## Chapter 89 – 89. 서안
#89. Xi’an
As the cold morning air seeped through the gaps in the tent, Cheon Yeo-hwa snuggled into my arms, rubbing her face against my chest.
“It’s cold…”
“Should I close it?”
“No, it’s fine like this.”
She closed her half-open eyes again, stealing my body heat bit by bit, and I hugged her tightly.
“Ugh, it’s stuffy…!”
“I like it though?”
I rested my chin on the top of Cheon Yeo-hwa’s head.
Even though she had just woken up, Cheon Yeo-hwa’s hair was as soft as silk and seemed to have a subtle floral scent. Iris and Choi Hye-na were like this too; could it be a different species?
I gently stroked Cheon Yeo-hwa’s bare skin.
Smooth and moist. She must have sweated a lot last night, but she still smelled good.
“After devouring this lady so fiercely all night, now you’re acting like a baby?”
“…Me?”
I admit I devoured her fiercely, but am I acting like a baby?
“Your heart is beating wildly, and your pulse is irregular. You couldn’t have caught a disease overnight, and you’re not perhaps afraid of this lady disappearing, are you?”
“…”
“Hmm? Hehe… I didn’t expect it, but a man as big as a bear is worrying about all sorts of things?”
“…It’s not like that.”
“Alright, alright. I’ll lend you my embrace as a special favor.”
Cheon Yeo-hwa reached out and hugged my back.
I couldn’t argue with her playful voice. Maybe she was right.
It’s only been almost three weeks, but I seem to have missed Cheon Yeo-hwa more than I thought.
Like a child who lost their parents overnight.
I quietly hugged Cheon Yeo-hwa and closed my eyes. I didn’t think I was sleepy, but my eyelids felt strangely heavy.
“By the way, Hyun-woo.”
“What?”
I opened my heavy mouth and answered the soft voice that tickled my ear.
“I smell another woman on you.”
“…”
Correction.
A cold voice filled with murderous intent pierced my eardrums.
The surrounding air became heavy as if it had absorbed water, and Cheon Yeo-hwa’s hair began to turn white little by little.
“I think we need to have a conversation… What do you think?”
“…”
I swallowed hard without realizing it. My throat felt like it was burning.
From some point on, a chilling cold was emanating from Cheon Yeo-hwa’s body, which was still in my arms.
“Answer.”
“…You’re right.”
That day, until the sun was high in the sky, I explained the ‘Otherworld Dating App’ to Cheon Yeo-hwa.
At first, Cheon Yeo-hwa was skeptical, but when I showed her the things I brought from Earth and put chocolate in her mouth, she smiled happily and seemed to believe me.
However, when I told her that I had relationships with other women using this ability…
Thwack!
A palm strike of terrifying power was engraved on my solar plexus.
When I woke up again, it was almost two hours later.
***
For the next half-day, Cheon Yeo-hwa and I ran through the forest, half giving up on resting.
“Hwaa, hwaaack…!”
In the process, my feet were covered in blisters, and my lower body suffered from muscle pain that felt like it was tearing apart.
Even during the short breaks, my heart pounded as if it would burst at any moment, as if paying the price for overworking my body.
My vision spun, and I couldn’t breathe properly.
Of course, this wasn’t the case for Cheon Yeo-hwa.
“To be struggling this much with just this… Your stamina is too weak.”
“Hu, huaack… I, I’m average if you consider…!”
“It seems the meaning of the word ‘average’ has changed a lot while this lady wasn’t looking? With your current level of stamina, you clearly wouldn’t be able to endure even the basic training of the Wolryeongdae. Of course, the Wolryeongdae is this lady’s direct guard unit consisting of women, so you wouldn’t be able to join anyway.”
Cheon Yeo-hwa poked my cheek with her fingertip as I lay half-collapsed on the ground, and she let out a captivating laugh.
She’s enjoying herself while I’m about to die; it seems I need to properly punish her tonight.
By the way, a direct guard unit consisting of women?
‘…Envy.’
I only imagined it in my head because if I showed it outwardly, I might get another palm strike.
“Alright, it’s time to start again.”
“…Just a little more.”
“No can do. In the first place, it wasn’t even time to rest.”
