The Strongest in Our Neighborhood - Chapter 10

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Our Town’s Strongest (10)
‘When the Immortals taught me to speak, they said that humans beyond the forest were different from them, and I wondered at it then. Now I understand why they said that.’
Jang Ga-in walked alongside the Elders toward the village, nodding inwardly to himself.
In truth, he had come to understand this world as something like the Middle Realm—the level beneath the Heavenly Realm where dragons ascended. That was why he believed there were fierce beasts here, and Immortals, and Spirit Creatures and such.
Part of the reasoning behind that belief stemmed from the bearing and dress of Immortals like Kairin, Sai-ran, and Eldom. And more than anything else, it was the beauty of their features—something he had never witnessed in his former life.
Not only them, but Elena and Elder Malata as well, the two teachers, and even the children possessed truly striking appearances.
‘The hunters, by contrast, resembled the sort of people commonly seen in the Central Plains.’
Though their bone structure and complexion differed somewhat, if the Immortals carried Natural Qi within them, the hunters harbored something like the Inner Qi that Jang Ga-in himself possessed.
As Jang Ga-in walked, lost in such thoughts, he came to a halt before the Birch Forest where he had stopped once before.
When Jang Ga-in paused, Eldom, walking beside him, wore a puzzled expression.
“Aren’t you coming in, Ga-in?”
“You said before that I couldn’t enter the village.”
“Ah, that was true once, but not anymore. You saved the children, after all. So the Elders gave their permission. Didn’t the girls tell you?”
“No, I’m hearing this for the first time from you.”
“The girls must have forgotten to pass along the Elders’ words while caring for the children.”
“I see. But if I’m permitted to enter, what about this one?”
Jang Ga-in gestured toward the Saber-toothed Tiger, which carried a full load of the hunters’ weapons on its back.
“Ah, the Saber-toothed Tiger is under your command, so you may bring it in as well. Just be mindful that the village people aren’t harmed.”
“I will be careful. Truth be told, I tried to send it back to the forest not long ago, but it refused to leave. Seeing how well it gets along with the children on the way here, it doesn’t seem like it will attack people anymore.”
Jang Ga-in fell into step beside Eldom once more.
Partway through the Birch Forest, he suddenly felt the quality of the air shift, and without thinking, he drew in a deep breath.
Whoooosh…… Ahhhh……
“The air is incredibly clean, isn’t it?”
“What? Oh, yes. Just breathing here makes my lungs feel as though they’re being washed in crystal water—the air is that refreshing.”
“There’s a Barrier set up from here onward.”
“A Barrier? But I don’t feel anything other than the change in the air.”
Jang Ga-in tilted his head in confusion.
While staying outside the village, he had crossed through the Barrier several times before. But then, he had never breathed air like this.
‘Is it because I didn’t use this path? The Barrier here seems quite different from what I knew.’
Jang Ga-in deployed his Qi Sensing, examining his surroundings to compare the Barriers he had encountered in the Demonic Sect with the one that spread across Louta Village.
‘Huh?’
As he did so, he began to notice the aura of the Elders, the teachers, the warriors, the Kairin siblings, and even the children gradually shifting and intensifying.
‘What’s happening? Everyone’s power except mine and the Saber-toothed Tiger’s is growing stronger in an instant!’
Over the span of merely five minutes, everyone’s aura transformed as if third-rate masters became second-rate, and second-rate became first-rate.
Jang Ga-in stood for a moment, stupefied, observing the change in their auras.
‘What manner of sorcery is this? Could it be—could the Barrier possess such an absurd effect?’
He knew of no Formation or Incantation Magic Barrier that possessed such an ability.
Clearly, the Barrier erected to protect this village was something extraordinary.
To find the source, Jang Ga-in expanded his Qi Sensing as widely as he could, searching for the Barrier’s center.
But the Barrier spread so vast that he could not locate its center, nor could he discern the reason for the people’s increased strength.
And as he pondered, it came to him that the only thing that had changed between before and after entering the Barrier was the air itself—now impossibly pure and crystalline.
He breathed in as deeply as he could, then exhaled slowly, trying to identify the cause.
‘Does this pure air meld with the Spirit Power accumulated in their bodies? But even so, how could their auras amplify so dramatically in a single moment?’
Within this place, even one of the Elders would not lose to the Saber-toothed Tiger.
Then Eldom quietly opened his mouth.
“You can sense that our power has grown stronger, can’t you?”
“What? Oh, yes. I was just wondering why all of you suddenly became stronger.”
“This Barrier filters out Demonic Qi and Evil Qi, allowing only the pure essence of natural energy to pass through. Thanks to that Pure Spiritual Energy, our Spirit Power grows naturally.”
“Such an effect exists? To me, it simply feels like the air is overwhelmingly clean.”
“The pure natural energy feels clean to you.”
“I suppose. But I too have cultivated my Internal Power by gathering natural energy. So why do I experience no change?”
“Hmm, from what I sense, your energy does have natural energy as its foundation, but it is far from pure. More than that, it carries the mark of deliberate refinement. That’s likely why you’re not affected.”
“Impure, and artificially refined? At the Original Sect, the Fengyun Shen Gong I mastered was closer to Natural Qi than anything else—but ah, even at its best, my Fengyun Shen Gong cannot compare to the Immortal Techniques of true Immortals.”
Jang Ga-in nodded in acknowledgment. How could an ordinary person like himself judge the techniques of the Immortals?
