Chapter 23: Two Years Passed

-There are many spiritual medicines that have embraced ten thousand years of age. Wouldn’t even a common plant gain spirituality if it contains ten thousand years of age?

However, for that reason, you must be careful when choosing a ten-thousand-year-old spiritual medicine to achieve the Fourth Stage: Amplification.

The Healing Sage instructed that among the ones bearing the name of ten thousand years, the weaker its characteristics, the better.

The reason was that in order to take all the internal energy and spirituality accumulated in the spiritual medicine over a long period of time, it was smoother if the nature of the spiritual medicine was ordinary.

-If we only consider the efficacy of the Fourth Stage: Amplification, the Ten-Thousand-Year-Old Star-Shaped Ginseng King would be the best.

However, the Star-Shaped Ginseng King itself is rare and scarce, so finding a Star-Shaped Ginseng King that has contained ten thousand years of age is not easy for this one.

The best among the ten-thousand-year-old spiritual medicines recommended by this one is the Ten-Thousand-Year-Old Fleeceflower Root. Because it is a common being, it can be said to be noble.

The explanation was that the common thing called Fleeceflower Root became precious after embracing ten thousand years of age, so there was nothing better for the fourth stage.

Therefore, I had already decided.

I would enter the Fourth Stage: Amplification with the Ten-Thousand-Year-Old Fleeceflower Root.

For those who walk the path of immortals, or those who pursue the end of martial arts called the absolute realm, there was a concept they emphasize called Essence, Qi, and Spirit.

I did not have deep knowledge as I was not engrossed in the path of immortals, but to speak of what I knew, Essence was the body, Qi was internal energy, and Spirit was the mind or consciousness.

Having trained my Essence through the process of the third stage, the Fourth Stage: Amplification was the stage of matching the Qi and Spirit to the solidified Essence.

By absorbing the internal energy of the Ten-Thousand-Year-Old Fleeceflower Root and filling the Qi Center where the foundation was laid, the Qi would become full, and by taking the ten thousand years of spirituality with the Healing Sage’s Mind Cultivation Art, the Spirit would be wide open.

It was only upon reaching the fourth stage that the union of Essence, Qi, and Spirit was finally created, and this was called the Three Flowers Realm.

Those who have some knowledge of martial arts would know, but the Three Flowers Realm was another name for the State of Harmony.

That was right.

Upon achieving the fourth stage, one naturally stepped into the State of Harmony, which was called a true master of the superior level.

I would be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with my father, Dancheon Gang, or Uncle Yeo Baek.

While ordinary martial artists reached the State of Harmony by uniting Essence, Qi, and Spirit through enlightenment, the Healing Sage’s Mind Cultivation Art was a mechanism where enlightenment naturally came because Essence, Qi, and Spirit were united.

It was just that the order was different, but in the end, it was the same.

The State of Harmony reached through the Three Flowers Realm.

To borrow the Healing Sage’s expression, it was the stage where one could barely manage to take care of one’s own body.

It was because only upon reaching the fourth stage did one earn the qualification to be described as having 'ordered one's house'.

Thwack!

Uncle Yeo Baek’s wooden sword struck my shoulder.

“Keuk.”

Through training with Uncle Yeo Baek, I newly realized that even a body that had reached the state of being invulnerable to swords could feel pain.

It meant that a wooden sword imbued with the internal energy of a master in the State of Harmony was much more painful than a well-sharpened blade.

“Are you not concentrating?”

“I’m sorry. I was thinking about something else.”

Uncle Yeo Baek’s gaze was sharp.

“Hmm? Does that mean my training is easy enough for you to have other thoughts?”

“……No. Absolutely not.”

Uncle Yeo Baek’s training was something where the word ‘easy’ could not be used, even as a joke.

The fact that my chest was heaving for breath even after achieving the third stage, and the state of my clothes, which had become like rags a one-knot beggar would wear, were proof of that.

I should have known from the moment I got his permission.

The fact that Uncle Yeo Baek’s training was extremely based on actual combat.

I glared at the detestable Uncle Yeo Baek.

He looked excited.

Especially when he landed a blow on me.

I would describe him as a relentless man.

It was a time to learn what kind of values monsters who had reached the State of Harmony on their own had as they trained.

