008. A Terrible Habit
008. A Terrible Habit
"Ah, but Dam Cheon. There is one thing I'm curious about."
"Yes, Mother."
"......."
Sa-ma Ryang's expression soured.
If she teased him further here, it was clear she was ready to drop everything, including the deal.
As a woman who had maintained dignity and grace as a daughter of the Sama Clan all her life, she was utterly disgusted by jokes mixed with the worldly flirtatiousness.
"It's a joke. Please relax your face, Mother. If you look at your son like he's a madman, people around will just think it's strange."
"That's because you... No, forget it."
She seemed to have many things to point out but decided not to bother, shaking her head to regain her composure, and asked what she had been curious about.
"But I understand wanting to become an adopted son and enjoy being a playboy, that's a secondary desire. The main purpose is to monitor this mother, right? Then will you tell me what you really want?"
"It's nothing special. With the position of Clan Head's adopted son, I think I can easily meet beauties with good status and good bones. No matter how strong I am, as a wanderer, meeting such women is a distant dream."
".........Is that so."
"My dream is to be a pillar husband."
"You didn't have to tell me that...."
Sa-ma Ryang felt dizzy. Starting from the fact that a man who boldly declares his dream is to be a pillar husband would become her adopted son, to his radical way of thinking, everything made her head ache.
Still, she concluded it was cheap if it ended with just her headache and stomachache, since she felt confident it would help the Sama Clan take a great leap forward.
"But there's one thing I need to tell you."
"Yes. Please speak."
"You are the only child."
"...............Yes?"
Seeing Dam Cheon's expression instantly become bewildered, Sa-ma Ryang finally smiled a little.
'It feels refreshing.'
Sa-ma Ryang was inwardly rejoicing and celebrating her successful revenge.
It wasn't difficult for Dam Cheon to become 'Sama' Dam Cheon.
Though there were many harboring doubts and dissatisfaction, those foolish enough to openly express it before the Clan Head wouldn't survive in the Sama Clan anyway.
If ink-slingers who only wield brushes before the supreme Clan Head expressed dissatisfaction, who knows what unreasonable measures might be taken.
Sa-ma Ryang isn't a violent person, but as a ruler, she is not lacking. If subordinates express dissatisfaction merely out of selfish motives, she will maneuver behind the scenes to dry up their funding lines.
And when money becomes insufficient, the Sama elders who only know how to wield brushes will next have their blood dry up.
"By the way, about me being the only child. Do you have no children?"
"No. I suspect the Clan Head herself might be infertile and unable to bear children."
"Is it certain it's not the father's side problem?"
At that question, Sa-ma Ryang turned her head.
A sly, radically unmatched way of thinking adopted son. Not feeling awkward at all, he thoroughly treats her as his adoptive mother and bows his head.
Seeing a master who could confront the Sama Clan alone so easily showing respect under another person made her feel anew wonder, but also.
That question subtly signaled that her priority was higher than Geum Wi-un, making her feel coldly rational.
'But that makes it even more trustworthy, which is a funny situation.'
Since monitoring her was his purpose for now, it also meant there was no need to worry about betrayal during that period.
"Hmm. It's not my husband's problem. This is certain."
"How can you be so sure? It's widespread that men can lack seed too."
"There is an illegitimate child."
"......Oh."
At that moment of hearing the answer.
In Dam Cheon's head, countless little Dam Cheons instantly raised a fuss saying they stepped on a landmine.
If the Clan Head firmly holding the household brings in an illegitimate child, it would cause turmoil in the family, but moreover, if the adopted son-in-law Geum Wi-un has an illegitimate child, it wouldn't just be turmoil but the family would shake.
Only then did he seem to understand why Geum Wi-un, despite being an adopted son-in-law, tried to bring the Cheon-wang-dan to the Sama Clan risking his life.
To Dam Cheon, the elixir wasn't worth the life, but as Geum Wi-un who already had committed a sin, he was in a position where he had to achieve merit somehow.
'If a man gets divorced for adultery, nothing is as fatal as that.'
Clearly, growing the Wicheon Escort Agency to that extent was thanks to Geum Wi-un's virtue and disposition. But becoming the Sama Clan's adopted son-in-law and operating with that clan as backing also wouldn't have a small share.
The moment he gets divorced for adultery from the Clan Head's husband position, the backing power disappears, greatly impacting the escort agency itself.
"Father is quite bold too. Not being the head himself, having affairs and even having an illegitimate child."
"Is that something you should say?"
"I am unexpectedly meticulous. If it's a woman I won't take responsibility for, I control it with erotic arts so a child doesn't arise. If I hadn't learned erotic arts for contraception, I wouldn't have enjoyed it like this either."
"Huh. That's boasting."
Where does the crazy idea of learning erotic arts for contraception come from.
Sa-ma Ryang harbored the thought that if he hadn't learned this erotic art, Sama Dam Cheon might have become an unparalleled lecher in the world.
"Anyway, my husband has committed a sin so he can't move against my words. So don't bring up that issue anymore."
"Yes. I understand."
Don't bring it up anymore means there's no problem but it's unpleasant.
Sama Dam Cheon recognized that fact and didn't bring it up further.
"Then, let's start the lecture again."
In the Clan Head's exclusive training hall, Sama Dam Cheon's education began.
Though the secret manual is close to a divine art, it's equally profound. It's not without reason that a master is important in learning divine arts.
They inherit the wisdom accumulated by ancestors over generations intact and pass it to later generations, also playing a role in helping them properly acquire the divine art.
Sa-ma Ryang, who knew nothing at all, seeing this profound secret manual and achieving mastery was also a bit old.
"The name of this secret manual is 'Madocheonseong-gong (Demonic Path Heavenly Star Art).'"
