The Absolute's Pure Heart (1)
Yeom Hwa-sin stood with his hands clasped behind his back in front of the flower garden.
His back resembled a massive wall that wouldn't crumble no matter how hard it was pummeled.
Has he truly achieved the Diamond Indestructible Body?
Baek So-cheon had trained his body to such extremes, yet he had never formed a connection with the Diamond Indestructible Body.
It might be a matter of mindset, he thought. After all, he had never aimed for the pinnacle of external arts in the first place—it had only been a process to reclaim his internal energy.
What kind of resolve had driven him to achieve it?
Was it the fruit of an obsession to devour the entire martial world?
"I hate meddling in family matters, but I have to say one thing. Aren't you thinking only of yourself too much?"
It was a rebuke for neglecting his son's upbringing, and Yeom Hwa-sin understood it immediately.
"If you had been born my son, I wouldn't have raised him like that."
"What do you mean?"
"It means he's inadequate from the start. For a deficient fool to survive in a place like this, he needs to grow a filthy temper at least."
Baek So-cheon could grasp the intent behind those words. Raise him soft like water, and that water would inevitably mix with poison in the Black Heaven Alliance.
"If you're still upset about earlier, let it go. You think I'd kill you here? That's not who I am."
"Didn't you decide to kill me back then?"
"For using Soul Subjugation Art on my son?"
"No?"
"Do I strike you as someone who lives considering others like that?"
He referred to his own son as "another person." And right now, he was sincere.
"I don't think someone bound by petty blood ties can achieve the great task of unifying the Central Plains. In that sense, it's something you'll never accomplish."
"I was never interested to begin with."
"Then what are you interested in? Besides that bullshit loyalty of yours. What is it you care about?"
If he had heard that question a few months ago, he wouldn't have been able to answer. Of course, he had no intention of telling him even now. But in his heart, he replied.
'Now I can see my life and my people.'
The will to reclaim his own life had taken root.
Once he weathered this war, he would live solely for his own happiness.
Saying such things aloud would only give the man a weakness to exploit. It was better if Yeom Hwa-sin saw him merely as a rigid righteous faction fool obsessed with loyalty.
Then, unexpectedly, Yeom Hwa-sin spoke.
"But sometimes, that bullshit loyalty of yours makes me envious. It's the one thing about you that even I, your alliance lord, envy."
"You know there are plenty of loyal subordinates under you too. Stop whining."
"Hahaha."
Yeom Hwa-sin burst into laughter. Baek So-cheon couldn't tell if it was genuine amusement or laced with bitterness.
"Why did you want to see me?"
"You need to stay here."
"Reason?"
"Think of it as the price for sending those two off safely."
"That's not a reason. You said you're not that kind of person."
"If I must give one... I need to confirm my son is safe for the next five days."
With that, Yeom Hwa-sin turned and left, as if there was nothing more to say.
Half a shichen later, a carriage was prepared to return to the Murim Alliance.
As Cheon-geuk and Na-sa-rin boarded, Baek So-cheon finally revealed that he was staying behind.
"Why tell me now?"
"You would've tried to stop me the whole time. No need to worry you more."
"Still, that's not right."
"Don't worry. Just go."
"How can I not worry?"
At that moment, Yeom Hwa-sin approached.
"Your gaze toward me is getting sharper by the minute."
"No, it's not."
Cheon-geuk quickly bowed her head. Unknowingly, her eyes had filled with emotion as she looked at him.
Yeom Hwa-sin drove in the wedge with a warning.
"If anything happens to my son, Baek So-cheon dies."
Yeom Hwa-sin had noticed Cheon-geuk's feelings for Baek So-cheon.
Na-sa-rin answered in her place.
"Don't worry. Nothing will happen to your son."
"Then Baek So-cheon will return safely."
Baek So-cheon spoke to Yeom Hwa-sin.
"Let me speak with Alliance Lord Cheon for a moment."
