The Battle for the Heavenly Sword - Chapter 24

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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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24
Woo Geom-san’s Battle for Supremacy
“Haa! Haa!”
Woo Geom-san lay spread-eagle on a flat rock, exhaling ragged breaths.
With an expression of disbelief, he stared back down at the Rockfall Zone he had just climbed.
Now that he had passed through the Rockfall Zone, pain assaulted his entire body.
The strength had completely drained from his frame, leaving him unable to lift even a single finger. Even so, a smile played at the corners of Woo Geom-san’s lips.
He was feeling pure exhilaration at the fact that he had crossed that treacherous Rockfall Zone entirely through his own power.
Baek Ho-yang looked at Woo Geom-san and spoke.
“You went through a lot to get up here. Still, you must have gained quite a bit.”
“Yes! I felt a lot of things.”
Woo Geom-san replied, straining to push up his upper body.
An intense heat was radiating from his overworked muscles.
His entire body trembled and ached as if it were tearing apart, but that was proof that his body had grown that much.
If it meant this kind of growth, he could endure any amount of pain.
Woo Geom-san sat on the rock and calmly steadied his breathing. Soon, the energy of his surroundings began to flow into his body.
The Qi cooled the scalding heat inside him and relieved his fatigue.
It moved on its own accord, without Woo Geom-san even needing to consciously direct it.
He did not try to force control over it.
If left alone, it naturally moved to achieve harmony.
Once his depleted stamina had recovered to some extent, Woo Geom-san spoke.
“Let’s start moving again.”
“Let us do that.”
The two men once again directed their steps toward their destination.
It was after they had passed through about three high, rugged mountain peaks.
A flat basin came into their view.
Surrounded by towering mountain peaks, the basin was quite large.
Right in the middle of the basin, a village existed.
It was a tiny village consisting of barely a hundred households.
“Ah!”
The moment he saw the village, an exclamation spilled from Baek Ho-yang’s lips of its own accord.
Because this was his hometown village, which he had envisioned for so long.
No matter how deeply cultivated a Taoist he might be, his heart could not help but shake before the hometown he was seeing after such a long time.
Standing beneath a massive pine tree, he stared blankly at his native village.
Though more than several decades had passed, nothing about his hometown village had changed.
It maintained its appearance exactly as it was in his memories, as if time had ground to a halt.
To calm his turbulent emotions, Baek Ho-yang gently closed his eyes.
Sensing his state of mind, Woo Geom-san also kept his mouth tightly shut.
As a breeze blew past and shook the pine tree they stood under, a thick scent of pine drifted over.
In that moment, Baek Ho-yang found himself reciting a poem without realizing it.
Wandering among the clouds for decades, I return to lean alone against a pine tree.
The old mountains remain the same, but human affairs have all turned to emptiness.
The moss-covered rocks remember the traces of old.
The sound of the wind through the pines feels just like the breeze of the past.
I have not even wiped the dust from the hilt of my sword,
Yet tears fully well up in these old eyes.
“Haa!”
Reciting a poem that contained his deepest feelings, Baek Ho-yang let out a low sigh.
Now that he had actually returned to his hometown, a sudden surge of dread welled up inside him.
The village was the same, but it was impossible to know if anyone alive would still remember him.
He was filled with fear over what he should do if not a single person recognized him.
It almost felt as though fighting against the Cheonmyeong Association would have been easier. However, he could not stand still forever out of fear.
Forcing down his fearful heart, he spoke.
“Let’s go!”
“Will you be alright?”
“What choice do I have? I can hardly turn back now after coming all this way just because I am not alright.”
As Baek Ho-yang walked toward the village, his footsteps were heavier than ever before.
Woo Geom-san quietly followed behind Baek Ho-yang.
If they deployed the Flowing Void Steps, they could have reached the village in a single bound, but Baek Ho-yang did not do so.
He had no desire to flaunt his mastery of martial arts, nor did he wish to startle the villagers.
He wanted to enter naturally, as if he had simply left a few days ago and was just coming back.
Carrying that wish in his heart, Baek Ho-yang cautiously headed toward his native village.
