Movement
"What are you hiding from me?"
Father—Ju Tae-sung—fixed me with a piercing gaze that seemed to lay my very soul bare.
I met his eyes without flinching.
My heart burned with guilt, but I could not let it show. The slightest mistake and Father would see through my lies in an instant.
"Haven't the demons of the Cult committed countless unthinkable atrocities against the orthodox murim world?"
"They have."
Ju Tae-sung gave a solemn nod.
How could mere words ever capture the madness of those demons?
"Perhaps this was simply another instance of that."
"Is that truly the best excuse you can offer?"
As he spoke, he rose slowly and approached me. The air around us warped as though reflecting his rage.
For a moment his figure seemed to scatter like mist, only to reappear with his hand already stretching toward me.
What the—?
Startled, I reflexively drew on my energy and slapped his hand aside.
......
......
A sudden, heavy silence fell between us. In that oppressive stillness I realized I had made a serious mistake.
Damn it.
The man before me was one of the Ten Supreme Sovereigns, the strongest under heaven. Ju Tae-sung—Sword Sovereign—had claimed that title above even the illustrious Wudang and Mount Hua sects, and even the Namgung clan of the Blue Sky.
I had just deflected his hand.
"Even though I only infused it with thirty percent of my power, the son I know should never have been able to avoid that strike."
His voice rang with absolute certainty. Father had clearly already guessed something.
"And yet you did. With laughable ease, no less."
"Do you require an explanation?"
"No need."
The corner of Ju Tae-sung's mouth curled upward as he thrust his hand out once more.
He already knew. He must have sensed something from my unusual behavior. The attack that followed was a straight, linear strike that suddenly shattered into countless phantom trajectories at the very end, making it impossible to predict where it would land—the profound mystery of the Phantom Beast Palm.
The problem was that I could see every single one of them clearly.
Ah, to hell with it.
Amid the storm of illusory strikes, I drove my left shoulder precisely toward the upper gate of his stance. It was a body technique that pushed my head forward while instantly closing the distance between us.
"...!"
Father's hand froze in midair. If it had descended even a fraction further, it would have shattered my skull. A truly dangerous gamble.
But that was only how it appeared on the surface.
This is the real move.
My left hand was already pressed against Father's pulse gate.
"Impressive. But still too early."
Thump!
A wave of true qi erupted from my chest. I was sent flying into the air before crashing heavily onto the floor.
When I opened my eyes again, Father was already standing over me with his hand resting gently on my head.
But something was strange.
He's smiling?
It was a warm expression I had never seen on his face before.
"Truly impressive. I thought you had only been causing trouble and wandering without purpose all this time. When did you achieve such progress?"
I quickly rose to my feet.
"It was nothing more than a small realization. Hardly something worth boasting about."
"Hoho. At your age, not only did you deflect a killing strike infused with thirty percent of my power, you even seized my vital point for a moment. That is absolutely not something an ordinary person could do."
I had no response.
After all, I knew the Ju family's martial arts inside and out—including every method to counter them. After the Heavenly Demon destroyed our family in my previous life, I had dissected our own techniques to understand why we had fallen so helplessly.
There was no way I could tell him that.
"However."
Father's voice suddenly turned ice-cold.
"You must not grow overconfident and invite danger upon yourself."
"...Understood."
I nodded.
"I will let this matter pass without further questioning. But from now on, whether it is to this father or anyone else, you must speak before you act. Do you understand?"
It was unexpected. To hear the word "father" spoken with such warmth from that cold-blooded man.
"Yes... I will do so."
I forced an awkward smile and nodded.
Father patted my shoulder once before dismissing me.
As Ju Woo-jin turned and walked away, Ju Tae-sung's expression hardened.
He recalled the footwork and body technique his son had displayed moments ago.
Dangerous. And steeped in killing intent. That is not a technique of the Ju family.
The malice contained within that skill was far too severe to be considered an orthodox martial art. It was the kind of technique that would sacrifice one's own body to claim the opponent's bones—a vicious heart embedded in every movement.
Such arts were usually found in the unorthodox factions.
"I cannot set my mind at ease."
He had also received reports that Woo-jin had stopped visiting the brothels recently. He had thought the boy was finally maturing, yet now he was displaying martial arts drenched in killing intent.
"Perhaps I should assign more guards."
Ju Tae-sung's worries only grew deeper.
Everything was a burden.
In my previous life I had been called the greatest good-for-nothing in the world, the trash of the Ju family—every insignificant and filthy name imaginable.
Then, after the Demonic Cult's invasion, I suddenly became the last hope of the orthodox faction. A star.
As the renowned masters of the murim fell in glorious sacrifice, I wandered the world alone, devouring every martial art I could find.
By steadily hunting down demons, I made my name known and became the lone shining star of the orthodox world.
But that, too, became a burden.
The knowledge that there was no one else. That if I fell, everything would truly end. I felt it in my bones.
Everyone relied on me. Everyone watched me.
In truth, there had been countless times I wanted to run away.
Yet Father had spoken those words for the first time.
I will let this matter pass without further questioning. But from now on, whether it is to this father or anyone else, you must speak before you act. Do you understand?
I was no longer alone.
Was it that one seemingly insignificant sentence I had wanted to hear all along?
