Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven - Chapter 182

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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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Third-rate Martial Arts Family, Greatest Under Heaven – Episode 182
All the wealthy under heaven fall into two categories.
Those who inherited vast fortunes, or those who rose and earned them themselves.
Jin Yeong-gil was the latter. As a young merchant, he dreamed of becoming a great merchant who would dominate the realm, and he devoted his entire life to that dream.
A mere merchant with no inherited wealth—it took countless trials to reach where he stood now.
He had lived with ruthless determination, thinking only of accumulating wealth.
The position he gained through such effort.
One of the three wealthiest magnates under heaven, a major player who controlled the price of Sichuan silk.
“You must have much to say. Speak it all. I shall listen and assess your worth, then decide how many bolts of Shu silk to offer.”
He was the one who set values. The power he had yearned for his entire life, having sacrificed everything.
When people stood before him, they scrambled desperately to raise their own worth.
Watching that sight was one of Jin Yeong-gil’s greatest satisfactions.
Therefore, he asked thus.
He was curious how much the boy who had healed him would assess his own value at.
But.
Yang Hwi betrayed Jin Yeong-gil’s expectations.
“How many bolts will you offer? I shall speak accordingly to what you give.”
An audacious response. For a mere disciple of a humble martial family clinging to the Dang Family for influence to speak such words—it was unthinkable.
“Amusing. Is it arrogance, or confidence?”
He applied subtle pressure, but Yang Hwi paid it no mind.
Rather, he even smiled faintly.
“Which do you think it is?”
“Had you been foolish, it would be the former. But according to what my son has discerned, you are counted as the first in Gangwon for your sharp wit.”
“Then it must be confidence.”
“Ha ha ha, so you possess such overflowing confidence in yourself that you would display such an attitude before Jin Yeong-gil?”
“A true man must possess self-confidence, must he not?”
A fair point. One who cannot trust oneself can never accomplish great things.
“After all, what harm is there in holding one’s head high before someone whose life you have saved?”
“Ho. Are you pointing that out? I saved your life, yet instead of gratitude, you speak only of your own concerns?”
Yang Hwi shrugged and replied.
“Judging by your opening words about worth and value, you seem quite calculating, so I see no particular issue.”
“…For now, one bolt.”
Jin Yeong-gil picked up a small wooden token carved with the image of a single bolt of silk and continued.
“I shall give you one bolt. So speak to the value of one bolt.”
Shu silk, called the finest of all silks, carries a value of roughly fifty silver taels per bolt.
Since an adult laborer earns one silver tael for a full day’s work, it is a luxury price that most people cannot afford to purchase.
Considering that an innkeeper’s storyteller receives perhaps a single coin per tale, this was an extraordinarily profitable exchange.
‘Well, the worth of words varies greatly depending on the information they contain.’
For example, like this.
“The Baek Family and the Dang Family, through our exchange, have created a new martial theory of mutual poison and mutual remedy.”
“Hmm. That alone seems to exceed the value of a single bolt of silk.”
“Only you need to know, Supervisor.”
“Still, the accounts don’t balance.”
Jin Yeong-gil picked up two wooden tokens and tapped the table beside the bed, producing a pleasant sound.
Wood struck wood with a crisp, satisfying tone.
“Three bolts. And three more on top of that.”
“Mangeumjeung is an illness caused by malevolent qi entering the body. Your condition had progressed to a twisted state. You can understand it as treating the corruption using the principle of fighting poison with poison.”
In truth, it was Seon-gi’s power that had eliminated the demonic qi lurking within Jin Yeong-gil’s body.
Seon-gi, which guided all things correctly, was the ultimate counter to corrupt qi like demonic energy.
‘Even if I knew the treatment method, I only held his wrist and took his pulse for a quarter hour—how could I have cured him? It was impossible without Seon-gi.’
But I had no intention of telling anyone about this.
‘Hyeol-an said something like that at Geom Wang’s residence. A fated adversary, she called it.’
It was nonsense she’d spouted the moment she sensed Seon-gi.
Since I’d never heard of such a thing in my past life, she must surely know something about Seon-gi and reacted to it.
Just to be safe, it was best to keep it hidden for now.
“You can understand it that way. Whether it’s true or not, I have no intention of telling you?”
Yang Hwi simply smiled instead of elaborating.
“Two more bolts.”
When no answer came, Jin Yeong-gil picked up additional tokens.
“Two more, for a total of ten bolts.”
“….”
“The price is quite steep. Then I’ll let it pass. Tell me something else.”
‘Indeed, his profit-and-loss calculations are remarkably swift.’
He judged the information unnecessary for himself and harbored no curiosity whatsoever.
In truth, from Jin Yeong-gil’s perspective, the treatment method was irrelevant.
Since he’d awakened in a single day, there was certainty that no strange technique had been employed.
‘Then let me offer him the information he desires.’
“Your mangeumjeung has been completely cured.”
“You cured it completely by merely holding my wrist for a quarter hour to take my pulse?”
“The Dang Family and Baek Family are worth that much.”
“Quite fascinating.”
“Since I’ve shared something good, shall I share something bad as well? Mangeumjeung can relapse at any time.”
Jin Yeong-gil’s brow furrowed. His entire expression grew sharply irritable.
“Why… Ah. The source of the illness must be eliminated.”
“Correct. For reference, I haven’t found it yet. Will you cooperate in the search?”
Another wooden token was placed upon the table.
“Tell my son later about how we might cooperate.”
Suddenly, a playful impulse surged within me. I raised one corner of my mouth and asked.
“It seems you trust the Supervisor quite a bit?”
