Ultimate Martial Venerable - Chapter 26

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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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Episode 26. The True Power of Dual Cultivation of Qi and Martial Arts
“You should apologize.”

Yuk Beom’s voice rang clear across the plaza.
Gwak Jin Hyeok’s shoulders stiffened as he turned to leave with the Entrance Token in hand.
The crowd that had just moments before accused Yuk Beom of growing strong through sorcery now fell silent. The wager had been heard by all, and the three exchanges had clearly concluded.
In the final collision, it was not Yuk Beom who had given ground.
Kkamangi bared his teeth at Yuk Beom’s feet, his throat rumbling low as if ready to belch black fire at any moment.
Gwak Jin Hyeok’s face flushed.
An instructor of the Martial Arts Academy bowing his head to a youth not yet admitted, in front of hundreds of witnesses—if word of this scene reached the Academy, he had no idea how he would face his disciples going forward.
Yet to deny the wager now would be an even greater disgrace.
As he parted his lips to speak, Yuk Ho Yeon leaped down from atop the tea house.

“That’s enough, Yuk Beom.”

Yuk Beom turned to look.
Yuk Ho Yeon bowed directly to Gwak Jin Hyeok.

“The three exchanges have concluded, and it is now clear that this boy has not mastered sorcery. In youthful fervor he may have spoken of apologies, but there’s no need to press the matter further.”

His words were gentle, but their meaning unmistakable.
Gwak Jin Hyeok had insulted Yuk Beom first, and Yuk Beom had proven it justly. Now he himself would step back so that face could be preserved and the matter concluded—a warning to let the transaction end.
Yuk Ho Yeon stepped back and added further.

“Once Yuk Beom enters the Academy, there will be much he can learn from Instructor Gwak.”

Yuk Beom studied his grandfather’s profile.
He could force Gwak Jin Hyeok’s head to bow right now, and his heart would feel lighter for it. Yet there was no need to carry a grudge forward into his time at the Academy.
He had obtained the Entrance Token, and all gathered in the plaza had witnessed the outcome. The fact that the Mak Family’s scheme had failed could no longer be hidden.
Yuk Beom stepped back.
Gwak Jin Hyeok did not miss the small gesture. The tension in his shoulders finally eased.

“The Head of the Yuk Clan is indeed gracious.”

He forced a smile.

“Yuk Beom possesses a rare talent. He will grow greatly at the Academy.”

Gwak Jin Hyeok reached into his robes. His hesitant hand emerged with a small medicine bottle.
A Recovery Pill

that he had received from the Mak Family.

“I was hasty. That much is true.”

The bottle flew toward Yuk Beom.

“Let this serve as my apology.”

Yuk Beom caught the bottle in one hand and uncorked it. A crisp, cool medicinal scent unfurled.
He had expended most of his Fusion Strong Energy deploying the Destruction Collapsing Mountain Fist

just moments before. Even if he did not take it now, such a pill could be worth his life in a moment of crisis.

Yuk Beom placed the bottle in his robes.

“I accept.”

Gwak Jin Hyeok would not meet his eyes again. He simply turned and walked out of the Selection Field.
By handing over the medicinal pills to Yuk Beom, the Mak Family had signaled the end of their transaction. Should they fail, a demand for return was inevitable. Better to exhaust them now as the price of an apology.
In the adjoining chamber, Mak Un Bi slammed his hand against the railing.

“Those are pills Jo Uk made!”

He spun toward the stairs.

“I’ll go after him at once and make him return them.”
“Sit.”

A single word from Mak Cheon froze him in place.
Mak Un Bi turned back.

“Father, are you simply going to let that go?”
“And what will you say to him?”

Mak Cheon pushed the shattered teacup fragments aside with his finger.

“That we bought Gwak Jin Hyeok, and demand compensation for our failure?”

Mak Un Bi fell silent.

“That man has severed his ties with us. If he claims he never received the pills, we have nothing to say.”

Mak Cheon’s gaze shifted to Yuk Beom in the courtyard below.

“And if we press him now, it only makes clearer that we tried to eliminate the boy.”

Mak Un Bi ground his teeth, gripping the railing hard.
The Recovery Pill prepared to keep Yuk Beom from passing had fallen into Yuk Beom’s own hands. It was galling enough that the scheme had failed—now they’d even restored the energy he’d expended.
Jo Uk, who had been watching in silence, set down his teacup.

