My Father Is the Number One Under Heaven - Chapter 138

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 138. Heading to the Sadong Alliance
The day after Baeklang Dae received an invitation from the Sadong Alliance and decided to set out for Honam.
Yeo Un-hwi promptly summoned Jin So-baek.
Since there was still time before their scheduled regular meeting, Jin So-baek couldn’t help but find the sudden summons puzzling.
What could be so urgent?
From his expression, it seemed he hadn’t yet heard what had happened at the Peng Estate.
Watching Jin So-baek, Yeo Un-hwi clicked his tongue.
‘Here I rushed over because this fellow summoned me urgently, and he’s clicking his tongue at me to my face!’
‘If he weren’t such a precious client—absolutely not someone I’d ever want to lose—I’d…’
‘Ah, but then again.’
‘What am I thinking, standing before someone who’s beaten down every celebrated master in the land?’
‘Well, in any case,’
“So what brings you to summon me?”
Yeo Un-hwi clicked his tongue once more, then finally opened his mouth.
At that, Jin So-baek’s head snapped to the side.
“What? You’re going to the Sadong Alliance? Just like that?”
“That’s how it’s turned out.”
There were limits to how random things could be. And of all places, the Sadong Alliance?
He wondered if Yeo Un-hwi had misspoken and meant the Murim League instead.
Yeo Un-hwi understood Jin So-baek’s reaction perfectly well.
So without further ado, he relayed to him everything that had happened recently.
Jin So-baek’s jaw dropped.
“What?”
“You might go deaf.”
“So you’re saying that suddenly, the Myeolhon Corps—the Sadong Alliance’s elite unit—appeared and handed over an invitation? And an invitation sent by Heuk Mu-je himself, the Master of the Sadong Alliance?”
“That’s what I’m telling you.”
“And as a token of trust, they brought the Heuk Sal Geom, Heuk Mu-je’s personal weapon?”
Why was he parsing every detail of what he’d just been told so methodically?
Yeo Un-hwi briefly wondered if this was a trait of information organizations, or simply Jin So-baek’s natural temperament.
But Jin So-baek’s expression still screamed absolute disbelief.
“You’re asking me to believe that?”
“Would I lie to you pointlessly about something like this?”
“Well, I suppose not. Ah, this is…”
Then everything Yeo Un-hwi had said was true.
Honestly, by now Jin So-baek had reached the point where he’d believe it even if Yeo Un-hwi said he’d cooked bean paste with red beans.
Yet the fact that he was still reacting this way showed just how astounding the story flowing from Yeo Un-hwi’s lips truly was.
He could only marvel at what fortune—or misfortune—this man must have been born under, for such impossible things to keep happening around him.
Watching Jin So-baek, Yeo Un-hwi let out a hollow laugh.
“Sometimes you seem remarkably capable, but then at moments like this, you also…”
Uncertain how to finish the thought, Yeo Un-hwi trailed off, and Jin So-baek bristled, pressing him for an answer.
“But then what? Finish it.”
“Ahem. Never mind.”
“No, just curse at me already. Why are you leaving me hanging like this?”
“It was nothing, really.”
“That can’t be right. Your expression was making it perfectly clear that you were cursing just now.”
“A thought struck me unbidden—I simply didn’t want to wound you with such crude words.”
“That’s what people usually call genuine feeling, you know. So it was a curse after all.”
As Jin So-baek’s eyes narrowed, Yeo Un-hwi cleared his throat and looked away.
“Ahem… well, anyway.”
For some reason, whenever Yeo Un-hwi spoke with Jin So-baek, he found himself becoming mischievous without meaning to.
Baeklang Dae was no different.
Yeo Un-hwi was beginning to realize for the first time that he possessed the habit of wanting to tease anyone who was genuinely good.
After that, Yeo Un-hwi hurriedly asked Jin So-baek to look into a few things.
Jin So-baek nodded.
