Chapter 2
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Guyang Cheon
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I opened my eyes.
It was still an unfamiliar ceiling.
Is this really a dream?
Or am I experiencing some sort of illusion?
The back of my head, where that middle-aged man struck me, still throbbed, and the feel of the blanket was so vivid.
Then how on earth am I supposed to explain this situation?
To figure things out, I sat up.
*Jiggle.*
Huh? A jiggle?
Anxiously, I carefully pulled back the blanket.
Is this really my body?
A thick, fleshy belly came into view.
I hurriedly found a bronze mirror and looked into it, only to see a chubby face staring back.
I was horrified, but I forced myself to remain calm.
This isn't my body.
If I go back to sleep and wake up again, will I be free from this nightmare?
Convinced that wouldn't happen, I decided to go outside and assess the situation.
When I opened the door and stepped out, an old but elegant manor filled my view.
‘This manor looks so familiar…’
The manor truly seemed familiar, but no matter how hard I thought, I couldn't recall it.
Just then, some servants walked by, giving me a look of indifference—or more accurately, a look one gives a disgusting object.
"You're awake?"
A young martial artist greeted me politely, his expression cold.
Who is this man I'm seeing for the first time?
Is he a guard assigned by my kidnappers to watch over me?
I soon shook my head, concluding this wasn't a kidnapping.
Would people capable of breaching the Martial Arts Alliance's tight security and sealing my six decades of internal energy manage me this carelessly?
It was absurd.
"Who are you?"
I decided to first ascertain this man's identity.
"I am Seong Hwi."
"Seong Hwi?"
"Have you truly lost your memory? Or are you just acting? If you have any decency, Young Master, you should run to the Clan Head and apologize at once. You can't just shirk responsibility after causing such an incident."
I finally understood what people meant when they said they were about to go crazy.
I may have lived my life being called a heartless Alliance Leader, but I endured it all with a sense of responsibility.
If I hadn't, I wouldn't have led the Martial Arts Alliance's elite at the age of eighty-one to fight a grueling six-month battle against the Blood Palace.
"In all my life, I have never once done something for which I wouldn't take responsibility."
As I spoke clearly with a firm expression, a strange light flickered in Seong Hwi's eyes.
But harsh words soon escaped his lips.
"Are you perhaps still drunk?"
Looking at the bewildered Seong Hwi, I felt that something was terribly wrong.
My face and body were different, as were the way people treated me and where I was staying.
Have I really become someone else?
Is this the reincarnation spoken of in Buddhism? Then what about me? Could it be... I died?
My mind was a chaotic mess, but the more it spun, the calmer I became.
"Who am I?"
I asked, trying my best to suppress my trembling heart.
Seong Hwi let out a short sigh and began to speak.
"You are Guyang Cheon, the second young master of the Ouyang Clan. You are twenty-three years old. Should I say more?"
"In detail. Tell me everything you know."
"It will be unpleasant to hear. Are you sure?"
"Could it be more unpleasant than looking at this body? Speak. No matter how trivial. I will listen patiently to the end."
As I made my demand with a grim expression, Seong Hwi's face stiffened, noticing the complete change in my eyes.
He realized I wasn't still drunk or simply acting.
I listened in silence as Seong Hwi spoke at length. It was a long story, but the summary was simple.
A good-for-nothing scoundrel gnawing away at the Ouyang Clan.
He had caused countless incidents, squandering the family's fortune. Yesterday, while drinking with Kang Seung-ju of the Seongwol Faction at a tavern, he beat the man into critical condition.
Kang Seung-ju was also a scoundrel, but the problem was that he had been beaten to within an inch of his life, his bones broken.
"Do you know why he was beaten?"
"He insulted the Sword Emperor. No, to be precise, he asked how a great clan like the Ouyang, which produced the Sword Emperor, could have someone like you..."
"Say it. It's fine. Tell me honestly."
