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Chapter 149. Trying to Row a Boat On Land (20)

The middle-aged eunuch changed the subject.

“By the way, little brother, not that it’s anything important, but I can sense bloodlust coming from you. What, did you assassinate the emperor or something?”

The eunuch was still completely naked, his body fully on display in all of its glory.

“Yeah, yeah, do you think we could continue this conversation after you put on some clothes?”

In response, the eunuch seemed to spread out wider, stretching his arms and legs for an even better view.

“And what’s wrong with this? From the looks of it, you seem to be a daoist. Isn’t this very state the epitome of muhwi jayeon? The very act of discarding humanity’s artificially made clothes and eating when you want, mating when you want, and sleeping when you want is the true key to muhwi jayeon.”

“Inaction is action, and action is inaction. Nature has brought about humanity, and the things that humanity creates are also created within nature itself. How can you consider them to be unnatural?”

The middle-aged eunuch chuckled.

“To think you would interpret muhwi jayeon in this manner. What a fun little brother you are. How refreshing.”

A long robe flew out of nowhere and covered the body of the middle-aged eunuch.

“May I ask your name?”

“Do names really matter? All that I am is right here before you.”[1]

Instead of answering, Woo-Moon snorted, causing the middle-aged eunuch to burst into laughter again.

“I’ll stop joking around, then. My name is Jin Yo. As for my age... I’m about three hundred. That should be about right. I should be able to transcend and become an Immortal if I can surpass this level. But... it’s still somewhat difficult.”

“Jin Yo...”

Woo-Moon made sure to memorize the name. He was sure he had never heard it before, but he also believed without a doubt that Jin Yao was three hundred years old.

“Oh. just a minute, little brother. It seems someone has come to visit me this late at night.”

Shooom.

Jin Yo’s flesh expanded, and from within him, another smaller Jin Yo detached and walked up the stairs.

Woo-Moon was completely stunned at the sight.

“That’s...?”

“Oh, that’s just a trivial trick, kekeke. It’s something I learned from a brat from the Heretic Cult a long time ago. Those little rascals really have so many extraordinary methods.”

“So you’ve been using those clones to stay in the imperial palace for the past three hundred years?”

“Hehe, you’re a smart one, little brother. That’s right.”

Shoooom. Shooooom. Shoooom.

Three more clones appeared. As each one detached from the main body, more and more of the weight seemed to disappear from Jin Yo’s body.

“That’s incredible.”

Jin Yo had created a child version of himself, seemingly less than ten years old, a man in the prime of his youth, and an old man, all with slightly different features.

“I create these little runts, claim that they are my heirs, and just pass down my titles and property to myself, hehehe.”

Jin Yo had basically been replacing himself with himself, with every generation that passed, all while messing around with the consorts.

Suddenly, Woo-Moon had a scary thought.

‘There have to be some consorts among all of those Jin Yo has slept with who later became the emperor’s favorite. Maybe even the empress has an affair with Jin Yo. No, maybe even the current emperor is Jin Yo’s son.’

“Would you like a drink?” Jin Yo asked, interrupting Woo-Moon’s thoughts.

Woo-Moon took the offered glass and drank it in one go, preferring not to continue on that train of thought.

“Haha! How impressive!!”

In the meantime, the consorts got dressed and prepared to leave due to a lack of attention from Jin Yo. One by one, they each left the basement chamber, carried by a clone.

The clones that Jin Yo had created all had the power of at least an Absolute Master. Thus, there was no issue whatsoever for them to take the consorts to their quarters without anyone noticing.

The two men drank as they spoke about various things, Woo-Moon’s admiration of Jin Yo growing further and further.

To be frank, Woo-Moon had assumed when he had first entered the room that Jin Yo was nothing but a lustful pervert who only desired sex. However, the more he got to know him, the more he realized that Jin Yo was a person of deep discipline and great enlightenment.

Once they drank all of the alcohol available, Woo-Moon finally summoned the courage to make a request.

“Please lend me your strength in fighting Martial Heaven.”

