Heaven-Defying Hero - Chapter 6
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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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#006
Ja-gang-cheon realized throughout their journey just how fortunate it was to travel with Cheon-gu.
“Wow. So this is pickpocketing.”
“It’s nothing to be impressed about.”
This happened in a village they briefly stopped at.
Children who had been begging suddenly swarmed them, shouting ‘Give us a coin!’ to confuse their minds. In that gap, a young man in his twenties approached and tried to steal the pouch at his waist.
Ja-gang-cheon wasn’t one to let that happen. He twisted the approaching hand and knocked the man to the ground, then asked Cheon-gu.
“Is it a crime worthy of death?”
“Not quite.”
Crack!
Ja-gang-cheon settled for breaking his arm. At that sight, the children scattered in terror.
That wasn’t all.
There were also thieves targeting the cart they left at the inn. Thanks to that, Ja-gang-cheon had to sleep on top of the cart.
“Dad was right.”
“What did he say?”
“The Martial Arts World is a place where you can get your nose cut off even with your eyes open. You must always keep your wits about you.”
“What did your mother say?”
“It’s the fault of the one who got cut.”
“Your mother is wise.”
It wasn’t all bad things.
“Hey there, unfamiliar young man! Come over here!”
Some brazen middle-aged woman called Ja-gang-cheon over and put a jujube in his mouth.
“Wow!”
“Delicious, right? Give me one kiss and I could give you five more!”
The surrounding merchants burst into laughter at the middle-aged woman’s words as she thrust her cheek forward.
Even Ja-gang-cheon knew it was a joke, so he laughed along and played along.
“Good! I’m in a good mood! Take one more!”
“Thank you!”
He later put the jujube he received into Cheon-gu’s mouth.
Though they were traveling busily, sometimes they ate fine dishes at inns.
“We’ll have the five-spice pork and beef noodles with lots of garnish!”
It was the dish he had promised to eat first when his parents went to an inn.
“I miss my parents.”
Suddenly, longing rushed over him and his chest ached. Before that feeling could deepen, Ja-gang-cheon shouted.
“It’s okay! Everything will work out! Right?”
“Who knows that.”
For Cheon-gu, the five-spice pork he was trying for the first time was more important.
***
Though they moved quite busily, it took over two weeks just to leave Shandong Province. No matter how experienced Cheon-gu was, traveling long distances while pulling a cart was never easy.
“From this mountain on, it’s Henan Province.”
Following the main road, they stopped moving around noon.
After briefly satisfying their hunger with jerky, they looked around and entered nearby grassland.
Since they had to guard the cart, they couldn’t go deep and only hid their bodies in a place where the grass grew tall.
“Alright. Let’s do it here.”
“The debt of gratitude I owe has doubled.”
“We’re friends now, aren’t we? Father said friends don’t keep accounts with each other.”
They had agreed three days ago while camping, saying ‘Alright. Let’s be friends.’ Actually, it was Ja-gang-cheon’s proposal that Cheon-gu finally accepted.
“Even if we’re friends, I’ve received too much one-sidedly. I’ll repay you one by one in the future, so I’ll gratefully accept this for now.”
After Cheon-gu recorded today’s matter in his mental ledger of favors, he sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.
“Focus on reciting the internal energy cultivation method until you feel the energy moving. When something moves, don’t resist it and let it flow along your energy channels. Moving it by will is the next stage, so don’t try to force it.”
Cheon-gu was learning internal energy cultivation from Ja-gang-cheon.
It was Ja-gang-cheon who first proposed it, and Cheon-gu, who had longed for martial arts, didn’t refuse.
“Take your time.”
Ja-gang-cheon patiently helped Cheon-gu’s training. When half a shichen had passed, Cheon-gu’s body trembled greatly, then he burst into exclamation and opened his eyes.
“Ah! It moved!”
It was the first time he felt something called internal energy.
“How is it? Interesting?”
At the question like a child sharing a toy, Cheon-gu nodded.
“But I was so surprised that I moved.”
Cheon-gu rubbed his lower abdomen with regret.
“It’s okay. Just do it again.”
Ja-gang-cheon stood up from his spot.
“Wait a moment.”
He went down to the cart and returned with a box.
“Try holding this in your hand.”
“What is this?”
“It’s called a Qi Illumination Stone. It will help with your energy circulation.”
When he opened the sky-blue box that looked like it had autumn scenery painted on it, a fist-sized black stone appeared.
