I Became the Hidden Ruler of the Martial World

When Tang Yuhwa was just suppressed by Seo Heoyun.

'Yuhwa!!'

Baek Yoonjun tried to rush towards that place.

But he couldn't take a step from where he was.

'What can I do in my current state?'

A negative thought that rose from the depths of his heart held him back.

A sense of powerlessness, as if he could do nothing.

It was a very familiar feeling for Baek Yoonjun.

Starting from his past life until before he learned martial arts, he had always suffered from a sense of powerlessness.

The difference from his previous life was that although he was cooped up somewhere, this time he had learned martial arts.

Although Baek Yoonjun thought it was a trivial realm, thanks to that trivial realm, he was able to muster a very small courage, and he had made many connections that were hard for him to imagine.

'But now, I don't have that martial art.'

Baek Yoonjun tried to move forward somehow, but his feet were as heavy as if they were made of lead.

At that moment, a faint wind blew around Baek Yoonjun.

'Of all times, my mental illness has to act up now!'

Baek Yoonjun thought it was a whisper like before.

But this time, something was different.

The scenery around Baek Yoonjun changed like a hallucination.

'What is this now?!'

In front of his eyes, a man was lying down, and a child was nursing him.

'I don't know that man. But that child is...'

The child nursing the man was a child familiar to Baek Yoonjun as well.

'It looks like Yuhwa when she was young.'

Tang Yuhwa, who looked younger than when Baek Yoonjun had first met her, was anxiously taking care of the man.

Tang Yuhwa, who looked more immature and had a more diverse expression of emotions than now, desperately nursed the man.

Tang Yuhwa's gaze did not leave the man, and Baek Yoonjun also naturally turned his gaze to the man.

'I don't know why, but it feels like I can hear that man's inner thoughts.'

Baek Yoonjun, who was in the position of watching them as a complete third party, listened to the sound he was hearing.

-I thought I was happy for a while, but in the end, my karma has come back to me.

The man was lamenting, crying inwardly.

For some reason, Baek Yoonjun could feel all of the man's feelings and the voice of his heart.

'Deep regret... what did this man do to be regretting so deeply.'

Since he couldn't know his thoughts, he didn't know what the man was regretting, but he felt the depth of that regret keenly.

A feeling as if endlessly sinking into a mudflat and drowning.

'It hurts...'

That feeling, which he could never get used to, swept over Baek Yoonjun once, and the scene in front of his eyes changed.

This time, their positions were reversed, and Tang Yuhwa, who looked to be in a very bad condition, was lying down, and the man was nursing her.

This time too, Baek Yoonjun could feel the man's thoughts and senses keenly.

'The heavens are so heartless. Why do you make Yuhwa bear the karma that should have ended with me!'

The man was crying inwardly again.

No, he was shedding tears of blood.

A deep sense of despair added to the regret he had felt before was pulling the man down endlessly.

Baek Yoonjun also felt as if his heart would be torn apart by the man's emotions.

Because he also had a memory of tasting the same feeling, though not the same experience.

After a time that felt like an eternity, as if his heart would be torn apart, the scene changed again.

This time, the man was dying.

His whole body was torn and melting.

In that unbearable pain, the man was, for some reason, relieved.

'So this is how I receive my karma.'

In the man's relieved heart, a single thread of worry was seeping in.

'I will take all the karma with me, so please, just Yuhwa...'

That was.

'I just hope Yuhwa lives happily...'

It was just the wish of a father.

A very common wish, if you will, of wanting a child to be safe and happy.

But a deep, deep wish that could not be compared to anything else.

That deep wish resonated in Baek Yoonjun's chest.

Because he also had the same feeling.

Because the subject was Tang Yuhwa.

At that moment, the illusion in front of Baek Yoonjun's eyes had disappeared.

He was on the stage without realizing it.

Clang!

He had drawn his sword.

His legs were still heavy, and the hand holding the sword was trembling, but he had blocked the sword flying towards Tang Yuhwa.

"I'm sorry I'm late."

Swallowing his trembling heart, Baek Yoonjun spat out his honest feelings.

'I am a trash-like human.'

Baek Yoonjun was still afraid.

'I'm not good at anything, and I'm a subhuman being who was just cooped up in a corner of my room, afraid of everything.'

The hand holding the sword was still trembling slightly.

But.

