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Chapter 246. Within Ten Paces, You’ll Find A Fragrant Flower (17)

“And the Lord of Heaven? Is he still there, unmoving?”

“Yes... If anyone comes near him or speaks to him, he slaughters them without question.”

If the Martial Heaven God hadn’t been acting strangely, this never would have happened. No matter how strong Song Woo-Moon was, he could never have defeated the Martial Heaven God.

“Just what, what the hell is going on? Damn it!”

Yang Moon-Yeol could do nothing but yell in anger.

***

“Mother!”

Woo-Moon descended from the sky, landed in front of Jin-Jin, and grabbed her hand.

“My son, my son!”

Jin-Jin couldn’t hold back her excitement and hugged Woo-Moon tightly. Woo-Moon’s tears flowed helplessly as he embraced Jin-Jin, feeling that she was even thinner and lighter than before.

‘Now, now I have both Father and Mother.’

In the midst of his joy, Woo-Moon thought of Gun-Ha, whom he still hadn’t been able to find.

‘Gun-Ha. I’ll save you too. No matter what.’

After the emotional reunion between the mother and son, Woo-Moon looked at Sang-Woon.

“What happened to you, Grandfather?”

Sang-Woon put on his usual shit-eating grin.

“You greedy little tyke. I heard that you took a whole three beauties as your wives.”

If it were before, Woo-Moon would have blushed at such teasing, but after all he’d been through, his face was thicker than a city wall, impervious to blades and arrows.

“Well, that’s just because I’m amazing. Why, are you jealous?”

“Y-you damned little tyke!”

“More importantly, what happened?”

Sang-Woon tried to satisfy Woo-Moon’s questions by telling him about the Hundred Deaths, Thousand Lives, the secret heretical art that he had learned.

“... and that’s how I eventually survived. Also, in that time, I gained some great enlightenment and was able to become the greatest assassin.”

“I wonder if the direction of your enlightenment was right, but I guess it’s a good thing nonetheless.”

“Are you looking down on assassins right now?”

“Of course not. I didn’t say anything of the sort.”

“Heh. I escaped unscathed even after seeing the face of the Martial Heaven God. Do you still think you can look down on me?”

“Are you proud of running away? Where did your spirit of never retreating in battle, the Palm Martial Emperor’s signature, go?”

“Dumbass. I don’t run away if I’m fighting, but that wasn’t the time to fight.”

“Yes, yes, I see, I see. Anyway, I’m really glad you’re alive. By the way, did you see Gun-Ha in Martial Heaven?”

He felt as though he was asking something pointless. If Sang-Woon had seen Gun-Ha, he would have definitely tried to save her, too.

“No, I didn’t. I went to every nook and cranny of Martial Heaven, but she was nowhere to be found.”

“Is that so...”

“Speaking of which, that young lady on your back... If I remember correctly, she’s that girl who was frozen underground. Why is she on your back? Are you trying to take her on as your new wife?”

“Of course not! Well, that’s... it’s a bit complicated.”

Woo-Moon slowly explained the story of the Blood Cloud Devil Emperor.

“Hm... so that’s how one of the Eight Heavenly Martial Emperors and Six Rising Challengers breathed his last. He might have been a villain, but his end was truly admirable. For that, I applaud him.”

Jin-Jin was wiping away her tears because of the sad story.

And there was one other person crying: Cho-Ah, who was still on Woo-Moon’s back.

She had been awake since Woo-Moon had started talking about the Blood Cloud Devil Emperor. Woo-Moon naturally realized it but continued his story nonetheless.

It felt like the best way to tell her about the Blood Cloud Devil Emperor’s death.

“Big brother... Big brother Un-Ha... sniff...”

Woo-Moon carefully put Cho-Ah down.

“Big... Big brother...”

Cho-Ah kept sobbing while repeating the same words. Then, she stumbled, and Jin-Jin quickly caught her.

