Chapter 25. Dream Awakening (25)

The Palm Martial Emperor tread the line between the Righteous Faction and the Evil Faction, and he was a well-known jokester, but he definitely wasn't one to make this kind of joke about his own family.

"Oh, is that true? Your daughter was alive? Huh, so you've been keeping it a secret all this time. Then, the rascal of the

murim

—uh, I mean, the famous Palm Martial Emperor has become a grandfather? This is surprising."

It was awkward for Cheol Myeong-Wi to imagine the Palm Martial Emperor as a grandfather. Baek Sang-Woon had always looked as if he was in his thirties, even though his thirties had ended seven decades before.

"I know, it's weird to know that I am a grandfather when I look this good. By the way, are you having a hard time these days? Your face is so full of wrinkles and age spots! Why is your hair so thin? You are old, man."

At that moment, Cheol Myeong-Wi lost his composure again. "Who wants to be old?! If you feel so sorry for me, why don't you help me reach the Absolute level?"

"Come on, aren't you too sensitive to your appearance for a fellow Daoist? Don't be so obsessed with your looks. The kids are watching," the Palm Martial Emperor replied.

This time, Cheol Myeong-Wi almost exploded.

'Who's the one that made me this sensitive?!'

But he certainly needed to calm down. He was getting worked up again.

"

Whoo, whoo

... Alright, fine. Let's cut straight to the point. Where is this grandson you're talking about?"

The Palm Martial Emperor beckoned behind his back.

Then, Woo-Moon entered the inn.

Woo-Gang stared at the Palm Martial Emperor with an awe-struck expression, eyes wide open. Then, his eyes opened even wider as he saw the young man who had just entered.

"B-brother?"

All eyes were on Woo-Moon. This young man, who looked to be the same age as most of the Mount Hua Sect disciples present here, had appeared together with the Palm Martial Emperor.

'Who is he?'

On the other hand, Hyeon Yu-Yeon, the precious only daughter of the Mount Hua sect master and the most beautiful of the Mount Hua Sect, also saw Woo-Gang. She was one of the few friends that stood alongside Woo-Gang.

'Song Wu-Gang's older brother? Brother Woo-Gang said that he had a family living in Unhan last time. But why did his older brother come with the Palm Martial Emperor?'

At that moment, Hyeon Yu-Yeon remembered her encounter with Woo-Moon not long ago.

'Yes, that's right! He's the one who came out of the red light district and talked to the Spear Devil, Gyeong Hong, last time.'

While Hyeon Yu-Yeon was surprised, the Palm Martial Emperor shrugged and pointed at Woo-Moon. "I have two grandchildren. This is Song Woo-Moon, he is one of them."

'What?'

Woo-Gang was stunned silent by Baek Sang-Woon's remarks.

'No way...'

Sure enough, the Palm Martial Emperor pointed at him next. "You're the second."

"Uh, what?"

"

Sigh

, I guess you won't believe me as easily as your older brother. Follow me, I'll explain. Brother Cheol, can I take him for a while?"

"Sure. I'll be waiting."

Although the Palm Martial Emperor belonged to neither the Righteous Faction nor the Evil Faction proper, he was closer to the Righteous Faction. After all, he was a member of the Iron Sword Baek Family, a prestigious family of the Righteous Faction.

Therefore, it was difficult for Cheol Myeong-Wi to ignore the words of the Palm Martial Emperor, who was much higher in status than himself. He also felt that the competition for the next sect master of Mount Hua had just become more interesting.

The Palm Martial Emperor didn't seem to be lying about Woo-Gang being his grandson. Cheol Myeong-Wi thus decided to believe him, and since he already knew Woo-Gang, he decided to take a better look at his brother, Woo-Moon.

Cheol Myeong-Wi had an outstanding eye for recognizing talented people in martial arts. In particular, his skill at determining the level of others' martial arts was second to none.

Woo-Gang was an excellent seedling, as far as Cheol Myeong-Wi knew. He had been training alone without any elixirs or the guidance of a personal martial arts teacher, yet he was standing shoulder to shoulder with his prominent senior disciples. In that case, what about the older brother, Woo-Moon, who had been staying in the countryside...?

'Whoa, whoa! This kid is amazing, even better than his younger brother! As expected, they really mean it when they say you can't catch up with your elders. Huh... So his name was Song Woo-Moon, huh? I'll have to remember him. If he's already achieved that level, I'm sure...'

