episode_0486

Seo Yi-ryeong frantically emptied the bowl. Seo Yi-ryeong ate the last mouthful after scraping the remaining food so thoroughly that it seemed like she was eating it from a wooden bowl. Only then did she become aware of Ho Cheon-an’s gaze.

“Hehe, it looks like you went on quite an arduous journey to meet me. I guess it’s been a while since I’ve eaten proper food?”

Seo Yi-ryeong’s face immediately turned red.

“That…”

Before Seo Yi-ryeong could reply, Ho Cheon-an picked up the ladle and scooped out the remaining food in the pot. Seo Yi-ryeong reflexively held out the bowl.

“Please eat a lot.”

In the end, Seo Yi-ryeong emptied the three bowls cleanly. As if that wasn’t enough, Seo Yi-ryeong looked at the remaining dishes, but Ho Cheon-an laughed lightly.

“Let’s eat the rest for breakfast tomorrow. If you start your morning with a soup that has been thickened by pouring in water and adding new seasoning and boiling it overnight, you will feel quite energized.”

gulp.

“Is that so…I will follow your wishes.”

The longer the cooking time, the tastier the dish becomes. Seo Yi-ryeong barely gave up her regrets while imagining the dish that would be prepared tomorrow morning.

When Ho Cheon-an poured water into the pot, added the seasoning, and closed the lid, Seo Yi-ryeong finally came to her senses.

What on earth is this?

As if being greedy with other people’s food wasn’t enough, he was also keeping an eye on the next morning’s portion!

Seo Yi-ryeong covered her face in shame.

Didn’t he choose to accompany Ho Cheon-an, even preparing to sacrifice his life for the well-being of the martial arts world?

Seo Yi-ryeong tried to gather her mind, but she couldn’t figure it out.

Crack. Cracking.

Strangely enough, it was because the pot was covered with a lid.

To be precise, it was because of the dishes contained within it.

Shhh…

The smell of cooking seeping ever so slightly through the pores of the pot lid continued to stimulate my imagination.

What would the taste of the soup containing the ingredients and seasonings of the dish I just tasted taste like?

He said that the taste of knowledge is scary.

If I didn’t know it at all, I wouldn’t have even imagined it, but after tasting the basic dish, I felt like I knew the taste.

At the same time, I never knew what new flavors the new seasonings and soup materials would give me, so the anticipation of familiar tastes and new tastes kept fueling my imagination.

‘Lee-ryeong! Come to your senses…! I went with you for the well-being of the martial arts group, not to get food!’

While Seo Yi-ryeong was struggling to control her rising appetite, Ho Cheon-an stood up.

“I’m thinking of getting a good night’s sleep. What do you plan on doing?”

Seo Yi-ryeong came to his senses and answered Ho Cheon-an’s question.

“I think I should get some sleep too.”

“Hmm. Do you happen to have any bedding?”

“Isn’t it the way for a warrior to sleep using the earth as his bed?”

“Hehe, I don’t feel comfortable leaving a woman like that. If it’s okay, would you sleep with these guys?”

“…Yes?”

Ho Cheon-an approached Seo-gong and leaned against him as if he was demonstrating rather than explaining. Seogong shook his body as if he was used to it, giving Ho Cheon-an some space to sleep.

“How do you feel?”

“Umm…”

Although it certainly looked warm leaning against the fluffy fur… Seo Yi-ryeong shook her head. However, sleeping with spirits was an act that Seo Yi-ryeong found very repulsive.

If you were asked to sleep in a cage with wild animals, not only people but even quite a few warriors would tremble.

But sleeping in the arms of a spirit being?

“I understand. I will not force you.”

Ugh.

Seok-woong whined and clung to Ho Cheon-an and Seo-gong. The deer spirit looked at the scene for a moment, then lowered its head again and fell asleep.

Seo Yi-ryeong lowered her black lips and looked at Ho Cheon-an who was sleeping.

‘What on earth is this person doing…’

Do you even believe in spirit creatures to your core? Seo Yi-ryeong, who knew well that this spirit object had only recently fallen into Ho Cheon-an’s hands, could not understand Ho Cheon-an’s actions.