“... She fainted. The shock must have been too great for her to handle.”

While Jin-Jin herself was wiping her tears, Woo-Moon and Sang-Woon couldn’t hide their complicated expressions.

What a strange life the girl hand.

After suffering through all sorts of hardships and being frozen for forty years, she had woken up only to find that the only person she could rely on had died on her.

How shocking that must have been...

“I... I will definitely, definitely destroy Martial Heaven. Those bastards are too unreasonable, and they’re breaking their own moral code like nothing.”

Martial Heaven was originally exactly what the name said: a group that gathered to learn martial arts.

However, as they closed themselves off from the world, separated from the gangho, and cultivated their skills, they soon developed a dangerous ideology. They convinced themselves that they were superior to all others and that they must rule over all murim.

From there onward, it was a slippery slope. They changed again and again, and now, they were just a group of assholes with incredibly high martial power, not much different from the Black Hand of the murim.

The harm they caused for their cause was truly great. Moreover, their cause itself was just too dangerous.

Wanting to rid the world of all inferior people for the sake of their superior selves.... Dividing social status based on the strength and level of one’s martial arts...

‘While the emperor and the other officials also think in terms of nobility and whatnot, they can’t do anything so excessive. After all, they’re afraid of the united power of the common people. That’s why the world is somewhat balanced. But Martial Heaven is different. They... they’re too strong. They destroy the balance. There’s nothing that can stop their way of thinking or their plans. So, if the rest of them die, then truly...’

***

Dae-Woong cried so much that he almost fainted.

While Si-Hyeon, Woo-Gang, and Jin-Jin also cried, they didn’t cry to that extent, showing just how delicate Dae-Woong’s heart was compared to his rough appearance.

Jin-Jin smiled as she looked at Si-Hyeon, who had become her daughter-in-law, and Ma-Ra and Yeo-Seol, who would become her daughters-in-law as well.

Then, when she saw that Ma-Ra was still wearing the clothes she had given her and that they were still as clean as the day she had first given them to her, she hugged Ma-Ra tightly.

Ma-Ra felt a strange emotion while in Jin-Jin’s embrace.

“... Mother.”

An assassin must always be in complete control of their body and spirit.

Thus, somewhere along the line, such words and emotions become taboo.

Yet now, the very Death God Ma-Ra had made a rookie mistake.

“Yes. I am your mother, Ma-Ra. From the day I first saw you, I wanted to take you in as my daughter. And now... Well, since you can’t be my daughter, then I’ll take you as my daughter-in-law right now! I want to hear you call me Mother, hehe.”

Jin-Jin held onto Ma-Ra’s hand tightly as she finished speaking, and looked over at Cho-Ah.

“It’s so great to have so many daughters-in-law that are like my own children. And I also got an actual daughter! Cho-Ah, my dear, come over here.”

Jin-Jin had many conversations with Cho-Ah on their way here. In that time, she had offered many warm embraces to Cho-Ah and helped her move on from her painful past and her sadness at losing Seob Un-Ha. It was only natural that her maternal instincts would arise.

“Yes, M...Mother.”

It was still awkward, and there was a lot of work to do, but it was clear that Cho-Ah was healing. She went and hugged Jin-Jin.

Woo-Moon watched them for a moment before turning to the three women he loved.

“You really are selfish, senior brother,” Si-Hyeon said with an angry expression.

She glared at Woo-Moon fiercely.

“I’m sorry. But you have to understand my feelings as well.”

“I’m well aware that things would have been more dangerous if I insisted on following you. But you still could have told me first, you know? Do you even know how we felt?”

Looking at them now, he saw that both Si-Hyeon and Yeo-Seol’s faces were swollen. He could only guess how much they had cried throughout it all.

“...I’m sorry.”

Yeo-Seol wiped away her tears.

“If something were to have happened to you, we... we—I thought we would have to part ways without ever being able to say our final goodbyes. Do you know how that made me feel?”

