Chapter 71: Knot That Cannot Be Untied (3)

The greatest swordsman of the time, Baek Sung-cheon.

He, who had earned the nickname of the Immortal Divine Sword, had long reigned as the iron-blooded Clan Head.

After creating the peerless martial arts of the Immortal Divine Art and Heaven’s Shadow Sword Technique, he was the unshakeable master of the Baek Clan. Such was his stature that, having ascended to the position of Clan Head at twenty-one, he maintained that status well past seventy.

He had a son, but the boy did not particularly stand out.

It wasn’t that he didn’t love his child. The boy was a latecomer, and even though a bit frail, he was dearly cherished.

It was just that Baek Woo-kyun was overshadowed by his father’s name and could not spread his own wings. That was the only thing that was slightly regrettable.

The son was not without talent, so perhaps one day he would show some brilliant results.

Baek Sung-cheon often imagined that.

He envisioned the moment his child would surpass him, saying, “Father, I have finally come to stand beside you.”

When he entertained such thoughts, a smile would form at the corners of his mouth.

Though he had lived a life devoted solely to the sword, he had the heart of a parent. What parent would not be pleased to see their child catch up to them?

He certainly had thought that way.

“There is a problem with the Radiant Yang Cultivation Technique in the Immortal Divine Art. It’s fine when mastery is low, but when it exceeds ten levels, the fire Qi becomes excessive. The proportion of the Great Yin Flow should be increased.”

One day, his son Baek Woo-kyun brought up this peculiar issue. It was a claim that there was a problem with the two divine arts that had made Baek Sung-cheon the greatest swordsman in the world.

At first, he snorted in derision.

“Improvements are necessary for the Great Yin Flow as well. Currently, its practicality is too weak. It should serve to develop the middle and upper dantian, rather than just the initial intent…”

“…Hmm.”

The second time he heard such a comment, Baek Sung-cheon became visibly upset. It was likely a blow to his pride.

However, eventually, when his son took his granddaughter’s hand and came to assert his theories, when Baek Sung-cheon finally realized the validity in his son’s words.

“The latter three forms of the Heaven’s Shadow Sword Technique… are the sword techniques of the wayward path. They don’t align with the Radiant Yang Cultivation Technique. The explosive destructive power is certainly a result of the fire Qi, but as the mastery of the Radiant Yang Cultivation Technique and the Heaven’s Shadow Sword Technique increases, an adverse synergistic effect will occur.”

“That is…”

“Father, the frequent fits of anger and feelings of suffocation might be side effects of the Radiant Yang Cultivation Technique. No, it is certain. Over time, it could even lead to madness or harm the body.”

Baek Sung-cheon could not feel any sense of pride.

His son was pointing out his shortcomings.

If it had been utter nonsense, he would have simply laughed it off. But it wasn’t. Baek Sung-cheon had also sensed that there were issues with the Radiant Yang Cultivation Technique and the Heaven’s Shadow Sword Technique.

He had been in denial all this time, but never would he have imagined that his son would precisely pinpoint the cause that even he had failed to notice.

“You… you disappointing fool!”

He lashed out in anger.

As he did, a wave of shame overwhelmed him even more.

Despite being flustered and blushing, the son resolutely stood his ground.

“G-go ahead, tell me what is wrong if you think there is a mistake.”

“What do you mean?”

“I have presented clear evidence.”

When both father and son were stubborn, there was little chance of the conversation resolving smoothly.

Discussing martial arts couldn’t be settled with words alone.

Baek Woo-kyun took up his sword to demonstrate directly, and Baek Sung-cheon also took up his sword in response.

What happened next could only be described as an accident.

It was neither a life-and-death duel nor a sparring match. They had no intention of drawing blood, yet blood was drawn.

Was it because the day was particularly cold, making their bodies stiff?

Was the problem the puddle of water from the leak in the ceiling, which Baek Woo-kyun stepped on during his demonstration of the Heaven’s Shadow Sword Technique, causing him to falter?

Or was it truly the excessive fire Qi of the Radiant Yang Cultivation Technique that enraged Baek Sung-cheon?

Was that why he slashed his son’s throat with the tip of his sword?

“Cough, cough!”

“Ah…”

When his son fell clutching his throat, Baek Sung-cheon stood there stupidly, not at all befitting the title of the greatest swordsman in the world.

Blood was streaming through the fingers of Baek Woo-kyun’s hand.

“Father, cough, fath… hic.”

The inability to speak properly suggested that his windpipe had been cut.

The Immortal Divine Sword, who had cut down countless people before, knew all too well how grave such a wound was.

“Dad, dad!”

His granddaughter, who was of age and often acted like an adult, also clung to Baek Woo-kyun, weeping. She tried to press on the wound to stop the bleeding, but it was impossible to stem the flow of blood.

