bayedsolid Chapter 267 : Jaseung, Congratulated
Chapter 267 : Jaseung, Congratulated
The steel plated carriage for the Alliance Leader was traveling slowly.While it was a carriage capable of unparalleled speed if pushed, it now moved slower than a small cart.
The person driving the carriage from the coachman's seat was Chu Sang-gi.
Although he had been unable to escort Baek Seolyoung for a while after leaving with Lee Jaseung, his loyalty toward her had actually grown even stronger.
Having been apart from her, he realized that she was a truly precious existence.
For her, who now carried a child, Chu Sang-gi drove the carriage as carefully as possible.
Several other steel plated carriages followed behind, and the martial artists of the Guard Hall, including Mook Young, provided an airtight escort.
The person riding in the carriage with Baek Seolyoung was Dan Ah, her maid and guard.
“How do you feel?”
Baek Seolyoung smiled at Dan Ah's question.
“I am not quite sure myself.”
To be honest, the fact that she carried Lee Jaseung's child still did not feel real to her.
It was because there was still almost no outward sign of it.
She felt she would only know how it truly felt after actually giving birth to the child herself.
“Do you hope for a son or a daughter?”
Baek Seolyoung seemed to ponder for a moment before she eventually answered.
“A son.”
“Why?”
Dan Ah asked with a look of surprise.
“I had the thought that it would be nice to have a son who looks like him.”
“What did the Alliance Leader say, by any chance?”
“He said he hoped for a daughter.”
Of course, Lee Jaseung had said he wanted a beautiful daughter who resembled Baek Seolyoung.
Because she could not bring herself to say such things with her own mouth, she had answered simply.
“I feel the same as the Alliance Leader. I hope for a beautiful daughter who resembles the Grand Lady.”
Baek Seolyoung smiled at Dan Ah's words.
“I don't mind whether it is a daughter or a son. I only hope for it to be born healthy.”
Then Dan Ah spoke with a smile.
“They say parents who start out that way eventually say this later: It is fine if you are not healthy, so please just do well in your studies and your martial arts.”
The two of them laughed together.
Baek Seolyoung's gaze turned toward the window.
It would be the same for any parent.
What they wished for was simply for the child to grow up happily.
Since health and self-actualization would all be contained within that happiness.
Thinking such thoughts made Lee Jaseung's dream of unifying the world feel different to her.
The child's happiness would change depending on whether he achieved his dream or not.
If he achieved his dream, the child would live in the Jianghu that he created.
Her wish was only one.
That the Jianghu would be a place where the child could live happily.
* * *
Lee Jaseung, who returned to his quarters, felt restless all day long.
He did not know that becoming a father would shake a person's heart like this.
The reality of being in the middle of a war was quite regrettable.
She surely needed him now more than ever.
He was so grateful to her for returning to the Murim Alliance silently without showing any sign of such needs.
Suddenly, his late father came to mind.
When he thought of his father, only two scenes always surfaced.
The first was the scene of his father, heavily intoxicated, looking at him with sorrowful eyes.
“Shall I prepare a meal for you?”
Thud.
His father had closed the door.
The vow he made then came back to him.
— I will not live like my father.
However, if it were now, he felt he would have said something different.
He would have asked if something was wrong, and told him not to suffer so much.
And there was a second reflection regarding his father.
It was the day he first harbored the dream of unifying the world.
When he woke from sleep, his father was crying while embracing his mother.
“I am sorry, I am truly sorry. So please, don't go. Please.”
It was the first time he had seen his father's tears.
“Because I am weak, because I have nothing... because I am lacking, because I am nothing, I am sending you away like this. Blame me. Resent me.”
He made a resolution that day.
He decided he would definitely become strong and become a person who protects the ones he loves.
Thinking about it now, both of those resolutions were born from a rebellious heart that denied his father.
It was simply that he loved his mother so much that he could not accept her death.
Now that he thought about becoming a father himself, he felt even more apologetic.
He was the Black Way Alliance Leader, and in the middle of fighting a war to take over the world.
He wondered if he could truly be a good father.
His anxiety was as great as his excitement.
He heard a presence outside, and soon three people entered.
They were Dan Woobin, Mujin, and Ma Young-gi, who had rushed over after hearing the news.
“We truly congratulate you.”
