Chapter 337 : Royal Consort Record Latter Part (1)

Chapter 337: Royal Consort Record Latter Part (1)

Geum Yujin rose without caring for the taboos of the murim and immediately performed the Black Tortoise Supreme Yin Art.

He believed it was the way to help Seok Unjeong.

As soon as Geum Yujin performed the Black Tortoise Supreme Yin Art, Seok Unjeong’s complexion began to return to normal.

“It’s really strange. Why would Young Master Geum’s energy ease my pain?”

Geum Yujin answered while executing his technique.

“The Black Tortoise Supreme Yin Art is originally a martial art based on yin energy. I think it may be suppressing the activation of the Moon Yin Meridian Blockage’s energy.”

“Ah, that makes sense.”

Wanting to help Seok Unjeong feel even better, Geum Yujin infused more qi and unfolded the Black Tortoise Supreme Yin Art again.

As stronger waves of Black Tortoise Supreme Yin Art’s energy flowed out, Seok Unjeong could feel her pain gradually subsiding.

“It’s truly strange. The Moon Yin Meridian Blockage’s energy doesn’t calm down with anything else.”

Seeing her condition improve, Geum Yujin began again from the first stance of the Black Tortoise Supreme Yin Art — Black Tortoise Opens the Heavens.

“But I can’t just keep performing the stances like this forever. This is troublesome.”

While muttering, a sudden thought struck Geum Yujin.

“Ah, what if Miss Seok learned the Black Tortoise Supreme Yin Art herself? Then you could contain its energy within your body, which I think would help much more.”

Seok Unjeong looked troubled at his words.

“I know that Young Master Geum’s martial art isn’t an ordinary one but something special. How could I possibly be greedy for it? Besides, I don’t have the talent to learn martial arts.”

“What are you talking about? As long as you have the strength to move, you can learn martial arts. Miss Seok, you can definitely learn it. You might even be able to overcome the Moon Yin Meridian Blockage through mastering the Black Tortoise Supreme Yin Art.”

“No matter what, how could I learn the Geum Family’s secret martial art? Young Master Geum will get into trouble.”

Geum Yujin smiled at the innocent Seok Unjeong.

“That’s not the case. The master of the Geum Family is now me, Geum Yujin. If I allow it, it’s fine.”

Seok Unjeong raised her head at those words.

“Would that really be okay?”

Geum Yujin replied.

“What’s wrong with it? If this martial art can heal people, then I will share it with those in pain.”

Through this incident, Geum Yujin realized something profound.

The principles a person should live by, the morality of being human — he had come to understand them at great cost.

After losing his father, it took no time at all for him to realize he was nothing without him.

He could now see how much he had depended on his father all this time.

At first, he had been capable of nothing.

In that sense, Yong Hwarin, his peer, had achieved his current fame all on his own, unlike him.

Even the Three Chivalrous Sisters, all women, had built a reputation beyond his reach.

Geum Yujin wanted to use this opportunity to live a new life.

If possible, he wanted to return to the past when his father was alive, but since that was impossible, he resolved to live as if the present were that past.

Once he embraced this mindset, he felt his heart broaden.

He realized his narrow, infatuated feelings for Jeong Minji were ultimately meaningless.

‘I finally understand what Father always emphasized.’

Geum Myeongryeol, worried about his narrow-minded son, constantly kept one aphorism on his lips:

행유부득자(行有不得者)

개반구저기(皆反求諸己)

기신정이천하귀지(其身正而天下歸之)

If, in your actions, you do not attain your goal,

Seek the fault within yourself.

If your body is upright, the world will turn toward you.

These words from Mencius’ “Li Lou I” meant that when a problem arose, one should not blame others but seek the cause within oneself.

Geum Myeongryeol had always repeated this aphorism, knowing his son’s shortcomings, to enlighten him.

Yet the son could only truly understand it after losing his father.

‘From now on, I will seek the problem within myself.’

Geum Yujin extended his hand to Seok Unjeong.

“Would you like to start learning now?”

With her pain gone and a clear energy rising within her, Seok Unjeong unconsciously took Geum Yujin’s hand and stood up.

“From now on, listen carefully to what I say.”

Geum Yujin began teaching Seok Unjeong the oral formulas of the Black Tortoise Supreme Yin Art.

He taught the formulas first, thinking they alone might reduce the pain of the Moon Yin Meridian Blockage.

However, after testing, he soon realized formulas alone were insufficient.

“Perhaps only when performing the stances and circulating qi at the same time can we extinguish the Moon Yin Meridian Blockage’s energy.”

From then on, Geum Yujin earnestly began teaching Seok Unjeong.

Because the martial art was being learned not to grow stronger but to remove pain, their training sessions were quite unique.

As she learned the Black Tortoise Supreme Yin Art, Seok Unjeong felt the Moon Yin Meridian Blockage’s energy calming down.

‘When the full moon rises, I will know for certain.’

The more she practiced the Black Tortoise Supreme Yin Art, the more at ease she felt in both body and mind, and she diligently imitated its stances — albeit a bit clumsily. Geum Yujin watched her with satisfaction.

‘Perhaps the Black Tortoise Supreme Yin Art isn’t mine at all. It feels like a martial art meant for Miss Seok. Though she is learning it to ease her pain, the way she so quickly absorbs such a difficult art makes it seem as though it was made for her.’

