The World’s Greatest Martial Arts Instructor - Chapter 91

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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 91. You Blockheads!

 

 

“Hm?”

Byeokryeokgae discovered Gongsun Mu-oe and raised his body.

“Mu-oe. Why are you coming out?”

Byeokryeokgae asked, tilting his head.

At his question, Gongsun Mu-oe looked at Byeokryeokgae with eyes truly filled with complex emotions.

“Why have you only come to find us now… Uncle Byeok. Please come inside first.”

Gongsun Mu-oe spoke while forcibly suppressing the urge to sob, his voice mixed with dejection, resentment, and regret.

“Why are you acting like this, Mu-oe? What’s wrong? Where did Dae-gwang go?”

Byeokryeokgae asked with a flustered face at Gongsun Mu-oe’s appearance.

The Subordinates who had followed behind stared blankly at the scene.

A beggar Old Man who casually addressed not only the current valley lord but also the previous valley lord, and the current valley lord calling such a person uncle.

There couldn’t be such a person…

Then someone recalled something.

“Ah! By-Byeokryeokgae sir…”

They remembered that the previous valley lord’s childhood friend and close companion was Byeokryeokgae.

If that Old Man before their eyes was Byeokryeokgae, then the valley lord’s reaction made sense.

“Please come inside so we can talk.”

Gongsun Mu-oe said once more.

There were too many watching eyes around, making it impossible to have a deep conversation.

 

Steam rose gently from the Tea the Maid had brought out.

“What brings you all the way here? We searched for your whereabouts but couldn’t find you anywhere…”

At Gongsun Mu-oe’s question, Byeokryeokgae pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from his chest.

“There were some circumstances. After going so long without contact, I’ve come here so shamelessly because I wanted to see if I could obtain the Medicinal Herbs listed here. I feel even more ashamed asking this of you. Where is Dae-gwang?”

Byeokryeokgae asked again.

Gongsun Mu-oe received the paper.

“He passed away five years ago.”

He tried to speak as calmly as possible, but Gongsun Mu-oe’s eyes had already turned red.

Byeokryeokgae’s movement stopped for a moment.

He showed such a reaction because it was something he had never even considered.

“Dae-gwang, what happened to Dae-gwang?”

Eventually, Byeokryeokgae asked in a finely trembling voice.

“He passed away.”

“…”

Byeokryeokgae remained silent for a long time.

That time lasted until considerable time had passed even after all the steam from the Tea Cup had disappeared.

“What happened?”

Finally, his mouth opened.

“He was gravely ill.”

“What kind of illness could end the life of the Seonyu Valley lord…?”

“Even Seonyu Valley cannot cure all ailments. No, there are far more ailments we cannot cure than those we can. Such ailments are simply rare.”

“Hmm…”

At Gongsun Mu-oe’s honest words, Byeokryeokgae swallowed a groan.

Hadn’t he himself been wondering whether Seonyu Valley could truly cure Dan Mok Un-hye’s Severed Meridians?

Given his relationship with the Seonyu Valley lord, asking for Dan Mok Un-hye’s treatment would have been easy.

Yet he couldn’t easily do so because of his doubts about whether her condition could truly be cured.

Even without knowing it was Severed Meridians.

That’s why he had told Ha Mu-baek that he was looking into asking Seonyu Valley for help.

The truth was that he himself lacked confidence.

No, he knew there was definitely a way to cure it in Seonyu Valley, but that was absolutely not something he could request.

“The Divine Book. Isn’t there the Divine Book?”

Byeokryeokgae asked with difficulty, opening his mouth. His tone was careful as it might seem like an interrogation.

For him, it was losing a close friend, but for Gongsun Mu-oe before his eyes, it was losing a Father.

“Look at me now.”

Gongsun Mu-oe said with a bitter smile.

Only then could Byeokryeokgae carefully examine Gongsun Mu-oe’s face.

In his confusion over the news of his friend’s passing, he hadn’t properly looked at the face of someone who was like a Nephew to him.

Byeokryeokgae’s eyes trembled as he confirmed Gongsun Mu-oe’s face.

“You opened it. You opened it.”

A lament-like murmur flowed from Byeokryeokgae’s mouth.

That wrinkled face didn’t match the age of Gongsun Mu-oe that Byeokryeokgae knew.

