Chapter 118: Sayeon, Makes a Request

Two daggers cut through the air.

Lee Jaseung was practicing Yama’s Dagger Art using both daggers at once.

Originally, the art was meant to be wielded with a single dagger, except for a few techniques. That was its foundation.

But Lee Jaseung was polishing it with two.

Thanks to his mastery of close-combat technique and Limitless Steps, his movements became even faster and more flexible. On top of that, his Qi, which had reached five hundred forty years worth, supported his forms solidly. What unfolded was nothing less than a flawless martial art.

Even when he used both hands for offense, his defense never faltered.

In this moment, it truly felt like there was no one he could lose to.

At the thought, his heart throbbed with excitement.

Lee Jaseung made no effort to calm it down. He trusted himself not to let this energy drift into vain arrogance. He wasn’t some green youth anymore.

He realized something.

The Yama’s Dagger Art, which he once thought complete, could transform in such a way.

There was a world he had yet to know.

If his subordinates ever heard him say this, they would be shocked, but Lee Jaseung steeled himself.

‘I still have a long way to go.’

* * *

On a cliff overlooking a manor stood a man with his face covered.

On his forehead was written a single character, Rain.

He was a man who seemed to belong with the wind tugging at his robes, a man whose eyes looked heavy with the sorrow of clouds about to spill rain.

Yet that sorrow never gave him a weak air. It was sadness so deep and profound that it made him look stronger.

From the wrinkles near his eyes, he seemed well past middle age, yet his gaze shone so clear that one could believe he was still in his twenties.

Behind him, a man bearing the character Earth descended. His voice trembled with agitation.

“Black is dead.”

Among them, only their leader, Mountain, stood above the rest. The others were equals.

But there were exceptions. Some were Mountain’s direct vassals, men who stood higher than the rest. Rain was one of them.

“Even with the lunar eclipse, Black was killed. Black, who wielded invincible power in the dark.”

Despite Earth’s words, Rain showed no reaction.

“Just who is that bastard?”

Even though the Undying Ghouls and the Water Ghosts had been mobilized, the assassination failed. And now, even Black, who had been responsible, was dead.

Rain spoke without turning around.

“Even if it’s us… mistakes can happen.”

“Of course.”

But Earth, though he answered without hesitation, didn’t understand exactly what kind of mistake Rain meant. Did he mean they hadn’t known who the opponent was, or that they had sent someone who wasn’t a match for him?

He wasn’t even sure whether he himself was included in the “us” Rain spoke of.

‘No, I must not be. If I were, he wouldn’t be asking me about that man right now.’

Swallowing down his discontent, Earth spoke again.

“Foolish Jang Wonso made him the Captain of the Virtuous Heroes.”

It was a complaint, meant to say that the target had become even harder to eliminate. Rain turned slightly, glancing back.

“Do you think he’s foolish for that?”

“Is he not?”

“If he were foolish, we never would have chosen him as Alliance Leader in the first place.”

That word again, we. Earth already disliked Jang Wonso, but what he hated even more was the sense of distance in that “we.”

“I misspoke, my apologies.”

“Leave the thinking to us. You just follow orders.”

“Understood.”

Rain looked forward again and spoke.

“The elimination order hasn’t been revoked yet, has it?”

“No, it’s still valid.”

“Summon Wrath.”

Wrath, the character for fury.

Earth flinched at the name.

“You mean the bastard is that strong?”

The very question revealed what it meant to bring in Wrath. Wrath was a man of extraordinary skill.

“Understood.”

Earth felt sure Wrath would be able to kill Lee Jaseung. That was how deadly he was. And just as dangerous.

Rain asked again.

“What about Heaven?”

“After meeting Yim Sayeon, he returned to his quarters and hasn’t stepped outside since.”

“And Yim Sayeon?”

“She came here and met with Seop Mu-pyeong.”

Reports had already reached them that Yim Sayeon and Seop Mu-pyeong had met several times since the One Fleeting Dream tavern.

“I don’t know why she’s meeting with him, but one thing is certain. Yim Sayeon will try to save Heaven, no matter what.”

“Probably.”

“Then wouldn’t it be best to remove the threat in advance? As he is now, Heaven could be…”

Rain’s lips curled into a strange smile.

“Yes, even a passing child could kill him.”

Earth let out his true thoughts.

“I don’t understand. Why choose such a difficult path?”

“It’s not that we are choosing a difficult path. It’s following the natural course.”

“What is the natural course?”

Rain gave no answer, and only looked down at the landscape below the mountain with eyes impossible to read.

* * *

“Grandmother! I missed you!”

She ran into Yim Sayeon’s arms.

Lee Jaseung had brought Baek Seolyoung with him to meet her. She hadn’t yet left this place.

“You’ve changed a lot.”

“Huh?”

“No matter how happy you were, you never ran into my arms like this before, did you?”

“Did I really not?”

Now that she thought about it, she had never acted so openly.

Well, her life had changed entirely, after all.

