Sword God Reborn

Chapter 317 : I can see your face

"You, what is that now?"

"What do you mean?"

Neung-heo opened his eyes wide and looked at the person opposite him.

Although her face had more wrinkles now that she was older, it was still Seol-yeong, whose beauty remained.

"It's been a long time since our Hang-ah has returned, so what's with your appearance now?"

"What's with my appearance?"

"Oh my, go wash up. Put on some powder."

"What powder at this age..."

Neung-heo was also now over sixty. The fame of the One-Eyed Serpent, Neung-heo, who had killed the King of Hell, was from twenty years ago, and now he was just an old man who had retired from the martial world and was living a leisurely life.

But to put on powder that only courtesans would use...

Of course, since this was the number one courtesan house in Henan, the Lotus Pavilion, it was not difficult to get powder. But still, he had his pride, to put on powder!

"Hurry up!"

As Seol-yeong shouted sharply, Neung-heo immediately tucked his tail.

"Ahem, well, give me something that won't damage my skin."

He had had his daughter in his forties, so others would see him as a grandfather.

He had to take care of his skin at least a little. Yes.

Neung-heo applied the powder to his face with a delicate touch.

* * *

*Crash, crash, crash!*

Neung-heo, who was waiting for his daughter on the top floor of the Lotus Pavilion, frowned at the commotion again.

The date his daughter was supposed to come was approaching, so he had intended to not open for a while, but since the sales were not good lately, he had been forced to open...

It was a commotion again.

"Well, it's not like there's a day without a commotion in a courtesan house."

But it was still annoying when a commotion broke out.

So he didn't pay much attention. Because it would be sorted out soon anyway.

But how much time had passed? Far from calming down, the sound of something breaking continued to be heard from below. Rather, the noise had become even worse. Even a terrible scream was heard.

Finally, the door burst open.

"Master, master!"

"What is it? Il-seok."

"Well, well, you have to come and see!"

"Why? Is a master you can't handle causing a ruckus? Tell him my name and tell him to get lost."

The name of the One-Eyed Serpent, Neung-heo, had become heavier as time passed. Wasn't he the hero who had killed the King of Hell? So unless it was a master with a lot of guts, they couldn't cause a ruckus in the Lotus Pavilion even after hearing his name.

"Well, that's not it, you have to go and see for yourself. Please stop him!"

"What? What is it?"

Neung-heo, who had felt that something was unusual from Il-seok's urgent face, went down to the first floor.

And what he saw when he went down was...

Men who were twisted, broken, and shattered were lying miserably, and.

In the center.

"Damn it! Where do you think you are, messing around! You thought I was a courtesan and touched my butt? No, do you think you can touch a courtesan? This is the Lotus Pavilion! You trash, I'll spare your lives, so get lost!"

A girl with a youthful appearance was constantly berating the men. Although she had a small build and a slender appearance, the words that came out of her mouth were extremely harsh.

Neung-heo somehow felt empty and his energy drained.

At that moment, the girl's face brightened when she saw Neung-heo's face. The girl raised her hand high and waved it like crazy.

"Father! I'm here!"

It was Neung-heo's daughter, Hang-ah. Although her face did not resemble his in the slightest, the people around him were all shocked at the way she spoke, which made them think that she was his daughter.

Neung-heo sighed.

* * *

"Our Hang-ah, you've become so pretty!"

Hang-ah ran and hugged Seol-yeong and Neung-heo.

The slender scabbard hanging from her waist rattled.

"Hehe. Ah, where's Un-yi?"

Un-yi was the youngest. The second boy that Neung-heo had had after traveling with Seol-yeong.

"He's working at the escort agency. He'll probably come this evening."

"Aha, it's a relief that that weak guy is smart! They say he's so good at calculating numbers?"

"Yes. He inherited this father's brain."

"Hmm..."

"What's with that look?"

"It's nothing."

Neung-heo somehow felt that his daughter had changed quite a bit.

Well, it couldn't be helped. Since Hang-ah had left home and had returned after two years.

Two years was enough time to change, and moreover, the person she was with...

"Is that guy doing well?"

"Of course. My uncle and aunt are getting along well. They're both over forty, but they still look young. Sometimes, when outsiders see me, they think I'm a much younger sister?"