It felt as though a hard knot that had been lodged in my chest finally came undone.
"Heh."
A pleasant smile rose unbidden to my lips.
"Ju Woo-jin."
A familiar voice called my name.
I turned to see Fifth Elder Ju Tae-hwi, the Blood Sovereign, waiting for me with a broad grin.
"Uncle, it has been a long time."
"Indeed it has. You've grown so much since I last saw you. Hahaha!"
He was the only elder who stood on my side.
Moreover, as the youngest among his brothers, he had shouldered nearly all the dirty work of the family alone and was always busy.
"Have you finished all your missions?"
"Finished? There's still a mountain of work left. Those damned unorthodox bastards properly struck one of our main businesses this time. Cleaning up after that will take... haa."
He clutched his head as if the mere thought gave him a headache.
"Hmm, but look at you. Your physique has become quite solid. The aura you give off is impressive too... It seems you've been training hard, eh?"
"A little."
"Doesn't look like just a little. Hooh."
Ju Tae-hwi's eyes sparkled as he squeezed my arms, thighs, and every other part of me as if kneading dough.
"Wow, feel how firm you've gotten. This kid's the real deal!"
His eyes gleamed with interest.
My youngest uncle was the strongest expert among all the elders. He was also one of the Ten Supreme Sovereigns of the Central Plains.
Blood Sovereign Ju Tae-hwi, following in the footsteps of Sword Sovereign Ju Tae-sung.
The Ju family had produced two unprecedented geniuses in a single generation.
Unlike Father, who had properly inherited the prestige of the sword, my youngest uncle had always taken on missions at the forefront, clashing constantly with the unorthodox factions. That was why they had given him the title of Blood Sovereign—because he made the experts of the demonic and unorthodox paths bleed wherever he went.
"By the way, with how busy you are, what brings you back to the family?"
"You rascal. When I heard you were doing something dangerous, how could I stay still? They even said you annihilated a group of demons!"
"That wasn't me, though."
The Red Dragon Unit and its captain had been the ones to wipe them out.
"But you were the one who made it possible, weren't you? Hehe."
Whatever pleased him so much, my uncle laughed with a sly glint in his eye.
I didn't bother denying it.
He treated me like his own son. He was a passionate man who had never married and devoted himself entirely to the family's affairs. I didn't want to disappoint someone like that.
"This time, once I return, it looks like I'll be able to wrap things up within a year and come back for good."
"You're returning permanently?"
"That's right. There have been a lot of complaints from all sides anyway. For an elder of a great family to be running around fighting every day... Ahem. It's about time I handed things over to the unit captains."
That was only because he was too capable.
The elders who had been absent from today's meeting were all out on missions. The Ju family was busier than others, but it was undeniable that their exceptional talents played a huge part as well.
"You must return safely, Uncle."
"I will. I had to rush here this time and left your gift behind, but next time I'll bring you something truly spectacular that will make your eyes pop. Hehe. Look forward to it."
With those words, Ju Tae-hwi turned away with a satisfied expression.
As always, he said only what he wanted to say and left just as quickly. His personality remained as straightforward and generous as ever.
Only after my youngest uncle had gone did I finally have time alone.
"Huu. It looks like this matter has been roughly settled."
The incident with the Blood Hand Poison Emperor seemed to have concluded this way. If nothing else, that was fortunate.
If Father had pressed further, I would have been in real trouble. I had managed to slip away rather well.
Of course, knowing Father's personality, he would never let it end here. He had most likely already deployed warriors to track every trace of the demons.
Though they won't find any traces even if they search.
They wouldn't be able to find the Blood Hand Poison Emperor's corpse either.
The Heavenly Demon trusted no one. Not even the Twelve Demon Emperors.
The moment the Blood Hand Poison Emperor died, the restriction planted inside his body would have activated and cleanly dissolved the corpse. I was certain of it.
"Sal-je Do-gon."
There was no avoiding him. He would definitely come.
Originally, the Twelve Demon Emperors shared no deep bonds with one another. But the relationship between Do-gon and the Blood Hand Poison Emperor was different.
Because they were blood brothers?
No. Before that, Do-gon would be furious that something of his had been taken away.
"Huu."
I rose from my seat, recalling every memory I had of Do-gon from my previous life.
There was no time to sit idly.
Facing him would be incomparably more terrifying and tense than facing the Blood Hand Poison Emperor.
"Well, it's about time I started preparing anyway."
Since my regression, I had devoted myself to training without missing a single day. Excluding sleeping and eating, I had moved constantly to raise my martial realm, yet it still wasn't enough.
At my current level... I am at best first-rate. Even then, against two or more opponents, I would surely lose.
I had never once defeated Muyoung—who had already reached the Peak realm—in a satisfying manner. Of course I hadn't used my full strength, but neither had he.
At this rate, I won't be able to handle Do-gon.
He was on an entirely different level from the Blood Hand Poison Emperor.
Therefore, I needed a way to replenish the internal energy I lacked most in my current state.
Yes. A fortuitous encounter.
That heaven-sent opportunity every martial artist prayed would come to them at least once in their lifetime.
It was time to turn the fortuitous encounter needed to raise my realm into an inevitability.