Chapter 90
Translator: penny
Chapter: 90
Chapter Title: The Heavenly Martial Body
I'd only managed to ejaculate once, but tonight's lovemaking came to an end right there.
It was because Yang Hwajung had passed out.
'Tch, nothing to be done about it.'
Considering her health, it was a miracle she'd held out this long.
I shifted my position and placed my palm on Yang Hwajung's smooth abdomen.
Then I checked how the energy of harmony was flowing inside her.
Just restoring her health had consumed a considerable amount of the harmony energy.
Healing was its primary purpose, of course, but watching it vanish still felt like a waste.
'Her body was in worse shape than I'd thought.'
Thanks to that, the remaining amount was less than expected.
I hurriedly gathered what was left before it could disperse into her meridians.
It wouldn't be bad to convert it all into innate qi, but wouldn't it be better to use it more valuably?
Wooong—
I seized the remaining energy and began guiding her qi circulation.
The harmony energy left in her body started driving out the impurities and expanding her blocked meridians according to my will.
"Ngh..."
Yang Hwajung twitched in her unconscious state, the pain of clearing her meridians apparently intense.
I ignored her and continued with the task at hand.
Ssssh—
The waste built up inside Yang Hwajung began seeping out through her sweat glands.
In truth, her physical condition was far worse than Eun Garyeon's had been when I'd performed the marrow purification on her before.
'Well, that's only natural.'
The human body accumulates impurities over time.
Eun Garyeon was 21, while Yang Hwajung was now 28.
A full seven years' difference, by simple math.
And Yang Hwajung had even borne a child.
'Not to mention what they've eaten and how they've lived.'
Eun Garyeon might have struggled with money, but she was still leading the mid-sized Eun Merchant Group.
The scale of wealth she'd known since birth was worlds apart, and the units they counted money in were different.
That incident at the tavern where we'd first met, when she saw the bill and suggested skimping on expenses?
The cost of that single meal would have kept Yang Hwajung fed for over a month without working.
As a result, performing the marrow purification on Yang Hwajung was on a whole different level of difficulty from Eun Garyeon's.
Sssssh—
How much time had passed?
Once the last of the impurities inside her were expelled, the remaining harmony energy vanished just in time.
"Huuu..."
I caught my breath after the grueling work, only for a foul stench to assault my nose.
It was from the waste that had come out of her body.
'...And now, when am I supposed to clean this up?'
I could slip some silver to a servant to handle it, but what about Yang Hwajung lying there naked?
I'd have to at least wipe her down before moving her to another room.
Back when I'd done this for Eun Garyeon, she'd woken up around then and cleaned herself...
Snore, snore.
Yang Hwajung showed no signs of waking.
So I had no choice but to handle it myself.
'Sigh... Me, Mok Jimyeong, washing someone else's body...'
I deserved attendants waiting on me hand and foot, yet here I was doing it personally.
At least she was a beautiful woman; if it had been a man, no way.
Even after I'd washed her entire body, Yang Hwajung remained deep in slumber.
'Is she adapting to the physical changes?'
The harmony energy and marrow purification were so effective that her transformation was already visible to the naked eye.
Her emaciated frame, where her ribs had shown through, had filled out nicely, and her dry skin was now smooth and supple.
I wondered if Baek Rihyeon would even recognize her like this.
As I gazed contentedly at Yang Hwajung's changed appearance, the foul stench hit my nose again.
The waste still staining the bed and floor.
Somehow I'd managed to clean her body, but cleaning the whole room was beyond me.
I considered taking her to the spare room I'd reserved earlier,
Clack, clack.
But the door to the room where Moyong Hui was sleeping was locked from inside.
In the end, after some deliberation, I called a servant and rented another room.
The servant had apparently been in a deep sleep; he grumbled with a sour look on his face.
But when I gave him a silver tael, he grinned and quickly fetched a new room key.
I grabbed him just as he turned to leave.
"You've got to earn that silver tael."
Thinking he could just hand over the key and run?
I moved Yang Hwajung to the new room, then ordered the servant to clean the old one.
He stepped inside, wrinkled his nose at the stench, but quietly got to work, mindful of the money.
'Hmm, now what?'
The room was such a mess that a thorough cleaning would take at least half a shichen.
I could go sleep in the room with Yang Hwajung, but since I'd only climaxed once, I wasn't sleepy.
I might even accidentally wake her if I stayed nearby.
'Let her sleep soundly tonight.'
We'd be heading straight to Beijing tomorrow, so she needed to recover her strength.
There was one thing I needed to do anyway...
'All the shops with gifts for Hui would be closed by now, right?'
The marrow purification had taken longer than expected, and now it was too late.
