Chapter 125: Chapter 125

The pattering rain wet his face. Murong Hyeok-mun, who had no idea what was happening, felt his consciousness slowly returning.

‘Rain…’

It was cold.

It was cold enough that he could clearly feel the rain falling on him. As the chill seeped in from his back where he lay, it soon caused his entire body to shiver.

Shivering, he opened his eyes.

The sky came into view.

The sky was still dark, and due to the dark clouds, not a single beam of moonlight shone through. It poured relentlessly like someone’s tears, tormenting Murong Hyeok-mun.

Having opened his eyes, he turned his gaze to the side.

“Gwan-cheon…”

One by one, all the memories flashed through his mind. It forced him to face the reality that his son’s death was not a dream, which soon felt like an awl gouging out his heart.

Dragging his body up with difficulty, he approached his son’s corpse. No matter how many times he shook and called out to him, there was not even a twitch, nor did his son try to make that awkward smile of his.

“Kuh… uuuugh!”

He covered his mouth and swallowed his tears.

He had never shown a single tear in front of his son. Even if this was the moment he had to send his son away. Murong Gwan-cheon would not want to see his father crying either.

For an hour,

Murong Hyeok-mun sat there, staring blankly at his son’s corpse. Even as the rainwater soaked his entire body and the cold invaded due to his depleted internal energy, he did not seem to care in the slightest.

Eventually, he stood up.

He carried his son’s corpse on his back and began to move.

Come to think of it, where was this place?

It seemed to be somewhere deep in the mountains.

After walking for a long time, Murong Hyeok-mun soon realized that this was a wild mountain near the Martial Alliance. It was a place where he had once trained with Namgung Cheon, and also where he had taught many children.

In a way, it was a place filled with memories.

Why was he in a place like this?

If he had fainted, it would have been normal for him to be captured and imprisoned by those bastards from the Nine Sects and One Gang. As his thoughts reached that point, Murong Hyeok-mun frowned as if his pride had been wounded.

This was undoubtedly Namgung Cheon’s doing.

There was no one else but him who would do such a thing.

His pride was utterly trampled.

He should have just killed him!

He should have just cut off his head!

Was he telling him to survive and bear this humiliation intact?

That son of a bitch!

He had lost everything. The position of Alliance Leader, his son’s life, and even the Murong Family that he had tried so hard to build on a solid foundation.

“You bastard… you bastard… you bastard…!”

Even as he walked, Murong Hyeok-mun engraved the faces of the two men into his mind. Memories? Recollections? Affection for a friend? Such things seemed to no longer exist.

What surged within him was killing intent.

It was a murderous urge to trample and twist everything.

At that moment.

A certain person came to his mind.

The Sword Emperor Namgung Cheon, whom he felt he could reach but never could. However, this was a possessor of a completely different kind of power. As the face of that man, whose name he did not even know, appeared clearly, a suffocating pressure washed over him.

“Haah, haah… haah!”

His entire body trembled violently, and even his strength drained away.

That man’s eyes, tone of voice, and expression.

Every single one of them was pushing Murong Hyeok-mun into an abyss.

From where had such a monster appeared?

Why could he not defeat him? Why did his knees tremble just by thinking about him? Was this the emotion called fear? Was it the feeling of looking up at a mountain that could never be crossed or climbed… no, a sky far, far higher than any mountain?

His weakened mind drove Murong Hyeok-mun endlessly into a corner.

Then.

A shadow fell before his eyes.

There was a person in front of him, even though he had not sensed any presence? He raised his head, his eyes wide with surprise.

Murong Hyeok-mun was lost for words.

A man with long red hair was standing there. Beside him was Man Hu-ryang, holding up an umbrella as if serving the man at his side.

As if thinking that he himself could get wet but the man must never, Man Hu-ryang was soaked through his entire body.

“Have you seen the darkness?”

“W-who are you…?”

“Have you felt the endless fear?”

Every single word pierced into his ears. The red-haired man slowly knelt down in front of Murong Hyeok-mun.

Then, he gently reached out his hand.

“Follow me. I shall dispel your endless darkness.”

Murong Hyeok-mun looked straight into the man’s red eyes.

Those eyes, which resembled a blazing red flame, made him feel as if he were looking at the very man who remained as an indelible source of fear. His whole body trembled, and his head bowed of its own accord.

Soon, Murong Hyeok-mun’s hand naturally reached out.

* * *

“We didn’t even get to see the Shaolin Temple!”

Dan So-mi grumbled as she watched them leave Henan Province early in the morning. Since she could not visit Shaolin, the most famous place in Henan, even though it was right before her eyes, how disappointed must she be?

Her lips pouted.

“Haha. When we return home, this grandfather will show you something even better. Let’s take the Dongting Lake waterway and go fishing somewhere far away.”

“Wow! Really?”

Dan So-mi’s droopy eyes sparkled.

Despite her young age, she was very fond of fishing. With her ability to land even giant fish, she was probably the best angler in the entire manor.

For there had been no one who caught a fish larger than the ones Dan So-mi had caught so far.

Since she was a child who constantly asked if they could catch bigger ones if they went out on a boat, she seemed to have high expectations this time.

“But I still wanted to visit the Shaolin Temple…”

“You will see many things on the way back home. There will be things no less grand than the Shaolin Temple, so do not be too sad.”

Dan Woo-hyun, who was beside her, stroked her head.

