Episode 2

At the base of an unknown mountain.

An old man was sitting down as he massaged his arms and legs.

Because of his amazing internal qi, his breathing was becoming steady slowly, but his bones and muscles were not recovering as fast.

“How did this…?”

Yu Jinsan thought about what happened. But no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t guess the reason for it.

The only clue he had was the dragon tattoo on the masked man’s neck.

And his feelings were mixed with anger and sadness.

“Uwaaa.”

His granddaughter, Yu Seol, was on his lap.

His eyes, which were looking down at the baby, were full of life. She was a child born with the muscles of a sacred body.

Because she was born with all of her five senses enhanced, she was naturally gifted in martial arts and others.

Soso, a legendary warrior who had conquered the Murim world single-handedly, was also famous for having the same kind of body.

“Uwaaa.”

“My granddaughter, why are you crying? Want to play with Grandpa?”

When he touched the baby with his finger, the baby cried louder.

“Uwaaa! Uwaaa!”

The face of Yu Jinsan turned dark at this. This was because he could guess what the child wanted.

She was probably hungry.

“Where do I get milk from?”

It would be dangerous to head down to the village now.

But he couldn’t let her starve. The old man sighed as he got up without resting at all.

Crack.

Once again, his bones cracked, making him groan.

“Kuak!”

He couldn’t believe he was going through such a hard time waiting for the day when death would come to him.

The pain would continue for quite some time since he had to loosen those stiff joints. But he was on the verge of tears.

He sighed, wrapped his granddaughter in a blanket, and tied her to his back.

“For now, let’s go to the village.”

Limping due to overworking his body, he headed to the village. He had to avoid areas close to his family’s house, as the assassins might be waiting there.

He went down the mountain path and looked around as the sun was setting, and thankfully, there was no sign of anyone on the street.

As he looked around, his face brightened. This was because he saw a cow inside a cage.

“Wait for a moment, Yu Seol. Grandpa finally found it.”

The old man secretly stepped into the cage and found a bamboo tube lying on the ground.

He didn’t even think twice and began to milk the cow for the very first time in his life.

Was there anything he wouldn’t do for his granddaughter?

Squeeze! Squeeze!

He had to squeeze it as much as he could. It was difficult to move around.

And he was around halfway through.

Mooooo~

“Shh. Be quiet. It’s almost done.”

As the cow began to move slowly, Yu Jinsan turned desperate, and he felt someone behind him.

When he turned around, he saw this middle-aged woman with a huge belly shouting.

“Thief!!!!”

The loud voice made his organs vibrate.

“Please turn a blind eye for once. I’m in a tough situation. I will definitely come back to pay for this.”

She took huge steps and swung the bowl in her hand.

It was a blow that he could have avoided, but he didn’t.

Puak!

The gourd that hit the top of his head scattered.

“Look at you pretending. You damned old man had nothing else to steal, so you decided to steal the milk of my Geumsun?!”

Geumsun had to be the name of the cow.

Yu Jinsan, who was suddenly hit, was shocked.

“How can you hit a helpless old man like me? Didn’t I tell you I was gonna pay you back?”

“Speak the truth before I take you to the authorities. Where did you abduct the child from?!”

The woman’s temper seemed so unusual. She was someone with whom he could never reason out.

To make matters worse, he began to detect signs of other residents coming closer.

He couldn’t stay here any longer.

“You hit me once, so I will treat that as the price being paid.”

After saying that, Yu Jinsan ran away.

Since she was an ordinary person who hadn’t learned martial arts, she couldn’t follow him.

He couldn’t believe that this was how his last years of life were, so he felt sad.

Wasn’t he the head of a well-known family?

“Phew…”

A sigh came out each time he used footwork.

Still, his heart felt lighter. This was because he was desperately looking for milk to feed his granddaughter.

Arriving at the base of a mountain, the old man went to a nearby valley.

In his hand was the bowl he had snatched from the woman before running away. After cleaning it, he lit up a bonfire.

“It’s not good to feed raw milk to kids.”

He poured the milk from the bamboo tube into the bowl and boiled it over the flame. Then he poured it on a leaf and fed it to the baby.

“You must have been hungry, right? Come on, try this.”

“Uwaa.”

The way she was waving her hands seemed like she wanted it, so Yu Jinsan pushed the leaf slowly into the child’s mouth.

And she was willingly drinking it.

“Heee~”

Seeing her innocent smile, it seemed as if all the pain in his body had disappeared.

It was then.

Yu Jinsan, who was smiling, suddenly fell down. And his entire body felt like it was being shredded to pieces, which made him scream.

“Kuaaaak!”

The pain made him feel like his head would explode.

He held his head with both hands and curled up like a shrimp.

“… Kuak.“

Yu Jinsan continued to scream as he was in pain.

A lot of time had passed as that continued.

His writhing body fell limp. He had no strength to even lift a finger.

How much time has passed? At some point, he heard birds chirping in his ears.

He just thought he had closed his eyes for a moment. Yu Jinsan quickly stood up and looked for his granddaughter.

“Yu Seol, my child!”

Fortunately, she was asleep.

Exhaling in relief, he sat cross-legged and thought deeply.

‘If things like this continue to happen, I will not last longer. I need to be alive at least until Yu Seol is safe.’

After much thought, one thing came to his mind.

