Chapter 40
Chapter 40
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: Mosan Sect's Bora - [1]
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Heo Pung-gae glared at the wooden box right in front of him.
The box itself seemed worth well over ten million won, and what lay inside was an elixir priced at 1.6 billion.
Thanks to the Invincible Unaffiliated's rising prestige these days, he'd managed to snag it for a hundred million less than market value—but even so, it hardly counted as a real financial windfall. Once it went down the hatch, that was it.
"Feels like I said something similar last time, but if I were you, I'd rather take fifteen hundred million in cash over some pill like this."
Yi Pung grinned at Heo Pung-gae's words.
"You think a kid hands his parents cash to hold? You take what they give you. Who are you to demand anything?"
"Cough up that nineteen hundred million you already swallowed, punk."
"Ah, uh... that was a joke. We really did get her agreement."
"For real? Mind if I check?"
"Go ahead. Of course."
So he called her himself, and a bright, cheerful reply came back.
「Yep, I'm taking the pill!」
Heo Pung-gae barely held back a sigh.
He hated bringing up money with a middle schooler, let alone discussing his father's income, but even as he scowled fiercely, he started explaining anyway.
"Your father's earning this kind of money is a rare stroke of luck. Sure, he has a steady income, but the work is insanely dangerous. There's no guarantee it'll keep coming."
「It's fine!」
"Blowing a lump sum like this all at once is risky. Fifteen hundred million is enough for one person to live off comfortably for life. Thinking about your future..."
「I said it's fine!」
"Is there a reason you want the elixir so bad? Are you really that into martial arts?"
「Kinda!」
"Kinda?"
「They say cultivating martial arts with elixirs lets you keep a youthful look forever. True? Especially if you train under you, you might stay young-looking until you drop dead!」
He couldn't deny it. After all, she was his first disciple.
"That's true enough. But without talent, you'll just turn it into crap."
「Doesn't matter! Even the priciest lottery ticket's gotta be scratched!」
Yi Baram's response held no trace of greed for money or anxiety about the future.
After hanging up, Heo Pung-gae narrowed his eyes at Yi Pung.
"How the hell did you plant that kind of expectation in her..."
"What? I just educated my daughter."
"You brainwashed her?"
Yi Pung just chuckled. Heo Pung-gae wanted to punch that smug face but held back.
Anyway, Yi Baram wasn't his daughter. Hard to butt in when her own father was offering to spend his money on her.
Yi Pung spoke cautiously.
"Uh, bro? Baram's on her way now to take the pill."
"And?"
"You can't just shove something that expensive down without prep. Needs an expert's help to absorb it properly. And the best expert I know is you..."
Heo Pung-gae finally let out that sigh.
"Fine, I'll help. Call her over."
And Yi Pung grinned.
"Once you swallow the pill, your belly will fill up with qi. But just digesting it won't build up your internal energy. You have to circulate it through your whole body for true accumulation—what we call 'storing qi.' That circulation process is 'circulating qi.' You don't know how, right?"
Yi Baram answered Heo Pung-gae's question.
"Nope, no clue."
"That's where I come in. Here's how we do it..."
"Sit cross-legged, arch your back?"
"Yeah. No need to lift your shirt or anything."
Yi Pung glanced back and forth between his old brother and his daughter.
What had his brother said on the phone earlier? Something about steady income drying up, no way to earn this much again—practically a curse, painting the bleakest picture.
It had seemed almost forced, but now he got it.
Once Yi Baram swallowed that 1.6 billion elixir, she'd have to seriously train in martial arts just to make it worth the cost—and that would turn her into a real martial artist.
And his brother suspected he was dead set on turning his own daughter into one, despite all his protests.
He was right to suspect.
Yi Pung planned to raise his daughter as a martial artist. An expert admired by all, if possible.
"Absorbing something this potent all at once will be tough to digest, but it'll also make delivering qi to key points easier. According to the Yunji Qiqian, the absorbed qi moves from the stomach to the lower dantian for storage—but to maximize it, you circulate it as far as possible..."
His brother hated the idea, but he was too diligent a guy. Couldn't let the money go to waste, so he was explaining earnestly even to a middle schooler.
Finally, Yi Baram took the pill.
"Hot..."
As her whole body heated up, she sat cross-legged.
Heo Pung-gae lit incense at the altar he'd set up nearby. White smoke began filling the room.
He placed his hand on her feverish back and closed his eyes. He whispered to her.
"Visualize the qi moving consciously. It needs to head to your lower dantian—around your navel. Once you picture it, send it upward. Through the middle dantian to the upper... that's your heart and brain."
To Yi Pung, it looked like a grandfather tending to his granddaughter—nothing could be more heartwarming.
"If you're not sure, focus on the upper dantian first. In Daoism, the brain is the body's core..."
Yi Pung thought back to his own childhood, even younger than his daughter now.
At seven, his mom was unemployed, his dad a con artist.
Dad pulled scams outside, bringing home irregular cash—always tangled with gangsters.
He'd meet local thugs to hand over dirty money, coming home pissed every time, beating or starving Yi Pung.
