Multivers, Leveling Up in the World I Created

Chapter 424: 424 Return to the Volcano 10

Yi-seol ate four meals a day, one of which was a late-night snack I made for her—though she insisted it was just a snack.

"As expected, brother’s snacks are the best."

"What will you do when I’m not around?"

"I could stock up on dried meat."

"..."

"How about you just stay here permanently?"

"The estate needs me, so I can’t. But I’ll stay as long as I can."

Yi-seol seemed relieved.

Her appetite wasn’t the only thing that had grown—she had finally manifested plum blossoms. My constant guidance and sparring, correcting her sword paths, had clearly paid off.

She was overjoyed and wanted to run straight to the estate to show the lord, but I stopped her—there were procedures at Huashan, and I couldn’t let her become a runaway ninja.

She wasn’t the only one—Baek Cheon (Dong-ryong), inspired by her, asked for the same guidance, and though it took a while, he also manifested plum blossoms. He was certainly talented.

Thanks to them, Huashan was in a festive mood—finally, disciples of the sect, not outsiders, had manifested plum blossoms.

"Congratulations, Senior Disciple!"

"Congratulations!"

"At last, disciples who can manifest plum blossoms have appeared."

Everyone congratulated him, and Baek Cheon scratched his head shyly.

"It’s all thanks to Instructor Jin’s excellent guidance."

He had his stubborn moments, but he wasn’t a bad kid.

A few days later, the elder Hyeonsang returned from a trip, bringing a ragged-looking child—Yoon Jong. I recognized him by his signature slit eyes. He would later become the senior disciple of the third-generation disciples, destined to suffer much heartache because of Cheongmyeong.

"This child will be a Huashan disciple from now on."

"Then he’ll be in the Cheong generation?"

"Yes. We’ll be accepting third-generation disciples soon, so he’ll be their senior disciple."

Hyeonsang, having brought the boy, personally guided Yoon Jong to Baekmigwan and arranged his quarters. He instructed the other disciples not to train Yoon Jong for the time being—the boy was so malnourished he was practically skin and bones. So the sect made sure he ate properly to regain his strength first.

Then, a sudden meeting was called at Huashan. The sect leader and all the elders were present.

"It’s good that they manifested plum blossoms, but they’ve lost their sense of purpose and are training lazily. If the senior disciple is like that, the others are no different."

"This is a serious problem. Our martial arts only go up to the Seven Plum Sword..."

"The Hwajong Assembly is only a year away. The second-generation disciples have certainly grown stronger, but Zhongnan will also be sharpening their skills—can we afford to leave things as they are?"

I couldn’t help but frown—they were my students.

’Baek Cheon, you slacker!’

But thinking about it, they had nothing more to learn and had already manifested plum blossoms, so I understood. After a moment’s thought, I offered my opinion.

"Hmm... How about sending them out to travel the martial arts world and gain real combat experience? They’ve been cooped up here all this time. It would broaden their horizons to encounter other martial arts."

Hyeonjong slapped his knee in admiration.

"Oh~ That’s a great idea!"

"Indeed—they’d also spread Huashan’s name, killing two birds with one stone."

"I agree. It’s better than letting them stay like this."

"Then that’s settled. Now, we’ll be accepting third-generation disciples soon, but we can’t keep troubling Instructor Jin. One of the first-generation disciples should take over teaching them—who do you think would be suitable?"

"Unam or Un-geom come to mind... but Un-geom, being the strongest, would probably be better than the gentle Unam."

"Hmm... I suppose. Let’s do that."

I sensed that my role was coming to an end—they must have felt awkward keeping the young master of another sect for so long.

A few days later, the second-generation disciples packed their bags and, led by Baek Cheon, set out into the martial arts world. Not all of them left—a few who were still lacking went into secluded training in the mountains near Huashan, taking fasting pills with them.

Yi-seol didn’t go—she wanted to return to the estate with me to show the lord that she’d manifested plum blossoms. She’d already gotten permission from Hyeonjong.

"Brother, sweet and sour chicken."

"Yes, yes."

As Yi-seol and I traveled back to the estate in the carriage, I handed her the food I’d prepared.

Munch, munch...

After eating in silence for a while, she suddenly dropped a bombshell.

"I’ve decided—I’ll just marry you, brother. I don’t want to leave the estate to marry someone else, and you and Father are the only ones who make food this good. And marrying Father would be weird..."

"What?!"

"Do you not like me?"

She glared at me, and the carriage seemed to freeze. Refusing felt like it would lead to trouble.

"I-it’s not that..."

"We’re not blood-related anyway, so it’s fine. If I marry you, I’ll be a real family, not just in name."

"That’s true."

"Anyway, just give me the rest of the sweet and sour chicken."

"Okay..."

Munch, munch...

Yi-seol ate the chicken I gave her, looking out the window. Her face was slightly flushed—whether from the sunset or embarrassment, I couldn’t tell.

I had set Yi-seol as a romance target when entering this world, but raising her had dimmed those feelings—I just wanted her to grow up well. I never expected this to happen.

’It’s going according to plan, so I suppose it’s fine...’

We arrived at the estate in a slightly awkward mood.

"Father!"

"Oh~ You’ve grown so much! Come here."

THUMP!

