Chapter 23: We Meet Again. -01
Ban Hojin received the utmost hospitality at the Seo Family Estate.
He was treated as if he were an honored guest.
Yet no one found this strange.
Rather, all of the Seo Family’s servants felt regretful that they could not take even better care of him.
“Haah, haah!”
Seo Joun, who had put on a fair amount of weight, followed Ban Hojin through physical training before collapsing onto the ground.
Thanks to having eaten balanced meals all this time, Seo Joun’s body had become completely different from before.
The body that had once been skinny and scrawny now had flesh and muscle on it, and his height had also grown considerably in a short period of time.
Just seven days ago, he had looked no different from a child.
“If you’re tired, rest before continuing. You absolutely must not overdo it right now. Your body hasn’t finished forming yet.”
“But wouldn’t it be better to train to the limit?”
“Do you even know when that point is?”
Ban Hojin let out a snort of laughter.
As befitting someone born with the Nine Yang Severed Meridians, Seo Joun certainly possessed a genius-level intellect.
As the saying went, teach him one and he understood ten.
However, being smart and being experienced were entirely different matters.
“I don’t know, but you do, big brother. You can tell at a glance.”
“Are you saying I should devote all my time to you?”
Ban Hojin scoffed at the sight of Seo Joun smiling with his eyes despite being a man.
Training was absolutely necessary to survive, but he had no intention of pouring an excessive amount of time into Seo Joun.
“Come on, I’m just asking you to give me advice little by little when we train together. That’s not really stealing your time, is it?”
“If you go out into Murim, women will line up for you.”
“Pardon?”
Seo Joun blinked at the completely off-topic remark.
He was flustered by the sudden comment.
“Being born with natural talent is already unfair enough, but to give you looks as well. Heaven really is unjust.”
“Haha! I am rather handsome. Honestly, even I didn’t expect my looks to turn out like this.”
Seo Joun laughed cheerfully toward Ban Hojin, who spoke as if he were genuinely envious.
He sounded slightly embarrassed as well.
But this was the truth.
Because he had been little more than skin stretched over bones, Seo Joun himself had never had any idea what he actually looked like.
“You’d better keep your middle leg under control. Plenty of people have ruined their entire families by misusing that thing.”
“Aren’t heroes said to be fond of women? At my level, wouldn’t having three wives and four concubines be possible?”
“……Right. The bigger the dream, the better.”
He wanted to scold him, but when he thought of Seo Joun having lived in pain ever since birth, having such dreams did not seem all that strange.
If he could not be treated, he would die before turning twenty. If he had not even been able to indulge in imagination, he would not have endured this long.
And without ability, it would have been reckless bravado—but Seo Joun, who had completely healed the Nine Yang Severed Meridians, was a peerless genius.
Even the currently arrogant Four Dragons would clearly not dare compare themselves to him a few years down the line.
“You could do it too, big brother.”
“I do want to marry, but I don’t desire three wives and four concubines.”
“But you wouldn’t refuse if the opportunity came, right?”
“If I like her, there’s no reason to push her away, right? Still, I don’t plan on meeting just any woman.”
Ban Hojin’s view on marriage was firm.
It was good if she was pretty, but he did not judge solely by appearance.
What mattered most was whether they suited each other or not.
“That’s the same for everyone. Who would want to meet a bad woman? I don’t plan on meeting just anyone either.”
“At your age, it’s good to meet many people.”
“But you’re only twenty yourself, big brother. We’re just three years apart.”
“You and I are different. Even when I was only at Shaolin, it’s not like I never met women.”
“Ugh!”
Seo Joun clutched his chest.
When it came out like this, he had nothing to say.
“And you’re not at an age to be thinking about women yet. You need to build your body quickly and train in martial arts.”
“There’s something I want to ask.”
“What is it?”
“Is Sambong really that pretty? You said you’ve seen them. The Three Phoenixes of Murim.”
Seo Joun’s eyes sparkled brightly.
