My Father Is the Number One Under Heaven - Chapter 50

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

Episode 50. What do you intend to do from now on?
“Ugh… At this rate, won’t I die before I even get strong?”
The moment Yeo Un-hui vanished, one of the Baekrang-dae members collapsed on the floor groaned out the words.
“A moment ago you spoke so confidently about not giving up. Now you’re whining?”
“Fine. If you can’t take it, leave. I’ll endure no matter what.”
“Good grief. How can you say such things? Who said anything about leaving? I was just muttering to myself for a moment.”
“Tsk. Once you start muttering, there’s no end to it. Better to save your breath for training instead of wasting time on complaints.”
“Yes, yes.”
That was when it happened.
“Sir. Over there.”
“Hmm?”
One of the Baekrang-dae members suddenly spotted Peng Do-hwan in the distance and spoke to O Chae-mu and Gu Tae-san.
Naturally, both their eyes turned toward him.
Ahem.
Sensing their gazes, Peng Do-hwan quickly turned and left the Training Ground.
“He must have seen everything we’ve been doing today. Will that be all right?”
“Indeed. If word of this gets out somewhere and he spreads rumors, it’ll become troublesome.”
O Chae-mu shook his head at the members’ words.
“Just leave him be.”
“But…”
“Besides, training like this will eventually become common knowledge. No need to keep it secret, and it’s fine.”
Everyone nodded at O Chae-mu’s words.
“Well, if that’s what you say.”
Looking at the atmosphere and expressions, it seemed they had gained some glimpse of their master’s true nature.
If that weren’t the case, they would have come interfering long ago with all manner of questions.
O Chae-mu and Gu Tae-san had known Peng Do-hwan for one year, two years—enough to roughly anticipate what was on his mind simply from his current appearance.
And surely his head must be spinning right now.
O Chae-mu and Gu Tae-san found themselves laughing despite themselves.
They were curious to see how that proud Peng Do-hwan would handle this.
***
“Tsk.”
Peng Do-hwan, who had spent the whole day trying to follow Yeo Un-hui, returned to his room in a daze after witnessing the absurd training of Baekrang-dae.
He collapsed onto his bed and thought about it all.
He decided to clear his head a bit and think through things one by one.
What in the world was he thinking?
He couldn’t understand why the Peng Clan was undertaking such excessive training when they weren’t even preparing for war.
What was certain was that the current Baekrang-dae was vastly different from the one he had known.
At the center of it all was Yeo Un-hui, who had just become the new master of Baekrang-dae.
‘Sigh. I don’t understand. I don’t understand.’
His thoughts kept circling back to the same place, over and over.
He lay in bed lost in thought until sleep finally claimed him.
He felt as though he’d exhausted all his mental energy throughout the day.
He’d done nothing but gape in shock repeatedly—it was only natural.
When he opened his eyes again, it was early the following dawn.
‘Hmm. Did I fall asleep?’
He sat up slowly with a disheveled face.
Despite the deep sleep, he didn’t feel refreshed at all.
His heart still felt heavy and troubled.
Lying down again didn’t seem like it would bring sleep back either.
He soon rose from bed slowly and stepped outside.
It occurred to him that perhaps breathing the dawn air might help ease his mind.
“Hmm. This is nice.”
The air was somewhat crisp, yet he found his mood lifting reasonably well.
So his intention to take just a brief breath of air changed.
Peng Do-hwan’s dawn walk became longer than expected.
Then,
beyond a certain point, he saw someone passing by.
What? That’s…
It was Yeo Un-hui. There was no doubt.
Without thinking, Peng Do-hwan concealed himself.
It was truly a remarkable turn of events.
He hadn’t been chasing anyone in particular, yet here they were, meeting face to face.
The man had been heading somewhere since the early hours of dawn.
‘Where on earth is he going at this hour?’
Peng Do-hwan’s face twisted in bewilderment. He was curious.