There was a reason I was training fiercely even though I would naturally enter the State of Harmony upon reaching the fourth stage.

The first point was that although I had achieved the third stage, it was difficult to say that I had made it completely my own.

Even during my time as Myeong-gae, I had almost no experience encountering masters of the superior level.

The training with Uncle Yeo Baek now would be of great help to me in the future as I aimed to become the number one under the heavens.

And the second was that I did not know where the Ten-Thousand-Year-Old Fleeceflower Root was right now.

It was not a big deal.

Fortunately, I knew where the Ten-Thousand-Year-Old Fleeceflower Root would be in two years.

During my time as Myeong-gae, I was never able to find out its native habitat where it was obtained, but I had acquired information on who had found and possessed that Ten-Thousand-Year-Old Fleeceflower Root.

In two years, I would take the Ten-Thousand-Year-Old Fleeceflower Root and reach the fourth stage.

And I would become the Young Clan Head.

I would achieve the true meaning of ‘ordering one’s house’.

Thwack!

Uncle Yeo Baek’s wooden sword struck my head.

My head was ringing.

“You brat, are you not concentrating?”

“Sorry……”

Thwack!

“Ugh!”

For now, I had to get a little stronger.

***

The time I had been so eagerly awaiting had come.

Time flew by, and I finally reached the age of twenty.

Twenty years old.

It was the age at which one was typically recognized as an adult in the Jianghu Murim, and the period when the biggest turning point in my life was created.

It was the year of the heir competition.

It was the year I, who had lost the heir competition, left the clan alone.

It was the year I found out I would regress.

And at the same time, it was the year the beggar Myeong-gae of the Beggar’s Gang was born.

‘I wonder if that old man Chwipung-gae is doing well.’

Although I would make it so that Myeong-gae did not exist in this life, I had not forgotten Chwipung-gae’s grace.

I planned to repay him for sure when I met him again someday.

Although he would not know the reason.

Two years.

It might be a short time for some and a long time for others, but for a rising star who had not even reached the age of twenty, it was a sufficiently long time.

Especially for someone who had lived that time densely without wasting it, it was a period that could create a sufficiently large change.

“Hoo-”

Sreung - Chak.

I sheathed my sword after completing all the forms of the Dancheon Sword Art, the secret martial art of the Dancheon Clan.

The twenty-year-old Dancheon Myeong.

The eighteen-year-old’s boyishness was gone, and he had become a full-fledged young man.

Thanks to the continued effects of the Vermilion Fruit I had taken to achieve the third stage, I was now not lacking in being called a handsome man with distinct features.

Appearance, martial arts, external reputation.

The twenty-year-old Dancheon Myeong of the past life and the twenty-year-old Dancheon Myeong of now were different people, to the extent that the phrase ‘the sea has changed into a mulberry field’ would not be an exaggeration.

Along with Uncle Yeo Baek’s training, my body continued to grow.

The somehow scholarly appearance had disappeared, and I had transformed into the appearance of a full-fledged swordsman.

This was actually a bit of a funny story.

A martial artist at the Peak Realm growing his body through training.

Although I had surpassed the First-Rate and reached the Peak, it could be said to be a case that proved just how poor the third elder’s training had been.

Looking at this a bit differently, Uncle Yeo Baek, who made me grow my body through training even though I had reached the Peak Realm, was a crazy… no, an excellent master.

I paid my respects to him.

Of course, I would pay even greater respect to myself for enduring that training.

‘Shit, my life.’

I would say it was a truly hellish time.

In a different sense from my time as Myeong-gae.

Many things had happened in the meantime.

-When will you choose? Shouldn’t you get married too?

To deliberately use the word ‘get married into a family’ instead of ‘marry,’ I would say that Baek Yeo-hae was also a woman with transparent intentions.

-I have no thoughts of it yet.

A promising rising star who had won the alias of Severing Dragon.

A respectable background as the second son of the prestigious Dancheon Clan of Anhui.

And even an appearance that was not lacking in being called handsome.

Despite my continued refusals, love letters from prestigious clans through matchmakers endlessly flew into the Dancheon Clan.

As if she was not tired of it, the woman Baek Yeo-hae would sort out decent marriage prospects every month and bring them to me.