The black stone, which formed a mysteriously perfect sphere, was transparent enough that if you brought your eye close, you could faintly see the other side.
When Ja-gang-cheon held out the stone, Cheon-gu grasped the Qi Illumination Stone without suspicion.
“I’ll try again.”
When another half shichen had passed.
Cheon-gu frowned briefly but quickly regained his concentration. Soon his face repeatedly flushed red and then subsided.
“Now, slowly wrap it up. You must never exceed half a shichen while holding the Qi Illumination Stone.”
Despite the warning, Cheon-gu didn’t open his eyes. At this, Ja-gang-cheon recalled past memories and went behind Cheon-gu.
When he flowed subtle energy as if tickling the Mingmen acupoint, Cheon-gu came to his senses and uncrossed his legs.
“You mustn’t exceed half a shichen.”
When he gave the same warning, Cheon-gu was surprised.
“Has it already been half a shichen?”
“Yes. That’s what happens when you hold the Qi Illumination Stone. It heightens concentration.”
“What an amazing item.”
Cheon-gu was genuinely surprised, but in truth, it wasn’t a sufficient reaction compared to the real value of the Qi Illumination Stone.
If someone among martial artists had heard the name of the Qi Illumination Stone?
They probably would have tried to possess it even at the cost of their lives.
The Ten Great Treasures of the Martial Arts World.
Why else would it be called Cheonshimjeung, Heaven’s Deep Gift?
The Qi Illumination Stone was an item created by Beobmyeong Daesa of Shaolin Temple, who was called the greatest of all time in internal energy cultivation.
It was a gift to a certain Jangju who had generously spent the wealth he had accumulated with great difficulty throughout his life for poor people, made for him because he was naturally weak in body.
Just by holding it, energy would move by itself and circulate through the energy channels, and it was known that if a martial artist used it, the effect would more than double.
For martial artists who could devour even imugi with their internal energy, it was truly a dream treasure.
The Qi Illumination Stone, whose whereabouts had been mysterious for two hundred years, was surprisingly inside the fan that the Seorim Jangno had been carrying.
Though they found it when the fan cracked from shock, there was no way to confirm whether the Shaolin Temple elder who was its owner knew about it.
“Gangcheon. I don’t know much about the Martial Arts World, but showing something like this doesn’t seem like a good idea.”
“I know too. My parents said that if even one of these things appeared in the Martial Arts World, a bloody storm would blow.”
“Then am I entering that bloody storm right now?”
“We’re friends. We should share everything.”
“Hmm. So my head might fly off tomorrow?”
“I’ll protect you.”
Cheon-gu held his head and shook it.
“Gangcheon. Be careful when making friends from now on. If you keep giving everything away like that, you’ll really end up in a bloodbath.”
“Got it.”
Cheon-gu found Ja-gang-cheon’s innocent response unreliable.
“No. Just show me first if there’s anyone you want to befriend.”
“I will. But aren’t you hungry?”
Come to think of it, a sound like stones falling in a cave came from Cheon-gu’s stomach.
“It’s normal when you first practice mental cultivation.”
Ja-gang-cheon offered jerky and Cheon-gu accepted it.
“Gangcheon. Do you like jerky that much?”
“Yeah. Since I always eat fish, jerky tastes the best to me.”
The fifteen-year-old boys who had just enjoyed luxury with martial arts treasures climbed back onto the carriage while chewing on a piece of jerky.
***
After crossing the border of Shandong Province, they hurried along the road and soon entered deep into Henan Province.
“Let’s stay at an inn for the night today.”
Considering Cheon-gu who was tired from the long camping, Ja-gang-cheon suggested a comfortable place to sleep.
Since the horses needed rest anyway, Cheon-gu accepted and they entered a village called Jeongju.
“The real deal isn’t outsiders, but the restaurant that the villagers go to most. Especially watch the market vendors carefully. Are those people buying on their way home? Then there’s no need to doubt that place.”
Upon entering the village, Cheon-gu looked after Ja-gang-cheon like an older brother leading his younger sibling.
“Your words are never wrong.”
Finding an old noodle shop this way, they were able to have a satisfying meal with Jeongju’s unique carp-grilled noodles.
After dinner, when they came outside, the market covered in thick sunset had merchants doing last-minute business and people returning home chaotically mixed together.
The two began walking slowly, taking in the scene.
“Since we had noodles for dinner, I feel like I’ll get hungry again soon?”
