The Wanderers Need a Proper Education -1
Over the past five days, my skills improved by leaps and bounds, day after day.
I truly trained relentlessly, even cutting into my sleep.
With the training methods Yeo Il-ye left behind, combined with Heukmyo's guidance, it was nothing short of explosive growth. Even I could feel that I had become twice as strong as before climbing the mountain.
Ah, so this is what First-rate feels like.
The only regret was my martial arts techniques. I sorely missed the martial arts manuals I had stashed in my bookshelf. As a stopgap, I tried to perform the Fierce Tiger Fist Method, but my internal energy ran dry before I could even complete a single form.
Having reached First-rate and attempting the Fierce Tiger Fist Method, I realized something: even a First-rate martial artist could never use the Fierce Tiger Fist Method in actual combat, no matter how hard they tried.
Yet at the Wanderer Inn, every single Nangin practiced the Fierce Tiger Fist Method every morning. I had been watching them mindlessly all this time, but it turned out this wasn't training at all—it was a way of remembering Tang Do-gyeong.
Terrifying, Tang Do-gyeong. Just how deeply had he won over the hearts of the other Nangins?
"First of all, it is certain that your condition was deliberately created. To cut to the conclusion, it seems a complete cure will only be possible once we understand the method used."
"Is that so."
The Poison Doctor continued as he sealed today's drawn blood into a container.
"The proportions of the clumps, their structure—none of it would be possible without someone designing it. To purge the demonic qi that made up the largest share of those clumps in your blood, an elixir rich in immortal qi was necessary. And it wasn't a matter of simply feeding it to you; it had to be consumed... Discovering the method itself is a problem, but even if one knew it, who would invest such precious elixirs in a Second-rate warrior?"
He was right. In a world where anyone could reach First-rate if you just grabbed them off the street, who would waste rare elixirs on a Second-rate?
"Your blood even accounted for the Five Elements and the balance of yin and yang. They sealed the path of a martial artist, yet still paid attention to details like this. At any rate... that is why I prepared this."
"What is this?"
"A qi circulation method of my own creation. The name... well, call it the Small Zhou Fire Wheel Method. This Small Zhou Fire Wheel Method is a heart method that burns the energy of elixirs to remove the clumps from your blood vessels. Think of it as the previous treatment woven into an internal energy heart method, and it will be easier to accept."
"Obtain and ingest elixirs of the seven attributes—the Five Elements plus yin and yang. After consuming them and circulating your energy according to the Small Zhou Fire Wheel Method, the clumps in your body will gradually be removed. You will discard eight or nine tenths of the medicinal properties of each elixir you take, but once you have consumed all seven, you should be able to reach the Peak Realm."
"Beyond that... I cannot guarantee anything. Your blood is truly peculiar... it is designed so that once the demonic qi is removed, the composition of the remaining clumps loosens. Once you finish the elixirs and clear the clumps, another path will likely open."
"Are you saying a staged seal has been placed on my body?"
"One could see it that way. I simply cannot understand the mindset of someone who blocked the path so thoroughly, yet still left room for it to be undone."
Surely this body's past wasn't something like being a demonic cult test subject. In any case, after hearing the Poison Doctor's unsettling explanation, I felt that digging into the past would have to wait until I was thoroughly prepared.
And I had to gather seven elixirs. This wasn't Dragon Balls—it wouldn't be easy. Obtaining even one elixir was hard enough; using seven as mere sacrifices for a bottleneck breakthrough was crossing the line.
"Come see me again once you reach the Peak Realm. I will need to examine your body's condition at that time."
As expected of the Poison Doctor, renowned throughout the Central Plains. He had already done more than enough to wash his hands of me, yet he was willing to wait for someone who might never reach the Peak Realm. It was moving.
"And... what do you intend to do about Magi?"
He was subtly fishing for my reaction, and I let out a short laugh. Strictly speaking, Magi was a prisoner I had captured. Right—the old man was getting on in years; he needed someone to attend him.
"What about the blood?"
"I'll just bluff my way through with this. If he stays by my side long enough, even that fellow will catch on if he has any sense."
Wasn't the setting that only fresh blood worked...? Well, the Poison Doctor would manage any risks from setting collapse himself. I nodded in agreement to Magi's medical slave labor, and the Poison Doctor's expression eased a little.
"As for the girl of Taiyin nature... hah, that is for you to handle."
"Haha, understood."
I clasped my fists toward Poison Doctor Tang Cheo-in in a formal salute.
"Thank you, Elder. I never expected you would treat me with such sincerity."
The Poison Doctor had quietly done me many favors. Telling me about Heukmyo, moving according to my words... well, there was a hint that he just wanted me to stop talking, but he had even given me a heart method.
I had to consider this a debt of gratitude.
