Chapter 57: Father and Son (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 57: Father and Son (3)
It’s a strange feeling.
I hadn't met my biological father expecting a situation like this.
Several of the lineage masters of the Wind Shadow Eight Streams Sect were looking at me with deeply moved expressions, as if they had finally met the true Young Sect Leader. The sight left me feeling dazed.
'My place?'
The Lesser Conversation Sword was right.
Before my regression, I had been nothing but unfortunate due to a series of incidents.
But honestly, there was no end to it if I started counting. Whether it was Peerless Fortress not forming an alliance with the Martial Alliance, or my dantian being destroyed—a mountain of misfortunes had led to my miserable end.
In fact, it was precisely because I had experienced those things before my regression that I was able to overcome everything now.
While the two were bickering, a few people approached.
They were none other than Lee Jung-gyeom, the joint successor of the Eight Great Masters, and Jin Yong, the grandson of the Ardent King Hegemon.
Events had been unfolding so rapidly that I had momentarily forgotten about them.
'Ah!'
I never intended to lose the succession trial since I needed to meet my biological father, but now that things had turned out this way, they had essentially exerted all that effort for nothing.
From their perspective, it was only natural to feel cheated.
I wondered what they would say.
Just then, Lee Jung-gyeom cupped his fists in a polite salute toward my father, Jin Seong-baek.
"I offer my congratulations on finding your son, Senior."
"Thank you."
"Brother Ha, congratulations to you as well on reuniting with your father."
Surprisingly, Lee Jung-gyeom offered his congratulations calmly, as if he had accepted the situation entirely.
Of course, not everyone felt the same.
"Congratulations, Sect Leader. However, if things are to be this way, what becomes of the trial?"
Jin Yong had been wearing a dissatisfied expression since he approached, and as expected, he voiced his protest to Jin Seong-baek.
He was always someone who wore his emotions on his sleeve.
He had gone through a difficult trial only for it to end like this, so his frustration was understandable.
Jin Seong-baek, seemingly mindful of this, showed a hint of apology.
"Regardless of the circumstances, it is true that your hard work has been rendered moot by the discovery of my son."
"Not at all. How could we complain on such a joyous day?"
Lee Jung-gyeom spoke magnanimously.
He spoke so casually that it almost made me wonder if he had some ulterior motive.
But Jin Seong-baek seemed to take him at face value. He looked at the youth with approval.
"Since you have worked hard to get this far, there must be a reward. While I cannot offer the position of successor as it is a single-lineage inheritance, I will allow you to choose one of the martial arts of the Eight Streams, and I shall personally pass it on to you."
At that proposal, Jin Yong expressed his gratitude, though he still looked somewhat regretful.
"Thank you, Sect Leader."
In truth, this was not a bad deal.
Even if he didn't become the successor, receiving a technique from the Merciless Wind God, one of the Eight Great Masters, was practically the same as becoming his disciple.
Even if they had proceeded with the final trial, Jin Yong was the one most likely to fail. In a way, he had benefited the most from how things turned out.
However, unexpected words came from Lee Jung-gyeom’s mouth.
"I am grateful for your consideration, Senior, but I must decline."
"You will not learn?"
"To be honest, I came here on my master's orders, but I have yet to reach great achievement in the martial arts I am currently practicing. I do not believe I should be greedy."
"Hooh."
An exclamation escaped Jin Seong-baek’s lips.
I, too, hadn't expected him to give up such a golden opportunity so easily.
But on the other hand, a thought occurred to me.
'......Great achievement.'
Come to think of it, I hadn't reached the absolute peak of any of the martial arts I currently possessed either.
The Eight Thunder Short Sword Art, the Flash Shadow Throwing Dagger Technique, the Life Bright Sword Technique, the Sea King Bright Wheel Fist, and the True Blood Golden Body.
And then there was the Blood Heaven Great Achievement Art, which could only be unleashed by opening the Upper Dantian.
It was no exaggeration to say that more than half of what I had learned were top-tier martial arts, yet I hadn't seen the end of any of them.
'Huh?'
'No end, huh...'
Hearing those words made my heart feel even more firm.
The path I needed to take with my martial arts.
-
The core foundation of my martial arts was the Life Bright Divine Art.
I had caught a faint glimpse of the beginning of the 7th stage—a level even the Namcheon Sword Guest had failed to reach—but I was still far from perfect.
While I was lost in thought, Lee Jung-gyeom was saying something to Jin Seong-baek via Secret Sound Transmission.
I didn't know what was being said, but a furrow appeared between Jin Seong-baek’s brows.
