Chapter 220: Chapter 220

“Where on earth did Father go?”

So-mi asked with a tilt of her head as she entered Sichuan by carriage. Moving separately from Jang Sam-tae after coming this far made her disgruntled.

However, the reason she could not hold Dan Woo-hyun back was because she saw determination in his eyes.

So-mi was quick-witted.

Especially when it came to Dan Woo-hyun’s matters, more than anyone else.

There was clearly some big trouble.

“I do not know. But do not worry too much. Even if thrown into hellfire, he is a fellow who will return alive for your sake.”

So-mi flinched and trembled.

She imagined the image of Dan Woo-hyun fallen into hellfire. Just thinking about it sent shivers down her spine, making her turn pale and shake violently.

“Grandfather! You should not say such things to a child! It frightens her.”

Namgung So-hye gently patted So-mi and sighed. Wiping away the tears that seemed ready to fall at any moment, she pulled her tightly into her embrace.

“Still, it is strange. To go separately and leave So-mi behind…”

“The Lord has his own matters to attend to. Do not try to pry into it.”

Gwon Mu-jin, sitting on the driver’s seat, muttered without even looking back. No one could read Dan Woo-hyun’s thoughts.

Furthermore, there was always a reason for Dan Woo-hyun’s movements, and those were things that would never bring harm to the name of the Hunan Dan Family.

Therefore, one only needed to trust and wait.

“Will I be able to see Jiyak again when we go to Chengdu in Sichuan?”

So-mi asked then, looking out the window.

When stuck among adults every day, no matter how family-like the relationship was, it was bound to be boring.

Seeing So-mi’s eyes sparkle, Namgung So-hye stroked her hair.

“Has Jiyak not already returned to Hunan?”

“Mmm… I suppose so?”

So-mi lowered her head with a disappointed expression. For a while, she said nothing as if deep in thought, then suddenly snapped her head up and looked at Namgung Cheon.

“There is a place I want to visit!”

“Hoho, where is it?”

“Home!”

At the words spoken with a smile, Namgung Cheon showed a puzzled expression. Since they were on their way home right now, she wanted to visit home?

Did she mean she wanted to return as quickly as possible?

However, knowing that a child’s thoughts could differ from an adult’s, he quietly observed So-mi’s eyes and asked back.

“We are on our way home, though…?”

Sure enough, So-mi shook her head vigorously.

As if it was not easy to bring up, she parted her lips several times before finally catching her breath and speaking cautiously.

“So-mi’s original home! I want to go there.”

At that single sentence, everyone, including Namgung Cheon, opened their eyes wide.

Because she had never said such a thing until now, the surprise was even greater.

But soon, he smiled gently.

“Yes, let us go. Hahaha.”

Namgung Cheon also wanted to see it.

Just what on earth had happened to this child in that place.

* * *

After moving from Xinjiang to Gansu and exiting into Shaanxi, Dan Woo-hyun walked leisurely along the main road, looking at the surrounding scenery.

He appeared relaxed, as if out on a sightseeing tour, while on the contrary, Jang Sam-tae, who followed behind, panted heavily with an expression as if he were about to die.

Holding his trembling right arm, he swallowed a groan.

During the journey from Xinjiang to this place, his fingers broke three times. The flesh of his fingers tore, and they were now in a disastrous state where even moving them was impossible.

It was a moment when he realized once again that falling for the talk of the Martial God’s martial arts was a blunder.

“You are slow.”

“It is because it hurts!”

Jang Sam-tae pouted and expressed his dissatisfaction.

His fingers hurt to death, yet the pace kept getting faster.

Dan Woo-hyun seemed to think he was moving leisurely in his own way, but to the aching Jang Sam-tae, it could not be any faster.

It was even more so because pain shot through him every time he moved.

“A human body is truly mysterious. Because if it breaks and then mends properly, it becomes even sturdier. Think of your current pain as a process to achieve that.”

Jang Sam-tae made an exasperated face.

‘Sturdier? Sturdier my foot.’

If one tried to pierce trees and break rocks with bare hands, whose hand would not break?

If he were a peak expert who mastered external martial arts, the story would be different, but Jang Sam-tae had never learned anything like external martial arts.

Therefore, he could not stop his fingers from being ruined.

With tears in his eyes, he spoke.

“Is this training? Or is it torture? A person needs to be able to live! Even then, what kind of situation is it to order someone with broken fingers to catch bandits?”

“Various experiences…”

“Ah! That talk again!”

Jang Sam-tae huffed. Trying to beat down bandits with broken fingers made it that much harder.

Moreover, because he had to deploy only footwork techniques, the transition between offense and defense was delayed.

Since his response to unexpected situations was also slow, there was never a day when wounds left his body.

Even if he subjugated bandits with such difficulty, what was the point?

He could not hold a single iron coin in his hand.

“Did you not gain something as well?”

“Ahem…”

Dan Woo-hyun chuckled and looked back at Jang Sam-tae. It was not that he gained absolutely nothing by subjugating the bandits.

For the first time in his life, he obtained a title.

Since he swept away all the bandits seen on the way to this place, not to mention the Green Forest, Jang Sam-tae’s name spread through the mouths of those who witnessed his exploits and those who received help.

“Flash Kick… a kick technique as fast as lightning…”

“Aaaakh! Do not do that! Seriously, do not do that!”

Jang Sam-tae squeezed his head with his painful fingers, his face flushing red. Every time he heard such words from others, his entire face burned.

Jang Sam-tae wore a tearful face.

There were cool titles like Sword Emperor, Small Twin Blades, or Wolf King, so why on earth was such a title attached to him?

Furthermore, Jang Sam-tae’s martial arts was not just kick techniques, but fist, palm, finger, and kick techniques.

