The Lazy Young Master of the Jin Clan

“You… are me?”

“Yes. You already know, yet you pretend not to. Or are you going to ignore me?”

Ma Seongun asked Ma Seongun.

‘There can’t be two of me in the world.’

Ma Seongun thought that this was not reality.

As he thought, there couldn’t be two Ma Seonguns in the world.

‘A heart demon has come to me. I have to get out of here quickly.’

Ma Seongun looked around to escape from the heart demon.

To walk, he had to find a path first.

But he couldn’t find a path in the darkness where he couldn’t even see an inch ahead.

Having no choice, Ma Seongun first walked as his feet touched. But when the presence of ‘me’ did not get farther away, this time he ran.

He ran with all his might.

“It’s a futile act.”

“Heok— heok—!”

Ma Seongun stopped his steps, breathing heavily.

No matter how much he ran, he couldn’t escape from ‘me’.

‘Where is the path?’

“Where is the path?”

‘Is he reading my thoughts?’

“Is he reading my thoughts?”

Ma Seongun glared at ‘me’ with wide-open eyes.

He was standing, facing Ma Seongun with an interested face.

“What’s strange? I am you, and you are me. Of course, it’s natural that I know what you are thinking.”

“Then, why am I…”

“You can’t read my thoughts? Hahaha! That’s because you can’t acknowledge and accept me. You deny me. Isn’t it funny? The reason you exist in this place is because I exist.”

“What does that… mean?”

“I will show you reality for a moment.”

At the bright white light that pierced through the darkness, Ma Seongun couldn’t keep his eyes open and squeezed them shut.

And then, in front of Ma Seongun, who had opened his eyes, a scene he had never seen before appeared.

The fresh scent brought by the spring breeze was felt at the tip of his nose, and the cool breeze was felt on his skin.

“What… is this.”

Ma Seongun couldn’t understand.

A scene that did not exist in his memory. And the powerful force that was felt throughout his body, which could not be described in words.

He had just clenched his fist, but he felt a powerful ki that seemed to split a mountain.

“Why do I have this power…?”

In front of the confused Ma Seongun, Pyo Ung approached and knelt on one knee.

“Great Leader! Do you not need a meal?”

“Pyo Ung?”

“Yes.”

“I… am the Great Leader?”

Pyo Ung looked at Ma Seongun with a puzzled gaze and then nodded his head.

“That’s right. Is there a problem?”

“Since when was I called the Great Leader?”

“That is… since you, Great Leader, personally destroyed the Sichuan Tang Clan.”

‘I destroyed the Sichuan Tang Clan?’

Ma Seongun was confused.

Because in his memory, he had never destroyed the Sichuan Tang Clan.

Ma Seongun, who was confused by the gap in his memory, fumbled with his face.

It felt like he had woken up from a long dream.

At that moment, a face suddenly flashed by.

“Jin Sohyun… what happened to Jin Sohyun?”

“After fighting with you, Great Leader, he disappeared for a while, but when he recently reappeared, he seemed to be in good health. No, rather, he looked stronger than before.”

Pyo Ung gave his evaluation of Jin Sohyun without adding or subtracting, and Ma Seongun’s two eyes, who had heard this, widened as if they would tear.

“I… fought with Jin Sohyun?”

“…That’s right.”

“What happened!? Tell me everything without leaving anything out!”

Pyo Ung was flustered, but he did not show it and quickly and in detail conveyed everything he knew.

Ma Seongun, who had engraved all of this in his ears, held his head.

“Damn it…!”

He couldn’t remember the decisive battle with Jin Sohyun, which he had waited and waited for.

“What on earth… happened to me?”

He couldn’t remember.

No, it felt like the memories that made him up were gradually disappearing.

As if he were being eaten by something.

“Why did it become like this?”

Ma Seongun, who had discovered that the world had been covered in darkness again, shouted in rage.

“What are you! What did you do to me!!”

“I told you. I am you.”

‘I’, who had at some point appeared in front of Ma Seongun, curled one corner of his mouth and giggled as if this situation were funny.

“Get lost. Get out of my body right now!”

“How funny! How funny!”

‘I’ approached Ma Seongun and placed his hand on his head.

At that moment, an irresistible pressure crushed Ma Seongun and made him kneel on both knees.

Ma Seongun, who was prostrate on the floor and unable to move, barely raised his eyes and glared at ‘me’.

“You… what on earth… are you…!”

“I am eating away at the weak me of the past. You.”

