The next morning.
As soon as Cho Myung opened his eyes, he ran to the window.
He opened the window first, as Hua Yunhui had told him to.
Cool air poured in, clearing away the musty air of the night.
Cho Myung, who had spread his arms and opened his chest wide for a deep breath, turned around with a pleasant face.
Then he approached Jeok Yorap's bed.
"Grandfather, the weather seems to be good today too. Please get up quickly and let's dig for herbs and hunt together."
As he always did, Cho Myung spoke in the brightest voice possible and massaged Jeok Yorap's arms and legs.
It was good to give him a massage, but since he was told not to touch his body and face, he only meticulously massaged his arms and legs.
For an hour, Jeok Yorap showed no reaction.
He was just breathing.
Cho Myung's heart ached, but he held it in.
It was because he had heard from Hua Yunhui that he should act brightly in the patient room.
"Grandfather, I'll give you another massage when I come back from digging for herbs, so please rest."
Cho Myung went to Old Man Ban's bed.
By this time, Old Man Ban was also awake.
"I'll give you a massage."
"I'd appreciate it."
Old Man Ban smiled.
Old Man Ban, who always smiled when he saw Cho Myung, was now making it a daily routine to start the day with a smile.
Cho Myung meticulously massaged his arms and legs, just as he had done for Jeok Yorap.
While he was chatting with Old Man Ban and giving him a massage, Hua Yunhui opened his eyes.
Hua Yunhui, who had woken up at the same time as always, saw Cho Myung massaging Old Man Ban's legs, and the events of the previous night flashed in his mind, and he quickly asked.
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
"No."
"Do your legs or arms hurt?"
"They don't hurt."
"Your back too?"
"No."
"Are you dizzy or anything?"
"No."
"Get up and try jumping."
"Why?"
"Just do it quickly."
"Okay."
Cho Myung, not knowing why Hua Yunhui was doing that, got up from his seat and was about to jump.
But Hua Yunhui shot up from his bed and approached him.
"You...!"
Cho Myung was startled and flinched.
"Old man, this kid has gotten bigger!"
"...!"
"Look carefully. He was definitely this big until yesterday."
Hua Yunhui brought his hand to his chest. Then he approached Cho Myung and stood side by side.
"Look. He's this much bigger now."
Old Man Ban could tell even without Hua Yunhui's explanation.
Looking closely, he seemed to have grown half a handspan taller than yesterday, as Hua Yunhui had said.
He had grown half a foot after the bone and marrow cleansing on the first day, and now he had grown nearly half a foot again.
So he had grown nearly a full foot.
In just a few days.
"Is... something wrong with me? Is it very bad?"
Cho Myung's face filled with worry.
Hua Yunhui was taken aback, and Old Man Ban shook his head first.
"Nothing is wrong. You've grown a lot thanks to eating well yesterday. Big brother Yunhui was surprised because you grew so much. That's all. So there's nothing to worry about."
"Big brother Yunhui, is that so?"
"Yeah. Big brother was a little surprised. It's not a bad thing, so you don't have to worry."
When even Hua Yunhui said it was okay, Cho Myung's hardened face relaxed.
"Myung."
Old Man Ban called out gently.
"Yes?"
"The people in the kitchen might be surprised, so don't go to the kitchen for a while."
"Okay."
Cho Myung was dejected, like a person who had lost heart.
But Old Man Ban thought it was better that way.
It would be a relief if it ended with this one time, but if something like this happened again and Cho Myung grew taller overnight, he didn't know what would happen if the story about Cho Myung leaked outside the clinic.
Cho Myung, who was afraid of something, and Jeok Yorap on the sickbed, who had been struck by an internal master.
He didn't know the exact details, but he was worried that the two might be being chased.
"If you're really stuffy and bored, go to the mountains. You can run around all day for training."
"Okay."
Cho Myung lifted his head and smiled.
It was because he didn't have to be cooped up in Jangsaengwon all day.
At that moment, Hua Yunhui grabbed the nose of Seokcheong, who was still snoring.
"Gasp! Cough!"
"Get up quickly! Let's eat!"
***
Hua Yunhui, Seokcheong, and Cho Myung.
The three of them went up the mountain as soon as they finished breakfast.
"Come on, hurry up!"
Cho Myung, who had already run far ahead, was calling out excitedly.
As soon as they started climbing the mountain, he was excited like a child who had come out to play, peeking here and there, and then he started running around, letting Hua Yunhui's words to be careful go in one ear and out the other.
