The Farmer Who Ended Up Teaching the World’s Greatest Martial Artist - Chapter 104
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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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| Chapter 104
“Yu-ryeon, you’re right. But that doesn’t mean we can just leave the Dang Family alone.”
“No, of course if there really is a Jeokgang Doksi, they wouldn’t be able to easily touch the Dang Family… But we’d be making complete enemies of Jeongdo, wouldn’t we? And Ja-hyeol-dang were people even Mado trembled at, so how do you know how Cheon Se-hyeon-ma will react?”
As Ju Yu-ryeon sharply pointed out, even from Yoo Eun-hyun’s perspective, Jeongdo’s policy seemed to be clearly established. However, Mado’s movements were completely unpredictable. While they seemed to be moving in response to Jeongdo’s movements, it was impossible to gauge what their ultimate purpose was.
‘At least the Grand Master probably isn’t someone who would rely on something like Jeokgang Doksi… But that doesn’t mean he won’t take advantage of this situation either.’
Even Yoo Eun-hyun, who knew Sa Un-sik to some extent, felt this way, so it was inevitable that other people’s anxiety would be amplified.
“Then do you have another method?”
Since Ju Yu-ryeon’s words weren’t wrong, Yoo Eun-hyun set aside that part for now and asked about other solutions.
“I don’t. I don’t, but wrong is still wrong. This is like committing robbery because you don’t have money. No matter how much we call ourselves Jung-do, as Jung-do we need to find some benefit even in dangerous situations, don’t we? Helping to create Jeokgang Doksi is something that no matter how I think about it, has no benefits and only losses!”
“It’s to reduce those losses.”
“Huh?”
At Yeo U-hui’s words, Ju Yu-ryeon asked back as if she still didn’t understand, but perhaps because of that, Ju Yu-ryeon’s excitement had calmed down slightly.
“Yu-ryeon, how much do you actually know about Jeokgang Doksi?”
At Yeo U-hui’s sudden question, Yoo Eun-hyun, who had been curious about the same thing, also listened carefully, but contrary to his expectations, Ju Yu-ryeon’s words trailed off.
“Isn’t it some kind of dangerous ghost-like thing?”
“That’s not wrong, but is that all? Why, for what reason, what makes it dangerous, how did it become taboo in the martial arts world, and why does Jeongdo try so hard to cut off its lineage?”
“…I don’t know.”
When Ju Yu-ryeon shook her head, Yeo U-hui looked at Yoo Eun-hyun, and at her gaze, Yoo Eun-hyun also honestly shook his head as if he didn’t know either.
Then, as if they were still just children after all, Yeo U-hui smiled with a somewhat warm, gentle expression and said:
“As you said, Jeokgang Doksi is indeed a very dangerous thing. As the name suggests, the reason ghosts themselves are taboo in the martial arts world lies in their manufacturing method.”
Saying this, she gave Yoo Eun-hyun and Ju Yu-ryeon a look like a teacher instructing students, as if asking them to speak up if they knew. Since Yoo Eun-hyun was a novice in everything except farming, he looked to Ju Yu-ryeon instead, and she spoke as if explaining to Yoo Eun-hyun in place of Yeo U-hui.
“A ghost is simply put, a moving corpse.”
“How can a corpse move while alive? No, who was the person who started this kind of thing in the first place?”
“Well. Ghosts themselves are such an ancient technique that their origins aren’t clear. You can’t openly research this kind of thing, and could you even be proud of it? What’s certain is that it’s been around since after martial arts were created.”
At Ju Yu-ryeon’s words, Yoo Eun-hyun asked back as if he had suddenly realized something.
“Don’t tell me it moves through the power of internal energy?”
“That’s right. They dissect corpses, process the blood vessels that conduct internal energy, implant a special core in the heart, and make internal energy flow to make them move.”
“…It might be possible. But then wouldn’t it just be a corpse that only moves?”
“That’s why they usually use techniques like dark arts to manipulate the internal energy flowing from the core to control it.”
Having heard up to that point, Yoo Eun-hyun let out a hollow laugh as if amazed.
“Indeed, while internal energy originated from nature, it’s a power different from nature. To think it can do things that go against the natural order like this.”
“Exactly. And not only that, making a ghost doesn’t require just one corpse. In addition to the basic body, you need additional corpses to weave the blood vessels, and several more corpses are needed to make the core.”
