The Owner Of The Thousand Gold Coins Is A Military Official - Chapter 22

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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 22

This was someone I never could have imagined.

To meet the Former Patriarch right after leaving Cheongeumjang.

Of all people, the Former Patriarch was personally crafting and holding a staff, making it seem like a divine weapon.

“Must you really use a staff?”

Only a leisurely laugh and answer came in response.

“It’s not even a divine weapon, so what does it matter?”

“At your level, wouldn’t anything you hold become a divine weapon?”

“A divine weapon isn’t divine for nothing. Stop talking nonsense and finish preparing.”

It seemed like competitive spirit was arising after quite a long time.

I was curious and excited about what my current level was like.

This was a realm I had built through solitary training.

Its very nature was so peculiar that there was no one within Cheongeumjang who could teach me.

Since even the way I operated my internal energy was different, what kind of guidance could they give?

Perhaps, if there was someone whose dantian had been shattered.

And if they had overcome it, they might be able to provide guidance on this matter.

But how many such people could there be?

“Focus.”

With the Former Patriarch’s words, Cheongun also cast away his idle thoughts.

He briefly pondered how to block for one second, but that contemplation didn’t last long.

Since the Former Patriarch wasn’t using techniques, Cheongun wouldn’t use techniques either.

Only through the operation of internal energy.

And only through pure physical movement.

The hastily made wooden staff thrust precisely at the center of his body,

Surprisingly, it felt neither fast nor slow.

However, he didn’t feel like he could dodge it.

He thrust his sword tip to meet the tip of the staff.

It would be meaningless unless he hit the center precisely.

Since it was a hastily made wooden staff, it wouldn’t be a perfect circle and should be hard to find, yet Cheongun found the center of the staff without the slightest hesitation.

If judged purely by the amount of internal energy, he couldn’t surpass that old monster who had lived for who knows how long.

‘….’

The moment the sword tip and staff tip made contact.

Keeng.

A sound that couldn’t be called the rupturing noise of wood and iron began to be heard.

‘Kuk…!’

This was a dizzying level.

What kind of internal energy was so vast?

Deep, high, and solid.

It was like a massive ocean, or like a deep lake.

No matter how many stones you threw at it, what would change besides creating momentary ripples?

Whether ocean or lake, anything deep remained unchanged.

If you didn’t want to fall in and die, there was only one method.

Cheongun was doing his best in his own way.

The other side wasn’t, but this was natural.

How could a newly grown tree be more solid than the roots of an already deeply rooted giant tree?

But this, he couldn’t easily guarantee.

‘This bastard….’

Internal energy to the degree that made him wonder if he had achieved rejuvenation.

It was so absurd that words wouldn’t come out properly.

He wasn’t the Patriarch of Cheongeumjang for nothing.

Having consumed who knows how many good elixirs, the purity of his internal energy was similar to that of a newborn child.

“Huh….”

More and more strength was going into the hand gripping the staff tip.

Internal energy was one thing, but there was something else equally important.

Precisely that temperament.

Seeming confident yet also arrogant.

Seeming polite yet also rude.

He had been trying to show this impudent Patriarch of Cheongeumjang, who walked that precarious line, a bit of bitter taste.

‘Were my eyes wrong?’

Wasn’t he more outstanding than what he had seen?

That instantaneous judgment in dealing with variables, crises, and unexpected situations was absolutely not something someone not even in their twenties could make.

Wasn’t this the feeling of those who had countless times crossed the threshold between life and death?

He had lived quite a long time until now.

Long enough to have directly witnessed what others called history.

“Good.”

Strength entered the hand gripping the staff once powerfully.

Instantaneously, a large amount of internal energy flowed through the staff and naturally collided with the sword touching the staff tip.

Jjeong.

It was short and concise.

Cheongun also operated his internal energy accordingly, and the two internal energies met at the tips of their respective weapons.

With a refreshing rupturing sound of “thung,” strong wind swept around them.

This was merely a prelude.

After that, Cheongun and the Former Patriarch’s internal energies swept fiercely along the path where the wind had passed.

Nearby trees were cut down just from the aftereffects.

“…Is that sufficient?”

“Huh, huh…!”

This wasn’t an ordinary surprised expression.

It was literally an expression of shock.

Cheongun hadn’t blocked it very leisurely either.

Fatigue was washing over him.

“This is truly a great blessing for the current martial world….”

Looking at Cheongun reminded him of his disciple.

Not because they were similar.

Because of how much he disliked him.

It was unbelievable that he was supposedly the most talented one.

And that bastard was what, Three Supremes?

“Listen, Patriarch.”

“Yes.”

“Would you consider becoming my disciple?”

At those words, Cheongun looked at him with eyes that seemed dumbfounded.

He had thought it was half a joke, but seeing his eyes, he was serious.

“Are you saying that knowing who I am?”

“Of course. I know well.”

Cheongeumjang was the place with the most money in this Gangho.

The Patriarch was the successor of that place.

And Gaebang was a den of beggars.

Beggar was also a term for those who had the least.

“Abandon wealth and gain the world.”

“I’ll have both wealth and the world.”

“Hehe… What a dangerous fellow. I should report this fact to His Majesty….”

“…Old man. Why are you acting like this? Haven’t we each finished our business?”