Though he might be considered precocious for his age, Seo Joun was still at a time of life when his blood ran hot and he was full of curiosity about women.
Moreover, having spent most of his time in bed until recently, he could not help but be curious about the Three Phoenixes, said to be the most beautiful in Murim.
“They’re pretty, yes.”
“So how pretty are they? Are they really like celestial maidens? Enough to make you lose your soul the moment you see them?”
“I’m not sure. When you see them, you just think they’re pretty. Their nicknames do a good job of describing their appearances as well.”
“If I make my debut into Jianghu, I might run into them, right?”
“I suppose so.”
Ban Hojin nodded.
For an ordinary martial artist or a rising junior, it would not be easy to encounter them, but Seo Joun was different.
With his innate genius talent and having mastered the Blazing Deity Divine Art, it was clear that once he entered Jianghu, his name would spread before long.
If that happened, meeting the Three Phoenixes would not be impossible.
“If I’m with you, big brother, I’ll be able to meet them even sooner, right?”
“Who knows. Fate doesn’t always go the way you want. Sometimes effort works, and sometimes it doesn’t.”
“I feel like I’ll meet them very soon. My intuition is telling me so.”
Despite the vague answer, Seo Joun’s expression remained full of anticipation.
Like the saying that only those who dream can achieve their dreams, Seo Joun believed that if he kept striving, he would someday meet the Three Phoenixes.
No—simply imagining it already made him feel good.
“Enough with the fantasies. Let’s start again.”
“Yes! But, big brother.”
“What?”
“Do you really think I can do it?”
Running side by side with Ban Hojin across the training grounds, Seo Joun asked carefully.
The only thing he had been taught was the Blazing Deity Divine Art.
He had not been taught any other martial arts at all.
As a result, Seo Joun had no choice but to learn his family’s martial arts, and that point made him uneasy.
“Why do you think you can’t?”
“There’s compatibility, and…….”
“With your talent, you’ll be able to modify the Seo Family’s martial arts so they harmonize with the Blazing Deity Divine Art. I’ll give you advice as well. Or do you think your family’s martial arts don’t suit the Blazing Deity Divine Art?”
“That too, a little. The main family’s martial arts are excellent, but the Blazing Deity Divine Art is one of the top Yang-attribute cultivation arts under heaven.”
Seo Joun replied in a tone clearly different from before.
He did not think that the Seo Family’s martial arts were inferior in any way.
However, when judged calmly, it was true that it fell short when compared to the Blazing Deity Divine Art.
“My thoughts are different.”
“Yes?”
“Do you know what I saw when I first came to the Seo Family Estate?”
“Um, you probably saw the main gate first, right?”
Seo Joun spoke with a puzzled expression.
After all, the main gate was the first thing one saw upon arriving at the Seo Family Estate.
There was also a rear gate, but most visitors came through the main gate.
“That’s right. More precisely, I saw the history and martial arts of the Seo Family Estate. I suppose you could say I saw the past and the present at the same time.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Seo Joun blinked both eyes at the incomprehensible words.
It felt like he was speaking in riddles more than usual today.
“The Seo Family’s sword arts are not inferior even when compared to the Blazing Deity Divine Art. If you master them properly and bring them to great completion, they are more than sufficient to make you unrivaled in Jianghu.”
“W-What?!”
Seo Joun’s eyes widened like oil lamps.
He was shocked by the completely unexpected statement.
However, Ban Hojin had not said this to instill confidence in Seo Joun.
He had merely stated exactly what he felt, without exaggeration or omission.
“So don’t entertain strange thoughts and focus on just one thing. Devoting yourself to martial arts. Think of that alone.”
“I understand.”
Seo Joun’s voice sank low.
But it was not because he felt offended or discouraged.
Rather, Seo Joun was happy.
Because a martial artist of Ban Hojin’s caliber had acknowledged his family’s martial arts.
‘So that’s how highly big brother regarded the main family’s martial arts.’
Even while running, Seo Joun’s thoughts continued to branch endlessly.