“Then want to try galgiminbyeong? It’s Jeongju’s most famous snack.”
It was Jeongju’s unique convenience food made by mixing pork and fermented tofu.
“You know about that too?”
“When we got a room at the inn, I asked the innkeeper.”
What was routine for Cheon-gu felt like interesting interaction to Ja-gang-cheon.
Sharing information through conversation and filling gaps in knowledge with it.
It was when Ja-gang-cheon, who had never experienced society, was realizing an interesting way of life.
“Old man! Do you want to die?”
The old man fell from a roughly swung fist accompanied by harsh words.
“P-please, just once more. This month my grandson was sick, so I spent it on medicine…”
The old man rubbed his hands together with a desperate expression.
“Then sell your healthy grandson to pay it back! You have money to spend but no money to repay? Do you think other people’s money is a joke?”
“I’ve already repaid three times what I borrowed.”
“That was interest! You should have argued about that when you borrowed the money.”
The fierce-looking Bully shouted as if for the crowd that quickly gathered to hear.
“I’ll clearly show what happens when you default on our Lord’s money!”
It wasn’t simply threatening the old man.
Others who had no choice but to borrow from Yeomwangchae for their market business also trembled as they watched the scene.
“Today I’ll just take one leg as interest.”
The Bully pulled out a thick iron club and raised it high.
Swoosh!
Just as the club fell toward the old man with a menacing sound.
Clang!
What blocked the iron club was a single sword.
The sword’s owner stood in front of the old man and scolded the man.
“Even if you’re a loan shark whose morals have fallen to the ground, there should be limits. You’ve sold your humanity for wealth and gained the heart of a beast, truly making you an animal.”
A handsome man in his early twenties spoke like an elderly teacher.
“Which bastard…”
The Bully who was grinding his teeth at the man’s young face trailed off. He had seen the cloud-patterned embroidery on the sleeves of the blue robe that contained clear energy.
What this clothing meant was clear.
“W-why is a Taoist from Wudang interfering in such matters?”
“You’re not afraid of becoming a beast yourself, but you fear mere clothing?”
When the Taoist shouted, the surrounding atmosphere became heavy.
A single person had overwhelmed the entire atmosphere of the marketplace.
Ja-gang-cheon, witnessing the young Taoist’s chivalry, felt a hot emotion filling his chest.
‘What is this?’
It was an emotion he had never felt in his life.
-Chivalry is not performed for others. That heart is what makes oneself shine.
His father’s words came to mind.
‘This is chivalry.’
Right now, in Ja-gang-cheon’s eyes, the young Taoist shone brightly.
‘Cool.’
What he liked most was the clothing the young Taoist wore.
‘It’s the same clothes as Dad’s.’
His father’s were much more worn, but the cloud-patterned embroidery and color were definitely the same.
Just that clothing alone warmed his heart.
“That person is Wudang’s White Righteousness Sword, right?”
“Isn’t he called the greatest rising talent of this generation?”
“They say he’s only twenty this year, but his dignity is like an old Taoist.”
After driving away the loan shark, people who had been watching while holding their breath poured out praise.
White Righteousness Sword Jinmyeong.
Jinmyeong, called the future of Wudang, seemed embarrassed by the sudden praise and helped up the fallen old man.
“Are you alright?”
“Thanks to you, Master. Thank you.”
The old man gave thanks, but his expression wasn’t bright. Knowing the reason, Jinmyeong comforted the old man’s heart.
“I’ll take measures to ensure there are no future troubles.”
If he withdrew like this, it was certain the old man would face greater hardships later. Though young, Jinmyeong, who had already experienced much, decided to solve the problem completely.
“Ah! When I’m so grateful…”
“It’s what I should naturally do as a Wudang disciple.”
Jinmyeong, who politely cupped his fists in farewell, quickly left the scene.
“Cool to the end.”
Ja-gang-cheon, who had watched the entire situation, said.
“But since Father is from the Wudang Sect, does that make him my brother too?”
“You’d have to check the lineage. He could be a brother, or he could be a martial uncle or nephew.”
“That’s kind of complicated.”
Though he had learned the titles from his father, it wasn’t easy to recall them immediately.
“But saying he’ll ensure no future troubles means he’s going to do something directly, right?”
“Probably.”
“I’m curious what he’ll do. Let’s follow him.”
Cheon-gu was about to say it was dangerous, but Ja-gang-cheon was already following behind Jinmyeong.
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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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