78. Temporary Residence (3)
Temporary Residence (3)
78. Temporary Residence (3)
My newly built bedchamber. I was the only man, but since there was no hot spring, they had filled five huge jars with water to make a bath. For some reason, there was also an ordinary bedchamber and a separate large room with an absurdly enormous bed.
Was this meant to be a reception room? I doubted it would see much use when the first-rate Yeongsan Lodge stood directly before the sect. For the time being, I had no intention of admitting even the Cheonghwa Hall Master. Yeongsan Sect held mountains of secrets, including peerless martial arts and spirit arts.
"Hehehe. Junior Brother. I've come to sleep with you."
While I was in Jilin, the textile artisan Ban Ho-jeong joined them, and they made dozens of sets of clothes. But cute pajamas like these were a pleasure I hadn't expected. Cho-ryeong came in wearing light-green pajamas, hugging a large pillow. She pulled my hand and climbed into bed.
"Sniff, sniff. Junior Brother, you smell just like Senior Sister Jeong. I really like this scent."
She spoke happily, burying her face in my chest. The effect of that nice fragrance—wasn't it perhaps a far more remarkable ability than the architectural techniques the demon had given me?
"Junior Brother, you're super strong, right? You beat all those scary people?"
"Yes. I'm very strong now."
"Then may I sleep on your arm, Junior Brother? Senior Sister Jeong told me to use a pillow because her arm hurt, so I was a little disappointed."
Cho-ryeong's eyes were slightly anxious. I'd heard from Jeong-hyang that ever since the Heavenly Wolf Sect abduction, she'd been suffering from trauma so severe that she couldn't sleep alone. This tiny girl had been through such a terrible ordeal, so maybe that was only natural. Damn.
"Of course. No problem."
"Heh. I'm glad. Junior Brother. Pat my back. Then I can fall asleep quickly."
Pat, pat. When I patted her back, Cho-ryeong really did fall asleep with a relieved face instantly. The fact that she fell asleep in my arms this quickly meant she truly trusted me, and for some reason that made me feel deeply satisfied. The problem was that Cho-ryeong's head was so small that I felt like she'd slip off my arm at the slightest movement, which made it hard for me to fall asleep.
—Layman.—
—Yes. Leave it to me.
—Just lend me your body and get some comfortable rest.—
I called Geo Am and had him possess me, and with affectionate gestures he endlessly patted and stroked Cho-ryeong. While my body moved, letting only my mind sleep was something I'd already grown accustomed to from the affair with the Flame Emperor. My body would lose a night's rest, so I'd be a little tired, but now that I'd entered the ranks of a second-rate expert, that wasn't an issue at all. Feeling the warmth of her childlike body, before I knew it I'd fallen asleep as quickly as Cho-ryeong.
The first morning at the temporary residence dawned. Jeong-hyang came without fail and woke Cho-ryeong and me, then took Cho-ryeong and left the room. On the table sat an elegant teacup I hadn't seen before, and inside was her breast milk. Early to bed and early to rise, sufficient exercise and nutrition. And a glass of milk in the morning. It all seemed like a very healthy lifestyle, and in fact, the moment I drank the breast milk, all the fatigue the Flame Emperor had worked into my body vanished at once.
When I went to the mess hall, it was already a battlefield. Lee Eun-ha alone wielded three huge cauldrons and two pots, preparing dishes with near-miraculous skill.
—[Oh my. She truly is as remarkable as I heard. Yeongmok, strap me to that child's back. That is exactly how the Shennong Art should be trained. Time is precious, so I must teach her to accumulate internal energy through the Shennong Art immediately. Her hands look far too busy to hold me.]—
A voice much like the Moon Immortal's when she had seen Son Yeong's aptitude. Contrary to her initial impression, the Medicine Immortal, too, now recognized the girl's talent and actively set about cultivating a successor.
"Senior Sister, did you sleep well? Medicine Immortal says she'll teach you the Shennong Art immediately and wants you to strap this rice paddle to your back."
"I'm sorry, Junior Brother. I'm truly very busy, so could you strap it on for me?"
"Senior Sister Jeong, please."
Strapping the cord behind Lee Eun-ha's back required considerable physical contact. Thinking of how my master had turned Son Yeong away yesterday, I asked Jeong-hyang, who had come early to the mess hall. She brought a purple cord from somewhere and tied it behind Lee Eun-ha's back.
"Kyaa! Senior Sister! It is dangerous to fool around in front of the fire!"
Lee Eun-ha let out a sudden shriek.
"But you've got an amazing chest. I'm jealous. With big breasts like these, I bet you'd produce delicious milk too."
Jeong-hyang, full of mischief. She spoke seriously, as if joking, while subtly touching Lee Eun-ha's breasts.
A little envious?
"What's there to be jealous of in these useless breasts?"
"Men like big breasts."
"Men like your face much more, Senior Sister. And why do you keep touching me like that when you're not even a man?"
"Is it fine if a man touches them? Junior Brother. You heard that, right?"
Full of mischief, Jeong-hyang glanced back at me and asked.
"If you can touch them in front of Senior Sister Jeong, then touch them as much as you like."
Lee Eun-ha didn't even flinch at Jeong-hyang's teasing joke.
"Oh my. This junior sister of ours is bold."
"Junior Brother touching me would be far better than you doing it, Senior Sister. Senior Sister, I know this is for training, but this sort of thing between women is truly dangerous. In Joseon, women playing with fire even changed the ruler of the nation!"
Lee Eun-ha, disgusted by Jeong-hyang's gestures, was even spouting bizarre claims. My interest was piqued by the story of Joseon, and I asked her about it.
"The ruler of the nation was changed?"