"Just hearing the name, it sounds like a martial art those demon heads from Xinjiang would learn."
"It's only the name like that. It's a technique with a different direction from Mount Mo Sect's sorcery, but since it can't be called sorcery equally, they named it magic."
Even if called magic, she wouldn't understand, so Sama Dam Cheon glossed over it roughly and continued the lecture.
"Techniques are even more tricky to enter than martial arts because they judge talent. So the great master who created this secret manual decided to further narrow the range of required talent."
"Further narrow?"
"Yes. Difficult but simultaneously a constitution with high feasibility."
Since Sama Dam Cheon had already mentioned it, Sa-ma Ryang recalled it easily.
"That is Yin-Yang Five Elements."
"Correct. Yin-Yang Five Elements are strictly one of constitutions... but this is also a condition that can be supplemented based on unique martial arts or elixirs."
There were quite many martial arts related to Yin or Five Elements. The problem was just that martial arts containing supreme techniques to become strong upon mastery were extremely rare.
Immediately, among Yin-Yang, the supreme technique corresponding to Yin, besides that North Sea's Ice Soul Divine Art, not many are known, right?
Especially Five Elements are nasty. Yin-Yang, even without martial arts, can obtain elixirs with such properties, but Five Elements, as the saying goes, are either innate or only practiced in nature.
To embody the principle of Five Elements in the flesh, arduous hardships await, and simultaneously, the path to becoming a master is nearly nonexistent.
Thus, it's easier than requiring talent for techniques, but simultaneously, also difficult.
"The fortunate point is that Mother has already achieved Five Elements. Moreover, it's visibly apparent from long training."
"Right. This Clan Head combined Mount Mo Sect's Left Path's sorcery with the previous family martial art to create 'Ohaengjin-mugong (Five Elements Array Martial Arts).' Formation techniques are usually sorcery utilizing nature's grace, so thinking that if Five Elements are embodied within the body, formation techniques can be deployed instantly with martial arts, I tried it."
"Looking at Mother now, it's a success, but also half-baked. Though Five Elements were completed, that energy isn't very large."
"It's because I focused on balancing and combined martial arts. Unless filling Five Elements with high-grade elixirs like the Cheon-wang-dan brought this time, it's difficult to fill with mental techniques."
"First, here, Madocheonseong-gong's most difficult condition is fulfilling Five Elements. The rest isn't very hard. There are two methods to fulfill the remaining condition, Yin-Yang."
"Two methods?"
Seeing Sa-ma Ryang harboring doubt, Sama Dam Cheon thought her reaction was natural. The 4th Murim isn't a dimension where Yin-Yang Five Elements are well spread.
But for Jegal Gun-ha, who learned methods to train talent for techniques from a world called Seonhyeop where the climber came from, and mastered this into martial arts, it wasn't very difficult.
Seonhyeop is a world where seon arts form the foundation more than martial arts, and seon arts are a higher concept than sorcery, so the fundamental framework is the same, making it possible.
"First is bedroom arts."
"Bedroom arts?"
"Yes. Bedroom arts. Actually, in Taoism, it's said training is done through male-female union. Among the Nine Schools, like Huashan Sect or Zhongnan Sect, unless it's the sect leader, marriage is possible too."
In the 4th Murim, even elders can marry, but in the 1st Murim, even sect leaders can marry, or something.
As Sama Dam Cheon who heard from acquaintances from there, he couldn't erase the thought that Taoist figures or individual martial artists were all similar.
"Actually, in Mount Mo Sect, though a method lost in antiquity, there is a dual cultivation technique. This is like bedroom arts converted to martial arts as erotic arts, a technique where bedroom arts are converted to sorcery. Of course, like erotic arts, there's no dramatic effect. Still, it's better than nothing, and with a strong partner, it has some effect in the early stages. In Mother's case, since you've satisfied Five Elements, the method would be with a man with strong Yang energy or a man who has completed Yin-Yang."
"...I might have to share a bed with my husband after a long time."
Though she hasn't forgiven Geum Wi-un yet.
For her martial arts development, sleeping with her estranged husband wasn't a big deal to her.
However, it wouldn't be bad to decide after hearing what the second method is.
"The second is elixirs."
"Elixirs? That means needing elixirs with Yin and Yang energy?"
"That would be best, but this martial world isn't so easy to pick and eat only those. Any elixir is fine. However, the problem is that depending on the grade of the elixir, efficiency might be worse than the dual cultivation technique."
Whether Ohaengjin-mugong created by Sa-ma Ryang or Madocheonseong-gong created by Jegal Gun-ha, ultimately martial arts where techniques occupy half.
Whether sorcery or seon arts, fields that unconditionally judge talent, mixing martial arts to relax half the conditions, both are great, but the downside is not properly absorbing elixirs due to being mixed like this.
Through Madocheonseong-gong's great method, elixirs can be decomposed to extract and absorb only Yin-Yang Five Elements energy, but efficiency is nasty, shall we say.
If swallowing a Great Return Pill normally, absorption rate varies from 50% to 100% depending on talent, then the two's technique martial arts only show 20% to 30% efficiency.
"If possible, I'd like to recommend the first method to Mother. Fortunately, Father is also here, so there's no reason not to. Even using a Great Return Pill with the great method, absorbing 20% to 30% is the limit."
"...I'll think a bit more about that part."
Sa-ma Ryang diverted the talk and snatched the secret manual from Sama Dam Cheon's grasp.
An attitude as if she didn't want to talk about Geum Wi-un. Perhaps she felt betrayal from her husband's adultery more than expected.
'This, perhaps?'
"Churup."
Sama Dam Cheon felt a terrible habit might arise.