Chapter 500: Chapter 500

His consciousness seemed to be returning, albeit faintly.

He couldn’t confirm where his surroundings were, but his senses were returning one by one, indicating he wasn’t dead. Checking everything from the tips of his toes to the tips of his fingers, he took a slow, deep breath.

“Huh…? He’s waking up, he’s waking up!”

“Shh! Be quiet, you punk!”

“No, Store Owner! Isn’t he waking up now? I thought he was going to die though.”

“Just shut up!”

“Aargh!”

A loud noise was heard from somewhere.

To check what it was, he faintly opened his eyes. His vision wasn’t properly clear, but he saw figures presumed to be people.

Two people?

Seeing as there was no murderous intent, they weren’t enemies.

But since he had no intention of letting his guard down, he tried to slowly raise his momentum. But realizing it was blocked at a certain point, he unconsciously let out a groan.

“Tsk, tsk! You injured your qi meridians, you bastard. You won’t even be able to move properly for a while.”

“Who are you…?”

“You don’t need to know that. But you’ll probably know someday.”

It was a man’s voice.

Not too young, nor too old.

The voice he heard was ordinary, but there was an unknown power to it.

He definitely felt he was a strong person who couldn’t be underestimated, and he even wondered if perhaps he was stronger than the Heavenly Martial Emperor, or even himself.

The other voice… was a child’s?

A boy’s voice.

It was just an ordinary voice with no special power or presence. He might perhaps be a similar age to Dan So-mi, or maybe slightly older.

“Don’t try to know. Don’t try to feel either. You and we are in a fate that cannot be severed even if we try, so the day will come when we meet again.”

“…”

“Hahaha, I’ll collect the price of this life then.”

“The price… of my life…?”

“Yeah, if we hadn’t taken you in, you definitely would have died. Stupid bastard… To let your guard down at the end…”

Swoosh-

The voice gradually grew quieter.

It felt further and further away, as if leaving for somewhere. Yet his words burrowing into his ears were heard clearly and definitely.

“Ga-woon… Remember the name Yoo Ga-woon. Someday I’ll go to collect the price of saving your life.”

“S-Store Owner! Isn’t that my name?”

“I said be quiet!”

A sound going ‘Smack!’ was heard, and the child’s cry spread out.

Eventually that sound was cut off, and fascinatingly, his vision became completely clear at the same time.

Things he couldn’t see until now began to be seen clearly.

As if that man’s power had been scattering everything earlier, Dan Woo-hyun rose from his spot with a despondent expression in that incomprehensible situation.

‘Just who… is it?’

Dan Woo-hyun felt such an emotion for the first time. Neither hostility nor goodwill was felt.

Since it was a situation where he didn’t even know for what reason he helped him, his complicated emotions dominated his head even more.

Eventually, what he felt at the same time as standing up was…

“I’m thirsty…”

Extreme thirst.

His mouth was completely dry, and his body had also become quite scrawny. He was so thin like a person who hadn’t eaten anything for a long time, and that appearance was quite bizarre, so a laugh escaped him unconsciously.

His legs wobbled, and he couldn’t even keep his balance properly.

The feeling of a weakling felt for the first time.

Dan Woo-hyun currently didn’t even have the strength to lift a finger.

Even so, he looked around and confirmed something.

“Is it an abandoned house…”

It was a place where not even a human presence could be felt now. Spider webs were everywhere, and all sorts of bugs were crawling around on the floor.

To treat a person in a place like this and talk about the price of a life.

Although it was somewhat absurd, he soon smiled weakly and stepped outside.

Even taking a single step was enough to drain his strength, but nevertheless, Dan Woo-hyun went outside and looked around.

“This place is…?”

His gaze trembled faintly.

It wasn’t the place where he fought the Heavenly Martial Emperor last. At this all-too-familiar place, he unconsciously felt a sense of despondency along with goosebumps.

A large Dongting Lake was seen before his eyes.

That place where ripples were gently rising was undoubtedly the place where Dan Woo-hyun first opened his eyes in a thousand years, and it was also the place where he had come ashore.

Except for the fact that he didn’t come out of the water, everything was the same.

“Haha…”

What kind of trick of fate was this too?

Did that man know everything and do this?

It was so absurd that a chuckle slipped out.

The various emotions felt the moment he looked at Dongting Lake before his eyes made him feel a bizarre emotion that could not be put into words.

Phew-

Taking a deep breath, Dan Woo-hyun turned his head.

His gaze looking towards the west relaxed a bit.

He began to walk trudgingly.

With every step he took, afterimages of the past floated in his head. Hadn’t he walked this kind of path when he first opened his eyes too?

A gaze filled with anger, in a situation where he didn’t even know how much time had passed, it seemed he had just walked and walked again.

The moment he couldn’t feel anything and even that anger slowly died.

Dan Woo-hyun arrived at a village where people lived for the first time.

Yueyang.

The place he was looking at now was Yueyang.

In a situation where he couldn’t even balance his wobbling body properly, only his gaze was looking at the entirety of Yueyang, and that look somehow felt like he was seeing something new.

It was truly identical to the day he first etched Yueyang into his eyes.

This feeling, this emotion.

Not a single one could be left out, nor did they disappear.

Dan Woo-hyun walked further.

Taking step after step, he entered Yueyang. The gazes of countless people poured down.

Perhaps because no one could possibly think that wretched appearance was Dan Woo-hyun, the gazes looking at him as just a threatening person or a beggar were palpable.

