Chapter 28
Meat-eating!
In other words, it means eating meat.
Like most people, I much prefer meat to vegetables.
But, it's not just because it's delicious.
'Muscle! Growth!'
Meat helps build muscle and also helps a person's body grow.
Especially since I'm worried about being short compared to my peers, the news of being able to eat meat is very welcome.
"What's with that expression? Don't you like it?"
"N-No! It's really great. Thank you so much, Martial Uncle!"
"That doesn't look like a really happy expression."
Actually, it wasn't just that I was happy inside, but perhaps because we've been together for quite some time now, the Martial Uncle guessed my inner thoughts just by looking at my expression.
"I'm very happy that I can eat meat, but I'm a little worried about my senior brothers."
"Your senior brothers?"
"Yes. It would be really great if not just me, but my senior brothers could also eat together."
The Martial Uncle's eyes widened at my words.
He seemed to have never thought I would say such a thing.
"Why the expression, Martial Uncle?"
"I never thought you cared so much for your senior brothers. To think of them right away when there's delicious food in front of you... I thought you didn't have much affection for them until now."
"Did it look that way? I think about my senior brothers so much. Aren't you just seeing me as a strange person?"
"Ahem. Not a strange person, but I did think you were a little cold."
I was about to say, 'As if you're any different, Martial Uncle,' but I just swallowed the words.
"But, actually, what you said is a little right, Martial Uncle."
"What is right?"
"It's not a beautiful and pure heart that wants to share delicious food with my senior brothers."
"Didn't you just say it would be great if we could eat together?"
"The senior brothers also need to eat meat to gain strength and grow well. I now know what the biggest problem of Wudang is. It's the contradiction that comes from the difference between martial arts and diet."
"A contradiction...?"
"Yes. As you said, Martial Uncle, to accumulate immortal qi, we must stay away from meat and turbid qi. But, you also know well that it's very important to get various nutrients properly at an age when we're growing. But that's impossible in Wudang."
"A contradiction... yes. As you say, it's a contradiction. Because the best time to accumulate immortal qi is when you're a child who hasn't been tainted by the secular world."
My words that there is a contradiction in the sect's martial arts and the way it raises its disciples could be considered quite disrespectful, but the Martial Uncle, as if he didn't care about such things, fell into his own thoughts and said in a serious voice.
"Yes, you're right. That's why, compared to other sects, our Wudang's children are a head shorter than the children of other sects. That's why they don't stand out in their youth due to physical limitations, and they start to make a name for themselves in the martial world only after their internal energy and immortal qi have accumulated to a certain level."
"Martial Uncle. I still have a low understanding of martial arts, but does immortal qi play a decisive role when displaying martial arts?"
"I don't know if it can be called decisive, but it certainly plays a big role. When displaying basic techniques, only internal energy is used, but as you go to advanced martial arts, the role of immortal qi becomes more important."
No matter how much I think about it, I feel like I can't come to a conclusion.
Immortal qi and meat-eating are at opposite poles.
If the two can be compatible, a stronger Wudang is that much closer...
"Ah! Then how do they do it in Shaolin?"
"Shaolin?"
"Yes. The Shaolin Temple also doesn't eat meat, right? But the martial monks of Shaolin are huge and have bulging muscles."
"Huh? When have you ever seen a monk from the Shaolin Temple? As far as I know, this is your first time going to Shaolin."
I thought 'oops' inside, but I can't say I've seen them countless times in my past life.
"Ah! It wasn't 'they do that', but 'I heard they do that'. Martial Uncle Hyeon Cheong told me once. That if you bump shoulders with a Shaolin martial monk because the road is narrow, it's like bumping into a wall. Ha. Ha. Ha."
"Is that so? That Cheong fellow says all sorts of things."
Fortunately, he passed it off as nothing.
I'll have to be a little more careful in the future if I don't want to be treated like a madman.
"Anyway, now that I think about it, I don't know how the Shaolin monks maintain their large builds and muscles. Since we're going to Shaolin now, shall we ask them when we get there?"
"Yes! If we can bring back that secret? The secret method? Then Wudang will develop even more in the future."
