Chapter 314: Black-Clothed Men (3)

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My home was located in Jingzhou, Hubei, which one reached by following a tributary of the river from Yichang.

The reason I thought of visiting home was naturally that it was within Hubei, where the Wudang Sect and the New Justice Association were located. If it had been far away in Liaodong, Yunnan, or Gansu, I would not have even thought of going.

It had been a long time since I embarked on such a quiet journey alone. Originally, whether with Myeong-gyeong or Peng Chae-hyang, there was always a companion.

Originally, Peng Chae-hyang had intended to follow along as well, but I exceptionally declined. For the occasion of meeting my father, I wished to go alone.

Traveling alone while enjoying Hubei’s scenery was not bad. Though the current situation was hardly leisurely, because there was nothing particularly proactive the New Justice Association could do, it was the right time to handle personal matters.

When I was a merchant, I had to take detours to avoid all rough and dangerous paths where Green Forest bandits might appear, but now I had no reason to do so.

In any case, using lightness skills to lightly surge forward was plenty. Merely seeing the level of my lightness skill, the Green Forest bandits would know I was someone they must not touch, and I could leap over places where bridges were broken in the past, drastically shortening the time.

From Wudang Mountain to Jingzhou took nearly half a day. Having woken up around the Hour of the Rabbit, set off, and run without rest, the sun had already set. It was likely around the Hour of the Rooster.

I thought it truly fascinating. It had really been decades since I visited this house, and I did not remember it with my head, but upon arriving in Jingzhou, my feet moved naturally. My body remembered it.

I had run so fast from Wudang Mountain to Jingzhou, but once entering Jingzhou, my speed could not have slowed down more.

Of course, entering populated Jingzhou meant restraining myself to avoid bumping into people, but largely it was because my steps would not move easily.

Jingzhou lacked any notable martial sects, and at most, local martial training halls where third-rate martial artists taught breathing techniques were all there was. If considered underdeveloped, it was underdeveloped; if considered peaceful, it was peaceful.

Places like this that were unentangled with martial sects experienced no particular impact even if the martial world was swept up in turmoil. Because it was a place not worth touching for martial artists.

‘No matter when I come, this place is always the same.’

I thought while looking around the surroundings. There were buildings I remembered and ones I did not, but the rough layout of the street did not differ much from what I remembered.

I gradually advanced from streets familiar to the eyes to streets familiar to the body. Turning past that alley, the house I knew would appear.

“Mmm.”

The moment I turned the alley, a low murmur escaped me. Just in case, I had wondered, but indeed that house remained exactly as it was.

A thatched-roof house surrounded by stone walls and a brushwood gate. The house that had felt so suffocating when I was young was still there. In the previous life, after my father passed away, it was also the place I personally demolished to make a warehouse for the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company.

Because there was no one to live in that house, nowhere to use it, and above all, I particularly disliked looking at it.

Seeing the house I had personally demolished with my own hands intact once again brought a distinctive sentiment.

The martial world had already changed far too much.

The Zhuge Clan, which should have been ever-victorious, was ruined, and Zhuge Gyeom, the Clan Head of the Zhuge Clan, was dead. The Martial Alliance had become the Palace of Heavenly Worship, and the Imperial Palace had deeply penetrated the martial world. Furthermore, the Penglai Covenant was broken, and masters of previous generations were descending. And in the martial world, a new massive organization called the New Justice Association was born.

All of this had changed through the difference of one person: me. Thinking of that fact occasionally sent shivers down my spine. The influence and responsibility exerted by a person called myself had reached a level that could not be ignored.

Yet this place remained the same. My hometown, Jingzhou, and my father’s house were unchanged. Would my father be the same as well?

When the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company was actively operating, I had told Jo Chung-heon to deduct money from my share each month and send it to Jingzhou.

Right now, the budget going into the New Justice Association was astronomical, so that was impossible, but the money already sent by the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company would have been more than enough for my father to live comfortably on his own.

Yet somehow, this thatched-roof house had not changed in the slightest. Considering the money poured in, this thatched house should have become a tile-roofed house, the brushwood gate should have been replaced with a solid timber door, and the stone wall should have risen two feet higher.

Where had all that money gone for it to truly remain so completely unchanged? Feeling needlessly irritated, I pushed the brushwood gate abruptly with my hand. The brushwood gate yielded weakly. It seemed he lived without even locking the door from inside. Then again, this was Jingzhou.

Rather, leaving the door open made thieves think there was nothing to steal and refrain from entering—that had been my father’s way.

I walked across the yard. From the yard to the wooden veranda, from the room to the kitchen, everything was in the exact structure I knew.

“Who is it?”

As if sensing a presence in the yard, a sound came from inside the room. Hearing the familiar voice after such a long time, I froze.

The room door opened with a creaking sound. It was the sound of aged hinges.

“……”

“……”

Opening the door, my father stepped out. Upon seeing me, my father could not say a word for a moment. And the same went for me. How should I put it—it felt like there were many things I wanted to say, yet my mind felt completely blank.

“Why did you come? Aren’t you quite busy these days?”

My father’s first words were such.

“I stopped by while passing nearby. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have come.”

Needlessly irritated by that tone, I answered aggressively as well. Blending in a slight lie, of course.

