Volcanic Age - Chapter 8

Editor: Summerstood, Imagine

“Did you steal it?”

Yu Jong Mok raised his head and looked at Ju Seo Cheon.

“No.”

Ju Seo Cheon shook his head sideways and denied it.

“Did you steal it?”

“No.”

“Then, did you trick others?”

“Absolutely not.”

Ju Seo Cheon answered negatively at all the questions.

There was not a trace of hesitation or trembling.

His eyes shone brightly like Yu Jong Mok’s righteous eyes.

However, those eyes were filled with a resolve that seemed to have the drive to accomplish what they sought out to do.

“Where did you get this from then?”

“Um…”

Ju Seo Cheon told the truth to Yu Jong Mok, but he didn’t tell all of it.

It was only to the point that he sneaked out of Hua Sect while Yu Jong Mok was absent and went to the underwater cave. He didn’t say something crazy like he had come from the future.

But he also didn’t make a lie to cover it up. No, it was more correct to say that he couldn’t say it.

Yu Jong Mok kneeled down without saying anything.

“It seems like you are still hiding something from me.”

Ju Seo Cheon flinched and got surprised. He didn’t say it out loud but his face was expressing the doubt of ‘how did he know?’.

Yu Jong Mok stroked the Water Spirit Fruit that was still in Ju Seo Cheon’s hands.

“I can know just by looking at your eyes.”

“Master… I…”

“Stop.”

Yu Jong Mok received the Water Spirit Fruit from his disciple.

“I will believe in you.”

He didn’t say anything after that.

That was the end.

He didn’t inquire or ask any questions.

Yu Jong Mok believed the words of a nine-year-old kid. He did have his doubts but he didn’t ask them out.

He just received the miraculous medicine without saying anything else.

“Is that really the end?”

On the other hand, the one that was in doubt was Ju Seo Cheon.

“How…why don’t you have any doubts?”

He was the one that wanted his master to just let it pass. But this situation was weird even when he thought about it.

At that question, Yu Jong Mok smiled gently just like usual and answered that question.

“If the master doesn’t believe his disciple, who would? If I was really doubtful I would have already inquired one year ago.”

Ju Seo Cheon dropped his mouth and couldn’t hide his shock.

‘So he knew about it…!’

One year ago, when he returned back in time was when he consciously had to act like a kid as to not attract any type of suspicion

He had thought that his act was quite perfect but it was in vain. Yu Jong Mok knew everything, from one to ten.

Yu Jong Mok smiled bitterly as Ju Seo Cheon’s face changed greatly and added some words.

“Even I don’t know what it is exactly. But I could feel that you matured at some point but you were trying to hide it.”

No matter how fast a child grew, there was a limit to it.

The result of having observed his disciple from up close was that his disciple was acting strangely.

At first, he thought that he had felt a devil.

There were cases where you turned crazy if your training in martial arts went wrong.

It wasn’t for nothing that masters stayed right next to their disciples to observe them. They would make mistakes at times because they were immature.

But it seemed like that wasn’t the case either.

He had thought about it and made some hypotheses about it, but no logic worked through.

He only thought that it was ‘fine’.

“You hid it because there are certain circumstances, right?”

Ju Seo Cheon nodded.

“If that is the case, there should also be a reason behind why you brought me this miraculous medicine. It can’t be helped then.”

Yu Jong Mok embraced Ju Seo Cheon.

“Master…Thank you.”

The disciple hugged his master tightly and then shed tears while leaning on his face. Yu Jong Mok patted Ju Seo Cheon’s back and cracked a joke.

“You pissed yourself down there and now you are also pissing from upwards.”

“Master…That is a bit….Sob!”

Ju Seo Cheon cried and then became serious. Yu Jong Mok became awkward when the joke he had prepared got rejected.

‘I said that to make him laugh…It didn’t work?’

Ahh, master!

It was also good to show off tight affection between master and disciple. But what was more important than that was applying the miraculous medicine.

Ju Seo Cheon explained about the Water Spirit Fruit in detail so that Yu Jong Mok would be able to absorb the miraculous medicine better.

Actually, there were no specific details in it. The only thing was that it had two properties, being water and wood.

“Then, I will ask you to protect me.”

Yu Jong Mok took in the Water Spirit Fruit and went to circulate his energy.

‘It’s amazing.’

He was able to feel the energy of the miraculous medicine when he closed his eyes and concentrated.

It was also the first time for Yu Jong Mok to have applied a miraculous medicine.

It wasn’t that there were no miraculous medicines in a big sect like Mount Hua but they also weren’t overflowing with it to give it to anyone.

