Emperor Namgung Mu of the Thousand Years - Chapter 107

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

#107

The training I’m doing now to control the degree of internal energy output using flowers also has an aspect of dealing with the pressure of internal energy that has become too rapidly intense and strong.

“My lord, it’s time to take your medicine.”

And the method I thought of this time to strengthen Pasabeolsik.

Extreme poison presented every hour.

Made at Mount Cheonju, it’s an extreme poison that would immediately paralyze the five senses of others who consume it and turn them into cripples. I deliberately damage my body with this and put strain on the blood ceremony.

Whether it’s because of Dangcheonswaeya, the divine artifact of the Sichuan Tang Family, or thanks to my changed body, I don’t know, but even when I put in fairly strong poison, my body immediately adapts and expels it, and my recovery speed is getting faster.

Even though I’m pouring in medicine that reverses Pasabeolsik every six hours to put continuous strain on it, I get detoxified every time, so I might need to shorten that cycle.

Of course, separate from recovery, the agony and pain that accompanies that process of self-torture remained the same.

I never got used to it at all.

In this infinite series of self-torture, I would dry heave every time as if vomiting up my internal organs like a pregnant woman’s morning sickness, and sometimes I would crawl around on all fours and roll about.

This time was no different.

“Urgh…”

I feel dizzy as soon as I take the medicine.

I feel like I’m going to vomit.

But…

I forced myself to straighten my complexion and walked.

“…I know better than anyone that you hate relying on others.”

It was a hill with a bright spring breeze blowing.

Guk walked alongside me, then pretended not to notice and said while looking at the distant blue sky.

“If it’s really difficult, you can lean on me while walking for a moment.”

“No need. How embarrassing.”

I stagger but walk slowly.

Guk watched this intently, then suddenly said.

“…The fact that you always work so hard like this. That you want to progress. All that sincerity… someone will recognize it someday.”

“Suddenly?”

I looked at him and smiled at words so unlike Guk.

“Guk always says the right things, but that last bit seems like the biggest nonsense.”

“Is that so?”

“From what I’ve experienced, the world always acts like it doesn’t know even when you give your all. Only in the stories of gossipmongers do they say the world recognizes you.”

Guk replied without hesitation.

“Then this time, let me recognize it at least. Isn’t that enough?”

“…What?”

“You’re speechless, right? So while you’re usually right about everything, this time you’re wrong and I’m right. I won.”

Only belatedly did I realize from that awkward answer so unlike Guk.

He had exaggeratedly said things he wouldn’t normally say to encourage me.

If he was going to do it, he should have done it properly, but after saying it, he kept watching my reaction, probably worried that he had spoken too exaggeratedly and presumptuously.

“…I’m speechless. You, Wu Biaoyun, Senior Brother Seo… why are you all so out of your minds?”

“Who knows. What’s certain is that I’m the most normal one. Don’t worry. I’ll guard the last bastion of sanity by your side.”

“… … …”

I laughed silently.

“Right. In that sense, watch.”

I pointed ahead.

I can see the huge circular tent that was our destination, which I had only confirmed on the map.

“How I’m going to devour that thing in one go.”

“And recover the money as you mentioned earlier?”

“Yeah. I have to get it back.”

I looked at Guk.

“Paying several silver certificates upfront to catch such rotten things is complete nonsense, isn’t it?”

***

Amtu-jang.

From the outside, it looked like a yellow earth-colored building with white tents wrapped around it like a roof.

That appearance was reminiscent of the cargo warehouses commonly set up by bureaus of seals.

Indeed, goods were piled up around the perimeter and there were street vendors doing business, so if you looked without interest, you would think it was just a building in a market, one of the markets leading inside.

But if you look closely, there’s something heterogeneous about it.

The number of people going in.

Compared to the scale of the building shown on the outside, the number of people going in was overwhelmingly large, so it was inappropriate to consider it a common inner market connected to a marketplace.

The same goes for the two large men standing side by side at the entrance, checking people’s identities one by one.

“Welcome. I’ve heard everything from the master. I’m Sunbi, in charge of management here.”

The manager came out and greeted us.

Whether she had been thoroughly instructed, she deliberately didn’t mention my name and didn’t add any unnecessary words.

Along with the thick bundle of papers in her hand, she led us inside.

“I’ll explain about the handover as we go. I’ll guide you, so follow me. Clear the way.”

At Sunbi’s words, the guards quickly cleared the path.

“This place was made into a warehouse eight years ago, then several people from the black martial arts circle gathered to create it, which my master confiscated and developed. Starting from over there, I managed everything one by one…”

I walked along the long corridor while listening to the manager’s explanation.

At the end of the grayish-white dusty corridor was a long staircase, and from there, the cool and chilly air characteristic of underground spaces blew up.

-Waaah…!

Huge noise and people’s cheers could be heard.

The ceiling seemed to have holes drilled from the building’s roof, with circular lighting pouring down brightly.

Under that flash of light was a huge plaza covered with sand.

In the center where white sand was spread, groups of five were divided and engaged in fierce combat.