“There’s no need to fume over a single vial of Recovery Pills.”

When Mak Un Bi turned to him, Jo Uk calmly adjusted his sleeve.

“That Yuk Beom forged Strong Energy first doesn’t mean he’ll stay ahead forever.”
“Is there a way?”

Mak Un Bi’s voice grew urgent.
Jo Uk’s lips curved upward. He’d been waiting for that question.

“If you’ve hit a wall, push through it with pills.”

He held up a single finger.

“One batch would deepen Mak Un Bi’s stage. The rest can be divided among the other members of the Mak Family.”

Mak Un Bi’s eyes brightened.

“Is that truly possible?”
“In exchange, you must respect the rules of Alchemy Competition.”

Jo Uk looked toward Mak Cheon.

“The client supplies the medicinal materials—plus one precious herb and something of value. That’s my fee for lending my hand.”

Mak Cheon didn’t hesitate.

“Name what you want. I’ll have everything prepared.”

Jo Uk smiled with satisfaction.
Mak Cheon looked down at Yuk Beom again. Today the Yuk Clan had won, but the Mak Family had a Flame Practitioner in their ranks.
Raising multiple young talents simultaneously was far more frightening in a clan war than cultivating a single prodigy.

‘Next time, I’ll make the Yuk Clan watch our backs.’

That night, the Yuk Clan hung lanterns all the way to their front gates.
A grander celebration unfolded than when they had won the Seo Mountain hunting tournament. The great and small families of Ganglim Castle sent congratulatory envoys, and gifts filled an entire courtyard.
Yuk Ho Yeon accepted cups without rest from the family head’s seat. Yuk Ho, too, was surrounded by well-wishers, his face flushed crimson.

“Let no one leave with a clear head tonight!”

Yuk Ho held up an empty wine vessel.

“If we run short, open the storehouses! Let’s see whether the Yuk Clan runs out of wine first or the people collapse first!”

Laughter and music shook the entire compound.
Yuk Beom, the actual guest of honor, showed his face only at the start before slipping away quietly.
Kkamangi followed him, a whole platter of meat clamped in his jaws.
Yuk Beom was not headed to his quarters.
To the streamside at Seo Mountain.
On a boulder, O Jin had two wine cups waiting. As Yuk Beom spread out the food and drink he’d brought, Kkamangi dove straight into the heap of meat.
O Jin clicked his tongue watching the scraps hanging from the beast’s mouth.

“You ate that much at the clan’s banquet and you’re still hungry?”

Kkamangi swallowed by way of answer.
Yuk Beom opened the wine bottle.

“Telling him otherwise does no good.”
“He takes after his master.”
“I’m not quite so bad as that.”

O Jin glanced at the empty plate before Yuk Beom.

“I’m sure you’re not.”

The two clinked their cups together.
Kkamangi alternated between meat and wine, then before long sprawled flat on the ground, embracing a wine bottle with both front paws and snoring loudly.
Yuk Beom nudged the beast’s belly lightly with his toe.

“I thought he cared only for meat, but he doesn’t discriminate about wine either.”
“Give him anything and he’ll chew rocks if you ask him to.”

O Jin laughed and drained his cup. Then, rather than pouring fresh wine, he looked at Yuk Beom.

“You’ll leave once the Alchemy Competition ends.”
“Yes.”
“You remember what I told you?”

Yuk Beom set down his cup.

​”Enter the Ilwon Academy and obtain the Ilwon Dao Jue. I won’t let my eyes wander elsewhere.”

“You haven’t forgotten.”

O Jin poured more wine.

“Without the Ilwon Dao Jue, three years at the academy will yield precious little.”

Yuk Beom watched the wine rise in his cup and asked quietly.

“I’ve heard the Martial Arts Academy is among the most celebrated cultivation grounds in Muan Kingdom.”

O Jin’s hand stilled.

“If three years in such a place amounts to nothing, what exactly lies within the Ilwon Dao Jue?”

O Jin did not answer at once.
Instead, he filled Yuk Beom’s cup nearly to the brim.

“What do you think is the greatest advantage of your Fusion Strong Energy?”

Yuk Beom turned the cup slowly in his palm. He knew O Jin was not a man who asked questions expecting obvious answers.
Yet the first thing that came to mind was the power he’d felt in real combat.

“The ability to wield martial arts and sorcery together, is it not?”

The corner of O Jin’s mouth twisted.

