Emperor Namgung Mu of the Thousand Years - Chapter 30

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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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#030

-Clatter, clatter….

The road to the Sacheon Tang Family was treacherous.

Moreover, I gained unexpected benefits from using the golden carriage.

In Anhui, there was originally a high-speed passage that only core members of the Namgung Family could use, and the checkpoints were guarded by soldiers with complicated procedures.

But that was-.

“Loyalty!”

“That, that’s the Deputy Master’s! Loyalty…!”

The golden carriage was so blindingly shiny that it could be seen from hundreds of li away, and as it passed, people would bow so enthusiastically that they’d let it through unconditionally without any additional verification procedures.

“So this is why the Sword Masters told me to take the carriage.”

I hadn’t known this either.

I thought it simply meant to enjoy the comfort of the carriage, but I didn’t realize it was a double meaning telling me to use the Namgung Family’s roads that I normally wouldn’t be able to use at my current level.

On top of that, for some reason I couldn’t understand, a letter arrived just before departure.

The Deputy Master who received the letter had his face crumple as he said,

‘From an encouraging standpoint, I was originally going to have them take you only to the Anhui border, but I’ll pass down word to take you to the entrance of Sichuan instead.’

Then he went inside.

I don’t know what that letter was about.

However, what was truly good for me was that I could travel this long distance very comfortably and conveniently.

-Knock knock.

The carriage door was carefully tapped.

“Young Master. It’s the time you requested.”

“Already?”

At the coachman’s words, I unfolded my cross-legged position and went outside.

It was already the tenth day since we departed on our journey.

When I started this trip, I told the coachman one absolute principle he had to follow.

‘Once every two to three hours. No matter what happens, no matter what I’m doing, you must inform me without fail.’

They said it would take approximately fifteen days to reach the Sacheon Tang Family by carriage.

This comfortable personal time that no one could disturb was like gold to me.

And most importantly for me,

‘Personal time away from the Namgung Family’s gaze where I could build my own capabilities.’

It was also that.

One of the three core reasons why I chose to go to the Sacheon Tang Family.

Deputy Master Namgung Seong-tae mentioned as a disadvantage that he wouldn’t send an ‘official document’ about my visit to the Sacheon Tang Family.

And speaking as the Deputy Master, he was almost certain that I would inevitably be turned away at the gate, unable to even see the family head’s face, let alone investigate the truth about the current mine issue.

But setting aside meeting the family head, what I immediately thought of upon hearing that was something else entirely.

If no official document was being sent, then like any common messenger, there was no need to rush there frantically pressed for time.

I earnestly requested the coachman to take what would normally be a fifteen-day journey to the entrance of the Sacheon Tang Family, but to eat every two to three hours and stop sharply to make camp whenever even a hint of twilight appeared, not even waiting for sunset.

The additional time secured this way was exactly double – another fifteen days.

A total of one month.

Thus I gained a legitimate month of personal training time, undisturbed by anyone, with justification, and completely legal.

I ate every two to three hours, and during camping, after putting the coachman to sleep, I trained alone nearby.

Though I call it training, there was nothing special about it.

I worked to prevent what I ate from becoming fat, and repeated nine types of conditioning so my internal energy would be absorbed. Among these, this month I focused more on organizing my internal energy rather than physical conditioning.

The Bukmyeong Singong I created modeled the circulation techniques of Taihumuji Cultivation for blood circulation. While Taihumuji Cultivation was weak in accumulating internal power, no first-rate mental cultivation method could match it for harmonizing different energies and mental stability and recovery. Bukmyeong Singong also resembled those roots.

I used repeated practice of Bukmyeong Singong to heal my body, exhausted from intense training and insufficient sleep. I repeatedly gathered the faint energy from the void to awaken my blood circulation, then carried it to the abyss-like Buk Hai. The natural energy wasn’t enough to increase my internal power, but it was sufficient as a catalyst for managing my energy circulation.

To emphasize again, Bukmyeong Singong was a hastily created martial art, so it was precarious like a sand castle. Though my master praised that he’d never seen such adaptability in his lifetime, the unstable gaps seemed ready to collapse at any moment.

So I devoted this entire month solely to managing and stabilizing Bukmyeong Singong, and above all, to physical growth and conditioning.

“I’ve set down your bundle in advance.”

Without me saying anything, the coachman was already taking out one of the bundles I had pre-divided and setting it on the ground.

“Sorry for the trouble.”

“Oh no, not at all. Thanks to this, I get to rest too.”

-Thud.

What I took out from the heavily divided bundle was dried beef, pork, and fish that I had requested through Wu Biaoyun. Along with rice balls made from steamed mixed grains. Finally, plum syrup in a clay jar.

I sat down carelessly on the ground and stuffed it into my mouth.

Rather than eating a delicious meal, it looked like I was shoveling feed into my mouth.

It wasn’t prepared in large quantities with taste in mind from the start, and since oils that would enhance the meat’s flavor were removed, it was dry and not of good quality.

Even the coachman, who had initially shown interest because it was meat, tried the food I offered him once, then dry-heaved and would rather eat pickled radish pieces and salted rice than show any interest in my food.

“But… Young Master.”

“Hmm?”

“If I may be so bold.”

The coachman watched me continue eating for a while, then spoke carefully.

“Isn’t it… painful?”

“…Ugh.”

As if on cue, I dry-heaved right when the coachman spoke to me.

I should be used to it by now, but since I had recently increased my meal portions again, my stomach, which had always been weak, was rejecting it once more.

