Karmic Retribution (3)
"But why aren't you doing it, young master?"
"Because I'm already complete."
"Not embarrassed or anything?"
"I need to add more weight."
"There's no more luggage left, so how... Ugh!"
Ga-bok hadn't gained any extra load, yet his body suddenly felt twice as heavy. It was too strange to chalk up to mere fatigue.
...Is this even possible?
Unless he'd been possessed by a ghost.
It was too vivid to dismiss as imagination, especially recalling how he'd crushed Tak So-pyeong and the Hocheon Corps. Maybe they'd been haunted too, pressing their faces to his fists.
"Shall I add more?"
"Hng! I'll do my absolute best!"
Stimulating the body with Paewang Gi amplified the load based on intensity. Push beyond limits, and it could shatter—but kept in check, no method was more effective.
Even so, physical training remained essential because Cheon-woo's Paewang Gong couldn't yet perfectly control others. Time would resolve that limitation, but he saw no need to bother with the hassle.
Fine control over another's inner and outer forces demanded immense mental strain.
For Ga-bok, this alone was a once-in-a-lifetime boon.
I need to regulate my qi sense too.
Since leaving the inn, Cheon-woo had maintained his senses at peak sensitivity for five days straight. He had no spare attention for Ga-bok alone, nor any reason to.
Cheon-woo focused on fusing qi sense, inner/outer forces, and mental imagery into spiritual power—integrating, balancing, and achieving Guangcheon.
None lacking, all unified as the foundation of Paewang Gong.
Then.
"Everyone halt. Form up in rear-guard formation."
The order came out of nowhere.
To avoid night travel in the mountains, they had to push hard before dark. The caravan's leader was the deputy manager, the escorts under the deputy leader's command.
Even as eldest young master, Cheon-woo was just a lowly merchant here. He held no authority to dictate the caravan.
Yet everyone obeyed instantly, forming ranks with perfect discipline.
Why?
It couldn't be mistaken for the deputy manager's command—the young master's voice rang clear.
"Young master, what is the meaning of this sudden—?"
"......"
Cheon-woo didn't reply, eyes fixed on the path behind.
The deputy manager swallowed his awkward frustration, about to reprimand—then froze as a chill crawled up his spine.
-Halt!
The shout carried inner force, echoing through the mountains. Not quite a lion's roar, but enough to rattle the untrained.
Merchants clutched their ears; escorts tensed, unable to relax.
To infuse such power into a voice meant at least first-rate skill—perhaps beyond.
And the intent felt off—murderous.
Meanwhile.
He sensed it before me?
No Ja-cheong acknowledged the young master as a martial artist, but hadn't expected such refined qi sense. It scaled with inner force—the proof Cheon-woo surpassed him.
Impossible.
He wasn't first-rate himself, but his inner force punched above his realm. He burned to demand how—but now wasn't the time to question the young master's prowess.
Swoosh!
Hummm!
They closed distance at blinding speed, landing mere feet from the caravan.
A middle-aged man in black uniform, red and white hair betraying his identity at a glance.
The deputy manager and deputy leader recognized him, faces puzzled.
Jeok Baek (Red Hero) Sin Dae-un.
Baek Baek (White Hero) Sin Dae-in.
The Jeok Baek Twin Heroes, famed Peak Experts.
Renowned as righteous wanderers of the orthodox path, blood brothers not by birth—same surname, similar names from a vow to die together, sealed on the same day they renamed themselves.
Thud.
Regardless, the caravan's head was the deputy manager. He stepped forward, bowing politely.
"Greetings to the great heroes of Jeok Baek. I am Jong Yeo-myeong, deputy manager of Jeokgeum Merchant Group. To what do we owe this visit?"
"Think denying it will save you?"
"Deny what? What are you talking about?"
"You thought we wouldn't know you hid the Storm Tablet?"
Suddenly branded thieves, the deputy manager and merchants panicked openly.
The Storm Tablet's nature mattered little—the accusation was outrageous.
What evidence turned them into bandits? Even that seemed suspect.
"Thieves? We've never even heard of this Storm Tablet!"
"So we're slandering the innocent? You'll only wise up after a beating!"
The Jeok Baek Twin Heroes' baleful aura made deputy manager and row managers flinch.
No Ja-cheong stepped up to counter it, but the gap in prowess was vast.
Shing!
Ugh!
Out of the heroes' sight, Ga-bok behind Cheon-woo sighed worriedly, whispering.
