Chapter 95. The Entire World is My Home (16)
‘Damn it!’
As the best younger-generation talent of the Baerkri Family, Baekri Yeong-Woon had always looked down on others. Thus, he could neither understand nor accept what was happening. Still, that didn’t mean he could deny the reality of the situation before him, and that was driving him crazy.
Not only were his attacks stifled, but just blocking his opponent’s attacks made sweat run down his spine. The heat coming off Woo-Moon’s sword made it difficult for him to breathe, and he would be burned and left in searing pain even if he dodged Woo-Moon’s attacks.
Eventually, the edge of Woo-Moon’s sword touched Baekri Yeong-Woon’s neck.
“It seems like I’ve won.”
Baekri Yeong-Woon’s face turned red. He glared at Woo-Moon for a moment before closing his eyes tightly, stepping back, and cupping his fist.
“I admit that your martial skills are far superior to mine. However, it’s not because the Baekri Family’s swordsmanship is lacking, but rather that I myself am not good enough.”
Baekri Yeong-Woon wasn’t at all servile as he admitted defeat. Moreover, Woo-Moon could appreciate that he protected his family's honor while doing so as well.
Baekri Hye-Min couldn’t believe her eyes as Woo-Moon, whom she had initially written off as a pushover, had defeated the best of the Baekri Family without so much as a scratch.
“How could this be...”
Then, the youngest Distinguished Sword, Baek Ryeong, laughed loudly as if she herself had been the one to win. “Well then! So the alliance representative of the Three Great Sword Families is our uncle, right? From now on, everyone must listen to him!”
Although the Namgoong Family accepted everything with a calm expression, the Baekri Family had expressions of disapproval while biting their lips and clenching their fists.
“I-I refuse to acknowledge you!” Baekri Hye-Min shouted before turning around and entering her room with a huff.
Sadly for her, whether she admitted it or not, Woo-Moon had been elected as the representative through fair and square combat, and there was nothing she could do about it.
The following day, Woo-Moon led his party, which had now increased to about thirty people, and headed toward the Justice Coalition. Of course, this time, the Ten Distinguished Swords were able to travel much more comfortably, having escaped their miserable fate of having to camp in the wilderness or hunt for survival.
Although camping under the stars and hunting for their meals was charming and enjoyable in their own way, it was still somewhat difficult for them to live in that manner for too long.
***
Meanwhile, Sang-Woon had been chasing that group after leaving the Baek Family. That group was formed from many smaller secret factions that were willing to lay down their lives to maintain secrecy, so it had been a truly annoying task.
He had finally obtained some meaningful information regarding their identities for the first time, information which had led him to the front gates of the Great Peng Gang, a small gang located within the Gansu Province.
He pushed open the gate and entered.
“Who are you?! What the hell are those bastards guarding the gate doing?”
Hearing a gangster shout from inside the gang hideout, Sang-Woon responded with a grin.
“Who knows? They’re probably in a very deep sleep right now.”
The gangster vehemently blew a whistle, and the other grunts of the Great Peng Gang came rushing out from all directions.
“Enemy!”
Despite the fact that Sang-Woon was about to be surrounded, he continued to stroll around leisurely with his hands clasped behind his back. He waited until the entire gang had emerged.
“Just who the hell are you? How dare you start trouble at our Great Peng Gang?!”
After hearing his shout, Sang-Woon looked directly at the Gang Boss, Yoo Geon-Mu.
“What rank are you?”
“What? What the hell are you saying?”
“What’s your rank in Martial Heaven?”
Sang-Woon didn’t miss the slight change in complexion on the faces of the Gang Boss and some of his subordinates. All of his suspicions were confirmed at that moment.
“The fuck are you talking about? Who’s Marshall Heathen?[1] And what the hell are you all doing? Hurry up and break that asshole’s knees!”
“Understood!”
Sang-Woon chuckled as he watched the gangsters rush him.
