The Farmer Who Ended Up Teaching the World’s Greatest Martial Artist - Chapter 23

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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 23

Yeo U-hui’s expression darkened momentarily.

Yoo Eun-hyun could glimpse her anxiety in that expression. But that was only for a moment, as Yeo U-hui concealed that look and continued speaking.

“The current Ma-gyo sect leader Cheonse Hyeonma and Cheonmu Alliance leader Dogeom Ssangseon have already reached the level of the previous sect leader and alliance leader who fought in the past Paggyeol Hyeolsa. But they learned from past experience that staying at that level isn’t enough, right? That’s why the two of them are waiting. To surpass the walls of the past and reach a new realm… If that happens, the two will surely fight and the martial arts world will be embroiled in bloodshed again.”

“A new realm…”

Yoo Eun-hyun muttered unconsciously. For some reason, memories of his time with Sa Un-sik and So Bi-won began rewinding and replaying in his mind.

Sa Un-sik explaining the realms of martial artists, So Bi-won saying he had learned and gained something from him and even teaching him martial arts. And still feeling it wasn’t enough, he had even offered to arrange a marriage and make him a close friend.

“You don’t really need to worry about it. Breaking through walls isn’t easy for martial artists. It’s something that might happen only a few times in a lifetime. Though we broadly and simply categorize martial artist realms as third-rate, second-rate, first-rate, the higher the realm becomes, the greater the differences within each category. Breaking through walls even within those categories isn’t easy, and since those two have already reached the peak even there, breaking through that wall might not be possible even if it takes a lifetime…”

“But what if someone else helped those two break through their walls?”

“Hm? Hehe. That would be an even more ridiculous story. Is there anyone in the current martial arts world who could teach those two? But if there were… They might be marked as a public enemy by both Ma-gyo and Cheonmu Alliance. They’d be no different from the main culprit causing the bloodshed, right?”

And at Yeo U-hui’s frank words, Yoo Eun-hyun felt startled but shook his head inwardly.

‘No. That’s not even certain… I did it unknowingly, so there’s no reason I should take responsibility. And in the first place, does it even make sense that they would learn such things from a farmer like me who doesn’t know a single martial art? They say excessive imagination leads to unnecessary worries and becomes poison for the mind – this is exactly that situation.’

“But why are you asking about that?”

Yeo U-hui, who had picked up the tiger’s eye stone and handed it to Yoo Eun-hyun, asked back. Yoo Eun-hyun shook his head as if it was nothing.

“I was just asking. I was wondering what would happen if that really occurred.”

“Hmm. Since my nephew doesn’t know much about the martial arts world yet, you might have such worries. Well, you’ll learn bit by bit. Still, since you experienced real combat this time, that should be a great help, right? Looking at it that way, we’re quite lucky too.”

Yeo U-hui said this while suggesting they start moving again. Yoo Eun-hyun stared intently at the tiger’s eye stone he had received from Yeo U-hui.

Perhaps because they had gone through some rough business, seeing red stains of someone’s blood on the tiger’s eye stone made Yoo Eun-hyun feel a strange uneasiness.

He thought this tiger’s eye stone might somehow bring more ominous events, but he couldn’t just throw it away again.

Yoo Eun-hyun tried to erase that uneasiness by wiping off the blood stains, put the tiger’s eye stone in his chest, and followed Yeo U-hui while asking back.

“Won’t they come after us for revenge?”

“If they were the type to scheme even after hearing the name of Uiseonsu-ga, it would be fine to deal with them. And even if they come for revenge, it’s not scary. Now, let’s go.”

Yeo U-hui was still leisurely, and though Yoo Eun-hyun was a bit anxious, judging by the martial prowess she had shown earlier, her words didn’t seem wrong, so he followed behind without saying anything.

As they left the remote forest and entered the main road, Yeo U-hui turned her head toward Yoo Eun-hyun and asked.

“Nephew. Do you have any thoughts about learning lightness skills?”

