The Farmer Who Ended Up Teaching the World’s Greatest Martial Artist - Chapter 40

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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 40

 

After that, Yoo Eun-hyun’s field cleanup continued for more than half a day. When the work was somewhat finished and he was catching his breath, Soo Hwa-seon approached and asked.

 

“What do you think will happen from now on?”

 

“Well. If it’s about restoring the field, it’s just a matter of time… That thing will come soon, right?”

 

Yoo Eun-hyun said in a reluctant voice as he looked around the field. It felt somewhat meaningless to do this knowing it would soon become a mess again.

 

“In my experience, it’ll come within 5 days.”

 

“Let’s just watch when it comes. Then we might be able to catch something.”

 

Yoo Eun-hyun said that and returned to the field. Soo Hwa-seon and Ju Yu-ryeon also knew there was no other way, so they didn’t say anything more.

 

Three more days passed like that, and Yoo Eun-hyun was practically living in the field, staying there almost constantly.

 

Ju Yu-ryeon seemed busier than expected and couldn’t come often after entrusting the field to Yoo Eun-hyun.

 

Soo Hwa-seon also said there was nothing special, but given her position, she seemed to be called here and there.

 

“What perfect weather.”

 

Yoo Eun-hyun was now on the hilltop where he could see the entire herb garden at a glance, observing the overall flow of the field. Under the blue sky without a single cloud and blindingly sunny weather – the kind of weather farmers love most – Yoo Eun-hyun frowned as he looked up at the sky and muttered.

 

“!!”

 

And then, sensing something, Yoo Eun-hyun quickly turned his head. The energy flowing through the field that Yoo Eun-hyun had worked hard to create. The natural energies he had guided to help crops grow best were being disturbed.

 

“Right, on such good weather, the Soil Lord Mouse would move too.”

 

A movement that seemed to artificially gnaw at the flow of nature. Unlike the obviously unnatural artificial movements of humans, this was the naturally unnatural movement characteristic of animals.

 

Yoo Eun-hyun immediately headed to the field where the chrysanthemums were planted.

 

As Yoo Eun-hyun approached where the chrysanthemums were planted, the ground stirred and more than ten chrysanthemum flowers were already uprooted and fallen over. The Soil Lord Mouse was definitely inside that moving earth. But as soon as Yoo Eun-hyun approached, the ground’s stirring stopped. It had already fled.

 

“It’s sensitive and fast… As expected, just catching it would be difficult.”

 

Since he had rushed over urgently, naturally the Soil Lord Mouse would have felt the ground’s vibration and fled.

 

Anyway, since it had already escaped, it probably wouldn’t come back for a while, so Yoo Eun-hyun began organizing the uprooted chrysanthemums. As a farmer, he couldn’t just leave such things alone.

 

Seeing that about ten flowers had already been damaged in that short time, it seemed like it really wouldn’t take even a day to devastate an entire field.

 

“How was it? Did it come?”

 

Meanwhile, Ju Yu-ryeon appeared and asked Yoo Eun-hyun. Yoo Eun-hyun showed her the scattered chrysanthemums as if to prove his point.

 

“As you can see.”

 

“Huh? The damage is only this much?”

 

“Well, I rushed over as soon as I sensed its presence.”

 

“How?”

 

“What do you mean how? Just as I said.”

 

Yoo Eun-hyun asked back as if wondering what she was talking about, but Ju Yu-ryeon also asked back with an incredulous expression as if wondering what he was talking about.

 

“So how did you sense its presence? Don’t tell me you can also detect the Soil Lord Mouse coming through ground vibrations?”

 

“I don’t have such incredible senses. I just came after feeling the field’s flow being disturbed.”

 

Seeing Yoo Eun-hyun speak as if it was nothing special, Ju Yu-ryeon muttered with a blank expression.

 

“You can feel that? How is that even possible?”

 

“Uh… Just by feeling?”

 

Yoo Eun-hyun gave a casual response to Ju Yu-ryeon’s question and finished organizing the chrysanthemums. After all, no matter how much he explained, this was something only Yoo Eun-hyun could do.