From here and there, whispering sounds could be heard saying another beggar had come in, or a bizarre person had appeared.

But Dan Woo-hyun didn’t care.

It was partly his nature to begin with, but because his body was so exhausted, just concentrating on walking was a sufficiently difficult situation.

At a certain moment.

The strength in his legs completely gave out.

He hadn’t eaten properly and he had also injured his qi meridians, so he couldn’t even circulate his internal energy.

Since his energy had naturally waned, strength wouldn’t go into his body.

Swallowing a groan, Dan Woo-hyun forced himself to stand his ground. Because it was absolutely impossible for the world-renowned Martial God to show a sight of collapsing on the street.

‘I should… rest for a while…’

He still had to walk a long way to the Hunan Dan Family.

If he didn’t rest a little, it seemed even walking would be impossible.

Entering an alley out of people’s sight, Dan Woo-hyun only then leaned his back against the wall and slumped down.

“Haa…”

His entire body was languid.

He never even imagined that having no energy would be such a big deal.

Because he had lived a life completely different from others, and because his innate talent was different from others to begin with, it was also something he hadn’t properly felt.

‘I’ve only done things to be sorry for to Sam-tae…’

Dan Woo-hyun smirked.

Come to think of it, he had dragged the exhausted Jang Sam-tae around everywhere and made him train. Having also given him a ton of chores, he too must have had times when he wanted to rest like the current Dan Woo-hyun.

Thinking so, a feeling of apology set in.

Grumble.

Just then, a loud noise was heard from his stomach.

Because his qi and blood were blocked and he couldn’t move his gong, maintaining his body with internal energy was also impossible.

He had to eat something, but the current Dan Woo-hyun didn’t have a single penny and wasn’t in a situation where he could eat anything.

‘I don’t know how I endured… back then.’

Dan Woo-hyun smiled faintly.

When he first slumped in this kind of alley, he didn’t touch anything even while starving for a long time. Because skepticism about life and countless emotions came rushing in, he couldn’t even think of eating something.

But the current Dan Woo-hyun was not like that.

There were so many faces he wanted to see.

How much time had passed, how much they had grown.

And how that child would smile for him upon seeing him again.

In the head of Dan Woo-hyun, who gently closed his eyes, only that thought came to mind.

‘Come to think of it, back then too…’

Thus he thought.

The warm hand reached out towards him when he first met that child.

Slowly opening his eyes, Dan Woo-hyun looked forward.

“…”

“…”

In an instant, Dan Woo-hyun’s gaze trembled faintly.

An unmistakable look of surprise, more than ever before, was evident, and it seemed all sorts of emotions surged up and shook him.

Before his eyes stood the child he had just thought of.

No longer the small figure he used to see, but a child who was now becoming a proper young maiden.

Her large, tearful eyes looked as if they would spill tears at any moment, and in her trembling hands, a large dumpling was held.

The girl’s lips offering it trembled violently.

Dan Woo-hyun watched that and was speechless for a while.

The girl looking at him was also speechless. Just shedding tears, unable to control her emotions, her whole body shook like an aspen tree.

“Are you telling me to eat it?”

Dan Woo-hyun asked, and the girl nodded.

It was nothing more than a single question at most, but it felt as if she had fully accepted all the emotions contained within it.

Shedding tears, the girl smiled brightly, and Dan Woo-hyun also gave her a smile he couldn’t make back then.

He slowly reached out his hand and grasped the dumpling the girl gave him.

Taking a bite, an infinitely delicious taste identical to the one in his memory, a taste that no delicacy could even compare to, gave him a feeling as if he would burst.

“Sit.”

Dan Woo-hyun spoke, feeling everything.

The girl, no, Dan So-mi sat modestly next to Dan Woo-hyun. Still shedding tears, she kept wiping them away. Sitting side by side like that, Dan So-mi gently leaned her body against Dan Woo-hyun’s shoulder and felt his body heat.

“It’s delicious.”

“…”

Dan So-mi didn’t say a word, but she nodded.

He didn’t say words like “It’s good to see you,” “It’s been a long time,” or “I missed you,” but just with that one phrase, he could cleanly blow away the feeling of having wanted to see her for a long time.

His mood lifted and emotions flew about.

Dan So-mi tried to open her mouth, wanting to say something, but she seemed rather flustered because the words just wouldn’t come out.

Whether he realized something looking at Dan So-mi’s face like that, or whether he thought no words were even needed, Dan Woo-hyun just smiled quietly, reached out his hand, and stroked her head.

“A lot of things happened…”

“…”

“But I have returned.”

Countless things were contained in that one phrase. Dan So-mi, who had been hesitating and looking at Dan Woo-hyun’s face, burst into tears again.

Because Dan Woo-hyun’s touch, felt for the first time in so long, was so incredibly warm.

Thus, leaning against Dan Woo-hyun’s side, she shed tears endlessly.

“I’m back.”

At the words heard eventually, Dan So-mi pulled away from Dan Woo-hyun’s embrace and stared intently at his face.

An appearance far too shabby compared to before.

It was a feeling hard to think of as the Dan Woo-hyun she knew, but that tone of voice and warmth undoubtedly told her it was him.

The Martial God Dan Woo-hyun returned as promised, and his daughter carefully opened her mouth for the first time in several years.

“A-Are you back?”

The reunited father and daughter smiled at the same time.

(Chronicles of the Martial God Return – End)

TL Note- With this, the main story has ended. Starting tomorrow, side stories will be uploaded so don’t go anywhere yet.

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