Chapter 270: Jaseung, ets a New Person
Baek Seolyoung sat by the window, sipping tea while reading a book.
The warm sunlight brought a wave of drowsiness. Since becoming pregnant, her need for sleep had increased significantly.
In the past, she had practiced her martial arts even at the expense of sleep, but she did not do so anymore. If she felt sleepy, she slept; if there was sothing she wanted to eat, she asked Dan Ah or made it herself.
Now that her morning sickness had ended, she finally felt as if she could breathe.
Baek Seolyoung faithfully followed the advice of life ntors who had already given birth. Hearing that a mother's psychological state during pregnancy has a great impact on the child, she focused on prenatal care. She did not want to negatively affect the child through her own carelessness.
She tried her best not to harbor bad thoughts, and she kept her martial arts training as light as possible.
In her leisure ti, she mainly tended the flower garden, cooked, or read books.
The book slipped slowly from her hand.
She had drifted off to sleep.
In her dream, she saw Lee Jaseung. He stood alone on a battlefield, drenched in blood.
She tried to approach him, but she could not enter that place where corpses were piled high. It was because of the child in her womb.
She shouted Lee Jaseung's na.
But he did not look back.
She woke from her sleep while calling out to Lee Jaseung. Then, her eyes widened.
Lee Jaseung was sitting beside her.
At first, she wondered if she was still half-asleep.
“Did you sleep well?”
At the low but sweet voice of Lee Jaseung, she knew it was not a dream.
Her heart swelled with emotion.
The fact that he had toppled the Asura Demon Sect was sothing every person of the Jianghu already knew. This was the first ti she was eting him since then.
She spread her arms wide.
Lee Jaseung approached and leaned into her embrace.
She said softly.
“You worked hard.”
How much had he longed to hear this one sentence?
And how much had she longed to say this one sentence?
“You as well.”
The two of them remained in that embrace for a long ti without letting go.
This mont of sharing joy together was even more joyful than the mont of joy when he achieved the unification of the world.
While holding her, Lee Jaseung spoke softly.
“There is work left to do.”
Just by hearing his voice, she could tell with what kind of heart he was speaking.
So she did not ask what that work was. It surely was a very important matter to both him and herself.
“Have a safe trip.”
“It might take so ti.”
“Just co back before our child is born.”
“I promise.”
At the door, Lee Jaseung looked back at her once more. Yim Sayeon was waiting outside. Yim Sayeon wanted to see Baek Seolyoung more than anyone, but she left that for another ti.
This journey held great aning for both Lee Jaseung and Baek Seolyoung. Therefore, she yielded this ti of parting entirely to Lee Jaseung.
Baek Seolyoung gave a bright smile and placed her hand on her stomach.
“Do not worry. I am not alone after all.”
* * *
The person who beca busy after Lee Jaseung left was Dan Woobin.
For him, this was another beginning, and many tasks were given to him.
First, the most important and urgent task was to eliminate the remnants of the Demonic Cult. Although the Demonic Cult headquarters had fallen, the Demonic Humans of the Jianghu had not all vanished.
However, it was impossible to kill every Demonic Human in the world, so Dan Woobin classified the Demonic Humans into three types.
First, the Demonic Humans who must be killed. They were the remnants of the Asura Demon Sect who dread of revenge. Dan Woobin placed enormous bounties on them with every assassin organization in the Jianghu, along with the pursuit squad.
From assassins to ronin, everyone would search for the Demonic Humans with bloodshot eyes.
Second, the neutral Demonic Humans. Though they were Demonic Humans, they were those unrelated to power. They were simply those classified as Demonic Humans because the martial arts they learned were demonic arts. He tried not to provoke them, but rather to embrace them.
Third, the Demonic Humans who dread of the resurrection of the Heavenly Demon Sect. They were not dangerous in the short term, but they were the most dangerous category in the long term. They were targets to be monitored without ceasing while gradually gathering information.
The history of the Heavenly Demon Sect was truly long. It was not a history that would completely vanish just because its lineage had been cut for forty years by the Asura Demon Sect.
The next thing Dan Woobin focused on was reorganizing and integrating the organizations.
