Chapter 76

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"Can I go see paintings with Seong-a later?"

"Of course, of course. Everyone in the family is busy, but I feel a bit embarrassed just painting flowers all day..."

As Seokbanan faintly smiled, the people passing by were startled and stopped, then left with their pace significantly slowed.

Ryeon thought he understood why Seokbanan and Danmokhyonyo got married.

The pain and struggles of the two people were probably only seen as a fragment of beauty by others.

"Oh! Aunt is very busy these days, as she's in charge of sending messages to the collateral line."

"Yes, your aunt is always very diligent."

"She said she wishes someone could write those letters for her..."

"Letters?"

"Yes, the letters inviting people from the collateral line. Since we are martial artists, our writing isn't very good. Aunt didn't say it so bluntly, though."

"Oh, I see..."

Seokbanan trailed off, unable to say otherwise, but a strange vitality flickered in his eyes.

Seokbanan was born as the third son of a giant trading house. The successor was decided early, so what could the youngest son of a wealthy family do?

He was intelligent but not outstanding, and he had desires but not fierce ones.

So he was content with enjoying poetry, calligraphy, and painting, but he was still a person with eyes, ears, and a heart.

'He must have heard a lot of things through the grapevine at the Fenglin Trading House.'

Ryeon's ultimate plan was to gradually get involved in the family business, learn how a giant trading house like the Fenglin Trading House makes money and manages people, and apply that to the family business. He also wanted to use Seokbanan's artistic eye for business.

For example, if Seokbanan drew small pine tree paintings wishing for longevity and health, and Ryeon infused them with spirit energy, they would truly have the effect of wishing for longevity and health.

'Ah, this doesn't really require much artistic insight, does it? But he draws well, so it's fine!'

Regardless, even if it wasn't a political marriage, it was still impressive that he had been treated like a guest all this time, despite being from a giant trading house and not knowing martial arts.

Even his wife, Danmokhyonyo, who loved him, excluded him from family affairs because "he doesn't know martial arts." This was probably inevitable given that he grew up in a martial arts family.

But how can one live on love alone?

It was impressive that Seokbanan had managed to get by all this time just as a companion to the person he loved.

A person cannot live without water, but they cannot live on water alone.

Seokbanan unconsciously quickened his pace, then stopped to match Ryeon's pace, trying to hide his excitement.

Ryeon smiled with a satisfied expression as he looked at Seokbanan.

* * *

Baegyumin's eyes snapped open.

His eyes hurt as if they were being stabbed, and he noticed the sunset. The low, deep crimson of the setting sun was attacking him.

"Ah!"

His last memory was being beaten up by that pretty boy. Baegyumin's face turned pale.

At the same time, Baegyumin sprang up from his seat. Despite being unconscious on the cold ground for a while and being beaten up earlier, moving was not difficult.

'I have to run!'

Baegyumin immediately looked for a place to escape. This area was not safe. That expert who had returned to his prime would catch and kill him if he tried to run.

'Far, far... as far as possible!'

His granddaughter was in Hangzhou, so he wouldn't come looking that far.

'How far...?'

Nanzhili City was practically right in front of him.

Henan Province, where the Wulin Alliance was located? It wasn't that far from here.

Sichuan Province? It was quite a distance, but a boat ride on the Yangtze River would get him there in no time.

Even further!

'Qinghai Province?'

Qinghai Province, where the Kunlun Sect was located... He thought about it, but it made him even more anxious.

The Taoists there were said to be as fierce as the Ma Tianjiao, known for their brutal methods.

If he got caught pickpocketing, his hand might be cut off.

'Tianshan! Yes, I'll go to Tianshan.'

Even though Tianshan was the headquarters of the Ma Tianjiao, it seemed like a good option.

The most terrifying story among martial artists about the Ma Tianjiao was the Xingcheng Dafa, a technique learned only by the sect leader.

It was said that the sect leader could absorb the inner energy of their subordinates to become an even stronger martial artist!

Even now, with the Blood Demon Valley monopolizing all the terrifying and evil things in the world, the Xingcheng Dafa of the Ma Tianjiao leader was still a source of fear.

'But... I don't have any inner energy!'

Life is full of surprises!

Moreover, what reason would a high-level expert based in Hangzhou have to travel ten thousand miles to Tianshan?

And Baegyumin was willing to pay the price of his life to travel ten thousand miles.

Thinking this, his heart calmed down a bit. Was there a place like Hwanbi Tower in Tianshan? If he could go there with the money he had saved and live as he did before...

"My money!"

Baegyumin, who was almost running towards Hwanbi Tower, suddenly stopped and searched through the cloth covering his waist, chest, and buttocks.

His money pouch was gone!

The sky seemed to turn yellow.

"My, my money... my money!"

Who had stolen it?

Someone who passed by while he was unconscious? Or did he drop it in that alley?

Baegyumin ran back to the alley and dug through every puddle, but his money pouch did not appear.

'It was that boy!'

Baegyumin trembled, too scared to even speak. The boy had definitely beaten him up and taken his money.

'Old man... shamelessly taking a young person's money...!'

He had left some money with the trading house, so he could manage somehow, but the realization that he had been beaten and lost his money made his heart ache.

When Baegyumin returned to Hwanbi Tower, he waved half-heartedly at the waiters and gatekeepers and headed to his room.

He didn't have many possessions, so he discarded the things he didn't need, stuffed some dried candy into his mouth, and packed a few clothes and shoes.

Then he jumped out the window and secretly left Hwanbi Tower. If he had left officially, he might have been caught and his life would have been in danger.

He ran to a ferry that could cross the river, offered double the fare, and demanded to go as fast as possible. The boatman, without a word, rowed quickly and indifferently.

Sitting in a corner of the boat, shaking his legs and pondering his future, Baegyumin suddenly realized something about his body.

'What? Why am I not tired?'

After being beaten to a pulp, going to Hwanbi Tower, then to the alley and back, and now on the boat...

Why wasn't he exhausted?

He had even run here more lightly than usual.

Baegyumin began to feel his body with both hands.

The boatman, who was rowing, was startled by his actions and rowed even faster. But Baegyumin had no time to pay attention.

'What, what, what, what!'

The area behind his dantian, which had been slightly twisted from the abuse he received from his dojo master as a child, was now straight.

When he took a deep breath, he suddenly felt dozens of insects hiding in the grass far away on the riverbank. At the same time, he heard a fish jumping in the water.

These were sounds he had never experienced in his life.

Baegyumin gently stroked his lower abdomen. There was a very, very faint, almost imperceptible, but real, small trace of energy.

The dantian, which had been crushed and twisted, was now straight and pulsing, and the small amount of inner energy left from the breathing techniques he had only tried for a long time was flowing into it...

"Aaaaaah!"

"U, Uaaaaah!"

The boatman, who had been rowing fiercely with the peculiar momentum of having a strange passenger, screamed along with Baegyumin.

After screaming for a while, Baegyumin desperately pleaded.

"Turn the boat around! Turn the boat around, please!"

"What, what are you saying?"

"I need to go back!"

"What are you talking about, n, now...?"

The boatman, who had heard this absurd request, initially refused, but his voice trembled a bit when faced with a strange passenger who was shaking his legs and feeling his body.

"I'll pay double."

"Let's go. You said we could go back the way we came, right?"

"Yes, yes."

As the boatman turned the boat around with renewed energy, Baegyumin shook his legs again.

'No wonder it hurt so much, that must have been the legendary Tui Gong Guo Xue (Pushing the Palace and Passing the Acupoints)!'