Trash of the Count's Family - TCF Part 2 - Chapter 83

[ I made a mistake in chapter 81. The emperor was NOT present when Cale’s group arrived. It was only the empress dowager and her entourage who were present. ]
Terms used in this chapter:
Rejuvenation – to regain one’s youthful vigor. This is a saying wherein a person would regain a young appearance after reaching a certain rank in martial arts.
Martial Body Reborn – Also called as ‘metamorphosis.’ A phenomena wherein a person attains a newfound body perfect for martial arts, such as having a perfect body physique that is suitable for learning higher ranking martial art techniques and other overpowered skills or attributes.
Chi Hidden Voice – a martial arts technique where one uses their chi to secretly transmit their voice to another person. Only masters of a certain rank can do this, and it is usually impossible to eavesdrop on the conversation unless the eavesdropper was of a higher rank than the two conversing people.
Inner Chi – Aka Neigong. A technique to accumulate Chi inside the body. Chi is like the murim world’s version of aura or mana.
***
The Empress Dowager (ED) asked again if Mok-hyeon really said that it would be hard to win against the Messenger. Mok-hee said yes again, and the ED was lost in thought. Fist King Mok-hyeon was said to be in the latter half of the Unrestrained Realm. The murim world had rankings, listed below from the lowest to the highest:
– Third Rate
– Second Rate
– First Rate
– Peak
– Transcendent
– Unrestrained Realm
– Profound Realm
Someone who had reached the Peak rank was considered a master. And those in the Transcendent Realm and above were treated as great/grand masters. Among the numerous factions and sects, there was only a handful of people in the Unrestrained Realm. The imperial family had speculated Mok-hyeon to at least be in the latter half of the Unrestrained Realm, and at most in the upper half of the Profound Realm.
So Mok-hyeon saying that it would be hard to win against the Messenger meant that the Messenger was in the same ranking as him. The ED was in disbelief, and she closed her eyes, recalling what happened earlier. She had weathered through all kinds of storms. When she faced the former emperor, she did not falter.
But the moment she met the Messenger, she suffocated. If it were not for her life experiences, she might have collapsed on the spot at the Messenger’s dominating aura. She did not feel any murderous intent on him. He was not even carrying a weapon. The ED asked Mok-hee if the stronger a murim person was, the more they looked like an ordinary person.
Mok-hee was silent for a moment before agreeing that when a murim person reaches a certain rank, their appearance was not much different from the general public, just like her great grandfather. The Messenger looked more like an ordinary person than Mok-hyeon. Frankly, he seemed weaker than the ED herself, what with his small physique and face full of tiredness.
The ED said that the Messenger looked young, but strong people in murim were not truly young in age. Mok-hee said that it would be hard to verify that. There was a saying called ‘to regain one’s youthful vigor’ or ‘Rejuvenation’ wherein a master who had reached a certain rank and attained a Martial Body Reborn would become young.
However, Mok-hee had never met anyone who had attained that, so it was hard to conclude. The ED nodded, and raised her head at the sound of a court lady calling her. The court lady informed that the emperor had wanted to meet her. The ED looked out the window and saw that it was still nighttime. Yet her son asked to have an audience.
She realized that news of the Messenger’s visit had reached the emperor. The ED smiled as she muttered that her son’s ears had reached her palace. Mok-hee lightly trembled at those words. Because it meant that the emperor had planted a spy on his mother’s residence. But there was no displeasure in the ED’s voice. Rather, she felt happy at her son’s skills.
If even news of the happenings in her palace had reached the emperor’s ears, it meant that there was no place in the imperial palace that did not reach his ears. The emperor asking to meet the ED was also him revealing to his mother that he had a spy in her palace. The ED agreed to meet her son here, and told Mok-hee to stay since she could explain it better than her.
(Generally, having a spy in one’s residence is not good news. But for the ED, it was good news since it showed her son’s growth. It was revealed in the past chapters that the people in the Moon Flower Palace had tight lips. Yet someone present there had relayed the info to the emperor’s palace.
The emperor asking for an audience with the ED could be seen as him bragging to his mom that he had done a good job planting spies or informants everywhere, even in her tight-lipped palace. And given the emperor’s filial nature, it also looks like he was looking to be praised or complimented by his mom.)
***
Cale felt uneasy that the old man did not respond when he said that he was weak. The old man simply laughed ‘hoho’ and shut his mouth. The group continued walking in silence. Cale looked around the palace. There were lights everywhere and he could see many servants walking around. They had a similar atmosphere like Sangseon who walked silently.
Suddenly, Raon telepathically called out to Cale. Raon reported that he noticed something weird. Eruhaben had told Raon that when he went to a new world, he should grasp the flow of mana there. Cale thought that Eruhaben’s advice was great, and Raon continued that when he read the flow of mana, he found something strange.
