Chapter 146
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 146
Chapter Title: New Ventures and Old Debts
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Sa Mu-sim wore an immensely proud expression at Dan Ak-seon's look of surprise.
Initially, they had bought a failing inn to use as lodging for the trading company's members.
But recently, as the local population and flow of goods increased, the area had suddenly come to life.
So they decided to expand and refurbish it, reopening the inn as a new business.
As luck would have it, they had someone with a talent for running an inn.
One of the family members from the Righteous Hall had a history of managing a rather famous inn in the past.
The inn, bought for a pittance, had started to pay off handsomely.
Furthermore, the inn brought not only financial profit but also secondary benefits.
It proved to be very useful for gathering local information.
“Please, eat first. And if you'd like, you can take a tour of the Divine Demon Trading Company.”
“The Divine Demon Trading Company is in Lanzhou?”
“Yes. The main branch is in Wuwei, and we have a branch here in Lanzhou. We'll soon be establishing offices in Shaanxi and Sichuan as well.”
“Wow. To that extent?”
“It was possible because we partnered with Elder Cho's trading company.”
Dan Ak-seon recalled Elder Cho, whom he had given palliative treatment to before leaving the Divine Demon Valley.
“How is he doing?”
Sa Mu-sim let out a low sigh, his expression sorrowful.
“He has passed away.”
“Ah…”
“Before he passed, he asked me to relay a message to you, Valley Lord. He said thank you for gifting him the final chapter of his life, that thanks to you, he was able to conclude his remaining days well.”
Dan Ak-seon nodded, his eyes filled with a lonely light.
One can deceive an illness for a time, but one can never deceive death.
It was a relief, at least, that the man seemed to have spent his remaining life in a worthy manner.
“Let’s all try to stay healthy.”
Sa Mu-sim nodded silently at the regret tinging Dan Ak-seon’s voice.
As they entered the inn, the prepared dishes began to arrive.
A lavish spread of delicacies from land and sea was laid out, clearly prepared with great care for Dan Ak-seon.
“So many things have really happened this past year.”
Across from Dan Ak-seon, Sa Mu-sim smiled brightly at his words.
“You've changed a lot too, Physician. I'd believe you if you said you were fifteen now, not fourteen.”
Dan Ak-seon gave an awkward laugh.
“Hehe. You think so? I have grown a lot taller lately. My body’s gotten sturdier, too.”
Cho Ak-ryang added with a smile.
“Your training in Kunlun must have been a great help.”
Sa Mu-sim asked Dan Ak-seon.
“How was your journey?”
“I saw and experienced so many things.”
As if wondering how he had held it in for so long, Dan Ak-seon began to recount the events of his travels.
As he poured out his story without pause, Pung Jin-seong and Sa Mu-sim listened with pleased expressions.
“…And that’s what happened.”
The two men nodded at Dan Ak-seon’s slightly flushed face.
Then, as if a thought suddenly occurred to him, Pung Jin-seong asked.
“You’ll be resting here for a few days, won’t you?”
“Yes, that’s the plan.”
“That’s a relief. I would have been disappointed if you said you were leaving right away.”
Pung Jin-seong’s words brought a look of apology to Dan Ak-seon’s face.
He was suddenly reminded that he hadn't sent a single letter during his journey.
Thinking of how worried Pung Jin-seong must have been with no word from him, he resolved to stay with them for a few days, if only for his sake.
And so, they spent the rest of the evening catching up, savoring their long-awaited reunion.
The next morning.
Dan Ak-seon stretched deeply as he stepped out of his room.
His body felt incredibly light, likely from having slept so comfortably for the first time in a long while.
Heading to the deserted rear courtyard, Dan Ak-seon naturally began his physical training.
He loosened his joints and muscles with Daoist exercises, then awakened the muscles throughout his body with horse stance, push-ups, and other drills.
Only then did he begin to practice his lightness techniques and capturing arts.
It was a form of mental sparring against an imaginary opponent.
After about an hour, sweat was pouring from his body like rain.
“Hoo.”
As Dan Ak-seon let out a long breath to regulate his breathing, he felt a gaze and turned his head.
Pung Jin-seong was standing in a corner of the garden, though he hadn't noticed when he arrived.
“You’re starting to carry the air of a true master, aren't you?”
Dan Ak-seon gave an embarrassed smile at Pung Jin-seong’s cheerful remark.