Once he finished speaking, Lee Jung-gyeom cupped his fists and spoke politely.
"I truly hope that the relationship between Peerless Fortress and the Alliance can develop into a positive one once more."
"......I shall consider it."
"Thank you. If you aren't too busy, Brother Ha, might I have a brief word with you?"
"With me?"
What did he want to talk to me about?
Jin Seong-baek nodded, signaling it was fine.
The two of us moved to a place where no one else was around.
As soon as we arrived behind the Star Tower of the Wind Shadow Eight Streams Sect, I asked, "You may speak now."
At my words, Lee Jung-gyeom gave a soft smile.
"I felt that if I didn't speak now, I wouldn't have the chance for a conversation like this for a while."
What was he trying to say?
While I was wondering, Lee Jung-gyeom spoke in a voice that was unusually serious.
"Brother Ha, what do you think of the Martial Alliance?"
I couldn't answer his blunt question immediately.
He was likely asking because he had heard that I was from the Flying Moon Hero Sect, which had been driven out after being accused of having ties to the Blood Cult.
"If I were in your position, I think I would despise the Martial Alliance. In a way, they were the cause that contributed to the total destruction of your family."
So he was well aware.
If it hadn't been for the Martial Alliance's request for an alliance, history might have been different. I might have grown up as the Young Sect Leader of the Wind Shadow Eight Streams Sect from the very beginning.
Looking at Lee Jung-gyeom, it didn't seem like there was any need to sugarcoat things.
"To be honest, I don't have very good feelings toward them."
At my words, Lee Jung-gyeom let out a shallow breath.
"As I thought."
"That doesn't mean I particularly dislike you, Brother Lee, or hold a grudge against you."
It wasn't as if he had been involved in the events of that time.
Lee Jung-gyeom chuckled.
"I don't dislike you either, Brother Ha. In fact, I’d say I quite like you."
Hmm.
I wouldn't go quite that far.
But there was no need to say that out loud.
Lee Jung-gyeom held out his hand to me.
As I looked at his hand in confusion, he spoke.
"In the past, I had the chance to follow my master to the Western Regions. I saw that when the people there are close or respect their opponent, they greet each other by grasping hands like this. In our language, I suppose you’d call it a handshake."
It was a peculiar way to greet someone.
It seemed he was requesting this greeting as a sign of respect for me.
I reached out and took Lee Jung-gyeom’s hand.
As he gripped my hand, he said, "I hope this relationship can be maintained."
"......And if it cannot?"
"Then we will have to stake our lives on that final trial we couldn't finish today."
His narrowed eyes were sparkling.
It wasn't just goodwill; I could see a competitive spirit, a desire to test his strength against mine.
Grip!
Strength entered our joined hands.
There was not a hint of carelessness in him. That was likely why he used the expression 'staking our lives.'
"I hope such a day never comes."
I replied with the same wish.
However, both of us were staring at a distant future that was faintly approaching.
The knowledge that, one day, we might have to clash.
The top of the Star Tower of the Seomgyeong Martial Sect.
The office was dark, with no lights lit.
A rough sound erupted from the mouth of Sect Leader Gu Yang-myeong as he entered his office.
"Dammit."
He walked over to a cabinet and opened the lid of a bottle of strong liquor sitting there.
He didn't bother with a glass and drank straight from the bottle.
"Haah... How did things get so twisted?"
Everything had gone up in smoke because of the incident with the fake Muchen Sword Emperor.
Unable to contain his frustration, Gu Yang-myeong gulped down more of the liquor.
Then, a voice drifted from behind him.
"The way you try to preserve your life is pathetic beyond words."
"!?"
He hadn't sensed a single presence.
Startled by the voice behind him, Gu Yang-myeong circulated his internal energy and quickly threw himself backward.
Just as he was about to unleash a palm technique, the figure in the darkness grabbed his wrist in an instant.
Then, they twisted it.
"Urgh!"
Gu Yang-myeong tried to shake it off, only to recognize the figure before him.
"You are...?"
"Shh."
At the words of the mysterious person whose face was half-hidden in shadow, Gu Yang-myeong nodded weakly.
The mysterious figure let go of his hand.
Judging by Gu Yang-myeong’s trembling pupils, he seemed to be terrified of this person.
The figure's voice drifted out again.
"You put on quite the performance, acting as if you had no connection to it just to survive."
At the rebuking words, Gu Yang-myeong answered in a trembling voice.
"The opponent was the Merciless Wind God. Furthermore, that man—no, Mu Ak’s identity has already been revealed to the whole world. How was I supposed to stop it?"