In front of the village, a fairly wide stream was flowing.
“Kyaaa!”
“Hehehe!”
Inside the stream, two young children who looked remarkably alike were splashing water around and playing.
The children, who appeared to be barely six or seven years old, were playing pranks by splashing water at each other.
Completely lost in their play, the children only noticed Baek Ho-yang and Woo Geom-san when the two had nearly reached the stream.
At the appearance of unfamiliar strangers, the children’s eyes widened, and they stared blankly at the two men.
“W-Who are you?”
After a moment, the boy snapped out of it and asked blankly, while the girl ran off toward the village shouting for her mother.
Tucked deep inside Cheonbaeksan, this village had not seen an outsider arrive in several decades.
The children had never seen an outsider once in their lives.
Naturally, they had no choice but to be startled.
Understanding their feelings, Baek Ho-yang spoke in a gentle voice.
“Don’t be so frightened. This old grandfather also comes from this village.”
“Huh?”
“Do you know the house in the center of the village with the large, dead tree?”
“The dead tree?”
“The tree that died after being struck by lightning. The house with that tree, which is so massive that even two people stretching out their arms couldn’t reach around it, is where this grandfather was born.”
“Are you talking about the Village Chief’s house?”
“The Village Chief?”
Baek Ho-yang’s eyes gleamed.
In the yard of the house where he was born and raised, there had been a massive tree. The tree, so large that two adults stretching their arms could not encircle it, had been struck by lightning and died during Baek Ho-yang’s childhood.
Because the tree was so humongous, they could do nothing with it even after it died, so it had been left just as it was in the yard.
“Is the house with the dead tree the Village Chief’s House?”
“Yes! Mr. Baek from that house is the Village Chief.”
“Is that so?”
At the child’s words, a look of relief naturally washed over Baek Ho-yang’s face.
If the surname was Baek, there was a high probability that the man was related to him.
It was then.
“Did someone say an outsider came in?”
“An outsider entering the village?”
Along with a low clamor of voices, villagers began to appear from the opposite side of the stream. The young girl had brought the villagers along.
The villagers held weapons like axes and pitchforks in their hands.
An outsider entering the village was an event that hadn’t occurred in decades.
Since they had no way of knowing what intentions the outsider possessed, they had simply grabbed whatever weapons came to hand and rushed out.
From among the villagers, a middle-aged man who looked to be in his mid-to-late forties stepped forward.
The middle-aged man, whose sturdy build and piercing gaze left a strong impression, held an axe in his hand.
Pointing the axe at Baek Ho-yang, he spoke.
“Reveal your identity at once—where are you from and who are you? It would be best for you to state your purpose for entering our village while I am still speaking nicely.”
“Might you be the Village Chief of this village?”
“That’s right!”
The middle-aged man replied, raising his axe.
Looking at him, Baek Ho-yang’s eyes suddenly grew moist.
The more he looked, the more the man somehow resembled him.
“Do you also use the surname Baek?”
“How did you know my surname?”
“Because I also use the Baek surname.”
“What are you talking about? I don’t understand.”
“My name is Baek Ho-yang. I was born and raised in this village.”
“You’re saying you’re from our village? Wait, did you just say Baek Ho-yang?”
“That is correct. My father gave me that name.”
“By any chance, what was your younger brother’s name?”
“He was called Baek Ho-gyeong. He had a large mole on his right temple, so the village kids used to tease him by calling him Spotty. Every time they did, I would run out with a club and discipline them.”
“Oh my goodness!”
The Village Chief’s eyes trembled violently.
Without realizing it, he let his axe drop to the ground.
Though leading the village for ten years had made him bold enough not to be easily startled by most matters, he could not maintain his composure this time.
Baek Ho-gyeong was his grandfather.
His grandfather had possessed a distinct, large mole on his right temple. And during his lifetime, his grandfather had frequently spoken his older brother’s name, deeply missing him.
The name of the older brother his grandfather had mentioned was precisely Baek Ho-yang.
“Are you truly Baek Ho-yang? The one who left the village saying he would become a Taoist…”
“That is correct.”
