I Am This Murim’s Crazy Bitch - Chapter 210: Let Us Have A Martial Arts Match (8)
A funny person from Qing’s homeland said: Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.
Qing’s situation was exactly like this.
From afar, she was just a fool who learned a harsh lesson while playing around at the dining table.
But up close?
It hurts, it hurts so much, it hurts like crazy.
“Well, since anesthesia doesn’t work on Qing’er. There’s nothing I can do…”
Since she severely cut her tongue, normally the wound should be stitched together, but since anesthesia doesn’t work, it can’t be done.
“So, we have to leave it like that?”
Peng Daesan said, watching Qing constantly swallowing her own blood.
Tang Nanah shook her head.“Even Guan Yu would have willingly taken a numbing drug and passed out if told to stitch his tongue without anesthesia…”
The tongue is a vital point with all kinds of nerves, so no matter how patient a person is, they can’t endure it consciously.
Moreover, even attempting it was dangerous.
People clench their teeth when in pain.
If she clenched her teeth while trying to stitch her tongue, it could end up cutting off the whole thing instead of attaching it.
So Tang Nanah’s prescription was simple.
Pour hemostatic powder into her mouth.
If she could just stop the bleeding, the tongue is an organ that regenerates quickly, so it would heal soon, she said.
But the hemostatic powder is extremely bitter and spicy…
Qing just looked miserable.
“Nanah…”
“Hm? What?”
“Can I eat dinner like this…”
Tang Nanah slapped Qing’s shoulder with a loud smack.
“No, you’ve cut your tongue in half and you’re worried about whether you can eat dinner or not? Doesn’t your tongue hurt?”
“It’s not half…”
“Heng. For a while, you’ll have to drink goat’s milk mixed with honey. Originally, when people chew, the tongue isn’t just sitting idle, you know?”
Since the tongue moves busily when chewing food, pushing it between the teeth, she shouldn’t chew anything at all right now.
“Ah, no…”
The light went out in Qing’s eyes.
It was truly the eyes of someone fallen into despair.
They could also be described as dead eyes.
“And sparring is forbidden for a while too.”
“Why…”
“Because intense exercise is forbidden. What if it starts bleeding again? Then the period you can’t eat your beloved food starts over from the beginning, you know?”
“I won’t do it…”
“And don’t talk. Every time you say a word, the time until you can eat gets longer by one ke.”
At this, Qing nodded her head vigorously.
Tang Nanah had a great realization too.
Qing listens well when threatened with food.
“Don’t lower your head below your heart to avoid blood rushing to your head. When sleeping, use a high pillow and sleep on your back. Don’t lie on your side.”
Nod nod.
So Qing watched others sparring in a corner of the training ground with an expression like she’d lost everything in the world.
Then suddenly she thought, wouldn’t that merchant ahjussi know a training method she could do even like this?
Qing headed towards the bath, wondering if he might be there.
As the saying goes, if you think “maybe”, it turns out to be true, and she saw Cheon Yuhak still lying on his mat.
He seemed to be sleeping, snoring loudly, but as soon as Qing approached, he naturally opened his eyes and sat up.
“What? Have you finally decided to perform the nine bows?”
Qing shook her head.
At this, Cheon Yuhak frowned.
“What, why are you shaking your head without using your mouth?”
“Tongue…”
Then Cheon Yuhak burst out laughing.
“I see. You cut yourself while eating? It’s a trial everyone goes through once. I stabbed myself pretty badly too. I even cut my lip in half once.”
“……”
“What, why didn’t I tell you in advance? Would it have been prevented if I told you? Even if I said a thousand words, it would still happen unless you experience it yourself.”
“…?”
“How did I guess just by looking at your expression? This is experience, girl. And your expressions are very easy to read.”
“……”
“I don’t know about that. Speak with words.”
Then Qing spoke slowly and carefully.
“Training… not… intense…”
“You’re asking if there’s a training method that doesn’t involve moving your body intensely? Ha, it looks like you cut yourself quite badly, but you still want to train in that state?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm, there is a training method that’s just right, but.”