Though Yeo Un-hwi claimed to be leaving for the Sadong Alliance tomorrow itself, gathering and delivering the information he’d requested wasn’t actually difficult at all.
Hao Wen had networks spread across the entire Central Plains.
That was Hao Wen’s true terror and strength.
And finally,
“Though it’s unlikely, if anything happens at the Peng Estate, you’ll get word to me faster than anyone else, won’t you?”
At Yeo Un-hwi’s parting request, Jin So-baek nodded once more.
“Then I do sincerely wish you a safe and uneventful journey, honored guest.”
It was precisely the kind of farewell one would expect from him.
***
“Go well, all of you.”
The day had arrived when Baeklang Dae would set out together with Myeolhon Corps toward the Sadong Alliance.
Peng Mugang, the Clan Patriarch, spoke those words with characteristic composure as he stood among those gathered to see them off.
At once, every member of Baeklang Dae responded in unison with a sharp affirmation.
Yet Peng Mugang found himself watching Dan Hee-young’s expression closely.
He had opposed it, and yet he’d appointed his son-in-law as Captain of Baeklang Dae anyway—and now Dan Hee-young had been hounding him all this while, asking if watching his struggles brought him satisfaction.
Beside Dan Hee-young stood Peng Seo-yeon as well, her face betraying discomfort.
Each time she glanced at Peng Mugang, her lips pressed thin with barely suppressed reproach.
Ahem.
He could hardly have missed those looks, but having done what he’d done, he found himself at a loss for words.
“Father, when will you return?”
“When you study hard at Soewol Academy and listen well to your mother, I’ll be back before you know it.”
Yeo Un-hwi found that the words about a longer separation wouldn’t come easily.
Had he been traveling alone, it would have been different, but the party he was joining was far too large.
“I’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss you too.”
There was something in what Yul-i said that made Yeo Un-hwi’s heart both lift and ache in the same breath.
“Then Father will be off?”
“Yes! Have a safe journey!”
Yul-i, small-framed and earnest, bowed low and waved her hand, and smiles bloomed across the faces of all who watched.
Even Peng Sejin and Elder Gu Wang-pyo found themselves smiling.
With the farewells complete, Yeo Un-hwi and Baeklang Dae departed alongside Myeolhon Corps toward the Sadong Alliance, accompanied by the waves of the Peng Estate.
Yet the members of Baeklang Dae still seemed bewildered.
None of them could have foreseen such a turn of events.
Who would have imagined it?
Two days into the journey, Ki-su and Ki-sang among the Baeklang Dae members began to sigh heavily and grumble in earnest.
The more they thought about it, the more absurd it seemed.
“I mean, if they’re grateful that the Absolute Demon was slain, they could just send a gift or come themselves. Why all this summoning back and forth?”
“That’s what I’m saying—such a distance.”
“Hey, can’t you two keep quiet?”
“Tch. Sister Do-gyeong, why do you always scold us whenever you see us?”
“Because you should know better than to grumble in all times and places, you fools.”
But the Myeolhon Corps had already heard every word.
When one of them drew near, Ki-su and Ki-sang finally tensed.
A confrontation seemed entirely possible in such a moment.
And yet—
“We understand completely.”
“Eh?”
His words came as a complete surprise.
“Having been suddenly called to make such a long journey, almost against your will, it’s natural that you’d feel frustrated. But we too have our circumstances, and we ask for your understanding.”
“Ah, yes.”
His words were so courteous, so remarkably refined, that even Ki-su and Ki-sang found themselves nodding respectfully.
At this, it became impossible to distinguish who was from a villainous sect and who was from an orthodox one.
Do-gyeong, watching the dazed twins scratch their heads, finally burst out laughing.
But not everyone resented this journey.
Among them, Peng Do-hwan was thrilled.
He alone had not been present when the Absolute Demon fell.
But after witnessing part of Yeo Un-hwi’s true nature afterward, he had resolved to follow him and joined Baeklang Dae.