“Hmph. Don’t treat your father like an old man. I live perfectly well on my own.”

“Aren’t you soon turning seventy?”

“A few years remain. Why try to send your father off early? No matter how much you hate me.”

“Why would I hate you, Father?”

“At least do not say you like me.”

“Conscientiously, I could not say such words.”

An awkward atmosphere hung in the air. In a sense, I had lived a similar amount of time as my father by now. Yet somehow, standing before my father, I felt like a child of this age group. With the time I had lived so far, I felt I should be able to handle it more maturely, but that was not easy.

“Come in.”

My father turned his back and entered the room. Stepping through the door, a cramped room came into view.

A suffocating, musty stench that I had not noticed in childhood lingered in the room. It meant the house had grown that old.

“Please leave the door open. Where is this rotting wood smell coming from?”

“They say you’re doing well in the martial world, yet you forget your days as a tadpole.”

“Remaining a tadpole forever is also a problem.”

“Isn’t there such a kind of life too?”

“It seems you’ve given up now. On martial arts, I mean.”

“Are those words to say to someone my age?”

“Why not? There are plenty of people who become masters at an old age.”

“Those are stories of chosen masters. People like you, that is. It is truly fascinating. The father has not a shred of talent, yet the son was born with talent rare in a thousand ages.”

Originally, I had none. The Martial Talent Shop had done it all. Considering that the past me in my previous life had heard from all martial arts masters that I had not a speck of talent, no matter what anyone said, my father and I were flesh and blood.

“How have you been?”

“How else? The same.”

“Why the same? I sent you plenty of money.”

“It amounted to mere pennies.”

I flared up in an instant. Mere pennies, indeed. No matter how little attention I paid to my father, I had received reports from Jo Chung-heon regarding how much went to my father.

“With that amount, you could have lived in lavish luxury in one region.”

“Do not act high and mighty over small change.”

“It was money a tenant farmer like you, Father, could never even touch in a lifetime. How is that small change?”

“Are those words to say to your father right now?”

“Why shouldn’t I say it?”

My father merely rubbed his feet needlessly. It was my father’s habit whenever his hands grew restless.

“What? Do you want to slap my cheek like in my childhood again?”

“Now that you’ve become a martial arts master, you treat your father like a complete fool.”

“Do you think I act like this just because I became a martial arts master?”

“This rascal, I’ve let you talk and talk, and now really!”

My father sprang to his feet. Sitting down, I looked up at my father. I thought my father would not dare strike me. My father was weak, and I was now a renowned master in the Central Plains martial world.

No matter how much the place my father lived was a remote countryside in Jingzhou, he could not help but have heard my name.

Furthermore, even if my father raised a hand, I had no intention of taking the hit. I was not that filial a son, and just as my father said, I did not like my father that much.

Of course, I had not come to fight with my father like this. I had merely come to see my father’s face for no particular reason. Because I had not visited once since my regression.

Swish!

Yet my father ultimately swung his hand toward my cheek just like in my childhood. Sitting down, I twisted my head to dodge, but the hand underwent a peculiar transformation and pursued my cheek.

“……!”

This was the movement of someone who had learned martial arts. My eyes widened, and I sprang to my feet. The hand swept heavily through the space where my cheek had been.

“……Father.”

Stepping far back, I looked at my father. My father wore a dismayed expression.

My father was always like this. Originally a quiet man, he held so much pent-up anger that he could not overcome it. The madness inherited from our ancestors likely played a part in that as well.

“Martial arts, where did you learn it?”

I asked in a chilling voice. My father trembled.

In the previous life, my father had never learned martial arts after my mother passed away. He merely lived his entire life as a tenant farmer before passing on.

Yet my father’s hand technique right now was not something learned in just a day or two. From its energy to the completion of the routine as a whole.

“Son, this is, you see……”

“I asked where you learned it.”

I asked once more. I had already guessed.

Because the energy my father had briefly scattered when executing the hand technique was all too familiar.

“Who came looking for you?”

“……Many, many came.”

My father finally confessed. I sighed at those words. I had not given much thought to my father.

First, I was not particularly fond of my father, and my life was too busy to take my father into account. Yet a father was still a father. A figure occupying the very roots of my life.

“The Imperial Palace, things called merchant companies, things called sects, and things called noble clans.”

Thus, when many people sought to target me, targeting my father, the last remaining kin, was perhaps only natural.

“Why did you not tell me?”

“With what face could I contact you?”

My father spoke dejectedly. At least he was aware, so that was fortunate. No, at this point, it was not fortunate.

“And so? What did those people say?”

“They said that if I enticed you somehow, they would give great rewards. But I sent them all away, saying you weren’t a child who would listen to my words anyway.”

“And then?”

“Then one last place came looking.”

“Was that place the Demonic Cult?”

At my question, my father trembled. Because demonic qi had subtly leaked from my father’s hand, there was no way not to know.

“Do not think of deceiving me.”

My father lowered his head. It was a sign of affirmation. Where the Demonic Cult was from was obvious without even looking.

If it had been Gwan Seo-ye’s Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, she would certainly have told me. And as for the other Demonic Cult, the Bright Cult, its Cult Leader was currently imprisoned by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, making external activities difficult.

In the end, it was those bastards I had encountered at the Zhuge Clan. My father had learned martial arts from the Blood Cult.