Moorim Pochang - Chapter 10

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 10. Return to Youth.

Baek Mun-do drained three cups of wine in succession before he spoke.
“How long has it been since we last saw each other?”
“Twenty-five years.”
Dok-go Yeop, who had emptied three cups of his own, answered him.
“Time really does slip away like sand. It feels like only yesterday we were roaming the Kangho with such vigor and abandon.”
“Time is a monster that treats everyone equally.”
“True enough. My body isn’t what it used to be—I’ve felt the weight of age. Just recently I fell ill and was bedridden for some time before I managed to get back on my feet.”
“That’s the Final Flash of Life. Your death draws near.”
Baek Mun-do glared at Dok-go Yeop with fierce eyes.
“You always have to say things in the most unpleasant way, don’t you?”
Dok-go Yeop fixed him with an equally cold stare.
“Do I look pleasant to you? Your subordinates drew blood from my men.”
“That’s because your men drew their swords first.”
“The ones who started the trouble weren’t my subordinates—they were yours.”
Even as they bickered back and forth, both men drained their cups with equal urgency, as if their insides were burning.
A satisfied sigh escaped them both.
And in the same moment, they both reached for the seasoned vegetables and stuffed their mouths.
‘Peculiar people, these two.’
Kang Jo couldn’t help but smile faintly.
Though they seemed like mortal enemies, neither appeared to actually want the other dead.
Having drained an entire bottle in no time, Dok-go Yeop lifted the empty vessel.
“Does this inn have no other wine?”
At his question, Kang Jo felt a slight sting to his pride.
While the wine was cheap and potent, it wasn’t so inferior that it couldn’t be drunk.
“We do have other wine, but it’s extraordinarily expensive.”
“How expensive?”
Kang Jo had no intention of offering wine to these rude uninvited guests.
So he named an absurd price.
“One thousand silver taels per cup.”
In truth, even one thousand silver taels per cup was outrageously cheap.
He should have asked at least one hundred thousand taels per cup.
But no one carried one hundred thousand taels in silver casually on their person.
At his answer, both men showed a flicker of bewilderment.
Baek Mun-do’s eyes widened in disbelief, while a faint killing intent flickered across Dok-go Yeop’s gaze.
Dok-go Yeop offered a cold smile as he spoke.
“Did you just say one thousand silver taels?”
“Yes. The wine originally commands at least one hundred thousand taels per cup.”
Kang Jo answered without flinching.
Then Dok-go Yeop reached into his pouch and withdrew a money note worth ten thousand silver taels.
“Give me ten cups. But if that wine doesn’t live up to the price, your head will roll.”
‘What in the world…?’
Kang Jo was genuinely startled.
He’d never imagined someone would casually carry a ten-thousand-tael note.
“What? Have you lost your nerve?”
Dok-go Yeop’s smile was eerie, even sinister.
As he smiled that terrible smile, his beautiful face transformed into something almost demonic.
No—it was demonic.
Yet Kang Jo had no attention to spare for his killing intent.
‘What kind of wine is that, anyway…?’
The wine his master drank was precious beyond compare in all the land.
It contained not only Thousand-Year He Shou Wu but also Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng, and to that was added Gongqing Stone Oil.