“Lightness skills? You mean that thing for running fast?”

“That’s right. Since I know you have considerable internal energy, there’s no need to travel slowly.”

Saying this, Yeo U-hui recommended learning lightness skills, and since Yoo Eun-hyun had been interested in lightness skills for a while, he was immediately intrigued.

“Would it be easy to learn?”

“Lightness skills aren’t just about running fast. When it comes to footwork and body techniques for controlling and moving the body, it varies greatly depending on who learns it.”

“It’s not just about running fast?”

“Techniques like running on water, walking without leaving traces in snow, crossing water by stepping on floating objects, or walking on air can’t be achieved by simply running fast. Like this, lightness skills are strictly speaking methods of controlling and moving one’s body, but… if it’s simply about running fast, having abundant internal energy is sufficient, so don’t worry.”

Having said that, Yeo U-hui extended her hand toward Yoo Eun-hyun. For a moment, Yoo Eun-hyun, who didn’t understand the meaning, looked puzzled.

But soon realizing it meant to extend his hand, when Yoo Eun-hyun reached out, Yeo U-hui grasped his wrist.

“…I expected it to some degree, but this is surprising. How long have you been cultivating internal energy?”

“About 10 years, perhaps?”

Of course, it was a lie. It wasn’t that he distrusted Yeo U-hui, but with Sa Un-sik’s warning and all, he was still reluctant to tell the whole truth.

He roughly glossed over it with around the time he started learning farming.

“Only 10 years of cultivation for this level. Hwa-seon must have helped, but this is amazing. You’ve surpassed second-rate and are almost approaching first-rate?”

“R-really?”

Since he had actually only been training for just over a month, Yoo Eun-hyun was greatly surprised inwardly.

‘Is it because it was passed down by the Ma-gyo sect leader? Wasn’t it a much more amazing internal energy cultivation method than I thought?’

Yeo U-hui was pleased to discover that Yoo Eun-hyun possessed deeper internal energy than expected and began teaching him lightness skills.

“It won’t be too difficult. Since you have internal energy, you know how to utilize it… First, let’s try channeling internal energy to your legs while walking. Once you get used to that, then while running, while jumping, using internal energy with each step – that’s the basics of lightness skills. Of course, at more advanced levels, there are techniques that mix in footwork to move quickly in an instant or confuse opponents’ sight and senses, but… there’s no time to learn such things, so for now just focus on moving quickly.”

Yoo Eun-hyun nodded and tried taking steps while channeling internal energy as Yeo U-hui instructed.

At first it was awkward, but as he took more steps and time passed, his steps became lighter, his stride lengthened, and he found it amazing that he didn’t get tired no matter how much he walked.

Of course, his internal energy was consumed rapidly in proportion, so he still had to take breaks intermittently, but he could still travel much greater distances than before learning lightness skills.

“You learn quickly.”

“D-do I?”

Actually, even Yoo Eun-hyun felt like he was learning too easily. Certainly, compared to when he had learned martial arts from Sa Un-sik and So Bi-won without any foundation, after Yoo Eun-hyun began training by combining farming methods with martial arts on his own, other achievements seemed to come much faster too.

“This is sufficient. Let’s depart now.”

*

Yoo Eun-hyun and Yeo U-hui continued traveling for the next 5 days. But contrary to Yoo Eun-hyun’s worries, nothing particular happened after that.

“Here. This is Taewon. Now that we’ve come this far, we’re almost there. Let’s rest well here for today.”

Still, because Yoo Eun-hyun had learned lightness skills, their travel speed had increased considerably.

The two had traveled a considerable distance and were able to enter Taewon in Shanxi.

For Yoo Eun-hyun, who had only camped outdoors until now and had been diligently running with lightness skills, Yeo U-hui’s words about resting well were the best news possible.

But conversely, questions also arose.

“Is it okay to rest here?”