Cheon Yeo-hwa forcibly pulled me up, who had already become one with the ground. I couldn’t shake off her overbearing touch.
Because I brought all this hardship upon myself.
Half a day ago, I asked Cheon Yeo-hwa to teach me martial arts, and that was the beginning of everything.
-I’m sorry, but this lady’s martial arts cannot be learned by men. It’s based on a strong yin energy, so if a man learns it… In the worst case, you might become a eunuch; would you be okay with that?
There was no way I’d be okay with that.
I’d rather not learn martial arts for the rest of my life than become a eunuch.
Cheon Yeo-hwa seemed to think the same, as she nodded and continued.
-This lady doesn’t know other martial arts very well, so I wouldn’t be of much help to you. But I can’t teach you demonic arts that are full of side effects either.
-…I guess there’s no choice.
-Instead.
Cheon Yeo-hwa looked at me with a bright smile.
I couldn’t understand the meaning behind that smile, but my nape prickled without me realizing it.
I regret not running away back then, even now, half a day later.
It goes without saying that running through the forest is not an easy task. This isn’t Earth, and there’s no way there would be well-maintained hiking trails.
Stones protrude everywhere, and the branches of trees that have grown haphazardly block the view.
I ran through such a path for half a day, constantly at full speed, except for the bare minimum of rest.
And that was without strengthening my body with mana.
“I don’t know exactly what you mean by mana, but since it seems to strengthen the body and allow you to use magic, which is a type of sorcery, it doesn’t seem to be much different from internal energy. It goes without saying, but there are no martial artists who use internal energy when training external skills.”
I didn’t have the luxury to argue with her that magic wasn’t sorcery while I was running.
“Your overall muscles seem to be well-trained, but that’s woefully inadequate. Your stamina is worse than a newborn baby who has just started walking.”
Even as sharp criticisms pierced me one after another, Cheon Yeo-hwa was always running ahead of me.
I couldn’t find a single drop of sweat on her.
“In this lady’s opinion, it seems there’s no need for you, who has learned magic, to learn martial arts… Well, putting that aside, unless you’re going to learn demonic arts, a trained body is indispensable. I don’t like it, but other than the fact that orthodox martial arts are slower to achieve than demonic arts, they have numerous advantages.”
My head was foggy as if it was covered in mist due to a lack of oxygen, but I still tried my best not to miss Cheon Yeo-hwa’s words.
Unlike demonic arts, which are quick to achieve but have extreme side effects, orthodox martial arts focus on building up from the basics step by step.
Naturally, it’s slower to achieve compared to demonic arts, and it doesn’t allow those with a lack of talent to reach high levels.
Nevertheless, orthodox martial arts widen narrow meridians, strengthen weak secondary meridians, and pursue high levels based on one’s own enlightenment, so those who have mastered orthodox martial arts are inevitably stronger than those who have mastered demonic arts at the same level.
“Of course, there are always exceptions. In the end, if you can’t learn advanced martial arts, even if you diligently learn orthodox martial arts, you’ll be crushed by strong demonic arts. There are so many people who want to learn martial arts that you can trip over them, but not all of them can learn advanced martial arts. Your magic must be the same, right?”
I couldn’t answer while I was still running.
However, whether my rough breathing was enough of an answer, Cheon Yeo-hwa smiled gently.
“I don’t know when it will be, but you need to train your body for the day you learn advanced martial arts. Of course, considering your age, learning martial arts won’t be easy.”
According to Cheon Yeo-hwa, as people get older, their bodies accumulate impurities due to the dirty air and cooked food of the secular world, making it difficult to learn martial arts. By my age, most sects wouldn’t even accept me.
Most sects apparently start teaching martial arts before the age of seven.
“You just need to trust this lady, so there’s no need to worry so much.”
Cheon Yeo-hwa said that she was a master who had reached the pinnacle of martial arts. I don’t know how high that level is, but judging from the aura I felt, she was definitely above me.
However, that was only in terms of close combat.
In the first place, it’s absurd for a mage to fight a martial artist of a similar level in close combat.
“Hyun-woo, you can stop now.”
As soon as the permission was given, I immediately became one with the ground.
I gasped for breath like a madman, pouring cold water down my throat as if I was throwing it away. I’m sure someone said it’s not good to drink water quickly after a marathon. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the luxury to worry about such trivial things right now.
