My Father Is the Number One Under Heaven - Chapter 165

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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 165. As the Cheonma Wills
“No… what is this…?”
Gwak Heo-won, the second son of Cheonma Singyeo.
Having survived the brutal internecine struggle where brothers murdered brothers to claim the position of Sojangju, he had only just returned to the Cheonma Singyeo Headquarters.
He had spent the past several days away with his followers, hoping to clear his troubled mind, and had only recently come back.
His father, Patriarch Gwak Cheon-hu, had begun favoring his younger brother Gwak Un-do, which had left him deeply uneasy—and his subordinates had been the first to propose this outing.
But then,
“Whoooosh!”
On the way back, he suddenly saw a colossal golden light surge toward the heavens.
Startled beyond measure, he hurried his return.
Yet the moment he arrived at Cheonma Singyeo, his jaw went slack.
This was not the headquarters he knew.
As though some catastrophic disaster had struck, the headquarters lay in ruins, thousands of Demonic Disciples sprawled across the ground, more than half of the main complex reduced to rubble.
What on earth had happened?
He could only stand in bewilderment.
Could the Murim League and the Sa-do Alliance have joined forces and attacked?
Yet all the fallen were Cheonma Singyeo warriors—every last one of them.
Confronted with a sight he had never even imagined, words abandoned him entirely.
‘Am I dreaming?’
Something was terribly wrong.
“Ah, Father must be in his chambers—let me go at once!”
Gwak Heo-won immediately rushed toward Cheonma Palace.
“Father!”
But Cheonma Palace stood empty.
In that inexplicable silence, goosebumps erupted across Gwak Heo-won’s entire body.
And then,
“Ungh… ungh…”
Gwak Heo-won discovered a warrior who guarded Cheonma Palace, huddled in a corner, trembling violently.
“Tell me what happened while I was away! Speak clearly!”
But the warrior remained in a daze, his mind nowhere to be found.
Gwak Heo-won then struck the man’s face without restraint.
The shock jolted the warrior back to awareness.
Gwak Heo-won posed the same question as before.
Then,
“I… I know nothing, my lord.”
The man answered, trembling violently.
“Only that the Patriarch, along with the Ten Demonic Stars, set out for Bongseon Palace not long ago… and, and then something like a natural cataclysm occurred—the earth would not stop shaking. Then the emergency bell rang, and when I went out to see what was happening… ungh, ahhhhhh!”
The man shrieked like one possessed, his entire frame quaking as though seized by madness.
“Hah…”
The warriors who guarded Cheonma Palace were among the finest in Cheonma Singyeo, possessed of exceptional mental fortitude and martial prowess.
Yet how could such men be reduced to this state?
Shwing.
Without hesitation, Gwak Heo-won cut down the warrior, who continued his senseless shrieking, and turned his feet to leave.
Toward Bongseon Palace.
The man had said his father went there—along with every one of the Ten Demonic Stars remaining in the sect.
So if he went there, he could learn something, anything.
He launched his body toward Bongseon Palace with all speed.
All of his subordinates followed in his wake.
***
The Cheonro, which had harbored no light for so long, blazed with brilliant luminescence, and radiant golden fire surged toward the heavens.
The light became a pillar so immense that every practitioner in the Martial World could see it.
So beautiful and wondrous was the sight that all who beheld the pillar of light lost themselves in awe.
How much time had passed thus?
The light faded gradually, and the pillar withdrew from view.
Yet,
Flicker.
Still the Cheonro rippled with dazzling golden radiance, beautiful and mesmerizing.
And beneath it stood a man of incomparable beauty, his expression utterly confounded.
“So instead of just bowing and scraping, why don’t you explain to me properly what on earth is going on here?”
The man of incomparable beauty was Yeo Un-hwi.
He couldn’t conceal his bewilderment—it was the kind of shock he’d never experienced before.
At first, naturally, he’d wondered if these women before him were playing some sort of trick.
But that suspicion had quickly faded.
The women were far too grave and solemn to entertain such doubts.