‘I don’t know.’

Seo Yi-ryeong smiled bitterly when she remembered the fact that she had asked Ho Cheon-an to accompany him because she knew nothing about him.

How can you understand people overnight?

‘He doesn’t seem like a villain, but… we’ll have to keep an eye on him.’

Seo Yi-ryeong closed her eyes. This was because I had been constantly on guard and tense ever since I joined Ho Cheon-an, and I was getting tired.

The journey with Hocheonan will never be easy, so you should rest while you can.

Seo Yi-ryeong thought as she smelled the faint smell of cooking.

Above all, you should never oversleep in order not to miss soup tomorrow morning.

*** ***

Did I eat too much?

Seo Yi-ryeong felt uncomfortable and regretted it. Even though I knew I would have to practice light all day, when I came to my senses, I had inhaled a whole pot of soup.

Dadadadadadak.

Seo Yi-ryeong, who thought about the amount of food she ate this morning, looked at the back of Ho Cheon-an, who was riding on Seo Gong’s back as he was diligently moving his feet, and noticed.

They won’t kick you out if you eat too much food, right?

At that time, Ho Cheon-an’s mouth opened.

“I want to ask you something.”

“Yes? sorry. I will be careful in the future.”

“Hmm? I don’t know why, but there’s no need to apologize. by the way. Do you have a knack for naming things?”

“Naming, you mean?”

“That’s right.”

Hocheonan’s eyes turned to the deer spirit running next to him.

“Why don’t the remnants of the Blood Cult name all their spirits as Blood Clan in case someone thinks they are the remnants of the Blood Cult? I’d like to give it a proper name rather than those names, but I’m not particularly good at naming things.”

“Is that so.”

Seo Yi-ryeong looked at Ho Cheon-an, who was examining the deer spirit.

I felt it yesterday too, but he was a truly unique person.

Rather than being conscious of the value and power of spirit creatures, they were simply treated as large animals.

“Could you possibly know the names of other spirits?”

“This guy is a spy. That guy was named Seokwoong.”

Take a picture?

Seogong recognized my name and raised his head. Ho Cheon-an stroked Seogong’s head.

“I did not come up with the name Seogong. I gave Seokwoong the name Seokwoong, but I don’t think it was a very sophisticated name.”

“Is that so.”

Seo Yi-ryeong looked at the deer spirit. In addition to the long, straight horns reminiscent of the branches of an old tree, the sleek body had a rather noble taste. Unlike Seo-gong or Seok-woong, who cried diligently, the nature of not making a single sound also contributed to such nobleness, so a suitable name soon came to Seo Yi-ryeong’s mind.

“…Ink gold. How about mukgeum?”

“Ink gold. What a good name.”

Ho Cheon-an nodded and spoke to the deer spirit.

“Yes. From now on, your name will be Mukgeum.”

Deer Yeongmul, or rather Mukgeum, just looked at Hocheonan with round eyes, unsure whether he understood or not.

Seo Yi-ryeong, who was watching the scene, asked Ho Cheon-an a question.

“Why are you collecting the spiritual treasures of your blood religion?”

“Why.”

Ho Cheon-an was lost in thought for a moment. Seo Gong seemed to have a connection with Hyeok Kirin in another martial world, so there was a reason to collect it, but in fact, there was no need to collect other spirits.

“Because these guys need me.”

“Is that so?”

It was a completely unexpected answer to Seo Yi-ryeong.

It’s not that the Hocheon’s Eye needs a spiritual object, but the Spiritual Being needs the Hocheon’s Eye?

“Hehe. exactly. These are not the people who welcome me so warmly because of what I have done for them. What is the reason for refusing to go on an arduous journey and refuse to join us?”

Are you sincere?

Or is he lying because he doesn’t want to be disturbed in his work of collecting spiritual creatures?

If he made good use of the three spirit creatures gathered here now, he could put the world under his feet.