Body Reformation. This situation or phenomenon happens when the meridians in the body are stuck. All the bones and flesh get reorganized, and the body is reborn in the structure that is most suitable for performing martial arts.

Tumors and such could be cured with this.

But it wasn’t as easy as it seemed. This was because as one gets older, the body gets filled with impure qi, which requires more qi to make it work.

‘In order to pierce the Yin poison in the Yang meridian vein for the Body Reformation, I need three huge flowers of internal qi. But that means that I need to hold out for five years or more.’

Yu Jinsan had internal qi that went beyond a state of exhaustion.

It was a situation where about five years of additional training were needed for this change to happen.

It was hard for him to live for even a day right now, then how was it possible for 5 years?

It wasn’t a situation where he could think about it by himself and immediately come up with a solution.

There was someone he had to meet.

The main hall of the Health Changing Hall.

Yu Jinsan, who was hiding nearby, watched the entrance.

At one point, this middle-aged man with a white bandana around his forehead walked inside.

-Seok Du.

It was Qi Talk, a martial arts technique of conversing in the head.

Seok Du seemed confused.

-Turn to the right and go behind the third plum tree you see.

So he headed there.

And there, Yu Jinsan was holding a child wrapped in a blanket.

“H-How did this happen? Rumors are already spreading everywhere. I was worried.”

“I don’t know what happened, either. Anyway, I need some help.”

“Didn’t my father also receive help from you when he was younger? Just say the word. I will help.”

“Just let me last for 5 years.”

“That… Elder, don’t you realize that’s a difficult thing to do?”

Yu Jinsan’s eyes calmed down.

He spoke clearly with a determined face.

“I need to last for at least 5 years. You are the best when it comes to healing the body. Think carefully about how to do it.”

Even if a Divine Physician came, there was no way to save this man.

Seok Du thought for a moment and, with a dark look, said,

“If you just need to hold on, there is one thing you can try… But everything comes with a price.”

“Amazing Seok Du. I thought there was a way if it’s you. Go ahead and say it.”

“It’s suppressing poison with poison. Elder, if you take the thunder qi, the tumor in your brain will stop spreading and will slow down in growth. But…”

“But…?”

“You will go through unbearable pain until you die. It will happen periodically.”

Yu Jinsan also knew of the thunder qi, so he wasn’t surprised.

It was a widely used poison to inflict pain on the prisoners without killing them. It wasn’t difficult to prepare, and it was simple to make a remedy for it.

“It doesn’t matter, so hurry up and make it.”

“Are you really sure? I will prepare an antidote just in case.”

“There is no need for that, so hurry up and do it. If I die while waiting, who will take responsibility?”

Seok Du looked puzzled.

“…You said you had no regrets yesterday.”

“I cannot die until my granddaughter grows up.”

After Seok Du left, Yu Jinsan sat down and leaned behind a tree. Seeing his granddaughter, Yu Seol, sleeping made him feel so calm.

‘Don’t worry. Grandpa will make sure he will survive.’

He also leaned his head against the tree and slept for a while.

An hour had passed, and Seok Du appeared again.

“I made it, but think about it once again. Chewing this when the pain comes will help you a little.”

Yu Jinsan patted his shoulder and thanked him.

“In the name of the head of the Yu family, I will never forget this.”

“I think you being healthy is already a good reward. But if you are the head of the Yu family, shouldn’t you know some sects in the martial world? Why are you hiding instead of asking for their help?”

“There is no sect that would take the risk of a collapsed family. Moreover, I don’t know which of them attacked us first, so I cannot go to them without enough information. Well, I guess I need to go now.”

“Yes. Take care of your health, Elder.”

They bid their farewell to each other and went their separate ways.

A month later, Yu Jinsan, who had finished drinking the medicine, came running down a hill.

The pain didn’t come right away. There was no way to know at the moment whether it would come for a few days or every day.

‘Five years until the Bone Reformation. It would be impossible with my current body to hold on till then.’

First, he had to train his body.

After placing Yu Seol in a safe place, he took his shirt off.

Contrary to his appearance, he had a well-built body. It was thanks to the strength he had built during his youth.

He took a deep breath while clutching his family’s heirloom, the Fire Dragon Divine Spear.

“Huh.”

As he took the plunge, this cold wind blew around him.

Dark eyebrows were revealed between his flowing white hair. And his handsome beard made him look like a sage.

It had been about 30 years since he gave up.

Then he slowly moved the spear with qi.

When he was young, he was named the best spearman in the world. All his movements and experiences were registered in his body.

Yu family’s spear technique, first formation, the First Supreme Flash.

It was a sharp spear attack that could pierce the enemy in front of him with lightning speed.

Pang!

The tip of the spear split the air, creating this typhoon. It was a move that contained a tremendous amount of internal qi.

And a cracking sound came at the same time.

Crack!

“Kuaak! W-wait!“

Yu Jinsan put his spear down and knelt there.

His form was perfect. But his body couldn’t keep up. After suffering for long, he managed to get up.

As he thought, it didn’t work.

‘I need to change my training method. My priority is to loosen my stiff bones and build my qi first.’

After resting for a while, he began to warm up his body.

After a while, several large stones were rolling around in the valley. They were larger than the head of an adult. And it felt like a good start.

He grabbed them with both hands and raised them above his head, then he repeated the process.

“One-! Two-!”

It was just simple training, but it felt like he was lifting a great mountain each time.