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nByeok Tae-san had expected his quiet life to go on for some time.

nHowever, for now, there had been an occurring disturbance in the power change of Hao Mun, and there was nothing else that would cause any more noise, except to ask Bai Hua Lu Zhu for help.

nAfter all, the beast acting behind Cheon Geum-ryeon would not move immediately.

nThey also needed time to prepare in order to do something. Of course, they were not aware of what they were really going to do in Wuhan.

nThere was a slight possibility when it came to Cheon Yakbang, but the lawmakers there were now being treated like dogs in order to create the Cheonchu Shrine, so it would be quiet for the time being.

nHowever, suddenly, an unexpected guest arrived.

nNo, this was more like greeting a military member than a guest.

n“From now on, I’ve decided to live here, too.”

nWas he really speaking like that?

n“I think it would be good for you to reconsider this. No man should take his business so lightly.”

n“It wasn’t an easy decision, was it? I thought about it and even brought it up for discussion a lot. That’s how I came to this decision.”

nByeok Tae-san frowned and looked at Yeon Ha-rin, who did not avoid her gaze. She even confidently made eye contact.

nUpon seeing this, Yeon Ha-rin smiled brightly.

n“I think I did a good job of refusing to break up the marriage and holing onto the end. How much regret do you have now if you fell for your father’s words?”

nWhen Byeok Tae-san did not respond to this, Yeon Ha-rin clenched her fists with a determined expression and said, “I have no intention of simply playing and eating with you, Confucius. I’ll work, too.”

n“Really? What’re you planning to do?”

nYeon Ha-rin smiled. “Yes, I think Master should be the one to tell you about this. I’ll do anything you’d ask me to do.”

nAs she said that she could do anything, she looked at Byeok Tae-san with the greatest glamor she could ever possibly have.

nThen, as he did his best to study hard, he slightly twisted his body to express a bewitching figure as much as possible.

nSeeing this, Byeok Tae-san said, “Your posture is twisted. If you don’t have the correct posture, it would hinder your martial arts training for later.”

n“I know that, right?”

nYeon Ha-rin straightened her posture and pursed her lips. Byeok Tae-san caught himself looking at this gesture and hurriedly waved his hand.

n“Anyway, I found this out; if you find Danyoung or Soso, they’ll give you a suitable room.”

nWhen Byeok Tae-san’s permission fell, Yeon Ha-rin caught herself smiling brightly.

n“I really will do well in the future.”

n“I don’t know what it is exactly that you’re going to do well, but please just do it yourself. Just… don’t bother me, alright?”

n“It’s not natural… I, but…”

nAs Yeon Ha-rin dragged her horse without bothering to head out, Tae-san looked at her with a puzzled expression.

n“Why?”

nAfter hesitating for a moment, Yeon Ha-rin looked at Byeok Tae-san with her eyes shining. It looked as if she had made up her mind.

n“I want to do that practice, too.”

n“Huh? Is that the water lily?”

n“It’s the training done by the Thousand Samurai, as well as the Yu Samurai.”

n“Ah, so does that mean it’s invincible?”

n“The name itself already sounds like a great aid.”

n“That’s pretty cool.”

nIt was such an amazing step that no other training could be followed through inflicting pain on people via walking.

n“Are you going to practice Muryangbo?”

nYeon Ha-rin nodded, her face taking on a determined expression.

n“Yes, please. I’ll be much stronger than I am now. So I… I want to make it my duty to protect Confucius.”

nByeok Tae-san didn’t laugh at her goal. One didn’t have to be stronger than the one they said they wanted to protect.

nIn fact, in the past, Hocheondae had not been stronger than the Cheonmain himself.

nEven if all the Hocheondae units were to attack, they could not possibly defeat the Cheonma.

nHowever, still, they faithfully kept to the Heavenly Demon. In addition to this, Chunma himself thought that they had been doing their job well enough.

nWho would dare to laugh at the thought of leaving it all behind in order to protect someone?

nByeok Tae-san nodded happily. “Alright, we can do that.”

nOverjoyed, Yeon Ha-rin ran right up to him to embrace him, a happy expression on his face.

nIn addition to this, Byeok Tae-san made sure to avoid Ha-rin’s rushed movements by taking a slight step to the side.