Perhaps it’s because of his age, but the Former Patriarch honestly feels a bit hurt by Cheongun’s reaction.

Others would be frantically trying to serve him once they knew his identity, but this fellow has such an annoyed expression on his face, as if he’s too good for this.

Well, he is quite exceptional though.

“Look. I have no ties left now.”

“I see.”

“I’m too old for entertainment.”

“Is that so.”

“The path you take, the things you do. I’ll just watch from afar. It seems like it’ll be interesting.”

Do I have a choice?

If he decides to hide his presence, I won’t be able to find him.

“Do as you please.”

“Hehe, thank you. So, where are you going?”

“Wouldn’t it be more interesting if you didn’t know?”

“Hahaha. Yes, that’s true too. Let’s depart.”

His expression shows not a trace of dignity.

“I need to rest a bit. Thanks to someone, I’m exhausted.”

“Tsk, giving an old man such grief. I should take back what I said about good fortune.”

With the sudden appearance of this old monster, Cheongun is quite flustered.

Actually, there’s no need to rest, but he needed to be careful about drawing more attention.

“Take this with you.”

“What is it?”

“It’s a Chwigu Pill.”

“A spiritual medicine from Gaebang.”

“Yes. I made it myself, so it’s better than others.”

He had never taken Gaebang’s spiritual medicine at Cheongeumjang.

Rather than being hard to obtain, it was more accurate to say there was no particular need to get it.

The Chwigu Pill that came out from rummaging through his clothes doesn’t look very refined for something called a spiritual medicine.

“….”

“Why are you looking at it with those eyes?”

“Would you try it first….”

“You rascal!”

Perhaps because he was a Former Patriarch, just his angry voice alone makes my skin tingle.

“I’m joking.”

“Eat it. It won’t harm you.”

A Chwigu Pill made directly by a Former Patriarch is different.

Until now, Cheongun had tried countless spiritual medicines.

Though he hadn’t yet tried the supreme ones like Shaolin’s Daehwandan or Mount Hua’s Jahashinda, he had sampled almost everything said to be just below those.

Originally, spiritual medicines have their greatest effect when taken for the first time.

Because of this, unless it was something like Daehwandan or Jahashinda, trying medicines he hadn’t taken before was more helpful at this level.

Not just any Chwigu Pill, but one personally crafted by a Former Patriarch.

‘Not bad.’

For Cheongun to evaluate something as ‘not bad’ meant it belonged to the excellent category.

The moment he swallowed the Chwigu Pill and grasped its power, the old man vanished instantly.

‘I should keep calling him old man.’

There was a small commotion on the way, but it wasn’t a bad thing.

Rather, if anything, it was a good thing.

Cheongun’s age before he died in his previous life was thirty.

And at that time, Cheongeumjang was declining.

Considering Cheongeumjang’s scale, it meant attacks against Cheongeumjang had begun much earlier.

He had no memory of hearing news related to Cheongin, the Former Patriarch and his grandfather, or his father Cheongjin in his previous life.

If he had known it would come to this, he would have at least listened.

Still, it’s not like there are no clues at all, and he hadn’t been idle all this time.

It’s been a full seventeen years.

He had organized and reorganized the most likely possibilities.

Plans don’t unfold exactly as intended.

Variables exist everywhere.

However, regardless of the process, if the result matches what was planned, that plan becomes a successful one.

This was the case with the current Cheongun.

Alone, from the moment he reached an age where he could think for himself, the plan had begun.

At first, he thought being reborn into Cheongeumjang was a blessing.

But after some time passed, he realized that wasn’t entirely the case.

Having much meant there was far too much to protect.

What if he had been born with nothing?

Or what if he had been a disciple of a declining sect? He had thought about it.

If that were the case, he wouldn’t have had to worry so much about others’ attention.

But soon he changed his thinking.

After all, who was the one with a wealthy family to begin with?

It was himself.

Suddenly, he recalled the last report he had received from the Black Shadow Guard.

Until he was seventeen, until the day he left Cheongeumjang, how many assassination attempts had been made on the Patriarch.

Not dozens.

There had been hundreds of assassination attempts, and quite a few Black Shadow Guard members had been sacrificed.

Five assassins were captured alive, two hundred and forty-four committed suicide, and one escaped.

None of them reached Cheongun.

The Black Shadow Guard were both a military force and those closest to being assassins themselves.

This also meant they were those who could best block assassins.

And the most important point was Cheongeumjang itself.

The Patriarch and his direct lineage.

And only those with permission could stay and enter.

That pavilion was itself one giant mechanical formation.

The connection with the Jegal Family was for that reason too.

Having left such a Cheongeumjang, wouldn’t this situation be nothing short of a golden opportunity in the eyes of those who had targeted Cheongeumjang’s Patriarch?

Tonight there’s no full moon, so there’s no light around.

And here he is with a fire lit as if announcing his presence, so they begin gathering like moths to a flame.

“Yes. I was wondering when you’d come.”

He had hidden his presence as much as possible, but it was useless.

To hide one’s presence, one would need to be at least at the level of that Old Beggar who was chasing Cheongun earlier.

Rising from his seat, Cheongun swung his sword once to completely extinguish the fire.

So that nothing could be seen.

Darkness would be the most desired and familiar environment for assassins, but…

“Come at me. My entire life has been like this.”

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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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