“An answer fit for someone who knows nothing but fighting.”

Yuk Beom’s hand ceased moving.

“Have I erred?”
“Half right, at best.”

O Jin tilted the bottle, and though the cup was already full, he did not withdraw it.
As the wine rose to the rim, Yuk Beom blocked the bottle’s mouth with his hand.

“It’s overflowing.”
“To pour more?”

Yuk Beom looked down at the cup.

“One would need a larger vessel.”

Only then did O Jin lower the bottle.

“The Dantian and meridians are no different. But the Pill Formula to expand the vessel differs by lineage.”

Yuk Beom waited for what O Jin would say next.

“One Pill Formula for Martial Artists, another for Flame Practitioners. Ordinarily, you can consume only one.”
“I can consume both.”

O Jin nodded.
Yuk Beom’s gaze remained fixed on the brimming cup.
He had thought only of wielding martial arts and sorcery in tandem. But what O Jin indicated was not the advantage of a single bout.
It meant the sheer quantity of strength he could accumulate, and the very manner of his growth, differed fundamentally from all others.

“I can also prepare Pill Formulas for Martial Artists myself.”
“Now your mind turns at last.”

O Jin retrieved a fresh cup and set it before Yuk Beom.

“It’s not easy for a Flame Practitioner to craft pills that raise their Original Qi. Good formulas are guarded like life itself, and gathering the medicinal materials alone can take years.”

He poured the first cup of wine into a fresh glass.

“But pills for Martial Artists are widely distributed. Since the Flame Practitioners don’t consume them, there’s less reason to hide them—and those who wanted to command Martial Artists made far more of them.”

Yuk Beom glanced between the two cups alternately.

“So when there are no pills to raise Original Qi, they take pills that raise Strong Energy instead.”
“And you transform it with your own power.”
“Either way, it becomes Fusion Strong Energy in the end.”

O Jin smiled with satisfaction.

“That’s the true terror of the Dual Cultivation of Qi and Martial Arts.

Yuk Beom fell silent for a moment.
The image came back to him—making the Training Pill and Recovery Pill with his own hands. Until now, he had only made medicines necessary for survival and cultivation. But if he gathered more formulas, his options would multiply endlessly.
Then one flaw occurred to him.

“If that’s the case, couldn’t a single Flame Practitioner raise as many strong Martial Artists as they wished?”

O Jin took a sip of wine.

“Up to the Earth Qi Realm, it’s possible to a certain degree.

“Beyond that won’t work?”
“To cross into the Heavenly Force Realm, you must perceive the Way. It’s not a barrier that can be forcibly breached by pills alone.”

O Jin tapped the empty cup with his finger.

“And if you rely only on pills, the vessel will crack before it can grow larger.”

Yuk Beom’s brow flickered.

“Pills only pull you forward—they don’t carry you. They can’t do that.”

O Jin’s voice dropped lower.

“Don’t swallow everything you can consume. Choose only the finest for the moments you truly need. Never skip the process of tempering your body and strength with your own hands.”
“I will remember.”

As Yuk Beom bowed his head, O Jin pressed a finger to the point between his brows.
Warm energy seeped in.
Countless formulas carved themselves into memory. The names of medicinal materials and their mixing sequence, the intensity of flame, the methods for controlling clashing medicinal properties—all of it flowed in like waves.
Yuk Beom accepted each one with his eyes closed.
With each new formula settling into place, the medicinal materials he would need to find and the realms he could reach became clearer.
O Jin withdrew his hand.

“Don’t show this to just anyone.”

Yuk Beom opened his eyes slowly.

“I’ll need to gather formulas and medicinal materials even while at the Academy.”
“That’s why I’m telling you not to stay holed up in Ganglim Castle.”

O Jin tilted his gaze upward to the night sky.

“Every year when the Alchemy Competition draws near, marketplaces open where Flame Practitioners gather. If my memory serves, there should be one in the northern reaches of Dong Hwa Province, not far from the Martial Arts Academy.”
“So you’re telling me to conduct business there, sir.”
“Trade if you must, see the people, witness the world you do not yet know.”

O Jin turned to look at Yuk Beom.

“Muan Kingdom alone comprises eighteen thousand provinces. Do not squander all your time on a single small region like Dong Hwa.”

His eyes, loosened by the drink, sharpened again with deeper clarity.

“Because I wish to see you stand at the summit of this continent as soon as possible.”

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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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