He also had the martial arts of the Potala Palace, and he was training again in the Tai Chi Quan that Dan Woo-hyun taught him.

Even this time, he was training in finger techniques as well.

Yet, Flash Kick?

He could not lift his head out of embarrassment.

What was faster than lightning?

If it was invisible to their eyes, was it all lightning?

Jang Sam-tae drooped his shoulders.

“By the way, Lord…”

“What is it?”

“That… hitting trees and rocks with fingers, what kind of martial arts is that? Your finger techniques flew around effortlessly, did they not?”

Jang Sam-tae asked, glancing at Dan Woo-hyun. Actually, catching bandits was also decent in its own way.

Because as he fought, he realized his skills were growing rapidly.

“Hm? I never told you to hit trees or rocks.”

Dan Woo-hyun looked at Jang Sam-tae with a puzzled expression.

In an instant, Jang Sam-tae’s expression changed completely.

As if shocked, he froze in his tracks and stared at Dan Woo-hyun.

His expression gradually hardened, then wrinkled.

“No, damn it! You told me to break trees!”

“Your mouth is quite foul. I told you to break trees with your fingers, but I never once said to strike them directly.”

“Urgh…!”

Looking at Dan Woo-hyun’s chuckling face, he was lost for words. Of course, his words were correct, but if someone told him to break trees with fingers in the first place, would anyone not think of directly striking and breaking them?

‘Then what was all the suffering I went through until now?!’

Jang Sam-tae’s lips trembled.

Looking at his battered fingers, he wore a tearful face.

“No, in the first place, how do you break a tree without striking it?”

“You use internal energy.”

Suddenly, something snapped in Jang Sam-tae’s head. Fire rose in his eyes, and his gaze looking at Dan Woo-hyun was filled with anger.

“If I knew how to do that, would I be like this, you bastard?!”

Walking ahead, Dan Woo-hyun slowly stopped his steps.

Turning around, his face was as ferocious as a vicious demon.

Even Jang Sam-tae’s anger was swept away and vanished under that gaze.

Jang Sam-tae’s huffing expression slowly returned to normal, and as if realizing something, his face turned pale.

“Gasp!”

He hiccuped and stealthily turned his head away.

Only then did he realize what kind of words he had spat out.

Tremble-

His pupils shook as if an earthquake had occurred.

“That…”

“Say more.”

“That is… you see…”

“I told you to try.”

At Dan Woo-hyun’s slightly crooked tone, Jang Sam-tae composed his breathing.

Yes, today is my death day.

Thinking that he would die soon, he felt a sudden sense of futility.

Looking up at the sky for a moment, he saw clouds flowing leisurely. In between, the image of So-mi laughing was drawn.

Turning his head with a bitter gaze, Jang Sam-tae looked at Dan Woo-hyun.

“No, well… it is not like I was talking to you, Lord…”

“……”

“I am just saying… damn it…”

Jang Sam-tae, who gave up on everything, spat out a curse and smiled broadly. He knew that no matter what he did, he could not escape from Dan Woo-hyun’s clutches.

Before long, he trembled as he watched the vicious demon slowly approach.

* * *

Crackle-!

Looking at the burning campfire, Jang Sam-tae glanced sideways. He saw Dan Woo-hyun eating meat and drinking wine with an unconcerned expression.

He felt a strange sense of incongruity at that sight.

This was Shaanxi, and Xi’an was not far away.

Since Xi’an was the provincial capital of Shaanxi, he thought it would be much better in many ways to stay there rather than camping outside.

‘It is strange.’

Rubbing his face, which still ached from being beaten thoroughly, he retraced the path they had traveled.

Although they traveled on main roads, the paths they mainly used were those where people rarely came and went.

Since those were places rumored to have bandits, it made sense that there were no signs of people.

So at first, he thought they were simply trying to catch bandits, but strangely, Dan Woo-hyun had been trying to avoid entering large towns as much as possible until now.

As if trying to evade someone’s pursuit.

“Excuse me… Lord.”

“What is it?”

“Why are we camping outside?”

At the question filled with doubt, Dan Woo-hyun suddenly chuckled.

Chewing on jerky as if nothing were wrong, he looked at Jang Sam-tae.

“It is to avoid public attention.”

“Public attention…?”

“Yes.”

“Could it be… were you put on a wanted list without my knowledge?”

At the words spat out, Dan Woo-hyun’s eyes narrowed.

Realizing he made a mistake, Jang Sam-tae hurriedly shut his mouth, but spoken words could not be taken back.

“That might be the case.”

However, Dan Woo-hyun brushed it off and laughed.

It meant he would not raise a hand against a guy whose entire body was swollen to the point where there was no place left to hit.

Flinching, Jang Sam-tae breathed a sigh of relief when no hand flew at him, and poked at the campfire.

It was then.

Rustle-!

The sound of people’s footsteps was heard from somewhere.

Dan Woo-hyun’s head turned.

It was heard from a fairly long distance, and it was not just one or two people. It did not seem like they were coming this way, but it was unusual for many people to move at such a late hour.

It would be understandable if it was an urgent merchant group, but since no sound of carriages moving was heard, it was not that either.

“Is there something?”

“It is people. Quite a lot of them, at that.”

“Could they be… bandits or thieves?”

“No, they do not seem to have trained in martial arts.”

Jang Sam-tae breathed a sigh of relief.

His condition was already bad, and if he had to deal with thieves again, it felt like he would waste his strength.

It was right then that Dan Woo-hyun stood up from his seat.

His face was filled with curiosity.

Seeing that, Jang Sam-tae realized.

‘There is no way we are not going to see this.’

“Let us go.”

“…Yes.”

In the end, Jang Sam-tae stood up with a sigh and moved his weary body.

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