Ultimate Martial Venerable - Chapter 6

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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 6. Disciple of Gu So Mun
After leaving the banquet hall, Yuk Beom did not return directly to his quarters.
With a bottle of liquor in one hand and leftover food in the other, he stepped out through the Yuk Clan’s main gate. The streets echoed with the sound of fireworks welcoming the new year, and lanterns hung from every house cast a crimson glow across the darkness.
A month ago, he would have despised a day like this. The more people gathered, the louder the mockery grew, and he’d have to endure his father’s stern expression.
But today was different.
He had defeated Yuk Cheon Gang and proven himself a sixth-stage Yeon Chae Gyeong cultivator before the entire family. More than anything, his father no longer needed to lower his head on account of him.
Children bursting firecrackers by the roadside caught sight of his bundle of food, so Yuk Beom pulled out some sweets and meat and handed them over.

“May the new year bring you good fortune.”

The children laughed brightly and dashed down the alley.
Yuk Beom watched them disappear, then resumed walking.
His destination was a shabby tavern with no signboard.
He wanted to tell the owner there about today’s events first.
As he neared the tavern, he spotted an old man leaning against the doorframe, drinking. Just as always—half-closed eyes, a hunched back, and tattered clothes thrown on haphazardly.
The old man’s weathered face broke into a smile as he spotted Yuk Beom from a distance.

“Your expression looks almost human today.”
“You mean I wasn’t human before?”
“You always looked like the world owed you a debt.”

Yuk Beom chuckled and held up the liquor and food.

“I’m treating today. This is food from the Yuk Clan banquet, so it should be better than the usual fare you serve.”
“Where else would you find such a fine establishment where guests bring meals for the owner?”
“You call that something to brag about?”

The two of them settled familiarly across from each other at the worn table.
The old man ate the meat Yuk Beom had brought first, and his hand moved faster than usual as he broke the seal on the bottle.
Yuk Beom slid an empty bowl forward.

“Pour out that other liquor.”

The old man’s hand stopped.

“Which liquor?”
“Don’t play dumb. The green medicinal liquor from last time.”

Yuk Beom looked down at his own arm.
His body had transformed completely since that day. A realm that had been sealed for years opened in a single night, and it was because of that change that he’d been able to endure the hellish training on Seo Mountain.
It couldn’t have been coincidence.
The old man answered by taking another sip of his drink.
Then he posed an odd question.

“So now you don’t have to worry about being cast out from the Yuk Clan?”

Yuk Beom studied the old man carefully.

“What stage of Yeon Chae Gyeong do you think I’ve reached?”
“Fifth or sixth, I’d say.”

His answer was far too natural.
Yuk Beom’s eyes darkened.
Ever since he was trapped at the third stage of Yeon Chae Gyeong, this old man had spoken with an uncanny certainty. He’d said Jang Wol Ham would surely come to regret his words, and he’d acted as though being cast out was impossible.
Today, he’d guessed his exact current stage.
Yuk Beom asked quietly.

“It was you, wasn’t it?”
“What was me?”
“You’re the one who changed my body.”

O Jin regarded Yuk Beom for a moment in silence.
Then he pointed a finger at Yuk Beom’s chest.

“You changed yourself.”
“But you gave me that liquor.”
“I merely offered the opportunity. It was you who seized it.”

O Jin’s hand swept through the air with a light gesture.
In that instant, the Alcohol Jar resting beneath the counter rose of its own accord.
The jar glided through empty space as if cradled by invisible hands, settling gently in the center of the table.
Yuk Beom’s eyes widened.
Gyeok Gong Seop Mul.

It was a technique said to be possible only for masters with profound inner strength. He had suspected O Jin was no ordinary tavern keeper, but the sight unfolding before him far exceeded his expectations.

“You were a martial artist? Is that it?”
“No.”

O Jin calmly broke the seal on the Alcohol Jar.

“I have never studied martial arts.”
“Then what was that just now?”
A Flame Practitioner can manage such a thing without difficulty.

Yuk Beom’s breath caught.
Flame Practitioners were rare beings who worked with the energies and essences of heaven and earth to craft elixirs and alchemical brews. Even at the lowest stages, they were treated as honored guests in any family.
Yet such a person had been quietly selling spirits in a shabby tavern tucked away in a corner of Ganglim Castle.
And for years, he had given Yuk Beom this precious liquor without asking for anything in return.