"He asked how a 'son of a bitch' could be born into the clan. It was likely said in a drunken stupor. Kang Seung-ju is the type to call himself the Seongwol Faction's son of a bitch. But you, Young Master, flew into a rage and beat him mercilessly. The reason the Clan Head is so furious is because he's exhausted from cleaning up your messes. Should I continue?"
"That's enough. This is hard to hear. To think my eighty-two years of life could be negated like this."
I trembled with shame and rage.
Seong Hwi looked puzzled, not understanding the meaning of my last words.
"Has something happened to your head...?"
"It's fine. My mind is perfectly clear, and my calm judgment remains intact. So, what did the Seongwol Faction Leader do? He wouldn't have just stood by."
Seong Hwi couldn't hide his bewilderment at my cold expression and tone, as if I were talking about someone else's affairs, but he reported the facts as they were.
"Late last night, the Seongwol Faction Leader, Kang Ho-chung, paid a visit. Because the Clan Head and the Faction Leader have been friends for a long time, it didn't escalate into a major conflict. The matter was settled with the Clan Head offering a sincere apology and paying for the medical expenses. It might also have been resolved so easily because Kang Seung-ju is an outcast in his own family."
"How am I supposed to live now?"
It was suffocating.
I truly had no idea what to do.
I had lived my entire life with a sense of responsibility. With innate talent, painstaking effort, and heavenly luck, I had risen through the ranks to become the Alliance Leader.
I had never once done anything that would give others cause for criticism.
Not even once.
That's why even those who were jealous of me could do nothing against me.
But now, faced with this absurd situation, my mind was in turmoil.
However, I collected myself.
Isn't there a saying that you can survive even if a tiger drags you away, as long as you keep your wits about you?
This situation was certainly unfamiliar, but I had overcome far more difficult and arduous circumstances.
"My sword?"
"Please wait a moment."
Seong Hwi disappeared and returned with a sword.
*Shing.*
I drew the sword.
It wasn't a famed blade, but it wasn't a cheap one either.
Just a decent sword.
I sheathed it again.
"Where did I used to train?"
"It seems you really have lost your memory. No, it's as if you've become a different person."
"I asked for the training location."
"Young Master, you have never trained properly. In fact, you would run away whenever told to train."
Damn it.
Yes, truly damn it all.
"Then guide me to a place where I can train. I can't go on living in a body like this, can I? Not when I was born a son of the great Ouyang Clan, which produced the Sword Emperor."
"Follow me."
Seong Hwi clasped his fist in a salute and began to lead the way.
Following him, I briefly glanced up at the sky.
It was a blue so clear it seemed it might shatter.
‘Sword Emperor. So our connection continues like this. I don't know exactly what this situation is, but if I can, I will fulfill the dream you left behind. You heartless man. You could have at least appeared in my dreams once.’
The place Seong Hwi led me to was, surprisingly, the stone chamber where the Sword Emperor used to train.
"Isn't this the Sword Emperor's... my grandfather's stone chamber?"
Having decided to accept that I was now Guyang Cheon of the Ouyang Clan, I quickly corrected myself from "Sword Emperor" to "grandfather."
"Since you have not trained before, there is no training space specifically prepared for you, Young Master. That is why I brought you here. The Clan Head and the first young master have their own stone chambers. For now, please train here. I will inform the Clan Head."
"Thank you."
At my words of thanks, Seong Hwi looked startled before saluting and withdrawing.
‘Did this brat never even say thank you to his subordinates? Phew, I'll probably be cursed out for a while.’
I shook my head, entered the stone chamber, and activated the mechanism to close the door.
First, I planned to refine the ten years of impure internal energy into pure internal energy.
It was an incredibly difficult task, but for me, who had already reached the pinnacle of martial arts, two days would be enough.
**
Inner Court.
Seong Hwi immediately went to see the Clan Head, Ouyang Hyeon.
"What is Cheon doing now?"
