At Gu Yaheuk’s words, Jeok Wigang grinned.
“Hearing that from you gives me confidence again.”
“It’s truly a fine spear, so don’t even think about lowering the price just to sell it.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you.”
“Then I’ll be going. I’m busy.”
“Where are you headed? I’m going that way too.”
“I’m on my way to the Azure Sky Merchant Company.”
“Oh? I’m headed to the Azure Sky Merchant Company too. Let’s go together.”
“Why are you going to the Azure Sky Merchant Company?”
“There’s something I want to buy. Let’s go together.”
Fortunately, it didn’t seem like he was going there to sell the Heavenly Thunder Divine Spear.
“Ahem. Fine, then. Let’s go together.”
“Yes. Would you be able to tell me about spears on the way?”
“You want to learn spearsmanship?”
“Nothing that grand. Still, if I have a certain amount of information and knowledge about spears, I’ll be able to find someone who suits this spear.”
“So you weren’t planning to sell it to just anyone who offered five hundred gold taels?”
“Huh? Come on. If I know this spear’s value, how could I possibly sell it to just anybody? I need to find someone who’ll truly treasure it.”
At Jeok Wigang’s words, Gu Yaheuk’s opinion of him rose further, and he said with a smile,
“I’ll teach you the basics.”
“Thank you.”
*****
The two men arrived at the main gate of the Azure Sky Merchant Company.
Seeing Gu Yaheuk hesitate, Jeok Wigang tilted his head.
“Sir? Aren’t you going in?”
“That, well... You go in first.”
“Come on. We’ve already come this far. Let’s go in together.”
“That, well...”
Just as Gu Yaheuk still couldn’t bring himself to take the next step—
“Father?”
A voice reached him, one that was both familiar and dearly missed.
Gu Yaheuk turned his head, and there stood Gu Daegeuk, the master of the Azure Sky Merchant Company and his son, staring at him in surprise.
“Father! What brings you here?”
“Ahem! I-I had business here.”
“Business? Hahaha! Looks like the sun will rise in the west tomorrow. Father actually came to see me. Don’t stand around out here—come inside.”
“No. It’s fine. I’ve seen your face, so I’ll be going now.”
“You came all the way here and you’re just leaving?”
“I happened to see you while passing by.”
“Father.”
“You rascal. I said I happened to see—”
“Hello.”
While Gu Yaheuk was speaking, Jeok Wigang cut in.
“And who are you?”
“My name is Kang Wi. I came here with this gentleman.”
“With my father?”
“Yes. Shall we go inside and talk?”
Gu Daegeuk looked at Gu Yaheuk.
“...Fine. Let’s go in.”
He resented Jeok Wigang for suddenly butting in, but he held it in.
If he irritated him for no reason and Jeok Wigang ended up refusing to sell him the spear, what then?
Still, Gu Daegeuk was surprised.
His father was following someone else’s lead that docilely.
“Father. I’ll escort you. This way.”
As Gu Daegeuk led them inside, he gave an order to one of his subordinates.
“Go to the kitchen at once and tell them to bring out delicacies from land and sea, along with the finest wine.”
“Yes, sir.”
*****
Gu Daegeuk brought his father and Jeok Wigang to his room.
All the while, he kept casting looks at Jeok Wigang.
“What kind of relationship do you have with my father?”
Gu Yaheuk felt awkward.
What exactly was he supposed to call their relationship?
Should he say that this was the owner of the spear he wanted to buy?
And then tell him to hand over five hundred gold taels to this fellow?
He simply couldn’t bring himself to say such a thing.
At that moment, Jeok Wigang opened his mouth.
“We met by chance while passing by.”
“I see. Then what matter brought you here to see me with my father?”
“I heard you fell into qi deviation.”
Gu Yaheuk jumped and ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) turned to stare at Jeok Wigang.
His face clearly said, What nonsense are you spouting?
Whether Gu Yaheuk stared at him or not, Jeok Wigang paid it no mind and continued.
“I heard the news. They say you offered five hundred gold taels to anyone who could cure your qi deviation, correct?”
