Chapter 23
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: The Great Rejuvenation Pill
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Great Rejuvenation Pill
Looking back, the past fifty years had been a continuous series of hardships.
His first memory was of being abandoned under an overpass.
The struggle to survive in a beggar’s slum.
The life of a ronin that began after he came of age.
And then, retirement.
It had been quite an eventful life.
There was only one reason he had managed to survive it all.
Doing his best in any given situation.
Even if the outcome seemed obvious.
Of course, there were times when his efforts led to good results, and times they didn't.
Still, it left him with far fewer regrets than doing nothing at all.
Yes, it was time to just get started!
Ha Yuseong still didn't know for sure which path was the right one.
But at least now, he knew how to live without leaving regrets.
When you do something, do it right.
Even if it turned out to be the wrong path.
If he failed, then so be it.
‘I’ll do the best I can right now!’
That had been his firm resolution just a moment ago.
"You should have extended your arm a little more there."
"Tsk! You're not putting weight on your right leg. That's why the power isn't transferring properly."
He tried to ignore them.
"You should have stepped a little higher there."
"Your breathing is shallow. That's why you're running out of breath at the end."
He tried to focus on his training.
"Yep. That's a fail."
"Yep. The next move is a fail too."
Respect for the elderly.
It was a phrase Ha Yuseong was quite fond of.
Having once been old himself, he knew all too well the sorrows that came with aging.
‘Yuseong. You must respect your elders.’
You know how it is, right? Old folks are just naturally preachy!
It’s how they vent the frustrations they couldn't resolve in their youth!
They never mean any harm by it!
He knew!
He tried to focus on his training again.
"Tsk! Out of breath again!"
"Tsk, tsk. I told you, it's not about your breathing, you need to lower your stance."
In the martial world, it was taboo to give unsolicited advice while watching someone else train.
To others, Ha Yuseong's training methods might seem incredibly clumsy.
But still, this was too much!
Why were they meddling in his training like this?
Did they have nothing better to do?
Of course, when you get old, all you have is time.
It was bitter how well he understood.
He had lived through those aged years, as if he'd come from the future.
So, he could understand.
But that was that, and this was this!
Ha Yuseong finally couldn't take it anymore.
"Excuse me... gentlemen?"
When he turned around, he saw two old men, just as he'd expected.
One had a long, flowing beard and looked like a sage at first glance, but a closer look revealed a mischievous glint in his eyes, giving him a roguish air.
The other, unfortunately, had no hair. He was dressed in monk's robes, though it was uncertain whether his devotion to Buddhism was voluntary.
It would depend on whether his bald head was due to hair loss or shaving, but Ha Yuseong didn't bother to ask.
As soon as their eyes met Ha Yuseong's, the two old men spoke as if they had been waiting.
"Seems the young man isn't completely deaf after all."
"I was starting to think he couldn't hear us."
Again, having once been an old man himself, Ha Yuseong prided himself on knowing their characteristics very well.
One of the most prominent traits was that old men didn't listen well to others.
In other words, they only said what they wanted to say.
"Now! When you throw a punch, you do it like this."
The bald old man said, diligently demonstrating the posture.
"What are you doing? Aren't you going to copy me?"
Ha Yuseong felt no need to follow his example.
Martial arts were a kind of discipline.
If you mixed in miscellaneous techniques while learning one style, it would be worse than not learning it at all.
‘Unless it was an authority like the Fist King, one of the Ten Grandmasters of the World.’
With that thought, Yuseong decided to just leave this spot and resume his training with renewed focus. He didn't want any more interruptions.
Just then, the sage-like old man spoke.
"You've hit a wall, haven't you? Do you really think you can break through it by training alone like this?"
The bald old man next to him chimed in.
"You'll only fall into a deeper mire, and in the end, you'll just be frustrated."
Ha Yuseong met the two old men's gazes.
*Heh heh.*
*Ho ho.*
The two men were smiling faintly, as if they knew exactly what he was pondering and what choice he would make.
The sage-like but roguish-looking old man said.
"Shall we make a bet? We'll solve the problem you're struggling with right now. If we fail, we'll leave immediately."
That was...
"And if you succeed?"
"Well, that would be a good thing, wouldn't it? For the record, we won't ask for anything in return. Will you do it?"
It was a temptation too great to refuse.
And the old men's request was surprisingly simple.
***
Returning home, Ha Yuseong took out the small wooden box the two old men had given him.
-Eat this. It will solve your problem.
"What in the world is this?"
Two mysterious old men he'd met in the mountains.
There was a saying in the martial world to be wary of three types of people.
The old, women, and children.
Ha Yuseong opened the wooden box.
As he did, a refreshing fragrance filled the room. It was the kind of scent that cleared one's head just by smelling it.
Inside the box was a single pill, carefully wrapped in paper.
Judging from the knowledge he had accumulated during his ronin days, it didn't seem to be harmful.
On the contrary.
"It's more like an elixir."
Though he was a third-rate ronin, Ha Yuseong knew the value of elixirs very well.
They were like treasure to a martial artist.
They were so precious that battles that turned rivers red with blood had been fought over elixirs like the Great Rejuvenation Pill.
Of course, this probably wasn't a Great Rejuvenation Pill.
It was likely just some medicine that was good for the body.
He was still suspicious of the two old men, but Ha Yuseong had always been one to accept things that were good for his body without much hesitation.
For a third-rate ronin, an opportunity had to be seized the moment it appeared. Otherwise, it would vanish like sugar dissolving in water.
*Gulp.*
After swallowing the pill, Ha Yuseong soon fell asleep.
***
In the backyard of the Shaolin Temple.
Neither too small nor too large.
Stood a single thatched-roof house, showing its age here and there.
