The Genius Grandson of the Namnung Family Chapter 19

The Genius Grandson of the Namgung Family

Chapter 19

One, two… nine times. The nine ceremonial bows to one’s master. Until Ha Hyeon completed all nine bows, not only Namgung Mu-ryong and Gyu-hyeon, but even Chwiwol Geolgae watched him with pleased expressions.

“I remember telling you on your first day at the family compound, right here, that if you did well in the Blue dragon pavillion, you might have a chance to learn martial arts from me. I didn’t expect it to happen this quickly.”

“I will continue to work harder.”

Namgung Mu-ryong laughed warmly at Ha Hyeon’s serious demeanor.

“Actually, this is my first time taking on a disciple, so I feel awkward. Could you continue calling me grandfather rather than master?”

“Yes, grandfather.”

Watching the grandfather and grandson look at each other with warm gazes, Namgung Gyu-hyeon thought emotionally.

‘I can almost see the Namgung family’s even brighter future. If those two were greedy… the world could belong to the Namgung family.’

At that moment, Chwiwol Geolgae stepped forward, cleared his throat, and spoke.

“Ahem, you can call me master too.”

“Pardon?”

“Your Namgung family distinguishes between ‘teacher’ and ‘master’, right? Though I lost the ‘master’ title to Mu-ryong, since I’ll be teaching you too, shouldn’t I at least get to be called ‘teacher’?”

“Ah… that makes sense.”

“It doesn’t just make sense, it is what it is.”

“Yes. From now on, I’ll call you teacher.”

“Hehehe, that sounds quite nice.”

Though Gyu-hyeon found the genuinely pleased Chwiwol Geolgae ridiculous, he soon changed his mind.

‘This must be one of Ha Hyeon’s greatest weapons. The charm to draw people in.’

Then he smiled self-deprecatingly.

‘It seems I’ve already been enchanted by Ha Hyeon too.’

Unfortunately, even after Namgung Mu-ryong’s return, Ha Hyeon couldn’t receive any martial arts instruction from him for several days. Although Namgung Gi-cheol had handled many things as acting family head, there were still matters that only the family head could handle. Namgung Mu-ryong was extremely busy just receiving greetings from the family’s martial artists and catching up on pending work. Ha Hyeon wasn’t disappointed by this. After all, he was someone who had consistently trained with Namgung Gyu-hyeon’s help even when Namgung Mu-ryong wasn’t around. For someone like him, waiting a few more days wasn’t a big deal. Besides, he had another master.

“No! That’s not how you do it! When I said to burst all your power from the sole of your foot, I didn’t mean to only release qi from the Yongcheon point. Think about releasing qi from your entire foot!”

“Like this… you mean?”

Bang-

Ha Hyeon leaped forward with all his might. Though it was a level of skill that would make ordinary people’s eyes pop out, Chwiwol Geolgae’s face was full of dissatisfaction.

“No, no! You’re still only using part of it. Do it like this!”

Boom-!

Seemingly frustrated, Chwiwol Geolgae beat his chest a few times and demonstrated again. A much louder sound than when Ha Hyeon had stepped rang out, creating an illusion that Chwiwol Geolgae’s form had disappeared for a moment.

“You understand how I did it, right? Right?”

“Hmm… so you’re saying to think of the entire sole as one huge acupoint?”

“So that’s! Um… is that right? Is that it?”

Most unfortunately, while Chwiwol Geolgae was an excellent martial artist, he wasn’t a good teacher. Or rather, since he had never taught anyone in his life, it would be more accurate to say he didn’t know how to teach.

“Right! Rather than that, there are sweat glands in your soles, aren’t there? Those sweat glands. Think of the energy seeping out like sweat from there!”

“Sweat glands! I see.”

Boom-!

Ha Hyeon nodded as if he fully understood what Chwiwol Geolgae had just said, then stepped. A distinctly different sound from before. Though still quite crude, he had managed to somewhat replicate Chwiwol Geolgae’s technique.

“That’s it! That’s exactly it.”

