#6: It Is My Territory From Here On (3) — Warrior Grandpa and Supreme Granddaughter

‘Right.’

Yu Jinsan remained still until the bandits approached him.

Observing that only one of them was making moves, it appeared that the man was confident.

Despite leaving his spear at home, he wasn’t worried. At best, these assailants merely amounted to 3rd rate warriors.

Wheik.

A sharp blade swung toward his neck in a half-circle. Yet, it seemed to move in slow motion.

‘I need to demonstrate overwhelming strength to deter them from ever returning.’

Yu Jinsan thought.

With lightning-fast speed, Yu Jinsan moved his right hand. Before anyone knew it, he was gripping the blade.

Meanwhile, his left hand continued to hold his aching back.

“Wh-what is this?”

The bandit seemed quite taken aback. The blade, now caught, refused to move as if wedged between rocks.

How would he know why? In the old man’s hand was qi energy amassed over a lifetime.

Kaaang!

The sound of the blade shattering echoed around them.

The bandit, holding the broken blade, froze with a blank expression on his face.

Just then, his accomplice pushed past him and stepped forward.

“Move!”

At that moment, Yu Jinsan spread his arms out like the wings of a crane. Then, both of his hands swung in a circular motion, as if stirring clear water.

It was the Yu family’s physical martial arts, Fourth Form, Initial Slow Swift Attack.

His palms, infused with a radiant blue light, landed precisely on the advancing bandit’s stomach.

Puak!

The resonating sound, similar to a struck bell, reverberated through the mountains.

Simultaneously, a wave of qi energy erupted, scattering the fallen leaves nearby.

“Kuaaak!”

The bandit hunched over, wincing in pain.

Yu Jinsan took a step closer and patted his shoulder gently.

“Don’t be too rash.”

He warned.

At that moment, the groaning bandit straightened up as though he were never in pain.

“…Wh-what? It doesn’t hurt, right?”

He had clearly felt a surge of intense qi energy coursing through his body. He had momentarily lost his breath, yet strangely, he felt no pain.

At that time, he heard the sound of something cracking from behind.

Kuak!

En masse, the bandits turned their heads. Behind them, a tree had bent and fallen.

Thud!

“Wh-what is this…?”

“H-how did this happen?”

Out of fear, the bandits took a step back.

Not only had the old man shattered a blade with his bare hand, but he had also unleashed a qi attack that pierced a man and toppled a tree.

Clearly, he was a seasoned warrior beyond their league.

“I feel like I should rectify those unkempt heads of yours, but it’s my first time encountering you.”

“…Wh-who are you, old man?”

“I-I don’t know.”

The bandits looked so terrified that their faces turned pale. The elderly man they had dismissed as senile was, in truth, a formidable warrior.

Yu Jinsan observed them intently. After a while, he turned his back to them.

“No need to concern yourselves about me. As long as you steer clear of my territory, you won’t encounter me again.”

Inevitably, they had to retreat and take another route.

As he trudged back home, Yu Jinsan heaved a sigh.

‘Today’s hunt yielded nothing.’

Moreover, establishing his territory made hunting more challenging since the elk he had been pursuing had probably strayed from his land, resulting in a sudden lack of meat in his diet.

Just as he was considering his next step,

“Uwaaaa!!!”

He heard his granddaughter, Yu Seol, crying from a distance.

She seemed to be wailing with all her might, and her voice was loud and taut with fear.

“Grandpa is coming!”

A little while later, he sprinted and threw the door open. Yu Seol was crawling on the ground.

“Grandpa!”

“Oh my, my precious granddaughter. Your grandpa is here!”

He held her with both of his hands and gave her a tickle, which made her laugh.

“Keke.”

Her bright smile reminded him of a baby fairy who had descended from heaven.

Yu Jinsan picked up his granddaughter, lifted her into the air with a twirl, and then gently set her down on the ground.

“Now then, let’s go for a walk.”

It might have been a little early for such an activity, but he reasoned that it would be worth a try.

He helped her up just in case, providing a good balance to start with.

“Grapa….”

His granddaughter seemed slightly bewildered and shut her eyes.

“Take your time and walk to Grandpa now. Do it step by step. Slowly.”

Yu Jinsan bent his upper body and gestured for her to come closer. He had an elated expression on his face.

After a moment, the small feet of the baby began to take their first steps.

And then another step.

She made five steps before falling down. Of course, he was quick to catch her around the stomach before she fell flat on the ground.

“Haha! Hehehe… You did amazing.”

Yu Jinsan was so overjoyed that he felt like he might actually take flight.

His granddaughter also seemed to understand why she was being praised, and thus, both of them laughed and giggled.

“Well!”

“Ah, right. Now Grandpa has some work to do.”

He hoisted the child onto his back and retrieved some tools.

First off, he collected all the bamboo that he had cut a few days ago in one place.

Bathing under the warm sunlight, he began to weave the bamboo stems while humming a song.

“Soon, Yu Seol will have friends too.”

What Yu Jinsan was crafting was a small cage.

He had plans to raise chickens at the back of the house.

His proficiently moving hands assembled the chicken coop in under an hour. It was compact enough to house just a few animals, but it was an adequate start.

‘The problem is where to get the chickens…’

He found himself having to take the time and journey down to a market.

Yu Jinsan returned home and settled down. His face bore a thoughtful look, as if he were mulling over something. In front of him, Yu Seol was seated like a squirrel, curiously observing his expression.