Feeling the cold sweat trickling down the back of my neck, I suppressed what was rising up my throat.

Then I started putting food in my mouth again.

“The amount you eat in one sitting is enormous, and to keep repeating that continuously… I thought it might be too much for you. After meals, every evening while I sleep, you train intensely, don’t you?”

“….”

“Still, you’re amazing. I’m ignorant so I don’t know, but eating is also training, right? Seeing you continuously do such difficult things is truly admirable. As expected, martial artists are incredible. Cool too. Since you do it like a habit, you’ve gotten used to it, and unlike us, it’s probably not painful for you anymore, right?”

“….”

It was also because of what I felt keenly while watching Sword Master Baekrang and Sword Master Hwirong at the Secret Banquet.

‘As expected, I’m disadvantaged from my very frame.’

Reality is unfair.

Reality is unreasonable.

The world is divided into two types.

Those who deny it and constantly turn away, or those who accept it and struggle somehow to overcome it even by an ant’s tear, even if it results in futile effort, at least struggling out of indignation.

I’m naturally the latter.

No, I was originally the former, but after burning to death, I changed to the latter.

My current body somehow began consuming food faster than in my previous life, and there was a world of difference from the past when I was restricted in meal portions, so my body was certainly growing, but I know my own limits.

From the top of my head to the bones in my toes, compared to martial artists who seem to exist for martial arts, my body’s frame is truly shabby and lacking.

I’m somewhat short in height, and there are limits to containing absolute muscle mass.

So rather than complaining about it, I tried to fill that frame with the maximum density I could achieve.

That was the direction I could survive.

Worry?

I don’t worry.

I survived and lived through a thousand life-and-death battles even in my previous life with a body more pathetic and frail than this, and above all, without any internal energy.

“…The feeling of pain.”

I stacked the empty dishes I had finished eating. After barely finishing the plum syrup, I closed the lid and spoke quietly.

“…There’s no way I’ll get used to it.”

***

And so the thirtieth day passed.

The Sichuan Tang Family was right before my eyes.

I deliberately slowed my pace to create one more day, even though I could arrive immediately if I hurried.

‘Before going to the Sichuan Tang Family, to make complete preparations, I should definitely—.’

As I entered the carriage, I spoke to the coachman.

“From now on, I have something to concentrate on inside the carriage. Don’t call me unless it’s truly urgent. Especially don’t disturb me even if the carriage shakes.”

“Understood.”

“And just in case.”

I hesitated for a moment.

I thought, surely that wouldn’t happen.

But I also thought it was too quiet.

“If, though it’s really unlikely, but just if.”

Outside was growing dark.

In the distance, red twilight was spreading.

“…Young master?”

“If someone approaches this carriage steadily, ring the small bell attached next to the carriage door with all your might. I’ll come rushing out immediately.”

“…The bell…?”

The coachman looked around in confusion.

“But this is the most remote of remote places.”

“I think so too.”

I mobilized all my experience as an assassin.

Among all the routes we had traveled so far, this was the place with the least probability of people appearing.

I hoped my worry was just excessive concern.

“It probably won’t happen, but just in case. If you ring the bell, I’ll come rushing out immediately.”

“If you say so, young master… Yes. Of course.”

I close the carriage door.

I take a deep breath.

‘Although absorbing the Imperial One-Thousand-Cycle Pill is urgent, for a fundamental solution, I must first test this.’

As soon as I finished organizing my body and Bukmyeong Singong, what I took out was a bundle of silver needles.

At the same time, I check the total amount of internal energy I had risked my life to gather.

“About one and a half jiazi….”

Certainly an overwhelming amount compared to my previous life. Incomparably so.

But at the same time, I feel an even greater thirst.

Rather than looking down for mental comfort, I look up at the world above where I’m likely to cause friction.

The biggest example being the heirs of prestigious families and sects around my age.

They live surrounded by various benefits like superior mental cultivation methods, first-class elixirs, and training grounds overflowing with spiritual energy from before their bodies even harden, from when they’re crawling.

For them, this level would be easily surpassable.

Moreover, if you add the greatest advantage of prestigious forces—internal energy inherited from previous generations….

Any further comparison becomes meaningless.

‘But it doesn’t matter.’

I didn’t know what kind of beings I would encounter.

But assuming the worst I could think of, I needed my own method to crush those with overwhelming prestigious family backgrounds and natural constitutions.

But how?

I don’t have first-class martial arts passed down as family secrets.

Even if I could make up for the inevitable difference in internal energy due to background differences with Bukmyeong Singong,

Bukmyeong Singong ultimately isn’t for the direct purpose of subduing someone either.

If I continue like this, being defeated someday is a foregone conclusion.

I need a turning point.

“Is this really… possible?”

The method I’m thinking of now is an answer that only I, uniquely an assassin by origin in this world, can apply.

A method that only I, who has the divine art called Bukmyeong Singong based in the danjeon of Buk Hai, can use.

My master said.

The desperate one digs the well.

No one else in this world will do it for you.

There’s no other martial artist in my situation.

In the end, only I can save myself, and only I won’t give up on myself.

A method I could attempt when outside like this, without any outsider’s gaze.

My own method to catch up to martial artists who are already far ahead.

“…Let’s try it.”

A way to simultaneously pursue traditional growth as a martial artist in this life and unconventional growth as an assassin from my previous life.

If my thinking is correct,

Through this training, based on Bukmyeong Singong, I would definitely gain my own answer for confronting advanced martial artists on my martial path.

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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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