Before he knew it, he found himself trailing after Yeo Un-hui.
But then,
Whoosh!
The moment Yeo Un-hui stepped out of the Peng Family Estate, his pace quickened steadily, and soon he was moving so fast that Peng Do-hwan could barely keep up.
“Ugh.”
For someone like Peng Do-hwan, who prided himself on his Lightness Technique, it was overwhelmingly difficult.
One moment of hesitation and he’d lose the trail.
Even the briefest slowing would reduce him to a speck disappearing into the distance.
So Peng Do-hwan pushed himself to his limit, determined not to lose sight of Yeo Un-hui.
Yeo Un-hui was that fast.
The more he thought about it, the more absurd it all seemed.
Who had ever claimed that man knew nothing of martial arts?
The urge to find whoever had mocked Yeo Un-hui as a mere bookish scholar with no talents beyond reading, whoever had spread such rumors, and silence them permanently surged through him.
How much time had passed?
“Huff, huff.”
Somehow, he’d managed to keep up, not losing sight of Yeo Un-hui.
But Peng Do-hwan could not have known.
If Yeo Un-hui truly wished it, Peng Do-hwan would never have been able to follow him in the first place.
Right now, Yeo Un-hui was merely taking a dawn stroll.
Moreover, he was well aware of Peng Do-hwan following behind him.
Which was why he had simply allowed it.
The following.
‘This is… this place is…’
Lost in pursuit, he suddenly realized he was climbing a mountain.
It was a peak some distance from the Peng Family Estate, famous for its steep terrain and towering summits.
Though climbing it wouldn’t normally be too difficult if one didn’t overexert themselves, he was still pouring everything into chasing Yeo Un-hui.
“Huff, huff-huff. Huff-huff-huff.”
His breath soon came ragged and labored.
By the time they reached the summit,
Peng Do-hwan was catching his breath when Yeo Un-hui vanished.
‘Where… where did he go?’
Peng Do-hwan whirled his head about, but saw nothing.
Then he spotted a small clearing at the mountain’s peak.
He approached it quietly,
‘There!’
In the center of the clearing, Yeo Un-hui stood motionless, eyes closed.
Relief washed over him. Peng Do-hwan held his breath and watched.
Then Yeo Un-hui opened his eyes, drew the blade hanging at his waist, and slowly raised it toward the sky.
‘What is he doing?’
That was when it happened.
Boom!
‘What—?’
A tremendous aura suddenly surged through the surrounding space.
And then,
Boom-boom-boom-boom!
Blade Aura gathered relentlessly upon the blade in his hand, expanding into something immense.
A golden aura so vast and overwhelming it rendered the observer awestruck swelled before them.
Peng Do-hwan’s eyes widened beyond measure.
And then,
Whoooosh!
The Blade Aura shot skyward.
Crack!
An enormous hole tore through the cloud-filled heavens.
“Good… good heavens… what… what was that……”
Overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the sight, Peng Do-hwan collapsed to the ground without thinking.
Soon sunlight began to pour through the hole that had opened in the sky, illuminating the clearing and Yeo Un-hui.
The sight was utterly breathtaking.
Mysterious and beautiful, even sacred in appearance.
Confronted with that extraordinary spectacle beyond words, Peng Do-hwan’s mind went blank.
He completely forgot why he had come here, what his purpose was, or how he had arrived.
What he witnessed that day was nothing less than a Divine Martial Art.
***
After that, Peng Do-hwan scarcely remembered how he made it back to his room.
Yeo Un-hui, who had demonstrated such extraordinary martial prowess, vanished swiftly not long after, and Peng Do-hwan stumbled down the mountain in a daze.
Then he collapsed onto his bed and slept through the entire day.
For some reason, he slept deeply and well.
Nothing had been resolved and questions still lingered, yet somehow his mind felt at peace.
The next day.
Peng Do-hwan dressed neatly and left his quarters.
