My Father Is the Number One Under Heaven - Chapter 3

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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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Episode 3. The Martial God’s Fortuitous Encounter
One might ordinarily suppose that when seeking the legendary “greatest of all ages, the cavern of the Martial God’s Fortuitous Encounter,” one would encounter countless mechanical traps and formations blocking the way, and that after struggling through all those perils, the final arrival would open one’s eyes to some splendid and magnificent chamber—or so the common assumption went.
But reality proved otherwise.
“Ugh, this place is making me lose my mind.”
The tunnel, for some inexplicable reason, grew narrower the deeper one ventured, until eventually one had to crawl.
The musty stench made breathing difficult; dust hung thick in the stale air; and the cramped passage seemed to stretch endlessly.
It was the kind of place no sane person would enter by choice.
Even having experienced it once before, Yeo Un-hui found it no less grueling.
Though his entire body was now caked in dirt, he pushed forward without hesitation, moving with determined efficiency.
It was hardly dignified—scarcely better than crawling through a mole’s burrow.
Yet it was precisely because of this squalid nature that his past self had chosen to hide here.
And in that previous life, he had harbored not the faintest hope that anything lay at the end of this passage.
“Haa.”
No longer possessed of a Demon Blood Horse’s body that could soar and climb with ease, but rather trapped in the weak frame of an ordinary scholar, Yeo Un-hui was drenched in sweat from head to toe.
How long had he been crawling?
Then, through the dirt and debris ahead, a faint gleam of light caught his eye.
“Gasp—huff, huff.”
At last, he had arrived.
At the end of this accursed cavern.
What awaited him was a small Stone Chamber.
Barely spacious enough for a single adult man to dwell in.
And there, within—
A deep, resonant hum filled the space.
It was there.
A skeleton, seated in reverent meditation.
The robes that had once clothed it had long since decayed into tatters.
Yet an unmistakable aura seemed to emanate from that bone.
Despite having ceased to breathe centuries past.
This could only be—
“The Martial God… is it?”
Hyeok Jong-hu. The greatest of all ages, the Martial God.
The unparalleled absolute being whom none in the annals of the martial world had ever equaled.
Who could have imagined that such an absolute would meet his end in this narrow, shabby chamber?
What circumstances had led to such a fate?
And what had driven this figure to leave his power behind in such a manner?
Reflecting on it all, Yeo Un-hui realized he had stumbled upon this place entirely by accident—unguarded by any trap, formation, or protective technique, merely crawling through by sheer chance.
Yet in all the centuries since, he alone had discovered it.
As if he had been destined to be its master from the very beginning.
It was a moment when thoughts came to him differently than they had in his past life.
‘Was the chamber like this before?’
When he had found this place in his previous life, his wounds had been grievous and his mind utterly focused on survival, leaving him no opportunity for careful observation.
Naturally, he had spared little thought to anything else.
He had merely registered, without reflection, that he had arrived somewhere strange and unexpected.
So, without hesitation, he had reached out his hand.
Toward the Golden Sphere hovering before the skeleton of the Martial God.
In his past life, many had believed Yeo Un-hui had obtained the Martial God’s Secret Manual and trained within it.
But that was not the case.
He had simply taken what was there.
That mysterious Golden Sphere.
“Haa. Then….”
Yeo Un-hui’s entire frame was visibly tense.
Drawing one deep breath, he slowly extended his hand toward the sphere.
Just as he had before.
A deep, resonant hum sounded once more.
The sphere drifted slowly toward him, then was absorbed into his chest in an instant.
And then—
‘It’s coming.’
Throb-throb.
Transformation began to sweep through Yeo Un-hui’s body.
Blood meridians surged unnaturally throughout his frame, rising and pulsing beneath his skin,
“Ugh, uhhh…….”
A torrent of brilliant light burst forth.
In moments, his entire body blazed so brightly that every blood vessel became visible beneath the skin.
“…Kgh. Gahhhhh!”
Yeo Un-hui lost consciousness, overwhelmed by the agony.
This too was exactly as it had been before.
***
“…It’s all over.”
Thousands—no, tens of thousands of corpses lay strewn across the ground.
The stench of blood was thick enough to drive a person mad.
This place deserved no name more than Hell itself.
“Over?”
In the center of that terrible battlefield, two men stood locked in a deadly gaze.
But the one wearing the Black Dragon Robe, its black dragon embroidered in lavish detail, had already lost one arm and one leg and knelt upon the ground.
“No. It is not finished yet.”
He should have been dead already, and yet it would have surprised no one.
And yet the man’s face remained eerily serene.
“What does that mean?”
“Though it may not be now, it matters not. Black Darkness will surely, surely rise again. And by then…….”
The man in the Black Dragon Robe pointed with one finger at the one who had severed his limbs.
“You will be gone. Kekeke.”
“…….”
“Then the age of Black Darkness will come. Together with a Blood Calamity beyond compare! Will you truly be able to stop us then? Khahahaha!”