Chwiwol Geolgae would become excited like a child whenever Ha Hyeon learned something. Very fortunately, Ha Hyeon was an exceptional disciple. Understanding ten things when told one, absorbing everything naturally as if the process of enlightenment was a luxury, he was a genius among geniuses.

‘Should I also find a disciple when I return to the Beggar sect?’

Thanks to this, even Chwiwol Geolgae was now deeply immersed in the joy of teaching someone.

Chwiwol Geolgae was known throughout the martial arts world as a master of lightness techniques. Of course, being an elder of the massive organization called Beggar sect meant his martial prowess was recognized throughout the martial arts world, but when asked who was the fastest in the martial arts world, Chwiwol Geolgae’s title was always among the first names mentioned. That’s why Chwiwol Geolgae focused on teaching Ha Hyeon footwork and movement techniques. He decided to personally teach what he had spent his lifetime perfecting and was most confident in. Just this alone showed that Chwiwol Geolgae, who usually did things his own way, was taking Ha Hyeon seriously.

Two weeks passed like this. During those two weeks, Ha Hyeon worked brutally hard. Literally, physically rolling on the ground. He rolled on the ground, falling again and again while learning Chwiwol Geolgae’s footwork. Perhaps thanks to such effort. Ha Hyeon was able to understand Chwiwol Geolgae’s profound principles in that short time.

BANG-!

A loud sound echoes through the training grounds. While it sounds like a heavy stone falling onto the training grounds, in reality, it was the sound of Ha Hyeon striking the ground.

Swoosh-

The moment Ha Hyeon struck with his foot, his form became slightly blurry, and in an instant, he was already two zhang away.

“That’s it!”

The Drunken Moon Elite couldn’t help but clap, forgetting his dignity. Though still quite inexperienced and with much room for growth…

‘This kid might actually be able to master the Form Shifting Position.’

After amazement came excitement.

The Form Shifting Position was considered a legendary martial art technique even in the martial arts world filled with exceptional superhuman beings. Simply put, it was an unrealistic divine technique also known as teleportation. But the Drunken Moon Elite thought differently.

‘If you move so fast that your opponent can’t perceive it, isn’t that Form Shifting Position?’

And he had spent his entire life training in Form Shifting Position. The method was simple to the point of being crude. It was nothing more than channeling maximum internal energy into the legs and quickly striking the ground to move. But this method was effective. As a result, he now thought he had reached a level where he could somewhat replicate it, though not completely.

“Huff… Huff……” Ha Hyeon breathed heavily. There was a major problem with this method – it consumed an enormous amount of internal energy. Although Ha Hyeon perfectly understood the Ascension technique, he couldn’t physically skip over time. While both the Drunken Moon Elite and the Sword Master said time would solve everything, Ha Hyeon wanted to accelerate that time as much as possible.

“Kid. When you first came to the Namgung family, you said you didn’t know how to do certain things. Do you understand them now?”

“Yes. Thanks to you, teacher, I think I’ve understood to some extent.”

“Drop the unnecessary modesty. What do you mean ‘to some extent’?”

“I’ve understood it completely. Thank you.”

The Drunken Moon Elite smiled with satisfaction, then his expression fell as he spoke to Ha Hyeon.

“But unfortunately…”

“Yes, teacher.”

“I think I need to visit the Alliance briefly.”

“By Alliance, do you mean the Martial Arts Alliance?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

The Drunken Moon Elite really looked like he didn’t want to go. But even for someone as free-spirited as the Drunken Moon Elite, matters concerning the Martial Arts Alliance couldn’t be ignored. Having lived his entire life with a strong sense of justice, dealing with groups that threatened the martial arts world’s safety, like the Evil Cult, was one of his most important duties.

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll keep practicing what you’ve taught me.”

“Hmm……” The Drunken Moon Elite groaned and thought.

‘It’s not you I’m worried about, but how much Mu-ryong will pressure you while I’m gone.’

But he couldn’t say this out loud as it would make him seem too anxious.