"Yes. The way you always think about the future of Wudang. It's really good to see."
I almost let out a cry of admiration at the imagination I had while nodding my head.
Dozens, hundreds of swordsmen wearing Taoist hats and robes, but with muscles that look like they're about to burst out of their robes!
Perhaps then, the Taiji Sword Master of Wudang will become an object of fear.
"For now, the grilled food will get cold. Come and eat quickly."
"Yes! Martial Uncle."
I answered the Martial Uncle and rushed to the meat, tearing off a bite.
My tongue feels like it's melting in the oil that's melting in my mouth.
It seems to be rabbit meat, and it seems he caught it while I was in a state of selflessness.
'In my past life, I wouldn't have eaten rabbit meat even if it was given to me, but to think it can be this delicious.'
Although I said my tongue felt like it was melting in the oil just now, rabbit meat has almost no fat compared to chicken or pork.
That's why I didn't eat it much, but now, there's no other delicacy like this.
"Eat a lot today. We have to run again tomorrow."
The words 'run again'... made my appetite want to run away for a moment, but I grabbed my fleeing appetite and tore at the rabbit meat.
Whether I eat all of this or not, tomorrow will surely be tough.
So, with the thought of eating while I can, I filled my stomach and the night deepened.
***
Four days had already passed since we left Wudang and started running.
During that time, it was a repetition of days similar to the first day.
For three hours, or if my body was okay, for four hours, I ran with all my might, unfolding my footwork until my stamina and internal energy were completely depleted, and when we found a suitable place, I immediately did qi circulation.
When I was engrossed in qi circulation, the Martial Uncle would help me with my qi circulation, and after he went hunting, we would immediately eat meat for dinner.
In the midst of this, we had already left Hubei Province and entered Henan Province, and we had entered a rather large city called Runan.
"Martial Uncle. Are we resting at a private house today?"
"Yes. I have some business here. We arrived much earlier than I thought, so we have a lot of time left."
The Martial Uncle's original plan was to pass through this place on the sixth day.
But I ran better than he thought, so we arrived here on the fourth day.
To be honest, I'm also familiar with the geography of the martial world, so I did think that it was too fast to get to Mount Song in ten days.
That's why if I had run a little slower, the tough schedule wouldn't have continued like this, but...
'Then my progress would be slow.'
As the Martial Uncle said, the running I'm doing now is also a kind of training.
And in a situation where the Martial Uncle is helping me with my qi circulation every day and even catching meat for my progress, it's impossible to be lazy.
"So, let's get an inn today. We haven't spent a single penny of the money we brought from Wudang, so we should have enough silver, right?"
"Of course. At first, I wondered why they gave us so little money, but at this rate, we'll have some left over. We'll have some left over."
The Martial Uncle chuckled at my joke and then led me to an inn.
Perhaps because he had been here a few times before, the Martial Uncle greeted the innkeeper warmly and was shown to a room on the second floor.
"Taoist-nim. You can use this place."
"This is the room I stayed in last time. Thank you."
"Not at all! Considering you chased away all those vicious thugs last time, this is nothing."
"Well. It was nothing."
The Martial Uncle, perhaps embarrassed, quickly changed the subject.
"This is the youngest disciple of our Wudang. He's a child who is new to the martial world."
"Hello, little Taoist-nim. I am Hwang Hyeong, the owner of this inn."
"My name is Unhwi."
"I have some business to attend to, so I'll be out. Please take good care of this child. If he says he wants to eat something, please give him any food he wants."
"Any food, you say..."
"It doesn't matter if it's meat or fish. This child is a special child."
"Ah! I understand. Please trust me. You know our inn's cooking skills well, don't you?"
"I'll be counting on you."
On top of that, the Martial Uncle requested bathwater and then went out, saying he had some business to attend to.
"Taoist-nim, please come this way. I will bring hot water shortly. If you have any clothes in your bundle that need to be washed, please give them to me, and I will wash them for you."
"Is that okay?"
"Of course. For someone who came with Taoist-nim Hyeon Yang, this is nothing."
Sincerity was dripping from the innkeeper's face.