While Cheol Myeong-Wi was pondering, Woo-Moon and Woo-Gang followed the Palm Martial Emperor out of the inn.

Woo-Gang was still dumbfounded. He tried to make sense of Baek Sang-Woon's explanation, but he still couldn't tell whether it was a dream or a reality. Then, he heard Baek Sang-Woon's pleasant voice. "Come on, come on! I want to see my daughter as soon as possible. Let's talk about this matter to Cheol Myeong-Wi and go home."

As Baek Sang-Woon grabbed Woo-Gang and went to tell Cheol Myeong-Wi regarding this matter, Woo-Moon headed to the place where the Leebi Guild was.

"Woo-Moon, you punk! Where have you been? I won't forgive you this time!" The team leader of Woo-Moon's group simply lost it when he saw the young man.

"I'm sorry. There was an urgent matter, so I'd appreciate it if you could consider my situation and overlook this."

Chae Young-Ryong, the son of the second-highest guild official, heard the disturbance and came out of his tent. He was the kind who liked interfering with other people's business, and he had an uncanny talent for noticing these things. His eyes shone when he saw Woo-Moon.

'It's him!'

Chae Young-Ryong had investigated in detail after being attacked by the nameless man the other day. It turned out that it was Woo-Moon who had brought the nameless man to the guild. In other words, Woo-Moon was the one behind the nameless man.

The young master made his appearance together with two warriors equipped with spears and asked in a solemn tone, "What's going on?"

After being beaten by the nameless man, Yu Mun-Gwang ended up suffering and becoming weaker day by day. Eventually, he returned to the Kunlun Sect for treatment. Since they needed some guards, Chae Young-Ryong inquired about Go-Ryang Pyeong and found some remarkable mercenaries. Fortunately, countless

murim

people had gathered there for the duel, so he was able to find people with excellent skills.

The two that Chae Young-Ryong invested all his money to hire were the Blue-Red Twin Spears. They were highly regarded among the mercenaries there.

Chae Young-Ryong gritted his teeth. That day, the nameless man's laughter had caused him to fall down and vomit blood. As a result, Chae Young-Ryong wasn't able to witness the fight between the Palm Martial Emperor and the Night Spear Devil that he had wanted so much to see—he was simply incapable of moving at the time. Of course, he blamed it all on Woo-Moon, who he thought was behind the nameless man's attack.

Thinking about it again, Chae Young-Ryong gritted his teeth.

'I'll give that asshole porter a taste of what hell's like.'

Yu Mun-Gwang, the only one who was aware that Woo-Moon was a master and that the nameless man was an incredible master, had left in a hurry without informing Chae Young-Ryong and the others of the truth. Therefore, Chae Young-Ryong was still dreaming of revenge.

'If I beat up this porter, that bastard will show up. How dare he attack me? No matter how strong he is, there's no way he can beat the Blue-Red Twin Spears.'

With this thought in mind, Chae Young-Ryong glared at Woo-Moon coldly.

𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"I just asked what was going on."

The team leader answered his question. "Well, he disappeared without saying anything last time, and today he disappeared in the morning as well while the others were toiling away."

"You and that bastard from last time are the same, doing all sorts of shameful acts together."

At that moment, Woo-Moon's eyebrows furrowed because Chae Young-Ryong was cursing both him and his grandfather.

"Be careful what you say."

Chae Young-Ryong frowned in anger. "What? Who are you to talk to me like that? How dare you, a mere porter, talk back!"

"I came here to work and get a fair salary. I am not your servant or your slave. Why can't I speak impolitely when you're swearing at me? Even Yeon Si-Hyeon, the guild master, talks to me politely. Does she know you're doing this?"

Chae Young-Ryong was speechless, as he had no argument to counter Woo-Moon's words. Then, like most people would have done in the same situation, he started yelling.

"Shut up, you asshole! Seems like words just aren't enough for you. Hey, catch him and show him hell!" Chae Young-Ryong ordered the Blue-Red Twin Spears.

"Alright."

"Just quietly surrender, you bastard."

'I could understand if someone close to me or someone who's much older than me was calling me a bastard, but these punks? Hmph!'

Without even bothering to grab their weapons, the Blue-Red Twin Spears walked to Woo-Moon with a cocky swagger.

This was because to the Blue-Red Twin Spears, who had only learned some random martial arts of the Evil Faction, it was clear that Woo-Moon knew nothing about martial arts.