Cheon Yeo-hwa, who was smiling as she watched me, brushed my sweaty bangs aside.
“Your stamina is poor, but your will is commendable. As expected of the man this lady chose.”
A reddish blush bloomed on Cheon Yeo-hwa’s face, which had been as white as frost in May when we first met.
“It seems we can stop today’s training here.”
Cheon Yeo-hwa’s slender finger was pointing somewhere.
I struggled to lift my head and looked in that direction.
“It’s Xi’an, the capital of Shaanxi.”
Beyond the open scenery, a huge fortress revealed its appearance.
***
Shaanxi is home to the Huashan and Zhongnan sects, which belong to the Nine Great Sects, and is also one of the central hubs of the Central Plains, connecting to Sichuan and Hubei.
Thanks to its geographical advantage of being connected to wealthy neighborhoods, merchants flocked to it, and money and people followed them.
It was only natural that Xi’an, the capital of Shaanxi, was crowded with people and there was no place to set foot.
“Oh, the explanation is concise?”
“Hehe. Thank you, young hero. If a waiter like me wants to make a living, I have to do this much, right?”
I gave a few coins to the waiter, who was rubbing his hands together until the skin on his palms was shiny.
“Thank you, great hero!”
The waiter bowed 90 degrees and went back with a smiling face.
It’s so easy to rise in status from young hero to great hero in an instant.
“Hehe, Great Hero Kang? May this lady offer you a drink?”
Cheon Yeo-hwa, who had been watching the scene from the side, sipped her alcohol with a constant smile, as if she was very happy. What she’s drinking now is Okhochun, a famous liquor from Sichuan Province.
Originally, it’s a liquor that’s hard to drink in Shaanxi, but in Xi’an, the capital of Shaanxi, it was a liquor that you could get if you had money.
That’s right, if you had money.
After many twists and turns, we entered Xi’an, but we had no money.
It’s only natural. In the first place, Cheon Yeo-hwa was a fugitive, and I had just come from Earth, so it would be stranger if we had money.
In the first place, the food I’m eating now and the expensive liquor that Cheon Yeo-hwa is drinking were bought with the money I earned by selling survival tools in a large iron shop nearby.
In particular, the survival axe sold for a high price.
‘I remember the hairy uncle who was happy that the martial artists would go crazy for it.’
Of course, we can’t earn money like this every time, so we had to find a proper job.
The best thing would be to hunt bandits. I haven’t known about it for long, but it seems there’s a bounty on bandits.
Of course, there wouldn’t be a bounty on the weaklings like the ones I killed last time, but on the other hand, there were some who had silver or even gold on their heads if they had mastered martial arts or were notorious.
‘How many gold coins was the bounty on the Green Forest Chief’s head…’
Of course, the government isn’t stupid, and the fact that they put up gold coins as a bounty means that they’re all unbelievable monsters.
What I’m aiming for is a guy with silver on his head or a decent bandit camp.
To be exact, it was the loot that the bandits had collected.
In fact, the bounty was nothing more than a side income.
I was seriously thinking about my future plans when the inn, which had been noisy until just now, suddenly became quiet.
People’s eyes were focused on one place.
‘What’s that?’
Some guys with one or two flaws on their faces were wearing matching uniforms and approaching us.
Judging by the swords they were wearing on their waists, they didn’t seem to be ordinary people.
‘Martial artists?’
I’ve seen them a few times since I came to Xi’an, but those guys had a different atmosphere than the martial artists I’ve seen so far.
They probably belonged to an organization like a sect.
Just as I was thinking, ‘But why are those guys coming this way?’
“Lady?”
The guy who seemed to be the leader of the group suddenly joined our table without my permission and started talking to Cheon Yeo-hwa.
“I am Lee Geon of the Baekhwa Clan. If it’s not too much trouble, may I have the opportunity to know the lady’s name…”
Thwack! Before he could finish speaking, my fist was embedded in the guy’s face.
Thud, thud- Bang! I didn’t bother to control my strength. As a result, the guy flew away as if rolling on the floor and crashed into the wall of the inn.
“You don’t talk to other people’s women so carelessly.”
You wanna die.
