Hyeonjilmusin - Chapter 1



Only Krnovel

[Caesardi] Hyunjilmusin 1-170 (currently serialized)

1. Non-partisan (1)

Giant. If there is a realm of second-rate and first-rate for a warrior, then for a merchant, the title of giant is like climbing to the peak.

What can I say? It’s me. Mokhwiyeong (墨輝瑩) is the merchant. I never called myself that, but I became that before I knew it.

He became the richest man in the Central Plains through bone-crushing efforts, without sleeping, eating, or wearing anything.

But… … .

“Hey, it’s Mannyeonhancheol here!”

“What kind of eternal iron is this big?”

“Everyone, be quiet. We didn’t come here looking for the eternal season.”

The one who seemed to be the captain spoke solemnly. Looking at the weight holding the sack, my stomach turned red and the words came out automatically.

“You little thief, you’re bluffing!”

All of a sudden, everything flashed before my eyes. I don’t even know how I got hit.

Blood flowed out of my mouth as I fell forward. Along with the blood, a terrible pain tormented the area around my jaw.

“What we want to take is the school’s property. It was stolen by you Central Plains people.”

“You also had a tombstone in your bosom earlier. Is that yours too?”

“… … That’s my wife’s. I’m taking it as interest.”

“It’s not your wife’s, it’s this Hwiyoung Trading Company’s. You damn thief!”

As I screamed, something swung again. A dull pain was etched into my jaw along with the sound of wind cutting through it.

When I look back, there is blood on the scabbard that looks like mine. I must have hit it with the scabbard. They say there are guys who beat the butts of dead monks… … . Well, it’s unlikely that the martial artists would have opened up the scriptures.

“Daeju! I found it. Here is the ship.”

Just then, someone’s shout was heard from the corner of the upper warehouse.

“oh.”

Daeju’s eyes, which had been glaring at me, widened.

Soon, a jade box fell in front of me with my arms and legs tied. I looked at it and chuckled.

“Even with all your bragging rights, you wouldn’t be able to open it, right? Of course not. It’s a jewel box made of iron that has endured for ages. Do you know how much it cost to make it?”

“I have no interest in shallow money games.”

I felt sick. A shallow money game. The martial artists always treated merchants like that. In their world, merchants were nothing more than shallow money gamers.

But I want to ask all the martial artists now. Is it vulgar to persecute and rob the common people like this, or is it vulgar to accumulate wealth?

“Your mother must have raised you with money.”

This time the scabbard didn’t fly. Instead, a rough hand grabbed my chin and lifted it.

“Where are the keys?”

“Do you think I’ll tell you?”

“Of course not. Look at me.”

As he said, “Look at me,” his black pupils widened. I couldn’t close my eyes or turn my face away from the eerie sight of his black pupils growing larger than his whites. It seemed as if his eyes themselves had an attractive power.

For a moment, my brain felt like it was going to explode. It felt like I had been riding a cheap carriage for ten hours.

“Answer me. Where are the keys?”

Unbearable nausea and headaches engulfed my body. To escape this pain, I had no choice but to tell the truth. That was my instinctive feeling. But I decided to rebel anyway.

“Ah… … Don’t tell me, you punk!”

“If the level of Hwaninseophongong (幻人攝魂功) increases, you too will only suffer.”

The man in black brought his eyes closer and closer. I still couldn’t avoid his eyes, and now the pain was so intense that it felt like a porcupine was rolling around inside my head.

“Ugh, aaaah!”

“Speak quickly. We don’t have much time.”

“Hey, under the chair at the top! It’s under the chair!”

Only then did the man’s black eyes shrink and I was able to escape.

As soon as I did that, I felt defeated because I had said it in the end. I was overcome with guilt and anger at the same time towards the martial arts leader who had entrusted it to me.

“Gasp, gasp… … .”

“You brought this much pain on yourself. But you’re the first non-murim person to have endured this long.”

Soon, the man’s subordinates found the key and brought it to the front. The man put the key in the hole with a satisfied look on his face and turned it, but the box did not open.

“Oh my, it seems like what your wife needs isn’t a magic wand, but another man?”

I taunted desperately. The man grabbed my hair again and lifted me up.

“What is this? Isn’t this the key?”

“That’s right. You can’t do it.”

“I wrote the Hwaninseophonkong, so there’s no way I could lie… … .”

The man fumbled with the key and the box, but eventually couldn’t open it and threw it at me.

As soon as the ship crashed, the sword touched my neck.

“Open it.”

“What if you don’t want to open it?”

“Hwaninseophonkong can even force action.”

If you don’t want to suffer the same pain as before, just open it quietly. But I’m not stupid. The moment I open it, that’s the moment I die.

If I don’t open it, Hwaninseophon-gong or whatever it is will force it to open.

“good.”

“That’s right.”

The knife cut the rope that bound my two arms. I grabbed my shoulders and turned my arms once. They were sore from being tied up for so long.

I looked at the ship in front of me. That damned Murim leader. Not only does he usually extort money, he even takes this merchant’s life.

It was always like that. People stealing from me. There was a time when more than twenty carts were plundered by a group of bandits, and there was a time when the estate I had built was completely destroyed by a single person.

The drones take away the civilians’ entire life’s work in one go.

“Why are you so arrogant, you rascals? Do you know anything else besides killing people? You are unproductive beings who can’t even make a brush with your own hands.”

“Shut up and open it.”

I closed my eyes. I overcame all that to get here. But it seems like this is the end for me now.