"Originally, Joseon was a land wisely ruled by a truly great king called King Sejong. His son, the next king, His Majesty Munjong, was also a very excellent man, just like the Great King. But that King Sejong was a man with no luck in daughters-in-law. The first woman appointed as Crown Princess tried to win His Majesty Munjong's heart by performing strange sorcery in the palace and was deposed, and the second Crown Princess—why, she engaged in acts of love with a palace maid and was likewise deposed."
Ah... I'd heard of it. The story of King Sejong's daughters-in-law. The most famous lesbian story in Joseon. But what did that have to do with the nation being turned upside down?
"The third Crown Princess finally bore the royal grandson, King Danjong, but died within a month. King Munjong never took another Crown Princess before his death. As a result, the young King Danjong had no Queen Dowager to rule as regent and protect him, and his uncle Grand Prince Suyang usurped the throne.
"Do you understand? Had the deposed Crown Princess Sun not had a homosexual affair with a palace maid, King Munjong would not have grown sick of women, King Danjong would not have been deposed, my magistrate would not have died, and I would never have ended up living in a foreign land in the Central Plains!"
Learning Joseon history in real time. But I didn't think a lesbian incident was the core trigger of the Gyeyu Coup. Still, it seemed she truly harbored a great deal of resentment. As I thought, women touching each other's breasts and squealing was probably something that only happened in otaku anime.
"I'm sorry, Junior Sister Lee. You may touch mine. No, you said you disliked it because I'm a woman. Then at least touch Junior Brother's chest."
Jeong-hyang laughed, subtly removing her hands.
"This isn't the time. Medicine Immortal is teaching me the Shennong Art's oral formula, and I couldn't hear any of it because of you, Senior Sister. Pour Junior Brother a cup of tea and wake Master."
Somewhat abashed, Jeong-hyang served me a cup of tea and left the mess hall. Truly, this was the tea tributed by the White Tiger Sect. It had an exceptionally fine fragrance.
The kitchen was a scene evoking a battlefield. Abruptly, Lee Eun-ha stopped her hands and froze.
"[What? Truly? That is all? You're saying my internal energy will keep accumulating if I simply cook while circulating qi according to the formula you taught me?!]"
Lee Eun-ha's bewildered face. I'd heard it beforehand, but Shennong Art really seemed to be an incredibly simple internal art. The problem was that if you weren't cooking or decocting medicine in front of a furnace, no matter how you operated your internal energy, you wouldn't progress the slightest bit. It was mindless labor that would be absolutely impossible for someone like me.
"[I know. Food made without sincerity can't be served to others. But is that truly all?]"
After reconfirming, she eventually closed her eyes and began to circulate some kind of internal energy. Whether it was the nature of Shennong Art itself or Lee Eun-ha's aptitude, one Microcosmic Orbit took longer than I expected. I was worried the food might burn, so I stood up, dredging up memories from a past life where I'd stood in the kitchen in place of my busy mother, but she immediately opened her eyes and began stirring the pots again.
A faint crimson aura began to envelop her, visible to the naked eye. That was the furnace-based martial art, the Shennong Art. According to Medicine Immortal, it had no footwork, sword forms, or fist techniques. It simply let its practitioner swing fists or kick however she pleased with overwhelming internal energy. Befitting an ancient martial art found only in legends, it had no sophistication at all—just simple brute force. That was enough for her. At the very least, she could protect herself from most enemies of any real skill.
"Junior Brother! It's incredible. She says the martial art transmission is already complete. She told me that from now on, just cooking and brewing medicine like I am now will be enough. And on top of that, the Medicine Immortal says she'll teach me how to handle medicine and hundreds of recipes instead of martial arts!"
An escape from tedious martial arts training as well. And Lee Eun-ha was jumping for joy at the mention of recipe provisions. They were genuinely a good match. Unlike the Moon Immortal who had died at Dong-o Peak, the Medicine Immortal, who had lived to see her grandchildren, had had more than enough opportunity to pass on Shennong Art, yet her martial art—one that required pouring sincerity into cooking and silently standing guard in front of a furnace for decades—had been forgotten even by her own descendants. After all, her descendant Do-hwa had come to our Baek Clan Estate's martial hall knowing nothing of Shennong Art's existence and had simply learned some health exercises. Come to think of it, they said Do-hwa had married off to a merchant in Beijing? If I ever met her, I'd have to repay her, a descendant, in some way, for the Medicine Immortal's sake.
Cho-ryeong, washed clean and changed into fresh clothes. Son Yeong, with slightly hollow eyes, showing traces of a night spent training the Moonlit Divine Sword and agonizing over our master's words. And even our master, entering the mess hall in the morning, yawning weakly. At last, all the disciples had gathered.
"Greetings, Sect Leader. Steward Lee, I came to collect the food."
Byeok-geum loaded the cauldrons and pots onto a large cart. Apparently unable to resist the smell, he popped an entire soy-braised egg into his mouth before even reaching Yeongsan Lodge, which stood right before him, then pulled the cart away like an ox.
At last, Lee Eun-ha, finished with the morning preparations. Even though I was starting to worry about labor exploitation, she brought the dishes to the table, plating the food with an incredibly refreshed air. I felt sorry for her, but since the amount of food had ballooned from six servings to a staggering fifty, the usual two or three dishes had turned into a lavish spread of over ten. Once she'd finished cooking, that crimson qi was no longer visible on her. It truly seemed to be an internal art that only manifested when standing before the furnace. It was a martial art that easily overturned the common sense of the martial world, but I was in no position to say anything, being a man who had mastered Yang Blossom Art, a skill that only circulated automatically during lewd acts.