“You’re a Flame Practitioner?”
“To be precise, I’m a faded one now.”
“Faded or not, you’re still a Flame Practitioner.”

Yuk Beom steadied his racing heart and asked quietly.

“Why did you help me?”

O Jin did not answer immediately.
As he poured liquor into a cup, his eyes narrowed as though remembering something long past.

“Do you remember when you first came to this shop?”

Yuk Beom searched his memory.

“I was about eleven?”
“You were twelve. Not long after your mother passed, and the physicians said you wouldn’t live long.”

O Jin’s voice grew quieter.

“A skeletal thing of a child came in asking for a jar of spirits. You vomited after the first sip, yet you drained what was left.”

Yuk Beom scratched the bridge of his nose, embarrassed.
It was a memory that floated back to him only hazily.

“The next day, though you could barely stand, you went back to Yeonmu Plaza. So I asked you then: why do you drive yourself to study martial arts when your body is so fragile?”
“What did I say?”
“Even if I die tomorrow, I’ll train today,” he had said.

O Jin let out a low chuckle.

“Better to die striving to grow strong than to live without ever becoming strong,” he said.

Yuk Beom gazed down at his bowl in silence.
He couldn’t recall the words that twelve-year-old boy had spoken. Yet he knew that even now, given the same question, his answer would not have changed.
O Jin pointed a finger at him.

“It wasn’t something a child of twelve should have said. I watched you for a while, thinking it was just bluster. But you—you trained without fail, every single day.”

Yet the results did not come.
People mocked him, and his body struck its limits again and again. And still, Yuk Beom did not withdraw from the cultivation stone.

“That was when I thought: this boy deserves a chance.”

O Jin pushed the Alcohol Jar containing the Green Medicinal Liquor toward Yuk Beom.

“After that, each time you came, I gave you a tonic to gradually fortify your constitution. Had I poured all the potency into you at once, your body would have shattered. So I changed you slowly, over the years.”

Yuk Beom finally understood the years that had passed.
As a child, he had fallen ill with each change of season, and the physicians said he would not see his thirteenth year. But after coming to this tavern, the sicknesses had lessened.
That final cup of Green Medicinal Liquor had awakened the potency accumulated over many years.

“Then the Bone-Marrow Cleansing I underwent that day was also…….”
“The accumulated potency in your body cleansed you completely.”

Yuk Beom gazed at the Alcohol Jar.
A single Choe Ryeok Dan was worth several shops. The value of the liquor he had consumed over years could not be reckoned.
Yuk Beom rose and knelt on one knee before O Jin.

“You have saved my life and opened the path of the Martial Way to me.”

He bowed his head deeply.

“I shall never forget this debt.”

O Jin waved his hand dismissively, his face clouding.

“Rise. Now that I’m old, such heavy bows burden me more than they honor me.”

A gentle wind enveloped Yuk Beom’s body.
Though he pushed down with all his strength on one knee, his body rose of its own accord. He tried to hold firm using the power of the Yeon Chae Gyeong’s sixth stage, but it was useless.
Yuk Beom felt anew the strength of a Flame Practitioner.
O Jin set aside his playfulness and met Yuk Beom’s gaze.

“Yuk Beom.”

His voice carried a gravity unlike his usual tone.

“Will you become my disciple?”

Yuk Beom did not hesitate.

“I will.”

This time, he knelt on both knees.

“I shall take you as my teacher.”

His forehead touched the ground.
Once.
Twice.
Yuk Beom prostrated himself nine times.

“Good.”

O Jin rose from his seat.

“Very good indeed.”

His stooped back straightened.
From eyes that had been murky with drink, a sharp light blazed forth. His shabby clothes remained unchanged, yet the old tavern keeper from moments before had vanished entirely. The air in the establishment pressed down, heavy with presence.
The air in the tavern settled thick and heavy.
Yuk Beom found himself holding his breath without realizing it.
O Jin placed a hand upon Yuk Beom’s head.

“My name is O Jin.
I am the final successor of Gu So Mun.”

His voice, soft yet resonant with power, rang through the tavern.

“From this day forward, I take you as my disciple and will pass on all that I have learned and understood throughout my life.”