Hearing this, Yoo Eun-hyun’s mouth fell open.
“So you need multiple corpses to make one ghost? That’s really insane, isn’t it?”
“And there’s also a legend that if you consume even more corpses to make the blood vessels stronger and more intricate, and gather several masters with originally strong internal energy to make the core, a tremendous monster is born.”
“A legend? So it’s never actually happened?”
“Ghosts made that way are called Cheonok ghosts, and they’re said to be impervious to swords, immune to poisons since they’re already dead anyway, and have infinite internal energy so they never tire.”
“Hah…”
Yoo Eun-hyun let out an incredulous groan, but Yeo U-hui lightly tapped his back and said:
“That’s just theoretical. Cheonok ghosts only exist in oral traditions anyway. There’s no one capable of making them, no technology, and given the nature of the materials, it’s impossible to gather everything, and they’d likely be killed in return before they could even gather it all. And in reality, not many people use ghosts for other reasons.”
“What reasons?”
“Yu-ryeon spoke as if to frighten you, but when you actually make ghosts, they’re not as strong as you’d think compared to the effort required. To make them somewhat useful, you need to sacrifice multiple corpses as Yu-ryeon said, but even then they’re weaker than masters, and if you make them carelessly, they’ll burst apart in one exchange.”
Having heard up to that point, Yoo Eun-hyun also thought calmly and nodded. Come to think of it, if ghost techniques had such tremendous power, they wouldn’t have been lost by now, and people who commanded ghosts would have already dominated the world.
And at the same time, he could understand why Jeongdo was so sensitive about it. If this kind of thing was left unchecked, not only would there be moral problems of trampling on the dead, but people might kill others to create corpses out of necessity, and the martial arts world would obviously become chaos.
“So what is Jeokgang Doksi? Don’t tell me it’s actually recreating the legendary Cheonok ghosts.”
When Ju Yu-ryeon spoke as if frustrated, Yeo U-hui shook her head and said:
“If that were the case, it would just be called Cheonok ghosts. Jeokgang Doksi is a bit more… a method where human malice is concentrated and manifested.”
Yoo Eun-hyun fell into thought at Yeo U-hui’s words, but Ju Yu-ryeon cried out as if frustrated.
“Ah, you’re really being stingy with information. At least give me a hint.”
“The biggest characteristic of ghosts is that they move despite being corpses.”
When Yeo U-hui said this, not only Yoo Eun-hyun but also Ju Yu-ryeon suddenly had something come to mind. Why wasn’t it called ghosts but doksi (poison corpses) in the first place? Simply thinking about it, it means corpses made with poison.
And what moving corpses made with poison could do was more obvious than expected, and would certainly lead to more horrific results than expected.
“Don’t tell me they make ghosts that carry poison and just…?”
Yoo Eun-hyun couldn’t bring himself to finish, but Ju Yu-ryeon spread both hands and made a gesture of something exploding, then muttered quietly. And at the same time, when she looked at Yeo U-hui, Yeo U-hui nodded.
“That’s right. The true identity of Jeokgang Doksi is corpse bombs made with poison.”
“Huh…”
Learning the truth, Yoo Eun-hyun and Ju Yu-ryeon let out deflated voices and fell into momentary silence. What both were commonly thinking was where such things would be used.
But the more they thought about it, the more only horrific results came to mind. No matter how much ghosts are corpses, since they move, unless you’re openly suspicious, it’s hard to notice they’re corpses.
People basically cover their bodies with clothes, and can even cover their skin with makeup or disguises. This means they can easily infiltrate among people, and if such things exploded in the middle of crowds, it would obviously become a sea of blood.
“It was more dangerous than we thought, wasn’t it?”
“There are many poisons that work on martial artists too…”
Sangong poison types are poisons that are only effective on martial artists who possess internal energy. If such things exploded in martial arts sects, those sects would obviously be paralyzed in an instant.
“Ja-hyeol-dang were naturally vicious people who didn’t care about such things, and what happened after that… I don’t need to explain what probably happened, right?”
When Yeo U-hui finished her explanation about Jeokgang Doksi, the surroundings fell into momentary silence. It was natural for Ju Yu-ryeon since she hadn’t known about Jeokgang Doksi, and Yoo Eun-hyun had somewhat guessed, but hadn’t thought it would be to this extent.