Even in Shengde, at this hour, everything except taverns and brothels would be shut.
Suddenly, something I'd forgotten came to mind.
'Ah! The jewels!'
The ornaments I'd looted from the Red Serpent Sect earlier that day.
Far better than anything in ordinary shops, and I'd taken plenty.
The minor issues were that it was late at night, and while I'd pocketed only gold and silver, all the jewels were with Cheon Woojin.
'If he's sleeping, I'll just wake him.'
A subordinate should leap out of bed at his lord's call, sleeping or not.
I left the inn and headed straight for the lodge.
The streets, bustling by day, were now deserted.
Gazing at the familiar nighttime streets of Shengde brought back long-forgotten memories one by one.
'We used to fight a lot in that alley. Was it those Bi'an Sect guys? They got absorbed by the Red Serpent Sect in the end. Now that the Red Serpent Sect's gone, maybe the Bi'an Sect will claim that alley. Oh, and there's the gambling den after all this time. I used to go there a lot. Wonder if that one-eyed guy is still around.'
Of course, I had no intention of checking.
The entanglements from my days as a lowly warrior seemed utterly insignificant now.
'The important thing is, after becoming the Lecherous Demon in my previous life, I took care of all that.'
If there was one regret, it was failing to kill Chu Munrak—but I'd handled that in this life, so no lingering regrets.
Still, reminiscing about my low-rank warrior days as I walked, I soon arrived at the lodge.
Just then, the door burst open, and a figure dashed out.
"Who goes—? It's you, my lord."
Cheon Woojin, looking disheveled from being roused from sleep.
He glanced around, tilting his head.
"Where are Lady Moyong and Lady Yang?"
"Sleeping at the inn."
"Then why are you here, my lord...? Don't tell me Lady Moyong kicked you out?"
He made a face like he'd seen it coming.
He must have gotten the wrong idea from seeing me try to seduce Yang Hwajung earlier...
'I've already had her, so what...'
I considered smacking him, but waved it off lazily instead.
"Where's the kid?"
"Ah! Actually, that's what I needed to talk to you about, my lord."
Cheon Woojin suddenly scanned the surroundings with his qi sense.
He swept the area again visually.
This was the first time he'd reacted like this, so I was curious what he had to say.
I crossed my arms and waited, and he lowered his voice.
"My lord, have you heard of the Heavenly Martial Body?"
"Heavenly Martial Body?"
I didn't know the details precisely, but I'd heard the term plenty.
Because...
"It's the constitution my father possesses."
In my previous life, it had been hugely famous that the Martial Emperor was born with the Heavenly Martial Body.
—Those with exceptional talent need no master, and those lacking talent are unworthy of teaching.
The Martial Emperor, Cheon Seonwoo.
A man who learned martial arts late in life without a teacher and ultimately became the World's Greatest Martial Artist.
Countless people dissected his genius, and Cheon Seonwoo himself revealed the secret.
It was the Heavenly Martial Body...
"Even without marrow purification, all meridians are open from birth, and impurities don't accumulate with age... a body blessed by heaven itself for martial arts."
Listening to Cheon Woojin, my expression soured involuntarily.
All meridians open, no impurity buildup with age.
Exactly what I'd sensed when I checked Baek Rihyeon's pulse earlier.
"So?"
Cheon Woojin exclaimed excitedly at my response.
"You must have sensed it during the pulse diagnosis earlier, my lord? Not a speck of impurity in his meridians."
"Obviously."
"That's why you're taking him as your disciple, right?"
"What are you talking about?"
The conversation was going well until that weird conclusion.
But Cheon Woojin nodded like he had it all figured out.
"I thought it strange when you suddenly said you'd take a disciple. With the Heavenly Martial Body, even my father would covet that talent..."
"...He would, huh?"
They called it the Heavenly Martial Body, but to me, it was no different from a body that had undergone complete shedding and rebirth.
Impressive, sure, but...
'Anyone who reaches the Transcendent Realm undergoes that, right?'
Of course, ordinary martial artists rarely achieved the Transcendent Realm.
Baek Rihyeon, on the other hand, would reach it with ease.
'But that's as far as it goes.'
How many Transcendent Realm masters were there in the martial world?
And how long had they lingered at that level?
The Moyong family alone had three publicly known.
Across the entire world, there might be over a hundred.
But those who'd reached the Profound Realm?
'Five at most.'
Did that mean the Transcendent Realm masters lacked talent?
Hardly.
In the end, the Heavenly Martial Body guaranteed reaching the Transcendent Realm, but that was it.
'No way the Martial Emperor would covet just that.'
Cheon Woojin had clearly gotten the wrong idea about something.