It was not magic, but the humans here were secretly exchanging conversations with each other. Raon could ‘read’ the air waves through his mana. Cale recalled a martial arts technique called Chi Hidden Voice wherein a master who had reached a certain rank could use their chi to secretly transmit their voice to another person. Cale grew excited at Raon being able to eavesdrop on the messages.
Raon exclaimed that Sangseon and the old man were talking to each other. Cale held himself back from smiling. Raon said that he was unfamiliar with this technique, but if he focused hard, he would be able to understand the conversation. Raon added that the ‘texture’ of the air waves was different from mana, but it was similar yet slightly different to the aura that CH used.
The Inner Chi used by the murim people were slightly different from magic and aura. But it was similar to CH’s aura. Raon continued to be amazed at this new technique, and said that he was starting to understand it. Cale sincerely thought that dragons were great as expected. Raon then began to relay the conversation between Sangseon and the old man. 1
Sangseon was asking, “You mean he’s in the Unrestrained Realm at the minimum?” The old man replied, “That’s right. But he calls himself weak. It seems that he doesn’t want to use his strength.” Upon hearing the convo from Raon, Cale ended up grinning. Raon asked what Unrestrained Realm meant, and Cale was stunned.
Being in the Unrestrained Realm meant that one was really strong. So Cale was bewildered at that assessment that he could only laugh. It sounded nonsense to him who coughed blood or fainted just from using a moderate level of his ancient powers. He found it fortunate that his Vitality of the Heart and Sound of the Wind ancient powers were less sealed. 1
But his water, fire, and rock ancient powers were greatly sealed. Raon continued relaying the old man’s words, “And the other people besides the Messenger seemed quite strong too. But I don’t feel any Inner Chi from them.” The group eventually reached a 2-storey building. Sangseon explained that this was one of the villas attached to the Moon Flower Palace. 1
The group would be staying here. Sangseon was in charge of the place, but he introduced the group to the people serving them here. There were two court ladies and three eunuchs who greeted the group. But Cale stopped upon seeing one of the eunuchs, saying that one of them was too young. There was a boy around 6 years old who stood there as his fingers twitched.
Sangseon paused before awkwardly saying that the child would be the one to stay at the Messenger’s side to help. Cale could only exclaim as his eyes somehow sparkled. Only one of the court ladies was looking at the child as if he was a foreigner, and trying to figure out with her gaze if the Messenger knew about the child.
Cale noticed that Sangseon was strangely awkward too. The other servants did not seem to know on what was going on, and only looked at the child and Sangseon. However, Cale had an idea who that boy was. The boy met eyes with Cale and was startled, trying to hide as he grinned and scratched his cheek. But someone said that this was troublesome, and Cale was surprised at those words.
It was Ron who declared that it was his job to assist the young master. With a gentle smile, Ron asked for Cale’s agreement. Cale averted his gaze, feeling uncomfortable. Unlike the Molans, Cale’s appearance had greatly changed. He was like WS with a different hair color. But unlike the strong-looking WS, his KRS appearance looked so weak. And the air around him was completely different.
Though with Ron continuing to observe Cale, he felt uneasy. Cale had no intention of explaining why he looked like this now. Ron called him again, and Cale unconsciously answered that he agreed. He was helplessly nervous in front of Ron. Sangseon was confused with their conversation despite hearing it himself. 1
Cale then said that he would still keep that boy by his side, and Sangseon had a strange expression before bowing his head and accepting it. Cale glanced at the old man, saying that he did not appear to know who that boy was. The old man looked confused, and Sangseon flinched. Cale shrugged and said that the old man did not seem to be very close to the ED.
Cale relayed to Sangseon that he wanted to talk to the ED as soon as possible. Not because he was in a hurry, but that they (the imperial palace people) were in a hurry. He entered the villa afterwards. Cale wanted to pat the shoulder of the boy, but because of the child’s short height, he ended up patting the head.
But he paused when the boy’s black hair fell. It was actually a wig. The boy awkwardly laughed hehe and stared at Cale. His bald head was as smooth as chestnut, and he wore an attire for eunuchs, but he was clearly a young boy. The child continued to giggle hehe, and Cale asked, “Jungwon, you wear a wig?” The boy scratched his cheek in embarrassment but still giggled.
(Jungwon is the Korean word for ‘Central Plains.’ Yes, the boy is Central Plains’ alter ego. I’m going to use ‘Jungwon’ to call him as it feels weird to call someone as Central Plains. )
However, Cale had a fierce gaze at the boy, saying that he had a lot to explain. A lot of Cale’s ancient powers were sealed, and most of it were the ones useful for fighting. The bald child clutched his clothes and simply laughed hehe again.