Dan Woobin thought they should be reborn under a new na that was neither the Murim Alliance nor the Black Way Alliance.
At the sa ti, he spread Lee Jaseung's heroic tales widely throughout the Jianghu.
Now Lee Jaseung would be reborn as the new master of the Jianghu.
Half of the vast funds held by the Demonic Cult were secretly reverted to Lee Jaseung's assets.
Dan Woobin knew.
In governing the new Jianghu, Lee Jaseung's high military force alone was not enough to rule well.
It was a matter of ruling the world. Now he would have to operate nurous secret organizations, and vast funds would move accordingly.
In fact, there was much for Lee Jaseung to do now. It was a ti when he should et many people.
Dan Woobin announced that Lee Jaseung was personally carrying out the elimination of the Demonic Cult remnants. Citing that reason, he naturally pushed those etings back.
The concern of those trying to align themselves with Lee Jaseung was that he might et soone else besides them; if he t no one at all, there was no great worry.
Instead, they offered praise to Lee Jaseung. They gained a great sense of relief from the sight of Lee Jaseung personally trying to eliminate the Demonic Cult until the very last mont.
While accomplishing various tasks like that, Dan Woobin was spending days that were busier than ever.
* * *
“Where is this place?”
Lee Jaseung asked in front of a shabby hut. He thought it was a relief that it had not collapsed, considering how long it must have been vacant.
“It is a place where I lived in the past. I taught Un here as well.”
Un referred to Gang Un, Lee Jaseung's grandfather.
The fact that his grandfather was a disciple of Yim Sayeon had already been revealed.
His grandfather had learned martial arts from her, and now he was to learn as well. Since the purpose of learning that martial art was to remove the Heavenly Demon Soul dwelling in her son's body, his connection with Yim Sayeon could truly be called deep.
“When I thought about where to go, this place ca to mind first. The place where I mastered martial arts, the place where your grandfather mastered martial arts.”
Lee Jaseung thought it was a good choice. Except for the effort required to clean that hut, that is.
“I know that the ti given to you is short.”
The ti the Heavenly Demon Soul gave him was one year; since four months had passed, the remaining ti was now only about eight months.
“Just as one cannot climb a mountain rely by looking up at it, I don't believe one reaches the Realm of the Mind Sword rely by looking into one's heart.”
Lee Jaseung thought her words were correct.
“In fact, it is nearly impossible for you to use the Mind Sword. Do you know the reason?”
“Is it because I am of the Unorthodox Faction?”
“That is right. It is said that the Mind Sword can be used when one exceeds human limits and the heart reaches a state of extre stillness. However, the Unorthodox Faction or demonic arts use the violent movent of the heart as a driving force. They can be learned faster and are more powerful, but they have the weakness of being unable to reach the final stage. That is also why almost all those who reached the Realm of the Mind Sword in the history of the Jianghu are of the Orthodox Faction.”
The one saving grace was that although Lee Jaseung had led the Black Way Alliance, his true nature was quite different from that of the people of the Unorthodox Faction or the Demonic Humans.
Yim Sayeon was honest.
“I also don't know the way to make you reach the Realm of the Mind Sword. We will have to research and ponder together. First, we will spar every morning. However, you will not use inner Qi and will use only your left hand.”
It was an absurd condition.
Lee Jaseung spoke with a bitter smile at the foreseen hardship.
“You must really want to beat up huh.”
Then Yim Sayeon spoke with a laugh.
“You will understand my heart once you have a child of your own.”
* * *
Thwack!
Lee Jaseung was struck properly and sent flying.
Dealing with Yim Sayeon using only his left hand, and without inner Qi at that, was truly no easy task.
In the spar that began early the next morning, Yim Sayeon handled Lee Jaseung as harshly as if it were a real battle.
When the spar ended, there was not a single uninjured spot on Lee Jaseung's body.
Dark bruises covered his entire body, not to ntion his eyes, and he limped on his legs.
“Again tomorrow!”
Leaving those terrifying words, Yim Sayeon went back into her room.