“Do you know what Martial Heaven’s goal is, little brother?”

“To be honest, I don’t know much.”

On the other hand, given the look on his face, it seemed that Jin Yo did in fact know a few things about Martial Heaven.

‘That was some amazing luck that led me to meet him.’

“So... what is their goal?”

“The annihilation of the murim.”

“The annihilation... of the murim?"

“Originally, they were a group of people who wanted to transcend the petty squabbles between the Righteous, Evil, and Demonic paths, pursuing only the martial way. They moved only forward, not straying one hair’s breadth, only aiming for the true peak of the Martial Path.”

“And that is why their name is Martial Heaven.”

“Exactly. However, no matter how clear a lake is, it will turn murky if it stays stagnant for a long time. Moreover, the longer they lived away from the world, the more they forgot how to live within it. In the end, their arrogance knew no bounds. They declared themselves superior beings, different from the common scum of the murim.”

“And that became a problem.”

“As their martial skills increased, their exclusionary mindset also increased. Moreover, there was another problem, too.”

“What do you mean?”

“Everyone within their sect was originally assumed to be equal. All of them were peers working toward the same goal. However, at some point, they started dividing themselves into ranks according to their cultivation. Actually, it was more like the decision of one man, but he was so powerful that no one could compare to him, so the rest had no choice but to follow.”

“Those who didn’t follow would have died.”

“That being called himself the Martial Heaven God and placed his subordinates underneath him according to their cultivations. Under Martial Heaven God came the Martial Emperor, and under the Martial Emperor were the Three Heavenly Martial Kings and the Four Palace Masters of the Dao. After forming his so-called martial dynasty, they decided amongst themselves to exterminate all of the lowly people of the murim within the gangho, who pollute the concept of what it means to be ‘martial’ with their low-level skills, and leave nothing but the techniques behind. Their reverence for what is ‘martial’ degenerated and eventually became a fanatical path akin to a cult.”[2]

‘Wait, then where... where does that bastard belong within Martial Heaven?’

Woo-Moon was thinking about the Forgetful King. Even though he had become a Paragon himself, he was still unable to say he would win in a battle against that man.

“Hold on... If you grew up in the imperial palace since childhood, then how come you know so much about Martial Heaven, brother Jin?”

Jin Yo let out his characteristic chuckle.

“There were many people who fought against Martial Heaven in the past. Not only were they all defeated, but Martial Heaven had even erased their traces from history. My master was one of those people.”

“Ah...!”

That was an option that Woo-Moon hadn’t taken into account, that there were people in the past who fought against Martial Heaven.

‘No, but it stands to reason that if Martial Heaven was unable to annihilate the murim even with such power, it’s because similarly powerful figures were blocking them.’

In the end, unfortunately, those figures still lost. Still, they were able to succeed in delaying the annihilation of the murim.

There had definitely been a great battle. It was a shame that no one remembered it now. Of course, that fact in itself served to show how terrifying Martial Heaven was.

“After losing all of his comrades in the battle against Martial Heaven, Master came to the Imperial Palace and hid, mortally wounded. By some fate, I met him and helped him, hiding him from the eyes of those in the palace. After about three years of teaching me, Master lay to rest.”

Jin Yo had been able to become a Paragon based on the martial arts he had learned for just three years.

Woo-Moon and Jin Yo spoke for a long time.

Jin Yo often boasted about his past, while Woo-Moon asked all the questions he could think of about Martial Heaven, especially regarding their organization.

The day gradually grew brighter.

Although Woo-Moon very much enjoyed talking to Jin Yo, he couldn’t afford to stay any longer. Thus, he repeated the one thing the eunuch hadn’t answered yet.

“Please. Please lend me your strength in fighting Martial Heaven.”

“If you’re destined to win, you’ll win even if I don’t lend you my strength. If you’re destined to lose, you’ll lose even if I were to help you. I just enjoy living here. This is a paradise where a sumptuous meal is served whenever I want, and I can share my joys and sorrows with beautiful new consorts whenever I desire. Why would I ever want to leave?”

