Chapter 149 : How Much is Your Life Worth?
If an excessive amount of ki flows into the upper dantian at once, the brain cannot withstand it.
It was a situation where one could become a vegetable, going beyond qi deviation.
Jin Sohyun gritted his teeth and tried to control the energy that was rushing in like a torrent.
Sweat poured down, unlike his usual self.
His mouth was dry.
Nevertheless, he couldn't stop.
He had to control the speed of the ki heading toward the Tianzhu point beyond the Dazhui point and make it flow smoothly.
‘Is this the right way to do it?’
He had never learned how to suppress qi deviation through body-to-body energy transfer and clear blocked pressure points in the first place.
All he had was what he had seen and heard through Kang Cheon or while staying at the Blue Dragon Daoist Temple.
‘First of all, it’s normal for ki to flow throughout the body, so this must be right.’
Wrong.
It was natural for turbid energy to accumulate in the human body.
Because of that, even healthy pressure points would become blocked.
This was also why unused pressure points would become blocked early on.
This was also the reason why martial arts sects or clans taught internal energy cultivation methods from a young age when turbid energy had not yet accumulated, to prevent this.
But Jin Sohyun, who had never had turbid energy accumulate since birth and possessed a vast great vein, had never had his pressure points blocked.
Because of this, he thought that others would be the same or similar to him.
Due to this misunderstanding of Jin Sohyun, Beomgang’s blocked Dazhui point was cleared, and his upper dantian was opened.
‘A little more… just a little more…!’
Jin Sohyun focused all his nerves on Beomgang.
In the meantime, Gyo Ham and his fellow mountain bandits gathered closely.
“How about we bolt now?”
“…”
Gyo Ham could not easily answer.
The opponent was a master who could open his eyes and speak even during a body-to-body energy transfer.
He didn't know what would happen if he tried to run away from him.
‘But I can’t just wait like a pig about to be slaughtered…!’
In any case, when Jin Sohyun opened his eyes, he wouldn't leave them alone.
Gyo Ham, who was biding his time, swallowing dryly, shouted with all his might.
“Now!”
“Agh! It’s over! What do you mean, now?”
At Jin Sohyun’s voice coming from behind him, Gyo Ham’s body automatically prostrated itself on the ground.
“I thought the Great Master would wake up around now… so out of joy… haha…”
“Amazing. How did you know that?”
Jin Sohyun loosened his stiff shoulders and looked down at Beomgang.
Perhaps because he was a rather skilled martial artist, as soon as the path was opened, his body began to circulate ki on its own.
He would probably recover his energy and regain consciousness soon.
“I’m so tired… I don’t want to do anything.”
Jin Sohyun wanted to lie down on the floor right now and sleep for a few days without doing anything.
But Jin Sohyun, the laziest man in the world, was not so shameless as to sleep in front of the ruined Dubyeon Village.
“Hmm…”
Jin Sohyun’s gaze, which was looking at the collapsed buildings and rice paddies with pity, suddenly stopped in front of the prostrated Gyo Ham’s face.
Gyo Ham, who had become the object of Jin Sohyun’s intense gaze, gave an awkward smile.
“D-do you have something to say?”
“My father is a merchant. Naturally, I’ve learned that there are no humans as wicked as mountain bandits.”
“I… I see…”
Gyo Ham’s teeth chattered.
“My father told me that if I meet such bad people, I should break their limbs and then throw them into the government office.”
“H-heeik!”
Gyo Ham, who had collapsed to the ground, crawled on the floor.
“But I’m not that heartless.”
Jin Sohyun stood in front of Gyo Ham at some point and gave him a benevolent smile.
At his smile, which looked pure without a lie, Gyo Ham’s fear subsided a little.
“Then, forgiveness…”
“Of course. But I’m a merchant, so.”
Jin Sohyun’s delicate hands suddenly came forward.
“If something goes, something must come.”
“…Yes?”
“It’s an equivalent exchange. I’ll spare your life, so you give me money.”
“M-money?”
“Yeah! How much is your life worth?”
***
Gyo Ham and the group of mountain bandits had to empty their pockets and money pouches.
But even so, the money they gathered was not much.
At most, about thirty nyang.
With this amount of money, it was tight to even buy a day’s worth of food for the villagers, let alone the collapsed buildings.
“Is this all?”
“We are mountain bandits! We are day-laborers who live from day to day. This is all we have! Really!”
An ordinary person would have just let it go, but Jin Sohyun was not.
As the son of a merchant, he had also learned about the ways of mountain bandits.
—Mountain bandits never just carry their money with them. They keep it in their hideout.
That's right.
There would be no naive mountain bandit who would carry all his wealth with him.
In that sense, Jin Sohyun clenched his fist like Beomgang had done and launched a fist strike at the empty ground.
Kwa-ga-a-ang—!!
The ground exploded, and a deep pit was created.
At that terrifying power, Gyo Ham and the group of mountain bandits’ mouths fell open.
“This is my last offer. Will you give me the money, or shall we go straight to the government office together?”