“That’s right. Do you know someone?”
“I specialize in qi deviation.”
Gu Daegeuk looked at Gu Yaheuk.
His expression plainly asked whether that was true.
Gu Yaheuk was bewildered.
What in the world was this fellow suddenly talking about?
“Ah, this gentleman knows nothing about it. We were simply heading the same way, that’s all.”
“I see. Are you a physician?”
“No. Qi deviation isn’t an illness a physician can cure, is it? The dantian is broken, so it has to be restored to its original state. Unless a divine immortal descended from the heavens, that would be difficult.”
“Hmm.”
“I’m a sorcerer. With sorcery, the dantian can be restored as well.”
At the words sorcerer, Gu Daegeuk’s expression turned puzzled.
“This is the first I’ve ever heard of qi deviation being cured with sorcery.”
“That’s only because no one has tried it before. I’m making you a proposal. The decision is yours, Merchant Master.”
“Tell me what method you intend to use.”
“I’ll inscribe a formation around the dantian and restore the broken areas.”
“That’s possible?”
“If it weren’t, would I have come here?”
Gu Yaheuk cut in.
“Let him try. If this brat fails, I’ll personally take his head.”
“Huh? Sir, how can you say something so savage?”
“That boy is my son. Promise me he won’t come to harm.”
“I promise.”
“I am Gu Yaheuk, the Golden Spear Star, one of the Eight Stars of Heavenly Martial Castle.”
“Wow! So that’s why your discernment with spears was so extraordinary. I thought you were no ordinary elder, but I didn’t imagine you were someone that famous.”
Even after such direct intimidation, Jeok Wigang did not show the slightest tension.
To Gu Yaheuk, that meant one of two things.
Either Jeok Wigang was stronger than he was, or he could really heal a dantian.
Gu Yaheuk concluded that he probably wasn’t stronger than him, so he took it as proof that Jeok Wigang was confident in healing the dantian.
“I think I can trust you. Go ahead and try.”
At Gu Yaheuk’s words, Gu Daegeuk looked at Jeok Wigang for a moment, then nodded.
“Understood. When shall we begin?”
“After the meal, perhaps? The smell of food is all through the place.”
Seeing Jeok Wigang smack his lips, Gu Daegeuk nodded.
*****
Leaving behind Gu Yaheuk, who was glaring at Jeok Wigang with frightening eyes, Jeok Wigang looked at Gu Daegeuk, who had taken off his shirt and was lying on the bed.
“First, let me check your condition.”
When Gu Daegeuk nodded, Jeok Wigang began reciting a mantra.
Gu Daegeuk stared in shock as Jeok Wigang’s pupils turned white.
With those white eyes, Jeok Wigang examined the area around the dantian from one angle to another.
“Hmm. There are three broken sections.”
“Y-You can see that?”
“Of course.”
“Then... does that mean you truly can heal it?”
“If I said otherwise, my mouth would hurt from the lie.”
“P-Please heal me! I-I’ll give you not five hundred gold taels, but one thousand!”
“Really?”
Gu Daegeuk nodded.
His desperate heart came through clearly.
In truth, Jeok Wigang already knew the story between Gu Yaheuk and Gu Daegeuk.
If he reconciled the father and son, Gu Yaheuk’s heart would settle, which would be of great help to Heavenly Martial Castle as well.
In fact, Gu Yaheuk had been wandering in turmoil because of his son’s qi deviation and their fractured relationship.
Because of that, the progress of his cultivation had been meager as well.
Only if the turmoil in his heart vanished would Gu Yaheuk become stronger, and only if he became stronger would Heavenly Martial Castle become more stable.
Everything Jeok Wigang was doing was for the stability of Heavenly Martial Castle.
And to help his grandfather.
And while he was at it, he might as well earn some money too.
When Jeok Wigang glanced at Gu Yaheuk, he saw that his face looked even more tense than Gu Daegeuk’s.
Smiling, he said to Gu Daegeuk,
“Then I’ll begin. It won’t hurt.”
