The World’s Greatest Martial Arts Instructor - Chapter 344
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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 344. So It Was Human
Even deep within the Southern Barbarian Jungle, there were villages where people gathered to live.
The village that Myo Gu-eung had first discovered.
It took less than a moment for that village to melt away with a handful of Poison Hand.
His reason for melting these people with Poison Hand was nothing special.
He had come to find suitable clothes, but there was nothing to his liking.
It was natural.
Myo Gu-eung.
Though he was not from the Central Plains, he had lived there and preferred Central Plains clothing.
But this place was Southern Barbarian land.
Naturally, they had their own style of clothing, and only such garments were available.
So he was displeased.
“Ugh. Tsk. Can’t be helped. I’ll just wear this until I enter Sichuan.”
Just as he was picking up some clothes that looked somewhat decent.
“Waaah! Waaah!”
The sound of a baby crying came from somewhere.
The child had been sleeping soundly, so the parents had left it in a cradle while working in the village, only to meet their end at Myo Gu-eung’s hands.
Was it even a hundred days old?
That’s why Myo Gu-eung had been a bit confused about whether the presence was human or an animal like a dog or cat, so he had left it alone.
“So it was human.”
Myo Gu-eung headed toward the house where the crying could be heard.
The child’s parents had already turned into a handful of poison.
A baby struggling and crying in its cradle came into Myo Gu-eung’s view.
It was a very small and cute baby, but.
“Yes. Are you looking for your parents? Then I shall send you to your parents’ side. Be quiet there. Ugh.”
The moment Myo Gu-eung said this and turned around.
The baby’s crying stopped as if by magic.
And.
The baby disappeared too.
In the place where the baby had been, only pitch-black poison remained.
Myo Gu-eung’s Ki Sense swept through the village once more.
This time with proper concentration.
No more human presence could be felt.
“Cheondok Valley. This will be your fate. And I must find what remains last. Kekeke.”
Myo Gu-eung moved his steps and left the village.
The humid wind of the Southern Barbarians blew in.
The poison gradually spread to the surroundings along with the humid wind.
And around that area, an aura of death began to settle little by little.
***
Peng Do-yul stared down at the official document placed before him.
It was a list of those being sent as new Instructors from Dorim.
There was an unexpected name written there.
Un Gyo-tak.
The person currently in the medical hall of Gyoryong Hall.
He was said to be coming as an Instructor for Waryong Corps.
This gave him a headache.
What lingering attachment did this man, who had already been crushed by Ha Mu-baek, have that made him want to settle down as an Instructor at Gyoryong Hall?
He would only end up being beaten by Ha Mu-baek anyway.
Peng Do-yul had no justification to refuse.
Dorim dispatching Instructors to Gyoryong Hall was, after all, goodwill intended to nurture the future talents of Murim.
The Instructors sent by other sects were the same.
While it might be an honor for some.
In truth, most Martial Artists were not particularly enthusiastic about this position.
In that regard, the current Jamryong Corps Leader and Waryong Corps Leader were remarkable people.
They had been protecting Gyoryong Hall for several years now without returning to their sects.
“Can’t be helped.”
After looking down at the document for a moment, Peng Do-yul signed it and passed it along.
There were still plenty of documents to review.
Peng Do-yul wasn’t the only one struggling in a sea of paperwork.
Yeon Baek-jin was in the same situation.
However, the difference between him and Peng Do-yul was that he had an assistant.
Yeon Ha-min.
Since her last visit, she had been coming occasionally to help with work like this.
It was truly a great help.
However.
“It’s neither a rest day nor a break period. The second half has started, so is it alright for you to be here like this? I’m grateful for the great help, but.”
“I’m just taking a brief rest while doing this.”
At Yeon Ha-min’s answer, Yeon Baek-jin, who had his eyes on the documents, chuckled softly.
He knew well that wasn’t the case.
Once she came, she would help for at least half a hour before leaving.
During that time, it would be much better to practice Energy Circulation and Breathing instead.
“Isn’t the training difficult?”
“It’s always difficult. Instructor Ha isn’t exactly an ordinary person.”
At Yeon Ha-min’s answer, Yeon Baek-jin smiled bitterly this time.
That was right.
Ha Mu-baek.
Was he ever an ordinary person?
Moreover.
“There isn’t much time left now.”