“This Jin Yeong-gil is certainly a man with many enemies. Living a life where I fought and seized everything with nothing inherited, I have no friends—only enemies in abundance.”
Jin Yeong-gil was renowned as one of the Three Greatest Merchants Under Heaven, yet he was famous for his minimal public activities.
To be precise, he devoted himself entirely to managing his merchant guilds and engaged in no separate social interactions.
Since his family had not been influential for generations, he possessed neither inherited connections nor established networks.
“Deduct one tablet.”
“Why is that?”
“What you just mentioned seems worth one tablet to me.”
“It wasn’t particularly hidden information. So you found value in it?”
Jin Yeong-gil was not indifferent to building connections.
He simply had no interest unless the connection held genuine value.
“What of the Dang Family?”
….
Instead of answering, three wooden tablets clattered onto the table.
“Including the one I deducted, I shall give you four more tablets.”
Yang Hwi found himself thinking without realizing it.
‘Ah. This is entertaining.’
This man certainly has an amusing conversational style.
“You seem to value my perceptiveness highly?”
“Moreover, when the Dang Family was mentioned, the Soga-joonim beside you showed no change in expression whatsoever.”
It seemed he also valued the information that the Dang Family’s inner circle had learned about the Soga-joonim’s temperament.
“As for the Dang Family—I’ll defer my answer. Shall you continue speaking?”
“Now I wish to ask instead. You deducted one tablet and mentioned having many enemies, yet you seem unconcerned with your most dangerous rival?”
Naturally, a king’s greatest competitor is the crown prince.
Yet Jin Yeong-gil laughed warmly.
I never knew that face, so irritable and cold in expression, could become so warm.
“That is different. Family can never be an enemy.”
Family is different, indeed. A true statement.
Though I am curious where the boundaries of family lie.
“It is my turn to speak again.”
“If I’m to earn my meal, I must speak earnestly.”
“Sosineui, whom Jeomchang brought, is not a disciple of Seong Su-sin-ui.”
“Ah. So you truly were the divine physician’s disciple.”
“I am not either.”
“Hmm?”
Bewilderment crossed Jin Yeong-gil’s face before shifting to astonishment.
“My son told me you caused quite a commotion. Was it all bluster then?”
“I did have a connection in the past. But I was never a disciple.”
Though it was from a previous life, the past remains the past.
So it is not a lie.
Jin Yeong-gil picked up one wooden tablet and asked.
“I cannot help but ask this. How were you planning to clean up this mess?”
Hmm. To be honest, I didn’t even think there would be any cleanup needed afterward—I just went ahead and did it.
“Initially, I merely borrowed the Greatest Physician’s reputation to treat the patient quickly. I had no idea that Jeomchang would bring an impersonating disciple and have them stay as a guest.”
A sudden transmission of inner energy shot toward me.
-Just for that reason! Hwi’s Younger Brother!
It was Dang-gun, who had been listening calmly until now, showing no outward sign of emotional turmoil.
But now he could no longer contain himself.
“Come to think of it, you didn’t reveal your identity at first either. You figured that once the patient was treated, the impersonation wouldn’t matter.”
“That’s correct. The situation did grow larger than expected, but there should be no real problem even now.”
By this point in the conversation, Jin Yeong-gil should have harbored one question.
‘Surely he must be curious. Why did he show such aggressive intent, willing to take the risk of approaching with deception?’
Since my original purpose was to use him as a connection and periodically extort money, any excuse I made would sound pathetic.
Well, thanks to discovering the existence of Myeong Gyo, I now had a pretext to offer.
But Jin Yeong-gil, rather than asking such questions, fell into deep thought.
‘Indeed, he lives up to the title of “Greatest Under Heaven.” His thinking runs deep.’
To be precise, Jin Yeong-gil was someone who knew how to grasp only the essentials.
He didn’t waste time on unnecessary matters.
I suspect it stemmed from his obsessive nature of assigning value to everything.
He seemed to feel aversion toward engaging in worthless endeavors.
Clatter, clatter, clatter.
Ten wooden tokens spilled across the table.
“Give me words worth ten tokens.”
“It seems your thoughts are fragmented from lacking pieces?”
“It feels like crossing a stepping stone bridge made of rocks with a gap in the middle.”
A fine metaphor indeed.
Words worth the value of ten tokens.
Let me try to finish this in one statement.
“Elder Dang. Shall we forge a ten-year covenant once more?”
“Hmm? What do you mean by that, Hwi’s Younger Brother?”
I let out a soft laugh and raised my hand.
My open palm transformed into a fist, as if grasping the heavens themselves.
“The Baek Family will obtain the waterways within ten years.”
“….”
“The Baek Family is located in Gangwon.”
“….”
“Does that carry the value of ten tokens?”
A look of disbelief, or perhaps suspicion.
Jin Yeong-gil regarded me for a long moment.
He didn’t suddenly ask what I meant, and this reaction satisfied me once again.
“Ah, I’d also like to tell you about my dream.”
“Speak.”
“If a man is born into this world, shouldn’t he at least once hear himself called the Greatest Under Heaven?”
Jin Yeong-gil’s expression shifted dramatically.
As expected. This too unfolded precisely as I had anticipated.
Though aged and infirm, Jin Yeong-gil remained a man at heart.
I knew he wouldn’t be satisfied with merely being counted among the Three Greatest Merchants Under Heaven.
Clatter, clatter, clatter!
Roughly twenty wooden tokens fell onto the table.
“Tell me one more thing. However, if your answer is not what I wish to hear, I shall reclaim these tokens.”
Yang Hwi answered without the slightest hesitation.
“Hire Jeomchang.”
A moment later, the same expression bloomed across both Yang Hwi’s and Jin Yeong-gil’s faces.

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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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