For him, this journey was—how to put it.
It made him feel that his choice had not been wrong.
Of course, he wasn’t so foolish as to approach it with merely the simple thrill of a pleasure trip.
He yearned for a life as a true martial artist—not a mundane and tedious existence, but an uncommon one that made his heart quicken with something rare and genuine.
O Chae-mu and Gu Tae-san wore much the same expression.
This journey was truly unique—something no one among them had ever experienced before.
And yet, their destination was the Sadong Alliance, which might as well have been enemy territory.
Though Heuk Mu-je, the Sadong Alliance Master, had displayed his intent by presenting the new blade Heuk Sal Geom, there was still ample reason for wariness.
But none of that tension seemed to show on their faces.
Why was it?
Their eyes, as always, were fixed on the back of a single man—Yeo Un-hwi.
They trusted the Captain of Baeklang Dae, Yeo Un-hwi, more than anyone.
A faith as simple and absolute as that of a child lived within them—with him, there was nothing to fear, no matter who the opponent.
Could Yeo Un-hwi contend with the Twelve Supremes?
They had stopped making such comparisons long ago.
One thing alone was certain: with Yeo Un-hwi, they would not fear anywhere in this world.
That was enough.
‘Truly remarkable,’ Jo Il-ha thought.
The captain of Myeolhon Corps, the Twin Swords of Desolation Jo Il-ha, could not fail to notice the peculiar character of Baeklang Dae.
Though Baeklang Dae had only recently begun to earn its name by slaying the Absolute Demon, Myeolhon Corps was already an apex martial force whose renown had echoed throughout the entire Martial World for a long time.
Yet even to the eyes of the Twin Swords of Desolation, the captain of such a force, each member of Baeklang Dae seemed far from ordinary.
‘Strong. These bastards are strong.’
He could sense it.
The feeling that even if Myeolhon Corps clashed with them directly, victory would not be assured.
Anyone who heard such words would think them absurd.
By common reckoning, Baeklang Dae stood far below Myeolhon Corps.
A shamefully vast gap clearly existed between the two forces.
The Twin Swords of Desolation himself believed that assessment was not wrong.
But his thinking had changed.
That evaluation seemed to require recalibration.
And what was most remarkable of all
‘What exactly is that man?’
Jo Il-ha’s gaze turned toward Yeo Un-hwi.
Over these past days, traveling together, he had come to understand it clearly.
That this man was the center of Baeklang Dae, the one upon whom all depended.
Yet from such a man, he could read nothing whatsoever.
Just as he had ascertained before, it was certain that this man had not learned Martial Arts at all.
Though it was said he had only just begun to learn it, to the Twin Swords’ eye there was no meaningful difference.
That Baeklang Dae in its current state would follow and trust such a man with such sincerity struck him as nothing short of miraculous.
‘There must be something else I cannot perceive.’
For now, there was no way to know.
The journey from Hebei to Honam proved long—longer still than expected.
In all that time, remarkably little of note occurred.
Remarkably little.
They saw no sign of bandits picking fights, no trouble of any kind along the way.
“This is strange. We usually run into bandits by this point—why haven’t we seen any?”
One of the Myeolhon Corps members passed by Ki-su and Ki-sang, who had murmured their bewilderment, and offered an explanation.
“Ah, well, we took care of all of them on our way to the Hebei Peng Estate.”
“I beg your pardon?”
The usually taciturn Myeolhon Corps members chuckled dryly as they spoke.
“We were… rather thorough. We made sure no one else would even think of coming into this region.”
……
Just how merciless had they been to make even other bandits lose all desire to venture into these parts?
Well, if nothing else, one could call that fortunate.
In any case, after a considerable stretch of time, Baeklang Dae finally arrived at their destination alongside Myeolhon Corps.
“Magnificent.”
The city struck them speechless—beautiful beyond measure at a glance.
Akyang, in Honam.
Within this city lay the Sadong Alliance.

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