Woo-Moon was at a loss. While he was angry, he also knew that persuading Jin Yo was close to impossible.

The eunuch truly loved this life and was almost confined to this place due to how long he had lived underground in the Forbidden City.

He just didn’t want to leave, ever.

That was why not even his master’s mortal enemy, Martial Heaven, was enough of a draw to bring him out.

‘Being a Paragon doesn’t mean you’re perfect, then.’

The body can become perfect.

An Absolute Master was close to perfection, and a Paragon even more so.

However, the soul is a different matter.

Not even a Paragon would have a perfect soul. It was the same even for an Immortal.

‘If Immortals were perfect in body and soul, then those Immortals who make all those mistakes in the tales could never exist.’

“I guess I can’t do anything about it, then. Okay. I really enjoyed our conversation. Then, I’ll take my leave now.”

“Are you leaving already? Instead of keeping an old man company for a little longer... how wicked of you, hoho.”

Without saying a word, Woo-Moon bowed and left the palace of Jin Yo—as it turned out, the Seal-Holding Eunuch Director of Palace Eunuchs—then left the imperial palace.

As Jin Yo mused to himself, alone, another person entered the chamber.

“Chief Eunuch!” a beautiful woman clad in rich imperial attire called out.

“Oho, Crown Consort. You’ve come to see me.”

“I missed you, Chief Eunuch!”

Jin Yo hugged the Crown Consort and removed her clothes one by one before creating another clone. This time, it looked exactly like the Crown Consort and was sent back up the stairs.

He was planning on keeping her by his side for the entire day in order to soothe his complicated feelings. His clone would faithfully perform her role as a stand-in for the Crown Consort.

‘Yes, I’m happy with this life.’

Shaking off his worries, Jin Yo smiled happily as he buried his face in the Crown Consort\'s bosom.

***

Ma-Ra was currently halfway up a nondescript mountain.

She stood for a moment before the former headquarters of the Formless Veil, an empty cavern where nothing but ashes and ruins remained. After a moment, she began searching through the remnants.

She carefully looked around, analyzing pieces of wreckage to determine where she was with regard to the Formless Veil’s buildings.

Because so much time had passed since then, it took Ma-Ra quite some time to find the exact place she was looking for. In that span of time, she hunted in the nearby forest, filled her stomach when she wanted to, and slept when she wanted to.

After a few days, she finally found something.

‘The Martial Book of the Death God.’

The book hadn’t burned even as the entire Formless Veil burned down around it. It was made of a special material that Ma-Ra couldn’t recognize.

A faint memory came to mind.

One day, she was practicing eliminating all emotions. Someone handed her this book with wrinkled hands, an elderly person who had been taking care of her and her father.

She didn’t even know that person’s name, simply calling them Old Slave.

Old Slave asked Ma-Ra to learn the techniques within the book in their place, as they hadn’t been able to learn it with their own talents. Moreover, Old Slave asked her not to talk to her father about it.

Not that it mattered.

Even though the Formless Veil’s Assassin Master found her reading the book, he simply ignored her.

Thinking about it now that her emotions and self-will had been restored to some extent, Ma-Ra realized that Old Slave had felt sorry for her. That was the only reason why Old Slave would have gone so far as to give her this incredible killing art.

Even if Old Slave hadn’t been able to learn it themself, such a decision couldn’t have been easy.

Ma-Ra had mixed feelings toward her father, the Formless Veil’s Assassin Master. Hatred, but at the same time... pity.

As she stayed with Woo-Moon and learned many things about life, she had slowly realized that life had been completely unfair to her. That was the root of the hatred for her father.

On the other hand, she found him pitiful.

He had been a truly weak person.

Although he cared for Ma-Ra, more so than anyone else, he had been a foolish father who had ruined his own daughter with his own twisted choices.

‘He never drank, but on that day, he got drunk and talked about Mother.’

1. Yes, he’s referencing his third leg. ☜

2. The “martial” here is 武 (Mu), the same character in the Mu Heons’ name. ☜