Only a minority of prodigies were allowed to have miraculous medicines. But even them only took in at most one miraculous medicine in all their life.

‘Right, let’s keep….Huk?’

Yu Jong Mok got flustered while circulating his internal energy. Fortunately, he was able to keep his composure because he was controlling his emotions with the Taoist methods.

‘What in the world happened?’

Yu Jong Mok had never taken in miraculous medicine before but he knew really well what he needed to do because of the manuals he had read.

In the case you consumed a miraculous medicine,  most of them circulated that energy to guide it into the dantian and pile it up like internal energy.

But in the case that the energy of the miraculous medicine was enormous if you converted it into internal energy your vessels and dantian wouldn’t be able to endure it and would explode.

For that to not happen, they had to move it slowly and convert it little by little to make it their own.

But what happened to Yu Jong Mok was completely different.

In a really short instant, his qi moved on its own without him being able to do anything about it.

His energy didn’t explode. If that was the case, his organs would have gotten twisted and torn apart.

The qi of the Water Spirit Fruit, the water, and wood energy entered deep into Yu Jong Mok’s body without him being able to act.

‘Is the internal energy running rampant?’

His mind and consciousness trembled slightly.

And the first thing he thought about was ‘he’s still nine years old…’

It was the face of his disciple, Ju Seo Cheon.

He didn’t doubt that the miraculous medicine came with defects. And he didn’t even worry about his life or internal energy. He was only worried about his disciple. And then, at that moment.

‘Huk!’

The water and wood energy that had disappeared entered a deeper part of his body.

‘So that was the case!’

His worries and doubts disappeared.

All the fog that had distorted his view also disappeared.

And instead, he got able to realize something.

But it wasn’t insight in martial arts or an art.

It was about his body that was relatively weak since he was young.

‘So there was a problem with my vessel!’

The qi people were born with, the origin of life and another kind of great nature. This was called the vessel.

Only that his vessel was a bit different from normal internal energy.

First, the vessel was the origin of life. Spending this meant spending your life.

The power of the vessel was so incredible that if you used it you would be able to obtain great strength, but you would die not long after that.

Even if you didn’t use all of it and someone managed to stay alive, you would still end up disabled or age drastically.

Also, the power you spent wouldn’t get replenished again. Using it would mark the end of you, no medicine could help you then.

Yu Jong Mok had a problem in his vessel…and for some reason, that medicine saved him even though it shouldn’t have.

‘Seo Cheon saved me, he saved me!’

Yu Jong Mok stood up from his seat abruptly.

He wanted to hug his disciple hurriedly.

Ju Seo Cheon got surprised as Yu Jong Mok got out of the room he was taking guard in a hurry after not even an hour passed.

At first, he got worried that something may have gone wrong but he felt relieved at the laughter he heard after that.

Yu Jong Mok embraced Ju Seo Cheon happily and when he finally managed to calm himself after a while he started to tell the changes in his body.

“Precisely speaking, it didn’t seem like the vessel was the problem but the bowl that contained it.”

“The bowl?’

Yu Jong Mok nodded at Ju Seo Cheon’s question.

“Right. It was faint but it seemed like my vessel was flowing out from somewhere.”

Even Ju Seo Cheon didn’t know much about the vessel.

That was the same in the past, the present, and in the future. There was nothing concrete that got revealed.

Only the concept was transmitted down from long ago. They didn’t even know where the vessel was located.

It would flow out from somewhere when you wanted to use it after concentrating your mind about it, and it would get expended.

The problem was that even the users could only think and feel it. They weren’t able to comprehend the logic behind it at all.

That was the same for experts or small fries.

Whatever the case, there was a problem in the bowl containing this vessel so his qi was being spent really minutely.

That amount was the size of a hair thread, no, it was smaller than that. But even that amount gave a big influence in the body.

It was an obvious thing as the origin of life got expended. It would be weirder if your body didn’t show any problems.

Even if you trained in martial arts to accumulate internal energy, that was a completely different boundary from the vessel so it couldn’t get solved.

‘Indeed, I barely know what happened. The vitality of the wood energy fixed the bowl of the vessel.’

Yu Jong Moko was able to understand what had happened despite the lack of information given by Ju Seo Cheon.

Yu Jong Mok was teaching him diligently on the outside but Ju Seo Cheon already knew so much he could supplement his teacher’s teachings.

In the first place, there was no way Ju Seo Cheon wouldn’t know something Yu Jong Mok did as he was someone that had climbed to become an elder.

‘Wood is life. It’s not at the level of the vessel but the energy of the Spirit Water Fruit can replace it. So he complimented it with that.’