"Heh heh, think nothing of it. This is merely repayment for what you have done for the Tang Family. I, too, broadened the horizons of my medical knowledge while examining your condition, so there is no need for such excessive courtesy."
The Poison Doctor waved it off with dignified composure.
"Well... hearing you speak like this, it seems the time to leave has come."
"Yes, Elder. I should be heading back now."
The time to return to Sichuan had arrived.
"Haa."
The long curtain on our Yunnan journey finally fell. Pressing my black bamboo hat down after so long and returning to Sichuan, we were once again greeted by those prickling stares.
"Getting these looks every time I come back really drives home that I've returned to Sichuan."
"Mm, not exactly nostalgic, but familiar all the same."
"So, Senior, what do you plan to do now?"
"For a while, let's focus on training and commissions."
First, I needed to learn First-rate martial arts. Learning them and then melting them into actual combat experience meant I would have to build real battle experience through commissions for a while.
Only now could I enjoy the true advantage of being a Sichuan Nangin.
Combat without death. That was the true strength of the Sichuan Nangins.
Ideally, martial arts should balance real combat and training. But techniques of low proficiency simply cannot be used in real fights for practical reasons.
Sichuan Nangins, however, were free of that restriction.
Why not use unpolished techniques in real combat? Because you might lose—and die.
But a Sichuan Nangin's "real combat" was a fight you were supposed to lose anyway, and the opponent knew it too. So they never aimed for a Nangin's life or used underhanded methods. As long as you didn't get bitten by a complete novice like that... Gang-jun, was it? from the Gyeongsu Market.
In short, even techniques so crude that using them would get your head chopped off right away could be unleashed without worry. Through this ideal harmony of combat and training, you could raise your martial achievements at high speed.
"This body has returned!"
I bellowed as I strode back into the Wanderer Inn, and the Nangins glanced my way before tossing out a few remarks. In truth, Nangins leaving for a while was fairly common. Besides Sichuan Nangin work, there were family matters to handle, or deals for elixirs and secret manuals.
Because we returned in the evening, most of the Nangins were gathered on the first floor. Eating dinner, killing time, training if they felt like it, then heading upstairs to sleep—that was the daily rhythm of the Nangins.
In the idle evening hours, Heukmyo and I returning as a pair naturally drew every eye.
"Ho Cheon-an! Stop making a racket and get inside already!"
And among them was Yu Sa-yeon, her voice as sharp as ever.
"You said it was personal business, yet it took quite a while."
"Well, one thing led to another. I'll be focusing on commissions for a while."
"'For a while,' huh... Hmm."
Yu Sa-yeon looked me up and down, then frowned.
"You've reached First-rate? What wind blew you into starting martial training again?"
"Heh heh, so you noticed that this body has ascended to First-rate...!"
Yu Sa-yeon stared at me with a look that said what is this now, but I squared my shoulders and fixed her with a lofty gaze. This body, Ho Cheon-an, had achieved First-rate after a full seven years! Be a little more impressed!
"Mm, why do you look so full of yourself?"
"...Huh?"
"Honestly, in all my time running this Wanderer Inn, I've never seen anyone whose achievements stagnated like yours. If you had no talent, fine—but a guy who picks things up quickly spends his time hanging around gambling dens and reading martial arts novels like a freeloader during the day instead of training... and now that you've barely scraped into First-rate, what's with that expression?"
"No, wait..."
My chest suddenly felt tight. Of course I could admit it looked that way from the outside. But with Mixed Blood, I couldn't rise above Second-rate no matter what, so why waste sweat for nothing? It felt like choking down five roasted sweet potatoes in a row without water! I couldn't spill the truth as it was, and no good rebuttal came to mind, so my mouth just flapped open and shut—until Jeong Sam, who had come over to greet me, dropped a line that stabbed straight into my ear.
"Hey, Brother Yeo, they say Brother Ho has reached the First-rate realm?"
"That lazy bastard? Tsk tsk. Still, even if it took seven years, he did make it to First-rate. Aigoo, the laws of heaven have collapsed!"
"Exactly. To think I'm in the same realm as a guy who puts training last, stays up all night gambling, loafs around, and just reads martial arts novels...! Haa! Even the heavens are heartless."
"...."
These bastards. Do you know the sorrow of Mixed Blood? Huh? Do you know what it feels like to become the protagonist of an unheard-of phenomenon where Second-rate is your absolute limit?
I glared at my two former classmates with pure rage, but they just stared back with icy eyes. Eyes that truly believed my reaching First-rate was some cosmic injustice.
"Pfft...! You heard that? Well, at least now that even you've made First-rate, we can finally call the Sichuan Nangins a group of true experts who are all First-rate or higher. Of course, you'd still be the weakest among them."
"...The weakest, you say?"
This body? This First-rate expert Ho Cheon-an, the weakest in the Wanderer Inn?
