Chapter 142
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 142
Chapter Title: Tsk. Shady Bastard
With Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul's declaration, the East Combat Tournament came to an end.
There was no grand ceremony with awards for the winner or anything like that.
Since it was simply a tournament to wrap up the year at the Dragon Training Pavilion, it ended with just announcing the victor.
Now the Dragon Training Pavilion's second semester was over, and it would enter a break period until the start of the next one.
A roughly two-month hiatus.
The gathered spectators began to disperse one by one.
Still buzzing from the excitement of the sparring tournament, they chatted about it with their close friends.
Some even said they would stay at the Dragon Training Pavilion during the break to continue their training.
The displays by those who made it to the quarterfinals atop the arena had ignited in them a desire to reach that level themselves.
Of course, one had to wonder how long that determination would last.
The corps leaders and instructors on the platform had also departed.
Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul was still seated, but since he had ordered everyone to disperse, they left first.
The semifinals had essentially been a family affair for the Seventh and Twentieth Squads of the Fierce Dragon Corps, after all.
There was no reason for the others to stick around.
And so, the only ones left on the platform were Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul and Yeon Baek-jin, who had visited the Graceful Dragon Dormitory.
"How was it, Deputy Pavilion Lord?"
"As expected, he's an extraordinary man."
"You mean Joo Woo-myeong?"
"No, Instructor Ha Mu-baek."
At that response, Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul's gaze turned to Yeon Baek-jin.
"You know about him?"
Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul asked with a surprised look.
Yeon Baek-jin smiled faintly and nodded.
"How...?"
"How do you know, Pavilion Lord?"
Yeon Baek-jin asked in return.
"During the last war, on the battlefield..."
"He has many comrades who fought alongside him."
"Even so, I happened to witness right up to the final battle."
Yeon Baek-jin looked shocked at those words.
"Impressive. The final battle... Honestly, even I don't know what happened there."
"It's nothing to be proud of. The final battle—I took part as a member of that assault squad but fell behind midway. I passed out after getting hit by the enemy. My comrades probably thought I was dead. When I came to, the final battle was unfolding right before my eyes. The place where I'd blacked out had become the battlefield."
The final battle surely referred to the showdown with the Demonic Cult Leader.
Yeon Baek-jin's curiosity was piqued.
"What happened?"
Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul shook his head at the question.
"It wasn't a battle one should speak of lightly."
Yeon Baek-jin nodded with a smile at the reply.
"How many people in the world do you think truly know about Instructor Ha, Pavilion Lord?"
"At most twenty. That's about it. I wasn't someone who should have known either, but I learned because I survived that battlefield by chance."
Yeon Baek-jin's smile deepened.
"The rest of the world isn't like you, Pavilion Lord."
"Hm?"
Curiosity flickered across Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul's face. He couldn't grasp the meaning.
"Just as you kept his secret from me, not all of Instructor Ha's comrades have kept it. Of course not. Who wouldn't feel regret that a hero they fought beside has no trace left in the world?"
Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul wore a blank expression at Yeon Baek-jin's words.
He hadn't considered it.
Since he himself had held back on speaking of the battle, he'd vaguely assumed others had too.
A naive notion.
"I must have been a fool. All those years wasted."
Realizing the implication, Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul gave a wry smile.
"Well, there might be fewer than twenty who know as much as you, Pavilion Lord—since you saw the final battle. I don't know what Instructor Ha was like there either. The one who told me about him passed away before that."
Sadness and longing filled Yeon Baek-jin's face.
From his words and expression, Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul could guess who had told him about Ha Mu-baek.
"It was Elder Baek-un, wasn't it?"
Yeon Baek-jin snapped his head up at that.
"You knew my second brother?"
"He was my comrade too. A brother I respected. How else could Ha-min have stayed at the Dragon Training Pavilion all this time without catching the eye of the Yeon Clan?"
"Ah!"
A small exclamation escaped Yeon Baek-jin.
One mystery was solved at last.