At this, Qing’s expression brightened.
Then Cheon Yuhak snorted.
“Why should I tell you when you’re not even my disciple? You’re a funny girl. Or are you willing to perform the nine bows now…”
Before he finished speaking, Qing bowed deeply at the waist. The angle wasn’t too deep since she was told not to lower her head below her heart.
“Your stubbornness is like iron wire! Aoh. Fine. Here. Take this.”
Cheon Yuhak took something out of his bosom and tossed it, and when Qing caught it, it was a Buddha statue carved with extremely fine detail, down to each tiny ornament and fold of clothing.
Even to Qing, who was ignorant of Buddhist art, it looked like a very precious object.
“You have the Blue Sword, right? Get a large radish from the kitchen and try to carve it exactly the same as this.”
“……”
“You’re asking if this will help? Didn’t you say you wanted to learn softness? Softness ultimately comes from delicacy and sensitivity. All those grand words like grafting flowers and drawing a thousand catties with four taels, in the end, it’s just a technique of digging into, flowing, overcoming, and returning through a few very fine, precisely determined angles.”
“…?”
“Strength is just force. Stronger force, faster and harder. Of course, since the strength a person has is ultimately limited, it can’t just increase drastically. So you train techniques to exert more power with the ability you have. Still, it’s not as difficult as softness. That’s why there aren’t many martial arts that take softness as their principle.”
Martial arts that take softness as their principle are first of all too difficult, and if your achievement is low, they have almost no power and are impractical in real fights.
“…!”
Cheon Yuhak continued to understand Qing’s silence.
“Why. Are you surprised that I seem unexpectedly skilled? I’m just a light person. Isn’t it funny for so-called masters to put on airs in the first place? Does face feed you?”
Qing nodded her head vigorously at this.
It was very enthusiastic agreement.
Cheon Yuhak grinned.
Somehow, the more he looks at her, the more tempting she is as material.
“We understand each other in a way unbecoming of Daoists. Weren’t Daoists originally the ones who cared most about face? Really, won’t you become my disciple?”
Qing bowed at the waist again.
Cheon Yuhak clicked his tongue.
“Then don’t disturb a stranger’s rest and get lost. Just scurrying over when you need something. Aing.”
Hearing those words, she felt a bit guilty, so Qing expressed her thanks with forced pronunciation.
“Ah. Thank you……”
“It’s nothing.”
Cheon Yuhak said this and then lay back down and closed his eyes.
Qing stood there awkwardly for a moment, then understanding that the snoring sound meant for her to leave, she quietly slipped away.
So Qing got a boxful of radishes from the kitchen and returned to the training ground.
“What! Qing’er, I told you you can’t eat!”
Qing’s eyes narrowed.
Does this one think people only eat? Besides, if she wanted to eat, wouldn’t she eat something tasty rather than chewing on raw radishes?
Qing frowned once at her and then settled down and started carving the radishes.
But, hmm. It’s not going as well as she thought.
She expected carving a Buddha statue would be difficult.
After all, she had never done any carving before, and the detail of the Buddha statue was not ordinary.
Still, she thought she might be able to do it somehow if she tried, but it was bullshit.
First of all, the tools were a big problem.
There’s a reason carving knives have different angled blades about the size of a finger joint.
They each have their own use, with different knives for carving planes, circles, and details.
Moreover, because it requires delicate work, the blades are made short to be held close.
But the Blue Sword is quite long even among daggers, and it’s so ridiculously sharp that it just slices through things like radishes as if they were tofu.
So she couldn’t even get the most basic shape, let alone a Buddha statue, and just wasted good radishes.
“You keep playing with food.”
Qing glared and spoke in place of words.
Peng Daesan shrugged and resumed sparring with his sister.
However, Tang Nanah, who was stuck to Qing’s side since she wasn’t joining the sparring, was very excited.
“I used to do a lot of carving too. It’s immediately effective for developing hand skills, so it’s really helpful when training in hidden weapon techniques.”