“Did you really understand, though?”
He stretched a palm forward, almost as if he were admiring the back of his own hand. However, an incredibly terrifying force erupted from that slight movement, slamming into the entire gang and sending them flying.
“Ugh!”
“Agh!!!”
The gangsters collided with the wall and either vomited blood or fainted on the spot. Although none of them died, every single one of them was seriously injured and left unable to move.
Sang-Woon had just neutralized over a hundred people with a single move.
He continued to stand with hands leisurely clasped behind his back.
“There are some among you with a very particular type of qi. I won’t kill anyone other than those bastards.”
Terrified by Sang-Woon’s incredible power, the few gangsters that still remained standing were shivering and had lost any will to continue fighting.
‘Damn it! That bastard must be the Palm Martial Emperor. Why did he have to come here?’
The Great Peng Gang Boss Yu Geon-Mu was nothing but a run-of-the-mill warrior of Martial Heaven. He grit his teeth, then looked at the other members of Martial Heaven that accompanied him and nodded his head.
‘We won’t be able to run, anyway. Let’s join forces for now!’
Bang!
A terrifying qi exploded from the weapons of Yu Geon-Mu and five of his acolytes at the same time. The other gangsters were shocked to the point of disbelief, never having dreamt that among them could have been such experts. They had always thought that their boss would have been First-Class at most. However, right at this moment, each of these six was exuding the aura of a Transcendent master!
The six Martial Heaven members rushed Sang-Woon with a loud roar.
‘We can win! Not even the Palm Martial Emperor can defeat the six of us at the same time!’
“Did you really think you stood a chance?”
Sang-Woon snorted. He struck the air in front of him three times in succession with both palms, coated in a terrifying qi. With each strike, the aura left in the air overlapped.
Crack!!
A strange, indecipherable sound seemed to occupy the entire atmosphere for a moment before the accumulated qi exploded out with an ear-bursting roar.
BOOOOOOOOOM!!!
“AGH!!!”
Screams filled the air, and when the dust settled, Yu Geon-Mu found himself standing alone, missing an arm.
“It seems you really have no idea why the Absolute level is called Absolute,” Sang-Woon nonchalantly said as he approached the kneeling gang boss.
Suddenly, he raised a palm and fired a palm wind that spread in all directions.
Bang!
The ground near the Great Peng Gang’s entrance exploded and ruptured into pieces as bright red blood and scraps of black cloth burst into the air.
“You freaking assassin rats!”
Sang-Woon had been forced to draw back his Absolute Qi and respond to the assassins, qi that he had been using to prevent Yu Geon-Mu from committing suicide.
Crunch!
Yu Geon-Mu took the split second Sang-Woon had lost control over him and bit down on a poison pill, dying immediately and leaving Sang-Woon furious that another one of his leads had been cut.
“You damned bastards! Fine, fine. I’ll kill the rest of you, too. If I shred all of you to bits, maybe I’ll find something among those bits!”
Two palm spheres appeared as Sang-Woon slapped the air again, flying away so quickly they left streaks in the air.
BOOOM!
Although the assassins around him had far superior assassination and stealth skills to any assassin group known to the gangho, Sang-Woon had still easily detected their presence. He easily killed all of them as he freely manipulated the spheres in the air.
He stepped into the air, floating. Under his feet, the two palm spheres spun in a large circle, leaving behind a continuous trail of blood.
The battle between the Palm Martial Emperor Baek Sang-Woon and Martial Heaven had officially begun.
***
“I can see something over there!” someone shouted.
The group looked over and saw the magnificent estate of the Justice Coalition in the distance. Its regal structure gave off the impression of a fortress.
“Oh, wow!”
The Justice Coalition.
It was an alliance formed fifty years ago during the Heavenly Demon Rebellion, by the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Eight Great Ancient Families. Their purpose was to join forces to fight against the terrifying power of the Heavenly Demon Cult.