"Fine."
Baek So-cheon and Cheon-geuk walked to a spot away from the carriage.
"I'm fine. Take the elder and go without worry."
"You sure? I won't regret leaving you here right now, will I?"
"Don't worry."
"I'll brew some delicious tea and wait. See you later."
As she turned to leave, she whispered in his ear.
"Just in case, how about teaching me your battlefield code?"
"Hahaha."
And so, he sent the two women off in the carriage.
Once they were gone, Yeom Hwa-sin said to Baek So-cheon,
"You and I have somewhere to go."
It wasn't for his son that he had made him stay.
As if waiting, another carriage arrived and stopped.
"Get in."
Baek So-cheon followed him into the carriage, and it set off immediately.
The carriage jolted over rough terrain. But it didn't slow down. The coachman mirrored his master's temperament perfectly.
After a long ride, Yeom Hwa-sin finally spoke.
"Do you know why I like you?"
Baek So-cheon turned to face him.
"You don't waste words on pointless questions. Where are we going? Why? You don't nag like a child."
"Where are we headed?"
"And you defy me so well. It's adorable. Moments like this make me wish you were my son."
"Then don't talk about disregarding blood ties."
"Hahaha."
"Since we're on the topic, let me ask one thing."
"What?"
"I heard the curse planted in us came from Jeok Pa-rap, the Blood Cult Lord's master."
Yeom Hwa-sin nodded. He already knew.
"Is Jeok Pa-rap still alive?"
"He is."
"I heard he's over a hundred years old."
"The Blood Cult has fewer numbers than us, but they're full of freaks. Even a two-hundred-year-old fossil wouldn't surprise me."
Jeok Pa-rap was alive? As Myeol Saeng's master, his arts weren't something used lightly. If he lived, they had to assume a tricky old monster was out there.
That was why the Hyun-cheon Pavilion's Murim Ranking List wasn't perfect. Jeok Pa-rap's name had never been on it.
"You really starting the war?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"Next spring."
If true, they had just over five months left. Given Yeom Hwa-sin's nature, it was as good as set.
"As you know, the Blood Cult has always been desperate to claim the Central Plains. This curse they planted on us proves it. You think you can afford to weaken yourselves fighting us? What if they stab you in the back?"
"My head's tough. A backstab won't kill me."
"You know their cult leader has reached great success in Blood Heaven Qi?"
"I know."
Confidence or bravado? Either way, he showed no fear at this moment.
Has he really become indestructible?
Even his joke about a tough head felt laden with meaning.
The carriage arrived at a destination not far from the Black Heaven Alliance headquarters.
Stepping out, a small thatched house came into view in the distance. Surrounded by rice fields, but Baek So-cheon sensed presences of hidden experts nearby.
"A woman lives there alone. A righteous factioner like you."
Baek So-cheon was surprised—not by the woman, but by Yeom Hwa-sin's tone. It was awkward, almost shy, unlike his usual self.
And then came the astonishing revelation.
"She's the woman I have my eye on."
Baek So-cheon was stunned. For the lord of an evil alliance, having mistresses beyond his wife wasn't odd. But confessing it to him was.
"I took her hostage by chance during the Great War of Righteousness and Evil."
After that, Yeom Hwa-sin fell hard for her. He, who had never fallen for any woman before. To him, women were mere tools for pleasure and childbearing. If he wanted one, he took her.
Yet... he had fallen for this one.
He could have forced himself on any woman he desired, but not her. Of course, there was a reason.
"You didn't bring me here for this, did you?"
"You think I dragged you along to squash some pathetic bug? One immobilized by Dark Spirit Control Technique?"
"You're... truly insane."
"Hahahaha."
Yeom Hwa-sin laughed heartily. He was still enjoying Baek So-cheon's reactions. No one else dared speak to him like this. The moment that amusement faded would be when he decided to kill him.
