“Hehe to be honest this is a present for both you and me.”
“Sorry?”
“There are many letters that even I don’t know. So how about we study together?”
Of course, no person on earth knows all the letters of Zhongyuan. That’s probably why there was a saying that the people of Zhongyuan die without doing three things.
The first is even if they eat other foods throughout their lifetime they cannot taste all the food of Zhongyuan, even if they wander all their lives they cannot see all of Zhongyuan, and even if they learn all their lives they cannot know all the letters of Zhongyuan.
But, at least Do Pyeong-su knew that it was not the time for Geom Woo-bin to read the ‘Thousand Character Classic’. It was because he had seen Geom Woo-bin several times at the boarding house reading a much more difficult book than the ‘Thousand Character Classic’.
“It was because of me that you didn’t read the book at home, I see.”
At first, Geom Woo-bin had the idea of teaching Do Pyeong-su to write pretending not to know.
“I don’t want to disappoint you.”
It was a burdensome present to Do Pyeong-su who gave up learning to write several times.
“Did something like that happen?”
After dinner, while sitting around drinking tea and having random chats, Do Pyeong-su told about the incident in the city during the day.
“Exactly! Should I kill all of those martial art fellows?”
Yeon Geum-hong scolded.
“If we kill for something like that the abolition will love it.”
In the past, she did it as she pleased but now the first thing she considers is Geom Woo-bin.
“To be honest more than the martial art fellows I think that guy who’s a little bothersome is having an eye on the abolition.”
“That guy? Who?”
“Do you know the person named Jung So-myeong?”
As he rolled that name inside his mouth Seo Seok-san hit his knee.
“Ah! You mean the owner of Western Transportation, Hangzhou’s biggest transportation company?”
“Well, looking at that girl call Jung So-myeong as the outsider uncle, seems like she’s the daughter of Namgung Se-ga, and she’s around the age of ten or eleven.”
“It’s Namgung Hye-yeon. Rumour has it said that Namgung Se-ga’s youngest daughter is a prodigy to the point of stepping gently on her three older brothers.”
“Those people have an eye on the abolition?” Asked Seo Seok-san.
Do Pyeong-su narrated the scene that he saw as it is. Seo Seok-san smiled wickedly upon that.
“Hahaha! That impudent girl has a crush on our abolition.”
“Jeez, she’s still young…”
“Hey you, are you saying one cannot have a crush if they’re young? Flowers bloom even in an old tree, so if it’s a young tree indeed it will be in full bloom. In fact, with a face like our Abolition’s of course women will be continuously attached just like how iron powder sticks to the magnet.”
“Didn’t we have any enmity with Namgung Se-ga?”
The four of them just blinked looking at each other’s faces.
Even if there was, it cannot be remembered unless it’s something very special.
“Anyways, we have to be careful. If they get to know the abolition is with us, it can even harm him.”
Yeon Geum-hong continued talking after thinking carefully.
“We need to make the abolition strong sooner than we planned. Since Moorim is a place where we don’t know when something might happen.”
“What? If it’s about Martial Arts, I’m already learning it, am I not?”
Do Pyeong-su shook his head at Geom Woo-bin’s words.
“Now you’re learning very carelessly.”
“But I’m working hard on it…”
“Of course, you’re working hard. We’ll also add our hard work in there. Today we will be practicing Jang Man-dok’s Blood & Iron Martial Arts first, so let’s start with the necessary body training.”
“Blood & Iron Martial Arts?”
“Yes. If you practice it to the extreme you can indeed learn the sword and can reach the point of being immune to ten thousand poisons. Of course, in my music arts…”
As Jang Man-dok glared, Do Pyeong-su spoke with a whimper and pointed at the wooden barrel that was in front.
“First of all, go to that place and do the meditation as the ‘Neigong’ (internal skill) that you learned from the master.”
Geom Woo-bin glanced into the barrel.
Unknown herbs were floating on top of the black water which had white steam rising rapidly as it was hot.
“The color of the water looks suspicious.”
“It’s something that will master the Martial Arts of Blood & Iron, it will be of great help to you.”
