Chapter 81. The Entire World is My Home (2)

Si-Hyeon knew that Woo-Moon was strong and wasn’t the type to leave things to change. Still, that didn’t mean that she wasn’t worried.

Emotions weren’t things that could be controlled by rational thinking just like that.

After finishing what he had to say, Woo-Moon left the three fainted people to the Leebi Guild staff nearby and used the Northern Wind Step to run like the wind toward the Baek Estate.

Tears flowed from Si-Hyeon’s eyes as she stood alone, left behind, only able to watch his back as he went to fight.

“It’s been so long since you’ve shown such a childish side to someone,” Mu-Jae said. He had appeared behind her at some point.

Si-Hyeon was surprised to hear these words.

“Ah...!”

When she thought about it, however, she realized that her attitude had been indeed childish.

Ever since her father’s health deteriorated, she had always been forced to act strong and had never shown this side to anyone. Realizing this, Si-Hyeon understood her feelings for Woo-Moon once again.

Crying, she looked in the direction he had gone.

‘I believe in you, senior brother, but you must return safely and not get hurt. Because you’re the only person I can ever show this side of myself to.’

However, there were two things that Woo-Moon had overlooked before he had left—or rather he was unaware of them in the first place.

First, he had no idea that the enormous energy accumulated in his father’s dantian had been released, and his body had developed a monstrous vitality and recovery. The second was that, as an assassin, Ma-Ra had learned a technique that allowed her to overcome the ill effects of having her acupoints pressed.

***

Bang!

Woo-Moon looked around the grounds through the dust that arose after smashing through the main gate. To him, it almost seemed as though the Baek Family was celebrating the news of his family’s death.

‘Well, no need to mourn for me, Baek Hye-Ryeong. I am right here. Things don’t always go the way you want.’

The first thing that caught his eye was Eun-Ah.

Seeing her covered in blood broke his heart. He could roughly guess as to how she was injured.

Kya...

Eun-Ah cried softly. Barely mustering the strength, she struggled as she raised her head and looked at Woo-Moon.

Woo-Moon used the Divine Phantasm Step and the Northern Wind Step simultaneously.

Woosh!

The second the Baek Family guards realized he had disappeared, he had already appeared in front of them. They were taken aback.

Woo-Moon grinned at Hye-Ryeong, watching her jump up in surprise when she noticed him.

The look in his eyes was so sharp it was as if it could pierce iron.

“You know, your face really reminds me of someone who is surprised that someone they killed just came back alive... don’t you think, cousin?”

Hye-Ryeong’s expression distorted.

She tried to laugh and refute him but found herself unable to. Too many eyes were watching her, and she knew she had to act at least as if she was glad he had come back alive. However, she couldn’t bear to do so after seeing Woo-Moon standing there smiling so hatefully while the image of Sang-Woon and Jin-Jin seemed to overlap with him.

“I’m so sick and tired of you, you bastards that are tougher than roaches! To think that you were able to come back alive this time, too!”

Those who understood the hidden meaning behind Woo-Moon’s words were even more shocked by Hye-Ryeong’s reaction. She had just given legitimacy to Woo-Moon’s unbelievable accusation!

“How could she...” Ye-Ye muttered with disbelief in her eyes.

Hye-Ryeong and Ju-Ryeong’s hidden helper, Mu Heon, was hiding among Hye-Ryeong’s guards. Watching the situation unfold, he smiled bitterly.

‘I only gave her that medicine to make her ambitions grow large enough for her to use her blood relatives without any reservations. To think that its effects were so great that it caused this sort of situation to arise.’

Mu Heon had never expected Hye-Ryeong to have made such a simple mistake.

‘Still, we’re fine. Everyone already knew Hye-Ryeong hated Jin-Jin and the Song Family from the very beginning. Just being angry that they came back alive doesn’t count as conclusive evidence. Moreover, she really is impressive. Even though she lost control of her anger, she was still able to overcome the medication’s effects and regain her composure.’

Jae-Hwa called out to Woo-Moon with moist eyes.

“Are you... were you alive this entire time?”

The other guards were also thrilled to see Woo-Moon return alive and bombarded him with questions.

“T-then, what about the others?”

Woo-Moon turned from Hye-Ryeong and smiled warmly at his guards, nodding his head.

“What a relief...!”

Woo-Moon walked to Eun-Ah as he heard the guards sigh in relief.

Kya...

He gently picked up Eun-Ah and held her as she struggled to get up. His heart was breaking as he felt the injuries on her body. Inspecting her body, he saw that the internal injuries caused by being hit multiple times were even more serious.

