Cheongun was speechless from shock.
He had risked his life to save them.
He had walked for two full days from the Yangtze River to Cheongseongsan Mountain.
He had even encountered a group of black-robed individuals at the inn.
And now? They said they couldn’t give him the Golden Wons?
He had traveled all this way, risking everything for that one thing!
It felt like the day after moving into a new rental, only to find that the lease was a scam and the place was going to auction.
It was hard to suppress the boiling anger.
Even with all the effort to control his temper, the energy in his lower abdomen began to seep out, uncontrollably.
His internal energy surged wildly, and his eyes began to glow a sharp blue.
The temperature within a radius of about 30 cm froze solid.
“So this is how it’s going to be? I saved your only sister, and this is your response? No, you say? Ah, it seems like you don’t really understand what ‘no’ means. Should I show you what real ‘no’ means?”
“That’s not it. Please, just hear me out first.”
“Cheong Daehyup! I’m not a shameless martial artist who would forget the favor of saving my life! Please believe me!”
Well, it seemed like they weren’t thinking of just swindling him.
Cheongun nodded, realizing that there was a legitimate reason and no intention to cheat him.
That made sense.
Cheongun was having such a violent reaction for a reason.
The Namgung family was often mentioned as one of the Five Great Families, but when you examine the history behind the family, it wasn’t really as powerful or influential as people assumed.
It was just one of the five, but not particularly exceptional.
Was it because the original world was a game developed in Taiwan?
The historical accuracy was annoyingly detailed.
The reason Cheongun could draw his sword and demand payment in the middle of the day at the inn was simple.
Because he had power.
Because his opponent was weaker than him.
If someone disrespects him, he kills them.
If they covet something of his, he kills them.
If they have even the slightest resentment toward him, he kills them.
There were plenty of reasons to kill, and sometimes, no reason at all.
After all, there’s that saying.
Heaven knows, Earth knows, and you and I know.
On the surface, it’s a profound saying, but in reality, it means that only you and I know what’s going on, so I’ll kill you to erase everything.
It’s a typical ruthless attitude from the mainland.
Survival of the fittest, the law of the jungle.
That was the true nature of the martial world in the original world.
But still, they were supposed to be one of the Five Great Families.
A Golden Wons was a lot of money, but it wasn’t so much that it should have caused this much trouble.
Only when he realized this did Cheongun manage to cool his boiling head.
Once the killing intent had faded, Namgung Hwi continued speaking.
“As I said, I can’t give you the Golden Wons at the moment.”
“So why not?”
“If you had come to our main house in Hunan Province, we could have easily given you the Golden Wons. However, this is the branch of the Justice Alliance, not the main house.”
…That’s true.
Cheongun quietly listened to Namgung Hwi’s explanation.
“The Justice Alliance branch operates independently from the main family, so its budget is managed separately. Therefore, I cannot make large expenditures on my own.”
“……”
“Since the main house is thousands of miles away, I can’t provide the Golden Wons right away. As the branch leader, I must send a document with my seal to the main house. The head of the family must then command the overseer to allocate the funds before I can provide the Golden Wons.”
What the hell? Why is it so complicated?
Cheongun finally understood the gist of the conversation.
So, in order to receive the Golden Wons, he would have to wait for all those ridiculous procedures to be completed!
“I saved you, though.”
“Of course.”
“Not once, but twice! Then aren’t we close? Life-saving benefactor! Best friends! Family!”
“Eh? That’s too close…”
“No! Are you going to act this picky? Shouldn’t we skip the process and just get it done?”
“That’s a bit difficult, Great Hero.”
“Were we really that distant? Is one little rule enough to block us from helping each other? If we’re family, shouldn’t we just sacrifice our lives to help? Damn it, you don’t know Guanxi, do you? Guanxi! Are you even Chinese?!”
Namgung Hwi’s eyebrows twitched.
He was certainly an benefactor, but the blunt manner of Cheongun’s speech was getting on Namgung Hwi’s nerves.
With that rough behavior, he was no different from the beggars of Gaebang… no, the hooligans of Heukdo.
