The Farmer Who Ended Up Teaching the World’s Greatest Martial Artist - Chapter 20
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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 20
“This place is….”
“It must be the house where the owner of the field lived. Where could the owner of this place have gone?”
“Well, they probably ran away. Even I wouldn’t want to be at the scene where Cheonhwang Paewundae and Jeongeum-dae are fighting, you know?”
“This bastard, really. Are you really from Cheonmu Alliance? If Cheonhwang Paewundae and Jeongeum-dae fight, you should naturally think about joining Jeongeum-dae and fighting together!”
“Ah.”
“Tsk tsk. These young kids these days have their minds all messed up.”
“No… I didn’t mean myself, I was saying that’s what the owner here would have done. How can you interpret it that way?”
“Shut up, you bastard. Don’t make my blood pressure rise any more.”
Gu Pyo made an awkward excuse, but Go Ji-hwan waved his hand dismissively as if he didn’t want to hear it.
And Gu Pyo, feeling guilty for no reason, quickly brought up another hypothesis to divert attention.
“Or maybe the owner here isn’t an ordinary farmer.”
“Oh? That’s a somewhat plausible story. Continue.”
“Turns out he’s a Reclusive Hermit or something…. You know, it’s a common story where a former master of the martial arts world leaves the secular world and buries himself in the mountains, farming as a pastime.”
“Let’s say that’s true, but then why would the Maegyo Followers and our Cheonmu Alliance come looking for such a Reclusive Hermit?”
Go Ji-hwan’s expression as he asked this was subtle.
Rather than asking because he genuinely didn’t know, it seemed more like he was setting the stage for him to continue.
“It’s obvious. A recruitment offer, isn’t it? Both we and those bastards are in a situation where every master is precious, and there are many masters in the martial arts world who don’t belong anywhere.”
“Hmm. That’s certainly true. So what you’re saying is that some Reclusive Hermit was living here, and Maegyo and our Cheonmu Alliance came to recruit him but clashed, resulting in this situation?”
“Exactly that. Brother Go is quite good at this too, aren’t you?”
Gu Pyo gave a thumbs up and smiled broadly. Go Ji-hwan was about to raise his hand, then smiled and lowered it.
“That’s quite a useful opinion for someone like you. Then destroying the field would be a smokescreen.”
“A smokescreen?”
“Let’s say that Reclusive Hermit was actually recruited by Maegyo. But naturally, Maegyo would want to hide that fact, right?”
“Secret weapons must be kept hidden.”
“But then our Cheonmu Alliance wouldn’t miss that either…. Maegyo wants to hide it, so they staged it.”
At Go Ji-hwan’s words, Gu Pyo clapped his hands as if he had realized something.
“They wanted to make it look like they had a falling out with Maegyo by destroying the field?”
“That’s right. Vicious bastards.”
“But… is he skilled enough to be worth going this far? One unit of Cheonhwang Paewundae would be no small loss….”
At Gu Pyo’s words as he shuddered, Go Ji-hwan shook his head and answered.
“Maegyo invested their maximum force. Despite losses close to mutual destruction, it seems they succeeded in achieving their objective…. Indeed, we can call them Cheonhwang Paewundae.”
“Still, their forces have been greatly reduced and Maegyo is incredibly far from here. If he’s that important, wouldn’t there be more movement from Maegyo to properly escort him?”
As Gu Pyo asked this, Go Ji-hwan raised his hand. As if waiting for this, a messenger pigeon flew down to land on it.
Go Ji-hwan unfolded the note attached to the messenger pigeon’s leg and smiled broadly.
“What do you know, your prediction was right. There seems to be movement from Maegyo as if they’re escorting someone.”
“Is that so? Where about?”
“Near Taewon in Shanxi. Not too far from here. We’re moving quickly too. It seems the Maegyo bastards haven’t arrived yet. It’s natural since we’re closer. Those bastards have no reason not to send support either. Surely you don’t want to encounter Maegyo Followers either….”
Saying this, Go Ji-hwan turned around.