“I-I will bring a doctor.”

When Baek Sung-cheon said that, his granddaughter turned her head.

In her eyes were suspicion, fear, anger, and confusion.

When the Immortal Divine Sword ran out and came back dragging a doctor by the neck.

His only son was already dead.

His granddaughter, with blood all over her hands and face, was sitting down in a daze, her eyes empty.

That day, the Immortal Divine Sword became a sinner.

He had killed Baek Woo-kyun, his only son and the Clan Head, in front of his granddaughter.

The Immortal Divine Sword fled from the clan a few days later.

No one knew where he went.

The clan announced to the martial world that the Immortal Divine Sword had died of old age.

And nearly a hundred years passed.

The deceased Immortal Divine Sword stood before his granddaughter, borrowing the body of a distant descendant.

“Ryeong…”

“Grandfa… ther?”

She had refused to engage in conversation, but even after the Immortal Divine Sword appeared before her, she could not do so.

“Yes, it’s me.”

“Why in the world…”

The granddaughter, who had not been even twenty the last time he saw her, had aged significantly. Moisture glistened at the corners of her wrinkled eyes.

“Why… did you run away?”

Baek Young-ryeong also knew it had been an unintentional accident. She had seen how much the Immortal Divine Sword had suffered after killing his son.

But the Immortal Divine Sword had fled, abandoning his clan and his granddaughter, as if to hide from the sin he had already committed.

“You should have stayed, stayed till the end. I, we…”

The Immortal Divine Sword fell to his knees. And he apologized to his granddaughter.

“I am sorry.”

“Sorry? Is that what you came to say!”

Baek Ryu-san and Baek Jin-tae, the brothers, ultimately failed to untie the knot that had been wrongly tied. Twenty years was, after all, a long time.

Then, what about the Immortal Divine Sword and Baek Young-ryeong? Now, after a hundred years have passed, with what words can the knot be untied?

The Immortal Divine Sword knelt down, pressing his forehead to the ground.

In front of him, Baek Young-ryeong stood, not knowing what to do.

“Killing my son, leaving Ryeong, you to fend for yourself and fleeing, all are sins I have committed.”

“Of course, they are!”

“It was something that I couldn’t reverse.”

“So, you think by remaining as a spirit, unable to attain Nirvana, wandering the world, you will receive forgiveness?”

Baek Young-ryeong’s voice trembled, even as she was angry.

“It was me who asked Azure Forest for it. I said I needed more time, that I wanted to remain in this world even as a spirit.”

“For what reason exactly…”

Through a conversation with Yi-gang, Baek Young-ryeong also came to understand that the Immortal Divine Sword had endured for decades as a ghost in the dark underground space of the manor.

“To prove it.”

“Prove what?”

“That your father was right. I needed to prove that I was the one who was wrong.”

Baek Young-ryeong thought of her deceased father.

Baek Woo-kyun’s lifelong goal was not to become the greatest in the world like his father. His earnest desire was to improve and advance the proud martial arts of his father, the Heaven’s Shadow Sword Technique and the Immortal Divine Art.

Although, in fact, Baek Woo-kyun had died receiving a scolding from the Immortal Divine Sword.

“Wh-what are you saying?”

“There wasn’t a single fault in Woo-kyun’s words. I found it out too late, in that child’s room. He had been diligently researching the Radiant Yang Cultivation Technique and the Heaven’s Shadow Sword Technique. It wasn’t something he thought up overnight. He had been researching it for a long time to show it to me.”

“It was father’s dream, after all. You might not have known, grandfather.”

“That child’s insight was, without a doubt, superior to mine. I was the only one who didn’t realize it.”

The Immortal Divine Sword had said to Yi-gang that among those he had seen, Yi-gang possessed the second greatest talent.

The first was his own son whom he had killed.

“I took all that the child had been studying and left the clan. I was too ashamed to look at you, too ashamed to face the clan members.”

“Then… why didn’t you come back?”

“It took far longer than I expected. I kept thinking just a little more, just a bit more, and then death was upon me. I had corrected the Heaven’s Shadow Sword Technique and the Radiant Yang Cultivation Technique, but I couldn’t improve the Great Yin Flow as Woo-kyun had intended. That’s why I asked the Azure Forest.”

To seal his soul within his sword, so that he could continue meditation on earth.

The Immortal Divine Sword continued to refine his martial arts in the state of a soul. Unbeknownst to him, it was a complex process that even the deceased Baek Woo-kyun would not have been able to complete had he been alive.

Finally, he had completed his son’s dream.

As predicted by the current Forest Lord of Azure Forest, he also met a person of fate named Yi-gang.

“So, my father’s martial arts…”

“I have passed them on to this child.”