Seeing Seok Unjeong easily master what he had struggled to learn, Geum Yujin felt both envy and relief.

‘Perhaps the Black Tortoise Supreme Yin Art will only be completed because of Miss Seok.’

Geum Yujin gazed endlessly at Seok Unjeong, who was practicing the Black Tortoise Supreme Yin Art while drenched in sweat.

At the Sky Ocean Merchant Union, no one from the Heavenly Central Sect was idle.

Deuksang had no time to meet Yong Hwarin as he was busy handling the flood of goods with Baekseom.

Furthermore, the Sky Ocean Merchant Union was quickly regaining its prosperity under the direct leadership of Hoi Jongbaek and Hoi Unkyung, who had swiftly recovered their health.

While it is easy to collapse once, for those with a solid foundation, rising again is not difficult.

After Ha Cheollyeong completed the Tai Chi Dantian, Yong Hwarin taught his disciple the method of circulating qi through the Yongcheon Point and the Laogong Point.

As a result, Ha Cheollyeong became deeply engrossed in the joy of qi circulation.

Yong Hwarin was often surprised by Ha Cheollyeong’s talent in instantly absorbing everything he taught.

‘Is this what true martial talent is?’

Through Ha Cheollyeong, Yong Hwarin could finally grasp the reality of the martial genius he had only heard about.

For an ordinary person, it might take years to grasp a single formula, but one with great talent could understand it in less than a day.

That is why a profound martial art that would require others to train for ten years could be mastered by the highly talented within a single year.

The prodigies of the Murim noble clans or the great sects often gained renown in the jianghu by the time they reached their early twenties, and some even surpassed the established martial masters.

This was possible because their aptitude allowed them to grasp in a short time what would otherwise require decades of training.

Thus, every great sect sought to recruit exceptional talents.

For without the right aptitude, one could never achieve mastery in the sect’s supreme martial arts.

Meanwhile, there were others at the Sky Ocean Merchant Union who were unnecessarily busy.

They were Jeong Suji and Jeong Daji.

For some reason, they were burning with zeal for martial training.

So, in passing, Yong Hwarin asked,

“Going somewhere for a duel?”

Jeong Suji stopped training when she heard Yong Hwarin’s voice, and, her face drenched in sweat, replied,

“We’re planning to go to the Three Supreme Swords’ sparring match.”

“Where did you hear about that?”

Recently, Yong Hwarin had also heard news of the Three Supreme Swords’ sparring.

“Young Master Geum said there’s no one in the murim who doesn’t know about it.”

“They say it’s as hard as plucking a star from the sky to watch the match because of the defensive formation set up. Aren’t you expecting too much?”

“Still, we can’t give up. Who knows when in my life I’ll get another chance to see the Three Supreme Swords’ sparring?”

Not wanting to pour cold water on someone whose martial soul was burning, Yong Hwarin offered words of praise.

“I hope you achieve good results.”

“Young Master Yong should try too. If it’s you, surely you could pass through the defensive formation?”

“I’ll think about it.”

The Three Supreme Swords’ sparring was meaningless if one didn’t know the location.

If you didn’t even know where it was being held, there was no need to worry about breaking through the defensive formation.

They would set up the formation and suddenly hold the match, making it difficult to discover the location.

Yong Hwarin felt a pang of regret.

He found it amusing when Jeong Suji pounced with claws out like a cat in heat, but lately that had been missing, leaving no tension.

“People becoming mature makes life dull.”

It had been entertaining to watch people run wild without restraint, but now that no one was doing so, he felt somewhat lonely.

Muttering such idle words, he headed toward the residence of the Demonic Master.

It was to look into the details concerning Deung Hwaun.

On the way, he fell into thought for a moment.

It wasn’t that Yong Hwarin had no interest in the Three Supreme Swords’ sparring.

He was simply doubtful whether there was truly anything to be learned from their match.

They were also called the Three Swords Beyond the Heavens for a reason.

If they bore titles such as the Number One Sword Under Heaven, the Number One Sword of the Continent, and the Number One Sword of the Central Plains, then they should at least be on the level of the Martial Seven Kings or the Five Emperors of the Martial World, as the enthusiasts of the murim liked to say.

However, they did not belong to such ranks as the enthusiasts claimed.

That is why they were also called the Three Swords Beyond the Heavens.

They were originally masters who emerged after the Heavenly Demon Sect rose to power in the Muhang Era.

Following the annihilation of the Heavenly Demon Sect, during the somewhat peaceful Muhae Era and Mujung Era, these three masters appeared and earned the title of Number One Sword.

Thereafter, the three began dueling to determine who was truly the Number One Sword.

By now, they must be at least seventy years old, and it was hard to believe they still dueled.

Thus, Yong Hwarin thought their descendants might be the ones competing in their place. If so, their level could hardly be said to surpass that of the established martial masters.

In such a match, the weak might find enlightenment, but for the strong, there would likely be no gain.

That was why Yong Hwarin was lukewarm toward the rumors of the Three Supreme Swords. Still, if he knew the location, he did want to see it once.

With all matters now settled smoothly, Yong Hwarin made time to seek out Musician Urak.

From now on, he intended to have a serious discussion about the story recorded in the latter part of the Royal Consort Record.