‘The sooner she starts practicing internal qi, the better. Now that her dantian has developed, I can’t put it off any longer.’

The younger one was, the less impure qi the body would have, hence the effectiveness would be doubled.

Suddenly, his granddaughter closed her eyes and began to move aside. He had lulled her to sleep by applying pressure to her blood points.

Yu Jinsan cradled the child.

‘Soon, it will be over, so just sleep.’

Yu Jinsan’s right hand entirely encompassed the back of his granddaughter.

At that very moment, pure qi started to flow from his hand, gradually seeping into her.

Time passed quietly.

His full concentration was devoted to directing this qi to Yu Seol’s dantian, as this was the first step of cultivation.

After a while, the powerful qi was about to reach the first blood point. This left Yu Jinsan so bewildered that he nearly fainted.

‘No, this can’t be…?’

Her bloodstream was devoid of any impure qi. Furthermore, the pathway through which the qi circulated was wide open. This implied that she could accumulate internal qi at a pace that was a dozen times quicker than average.

Plus, since the flow of qi wasn’t obstructed, she wouldn’t have trouble performing martial arts.

‘Is this what it means to have such a sacred body?’

He was aware that she possessed a distinct body with an extraordinary mind and robust muscles, but the more he discovered, the more astounding it became.

Yu Jinsan was incredibly excited. His joy was so overwhelming that he struggled to express it.

First Cycle of Heaven. This refers to the process where the genuine qi from the dantian circulates through the bloodstream and gathers again in the dantian.

In general terms, if one were to consider the amount of internal qi that could be gathered in a single movement, Yu Seol’s body would accumulate nearly 20 times the internal qi.

The technique he had performed on the child was the Blue Sea Cultivation of the Yu family.

The Yu family’s internal qi technique, despite its slower pace compared to the techniques of other major sects, held its own value.

However, since it was based on purity and unwavering strength, it held the benefit of fortifying the dantian and increasing the capacity of qi that the body could absorb.

Nevertheless, it seemed that her innate bodily constitution was correcting this issue. Yu Jinsan was excited and assisted his granddaughter with internal qi for an additional hour.

It was like he was practicing internal qi while being asleep, all thanks to her grandfather.

Even though he had a short duration to practice, it enabled him to accumulate more qi than he usually could for himself.

He wanted to do more, but he was worried that if he pushed too hard all at once, the dantian might not be able to handle it.

“Haha… Hehehe! My granddaughter must have been born with someone else’s body to possess such a physique!”

The smile didn’t disappear from his face.

He laid Yu Seol, who was sleeping soundly, on her back and draped a blanket over her.

She had to be hungry again to wake up. And he had work to accomplish before then.

He looked around and pulled out a pitch-black robe from a drawer.

It was a souvenir he had acquired from the masked man he defeated in the past.

‘If anyone threatens Seol, I will eliminate them immediately. Regardless of who they are….’

He was completely dressed in black, with a bamboo hat tied around his waist.

The old man, who had been smiling amicably just a moment ago, had transformed into a flawless assassin.

His destination was the bandit’s hideout. His goal was to understand their capabilities and strengths. Even after sending a warning, he couldn’t decide whether to leave them alone or not.

He entered the mountains and covertly infiltrated the bandit’s territory.

He had never mastered any stealth techniques or assassination skills.

However, it never crossed his mind that he might be intercepted by the bandits.

Since he already knew the route, he advanced with no hesitation.

As he was on his way…

“Kyak! I am dying. Drinking alcohol discreetly like this is the best.”

“Hand me a sip, too.”

Two people were standing guard with torches and seemed to be busy drinking alcohol from a gourd.

‘What can I do now…’

After contemplating for a moment, Yu Jinsan jumped onto a nearby tree.

He then stepped onto a branch and began climbing the tree as if he were a bird.

Tak! Tak!

His shadow flitted across the sky, leaving afterimages in its wake.

“Did a bat just fly by?”

“Yeah. It would be great to catch one for a snack. Tsk.”

By the time they looked once more, Yu Jinsan had disappeared from sight. Finding the mountain bandits wasn’t difficult, as they were leaving clear traces behind.

‘Such a place exists…?’

As expected, it was near the mountain’s summit.

A vast expanse of land surrounded by wooden fences lay before him, with watchtowers installed throughout the area.

He climbed higher on the tree to get a better look.

Judging by the number of bandits wandering about and the presence he sensed from various locales, there seemed to be at least a hundred of them.

If he included those outside the camp’s boundaries, their number would likely double.

This bandit group clearly held significant power.

‘This will not be an easy task.’

A bandit group of this size would not back down simply due to verbal threats.

None of the bandits appeared to pose a threat to him, but it seemed that each one had some degree of martial arts training.

First, he had to retreat and devise a plan.

Just as he was about to leave, his eyes widened. Hidden behind a wooden fence was a breeding farm. The fence was likely placed at a distance due to the farm’s odor.

Pigs, chickens, and even ducks. A diverse range of animals was present.

‘This works out well for us.’

Thinking of his granddaughter, he couldn’t bear to return empty-handed.

He moved closer and took a deep breath.

He had to finish his work and run before the chickens scattered in fear. He couldn’t help but feel tense.

“Huh.”

Taking a deep breath, he began to run at an incredible speed. The fastest he could currently manage.

Tak!

A flash of light passed through the chicken coop and vanished on the other side.

Crack!

As the chickens began to flutter around, the bandits peeked out from the watchtower.

“What was that?”