Chapter 492
The Youngest Son of the Silver Sea Trading Company Chapter 492
Chapter 492. Liquor Tasting (2)
Two warriors had just begun a duel.
It was easy to find Captain Yong-eung-wan's brother. He was one of the two warriors dueling.
However, he was not carrying any weapons.
On the other hand, his opponent was holding a sword.
Could it be that he was doing that to torment him?
“Are you sure you're okay with your bare hands?”
“Yes, I'm fine.”
“Are you sure you don't want a sword?”
“Yes, I'm fine.”
The instructor and the warriors who were acting as referees asked him several times if he was sure he wanted to fight with his bare hands, but he said he was fine.
That meant he wasn't doing it to torment him.
But why wasn't he picking up a weapon?
Could he have mastered a martial art like karate?
Bang!
The duel began with the sound of a wooden clapper.
The two warriors began to circle each other slowly, looking for openings.
At that moment.
Whoosh!
The warrior with the sword rushed forward and swung it down at Min.
Swish.
I couldn't help but be surprised.
Min dodged the sword and dove into his opponent's body, striking his right wrist with his left hand and knocking the sword out of his hand.
Then he immediately kicked his opponent's back leg.
“Ouch!”
His opponent fell backward so easily...
Hook!
Min's fist stopped right in front of his opponent's face.
It all happened in an instant.
Everyone was stunned. Even I, who had reached the pinnacle of my skill, was impressed by his movements, so it must have seemed like it happened in the blink of an eye to the other warriors.
But those movements were clearly... the movements of a swordsman!
There is a difference between the way warriors who specialize in swords and those who specialize in martial arts use their bodies.
Let's imagine what would have happened if he had had a sword in his hand. I thought I understood why Min, a warrior, had entered the duel with his bare hands.
“Min, the warrior, wins!”
“Woo-hoo!”
The warriors watching the duel cheered.
“Amazing!”
“That was incredible!”
Praise for him continued.
I was grateful for their kindness in not discriminating against him for not being a citizen of their country and praising him for his greatness.
Only when everyone at Eunpungdae is united can our Eunhaesang Trading Company rise higher.
“Huh!”
Several warriors who recognized me were surprised and greeted me with a clasped hands greeting.
“Greetings, Third Captain!”
“Thank you for your hard work.”
The instructor ran up to me and asked.
“What brings you here?”
“I came to see Min Mu-sa. May I take him with me for a moment?”
The instructor nodded readily.
“Min Mu-sa's turn is over, so you may take him with you.”
“Thank you.”
I approached Min Mu-sa and greeted him.
“I am Eun Seo-ho, the captain of the Eunhae Trading Company.”
“I am Min. It has been a long time.”
“Can we talk for a moment?”
“Yes.”
I took him to the reception room in my annex.
Captain Yong Eung-wan was already there, having been summoned by me.
The two greeted each other warmly.
My knowledge of the Daewook language was still limited, but Min seemed curious about why I was here.
By the way, I learned that Yong Eung-wan's name was not his first name but his surname.
I told him that I would call him Captain Yong Eung-wan from now on, but he asked me to call him Captain Yong as before.
“Let's sit down and talk.”
“Yes.”
Soon, Pal-gap brought tea, and we drank tea while talking about this and that.
Although his Dao language was poor, Min Mu looked surprised when he spoke in Dao.
“You are amazing. You can already speak this well.”
“I still have a long way to go. But what is your exact name? I heard others call you Min.”
“My name is Yong Eung-wan Gong Min.”
Since he said Yong Eung-wan was his surname, Gong must be his middle name.
“Then what should I call you?”
In response to my question, he listened to Captain Yong Eung-wan's explanation and said,
“Then please call me Yong-min.”
“I will do so.”
I slowly brought up the main topic.
“I called you here because I have a favor to ask.”
“What is it?”
“I am going to Beijing.”
I explained the whole situation to him.
I told him that my main workplace was in Beijing, that I had stopped by the headquarters for a while on business, and that I had to return to Beijing.
