The Jade Ghost of the Jegal Family - Chapter 6

Ajong, leaving Yeonmujang with quick steps, smiled with his lips stretching up to his cheeks.
“I did it. I succeeded. Hehe. I did it!”

He had successfully handed over Young-geun, known to cause bleeding and death upon consumption, to Sobaek.
Considering Sobaek was wallowing in self-pity after losing his dantian, he would surely seek to enhance his internal energy by consuming Young-geun.
‘This is the end, Sobaek.’
It was impressive that he survived without a dantian, but now it was truly the end.
No matter how remarkable he was, Sobaek wouldn’t survive the deadly poison of Young-geun.

“I’m finally free.”
Ajong betrayed Jin Sobaek to escape servitude to the Hwaun Household.
His parents were warriors from the Oddokmun in Namman.
For some reason, they moved from Namman to the Central Plains and settled in Gangseo.
With deep knowledge of poison techniques, they made a living by harvesting herbs and toxic plants in the mountains, and Ajong learned about plants under his parents.

However, a huge battle in Gangseo five years ago resulted in the death of his parents, leaving him an orphan.
Without talent in martial arts, Ajong became a servant of the Hwaun Household and lived an unwanted life ever since.
All Ajong wanted was one thing: to escape this wretched Hwaun Household and return to Namman.
If he went back to the hometown his parents always missed, a better life would await him.
“Now…it’s all over.”
“What’s over?”
A boy hiding in the shadow of the wall blocked Ajong’s path.
The boy with impressive short stubble and prominent cheekbones was Jin Heukgae, a trainee at the Hwaun Household.
“I-I mean seeing Jin Sobaek’s face is over.”
“Did he eat the poison plant?”
“He hasn’t eaten it yet, but he took it happily. He will certainly eat it.”
“Hmm.”
Jin Heukgae looked at Ajong with a dissatisfied expression.
Having already failed once, Heukgae didn’t fully trust Ajong’s words.
“It’s true. So please keep your promise…”
“Promise? What promise?”

Ajong’s eyes trembled at Heukgae’s shameless attitude.
“You said you’d let me escape from here. Let me go back to Namman!”
“Oh… that promise. Yes, I remember.”
Heukgae smirked with a sneering smile.
“Don’t worry. If you do as I ask a few more times, I’ll let you go then.”
“W-What?! You said you’d let me go after dealing with Jin Sobaek…”
“Did I? Is there any evidence?”
Heukgae amplified his intimidation, pressing Ajong.
“If it’s known that even a trainee attempted to poison a candidate disciple for the head… do you think you could survive?”
Ajong’s pupils trembled violently at Heukgae’s threat.
This can’t be. It was a breach of contract and a betrayal.
He was being drowned deeper in the well when he tried to escape for freedom.
“…”
But Ajong couldn’t say anything.
If this incident became known to the world, only he would suffer damage and end up dead, just as Heukgae said.

“I’ll rely on you for the other candidate disciples, too. No one is as good as you at obtaining poisonous plants.”
Smiling satisfactorily, Heukgae left the place, and Ajong, staring at his shadow, also left shortly after.
Then, a while later, a man appeared at the spot where one had left satisfied and the other swallowed rage.
The man, hiding in the shadows erasing his presence, was Jin Wonpyeong, the head of the Hwaun Household, known by the nickname “King of All Weapons.”

* * *

It had been ten days since Hyunwoo entered the “Sage Battle.”
Coming back to his room after finishing martial arts training just like the past few days, Hyunwoo dragged his tired feet.
“Oh, I’m exhausted.”
His muscles screamed and his joints ached due to the rigorous training pushed to the limits.
-Why do you push yourself so hard?
“What do you mean?”
-The training. It’s excessively rough. I’ve never heard of such training methods before.
“Is that so.”

The training method Hyunwoo chose was to train without resting until both internal energy and physical strength were completely exhausted.
It sounds simple, but continuously moving the body intensively for four hours without a moment of rest is tremendously challenging.
Moreover, Hyunwoo not only maintains perfect posture for four hours but also unfolds martial arts with consistent speed.
In short, it’s high-level training that drains not only physical strength and internal energy but also mental energy.
“Why do I push myself that hard…”
The answer lies within the “Sage Battle.”
The harmony of mind, energy, and body.
When physical training, internal energy increase, and mental enlightenment occur simultaneously, growth amplifies, leading to greater strength.
‘Even with the same growth, the gains differ.’
Assuming martial artist A, who trained the harmony of mind, energy, and body, and B, who went through ordinary training, both reached the peak state.
Though A and B share the same realm, A’s internal energy, physical completion, and mental enlightenment are on a different level.
Simply put, A will be three steps ahead of martial artists in the same realm.
‘Our overpowered hero Duk Go Moo Geuk used this method, so that’s saying something.’
The protagonist of the worldview and the one destined to bring ruin to this world of Jungwon became strong using the same method.
Thus, Hyunwoo chose this method as well.
‘I’m already seeing its effects quite clearly.’
He’s only been inside the Sage Battle world for just ten days.
Ten days is barely enough to adapt, yet Hyunwoo has already become accustomed to Jin Sobaek’s body, and his stage, which was only at the beginning of the first-rate, has progressed albeit slightly.
-The warriors within the family were looking at you curiously.
“This kind of training must be new to them.”
-They weren’t just surprised.