But the inner energy Cheongun had shown earlier felt different.
His energy was incredibly pure.
It was like the sea.
It radiated a deeper aura than the elders of his family.
It was not an aura built through cunning methods, but a completely pure internal energy.
This was the Daoist cultivation!
It was the beginning of martial arts that started with the pursuit of enlightenment or immortality, related to Buddhist or Taoist practices.
To have cultivated such a pure internal energy meant that this young man, Cheongun, had walked the path of the Dao for at least several decades.
He was indeed a potential dragon in the making.
Of course, this was a misunderstanding on Namgung Hwi’s part.
What he was feeling wasn’t internal energy, but the raw, unrefined natural energy Cheongun had stored in his lower abdomen.
It was unprocessed energy that came directly from nature itself, so the purity had to be high.
But as Nam Gung-hwi kept observing Cheongun, his expression grew more serious.
“Is it possible for someone this young to reach that level?”
…That couldn’t be.
There was no way it could be possible unless they had been taking some kind of elixir since they were in their mother’s womb.
So what was it?
Could it be the legendary Half-return to the East state?
But that wasn’t the only strange thing.
The behavior of someone walking the Dao path was supposed to be more reserved, not so indulgent and greedy.
Namgung Hwi let out a sigh.
Then, he spoke again, his tone genuinely sympathetic.
“Great Hero, please calm down. As I said earlier, it’s just a matter of time. If you give me some time, I will provide the promised compensation.”
“How long will it take?”
“About two weeks. Originally, it should have been provided immediately, so I will also add compensation for the delay.”
Ah, that’s it.
That’s what I wanted to hear.
Cheongun smiled in satisfaction.
And the result was quite satisfying.
If he had been planning to cheat him out of his gold, he had been prepared to chase him for a lifetime until his last breath to destroy the Namgung family.
So he was truly relieved that it wouldn’t come to that.
Namgung Hwi looked at the satisfied Cheongun and smiled slightly.
“Do you have a place to go, or any family you belong to?”
A beggar having a family?
Of course not.
“No.”
“Well then, how about joining our family?”
“Me? Join yours?”
“Yes. I promise you the highest honor.”
Cheongun hesitated.
Joining a family? That’s a bit difficult.
Why was it difficult?
There were many reasons.
First, the level of Cheongun’s martial arts without his characteristics is still not that high.
Second, no matter how urgent the money is, once you get involved with the martial world, you are bound to get entangled in all kinds of troublesome matters.
Having lived as a beggar for years, Cheongun realized how troublesome, frustrating, and terrifying the grudges and feuds in the martial world can be.
“My enemy is my enemy, and your enemy is also my enemy.”
The absurd logic of, “I can’t just kill one person, so I’ll destroy everyone related to them,” is the essence of grudges in the martial world.
If Cheongun were to enter the Namgung family?
At that moment, every force opposing Namgung would become Cheongun’s enemy. Simply because he is part of the “Namgung” family.
“That’s a bit much.”
“Are you truly not planning to join our family?”
Cheongun, who thought Namgung Hwi was a persistent person, nodded his head.
Namgung Hwi asked several more times, but Cheongun’s answer remained the same.
“I understand the Great Master’s intentions.”
Seeing Cheongun’s firm attitude, Namgung Hwi stopped trying to persuade him.
Of course, it wasn’t that he had given up.
In the martial world, rarer than gold and jewels is a master above peak level, especially one who is not affiliated with any faction.
A genius like that, falling from the sky like that, was invaluable.
Namgung Hwi smiled gently and offered another condition.
“Then, how about joining as a guest?”
“Guest?”
“Yes, I will make arrangements so that you can stay here and be provided for until you receive compensation.”
“What about food expenses?”
“There are none. You can stay here comfortably as if it were your own home.”
A guest is simply a guest.
Free lodging, three square meals a day, and high-quality clothing.
Not only that, but if you just lie down and scratch your belly, all sorts of chores, from laundry to cleaning, will be taken care of as well.
All of that, free of charge?
“Alright.”
Cheongun immediately accepted the offer.