Do Pyeong-su explained it instead of Jang Man-dok who was speechless. Since the priests don’t do anything harmful to him, Geom Woo-bin just took off his clothes and went into the barrel.
But the thought that he might even kill himself swept over him.
Even though the water was hot, not only was it very but he felt a pain as if a needle was being poked on his entire body.
“Jang Man-dok is asking if it’s refreshing?”
“Grrr…”
In the heat and sharp pain, Geom Woo-bin only groaned.
“Now you should practice Master’s arts of ‘Cheonji-hapil-gong’ (concept of the unity of man and heaven). Have you memorized all the phrases?”
“Of-, of course.”
Despite the pain, Geom Woo-bin was fully engaged in concentration and recited the phrases of the Neigong.
“Intersecting the miracles of earth and man…”
Throughout last month he could control the flow but now because of pain, it keeps cutting off.
“Concentrate! The flow of energy should never get cut off!”
Do Pyeong-su’s yelling cleared Geom Woo-bin’s mind a little. While Geom Woo-bin is controlling the flow of energy, Do Pyeong-su asked Jang Man-dok in a low voice.
“Isn’t it done as the first step? What? Fourth step? Hey! You crazy!”
The process of practicing Blood & Iron Martial Art is too painful that no one showed up throughout the three hundred years where only the method could be followed.
The reason Jang Man-dok was able to practice that kind of a Blood & Iron Martial Art was thanks to his distinctive patience and Hwa Jeok-san’s systematic seniority method.
Hwa Jeok-san divided the Blood & Iron Martial Art from step one to step twelve, so each stage had a six-month adaptation period.
If it was not for Hwa Jeok-san, the genius of Martial Arts, it wouldn’t have been possible to create such a system, but still, because it was painful, it wouldn’t have succeeded if it was not for Jang Man-dok who was extraordinarily patient.
Yet, it was a painful process, but Jang Man-dok got rid of the first three steps and started from the fourth step right away.
“No matter how much of a hurry you’re in. Is it something that the abolition can die of a heart attack?”
Jang Man-dok motioned towards Geom Woo-bin at the suppressed shouting.
Geom Woo-bin’s expression was fully distorted and his face turned pale but still, he didn’t stop reciting the phrases.
“Alright. Let’s say that the Abolition’s patience is much greater than yours. But still, you went overboard on skipping three steps, didn’t you? What? Ask him to move to step six next? In that case, if something goes wrong, we’ll kill you.”
Thankfully on that day, nothing that could kill Jang Man-dok occurred.
Although Geom Woo-bin lost consciousness after his seniority, it was not life-threatening.
Jang Man-dok stayed overnight beside Geom Woo-bin and did the acupuncture treatment. Do Pyeong-su muttered like a sigh looking through the window of Geom Woo-bin’s room that was lit up.
“That guy Jang Man-dok. He is devoted to Geom Woo-bin like he’s his child, isn’t he?”
“He’s a guy who has always been affectionate.”
Seo Seok-san was standing with the moon as a background behind Do Pyeong-su who was startled.
“Please give a warning at least.”
“You’re next in line, but it must be burdensome if Jang Man-dok is being that sincere.”
“Huh! I won’t do it that ignorantly.”
It was thanks to Jang Man-dok’s acupuncture treatment which he did all night that Geom Woo-bin’s morning was refreshing. However, that energy didn’t last long.
“You want me to wear this on my wrist and ankle?”
“You should wear 3 kilograms on your ankle and only 1.8 kilograms on your wrist. And…”
Do Pyeong-su handed over the iron bar which was about 6 kilograms. The leather was wrapped at the bottom so that it doesn’t slip from his hands.
“You’re aware of the twelve-way slashing of the sword, right?”
“Did I not practice every day.”
“Now move one step at a time while you’re on your way to the boarding house.”
Geom Woo-bin was about to cry.
“But I might get late that way.”
“That’s why you need to work hard.”
“I promised I will work hard on learning martial arts, so…”
Even at a young age, Geom Woo-bin had the belief that he’d keep his promise at all cost. Wearing an iron ball on the wrist and ankle and taking a step forward swinging an iron bar wasn’t easy at all.
