HRUFO 04

Chapter 04 …

‘This feels really good.’

Imgang felt pleased after receiving the advance payment.
The advance was 100 mun, at least enough for one month of meals. Sometimes it could even cover fancy noodles topped with seasoning or meat garnish instead of plain noodles.
If he included the remaining payment, even after paying rent it would still be roughly three months of food money.
And if the war dragged on, there would be additional payments too.

Akryu Sect and Heukdo Gang~ please fight for a long, long time~.

“Ah, the world is all about love and peace.”
“That bastard is saying weird stuff again?”
“When I asked him before, he said it was some Western language. Said he might even marry a Western ghost or something?”
“Even Western ghosts have standards.”
“It’s not Western language, it’s Western language. Western Region and Western world are different places.”
“They both have ‘west’ in them, what’s the difference?”
“The Western Region is land-connected, but the Western world crosses the sea… no, forget it. What would you guys even understand.”

He joked and laughed with the wandering warriors. There was no one particularly tense.
Wandering warriors were, by nature, people who might live only for a day and leave.
It sounded grand, but it just meant day-laborers of the martial world.
If you survive, good. If you die, it can’t be helped.

Of course, Imgang thought differently. Even before awakening his ability, it had always been that way.
In his past life, he lived comfortably, feeding on only the good parts, but it hadn’t always been like that.

Treasure Hunter.
Literally, a hunter of treasure.
Like insects swarming flowers, countless hunters gathered around treasure.
While some were righteous hunters who only targeted treasure,
there were also villain-class hunters who targeted the hunters possessing the treasure.

Imgang had survived dozens of life-or-death moments, and in the end, he survived.

‘I’m totally broke right now though. Sigh… I miss the “old days(?)”.’

Instead, with the awakened abilities of his past life, he obtained Chwiguhwan and Daeryeokpaegong (大力覇功), and Daeryeokpaegong and Dongsingong formed a chaining effect, greatly increasing their power.
He needed a comparison to know exactly how strong he had become, but as long as he didn’t let his guard down, there didn’t seem to be anyone among the third-rate level who could beat him.

‘Excluding special exceptions.’

There were occasionally third-rate warriors who could effortlessly cut down second-rate wanderers. His master—or rather, the man he called “Master”—was one such exception.
Anyway, it meant the Akryu Sect and Heukdo Gang war wouldn’t be a problem.

They laughed and chatted for a while, but as boredom set in, the wandering warriors began to roam around restlessly.

‘Seriously, have some awareness.’

Imgang clicked his tongue quietly.
The war between Akryu Sect and Heukdo Gang had essentially already begun.

You might think that in demonic sect fights, everyone just jumps in to kill each other immediately?

‘Nope.’

Wars between sects don’t end overnight.
They first recruit troops (wandering warriors), secure supplies, conduct reconnaissance, and only then begin proper combat.
Hiring large numbers of wandering warriors is just the beginning.

And preparation itself only takes a day or two.
It might already be finished.

The reason they didn’t move immediately was because they had to watch other factions.
If you win only for someone else to steal the spoils, it would be infuriating.
Heukdo Gang was probably staying still for the same reason.

“Can I go out for a moment… yo?”
“Get lost.”
“Eek.”

One wandering warrior boldly tried his luck and got shut down. The murderous aura from the refusing Akryu Sect warrior was intense. Seeing that confirmed it.

The preparations for war were already complete.

Time passed and the moon rose.
Imgang looked up at the clear sky with not a single cloud.

‘…Looks like there won’t be a fight tonight.’

He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes.
As he crossed his legs and exhaled, Daeryeokpaegong activated automatically.
He didn’t need any cultivation formula.
Just breathing was enough!

That was the advantage of a passive skill.

＊ ＊ ＊

Imgang would chat and laugh, and when he got bored, he would circulate qi.

‘This is way too good.’

Ding!

[Internal energy has increased to 5 years and 17 days.]

The speed of growth was ridiculous!
Is this what a top-tier internal cultivation technique is like?

He had cultivated for 4 hours over two days and gained 16 days of internal energy.

‘365 days is 1 year of internal energy, and 60 years is 1 jiazi…’

So 1 hour was about 4 days of internal energy. If he cultivated 2 hours a day for 45 days, that would be 1 year. In about 7 and a half years, he would reach 1 jiazi.

He already gained 5 years from Chwiguhwan, so in reality he only needed about 7 years.

Ding!

[Internal energy has increased to 5 years and 18 days.]

Cultivating in public was extremely dangerous.
Even Imgang, a third-rate wanderer, knew the martial world rule: if someone interrupts you during cultivation, your energy may go out of control or you could suffer qi deviation.

‘But they say you can become a peak expert in 7 years… how am I supposed to resist that?’

Step.

He immediately opened his eyes as he sensed someone approaching.
This was the second advantage of his passive skill.

