Chapter 124
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 124
Chapter Title: The Blacksmith's Challenge
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Beom Gye-wi, having returned to the inn, burst into hearty laughter.
“Hahaha! What did I tell you? I said to just trust me, didn't I?”
“You really did it.”
At Dan Ak-seon's praise, Beom Gye-wi's shoulders puffed out with pride.
Han Seol-hwa was inwardly displeased with him, but since the outcome was good, she didn't press the issue.
But there was another problem.
It was Mukbi.
He had dragged his massive frame all the way to the inn and was now prostrated before Beom Gye-wi and Han Seol-hwa.
“Please, I beg you, teach me!”
His desperate voice echoed through the inn.
“Isn't that Lord Mukbi?”
“Why is he acting like that?”
People coming and going from the inn began to gather around.
As time passed, the crowd grew, and in an instant, the front of the inn was a sea of people.
As the situation escalated, a look of bewilderment appeared on Beom Gye-wi's face.
Beom Gye-wi shot Han Seol-hwa a look, pleading for help.
But what he received in return was a cold refusal.
“You made this mess, you clean it up.”
Beom Gye-wi grimaced.
It was great that he'd secured permission to have the weapons made, but he was at a loss as to how to explain the accidental circumstances that had led to it.
Unable to watch any longer, Dan Ak-seon stepped forward.
“What is it you wish to be taught?”
Mukbi once again explained the situation when Beom Gye-wi and Han Seol-hwa had confronted each other.
“The fire energy and the cold energy mixed in the middle, transforming into a wondrous energy that encompassed both. If I can apply that principle, I'll be able to create a peerless divine weapon, the likes of which the world has never seen!”
Dan Ak-seon took the piece of iron from Mukbi and tilted his head.
“I can feel the energy of the Dignified Fire Divine Arts in this.”
A strange light flickered in Beom Gye-wi's eyes.
“Ah! So that's what it was? And here I was wondering.”
Mukbi's face lit up.
“Then can you explain the principle to me?”
“Of course.”
Nodding, Beom Gye-wi pointed at Dan Ak-seon.
“Physician Dan will explain it well. When it comes to the Dignified Fire Divine Arts, he's the best among us.”
After taking all the credit for himself, Beom Gye-wi was now dumping the cleanup on Dan Ak-seon.
Displeased, Han Seol-hwa shot him a sharp glare.
“Let's move somewhere quiet first.”
At Dan Ak-seon's words, the group moved to the inn's quiet rear courtyard.
Dan Ak-seon cupped the piece of iron from Mukbi in both hands and drew upon the Dignified Fire Divine Arts.
A moment later.
A mysterious, auspicious energy with a captivating allure flowed from Dan Ak-seon's hands into the iron shard.
Witnessing the magnificent sight, Mukbi's eyes widened.
“That's it!”
Mukbi shouted without realizing it.
The energy now was far clearer than the fleeting trace of the Dignified Fire Divine Arts that had accidentally occurred during Han Seol-hwa and Beom Gye-wi's confrontation.
“With that energy, I'm certain I can fully imbue a single weapon with both fire and cold!”
Calming the highly excited Mukbi, Dan Ak-seon began to speak.
“The principle of the Dignified Fire Divine Arts is simpler than you might think.”
Dan Ak-seon began to explain the secrets of operating the Dignified Fire Divine Arts.
But as time went on, Mukbi's expression grew bleak.
Unfortunately, Mukbi was neither a martial artist who had trained in martial arts, nor a physician well-versed in medicine.
He couldn't understand a single word of what was being said.
It felt as if Dan Ak-seon's voice entered his ears only to become a jumbled mess in his head.
Finally, Dan Ak-seon finished his explanation and smiled innocently.
“Simple, right?”
“…”
Seeing Mukbi standing there blankly, just blinking his eyes, Dan Ak-seon tilted his head.
“Would it be better if I explained it in writing?”
After getting a brush, ink, and paper, Dan Ak-seon wrote down the mnemonic verses and operational methods of the Dignified Fire Divine Arts in detail.
Then he began to explain, pointing to each part in order.
However, the explanation only served to confuse Mukbi even more.
To him, the white was just paper, and the black was just characters.
“…Is it still difficult?”
To Dan Ak-seon's cautious question, Mukbi nodded with a stiffly frozen expression.
Dan Ak-seon let out a soft sigh.