“Yeah, I saw that too. They felt sorry for me.”
The warriors experienced surprise and sympathy upon seeing Hyunwoo, who trained more brutally than anyone at the martial arts gym.
Of course, the sympathy stemmed from the misunderstanding that he was desperately trying to learn external techniques after losing his dantian.
-Once the misunderstanding is cleared, they’ll be quite surprised.
“Surprised? Some might faint.”
While casually conversing with Sobaek, he heard a knock on the door from outside.
“Come in.”
Entering was an elderly man marked by snow-white hair and countless wrinkles.
“It’s the item you requested.”
The old man handed a small wooden box to Hyunwoo with his faintly trembling hand.
“Thank you.”
As Hyunwoo gave a polite bow, Sobaek immediately spoke.
-You can simply call him Woo Elder and speak informally.
‘I know, but… I just can’t.’
Being a Korean steeped in Confucian values, Hyunwoo simply couldn’t speak informally to an eighty-year-old elder.

Even knowing that Jin Sobaek didn’t, he couldn’t bring himself to do it.
“Well then… thank you.”
The elderly man disappeared after bowing his head, and while scratching his head, Hyunwoo opened the wooden box.
“Oh, he brought it properly.”
Inside the box was a lotus root, I.e., yeongeun.
-By eating it with yeonggeun, the toxicity can be eliminated?
“That’s right. It’s surprisingly straightforward.”
In fact, the method of making a spiritual pill using yeonggeun is much more complex.
Hyunwoo knew the manufacturing process, but he didn’t have the time or space for it. Hence, he had to settle for a simplified method.
-Your celestial knowledge is truly diverse. Impressive.
Ignoring Sobaek’s misconceptions, Hyunwoo took out the yeonggeun he received from Ajong and placed it next to the yeongeun.
‘Yeongeun and yeonggeun… I suppose it’s yeongyeongeun.’
Perceiving the author’s intention of making a pun, Hyunwoo chuckled.
‘Thanks to Ajong, I get to consume a spiritual plant sooner than expected.’
He was in need of a method since he lacked internal energy compared to other candidates for the household’s successor.
Ajong unwittingly provided Hyunwoo with precisely what he needed the most.
‘Of course, that doesn’t mean I’ll let it slide.’
It wasn’t intentional help; rather a coincidental benefit.
Ajong had already shattered Jin Sobaek’s dantian and tried to inflict more significant harm on Hyunwoo once again.
‘According to the rules of the dark path, I can’t just let it go.’
His previous endurance and patience were merely for a larger plan.
With preliminary goals reached, it was now time to exact the delayed revenge.

“Just wait, I’ll eat yeonggeun and come for you right away.”
Determined to seek revenge soon, Hyunwoo set thoughts of Ajong aside and focused on the yeonggeun and yeongeun before him.
“Let’s give it a try then.”
Hyunwoo stuffed the yeonggeun in his right hand and the yeongeun in his left hand simultaneously into his mouth.
“Ugh.”
The taste was vile beyond words.
Suppressing the urge to vomit, Hyunwoo barely held his queasy stomach and assumed a meditative posture.
He closed his eyes to practice internal circulation, drawing upon his internal energy.
‘I feel the response immediately.’
The vigor of the spiritual plant prompted an immediate reaction within his body. The rising heat inside left his back soaked with sweat.
“Whew.”
Exhaling deeply, Hyunwoo recalled the mnemonic of “Little Celestial Star Art” and worked the internal energy.
Within a short distance from the dantian, a pure spiritual energy coursed through his body.
Through his internal energy, Hyunwoo contained this energy in one place, narrowing the encirclement.
Wooong-
The spiritual energy, unable to spread throughout the body, was brushing against the encirclement, akin to a ferocious beast trapped in a net.
Every time it did, he felt pain raising his hackles, but Hyunwoo calmly tightened the encirclement gradually.
He gradually guided the cornered spiritual energy towards the dantian.
The energy, cornered like a beast caught in a net, continuously slammed against the encirclement.
“Ugh.”

