Almighty God of War - Chapter 51

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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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051

Guyang Baek asked.

“Consultation? What do you mean?”

“Before that, let me first explain why I brought up this topic.”

Guyang Cheongang continued in a calm tone.

“Raising the family’s reputation is indeed something that requires more time. It’s also something we need to proceed with while taking the long view.”

“I agree.”

“But I think military power is a bit different. Considering Golden Tower Manor, we need to secure it as quickly as possible.”

“I share the same thought. But that’s also not something that can be resolved in a short time, is it?”

“I saw brief mentions of branch families and family warriors from the time of the Great War between Orthodox and Demonic sects in the family’s library. I want to know about them.”

“Hmm…”

A quiet groan escaped from the flustered Guyang Baek’s lips.

He had never even thought that Guyang Cheongang would know of their existence.

A brief silence fell over the room.

Whiiiiing-

Outside the window, the bleak winter wind brushed against the old window frame of the study and howled low.

“Sigh… I didn’t know you would be interested in them.”

He let out a long sigh and revealed the family’s wounds that had been buried in his heart for decades.

“Among the four branch families, three – Bongsin, Anui, and Yeogang – collapsed without a trace in the Great War between Orthodox and Demonic sects. The remaining head of Payang family… severed ties with us over ten years ago.”

“Was it betrayal?”

“Can we call that betrayal? I don’t think so. They were just struggling to survive in their own way.”

“It was because of grandfather.”

Guyang Baek nodded with a bitter expression and answered.

“That’s right. The current family head Du Weiping thinks that helping the main family is a foolish act that would incur Golden Tower Manor’s displeasure. However, I heard that the former family head Du Jeongkwang still hasn’t forgotten his loyalty to the main family.”

He continued in a heavy tone.

“During the Great War between Orthodox and Demonic sects, over ninety percent of the main family’s warriors also perished. The twenty or so surviving veteran masters, knowing that your late grandfather couldn’t afford to take them in, all scattered into Gangho.”

His eyes darkened as he continued speaking.

“Their leader, Master Geonkon Ilsu Ju Pyo, swore that he would never again drive young disciples like his own children into meaningless death, and vowed ‘I will never take up a sword again until the family proves its true qualification to rise again,’ then disappeared without a trace.”

The realistic distrust of branch families and family warriors who were disappointed in the main family and scattered.

That was the current state of the fallen Guyang Family Estate.

Guyang Cheongang felt a corner of his heart grow heavy as he looked at his father’s weary shoulders.

“Father, please entrust both of those problems to me. I will definitely resolve them.”

“Gang-a, that’s nearly impossible. Master Ju has been missing for decades, and Du Weiping, the head of Du family, has no intention of submitting to us again.”

But Guyang Cheongang was not disappointed.

“I will prove my qualifications to them. That being with Guyang Family Estate is much safer and more beneficial than each of them surviving on their own.”

Guyang Baek’s gaze deepened.

He was now realizing that the person who would lead Guyang Family Estate was not himself, but his son before him.

He slowly but firmly nodded his head.

“If you’re so confident, I too will trust your will. But the weight of the family is too heavy for you to bear alone. Remember that you have a father behind you.”

“Yes, Father.”

A smile appeared on Guyang Cheongang’s lips as he felt Guyang Baek’s complete trust.

Guyang Cheongi’s face flashed through his mind.

The boy was sweating profusely every day, studying both literary and martial arts to fulfill his duties as the young family head.

‘Cheongi, the Guyang Family Estate you will inherit in the future will no longer be a precarious sandcastle that could collapse at any moment. I will pass down to you a family estate standing on solid bedrock that no one would dare covet.’

It was a silent vow from an older brother to his younger brother.

After leaving the study, Guyang Cheongang went to find Shangguan Wana in the separate building.

In the main hall, Yeom Pung was guarding by her side like a shadow as always.

Shangguan Wana’s face, with over ninety percent of her internal and external injuries healed through recuperation, no longer showed any signs of illness.

“Young Master, today isn’t the scheduled day for treatment. What brings you here?”

When Shangguan Wana asked with a puzzled expression, Guyang Cheongang took out a golden silk pouch and a silver jade box from his chest and placed them on the table.

“These are new spiritual pills I personally developed based on a recent fortuitous encounter. They are called Dragon Nourishing Pill and Yin Dragon Pill.”

After briefly explaining the effects of the two spiritual pills, he looked straight into her eyes and brought up the main point.

“I want to entrust the sale of these spiritual pills to you, Young Lady, not to Golden Tower Manor.”

Shangguan Wana’s eyes widened.

Guyang Cheongang’s words contained significant meaning.

‘Not to the manor but to me personally? This person sees me not simply as the manor lord’s daughter, but as an equal business partner to lead this venture together.’

She realized the meaning contained in the protagonist’s proposal and felt thrilled and overwhelming emotions.

However, she didn’t show it outwardly.

She was, after all, the daughter of one of the Five Great Merchants Under Heaven.

Shangguan Wana looked at Guyang Cheongang with an indifferent gaze that made her thoughts hard to read and spoke.

“Why would Young Master entrust this tremendous business to me personally rather than to a trading company? Have I ever shown you anything that would earn your trust?”

“Because during the initial treatment, Young Lady chose to trust me and entrust your body to me despite Hero Yeom’s dissuasion. I want to work with someone who has such boldness and decisiveness.”

“Ah… hmm…”

After being lost in thought for a moment, Shangguan Wana spoke.

“Young Master’s proposal is truly groundbreaking. But I cannot proceed with a contract based solely on your words. May I give you an answer after first confirming the efficacy of these spiritual pills?”

