Chapter 17 – Secret Hunting and Gathering Training Method

Chapter 17 – Secret Hunting and Gathering Training Method

The annex, which would normally have been quiet, was unfamiliarly noisy. The reason was simple. Those who had ignored the Young Master in the past had flocked with gifts to greet him. Most of those who came were rising stars of similar age to me.

'To think the treatment would change this much in just a day.'

Although I had expected the contemptuous looks to change a little, I felt it was strange to see those who had rushed here from early in the morning. Was this indeed the Jianghu, where the strong survived?

When I went outside and opened the door, dozens of eyes focused on one spot.

"Young Master, did you sleep well last night?"

"Since we will see each other often from now on, I thought it would be right to greet you in advance, so I rushed here early."

"By any chance, do you remember me? We greeted each other a few times in the past…"

While I hesitated for a moment at the greetings pouring in from all directions at once, Sawol suddenly stepped forward and spoke.

"Young masters, I will escort you to the tea room, so please take your time and converse there."

The changed attitude of the martial artists, as quick as flipping a palm, was surprising, but Sawol, who responded to it as if it were natural, was the most surprising. Sawol, who guided the martial artists to the tea room with a proud expression, sent a signal with his eyes. It seemed to mean, what are you doing there, come quickly…

'He looks a bit excited.'

At that moment, Tang Jae-shin, who had not gone inside, stared at me as if he had something to say. Alternating my gaze between Tang Jae-shin and the gift that was as tall as him, I let out a small sigh and spoke. Because he was not a very welcome guest to either me or Sawol.

"Brother, I will consider both the gift and the apology received, so you don't have to come to the annex anymore."

"……"

He must have understood by now.

Leaving Tang Jae-shin, who was still standing at the doorway, behind, I walked toward the tea room, following those who had gone ahead.

'Hmm, there are not enough seats.'

The small tea room attached to one side of the annex was crowded.

I could not keep so many people standing outside, so we changed locations, but this place was also too narrow to accommodate all the guests at once. Inevitably, some had to stand, but fortunately, everyone did not seem to mind.

The martial artists gathered in the tea room presented various gifts.

"Um, Young Master. This is an ornament I cherished…"

There was someone who handed over a sparkling hairpin and a norigae, saying it would look good on me,

"It's your first time smelling this kind of scent, right? With just this scent pouch, a family of commoners could easily live for a year. It's the highest quality!"

There was also someone who presented a luxurious scent pouch with a blend of floral and woody scents.

"I heard that the Young Master likes tea, so I brought precious tea leaves. Since they came from Yunnan, the aroma is very special."

Gifts poured in, from expensive ornaments to various foodstuffs. None of them were things I needed, and I felt unnecessarily burdened, so I declined as politely as possible.

"Thank you, but… As you can see, there is no space in the annex to keep all these things. Besides, it would be a waste to receive such precious things and just stack them up. So, I will only accept your precious feelings."

At the polite refusal, the martial artists expressed their disappointment. At that moment, one martial artist sitting opposite mumbled in a small voice.

"Ah… It's an elixir obtained with difficulty, but there's nothing that can be done."

An elixir!

My eyes popped open at those words. Thanks to the Ten Thousand Flows Return to the Source Divine Art, I could convert any elixir I consumed into internal energy, so I was already collecting elixirs. To fully embody all the hundreds of martial arts manuals I had learned in the library, I needed far more internal energy than I currently had.

"……An elixir?"

When I asked back discreetly, the face of the martial artist who brought the elixir lit up. Lest he miss the opportunity, he quickly pushed the wooden box containing the elixir in front of me.

"It is a hundred-year-old He Shou Wu . Although the effect is lesser compared to older He Shou Wu, even this much makes the body noticeably lighter."

'He Shou Wu!'