They were fighting with Yellow Dragon and Black Dragon energy wrapped around their bodies.

Blood splattered from all directions and the metallic sound of steel rang out.

As the fight intensified, the sound echoing from the surrounding spectator seats grew increasingly fierce.

Looking down at everything from one side, Sunbi continued speaking.

“…so the related explanation ends here and everything I’ve conveyed to you is finished. Please stamp here… the ownership related to this place is precisely from tomorrow. The underground fighting competition unfolding before your eyes right now is a setup led and created by our master, so naturally as you know, until today the related profits, stakes, and funds belong to the original owner. What was sold was only the ownership of the fighting arena and the relevant personnel.”

“So the current operating funds and such belong to your former master until now, and all of that will be withdrawn at once tomorrow?”

“Exactly. You knew that, right?”

“Of course.”

I looked down at the match.

Guk said beside me.

“Anyone can see Yellow Dragon is overwhelming.”

While saying that, another Black Dragon member dies.

I narrowed my eyes.

‘…If they plan it like this, business can’t be going well.’

It’s too overwhelming.

Even among the five members of the Black Dragon team getting destroyed, two who have already fallen are clutching iron nets.

Having used iron nets extensively during my assassin days, I knew their power better than anyone.

If you somehow throw it nearby, movement gets blocked, and then you can just stab randomly, so its utility is beyond description.

In other words, unless there’s a considerable difference in skill, it could reduce the fun of such underground fighting matches, so it would be right to prohibit it.

The problem was that not just one, but two people were allowed to use those iron nets, and to make matters worse, the Black Dragon Faction handling those iron nets was being brutally destroyed.

The Golden Dragon Faction was holding only short daggers that were even shorter than ordinary swords.

“…Sunbi, was it?”

“Yes.”

“You know the relationship between your master and me, right?”

Sunbi spoke carefully.

“I only heard that you are a younger brother he particularly cherishes.”

“Right. Anyway, I already heard the details from your master before coming here today, but I wanted to hear the perspective of the person in charge of this site directly.”

Of course, naturally, I hadn’t met Namgung Taejin separately since the deal.

But a middle manager wouldn’t have double-checked such facts with their superior one by one.

And by what I just said, the middle manager would feel less burdened about telling the truth and wouldn’t lie.

My outward appearance right now is clearly someone who already knows everything and is doing a double-check – a person with real power and a younger brother personally cherished by the former owner.

“The cash flow and operations of this place. It’s not very profitable, is it? My brother has been worrying a lot. Even though I’m taking over, I could see him subtly worrying about it during our conversation today.”

Sunbi hesitated for a moment, then confessed honestly.

“Since you already know everything, I’ll tell you… This place certainly was profitable, but that was until last year. Of course, it’s not at a loss even now, but the rate of decline is so steep that becoming a burden is just a matter of time. If you look at the audience now, they’re sparse, but originally they were packed tight like growing bean sprouts.”

…Namgung Taejin.

I expected it. But as expected, you pig bastard are consistent as always. Well, there’s no way you’d hand over a business premises that’s earning money, even if just a tiny bit, to me.

And you’d carefully take away even the remaining funds that were here.

Right. Well, the contract also states that only the operating rights and people of this place are being transferred, so that’s natural.

And I also thought about that and prepared for today.

“About those underground fighting matches. The Golden Dragon Faction looks particularly skilled – are they the ones my brother mentioned that he owns?”

“Yes. And they are also the problem.”

Sunbi explained without hesitation.

In the early days of the underground fighting arena, they indiscriminately bought people from the black market, purchased those in urgent need of money, or gathered wandering warriors to make them fight. And for entertainment, they threw them low-grade martial arts manuals to practice, and to boost motivation, they gave out cheap inner pills to those who achieved a certain number of consecutive wins.

The problem was that there were no issues at all in the first year or two of this process.

No matter how skilled someone was, they would die in the repeated life-and-death battles, and then be replaced with new people.

The problem that began to emerge in this system was after more than eight years of maintaining it.

Just like ants that fall into an ant hell die and die until one or two survive and crawl out, fighting dogs that stopped dying began to accumulate in this hell as well.

Of course, even those accumulating fighting dogs died one or two at a time, but once they started piling up, the pace gradually increased, and now ordinary opponents would just get smashed as soon as they faced them.

Belatedly, the underground fighting arena tried to separate them and make them fight each other to death, but after one or two attempts, when the remaining audience violently protested during the declining attendance, they couldn’t even attempt such measures afterward.

Should I call it rotten pus?

Unable to do this or that, before they knew it, forty from the Golden Dragon Faction alone were being maintained as survivors of this infinite hell of life-and-death battles.

“I heard it was fifty? Those five must have been selected from among the existing skilled ones.”

“Out of the total fifty, about ten are those with relatively lower skill levels even within the Golden Dragon Faction, and their numbers always fluctuate up and down. This place is, no matter what anyone says, an arena of life-and-death battles. But the forty from the Golden Dragon Faction are truly elite, and their membership hasn’t changed since four years ago.”

“Hmm.”

I looked down below and smiled with satisfaction.

“Is that so?”

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