Chapter 3
The Youngest Son of the Silver Sea Trading Company Chapter 3
Chapter 3. Fifteen Again (3)
Hearing that, I quickly straightened my posture.
I saw hope.
“I will listen carefully.”
“As I said, the reason you are sick is because Hyun-ryong does not have the energy of water to live on. And water is yin energy. So what should we do?”
The black-robed monk's question was like a light riddle.
The answer came immediately.
“Supplement the yin energy... I should take a potion filled with yin energy!”
“That's right. However, your body is extremely weak, so if you take a medicinal herb full of yin energy as it is, your body will not be able to withstand it. If you had discovered this five years ago, you could have just taken the medicinal herb.”
“That can't be... Then what should I do? It sounds like you're saying there is another way.”
Heukjeok nodded gently.
“That's right. You must slowly allow your body to adapt to the yin energy. Then, when you take the elixir, your body will be able to withstand it.”
“To adapt to the yin energy, should I eat cold foods?”
That was the first thing that came to mind.
“That is one way. However, it is slow and not very effective.”
Heukjeok-ui Seon smiled faintly and continued.
“It's fortunate that the weather has turned cold and the ice has frozen. For the next 100 days, every night at midnight, you will immerse yourself in ice water and practice the mental technique I will teach you for one hour.”
“I understand, but will that really work?”
Heukjeok-ui Seon smiled and asked me in return.
“Does it look easy?”
I was taken aback by Heukjeok's question.
That was exactly what I was thinking.
“You'll find out when you try it. It's not easy at all. Especially for you, because of all the tonics you've been taking, it will be so painful that you'll want to faint.”
“What? Because of the tonics?”
Heukjeok explained in response to my question.
“The tonics you've been taking. They all boost your yang energy. That shortened your life by several years.”
“....”
I could only sigh.
All the expensive herbs I had taken to heal my body were actually shortening my life.
But then I wondered.
“Why didn't the other physicians notice my constitution when they took my pulse?”
When I asked Heuk-jik-seon about this, he smiled and replied, “They weren't as skilled as me.”
“...What?”
“They didn't know your constitution, so they must have mistaken your weakness for a lack of yang energy. Tsk, tsk.”
“I see.”
Heukjiksun said comfortingly.
“Anyway, remember that you must not skip a single day. If you give up or fail, you will not have time to recover.”
“Yes, I will.”
I nodded.
If I could cure my illness, what could I not do?
I saw hope.
From that day, my 100 days of ascetic training began.
“Ugh!”
As soon as I entered the ice water, I realized why they said it would be so painful that I would want to faint.
My skin felt like it was being torn apart, and I felt pain as if every bone in my body was being scraped with a knife.
“I have to endure. I have to hold on somehow.”
I wanted to live.
I wanted to live and become the world's best merchant.
And above all, I didn't want my death to hurt my family.
So I endured 100 days and, with the help of Heukjeok, took the elixir.
I became as healthy as I was when I was a child.
With my health restored, I joined the Trading Company, and from that moment on, our company began to grow rapidly.
.
.
.
“Ugh!”
As I recalled the past, I couldn't help but shiver.
Even now, thinking back on that cold winter day when I immersed myself in ice water and practiced breathing exercises for an hour, it was a truly horrible experience.
“But I'm fifteen now. Hehehe.”
That means that I can heal my dying body just by taking the elixir, without having to undergo the grueling ice water training.
And I know where to find the elixir, which is full of yin energy.
I plan to use the elixir to regain my health.
However, that is not something that can be done overnight, so I had planned to use my vacation during the winter solstice.
The Eunhae Trading Company gave its employees three to four days off every year during the winter solstice.
My physical condition was not serious yet, so I had planned to take advantage of that time, but my plans changed.
“If I'm going to do it, I might as well get healthy quickly and learn martial arts as soon as possible.”
The medicine I needed was closer than I thought.
It was in the largest mountain in Sungyang County, where Eunhae Trading Company was located. It was behind the company.
But it was already getting dark.
Going into the mountains in the middle of the night with this body, especially with all the snow, was suicide.
Furthermore, the elixir I was looking for could only be found at dawn.
“I'll have to wait until tomorrow morning.”
.
.
.
“Ugh, ugh.”
I was gasping for breath.
People wearing masks surrounded me on all sides.
My entire body was covered with daggers and hidden weapons.
Thud, thud, thud.
A man walked toward me. It was the man with a goat beard.
He pointed somewhere, and I looked in the direction he was pointing.
There were things hanging from the trees.
They were the bodies of his family, dripping with blood.
The man with the goat beard smiled and swung his sharp sword at me.
.
.
.
“Ugh! Ugh...”
I got up and gasped for breath.
I touched my neck with trembling hands. It was still there.
“Was it a dream?”
No.
It was a dream, but it also reflected the reality I had experienced myself.
I looked at my immature hands.
I realized that I had indeed returned to the age of fifteen.
It was clear that I would be haunted by this nightmare for a while.
I was that angry.
“Unless I give them a good beating.”
I got up from the bed and opened the window.
I heard the sound of drums.
Three bell rings.
It meant that it was the hour of the tiger.
I had to leave soon if I wanted to find the medicine by the hour of the snake.
At that moment, I heard Pal-gap's voice outside.
“Young master! Did you cough?”
As I had told him the day before, Pal-gap was waking me up.
“Yes! I'm up!”
I got dressed and left the room.
.
.
.
My feet sank deep into the snow.
I was climbing the mountain behind the house with Pal-gap and a bodyguard sent from Eunpungdae.
Now, I was climbing the mountain behind the house with Pal-gap and a bodyguard sent from Eunpungdae.