Woo-Moon tried to heal Eun-Ah’s wounds by infusing the qi produced by the Forbidden Divine Art into her body. It wasn’t as easy as he had initially thought it would be. Not only was there the difficulty of infusing qi into someone else’s body, but there was also the added difficulty of having to navigate a body with a very different structure from his own.

However, as he struggled, Eun-Ah looked up at him with round eyes. At the same time, her body and its structure suddenly appeared in his mind as brightly as his own while the Forbidden Divine Art’s qi began to show an unprecedented vitality in her body and circulated on its own.

They had formed a mental bond—the rare beast Eun-Ah had accepted Woo-Moon as her eternal companion.

Because of their newly formed bond, her treatment was completed quickly.

‘What a strange phenomenon.’

Surprised and curious about what had just happened, Woo-Moon put Eun-Ah down. She purred, rubbing her body against Woo-Moon’s feet, happy that her wounds had healed.

Woo-Moon turned to look over at Hye-Ryeong and Ju-Ryeong.

Hye-Ryeong seemed to be consumed by anger, while Ju-Ryeong was overwhelmed by Woo-Moon’s appearance and her older sister’s unexpected behavior. The other onlookers were speechless, and they just sat around in stupefaction.

Chuckling to himself, Woo-Moon smiled as he spat coldly.

“Baek Hye-Ryeong.”

Hye-Ryeong didn’t even respond to his call, just glaring at him while radiating bloodlust. The person who answered to him was actually her son, Do-Gun.

“H-How dare you! Even if you’re of the same generation as my mother, how dare you speak so informally to the patriarch’s mother!”

Woo-Moon completely ignored Do-Gun as the “new chief” spoke vehemently, spit flying from his mouth.

“People who plot conspiracies will eventually find it difficult to trust others. I mean, haven’t you heard the saying? The eye can only confirm what it can see. A traitor always wonders if everyone is plotting to stab them in the back like they do to others.”

Hye-Ryeong sneered.

“And?”

“And there’s that expedition failure that you had orchestrated to remove Baek Mu-Hoon from his position as patriarch. You forgot about the person who played the most important role in that battle: the Invincible Forged Squadron commander Baek Beom-Hoon—or rather, the

former

Invincible Squadron commander, I should say.”

After Beom-Hoon’s supposed death, Hye-Ryeong’s faction had quickly promoted a new Invincible Forged Squadron Commander from among their own ranks.

“However, the former Invincible Forged Squadron Leader didn’t seem to trust you completely. So, he kept the letter containing your order to fail the expedition rather than burning it for safety.”

“...Ah.”

Do-Gun was so surprised that he made a sound without realizing it before quickly covering his mouth. He wasn’t the only one shocked by Woo-Moon’s words, either. The elders, other warriors, Mu-Hoon, Ye-Ye, and the guards were all shocked.

In addition, Mu Heon’s expression became more serious.

‘...I have a bad feeling about this. All of the hard work I put into the Baek Family over the past four years could crumble in an instant.’

A thick bloodlust exuded from Mu Heon’s eyes before quickly disappearing. He held back, as it wasn’t the time to reveal himself yet.

“W-what the hell are you saying! You have to take responsibility for an accusation like that!” an elder shouted.

Other elders who had been actively on Hye-Ryeong’s side for a long time also joined in.

“How dare you slander her so outrageously! You must have a death wish!”

“Even Uncle Sang-Woon would have a hard time protecting you for speaking such falsehoods!”

Woo-Moon looked around at those shouting at him with a cold smile.

“Oh? Is that so? So you think this is just slander? Then, what if I show you the evidence?”

As he spoke, Woo-Moon drew a letter from his pocket.

Opening it wide, he showed it in the direction of Hye-Ryeong and Ju-Ryeong. As it unfurled, the crowd could see it in its entirety, covered in the blood of the former Invincible Forged Squadron Commander.

The letter Woo-Moon had brought with him as he escaped his own makeshift tomb was fairly readable even with the blood stains, and most of the Baek Family members, who had incredible vision due to their high cultivations, could read it accurately even from this distance.

“H-how, how could this...”

One elder was unable to stand properly and slumped down in his chair. The letter clearly had shocking, damning information written on it.

Moreover, the more they read, the more insidious the content.

It detailed a plan to deceive the patriarch and the others by pretending to have died after falling into an enemy trap during the battle. After the betrayal, it listed instructions to return secretly and wait for further orders. Because the traitors would pretend to be dead and leave the battlefield in the middle of their battle, the Baek Family would be left without a means to fight and would be defeated by the enemy.