“I heard about what the two of you are to each other.”

Lee Jaseung had told her honestly. His grandfather, who had taught him martial arts, was Yim Sayeon’s disciple. That meant Yim Sayeon knew his true identity.

What a wondrous thing human ties could be.

Baek Seolyoung looked at Lee Jaseung this time.

Meeting eyes was the same act as always, but day by day, the feeling changed.

Closer. Yet more exciting. The freshness of a relationship in flux.

When she turned back to Yim Sayeon, the older woman was smiling.

“You look good together.”

“Really?”

Yim Sayeon nodded, and Baek Seolyoung’s smile brightened with joy.

‘Yes, you saw that right.’

That was the comfort of Yim Sayeon. She never mentioned worries that others would dwell on. She was of the Orthodox Faction, the Lord of the Northern Sky Clan, yet she didn’t once ask how she could be in love with the Black Way Alliance’s Leader.

Because she didn’t treat it as a concern, it wasn’t stifling. That was what Baek Seolyoung liked about her.

Yim Sayeon’s eyes were saying this.

These things sort themselves out with time.

“What about your tavern?”

“I closed it.”

“Completely fearless, aren’t you?”

“They’ll all be heartbroken. Without my liquor and cooking.”

“Haha. I’m sure they will.”

In truth, Baek Seolyoung wanted to say, That can’t be, but she couldn’t bring herself to say it aloud.

After sharing drinks and catching up, Back Baek Seolyoung rose first.

“I’ll go ahead. You two have a nice talk.”

Mook Young escorted her.

Lee Jaseung was certain that the ones watching him through the crows were backed by Alliance Leader Jang Wonso.

He knew they were no ordinary force. And since they now knew he had killed the man marked Black, they would surely strike in some way.

What worried him most was Baek Seolyoung. So he reassigned all his guards to her protection.

In the past, it might have been different, but now he had reached a realm where he needed no protection. Any foe who could kill him now would not be stopped by guards anyway.

Mook Young accepted the order willingly.

He knew well how far Lee Jaseung’s martial skill had advanced.

Though his duty was to protect Lee Jaseung, he was convinced that at this moment, protecting Baek Seolyoung was more important.

He also sent word to headquarters to dispatch many more female warriors.

Among the Guard Hall, there had always been women like Dan Ah, but they were few.

He knew Baek Seolyoung would be more at ease among women, and when he returned to guarding Lee Jaseung himself, he wanted them to stay with her. So he called for as many as possible.

As she was leaving, Yim Sayeon came close and hugged her gently.

“Well done.”

At those words, Baek Seolyoung’s heart swelled and tears threatened.

She had longed to hear that from someone other than Lee Jaseung. Anyone. But she knew no one would say it. To receive it, sincerely, even from one person, was everything.

The fact that it was Yim Sayeon made it even more precious.

“Yes, Grandma.”

Baek Seolyoung beamed.

Lee Jaseung thought her smile, glistening with unshed tears, was the most beautiful sight in the world.

When she left the inn, only Lee Jaseung and Yim Sayeon remained.

They shared silent cups of liquor until Lee Jaseung spoke first.

“It’s thanks to you that I found the courage.”

It was true. Her scolding had forced him to recognize his mistake.

“It was your courage, not mine.”

He smiled faintly.

Silence fell again. Lee Jaseung knew well where this silence came from. It was tied to the very reason she had shown herself here. The reason she had sought him out.

Depending on what she said next, his fate could change.

He would have to decide.

Whether to accept her request, or refuse it.

If even Yim Sayeon found it hard to ask, then what task could it be? Was there truly anything in the world of Jianghu she could not handle?

When the last bottle was empty, Yim Sayeon finally spoke the words in her heart.

“Will you help me?”

“If it’s something I can do.”

He didn’t say that he would do anything.

Her gaze deepened.

“First, there’s somewhere I want you to go with me.”

* * *

The place Yim Sayeon brought Lee Jaseung to was a manor near the Murim Alliance.

The same place she had gone to when she first came searching for her son.

Lying on the bed inside was her son, Cheon Myeongin.

“It’s my son.”

Lee Jaseung was startled.

“What happened?”

He took the man’s wrist and probed his body. His meridians were tangled in chaos, his organs barely functioning. It was clear he could never recover.

When Lee Jaseung looked at her, Yim Sayeon gave a single nod.

“All my life, I’ve been angry with him. You don’t know what it feels like to be angry with your own child, don’t you?”

Lee Jaseung nodded quietly. He had lost his parents young, so he didn’t know much about parental love. There had been times he was angry at his father, but those were brief.

Now he understood what she wanted.

“You wish to save him?”

Of course. Whether a hundred years or a thousand, blood ties never changed.

But after a long silence, Yim Sayeon replied.

“No.”

The answer made him flinch.  

Then came the words he had never expected.

“I sought you because I didn’t want to ask such a trivial person to do this.”

Her sigh carried deep weariness.

“Kill this child for me.”

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