*

Once spoken, words couldn’t be gathered back up.
‘What a waste.’
Kang Jo opened the wine cask with trembling hands and poured the liquor into bottles.
He measured out exactly ten cups and brought them alongside the Dongpo Pork.
Then he pocketed a silver note worth ten thousand nyang.
‘Look at this fellow.’
Baek Mun-do and Dok-go Yeop studied Kang Jo intently.
How many people in Kangho could calmly withstand even the faintest trace of Dok-go Yeop’s killing intent?
Yet this young man received it without a flicker of concern.
‘He doesn’t seem to be a martial artist.’
A martial artist who had cultivated martial skill should radiate an aura far stronger than ordinary folk.
But the young innkeeper’s presence was utterly unremarkable.
If his martial prowess were comparable to their own, he could certainly conceal it—but would such a person exist in Kangho?
There was no one in the world who could stand before them and conduct himself with such composure.
“Do you know who I am?”
To Dok-go Yeop’s question, Kang Jo replied in a flat voice.
“Who might you be?”
It was only because he regretted so bitterly having let ten cups of wine go at such a paltry price.
“No need to know.”
Dropping their curiosity, they filled their cups with wine.
Glug, glug, glug…
The moment the liquor left the bottle, a subtle fragrance brushed past the tip of their noses.
“The aroma……seems quite promising.”
They drained their cups simultaneously.
Ahhh…
The wine was somewhat strong, but a gentle fragrance and crisp taste lingered exquisitely in the mouth.
It was a supreme quality unlike anything they had ever encountered.
‘The taste is truly remarkable.’
Greatly satisfied, Dok-go Yeop placed a piece of meat between his lips.
Chew, chew, chew…
His eyes gleamed with an opalescent light.
Ho…
The flavor was so exquisite and profound that an involuntary exclamation escaped him.
The meat was tender yet possessed an elastic quality.
It felt like biting into raw, freshly caught beef.
“Is this……actually pork?”
“Yes, it is.”
At Kang Jo’s answer, Baek Mun-do also took up his chopsticks and placed a piece of meat in his mouth.
Chew, chew, chew…
After tasting the meat, he stared at Kang Jo’s face with startled eyes.
Traveling the length and breadth of Kangho, he had eaten Dongpo Pork hundreds, even thousands of times.
Yet he had never tasted Dongpo Pork finer than this.
Marveling at it, he noticed upon closer inspection that it looked subtly different from the common Dongpo Pork served at other inns.
“The wine is remarkable, but……a single piece of meat like this deserves a thousand nyang.”
Coming from him, it was the highest praise.
To think such an inn existed here.
Had he known sooner, he would have returned many times over.

*

Kang Jo was already preparing Dongpo Pork for the third time.
Once this batch was finished, there would not be a single piece of meat left in the inn.
Baek Mun-do, who had been savoring wine and food, posed a question.
“But why did you go to the trouble of composing that song and spreading it throughout Kangho?”
Though they now faced each other with blades drawn and hostility between them, once they had been closest of companions.
No—even now, he was the only friend whose back Baek Mun-do could trust in battle.
It was unthinkable that such a brother-in-arms would compose and spread a mocking song about him after twenty-five years.
Dok-go Yeop drained his cup in silence, then slowly opened his mouth.
“The Blood Sect has been revived.”
Gulp…!
Baek Mun-do started in alarm, spitting out the Dongpo Pork he’d been savoring.
“What? Just now………what did you say?”
Kang Jo, who’d been sitting in the kitchen, was likewise taken aback.
Years ago, his master had boasted of the hardest battles he’d ever fought—the ones against those red-eyed demons.
His master had even added a special warning: though such a thing might never happen, if he ever encountered someone whose eyes had rolled back like that, he should be especially careful.
Yet neither Dok-go Yeop nor Baek Mun-do noticed Kang Jo’s startled expression.
“About a year ago, I sent subordinates into the ruins of Blood Valley. All of them died.”
“Then you should have gone yourself.”
Dok-go Yeop emptied his cup with a grave face.
The somber mood lifted somewhat as soon as the liquor touched his lips.
“I did go myself, actually. But I couldn’t find a trace of them anywhere.”
Baek Mun-do was reluctant to believe him.
The revival of the Blood Sect frightened him that much.
“How can you be certain of the Blood Sect’s resurrection just because your men died?”
“The man who led my subordinates into Blood Valley was Yeom-ra Do. All the other corpses were there, but I couldn’t find his body.”
Baek Mun-do, his heart heavy with dread, drained his cup in one gulp.
“………..Damn it. At this age, I have to face a Life-and-Death Blood Battle against the Blood Sect again…….”
Yeom-ra Do was a master of the highest caliber—among the finest ten in all of Kangho.
They had once been close, living as brothers long ago.
“There’s no help for it. Those bloodthirsty demons will always demand blood.”
The gathering grew suddenly heavy.
Dok-go Yeop, who had finished his drink in silence, rose first.
“I’ll take my leave. Take care of yourself.”
Baek Mun-do nodded from where he sat.
“You take care too. And give my regards to Miss Gwak.”
“I ought to meet your wife sometime. I want to ask her what it’s like being married to a man who carries another man’s wife in his heart.”
As Dok-go Yeop jested, Baek Mun-do’s smile turned awkward.
Ha ha…….
“Just joking since we haven’t seen each other in so long.”
Tsk, tsk…..
Dok-go Yeop, fixing him with a look of disdain, crossed the stream and vanished into the darkness.
Once he was gone, Baek Mun-do rose as well.
“How much do I owe?”
“The side dishes and drink come to four silver coins, sir.”
Baek Mun-do stared at Kang Jo’s face for a moment.
Four silver coins was enough to buy drinks at a pleasure house.
But he didn’t press the matter.
The food had been that good.
“Here you are.”
Baek Mun-do handed over four silver coins and crossed the bridge into the darkness.
“Please visit us again, honored guest.”
Kang Jo bowed deeply toward the figure disappearing into the gloom.
‘They don’t seem like ordinary customers…’
How many men in Kangho could speak of the Blood Sect so casually and command so many subordinates?
Those impolite, middle-aged men were almost certainly figures of some renown in Kangho.