Go Ji-hwan saw that Gu Pyo was already heading down the mountain and held his forehead as if getting a headache.
“Brother! What are you doing!? Let’s go quickly!”
“Damn it. Is that the same guy who struggled so much coming up? He’s that fast going down? It’s not like he’s showing off his strong joints because he’s young.”
While grumbling, Go Ji-hwan lightly used his lightness skill to catch up with Gu Pyo in an instant and left the place.
*
While Go Ji-hwan and Gu Pyo were earnestly barking up the wrong tree in their investigation, Yoo Eun-hyun was looking around the streets with a dazed expression.
“Where did you say this place was?”
“This is Jinan, the largest city in Shandong. Is this your first time coming out this far? It’s not that far from Mount Taishan, is it?”
“Yes. I’ve been to the village at the foot of the mountain a few times…. But this kind of place is a first for me.”
“That’s unfortunate. If this were just a leisurely trip, I’d want to stay and let you see more….”
At those words, Yeo U-hui showed a troubled expression, then trailed off for a while before speaking again.
“We don’t have the luxury of time to stay. This place is too close to Mount Taishan. There’s a possibility we might be pursued.”
“Even though we erased our traces?”
“The fact that traces are erased can itself become a trace. Originally, to hide a tree, you should hide it in a forest, but right now that’s not the right choice.”
“Then why did we come here?”
“Because we need to get minimal supplies. Actually, I was thinking of coming and going lightly, so I don’t have much luggage. Though such a thing might happen…. We might even have to sleep outdoors if necessary, so it’s better to prepare for that.”
Yoo Eun-hyun became slightly gloomy at the mention of possibly sleeping outside. But it wasn’t because it would be difficult or bothersome.
After all, the place he had lived was the mountains, and nature was all too familiar to Yoo Eun-hyun, who was a farmer.
He just briefly thought about whether they really had to sleep outside after coming out this far.
“If you’re asking what to buy… I have this.”
Yoo Eun-hyun took out the tiger’s eye stone he had received from Sa Un-sik and showed it to Yeo U-hui. It seemed like he wanted to use this.
Since he already felt sufficiently grateful to Yeo U-hui just for taking him to where Soo Hwa-seon was, he didn’t want to burden her financially as well.
“It’s not good to take out such things in a crowded marketplace.”
But Yeo U-hui quickly covered the tiger’s eye stone Yoo Eun-hyun had taken out with her body. As she said, passing people were glancing at the tiger’s eye stone Yoo Eun-hyun had taken out.
“Ah… I suppose so.”
Yoo Eun-hyun, who realized what Yeo U-hui was worried about, also quickly put the tiger’s eye stone back in his clothes.
Having lived only in places with no people, he couldn’t easily think of the fact that taking out expensive items in places with many people would be problematic.
“But where did that come from? It looks quite valuable. Does Hwa-seon give you a lot of spending money?”
“I’m not sure, but money doesn’t seem to be lacking. Mother manages all the crop sales and ledgers.”
In fact, the crops produced in Yoo Eun-hyun’s field were bound to be of good quality and were selling for quite high prices. And things like the Gwonhan Doyakju or Jakyak-yeon for Sa Un-sik or So Bi-won were almost equivalent to duplicating money.
“Really? Farming makes that much money? Hmm….”
Yeo U-hui seemed somewhat suspicious, but Yoo Eun-hyun couldn’t bring himself to say he had received this from Sa Un-sik, so he had no choice but to gloss over it like that.
Yeo U-hui also didn’t pry further, perhaps because it was another person’s family affairs.
“Then I’ll give this to you, Aunt. Let’s buy things with this.”
“No. It’s fine. Put that away. As an aunt, I can’t take away my nephew’s belongings. Things like blankets aren’t that expensive, so you don’t need to feel burdened.”
Yeo U-hui didn’t accept it, perhaps finding it admirable that Yoo Eun-hyun had tried to give her the tiger’s eye stone. With the situation like this, Yoo Eun-hyun couldn’t insist any further.
So the two people quickly left Jinan after getting only what they needed.
