The Regressed Young Master’s Guide to Living on Easy Mode

Chapter 59 : The Empty Lord (3)

The dawn before sunrise is the time when yin energy moves most actively.

The yin energy that had settled during the night moves all at once as the yang energy casts its shadow on the world with the rising of the sun.

To put it simply, the yin energy was being pushed out by the yang energy.

And this was also the time when one could accumulate the most yin energy.

For three years, I had been doing qi circulation at this time without fail. After a while, when I opened my eyes, the dark sky had brightened.

"Ugh!"

Getting up from my seat, I stretched my back backwards.

Crack.

A loud sound came from my back, which had stiffened from doing qi circulation all night.

"I'm alive today too. Yoo Jae-ha! Well done!"

After my regression, my lifelong goal was to just live a simple, honey-sucking life.

But now, I had become a person who just looked up at the sky every day and offered thanks for having survived another day.

"Damn my fate."

There was no movement in the room. It seemed that the elder was still sleeping.

Recently, the elder had been sleeping more than he was awake.

If this continued, the elder would skip breakfast, and I looked around the kitchen roughly and then prepared to go down the mountain.

Because there was nothing much to eat for breakfast.

"Elder. I'll be back after a short trip down the mountain."

There was no way a reply would come, but I spoke out of courtesy and prepared to go down the mountain for the first time in a long time.

Well, there wasn't much to prepare, just slinging a single A-frame carrier on my back was enough.

Below the mountain, there was a small village with about a hundred households, built by slash-and-burn farmers.

Originally, the elder used to go down to the village, but for the past two years, it had become my job.

As I entered the village entrance, I saw Old Man Oh, the owner of the fruit store. Quite fresh fruits were displayed on the sales stand.

"It's been a while, young herb man."

"Yes. Old Man Oh, you're still the same. You've opened the store at such an early hour."

"Heh heh. You have to be diligent to make a living. Is the elder doing well?"

"He's the same as usual. Please give me everything on display here."

"As expected of the young herb man. So decisive. I've been waiting for this day. Don't just stay in a corner of the mountain all the time, come down to the village more often."

"Haha. I'll try."

I put the fruits in the A-frame carrier and handed over a few of the herbs that were inside.

"I'll be able to nourish my body for the first time in a long time. I haven't caught a cold once after eating the herbs the young herb man gave me."

Usually, transactions are made with money, but since this place was far from the capital, transactions were made through barter like this.

"Then, take care."

"Yes! Come again anytime!"

"Yes."

After the fruit store, I stopped by the vegetable store. Mrs. Park saw me and greeted me kindly.

"Young herb man! You're finally here!"

"Is something wrong?"

"No! I sprained my ankle when I went to the mountain to pick vegetables the other day, and it's not healing well!"

"Let me see."

I took out the acupuncture case that was hanging next to the A-frame carrier. While living with the elder for three years, perhaps because my own body was sick, I had naturally learned some simple medical skills.

"Look here! I hope the bone isn't injured."

"The bone is fine. However, it seems that the ankle is swollen because the tendon was surprised when the foot was twisted, causing quite a severe inflammation. I'll give you acupuncture and some medicinal herbs that are good for inflammation, so if you boil and drink them for seven days and nights, you'll get better soon."

"As expected of the young herb man! Now, now! Just pick whatever vegetables you want! I'll deduct the cost from the treatment just now."

"Yes. Thank you."

Just like at the fruit store before, I swept all the vegetables on the sales stand and put them in the A-frame carrier. At the meat store next door, I also exchanged herbs for meat.

And so, after buying a month's worth of food, I headed to the last place I had to stop by.

After a while, the place I arrived at was a small, shabby bookstore that looked like it would collapse at any moment.

At first, I was surprised that there was a bookstore in a place with only about a hundred households, but what was more surprising was that this bookstore had been passed down for three generations.

And the founder of this bookstore was someone who had once even served as an official in the court.

Though as time passed, he was now just running a bookstore and teaching the children of this village how to read and write.

"Mr. Woo, hello."

For reference, I was the only customer here.

"Young herb man! Damn it! I've been waiting!"

I had never read a single book in my life except for martial arts manuals. Therefore, the reason I came here was not to buy a book.

"Is there any new news outside?"

Mr. Woo, the third-generation owner of the bookstore, was in his 50s, which was considered young in the village. And he was also the only person connected to the outside of the village. Mr. Woo grinned and opened his mouth.