Like people who had arrived at the most consequential moment of their lives.
Their bearing wasn’t simply overwhelmed by Yeo Un-hwi’s power.
There was clearly something else at work.
But no matter how he looked at it—to call him the Cheonma?
Yeo Un-hwi needed an explanation, whatever it might be.
Soon the priestess Wi Seol-lin rose carefully and spoke.
Then she pointed at something with her finger.
“Do you see the lamp hanging from that ceiling?”
“Hmm?”
Only then did Yeo Un-hwi lift his gaze to behold the Cheonro.
As he did, Wi Seol-lin continued her explanation.
“That is a lamp called the Cheonro.”
“The Cheonro?”
“Yes. It is a sacred relic of the Cheonma Singyeo, said to kindle with light anew when a new Cheonma appears.”
And that very Cheonro had responded to Yeo Un-hwi’s power, a sight every priestess present, Wi Seol-lin foremost among them, had witnessed with their own eyes.
For them, it was undoubtedly no small matter of confusion.
That a solitary figure who had stormed into Cheonma Singyeo and cut down its Sojangju and all of the Ten Demonic Stars should be the Cheonma himself—
Yet to them, nothing mattered more than this: the one who had ignited the Cheonro was indeed the Cheonma.
The moment that the departed Sojangju Gwak Cheon-hu had so desperately desired had come, impossibly, to Yeo Un-hwi.
‘Ha, haha…….’
Yeo Un-hwi, who was unshaken by most things, found himself bewildered by this turn of events.
So much so that laughter escaped him unbidden.
For him to be the Cheonma—it made no sense.
Those of the Cheonma Singyeo might have leapt for joy at such news; ordinary folk elsewhere might have too. But Yeo Un-hwi did not.
He felt nothing but antipathy toward it.
“Be that as it may, I have no interest in the Cheonma. And I certainly intend to become one.”
Yeo Un-hwi spoke with finality.
“Furthermore, I am a man who shudders at the very thought of depravity and wickedness. If that were not my nature, I would never have undertaken what I have done here.”
Truthfully, if the priestesses before him now had been armed disciples, he would have cut them down already.
But when he’d entered this place, they appeared to be held under duress by the Sojangju’s circle; not knowing the circumstances, he’d refrained for the moment.
They posed no immediate threat, and besides, he was hardly one to be threatened by them either.
But before he could so much as breathe, they’d prostrated themselves and called him the Cheonma. What fortune was this—
Then,
“So, what do you intend to do now?”
Wi Seol-lin addressed Yeo Un-hwi.
“Hmm? What do I intend to do?”
“Do you believe that now the Sojangju and the Ten Demonic Stars are gone, all of this is truly finished?”
She spoke with keen intensity.
She did not know what circumstances had driven Yeo Un-hwi to storm Cheonma Singyeo and lay waste to its Sojangju and every one of the Ten Demonic Stars.
Yet one thing seemed clear: he could not abide the Cheonma Singyeo as it had been ruled under one like Gwak Cheon-hu.
If so, her words were ordained.
“Assuredly, this will be a grievous blow—yet it will not cause the Cheonma Singyeo to vanish. Indeed, the Cheonma Singyeo is harder to erase from this earth than any school or clan.”
“Why?”
Yeo Un-hwi’s tone shifted.
“Because the Cheonma Singyeo has taken root in these Sipman Mountains for far too long. Those entwined with the main temple are countless—at least hundreds of thousands, possibly millions or more. Perhaps even beyond that.”
“Hmm.”
“To truly erase the Cheonma Singyeo from this realm, you would need to slaughter every soul dwelling in the Sipman Mountains—again and again. Would you cut the throats of so many?”
No, such a thing was impossible.
Not all of them possessed martial skill, nor were they enemies.
Many had simply been born and raised in the Sipman Mountains and within the Cheonma Singyeo, unwilling participants in circumstance.
Such people bore no fault.
Wi Seol-lin’s words continued to unfold.
“Those who have placed themselves under the Cheonma Singyeo or become entangled with it are not all depraved. And whether a place becomes corrupt depends greatly on who stands above it.”