Although its influence gradually fell after fulfilling its sole purpose of defeating the Heavenly Demon Cult, it still remained standing afterward—the heart of the Righteous Faction’s forces in the murim.
“Hyung!”
Hearing a friendly voice, Woo-Moon looked up, only to see Woo-Gang waving at him from a distance.
“Woo-Gang!”
The two had really missed each other, and they didn’t want to waste another second. They went as far as to use their movement techniques to approach each other with open arms, colliding in a great hug.
“My adorable little brother, have you been doing well?”
“Of course, hyung! I’m doing fine, as always. How are you, though? I heard you’ve done some incredible things. Mother and father are fine, right?”
By now, Woo-Gang had naturally heard the news about what had happened in the Baek Family.
Woo-Moon smiled brightly.
“Of course! We’re all doing fine; you don’t have to worry.”
If Woo-Moon were to be honest, it would be difficult to call the injuries he and the others had suffered back then “fine.” However, he didn’t think it was worth it to shock and worry his brother over something that had already been settled.
“That’s such a relief. I was really worried,” Woo-Gang said, his hand on his chest. The Mount Hua Sect had sent him to the Justice Coalition, where he had been assigned to the Fire Sword Squadron, one of the Five Swords of Heavenly Justice. It was only after the assignment that he heard the news.
Moreover, Woo-Gang only knew the gist of the situation, and he was naturally worried that something might have happened to his family.
Suddenly, Woo-Moon was startled as he sensed a fierce gaze. He looked in the direction it came from to see Hyeon Yu-Yeon glaring at him from behind Woo-Gang. The moment their eyes met, she turned her head in a huff.
‘What the hell is up with her?’
To Woo-Moon, Hyeon Yu-Yeon was still just as absurd as before.
Woo-Gang heard the gist of what had happened between the two from Hyeon Yu-Yeon. He smiled bitterly as he watched the two bicker.
Hyeon Yu-Yeon was a self-centered person who had a strong tendency to interpret anything anyone ever did in a self-important way. Thus, she continued to misunderstand Woo-Moon’s actions and refused to believe otherwise, no matter how much Woo-Gang denied it.
Well, let’s just clear up the misunderstanding now, then.’
Ever since the day that his dao partner, Bi Yeo-Jung, had begun to ignore him coldly, the only person that Woo-Gang was able to talk to without any reservation in the entire Mount Hua Sect was Hyeon Yu-Yeon. For that reason, it didn’t feel good at all for Woo-Gang to watch his older brother and Hyeon Yu-Yeon bicker.
Just then, the others walked up and greeted Woo-Gang as well.
“Woo-Gang Uncle! I hope you’re doing well,” said the Ten Distinguished Swords. For some strange reason, they all had mischievous looks on their faces.
Woo-Gang answered with a slightly awkward smile, “Oh, I-I hope you’re doing well, too.”
Counting all of the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Eight Great Ancient Families, there were a total of eighteen forces.
On the Baek Family side, considering all four of their martial forces, they had about sixteen hundred warriors. There were some differences here and there, but for the most part, the other Seven Great Ancient Families’ forces were about the same.
On the other hand, the Nine Sects were inherently different from the Ancient Families. They focused on quality rather than numbers.[2] For example, the smallest of the sects, the Kunlun Sect, only had about five hundred people.
On the completely opposite end of the spectrum, the One Gang—the Beggar’s Gang—had a nearly unfathomable number of members, as the gang had been established by the beggars of the continent. Although the exact number of members wasn’t even known by their elders or even the leader of the gang, it was fair to assume it was somewhere in the tens of thousands.
Still, even though the combined forces of the Righteous Faction, the Justice Coalition, had an incredibly large number of members, there were rather few outstanding younger generation talents.
Woo-Gang was known as one of the Three Legendary Plum Blossoms and was proudly counted as one of the best talents of the Mount Hua Sect. Thus, considering how few younger generation talents there were, he was bound to be acquainted with the Ten Distinguished Swords, who were similarly the best talents of the Baek Family.
