Heaven-Defying Hero - Chapter 2

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#002

The two survivors remaining on Gwigokdo struggled to unravel the formation.

They joined forces because there was no way to escape without calming the raging sea.

However, the formation left behind like a dying wish by Moyongcheon, the Evil Sect’s Earth Dragon, felt like an enormous wall to them. Since they were not well-versed in formations, they only met with frustration and despair each time.

The suffocating helplessness eventually began to gnaw at their minds.

A year passed like this.

Half-mad, they tried to jump into the sea countless times.

They began to rage at each other.

There wasn’t a clear target.

It was anger at the situation and rebellion against inescapable despair.

But there was only one person to receive this.

The accusations toward each other weren’t logical and their tone was like screaming, but if they didn’t even do this, they felt they would go insane.

The more they saw each other’s depths, the more it seemed like a mirror, making them fight even more desperately.

That time was also a year.

Just as cooperation had, fighting also became exhausting.

Then came the third year.

-Let’s stop fighting now.

Though Ja-un-hak spoke the words, So-cheong-bi felt the same way.

So instead of fighting, they made love.

They finally realized what they needed was comfort.

The waves were still fierce and they hadn’t found a way to escape, but for the first time, they were warm.

Had another person’s body heat always been this warm?

The past two years felt like such a waste.

“An old bachelor and old maid meeting—isn’t this also fate?”

“Shut up. How dare you call me an old maid? Even men in their late twenties called me sister and asked for marriage.”

“Hmph! Do you think I had nothing? There were at least ten marriage proposals that came and went.”

“What kind of women were they?”

The middle-aged masters representing Jeong and Sa had finally found partners. Before being isolated on this island, they had crossed swords with each other.

The connection no one could have predicted added special destiny a year later.

“Waaah!”

The island’s survivors went from two to three.

***

The couple who held their son’s first birthday celebration on the deserted island resumed their formation research that had been so difficult.

“We must escape this island.”

“Of course. I can’t let my son grow old and die here.”

For their son’s escape, it was an unavoidable choice.

Could there be any research more desperate than this?

However, reality was cold.

Even trying to fill their insufficient understanding of formations, there was no foundation to study from.

If only there were books left by someone, or at least a master who taught the basics?

Even wanting to take one step forward, there was no path to begin with.

Nevertheless, they struggled to pioneer a new path.

Ja-gang-cheon grew steadily and became five years old.

“Hiyah!”

His short, chubby hand struck a large tree in the Northern Forest.

Thud!

Red fruits that ripened in summer fell down from the impact.

“Hehe. Mom’s. Dad’s. This one’s mine.”

The fruits in the child’s arms were fairly distributed to his family. But his parents’ faces didn’t look very good.

“Mom and Dad are sad again.”

Ja-gang-cheon said what he had held back for a long time.

“Mom and Dad always smile like this.”

Ja-gang-cheon pulled down the corners of his eyes with both hands and stretched his mouth to show his upper teeth.

Having burst out his pent-up complaints, Ja-gang-cheon put down even his favorite fruit and ran out of the log cabin.

Though it was just an island with nowhere to go, the shock the couple received was great.

“Lady. Let’s stop the formation research.”

“Yes. It’s not something we can do.”

Their research had made no progress for several years.

Even if there was progress, the formation spread across this island was at a level called the highest in the martial world. They couldn’t guarantee they could dismantle it before dying of old age.

“Our bad feelings seem to have infected Gangcheon too.”

“How hard must it be for that young child to act like that?”

The two left the log cabin and went to the end of the Northern Forest that Ja-gang-cheon liked.

It was the highest area on the island, where even the highest waves couldn’t reach.

The wind climbing up the cliff was quite sharp, but this was the place where they could see the farthest.

The trapped child had instinctively found such a spot.

“Gangcheon. We’ve decided to stop the formation research now.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Son. Mom is sorry.”

They didn’t bother saying it was for their son’s sake.

“Hehe! I feel the best!”

Since their son smiled, that was enough.

That night.

The couple who had put their son to bed came out to the meadow where moonlight had settled.

“We can’t just stay still like this.”

Ja-un-hak nodded in agreement with So-cheong-bi’s words.

“Then there’s only one way.”

Since they both knew, they focused their gaze in one direction.

Eight years ago, the boat they had arrived on was half-destroyed from several escape attempts. Nevertheless, they had pulled it up onto land just in case.

“If there’s no path, we have no choice but to go out the way we came in.”

The couple’s gaze turned toward the sea.

***

“Our son. Eat this and go to sleep.”

“Mom. I’m not a baby.”

“Seven years old is still a baby.”

A son hopes to become a man like his father.

And clumsily tries to receive the same treatment as his father.

The competition between father and son over the mother is instinct, but the love they have as humans is also sincere.

Beloved competitors.

When the son looked at his father, he forgot about competition and smiled brightly.

He saw the large fish in his father’s hand.

“Dear. Not today.”

“Why not? I deliberately caught a big one for Gangcheon. He should eat at least this much for his birthday feast.”

Today was Ja-gang-cheon’s seventh birthday.

This was why he had deliberately caught a fish as big as his son from the dangerous sea.

“I’m planning to give him the Great Return Pill today. After checking Gangcheon’s body, today seems perfect.”

“Hmm. Is that so?”

Even Ja-un-hak, who always took his son’s side, changed his expression upon hearing those words.

“Gangcheon. Give me your hand.”

Ja-un-hak, who was checking his son’s pulse, nodded his head.

“His energy channels are strong and his qi is robust, so today would be good.”

Having gained his agreement, So-cheong-bi took out a roughly-shaped wooden case.

Inside the small wooden case, the size of two finger joints, was a single pill as white as fresh snow.