"It's been a real mess. You'll be surprised when you hear it, young herb man."

When I came down to the village once a month, I would always stop by Mr. Woo's bookstore and listen to the stories of how the world was going.

"What is it this time?"

As I pretended to be curious, Mr. Woo leaned forward from the sales stand and took a posture.

"You know about the Heavenly Demon Cult, right, young herb man?"

"Yes. I know about it."

The story about the Heavenly Demon Cult was one of Mr. Woo's favorite stories.

"Well! The Young Lord has changed!"

"Really?"

"Yes! And it's a woman! And there's a rumor that she's not even an adult yet!"

"Her martial talent must be amazing. To be able to snatch the position of the Young Lord of the Heavenly Demon Cult at such a young age, and as a woman."

"What's there to say! Rumor has it that she knocked down the Young Lord of the Blood Cult in one blow at the Young Lord appointment ceremony."

"The Young Lord of the Blood Cult..."

"Tsk tsk. The young herb man has only lived in the mountains, so you probably don't know how the world is going, but the Young Lord of the Blood Cult is, of course, the Little Blood Demon, who is famous as the Heavenly Killing Star!"

The Blood Cult was flowing as it had in the past.

"I think I've heard the nickname, but do you happen to know the name of the Little Blood Demon?"

"I don't know that far either."

I thought, 'I hope that Little Blood Demon isn't Soma.' The Heavenly Killing Star is one of the constitutions that have been passed down in legends, just like my junior sister's Heavenly Dragon Saintly Bones. If Soma were the Heavenly Killing Star, he would have revealed his majesty long ago.

In the first place, the fact that he was beaten up by me was proof that Soma was not the Heavenly Killing Star.

Still, if it were Soma, he would be able to snatch a pretty high position in the Blood Cult.

"Is there any other news?"

"There is! Of course, there is! Compared to what I'm about to say now, the story before was just a warm-up!"

Even though there was no one in the bookstore, Mr. Woo glanced around for no reason. As if he were about to say something he shouldn't, he leaned his head closer to me, covered his mouth, and said in a very low voice.

"There's a rumor of war."

"War, you say?"

"Yes. I also overheard it at an inn, so it's not certain, but do you remember the incident where the Diancang Sect was suddenly destroyed about three years ago?"

"Yes."

"It seems that that incident is being mentioned a lot recently. So the Heavenly Demon Cult is also on high alert. I heard that the newly chosen Young Lord of the Heavenly Demon Cult will be in charge of this incident."

The Gansu Province battle.

It was a battle started by the Orthodox Faction in revenge for the destroyed Diancang Sect.

If we only look at the result, the Orthodox Faction's revenge fails.

But with this incident, the Heavenly Demon Cult suffers a greater loss than expected.

There were largely two reasons for this.

First, after the Orthodox-Demonic War, the Heavenly Demon Cult had achieved the feat of occupying the land north of the Yangtze River. This meant that although the land had become wider, the places to protect had also become wider in proportion.

In the old days, they only had to protect Xinjiang, but now they had to protect the eight provinces north of the Yangtze River: Sichuan, Shaanxi, Henan, Shandong, Qinghai, Gansu, Hebei, and Liaoning.

Naturally, the troops had to be dispersed, and in contrast, the Orthodox Faction could just choose a place they wanted to attack and break through at one point.

Just as the Heavenly Demon Cult had done in the past.

Paradoxically, it could be said that the situation had been completely reversed.

At that time, the Heavenly Demon Cult had concentrated its troops in Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Henan, which were relatively close to the Orthodox Faction, and the Orthodox Faction, breaking that expectation, had invaded Gansu.

This was also almost identical to what the Heavenly Demon Cult had shown in the past, when they had attacked the Orthodox Faction, starting with the destruction of the Shaolin Temple, which was in the center of the Orthodox Faction.

As a result, the troops of the Heavenly Demon Cult who were protecting Gansu had all met their deaths, and after that, in order to reclaim Gansu, the Heavenly Demon Cult had to pay quite a lot of sacrifices.

And the second reason for the great damage was that the troops of the Orthodox Faction were much stronger than the Heavenly Demon Cult had thought.

As soon as Gansu fell to the Orthodox Faction, the Heavenly Demon Cult immediately formed troops and sent a first dispatch, and a short while later, they received the news that the entire first dispatch had been annihilated. And they formed troops again and sent a second dispatch, but as expected, they were also annihilated. Only then did the Heavenly Demon Cult realize the seriousness of the situation, and they were able to get Gansu back only after the third dispatch.