Outside, a modest field was diligently tilled, with sprouts growing in orderly rows upon it.
It was clear how carefully the owner of the house tended to his field.
Just then, a light came on inside the house, and the shadow of a person sipping tea appeared on the window.
The owner of that silhouette was the Great Monk Cheonsu.
The smooth sensation as the tea went down his throat was truly exquisite. A smile naturally formed on the Great Monk Cheonsu's lips.
Indeed, tea from Sichuan was the best.
As he refilled his quickly emptied cup, the Great Monk Cheonsu recalled the recent event.
"I thought I was too old for this, that it had all faded away."
In the past, the Great Monk Cheonsu had a completely different personality from his current self.
He was hot-headed and a fighting maniac.
Of course, that was all in his youth.
For the Great Monk Cheonsu, who had been enjoying a quiet life in the background since retiring from the martial world, the boy he had just met was enough to rekindle the long-extinguished embers in his heart.
-I found something interesting.
A friend had visited him unexpectedly.
He seemed to be living quietly just like himself after retiring, but the Great Monk Cheonsu figured he must have caused some trouble again.
He was probably here to ask for help.
Now that his friends had grown old and passed away one by one, that rascal was the only one left in this world.
They say rice bows its head as it ripens, and people become more dignified with age.
When would that fellow ever learn to live quietly?
Unlike himself, who had practically become a new man compared to his younger days.
"Amitabha."
The Great Monk Cheonsu chanted the Buddha's name, trying to calm his fluttering heart.
Just then, the door of the thatched house creaked open, and his disciple entered.
The Great Monk Cheonsu looked at his disciple, who had now become the respectable Abbot of the Shaolin Temple, with a proud gaze.
"Master."
"Yes, my disciple."
"Did you cause trouble again, by any chance?"
The little kid who used to toddle after him crying "Master!" was all grown up now, daring to question his venerable master.
‘Amitabha.’
Normally, a fist would have flown, but the Great Monk Cheonsu chanted the Buddha's name once more and calmed himself.
Because he was in a very good mood right now.
"I did not."
"Hah, if you weren't my master, I'd just...!"
It seemed he had heard something from his disciple that he shouldn't have, but the Great Monk Cheonsu decided to let it slide this one time.
Again, he was in a very good mood.
Abbot Gongya, the current Fist King and head of the Shaolin Temple, pressed his throbbing temples.
From the Shaolin Temple.
Inside the Abbot's chambers.
The last remaining Great Rejuvenation Pill.
There was only one person in the entire martial world who could steal it without the Abbot's knowledge.
"Master."
"Yes, my disciple."
Abbot Gongya had thought his master would no longer cause trouble.
In fact, he had been living very quietly for the past few years.
How much had he suffered cleaning up after his master since he was a child?
Some said his baldness was not by choice or force, but had occurred naturally.
"What did you do with it?"
"With what?"
Knowing full well what he was talking about, his master's feigned ignorance made his blood boil. And this was not just a hunch, but a suspicion bordering on certainty.
The tea his master was drinking now.
It was a tea brewed from buckwheat that grew only in Sichuan, absolutely unobtainable in Henan.
The highest quality, at that.
And the place that held a monopoly on that top-grade buckwheat was the Tang Family of Sichuan.
"What schemes are you plotting with that crazy old man again!"
"Watch your mouth! Calling him a crazy old man! He is this master's dear friend and your senior. Even if they say you can curse the king behind his back, that was a bit much. I did not raise you to be so disrespectful!"
"Is that something a thief who stole the Great Rejuvenation Pill should be saying! You know it takes ten years at the very least to make the next one!"
Abbot Gongya asked about the whereabouts of the pill.
Perhaps it could still be recovered.
It had been missing for less than a day.
"What on earth did you do with the Great Rejuvenation Pill?"
*Grin.*
The Great Monk Cheonsu smiled and replied.
"I've bet it on a new era."
At those words, a vein bulged on Abbot Gongya's forehead.
"Master or not, let's have a go!"
The Great Monk Cheonsu rose from his seat.
"It is also a master's duty to test his disciple's achievements! Come at me!"
Around the time the Shaolin Temple was being turned upside down, the Tang Family of Sichuan was not exactly quiet either.
***
Dang Pyeong, the current head of the Tang Family of Sichuan, was troubled by a certain matter.
A letter lay before him, on which was written:
-It seems information is being leaked.
All members of the Tang Clan were blood relatives.
This meant that someone among his kin had betrayed them.
"But why."
In the past, during times of war, such things happened frequently. But this was an era of peace.
He couldn't understand who would do such a thing, or why.
And if the enemy was within, it was his duty as the master of the Tang Clan to find them.
Regardless of the matter's gravity, a festering wound within was always bound to burst open.
Especially if that wound was poison.
Dang Pyeong looked outside. The moon was already at the center of the sky.
Just then, Dang Mandok burst into Dang Pyeong's room.
*Creeak!*
The door slid open, revealing Dang Mandok's bright expression.
"Ah, Father?"
Seeing his father so vibrant for the first time in a long while, Dang Pyeong's heavy heart lightened, if only a little.
"Pyeong! I heard there's a little rat in the family!"
But the words that came out of his father's mouth were completely unexpected.
"That is correct."
He didn't know how the information had leaked to his retired father, but Dang Pyeong resolved to find the source and pickle the culprit in poison for three days and three nights.
‘I can't let my retired father worry.’
Contrary to Dang Pyeong's thoughts, Dang Mandok was having a great time.
He finally had something to do after a long while.
"Let's catch it! The little rat!"
Besides, there was something he wanted to test.
This was killing two birds with one stone.
***
The next day.
Ha Yuseong woke up.
"Huh?"