Once the training officially began, she transford into a fearso master. She intended to push Lee Jaseung to his absolute limit. And she only hoped that Lee Jaseung would find the way himself at that limit.
Lee Jaseung left the house. He did not just lie down because his body was in pain. Lee Jaseung climbed the mountain behind the hut.
On the way, a woodcutter he t asked with worry what had happened to him.
He simply gave a grin and went on his way; the woodcutter man surely did not know that the man with the ss of an appearance before his eyes was the master of this Jianghu.
It was quite a high mountain to climb while dragging a pained leg, but Lee Jaseung eventually reached the summit.
His frustrated heart was eased by the wide-open scenery. He felt he had done well to co up.
He thought that life was a series of endless trials.
Eliminating the Heavenly Demon Soul might not be the end. Right, let us think of the present as a happy ti.
* * *
The sa routine was repeated for several days.
After getting beaten to death in the morning and finishing a spar so fierce it felt like his life was threatened, he climbed up and down the mountain.
Climbing the mountain was truly hard work, but sohow, standing at the summit made him able to forget all the pain. So he tried not to miss a single day.
When it had been ten days since the sparring began, Lee Jaseung succeeded in avoiding about ten moves of Yim Sayeon's attacks using only his left hand without inner Qi.
Of course, if she had co at him in a life-or-death struggle, he would not have lasted three moves, let alone ten, but he had achieved that much of a result under a difficulty level similar to the first day.
After the spar ended, Yim Sayeon did not interfere with Lee Jaseung's life at all.
And today, Lee Jaseung finally set out to look around the village.
The village was about twenty li away from Yim Sayeon's residence, and it was larger than he expected.
While he was peering here and there at the shops, a little girl coming out of a building looked up at Lee Jaseung.
When Lee Jaseung gave a grin while looking at her, the girl also smiled broadly.
The girl went inside and said in a loud voice.
“Grandfather, a beggar ca outside.”
My goodness! A beggar?!
Lee Jaseung looked down at his body. From the martial uniform covered in dust to the disheveled hair and the battered face. His appearance truly was like that of a beggar.
The door opened again and an old man ca out. After scanning Lee Jaseung from head to toe, the old man spoke.
“Co in and have a bowl before you go.”
“It is alright. I am not a beggar.”
As he turned to go, the old man spoke from behind him.
“Who said you were a beggar? I just said to co eat.”
That one sentence caught Lee Jaseung's footsteps.
“Then I will not refuse.”
The fastest way to learn about a village would be to get close to its residents.
When Lee Jaseung sat down, the old man brought a large bowl full of noodles.
“Eat.”
“Thank you.”
The old man stepped aside to let him eat in peace. Instead, the little girl stood in the corner and stared at Lee Jaseung.
While using his chopsticks, Lee Jaseung said.
“I am not a beggar.”
“You look like a beggar, though.”
“You should not judge a person by their appearance.”
“Then what do you judge them by?”
“By their heart.”
Then the girl pouted her lips.
“How do you judge a heart that you cannot even see?”
Fair. I am also suffering like this because of that invisible heart. These are not words to say to a child like you. Still, I am not a beggar!
When Lee Jaseung used his chopsticks again, the child asked once more.
“Who hit your face?”
“Eh, so person I know.”
“They are a bad person huh.”
Before he could answer that they were not such a person, the child added first.
“To hit soone like that, instead of looking after a pitiful person.”
Lee Jaseung asked the child with an absurd expression.
“Hey, how old are you?”
“You are not supposed to ask a lady's age so carelessly.”
What a daring brat.
Lee Jaseung shook his head and used his chopsticks again.
When he had roughly emptied the bowl, the old man returned.
“Did you co from outside?”
“Yes.”
“Why is your body like that?”
“I was injured.”
The old man clicked his tongue.
“Let us go.”
“Where do you an?”
“You will know if you follow .”
When the old man left the room first, the child looked at Lee Jaseung and spoke.
“It is obvious. Grandfather is probably trying to help a pitiful person.”
Before Lee Jaseung could say anything, she ran outside.
Shaking his head as if he could not help it, Lee Jaseung followed after her.
New connections were being made in this unfamiliar journey to find the sword of the heart.
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