‘I’ shouted with all his might, spreading his two arms wide as if he were proud.

I am Ma Seongun.

I am the Honma Great Leader.

I am a monster, the one called a disaster.

“I am.”

‘I’ lifted the prostrate Ma Seongun with his fingertips and smiled broadly.

“The Blood Demon.”

“The Blood Demon…?”

“Don’t wake up again and have a sweet dream. Because you will no longer see the light.”

“No… no!”

Ma Seongun tried to reach out to ‘me’, but he was getting farther and farther away.

The clear world was gradually becoming blurry.

Only then did Ma Seongun realize.

That there was no power without a price in this world, and that the first sacrifice of the Blood Jade, which devoured everything, was none other than himself.

“No…”

Ma Seongun reached out to pull up his consciousness, which was sinking into a swamp, but there was nothing to touch.

He couldn’t escape from this hell.

“Great Leader… are you okay?”

Ma Seongun, who had opened his eyes at Pyo Ung’s question, licked his lips and nodded his head.

“Yes. Is the meal ready?”

“Ah, it’s ready.”

Ma Seongun held his hungry stomach and walked, following Pyo Ung’s guidance.

Where the two had stopped, there were men in black standing with bewildered expressions.

From middle-aged men to old men.

The renowned masters of the heretic martial world were gathered in one place.

They had come to the training ground at the call of the Alliance Leader, but when Ma Seongun appeared instead of the Alliance Leader, they rolled their eyes anxiously.

Among them, the oldest, the Solitary Night Sword Master, No Yuk, asked with his hand on his sword hilt.

“Where… is the Alliance Leader?”

As Pyo Ung was about to answer his question, Ma Seongun stopped him.

“There is no time.”

“Yes.”

As Pyo Ung bowed his head and stepped back, No Yuk gripped his sword hilt.

Because his instinct as a seasoned martial artist had sounded an alarm.

“Did the Blood Demon call us?”

“That’s right.”

“May I ask why you called us?”

“The reason? There is no reason. It’s just… I’m so hungry.”

“…” 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

There was no hesitation in No Yuk.

The blade that had come out from his waist with a short flash of light instantly cut off Ma Seongun’s neck.

The other martial artists who were watching this were greatly surprised.

“Old Master No! What is this!?”

“Shut up! If you want to live, run away from here right now! You idiots!”

No Yuk flew away without looking back.

But as Ma Seongun, whose neck was half-cut, stretched out his arm, a rake-shaped, blood-red qi that had come out from his palm pierced the fleeing No Yuk from the back.

“Keo… keoeok…”

“This is crazy!”

“R-run away!”

No Yuk’s death was the beginning.

Ma Seongun captured the martial artists who were fleeing in all directions with a leisurely posture, as if he were hunting, and swallowed their blood again and again.

The blood, which was imbued with the true qi of the masters, was as sweet as honey, but it was not enough to soothe Ma Seongun’s hunger.

“As expected… what I need is just one bastard.”

Ma Seongun stretched, not caring about the blood on his mouth.

His body was heating up, and his hunger was growing.

“Hurry… hurry…”

Pyo Ung, who was watching him from a distance, quietly swallowed his dry saliva.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve and erased the fear that had appeared on his face.

The corpses of the dead martial artists were reflected in his pupils like a mirror.

Hoping that he would not be in that place someday.

***

The faces of the martial artists who were preparing for the so-called Martial World Recapture Operation, and the second round of the Righteous-Heretic War, were filled with the determination of a decisive battle.

The martial artists trained their martial arts and prepared their bodies and minds for the upcoming battle.

“Take it.”

“Is this… can we really take this?”

“What’s the point of worrying about this and that in a situation like this? We are now in the same boat in the vast sea… whether we advance together or sink together. We are all together.”

The Nine Great Sects.

Among them, the sects that had not been hit in their main mountain had brought out the spiritual medicines they had.

From basic spiritual medicines that preserved wounds and increased a small amount of internal energy to secret spiritual medicines that could not be exchanged even for gold.

The masters of the Nine Great Sects, who were facing the final decisive battle, had brought out everything they had.

Of course, this was the same for the Namgung Clan of the Five Great Families.

As soon as Namgung Muhyeok came to his senses, he contacted his main family and brought spiritual medicines and internal elixirs, and distributed them generously.

This was like.

“It seems there is no turning back.”

At Zhuge Yeop’s mumble, Zhuge Suk waved his folding fan and nodded his head.

“Everyone knows. That if we lose this war, there is no more hope in the martial world.”