Dan Woobin looked as though he might cry at any moment.
He was someone who usually empathized deeply with the love between Lee Jaseung and Baek Seolyoung.
Now that he heard Baek Seolyoung was with child, he was as excited as if he were the one having a child.
Mujin spoke playfully.
“Now the spring days are truly over.”
Dan Woobin protested.
“The spring days are actually just getting started.”
“Winter has arrived in his life. A bitter, freezing season.”
“That must be the bitter jealousy of a playboy. What a lonely soul.”
“My goodness! To think you have to go from fighting demons to changing diapers!”
“The happiness that one child gives will be greater than the happiness the entire Jianghu provides!”
The gazes of the two who were going back and forth turned toward Ma Young-gi.
Whenever the two were in conflict, it had become a habit to ask Ma Young-gi for the final vote.
“This is a matter related to the nephew who will be born. It is spring, right?”
“Even so, the truth should not be ignored, right? It is winter, right?”
Seeing Ma Young-gi deep in thought, an ominous feeling struck Mujin.
“Surely, you are not planning to answer that it is summer?”
Ma Young-gi flinched for a moment.
Dan Woobin spoke with a look of doubt.
“No matter how lame our Captain Ma is, he is not that bad.”
Ma Young-gi turned to Lee Jaseung and spoke.
“Autumn has now arrived in the Alliance Leader's life.”
Mujin and Dan Woobin shouted at the same time.
“My goodness! He actually did it.”
After a bout of banter disguised as congratulations ended, they returned to the wartime situation.
Dan Woobin spoke with a serious expression.
“We have come to a head with the Demonic Cult at the Overgrown Plain. The Overgrown Plain is like a gateway to the Demonic Cult headquarters, and from the perspective of the Asura Demon Sect, it is a strategic point that must never be lost. Likely, all large-scale forces will be mobilized, and a hidden move will appear.”
“I will stand at the front.”
“Yes, we will leave it to you.”
They expected it to be a dangerous fight, but it was a battle where Lee Jaseong had to take the lead.
To use a chess analogy from a strategist's perspective, Lee Jaseung was the King, but simultaneously an all-purpose piece that could move like the Rook, Cannon, Knight, and Bishop.
In exchange, he was a piece that must never be lost.
On the other hand, the opponent had already lost their King.
Normally, the game should have ended already, but this fight was a match that only ended when all of the opponent's pieces were taken.
Even if one thought the game was won, they had to do their best until the end.
Since it was unknown what variables might arise, and it was important to minimize their own losses.
At that moment, a subordinate entered and reported.
“Ho Yeonshin has come to visit.”
* * *
The one who called Ho Yeonshin was Lee Jaseung.
He had something to ask him, and because he could not leave his post at the front during the war, he had summoned him.
It seemed he would monitor Lee Jaseung's movements, but the Heavenly Demon Soul had returned to his residence.
The bastard had made his will clear: He would not interfere at all until the promised one year, but if the promise was broken, he would punish Lee Jaseung thoroughly.
“Did you poison me just to work me like this?”
He glared at Lee Jaseung with a dissatisfied expression, but there was no sincerity in it.
The Asura Demon Sect, and especially Yao Hong, was an irreconcilable enemy.
Instead, he was in a position where he should bow to Lee Jaseung for taking revenge for him.
He would have to set aside the self-loathing of not being able to achieve it himself.
“Why on earth did you call me?”
“I have one thing I am curious about.”
“What is it?”
“Can two Heavenly Demon Souls exist at the same time?”
Ho Yeonshin was startled by the unexpected question.
He did not expect Lee Jaseung to pay such attention to the Heavenly Demon Soul.
“Why do you ask that?”
“While fighting Yao Hong, the bastard mentioned the Heavenly Demon Soul several times. So I became curious. Right now, you are the only person who can tell me about the Heavenly Demon Soul, right?”
The simple Ho Yeonshin believed those words.
It was because he thought there was no reason for Lee Jaseung to deceive him.
Ho Yeonshin answered clearly with a somewhat proud expression.
“Of course, two Heavenly Demon Souls can exist. Three or even four Heavenly Demon Souls can exist.”
The Heavenly Demon Soul dwelling in Cheon Myeongin's body telling him to master the Nine Divine Demonic Arts was undoubtedly a trick to dominate his body.
