My Father Is the Number One Under Heaven - Chapter 96

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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 96. Not Enough
“Grandfather!”
Yul-i burst into the Training Ground with a bright, radiant smile—a space where only the Clan Patriarch of the Hebei Peng Estate was permitted to practice.
She jumped directly into the arms of Peng Mugang, who was already waiting there.
“Careful, now. You’ll topple me over.”
“Hehe! I won’t fall!”
Yul-i laughed spiritedly, her breath still coming in quick gasps.
“As if anything could hurt you.”
Yet despite his chiding words, Peng Mugang smiled at her with equal warmth and affection.
Since the incident not long ago, Yul-i had thrown herself into martial arts training with remarkable fervor.
That day when she’d soared through the sky cradled in Peng Mugang’s arms seemed to have left quite an impression on her.
From Peng Mugang’s perspective, it was an ideal turn of events.
Though,
“Grandfather! Will I be able to fly after training today?!”
every lesson she asked this question with sparkling eyes, which left Peng Mugang rather flustered.
When he first heard that question, he’d agonized over whether to tell her the truth and risk her losing interest and giving up entirely.
But now he’d learned to deflect the question with grace.
“Ha ha, if you work hard today, the day you can fly will come all the sooner. So let’s do our best again today.”
“Yes, sir!”
At his words, Yul-i hoisted the Mok-do overhead with such spirited determination that Peng Mugang broke into another laugh.
The sight of his granddaughter so full of vigor made his joy overflow.
Soon her vigorous voice echoed through the Training Ground as she drilled.
It was one of those perfectly clear days, when the sky blazed a brilliant blue.
***
Much had changed since Yul-i’s abduction.
First and foremost, the Hebei Peng Clan issued a proclamation across the entire Hebei region.
The proclamation declared that from this day forward, anyone who kidnapped or abducted a child in Hebei to commit a crime would face the Peng Clan’s direct intervention, and all involved would be executed.
It was a kind of warning.
A warning that to commit such a crime would be to make the Hebei Peng Clan itself an enemy.
Everyone in the region swallowed hard and tensed at that grim proclamation.
Child abduction, of all things.
It was naturally a crime that heaven and earth would condemn together.
But until now, perpetrators would only be hunted by the magistrate and suffer legal punishment.
Now that had changed.
If anyone were to abduct a child, they would be hunted by the Peng Clan’s warriors before ever reaching a courtroom, and would end their days in excruciating pain.
Wouldn’t they be handed over to the magistrate once caught by the Clan?
No—for the Clan to make such a proclamation was as much as saying they had no intention of handing anyone over to any magistrate.
They would be caught quietly, and they would die quietly.
Now, in Hebei, no amount of money would tempt anyone to abduct a child.
Nothing was worth more than one’s life.
And this was precisely what the Peng Clan desired.
While they cultivated an atmosphere of fear, the net result was the prevention of heinous crime before it could occur.
The second change after Yul-i’s incident was that Ji-geom, commander of the Murong Division under Peng Mugang’s direct command, had been reassigned to guard a different person.
“I… beg your pardon?”
Had he misheard?
Shock flickered across Ji-geom’s usually impassive face.
For the words he’d just been given seemed impossible to believe.
To guard Young Miss Yul-i, of all things.
And not just any member of the Murong Division, but the commander himself.
On top of that, he’d been given a further order to do so in secret and with even greater care than he devoted to guarding the Clan Patriarch himself.
It was impossible not to be bewildered.
Until now, Ji-geom had never considered any duty besides guarding the Clan Patriarch.
But shock gave way to swift composure, and Ji-geom accepted the command without hesitation.
This was the first time the Clan Patriarch had ever ordered him to guard anyone else.
Yet it was precisely because of this that Ji-geom, who had watched Peng Mugang closely over the years, could understand his true intention in issuing such an order.
Peng Mugang was not one to express his feelings openly, yet no one cherished his family more deeply.
He would surely love his sole granddaughter more than ever, not less.
