Hong Yungae's pupils shook like crazy.
"Uh, uh, then I'll be going...!"
Hong Yungae left the pawnshop as if running away.
Then he ran with all his might towards the place where Baek Yoonjun was.
"Master!!"
"What? Why are you here so early?"
"Master, this is!!"
Seeing the Dog Beating Jade Staff that Hong Yungae held out, Baek Yoonjun frowned.
'Did he crack someone's skull or something? Why is he like this?'
Since he wasn't observing with his senses like before, Baek Yoonjun had no way of knowing why Hong Yungae was like this.
"They say this is the Green Jade Buddha Staff!!"
Hong Yungae urgently uttered words that would make anyone who studied martial arts in the Central Plains startled.
But Baek Yoonjun was indifferent.
"What's that?"
Because he didn't know what the Green Jade Buddha Staff was.
As if Baek Yoonjun's reaction was unexpected, Hong Yungae froze.
"You don't know?"
"I don't."
"The divine object of Shaolin, the Green Jade Buddha Staff?"
"Shaolin?"
As the word 'Shaolin' came out of Hong Yungae's mouth, Baek Yoonjun's expression became a little serious.
"Are you talking about the Shaolin Temple? And that is their divine object?"
"That's right! What should I do!!"
The Shaolin Temple was a place that even Baek Yoonjun, who didn't know much about martial arts, knew.
Therefore, although Baek Yoonjun was briefly flustered, he soon became calm.
'No, does this make sense?'
Baek Yoonjun looked at the Dog Beating Jade Staff that Hong Yungae held out.
Although it was bothersome that it was hard like jade, there was nothing to call it a divine object.
'If it's a divine object, shouldn't it at least emit light? Rather than this, the night-luminescent pearl would be more like a divine object.'
Having calmed down, Baek Yoonjun hardened his thoughts.
"Is there any guarantee that that is true?"
"What?"
"Isn't it just a rumor?"
At Baek Yoonjun's words, Hong Yungae trembled as if an arrow had been stuck in his head.
At that, Baek Yoonjun was convinced.
'It's a fake!'
As Baek Yoonjun had expected, Hong Yungae mumbled for a moment.
"W-well, they did say it was a rumor."
"See?"
"But still!!"
"Think about it. Why would a divine object of Shaolin be rolling around in a place like this?"
"They said that Shaolin had lost a divine object..."
"And that lost divine object is rolling around in a pawnshop in a mountain village like this without a care? Does that make sense?"
"Huh? Is that so?"
At Baek Yoonjun's words, Hong Yungae became noticeably calm.
"Come to think of it, it seems so..."
"Most rumors are nonsense, so from now on, don't just accept them, but think calmly."
"Ahaha, I'm sorry."
It seemed Hong Yungae was completely convinced.
At that, Baek Yoonjun was pleased that he seemed to have shown a master-like appearance.
Although he had become a master by chance, he felt a desire to teach him one more thing.
"Originally, I was going to proceed after you had eaten, but since it has come to this, let's go in right now."
"What? What do you mean?"
"Martial arts."
"What?"
Although Hong Yungae was briefly flustered as if Baek Yoonjun's words were unexpected.
"L-let's do it right away!!"
He immediately jumped up, his eyes shining.
'Perhaps because he beat a grown man, he's become more proactive than before.'
Baek Yoonjun let out a hollow laugh, as if he was quite pleased with that.
* * *
A few days after Hong Yungae's training began.
Perhaps because he had grown up rough as a beggar, the external martial arts he performed on the outside had become plausible.
However.
"I told you to move your internal energy along with your movements, is this difficult?"
Baek Yoonjun was frustrated.
It was to the point where Baek Sowol, whom he had thought had no talent, looked like a genius.
"I don't know what this internal energy thing is at all. No, before that, do I even have internal energy?"
Hong Yungae's question was valid.
Because there was no such thing as an internal energy cultivation method in the contents of the lessons so far.
Although Hong Yungae was not a martial artist, he knew that there was an internal energy cultivation method to accumulate internal energy.
"Don't you have to learn an internal energy cultivation method to accumulate internal energy?"
"It's not necessary."
"What?"
Hong Yungae wondered if Baek Yoonjun was joking, but his expression looked too serious.
"No matter how much of a beggar this humble one is, I know that you can only accumulate internal energy through an internal energy cultivation method."
"Who said so?"