He had blocked what was flowing out so there was nothing to worry about now.

It seemed like the Spirit Water Fruit also filled up what was already spent.

To think that the wood energy replenished the life energy spent in the vessel!

It had completely crushed the logic that it was never recoverable.

‘It would not have been possible for others but it was possible indeed because it was master.’

Yu Jong Mok didn’t use his vessel. If he had, he would have already died by now.

The problem that had occurred in the bowl was really minute that not even he felt that a little bit of energy had flowed out.

But even that small amount had to be recovered with the help of a peerless miraculous medicine like the Spirit Water Fruit.

In addition, the energy of the Spirit Water Fruit was only used to fix the vessel. It couldn’t be turned into internal energy.

Yu Jong Mok only got healthy and he wasn’t able to convert the energy of the miraculous medicine into internal energy at all.

In the end, you aren’t able to use the vessel if you weren’t determined to die. Yu Jong Mok was also wary of this.

Only that Yu Jong Mok was a really special case.

‘Leave it. That’s not the important thing.’

The important thing was that the future had changed.

There was nothing to worry about even if the fourteenth year passed.

His master Yu Jong Mok wouldn’t die.

In the past, he had seen his master pass away hopelessly.

He had lost his only beloved person, his only family.

There were still many things he hadn’t been able to learn.

“You should take this.”

The Water Spirit Fruit entered Ju Seo Cheon’s hand.

“Master!”

“Don’t tell me to take it just in case. I know my body more than anyone else. Your master is fine.”

“Then, you should use it to accumulate internal energy…”

“If that is the case, then you need it more than me.”

It seemed like Yu Jong Mok wouldn’t yield either.

Ju Seo Cheon tried to convince him a bit more but he had to resign after watching Yu Jong Mok’s strict face.

Yu Jong Mok was boundlessly gentle and soft but he was so stubborn no one was able to stop him once he had decided to act.

Ju Seo Cheon knew that better than anyone else.

‘Right, okay. Let’s not push it anymore.’

The disciple had conceded to the stubbornness of his master.

“I understand.”

“You thought well.”

Only then did Yu Jong Mok start smiling again.

* * * * * * * *

A month later…

The sun hadn’t yet set.

The outside was filled with white snow to the point it blinded you whilst the cold wind blew. The disciples were busy combing.

“Whew…”

Ju Seo Cheon opened his closed eyes slowly.

‘I finally made it all my own.’

Ju Seo Cheon had taken in the Water Spirit Fruit one month ago.

But the energy of the miraculous medicine was higher than he thought. He wasn’t able to absorb it at once at the level he was at, with the body of a kid.

That’s why he had to invest a month to absorb the energy slowly so that there were no aftereffects in his body. That internal energy was worth half of a sexagenary cycle.

Half of a sexagenary cycle, that meant it was thirty years!

To accumulate thirty years’ worth of internal energy in only one month!

Adding up his two and a half years worth of internal energy and another half a year’s worth of energy of having circulated the Plum Blossom Life Arts for one month amounted to a total of thirty-three years.

“How unfortunate.”

Ju Seo Cheon smacked his lips.

The energy the Water Spirit Fruit had was really incredible. Perhaps

But unfortunately, his body wasn’t able to keep up.

If you kept pouring water to a bowl it would one day overflow.

It was the same with the dantian.

It was still too small to absorb all the energy of the Water Spirit Fruit and so he wasn’t able to make the sixty years worth of internal energy his.

‘But it’s not like I threw it away, so let’s be satisfied with this.’

He had instead invested it in his blood vessels. He strengthened them so that the passageways wouldn’t collapse.

But the problem was that doing so caused him a bit of pain. Originally, he had to expand them in a certain order but it happened because he expanded them in an instant.

He didn’t suffer internal injuries thanks to having used the wood energy that had a particularly strong recovery and regenerative power.

“Whew, I finally completed the Plum Blossom Qi Arts.”

The reason it stagnated at the tenth star was that he lacked internal energy.

With the increase of internal energy his limits also naturally increased.

“You finally made the energy in the miraculous medicine to be yours. Every day would have been an ordeal, you are really amazing.”

Yu Jong Mok, who was standing guard, praised him.

In the past month, he had taken attention to his master’s health.

But after consuming the medicine he didn’t show any signs of coughing or being sick.

But only a month passed so he couldn’t be fully sure about it. He was still observing him.

“Mm, thirty years…

Yu Jong Mok sensed the pulse of his disciple and let out a sigh of exclamation.

“The miraculous medicine is impressive indeed.”

