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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: The Undefeated Cheon Muryang
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Fortunately, starting the next day, the sparring opponents who showed up didn't concede defeat before even crossing blades.
"You're here?"
"Yes, Young Master."
They were like Cha Myeong-hak—people who had built up grudges against the old Cheon Muryang.
Most of them saw him as arrogant and cocky, someone who threw his weight around just because of his status.
"Shall we begin, then?"
"Yes. Please, go easy on me."
He even gave a polite warning.
Thinking that would be his last act of kindness, he swung his sword at Cheon Muryang.
Whoosh!
It was a clean strike, without any wasted motion.
He could already picture it: the opponent staggering back, dodging, or collapsing to the ground in fear.
"Go easy?"
But Cheon Muryang didn't retreat.
He showed no sign of dodging, nor any fear.
'When did he move?'
He had no idea.
He saw a sword soaring high into the sky.
Then it came crashing down.
Like a bolt of lightning.
"Gah!"
He couldn't help but flinch in shock.
He had moved first, yet it felt like Cheon Muryang's sword would reach him first.
Swoosh!
So, he made the worst possible choice.
He pulled back his advancing sword to block Cheon Muryang's.
Clang!
Sword met sword.
But the result was devastating.
The sword that tried to block the already accelerating Heavenly Light Sword shattered completely.
Splat!
The Heavenly Light Sword, plummeting toward his crown, veered slightly off to the side and stopped between his shoulder and neck.
Bzzz!
But its sharp aura split his skin open.
Blood trickled from the small wound.
"H-How...?"
He couldn't believe the outcome.
His eyes, trembling as he denied reality, fixed on his own sword, shattered beyond repair.
"You should've gone easy. Tsk."
Cheon Muryang withdrew his sword.
The match was over.
Wol Yeong hurried over to tend to the wound.
"What kind of sword technique was that...?"
"An overhead strike. You didn't recognize it even after seeing it?"
"...!"
"Anyway, good work. If there's another chance next time, let's spar again."
Pat.
Cheon Muryang patted his shoulder a few times before heading to the corner of the training ground.
Swoosh!
To swing his sword once more.
The absurdity left him speechless.
"..."
"Are you all right? I've done some basic first aid for now."
"Th-Thank you."
"No trouble at all."
Wol Yeong felt a quiet sense of pride that the medicine and bandages she'd prepared in case Cheon Muryang got hurt were coming in handy this way.
"Do you always train like this?"
"Yes. Every single day, without fail."
"..."
He clenched his fists tight.
Just a month ago, on a rainy day.
Back when Cheon Muryang was still just running laps around the training ground.
He had been one of those betting on whether the spoiled young master would show up to run or not.
'Was I the fool...?'
He left the training ground without a word.
Suddenly, Neung Ryeo-un came to mind.
'So that's why he suddenly threw himself into training.'
At some point, Neung Ryeo-un had stopped hanging out with anyone and devoted himself solely to cultivation.
Everyone had thought it was just because he'd lost to the spoiled young master.
'It wasn't that.'
Cha Myeong-hwan was the same.
The two weren't close, but they shared something.
'Now I know what it was.'
The Cheon Clan was a martial family.
As such, there were many training grounds within the estate.
Some were so remote that no one used them.
Neung Ryeo-un and Cha Myeong-hak.
The two had started gathering at one of those abandoned grounds to train.
'I wonder if they're there.'
Having lost to Cheon Muryang himself, he felt drawn there as if compelled.
Wol Yeong tilted her head.
'It feels like everyone who gets involved with the Young Master ends up changing.'
She herself was no exception.
Wol Yeong realized she was now gazing at the young master with warm eyes.
"Keep it up."
Wol Yeong rolled down her sleeves.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
After that, Cheon Muryang's routine stayed the same.
Training. And spars.
Surprisingly, he didn't lose a single time.
Rumors even spread that the young master had been hiding his true strength all along.
Of course, Yi Seok-gi and his clique still dismissed it as nonsense, insisting it couldn't be true—but every time they did, Yi Seok-gi's reputation sank lower.
Whoosh!
Wol Yeong smiled as she watched today's trainee get sent flying, right on cue.
"Over here. Let me take care of that wound for you!"
She had gotten quite skilled at treating injuries by now.
"How was it?"
When she asked this, they usually either...
"..."
went silent,
or
"Damn it! If I hadn't let my guard down!"
threw a tantrum.
One of the two.
Today was the latter.
"Ah, I see."
Squeeze!
Whenever she dealt with the latter type, Wol Yeong made sure to grip their wounds a bit harder.
"Ow!"
"Oh! Sorry! I'm still a bit clumsy!"
"..."
What could they do? It was an accident.
Wol Yeong grumbled at his retreating back.
"Let his guard down, my foot. He was dead serious. Who does he think he's fooling?"
Cheon Muryang couldn't hold back his laughter at the sight.
"Your mouth's gotten awfully sharp, Wol Yeong."
"They're the ones spouting sweet lies. Anyone could see they gave it their all."
"Probably embarrassed, that's why."
"Even so, once you pick up a sword, you should accept the outcome. Especially if you're supposed to be a real man—not some sniveling kid!"
"C-Calm down."
Wol Yeong was pretty heated.
Lately, there seemed to be more of the tantrum types than the silent ones.
"I swear, all these recent challengers seem to have it out for you, Young Master."
"Ah, probably."
Cheon Seon-hak must have been handpicking them on purpose.