I had never thought the day would come when I would face her so often.

-Wouldn’t a man have to start a family before he turns twenty to grow into a fine head of the household in the future?

-Hasn’t Senior Brother also postponed his marriage yet?

-That’s because Hak has to take responsibility for the clan…

-That is something we don’t know yet, Mother.

It seemed to be around that time.

The time when the woman Baek Yeo-hae began to overtly ignore me.

And this year, as the year of the heir competition finally dawned, perhaps giving up on sending me off to another clan, Baek Yeo-hae no longer came to me with love letters.

As they say, life is a series of ups and downs, so if there were such hardships, there were also good things.

“You look quite presentable now.”

This was it.

“Now that you’ve perfectly learned the Dancheon Sword Art up to the latter half, you won’t die from a stray blade anywhere.”

The master of the State of Harmony, Bang Yeo-baek, had praised me so.

My efforts so far had not been in vain.

“Thank you.”

I had finally become a true swordsman of the Dancheon Clan.

I glanced at Uncle Yeo Baek for a moment and carefully asked.

“Am I, uh, descending the mountain now?”

Uncle Yeo Baek burst into a hearty laugh, unlike him.

“Of course, you brat. How long were you planning to work your old uncle?”

My uncle, who always spoke only the right words, said something wrong for a change.

How could he be called old when he had just passed forty?

Wasn’t forty for someone who had reached the State of Harmony a time that was not lacking in being described as the prime of a martial artist?

“If possible, for life.”

“You brat!”

I could now comfortably exchange jokes with Uncle Yeo Baek.

It was thanks to the sincerity that had grown with the power of time.

I knew the reason he was making such excuses.

It was the same reason the first elder of the council had stepped down from being Senior Brother Dancheon Hak’s master last year.

As the heir competition was imminent, the internal factions had to take a step back from the heirs.

It was to follow the strict order of the Clan Head, so there were no exceptions.

In truth, I knew that the fact he had been watching over my martial arts until now was only possible because Uncle Yeo Baek had been stubborn.

“……Thank you for everything so far.”

I bowed my head deeply in respect to my master.

“Yes. Young Master Myeong, you’ve worked hard too.”

A hint of regret was in Uncle Yeo Baek’s voice.

I had a feeling that I would miss the training with him that I had thought of as hell.

It was okay.

If I became the Young Clan Head, I would be able to come back again.

***

Now that my training with Uncle Yeo Baek was over, there was no longer a reason for me to stay in the Dancheon Clan.

I visited the Clan Head’s hall after a long time.

“I would like to go on a journey through the Jianghu.”

It was to get permission for this.

Even though I had become an adult, I was still a member of the clan, so the Clan Head’s permission was essential.

I could not run away from home every time, could I?

“So suddenly?”

My father, Dancheon Gang, asked me.

“Yes.”

These days, I was realizing the true meaning of the saying, ‘If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.’

It was because I was feeling the aura of an unapproachable martial artist from Dancheon Gang, who was sitting in a languid manner.

Even he had not been able to list his name among the Ten Great Masters of the world, so I was once again realizing the weight of being the number one under the heavens.

“What wind has blown you to speak of a journey through the Jianghu?”

It was understandable for him to have such a question.

After the incident of running away from home right after regressing and participating in the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly, I had rarely left the clan for two years.

“Didn’t Senior Brother also leave for a journey through the Jianghu last year?”

Last year.

The twenty-one-year-old Sword Dragon Dancheon Hak had set out for a journey through the Jianghu.

And he had not yet returned.

That was one of the reasons my father was not welcoming my journey.

Wasn’t the Jianghu Murim a place where incidents and accidents were rampant?

If both of the only two heirs were sent out of the clan and an unexpected accident occurred, it would be something the clan could not handle.

“I also thought that a journey through the Jianghu was necessary to prepare for the heir competition.”

“Hmm.”

He seemed to be contemplating, but it would not be that difficult to persuade him.

“Wouldn’t it be fair for me to also broaden my knowledge?”

“That is a valid point.”

As I mentioned fairness, Dancheon Gang slowly nodded his head.

I still did not know if he was a good father, but I knew he was an excellent Clan Head.

He was a fair and just person, so he would want to give me a chance as well.