****
Cheongun became a guest at the Namgung family’s branch of the Jeongyimeng (Justice League), staying in the annex of the Namgung family estate.
The annex, built in the style of a traditional four-courtyard house (Siheyuan), was structured like a square tofu that had been cut with a cross (+), leaving an open courtyard in the center with buildings on all four sides—north, south, east, and west.
Cheongun’s room was one of the west-facing guest rooms, with a view of a gazebo made from Taeho stone and a small pond just outside the window.
Inside the room, there was an octagonal table known as a “Palgangan” ( The eight-cornered table), resembling the shape of a turtle’s back, and furniture arranged according to Daoist feng shui principles.
Everything was neat and tidy, with all the items necessary for scholarly pursuits—brushes, ink, paper, and an inkstone, collectively known as “Munbangsabo” (The Four Treasures of the Study).
Having gone from a life of poverty to suddenly becoming a guest in the Namgung household, Cheongun felt as though he had found paradise.
Every day, three sumptuous meals were served, and the servants rushed around on tiptoe to do the laundry and cleaning.
This was the very definition of living the high life.
However, there was one problem: the possibility of villains attacking at any moment.
According to Cheongun’s memories, the Jeongyimeng branch located on Cheongseongsan would eventually be destroyed in a raid by demonic forces, but the exact timing of this attack was unclear.
The reason for this uncertainty was that Cheongun had been transported into the game world at a point well before the story’s original beginning.
So, his best option was to acquire as much gold as possible and flee before the attack came.
But first, he would have to focus on improving his martial arts skills as well.
Cheongun sat cross-legged in the center of the room, focusing on his current state.
The martial arts technique he had initially chosen to cultivate was the “Samjae Simbeop” (Three Talents Heart Method), a technique that, while low in efficiency, was straightforward and honest in its results.
It required exactly thirty years to accumulate thirty years of internal energy, a straightforward but outdated technique by modern martial arts standards.
The problem was that the Samjae Simbeop lacked a method to release the accumulated internal energy outward.
What good was accumulating internal energy if it couldn’t be released?
Internal energy cultivation was only effective if you could use it in the world of martial arts, where power escalation was extreme.
Still, Cheongun had chosen the Samjae Simbeop for one simple reason: it was safe, easy, and stable.
Moreover, being a foundational technique, it posed little risk of causing internal stagnation when learning other techniques in the future.
“I’m ready,” Cheongun muttered.
The new technique he intended to learn was the “Cheonji Honwon Ilgi Gong” (Heaven and Earth Unified Energy Technique), one of the greatest martial arts techniques in the world of the story.
This technique had been created by the Taoist sage “Taeeol Jin-in” (True Man of the Great One) before the era of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.
If mastered, it was considered the strongest martial arts technique in existence.
How did Cheongun know about this technique?
Because he had spent over 20,000 hours playing the game.
Though extremely difficult to learn at the beginning, once the grueling early stages were surpassed, the technique allowed one to amass internal energy on par with, if not greater than, martial arts powers.
“Ha…” Cheongun took a deep breath, mentally recalling the first step of the ‘Cheonji Honwon Ilgi Gong’ technique while simultaneously circulating his meager internal energy through his meridians.
Normally, this process would take years, but with Cheongun’s incredibly high spiritual perception stat, finding the right flow of energy was not too difficult.
Moreover, after encountering demonic cultivators and absorbing their natural energy in the past, Cheongun’s body seemed to have an already open channel for it, making the first step of the technique easier to access than expected.
With each breath in sync with the technique’s rhythm, warm life energy surged into Cheongun’s body, filling him with vitality.
The sensation was so invigorating that his face flushed with energy.
He felt like he could easily defeat a first-rate martial artist with this newfound power.
After completing the first stage of the technique, “Cheongi” (Heavenly Qi), and performing the “Ilju Cheon” (One Cycle of Heaven) process, Cheongun opened his eyes, drenched in sweat.
He had no idea how much time had passed, but he clearly felt that a pure, high-quality internal energy had settled in his lower dantian.
Cheongun assessed the situation.
“Are the martial arts easy?”