"Ha, haha... hahahahaha!"
Laughter welled up from my dantian and wouldn't stop. Ten years of Murim Cheonha experience. A veteran like Ho Cheon-an, the weakest in the Wanderer Inn?
I swept my gaze around the inn. The conversations of Nangins chatting in twos and threes poured into my ears unfiltered.
"Brother Ho looks pretty puffed up after reaching First-rate."
"Mm, that sort of thing always happens when your realm rises."
"Haha, you've been slacking on training lately—better be careful or Brother Ho might beat you."
"Nonsense, man! Even if I slept standing on my head the night before, I could still thrash Brother Ho!"
"Hahahaha! That's true!"
"Hey now, never let your guard down! If you happened to fall into qi deviation the night before, you might lose, so don't underestimate him too much!"
Wahahahaha!
The Nangins burst into raucous laughter. Watching them, I had no choice but to reflect deeply.
"Hah, I regret it."
At my mutter, Yu Sa-yeon's expression flickered with sudden realization.
"Ah, don't take it too hard. Congrats on reaching First-rate, seriously. But... it is true you focused more on other things than martial training."
Yu Sa-yeon hurriedly started soothing me, belatedly realizing she had teased too hard.
"Hey, hey! That's enough! Anyway, reaching First-rate is something worth celebrating!"
Only then did the Nangins notice my eyes had gone completely cold, and they scrambled to add words.
"Ahem. That is true. Congratulations on your achievement."
"Right, now that you've reached First-rate even at this late hour, keep striving!"
Looking at those Nangins, I spoke with solemn gravity.
"You lot need your discipline tightened."
When Yu Sa-yeon forcibly dumped Heukmyo on me? I tightened discipline with a taste of strike. When the Goburin slacked off, I rammed a cart into the Golden Family and set them straight.
So why... why had I never once thought of tightening the discipline of these Nangin bastards?
Perhaps the so-called Sichuan Nangins were the ones in this world who took me least seriously of all. How could I have overlooked that fact?
Come to think of it, the Sichuan Nangins had always shown me nothing but disappointing sides.
As martial artists they should have faced martial arts with solemn attitude, yet the moment Heukmyo appeared they sprayed techniques into empty air until they nearly passed out, didn't they?
Hah. Fine, I could let that slide as Heukmyo's demonic charm. I couldn't blame every Nangin for lacking my steel-like reason and a tiny bit of resistance to bewitchment.
But what about the farce they put on during the Tang Do-gyeong incident?
Just because Tang Do-gyeong showed a chivalrous side, they tried to hand me over to him on a platter, didn't they? And that wasn't all. During the yabawi match against Tang Do-gyeong, they jeered and fumed, shaking my mental state, didn't they?
Why did Sichuan Nangins take Tang Do-gyeong's side instead of a fellow Sichuan Nangin's side inside the Wanderer Inn?
Simply taking sides already dealt a heavy blow to the mental management needed for gambling, but then came the cheering, the jeering, and the pressure! That was outright betrayal.
And afterward? When Tang Do-gyeong stayed for a while, they split into two ugly factions over his future and fought among themselves. They raised their voices claiming their own chivalry and loyalty were the real ones while condemning the other side.
In the face of profit, camaraderie was nothing but an illusion—they bared that ugly true face without hesitation!
And then there was that idiotic display of "scholarship" on literature day!
What the hell are "one-two-three-four" and "heaven-earth-black-yellow" supposed to be?! Even so, a person should have a minimum of learning! You uneducated bastards!
These guys were problems from one to ten. Come to think of it, there was more. These two classmates of mine whose sense of camaraderie scraped the bottom—Jeong Sam and Yeo Jinsang—were problems too.
How much scorn and contempt had I received from these bastards just for being Second-rate? Right! Some guy—I don't even know who—when my gambling skills were revealed during the yabawi with Tang Do-gyeong, launched a factual attack on me for my martial arts not improving.
It was true my martial arts hadn't improved. But if that was what he thought, he should have said it to my face like a man instead of hiding in the shadows of anonymity and throwing stones at my heart! Truly petty, filthy, and underhanded behavior!
These Nangin bastards were malignant tumors that desperately needed a proper education.
It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I had come at this hour expecting a flood of congratulations for reaching First-rate, or that I had calculated I could gather the Nangins for drinks and brag about ascending to First-rate until late into the night, only to realize the atmosphere was nothing like that and feel wounded.
For the true posture of a Sichuan Nangin and the advancement of the Sichuan Nangin world, discipline had to be tightened, and the only talent capable of that great enterprise was none other than this First-rate expert, Ho Cheon-an.
With solemn resolve, I picked up the iron paddle of justice in my heart and declared:
"Starting tomorrow morning, grab a weapon and line up one by one in the training grounds."