'Even such trash has a moment when it has to move.'

Suppressing his fearful heart, Baek Yoonjun gritted his teeth, raised his head, and glared at the opponent.

'And that's now.'

His sword struggled to parry the opponent's sword.

---

Seo Heoyun looked at the parried sword with a confused gaze.

'I didn't even see when he came up here. But.'

He hadn't seen when or where Baek Yoonjun had rushed onto the stage.

But.

'What on earth is this sword now? It was a sword like that of an ordinary person.'

A sword from which no energy or presence could be felt.

It was a sword that he couldn't even figure out how it had parried his own sword.

'The previous sword was definitely a sword that could not be rashly approached, but now.'

Seo Heoyun's eyes glinted as he scanned the man in white in front of him.

A somewhat anxious look.

It felt as if he couldn't control his body properly.

'Is his body not in good condition? Then this is a chance!'

Having finished his judgment, Seo Heoyun's sword glinted and flew towards Baek Yoonjun.

Having confirmed that Baek Yoonjun was belatedly and clumsily raising his sword, Seo Heoyun.

'It worked!'

He did not doubt that his sword would cut down the opponent.

But.

Clang!

Although it was a slow and clumsy sword, his sword was blocked by that sword.

'What on earth is this?!'

Although Seo Heoyun was flustered by the blocked sword again, he soon recovered and launched another sword strike.

But.

Clang.

Seo Heoyun's sword strikes were blocked in succession.

An incomprehensible phenomenon.

The sword of the man in white in front of him was being swung slowly and clumsily, but it continued to block his own sword.

'This is impossible! What on earth is this harmony!!'

Feeling a sensation as if sinking into a deep swamp, Seo Heoyun continued to swing his sword.

Because that was the only struggle he could do.

---

Baek Yoonjun desperately swung his sword and blocked the opponent's sword.

Having blocked the first sword strike, Baek Yoonjun was inwardly relieved, but.

'I managed to block it somehow, but what about the next one?'

The mind of Baek Yoonjun, an extreme homebody introvert, began to lean towards the negative side.

'It's coming!'

Another sword strike flying in.

Baek Yoonjun swung his sword with a desperate resolve.

He didn't even dare to think of attacking, and he swung with the intention of continuously focusing on the opponent's sword and blocking it.

Clang!

At first, he was just desperate, but as time passed, Baek Yoonjun became confused.

'How am I continuing to block this?'

The opponent was below the third-rate by Baek Yoonjun's standards, but he was a martial artist who used internal energy.

On the other hand, Baek Yoonjun was in a state where he couldn't even use the Heart Sword, the power he had obtained instead of internal energy.

By logic, it should have been impossible to block, but for some reason, Baek Yoonjun was continuing to block the opponent's sword.

'Why? No matter how I think about it, it's normal that I should have been cut down long ago.'

The Heart Sword, which he had used with a similar feeling to internal energy because he had gotten the hang of it, was a situation where he couldn't use it now.

And it wasn't that his internal energy had returned either.

With a body that was like the state before he had learned martial arts, Baek Yoonjun was continuing to block the opponent's sword.

'Something... I think I know something.'

As Baek Yoonjun continued to block the sword, his mind became tingly, and he felt as if he knew something.

At that moment, the opponent suddenly stopped his sword fight and stepped back.

"He's here."

Muttering words that didn't suit the current situation, Seo Heoyun turned his gaze.

Baek Yoonjun also turned his gaze in that direction.

There.

Tap. Tap. Taptap.

There was a man in a monk's robe, tapping a wooden fish.

'A monk? For now, his attire is that of a monk, but something feels strange.'

The man tapping the wooden fish was definitely wearing a monk's robe, and his head was also shaved. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

However.

'Why is the wooden fish white? Like a human bone.'

Baek Yoonjun continued to feel a sense of incongruity from the man in the monk's attire.

The man in the monk's attire approached the stage, tapping the wooden fish, and Seo Heoyun looked at the man and opened his mouth.

"You're late."

"I was late because I was saving a sentient being who could not become a Buddha. I hope the benefactor will understand. Namu Shinmitabul."

The moment Baek Yoonjun saw the face of the monk-like man who was looking up at Seo Heoyun on the stage, he gasped at the strange form.

'What's with a person's eyes?! And he's not blinking at all?'