Each time, intense pain surged alongside dizziness.
-Collapse here, and you’ll enter a state of inner turmoil.
‘I know.’
Barely holding onto the precarious thread of consciousness, Hyunwoo meticulously tightened the encirclement.
The spiritual energy, once flailing within the grasp of internal energy, suddenly halted momentarily as though it had exhausted its struggle.
‘Now.’
Hyunwoo didn’t miss the window of opportunity and pushed the internal energy into the dantian.
And thus.
‘Done.’
Hyunwoo achieved a decade’s worth of internal energy in merely half an hour.
Creeeak-
After remaining dead silent from day to night, a sound came from Jin Sobaek’s abode.
“Ah, I’m so tired.”
With weary eyes, Hyunwoo gazed upon the moonlight and stepped outside.
He felt mentally exhausted from metabolizing the spiritual plant. However, as a result of ingesting the spiritual plant, his body was vigorous and overflowing with strength.
‘Luckily, I saw results.’
Hyunwoo, who previously had half the internal energy amount compared to other successor candidate disciples, now possessed internal energy equivalent to two decades of cultivation.
Had he formulated the spiritual pills through the preparation method, he would’ve gained thirty years worth of internal energy instead of twenty, but given the lack of time and space, it was unavoidable.

-His internal energy doubled in an instant.
“Based on this amount of internal energy, shouldn’t I be able to handle that Heukgae guy?”
-Indeed, previously you were evenly matched, but with this internal energy as a foundation, you’ll be able to win smoothly.
“Great, that’s good news.”
Having skillfully absorbed Jin Sobaek’s martial arts and doubled his internal energy, it was time to make a move.
‘Let’s start with Sobaek’s revenge.’
Teaching a lesson to Jin Heukgae, the root cause aiming to kill Jin Sobaek, and becoming the head’s disciple to learn the archery technique of the Divine Palace were steps in Hyunwoo’s first plan.
‘To do so, I must continue practicing with the bow.’
Already aware of the unexpected benefit of the bow after killing two second-rate martial artists instantly, maintaining proficiency was essential.
Proper handling of any weapon requires consistent practice.
Especially since Hyunwoo hadn’t shot a bow in quite a while, meaning his sense had waned quite a bit; he needed more practice to reclaim his former proficiency.
That’s why he spent his days training martial arts and nights training archery, living like a training fanatic.

“Alrighty.”
Setting foot in the empty martial arts field again, following the past ten days, just then,
“You’re late.”
A stranger’s voice emerged from the martial arts field.
“…?”
Hyunwoo, never having felt another presence during the last ten days, lifted his head bewilderedly towards the martial field.
Standing there was a man with an intense presence filling the vast martial field.
“Who…are you?”
Looking at the middle-aged man with neatly tied hair and beard trimmed under a chiseled chin, Hyunwoo tilted his head in confusion.
‘This is a first.’

Hyunwoo, having met and remembered all the individuals he encountered during the ten days in the Hwaun Household, was quite puzzled seeing the man with solid, sharp features for the first time.
“You’re late by an hour compared to usual. Why are you late?”
Dread ran down Hyunwoo’s spine as the unidentified middle-aged man questioned him.
It struck Hyunwoo because the man correctly identified that he was an hour later than usual.
‘He knows my routine.’
Correctly identifying his routine by time essentially meant he knew his exact movements.
As an unknown figure grasped his schedule, it was natural for Hyunwoo to find himself startled.

“… I had some matters to attend to. Who might you be?”
With eyes seeming to pierce through Hyunwoo, the middle-aged man with eyes like a deep sea spoke.
“I am Jin Wonpyeong, the head of the Hwaun Household.”
“…!!”
Hyunwoo’s eyes trembled, barely masking his surprise.
‘Why is this person here?!’
Jin Wonpyeong, known in the family for seldom showing himself unless disciplining troublesome family members, was there.
Thrown into inexplicable confusion, Hyunwoo’s eyes darted rapidly.
‘Jin Sobaek, Jin Sobaek! Come out quickly. Hurry!’
-Ugh. I was having a good sleep, what…who is this?
‘He’s the head of the Hwaun Household.’
-What, what? The head of the household?!
Sobaek’s voice echoed with disbelief inside Hyunwoo’s head.
Sobaek seemed as startled as Hyunwoo was.
-Why is the head here? Could it be…did you cause some trouble, Celestial Being?
‘What’re you talking about. You know best I’ve been doing nothing but training.’
-True, you have been. But why…is the head here? He rarely appears except to punish family members who cause big trouble.
The remark cast a shadow of tension over Hyunwoo’s face.
The mention that he appears only to punish unruly family members naturally triggered Hyunwoo’s body.

‘I haven’t done anything wrong, but…wrongdoing…can always be fabricated.’
As Hyunwoo stiffened with tension, freezing where he stood, Jin Wonpyeong gestured at him.
“Come here. Let’s shoot some arrows together.”