The Jade Ghost of the Jegal Family - Chapter 7

“What did I just hear?”
To shoot arrows… really?
I was bewildered.

“Is he serious?”
I knew Jinwonpyeong was a warrior skilled with the bow, and I always thought the day would come when I’d get to shoot with him.
In fact, I didn’t just think about it; I looked forward to it since I too am an archer who loves the bow deeply.
I didn’t expect the opportunity would come so soon, though.
I thought at least I would have to become the sect leader’s disciple first.
“Ri-right now?”
Hyunwoo’s voice trembled slightly, unable to hide his excitement.
More thrilled than when he mastered Cheonseongbungwon or saw his inner power grow with Yeonggeun.

“Here.”
Jinwonpyeong reached out towards the weapons arranged beside the training ground.
A black bow floated in the air and landed onto Hyunwoo’s hand.
“Wow… Telekinesis? Seeing it for real…”
Witnessing telekinesis for the first time felt surreal, almost like witnessing computer graphics happening right in front of me.
“I thought the distance might be too short, so I adjusted the target’s position.”
Hyunwoo used to shoot arrows across the entire length of the training ground.
In the past at the national archery ground, arrows were shot from a distance of 145 meters, so it was quite shorter but looked similar to familiar distances Hyunwoo had practiced with.
“Nice.”
A smile naturally formed on Hyunwoo’s lips at the sight of a familiar shooting environment.
“…….”
Jinwonpyeong watched Hyunwoo intently before pulling out the bow strapped to his back. It was a red bow engraved with an elegant dragon.
“I’ll go first.”
Twisting his waist, Jinwonpyeong drew the bowstring and maintained the drawn position for about three seconds before releasing the arrow.
Thump!-
The arrow, released with a clear sound, pierced through the center of the target.
It was a flawless action and finishing move.
“Oh…”
Hyunwoo clapped without realizing it and then stopped after seeing Jinwonpyeong’s black eyes.
“Your turn.”
Feeling tense, Hyunwoo glanced at Jinwonpyeong and took a deep breath, raising the bow above his head.

“Whoo.”
Taking in a deep breath and then exhaling, Hyunwoo faced the target and took the unique posture of Korean archery, where the navel faces sideways.
“Your posture is unique. Where did you learn it?”
Jinwonpyeong looked curiously at Hyunwoo’s stance.
“Uh… Self-taught.”
Hyunwoo lightly lied. He couldn’t honestly say, “I learned Korean archery at a national archery ground.”
“Well, I suppose my posture would look unusual from their perspective.”
Jinwonpyeong’s way of shooting resembled more of an archery style than a gukgung (Korean traditional archery) style.
He didn’t pull the bowstring all the way to open up the chest and didn’t pull the string to reach his ear.
The bowstring pulling hand touched beside the cheek, and the target was also looked at sideways, similar to archery.
“Probably because the writer isn’t very interested in archery.”
After all, those who know the gukgung posture well are the archers learning it.
Normally, people are more familiar with archery positioning.
“I’ve read something like that in a very old book. It said that archers in a place called Haedong (wholly Eastern Korea) take such postures.”
Hearing this, Hyunwoo thought to himself.
“So he’s talking about Bijeongbi-pal.”
Bijeongbi-pal is a term expressing the unique stance of gukgung, which is neither a straight character nor character eight posture.
This posture aims to use the space in front of the chest fully. For Hyunwoo, it was as familiar as his childhood home.
“Anyway, keep shooting.”
Gripping the bow lightly, Hyunwoo placed an arrow, pulled his shoulders back, and drew the bowstring.

The right hand holding the arrow brushed past his cheek towards the back of his ear, and the tightly drawn bowstring trembled slightly.
“One… two… three.”
Counting seconds while in a full draw position, Hyunwoo confirmed the trajectory and released the arrow.
Swoosh!-
The arrow flew out, faster than Jinwonpyeong’s, drawing nearly a horizontal line toward the target.
Thud-
The arrow pierced the center of the target and lodged halfway into the wooden plank behind it, halting its motion.
“Huh!”
Jinwonpyeong couldn’t hide his surprise and let out a faint laugh.
Both shot using the same arrows. However, one shot pierced the target, and the other embedded itself into the wood behind it.
Despite using the same arrows, the power was on a different level.
“What is this nonsensical…”
An arrow without internal energy wouldn’t have much power.
Its speed is slow, and its impact is weak, becoming ineffective and feeble against a warrior.