Ouyang Hyeon didn't ask with high expectations.
Since Seong Hwi was in charge of Guyang Cheon, he was just asking out of formality.
"He said he wanted to train, so I guided him to the stone chamber used by the Sword Emperor. I apologize for guiding him there without permission."
"What? He wanted to train?"
Ouyang Hyeon didn't even hear the part about the Sword Emperor's chamber; he was stunned by the fact that Guyang Cheon had said he wanted to train.
"Did you mishear him?"
"I confirmed that the Young Master entered the stone chamber himself and activated the mechanism to seal the door shut. He also questioned me insistently today, as if he had lost his memory."
"It's an act. Don't be fooled."
"But his expression and gaze were too cold for that. There was power in his words, and when he gave orders, he had the air of a grandmaster... My apologies. That was an absurd slip of the tongue. Please forgive me."
Seong Hwi immediately bowed his head, but Ouyang Hyeon's expression hardened.
After the Sword Emperor died and the Ouyang Clan declined under the Martial Arts Alliance's pressure, talented people left.
Nevertheless, one of the loyal retainers who stayed until the end was Seong Hwi.
No, one might think he only stayed because his father, Seong Je, leads the Ouyang Clan's Emperor's Sword Guard, but Seong Hwi never wavered.
Even when Ouyang Hyeon asked him to be the guard for the scoundrel Guyang Cheon, Seong Hwi obeyed without complaint.
A man like him would not make a slip of the tongue.
Even if it wasn't the air of a grandmaster, it meant that Guyang Cheon had changed.
"Let's watch and see."
"Understood."
After Seong Hwi withdrew, Ouyang Hyeon clenched his fists and muttered in a low voice.
"Please, there's no time, you fool. After Father passed away, defeated in a duel by the Alliance Leader, our family's fortunes declined, but I never once resented him. Rather, I was only furious that my own mediocre talent prevented me from becoming a strong martial artist and following in his footsteps. Cheon, you are this family's hope. Why were you born with such outstanding talent, only to live like this? Please, come to your senses. Please."
Ouyang Hyeon knew there was almost no chance of his wish coming true.
Nevertheless, he couldn't help but hope, because he wanted to raise the Ouyang Clan to prominence once more.
Only then would he be able to face his father in the afterlife.
He and his first son, Ouyang Su, had mediocre talent.
That was why he lived with the hope that the naturally talented Guyang Cheon would restore the family's honor.
Otherwise, he would have died long ago from sheer frustration.
**
The Sword Emperor's Stone Chamber.
I sat down in the lotus position.
I began to circulate the Universe's Will Divine Art—the unique technique that had made me the strongest under the heavens—and slowly stimulated the ten years of impure internal energy in my dantian.
The internal energy, a mixture from various elixirs, refused to blend easily and remained disparate, but with persistent effort, it slowly began to merge.
I began the first circulation.
Not a minor circulation, but a major one.
I wanted to open the Governor and Conception vessels, but it was impossible with only ten years of internal energy and a body like this.
As I performed the major circulation, my meridians first tingled, then the sensation turned into a throbbing pain.
A complete major circulation was impossible, so I bypassed the Baihui acupoint.
No matter that I had comprehended the ultimate principles, a complete major circulation was impossible with this level of internal energy.
Even so, it was better than a minor circulation, so I continued with the major one.
‘Sigh, he never even practiced energy circulation properly.’
This Guyang Cheon had done nothing right, and a sigh escaped me automatically.
I quickly steeled my resolve, endured the pain, and continued the major circulation.
After two long hours, I was finally able to complete a major circulation, and only then could I breathe a sigh of relief.
If the major circulation had failed, the task of refining the impure internal energy would have failed as well.
The speed of the circulation gradually increased, and as it progressed, the various impure strands of internal energy began to merge into one.
Before I knew it, I had entered a state of complete immersion, losing all track of time as I circulated my energy.