Judging by his tone, it seemed he had also just learned of Mu Ak’s true identity.
In fact, he really had just found out.
He knew the man was a fake, but he hadn't dreamed in his wildest nightmares that he was one of the former Five Great Villains.
The figure shrouded in shadow clicked their tongue.
"All that effort, wasted."
".......There was nothing I could do in that situation."
"For one of the four sect leaders of Peerless Fortress, you are utterly incompetent."
"Kh."
Gu Yang-myeong’s expression contorted, his pride wounded by those words.
However, the person before him was a master far superior to himself.
Then why don't you try facing Jin Seong-baek yourself and see?
He couldn't bring himself to say those words.
He knew all too well what would happen if he rashly provoked this person.
Then, the figure hidden in the shadows held something out to him.
It was a black pouch.
"This is?"
"What you must do from now on."
At those words, Gu Yang-myeong bit his lip hard.
He asked cautiously, "Mu Ak is still alive. If things go wrong, I could be exposed as well."
"I will take care of that. You just focus on the task you’ve been given."
".......Understood."
When Gu Yang-myeong answered, the figure in the shadows slowly stood up.
They moved naturally toward the office door.
The outfit they were wearing was the uniform of the Seomgyeong Martial Sect's warriors.
While Gu Yang-myeong was inwardly praying for the person to leave quickly, the figure paused with their hand on the doorknob.
"I almost forgot. It seems Tian Wuxing is alive."
"I-I didn't know either. I thought he died back then."
"Mu Ak deceived us."
"......."
"What does he have that kept him alive all this time?"
With those final words, the mysterious person opened the door and vanished.
Gu Yang-myeong’s strength failed him, and he slid down to sit against the wall.
He stared at the black pouch in his hand.
When he untied the string, he found a folded piece of paper and a small, brownish pill.
As Gu Yang-myeong unfolded the paper and read it, his eyes shook violently.
-
At sunset that day,
I sat facing my biological father, Jin Seong-baek, in the office of the Wind Shadow Eight Streams Sect.
It had taken this long to meet because of the process of tidying up the area, destroying the dantian of the captured fake Tian Wuxing—Mu Ak—and imprisoning him.
"It would have been fine if you had gone to interrogate him first."
"No. Sect Leader Wang has agreed to take charge of that, so do not worry."
It seemed Wang Chuyi, the Sect Leader of the Sea King Fortress Sect—one of the Four Great Martial Sects—was going to handle the interrogation.
He had likely done so out of consideration, to allow my father and me to have our reunion.
Jin Seong-baek spoke to me in a gentle voice.
"There is no one else here now. You may take off that human skin mask."
As expected, he knew I was wearing a mask.
I first removed the eyepatch, then carefully gripped the area behind my ears and peeled off the human skin mask.
As the eyepatch and mask came off, Jin Seong-baek’s eyes trembled.
"......So this is your face."
He must have wanted to see my real face.
He might have wanted to see how much I resembled him and my mother.
I couldn't really tell, but the Lesser Conversation Sword was making a fuss about the resemblance.
He had made the same fuss when I met So Ik-heon.
Now that we were alone, I felt I could ask.
"......Did you know that my mother was at the Yikyang So family?"
This was what I was most curious about.
It was because he had told me I was a child who belonged in the Orthodox Faction.
At my words, Jin Seong-baek’s eyes grew red.
"I am sorry."
"......Why..... Why did you leave her like that when you knew?"
I wanted to know this so badly.
Choked up by my words, he remained silent for a moment before finally speaking.
"On the day the Flying Moon Hero Sect was purged..... I was imprisoned in the basement of the Star Tower."
"In the basement of the Star Tower?"
This was something I hadn't known at all.
"It was for an entire year."
"For a whole year?"
Who could have imprisoned my father for that long?
While I was wondering, Jin Seong-baek said, "Your grandfather—my father—was the one who locked me away."
"Why?"
"There were likely many reasons. Perhaps to stop me from running away with your mother. Or perhaps to prove to the other sects that the sole successor of the Star Tower had no connection to the Flying Moon Hero Sect."
Ah.....
I hadn't thought of this at all.
The fact that my father, having become the son-in-law of the Flying Moon Hero Sect, would naturally become a target as well.
"When I was finally released from the Golden Prison a year later, I searched for your mother's whereabouts. I couldn't do it openly because I was being monitored by this sect as well as the other three martial sects."
That was understandable.
At the time, my father wasn't one of the Eight Great Masters. He had no choice but to be mindful of Peerless Fortress.
