Chapter 37
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: Am I the Only One?
"So, how have you been all this time?"
The master asked as the meal was drawing to a close.
The duck roast that Ha Mu-baek had called excessive was now just a pile of bones.
"There were all sorts of things."
Ha Mu-baek gave a brief account of the past seven years.
With Ha Seol-ran there, he kept the war stories as concise as possible.
That left mostly his recent time at the Dragon Training Pavilion as the main topic.
"You're teaching children?"
Wi Ji-gun looked at Ha Mu-baek with renewed surprise.
Ha Seol-ran’s eyes sparkled with interest.
"It just sort of happened that way. I got swept along by the current, and that's where I ended up."
Ha Mu-baek calmly recounted the last three months.
"Maybe that's why."
"Pardon?"
"The blood scent fading faster than I expected."
With Ha Seol-ran present, he hadn't said "blood scent" outright, but Ha Mu-baek understood perfectly.
"Oh, right, Brother. I didn't feel that scary vibe from you like last time."
The quick-witted Ha Seol-ran seemed to pick up on something from the master's words.
He had thought it was because it had been seven years since they'd met—such a long time, and their reunion so heartfelt—that she'd clung to him like that.
But no.
Ha Mu-baek simply smiled at her words.
If his time at the Dragon Training Pavilion was truly responsible, as the master said, then he could keep serving as an instructor there for as long as he liked.
"Those cadets you're teaching sound like interesting folks."
Ha Seol-ran's eyes twinkled with fascination.
"They're no ordinary bunch."
Wi Ji-gun nodded in agreement.
"That's what's made things such a hassle. I really didn't want to get involved in anything."
"And yet you fed them Immeasurable Pills? Heh."
Wi Ji-gun chuckled.
Seven years ago, on a whim, he'd sent Ha Mu-baek off with a hefty supply of their sect's spirit pills, the Immeasurable Pills.
From the story, though, it seemed he'd only used them on five kids at the Dragon Training Pavilion.
"But Brother, if you gave them the Immeasurable Pills and came straight here, those cadets probably still don't realize their worth, right?"
Ha Mu-baek grinned at her question.
"That's what makes it fun."
"Heh. Feeding them Immeasurable Pills for the laughs. Kid's come a long way."
The boy who had been like a keenly honed sword now had this kind of leisure. As his master, Wi Ji-gun felt a weight lift from his heart.
"Since you fed them the slow-acting Immeasurable Pills, they might even think you're tormenting them. Heh heh."
Spirit pills and elixirs known to the world were usually fast-acting: consume them, and their energy floods the body instantly, producing immediate effects.
That was their advantage—granting a massive surge of internal energy right away—but also their drawback.
If you couldn't properly contain that sudden influx of power filling your entire body, it all scattered away.
Ha Mu-baek's sect, the Infinite Sword Sect, had created slow-acting spirit pills to overcome this flaw: the Immeasurable Pills he'd given to Squad Seven of the Fierce Dragon Corps.
Of course, his sect also had fast-acting ones.
"The energy will release gradually, at a level each can handle... In two months, they'll be unrecognizable. If they think that's torment, then maybe I should show them what real torment looks like."
A playful smile tugged at Ha Mu-baek's lips.
Ha Seol-ran beamed, watching her brother with delight.
"So, what will you do while you're staying here?"
Ha Mu-baek fell silent at Wi Ji-gun's question.
He'd been mulling it over last night. The master's comment about the blood scent clinging to him having faded gave him the idea.
"Think I'll give my body a good wash."
"Oh?"
"Yes. Cleansing it with blazing flames should purge even more of that foul energy."
Ha Mu-baek's gaze drifted toward another annex.
It looked unused for quite some time—spiderwebs clung to the door.
"Hasn't been opened in nearly seven years. Needs a cleanup first."
"Yes."
It had been ten days since Instructor Ha fed them those strange pills and left.
Squad Seven's five cadets had spent each day in grueling training.
One might wonder if this was really supposed to be a break period.
With most of the pavilion's students gone, the quiet Dragon Training Pavilion was the perfect place for their cultivation.
"Uh, doesn't everyone think things have been kinda weird lately? Am I the only one?"
During lunch, Dang Jin-san hesitantly spoke up.
"Huh? Weird how?"
Dan Mok Un-roe asked back.
"When practicing the heart method..."
"Ah!"
Yeon Ha-min let out a small exclamation.
"Huh? You too, Ha-min?"
Dang Jin-san's head turned toward her. Yeon Ha-min nodded faintly.
"Me too."
Baek Ri-pyeong chimed in.
Nak Woo-jin and Dan Mok Un-roe soon nodded as well.
All five were experiencing the same thing, so they knew without needing to spell it out.
"My internal energy's growing way too fast."
Dang Jin-san said gravely.
"Impossible with the Three Talents Heart Method. Even my sect's heart method couldn't match this speed."
Baek Ri-pyeong nodded vigorously in agreement.
"So it was weird. I'm new to internal energy cultivation, so I wondered if that's just how it gets at higher levels."