*

Though he’d encountered an unpleasant old acquaintance, his mood wasn’t sour.
In fact, sitting side by side and raising cups together after so long, he felt as if he’d returned to his youth.
Whoooosh………………
As Dok-go Yeop walked slowly, he suddenly deployed his Light Qigong in rapid flight toward the Demonic Sect.
“………………What?”
But suddenly his body trembled and an overwhelming surge of energy burst forth.
‘What’s wrong with my body?’
He quickly sat down in meditation and began his Qi Circulation Technique.
He had to somehow suppress the torrent of power erupting like a volcano.
It had been far too long since he’d opened his Upper Dantian; he had no intention of accepting this surging power into his Inner Power again.
He only meant to suppress the energy bursting forth like a volcano.
But the power kept growing stronger.
“This is……”
He sprang to his feet and drew his blade, slashing it in all directions.
Whish-crack…………
Crash-crash-bang…..! Crash-bang……..! Bang………!
The Sword Strikes he sent forth felled trees and split boulders.
Rumble-rumble-rumble………Boom……! Boom……….!
Yet the surge of Inner Power rising like an active volcano showed no sign of diminishing.
The gushing force was so tremendous that his Lower Dantian had hardened like an iron rod, as if it might rupture any moment.
Crash-crash-bang…………….!
Still slashing his blade in all directions, he deployed Light Qigong toward the Demonic Sect.
‘Wife. Just a little longer.’
Whirrr-whirrr……..Whirrr……….
With each step his feet touched the earth, the darkness twenty paces ahead rushed toward him in an instant.
The darkness that had rushed before him receded behind, and another wave of shadow surged forward.

*

Baek Mun-do, too, had fallen asleep in his chamber.
Until just a few years ago, he had slept in the same bed as his wife.
But as he aged, sleeping alone had become more comfortable.
Drunk with wine and already asleep, he suddenly jolted upright.
‘What is this…………….?’
Baek Mun-do felt the same volcanic surge of Inner Power as Dok-go Yeop.
He hastily sat in meditation and began the Qi Circulation Technique.
Since he, too, had already opened his Upper Dantian long ago, he could not absorb the rising force as Inner Power.
Heartbreaking though it was to waste it, he had no choice but to slowly expel the cascading energy from his body.
Yet the power was far stronger than he had anticipated.
Moreover, his Lower Dantian had stiffened, making it nearly impossible to calm his mind.
Feeling the burning force he had known in his youth, he quickly rose and left his chamber.
Entering the adjacent room, he found his wife deep in sleep.
Baek Mun-do recklessly pulled back her blankets and drew her into his arms.
“Oh…? Has this man lost his mind? What’s gotten into you?”
Startled awake, his wife flailed her hands wildly.
“Wife……………!”
But Baek Mun-do was no longer in his right mind.

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