"Ugh. That guy doesn't even get old..."

"Heh. He's not an ordinary uncle. He's the number one under heaven."

"Yes, did you learn some martial arts from that great number one under heaven uncle?"

"Of course. My uncle said I'm better than my dad!"

"...Don't say that with such a bright face. It hurts my heart."

"Hehe. Of course, it must have been a compliment he gave me because he adores me. My dad is also famous as the hero who killed the King of Hell, so how can I be better than my dad's skill?"

Neung-heo did not answer. His uncle, that was Cheon Mubaeck. He had said that she had a talent for using the sword, and Cheon Mubaeck had told him to send her to him. That he would take her in for just a year. But when he had actually taught her, her talent was even better, so he had taught her for another year. Neung-heo naturally felt a sense of dissatisfaction.

To take away two years of his daughter's cutest years.

That bastard...

'He must be trying to steal our Hang-ah because he doesn't have his own child.'

Although Seol-yeong, who was next to him, would click her tongue whenever he grumbled about such a complaint, Neung-heo somehow thought that it might really be true.

Neung-heo was surprised as he looked at his daughter's face, which he wouldn't mind putting in his eyes.

The brilliant internal energy that was burning in her cute eyes was formidable.

"Still, you really must have a talent."

Neung-heo knew Cheon Mubaeck well. He was not a person who would give such a compliment just to make him feel good.

'Probably, she's really better than me.'

Well, it's a little bitter. But I'm also pretty good with a sword.

"So, when is he coming back? Your uncle?"

"Hmm. I don't know. It seems the two of them are thinking of traveling to Haedong and across the sea to Waeguk this time."

"Good grief, it's a party."

"Hehe. They suffered a lot during the Righteous-Demonic War, so they're enjoying the rest of their lives."

"Ugh. Still, it would be nice to see his face once."

Neung-heo thought of Cheon Mubaeck.

Although he had wanted to get away from him so much, and had been anxious that he might get stabbed at any time while he was with him.

Was it because he hadn't seen him for so long?

Somehow, he missed him.

* * *

Time is like the waves of the Yangtze River.

It cannot be stopped, nor can it be reversed. The river that has once started to flow flows steadfastly despite any obstacles.

That much time had also passed.

In his old age, Neung-heo, who was spending his time watching the antics of his grandson, whom Hang-ah had given birth to, woke up late at night. His whole body was heavy, soaked in a cold sweat, and his eyelids did not open well, perhaps because they were covered in all sorts of pus.

Although they did not open well, he could see. He could feel. Neung-heo let out a dry cough. How much had he coughed? He barely smiled.

"Didn't you come too late?"

"Late? You're still alive and well."

"I'm an old man who's about to die. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to see your face before I died. Now that you're over fifty, you still look like you're in your thirties."

Neung-heo smiled with a wrinkled face.

Cheon Mubaeck smiled bitterly. How old was Neung-heo now? Yes, seventy. He was a little over seventy.

He was not that old for a martial artist, but he had lived a rough life when he was young.

Or was his given lifespan just that much?

Neung-heo had reached the end of his life.

"Have you been well?"

"I've been well. I've been traveling here and there."

"You've had a lot of fun. What about my sister-in-law?"

"She's coming. I just ran ahead, just in case."

"Hehehe. Why, did you come because you were worried about me?"

"Tsk. What's there to worry about an old man who's about to die?"

"My lord, my lord."

"What, speak."

"Come a little closer, I have something to say."

Cheon Mubaeck listened to him. Neung-heo, who was lying like a living corpse, could not even raise his head. Cheon Mubaeck brought his ear close to his face.

At that moment.

*Thwack!*

"..."

Neung-heo laughed as he hit the back of Cheon Mubaeck's head with his palm.

"Hehehe, I told you. I'd hit the back of your head once someday. Hahaha. My lifelong wish has been fulfilled! Hahaha!"

Neung-heo laughed like crazy, as if he were so happy. Cheon Mubaeck also stared at him and then laughed together.

He could have dodged, and he could have blocked. No, it was a hand so slow that even an ordinary person could have dodged it. But Cheon Mubaeck had deliberately taken the hit.

'He's lost all his strength.'

