DR Chapter 250

“So I was thinking of creating a training ground with basic cultivation methods that, while not at the level of extraordinary martial arts, could help achieve low to mid-low level martial arts accomplishments, along with formation arrays to assist with internal energy cultivation.”

“You mean like the feng shui formations of prestigious orthodox sects?”

“Well… the Zhuge clan specializes in formations and mechanical arrays, and among those formations, we could construct ones that help with energy circulation, even if not quite at the prestigious sect level.”

“Feng shui masters are expensive, Hee-ah.”

“I’ll do it myself. That’ll cut down the costs.”

“Hmm.”

Master slowly fanned himself.

Jin Cheonhee continued speaking to his contemplating master.

“Basically, let’s create a safe martial arts training zone. We’ll sort through the martial arts manuals circulating in the marketplace, refine the stable ones, teach them, and make money by charging usage fees.”

“…That sounds unsound.”

Is it really that crazy?

But no matter how he thought about it, this could work. It will work!

“It’ll be different from typical master-disciple relationships in the martial world. Trainer and member… ah, no… more like instructor and student. We’ll build a city around this concept, start related businesses, and people will naturally gather.”

“…”

The modern man continued speaking with benevolent madness.

“As the local commerce grows, we can get into real estate too. People who learn martial arts here will become friendly to us, and we can boost the sales of White Dragon Medical Pavilion soap while we’re at it!”

This was Jin Cheonhee’s idea of a virtuous cycle.

Master said, “If someone suddenly collapses during training, physicians can treat them right away.”

“Exactly! House call treatment service! Hospital within 10 minutes!”

“Service…? Anyway, I understand what you’re getting at.”

Jin Cheonhee unconsciously shouted modern loanwords, but Master was used to this by now.

Zhuge Rin fell into deep thought.

“Hee, if anyone else had suggested this, they’d surely be pointed at as a madman in the martial world.”

“Is it that extreme?”

“You’re proposing to overturn the existing master-disciple relationships and the entire process of learning martial arts from its roots. All while showing an incredible obsession with distributing soap and trying to save even one more martial artist.”

“…Ha… haha.”

Perhaps it would be difficult after all.

Zhuge Rin’s closed eyelids trembled briefly.

Was this insane plan his disciple proposed actually feasible?

Even for a genius like Zhuge Rin, being rooted in the martial world, it was inevitable to feel like merely conceiving such an idea violated taboos.

However, the one who reached such a concept was his only kindred spirit, unbound by common sense.

Zhuge Rin never listened carelessly, thinking and thinking again repeatedly.

Finally, after about fifteen minutes, Master spoke.

“How strange. Though it should be impossible, my calculations say it’s possible.”

“Huh… then…!?”

“Of course, it’s too early to be certain. We’ll need to investigate the wandering warriors who walk neither the dark path nor the righteous path, and find suitable vacant land.”

“You’ll help me do it?!”

Jin Cheonhee’s eyes sparkled.

What to do with this crazy disciple.

“Again, it’s too early to conclude. I’ll look into what other variables there might be…”

Cutting off his master’s words, Jin Cheonhee excitedly exclaimed.

“…If we do this, it’ll be huge, Master. If we do this, it’ll be absolutely huge!”

Why does this disciple of his declare things with such certainty?

Zhuge Rin’s temples began to throb.

***

Du Jin of the Wolf Plains Sword^[1] was born to an unremarkable farming family.

Still, being naturally larger in build and more muscular than others, he decided to become a martial artist after learning a move from a passing escort who happened through his village.

He immediately sought out a local martial arts dojo.

It was the Beon family dojo established by a military man named Beon Gwak.

He trained there for a year.

Then left home a year and a half later.

That was twenty years ago when he began wandering the martial world.

Now forty-two years old.

His martial arts level could be considered upper second-rate. But still just second-rate.

He couldn’t properly project a single sword energy and hadn’t deeply cultivated internal energy either.

To be honest.

His internal energy level was negligible.

Because he never had the opportunity to cultivate it deeply.

Usually, internal energy cultivation involves controlling inhalation and exhalation, while coordinating muscle tension and relaxation.

He didn’t even dare hope for spiritual medicine.

If he had obtained a special mind method and cultivated while reciting its verses, perhaps he might have become a first-rate martial artist by now.

But with just the mind method learned at a neighborhood dojo, it was impossible to gauge whether internal energy was accumulating or not during cultivation.

Therefore, sitting down steadily to gather internal energy was quite difficult for most martial artists in the world.

As a result, though he’d been eating the sword for over twenty years and become a veteran martial artist.

The reality was that his internal energy didn’t even amount to ten years’ worth.