“However, I am disappointed that I have to stop learning the language of Daewook while I am still in the middle of my studies. That said, there are people here who are continuing their studies, so I cannot take Ho Hoon with me to Beijing.”
“I see.”
“That is why I am asking you, Yongmin Musha. I would like you to come with me to Beijing and teach me the language of Daewook.”
I continued.
“Beijing is the capital of this empire, so it is a place where you can gain a lot of experience. I don't think it's a bad offer.”
He listened to my proposal and closed his eyes, deep in thought.
After a moment, he opened his eyes and looked at me with a rather intense gaze.
“All right. But I have one request.”
“What is it?”
“Please fight me.”
“...What?”
“I feel that you are very strong. You are the strongest person I have seen here.”
He has quite good intuition.
Even martial artists usually don't realize how strong I am.
“And being able to fight someone as strong as you would be an honor and a joy for me as a martial artist.”
To be honest, I was also curious about his true strength, so I accepted his request.
“All right. But it must be done in private. And you must not tell anyone else about my martial arts skills.”
“I understand.”
We went straight to the courtyard.
The courtyard of my annex was quite spacious, so there was no problem with holding a duel.
I had fought a duel with Master Jin before.
I took off my long coat and stepped forward. Then, the Yongmin warrior stood in front of me.
Hearing that I was going to fight the Yongmin warrior, the escort warriors who were supposed to rest also came out to the courtyard.
“Are you that curious?”
“You know the answer.”
Seo Woo replied on behalf of the others.
If they could learn something from watching me duel, I would welcome it.
They all knew my skills anyway.
We stood facing each other in the middle of the courtyard.
“You're not going to use a weapon?”
“No.”
“Then I will also fight without weapons.”
He asked me with a puzzled look on his face.
“We don't have to use weapons?”
“Yes. Don't worry, just come.”
Then I clenched my fists and took a stance. I was going to use Gokumon Hōtō.
My main weapon was a sword, but Gokumon Hōtō was more than enough to defeat him.
He also had a weapon of choice.
Seeing my stance, he also took a serious stance, and the duel began.
We moved slowly, looking for each other's openings. And I realized that he had no openings, contrary to my expectations.
Even what seemed like openings were not openings.
The warrior who fought Yong-min earlier must have seen that and thought it was an opening and jumped in.
Anyway, we can't just stand here like this. I have to make a move.
Soon, he reacted.
He rushed toward me. At the same time, he jumped high and tried to strike my shoulder with his heel.
Huh!
His movements were easy to see, so it wasn't difficult to dodge. It wasn't difficult to counterattack either.
Tak, tak, tak, tak!
Paf, paf!
Our hands and feet collided frantically. I could see that Yong-min was gradually getting tired.
Comparing Yong-min's skills to those of the empire's martial artists, he was roughly a first-class warrior.
He was probably similar to the warriors of Myeongjong and Chang-un.
With a weapon, he seemed capable of competing even with the greatest warriors.
Amazing.
He has reached this level with only outer arts, without using inner arts!
There are two types of martial arts: inner arts and outer arts.
Inner arts involve building up qi through mental techniques, while outer arts focus on physical training without building up qi.
Honestly, it is impossible to determine which is superior.
I have heard that those who have reached the highest level of outer arts can even defeat masters of inner arts.
However, training the body through outer arts is much more difficult and exhausting than training the mind through inner arts.
That is why I admire the skill of the Yongmin warriors.
I cannot even imagine how much hardship they must have endured to reach this level.
And their tenacity and perseverance.
Even though they knew they were no match for me, they did not give up and continued to attack me relentlessly.
I like that.
Anyway, it's time to end this.
I've seen enough of his skills and personality, and if we continue fighting, Yongmin Musha could get hurt.
I took a deep breath and threw a punch at him.
Bang!
My fist hit Yong-min's stomach, and he collapsed.