At the hand that had lost all its energy, Cheon Mubaeck held back his fading heart.

"Are you going?"

"I have to go. Yes, I have to go now. I've fulfilled all my lifelong wishes."

"What were your wishes?"

"To go out into the Central Plains with a sword and to gain a high reputation, to marry a beautiful woman, to see the cutest child in the world, to follow a lord worthy of serving for a lifetime and to run wild with a big sword, and to hit the back of such a lord's head once. What a satisfying life, isn't it?"

"Well, you've lived a fun life."

"Yes, I've lived a fun life. Really. If I hadn't met you, my lord, I might have been stabbed to death in a back alley. That's what a black path life is like."

"..."

"There must be a next life, right? If so, this One-Eyed Serpent, Neung-heo, will serve you as my lord then too."

"Who said I'd accept you?"

"Hehehe, what are you going to do if you don't accept me? I'll just have to follow you around."

"Didn't you want to leave my side at one point?"

"Leaving is only for a moment. I missed you when I couldn't see you for a few years. To be born as a man, it was an honor to be able to serve a person like you, my lord."

"...Anyway, your talkativeness is still the same even when you're out of energy."

"Hahahaha. I told you, even if I'm out of energy, I have the strength to move my lips and my tongue."

Cheon Mubaeck looked at Neung-heo without saying anything. Neung-heo also looked back at Cheon Mubaeck with wrinkled eyes.

"I don't know. If I'll have a next life."

"Don't worry if you don't, I'll serve you in the afterlife."

"...Yes. Do that."

"Hehehe. My lord, I've said all I have to say now. Please let my children and our Seol-yeong in."

"I will."

Cheon Mubaeck went outside. Seol-yeong, Hang-ah, and Un-yi entered the room.

How much time had passed?

A cry suddenly burst out from the room.

Cheon Mubaeck turned his back with a bitter expression.

"Every time, every life, no matter how many times I experience it, it's a feeling I can't get used to."

He had sent someone away again.

As always, it was just an ordinary thing that was repeated in every life.

...It was not an unfamiliar thing.

* * *

But it was not a familiar thing.

Although his emotions should have been worn out after living countless lives.

Even Cheon Mubaeck found it hard to bear the sadness on this day every year.

"Sometimes, although it's my greed, I wished you would perform a reverse heaven and stay by my side."

Cheon Mubaeck muttered as he poured wine on the small grave mound.

Time continued to flow, and Zhuge Seol-ah, who had been with him as his partner, also left.

It was a familiar thing. It was a truly familiar thing, and it was something that had been repeated in every life, and it should have been something that he was indifferent to by now.

But this time was special.

It was not the end of one life.

In this life, which was the end of tens, hundreds of lives, to have sent away Zhuge Seol-ah, who had been with him for more than half of those years, was surely a difficult thing to bear even for the great Cheon Mubaeck.

But this was also the last.

Cheon Mubaeck, who had finished pouring the wine, sat down in front of the grave mound and quietly closed his eyes.

How much time had passed?

The moment he opened his eyes again.

The world had darkened.

Cheon Mubaeck smiled bitterly.

"Has it been about eighty years?"

He had died as the Azure Sky Sword God, and eighty years as Cheon Mubaeck. The scene of the final moment that had always been repeated.

A darkening world. And a man who was walking towards him from beyond.

Cheon Mubaeck, who had been sitting, slowly got up.

His body, which had been feeling its energy gradually depleting as he ran towards the end, moved more actively than at any other moment. As if he had returned to the body of his prime, his youth.

Cheon Mubaeck drew his Cheolsingogeom.

The coolness that rose from the scabbard momentarily drove away the darkness that was consuming the surroundings.

The man who was approaching stopped as if he were surprised.

A man he had faced tens, hundreds of times.

An unknown man who had given him all sorts of pain in this terrible cycle of reincarnation.

The moment he saw the man's face, Cheon Mubaeck burst into laughter without realizing it.

He could see it.

A blank face where he could not even know the expression, and so he could not even know the emotions, and so he could not even do a psychological battle while fighting.

A form where he could not even see the facial features.

"I can see. Your face."

The Cheolsingogeom was aimed. At the end of it, the unknown monster whose face was now clearly visible.

He was standing there.

(End of Chapter)