Maybe he didn't even need to.
There would be no shortage of volunteers.
"They must be lining up to take a shot at me."
"Why?"
"I beat the top trainee, remember? And I'm undefeated so far. Beat a guy like me, and...?"
"Ah! Yeah, when you put it that way."
Wol Yeong nodded.
Come to think of it, Cheon Muryang hadn't lost once yet.
"He probably picked the ones who hate my guts first."
"You're okay with that?"
"Of course. It's way better this way."
Cheon Muryang grinned.
It was actually preferable.
Those who wielded swords should settle things with swords—that was the best way.
The problem was with those who didn't.
"The thing I asked for..."
"Ah, still compiling it."
"Alright. Thanks."
He had asked Wol Yeong for one thing.
Records of all the misdeeds the old him had committed.
'It's my burden to bear.'
There was a reason why Wol Yeong was the young master's only exclusive maid.
The others couldn't endure his tyranny and had either left the clan or transferred elsewhere.
After that, no one wanted the position.
'That's why they only assigned Wol Yeong, who stubbornly stuck with it to the end.'
Cheon Muryang had left them with scars and humiliations that couldn't be washed away.
Until he made amends, he couldn't move forward.
"Wol Yeong."
"Yes?"
"If I've ever wronged you too... don't hide it. Tell me everything."
"..."
"Got it?"
"Yes, Young Master."
Wol Yeong's complexion darkened.
Cheon Muryang forced himself to resume training.
Today, his focus was especially off.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
On the cusp between dawn and morning.
Through the window of Cheon Muryang's room, the rising sun peeked in from the east.
Circulating his qi while watching it was how Cheon Muryang started his day.
The massive energy from the spirit medicines—still heavy as boulders—was blocking the key pathways of his Ren and Du meridians, the main routes into his dantian.
'It should be circulating by now...'
Yang energy from the perineum to the crown.
Yin energy from the crown to the perineum.
That cycle had to connect.
But Cheon Muryang's body wasn't completing it properly.
'Lucky my meridians widened, at least.'
Spirit medicines required constant effort from ingestion until they were fully assimilated.
But he'd missed the prime window, turning what should have taken ten parts effort into something that demanded a hundred—and still fell short.
'Everything has its season. Missing that golden window is why I'm suffering like this. Tsk.'
Cheon Muryang felt a pang of regret deep down.
If only he could absorb that overflowing energy filling his dantian or move it outside, he could ride the momentum to open his Ren and Du meridians.
'Such a shame.'
But it was impossible.
Rooted so deeply, it would take gradual heart method refinement—or something powerful enough to encompass that massive energy.
'Azure Void Spirit Oil, Great Return Pill, or Supreme Azure Pill might do it.'
Anything less would just poison him.
Cheon Muryang refused to pin hopes on the impossible.
'Getting into the Heavenly Dragon Library and learning an ascension heart method is my top priority.'
Thanks to diligently practicing the Heavenly Sun Divine Art, he'd reached the seventh star.
'It's a solid heart method, sure. But that's all it is.'
Its shortcomings were glaring.
It felt like something essential was missing.
'The ascension heart method must fill that gap.'
So, he believed entering the Heavenly Dragon Library would make things far smoother.
Flicker.
Finishing his circulation, Cheon Muryang rose.
"Whew."
His body felt refreshed.
Probably from expelling waste through the circulation.
"The stench is no joke."
"Young Master, you're awake?"
Right on schedule.
Wol Yeong entered as if she'd been waiting.
"Ah, yeah."
"Oh my, Young Master! You've lost even more weight!"
Wol Yeong made a fuss.
"Hm. Feels like it."
He definitely sensed the change.
'Well, he was a spoiled brat in temperament, but his looks weren't bad to begin with.'
Not just 'not bad.'
If not for his rotten personality, he might have been called a dashing young noble.
'Ugh.'
Though imagining him reciting poetry by the lake was still impossible.
"Straight to the training ground?"
"Gotta wash up first."
"Yes! Oh, and breakfast too."
Under the guise of slimming down.
Cheon Muryang stuck strictly to Wol Yeong's meal plan.
"Weed soup again today?"
"No! Special menu today! Lunch only, though!"
Twitch.
Cheon Muryang's eyebrow twitched.
"Special?"
"Yes. You can look forward to it!"
"For real?"
"Of course! But you have to come back to your room on time? Eating at the training ground would draw too many eyes..."
"Ah, right. Got it."
"Oh, right. Young Master."
"Hm? What?"
"The Patriarch's coming back today."
"Really?"
"Yes. Everyone else is probably in a frenzy right now."
Protocol, after all.
Even if the higher-ups didn't care, the underlings obsessed over it.
"Must be chaos."
"Yes. That's why I'm sneaking in the special meal!"
"Ah. Looking forward to it."
"So, you won't see me at the training ground this morning?"
"Got it. I'm not a kid."
Cheon Muryang stripped and washed up.
In the meantime, Wol Yeong changed the bedding and left the breakfast she'd prepared herself before leaving.
"Time to head back, then."
The Patriarch was returning today.
To Cheon Muryang, he was his father.
And to Nameless, the benefactor who had taken in a man with nowhere to go.
'Having to call the Patriarch "Father"... I once dreamed of this, even briefly.'
Who could have known that dream would come true in this form?
He wanted to see him as soon as possible.
"Hope he gets back soon."
Cheon Muryang headed to the training ground.
Full of anticipation at the thought of soon meeting the Patriarch.