*
And there was someone watching the two people leave through the north gate with keen interest.
A little while ago, the person who had been staring intently at the tiger’s eye stone Yoo Eun-hyun had taken out went into a nearby back alley and entered an almost collapsing abandoned house.
“Hey. Contact the boss immediately. We’ve got a big one after a long time.”
At those words, the men who had been gambling inside the abandoned house got up hurriedly and began moving to a secret passage hidden in the building.
The fact that they weren’t using normal doors gave a rough idea of what they were planning to do.
“The woman seems quite skilled, so gather enough people. If possible, handle it with a surprise attack.”
Saying this, the last remaining man also disappeared into the dark passage.
*
Whether he knew about the movements behind them or not, Yoo Eun-hyun was earnestly following Yeo U-hui. And when they deliberately settled in a secluded forest with few people for a brief rest, Yoo Eun-hyun asked Yeo U-hui a question.
“By the way, where are we going?”
“Huh? You were following without even knowing where? Didn’t your mother tell you?”
“No. I don’t know anything about my maternal grandparents’ house.”
“Hmm… Really? It’s no problem to tell you, but is it okay for me to just tell you?”
“Is it difficult for you to tell me?”
“No. It’s not that. I’m just wondering if Hwa-seon had a reason for deliberately hiding it.”
Even to Yoo Eun-hyun’s ears, Yeo U-hui’s words were reasonable. However, even so, he couldn’t stop the inexplicable disappointment that welled up.
“There might be a reason, but it would be a pointless reason. Mother hides so many things that unless it’s some secret about my birth, I’m not even curious.”
When Yoo Eun-hyun poured out his complaints about Soo Hwa-seon as if he had been waiting for this, Yeo U-hui couldn’t hold back her laughter and burst out. Yoo Eun-hyun, who belatedly realized he had been badmouthing his parent, cut off his words with a cough.
“Ahem… Anyway, I’m old enough to know what I should know. It’s probably obvious anyway. Mother is also a martial artist who learned martial arts, right?”
“Why do you think that?”
“Otherwise, where would Mother have learned martial arts? Obviously it would be from my maternal grandparents’ house. I know this much now, so you can tell me.”
Yoo Eun-hyun shrugged his shoulders, acting like he knew.
In fact, this was something he only learned after receiving the internal energy cultivation method from Sa Un-sik. That the haze he had seen from Soo Hwa-seon’s body was none other than internal energy.
“Right. If you know that much, there wouldn’t be much point in hiding it. Come to think of it, you’ll find out everything anyway once you go there.”
Yeo U-hui seemed to think for a moment at Yoo Eun-hyun’s words, then roughly set aside her thoughts. Even if Soo Hwa-seon resented her for this later, she was confident she could easily accept it.
And as Yoo Eun-hyun took a listening posture, Yeo U-hui continued speaking.
“I don’t have time for complicated explanations, so I’ll keep it simple. First, the Martial Arts World is broadly divided into two groups: Jeongdo and Mado. Generally speaking, Jeongdo is described as good and Mado as evil, but… good and evil aren’t absolute standards to begin with. Good and evil change depending on what one pursues.”
“Then how do you distinguish them?”
“To be honest, both sides do similar things. But if there’s a difference, it’s that Jeongdo at least attaches some minimal reason called a greater cause, while Mado moves purely based on the desire to achieve their goals?”
Yoo Eun-hyun nodded at Yeo U-hui’s words.
Certainly, unlike So Bi-won, Sa Un-sik’s appearance as he incited Yoo Eun-hyun’s desires was closer to Mado.
Sa Un-sik had even made a mess of the Field and then tried to forcibly drag Yoo Eun-hyun away.
Yoo Eun-hyun, who had been lost in thought for a moment, asked Yeo U-hui again.
“By any chance… isn’t there a middle ground? Someone might not want to pursue either Jeongdo or Mado.”
And at such a question from Yoo Eun-hyun, Yeo U-hui smiled meaningfully.
“Of course there is. Places like Uiseonsu-ga, your Maternal Grandparents’ House.”
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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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