 

“If the damage is only this much, we could just leave it alone, right?”

 

“You want me to stay here continuously? That would be difficult.”

 

“Hmm… That’s true too. Still, isn’t this a big harvest? We’ve never even seen the Soil Lord Mouse directly.”

 

“It’s only a big harvest if we catch it. No matter how quickly I can detect it, it runs away too fast.”

 

“Is it because it’s a type of mouse? Haha. How about approaching more slowly?”

 

“Then I could get as close as possible without being detected, but… the herbs would be destroyed in the meantime, right?”

 

“They’re going to be destroyed anyway, so what does it matter. As long as we can catch that damn thing, short-term damage doesn’t matter.”

 

It certainly seemed like catching it was more important than avoiding damage for now, so Yoo Eun-hyun had no choice but to agree.

 

“Then let’s restore it to its original state first, then try approaching slowly.”

 

So the two people restored the field to its original state again, and Yoo Eun-hyun moved back to the location where he had been monitoring the field earlier.

 

*

 

The Soil Lord Mouse appeared again the next day. This time too, Yoo Eun-hyun, who felt the energy being disturbed, began approaching while suppressing his presence as much as possible.

 

Yoo Eun-hyun’s careful approach was effective, and he was finally able to see the Soil Lord Mouse with his own eyes.

 

“Ugh… Why is a mole as big as a dog?”

 

Unlike ordinary moles, the Soil Lord Mouse was about the size of a large dog. Probably for digging earth, its large front paws had long, sharp claws protruding from them.

 

And its whole body was covered with bristles, making it look quite unpleasant to touch. Seeing that, it was definitely a spiritual creature.

 

“Could I win if I just attacked? Hmm… Would it run away immediately?”

 

Actually, even if the Soil Lord Mouse attacked, Yoo Eun-hyun was confident he could escape from this distance. Just as he was about to get closer to observe more carefully, the Soil Lord Mouse suddenly raised its head toward Yoo Eun-hyun.

 

“?!!”

 

As soon as their eyes met, the Soil Lord Mouse, which had been busily eating herbs, jumped up as if startled. Then it raised its claws and dug into the ground to escape.

 

“Damn thing. Really annoyingly sensitive.”

 

It was no wonder Yoo Eun-hyun cursed. Despite the considerable distance between him and Yoo Eun-hyun, it immediately fled as soon as he reached a certain distance.

 

Yoo Eun-hyun had no way to subdue it from such a distance, and thinking maybe someone else could do it, he brought Soo Hwa-seon, but nothing changed.

 

“From this far away? If I could use internal energy it might be possible, but the moment I activate even a little internal energy, it would notice immediately, right?”

 

“Probably so. In the end, we need to approach to a certain distance without activating internal energy, then instantly block its movement…”

 

Yoo Eun-hyun frowned and fell into thought, but naturally no suitable method came to mind. The biggest problem was that the Soil Lord Mouse escaped underground. Even if he could throw a hidden weapon without activating internal energy, if he couldn’t kill it instantly, it would flee into the ground.

 

There was no answer unless they did something about that underground escape route.

 

Muttering like that, Yoo Eun-hyun returned to the storage warehouse, leaving the field restoration for later. There must be a way.

 

Inside the warehouse room were books full of research on the Soil Lord Mouse’s ecology that Ju Yu-ryeon had compiled, and Yoo Eun-hyun began searching through those books to find an answer somehow.

 

Until now, he hadn’t really checked the materials since he was focused on directly confirming the damage from the Soil Lord Mouse, but to find even small clues or get inspiration, it was better to look at such things.

 

“But this… There are many in number but no quality materials.”

 

Yoo Eun-hyun frowned as he looked at the materials Ju Yu-ryeon had recorded.

 

Since Yoo Eun-hyun was the first to be able to track the Soil Lord Mouse’s movements and even see it directly, the materials Ju Yu-ryeon left were too simple.