It was Yeon Ha-min’s turn to smile bitterly.
She knew all too well what he was referring to.
“That’s right. Once this second half ends. I’ll have to go.”
She didn’t specifically mention where.
After all, they both knew the place well.
Moreover, Yeon Ha-min already had experience visiting that place.
Furthermore.
She had also severed the tiresome chain of bad karma there.
Yeon Baek-jin, who had been looking only at documents, raised his head to look at Yeon Ha-min.
“Uncle?”
Feeling his gaze, Yeon Ha-min raised her head and met his eyes.
In those eyes was only concern directed toward her.
Yeon Baek-jin opened a small drawer on one side of his desk and.
From there, he took out a sealed letter.
“This is a reward for all the help you’ve given me. Take this and go now. Focus more on your cultivation. You don’t need to help me like this anymore.”
Yeon Baek-jin smiled gently, yet spoke firmly.
Reading his expression, Yeon Ha-min didn’t say anything more and carefully received the sealed letter.
“Yes. Thank you, Uncle.”
Leaving those words of gratitude, she departed from the Deputy Administrator’s Office.
Yeon Baek-jin had prevented anyone from approaching the Deputy Administrator’s Office while Yeon Ha-min was there.
Thanks to this, strange rumors had recently begun circulating without anyone knowing.
Sensing this, Yeon Baek-jin had stopped Yeon Ha-min’s visits.
He was also reluctant to reveal that he was her uncle.
The reason was nothing else.
Father.
The rumor he had spread to use her as a tool for political marriage.
Ice Lotus Flower Yeon Ha-min, one of the Five Flowers of Murim.
That was the reason.
The moment he revealed that he was her uncle, it would be known that she was the Ice Lotus Flower.
In fact, Yeon Ha-min also knew this fact.
So she had been about to say she wouldn’t visit for a while, but Yeon Baek-jin had cut her off first.
For her sake.
Step. Step.
She left the Director’s Pavilion and walked toward Yeonryong Lodge.
The maids of the Director’s Pavilion glanced at her figure.
And they whispered among themselves.
Her face beneath the face veil hardened stiffly.
She could roughly guess what they were whispering about.
“Ha-min!”
A voice called out at that moment.
It was Ha Seol-ran.
Ha Seol-ran, who had been near the Director’s Pavilion, quickly approached her and stood beside her.
“How did you end up here?”
“I was taking a walk to rest for a bit.”
Ha Seol-ran answered with a smile.
Seeing her smile, the hurt feelings from the maids earlier felt much better.
“What’s that?”
Ha Seol-ran’s gaze turned to the sealed letter in Yeon Ha-min’s hand.
“Well…”
She didn’t know what it was either.
The texture felt through her hand was quite thick.
What could it be?
What would Youngest Son Uncle give her like this?
The two walked side by side toward Yeonryong Lodge.
This time too, the two were sharing a room.
While Ha Seol-ran went to wash first.
Yeon Ha-min opened the sealed letter.
Another envelope came out.
When she carefully opened the envelope.
A thick bundle of folded papers was inside.
The moment she unfolded it.
“Sob…”
Yeon Ha-min’s eyes turned red.
Drop.
A tear fell.
Startled, Yeon Ha-min hurriedly moved the paper away, and the tear fell on her knee.
Fortunately, the paper didn’t get wet.
It absolutely must not get wet.
If tears fell on it and the ink smeared, that would be terrible.
“M-m-m-Mother…”
Yeon Ha-min murmured softly.
That’s right.
The bundle of papers was.
A letter sent by Yeon Ha-min’s mother.
All the words that had accumulated during the time they couldn’t see each other were written down, making such a thick bundle of papers.
It had only been a year and a half.
But the moment she saw the first character.
Yeon Ha-min recognized her mother’s handwriting and was shedding tears like this.
“Sob. Sob sob. Sob sob sob sob.”
She simply couldn’t read the letter.
Yeon Ha-min just cried endlessly like that.
Ha Seol-ran, who had finished bathing.
Sensed Yeon Ha-min’s condition with her ki sense.
“Hmm. I should take a longer walk before coming back.”
Murmuring calmly, she swept her wet hair back and left Yeonryong Lodge.
And she walked wherever her feet took her without thinking.
“What are you doing?”
Elder Brother’s voice was heard at that moment.
“Ah.”
