Chapter 27 : A Thousand Gold Words (1)
Namgung Il closed the door and stood still near it for a moment.
'...No one?'
No presence was felt from outside.
Only after confirming that fact for sure did Namgung Il enter the room.
Thud— Thud—.
As soon as he entered the room, Namgung Il approached the wardrobe.
"Hup—"
Taking a deep breath, Namgung Il wrapped his hands around the wardrobe.
At that moment, the wardrobe lifted into the air.
Although it was quite large, Namgung Il placed it down on the side with a fairly light movement.
Thud—
As he moved the wardrobe aside, a hidden space behind it was revealed.
And inside it, a jar was enshrined like a sacred object.
Namgung Il held it with both hands and carefully took it out.
'What am I doing in my own room...'
Seeing himself moving so carefully like a thief, Namgung Il had that thought for a moment.
But it couldn't be helped.
If he didn't hide it like this, Yeonghwa might drink it all up like last time.
Having already had a painful experience, Namgung Il had created a secret space behind the wardrobe and hidden the jar so that Yeonghwa wouldn't find it in the first place.
'Well, there's no harm in being careful.'
Namgung Il muttered to himself and opened the jar.
At that moment, a fragrance filled the room.
It was a scent that cleared the nose the moment you smelled it, a strangely addictive scent that made you want to keep smelling it.
"Oh...!"
Looking inside the jar, such an exclamation escaped Namgung Il's lips without him realizing it.
A liquid of a beautiful color. And a thousand-year-old wild ginseng submerged in it like a sleeping princess.
Only after half a year had passed could Namgung Il see the infused liquor he had made with his own two eyes for the first time.
Plop—
Namgung Il tasted the liquor on his little finger.
At that moment, a smile appeared on his lips without him realizing it.
Although he had only tasted a little, Namgung Il felt as if he had tasted ecstasy in that one moment.
'Good, it's perfect!'
He had been a little worried, but the quality was much higher than he had expected.
At this level, it wouldn't matter if he consumed it right away.
Namgung Il immediately and carefully poured the liquor into a bowl he had brought in advance.
Trickle—
Like a stream flowing, the liquor flowed from the jar into the bowl in a very weak stream.
'I can't miss a single drop!'
He had gone to the trouble of making infused liquor like this to absorb all of the spiritual medicine, so if he were to spill it in the process of transferring it, there would be no act more foolish.
Since every single drop was a medicine that would become his internal energy, Namgung Il was pouring his heart and soul into transferring the liquor into the bowl.
"Hoo—"
A moment later, with a sigh, Namgung Il put the jar he was holding back on the floor.
'This much should be enough.'
If he had his way, he wanted to drink all the liquor in the jar right now.
But if he did that, it would also be an act of making his efforts in vain.
It could be said that he was properly consuming this spiritual liquor only by drinking it little by little over several days.
Thud—
Before that, Namgung Il put the jar he had taken out back into the secret space.
And when he moved the wardrobe back in front of it, the jar became completely invisible.
After finishing all the preparations, Namgung Il sat in a cross-legged position in front of the bowl.
'I finally get to drink it.'
For the past half a year, he had been eagerly waiting for this moment.
The situation of not being able to eat the spiritual medicine even though it was in his room was much harder than he had expected.
Moreover, since he had recently learned the Heavenly Thunder Emperor's Divine Art, the desire to increase his internal energy even more naturally arose.
"This must be what they mean by pleasure at the end of hardship."
Namgung Il muttered and held the bowl with both hands.
The bowl slowly headed towards Namgung Il's mouth.
Although a considerable amount of liquor was sloshing in the bowl, Namgung Il drank all the liquor in the bowl in one go.
Thud—
An empty bowl was now on the floor.
At the same time, Namgung Il closed his eyes and took a posture.
A spiritual medicine does not become one's internal energy just by consuming it.
Only by properly absorbing the energy in the body now through Qi Circulation like this does it finally become one's own internal energy.
"..."
And the loss of a spiritual medicine occurs in this very process.
If one fails to turn the energy of the spiritual medicine into one's own internal energy through Qi Circulation, the energy will eventually escape from the body, and the lost energy will be lost as it is.
Depending on how well one handles internal energy, one could minimize the escaping energy.
But no matter how well one handled internal energy, if a huge amount of energy was created in the body at once, there would inevitably be some lost energy.
Woong—
That was why Namgung Il was consuming the thousand-year-old wild ginseng in this way.
To prevent a sudden influx of energy and to absorb it little by little.
On top of that, with Namgung Il's skills, it was possible to absorb almost all of the energy into his own internal energy.
"...Hoo."
A moment later, Namgung Il opened his eyes with a low sigh.
A Qi Circulation that lasted for about an hour.
In a way, it was a long time, but compared to the average time it took to consume a spiritual medicine, it was a fairly short time.
'Good.'
On the first day, he was able to safely turn all the energy into his own internal energy.