Yeo-Seol said everything she wanted to say, even while sobbing.

Unable to think of the words to apologize, Woo-Moon just walked up to them and hugged them tightly.

“Hiiiiiiing!”

Yeo-Seol burst into an even louder sob, while Si-Hyeon also began to cry. Woo-Moon conveyed his warmth to them, his embrace filled with his love and comforting them. It was only after a good while that they calmed down.

Then, right when Woo-Moon let go of the two and turned around—

Thud!

Someone had hit Woo-Moon in the cheek with a fist.

“Ugh!”

It was Ma-Ra. She hit Woo-Moon again and again, to the point that he couldn’t see properly. It was such a fierce barrage that it made everyone wince even though they were just spectators.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Woo-Moon didn’t dodge or block Ma-Ra’s punches. He didn’t use his qi to protect himself, either. He just took the hits and endured the pain.

Dae-Woong, who had been watching from the side, tried to step in, but Jin-Jin stopped him.

“Leave them. You know what our child feels.”

Dae-Woong scratched his head.

“What, are you going to hit me like that later if I do something wrong, too?”

“If you know what’s good for you, then don’t make me.”

Suddenly, Dae-Woong remembered the old Jin-Jin, who was weak but much gentler than she was now, and let out a low sigh.

‘It sure was tough back then, but maybe that was better...’

A person who is energetic when healthy could become temperamental when sick, and a person who is fearless might become a coward depending on the state of their body. It can’t be helped; one’s physical condition influences one’s mental state, and vice versa.

With her recovery and cultivation, Jin-Jin’s personality had changed as well, and she was a lot more active and prone to resorting to... direct methods.

Of course, just because Dae-Woong was thinking this way now didn’t mean he truly wanted Jin-Jin to become weak again. He was just grumbling that his peaceful days as the man of the house were over.

Meanwhile, Woo-Moon’s nose was bleeding, his eyelids were swollen, and his lips split.

“Ah...”

The world-renowned Song Woo-Moon, the Undefeatable Sword Immortal, the one and only Zenith Master in all of the murim, was being thrashed like a little boy.

They were at the headquarters of the Heavenly Demon Cult, so there were naturally many cultists of the Heavenly Demon Cult present. In fact, there were also some people from the Righteous Faction as well. And they all looked at the scene, not knowing whether they should laugh or cry.

Ma-Ra’s fists were stained with blood.

She bit her lip and continued to hit Woo-Moon without saying a word. Meanwhile, Si-Hyeon and Yeo-Seol watched from the side, and their faces showed clear approval of her actions. The dainty and sensitive Yeo-Seol even encouraged her.

“Hit him harder! A bad man like him deserves to be punished!”

The beating lasted for a long time.

“Ugh... that hurts. Well, are you feeling better now?”

Looking at Woo-Moon, who was in a state of disarray, Ma-Ra wiped a tear off her cheek with her sleeve.

“You bastard.”

Before leaving for Martial Heaven, Woo-Moon had struck Ma-Ra’s acupoints and put her to sleep. Her surprise and disappointment when she woke up later were indescribable.

“Ughhhh, the pain.”

Yeo-Seol burst into tears again when she heard Woo-Moon say that it hurt. Up until a moment ago, she had pretended to be angry and encouraged Ma-Ra, but it seemed that she was actually really worried inside.

“Hiiiiih! Are you okay, Gege? Does it really hurt?”

Si-Hyeon directly interjected, “It’s fine. No matter how much it hurts, it wouldn’t be as much as he hurt us.”

She then turned to Woo-Moon.

“Now that she’s done venting, stop standing there like an idiot and heal your wounds. I don’t want to see you like that.”

“Ah... yes, sorry about that.”

As soon as he finished speaking, his nosebleed stopped, his torn lips healed, and his swollen eyelids subsided.

“If you pull that kind of trick again,” Si-Hyeon continued, “it’ll be the last time you see us.”