Since it would not be able to exert its power in a body that had not mastered the Nine Divine Demonic Arts to perfection.
However, if he mastered the Nine Divine Demonic Arts to perfection himself, a Heavenly Demon Soul would also be created within him.
“Can Heavenly Demon Souls fight each other?”
He asked because he wondered if there was a fundamental mechanism to prevent that in order to stop internal division.
“I heard that they can.”
“I see.”
Then it made sense.
The bastard intended to eliminate the Heavenly Demon Soul Lee Jaseung created and take its place.
If a newly created Heavenly Demon Soul was a baby, the bastard was an old Heavenly Demon Soul that had existed for at least a hundred years.
He felt certain that he could never defeat the bastard through the method of mastering the Nine Divine Demonic Arts to perfection.
If he played along with the bastard's intentions, setting aside the loss of his body, it was unknown what would happen to the Jianghu afterward.
The bastard might even be dreaming of the destruction of the Jianghu.
Ho Yeonshin's competitive spirit flared up for no reason.
“Once I manifest the Heavenly Demon Soul, you are a dead man.”
“Is the Heavenly Demon Soul that strong?”
“Even if you die and are reborn, you can never defeat the Heavenly Demon Soul.”
“I see.”
Lee Jaseung rose from his seat.
“Thank you for coming.”
Lee Jaseung, who was about to go out, glanced back at Ho Yeonshin and spoke.
“However, I have one more thing I am curious about.”
“And that is?”
“If the Heavenly Demon Soul is such a powerful existence, why has your Demonic Cult been unable to unify the world?”
Ho Yeonshin could not readily give any answer to that question.
Lee Jaseung walked out.
The Heavenly Demon Soul seemed all-powerful on the surface… but there was some secret he did not know.
He felt that solving that was the key to resolving this situation.
* * *
“We must win this fight at all costs.”
The words of the Man of the Voice echoed in the Cult Leader's Hall.
There were seven people in that place where the original owner was absent, the Demonic Humans of the Asura Demon Sect Council of Seven.
“If we are pushed back in the battle at the Overgrown Plain, we will be pushed back all the way to the headquarters. We must mobilize all the power of this sect to defeat those bastards.”
Je Song, who had the strongest voice among the Council of Seven, spoke.
“How can we stop Lee Jaseung's terrifying military force?”
They were already losing in the ongoing battles.
Especially in battles where Lee Jaseung stepped forward himself, they suffered repeated defeats.
No matter what organization they sent out, the result was the same. They were all cut down by Lee Jaseung.
The Man of the Voice answered calmly.
“Even if Lee Jaseung is strong, he is ultimately just a human made of bone and flesh. If we concentrate all the power of this sect, we can surely eliminate that bastard. Now, you seniors must also step forward together.”
The experts of this Council of Seven each possessed great individual strength, but they also commanded their own secret organizations.
They were essentially private armies, and if they mobilized all of them along with the main forces, they could exert immense power.
It was a situation where an affirmative answer should naturally follow, but a silence fell upon the place.
Je Song asked back, representing everyone's heart.
“You are saying even we must go out personally?”
In his tone, displeasure overflowed beyond mere embarrassment.
On the other hand, the Man of the Voice was firm.
“Yes, that is correct.”
“And what if even we are defeated? Would the cult not be finished?”
Everyone was afraid of Lee Jaseung.
The Man of the Voice understood them, but on the other hand, he found them pathetic.
If they were pushed back in this battle anyway, they would be pushed back to the headquarters.
That bastard would never let the leadership of the Demonic Cult live.
“If we lose the battle at the Overgrown Plain, this cult is finished anyway.”
Then, another member of the Council of Seven, Heuk Hyo, spoke with a hardened expression.
“If that is the case, then you no longer need to pretend to be a mysterious person, do you?”
The Man of the Voice was appalled.
Indeed, it was a petty and pathetic reaction.
However, it was not a situation to escalate conflict with them now.
‘Fine, if that is what you wish.’
Sssssss.
A man revealed his form there.
The very man who had appeared and sighed when Yao Hong died.
The name of the Man of the Voice was Seo Pae.
“I greet the Elders.”
The gazes of the Council of Seven focused on him. This was the first time he had officially shown his face like this.