The Immortal Divine Sword, using Yi-gang’s body, placed his hand on his own chest.

With a bitter smile, the Immortal Divine Sword continued haltingly, “He’s a good kid. Now, he feels like my own grandson. He reminds me of Woo-kyun when he was young. Perhaps even more mature than him.”

“…”

“The Heaven’s Shadow Sword Technique that I taught this child is not the one that Ryeong forbade. It’s the one that I modified according to Woo-kyun’s intentions.”

Baek Young-ryeong’s eyes flickered rapidly.

It was not a mistake. The shadow of her father that she had glimpsed in the latter three forms of the Heaven’s Shadow Sword Technique Yi-gang had displayed.

“I have also taught him the improved Great Yin Flow… Though without talent, one could not learn it, but he’s an exceptional child. I thought I needed to tell you, Ryeong.”

The Immortal Divine Sword spoke with forced calmness.

“How could I ask for your forgiveness.”

The unfulfilled wish that he had not been able to lead him to Nirvana was not something he could dare to ask forgiveness for from his granddaughter.

“Just to return a little bit of what Woo-kyun, whom I took from you, had left behind…”

Though it could not compensate for his sins.

To pass on the will of her deceased father to his granddaughter. That is why he had endured for a hundred years.

“…I have only returned this late.”

Now, he had no more regrets.

Surely I won’t be able to go to paradise, so I might as well fall into hell with peace of mind.

With that thought, the Immortal Divine Sword’s expression hardened.

It was because Baek Young-ryeong had suddenly collapsed.

“Rye-Ryeong.”

“Sob.”

It was said that the elderly did not cry easily. Yet, large tears formed and fell from Baek Young-ryeong’s eyes.

“…Please don’t go.”

“…”

“Still, please don’t go. Do you know how I’ve lived? How much blood I had to get on my hands at such a young age, too young to bear the responsibility of the clan.”

Baek Young-ryeong wept sorrowfully.

“All my life, I resented you. I lived like that… and now you say such things, what am I supposed to do? If even in death you cannot achieve Nirvana and claim you’ve paid for your sins for a hundred years, then what should I…”

“I-I’m sorry. I…”

“Now I can’t even blame you anymore…”

Baek Young-ryeong couldn’t continue speaking and just cried.

Even after hearing all the circumstances, it was impossible to resent her grandfather as before.

A directionless sorrow and resentment overflowed as tears.

In front of Baek Young-ryeong, who was wailing, the Immortal Divine Sword stood dumbfounded.

He had braced himself for curses. He didn’t even dare to expect forgiveness.

But he had never imagined his granddaughter would cry so bitterly.

The Immortal Divine Sword, adept at controlling sword energy, did not know how to handle his crying granddaughter, especially now that she was an old woman, Baek Young-ryeong.

As he dithered, a voice echoed in the Immortal Divine Sword’s head.

「What are you doing standing there?」

‘Heuk!’

It was obviously Yi-gang’s voice.

Yi-gang, who had been observing everything up until now, had interjected.

‘Th-that startled me.’

「Are you going to stand there like a stone Buddha?」

‘What am I supposed to do then? She’s crying so sorrowfully. And she hates me so much for the sins I have committed.’

「Of course, that is true, but in a case like this…」

Yi-gang sighed and said a word of advice, ‘I’ve been kept alive by you up till now, so this time, let me help you.’

How could he possibly help?

The moment the Immortal Divine Sword thought this, the body moved on its own.

“Oh.”

Before he knew it, he let out a pathetic sound, and by then, he was already embracing Baek Young-ryeong.

Just as the Immortal Divine Sword had moved Yi-gang’s body, Yi-gang too had moved on his own.

“Poor soul.”

Such words spilled from his mouth naturally, and his hands patted Baek Young-ryeong’s back gently.

“Sob, Grandfather.”

Baek Young-ryeong, who had stiffened in shock, soon began to cry again.

「If you have nothing to say, at least pat her on the back.」

‘Th-thank you!’

Having regained control of the body, the Immortal Divine Sword earnestly patted his granddaughter’s back.

“Cry, let it all out. How hard it must have been for you alone. I am sorry.”

“Ugh-huh!”

Baek Young-ryeong cried her heart out, just as the Immortal Divine Sword had said.

The Immortal Divine Sword, too, could freely pat Baek Young-ryeong’s back to his heart’s content.

A heart frozen for over a hundred years cannot thaw in an instant.

But it was undeniable that a warm breeze had begun to blow through a heart as cold as midwinter.

Moisture gathered at the corners of the Immortal Divine Sword’s eyes. He smiled a complex smile.

‘I shall never forget the grace I received today…’

「I hope so.」

Looking at the sea of tears from a third-person perspective, Yi-gang also smiled.

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