"And when I finally found your mother, she had become the concubine of the Yikyang So family and was living there with a child."
Longing was visible in Jin Seong-baek’s reddened eyes.
Jin Seong-baek thumped his chest and said, "This foolish father didn't know. I never imagined you were my child."
"......Did you resent my mother?"
"No."
"No?"
"At that time, your mother, holding you, and the man named So Ik-heon looked so happy."
"......."
"When I saw her looking happy with that man, after I had been powerless to protect her and had been locked away, I simply couldn't bring myself to face her."
Tears streamed down Jin Seong-baek’s cheeks.
I could feel from his appearance that he had truly loved my mother.
"I couldn't bring your mother, who had barely survived and found happiness, back into the abyss. This father was too powerless for that."
My own throat began to tighten.
I could feel just how much pain my biological father, Jin Seong-baek, was in.
He didn't say it, but I could guess how much he must have devoted himself to martial arts and how much effort he must have put into building his strength after that.
"I devoted myself to martial arts to ensure such a tragedy would never happen to this sect again. I entered closed-door training and practiced day and night. And just when I thought I had achieved results I could be satisfied with, I heard the news of your mother's passing."
Tears fell drop by drop.
"By the time I finally..... finally gained the strength to protect her, your mother was no longer in this world."
I could imagine the despair he must have felt.
That was likely why he had lived without meeting anyone until now.
"Every day was like hell. I wanted to throw my life away and go to your mother immediately."
"How could you!"
To think he had even considered such an extreme choice.
I was so shocked I almost stood up.
At my reaction, Jin Seong-baek gripped the back of my hand and said, "I am sorry. From then on, my mind was filled only with revenge. I didn't give a single thought to you, your mother's flesh and blood."
His desire for revenge against those who had driven the Flying Moon Hero Sect and my mother to such a state.
That had become the driving force of his life.
Strength entered the hand Jin Seong-baek was using to hold mine.
"When I think of how much Haryeong—your mother—must have sacrificed to keep you alive, I won't be able to face her or you even in death."
Looking at him in the depths of his sorrow, my heart grew heavy.
When I first learned of his existence, I felt nothing but resentment.
I had even hated him, wondering how a man known for his strong sense of responsibility, a man who had become so powerful, could have failed to find my mother until the very end.
But I hadn't known he had lived through such years of agony.
The title 'Merciless Wind God' was a reflection of the years of despair he had endured.
".......Do you not resent this father of yours?"
At his question, I took a deep breath.
Then, placing my hand over the one he had on the back of mine, I spoke.
"I do resent you."
"......."
His face darkened.
To that, I said, "I resent myself so much for only now learning that you lived in such pain."
".....You."
"Father."
At those words, Jin Seong-baek wept once more.
The word 'Father' had brought a surge of emotion to me as well, and it was the same for him.
We sat facing each other, shedding tears for a long time.
As time passed, we both felt a bit embarrassed and wiped our eyes with our sleeves.
Jin Seong-baek gave me a faint smile and said, "Your mother is better than me."
"In what way?"
"Didn't she raise you to be so magnificent? To think you became the successor of the Namcheon Sword Guest and a rising star of the Orthodox Faction. This father is truly proud of you."
At those words, I was suddenly brought back to reality.
Jin Seong-baek seemed to know me only as a new rising star of the Orthodox Faction.
No, that was only natural.
How could he know what was hidden beneath the surface?
"Though I was surprised when I heard you were seeing the daughter of the Moon Evil Sword, one of the Five Great Villains, this father will support you no matter who you meet, if that is what you want..."
"Father."
"What is it?"
"I also have something to tell you."
Jin Seong-baek looked puzzled by my unusually serious voice.
I truly didn't know where to begin.
Come to think of it, I also had to tell him that my maternal grandfather was alive, but what would be the best way to start?
I suppose I should start with that.
"Before that..... I hope you won't be too shocked, Father."
"I don't know what it is, but I don't think anything could shock me anymore."
Seeing his certainty, I took a deep breath.
Then, closing my left eye, I stirred my Mental Focus and opened my Upper Dantian.
In that instant, a transformation occurred.
Jin Seong-baek, who had been watching blankly, saw his expression freeze in a heartbeat.
"This...... what on earth....."
He looked bewildered by my hair, which had turned blood-red, and my crimson eyes.
And so, I revealed the truth.
"I am the current Blood Demon."
"Wha-at?"
A cry of pure shock erupted from the mouth of the father who had claimed nothing could surprise him anymore.