 

There was nothing about the Soil Lord Mouse’s ecology or habits at all, just when the Soil Lord Mouse appeared, how much damage it caused, and how many herbs were replanted – merely a list of dates and numbers. But thinking there might be clues in such places, Yoo Eun-hyun continued staring at and digging into those materials.

 

And after a day passed, then two days, when Yoo Eun-hyun had become as shabby as when Ju Yu-ryeon first saw him. Yoo Eun-hyun’s hand, which had been mechanically and dryly turning through materials, hesitated.

 

“Could this be…?”

 

Life returned to Yoo Eun-hyun’s half-dead eyes. As his hand turning through materials quickened, Yoo Eun-hyun became certain of one fact.

 

“Why didn’t I know this? Does Yu-ryeon know?”

 

“Know what?”

 

And just then, Ju Yu-ryeon’s voice came from behind. He was exhausted and had been concentrating on the materials, so he hadn’t noticed her coming.

 

But that wasn’t important right now. Yoo Eun-hyun brightened up as if it was perfect timing and thrust the materials toward Ju Yu-ryeon.

 

“Here. Look at this. The weather on the days when the Soil Lord Mouse caused damage. You wrote this, right?”

 

“Yeah. I had to record even things like this. Why?”

 

“Look, every day the Soil Lord Mouse appeared and caused damage was clear weather. Not a single rainy day.”

 

“…Wait, let me see that.”

 

At Yoo Eun-hyun’s words, Ju Yu-ryeon also seemed to sense something and took the materials from Yoo Eun-hyun, then began examining them while pulling out other materials as well.

 

After turning her head left and right for a while comparing materials, Ju Yu-ryeon raised her head and looked at Yoo Eun-hyun.

 

“Hmm. It’s really true? It appeared continuously for over a year, but not a single rainy day. Why didn’t I notice this?”

 

“Rather than not knowing, you probably just didn’t pay attention to it. Anyway, based on this, the Soil Lord Mouse definitely dislikes water.”

 

“Does it die when it touches water or something like that?”

 

“No way. It wouldn’t be that extreme. Probably when it rains, the ground gets wet and becomes muddy, making it hard to move. Plus, the soil’s pores decrease, making it hard to breathe. That’s why earthworms come up to the surface when it rains. The Soil Lord Mouse seems to go deeper inside instead.”

 

At Yoo Eun-hyun’s words, Ju Yu-ryeon exclaimed in admiration. The two people looked elsewhere for a moment, lost in thought.

 

Various plans were circulating based on two pieces of information: that the Soil Lord Mouse slows down in water-soaked ground, and that Yoo Eun-hyun can detect the Soil Lord Mouse’s presence.

 

After finishing their respective thoughts, the two people looked at each other without saying anything, and eventually began coordinating detailed strategies to subjugate the Soil Lord Mouse.

 

*

 

The next day, after getting final confirmation from Soo Hwa-seon, the Soil Lord Mouse extermination operation began in earnest.

 

The start was naturally handled by Yoo Eun-hyun, who could sense the Soil Lord Mouse’s presence.

 

As in previous cases, while waiting for the Soil Lord Mouse to appear from a high place, the Soil Lord Mouse was caught by Yoo Eun-hyun’s senses.

 

“Good. Let’s begin.”

 

Yoo Eun-hyun sent the signal to start the operation, then began moving carefully while suppressing his presence.

 

In Yoo Eun-hyun’s moving hands was a fairly large water container filled with water.

 

It looked difficult for an ordinary person to even carry, but now that Yoo Eun-hyun had also learned internal energy, the water inside remained calm without even a ripple as he moved with the container. Since not being detected by the Soil Lord Mouse was the primary task, he was moving as carefully and slowly as possible.

 

This was only possible because Yoo Eun-hyun could feel the flow of natural energy and move without going against that flow.

 

Having approached to a distance where he wouldn’t be detected by the Soil Lord Mouse, Yoo Eun-hyun let out a small sigh inwardly as if he was about to begin, then lifted up the water container.

 

“Let’s see who wins this one.”

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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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