As I headed to the bathroom, I asked him, "By any chance, may I ask what our Martial Uncle did that you're being so kind to us? I heard you mention something about thugs earlier."
"Haha. It's been three years already. This village was originally ruled by thugs who should have been in the back alleys. At that time, the village merchants were extorted for ridiculously high stall fees, protection fees, and so on. The government office didn't even care about a poor village like ours at that time."
"Really? It doesn't look like that at all now."
"Because three years ago, the Taoist-nim completely annihilated their base. He took care of a gang of over dozens of people all by himself."
"Did he kill them all?"
The owner's eyes widened, and he waved his hands and said, "He didn't kill anyone. That's why it's even more amazing. He subdued them without a single person dying."
"But did they retreat obediently?"
"Of course. He beat them so mercilessly. I didn't witness it myself, but I heard that even though it rained a lot that day, dust was flying everywhere."
I nodded my head in empathy.
I had felt a sense of kinship with Martial Uncle Hyeon Yang, and it seems it's because he knows how to instill manners well.
"Alright. This way. Please relax and relieve your fatigue, and then come down to the first-floor dining hall. I will prepare a meal. I will prepare the most confident dish of our inn, so please come down in an hour."
"Thank you so much for your consideration."
When I bowed politely, the innkeeper smiled broadly and went down to the first floor.
In the wooden tub in the bathroom, hot water that was steaming was prepared.
I quickly took off my clothes and soaked myself in the hot water.
"Ugh— how long has it been since I've been in hot water. I'm melting, I'm melting."
As soon as I soaked my body, my whole body tingled.
In the Wudang Sect, they don't heat water to use, so I don't even remember how long it's been since I've been in hot water.
"Now that I think about it, it's unfair in many ways."
There are so many unfair things that have happened since I entered this body.
Meat, and bathing too.
I now perfectly understand why the Wudang Sect, with such great martial arts, is only at this level.
"Because they raise the kids with such abstinence from a young age, they're so weak even when they're all grown up."
I thought that I would have to completely change the Wudang Sect soon and submerged myself up to my head in the water.
As I was peacefully enjoying my bath like that.
Crash— Thud!
Suddenly, a loud noise came from outside the bathroom.
Listening closely, it wasn't from outside the bathroom, but from the first floor.
The sound of something breaking and being thrown.
Clatter—
I stood up from the wooden tub and listened carefully.
"I saw you go in here! Don't think about hiding!"
I heard someone shouting. It seemed like they were causing a ruckus in the dining hall.
I hurriedly raised my energy, blew away the water, put on my clothes, left the bathroom, and went down to the first floor.
And the sight that met my eyes made me frown.
Because about a dozen martial artists wearing dark red martial arts uniforms were literally making a mess.
"Aigoo, customer. That person is not here right now. And even if I knew where he was, I couldn't tell you."
"What?!"
BANG—!
The man who seemed to be the leader, with a magnificent build, kicked the table right next to him as if in anger at the innkeeper's words.
Perhaps because he had learned martial arts, the table kicked by his foot split in half helplessly.
"Now is the time to get revenge for three years ago, and you're getting in the way? If you don't cooperate, I'll consider you as someone who is protecting him and take care of you first!"
The man shouted so loudly that my ears rang, but as if his anger hadn't subsided, he swung his fist at the owner.
Whoosh—!
A huge sound of something cutting through the air was created, as big as his large build, and his fist flew towards the innkeeper, cutting through the air.
I can feel the killing intent from his fist.
If the innkeeper, who hasn't learned martial arts, gets hit by that fist, he might die.
Pat—!
When his fist started to move, I kicked off the ground and rushed forward.
Perhaps because the running to the point of death was helpful, my speed was much faster than a few days ago.
Thanks to that, I was able to reach between him and the owner before the man's fist reached the innkeeper.
CRACK!!
I raised my left arm and blocked his fist.
It tingled a little, so it seems he knows how to use quite a bit of strength.
"You, what are you!"
The man, as if he hadn't even noticed me appearing, shouted at me with eyes as if he was seeing a ghost.
And I answered with a calm face.
"Me? Your manners teacher."
(End of Chapter)