“I’ll… I’ll bring it!”
“No. No.”
Jin Sohyun said, his eyes twinkling.
“We have to go together.”
With these words, Jin Sohyun brought Hwanggu, who was trembling with his head buried in the bushes.
“Now! Let’s go.”
The hideout of Gyo Ham and the group of mountain bandits was located not too far from Dubyeon Village.
Because they had made their hideout not too far from Dubyeon Village to supply the food for Beomgang, who devoured several people’s worth of food in one meal.
Thanks to that, Jin Sohyun neatly loaded the valuable items that Gyo Ham brought onto Hwanggu’s cart.
“This is all. Really!”
“Hmm.”
Jin Sohyun narrowed his eyes like a veteran market merchant with whom bargaining was absolutely impossible.
His stern gaze swept over Gyo Ham and his companions once.
“Really?”
“R-really!”
“Then I guess there’s no choice.”
As Jin Sohyun showed his back, Gyo Ham let out a sigh of relief.
‘I’ve protected my toads!’
He thought he had done well to hide the pair of golden toads, which were the most valuable of his assets, in a secret place that no one knew.
As they say, a cunning rabbit digs several burrows.
Gyo Ham, who was smiling slyly behind Jin Sohyun’s back, bent his back and bowed.
“Then! Please go safely!”
“Huh?”
Jin Sohyun stopped in his tracks.
“You have to come too.”
“…Yes?”
Gyo Ham pointed to his own face with his index finger.
“Us too?”
“Yeah. You have to fix all the rice paddies and buildings that were destroyed because of you. Don’t tell me you were planning to end it like this?”
“B-but… we gave you all the money, didn’t we?”
“This is the price for the food you’ve extorted from Dubyeon Village all this time. You have to pay separately for what was destroyed today.”
‘This daylight robber of a bastard!’
Although he was grinding his teeth inwardly, Gyo Ham could not show this anger on the outside.
No matter what anyone said, Jin Sohyun was stronger than all of them combined.
If he got on his bad side, this place would become their grave.
“Of course. Of course. Haha… we will roll up our sleeves and help with the reconstruction of Dubyeon Village!”
The group of mountain bandits had no choice but to walk down from the hideout, following Hwanggu with half-dead faces.
Geum Mo, who had discovered this, ran over in a single stride.
“Great Master! You’ve returned!”
Geum Mo, who had at some point changed his title from Young Master to Great Master, welcomed Jin Sohyun as if he were a triumphant general.
“Here, take this.”
Jin Sohyun pointed to the goods piled up on Hwanggu’s oxcart.
Geum Mo’s eyes widened as wide as they could be.
Because the amount of goods piled up on the cart was considerable.
With this much, not only could they rebuild Dubyeon Village, but they wouldn't have to worry about starvation for the next few years.
“Th-this much money… how can we…”
“Just take it. It’s the price for the food and suffering that those bad mountain bandits took from Dubyeon Village.”
“Aah…”
Hot tears flowed down Geum Mo’s wrinkled face.
Their past actions were too shameful to receive such grace.
“We tried to catch the Great Master’s precious bull… but the Great Master has bestowed grace and salvation upon us!”
“It’s nothing.”
“This Geum Mo will take responsibility and make sure that the chivalry the Great Master has shown and the grace he has bestowed! will surely be known to the entire martial world…!”
“Ah, no!”
Jin Sohyun’s face instantly turned pale.
“Absolutely not! You must not let anyone outside know what I did! And my name, even more so!”
“Why… why is that? Shouldn’t the entire Central Plains know the Great Master’s name and goodwill?”
The entire Central Plains should know?
For Jin Sohyun, who hated being famous and, above all, must not be noticed by the Heretic Path's Alliance, it was no different from a disaster.
Grab—!
Jin Sohyun’s two hands clasped Geum Mo’s small and shabby hands.
“Remember. Elder. The fact that I came here today must absolutely not be known to anyone. Absolutely.”
“Can’t you at least tell me the reason?”
“That’s…”
The martial artists of the Songdo Sect, who had to suffer a tragedy due to the Man-Tearing Demonic Hand, Go Ung, flickered before Jin Sohyun’s eyes.
‘If they get involved with me for no reason, the residents here will also be in danger.’
Jin Sohyun, who couldn't bring himself to tell the deep story, could only show a sad smile.
A sincere gaze could convey more than a few words.
Geum Mo, who was staring at Jin Sohyun’s eyes, nodded his head.
“I will do so. Nothing happened in Dubyeon Village today.”
“Thank you. Elder.”
“We are the ones who are grateful. Great Master.”
Jin Sohyun, who had finished his conversation with Geum Mo, loaded the still-unconscious Beomgang onto the cart like a piece of luggage.
He didn't know what he would do after he regained consciousness, so for the sake of Dubyeon Village, it was right for him to take him.
Finally, Jin Sohyun stood in front of Gyo Ham and the group of mountain bandits.
There were a total of eight of them.
