Chapter 20

After listening to his brother’s request to the end, Lee Ja-eon replied.

“······Kang Ho-sik, the former secretary—this is something you should have done long ago.”

Hearing Lee Ja-eon’s muttered words, tinged with reproach, Lee Hwa-eon nodded.

“Exactly.”

Lee Ja-eon nodded as if to accept your request.

“I’ll look into it.”

Lee Hwa-eon stared at his younger brother. To be honest, this was the first time in his life he felt his brother was dependable.

Lee Hwa-eon cleared his throat and said.

“Thank you. You’ll have to put in some effort.”

For a moment, the brothers locked eyes before simultaneously looking away.

‘Damn it…’

‘Tsk.’

It was an awkward moment that nearly drove them mad.

“I’m leaving.”

“Go ahead.”

As Lee Hwa-eon disappeared as if she were busy, Lee Ja-eon, left alone, muttered with a serious expression, chin resting on his hand.

“Things are getting more and more urgent.”

It wasn’t actually that urgent. In any case, Lee Ja-eon intended to personally assess Kang Ho-sik’s former secretary and apply him to the merchant guild. He thought it was a bit too difficult a task to entrust to merchants who only knew how to sell goods.

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Dan Woo-seong sat motionless in the moonlit room, practicing his breathing exercises. His clothes were damp with the waste products expelled from his body, and a musty odor filled the room.

This smell had a story behind it.

It included the toxins from alcohol he had once drunk and food his body couldn’t detoxify, and the blood that had become murky as a result.

During the journey from the fourth to the fifth stage, the body underwent a thorough cleansing of the marrow. It was the moment when the negative remnants accumulated day by day by the great prince vanished completely.

So what did it matter if the place he stayed became dirty?

Danwooseong opened his eyes and gazed upon a world now clearer than before. It was as if his physical grade had risen, and his sensory capabilities had increased accordingly.

Dan Woo-sung gazed at his fist and channeled his brain energy into it.

The aura emanating from his heart grew clearer than before, flowing out as a distinct white light. It wrapped around his hand and extended toward his fingers. As he spread his fingers, the aura, rising like heat haze, emitted a peculiar sound and spun round and round according to Danwooseong’s will.

It was the fifth level of the Ten Thousand Battles Ten Thousand Fingers technique.

Dan Woo-sung grinned.

“It’s done.”

The sixth level (六段) signified the ability to completely envelop not just the hands, but any body part in brain energy. The seventh level (七段), as commonly expressed, marked a change in one’s qi. This was because one could now envelop the entire body in brain energy.

The eighth and ninth ranks signified the level of brain energy projected outward, while the ultimate tenth rank was a symbolic stage representing the realm of enlightenment where one could wield brain energy with complete mastery.

This was precisely why it was so difficult to achieve great success in sects that cultivated brain energy. Advancing through each stage required either a long period of accumulating inner strength or a constant supply of the necessary elixirs.

But this was the path Dan Woo-seong had walked in his past life. He utilized elixirs more efficiently than anyone.

Now, the expression on his face had subtly changed.

As his extreme yang energy steadily accumulated, his once delicate features gradually transformed into an overbearing aura. The fading impression of delicacy meant the energy within his body now influenced his facial expression. It would be accurate to say he had become a man with a bold, commanding presence. A person’s face inevitably changes according to their state of mind and experiences.

Danwooseong rose and opened the door.

Even though it was deep into the night, the Ssangbo brothers were still arm-wrestling to fight off sleep.

The Ssangbo brothers relaxed their stance and said.

“Are you done?”

“Good work. What about a late-night snack?”

“We didn’t eat.”

“I’ll wash up quickly, then let’s go to the communal dining hall and eat together.”

“Yes.”

As Danwooseong went to wash up, the Ssangbo brothers sniffed around before entering the room and starting to tidy the bedding themselves. These were men entirely unaccustomed to giving orders to anyone. They stripped off the bedding, opened the windows, and began cleaning the room. Then, both men stopped moving and looked at each other.

A thunderous rumbling sounded from their stomachs at the same moment.

Then, as if nothing had happened, they resumed cleaning.

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The three of them ate their meal, occasionally smiling.

Simply eating delicious rice without any particular worries was happiness itself. Yuk Jinbo looked at Danwooseong and said.

“Brother, your aura has changed. Have you grown stronger?”

Dan Wooseong nodded. He was now accustomed to the Ssangbo brothers’ tone—that straightforward, almost punch-like delivery. Dan Wooseong responded just like Yuk Jinbo.

“I’ve grown stronger.”

Yuk Myeong-bo said.

“Congratulations. And thank you, once again. The sleeping arrangements are more comfortable than before, and the food is superb. Everything is thanks to you, Brother. Above all, we brothers have also become much stronger than before.”

Danwooseong smiled.

“It’s far off. We’ll become stronger than you can even imagine right now. Both you and I.”

The Ssangbo brothers uttered words that carried a slightly different tone than their usual phrases.

“Because we grow stronger day by day, the food tastes even better.”

Yuk Myeong-bo said.

“Training is fun now too.”

Dan Woosung nodded. This was what mattered more than human insight. The brothers were now enjoying the process of mastering martial arts.

Dan Woo-sung deliberately held back his words. The two were promising talents. He intended to teach and support them as best he could, but leave the rest to their own devices. How strong they would become was impossible to predict.

Dan Woo-sung declared as if making a vow.

“Let’s get strong. I want to get strong. Madly strong.”

The Ssangbo brothers absorbed Dan Woo-sung’s words, his gaze, and even his expression as if carving them into their hearts.