Even if he stopped cultivating halfway, nothing bad happened.

“Why?”
“Just bored. What were you doing with your eyes closed?”
“Ah. This is called cultivation.”
“……?”

And as it repeated and accumulated…

At some point, after two days of “cultivation (actually passive skill use),” he even gained a new sense—no, it was registered as a skill!

Ding!

[Sense of Qi (氣感) skill activated.]

When the skill activated, he could detect the “existence” of people within a 10-meter radius around him.
Focusing further, he could even sense their movement.

It wasn’t detailed.

‘…I can only feel big movements.’

Stretching arms, standing up, walking somewhere.
The range could be extended up to 20 meters.

‘But the further the range, the lower the accuracy. Harder to tell what they’re doing… still, this is kind of broken.’

While Imgang was thinking that, a wandering warrior approached.

When he turned off the skill and asked what was wrong, the man said:

“Ah. The sect master of Akryu Sect ordered everyone to gather in the courtyard training ground, and the supervisor told me to relay it.”
“Ahh. Efficient delegation.”
“What does ‘delegation’ mean?”
“Something easy, comfortable, and tasty.”
“Oh. That sounds nice.”

Imgang brushed the dirt off his pants and stood up, following the man.
The assembly place was less than a minute’s walk away.

But the atmosphere was tense.

Akryu Sect warriors were already gathered, radiating killing intent.
Wandering warriors who arrived earlier were nervously watching them.

It looked like a fight with Heukdo Gang could break out any moment.

Once everyone gathered, the chief supervisor raised his chin and stroked his thin mustache.

“The vermin-like Heukdo Gang has shown its fangs. Unlike those crude and chaotic groups like Yeomwangchae, our Akryu Sect, which pursues disciplined and exemplary operations…”

The supervisor’s speech went on for quite a while.

Imgang got bored and shut his ears off.

There were two main types of cultivation methods:

Static cultivation (靜功) and Dynamic cultivation (動功).

Simply put, static cultivation is gathering internal energy without moving, while dynamic cultivation is doing so while moving.

What he had been doing earlier in seiza meditation was static cultivation.

Why was he thinking about this now?

‘Is it possible to cultivate while just standing still?’

…For no particularly intelligent reason.

The supervisor kept talking, but he had no intention of listening.
Honestly, all demonic sects were basically the same.
The only difference was who was more evil.

Better to gather internal energy instead of wasting time like this.

So Imgang began practicing “standing cultivation with eyes open.”

Not long after—

Ding!

[Internal energy has increased to 5 years and 19 days.]

‘Oh?!’

For a moment, he seriously wondered if he had been a bee in a past life.

A one-hour lecture from the supervisor suddenly felt sweet.
It was almost addicting.

His teeth felt like they might rot.

＊ ＊ ＊

Heukdo Gang was a surprisingly “decent” Yeomwangchae-type organization even in Hangzhou.
While other loan sharks charged up to 60% interest per month, they only charged 30%.

That was 30% lower interest—clearly a kind lender.

However.

“…Money just duplicates itself.”

The trap of compound interest was hidden there.

But even that wasn’t really a problem.
Because of the low interest, many people borrowed short-term loans. Large merchant groups and escort agencies also borrowed from them.

As long as you paid it back quickly, the interest was lower than anyone else.

The real problem was elsewhere.

“…Other loan sects are shutting down?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“They lent money to the son of a Jehyeongancha’s official, and when it wasn’t repaid, he caused chaos.”

“…What kind of lunatics are they? At least check their background before killing or lending… Wait. Don’t they know about official immunity?”

For that reason, Heukdo Gang decided to change business.

From loan sharking to shipping—the next most profitable industry.

“Who’s the easiest target?”
“The Akryu Sect in the northern area.”
“Go negotiate.”

At first, they had no intention of starting a war.
With the Jehyeongancha’s sword possibly falling on them at any time, they wanted peaceful negotiation.

“Eat dog genitals made of flour.”
“Let’s cooperate.”
“Get lost.”
“If you refuse cooperation like this, I’ll become a thug too!”

After five failed negotiations,
the Heukdo Gang leader confirmed that Jehyeongancha would move soon.

There was no time left for negotiation.

He issued recruitment orders across Hangzhou.
And on the day of battle, he signaled—

the hired wandering warriors and gang members climbed over the walls.

＊ ＊ ＊

Imgang was in a good mood.

Ding!

[Internal energy has increased to 5 years and 23 days.]

Using “standing with eyes open cultivation,” he kept accumulating internal energy while doing anything.

All of this was for chaos… for inevitable chaos.

‘Even throwing knives should be enough.’

He had finished his combat simulation against Heukdo Gang.

And then—

Heukdo Gang launched a surprise attack.

“Heukdo Gang! Heukdo Gang has invaded!”

Barely half a shichen after sunset,
Imgang grabbed the throwing knives in his arms and ran toward the direction of the sound.