He stared at their faces as if to imprint them in his mind and said.
“Work diligently until Dubyeon Village is rebuilt. When I come back, if Dubyeon Village is not rebuilt or if you have stolen their property and run away… I will not forgive you in the name of Namgung Muhyeok.”
‘Namgung Muhyeok!’
The Flying Dragon Divine Sword, Namgung Muhyeok.
Even the mountain bandits of the borderlands knew his name.
Moreover, he was the head of the great Namgung Clan.
Gyo Ham and the group of mountain bandits, who had mistakenly thought that the reason Jin Sohyun was strong was because he was related to the Namgung Clan, felt as if their vision was going dizzy.
‘Of all people, to have messed with someone from the Namgung Clan!’
Messing with one of the Five Great Clans was no different from messing with the Martial Alliance.
This meant that they had to flee, avoiding not only the eyes of the Namgung Clan but also the eyes of the Beggars' Sect.
And that meant.
‘Unless we flee outside the Central Plains, we can never escape!’
It meant that they could never escape.
Leaving the despairing mountain bandits behind, Jin Sohyun got on the cart.
“Then I’ll be on my way. If those mountain bandits bother you again, send a letter here.”
Geum Mo, who had received the letter that Jin Sohyun had held out, bowed his head deeply with the villagers and conveyed his thanks and farewells.
With their gratitude on his back, Jin Sohyun led Hwanggu.
“Since Uncle Namgung used me, I can use him this much, right?”
Jin Sohyun, who had happily sold out the Namgung Clan, stretched out comfortably on the cart.
“Ah, I’m finally going back.”
***
“Heok— Heok—!!”
As soon as Jin Sohyun disappeared, Gyo Ham, who had run to the hideout, panted heavily.
He looked around and then headed to a secret place located not far from the hideout.
There, Gyo Ham, who had taken out the wooden box he had buried in the ground, confirmed the pair of golden toads he had placed inside.
“Am I crazy to be doing farm work? First, let’s run away as far as possible from here.”
With two golden toads, he could live comfortably even after leaving the Central Plains.
It was better to leave the Central Plains than to live, watching the Beggars' Sect’s every move.
As Gyo Ham came out of the secret place, seven mountain bandits appeared around him as if they had been waiting, holding swords, sabers, or axes.
“I knew it! You rat-like bastard!”
“Y-you bastards… how did you get here…?”
“No wonder… you gave up your property so obediently!”
“He had hidden his own share like a ghost!”
“You despicable bastard! And you call yourself the leader!?”
At the unexpected appearance of his fellow mountain bandits, Gyo Ham’s mouth went dry.
‘I’ll die if this continues!’
No matter how precious gold was, it was not more precious than his life, so Gyo Ham smiled slyly and waved his two hands.
“Of course, it belongs to all of us. Let’s leave the Central Plains with this money. How about it?”
At Gyo Ham’s proposal, the mountain bandits looked at each other.
Soon, the mountain bandits, who had made some kind of resolution, rushed at Gyo Ham all at once.
“Y-you bastards!”
Could there be such a thing as loyalty among mountain bandits in the first place?
At least here, there was no such thing as loyalty.
As Gyo Ham was brutally butchered by the heartless blades, the mountain bandits looked at the golden toads that had fallen to the ground with eyes steeped in madness.
In an instant, a silence fell over the area.
The mountain bandits thought, chasing each other with their eyes.
Seven was too many.
As they finished their thoughts.
The blades danced.
Heartless blades cut and stabbed each other.
And so began the indiscriminate massacre.
There was only one winner.
“Keu… keuk… I… I won.”
The mountain bandit who had become the final winner staggered, hugged the golden toads to his chest, and slowly descended the mountain.
But his steps did not last long.
Because he had lost too much blood.
“Just a little… just a little more…”
As the mountain bandit collapsed, the pair of toads he was holding in his arms rolled on the ground.
And after a while.
“Tsk.”
Jin Sohyun, who had returned to the mountain, held the blood-stained golden toads in his hand.
“I came back just in case.”
He had come back, worried about the mountain bandits who would have changed in his absence.
What unfolded before him was a massacre that had begun due to greed.
Of course, the only thing that had survived was a pair of blood-stained golden toads.
“What is this lump of gold?”
For a moment, he contemplated how to dispose of the golden toads.
“My father told me never to take blood-stained money.”
If he handed this lump of gold to Dubyeon Village, a storm of blood might blow again.
Because human greed exists everywhere.
Jin Sohyun threw the pair of golden toads high into the sky.
After that, he launched a fist strike filled with internal energy.
Kwa—ang!!
The golden toads, which were shattered by a huge force, turned into gold dust and scattered in all directions.
“Mom! Look at that!”
The middle-aged woman of Dubyeon Village, who had raised her head at her child’s urging, discovered a golden wave flowing in the sky where the dawn was breaking.
“Oh my… it’s beautiful.”
That day, a golden radiance shimmered like silk in the sky above Dubyeon Village.