It wasn’t normal to possess this much internal energy when you were only nine. It was the same in Mount Hua Sect and other great sects.

In the case of noble families, if there was only one person that would continue the generation, they would be able to support that person with miraculous medicines regardless of their age.

But excluding those special cases, they weren’t able to hand over miraculous medicines carelessly.

That’s why they would first thoroughly check their talent on martial arts and the temperament of a person after they become an adult.

It was a thing that was that hard to obtain so it was really strange to see a young kid overflowing with this much internal energy.

“Good, if it’s this much you should be able to start the enhancement gymnastics with your master. Let’s start training with me starting from today.”

“Enhancement gymnastics…?”

Ju Seo Cheon tilted his head at the unknown words.

He may not be able to remember those words or it was the first time hearing it but those words weren’t in his memories before returning in time.

Yu Jong Mok smiled back softly at him and explained.

“It’s a gymnastics variant I came up with to try to fix this weak constitution. The name is something I just came up with, and you can think of it as a kind of physical training.”

In the past, Yu Jong Mok had worked harder than anyone else to try to fix his body that was less healthy than others. That effort continued even after he fell out of being a Plum Blossom Sword Examiner.

Because of that, he pursued various methods and one of them was the self-developed health enhancement gymnastics.

‘But he didn’t teach me that in my past life…?’

Ju Seo Cheon’s doubts soon got cleared by Yu Jong Mok.

“Your body has thirty-three years worth of internal energy sleeping. It’s an incredible amount.”

In addition, Yu Jong Mok didn’t know about the Plum Blossom Life Arts.

He thought that the thirty-two years worth of internal energy came from consuming the miraculous medicine.

“But you can’t see that as being the only thing you need.”

‘Huh? What does he mean?’

Ju Seo Cheon got awe struck at Yu Jong Mok’s remark.

He had worked really hard to absorb the energy in the miraculous medicine and use it efficiently.

He had recalled all the memories of his past so he couldn’t help but tilt his head when Yu Jong Mok remarked that it wasn’t good.

He felt really sorry for his master that was like the sky, but Ju Seo Cheon was several times higher when it came to martial arts.

“There is a saying in Murim that goes ‘A healthy qi in a healthy body’.”

Healthy qi would permeate in a healthy body.

That meant the harmony between internal energy and the body.

“Balance is an important thing. The body of a person is more delicate than you think, so if the balance breaks even a little it will get destroyed. That is the same for your body.”

‘Aha!’

Only then did Ju Seo Cheon nod in understanding.

It wasn’t that he gained insight into something he didn’t know about.

He obviously knew about it.

‘I can’t say that I already know all of that.’

There was no way Ju Seo Cheon didn’t know something important like that.

Training his body was something he was planning to do slowly.

‘Um, indeed. It’s not that I don’t remember it but that it didn’t happen.’

In his past life, he was so busy trying to catch up that he wasn’t able to focus on balance or such things.

There was no way they would only teach him how to train his body in that situation.

“Then, I will receive your teachings starting from today.”

Ju Seo Cheon only pretended to be happy and got sincerely happy.

It was a memory with his master that wasn’t present in his past life.

‘Mm, but will mere gymnastics be enough? It seems like I should sneak out to train alone. In the first place, master’s version of gymnastics was designed for a person with a weak body.

He had doubts about how much that would help him.

‘Would it be hard?’

Ju Seo Cheon looked at Yu Jong Mok and smiled like a fool…

* * * * * * * * * * *

The fourth day of having started the enhancement gymnastics.

People tend to make regrets.

Regardless of age or gender.

It was the same for Ju Seo Cheon.

He cursed himself for having smiled like a fool four days ago. He cursed and cried many times for having thought it would be easy.

‘Graaaaaaaagh!’

Terrible pain was felt in all his body.

This level of pain was one of the greatest he felt even in his past life. No, perhaps it may be the first time he felt this.

‘Something is wrong.’

Ju Seo Cheon fell in his thoughts at the pain that was transmitted in his arms, no, in his entire body. His bones creaked and his muscles seemed to tear apart.

Some of his nails already broke and his hands were filled with blisters. The pain that followed that was no joke.

Four days ago was when he started with the enhancement gymnastics.

At first, it was simple gymnastics.

He warmed up like Yu Jong Mok taught him to.

It really was simple gymnastics.

After that, he had to make a roundtrip using the Light Step Arts.

He consumed his internal energy in an instant as he did as he was told to.

After that, he got complimented by Yu Jong Mok and got dragged somewhere.

It was below a cliff.

“Now, climb up.”