“Which is common sense.”
Jinwonpyeong, called the best archer of the Yellow Army, who had shot arrows in more battlefields than anyone, understood basic common sense better than anyone.
But.
“How is this possible?”
Hyunwoo’s arrows were different.
The power was strong enough to penetrate thick wood, and the speed was at least twice faster than Jinwonpyeong’s.
“Remarkable.”
Jinwonpyeong, looking at Hyunwoo with curiosity, spoke.
“Try again.”
“Ah, yes.”
Staying in the Bijeongbi-pal position, Hyunwoo drew the bow again, and the arrow once more shattered the target and pierced through to fly beyond sight.
“……!”
Watching the power not decrease but rather increase, Jinwonpyeong clicked his tongue and looked at Hyunwoo curiously.
“Splendid. Have you managed to draw more power by fully drawing the bowstring? By shooting with back muscles rather than arm strength, its power shares an entirely different dimension.”
In line with his title as once the best archer of the Yellow Army, Jinwonpyeong’s analysis was sharp.
Observing just twice, he instantly grasped the essence of gukgung and swiftly understood its principles.

“As expected, archers recognize it. Gukgung is the best.”
With a sense of pride filling near his heart, Hyunwoo smiled broadly.
“Thank you.”
“Is it supposed to be done like this?”
Jinwonpyeong assumed the Bijeongbi-pal posture Hyunwoo exhibited earlier and drew the bowstring.
“……!”
Hyunwoo couldn’t hide his surprise at Jinwonpyeong’s posture.
“To master it with just one glance?”
It took Hyunwoo two whole weeks to properly acquire the gukgung stance.
Typically, others would take about a month, so that was fairly fast.
“Incredible. Where did you learn this?”
Swoosh!-
The arrow shot, sounding identical to Hyunwoo’s, pierced the target and shattered the wood behind it, vanishing from sight.
He shot the same arrow with the same power, only altering the stance, yet the force grew several times stronger.
“At this rate, isn’t it more of a missile than an arrow?!”

Hyunwoo’s astonished gaze and Jinwonpyeong’s satisfied gaze both landed on the perforated target.
“Hmm.”
Jinwonpyeong, stroking his short-bearded chin, murmured.
“I intended to teach just one thing but ended up learning myself.”
Pondering briefly, Jinwonpyeong narrowed the space between his eyebrows and then looked back at Hyunwoo.
“Do you not have a master?”
“Uh… No, I don’t.”
Satisfied with Hyunwoo’s response, Jinwonpyeong nodded and drew out the bow from his waist.
“Let’s shoot once more.”

* * *

Hyunwoo stood alone in the training ground, looking bewilderedly at the sect leader’s departing figure.
“To think I’d be shooting arrows with that person.”
He was one of Hyunwoo’s three favorite characters and the only warrior who shot arrows in ‘Sagyohyeoljeon.’
To practice shooting with such a warrior—no honor could surpass this.
“And he liked my posture.”
Jinwonpyeong particularly admired Hyunwoo’s Bijeongbi-pal.
Initially, he mimicked it almost perfectly and even mentioned changing his future posture, showing how much he liked it.
For a Korean who grew up hearing that Korean things are the best in the world, that moment filled Hyunwoo’s chest with immense pride.
“And I even got a gift…”