“I still have a long way to go. I’m a world away from catching up to the three of you.”
“Aren’t you setting your goals a bit too high?”
Only then did Dan Ak-seon realize Pung Jin-seong was joking.
Dan Ak-seon immediately retorted.
“Still, can it compare to you, sir?”
“…?”
“I was surprised when I saw the Divine Demon Pill you created.”
“Ah!”
Pung Jin-seong smiled sheepishly.
“I’m still a long way from catching up to the Valley Lord.”
“Aren’t you setting your goals a bit too high?”
Pung Jin-seong stared blankly for a moment before bursting into laughter.
“Haha. You got me there. It seems it wasn’t just your height and martial arts that grew on your journey. Your wit has sharpened considerably.”
His laughter subsiding, Pung Jin-seong met Dan Ak-seon’s gaze with a serious expression.
“Since we’re on the topic, I have a proposal. How about we research the Nourishing Pill together?”
“It’s the Divine Demon Pill now.”
Pung Jin-seong smiled and nodded.
“I recently discovered a drawback to the Divine Demon Pill.”
“A drawback?”
Dan Ak-seon couldn't hide his surprise. But as Pung Jin-seong continued, he understood the meaning and nodded.
“The fact that it can be used for both internal and external injuries is certainly a great advantage. It’s also highly efficient, as carrying a single pill allows for most emergency treatments. The problem is the price.”
Pung Jin-seong continued his explanation.
“It may be cheaper than the Sacred Hand Divine Pill, but the price is still far too high for commoners to afford.”
Pung Jin-seong gave an example.
“If you use a Divine Demon Pill for an external wound, you essentially have to forfeit its medicinal effect as a remedy for internal injuries.”
“Ah!”
“External for external, internal for internal… If we could maximize only that specific effect to lower the price, wouldn't it be more accessible to ordinary people?”
Dan Ak-seon, who had been deep in thought, nodded.
For the wealthy or for martial artists, there was no better emergency medicine than the Divine Demon Pill.
But for those in difficult financial circumstances, the price was unthinkable.
“That’s a good idea. I hadn’t thought about that aspect.”
“Actually, it was Manager Sa who asked. He wondered if we could subdivide the pill’s efficacy.”
Lowering the price would ease the burden on common people.
Furthermore, alongside sales of the Divine Demon Pill to the upper class, they could pioneer a new market targeting the common folk.
In the end, it was a proposal that benefited both the trading company and the general populace.
“Alright. Let’s research it together.”
Since it involved studying an existing medicine rather than developing a new one, it likely wouldn't take very long.
Pung Jin-seong’s face brightened.
For a physician, the exchange of medical knowledge was just that important.
Dan Ak-seon, for his part, showed his determination for the task he had been given.
From that day on, Dan Ak-seon and Pung Jin-seong were engrossed in their research.
They spent all day discussing something, repeating experiments and consultations with all sorts of medicinal herbs.
As a result, Beom Gye-wi, who rarely got to spend time with Dan Ak-seon, wore a long face.
“It’s like our Physician Dan has forgotten all about me.”
At Beom Gye-wi’s sullen expression, Cho Ak-ryang threw him a rebuke.
“Why don’t you do something with that time?”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Martial arts training?”
“What’s the point of getting any stronger than I already am?”
“Then at least take a walk or something.”
“What if Physician Dan comes out while I’m on a walk? Then I won’t see his face today either.”
“So you plan to just sit there all day waiting for Physician Dan?”
“Is there something wrong with that?”
Cho Ak-ryang frowned at Beom Gye-wi’s increasingly sharp gaze.
He could guess why Han Seol-hwa was nowhere to be seen.
She, too, must have grown tired of the grumpy Beom Gye-wi.
Cho Ak-ryang turned and left the inn. Arguing would only be a waste of breath, with nothing to gain.
Walking slowly, Cho Ak-ryang took in the village, savoring the now-vibrant air of spring.
After a short while.
“The Tidings Guild is completely gone now.”
The information guild formerly run by Neung So-mil.
In the building where the guild had been located, a fabric store selling silk and all sorts of cloth had taken its place.
Cho Ak-ryang asked a worker who was just leaving the store.
“What happened to the martial sect that used to be here?”
The worker asked back.
“A martial sect? Are you perhaps talking about the Tidings Guild?”
When Cho Ak-ryang nodded, the man shook his head emphatically.