Yeon Ha-min spoke at length, post-Summer Combat Festival.
Dan Mok Un-roe nodded too.
The only internal heart method he'd learned was the Three Talents one.
"No way. Internal heart methods have fixed accumulation rates. Higher-grade ones build it faster but more stably. The Three Talents is super stable, but painfully slow as a result."
Dang Jin-san set down his chopsticks.
"So what's going on?"
Nak Woo-jin tilted his head.
"What else? It's the instructor."
Baek Ri-pyeong stated matter-of-factly.
The five exchanged glances and nodded faintly.
"Come to think of it, my energy started building more from the next day."
Yeon Ha-min murmured.
"That damn pill...?"
Dang Jin-san had suspected as much but hoped otherwise.
That's why he'd asked his squadmates—only for it to be confirmed.
As a direct descendant of the Sichuan Tang Clan, he could hardly believe it. That such a pill even existed.
"That's no ordinary pill, is it?"
Dan Mok Un-roe's question drew nods from Dang Jin-san and Baek Ri-pyeong.
They'd never heard of anything like it either.
"Just who is the instructor, anyway?"
Yeon Ha-min muttered, face full of doubt.
The same question lingered on the other four's faces.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The resounding hammer strikes filled the smithy.
Ha Mu-baek pounded a lump of metal before the roaring white flames.
Four sword-like shapes lay off to one side.
With each swing, his back muscles rippled. His bare torso glistened, soaked in sweat.
Then the thick iron door creaked open.
The walls and door were thick to contain the hammering noise.
The heat inside was brutal—lungs burned with every breath.
"Gasp."
Ha Seol-ran gasped in shock.
It was always like this coming in here. Her brother spending all day hammering in such a place seemed incredible.
Hot summer air slipped through the open door.
To Ha Mu-baek, it felt like a cool breeze.
Sensing the freshness at his back, he paused his hammering.
"Lunchtime already?"
He straightened and turned, asking.
"Yes, Brother. Time to eat."
Ha Mu-baek wiped the sweat from his upper body with a nearby towel and loosely donned his outer robe.
"Let's go."
Ha Seol-ran and Ha Mu-baek stepped out into the courtyard.
"How's it feel getting healthier?"
"Great."
Ha Seol-ran smiled brightly at his question.
He asked this every day, the same words. She could even predict what came next.
'Seeing you healthy makes me happy.'
"Seeing you healthy makes me happy."
His words matched her thought exactly.
'Sorry it took three years after your full recovery for me to visit.'
"Sorry it took three years after your full recovery for me to visit."
Again, spot on.
"Brother, how many times have you said that now?"
Ha Mu-baek scratched his head and chuckled.
His eyes were clearer than ever—the change over the past ten days.
Ha Seol-ran, walking ahead, spun around to meet his gaze.
"Still, it feels like the old Brother is back."
Her keen senses no longer detected the blood scent clinging to him.
"I'm glad."
Ha Mu-baek gazed at his sister.
"How's your training?"
"Good. Fun."
He nodded at her reply.
He desperately hoped martial arts would remain just that for her—something fun.
"But..."
Ha Seol-ran's expression shifted suddenly.
"Now I want to try living among people."
Ha Mu-baek stopped dead.
He looked around.
The uninhabited islets of Lake Dongting.
This had once been a deserted island when the master brought him and Ha Seol-ran here.
And Ha Seol-ran had lived here since she could remember.
Three of them at first, then just her and the master.
It was natural she'd miss people.
'Since she was three?'
Ha Seol-ran was now of marriageable age. Seventeen years on this island.
With her health so poor before, she probably hadn't thought of it.
Survival came first.
But three years had passed since her recovery from that heavenly punishment of a disease.
Now, the outside world might beckon.
"Let's think it over slowly."
With that, they entered the dining hall.
Wi Ji-gun had a boat out, fishing line dangling.
He'd smiled at the siblings' talk but clicked his tongue lightly at Ha Seol-ran's words.
"Tsk tsk. This little place was her whole world—must've been stifling..."
Seventeen years ago, he'd found the orphaned siblings amid the rivers and lakes' wars.
A boy clutching his frail, sackcloth-clad little sister—maybe ten years his junior—her arms tight around him.
Yet the boy's eyes burned bright.
And the talent Wi Ji-gun saw in him.
He took the boy as a disciple, settled here, and grew fond of the pretty little sister too.
When he learned of her heavenly punishment-like illness, he vowed to cure her.
His sect's secrets held a treatment for it.
But mere records, so he proceeded with utmost caution.
The disciple had left for revenge ten years ago, at around twenty.
Returned briefly seven years back, then left again.
In the meantime, he'd taken young Ha Seol-ran as a disciple too and finally cured her.
In truth, Ha Mu-baek and Ha Seol-ran were more than disciples to Wi Ji-gun.
Like his own children, grandchildren even.
And now Ha Seol-ran wanted to live among people.
"Time to pack up this place, maybe..."
Wi Ji-gun murmured softly.