Hyunwoo looked down at his palm.
“Unbelievable.”
On Hyunwoo’s hand was the elegant red bow engraved with a dragon.
It was the very bow Jinwonpyeong used earlier.
“He just gave this to me?”
This wasn’t just any bow. It was the bow used by Jinwonpyeong, often called the King of Ten Thousand Soldiers.
Just seeing it with the naked eye, its value felt substantial, and whatever material it was made from, the bowstring’s elasticity was immense.
“This is on a different level compared to practice bows. It’s incomparable to any bow I’ve used before.”
Being an experienced archer himself, Hyunwoo could tell just from drawing it once or twice that this bow surpassed any bow he had previously used.
“Hmm. But I’ll need to build more muscle to pull this extensively.”
Hyunwoo, trying to draw the bowstring a few times, shook his head while shaking his now reddened fingers.
It was indeed an extraordinary bow, but its draw weight was too strong. Even pulling it lightly made his arms feel numb, and pulling it fully was difficult.
“I can easily draw 56 pounds, and even Jin Sobaek’s body is more robust than mine, yet it’s hard to draw. This means it must be over 100 pounds.”
It seemed like he’d need to increase his strength more to properly handle this bow.
-The sect leader gifting you a weapon… It’s unbelievable.
Reflecting Sobaek’s perplexed tone, Hyunwoo nodded.
“Indeed. I can’t believe it either.”
-Neither heard nor seen such a thing. You’re likely the first and only to receive something from the current sect leader.

Jinwonpyeong was known for being cold and unemotional even towards his closest aides within the family.
Receiving a weapon from such a Jinwonpyeong was a story shocking enough to shake the entire faction.
“I was lucky. Thanks to sharing the same interests in archery, I was off to a smooth start.”
Jinwonpyeong was someone within this Hwaun lineage that Hyunwoo needs to closely associate with.
He needs to learn divine archery skills from him and later will need his help to prevent the impending bloody battle with the Baekbaek Church.
“If it continues like this, I might learn the divine archery skills faster than expected.”
In terms of martial artist level, Hyunwoo couldn’t even rank as third-rate, and it was the bow that enabled him to defeat second-rate martial artists.
If he learns proper archery techniques, he couldn’t imagine how much stronger he would get.
-Good to see things are going well.
“Right? Then let’s get to resolving your matters now.”
-Are you planning to exact revenge?
“Yes. It’s about time to start.”
For the past ten days, he trained harder than anyone within the family, absorbing everything that Sobaek had and becoming Jin Sobaek himself.
So, it was time to execute the plans he had carefully devised in his mind.
-Whom do you plan to start with?
“I should start by capturing Ahjong first, right?”
Everything has an order.
The first target of the ‘Avenge Sobaek’s Grudge’ mission was Ahjong, who had attempted to kill Sobaek twice.
“Shall I look for him?”

Leaving the training ground, Sobaek moved towards the center of the estate, where there was a spacious area.
In the early morning manor, as dawn approached and the sun began to rise, the first thing that caught his eye was the sight of around ten boys, dressed in the same black martial attire as Hyunwoo, fighting wildly.
“What is that?”
-It’s called Tujeon.
Tujeon refers to the sparring sessions that take place within the Hwaun clan.
Tujeon is classified into official Tujeon, unofficial Tujeon, group Tujeon, etc., and in official Tujeon, the winner attains the rank of the loser.
“Then is that unofficial Tujeon?”
-That’s correct.
“But what can they learn from fighting so disorderly?”
To Hyunwoo, what he saw appeared as a chaotic melee with no visible rules or disciplines.
Instead of training, it seemed likely they would just get injured.
-They learn survival. The most important thing for us is survival.
“That makes sense.”
Nodding quietly in agreement, Hyunwoo heard Sobaek’s urgent voice.
-That guy over there in white clothes!
Hyunwoo turned his head to the left.
There, a scrawny boy was struggling step by step with a pot strapped to his back.
“Oh-ho.”
A sly smile appeared on Hyunwoo’s face as he gazed at Ahjong. A curious glint passed over his blue eyes.
“Man… This is exhausting. Damn you, Heuggae.”
Wiping the sweat off his forehead with his dirty sleeve, Ahjong grumbled while carrying the pot Heuggae tasked him with.
Even though the sun hadn’t fully risen yet, his body felt infinitely heavy.
As he dragged his weary steps forward—
Thud!-
Someone’s kick struck his side.
“Ouch! Ouch!”
Thrown into a narrow, three-sided corner between pavilions, Ahjong rolled on the ground, screaming.
“Who the hell would…”
Glaring at his opponent with fiery eyes, Ahjong’s lips trembled faintly.
His gaze met with eyes bluer than the dawn sky, staring intently at him.
“You scoundrel.”
Pressing Ahjong’s shoulder with his foot as he tried to stand, Hyunwoo spoke.
“Are you aware of your sins?”