Of course, the Cheonma Singyeo of this era deserved its reputation as evil itself.
The misdeeds of the Sojangju and the Ten Demonic Stars were beyond all imagining.
But if others—different souls—were to rule it, might the outcome not have been otherwise?
So…….
“If you leave things as they are, the Cheonma Singyeo will eventually take root again after a long time has passed. But in a state where no one can tell whether it will become good or evil. Or perhaps it will threaten the world with even greater wickedness than before. However.”
Wi Seol-lin smiled softly.
“If you become the Cheonma, you will be able to control all of those things as you wish.”
Yeo Un-hwi’s eyes widened slightly.
Control, and the Cheonma Singyeo at that?
“Naturally, now that the age of the Cheonma has arrived, everyone will follow the Cheonma’s will. The Cheonma Singyeo belongs to the Cheonma. That is the most important fundamental law of our sect.”
“Even if I command that all unnecessary killing cease and the gates be sealed immediately?”
Wi Seol-lin smiled softly at Yeo Un-hwi’s words.
“If that is the Cheonma’s will, we shall gladly do so. In the Cheonma Singyeo, none would dare defy the Cheonma’s wishes. And should anyone attempt to defy them, the Cheonma need only mete out punishment.”
Certainly, it was not a bad proposition.
Yet for some reason, there was something else that troubled him.
“The Cheonma is not bound by any particular mission or obligation that must be fulfilled.”
As if reading Yeo Un-hwi’s thoughts, Wi Seol-lin added to her words.
“Whether you wish to conquer the Martial World or desire a peaceful realm free from demonic dominion, it matters not.”
“I merely do as the Cheonma wills.”
Wi Seol-lin nodded at Yeo Un-hwi’s response.
“Only this much is certain: the moment you relinquish this power, the Cheonma Singyeo may take root as a new evil once more.”
“That sounds rather like a threat.”
“Surely not. I merely wish to serve the Cheonma.”
Wi Seol-lin bowed respectfully.
In truth, this very moment was more than she could bear in her joy.
To finally lay eyes upon a new Cheonma.
Her sacred mission had just been fulfilled.
That holy calling—to witness the Cheonma in her own lifetime.
To others it might have appeared as blind faith, but for her it was the very reason for living.
So all that remained now was to ensure that the Cheonma’s will was fully realized in this land.
“Then regarding my identity…….”
“We cannot hide the Cheonma’s birth from the world, but your identity shall remain unknown. I shall see to it. Though there will be rare moments when I must ask you to appear. Only then, if you would.”
“Ha…….”
Truly, she was a woman of sharp competence.
It was only natural, for she had lived her entire life for moments such as this.
Soon Yeo Un-hwi’s mind grew tangled.
He had never anticipated a situation like this, after all.
Yet somehow, it seemed the answer had already been determined.
He could not fathom how a successor of a Martial Saint came to be recognized as the Cheonma, but the part about controlling evil appealed to him greatly.
The enemies he would face ahead were legion.
No matter how strong he was, his body was but one.
The more pieces he had to move, the better.
Though he had not expected that piece to be the Cheonma Singyeo itself.
Of course, it was already in a state of considerable ruin by his own hand.
“Very well. I shall accept.”
“Pardon?”
“I said I would become the Cheonma.”
“Ah, ah……!”
At Yeo Un-hwi’s words, Wi Seol-lin and the priestesses standing behind her grew radiant with joy.
“We pay homage to the Cheonma!”
At once, all of them bowed again, tears streaming down their faces.
Truthfully, Yeo Un-hwi found this manner of reverence still rather burdensome.
Wi Seol-lin took a breath to steady her overflowing heart and opened her mouth once more.
“And.”
“Is there yet more I must know?”
“Yes. There is something that has been prepared in secret for the day of your arrival as Cheonma.”
Something prepared in secret, she said.
When Yeo Un-hwi tilted his head in curiosity, Wi Seol-lin smiled.
“I am certain you will be pleased. Now, if you would follow me.”

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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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