The moment O Jin withdrew his hand, the oppressive energy that had filled the space vanished as if it had never been. He returned to his usual shifty expression and helped Yuk Beom to his feet.

“Now you are also a disciple of Gu So Mun.”

Yuk Beom’s heart raced.
Though he had never even heard the name of this sect, the presence of his master alone was enough to assure him that this was no ordinary place.
O Jin reached into his robes and withdrew a black ring.
On its surface were carved the characters for Gu So.

“Take it. It is the sect leader’s ring of Gu So Mun.”

Yuk Beom’s hand froze in mid-air.

“But haven’t I only just joined the sect?”
“You have.”
“Then I’m to become sect leader already?”
“Since it’s only the two of us in the sect, what difference does it make who holds the title?”

Yuk Beom’s expression grew complicated.
The name of Gu So Mun, which had sounded so grand only moments before, suddenly felt diminished.
O Jin laughed at the sight of his new disciple’s face.

“Don’t be too disappointed. This ring is a Spirit Vessel—it can store items.”

Yuk Beom promptly took the ring.

“I had been thinking it was a prestigious sect.”

“Your temperament shifts far too quickly.”

Yuk Beom slipped the ring onto his finger.
As he focused his consciousness, he felt a small space within it. When he placed a bottle inside, it vanished from his hand, only to reappear the moment he thought of it.
Yuk Beom’s eyes brightened.

“Master, are you now going to teach me the Yeon Gi Sool?”
“Why?”
“Because you’re a Flame Practitioner, isn’t it only natural?”

O Jin spoke casually as he chewed his meat.

“You’ll continue to cultivate martial skills.”

Yuk Beom’s expression hardened.

“Then what martial skills do you intend to teach me?”
“I’m a Flame Practitioner. I know nothing of martial skills.”
“……Then what exactly are you going to teach me?”

O Jin filled a bowl with liquor and laughed.

“What others cannot do.”

He looked at Yuk Beom directly.

“How to become both a Martial Artist and a Flame Practitioner at the same time.”

Yuk Beom blinked, wondering if he’d heard wrong.
A Martial Artist tempered his body to forge Strong Energy, while a Flame Practitioner cultivated Original Qi through the heavens and earth’s breath. That the two could not be learned together was common knowledge.

“Master.”
“Speak.”
“It seems you’ve had quite a lot to drink.”
“I’ve barely touched anything today.”

O Jin’s eyes burned with fierce light.

“Strong Energy and Original Qi. If you refine both inner and outer together, a path opens that differs entirely from the existing Martial Artists and Flame Practitioners.”
“Is such a thing possible?”
“I failed.”

At such blunt honesty, Yuk Beom’s face twisted.
O Jin continued without pause.

“But after a lifetime of research, I discovered why I failed. And your body has been remade by my medicine for years now. You have a chance to succeed where I could not.”
“What are the odds of success?”
“Won’t know until we try.”

Yuk Beom fell silent for a long moment.
Only now did it strike him that he’d boarded a ship before hearing his destination.
But he felt no desire to turn back.
Without O Jin, he would still be trapped at the third stage of the Yeon Che Gong. Even if he failed now, there was nothing left to lose.
Yuk Beom lifted the wine bowl.

“I will do it.”

A look of satisfaction spread across O Jin’s face.

“Aren’t you afraid?”
“I am afraid.”

Yuk Beom answered honestly.

“But there’s no catching up to others by walking an ordinary path. If Master shows me the way, I’ll see it through to the end.”

O Jin lifted his Alcohol Jar and clinked it against Yuk Beom’s bowl.

“A fine answer.”
“Then what is the first training, Master?”
“Today is the first day of the new year.”

O Jin raised his Alcohol Jar high.

“The first training is to drink with your master all night long.”

Yuk Beom laughed as if he couldn’t believe it.

“That’s just something you want to do, isn’t it?”
“Don’t question your master. That too is practice.”

The two of them drank deeply at the same moment.
Not long after, hearty laughter burst out beyond the ramshackle tavern.
The laughter, mingled with the sound of firecrackers, spread far across the winter night.
Yuk Beom did not yet know.
That the path he had chosen this day would be the first step toward dissolving the boundary between Martial Artist and Flame Practitioner, and forging a strength the world had never seen.

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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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