The worry and distress that had tormented him these past few days were no longer visible on his face.
“Hmm? What brings you here?”
As before, Yeo Un-hui was at the Training Ground today.
The members of Baekrang-dae had not yet arrived.
Unlike yesterday, when he had kept his distance, Peng Do-hwan now stood directly before Yeo Un-hui.
Yeo Un-hui raised one eyebrow slightly, regarding him.
“It was you who beheaded Geuk-ak So-ma, wasn’t it, Master?”
At Peng Do-hwan’s question, Yeo Un-hui simply gazed at him in silence.
He offered no denial.
Which meant—
“I’ve always found it strange. When I think about it logically, no matter how badly Geuk-ak So-ma was wounded, it would be nearly impossible for Baekrang-dae in its current state to take his head. I was told the situation wasn’t even one of life and death either.”
And not a single member had died or suffered an irreversible fatal wound—that simply didn’t add up.
Peng Do-hwan now began to understand how things had come to pass.
It was this man. His presence was what made it all possible.
There was a strong likelihood that the story about Geuk-ak So-ma being wounded in the first place was itself untrue.
Soon Yeo Un-hui chuckled softly and crossed his arms.
“Aren’t you being rather harsh in your assessment of Baekrang-dae?”
“Perhaps you don’t know, but I spent most of my childhood at Baekrang-dae. Because of that, I acknowledge them like no one else—and I know them better than anyone else claims to.”
Had he not glimpsed Yeo Un-hui’s true nature, he might have marveled at what seemed a miraculous feat and moved on.
He might have attributed it to extraordinary fortune smiling upon them.
But that was not the case now.
He had come to understand, at least partly, the true nature of this man called Yeo Un-hui.
And he had clearly seen how the proud members of Baekrang-dae regarded him and how faithfully they followed him.
Moreover, that incomprehensible scene he had witnessed atop the mountain in the early hours of yesterday had made him fully grasp the present situation.
“It seems you’ve already arrived at your own conclusions.”
“I have.”
“And so?”
“What do you intend to do going forward?”
Peng Do-hwan was curious.
What ambition did this man harbor in his heart?
“Hmm. Quite a grand question indeed. Well, if I must answer—”
Yeo Un-hui stroked his jaw for a moment, then continued slowly.
“I would say it is to protect those whom I love. Beyond that, I have little concern for anything else.”
It might have been a somewhat disappointing answer.
He had expected something grander to fall from this man’s lips.
Yet why did his heart suddenly begin to pound like this?
Yeo Un-hui’s words were not yet finished.
“Therefore, I intend to safeguard my beloved family and this place from all the threats in the world. And to those who dare threaten them, I will show no mercy whatsoever.”
“Regardless of who they are?”
Peng Do-hwan swallowed hard.
His voice had begun to tremble.
“Even if they were the Demonic Sect, the Martial Alliance, or the Twelve Sovereigns of the Interior themselves?”
Yeo Un-hui nodded as if the answer were obvious.
“I would do so gladly.”
Anyone who heard such words would surely laugh them to scorn or recoil in disbelief, calling him mad.
But to Peng Do-hwan, that answer felt perfectly natural.
No—something whispered that this man might actually do it.
To protect those he loved from all the sorrows of the world.
It was utterly foolish, and yet it set his heart ablaze.
Ever since leaving Baekrang-dae, Peng Do-hwan had lived only as his father Peng Gyeong-ho wished—but now his eyes were opening, truly opening.
And,
‘I want to walk beside this man.’
He wanted to dream with him too.
Peng Do-hwan studied Yeo Un-hui once more, his gaze fixed and searching.
The choice he was about to make—many would find it strange, he knew, and they would mock him for it.
His father Peng Gyeong-ho would certainly rage the loudest of all.
Yet he decided to trust his own judgment.
At last, Peng Do-hwan opened his mouth to speak to Yeo Un-hui.

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