It was a vine plant famous for thousand-year He Shou Wu, ten-thousand-year He Shou Wu, and so on. The value of He Shou Wu, which was widely used as a medicinal ingredient, varied depending on how long it had grown, and naturally, the older it was, the higher the effects and price skyrocketed.

A hundred-year He Shou Wu was somewhat expensive, but not to the extent of being unobtainable if one wanted it.

Thinking that he must have spent quite a bit of money, I asked back subtly.

"Is it really alright for me to receive something this precious? Instead of you consuming it yourself, Brother."

"If the Young Master accepts it, that would be a greater pleasure. Ah, I am Tang Ho."

At the martial artist's gentle words, I accepted the wooden box while pretending to be unable to resist as much as possible. I wouldn't miss out on an elixir.

"It is also not polite to repeatedly refuse something given for my health. Then I will accept it with gratitude, Brother Tang Ho."

When I accepted the gift that I had been refusing all along, the martial artists' eyes sparkled as they leaned in close to the tea table. It was the moment when the purpose of those who came here with plenty of gifts was revealed.

"Um… Actually, there is something I am curious about."

"Me too. Just what kind of training did you do to make your martial power so high?"

"Young Master, your body has been very weak all this time, so what is the secret to becoming this strong within a year?"

Even if they were young, they were indeed people of the Jianghu.

Whoever the opponent was, if they knew the method to become stronger, they were willing to humble themselves to obtain teachings.

Everyone spoke in unison, asking about the 'secret method' that allowed me, who had trained for a mere year, to defeat Tang Jae-shin.

'That's because…'

I quietly reflected on the past year.

Without missing a single day, I repeated training that made me realize my own limits. On top of that, at the moments when I thought, 'I feel like I'm going to die, should I stop?' Tang Hae-soo without fail grated on my nerves, causing even those limits to be renewed daily.

Was that all?

If I wanted to live, I had no choice but to get better every day.

Because Tang Hae-soo, saying 'Surely you won't die,' mercilessly threw flying daggers, I had to read the trajectories of the attacks more accurately to dodge or block them if I wanted to survive.

However, looking at their sparkling, young eyes, I hesitated to present such a cruel and atrocious method.

Scratching the back of my head while looking for appropriate words, I ended up repeating a textbook answer.

"I merely carved the teachings deep into my heart and repeated the training when they were given. Since our family's martial arts are the best in the world, the good teachings shone through effort."

It was not a lie.

I had just left out the part about 'if you survive the brink of death every time like that…'

"But didn't you defeat Brother Jae-shin, who has practiced the same martial arts for much longer? Please tell us that secret, yes?"

"That's right. Besides, Young Master, your constitution was, ahem… extremely unsuitable for practicing martial arts, but now there is no sign of that at all, so wouldn't there be a special method?"

"Ah, that is…"

There was really nothing I could say to that, so I shut my mouth for a moment.

I could not say, 'First, die once and possess a new body, then go catch crocodiles with that body, and if you bet your life on a perilous gamble that twists your qi and blood, you might get the good fortune of changing your constitution.'

At that moment, an idea suddenly flashed through my mind.

'Ah, there was that.'

I showed a good-natured smile to the martial artists sitting around and told them my 'secret training' method.

"Very well. I will tell you. So, that secret method is…"

Everyone listened intently, not even making a sound of breathing, lest they miss a single word.

***

"Young Master. Why do you accept everyone else's gifts but reject only mine? I heard you like elixirs, so I set it aside separately."

Seeing Tang Jae-shin, who had been visiting the annex every single day since the day after the duel, I couldn't help but frown.

"I told you that you don't need to give me things like this. I said so on that day too."

There were indeed many crazy people in the Jianghu who were obsessed with strength. Even though I told him several times to stop coming, his determination did not break.

'…I thought that if I sent him back like that, he would stop coming eventually.'

Whenever he saw me, he shoved elixirs into my sleeve, but there was a limit to refusing, and he simply wouldn't listen.