No matter how little attention the Yeon Clan paid to the Dragon Training Pavilion, how had they overlooked a child entering under his real name?
The reason stood before him.
"So you were the one who sent Ha-min to Instructor Ha?"
Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul nodded at Yeon Baek-jin's question.
"I never imagined that damn kid would wreck the main house and force me to leave for the Dragon Training Pavilion."
In the end, that's how Yeon Ha-min's existence had come to light in the Yeon Clan.
Yeon Baek-jin gave a wry smile.
His eldest brother had ultimately failed to return from the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest, after all.
Knowing full well what that meant, Yeon Baek-jin couldn't simply laugh it off.
"In any case, far more people know about Instructor Ha than you think, Pavilion Lord."
With that, Yeon Baek-jin took his leave.
Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul remained alone.
He gazed quietly at the arena.
Now fully cloaked in darkness.
But he could pierce darkness like this with ease.
Ha Mu-baek still stood silently by the two students.
Complex emotions swirled in Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul's eyes.
"Then let's head down now."
Darkness had fallen over the surroundings, and the spectators had all left the empty arena.
The only ones remaining were Joo Woo-myeong and Baek Ri-pyeong, deep in meditative circulation.
And Dan Mok Un-roe and Ha Mu-baek watching over them.
"Un-hye needs to see her brother."
Gong Son Mu-wai carried Gung So-yu, while Han Seol-bing held Dan Mok Un-hye, and they leaped down lightly.
Gong Son Bi-yeon followed, landing gracefully on the ground.
"Brother!"
Dan Mok Un-hye called out loudly to Dan Mok Un-roe as she ran toward him energetically.
"Shh."
Dan Mok Un-roe pressed a finger to his lips toward his sister.
Seeing that, Dan Mok Un-hye instinctively slowed her steps and approached quietly.
"Why'd you come all the way here?"
Dan Mok Un-roe stroked her head softly and whispered.
"Let's step back a bit. Those guys are still in meditation."
Dan Mok Un-hye didn't grasp the meaning but sensed its importance and quietly followed her brother.
Dan Mok Un-roe continued speaking to her in a low voice, and hers grew softer in response.
As the siblings caught up with each other...
Gong Son Mu-wai stood beside Ha Mu-baek.
"That was an incredible match. Kids that age shouldn't be possible."
"Baek Ri-pyeong and Joo Woo-myeong are both nineteen, right?"
Han Seol-bing asked.
"Ri-pyeong's nineteen, yeah. The year's almost over, though."
Han Seol-bing nodded at Ha Mu-baek's answer.
"Well, then that level makes sense. Pavilion Lord."
Gong Son Mu-wai widened his eyes in surprise.
At least in his lifetime, he'd never seen such young talent.
No one in his memory had achieved that much at nineteen.
Han Seol-bing shrugged at his reaction.
"I've seen this guy at twenty myself."
"Ah..."
Gong Son Mu-wai nodded as if it made sense.
Right.
If it was Ha Mu-baek, he had to acknowledge it.
"Of course, he got monstrously stronger over the past decade, but even at twenty, he was terrifyingly powerful."
Han Seol-bing teased.
Ha Mu-baek furrowed his brow slightly.
"Cut it out. The kids need to focus."
It wasn't a trance-like state of no-mind.
Their senses remained open during meditative circulation.
They had to observe their internals and focus on healing—distractions from outside noise could shatter their concentration.
"Oh? You're not blocking sound with a barrier? Usually, you'd set up a qi veil for this."
Han Seol-bing asked with wide eyes in mock surprise.
Ha Mu-baek's expression soured further.
He turned his head toward her.
"You know me too damn well. So behave."
Han Seol-bing chuckled at his words.
As expected.
Ha Mu-baek had already enveloped Baek Ri-pyeong and Joo Woo-myeong in qi barriers to block external noise.
So they could focus on their meditation.
It was something he always did for subordinates needing meditative recovery on the battlefield.
Mentioning focus earlier had just been an excuse to quiet her down.
Though it hadn't worked.