And Ji-geom understood that for the Patriarch to give him this command was to place trust in him—both his abilities and the man himself—beyond measure.
This was why his loyalty to Peng Mugang only deepened.
“Yes, Clan Patriarch. I shall carry out your command.”
And so Ji-geom became Yul-i’s personal bodyguard.
No one knew of it.
Well, no one except one person.
‘Assigning that man to protect Yul-i. Father-in-law is something else. Ha.’
It was Yeo Un-hwi who, at some point, noticed the aura forming around Yul-i—and he let out a wry laugh to himself.
To think Peng Mugang would assign the Patriarch’s personal protector to his granddaughter. His father-in-law’s doting on the girl had certainly reached its limits.
Not that he wasn’t pleased.
What parent wouldn’t be delighted to see his wife’s father cherish their daughter so tenderly?
Yet Yeo Un-hwi couldn’t shake the feeling that this arrangement was not purely a matter for rejoicing.
What was the reason Ji-geom had been assigned to Yul-i’s side in the first place?
To be honest, the incident had startled him deeply.
He’d prided himself on being thorough in protecting his family, but who could have predicted that something like this would happen on the very day Yul-i visited a friend’s house?
He’d never imagined it.
Or perhaps—
‘Have I grown too lax without realizing it?’
Yeo Un-hwi turned inward, examining himself.
Perhaps his guard had slipped more than he’d thought.
No matter how many other urgent matters had arisen, his wife and daughter remained the most important things in his life.
That would never change.
Because they were the reason he lived, his everything.
And yet he had nearly lost that most precious thing again.
Absurdly, at the hands of mere thugs—common criminals who barely deserved mention.
Fortunately, thanks to Peng Mugang, Yul-i had emerged unharmed. But still……
Worry etched itself plainly across Yeo Un-hwi’s face.
Much had been arranged for Yul-i since that incident.
The Hebei Peng Clan had taken it upon itself to hunt down her abductors to the ends of the Central Plains, and Peng Mugang had even assigned his own personal guard to protect her.
That wasn’t all.
The Baeklang Dae were conspiring amongst themselves to do something secretly for Yul-i, and Peng Sejin kept making various suggestions to Yeo Un-hwi whenever the opportunity arose.
He was truly grateful.
And yet—was he being greedy? No matter what was done, it never felt like enough. It wasn’t sufficient.
Something more was needed.
A way to protect Yul-i with certainty if she ever found herself in danger and alone again.
So Yeo Un-hwi spent days, even weeks, wrestling with the problem.
But nothing concrete came to mind.
It was the first time since his return that he’d failed to find an answer to such a question.
Then, quite suddenly, the face of a certain man surfaced in his thoughts.
Might he know something about this?
And so the very next day.
“…Hmm. So such a thing happened.”
Jin So-baek, master of the Hao Wen, nodded slowly, then fell into thought before speaking again.
“Something like a Guardian Mirror would serve you well in such circumstances.”
“A Guardian Mirror?”
Yeo Un-hwi asked for clarification, and Jin So-baek nodded.
“Indeed. It is a divine artifact that possesses the power to protect and safeguard its owner. I hear that once activated, its effect persists until the user wills it to cease. Remarkable, is it not? Which is precisely why it is counted among the Seven Great Divine Treasures.”
The Seven Great Divine Treasures referred to a collection of sacred implements, each bearing mysterious and wondrous power.
The most renowned among them were the Coiling Dragon Saber of the Daohuang and the Water Dragon Spear of Chang Gui.
To speak of the Guardian Mirror in the same breath as those… such a thing existed?
“Yes, that’s it.”
How had he not thought of it?
Yeo Un-hwi felt as though he’d finally found his answer.
Yet contrary to Yeo Un-hwi’s brightened expression, Jin So-baek—who had paused to consider something further—shook his head.
“My apologies. I have misspoken. Please disregard what I just said.”
“Why?”
Yeo Un-hwi’s head tilted in confusion.
To speak, then ask to be forgotten—it made no sense.
As far as he could tell, there was nothing else that would serve his purposes.