nThe woman, who barely managed to keep herself balanced, turned and looked at him with bewildered eyes. Before long, Tae-san was already walking away,

n“Sir! How could you possibly do that?!” She continued her relentless pursuit, running up behind him as she made another attempt to hug him.

nOf course, this was also a failed trial.

nYeon Ha-rin looked over at the dance hall with a spaced-out expression.

nThere were two swinging bridges made of planks that were joined together in the gymnasium. In addition to this, Cheon Kyung-wan and Yoo Soo-yeon were walking on it, with both wearing equally-troubled expressions.

nHowever, when Tae-san’s gaze roved over to them, these expressions quickly shifted into one of forced comfort.

n“Ah…”

nA long sigh simultaneously escaped the both of them at once.

n“Confucius, are you here?”

nCheon Kyung-wan and Yoo Soo-yeon politely greeted Byeok Tae-san. Seo-yeon found Yeon Ha-rin, and her eyes began to twinkle.

n“You came, too? When did you arrive?”

n“Um… just now?”

nWith this, Soo-yeon began to look at Ha-rin with a meaningful expression. This made Ha-rin rush with her movements before the other girl could say something strange.

n“I have decided to stay in the gold closet from now on.”

n“Really?” Yoo Seo-yeon’s eyes widened. Yeon Ha-rin could only smile.

n“I have already received permission, as well as had my luggage moved.”

nAt these words, Byeok Tae-san frowned. “When did you move your luggage?”

nHa-rin’s smile never wavered. “I’ve already been packing everything from the beginning in case I would live alone. I moved inside after I got permission from Lord Jang.”

nThat meant that she knew Tae-san even before meeting Confucius.

n‘Indeed, the owner of this manor is Byeok Taesu.’

nWhile Tae-san was busy thinking about that, Ha-rin approached Seo-yeon with a friendly expression.

n“Is training hard? I want to do this, too.”

n“Huh? What’re you doing?”

nYoo Seo-yeon looked to be very upset. Chun Kyung-wan looked the same.

n“Miss! No! Get away right now!”

n“Why? I mean, I want to be strong too.”

nAt Yeon Ha-rin’s words, Yu Seo-yeon’s mouth closed. What was she supposed to say to that?

nAfter all, she had made her wholesome intentions clear.

n“I won’t regret it. No matter how hard it is, I’ll endure it.”

n“That won’t be easy to maintain.”

nHa-rin merely chuckled. “Come on, you know who I am. I’m Yeon Ha-rin.”

nIn the end, Yoo Seo-yeon also found herself smiling.

nAfter a while, the training of the three began. Ha-rin decided to do it on the floor of the gymnasium, not by the swing bridge.

nIt was impossible to climb the suspension bridge from the beginning. The first thing to do was to properly engrave the Muryangbo on the body so that one could start from the bottom.

nHalf an hour after starting Muryangbo, Yeon Ha-rin desperately realized why Yoo Seo-yeon had said such a thing earlier.

nThis was a heinous practice that was created in order to squeeze the limits of human suffering.

nHowever, Ha-rin did her best to endure the groan with poisonous eyes, taking one step at a time.

nYoo Seo-yeon and Kyung-wan Cheon, upon seeing this, stuck out their tongues.

nByeok Tae-san saw this and narrowed his eyes. ‘Now I understand why I felt so familiar back then.’

nYeon Ha-rin really did resemble someone. Someone Tae-san couldn’t meet now.

nByeok Tae-san left the golden wall alone.

nIn all actuality, he hadn’t been outside alone. Perhaps this was the first time?

nTae-san had been thinking of bringing Chun Kyung-wan and Yoo Seo-yeon were not the only people practicing Muryangbo at the gym right now.

nAfter Ha-rin had been added, Dan-yeong and the other quarrels began to ask Tae-san with sincerity. Due to this, they were taught as well.

nIt was arranged so that the training could be carried out.

nMuryangbo was not just a training practice. Once you started training, you needed to stimulate the specified blood level in a special way.

nNaturally, Tae-san had a lot of office work. However, he didn’t have to do all of them. If he divided this approximately, he could do it all in three days.