It's one of the techniques of Gyeok-eum-hon-bing-tu, which makes your opponent lose strength.
“Huff, huff...”
He seemed to have realized my intention and didn't try to fight anymore. He stood up, trembling.
Then he gave me a clasped hands greeting in the imperial style.
“It is an honor to fight against a master.”
“You're welcome.”
“But why didn't you use your full strength?”
He realized that I hadn't used my full strength.
“Why didn't you use your sword when you were fighting the Eunpung warriors earlier?”
When I responded with a question, he hesitated.
“Your sword must be specialized for actual combat. That's why you were worried that you would hurt your opponent if you used it in a duel.”
“...!”
He looked slightly surprised.
Just as I expected.
“I feel the same way. Does that answer your question?”
“Yes.”
“Then will you accept my request?”
“I understand. I will follow your request.”
The look in his eyes as he looked at me was different from before. His gaze was so intense that I couldn't help but turn my head away.
It was too much for me.
The date of my departure for Beijing had been set, and preparations were going smoothly.
One morning, a few days before my departure.
Gwak Hyung-jin visited my private room.
“What is it?”
“Your father has returned.”
“Really?”
“He said he would visit you early tomorrow morning.”
My master had finally returned. At last, I would be able to ask him about what happened when I went to Sichuan last time.
Early the next morning.
When I finished my breathing exercises and got up from my seat, my Master entered the annex as if he had been waiting for me.
“Come in.”
“Good morning.”
“Your trip was quite long.”
“I went to Beijing, but it took longer than I expected because I had to go through many places.”
“Beijing...?”
“Yes. I was in charge of transporting grain brought by a trading company that had been doing business with a foreign country.”
“I see.”
That's why you had to go to so many places.
“Then let's begin your training.”
“Yes.”
And so, I trained with my Master for the first time in a long time.
My master's training was still brutal. But the sad thing was that I was able to endure it.
Was I getting stronger?
In the past, I would collapse on the floor after training, but now I was able to stand on my own two feet.
Seeing this, my master looked satisfied.
However, there was still nothing clear about the sword technique my Master was teaching me.
I didn't even know the name of the sword technique I was learning.
But I felt like I was beginning to understand something, even if only vaguely.
Of course, it would take a lot of time to understand it clearly.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
“Thank you for your guidance.”
My master stared at me blankly, then said one sentence.
“Young Master So is a very unusual person.”
“Huh? Me?”
“At this point, you should at least ask me the name of the sword technique you are learning... But you haven't done so.”
I wiped the sweat from my forehead with the towel Palgak handed me and replied.
“I trust you completely, Master.”
“What?”
“You wouldn't teach something bad to your precious disciple, would you?”
“...”
“You have your own thoughts, so I will trust and follow you.”
“...”
My master's eyes reddened as he looked at me. I was embarrassed and scratched my cheek.
“I will repay your trust.”
I smiled awkwardly. The master I know is a reasonable person.
That's why he has a reason for not telling me the name of the sword technique.
So there's something I didn't ask...
Oh no! This isn't the time.
“Actually, there's something I want to ask you, Master.”
“What is it?”
“Not long ago, Hyung-nim Jeong-ho went missing, so I went to Sichuan.”
Then I explained in detail what happened at that time.
As I listened to my explanation, Master's face became increasingly serious.
“So, his eyes turned red and then returned to normal?”
“Yes.”
“And you didn't sense any black energy from him after he died?”
“That's right.”
My master closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and asked.
“Did that black energy smell like blood?”
“...!”
I was slightly surprised and asked again.
“How did you know?”
My master sighed deeply and slowly spoke.
“They are members of the Blood Cult.”
“What?”
“The Blood Cult specializes in martial arts that use blood. That is why they smell like blood.”
“I see.”
“Have you told anyone else about this?”
“No.”
“Good. You must never tell anyone else about this.”
“Why not?”
My master replied to my question.
“Because only those who have mastered the martial arts of Seolpunggung can detect the black aura mixed with the smell of blood.”