"Didn't I agree to act even as a servant's servant? If so, it is only natural for me to serve the Young Master. You cannot trample on my honor like this."

"Ah, no… I will act as if that never happened, so please just leave, alright?"

"Is the honor of a martial artist of the Great Sichuan Tang Clan merely of this level? That cannot be."

"……Why on earth can't I get through to you?"

"If you do not like the gifts, please tell me another way. What should I do?"

"Sigh…"

Did this brother pour concrete into his ears…

Just as I was feeling frustrated, as if speaking to a wall.

Sawol, who had been quietly watching this scene for a few days, suddenly looked at Tang Jae-shin and spoke.

"Would you like to go catch fish?"

It was not only Tang Jae-shin who was startled by those words.

"Sawol. No, what are you…"

I opened my eyes wide in embarrassment. Where in the world was there a kid who would go to the mountain with the guy who had covered his wrists in bruises? Seeing my expression filled with bewilderment, Sawol came closer and whispered.

"Young Master, didn't you say Young Master Jae-shin agreed to act even as my servant? Then, wouldn't it be alright for me to take him—no, escort him around a bit?"

Hearing those words, I gulped without realizing it.

Our Sawol…

He must have been really pissed off all this time.

Seeing him raise one corner of his mouth and even sparkle his eyes, he seemed to have firmly made up his mind, whatever it was. It was a moment when I realized once again that just because he followed me well did not mean he was entirely gentle and good-natured.

I raised two fingers toward Tang Jae-shin, who had a puzzled expression, pointed at my eyes, and then pointed back at Tang Jae-shin.

'I am watching.'

Tang Jae-shin quickly nodded at the hand signal that worked anywhere. Since he had always been rejected, he seemed willing to follow whatever it was, now that a way had finally appeared.

Sawol handed a bamboo container and a bamboo spear to Tang Jae-shin as they left the annex together.

'Nothing bad will happen, right?'

No matter how humble Tang Jae-shin's attitude was, Sawol was someone who had not learned martial arts. I felt worried because if Tang Jae-shin harbored bad intentions by any chance, Sawol could be seriously hurt. Was it okay to send them off like that?

However…

It did not take long to realize that my worry had been misdirected.

The two who had left the annex carrying the bamboo container returned late that afternoon.

"Young Master! I'm back."

"Are you back, Sawol? Oh dear, it looks like Brother had quite a… remarkable day."

Unlike Sawol, who was shiny and clean, Tang Jae-shin was extremely haggard and messy, his exhausted expression allowing one to guess how his day went. Smoothing down his green robe, which was heavily crumpled as if it had wet and dried several times, Tang Jae-shin asked in a cracked voice.

"…Young Master, what are you going to use all these fish for?"

Sure enough, like a martial artist who had trained far longer than me, Tang Jae-shin had caught a decent amount of fish despite it being his first time. Leading him, who showed signs of exhaustion, I headed to the inner courtyard without a word. I would show him in particular, my cuties.

"Just where are we go—… U-Ugh, argh! What, what is this?!"

*Grrrr, grrr!*

*Snarl.*

What else could it be? They were my cute babies.

Tang Jae-shin screamed and took steps back upon seeing Torong and Yongyong. Sawol, who followed behind, could not hold back his bursting laughter and bent his waist, letting out stifled giggles.

"Let's eat, my babies! Now, would Brother Jae-shin like to feed them yourself? They are gentler than they look."

At the playful tone, Tang Jae-shin seemed to be wondering if this was said in earnest or as a joke. Indeed, even I would think anyone raising crocodiles as pets was a crazy person.

"They are the offspring of the Earth Dragons I caught in the Yangtze River a while ago. The one with the long tail is Yongyong, and the one opening its mouth here is Torong."

"………"

"Ah, shall I show you something interesting?"

I smiled broadly as I looked at Tang Jae-shin, who stood frozen, unable to even come close.

"Bite!"