“Because the Guardian Mirror is in the possession of Youling Shenjun.”
“Youling Shenjun?”
“Yes. That Youling Shenjun, one of the Ten Great Masters.”
One of the Ten Great Masters, no less.
The Ten Great Masters were the supreme cultivators who stood one rank directly below the Twelve Supremes.
In other eras when the Twelve Supremes did not exist, the Ten Great Masters had been the absolute sovereigns representing the Martial World for the majority of the time.
In other words, since the millennium after that age of greatest upheaval and golden era of the Martial World, in this present age now called a new golden era, those Ten Great Masters were the absolute masters—save only for the Twelve Supremes themselves—against whom few could stand.
Thus Jin So-baek’s words, asking him to forget what he had said, made perfect sense.
Who on earth could snatch that treasure from the hands of one of the Ten Great Masters?
If worst came to worst, he could simply use the Guardian Mirror and be done with it.
Even Chang Gui himself, one of the Twelve Supremes, had once failed to kill Youling Shenjun—a tale that was quite well-known.
All because of that Guardian Mirror.
What that meant was that killing him would not be an easy task, even for one of the Twelve Supremes.
“Moreover, Youling Shenjun’s movements are so mysteriously elusive that tracking his whereabouts is extraordinarily difficult.”
“Hmm. I see.”
Yet despite all this explanation, Yeo Un-hwi showed not the slightest sign of giving up.
Rather, his face shone with interest.
Ha… haha.
Was this man simply fearless?
No matter that he had felled the Absolute Demon, Youling Shenjun stood one tier above even that.
So what on earth was the source of this confidence?
Jin So-baek found himself hoping that one of Hao Wen’s few precious patrons and financial lifelines would not go and do something rash to shorten his own days.
At that moment, Yeo Un-hwi regarded Jin So-baek with a peculiar smile.
“So you’re saying it’s difficult to follow the trail of this Youling Shenjun?”
“Yes. That is correct.”
“Then Hao Wen, supreme as it is under heaven, cannot discern his location either—is that what you’re telling me?”
“Yes. Or rather… yes?”
“No matter how much you offered, it would lie beyond Hao Wen’s capability. That’s what you’re saying, correct?”
“No, that’s not the issue. What I mean is…….”
“Hmph! How vexing! Here I came seeking Hao Wen, which I hear has supreme intelligence-gathering prowess under heaven, and this is what I get. I should have sought out Gae Bang instead. My disappointment knows no bounds…….”
“How can you say such a thing!”
Jin So-baek, having held his tongue as long as he could, finally burst out.
Gae Bang? Gae Bang, of all things?
Comparison was the one thing Jin So-baek despised most.
Jin So-baek, who ordinarily prided himself on composure, spoke with visible indignation.
“How could you possibly compare us to those wretched beggars? In information-gathering, Hao Wen surpasses Gae Bang by leaps and bounds. Nay—by a hundred years we stand ahead! How can you speak such nonsense so casually?”
“Oh really?”
“Of course!”
“Then you can locate Youling Shenjun whenever you wish?”
“Naturally. If I set my mind to it, there is no information I cannot obtain. A mere location like that—I could uncover it within half a day, perhaps less.”
“Truly?”
“Truly.”
“Ah?”
Yeo Un-hwi let out a soft laugh, and only then did Jin So-baek realize—ah—that he had fallen squarely into the trap.
He had been skillfully manipulated.
“Well then, there remains but one final question. I trust you know this part well enough. Be honest with me.”
“Tch… what would you ask?”
As Yeo Un-hwi’s expression grew deadly serious, Jin So-baek raised an eyebrow slightly.
What kind of question could it be?
“Youling Shenjun—is he a villain or a righteous man?”
“Pardon? Well, that would naturally be…….”
It was hardly a difficult question.
It was a question whose answer all under heaven already knew.
At Jin So-baek’s reply, Yeo Un-hwi broke into a bright smile.
For some reason, that smile sent shivers down Jin So-baek’s spine.

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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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