“Right. Remember what I said? Repetition, repetition is important. I’ll be back soon to check on your progress!”

“Yes, Master.”

“If possible, along with moving quickly, you should research ways to reduce the sound when striking the ground.”

Hearing this, Ha Hyeon tilted his head and asked.

“How can there be no sound when striking the ground forcefully? Even you, Master, though you move much faster than me, make an even louder sound…”

“That’s why I’m telling you to research it since we don’t know!”

“Ah… Yes……” Ha Hyeon’s face showed some frustration, but he nodded silently. The Drunken Moon Elite seemed to miss Ha Hyeon even as he was leaving, clicking his tongue as he departed for the Martial Arts Alliance.

The day after the Drunken Moon Elite left, Ha Hyeon finally got to sit face to face with Namgung Mu-ryong.

“Haha. Though I’ve only been a master in name, we’re finally sitting together like this.”

“Yes, grandfather.”

“I stepped back because Drunken Moon Elite was so enthusiastic. Our Ha Hyeon wasn’t disappointed, was he?”

“No, absolutely not. It was actually a really good time.”

“Oh? If you didn’t even miss this old man, I might be the one who’s disappointed?”

Namgung Mu-ryong and Ha Hyeon chatted warmly like an ordinary grandfather and grandson before deciding to begin in earnest. The first thing Namgung Mu-ryong did was carefully examine Ha Hyeon’s current physical condition and energy channels. He spent all day meticulously examining every tiny energy pathway and every corner of Ha Hyeon’s body before speaking.

“Amazing.”

That was his honest assessment. Ha Hyeon’s condition couldn’t be explained without using the term ‘unique constitution’.

‘The Baihui point is abnormally wide open, and the meridians and energy channels are as broad as the Yangtze River. I’ve never seen such a constitution in my life.’

It was so incredulous that he couldn’t help but laugh. Ha Hyeon’s current state was comparable to having the Ren and Du meridians naturally connected. When people are born, their Ren and Du meridians are connected. However, as people grow up, impure energy accumulates in their body through all physiological activities like eating, digesting, and breathing, and by the age of five, these meridians become completely blocked. But Ha Hyeon’s meridians appeared to be not just connected, but as if they had never been blocked in the first place.

‘This is why his absorption was so fast.’

After confirming Ha Hyeon’s unique constitution, Namgung Mu-ryong laughed helplessly several times.

“Did the Drunken Moon Elite say anything about you?”

“What do you mean…”

“Like having a unique constitution, or in simpler terms, a heavenly martial body…”

Ha Hyeon tilted his head, recalled something, and said.

“He often called me shameless.”

“Shameless?”

“Yes. Master Drunken Moon Elite called me shameless every time I moved to the next level.”

“Is that so? Hahaha.”

Namgung Mu-ryong laughed loudly, forgetting about his dignity. He could guess what “shameless” meant in this context.

‘It must have felt like years or decades of enlightenment were stolen overnight.’

He was achieving in a very short time what had taken others their entire lives to accomplish. Of course, it looked clumsy and immature, but those were issues that time would solve, like proficiency and the amount of internal energy. Namgung Mu-ryong grinned while looking at Ha Hyeon. Because what he brought today was one of the ways to drastically accelerate that time.

“Ha Hyeon. Take this.”

“What is this?”

What Namgung Mu-ryong gave him was wrapped beautifully in high-quality paper. Ha Hyeon received it carefully.

“This is called the Purple Restoration Pill. When I returned from the Martial Arts Alliance this time, I thought the Alliance Leader might have one, so I stol… I mean, I asked for it.”

Ha Hyeon vaguely remembered hearing about the Purple Restoration Pill. Just as Shaolin had the Great Return Pill, Huashan had the Purple Restoration Pill.

“Could this be a spirit pill?”

“Yes, that’s right, a spirit pill. I’m giving this to you to commemorate becoming my disciple.”

Namgung Mu-ryong’s face was full of bright smiles, finally feeling like he could do something for Ha Hyeon.

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