If he repeated this for a few days, he would be able to completely turn the energy of the thousand-year-old wild ginseng into his own internal energy.
Namgung Il could feel the internal energy in his dantian, which was deeper than before.
"Young Master."
Just then, Yeonghwa's voice was heard from outside the door.
'That was pretty close.'
He had consumed the spiritual liquor thinking that no one would come to his room at night.
Should he consume it at a later time the next day?
Namgung Il thought so to himself and said towards the door.
"Come in."
When Namgung Il answered, Yeonghwa opened the door and appeared.
"Hmm?"
As soon as she came in, Yeonghwa's expression changed subtly.
At the same time, Yeonghwa moved her head here and there and sniffed.
Namgung Il looked at her with a puzzled expression.
"What are you doing?"
"...Young Master. Did you perhaps drink liquor here?"
"...Huh?"
"It smells like liquor..."
At that moment, Namgung Il couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt.
No, is she a dog or something to have smelled this?
Of course, the scent of the liquor was somewhat strong, but since an hour had passed, there was no longer any smell in the room.
'...Scary.'
That day, Yeonghwa had vomited all day due to a hangover.
He had thought that she would be sick of liquor after suffering so much... but contrary to his expectations, Yeonghwa had come to enjoy liquor even more since then.
As if the god of liquor that had been sleeping inside Yeonghwa had awakened.
Having smelled the faint remaining scent of liquor just now, Namgung Il thought that he had done well to hide the jar.
"What are you talking about?"
"..."
"Where is there liquor in my room? Isn't that right?"
"...Really?"
Although Yeonghwa still had a somewhat suspicious look in her eyes, she soon returned to her original expression.
Seeing that, Namgung Il let out a sigh of relief inwardly.
Next time, he would have to close the lid a little faster so that the scent wouldn't leak out.
"By the way, what's the matter all of a sudden?"
"The clan head is looking for you."
"What?"
"I think you should go to the clan head's residence right now."
"..."
Was he calling him because of the Flying Dragon Academy incident?
Since he still hadn't had a spar with Namgung Hae for several days after that, Namgung Il immediately thought so.
"I see."
Namgung Il answered and got up, grabbing the sword placed next to him.
"Uh... Young Master."
Just as he was about to leave the room, Yeonghwa suddenly said to Namgung Il cautiously.
Was there still something she wanted to say?
Namgung Il stopped walking and looked at Yeonghwa without a word.
"Are you perhaps not planning to make liquor again?"
"What?"
"After drinking your liquor, any other liquor I drink feels like plain water."
"..."
"I'll do anything! Please let me taste that taste just one more time!"
He shouldn't have given Yeonghwa liquor that day.
Namgung Il looked at Yeonghwa and belatedly regretted it.
* * *
Namgung Cheong was sitting in the reception room.
Another person was sitting opposite Namgung Cheong with a teacup from which steam was rising between them.
With a rather relaxed expression, Su Majin was drinking tea.
"..."
This time too, Su Majin had suddenly visited the Namgung Clan without any notice.
And to come to see him in the middle of the night like this.
Although he knew that this was the kind of person he was, Namgung Cheong couldn't help but feel a little displeased by Su Majin's actions.
"The tea tastes quite good."
"...It's the tea you gave me as a gift last time, Father-in-law."
"Is that so? No wonder it tasted good."
"..."
A moment of silence.
Namgung Cheong opened his mouth again and said to Su Majin.
"Will you tell me now?"
"..."
"As you wished, I have called Il-ah here. So..."
"You're still impatient even as you get older."
Su Majin interrupted Namgung Cheong and said.
"It was the same when you first met me. Do you remember what I said then?"
"...You said that in order to make money, one must sometimes know how to wait."
"You remember."
"..."
"In my opinion, you still have more to learn about the business world."
When Namgung Cheong first became the clan head, what had troubled him the most was not anything else but money.
No matter how much the Namgung Clan was one of the Five Great Clans, what actually moved the clan was money.
Since he had not become the clan head through a normal process, Namgung Cheong had no choice but to learn the business-related matters one by one from scratch.
"..."
The person who had helped him a lot at that time was Su Majin.
Besides material support, Su Majin had often given him advice related to business.
The advice from the head of the World Escort Agency was quite useful to Namgung Cheong, and even now, that advice was helpful in running the Namgung Clan.
"...I don't know the reason why you're suddenly bringing up the story of that time."
"If you were offended, I apologize."
"..."
"I was originally going to talk when that child came here, but since it seems to be taking quite some time, I think it's fine to start talking now."
Su Majin said and put down the teacup he was holding on the table.
At that moment, the atmosphere changed subtly.
Su Majin looked at Namgung Cheong with a considerably colder gaze and opened his mouth.
"Namgung Il. Give up on that child."
"..."
"The one entering the Flying Dragon Academy through recommended admission this year is Namgung Hae. It must be my grandson."
Su Majin, the head of the World Escort Agency.
Another name that represented him was A Thousand Gold Words.
(End of Chapter)