Seeing Geom Woo-bin walk out of the door Seo Seok-san clicked his tongue.
“Tut, tut, tut! You won’t do it ignorantly? There’s a lot of ignorance overflowing.”
“All of those matches with the Abolition’s standards. As Jang Man-dok did the acupuncture treatment all night he will be able to bear it enough. Today it’s your turn to guard the Abolition, right? What are you doing without going after him?”
“Pathetic Abolition. How can he meet such nasty priests and suffer like that?
Geom Woo-bin never stepped in vain on his way to the boarding house. He was sweating buckets and even though his arms and legs were shaking he didn’t stop the training that Do Pyeong-su ordered him to do.
On the contrary, when he gets the angle of slashing wrong, he would even step back and swing it right.
‘There is no one to see, so he might do it roughly, right? How can he live in this tough countryside with such a strong heart.’
That night the four of them sat down with their knees together.
After entering Jang Man-dok’s barrel in a terrible training, Geom Woo-bin had already zonked out.
“I was also thinking about Seo Seok-san’s worries. Our Abolition has the perfect personality to be stabbed in the back.”
Do Pyeong-su agreed upon Yeon Geum-hong’s words.
“Exactly. It is an unchangeable truth that the fastest person to die at the Moorim is the good one.”
“Although Martial Arts are also important, we shouldn’t ignore the tricks.”
All of their gazes were towards Yeon Geum-hong.
Those gazes meant, “There is none other than you who can teach that.”
“Of course, among us, I’m the cleverest.”
“That’s not it.”-
Yeon Geum-hong ignored and continued.
“However, I cannot teach anything other than the basics. Who in Moorim would dare to cheat on me?”
All the Blood-lions had a strong power that could crush one’s head.
“At times like this, it’d be perfect if the book written by Manbak Seon-in was there.
“Oh, I know where it is.” Said Do Pyeong-su.
“Huh? You do know it? You? The ignorant one?”
“Of course, I’ve not seen the book but only heard about it. Three years ago, when I was wandering around to find Jangju, no, the master, I dropped by a place called Mt. Seon-In cabin at Anhui….ah! ‘Seon Ju-hyeon’. Over there, I heard from Jangju that it’s there.”
“From whom did you hear?”
“From Jangju directly. That there is a book written by Manbak Seon-in, and if sold, one can make a lot of money out of it.”
Everyone was glaring at Do Pyeong-su with their eyes wide open.
“What exactly did you do in there?”
“I was out of money, at the right moment there was a quite large manor, I just went in.”
“Went in and?”
“I said I wanted money for traveling purposes. There was a small accident in the midst of it, but it was nothing great.”
“You committed robbery. You robbed.”
“Will you be able to find it if you go again?” Asked Yeon Geum-hong.
“My sense of direction is amazingly bright, isn’t it?”
“If it’s ‘Seon Ju-hyeon’ of Anhui province, a three-day round-trip would be enough, right?”
“If you hurry, it will take two days and a half, right?”
Yeon Geum-hong wrote the words ‘Manbak Seon-in’ and the name of the book on a piece of paper and handed it over to Do Pyeong-su.
“You just have to bring the book that has the same letters as in this, can you do it?”
“Would it still be there?”
“Even if you have to cut off Jangju’s limbs, find it and bring it.”
“What kind of a book is it, that you’re doing this?”
“It can be called Moorim’s Art of War. It’s a book that you can even practice mind-reading. Wouldn’t it be a must-have thing for the abolition now?”
Do Pyeong-su stood up right away.
“Are you going now?”
“It’s a must-have thing for the abolition, so I have to quickly bring it and give it to him.”
“Until Do Pyeong-su returns, let’s teach the basics.”
Said Seo Seok-san to Yeon Geum-hong.
When he said that the kid’s name was Geom Woo-bin, she thought it fits his face well.
“He is working at that age? But not attending school?”
“It looks like a poor household.”
“What work is he doing?”
“They say he’s a waiter at the boarding house.”
As she recalled Geom Woo-bin’s face and the word ‘waiter’, she felt a huge gap in between.
“Is he seriously a waiter?”
“As I heard from the people around, they say he does his work well.”
“Where does he work?”