"It's hard! Let's go slowly!"
Seokcheong shouted.
Cho Myung seemed to stand and wait for a moment, but he couldn't stand it and ran around here and there.
"Is that thing called internal energy that martial artists talk about really that mysterious?"
Hua Yunhui muttered.
His face was full of curiosity.
"Yes?"
Seokcheong, who was walking next to him, showed interest in Hua Yunhui's muttering.
For Hua Yunhui, who needed someone to talk to, Seokcheong, who had once admired the world of martial artists, was a very good partner.
"Isn't it! The internal energy cultivation methods and divine arts that martial artists learn. If they are so mysterious that they can heal wounds and make the body strong and firm, wouldn't it be good to have everyone learn them and live a long and healthy life?"
"Hey, young master! It's absolutely not like that."
Seokcheong, who shook his head with a confident tone.
At that sight, Hua Yunhui couldn't help but ask again.
"What? Am I wrong?"
"There are as many types of cultivation methods as there are doctors scattered throughout the world. Among them, there are inferior cultivation methods like mine, and there are amazing cultivation methods like yours, young master."
"Well, that's true."
Hua Yunhui, who nodded as if he agreed up to that point.
Seokcheong, excited by the fact that there was a field where he knew more than Hua Yunhui, continued to speak.
"What's more important is that cultivation methods are the same as medicine. The cultivation method itself must be outstanding, but the person who learns it must also have outstanding aptitude. Just as a blockhead like me can't even reach your level even after studying medicine for several years, ordinary people can't even dream of the realm of being impervious to heat and cold, no matter how hard they try."
"Impervious to heat and cold?"
"Yes. It's a realm where you're literally not affected by cold and heat. If you just reach the realm of being impervious to heat and cold, it will be a great help in living a long and healthy life, as you said, young master."
At Seokcheong's words, Hua Yunhui nodded.
It meant that he understood.
Then Seokcheong said with more excitement.
"Think about it, if anyone could learn it, how could it be a divine art and an ultimate art? It's because it's so great that not just anyone can learn it that it's called a divine art and an ultimate art, and the martial artists of the world are going crazy trying to learn even a little bit of it."
"I don't think that's right."
"What? What do you mean?"
"The more divine and ultimate an art is, the easier it should be. Isn't it that if anyone can learn it easily, you can give it a thumbs up and say it's great?"
"I think what you're saying is even more wrong, young master..."
"Stonehead, if there's a medical art that saves a patient with all kinds of elixirs and a medical art that saves the same patient with common herbs that can be found in the fields and mountains, which one do you think is greater?"
"Well... is that so?"
Seokcheong, who tilted his head as if it were true and not true at the same time.
Hua Yunhui, taking his eyes off such a Seokcheong, said with a confident face.
"Both medicine and martial arts should be easy. If it's easy enough for anyone to learn, but its effect is truly great, that's a divine art and a divine skill."
"Now that you say it like that, it seems to be right."
Seokcheong scratched the back of his head and laughed foolishly.
Hua Yunhui, looking at him, turned his gaze away.
'The problem is that there are no such divine arts and divine skills... or that no one has discovered them.'
About half an hour had passed since they started moving along the mountainside.
It was at this time that a problem occurred.
"Gasp, gasp! Climbing a mountain... is really different."
Hua Yunhui sat down.
He was sweating profusely and gasping for breath.
"Hey! Myung! The young master is tired! Let's rest and then go!"
When Seokcheong shouted, watching Hua Yunhui with concern, Cho Myung, who had run far ahead, came running.
"Big brother, are you hurt?"
"I'm not hurt, I'm just tired."
Hua Yunhui, catching his breath, made an embarrassed face.
Cho Myung made a relieved face, looked around, and twitched his nose.
"I'll rest for a while, so you two go on ahead."
Hua Yunhui indicated that he couldn't go any further.
He could go further if he forced himself, but he felt that if he did, he wouldn't be able to come back.
"I can't go leaving you alone, young master."
Seokcheong shook his head.
"Shouldn't you at least go and dig for herbs?"
"What if a fierce beast appears while I'm gone, leaving you alone, young master?"
"There are no such beasts around here."
"If you just cross two mountains, there are plenty of such beasts. How would we know which one has crossed over?"
"Then you can just look without going far."