"Oof!"

Yi-seol ran and hugged the estate lord as soon as she saw him.

"Have you been well?"

"Cough... Yes. You look very healthy too."

"Come outside—I have something to show you."

"A-alright."

Yi-seol took the estate lord to his private training ground and showed him the plum blossoms. He feigned surprise and delight—though as a clone, he was already aware, since I’d been teaching her.

"Amazing—you’ve manifested plum blossoms! You’ve worked hard."

"Brother helped me a lot."

"I see. Good work."

We moved to the lord’s office and chatted about recent events. Then Yi-seol repeated her marriage proposal to the estate lord.

"Don’t object."

"F-fine."

When she glared, the clone also gave his permission, flustered. With that, Yi-seol and I were now betrothed.

I took the opportunity to reset the clone—there were no major issues at the estate aside from one disciple getting slightly injured on a mission a few months ago. The clone and the steward had managed everything flawlessly.

While staying at the estate for a few months, cooking for Yi-seol and helping her train, we frequently heard news of Baek Cheon’s exploits—defeating bandits here, cutting down tyrannical demonic cultists there. His heroic deeds spread far and wide.

Thanks to his accumulated merits, he earned the nickname "Hwajeong Sword," and Huashan’s name began to resound through the martial arts world once more. Sending them out had been the right choice.

However, Huashan still had a problem—their internal energy was weak. Other sects invested heavily in elixirs to boost their disciples’ internal energy, but Huashan had none left.

Our estate was different—in the early years, we bought elixirs, but we’d since established a medical dispensary and were researching and producing our own. So our disciples’ internal energy was superior.

That made me a bit worried—Baek Cheon might have manifested plum blossoms, but if he encountered a true master, he’d struggle.

’Well, they’ll manage.’

During this stay, I also created a new internal energy technique for Yi-seol. No matter how many elixirs she had, she couldn’t keep taking them forever, and now that her body was fully grown, Yukhap-gong’s purifying effect was less significant. To accumulate more pure internal energy, Yukhap-gong had its limits.

So I developed a new technique—combining the Jaha Divine Art from Nanomachine and Shaolin’s internal energy methods to maximize the gathering of pure energy. As one’s realm advanced, it would even allow manipulation of natural energy, and cycle energy to rapidly restore consumed internal energy.

It sounded like the ultimate technique, but it had major drawbacks—it was extremely difficult to learn and even harder to advance in. Even existing masters would struggle to understand it, which was only natural, since I’d made it while absorbed in [(EX) Divine Martial Primordial Unity].

’I got too greedy...’

So I lowered the level based on the original version. Even this reduced version surpassed the most powerful technique in Volcanic Return, the Jaha Divine Art, and was much easier to learn.

"Brother, this is too hard—can’t you write it down?"

"No, this technique is only for our family. I don’t intend to teach it to outsiders."

"Really? Then I’ll work hard."

Hearing "family," Yi-seol began learning diligently.

But there was one problem—when manifesting plum blossoms using my technique, they turned red instead of pink. This was because the pure energy burned away impurities, strengthening the martial art. It was an unavoidable side effect.

"What’s this technique called?"

"Hmm... I haven’t thought of a name yet."

I thought for a moment and said,

"It’s red, so how about ’Jeokmyeong Divine Art’?"

"That’s nice—let’s go with that."

Naming it after its characteristics sounded good. I’d created so many new things that my naming sense had improved.

A year passed, and as the original story was about to begin, we packed our bags and returned to Huashan. By then, many third-generation disciples had joined, and Baengmaegwan was nearly full. Yoon Jong, now well-fed, was training diligently under Un-geom. I also saw Jo Geol, destined to suffer alongside Yoon Jong because of Cheongmyeong.

Jo Geol was the second son of the Saha Merchant Association, one of Sichuan’s largest trading companies, which often did business with our estate—so I’d seen him as a child. He had a tough-guy personality, but that often led to him jumping in without thinking or speaking recklessly, and getting hit by his senior disciple Yoon Jong was a daily occurrence.

Un-geom didn’t train the third-generation disciples as harshly as I had, but the intensity was definitely higher than in the original. As the strongest first-generation disciple with unexpected warmth, he had adjusted the training to accommodate the particularly thin Yoon Jong, resulting in that outcome. I had no intention of criticizing his methods.

With the second-generation disciples gone, Yi-seol and I had little to do. We spent our time training behind the mountain or cooking and eating.

When we ran out of the chickens I used for cooking, I went to town to buy live ones. On my way back up the mountain, a ragged child called out to me.

"Wait, please!!!"

"Huh?"

I stopped and looked at the child.

"What is it?"

"I have a question—are you a Taoist of the Huashan Sect?"

"I’m associated with Huashan, but I’m not a Taoist. I’m from outside."

"An outsider..."

"I’m from another sect—I serve as an instructor for Huashan’s second-generation disciples."

The child looked shocked.

"What?! The Great Huashan Sect hired an outside instructor? How is that possible..."

I wondered why he was so surprised and examined him more closely—his face looked somewhat familiar.

"Who are you?"

The child composed himself, performed a fist-and-palm salute, and introduced himself.

"Ah, I am Cheongmyeong. I’ve come to join the Huashan Sect."