As the laughing man’s words filled the air, a blade flashed bright,
and with a soft thud,
his head tumbled away.
The head of the man in the Black Dragon Robe rolled across the blood-soaked ground.
Yet the face of the man who alone had survived to the end bore no sign of triumph.
***
A soft breath escaped his lips.
Yeo Un-hui opened his eyes slowly.
‘A dream? What on earth was that?’
He had already experienced losing consciousness after absorbing the luminous sphere.
So he had prepared himself to some degree.
But he had no memory of ever having such a strange dream.
Why was that?
Was it because his mind had been unstable at the time, leaving him unable to remember?
That couldn’t be. Or rather… honestly, I’m not sure.
In any case, it felt far too vivid to be merely a dream.
Who was the man in the Black Dragon Robe? And what was Black Darkness?
But of one thing he felt certain.
The man who had survived to the very end, cutting down everything before him—
he was surely the Martial God.
The martial techniques he had employed were ones Yeo Un-hui already knew.
The Heavenly Martial God Technique.
It was the Martial God’s martial technique, and it was also the martial technique he had learned in his previous life.
Though he had only mastered it to the second stage.
Which meant—
‘Could it have been the Martial God’s own memory?’
It was a strange thing indeed.
The sphere he had absorbed didn’t merely transmit the Martial God’s martial techniques and Inner Energy—it had transmitted his memories as well?
But then why had nothing like this happened in his previous life?
Now that he thought about it, the skeleton had completely crumbled away, leaving not a trace.
And there didn’t seem to be any writings left anywhere in the Stone Chamber either.
Hmm.
There were far too many things he couldn’t understand right now.
Then, at that moment,
“Ugh.”
A stench so utterly indescribable that it stabbed through his nostrils.
The odor radiated from every corner of Yeo Un-hui’s body.
Why was that?
It was because of the impurities being expelled from his body.
In his past life too, this phenomenon had occurred after he’d absorbed the Martial God’s sphere.
The moment his body was completely renewed, all the accumulated impurities had drained away.
This was certainly what they called
Bone Replacement and Flesh Renewal.
If other martial artists had witnessed this, they would have been utterly flabbergasted.
To think that simply absorbing a mysterious sphere left behind by a master from centuries past could simultaneously grant Inner Energy and Martial Technique while triggering such a transformation—where in the world did such an impossible thing exist?
Yet here stood a man who had experienced this impossible feat not once, but twice.
“This is why I came prepared.”
Yeo Un-hui hastily stripped off his clothes—now drenched in sweat and impurities, reduced to nothing more than rags—and cast them into a corner, then dried himself with a towel he’d brought along.
Next, he retrieved clean clothes from the bundle he’d packed and changed into them.
“Whew. I feel alive again.”
Both body and spirit felt lighter.
This was the advantage of regression.
He could prepare for everything, knowing what lay ahead.
The Heavenly Martial God Technique he’d naturally cultivated through absorbing the sphere remained at the first tier.
In his past life, what he had ultimately reached was the second tier.
A realm he’d attained naturally through countless battles, without deliberate cultivation.
Yet even at that level, he’d held his own against most of the Jianghu’s formidable masters.
At merely the second tier.
It was no accident that the Heavenly Martial God Technique was called the supreme art of all ages.
The fault lay only with its master.
Yeo Un-hui—who had wielded an ox-slaughtering blade to kill a chicken—had been the problem.
But this time, such waste would not happen again. And,
‘I must take it as far as possible.’
If he did, there would surely be nothing lacking in his ability to protect his family.
The safety of his family—for now, that was all Yeo Un-hui desired.
Soon after, Yeo Un-hui emerged swiftly from the cave.
His pace now was vastly different from when he’d first entered—far, far faster.
Remarkably, not a trace of dirt clung to his body.
When he’d gone in, he’d been nothing but a frail scholar, but he emerged now as a master of the age.
For such a transformation to occur in barely half a month felt less like possibility and more like pure miracle.
Rumble, rumble, rumble.
Not long after Yeo Un-hui had exited, the cave collapsed inward.
As though it had only been waiting to complete its final purpose.
Yeo Un-hui stood gazing at the ruins for a moment, then bowed deeply toward them.
‘Thank you. Because of you, I believe I’ll have the strength to protect my family. Whenever that day comes—however it comes—I swear I will repay this debt with all my heart.’
Though no one watched, Yeo Un-hui’s gratitude was sincere.
It felt like something he had to do.
No matter how many times he regressed, without the Martial God’s Fortuitous Encounter, his future would have seemed only bleak and frightening.
But because of the Heavenly Martial God Technique, Yeo Un-hui was afraid no longer.
How could he not give thanks?
“Well then, shall we go?”
Having finished his bow and risen, Yeo Un-hui tapped his toes lightly against the ground with fluid grace.
It was time to head home.

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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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