The common sense that Seo Yi-ryeong had built up so far was shouting that Ho Cheon-an’s words were lies, but in Seo Yi-ryeong’s mind, the image of Ho Cheon-an throwing a spirit herb to the spirits yesterday came to mind.

An ambitious person would never have wasted such precious herbs.

Therefore, Seo Yi-ryeong could not understand Ho Cheon-an’s intentions.

Ho Cheon-an, perhaps aware of Seo Yi-ryeong’s concerns, simply looked ahead calmly, entrusting his body to Seo-gong.

*** ***

“Hmm.”

A confusing time. Murim lord Cho Yong-sang, who succeeded Yeon Cheon-baek to the position of Murim lord, stroked his beard while reading Geomhu Seo Yi-ryeong’s letter.

“I don’t know your intentions.”

Jo Yong-sang remembered Seo Yi-ryeong after the examination. Currently, he is a big man who is called the best among women and is revered as an idol by the female cooperatives of the entire martial arts world, but to Cho Yong-sang, rather than such a big man, he was closer to a comrade who got through difficult times together.

That’s how much Jo Yong-sang had firm faith in Seo Yi-ryeong.

‘If I couldn’t trust my lieutenant, I couldn’t trust him, but now I can trust you.’

The problem was that Seo Yi-ryeong, who believed so strongly, was completely lost.

‘It’s Hocheonan…’

Yunnan. gwangju. Guangxi. Honam. Guangdong. Gangseo. Fujian. All the way to Zhejiang.

While touring the entire southern part of the world, Ho Tian-an acquired as many as seven spiritual objects. Even if it is not a letter specifically sent by Seo Yi-ryeong, there is no end to eyewitness accounts of passers-by who have seen spirits moving around in droves.

The rumor had already spread widely among the public, so much so that Hocheonan was even called the Beast King.

“What a headache…”

In fact, Ho Cheon-an’s actions were closer to those of a charlatan.

The negative influence that the remnants of the blood religion had on the central plains was enormous.

When Hyeoljon was alive, he tried to conquer the world with only spiritual objects, but the actions of the remnants after the center collapsed made us understand why Hyeoljon became a martial arts enemy.

It is basic to capture someone who is strong in martial arts and try to turn them into a monster or to raise one’s level by stealing the blood of others.

Those who were greedy to become the true heirs of blood religion literally squeezed out the hard blood of so many people in order to study blood arts, so much so that it was difficult to mention the harm they caused.

Until now, Ho Cheon-an had been touring each region, completely eradicating the remnants of such blood religion.

Even though they were remnants of a blood religion, they did not necessarily have spiritual objects.

There were quite a few remnants who were whining about one or two monsters, but Ho Cheon-an was taking care of even the remnants without any spiritual objects without hesitation. Looking at Ho Cheon-an’s actions alone, he could easily be called a charlatan.

The problem was that in Seo Yi-ryeong’s correspondence with Ho Cheon-an, there was not a single opinion on how the Murim Alliance should move.

It’s been quite a while since we’ve been traveling together, so if you’re a charlatan, you’re a charlatan. Otherwise, you are a black-faced hypocrite. There has been enough time to come to a conclusion.

The letters sent regularly were full of absurd content.

Rather, the news that you have become friends with spirit creatures is somewhat useful because it contains the characteristics of spirit creatures.

There is nothing special about Hocheonan, so why is it written full of stories about cooking?

“It’s ambiguous. It’s ambiguous…”

Cho Yong-sang fully understood that he had no choice but to be careful in his actions as he was surrounded by various spirits, but he could not do anything because he had no clue.

Jo Yong-sang looked at the end of the letter Seo Yi-ryeong sent.

It was written that they were going up to Gangseo via Anhui.

Originally, the Murim League was located in Hanam, but when the imperial government began to suppress the Murim forces, the Murim League, an alliance of political factions, had no way of holding out in Hanam.

Therefore, the new location was Anhui.

However, Ho Cheon-an and Seo-iryeong pass by Anhui.

“I have to see him with my own eyes.”

Cho Yong-sang decided to meet Ho Cheon-an in person.