"What? Isn't that... common sense...?"
"Tsk."
At Baek Yoonjun's very dignified appearance, Hong Yungae was at a loss for words.
Whether that was the case or not, Baek Yoonjun clicked his tongue loudly and began to explain.
"I had an enlightenment recently."
"Huh? W-well... congratulations?"
"It's no big deal, so it's not something to congratulate. Anyway, to get back to the story, you're breathing, aren't you?"
"That's right. If you don't breathe, you're a dead person."
"Right. The thing called an internal energy cultivation method is also ultimately breathing. You already know how to breathe, so is there a need to separately learn how to breathe?"
"What?"
It was truly a story that would make any martial artist in the Central Plains grab him and shout, 'It's sorcery!'.
Although Hong Yungae was the owner of a reed-like heart whose ears would flutter at even a decent sophistry from the marketplace, the current story was a story that was hard to accept easily.
"Tsk."
As if he didn't like that, Baek Yoonjun clicked his tongue loudly and continued his explanation.
"Let's say you've accumulated energy with that thing called an internal energy cultivation method."
"Yes. Let's say so."
"Then you can't accept the internal energy that someone else has accumulated with a different internal energy cultivation method, can you?"
"I heard so. That because the nature of the internal energy is different, a clash occurs..."
"This is all because you are artificially transforming the energy of nature. If you just purely accept nature itself and accumulate energy, there would be no clash, would there?"
"Huh? Does it work like that?"
"On top of that, since you're accumulating it artificially, isn't the speed at which the energy accumulates slow and the method also troublesome? That's all because you're creating it artificially. If you just accept nature itself and breathe naturally, the internal energy will accumulate on its own."
"What? Really?"
"That's right."
Hong Yungae just blinked his eyes and thought, 'Is this right?'.
But since the person teaching him martial arts in front of him said so, he had no choice but to just nod his head.
Baek Yoonjun, who was watching from the side, naturally thought that Hong Yungae had understood and continued the lesson.
"Then, keep my words in mind and let's continue the training, breathing naturally."
"...I understand."
Although he didn't understand at all, Hong Yungae continued the training according to Baek Yoonjun's words.
And so, a few days passed.
"No! Why can't you do this?!"
"I'm sorry."
Hong Yungae's training made no progress at all.
Only the appearance had become plausible.
He couldn't handle or accumulate internal energy at all.
Seeing that, Baek Yoonjun became a little more serious.
'Was my recent enlightenment wrong?'
Although he questioned his own enlightenment, he soon knew that it was not and shook his head.
'No. I'm seeing the effects. I just corrected my breathing method, but I can feel myself getting closer to second-rate, so how can it be wrong?'
Baek Yoonjun changed the direction of his thoughts.
'In the end, the problem is that this brat Hong Yungae's talent is at the bottom.'
It was Baek Yoonjun, who would never think that he was the problem, even if he died.
'In the end, is the only way to make him learn a cultivation method?'
Still, the direction of his thoughts was not wrong.
As Baek Yoonjun pondered a cultivation method that would suit Hong Yungae, in the end.
'I'll have to make a new one.'
He decided to make a new internal energy cultivation method.
'His talent is at the bottom, but his body is strong, and he seems to have some perseverance, so I can just make it according to that.'
Having finished his thoughts, Baek Yoonjun gave instructions to Hong Yungae.
"I will make an internal energy cultivation method that suits you. So until then, focus on learning external martial arts."
"I understand."
Hong Yungae answered obediently.
But Baek Yoonjun was somewhat unconvinced by that.
"I will explain the basics once more."
Since it would be difficult to watch over Hong Yungae's martial arts training for a while if he went into designing the internal energy cultivation method, he decided to explain the basics he had talked about once more.
"I don't know how other people learn and teach. I'm explaining based on my own standards."
"You said the same thing before."
"Listen one more time and remember it for sure. First, external martial arts."
Baek Yoonjun continued his explanation, swinging a branch he had picked up appropriately in front of Hong Yungae.
"I see all martial arts that are performed externally as external martial arts."
"I heard it before, but I don't understand it well."
"Things like swinging or stabbing or moving the body itself."
"I think I understand."
Although Hong Yungae's answer was still very unconvincing, Baek Yoonjun continued his explanation without particularly stopping him.
"And I see everything that is done internally as internal martial arts."
"This is even harder to understand than external martial arts."