Hearing this, she felt more trust in the book merchant ahjussi’s training method.
Tang Nanah took out a throwing knife and quickly carved a radish into a passable imitation of a Buddha statue.
Of course, it was just the shape and posture, nowhere near the detail of the statue Cheon Yuhak had given her.
“There’s a knack to this too, you know? First you have to balance the big chunks. This is the head, body, feet. First think about the balance of the form.”
After hearing the explanation, she felt like she understood.
But understanding is bullshit, if listening to some explanation made carving possible, where would there be anyone who wasn’t a sculptor in the world?
Still, Qing didn’t give up.
Not because Qing was an indomitable person, but because she couldn’t just sit around doing nothing.
At a time when she needed to improve her skills even a little bit, she couldn’t stop just because she split her tongue a bit.
—-
Turning back time to a few days ago-
Un Yeonyoung had a very disgusted expression.
“Oh my, Xinpa. Are you really thinking of taking that ugly, dirty dog with you?”
“We’ve crossed paths, so why shouldn’t I take it in?”
“Don’t dogs that have become strays bite people? Aren’t they no different from wild beasts, not pets?”
“Kekek, are you worried this old man might get bitten by a dog?”
Then Un Yeonyoung tried to persuade him again.
She must have really disliked it, for the usually quiet girl who was like water added to water, or alcohol added to alcohol, to suddenly speak so passionately.
“Besides, dogs smell. And their long hair flies everywhere, and when you take them for walks, they come back covered in fleas, ticks, bugs and filth from the mountains and fields.”
“Ha. Who told you to raise it? If I want to raise it in my house, why is some random woman so disgusted?”
“Oh my, Xinpa. Shouldn’t you be considerate of the person living with you? I don’t like it. I absolutely hate animals.”
“A freeloader being so picky. If you really hate it, you can go live with the Poison Demon or Sword Demon.”
“You’re really too much… How pitiful a person becomes when they have no home…”
Un Yeonyoung pretended to wipe away tears, then her eyes filled with a fierce, murderous intent.
“If you really insist, make sure to train it not to even poke its nose towards the side building. If it takes even one step inside, I’ll butcher it and throw it to the dogs.”
And now-
“Oh my, Chugu! Oh no, did you roll in the mud? No. Sit. You listen so well, don’t you? Come on, shall we go wash up?”
Chugu means ugly dog, so it might be a bit harsh to give as a dog’s name.
But since it was an ugly dog by anyone’s standards, it could be said to be a perfectly fitting name at first glance.
“Chugu? It’s Daebok. I’m telling you it’s Daebok.”
“Oh my, Xinpa. Isn’t Chugu perfect for anyone who sees it? Chugu, which name do you like?”
Woof, woof. The dog barked and lay down at Un Yeonyoung’s feet, wagging its tail.
“See, Xinpa. Chugu likes it too.”
At this, the White Hand Demonic Witch’s expression twisted.
“The woman who was talking about butchering and whatnot, now you’re the most excited one making a fuss.”
“Hmm. Shall I say my thoughts have changed a little?”
“You completely changed your attitude over a little change of mind? You’re so shameless.”
At this, Un Yeonyoung smiled faintly.
“Xinpa. Have you never had such an experience? Feeling constantly lonely even when with someone, truly lonely to the bone? Like being thrown alone into the world…”
“Hmph. Life is originally lived alone.”
“Xinpa wouldn’t understand. You can’t even imagine what it feels like to be different from others, to be the only one alone in the world.”
“That’s how people are by nature. They say you can know the water’s path but not people’s hearts, no matter how well you think you know someone, there comes a moment when you realize you don’t know them at all.”
It was a voice full of regret.
At this, Un Yeonyoung’s smile deepened.
“What I said was about essence rather than hearts… Anyway, isn’t it too cruel to be the only one in the world? I’m not confident. So I changed. Chugu, how is it, can you understand me now?”
Woof, woof.
Then Chugu barked as if it understood.
At this, Un Yeonyoung’s smile deepened even more.
***
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