“If you wander around after washing like that, you’ll catch a cold. The night air is quite cold now.”
Ha Mu-baek’s gaze was on Ha Seol-ran’s damply wet hair.
Ha Mu-baek reached out and grasped Ha Seol-ran’s hair.
The moment heat seemed to emanate from his hand.
Ha Seol-ran’s hair dried completely in an instant.
All the moisture remaining on her body also dried, and warm energy settled in.
This was an application of the fire energy he had recently acquired.
“Huh? Uh…”
Ha Seol-ran was startled.
“Go inside and rest quickly. If you want to receive training again tomorrow.”
Then he turned around and disappeared.
“Hmm. Now I can dry myself too…”
Ha Seol-ran had been thinking of using her internal energy to dry herself while walking, even if not with Samadhi True Fire.
A feeling that was touching yet somehow disappointing.
Ha Seol-ran, who had been watching Elder Brother’s retreating figure, was suddenly startled.
“Come to think of it… I missed Elder Brother’s presence.”
Her ki sense was still spread out.
But Ha Mu-baek wasn’t detected by her ki sense.
He had reached a level where he could erase his presence so perfectly as to fool her ki sense.
“Just what are you doing out there? Elder Brother.”
How could he keep getting stronger without resting even for a moment?
The back she was looking at had become even more enormous.
***
“Hmm.”
Even as the night deepened.
Un Gyo-tak could not easily fall asleep.
Still.
It was because he was contemplating that realm that seemed within reach yet remained elusive.
“What you consider natural might not be natural? Damn it. What the hell does that even mean….”
In the end, his frustration exploded.
This impatient temperament.
Despite being constantly criticized by elder brother Rim Ju-in about this, he still hadn’t managed to fix it.
Dorim’s strongest.
Of course, excluding So Hwi-ung.
That was Un Gyo-tak’s pride and source of confidence.
But after being defeated by Ha Mu-baek in this place and agonizing over that elusive realm.
He began to wonder if perhaps Dorim’s strongest wasn’t himself, but elder brother Rim Ju-in.
It had always been that way.
He would look at him with an expression as if he knew everything.
Because it was so natural for him to be Dorim’s strongest, he had failed to consider it as unnatural—that was the expression on his elder brother’s face.
“Huh? Wait a moment….”
As he thought about his elder brother, something suddenly seemed a bit more within grasp.
Something natural yet unnatural.
Those riddle-like words.
Were becoming a clue.
‘Natural, yet unnatural….’
Come to think of it.
He had been thinking too naturally that to cultivate, one must wield a blade, and to do so, one must utilize internal energy.
When examining the combat forms of blade techniques and implementing something with the blade at that moment, was internal energy truly necessary?
Such a question suddenly arose.
The idea that internal energy must be used for cultivation.
Perhaps that might not be natural after all.
Since the thought had occurred.
He had to put it into practice.
True to his impatient nature.
He grabbed his blade and rushed out of the medical hall.
‘Moving the blade without using internal energy.’
When was the last time he had done such a thing?
In his very early childhood.
Before internal energy cultivation.
When learning the basic combat forms of the blade.
That was probably the only time.
Un Gyo-tak concentrated.
Just like then.
When he had unleashed Heaven-Collapsing Demon-Annihilation against Ha Mu-baek.
He focused all his mind on the blade point and moved the blade.
The muscles throughout his body tensed and he felt stiffness.
Sweat poured down.
And Heaven-Collapsing Demon-Annihilation was a form that absolutely could not be executed without internal energy.
Using internal energy was actually the natural thing.
Nevertheless.
“Hah, haha. Hahaha.”
Absurd laughter flowed from Un Gyo-tak’s mouth.
In that process, Un Gyo-tak had seen something.
It was a wall.
A wall blocking his path.
Even though he had mastered the Heaven-Severing Demon-Slaying Blade to its ultimate achievement.
He saw the wall that stood firmly in place.
Moreover.
He also got a sense of how he could overcome that wall.
“Ha, hahaha. Kahahaha! Wait for me! Ha Mu-baek! This time will be different!”
His internal injuries still needed at least twenty more days to fully heal.
During that time.
If he cultivated diligently and meditated, he would be able to overcome that wall in one go after recovering his internal energy.
If that happened.
That bastard Ha Mu-baek….
Just thinking about it made laughter flow out.
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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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