"Is there any other information?"

"This is all."

"I see. Thank you for letting me know."

I grabbed any book and exchanged it for all the remaining herbs, and then climbed the mountain again.

Originally, the Gansu Province battle was an event that should have happened two years from now.

I remembered it accurately because it was the first time I had gone out as the Young Lord of the Heavenly Demon Cult.

But now, the incident had happened two years earlier than in the past.

Perhaps the cause was that a new Young Lord had been chosen in the Heavenly Demon Cult.

"The significance of the Gansu Province battle was more about stepping on the new Young Lord of the Heavenly Demon Cult than about the revenge of the Diancang Sect."

If we only look at the result, it was the Heavenly Demon Cult's victory, but if we look at the content, it was no different from the Heavenly Demon Cult's defeat.

So I remembered that I had had a pretty hard time as my first move.

Since then, I had developed a hatred for the Orthodox Faction.

Creak.

I opened the door and went inside.

"Elder, I'm back."

Seeing that there was no presence, it seemed that he was still sleeping.

I went straight to the kitchen with a hungry stomach, put the rice on, and made side dishes with the various vegetables and meat I had bought from the village.

When the rice was done, I had a light meal and then began the training I had been doing for three years.

Since I still couldn't use my internal energy completely, the training was mainly focused on techniques.

I held a wooden sword in the open space and swung it.

Every time the sword was swung, a cold air settled around.

And so, after swinging the sword for about two hours, I sat down in the lotus position.

For half a year after coming here, I had not been able to use my internal energy at all.

But not now. When I circulated the Ice Soul Divine Art, I felt a tingling pain in my stomach, but compared to three years ago, this was nothing.

My current body's condition could be said to be different from that of an ordinary martial artist.

In the first place, the fact that I had ten great meridians instead of nine was different.

-Hmm... so that's why you're alive?

The self-proclaimed 'I'm not the Sword Emperor' elder. In short, the 'I'm not the Sword Emperor' elder had pointed to the tenth great meridian as the reason I was alive.

-Normally, your body should have exploded from the load of the internal energy, but the fact that it didn't is probably because of some effect of the tenth great meridian you created.

At that time, I had told him about the effect of the tenth great meridian, and the 'I'm not the Sword Emperor' elder had said this to me.

-You, how much do you know about the great meridians?

Since that day, I had started to learn about martial arts from the 'I'm not the Sword Emperor' elder. The sword art I had just performed was also what the 'I'm not the Sword Emperor' elder had taught me.

The great meridians.

It is a place where internal energy is largely accumulated, and it is related to external arts.

This was what I knew about the great meridians.

-The great meridians, to put it simply, are the size of the vessel.

I had expanded the size of my vessel by creating the tenth great meridian. As proof of that, I had been able to rise from the Transcendent Peak to the Demonic Zenith.

-Normally, you can't do it. If you forcibly expand a fixed vessel, the vessel will break. But you did it, and you're still alive like this. Then the method you have to do now will not be very different.

The 'I'm not the Sword Emperor' elder had said to me.

-There is only one way for you to live. Expand the vessel. The vessel is the possibility. I guess that the effect of the tenth great meridian is probably the strengthening of the minor meridians.

Thump!

The 'I'm not the Sword Emperor' elder had hit my chest.

-The strengthening of the body. And to an extent that you are not yet aware of. You're increasing the possibility. I don't know what will come out, but if something good comes out, your one-year lifespan will be extended.

I began to circulate my energy.

The heart method was the Ice Soul Divine Art.

Twitch?

I created the eleventh great meridian.

The effect of the tenth great meridian was the strengthening of the body and the senses.

The effect of the eleventh great meridian was...

Sizzle.

Frost began to form on my body.

The rampant internal energies calm down.

–

Creak.

The door that had been closed all morning opens.

From within, a skinny old man appears.

The old man's eyes, unlike his body which looked like it would break at any moment, were shining brightly.

The old man looked at Yoo Jae-ha, who was in the middle of qi circulation in the yard, and muttered.

"Demonic Emperor. You've really chosen a spectacular one."

The Sword Emperor, Jin Cheol-ho, recalled the promise he had made with the Demonic Emperor, Yoo Jin-seong, and the Heavenly Emperor, Yoo Mu-gun.

His own end was also approaching.

(End of Chapter)