The letter, which clearly had Hye-Ryeong’s handwriting, even bore her seal as well.

“J-just how in the world is this possible?” an elder with a fiery personality shouted at Hye-Ryeong.

Hye-Ryeong tried to maintain her sanity amid her rage, using her superhuman patience to counter her uncontrollable anger. However, that patience was broken once again by the elder’s shouts as if pouring fuel directly on her rage.

“Shut up!”

Swish!

Hye-Ryeong unleashed a chilling blow as sword qi flew toward the elder who had just spoken. It was a sword as fast as lightning!

The elder couldn’t even think of dodging or blocking, but at that instant, he was helped by someone no one in the audience could have expected.

Woo-Moon threw a stone to interrupt Hye-Ryeong’s attack. Indeed, nothing more than a small stone, but the force behind it was so formidable that it forced Hye-Ryeong to use her sword to defend herself.

“I can’t lose someone who’s going to be on my side from this point on so easily now, could I?”

Woo-Moon’s words sounded even more jarring. Ju-Ryeong and Do-Gun couldn’t understand what was going on. To think that the Invincible Forged Squadron commander had kept that letter instead of destroying it! No, even before that, how had Woo-Moon come back alive?!

Hye-Ryeong saw the eyes of the elders on her side betray their shaking resolve. Not even the elders on her side had been told about the betrayal she had planned or that she had intentionally caused the family to be defeated, leading to the sacrifice of their family members. She had kept it a secret as it crossed lines even her own allies couldn’t accept.

Naturally, the elders had a change of heart as things became clear.

Hye-Ryeong looked around at them with a chilly gaze and sent transmissions to each elder. She made sure to threaten them using things they had done under the table, just on the off chance that they thought about betraying her.

“Baek...Baek Hye-Ryeong... You really dared!!!!”

Baek Gong-Su, an elder who had almost died in the battle, quickly stepped back away from Hye-Ryeong. He was one of the few who didn’t conspire with Hye-Ryeong in advance.

Former patriarch Mu-Hoon froze, standing in the corner, unable to say anything. All he could do was look at his two sisters in disbelief. Suddenly, tears started dripping from his eyes.

“You.... Was becoming the patriarch that important to you? Why didn’t you just tell me directly? If you had spoken to me, I would have just handed the position to you myself, elder sister. Why, just why did you have to go so far and commit such unforgivable treason?!”

Mu-Hoon felt his heart shatter.

He couldn’t believe that his two older sisters could commit such a betrayal just for his patriarch position. Countless warriors of the family had died during the expedition, including as many as twenty members of the Invincible Forged Squadron.

Those members were all members of the Baek Family—they were

his

family. They were his sisters’ family as well.

He was terrified and saddened by his older sisters, who had been so blinded by power that they had even made their own flesh and blood into victims.

Seeing Mu-Hoon almost visibly age, Woo-Moon shook his head slightly.

‘You’re too soft and kind to be a good patriarch. That’s why you couldn’t do anything about your sisters’ tyranny.’

Ju-Ryeong also flinched as she could hear the agony in her brother’s voice. However, she soon made up her mind. She couldn’t show weakness.

“Baek Hye-Ryeong! You bitch, was that really your plan? You cruel bitch! How could you kill your own family!” a member of the family in his late fifties shouted. His son had been one of the twenty members of the Invincible Forged Squadron who had been killed during their defeat.

“I can never forgive you!”

“Aunt! You need to pay for what happened to my brother!”

As one person stepped forward and expressed his rage at Hye-Ryeong, more and more cries of rage erupted from all over.

At that time, Do-Gun shouted as he raised the patriarch’s representative item, the Emotionless Iron Sword.

“What the hell are all of you doing?! Are you really being deceived by that wicked Song Bastard’s words?”

Then, the elder who had been attacked by Hye-Ryeong earlier, Baek Gong-Su, shouted in anger, “What bullshit! Can’t you see the letter in Woo-Moon’s hands right now? Hye-Ryeong’s seal is stamped on it, clear as day! You bastards who betray the family like this should be punished!”

Do-Gun turned to a servant standing next to him, his eyes blazing with madness.

“You! Tell me the truth!”

The servant was taken aback and scared by the sudden question.

‘W-what truth is he talking about?’

“Didn’t Mother’s seal get stolen by a thief not too long ago? Hurry up and tell me the truth!” Do-Gun said threateningly, his bloodlust-filled gaze falling on the terrified servant.