Rather, he had aged enough that people would believe him if he were called Byeokryeokgae’s own friend.

“Yes. I opened it. I secretly opened it together with two Former Elders. I opened it on my own decision without even getting permission while Father was unconscious. So now I’m the only one in the valley who knows that fact.”

It was a meaningful statement. Three people opened it together, yet only one knew about it.

“The two elders…”

“They didn’t have much natural lifespan left…”

He seemed to understand without saying more.

“The answer from the Divine Book we opened that way was ‘impossible.'”

Gongsun Mu-oe spoke with a hollow expression.

They had opened it at the cost of his own lifespan and the remaining natural lifespans of two other elders, yet the answer that returned was impossible.

“The Divine Book wasn’t omniscient. It wasn’t a cure-all either.”

It was a powerless statement.

This was the biggest reason why Gongsun Mu-oe opposed Gongsun U-gyeong’s argument.

Something he hadn’t told anyone.

Because he knew the Divine Book wasn’t a cure-all.

“It was an ailment called bone carbuncle. A vicious ailment where poison called carbuncle settles in the bones, devouring the bones and then other organs, eventually ending one’s life. There was no way to remove that carbuncle. Not with Medicine, not with Acupuncture Needles, not with anything.”

“…”

Byeokryeokgae couldn’t say anything. He could only remain silent.

Gongsun Mu-oe also didn’t bring up any more words.

How much time passed like that?

“Dae-gwang. Where is that fellow?”

“I’ll escort you.”

At Byeokryeokgae’s question, Gongsun Mu-oe guided him to the Ancestral Shrine where his Father’s Ancestral Tablet was enshrined.

Gongsun Dae-gwang.

Byeokryeokgae quietly gazed at the Ancestral Tablet engraved with his friend’s four-character name.

“Dae-gwang. Dae-gwang. You, who seemed like you’d live the longest among us, have also left like this, and now I’m left alone…”

Gongsun Mu-oe stepped back to give Byeokryeokgae time with his late Father.

Since the current valley lord was watching over, no one dared to come near.

“I thought Cheon Seung’s departure was because of me. I thought it was my fault. I was turning my back on the world from that shock… and in the meantime, even you left and I’m left alone… I’m a sinner. A sinner. You must have looked for me… you must have looked for me…”

Tears flowed endlessly from Byeokryeokgae’s eyes.

“Waaahhhhh!!!”

He had no intention of holding back his tears, so he sat down right there and burst into sobs.

Gongsun Mu-oe deployed an Energy Barrier at that sight to prevent the sound from spreading.

 

***

 

“Whew.”

After finishing his energy circulation, Dan Mok Un-rae let out a deep breath.

He could feel a considerable amount of internal energy gathered in his dantian.

It hadn’t even been a year since he entered Maengryong Corps, but compared to when he first arrived, it was a transformation as dramatic as the changing of seas into mulberry fields.

All of this was thanks to the instructor leaning against a rock, yawning with a bored expression—Ha Mu-baek.

The next training was sword formation.

As they headed to the weapon stand with their practice swords for that training, Dang Jin-san suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Then he turned toward Ha Mu-baek.

Ha Mu-baek seemed to sense his gaze and glanced at him.

“What is it?”

An annoyed-sounding question.

“Aren’t we participating in the Winter Combat Festival?”

Dang Jin-san’s question.

Only then did the other cadets nod their heads.

They had forgotten.

Before they knew it, the leaves had turned red, and the weather was distinctly autumn.

Autumn wouldn’t last much longer.

Soon winter would come.

Then Gyoryong Hall would hold the Winter Combat Festival on the winter solstice, marking the end of the second semester.

If Hatuje was a group-based guerrilla warfare-style martial competition targeting only first-year cadets, the Winter Combat Festival was a real martial duel targeting all cadets of Gyoryong Hall.

Since it was one-on-one duels between individual cadets, that’s why Dang Jin-san had asked.

Because Maengryong Corps’ training process remained the same.

Hadn’t the practical training in Sanwol Demon Forest last time also been sword formation training?

“The Winter Combat Festival was individual duels, right?”

At Ha Mu-baek’s question, Dang Jin-san nodded.

“That’s correct.”

“Hmm.”

Ha Mu-baek stroked his chin for a moment.

“Do you want to participate?”