As if their motivation surged with their full stomachs, Yuk Jinbo asked.

“Brother, shall we train until dawn today?”

Dan Woo-sung shook his head.

“No, we’ll rest.”

As the Ssangbo brothers blinked, Danwooseong said.

“You should sleep after digesting your food. We handle the training, but recovery is up to your bodies. Since you’re learning the Black Bullet Rebound Technique, you need even more rest time. Training until dawn is too much.”

“Yes, understood.”

Dan Woo-sung sent the two back to the annex and let out a sigh. He sensed there was one more man in the household who needed to be trained harshly.

The youngest, Lee Ja-eon.

Judging by his disposition and character thus far, it was clear he wouldn’t venture into the Upper Realm. In truth, he lacked the ability to do so. The Upper Realm was no place to be taken lightly.

Dan Woo-sung pressed his forehead for a moment, deep in thought.

He wasn’t physically superior to the Ssangbo brothers, nor was he more patient than either of them. If he had to find something outstanding about himself, it was only that he was Gang Ho-chung. He was a weakling in many ways. At that moment, a phrase Lee Ja-eon often babbled about when he was young suddenly flashed through his mind.

‘The sword is truly the king of all weapons! Woo-ha-ha-ha!’

Dan Woo-seong muttered as he entered his quarters.

“Crazy bastard.”

A passing attendant startled and retorted.

“Huh?”

“Ah, never mind. Just talking to myself. Go inside and rest.”

“Yes, Master, please rest well.”

Dan Woo-sung’s training method was something only the Ssangbo brothers could handle. As for Lee Ja-eon, he was the type who’d run away after a few days of training, complaining he’d die.

‘How can I turn this useless brat into a proper person?’

Dan Woo-sung pondered this as he entered his room, gazing at the moon outside the window.

‘If I give up easily, I wouldn’t be the King of Power.’

He was merely an imitator of martial arts, and his body wasn’t as prepared as the Sega clan’s offspring, but he intended to somehow weave in the characteristic of being a martial world pest to wage psychological warfare. Danwooseong briefly sketched his rough plan in his mind. A moment later, he added this name to his plan.

‘A fateful encounter disguised as coincidence.’

Suddenly, Dan Wooseong felt a pang of self-doubt, wondering if he really had to go this far. But since he intended to take good care of his family, brothers, and friends, he pushed those negative thoughts aside.

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The next day, three young martial artists stood staring blankly at the main gate of the Galaxy Trading Company. All three wore expressions of displeasure or reluctance.

‘It’s just a merchant guild that looks like it’s rolling in money, right?’

The trio consisted of Ouyang Ming, the second young master of the Ouyang family and a swordsman; Ouyang Yun, the third young master and a swordsman; and Shen Zhaobai, a man regarded as the finest from their maternal clan.

Alongside Ouyang Yi, the eldest son of the Ouyang family who hadn’t come here, they were collectively known as the Four Talents of the Ouyang family.

The common thread among these three was that they were of a similar age to the eldest son of the Milky Way Trading Guild.

It wasn’t a martial arts sect, but merely a merchant guild’s young master. Sending the Gu family’s top masters or even the young master would have been nothing but an adult bullying a child. No matter what happened, Baek Do-man stubbornly prioritized saving face above all else.

The eldest, Gu Yangming, stated thus:

“What Father demanded is that the three of us each defeat the Grand Prince of the Eunha Trading Guild once. That means we must inflict three consecutive defeats. Therefore, we must not kill him outright. That kind of pride cannot be restored that way. Understood?”

Gu Yangyun gave a slight nod.

“Yes, brother.”

Gu Yangming looked at Xin Xiaobai, who hadn’t answered. Xin Xiaobai spat the doggrass he’d been chewing onto the floor and replied curtly.

“Understood. But are you two planning to use weapons? As for me, I’ll be using my sword technique from the start, so I have no qualms.”

They knew the young master of the Eunha Trading Company used ‘fist techniques’. Since the Gu family’s young masters naturally trained in both weaponry and fist techniques, it was a matter worth considering.

Gu Yangming said.

“Wouldn’t it be more satisfying to strike with bare hands?”

Gu Yangyun tilted his head.

“I lack confidence, so I’ll just use my sword.”

Gu Yangming frowned.

“You don’t believe in yourself?”

“Yes. He is the man who defeated Lord Gu Yanghou, isn’t he? Even if he was a distant relative who had been pushed aside by the main family for quite some time, he was a man with extensive experience in the martial world.”

Gu Yangming chuckled.

“Enough with that nonsense about experience… He lost simply because he lacked skill. What good are age and experience in the martial world? The strong prevail, plain and simple. We trained from the moment we could walk, so our training time isn’t any shorter than Gu Yanghou’s.”

Gu Yangyun smiled.

“Yes, please come in.”

After the Gu Yang brothers entered the Galaxy Trading Company first, Xin Xiaobai looked around, surveying the long wall and the surroundings.

“You’re living well.”

Even someone from the Shin family would have been impressed. Unlike his two brothers from the main house, Shin So-baek stretched his body at the gate of the Eunha Trading Company. He neither looked down on his opponent nor deliberately held them in high regard. Shin So-baek considered this the last time he would handle tasks assigned by the Shin family. He intended to throw himself into the Martial Arts Alliance to escape the interference of the main house. Shin So-baek had separately summoned the one who had observed the duel and listened to a detailed recount of the entire process. No matter how much he thought about it, Shin So-baek judged that this was no easy opponent.

ⓒ Yoo Jin-seong

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