"Young master, the herbalists have searched so much in the vicinity that the herbs are probably all gone. You'll probably have to cross that mountain to see even one."
Seokcheong said, pointing to a large mountain.
It was a mountain that Hua Yunhui could never cross with his stamina. And if he were to go around it, it would take a whole half a day.
"...!"
This was something he hadn't thought of.
He thought he could just go up a nearby mountain and look for an environment where herbs grow well.
Hua Yunhui finally realized that finding herbs was a much more difficult and difficult task than he had expected.
"Are you saying we should go back like this? Without even digging for herbs?"
"Well, there's nothing we can do."
"Then what about Old Man Ban?"
"I'll come alone from tomorrow. I'm sorry, but with your stamina, young master, it was impossible from the start."
"..."
Hua Yunhui became sullen.
To think that he had come with a plan, only to sit down like this before even an hour had passed.
His sister must have been told that he had come to dig for herbs, and if he returned so empty-handed, she would think of him as a foolish child.
'Hah, I can't be like this if I want to show my sister that she's wrong...'
But there was no way.
Stamina is not something that gets stronger overnight.
Hua Yunhui, who had been making a vacant face for a moment, looked at Seokcheong.
"Can you do it?"
"I don't know about other things, but I'm the best at wandering around here and there. As for finding herbs, well, I'll have to be lucky."
Seokcheong, who answered as if he were not confident. And Hua Yunhui, who looked at such a Seokcheong with suspicion.
A brief awkward atmosphere flowed between the two.
"Let's think about digging for herbs again. There might be a way to hire an herbalist."
"Do you have the money to hire one?"
"If I sell this and that, I might be able to get some."
"Let's do that when there's really no other way. For now, I'll just wander around for a few days."
"Yes, let's do that."
"Then shall we go down?"
"We should."
Hua Yunhui answered heavily.
Seokcheong held Hua Yunhui's arm to help him up and looked around.
But what was this, Cho Myung was nowhere to be seen.
"Myung!"
He looked around, but he couldn't find Cho Myung anywhere.
"Where did this kid go in the meantime! Myung-!"
Seokcheong shouted loudly, as if yelling.
The shout echoed through the mountains. And a moment later, Cho Myung's answer was heard from somewhere.
"Big brother! I'm here!"
"Come quickly! Let's go back!"
"Okay, big brother!"
Cho Myung's answer also echoed through the mountains.
"This kid, he must have gone really far."
"I know."
Worry appeared on the faces of the two.
The mountains were too dangerous a place for a five-year-old child to wander around.
You never knew when or where a beast might appear, and it was a rugged place where it was easy to slip and fall.
Moreover, if he lost his way, he could end up wandering in the wrong place and facing the night.
"Ah! There he comes!"
Seokcheong shouted, pointing with his finger.
When Hua Yunhui looked back, Cho Myung was running quickly.
He was so fast that he looked like a squirrel.
"Hey! You'll fall! Be careful!"
"Okay, big brother!"
Cho Myung, who answered while still running.
Even though it was quite a distance, he ran up to the two who were very worried in the time it took to take a few breaths.
"You're really fast."
"Right? Hehe!"
Cho Myung, who smiled with an excited face when Seokcheong admired him.
At this time, Hua Yunhui's gaze was fixed on one place.
It was Cho Myung's hand.
"Purple dragon grass...!"
At Hua Yunhui's surprised muttering, Seokcheong also looked at Cho Myung's hand.
"Huh? It's really purple dragon grass! Where did you get this?"
"I dug it up over there."
Cho Myung pointed in the direction he had run from.
"Where over there? Was this all?"
"Yeah."
"That's a shame. Still, thanks to our Myung's luck, we're not going back empty-handed. Well done."
Seokcheong was patting Cho Myung's head.
Hua Yunhui, who had been staring at Cho Myung with a thoughtful face, asked.
"Myung, did you find that herb by smell?"
"Yeah, big brother. But do we have to go already? I think I smell other herbs over there, can't we go there? We have to dig a lot to heal our grandfathers."
Cho Myung, who had answered with an excited face, quickly asked with a worried expression.
Hua Yunhui and Seokcheong looked at such a Cho Myung with a bewildered expression.
"You really found it by smell?"
Seokcheong asked with a bewildered face.
He just couldn't believe it.
But Cho Myung, who was looking at him and answering, was smiling innocently.
"Yeah. I did well, didn't I? Grandfather said my nose is a lucky nose."
(End of Chapter)