"Ho. Instructor Han seems to know Instructor Ha inside out."
"Ten years as comrades. Though he ditched me."
"I just followed my orders."
Ha Mu-baek's quiet protest.
"Tsk. Shady bastard."
But Han Seol-bing refused to accept it.
Amid that light banter...
Baek Ri-pyeong and Joo Woo-myeong were utterly unaware, immersed in their circulation.
The unnatural stillness allowed even deeper focus.
Thus, the two slowly healed their damaged meridians, qi pathways, and dantians.
They lost track of time.
Focused solely on treatment.
They calmed their churning internals, soothed the dantian and meridians wounded enough to cause vomiting blood, and sorted the tangled qi pathways wrecked by excessive inner power usage.
Joo Woo-myeong opened his eyes first.
His inner power reserves were deeper, and the meditative technique he practiced differed.
Amusingly, Baek Ri-pyeong hadn't been taught the Taeeul Heart Method's meditative circulation.
His grandfather had passed before that, and his sect had neglected him.
Thus, Baek Ri-pyeong used the Three Talents Heart Method's version.
Stable, but slow.
The meditative circulation was the same.
Ha Mu-baek could have assisted, but he simply watched in silence.
Time flowed on.
Midnight before they knew it.
Everyone else had gone.
Only Ha Mu-baek and Baek Ri-pyeong remained.
Joo Woo-myeong and Dan Mok Un-roe had stubbornly wanted to stay, but...
Dan Mok Un-roe was sent off to tend to Un-hye.
Joo Woo-myeong, still injured, was told to rest more inside.
Han Seol-bing was charged with properly looking after Joo Woo-myeong.
Gong Son Mu-wai nodded as if understanding Ha Mu-baek's intent and left.
On the way back to the dorms.
Gong Son Bi-yeon tilted her head and asked Gong Son Mu-wai.
"Grandfather was there, and Instructor Ha is skilled in medicine too. Why let them do meditative circulation? With injuries like that, Grandfather could heal them in moments."
It was baffling.
She couldn't hold back her curiosity any longer.
Gong Son Mu-wai smiled faintly at his granddaughter's question.
"Instructor Ha. He cured So-yu's Nine Yin Severed Meridians, but he's a warrior, not a physician. That's why. Whereas you, Yeon-a, are more physician than warrior. You're frustrated he won't treat them. Heh."
Even hearing her grandfather laugh, she still didn't get it.
For the Valley Lord to step in for such internal injuries felt excessive.
But she could reduce healing time to a tenth herself.
Gong Son Bi-yeon had that much confidence in her medical skills.
'Anyway, Instructor Ha's such a stubborn guy.'
She grumbled inwardly.
Still not understanding her grandfather.
"Um... Is meditative circulation training for warriors too?"
Gung So-yu chimed in then.
Gong Son Bi-yeon's eyes widened blankly.
...Right.
Of course.
Why hadn't she thought of that simple truth?
Disqualified as a physician.
Such arrogant thoughts swirled in her mind and showed on her face.
Gong Son Mu-wai patted Gung So-yu's head and said.
"So-yu's right. And don't blame yourself, Yeon-a. It's because you're born a physician. To understand warriors who see even treatment as training, you need to treat hundreds of those fools."
Baek Ri-pyeong slowly opened his eyes.
Time past midnight.
Ha Mu-baek regarded him with calm eyes.
"Thank you."
Baek Ri-pyeong bowed deeply.
He didn't know how much time had passed, but with no one else around besides him and the instructor...
"Get anything out of it?"
Baek Ri-pyeong couldn't nod readily at Ha Mu-baek's question.
"Not sure."
"Everyone thinks the Three Talents Heart Method's meditative circulation is useless. Truth is, you hardly ever need it with that method."
Building inner power with the Three Talents Heart Method was nigh impossible; most practitioners lacked enough to even suffer internal injuries.
Hence, its meditative circulation was pointless.
"But nothing about the Three Talents Heart Method is truly useless."
With that, Ha Mu-baek turned away.