The whitish, cloudy eyes had no movement of the eyelids at all.

Flustered, Baek Yoonjun wrapped his arms around Tang Yuhwa, who was still unconscious by his side.

"Ugh... Master."

Seeing Tang Yuhwa, who was groaning and calling him, Baek Yoonjun somehow composed himself despite his trembling heart.

'For now, since the opponent has also retreated, let's retreat.'

And so, just as Baek Yoonjun was about to retreat from the stage with Tang Yuhwa.

"I will begin."

The man in the monk's attire took out a white bell from his bosom.

Tinkle.

The bell that came out of the man's bosom rang with a clear but eerie sound.

"Keuk!!"

"M-my body!"

Suddenly, the martial artists from the Zhongnan military faction began to groan and twist their bodies.

And so, after a very brief moment, the groaning martial artists gradually lost their vitality.

"Grrrrrrr."

They began to twist their bodies bizarrely, letting out beast-like sounds.

"Brother Baek! This is!!"

Having sensed the abnormality, Zhang Sanfeng drew his sword and quickly approached Baek Yoonjun.

Baek Yoonjun nodded at Zhang Sanfeng's words and glared at the other side.

Beings he had seen before.

However, the difference from before was that beings who had clearly been human had changed just by the monk ringing a bell.

And those changed things.

"H-help me!"

"What's wrong with you?!"

"Ugh!!"

They attacked the unchanged people indiscriminately.

And of course, Baek Yoonjun's party was no exception.

"Brother Baek! For now, it's better to retreat! Oh no!!"

Zhang Sanfeng, who was by Baek Yoonjun's side, was also no exception.

And so, as the party was frantically dealing with the Jiangshi, Baek Yoonjun.

Clang!

He was dealing with Seo Heoyun, who had rushed at him again.

Blocking his sword, Baek Yoonjun shouted.

"This is not the time for this!"

Unlike the usual Baek Yoonjun, he was not even raising his voice loudly.

That's how urgent Baek Yoonjun's heart was.

Beings that were difficult to deal with because they didn't die easily.

Since such beings were continuously increasing, and yet Baek Yoonjun could not use his own power.

Therefore, Baek Yoonjun desperately appealed to Seo Heoyun, who seemed to be an unchanged being, but.

"What's wrong with now? Isn't it a golden opportunity to take the head of the famous White Robed Sword Immortal!! Kuhahahat!!"

Seo Heoyun laughed madly and continued to push Baek Yoonjun.

'Is he not unchanged? He seems to have gotten stronger than before.'

Baek Yoonjun struggled to parry Seo Heoyun's sword.

Seo Heoyun's sword, which was much faster and stronger than before.

It wasn't that the martial art itself had changed.

The fundamental power itself had changed.

Thanks to that, Baek Yoonjun was blocking Seo Heoyun's sword with much more difficulty than before.

And so, while the surroundings were becoming a pandemonium, Baek Yoonjun continued to narrowly block Seo Heoyun's sword.

As time gradually passed, Baek Yoonjun fell into puzzlement again.

'How am I blocking this again?'

The opponent had definitely become stronger than before.

Even so, Baek Yoonjun was narrowly but continuously blocking the opponent's sword.

No, even the word 'narrowly' was ridiculous.

Since Baek Yoonjun had not allowed a single attack, he had no minor injuries.

Naturally, the opponent was also feeling that in real time.

The face of Seo Heoyun, who had been laughing madly and pushing Baek Yoonjun at first, began to distort.

"Why! Why?!"

Spitting out his resentment, Seo Heoyun continued to rush at Baek Yoonjun.

But his sword was blocked by Baek Yoonjun's sword as if it were natural.

Baek Yoonjun's sword was still a sword with no power or presence, no different from before.

But strangely, it was blocking all of Seo Heoyun's sword strikes.

"Why!! Why isn't my sword working at all?!"

On Seo Heoyun's face, a faint fear began to appear beyond astonishment.

Baek Yoonjun, who was receiving such a gaze, was also no different from his feeling.

'How did I block this?'

Because even Baek Yoonjun still didn't know how he was blocking Seo Heoyun's swirling sword strikes.

But as time gradually passed.

'This is...? I see. So that's what happened.'

Feeling a tingly sensation in his head as before, Baek Yoonjun began to get a sense of why the current phenomenon was happening.

(End of Chapter)