“Don’t even ask. After their leader and vice-leader disappeared, warriors from the Martial Alliance turned the whole area upside down. Because of that, the people who worked there all scattered.”
Cho Ak-ryang nodded.
The Tidings Guild was now well and truly gone.
But then, the worker brought up something strange.
“Someone came by a while ago, looking for the leader of the Tidings Guild…”
He added that someone came by every so often.
Cho Ak-ryang’s eyes turned cold.
“Do you know where that person is?”
A short time later.
Arriving at the place the fabric store worker had indicated, Cho Ak-ryang was inwardly flustered.
He had been suspicious, thinking someone was tracking Neung So-mil’s whereabouts, but he realized it was a ridiculous misunderstanding.
It was because of a beggar, prostrated on a bridge at the end of the market.
‘A disciple of the Beggar's Sect?’
But he couldn’t see the knotted cord that symbolized a Beggar’s Sect disciple anywhere.
‘Wait a minute? Come to think of it?’
The beggar’s face was somehow familiar.
It didn't take long for Cho Ak-ryang to remember the beggar.
Back when Neung So-mil was the leader of the Tidings Guild, he had used the boy for errands a few times to deliver messages.
‘His name was… Adu, was it?’
He had made quite an impression, being a bright and cheerful kid.
But something was off about his condition.
His small frame could be excused by a lack of food, but his movements seemed extremely labored.
Even while lying prostrate, he would occasionally rub his leg and grimace.
It was then.
“Hey, are you really hurt? You're not just faking it to beg, are you?”
A stout man passing over the bridge started picking a fight with the young beggar.
“No, sir. My leg is really giving me trouble…”
The man looked down on the beggar, who looked up with a pitiful expression, a cruel smile spreading across his face.
“Is that so? Well then, let’s see if it’s real.”
Cho Ak-ryang frowned.
The man was drunk in broad daylight. And he was dressed in rather fine clothes.
From his belt to his shoes, he was adorned with fairly expensive items.
But he exuded no sense of dignity whatsoever.
He truly possessed all the conditions of a typical nouveau riche.
His face, flushed from the alcohol, was filled with malice.
*Crack.*
The begging bowl placed in front of the beggar shattered.
“Oops. I missed.”
The man snickered and approached the pale-faced beggar.
Then, he drew back his foot to kick the young boy.
“Ack!”
The young beggar curled up on the ground, clutching his leg.
But the man was unable to kick him.
Someone had suddenly squeezed between him and the beggar and pushed him away.
“Huh? Who the hell is this?”
Cho Ak-ryang, who had been staring at the man, spoke abruptly.
“It seems you're the one with a leg problem.”
“What?”
*Snap.*
“Kuaargh!”
The man screamed as he tumbled to the ground.
One of his legs was bent at a grotesque angle.
Startled by the sudden turn of events, the beggar scrambled backward in fright. But he couldn't retreat any further because of the bridge's railing.
Cho Ak-ryang turned his head and looked down at the young beggar.
“Were you the one looking for the leader of the Tidings Guild?”
“Huh?”
Adu’s eyes widened.
How could he not recognize the noble person who had magnanimously given him a whole silver coin just for delivering a single letter?
“I’m sorry.”
Cho Ak-ryang wore a puzzled expression as Adu suddenly bowed his head toward him.
At that moment, Adu pulled something from his clothes and held it out to Cho Ak-ryang.
It was a silver coin, the size of one nyang.
“I was never able to deliver the letter you asked me to deliver back then. Since I didn’t complete the errand, I’m returning this.”
The silver coin was grimy with handprints, a testament to how often he must have handled it.
He could feel how much the boy must have agonized over it.
Cho Ak-ryang was honestly surprised.
Then, a question popped into his mind.
“What’s wrong with your leg?”
“That is…”
“Stand up for now. I need to hear your story.”
Cho Ak-ryang helped Adu to his feet.
From the ground, the stout man hurled curses at Cho Ak-ryang.
“You crazy bastard! Do you know who I am? You’re in for it today. You just wait right here! I’ll go right now and…”
The man couldn't continue his tirade.
*Snap.*
Because Cho Ak-ryang had broken his other, perfectly fine leg.
“Aaaargh!”
Leaving the wretched scream echoing over the bridge, Cho Ak-ryang pulled Adu along.
“Let’s move to a quiet place first.”