“Your grandson, Baek Do-gyeong, offers his greetings to his great-uncle. My grandfather’s name was Baek Ho-gyeong.”
“You are Ho-gyeong’s grandson?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“Where is Ho-gyeong? Don’t tell me…”
“He passed away twenty years ago.”
“Haa!”
Baek Ho-yang lamented.
He had already guessed it would be so.
It was only because he was Baek Ho-yang that he could remain healthy past eighty; ordinary people found it difficult to live past sixty.
In reality, even living up to sixty was considered a long life.
“Then what about Ho-jeong?”
“My great-aunt passed away ten years ago.”
“As I thought.”
Baek Ho-jeong was Baek Ho-yang’s younger sister.
His memory of her pigtails being exceptionally cute was still vivid.
“Are Ho-jeong’s blood relatives still remaining in the village?”
“Yes! If I call for them, they will run over immediately.”
“That is a relief. To know she left behind descendants.”
Baek Ho-yang let out a faint sigh.
Baek Do-gyeong spoke.
“We shouldn’t stay out here like this; let us head to the house. I will escort you.”
“Before that, I would like to stop by my parents’ graves to pay my respects.”
“My grandfather and parents are also laid to rest in the same place. I will guide you.”
“Have your parents passed away as well?”
“They passed away together around the same time the year before last.”
“Ah! To think I never even got to see their faces…”
Baek Ho-yang lowered his head.
Only now did it truly sink in just how long he had been away from the village.
His parents, his siblings, and even his nephew were no longer of this world.
He couldn’t help but think that if even Baek Do-gyeong hadn’t been here, who would have been left to remember him?
Baek Do-gyeong led Baek Ho-yang to a hill behind the village.
On the sunny hillside, there were several graves.
These were the graves where his parents and siblings were buried.
“Huu!”
In front of the graves, Baek Ho-yang exhaled a heavy sigh.
Though he prided himself on having a heart steeled more firmly than anyone else’s through long cultivation, he could not maintain his equanimity before the graves of his kin.
For a long time, he silently caressed the mounds.
Woo Geom-san stood a short distance away, watching the scene in silence.
Because he knew that at times like this, it was better to just leave him alone rather than offer clumsy consolations.
Baek Ho-yang did not rise from the graves for quite a long while.
The sight of him quietly bowing his head and brushing the mounds made it seem as though he were conversing with the deceased.
Just when the waiting was beginning to grow tedious, Baek Ho-yang dusted the dirt from his knees and stood up from his spot.
As if he had unburdened his mind in the meantime, his expression looked considerably lighter.
“I am sorry for making you wait so long.”
“Not at all. It is only natural that I should wait.”
Baek Do-gyeong replied, waving both his hands.
“I intend to stay in the village from now on. Will you permit it?”
“Have you returned for good?”
“Yes! I intend to remain here until the day my breath leaves me.”
“Then I will escort you to my house. There are plenty of empty rooms left.”
“Won’t it be a burden to you?”
Baek Do-gyeong replied, waving both his hands.
“Please do not say such things. My grandfather also strictly charged me. He told me that if my great-uncle ever returned, I must serve you with the utmost devotion.”
“Did he really?”
“Yes! So let us live together at my house. I will absolutely never find it a nuisance.”
“I appreciate the thought, even if it’s just words.”
Baek Ho-yang flashed a gentle smile.
Baek Do-gyeong looked at Baek Ho-yang with an awkward expression before shifting his gaze to Woo Geom-san.
“By the way, who is that child?”
“He is my adopted grandson.”
“An adopted grandson? You mean he is your grandson?”
“That is correct.”
No sooner had Baek Ho-yang finished speaking than Baek Do-gyeong strode over to Woo Geom-san and extended his hand.
“Nice to meet you, little brother!”
“Little brother?”
“If you are my great-uncle’s grandson, then you can be considered a younger brother to me as well. From now on, call me big brother.”
“Ahaha!”
At Baek Do-gyeong’s joke, Woo Geom-san let out an awkward laugh.

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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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