“Of course.”

Guyang Cheongang handed the spiritual pills on the table to her and Yeom Pung as if he had been waiting for this.

“You don’t need to worry about side effects. They’ve already been verified.”

“Wan-a, just in case, let this old man test it first.”

Yeom Pung stepped forward first, but Shangguan Wana raised her hand to stop him.

“No, Uncle Yeom. How could I doubt medicine given by my life’s benefactor? I will verify it myself.”

She put one Yin Dragon Pill in her mouth without hesitation.

Yeom Pung also followed her will and took the Dragon Nourishing Pill.

Two days later.

Shangguan Wana’s face, as she sat across from him again in the separate building, was burning with hot ambition as a businesswoman.

Yeom Pung, a peak master, couldn’t contain his amazement at the miraculous sensation of the very fine impurities mixed in his internal energy being washed away and one blocked qi circulation path being completely cleared with just one pill.

Shangguan Wana also directly experienced the effect of even the faint traces of internal injuries remaining between her heart meridians disappearing and her skin gaining luster.

She bowed her head deeply toward Guyang Cheongang.

“Young Master, I apologize for doubting the value of these spiritual pills. I’ve confirmed that their effects far exceed the level I had anticipated.”

Her intensely shining eyes were full of the ambition of a great merchant developing business across All Under Heaven.

“I will take responsibility for this business and proceed with it. Young Master, please focus only on production. Our Golden Tower Manor will block any external storms, whatever they may be.”

Yeom Pung added.

“Young Master, once our Golden Tower Manor makes a promise, we keep it with our lives.”

Shangguan Wana asked Guyang Cheongang.

“How are you thinking about profit distribution?”

Guyang Cheongang’s answer was concise.

“Seventy-thirty. I take seventy, Young Lady takes thirty.”

Shangguan Wana knew that his proposal, having monopolized the technology, was by no means excessive, so she accepted without complaint.

“I will inform Young Master as soon as the business plan is finalized.”

“I’ll wait.”

Thus, Guyang Cheongang gained the most powerful and reliable alliance needed to introduce the Dragon Nourishing Pill and Yin Dragon Pill to the world.

Even after the contract with Shangguan Wana was concluded, Guyang Cheongang did not leave Guyang Family Estate for several days.

He planned to move only after seeing her establish a perfect business plan and leave the family estate.

Guyang Cheongang secluded himself in his quarters again and entered his own training.

Outwardly, he appeared to simply be closing his eyes and practicing energy circulation and breath control.

But his mind was in the virtual training space that Akasha had materialized in his mental world, continuously repeating training equivalent to decades in reality.

Even without directly moving his body, the nanobots could stimulate his musculoskeletal system and neural networks to achieve effects equal to, or even greater than, training in an actual training room.

At the same time, he began earnestly working on improving the four martial arts that remained in the Guyang Family after the Great War between Orthodox and Demonic forces: the Transcendent Heart Method, Infinite Thirteen Forms, Infinite Thirty-Six Swords, and Wind Wall Seventy-Two Wave Sword.

That day too, after finishing his training and opening his eyes, Guyang Cheongang became lost in thoughts about the Nine Dragons Ten Thousand Mountains Diagram.

‘Strange… I feel something off about the Five Ultimate Techniques.’

In his mind, the single sword mark he had seen in the underground cave came vividly to mind.

‘That sword mark derived infinite variations from a single ‘intent.’ But these Five Ultimate Techniques are each too perfectly independent. It feels like looking at a tree with no roots but only flourishing branches. Something tells me there’s a more fundamental secret hidden that encompasses all of this.’

Wanting to confirm his intuition, he spoke to Akasha.

‘Akasha, analyze the total energy data of the original Nine Dragons Ten Thousand Mountains Diagram. I want to check if there’s any surplus data we haven’t interpreted yet.’

[Understood, Doctor. Now that your internal energy has broken through one jiazi, my computational ability can also perform deep analysis that was previously impossible. Beginning reanalysis now.]

After a moment, Akasha spoke in a perplexed voice.

[Analysis complete… Your hypothesis was correct, Doctor.]

‘Really? There was surplus data?’

[Yes. Even excluding the data for the Five Ultimate Techniques, the original Nine Dragons Ten Thousand Mountains Diagram still contains approximately 12.7% of high-density encrypted data layers that we couldn’t interpret before. This painting has other information beyond martial arts hidden within it that we don’t know about yet.]

‘What do you mean?’

[It seems like another picture is hidden beneath the painting.]

‘A hidden picture?’

Guyang Cheongang’s heart began to race.

[Yes. I will now begin three-dimensional reconstruction and projection of that hidden data!]

With Akasha’s words, the Nine Dragons Ten Thousand Mountains Diagram unfolded in his mental world.

Then the hundreds of millions of dots and lines that formed the picture decomposed and recombined, creating a completely different image.

It was a map of incomparable precision at first glance, showing mountains and rivers, along with specific terrain and buildings marked.

And in the center of that map, a strange symbol of indiscernible form was clearly carved!

Akasha’s voice trembled thinly, unlike her usual self.

[…Doctor, this Nine Dragons Ten Thousand Mountains Diagram… has a very high possibility of being one of the four lost pieces of the treasure map that the Heavenly Martial Emperor left behind.]

“…!”

Guyang Cheongang swallowed his breath.

Goosebumps rose all over his body.

The Nine Dragons Ten Thousand Mountains Diagram that had been both the curse and hope of his family.

Its true identity was actually a piece of the legendary treasure map that Dong Hyeondo had spent his entire life searching for.

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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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