“That’s right. Even though this much time has passed, there’s no sign of pursuit from Ma-gyo or Cheonmu Alliance, so it should be fine now. Plus, we’re somewhat distant from Mount Taishan.”

“Come to think of it, we seem to have come quite far.”

“And if you live outdoors too long, your mind and body become exhausted. Then it becomes difficult to prepare for unexpected situations.”

“That makes sense… Rest is certainly important.”

Hearing this, since there was nothing wrong with Yeo U-hui’s words, Yoo Eun-hyun nodded.

As could be seen from how she handled the bandits’ attack earlier, Yeo U-hui was quite an experienced martial artist.

Not only the martial arts she possessed, but perhaps because she was originally doing work that involved traveling around, her overall knowledge about the martial arts world was extensive.

And the more he experienced this, the more Yoo Eun-hyun could feel that his thought of searching for Soo Hwa-seon alone if necessary had been quite inadequate.

Because finding Soo Hwa-seon would have been nearly impossible without knowing where she had gone or that her maternal grandparents’ house was a martial arts clan called Uiseonsu-ga.

“That aside, I also need to buy items requested by the clan members. Especially since my daughter nags severely. First, let’s secure lodging. There’s an inn I use whenever I come to Taewon, so we can go there.”

Perhaps because it was near Uiseonsu-ga, Yeo U-hui seemed to visit Taewon frequently.

Only then did Yoo Eun-hyun begin looking around. His appearance of staring wide-eyed with curiosity was no different from that of a country bumpkin.

Seeing this, Yeo U-hui smiled and began moving toward the inn.

Along with the thought that perhaps spending the day somewhat lavishly might not be bad.

*

“Uh… we’re staying here?”

Yoo Eun-hyun muttered while looking up at the tall pavilion. At the entrance of the pavilion hung an elegantly written signboard with the name Euiryun-gak.

Contrary to Yoo Eun-hyun’s hope that it would just be a decent inn and not shabby, Yeo U-hui had brought him to a building of a size he had never seen in his life.

Moreover, this area seemed to be a street where quite wealthy people gathered, as the roads were wide and most of the nearby buildings were multi-story structures built high.

“Hm? Is it insufficient? It’s quite an old building, but the management is thorough, so it’s quite a neat lodging.”

“No. It’s just, how should I put it, something more…”

As the flustered Yoo Eun-hyun stammered, perhaps misunderstanding something, Yeo U-hui opened her narrow eyes slightly wider and said.

“Do you want a place like a pleasure house?”

“That’s not it. I’m not interested in such places to begin with.”

Greatly flustered by Yeo U-hui’s joke, Yoo Eun-hyun waved his hands. He had asked simply because he lacked common knowledge in such matters.

Yeo U-hui burst into laughter at Yoo Eun-hyun’s reaction and spoke as if it had been a joke.

“Hehe. You’re worried because staying in such a place feels burdensome, right? Goodness… Our nephew has lived alone in the mountains his whole life, so he’s very concerned about being indebted to others.”

As Yeo U-hui said, Yoo Eun-hyun had spent his whole life in the mountains only with his family and had almost no contact with outsiders. And since he had handled all aspects of living by farming himself or relied only on family, he had an instinctive tendency to avoid depending on others.

“It’s not that I find you uncomfortable, Aunt…”

“I know. Modesty is quite difficult, so that’s not a flaw. But I’d also like you to know that rejecting others’ goodwill too much can also be problematic.”

“Still, such a fine place is…”

“Hmm? Ah, so that was it? This is indeed a fine place, but it’s not so burdensome, so don’t worry.”

To Yoo Eun-hyun, who had only lived in the mountains, Euiryun-gak could only look like a place where royalty and nobles might stay. Yeo U-hui understood that such an excessive reaction from Yoo Eun-hyun came from his lack of common knowledge and nodded.

This was something he could learn slowly in the future.

And as if to teach him that, Yeo U-hui opened the door and entered Euiryun-gak.

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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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