang Cheongang refined the Sacred Beast Secret Transmission and the Five Ultimate Techniques of the Nine Dragons Ten Thousand Mountains Diagram in that place where one day was like dozens or hundreds of years in reality.

While his mind wandered through the virtual space, Akasha perfectly imprinted all martial arts onto his body according to the ‘Musculoskeletal Control System’.

Whoooosh-!

His body movement technique, the Heavenly Meteor Movement Technique, swept through the stone chamber like a streak of lightning, then suddenly shifted to Flash Step and Nine Palace Maze Step as he glided across the floor.

Sometimes his hands followed the principles of the Dragon Subduing Golden Binding Technique, gripping imaginary enemies like dragon claws, and sometimes his palms unleashed storm-like Gale Chain Palm strikes that mercilessly pounded them.

Thud thud thud thud thud thud bang!

Cold energy filled the space, and blue aura swirled around his body.

This phenomenon occurred because the mastery of the Transcendent Impermanence Divine Art was also deepening day by day.

Such training that pushed mind and body to their limits was accompanied by tremendous consumption of internal energy and vitality.

Conveniently, the adjacent stone chamber had jars full of Dragon Nourishing Pills with the best vitality enhancement effects.

However, Guyang Cheongang didn’t touch them. No, he didn’t even think to look at them in the first place.

[Doctor, if you take the Dragon Nourishing Pills, you’ll recover faster from exhaustion.]

‘I won’t eat them.’

[That’s not a wise choice.]

‘Absolutely not. It’s a very wise choice.’

[Why is that?]

‘Because for a man without a lover, Dragon Nourishing Pills are like poison.’

[I cannot understand what you’re saying.]

‘Just let it go, there’s an adult world you can’t understand.’

[…I cannot understand. That statement is a variable that doesn’t match my logic circuits. I’ll store the data under the ‘incomprehensible adult circumstances’ category for now.]

Sometimes frivolous conversations occurred, but as he grew stronger, Akasha also grew alongside him.

[Doctor’s internal energy quantity and purity have increased by 0.5%. Due to this, my computational efficiency has also improved by 1.2%. Now I can raise the simulation precision of virtual training by another level.]

As Guyang Cheongang’s internal energy surpassed the realm of one jiazi, the amount of nanobots Akasha could operate and her external activity range also increased dramatically.

Her superintelligence was slowly but surely recovering the original abilities lost during dimensional travel.

The two of them(?) entered a perfect virtuous cycle structure where they helped each other’s growth.

* * *

On a day when the year had changed and winter was deepening.

Guyang Cheongang, who rarely showed himself while going between the separate building and training room, headed to Guyang Baek’s study as he watched the western sky turn red.

“Come in.”

Sitting face to face in the study, Guyang Baek felt an incomparable depth and gravity in his son’s face compared to before.

His appearance was still that of a slender, handsome young man, but the aura contained within was like a deep sea whose end could not be fathomed.

“It seems your achievements were not small.”

“It’s thanks to Father’s consideration.”

“You look like you have something you want to say. Go ahead, speak.”

Guyang Cheongang opened his mouth.

“The sales of Dragon Nourishing Pills and Yin Dragon pills are showing good results, so the funds needed for the family estate reconstruction will be sufficiently prepared before long. But that alone is not enough. To completely protect our family from the threat of Golden Tower Manor led by grandfather, we must secure sufficient military power and reputation to match it.”

Guyang Baek nodded silently.

Deep shadows fell across his face.

How could he not know?

For martial families, reputation and military power were matters directly connected to the family’s survival.

“You’re right. Without those things, everything we’ve built up would just be a castle in the air.”

He continued with a heavy expression.

“But Gang-a, that problem is not something we can do anything about right now. We’ve already lost too much, and too much time has passed.”

Deep regret was contained in his voice.

For the first time, he was bringing out the family’s wounds that he had carried alone for decades in front of his now fully grown son.

Guyang Cheongang looked at him with intense eyes and said.

“There’s something I’d like to discuss with you to solve that problem.”

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