Once, cops showed up. No idea why, but Dad had taken major humiliation from that thug. Enraged, he screamed and beat Yi Pung until neighbors called the police over the noise.
Yi Pung tried appealing his pitiful state to the cops, but they didn't want the hassle. Just a warning and gone.
After, Yi Pung took a quiet beating.
That day, Mom muttered that beating him to death would land her in jail—nothing more.
She fed him to avoid starving him into jailbait, but wouldn't even boil ramen. After eating out, she'd toss him a bag of snacks to survive on.
Once, Dad pulled a big self-harm extortion—not on some rich guy, but a restaurant owner.
The owner, facing jail or ruin, chose neither. He called on a vigilante famed as the common man's friend.
Invincible BB Bullet burst into their home.
Seeing skinny, bruised Yi Pung, he declared he'd take the boy.
Dad finally bowed like the criminal he was.
Invincible BB Bullet even sorted out the thugs Dad had been paying off. The gangster who lorded over Dad like a king cowered before a martial arts master.
Young Yi Pung watched him kneel and swear never to touch Dad again or drag him into scams.
After that, Yi Pung followed his new adoptive father, Invincible BB Bullet.
He saw so much: rescuing island slaves cops ignored, fending off security thugs extorting execs, vigilantes caring for the state-forgotten.
Finally eating proper food, attending academies as darkness faded into dawn—he could dream.
At eight, punching at the taekwondo dojo his adoptive dad sent him to for health, Yi Pung already dreamed of becoming a martial artist. Just like his new dad.
Dad. Great father. You're the god of justice.
True justice comes not from society or cops, but your hands, vigilante. Thugs strutting before salarymen kneel to you.
Send her to Seoul National University, land her a big corp job—what joyful life? Overtime, caffeine addiction, shortened lifespan.
No contest—martial artists sipping elixirs over coffee live healthier.
Sure, martial world shows filth, but society's no saint. Better his daughter receiving gangsters' grovels than bowing to shitty bosses.
He couldn't become like his great father, so his daughter must. With invincible martial arts, she'd gain that power-born confidence. Live bolder than anyone.
"The qi enters the lower dantian's gate, circles the spine. It splits in two. One branch stays at the heart before descending; the other heads to the brain..."
Mid-explanation, Yi Baram twitched.
Checking her internal qi, Heo Pung-gae frowned.
The qi branching from her spine was blocked.
Yi Pung had the same issue. Maybe genetic.
Back then, no fix—but now there was.
After gaining the Thunder Technique, treating patients, He'd experimented. Time to use it here.
Chanting the incantation, he sparked intangible lightning in her body—more qi than electricity.
"Ugh..."
Yi Baram shuddered at the weird sensation, but no pain.
The lightning pierced the blockage, racing through her.
Once cleared, it wouldn't clog again.
Qi followed in its wake.
Qi spread through her body, circling the middle dantian before rising.
It reached the upper dantian. From there, it descended, flooding her body, completing the circuit back to her head.
Confirming it, Heo Pung-gae's eyebrows twitched.
Even for pricey elixir, he hadn't expected this. He'd only reached this after decades of training at thirty-four.
Yi Baram's breathing quickened. Heo Pung-gae guided her on.
"The head is the palace linking to heaven. The brain is the Niwan Palace. Inside lies the Dongfang Palace, abode of Central Huanglao Jun's avatar. The heavenly Central Huanglao descends to settle there.
Heaven links to the brain. Heaven is the macrocosm; your body, microcosm. They merge..."
Heo Pung-gae had trained in Mosan Sect's arts.
Mosan Sect was a Daoist school heavy on spirit mediumship. They prized the head above all—to receive divine possession, it must open.
That's upper dantian activation—essential for mastering their arts, becoming a true expert.
He'd been shocked when the Moon Witch achieved it after a few pills. She'd surpassed him then.
He'd hit it past fifty.
Now, a girl under twenty did it.
The qi in Yi Baram's brain began evaporating—not vanishing, transforming, migrating to her face, neck, hair.
Qi in her hair stretched upward... to the sky.
Skyward qi circulated too, returning as pure heaven qi. Refined, it spread anew through her body.
Room filled with smoke, veiling objects—making the intangible vivid. Heo Pung-gae saw it all clearly.
'When it happened to Arin, I felt intense shame.'
Familiar now, no such shame this time.
Good thing. Feeling shame watching a girl like a granddaughter would've been pathetic.
Heo Pung-gae cautiously opened his eyes and looked at Yi Pung.
"Looks like it worked."
Yi Pung's eyes went wide.
"For real?"
That afternoon, Yi Pung rushed his daughter to the clinic.
Receiving the results, he beamed with ecstasy, grabbing Heo Pung-gae's hand and shrieking joy.
"Thank you! Thank you so much, Father!"
Heo Pung-gae didn't know how to respond. Warn again against raising her as a martial artist? Congratulate the proud dad?
Choosing neither, he just smiled faintly. Yi Pung beamed right back, mimicking his adoptive father.