Feeling his touch quietly, Dan So-mi nodded. Dan Woo-hyun was right. There was still a long distance to go before they reached home, and who knew what else they might see along the way. She might gain something else to brag about.

She did not necessarily have to go to the Shaolin Temple.

Just making a single memory with Dan Woo-hyun was enough.

While Dan So-mi was beaming with a bright smile, Dan Woo-hyun suddenly held out his hand.

At first she thought he was asking to hold hands, but on closer inspection, he was holding something. Stretching out her tiny hand to receive it, she soon burst into a bright smile.

“Wow! Look at this! It’s the Shaolin Temple!”

Showing off what was in her hand, Dan So-mi was clearly overjoyed. It was a miniature Shaolin Temple carved out of wood.

It was carved so exquisitely that it created the illusion that the actual Shaolin Temple had been transposed right there. Those who saw the carving were shocked and stared at Dan Woo-hyun.

“W-where did you buy something like that? I want to buy one too!”

Sa Do-hak raised his voice loudly.

Henan was a place he might only visit once in his lifetime. He had wanted to get some sort of souvenir, but because of the lack of time, he had been unable to buy one.

But since Dan Woo-hyun possessed something so precious-looking, he felt a sudden urge to run back to Henan just to purchase it.

“I made it myself.”

“What?”

“I made it myself.”

“That?!”

Sa Do-hak stared at Dan Woo-hyun in utter dumbfoundment. It was the same when building the house last time, but this fellow’s manual dexterity was truly beyond words.

The fact that such a large house had been built in just a few days was largely due to Dan Woo-hyun’s efforts. Every time they woke up, something new had appeared.

“Haha. I really wonder if you were a carpenter in your past life.”

Namgung Cheon was also lost for words in surprise.

Saying that he was simply born with good dexterity was an understatement. That exquisite carving of the Shaolin Temple would be difficult even for a master craftsman to carve in a few days.

Yet, knowing that their stay in Henan had been short and having never seen him carve it, it meant he had carved it either immediately after returning from the Alliance last night or this very morning.

For him to have finished it.

He did not even know what to say.

Even the word genius paled in comparison.

“Carve one for me too!”

Sa Do-hak quickly approached and bowed in a groveling manner. If Dan Woo-hyun had truly carved that, did it not mean he could make another one? He would be immensely grateful if he made just one more.

“I refuse.”

“Why?!”

“Because it is troublesome.”

Sa Do-hak froze in place with a shocked expression. To refuse simply because it was troublesome! Especially after all the time they had spent together.

At that moment, Jang Sam-tae stepped forward from behind.

He carefully approached Sa Do-hak and whispered in his ear.

“Is that really all it takes?”

Sa Do-hak looked quite surprised at whatever was said. He looked at Jang Sam-tae with a somewhat dubious expression, but since the servant’s face was filled with certainty, he had no choice but to say the words.

“Sell it to me! I will give you ten taels of silver.”

“Fine. I will make it for you in a little while.”

“That easily?”

Sa Do-hak let out a dumbfounded laugh.

They said that money could make even ghosts do one’s bidding, but how was he supposed to accept this situation where a guy worse than a ghost was moved by a mere ten taels of silver?

Where had the pride of a martial artist gone?

He pulled ten taels of silver from his bosom and handed them over.

This was because Dan Woo-hyun had held out his hand as if demanding it.

“Here it is. And it is not good for a martial artist to be so obsessed with money.”

“One cannot raise a child without money.”

“…”

Sa Do-hak shut his mouth.

Only now did he seem to understand why Dan Woo-hyun was so obsessed with money. It meant that all of this was for Dan So-mi’s sake.

He chuckled and nodded his head.

Indeed, that could be the case.

“By the way, how did the matter go when you went out last night?”

Jang Sam-tae knew that the three had headed to the Martial Alliance. Of course, the same went for Ma Jang-gang and Gwon Mu-jin. There was no way they could not know, since the sounds of clashing swords had echoed from within the Alliance for a long time.

He was curious about why they went there and whether their business had gone well.

However, not a single one of the three opened their mouth.

Sa Do-hak was just staring at the sky, and Dan Woo-hyun was walking ahead with Dan So-mi. Conversely, only Namgung Cheon wore a bitter smile.

“Nothing happened, and we did not cause any trouble.”

“Huh? Even though that whole scene went down yesterday?”

The sound of clashing swords coming from the Martial Alliance was by no means an ordinary occurrence. Even right before they set off early in the morning, the Martial Alliance was in a state of high tension, with members of the Nine Sects and One Gang surrounding the area and blocking access.

It seemed like something major had happened, whatever it was.

Jang Sam-tae, whose thoughts had reached that point, stared at Namgung Cheon with a surprised expression.

“Could it be… an assassination…?”

“Sometimes I feel like twisting that snout of yours.”

“…”

Jang Sam-tae shut his mouth.

If he said a few more words, he felt like it would turn into a funeral.

Whether they had actually assassinated the Alliance Leader or not, he did not know, but one thing was certain: whatever they had done, it must have been something monumental.

‘Now it’s the Martial Alliance?’

Jang Sam-tae made a tearful face.

If they had run amok all the way to the Martial Alliance, who was going to handle the aftermath? He knew that among the people here, none of them ever cleaned up properly after causing trouble.

Therefore, Jang Sam-tae resolved that he must keep his wits about him even more from now on.

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