“Wouldn’t it really be better to stay out of this?”
Yoo Eun-hyun, who had quickly escaped from his thoughts, also gave a similar opinion to Ju Yu-ryeon’s, but surprisingly, Ju Yu-ryeon, who had been quietly lost in thought, shook her head.
“No. If we do it right, it might be okay?”
“Huh? Are you sane? You were so opposed before?”
“I just thought it was some kind of strong ghost. Of course, in some ways this is more dangerous, but medicine and poison are only a paper’s thickness apart anyway.”
“That’s true. Even when farming, beneficial rain and torrential rain only differ in amount, and fertilizers that improve soil fertility will rot the roots if used excessively.”
At Ju Yu-ryeon’s words, Yoo Eun-hyun nodded in agreement, and Yeo U-hui also nodded.
“In this case, if it’s Mado, they’ll try to use it despite the danger, and if it’s Jeongdo, they won’t even try to touch something this dangerous. But what about Jung-do like us?”
Yeo U-hui said this while looking at Ju Yu-ryeon, and Ju Yu-ryeon also smiled lightly and answered her words similarly to what she had said earlier:
“If it’s Jung-do, even if it’s dangerous work, if there’s profit, we need to find the profitable parts. We have to walk the tightrope between danger and profit to be Jung-do anyway.”
The two who said this looked at each other and smiled slightly, and Yoo Eun-hyun, seeing them, nodded as if mother and daughter were indeed mother and daughter, and asked back:
“But would there be any profit?”
“We’ll have to listen to the Dang Family’s story first, right? The Dang Family aren’t fools either. If Jeokgang Doksi is that kind of thing, there’s no place that could utilize it better than the Dang Family, but… it’s too dangerous to just use.”
“Since the Dang Family is definitely the main family of poisons, they’d try to extract and use only the necessary parts?”
“Probably so, right? Though I don’t know what might happen if things really go wrong…”
At Yoo Eun-hyun’s question, Ju Yu-ryeon also muttered while looking at Yeo U-hui as if hoping for an answer, and Yeo U-hui also nodded.
“That’s what we heard too, and that’s also why we decided to help. If such a thing is really possible, it would be a great help to us who provided medical techniques. Whether technically or in terms of gaining favor.”
“That’s certainly true. Then it would be problematic to easily withdraw. We need to take what we can take.”
Ju Yu-ryeon said with a sly smile, and Yoo Eun-hyun also seemed to roughly understand the situation now. Certainly, from Uiseonsu-ga’s position, it would have been difficult to withdraw from the crisis of the Dang Family, who were fellow Jung-do. But if they could help in this way and even gain knowledge, there was no reason to withdraw. Especially since other Sega could only help indirectly, Uiseonsu-ga could be said to be in a more advantageous position.
Of course, it might be more dangerous, but that would have to be left to on-site judgment, and Yoo Eun-hyun spoke about the next step.
“Then in the end, we need to hear more of the Dang Family’s story.”
“Right? But… did mom come alone?”
At Yoo Eun-hyun’s words, Ju Yu-ryeon nodded in agreement, then suddenly asked Yeo U-hui back, and at the somewhat sudden question, Yeo U-hui nodded as if it were natural.
“It’s not a situation where I can bring several people in a group. Why do you ask?”
“You said you were going to help with medical techniques? Mom’s and my medical skills are… you know.”
“Hey. What’s wrong with our medical skills?”
“It’s not that we’re bad, but we’re not at a level where we can help the Dang Family or not.”
From Yoo Eun-hyun’s perspective, while the two weren’t completely ignorant about medical techniques since they were from Uiseonsu-ga, they were only at a level where they couldn’t call themselves physicians anywhere.
“So I called someone to help. They should be coming.”
Yeo U-hui seemed to objectively know this fact well, as she raised her hand as if to say not to worry, but Ju Yu-ryeon still tilted her head.
“Who? To help with something like this, an ordinary person wouldn’t do…”
“I called the person with the most outstanding medical skills in the Sega. It should be someone of that level, shouldn’t it?”
“The most outstanding person… Don’t tell me?!”
At Yeo U-hui’s words, Ju Yu-ryeon suddenly seemed to think of something and was startled. At this, Yeo U-hui nodded affirmatively.
“That’s right. It’s Yu-ryeon’s father.”
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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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