He finally realized that making an ordinary person understand the subtleties of the Dignified Fire Divine Arts was not as easy as he had thought.
“This has become rather awkward.”
Watching the situation, Cho Ak-ryang gave a bitter smile.
It wasn't as if they could just have Mukbi learn the Dignified Fire Divine Arts right now.
He was too old to learn an internal energy cultivation technique.
A late start meant his progress would be that much slower.
Frustrated by the situation, Beom Gye-wi suddenly reached out and snatched the paper on which Dan Ak-seon had written the mnemonic verses.
*Fwoosh.*
When Beom Gye-wi circulated his true energy, the paper in his hand instantly turned to ash and scattered.
He had acted preemptively, worried that the secrets of the Dignified Fire Divine Arts might leak.
Beom Gye-wi frowned at the sight of the half-dazed Mukbi.
“Hmph! What's so hard about it?”
Dan Ak-seon's face brightened.
“Do you have a way?”
“Of course! Just trust me!”
Nodding cheerfully, Beom Gye-wi grabbed Mukbi's wrist.
“Feel it with your own body. That'll be faster.”
After saying that, Beom Gye-wi turned his head toward Han Seol-hwa.
“Let's join hands.”
“Why should I?”
Just as expected.
At her cold reaction, which he had anticipated, Beom Gye-wi grinned.
“He'll die if you don't.”
As soon as those words left his mouth, Beom Gye-wi's expression changed.
If Beom Gye-wi were to recklessly force his fiery internal energy through Mukbi's pulse points, the man's entire body would be incinerated in an instant.
“Aunt Han!”
Dan Ak-seon called out to Han Seol-hwa in alarm.
Unable to bear watching Mukbi turn to ash before her eyes, Han Seol-hwa reluctantly grabbed his other wrist.
And with an unwilling expression, she held out her palm.
Beom Gye-wi grinned and pressed his palm against hers.
“Aaargh!”
Mukbi's agonizing scream continued for a long while.
Just as it seemed his clothes would burn from the heat rising from his entire body, a moment later, a layer of white frost settled over him from the crown of his head to the tips of his toes.
For a short while, he repeated the process of exhaling scorching heat and frosty white breath.
The two people's energies slowly began to find a balance within Mukbi's body.
“That's it!”
Dan Ak-seon shouted at Mukbi.
“You just need to remember that sensation.”
Belatedly regaining his senses, Mukbi could feel the unprecedented energy swirling inside his body.
How much time passed like that?
Beom Gye-wi and Han Seol-hwa simultaneously let go and stepped back.
Both of them looked slightly exhausted.
It was then that Mukbi, staring down at his own hands with dazed eyes, muttered softly.
“So in the end… it's about balance and harmony.”
At those words, Dan Ak-seon's eyes sparkled.
“That's right. That's the core of the Dignified Fire Divine Arts.”
After thinking about something for a long while, Mukbi finally nodded.
“I think I've got the hang of it!”
Seeing Mukbi's obvious excitement, Cho Ak-ryang clicked his tongue.
Craftsmen or martial artists…
Those who pursued the pinnacle all had a strange side to them.
Did he even realize that his life had been hanging by a thread just moments ago?
“You really are something else…”
Cho Ak-ryang shook his head at the sight of the triumphant Beom Gye-wi.
To forcibly hammer in the secrets of the Dignified Fire Divine Arts by holding someone's life hostage.
It was an incredibly brutish method that no one but Beom Gye-wi could have conceived.
“You said you wanted a staff?”
Dan Ak-seon nodded at Mukbi's question.
“Yes. An eyebrow-height staff. About as tall as my eyebrows.”
Mukbi tilted his head.
“But if you grow taller later, you won't be able to call it an eyebrow-height staff anymore, will you?”
“That's fine. Oh, right. More importantly, with the leftover cloud iron from making the staff, could you make me some needles?”
“Needles? You mean the kind physicians use?”
“Yes. Like these.”
Dan Ak-seon took out the Immortal Reverence Needles and Demonic Spirit Needles from his robes and laid them out before Mukbi.
After carefully picking up a needle and examining it for a while, Mukbi let out a gasp of admiration.
“I'd love to meet the person who made these!”
Mukbi shook his head as if in disbelief.
“This is not the work of a human. The person who made these was at least several levels more skilled than I am.”
“Then is it impossible to make needles superior to these?”
“Cloud iron isn't inherently a suitable material for needles. But if two conditions are met, it might be possible.”