Though the world called Ban Hojin the Divine Dragon and acknowledged him as the strongest among the rising juniors of the Orthodox Martial World, Seo Joun believed that even that revealed only a fraction of Ban Hojin’s true self.
Having received Ban Hojin’s help while battling Extreme Yang Energy, Seo Joun had felt it.
Just how underestimated Ban Hojin truly was.
‘I should read it again tonight.’
That was why Seo Joun did not take Ban Hojin’s words lightly.
He was certain that there was something his father and older brothers had failed to see.
‘Or I can develop it myself. The me of now can do it.’
Seo Joun’s eyes shone.
If something was lacking, it was simply a matter of filling it in.
He possessed an outstanding intellect, and now he also had the Blazing Deity Divine Art.
Moreover, he had plenty of time, so developing his family’s martial arts would not be difficult.
‘And I have big brother too.’
Though he had only just reached the age of coming of age, Ban Hojin was profoundly knowledgeable in martial arts.
So much so that it was hard to believe he was only twenty years old.
Through their conversations thus far, Seo Joun could tell that Ban Hojin had gone beyond merely knowing martial arts and had built his own theories and Martial Path, which lightened Seo Joun’s heart.
If he had been alone, he would have gone through countless trials and errors, but with Ban Hojin by his side, Seo Joun could attempt things without hesitation.
Contrary to expectations, his stay at the Seo Family Estate had grown longer, but that was not necessarily a bad thing for Ban Hojin.
Having returned to the past with the realm he had attained before death, Ban Hojin had, in truth, been harboring a bit of arrogance.
Though he had not yet fully recovered the realm of his previous life, he believed that he would not easily lose to anyone.
He also thought that, aside from the Murim Ten Kings, there was no one among his peers whose talent could compare to his own.
Yet that arrogance was utterly shattered the moment he began teaching Seo Joun in earnest.
By teaching Seo Joun, he came to realize what a true genius among geniuses was like.
“This is insane.”
Watching Seo Joun improve day by day, Ban Hojin could hardly believe his own eyes.
Even the phrase “teach one and learn ten” was insufficient to describe Seo Joun’s rate of growth.
His proficiency might still have been lacking, but his understanding and execution of techniques and forms were flawless.
Seeing him step through footwork and trace sword paths without the slightest deviation, despite not yet being fully seasoned, made Ban Hojin click his tongue.
“And his inner energy is abundant too.”
Despite having entered martial arts at seventeen, Seo Joun’s accumulated energy was astonishingly greater than even Namgung Gwang, who was called the Heavenly Dragon.
And it was increasing with each passing day.
The Extreme Yang Energy that had tormented Seo Joun had now become his strength.
What was more, Seo Joun’s Extreme Yang Energy was even pure.
“This is what true unfairness looks like.”
Ban Hojin had always been called a genius himself, but Seo Joun was on a different level.
Of course, due to his lack of experience, his actual combat power was insignificant, but what mattered was his growth curve.
At his current rate of growth, it was clear that within a year he would catch up to most rising juniors.
“I’ve completed all one thousand repetitions of Il Do Yang Dan!”
“Am I raising a monster?”
“Pardon? What do you mean by that?”
“Would it make you seem more human if you were at least lacking in the basics?”
Seo Joun tilted his head.
As Ban Hojin once again spoke words he could not understand, Seo Joun had no idea how to respond.
“No. I was just feeling a bit jealous.”
“You were jealous of me, big brother?”
“Yeah. Even if your short-lived fate was changed, your talent is still on an absurd level. On top of that, you’re not just gifted in martial arts—you’re smart too.”
“But if you hadn’t saved me, I would have died within three years. So don’t worry. I plan to use my abilities only for you and for the Central Plains. Ah, there’s one more thing. I also plan to use them for my family.”
As he said that, Seo Joun carefully read Ban Hojin’s expression.
He worried that his last statement might have displeased him.
“That’s only natural. What could be more important than family? I just hope you don’t abuse your power.”
“Hahaha. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
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