Of course, in the past, they had only met as the respective talents of the Mount Hua Sect and the Iron Sword Baek Family. However, now, they were greeting each other as an uncle and his nieces and nephews. Just like Woo-Moon had been, it was only natural for Woo-Gang to feel flustered and awkward when greeting them with this dynamic.
Woo-Moon watched his brother squirm with a grin
A few moments later, a young scholar approached with three servants.
“You all must be from the Three Great Sword Families.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“For now, please write your names here.”
Woo-Moon put down his name first, followed by Baekri Yeong-Woon and Namgoong Sung.
“These three will guide you to your rooms.”
“Have a good rest, hyungnim!”
“I’ll see you later then!”
Baekri Yeong-Woon and Namgoong Sung, who had already shifted to calling WooMoon “hyungnim,” said their farewells and followed their respective servants with their family members.
Woo-Moon also turned to follow his assigned servant with the Distinguished Swords to their lodgings.
“I’ll be leaving now, too, hyung. I have some things I have to handle so I’ll see you later.”
Woo-Gang tried to hide it, but Woo-Moon didn’t miss the slightly dark expression on his brother’s face.
‘What’s going on?’
Then, something Woo-Gang had told him a while ago came to mind. Although his expression stiffened for a moment, Woo-Moon tried to play it off and act calm.
“Okay, come find me later.”
“I will. I’ll see you later, hyung.”
Hyeon Yu-Yeon glared at Woo-Moon once more before following Woo-Gang.
Woo-Moon and the others were led to a pavilion named the Jade Pavilion. With a total of five rooms, it was enough for Woo-Moon and the others to stay comfortably.
Woo-Moon hadn’t been able to sleep properly for a while, so he had a strong desire to fall into a blissful sleep as soon as possible. He returned to his room as soon as he finished dinner and lay down on his bed.
While he had reached a level where he could sleep less than an hour a day without being tired, he couldn’t help but want to sleep whenever he could as he loved sleeping in the first place. Thus, he was unconscious before his head even hit the pillow.
Ma-Ra just stared at Woo-Moon for a while. The two were in the largest room of the Jade Pavillion, which, to Woo-Moon’s relief, had two beds. She lay down on the other bed and tried to get some sleep as well.
“Mew.”
After glancing back and forth for a moment, Eun-Ah eventually climbed into Woo-Moon’s bed, curled herself up on his stomach, and fell asleep. Her body rocked up and down as Woo-Moon breathed slowly. The rocking motion was cozy and comfortable, quickly lulling Eun-Ah into a deep sleep.
***
“Whew...”
Woo-Moon put away his sword and took a deep breath.
Probably because he had fallen asleep too early, he had woken up before dawn. Since he was up anyway, he had left the room to find a comfortable place in the mountains near the Justice Coalition to practice his swordsmanship.
‘The Transcendent Flash Sword is good and all, but in the end, I still prefer the Gentle Celestial Sword. Let’s just focus on the Gentle Celestial Sword again. Oh, that’s right. I should teach Woo-Gang the Transcendent Flash Sword, too.’
With that in mind, Woo-Moon descended down the mountain and walked back toward the Justice Coalition.
“Huh?”
“Eh?”
As soon as Woo-Moon entered an alley, he saw some acquaintances of his.
They were the girls who had previously stayed at the Deungpyeong Inn—the disciples of the North Sea Ice Palace. They were together with four young men he had never met before.
1. The original here says something about radishes because the words for “martial heaven” can also be interpreted as “thousand radishes” if you don’t speak with subtitles. ☜
2. Remember, the sects work with the places they reside in and only take in members they want as full-time members, while the Ancient Families essentially run their domains on their own. Thus, most of a family’s “members” are external guards, and only their elite blood-related members can be compared to sect disciples. ☜