"Young master, this is bad, right? They wouldn't act without certainty."
"Who told you to relax your posture?"
"...Pardon?"
"Time to add weight."
Ga-bok freaked. In this crisis, checking posture first? The young master's obliviousness was unreal.
Couldn't he see these guys dead set on intimidation?
Ugh!
Dismissing it as a tension-breaking joke, Ga-bok felt the terrifying weight anew.
The young master picked no moments.
And that was just the start.
Whoosh, whoosh!
His body lurched forward on its own, spinning in place to draw every eye.
Seeking safety behind the young master, only to expose his fool head.
Wide-eyed.
As expected, the oblivious fool drew glares from the Jeok Baek Twin Heroes.
"What are you?"
"Mocking us?"
Ga-bok waved no-no hands—or tried, mid-pushup, leaping into jumping jacks.
His body moved on autopilot.
Was this his end?
Wait, not me?
The killing intent wasn't his. The heroes glared murderously at the young master.
It made no sense. Accuse the caravan of theft, search for the item first—no?
Why pick on the idle young master?
Young master, these guys aren't heroes like the rumors say!
Hypocrites to frame and bare fangs without cause.
Some hidden agenda, but their aura was brutally lethal.
Even if the young master's been off lately, surely not here?
He wouldn't spout nonsense now. Even mad dogs quiet before masters.
The strong-weak gauge held, derangement or not.
"Pests scurrying about."
...?
Ears doubted. Panic gripped all.
With the heroes' precious bi-disk lost, soothing them was priority—yet he lobbed thunder!
Our young master, a fearless pup blind to tigers!
True madness.
"You dare spout such drivel knowing who we are?!"
"Not the lecher drooling at any girl?"
...?
It escalated, mountains piling on peaks. How to salvage? All froze head to toe.
Flinch!
How did he know?
They hid shock, but faces betrayed them.
A forbidden secret, unknown—should stay buried.
And it derailed their plan.
Why so furious?
I just want to kill him!
Hired by the caravan's brat, but seeing him ignited uncontrollable bloodlust.
Plan was talk first, "find" the hidden Storm Tablet, frame them—dent Jeokgeum's rep, build pretext, preserve their honor.
"A worm stays a worm forever."
"Lost your mind? Craving death?!"
For denial, their reaction seemed guilty. The young master's impudence struck true—they overreacted.
Hypocrites cloaked in righteousness never show cracks unless cornered, on death's edge.
Famed heroes for decades suddenly baring nature? Suspicious.
The jianghu wouldn't let such clumsy frauds thrive masked so long.
Hmm.
Amid flustered rage and shock, Cheon-woo remained serene.
Utterly natural.
Mireok Cheonri-an.
Excavator of true natures, judge distinguishing evil.
Evildoers short of Absolute Realm crumbled to madness under its gaze.
In his Paewang days, the Twin Heroes would've shattered on sight.
Swish!
Facing Mireok Cheonri-an, they felt their hidden ugliness writhe.
Cold reason crumbled like sandcastles.
"Confess your sins."
Cheon-woo's command brooked no refusal.
Puzzling, perhaps. Even guilty, who self-incriminates?
But for villains, different.
Mireok Cheonri-an pressed harder on greater evil, dragging primordial sins from souls.
To the heroes, it compelled like Yama's verdict.
Past crimes flashed lifelike.
Pressure to confess dominated.
Shudder!
Gnash!
Convulsing in humiliation, they glared ferociously, teeth grinding.
No more hiding naked bloodlust—like facing eternal archfoe from past lives.
Shinggg!
Chill!
The merchants, led by deputy manager, recoiled at the heroes' terrifying intent toward the young master.
Beyond their handling.
Escorts blanched, the martial paling worst under the aura.
Odd.
Not fully perfected, yet the heroes' souls resisted fiercely—stronger than expected.
Their crimes surfaced twenty years later.
Back then, as Transcendent paragons, none suspected the monster beneath—shocking the jianghu.
Hence the anomaly.
Post-reveal rounds, he'd eradicated them from start. Later rounds, no personal involvement.
Now, high-end Peak Expert at best—not sturdy enough against soul suppression.
Needed Transcendent spirit minimum.
Some boon?
Only change since suspending Mireok Paedo: this caravan.
Too soon for it to alter futures.
Years in secluded training for Mireok Paedo.
No contact, yet timelines shifted.
Notable, but pests remained pests.
Still, worth probing the trigger.