Chapter 1
Chapter 1
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Shamelessly Long-Lived
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I am eighty years old this year.
I have lived far too long, remaining as foolish and fearless as the day I started my journey, for boys never truly grow up, no matter how many decades pile upon their shoulders.
In my youth, I dreamed of nothing but immortality, desperately devouring anything rumored to be good for the physical body, yet as I lay here now, all those past efforts feel entirely pointless.
The Taoists claim that one can ascend to eternal life through the rigors of cultivation, but there is not a chance of that miracle happening to a man with a track record like mine.
Was it fifteen years ago? Those long-nosed Taoist priests from Wudang had the audacity to call me vile, despite the fact that I do not traffic in people or rob the innocent indiscriminately.
Of course, I never made a habit of helping evildoers either, for while thieves, bandits, and water pirates are fine if they do not get caught, I saw no reason to rescue the idiots who were foolish enough to end up behind bars.
And yet, simply because I was the leader of the unorthodox factions, those hypocrites lumped me in with the worst of them and hurled insults until I lost my temper, sparking what they called the Great War of Righteousness.
True to its grandiose name, massive battles erupted across the land, but I was not present at the front lines because my target was Wudang from the very start.
While others were occupied with the broader conflict, I headed straight for their sacred peaks, burned three of their palaces to the ground, and personally snapped the necks of their sect leader and elders.
I had generously intended to spare everyone except those who had insulted me, but they were the ones who drew their swords first, yet they still had the nerve to call me treacherous and petty afterward.
Anyway, a truce was eventually called, but Wudang—the sacred ground of Taoism for a thousand years—lost so much power that they were pushed to the very bottom rung of the Nine Great Sects, which is certainly not my problem.
They say you reap what you sow, and truth be told, my nature never meshed with those Taoist hypocrites who spout pretty words while hiding their true, ugly faces behind a mask of virtue.
Just thinking about them gives me hives, but as time passes and I approach the end, my mind seems to clear, bringing old memories into a dangerously sharp focus.
I laboriously turned my head to gaze one last time at the subordinates who had shared my life, the elders and my disciple who helped me build the Evil Hegemony Heaven.
I noticed that Cheon U-myeong was missing, a man who is a bit dim-witted but undoubtedly the most loyal of them all, having left to fetch the mythical Immortal Grass for me.
As if such a thing even exists in this world, he is likely digging up weeds on some remote mountainside right now, entirely clueless about actual herbs, but it would have been nice to see his face one last time.
My breaths are coming shorter now, and it is time to meet my inevitable end, reflecting on how hard the climb was to reach the position of the ultimate power in the unorthodox world.
I was Hyeokryeon Mugang, the lord of one of the three powers dividing the martial world, a man who reigned as king by betraying the strong, crushing the weak, and stabbing allies in the back whenever necessary.
People pointed their fingers and called me despicable, but what do those fools know of the brutal storms of life that I had to weather to reign for nearly forty years?
Any woman I wanted was mine, my coffers overflowed with gold, and a mere flick of my wrist could wipe out a minor sect, yet even I cannot defy the will of the skies when my time has come.
I have no real regrets, though it is a bit disappointing to realize I should have spent more of my treasure hoard or enjoyed a few more nights with my new concubine, Huayang.
As my sighs turn to ragged gasps, I hear my loyal subordinates whispering around my deathbed, but their words are not the sorrowful laments I expected to hear.
"Why won't the old bastard just die already?" one whispers, while another notes that I have gorged myself on so many health tonics that my thread of life refuses to snap.
They call me a tough son of a bitch and weep not in sorrow, but in relief that my "tyranny" is finally coming to an end, with my own disciple promising to take care of the aftermath.
They are already rallying around him, and I realize they have always been this way, just as I have always been a man who looks out for himself above all others.
Suddenly, I see a black-robed figure flickering like a mirage, the grim reaper come to fetch my soul, and I hear a deep, chilling voice call my name for the first of three times.
The third call is said to sever the tie to the living world completely, but just as the reaper prepares to finish the job, the Iron Sword Unit Leader, Cheon U-myeong, bursts into the room with a magnificent flowing beard.
"I finally got the Immortal Grass! Eat it, my lord!" he bellows, shoving a dirt-caked herb into my mouth before the horrified elders can stop him.
The will to live surges wildly within me as I try to chew the dirt-covered plant, even as my disciple and the others lunge to restrain the man, desperate to ensure I do not survive.
The reaper's third call begins, but I muster every ounce of strength to suck the mangled herb down my throat, the potent energy of the Immortal Grass flooding my body in an instant.
My desperate will to survive meshes with the plant's potency, clinging stubbornly to the fraying thread of my soul even after the reaper tries to yank it free with a demonic scowl.
He lost his grip, and I felt a sensation like a thousand hairs being ripped from my scalp, but I have won—I have lived, and the Immortal Grass is undeniably real.
The reaper lingers, placing a hand on me and chanting a spell in a final attempt to drag me away, but I ball my fist and prepare to endure whatever he throws at me.
In the martial world, no one matches my patience, and I will keep my eyes shut tight until that bastard finally leaves me alone, for I am Hyeokryeon Mugang, the Lord of Evil Hegemony Heaven!