I had to be accompanied by a bodyguard wherever I went, except within the Trading Company.
It wasn't that the area was unsafe, but because of the Eunhaesang Trading Company's considerable influence, there were occasionally people who targeted my family.
I had not yet been assigned a personal bodyguard, so whenever I went out, I had to request a bodyguard from the Eunpoongdae, the trading company's armed group.
“Young master. Are you sure you're all right?”
Pal-gap asked from behind.
“Yeah, I'm fine.”
Perhaps because I was born with a good memory, even though it was a long time ago, I still remembered it vividly.
The name of the elixir I was looking for was “Cheongbingseolmaesil.”
In the bitter cold of spring, the cold air gathered on the plum trees blooming with plum blossoms turned into fruit.
As you can tell from its name, it is not green or yellow, but a transparent blue color like ice.
And it is full of yin energy, enough to be called a magical potion.
“I heard that one Cheongbingseolmaesil can give you the inner arts of a lifetime...”
A lifetime is sixty years of inner arts training.
One Cheongbingseolmaesil can turn a third-rate warrior into a first-rate warrior, a first-rate warrior into a peak warrior, and a peak warrior into a super-peak warrior.
It must be an elixir as powerful as the Northern Sea Ice Palace's Seolryunshil or Manneonsam.
Recalling the past, a bitter smile appeared on his face.
“That's why the bloodshed happened.”
I was twenty-seven years old at the time.
The Eunhae Trading Company was about to make an important deal.
Moreover, it happened near our headquarters, so we had no choice but to gather information thoroughly, and I knew the details.
A black Dao warrior who had come to Hubei Province, where Eunhaesang Trading Company was located, went hunting and accidentally found Cheongbingseolmaesil.
After obtaining it, he got drunk and acted recklessly.
He showed off the Qingbing Shuomao Shi, which he had kept hidden, to his companions.
It was only natural that his companions' eyes lit up when they saw the Qingbing Shuomao Shi.
In an instant, a fight broke out.
The black-clad warrior was robbed of the Qingbing Shuomao Shi but managed to survive and sought help from another black-clad sect nearby.
The situation spiraled out of control.
The information reached the Martial Alliance, which decided to intervene.
In the end, the Qingbing Shuimei was recovered by the Martial Alliance.
However, about 500 people were killed in the process, many of whom were innocent civilians.
Furthermore, the Qingbing Shuimei taken by the Martial Alliance was used as an ingredient for another blood sword.
“If I get the Qingbing Shuimei, that future won't happen, right?”
Then the sacrifice of 500 people could have been avoided.
“But it's a bit of a waste.”
With just one Qingbing Shuimei, I could instantly rise to the level of a first-class warrior, which was my goal.
But there was no other choice.
There were other elixirs, but they were either far away or expensive and difficult to obtain.
On the surface, his condition did not seem serious, and there was no request from a famous doctor like Heukjeok.
I decided to think positively.
If I could quickly cure my illness and learn martial arts, I would gain time.
I gathered my thoughts and started walking again.
Walking on snow quickly exhausted my energy, and I began to breathe heavily.
“Young master, let's go back.”
I shook my head firmly at Pal-gap's words. I couldn't just go back after coming this far!
That was out of the question.
“No. Just a little further...”
The bodyguard said from beside me.
“I also think you should go back now, as Pal-gap said. The captain of the trading company will be worried. If you continue to insist, we will have to take you back by force.”
The bodyguard would really drag me away by force.
“Then just a moment.”
I put on my most pitiful expression, and he finally gave in.
Now I only had a moment left.
I had to hurry.
As I went further north, I saw the long rock from my memory.
Following the memory in my head, I walked fifty steps west from the long rock.
Then, a tree appeared.
It was a plum tree growing naturally on the mountain.
“The third one from the bottom... That's it!”
It had transparent blue berries.
They were so transparent that it was difficult to find them unless you knew they were there.
Now all that was left was to pick them without being noticed by the bodyguard.
“Should I ask Pal-gap to take the bodyguard somewhere else for a while?”
But no matter how much he thought about it, he didn't have the physical strength to pick the blueberries.
His vision began to spin.
He had made it this far because the snow had covered the ground, making the conditions a little better.
Perhaps because of his constitution, he felt a little better when it was cold or snowing.
In any case, he had to divert the bodyguard's attention, and there was only one way to do that.
He picked up a stone buried in the snow and threw it quickly when the bodyguard looked away.
Bang!
Thud!
Startled birds flew up.
The bodyguard tensed at the sound.
“He won't think I threw the stone on purpose, so I have to make him go check it out.”
That sealed the deal.
“Huh? What was that? I thought something just happened.”
The bodyguard quickly ran over to me.
“Just in case, we should hurry down the mountain.”
It was the reaction I had expected.
“Yes... Ugh!”
I slumped down.
Then I said with a sorry look.
“I guess I overdid it. Hahaha. I can't put any strength in my legs...”
“Then let Pal-gap carry you...”
Pal-gap shook his head.
“If I carry you on my back in the snow, you'll get hurt even more if we slip.”
The bodyguard looked perplexed, but then said, “I'll go check it out. Please stay here.”
“Then I'll go check what's going on. Stay here.”
“Okay.”
The bodyguard headed toward the noise, and Pal-gap asked me,
“So what can I do for you?”
He had realized that my actions were just an act to distract the bodyguard.
Pal-gap looked like a bear and was a bit slow, so people thought he was stupid, but that wasn't true.
He was clever and quick-witted.
That must be why my father assigned him to be my attendant.
I approached Pal-gap and whispered softly.
“Do you see that tree?”