Although he was sitting on the front line of the battlefield as the family head of the Zhuge Clan, Zhuge Suk’s expression was calm.

This was the same for Zhuge Yeop.

They were one of the Five Great Families and had reigned as the real power of the martial world for a very long time, but their territory was not just the martial world.

Even if the martial world fell, the Zhuge Clan would not fall.

Although he had expressed it as an outsider who had left the family, the bond between the Zhuge Clan and the imperial palace was not something that could be easily broken.

In fact, the vassals from the Zhuge family who were eating the salary of the imperial palace had sent a worried message.

Saying that they would lend the power of the imperial palace if necessary.

But Zhuge Suk had refused.

‘Receiving their help should be the worst, the last resort. Not now.’

The reason Zhuge Suk did not receive the help of the imperial palace and remained as a member of the martial world was only one.

“Jin Sohyun… where on earth did such a person appear from?”

While coming here from his family, Zhuge Suk had carefully examined all the news and information about Jin Sohyun one by one.

But no matter how coldly he looked at it, the existence of Jin Sohyun was truly strange and peculiar.

“The lazy young master of Shanxi… how did he become the hope of the righteous path?”

It was only a few years.

Even if almost all martial artists had dedicated their entire lives to training their martial arts, they could not bear the hope of the righteous path.

A great achievement that even the White Moon Divine Lord, Cheon Yusin, of the world could not achieve.

Jin Sohyun, who was only in his early twenties, had achieved it.

“Keep a close eye on Jin Sohyun. Perhaps, the world might change because of that one person.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

Zhuge Yeop, who had finished his conversation with the family head, walked to the place where a loud noise was heard, as usual.

Where he arrived, Jin Sohyun was having a martial arts contest with the masters of the righteous martial world.

At first, Jin Sohyun, who had fought with three or five, was now having a martial arts contest with over twenty masters, and all of them were famous masters whose names and titles Zhuge Yeop also knew.

Nevertheless, Jin Sohyun did not even sweat a single drop against all of them.

“The world might change…”

Zhuge Yeop felt like he knew what the family head had meant.

Now was a time of war, and since the enemies had a powerful martial artist called the Blood Demon, Jin Sohyun could be everyone’s hope.

But.

After the war is over?

“Will the martial world still be able to call Jin Sohyun a hope then?”

Zhuge Yeop, who was looking at Jin Sohyun from a distance, could see everyone’s gaze on him.

Some admired him, and some were happy.

And some feared him, and some were jealous.

An old man approached Zhuge Yeop, who was staring at Jin Sohyun with a meaningful gaze.

“I was wondering who was secretly looking at my beautiful disciple with a sinister gaze, but it was Zhuge.”

“Great Master Kang.”

Zhuge Yeop bowed his head lightly to Kang Cheon.

“If you were offended, I apologize.”

“Forget it. Just tell me why you were looking at Sohyun with those eyes.”

“I was worried… about how long your disciple, Great Master Kang, will be called the hope of the righteous path.”

“Worried? Hmph! You have a lot to worry about. Anyway, if Sohyun is defeated, everyone will die.”

“What if he wins?”

“That is…”

Kang Cheon stopped speaking and glared at Zhuge Yeop.

“What do you mean?”

“The Blood Demon is by far the most dangerous of all the demon heads that have existed in the Central Plains until now. But Jin Sohyun, who has defeated the Blood Demon, who has become stronger using the power of a different ability, with pure talent and martial power… will the high-ranking people just watch him? Especially that person who has personally sharpened his blade out of fear of the martial artists of the martial world?”

“…”

Next to the silent Kang Cheon, Zhuge Yeop said softly.

“That’s why I’m worried. I’m afraid that the hero of the righteous path will one day become a traitor. A bird that flies high without knowing the height of the sky… is bound to fall someday.”

Zhuge Yeop, who had left a meaningful remark, bowed his head with a fist salute.

“Well, since Young Master Jin has a wonderful master with him… I might be worrying too much. Then I will be on my way.”

As Zhuge Yeop, who had finished speaking, left, Kang Cheon looked at Jin Sohyun, who had finished his martial arts contest, with a complicated gaze.

At the sight of Jin Sohyun, who was saying, ‘Aww, I don’t want to do it,’ as usual, and drinking the water that Siu had brought, Kang Cheon smiled bitterly.

“A bird that flies high without knowing the height of the sky…”

Worrying about how high his disciple would fly.

(End of Chapter)