"The act of moving, releasing, or accumulating internal energy inside."
"I haven't been able to do it, so I don't understand it well..."
"Tsk. Just memorize it."
No matter how he looked at it, it didn't seem Hong Yungae had understood, but this part was a part that Baek Yoonjun couldn't do anything about.
Baek Yoonjun roughly explained his own martial arts theory to Hong Yungae.
"I don't understand it well..."
"Just memorize it."
And so, after the explanation was over.
"Then, I will stay in the hut and design an internal energy cultivation method that suits you, so you train the external martial arts as I have told you."
Having finished what he had to say, Baek Yoonjun went inside the hut.
Then he transformed the inside of the hut with his internal energy and isolated himself.
'Zhuge Hyun, that gentleman, is out of the question, and the cases of Sowol and Yuhwa are different.'
Baek Yoonjun's head hurt.
Zhuge Hyun insisted that he was a disciple, but since he was not a disciple, that was that, and Baek Sowol, who had no talent, had still shown steady progress.
And in Tang Yuhwa's case, although she didn't want to learn martial arts herself, at least all her progress was better than Hong Yungae's.
'Is this what it means to have a bottom below the bottom?'
As Baek Yoonjun pondered how on earth he should teach a person with even less talent than Hong Yungae martial arts, he began to create a cultivation method.
And so, as Baek Yoonjun was cooped up in the hut to create a cultivation method, Hong Yungae.
"Uh, um..."
He scratched his head with an awkward look outside.
"Should I eat first and then train?"
Since it was mealtime, Hong Yungae immediately headed to the village.
Arriving at the village, Hong Yungae arrived in front of a tavern with familiar steps.
Hong Yungae, who had been cowering in front of Baek Yoonjun, had his back straightened as if nothing had happened, and his expression was dignified.
"Hey! Waiter."
"Oh! Great Hero Hong, you've come!"
As he confidently called the waiter in front of the tavern, a pretty waiter who looked like a parasite brother approached Hong Yungae, rubbing his hands familiarly.
Looking at such a waiter, Hong Yungae confidently ordered.
"The usual, please."
"I understand. But are you eating outside again today?"
"A beggar can't eat inside a tavern, can he?"
The waiter who heard Hong Yungae's answer was dumbfounded.
Because he had never heard of or seen a beggar who bought food at a tavern every day.
"I'll bring it out right away!"
But since he was a seasoned waiter, he did not show it on the outside.
The waiter who had gone inside the tavern appeared in front of the tavern a short while later with a bundle of dumplings.
"Here you go!"
"Keep the change."
"Thank you! Great hero!"
And so, having bought the dumplings, Hong Yungae found a suitable place and began to eat the dumplings.
Although it was a small tavern in a small village, so there were not many kinds of food, the taste of the dumplings was superb.
'It's been quite a while since I've been staying near the village.'
It had been quite a while since Hong Yungae had been training under Baek Yoonjun.
'I've grown quite fond of this village too.'
Beggars tend to settle in well-to-do neighborhoods.
Naturally, there were almost no beggars who settled in a small village like this where it was ambiguous to even beg.
'After learning martial arts from Master and going to the secret cave, should I just settle in this village?'
Although it was a village where it was hard to make a living as a beggar, Hong Yungae, after training under Baek Yoonjun, was in a state where he had gained some confidence.
No matter how hard it was to make a living, he felt that it would somehow work out.
Moreover, since there were no martial artists who looked stronger than him in this small village, he liked it even more.
As Hong Yungabe was eating while having such stray thoughts, he felt the inside of the tavern becoming noisy.
"Oh! Sir, please spare me!"
Kwa-jang-chang!!
At the same time as the sound of something breaking was heard from inside the tavern.
"Ugh!"
He witnessed the waiter who had handed him the dumplings earlier being thrown out of the tavern.
Hong Yungae quickly approached the waiter.
"Ugh."
The state of the groaning waiter was not normal at a glance.
Traces of being beaten were visible all over his body, and blood was flowing from his mouth along with a groan.
"Hey, waiter, what happened?!"
"Ugh. Great Hero Hong, please save me."
The waiter groaned and looked at Hong Yungae with a pitiful gaze.
Hong Yungae briefly met the waiter's eyes and then turned his eyes to the tavern to see what had happened.
"What's this beggar brat?"
At the same time, several men with rough impressions appeared outside the tavern.
(End of Chapter)
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