“Give it to me for a moment. I should pay my respects to the Shaolin seniors.”

“Finders keepers. I already paid the medicine fee by collecting the corpse.”

“Lady. This is medicine for our son. Wouldn’t it be better to show proper respect?”

So-cheong-bi had no choice but to hand the wooden case over to her husband.

“I announce to Master Hyeonjeong and all Shaolin seniors. Wudang Sect’s Mal-hak Un-hak wishes to take Shaolin’s legacy without permission. This is an unavoidable decision in a situation where we seek to survive, so please forgive us, and if there are any sins and karma that cannot be extinguished, I will bear them all.”

Ja-un-hak emphasized his own name, worried that any burden might pass to his son.

“Dad. What is that medicine? You only take medicine when you’re sick.”

Ja-gang-cheon had also taken medicine or applied it to his body before. All of it was collected by searching through the belongings of dead martial artists.

Besides the 108 divine weapons, there were many items that the dead had cherished like their lives.

Secret manuals they carried personally because no place felt safe.

Spiritual medicines they brought to save themselves or important people.

Maps or letters whose meaning was unclear.

Promissory notes worth enough to easily establish a decent sect.

Common hidden weapons and small instruments like flutes.

Medicine and fire tongs.

Jerky and alcohol filled in gourds.

There was even someone who had written secret manual formulas on their own body because they didn’t trust even books.

“This is medicine that will purify your body cleanly and greatly advance your internal energy. It was made by Shaolin Temple and can be called a spiritual medicine representing the martial world.”

“Those bald monks…”

“Shh!”

“That place where the monks gather?”

Ja-gang-cheon glanced at his mother and made a dejected expression.

He had just followed along because his mother called them bald monks, but his father disliked such words.

“From now on, you’ll train in internal energy and lightness skills according to our plan.”

“Lightness skills?”

It was natural for Ja-gang-cheon to be puzzled.

Lightness skills didn’t have much meaning on this island. Even with his short legs, he could reach the end if he ran around this corner.

“It does seem like it would be fun to run through the sky though.”

His father had once told him about the level of leaping by stepping on tree leaves.

“That’s right. You must reach the level of Deungpyeong-dosu beyond Chosang-bi.”

“Then what happens?”

“Our whole family will leave this island together.”

The family had chosen lightness skills to increase their survival chances at sea even slightly. But Ja-gang-cheon, who couldn’t know this, tilted his head.

“Is leaving this island that important?”

“Don’t you want to see the wider world?”

“The world that Dad and Mom talked about?”

He had thought about it a few times, but when he saw the raging sea, he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

‘That sea won’t allow it.’

He had dreamed about it even while knowing it wasn’t possible.

“I want to see it too.”

“Then let’s all work hard together. When all preparations are complete, we will challenge that sea.”

“Son. Just trust and follow Mom. I’ll show you the real world.”

“Yes!”

Ja-gang-cheon smiled without any worry.

Mom and Dad always kept their promises.

He believed they would do so this time too.

***

Since it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, they were cautious.

Time flowed like water accordingly.

His short, chubby legs grew as long as his mother’s, and the weight of his son running to embrace him became burdensome.

His face, which resembled his mother, had become handsome, but thanks to the thick eyebrows and stubborn mouth line that resembled his father, he exuded a manly atmosphere.

However, his particularly dark pupils and eye shape still retained his childhood mischievousness along with his eye-smile.

Though they wanted to quickly show their rapidly growing son the wider world, the couple suppressed that feeling.

During this time, following Shaolin’s Great Return Pill, Wudang’s Taecheong Pill and Hwa-san’s Jaha Divine Pill were absorbed into Ja-gang-cheon’s body according to plan.

There were also the Evil Sect’s Blood Bright Pill and Iron Blood Hall’s Thunder Return Pill, but since their effects weren’t clear, they were excluded from the plan.

Just as the energy of the Jaha Divine Pill was refreshingly racing through Ja-gang-cheon’s dantian and energy channels,

“Haap!”

Ja-gang-cheon leaped over a wave that far exceeded his height, kicked off the next wave, and landed on the beach.

“Mom!”

“A grown man calling for Mom.”

“I’m not giving it to Father. I must see Mother, so would you please step aside? This thing won’t taste good if it gets cold.”

“It’s still flopping around though? And I like that thing too.”

The answer came from behind Ja-un-hak’s back.

“Move aside. Why are you blocking our son’s path? And son. Don’t call me Mother. It’s disgusting.”

“Yes. Mom.”

“That’s right. My baby.”

So-cheong-bi patted the bottom of her son, who was a head taller than her, and hugged him tightly.

“Others would find it unseemly. A fourteen-year-old still calling for Mom.”

“Father. I’ve never seen those ‘others’ you speak of.”

“Ahem.”

Ja-gang-cheon’s way of speaking definitely resembled his mother’s.

“Anyway, you’ve improved a lot. At that level, you could be said to have reached the eighth level of Bicheon Shinbo.”

“Then have I beaten Father?”

“Not even close.”

At the firm answer, Ja-gang-cheon pouted his lips.

Bicheon Shinbo (Flying Heaven Divine Steps).

It was the exclusive lightness skill of a Demonic Sect master who was called the Divine Thief.

Though he didn’t make it into the Murim Sip-dae Gosu, he was always among the top three in lightness skills.

Always stealing others’ things, he had carved the most precious Bicheon Shinbo formula into his own body.

The family on the island had studied and learned that lightness skill.

“Father. Mom. When will we leave this island?”

The couple had already made their decision.

“In one year, on your fifteenth birthday.”

“Wow!”

Ja-gang-cheon was as happy as if he had received an early birthday present.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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