"Stop there. You will regret it if you come any closer," Woo-Moon spoke in a low tone.

The Blue-Red Twin Spears laughed.

"Crazy bastard, you're talking as if you're an Absolute Master."

"Oh no, I'm so scared!"

Naturally, they wouldn't stop just because Woo-Moon said so.

Woo-Moon clenched his fist.

'Did they not sense it?'

The baby silver tiger cried lowly in his arms.

"Grrrrrrrrrr."

The Red Spear was the first to cross the line that Woo-Moon had set in his mind.

"I warned you!" Along with these words, Woo-Moon's hand moved.

Thud!

Before the Red Spear could sense it, the Raging Wind Palm hit his chest like lightning.

The Red Spear flew back, blood spurting out from his mouth. At the same time, a powerful gale that started seemingly out of nowhere, forcing everyone who was in the way to close their eyes.

The Red Spear flew back a few meters before crashing on the ground miserably.

'Did I overdo it?'

It seemed that, in his anger, Woo-Moon had put in much more strength than he had intended. Of course...it could have been because he had underestimated his own power.

The Blue Spear and Chae Young-Ryong opened their mouths agape at this sudden outcome. "What? What happened?"

The Blue Spear couldn't even fully grasp how Woo-Moon's hand moved.

'Master! He's a master that I can't deal with!'

The gap between them and Woo-Moon was so big that the Blue Spear hadn't noticed his level in advance, but if he couldn't sense this discrepancy even after seeing this move, he'd be unworthy to even be called a mercenary. Naturally, the Blue Spear was stiff with fright.

The disturbance caused by Woo-Moon using the Raging Wind Palm was more significant than he had thought. While people were murmuring about this unexpected outcome, Si-Hyeon came running with Jo Mu-Jae.

"What's the matter?"

It was the first time that Chae Young-Ryong welcomed the appearance of Chae Si-Hyeon and Jo Mu-Jae.

"Guild master! Uh, that porter suddenly turned violent and killed the mercenary I hired!"

That was not the case. The Red Spear had been knocked unconscious by the shock, but he wasn't dead.

Si-Hyeon spoke to Woo-Moon with disbelief. "Did you do that?"

"Yes, but they first..."

Chae Young-Ryong interrupted Woo-Moon. "He left his job area twice even though he was hired to do something. So I gave him a light warning, but he just suddenly attacked us. Everyone here saw what happened, right?"

As he looked around, everyone nodded. He was the son of the second-highest guild official, so how could they go against his authority?

"Yes, he did."

"That's right! It happened exactly like the young master is saying!"

Woo-Moon gritted his teeth. He was well and truly enraged. Just as he was thinking about crushing Chae Young-Ryong's face into mincemeat, however, Si-Hyeon spoke up.

"I believe in my eye for people. I've personally talked to this man, and I don't believe he is that kind of person," she said, staring coldly at Chae Young-Ryong.

As he heard that, Chae Young-Ryong burst into a fit of rage. No matter the circumstances, they'd known each other for many years! Yet, Si-Hyeon protected that porter instead of siding with him!

Ignoring Chae Young-Ryong's anger, Si-Hyeon looked at Woo-Moon with clear, fair eyes. "As for you... Why did you hide your abilities from me?"

Si-Hyeon felt a little disappointed at the thought that Woo-Moon had deceived her, since he was the only one that she trusted among those around her.

Just then, two people appeared from behind. "What's going on? Why is it so noisy?"

Chae Young-Ryong was surprised to see the nameless man appear. "You're back, you bastard!"

Chae Young-Ryong wasn't the only one who was surprised. The same was true of Jo Mu-Jae. No, he was several times more surprised than Chae Young-Ryong.

"The Palm Martial Emperor!"

'What? The Palm Martial Emperor?'

Chae Young-Ryong looked at Jo Mu-Jae with strange eyes.

"What nonsense are you spouting? The Palm Martial Emperor?"

Jo Mu-Jae was incredibly frustrated. "You immature punk! The one you just called 'bastard' is the Palm Martial Emperor!"

Jo Mu-Jae's words struck Chae Young-Ryong like a sledgehammer. He certainly wanted to laugh it off as a joke, except the guild's guardian was not the kind to joke about such matters. Chae Young-Ryong had a sinking feeling, as if he had just been thrown into an endless abyss.

'The Palm Martial Emperor?'