Volcanic Age - Chapter 3

Ju Seo-Cheon had gone back to the past.

His body was not that of a man who was nearly a century old and had endured great adversity. He was only eight years old at the time. A child did not have freedom, as did the majority of kids. This was especially true for a disciple who belonged to the sect’s fourth generation.

Several guidelines had to be fulfilled inside the group. Of course, Ju Seo-Cheon was also a part of that. He was to greet his teacher when he awoke at dawn and then accompany the other fourth-generation disciples to the training facility to start their morning practice.

“Aha, aha.”

The Nakan volcanic mountain was close to the training facility. The training location was near the volcano’s peak, making the climb there extremely difficult. It goes without saying how tough it would be for a youngster to climb there compared to an adult man without martial arts training. It was agonizing.

Although the path itself was already training, he was merely heading to the training center for training.

“Oh, sh*t.”

He was compelled to curse silently. The fresh start was beneficial. But starting over meant that everything he had accumulated was gone. If he had been in his previous life, he could have easily climbed up like going for a walk, but he is not now.

In his mouth, he could already taste something sweet. His lungs felt as though they were being torn apart, and his eyes were weeping up. His muscles in his thighs as well as the bottoms of his feet hurt terribly.

“Come to think of it, Hwasan’s training is pretty well-known!”

One of his lost memories suddenly came to him. Not simply any sect, the Hwasan faction was unique. Their martial arts were exceptional on their own, but their disciple’s body tempering was astounding. They used a very strict tempering process, though.

You were pushed until your body was about to entirely disintegrate, whether you were a young man or a little child. But in addition to being familiar with that border, the head of the department also oversaw the training and made periodic adjustments.

If they observed that you were exhausting yourself, you were either permitted to rest or given endurance training. As a result, the body would experience severe exhaustion, recuperate, and advance to the point where even a little child might ascend to the Nakan peak.

Thus, the term “Nakan Hell” was given to this training route. You would be separated based on your level of training once you made it through “Nakan Hell” and arrived at the training facility.

In his situation, all he needed to do was go to Nakan peak. A little older than him, fourth-generation pupils were practicing basic sword strokes. Additionally, fourth-generation disciples who were even engaging in duels were present.

“Nice job. The byeokutang over there is for breakfast, after eating, start descending.”

The Head Instructor gestured to the table full of ‘byeokutangs’ with his chin.

Ju Seo-Cheon used the last of his strength to bow to the teacher before putting the byeokutang in his mouth. The majority of the small children groaned after chewing their byeokutang and voiced the remark “Yuck.” A byeokutang was flavorless while being packed with nutrients. It was not a flavor that kids would enjoy.

That didn’t apply to Ju Seo-Cheon, though. He had consumed so much of it in previous lives that he simply gulped it without thinking twice.

He took a little break for roughly fifteen minutes before starting to descend once more. The ascent was more difficult than the descent 

“Master, I’m home”

You must have endured a lot of pain today, don’t you think? Yu Jeong-Mok gave a wry grin.

No matter if you were a genius or a regular person, if you were a student of the Volcanic sect, you would undoubtedly be familiar with the suffering known as the Hell of Nakan.

Yoo Jeong-Mok expressed regretfully, “If I could, I would offer you some time to rest, but alas I can’t.”

The morning workout (which was also a component of Nakan’s Hell) consisted merely of the fundamental exercises for developing muscular strength and endurance. Each student then went to their corresponding teachers for advice.

“It’s okay master!”

Ju Seo-Cheon was touched by his master’s concern for him and his consideration for him. His teacher was more than adequate to serve as both his mother and father, which may have been the reason why his parent’s absence never really harmed him.

“All right, let’s go sit. I’ll tell you about Mae-Hwa Ki Gong since you don’t know it yet.

Yoo Jeong-Mok got up from the chair and sat down with his back to Ju Seo-Cheon as if he wanted the latter to move over and take a seat in front of him.

“Well, first things first, I’m going to.” Yoo Jeong-Mok began describing the Plum Blossom Qi Art’s significance to Ju Seo-Cheon.

There are a total of 12 levels in Mae-Hwa Ki Gong, and up to stage 5, when this art poses a risk of spiraling out of control, the pace is relatively sluggish.

For reference, upon joining the Volcanic Sect, each disciple performed the first stage of the Plum Blossom Qi Art.

This was the straightforward and fundamental art that enabled them to develop a dantian and ultimately a Qi circuit, which allowed them to fortify their veins.

But because it’s the initial stage, both the capability and the rate of Qi accumulation are rather slow.

The only problem with this stage of the form is that it takes a very long time to advance. Nevertheless, it is not too bad and is also quite simple to master.

“But first of all, it’s a system that helps you reinforce the fundamentals, so even if it will only be refining the fundamentals, you can still learn other things, so there’s nothing to worry about, the instructor continued.”

“Even though this art is under the basic martial arts category, it is not only the best in the Volcanic sect; one could even argue that it is among the best in the entire martial art world.” 

‘No.’

“Yes!”

*** 

Translator’s Note:

The gender of Ju Seo-Cheon’s master is vague tbh.

Byeokutang: a ball of nutrients.

Think of smaller meatballs.

Translated by – Novel multiverse 

Edited by – Beetlesme