In that sense, for someone like Du Jin, Three Seasons Tiger was like a legendary figure.

It was practically impossible for someone of wandering warrior origins like himself to reach such achievements.

Though Three Seasons Tiger herself lamented being ordinary, there were far more martial artists who achieved even slower progress than him, merely aging with time.

It was a sad truth that there were far more martial artists who didn’t dare feel jealous of the young prodigies at the Dragon Phoenix Gathering, hoping instead to gain even one small thing by connecting with them somehow.

But recently, he heard an interesting rumor.

“They opened a training hall where the effects of cultivation are several times better?”

At first, he wondered if it was a scheme by the notorious Blood Immortal Sect.

Though he’d sell his soul for martial arts achievement, he absolutely didn’t want to bathe in pig excrement.

Plus, rumors said their sect leader had to mate with pigs, so followers had to offer pigs weekly.

He’d rather die from going mad while learning demonic arts than go that far.

His parents in their graves would rise up if he did.

“The White Dragon Medical Pavilion created it?”

“They call it the Martial Training City.”

His drinking companion, a fellow escort, told him.

Martial Training City^[2].

They supposedly transformed unused land near the White Dragon Medical Pavilion’s main compound.

This Martial Training City’s purpose was to help martial artists train.

“They charge fees to use the facilities, but teach the basics of internal energy cultivation methods, systems, or external techniques and form training.”

“We already know the basics, what’s the… just pour me more wine.”

Aren’t second-rate martial artists already past the basic level?

He snorted, thinking it was just a dojo targeting third-rate martial artists. However, his friend replied with a rather serious expression.

“I sneered too. But a wandering warrior I know trained there for about a month and came back noticeably stronger.”

“Just learning basics again made him stronger?”

Does this make sense? He cautiously asked.

“Perhaps they teach extraordinary martial arts…”

“Nothing like that. Just improved versions of marketplace martial arts.”

Is it possible to get stronger with just that?

He couldn’t believe it.

Couldn’t believe it, but…

Wolf Plains Sword Du Jin finally made the long journey here.

He had to come, deceiving himself with the excuse that he had escort work here anyway.

He was more drawn by rumors that the White-Robed Divine Dragon himself planned it.

At least it wouldn’t be as suspicious as the demonic cult or Blood Immortal Sect.

If he could become even a little stronger… even a little more…!

Thus he arrived at Martial Training City.

First, walls surrounded the city boundaries.

The entrance was wide, but there were things he’d never seen before.

A ticket office.

Entrance and exit.

Du Jin wouldn’t know, but this Martial Training City was conceived entirely by Jin Cheonhee.

You had to buy tickets at the entrance, and then pay separate fees for various facilities inside!

It was modeled after amusement parks like X-World^[3] and E-Land.

Modern large-scale bathhouses were also somewhat referenced.

Of course, they were selling everything from free passes to discount tickets to annual memberships with great success!

“Uh… um… just give me a three-day basic pass.”

The martial artist sitting at the desk wrote ‘three-day basic pass’ on a wooden tag and firmly stamped it.

“Three nights, four days. Among the four levels of Martial Training City – Gab, Eul, Byeong, and Jeong – you can use Jeong-level accommodations and receive three free meals a day, so make sure to eat well.”

He nodded at the blunt martial artist’s words.

Not cheap, but reasonable compared to formal dojo enrollment fees.

He tucked the wooden tag into his chest and entered.

Suddenly, he felt pure energy.

That friend was right. Though not at the level of prestigious sects, there’s quite a lot of pure energy gathered here.

The second feature of Martial Training City.

Formations.

To aid internal energy cultivation, they artificially manipulated the surrounding energy to flow pure energy within the city.

Though incomparable to the formations of places like Shaolin Temple, Wudang Sect, or the Namgoong Clan, he agreed that only the Zhuge clan in the martial world could accomplish this madness of spreading formations across an entire city.

Even those like himself who cultivated low-level internal energy methods, barely able to tell if their cultivation was working or not due to such minimal effects.

Perhaps here I might actually feel internal energy gathering during cultivation!

At the age of forty.

In his youth, he once believed he might be a genius, a divine dragon.

But at this age, beaten down by time and reality’s storms.

Those forty years became uncomfortable.

Damn it all! Those prestigious family bastards get to cultivate internal energy in formations like this since childhood! Son of a bitch!

He grumbled curses to himself.

Notices were posted on the wall.

Let’s see… External technique training school. Anti-poison training school. Emergency treatment training school. There’s so much… but I’m short on money. I’ll just focus intensely on internal energy training in the Jeong level and leave.