nAll those who did not have such work instead practiced Muryangbo.

nIt must be painful, but they all tried their best to go through it. They also decided to take turns with working and training at the same time.

nHeukil, Heukyi, and Heuksam, who saw these, snuck into practice as well.

nAs the number of competitors increased, the attitudes of Chun Kyung-wan and Yoo Seo-yeon changed drastically. They were also warriors who had learned martial arts.

nAlthough Ha-rin didn’t know, she didn’t want to be pushed back by those who had only been in martial arts for a few months.

nOf course, those who had skills were superior. But that wasn’t the problem here.

nTae-san did not like seeing the lack of desire for poison or martial arts. This was a basic self-esteem issue.

nBecause of that situation, there was an untimely training craze blowing in the gymnasium. Tae-san chose not to bother them.

nIf they had reached his standards of satisfaction, there would be no objection. However, the problem was that they didn’t.

n“Hey, I’ve become a really good person, a really caring one.”

nByeok Tae-san nodded at this with a happy expression. He was headed to Gaekzan by then, where he had met Machungsam just the other day.

nWith this, the guest cup was acquired and operated by Dongho Pyo Guk. This was only a guesthouse on the outside, but it was actually a den of black swords.

nByeok Tae-san had headed in there without an advanced warning.

nDongho Pyo Guk’s national wine was currently being served, but when he heard that Tae-san was calling, he made short work of his return.

nOriginally, they were going to talk when he got back. But the last few days had changed his mind.

nIt was all because of those bastards. It happened because they kept buzzing like mosquitoes. All one had to do at this point was grab at them.

nAs Tae-san was walking, he soon found himself at the guesthouse. Gaekzan was a very quiet location, so there were only a few people around.

nThat must be why it had fallen and had been passed to the Black Swords in the first place.

nWith this, Tae-san went into the cup.

nUnlike last time, the inside was empty. There wasn’t even a place to receive guests.

nHowever, Byeok Tae-san knew that there were quite a few people in this guest cup. Even before he came here, speculation and rumors had already been flying.

n“Hey, you’ve been rolling well.”

nPerhaps the people who were spreading these speculations were the same ones who had gotten smashed by Chun Kyung-wan last time.

nAs Byeon Tae-san entered and looked around, a samosa ran up to him. “Confucius, are you here?’

nThe men who had been hiding on this floor were astonished to see the change in attitude in Ma Chungsam. The Chungsam they knew were never like that. However, what the hell was that Confucius doing?

nWasn’t that akin to a slave treating his master?

n“The guys I’ve investigated before, I’m going to visit them again today

/”

nAt Tae-san’s words, Chungsam’s eyes filled with joy.

n“Great! I’ll make sure you see them right away!”

nWith that, he led Tae-san and headed out to the guesthouse. Unlike the usual, he did not give out any instructions to the remaining men, such as what to train, and how long they should do it for.

nEveryone looked at each other curiously, wondering what their next step should be.

nFor some reason, this made Tae-san feel ominous, as if something was causing a disruption within the turbulence.

n***

nAt first, a dark shadow had been cast under the eyes of Ma Chungsam, who was busy guiding Byeok Tae-san with renewed vigor.

nHis whole body was drenched in sweat. His shoulders were drooping, and he couldn’t even raise his head properly.

nHe had already checked three of them, but Tae-san shook his head every time. Both the disciples of Dongo Pyo Guk and Cheon Chushinui had been mobilized to investigate, but he never thought that they would go this far.

nNow, there were only three left.

nWith this, Ma Chungsam moved forward, earnestly wishing that at least one of the remaining three would still exist.

nThis time, they went to Nangyin Market, located on the outskirts of Wuhan.

nThe Nangin Market was a place where Nangin gathered and exchanged quests, but there were more people who just worked hard than those who used their knives.

nIf one were looking for workers to use when building a pavilion or a manor, then this was the place to be.

nNangin Market was divided into several districts, and each district had its own corresponding manager. Although they were collectively referred to as the Nangin market, in fact, several district managers each secured their own Nagin and were busy going about with their business.

nMa Chungsam headed to one of these said areas. Tae-san’s eyes followed him diligently, his expression changing slightly.

nHe had finally found one.

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