Regardless, Yeom Hwa-sin's feelings for her were genuine.
"Even trying to change my mind didn't work. Now, the only option left is to kill her."
"Lingering regrets?"
"No woman has ever resisted me my whole life."
Who fell because they wanted to?
Baek So-cheon held back the retort. When a man's issue involved a woman, one spark of anger became a blaze.
Perhaps that's why she was still alive—her refusal. If she'd yielded easily, he'd have discarded her just as quickly.
"Why bring me here?"
"Find out why she hates me."
He knew the reason better himself, so this was a plea to sway her heart.
"A married man with a wife and kids asking a bachelor like me?"
"You're popular with women, aren't you? You understand them well."
"You think she'll tell me what she won't tell you?"
"She's righteous faction first. I'm just hoping since it's you. You might... who knows."
"Thanks for the high praise, but will it work?"
"Who knows? Like how I didn't expect you'd stab me in the heart three years ago."
"And if I refuse?"
"I'll kill you. Getting cursed doesn't shame me, but making this request does. Might as well hunt down those two bitches who left earlier too."
"Dragging them in shows you really want this."
"That's why I'm sending you. You're quick on the uptake."
"No one around you to handle this?"
"Live as Black Heaven Lord once, and you'll understand. The kinds of scum around me."
Of course, he had loyal, clever, calm, perceptive men who knew women well.
But they were all villains. The ruthless sort who clawed their way to his side.
"I don't want to send those bastards. Don't want to tell them this story. Don't even want them meeting her."
"And I'm fine?"
"Yes."
It was an uncharacteristically vulnerable request from Yeom Hwa-sin, but Baek So-cheon understood. At this moment, he was just a man, far from schemes and machinations.
Was he proving he had emotions like any human?
Or perhaps showing that even he had a pure heart.
Just like what he felt with Cheon-geuk.
Recognition.
Yeom Hwa-sin might be hoping for that acknowledgment of his pure affection right now.
"Since you've threatened me with death anyway, mind if I set a condition?"
"Can't be stopping the war. Won't delay it either."
"Not that."
"Then what?"
"Give me one of your secret manuals."
"Manual? Which one?"
"Wind God Movement Technique."
Yeom Hwa-sin's eyes narrowed with wariness, the pure affection vanishing in an instant.
"You don't need it."
"You don't need it either, right? I know it conflicts with the arts you've cultivated."
"How do you know that?"
"How? We've fought for years—do you know how long? By the war's end, I knew what side dishes you had for breakfast."
"Don't change the subject! Why the hell are you after martial manuals?"
Yeom Hwa-sin grabbed Baek So-cheon's wrist roughly, injecting energy to probe his dantian meticulously. The shattered dantian was confirmed, and not a scrap of internal energy remained in his body.
"For her."
"Her? Ah, that assassin wench."
"You keep threatening to kill her. If she learns Wind God Movement Technique, at least she can escape."
Baek So-cheon used Cheon-geuk as an excuse. It was the most plausible reason now.
Yeom Hwa-sin laughed openly.
"Unless she masters it to the eighth stage or higher, can she escape me?"
Up to the seventh stage, she couldn't flee him. Conversely, at the eighth, she could. Truly the ultimate lightness skill.
"Dodging you would be hard. But you're a busy man, right? Not one to scour the world for a single assassin."
"I'll make sure my subordinates don't catch her?"
"She likes this body without a drop of internal energy. Least I can do is look out for her."
Baek So-cheon gazed at the distant thatched house.
"You must understand my feelings these days."
In a way, this was the perfect opportunity.
Yeom Hwa-sin's deliberation didn't last long.
"Fine. I promise."
Whether he'd keep it was uncertain, but this ready agreement revealed one truth.
At this moment, that woman—or his feelings for her—mattered more than the world's supreme lightness skill.
Baek So-cheon walked toward the thatched house.
From behind came Yeom Hwa-sin's voice.
"I'll wait here."