“Two conditions?”
“The first is Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Steel, which possesses the ultimate yin cold energy, and the second is Blazing Cinnabar Iron, which possesses the ultimate yang heat.”
“Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Steel…”
Dan Ak-seon had heard of it before.
It was an extremely rare iron, said to be formed deep beneath the sea over countless years.
But Blazing Cinnabar Iron was unfamiliar to him.
Just then, Mukbi smiled and said.
“Fortunately, I have a little Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Steel. So, we just need to find the Blazing Cinnabar Iron.”
“Where can we find Blazing Cinnabar Iron?”
“I've never seen it myself, so I can't be certain, but a long time ago, someone said they saw it on Hainan Island.”
“Hainan Island?”
Just as Dan Ak-seon tilted his head.
“Huh? Hainan Island?”
Cho Ak-ryang cast a glance at Beom Gye-wi.
Realizing the meaning behind that peculiar gaze, Beom Gye-wi flinched.
Dan Ak-seon's face lit up.
“Uncle Beom, do you know Hainan Island well?”
“Uh, well…”
While Beom Gye-wi stammered in confusion, Cho Ak-ryang grinned and nodded.
“Know it well? It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he's got Hainan Island in the palm of his hand.”
“Wow! Really?”
Seeing Dan Ak-seon ask with a beaming face, Beom Gye-wi let out an awkward laugh.
“Well… It's not entirely wrong, but…”
Beom Gye-wi glared at Cho Ak-ryang as if he could eat him alive.
But Cho Ak-ryang just smirked with an annoying expression.
He had finally landed a satisfying blow after a long time.
Dan Ak-seon's eyes sparkled as he approached Beom Gye-wi.
“Then, by any chance, can you also get the Blazing Cinnabar Iron?”
“…!”
Beom Gye-wi's eyes trembled uncontrollably.
For a moment.
*Gulp.*
After swallowing dryly, Beom Gye-wi burst into hearty laughter.
“Hahaha! I told you, Physician Dan, all you have to do is trust me! What can't I do for our Physician Dan? A place like Hainan Island is nothing!”
At Beom Gye-wi's boastful declaration, Dan Ak-seon threw his arms around him in a hug.
“Uncle Beom, you're the best!”
“Mwahaha! Just like always, Physician Dan, you just have to trust me.”
Watching this, Cho Ak-ryang let out a snort of laughter.
It was because he knew the circumstances surrounding Beom Gye-wi and Hainan Island.
“Have fun suffering.”
It was then that a look of confusion appeared in Cho Ak-ryang's eyes as he said this.
Unexpectedly, Beom Gye-wi was smiling and readily nodding his head.
“What's a little suffering? It's not like I'm doing it alone.”
“…?”
Beom Gye-wi placed a hand on Cho Ak-ryang's shoulder.
“Let's go together.”
Startled, Cho Ak-ryang shook off Beom Gye-wi's hand.
“Why should I? No way.”
Beom Gye-wi curled his lips into a meaningful smile.
“Let's be clear about our accounts.”
“Accounts?”
“You have to repay the debt you owe from the Qingcheng Sect incident, don't you?”
“…!”
Cho Ak-ryang's face hardened.
To think he would drag him into this in such a cheap way!
Finally, Cho Ak-ryang sighed and nodded.
Beom Gye-wi smiled with satisfaction and turned his head toward Dan Ak-seon.
“Then we'll be off to Hainan Island. We'll get the Blazing Cinnabar Iron and join you, so you go on ahead.”
“Okay. Be careful.”
“Don't worry. I'm going with none other than Brother Cho. Right?”
Cho Ak-ryang just glared at Beom Gye-wi for a moment without saying anything.
“Then let's go.”
And with that, the two of them shot off.
After seeing the two of them disappear, becoming tiny dots in an instant, Dan Ak-seon met Mukbi's gaze.
“Blazing Cinnabar Iron. If you bring me that, I will make not only the staff but also the needles into items the world has never seen before.”
Dan Ak-seon asked the confident Mukbi cautiously.
“But will that be alright? I heard Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Steel is incredibly expensive…”
“It's fine. It's for my sake as well.”
“…?”
“Those items will likely be the final works of my life. To leave my name in history, it's an investment I'm more than willing to make.”
A firm resolve and passion could be felt in Mukbi's gaze.
Dan Ak-seon smiled warmly at Han Seol-hwa and Ga Du-dal.
“Shall we get going, then?”