“… … It’s hard.”

My true feelings came out without me knowing.

He put the key in the slot. Then, he used the Samjae Simbeop to collect the energy the size of a rat’s droppings and used it as a tool for instilling it into the key.

The reason why the man couldn’t open the door is simple. Only I and the Murim leader know that this door is a kind of machine. You have to spread your energy precisely along the groove and turn it, and only then can it open. The key is just a medium to pass the energy through.

Crunch.

The lid popped open with a snap.

A small, black, glowing ring was carefully placed inside the box.

“Oh. This is the divine elixir… … .”

A man’s emotional voice rang out from above.

“hey.”

“Why is that? Before you die, you should at least make one will.”

Now they’re saying they’re going to kill me openly. Well, I didn’t expect that.

“Do you know what commercial path I followed to become a merchant?”

“I’m not really curious.”

“I will definitely repay you. Whether it be a favor or an enmity.”

I laughed. And then I banged my head on the ring.

I don’t know what kind of ring it is, but I know one thing. It’s because the leader of the martial arts world really insisted on it.

―Don’t even think about putting your tongue in it. It’s an imperfectly refined elixir, so it will melt away right away.

Perhaps they don’t know that fact. That’s why they are acting so relaxed.

The tip of my tongue immediately touched the ring. The ring wrapped around my tongue with a bitter taste.

“This crazy guy!”

The man who belatedly realized what I was going to do cut off my neck with his sword. The moment when the tip of my tongue touched the short ring and my neck was cut off was a split second. It was a moment that showed how extreme the man’s martial arts were.

But what can I do? I have already eaten the Dan-hwan. It has become a handful of water and is circulating through my body… … Even if you cut me to pieces or divide me into five parts, you will not be able to find the Dan-hwan that has been absorbed… … .

I wanted to mock him as much as I could, but now I couldn’t speak, because my head and neck were separated. The best I could do was forcefully, very forcefully, twist my lips.

And so my consciousness flew away.

I see a flash of light. The countless things I’ve done in my life flow by like a torrent of water in a narrow valley.

…

My consciousness kept flying into the past, and then suddenly landed at one moment.

“omg!”

And then I jumped up.

I turned my head left and right. I couldn’t believe it, so I grabbed my head. To my surprise, my head was still attached.

“Get up!”

At the same time, a loud noise that felt like pounding my chest and the sound of a flute were heard.

I knew that sound.

The shouts and the sound of the grass flute that announce the time for the disciples of the shamanistic sect to wake up. And the feeling of your heart pounding is not a simple shout, but the sound of the six combined battles containing internal energy.

The children next to me started to wake up one by one, making noises.

But since I woke up first, I had time to think.

‘I left the nonpartisan group less than a month ago?’

I remember. My father donated countless times to the shaman sect, so I entered the shaman sect as a lay disciple, but I had no talent for martial arts. So I was kicked out in less than a month. My classmates laughed at me so much back then, that I still feel embarrassed when I think about it.

That was probably when I was around twenty years old.

“How can those who have entered the Taoist path be so lazy!”

The door opened wide and a Taoist priest with a black beard that reached down to his navel came out in a rage.

“Are you the true person of Cheong-Hyeon?”

As I spoke absentmindedly, the Taoist priest glared at me.

“What? Am I your friend? This guy is talking nonsense because he’s half asleep.”

Cheong-Hyeon struck my head with a long bamboo sword that he pulled out from somewhere. Of course, there was no way I could dodge an unmanned bamboo sword.

“Eww!”

For a moment, I saw stars. Only then did I remember. Cheong-Hyeon was a ruthless Taoist who mixed his internal energy with the skills of a martial artist and used it on his disciples, who were practically no different from ordinary people.

“Will you come to your senses now?”

Cheong-Hyeon told me, but I couldn’t answer him.

[ Recommend talents to users . ]

[ Agile Movement – 9th Grade ]

[ Price: 3 Nyang Coins (Beginner Discount!) ]

Because nonsensical letters were floating in front of me.

And underneath those words, even more ridiculous things were listed.

[Muslim Bone – Grade 7]

[ Price: 300 nyang of silver ]

[Sword Talent (Lowest Level) – 8th Grade]

[ Price: 10 nyang of silver ]

…

[Cheonan Tong (天眼通) – Grade 2]

[ Price: Not available for viewing ]

[Martial King’s Body – Level 3]

[ Price: Not available for viewing ]

I think it’s possible to buy it because it has a price tag. The prices are ridiculous to me as a merchant.

Ten nyang for silver? Three hundred nyang? It doesn’t sound easy. One nyang for silver can buy two seom of rice, and ten nyang for silver can buy about thirty pyeong of land.

The item name is so ridiculous that it’s on the level of running away from home to a foreign land. Let’s leave aside the talents of Mu-gol and Geum-ui. Mu-wang-ji-che is a natural Mu-gol that only comes once in a thousand years, and Cheon-an-tong is one of the six divine powers that Buddha possesses.

‘I’m crazy.’

I shook my head. The rational thought was that I was still floating in the underworld after I died. I was delusional because of my obsession with life.

But since it had come to this, I wanted to try it out. It was impossible for a merchant to pass up something he had never seen before. He had to handle all kinds of items to become a merchant.

“Jin-in. Let me ask you one thing.”

“Haha. You’ve been talking strangely since you got hit in the head. Okay. What do you want to ask?”

“Can you lend me three nyang coins?”

As I asked politely, the sword flew over my head again.