A short while later, as they entered the village, roughly a hundred villagers came out to welcome them. The parents of the children especially, having heard of Jang Ga-in’s heroic deeds, performed deep bows and hurried home to retrieve precious gifts.
* * *
“Phew! This is exhausting.”
After being treated like a hero and receiving the lavish hospitality and warm welcome of the people of Louta Village, Jang Ga-in slipped away to a quiet place to have some time to himself.
In fact, ever since he was young, whenever someone praised or admired him, his face would flush and he’d feel awkward.
It wasn’t that he disliked such treatment. Rather, it was simply that he had lived a life with little leisure to fully savor such feelings tickling at his heart.
“But what principle does this barrier operate on that it actually elevates people’s fundamental levels?”
Eldom’s words—that he’d called the barrier “neither pure nor artificially refined”—kept circling through Jang Ga-in’s mind.
“The Fengyun Shen Gong is a martial art derived from Daoists’ longevity practices, so it has the effect of accumulating natural Qi and protecting the spirit from demonic Qi.”
He’d recently learned from Eldom how to cultivate Spirit Power, and while drawing in natural Qi through the Fengyun Shen Gong had become slightly easier, there was no remarkable change in his internal power.
‘All that’s happened is the Wind Technique’s power has grown stronger…….’
Likely, Eldom’s comment about “artificially refined” referred to how he’d been accumulating natural Qi through the Fengyun Shen Gong’s breathing method to build internal power.
‘If I reverse it—convert my internal power back into natural Qi—could it resonate with the barrier’s pure spiritual energy?’
Shhhhh……
He reversed the flow, releasing the internal power from his Dantian and reshaping it as closely as he could to match natural Qi.
As he slowly released the power from his palm and stirred up a breeze, he felt the barrier’s Qi faintly mingling with that wind.
‘Ah! It’s working—it’s actually working! So this is how it happens!’
When he began rotating the internal power, the breeze transformed into a small whirlwind, and he could sense its force harmonizing with the barrier’s Qi, becoming far more potent.
‘With so little internal power, I can generate this much force!’
It seemed possible, just as Immortals did, to fire wind and then draw it back.
‘Not far distances, but close range might work.’
Whooooosh……
He released the wind circling in his palm toward a small boulder three meters ahead, and part of the wind scattered on impact while part of it returned to him.
“Ah!”
Jang Ga-in realized he could gauge the boulder’s size from the amount of returning wind.
“So that’s how Kairin was able to sense the Saber-toothed Tiger hiding in the forest!”
Since she manipulated wind far more delicately than he did, the information she gained would be far more detailed.
Jang Ga-in continued releasing his internal power to generate wind and conducting various experiments.
* * *
“Elder Elena, the potion’s scent seems a bit different from usual.”
The elder Elena, who had been tending the large cauldron with Ogre Blood and various medicinal ingredients, paused her work and wiped the sweat from her brow as Malata approached.
“Ah! It’s because the Ogre Blood is in it—that changes the fragrance.”
“Ogre Blood! No wonder. So the Ogre Blood that Jang Ga-in caught is going into these.”
“Yes.”
“With this quantity, we should get at least five bottles of Superior Potion.”
“We should. Actually, I brewed some Flower Tea a moment ago. Would you like a cup?”
“Yes, please. And there was mention of Ogre Hide—might I see it?”
“Ah! I’ve been drying it in the back courtyard.”
The two of them soon stepped into the back courtyard with their cups of Flower Tea and examined the Ogre Hide.
“This must be from one of the older mature ones. Jang Ga-in really did catch quite a beast.”
“The hide is so fine that I gave Superior Potions to Kairin and her brother without taking a Mana Stone in return.”
“That’s fair. Hide like this won’t be pierced by ordinary arrows—we can make more than enough leather armor for our warriors.”
“I think we could make at least ten sets or more.”
“If the instructors had been wearing armor made from Ogre Hide during the incident, they wouldn’t have been killed by the human hunters.”
“True, but how often can one even obtain Ogre Hide outside of rare circumstances like this?”
“Indeed. Without Jang Ga-in, hunting an Ogre would be unthinkable. But Elder Elena, have you given any thought to our earlier discussion?”
“What discussion?”
“What else? How to convince Jang Ga-in to stay in our village—didn’t we agree to think on it?”
“Ah! I’ve been turning it over in my mind, but I simply don’t know what conditions to offer. Kairin mentioned he promised to travel with them when they depart for the human realm to train……—but we can’t very well send them off without him, can we?”
“Now that I think about it, his bond with Kairin and her brother is quite special.”
“Indeed. There’s not much to be done about that. We’ve been hearing lately of human hunters lurking in the nearby forests, so going forward, the two of us will need to accompany them during their training, but we can’t do that every time.”
“What if we delayed Kairin’s departure date?”
“Delay their departure? How exactly?”
“The village instructors and warriors have been discussing clearing out the human hunters prowling the forests around our village. We could involve Kairin, her brother, and Jang Ga-in in that effort. Wouldn’t that eliminate the human hunters quickly and make our village safer?”
“Kairin and her brother would certainly participate since it’s village business, but would Jang Ga-in agree to help clear out human hunters?”
“He wouldn’t if we asked, but wouldn’t he if Kairin and her brother asked?”
“There’s a good chance he would if they asked, but we’d likely need to offer him appropriate compensation.”
“Then let’s summon Kairin, explain the situation, and have her ask Jang Ga-in what compensation he would want in exchange for helping us.”
“That sounds good. I understand.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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