“That’s the most welcome thing you could have said.”
“You’re not terribly prone to dramatics, are you?”
“Hahaha!”
“All right, I’m starting.”
“I entrust this to you.”
*****
Jeok Wigang drew a pattern over the area of Gu Daegeuk’s dantian, layering triple circles and spirals over one another.
At the center, he inscribed the Restoration Seal and recited the mantra.
“Return qi to the sea, fix the vessels and join the meridians.”
Along with the mantra, light began to leak out from the mantra engraving drawn over the dantian.
Soon the spirals began to move little by little, and before long they were spinning in circles.
“Link the soul and guard the heart, restore the dantian as it was before.”
The circles turned in the opposite direction of the spirals, gradually growing larger.
“Seal.”
The moment the mantra ended, Gu Daegeuk felt a warm qi wrap around the area near his dantian with a soft, comforting sensation, and the heaviness in his lower abdomen seemed to ease.
The mantra engraving drawn over the dantian slowly unraveled, then quietly disappeared.
“It’s finished.”
At Jeok Wigang’s words, Gu Daegeuk asked back in startled disbelief,
“What? What do you mean, it’s finished? It’s only been a moment since you started...”
“That’s what sorcery is like. Convenient, isn’t it?”
Jeok Wigang said it with a grin, but it was hard to know whether to believe him.
“If you don’t believe me, try circulating your qi.”
Swallowing hard, Gu Daegeuk sat cross-legged and began regulating his breath and circulating his qi.
The warm sensation he had thought he would never feel again stirred within his dantian, then spread throughout his limbs and entire body.
He gathered the spreading qi into one and sent it through a full cycle.
He continued to regulate his breath in a trance, and before long, he opened his eyes.
Tears were flowing endlessly from them.
“F-Father... I... I can regulate my qi now... I can use martial arts.”
“Y-You... you can truly feel your dantian?”
“Yes. It may be late, but... may I continue learning your spearsmanship?”
“What nonsense. It is never too late to learn. I’ll teach you everything I have.”
Gu Yaheuk firmly clasped Gu Daegeuk’s hand and patted his shoulder.
His expression as he looked at his son was filled with countless emotions.
After hesitating for a moment, Gu Yaheuk opened his mouth.
“I’m sorry. I think I pushed you too hard because of my own greed.”
“Father?”
“The truth is, even when you couldn’t practice martial arts, I was proud of you. No one can build a merchant company this large up from bare ground.”
“N-No. I’m the one who was unfilial to you. I was wrong, Father.”
“No. You were never unfilial to me. You were always a son I was proud of.”
“Father...”
“It was all because I was lacking. Could you forgive this foolish father?”
“What are you saying? There was nothing to forgive in the first place. You never did me wrong. To me, you were always a hero and an ideal to strive toward. You still are.”
The father and son looked at each other.
Then both of them smiled.
The resentment that had been piled up in their hearts for so long melted away like spring snow.
At the same time, Gu Yaheuk and Gu Daegeuk turned toward Jeok Wigang.
Then, at the same time, they clasped their fists and bowed.
“Thank you, benefactor.”
“Benefactor? Come on. I only did it because I was getting paid.”
At Jeok Wigang’s words, Gu Daegeuk stepped outside, asking him to wait a moment.
Shortly after, he came back holding two drafts.
“These are drafts worth five hundred gold taels each. Any bank in the Central Plains will exchange them.”
“I’ll make good use of them.”
Gu Yaheuk watched Jeok Wigang accept the money, then turned to look at Gu Daegeuk.
Then he shook his head and looked away.
He spent a full thousand gold taels... How can I ask him to lend me another five hundred here?
He couldn’t do it.
He wanted Jeok Wigang’s spear desperately, but he decided to restrain himself.
He would be satisfied with the fact that his son had regained his dantian.
Then it happened.
Jeok Wigang held the spear out toward Gu Yaheuk.
Gu Yaheuk stared at him with a baffled expression.
“I’ve already reached the amount I was aiming for, so you should use it.”
“Y-You really mean that?”