The follow-up question.

Dang Jin-san nodded once again. Ha Mu-baek’s gaze turned to the other cadets.

They all nodded slightly.

It was an expression of competitive spirit—they wanted to confirm how strong they currently were and how they compared to other cadets at Gyoryong Hall.

“Like Hatuje, I heard Maengryong Corps doesn’t really participate in the Winter Combat Festival either…”

The reason was obvious.

They were incomparably weaker than Jamryong Corps or Waryong Corps. The results would be obvious even if they participated.

“Hmm. Mm. Hmm.”

At the cadets’ response, Ha Mu-baek seemed to keep thinking, then scratched his head and stood up.

“Then we’ll just participate. What’s so difficult about it?”

Such a simple answer.

“But is it okay to keep doing only sword formation training?”

This was what Dang Jin-san really wanted to say.

They wanted to participate in the Winter Combat Festival, which was individual duels, but would it be enough to only do sword formation training, which was group training?

Ha Mu-baek crossed his arms and quietly looked at the cadets.

“Well, it seems you want training for individual duels… Then I need to know your current level, right? Pair up one-on-one and have duels.”

A sudden request.

Since there were five of them, one would be left out.

As they hesitated and looked around to see who would pair with whom.

“More than that, is it really okay with just Three Talents Sword Technique and Three Talents Fist Technique?”

Dang Jin-san threw out another question.

He was anxious.

Their opponents would be cadets from Waryong Corps and Jamryong Corps, but facing the martial arts they had learned with just Three Talents Sword Technique and Three Talents Fist Technique.

Everyone nodded slightly at that question. The other cadets were anxious too.

Because they knew well what kind of technique Three Talents Sword Technique was.

Moreover, this time it wasn’t about forming sword formations, but one-on-one duels.

During Hatuje, due to the guerrilla warfare situation, they could use terrain advantages to lead battles into many-against-one scenarios, but such things were impossible in the Winter Combat Festival.

“This is really…”

Ha Mu-baek scratched his head with a frustrated expression.

Because the Group Seven cadets had far too little grasp of their current abilities.

Ha Mu-baek shook his head as if he had no choice and drew his training practice sword.

“Look here. Like this, strike down, like this, strike sideways, and like this, thrust. What else is there besides these three movements? Oh, there might be diagonal strikes, but those are also applicable movements once you master downward and sideways strikes.”

Movements demonstrated while actually wielding the sword.

They were concise, fast, and clean.

“Still, cadets from Waryong Corps or Jamryong Corps have much more varied and higher-level martial arts…”

Dang Jin-san tried to say something, but Ha Mu-baek cut him off.

“So what are the fundamental movements that form the basis of such variations? Is there anything that goes beyond the four movements I just showed you?”

“…”

No one could answer.

“Variations ultimately come from basics, and Three Talents Sword Technique is those basics. If you master the basics completely, you can also grasp and cut off the flow of those variations.”

“Th-then what about internal energy…”

Dan Mok Un-rae asked cautiously.

He was someone who hadn’t even learned internal energy for a full year yet.

That’s why Dan Mok Un-rae was always worried about internal energy, and his sense of inferiority in that area was also great.

That feeling was also present in Yeon Ha-min and Nak U-jin.

“From what I can tell, the internal energy of you three should now be at least average level at Gyoryong Hall.”

Ha Mu-baek said while looking alternately at Dan Mok Un-rae, Yeon Ha-min, and Nak U-jin.

The three people’s eyes widened at those words.

The cadets of Jamryong Corps and Waryong Corps were those who had built up their cultivation from childhood at prestigious families and renowned orthodox sects.

To have internal energy at a similar level to such people in less than a year.

It was natural that they couldn’t believe it.

“You ate that good medicine twice, so it’s a natural result.”

Ha Mu-baek spoke as if asking what was so surprising.

At those words, the faces of the five cadets contorted sharply.

It was medicine that brought back their deep trauma.

Rather than good medicine, it was medicine that was terrifyingly painful to consume.

“Even so…”

Dang Jin-san still hesitated with a lack of confidence.

Ha Mu-baek made a genuinely frustrated face.

“How many people at Gyoryong Hall have faced Blood Jiangshi in Sanwol Demon Forest? You guys did that. You blockheads!”

The last words were filled with irritation.

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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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