Chapter 23
The early dawn was filled with the lazy cries of birds.
"Mmm... mmm... I want more candy... just one more piece..."
Yul was talking in her sleep.
Beside her, Paeng Seo-yeon was also sound asleep.
Then,
"Mmm?"
Yul blinked her sleepy eyes and woke up.
She poked her finger at Paeng Seo-yeon who was sleeping next to her.
"Mmm? Yul, what is it?"
"Mommy. I need to pee."
It seemed she needed to use the bathroom.
With eyes barely open, the mother and daughter got up from the bed and quietly headed to the bathroom.
A little while later, the two returned to the room after a quick trip to the bathroom.
Yul quickly climbed back onto the bed, smiled happily, and fell asleep.
Paeng Seo-yeon smiled softly at her daughter and also got into bed.
Though she would likely kick off the blanket soon, she still carefully tucked Yul in before pulling up her own blanket to go back to sleep.
Or rather, she tried to.
Feeling something was off, Paeng Seo-yeon opened her eyes again and looked to the side.
The spot where her husband should have been was empty.
She looked around the room.
"Honey?"
But Yeo Un-hwi was nowhere to be seen.
Paeng Seo-yeon had a puzzled look on her face.
Where on earth could he have gone at this hour?
At the peak of a tall mountain overlooking Hebei in the distance.
On a small ledge barely big enough for one person to sit, someone was quietly meditating with eyes closed.
Swish swish.
Soon, a mysterious golden light began to emanate from his body, pushing back the darkness and scattering a bright radiance.
How much time had passed?
The golden light gradually faded away in the same manner it had appeared.
The man meditating slowly opened his eyes.
"Phew... So I've reached the 3rd Star now."
This man was Yeo Un-hwi.
He had just surpassed the level he had achieved in his past life as the Blood Demon.
In his Blood Demon days, he had fought endlessly without any regard for his own body.
As a result, he had suffered countless life-threatening injuries.
But he never gave himself time to fully recover, setting his sights on the next target as soon as he could move even a little.
It was a series of mad acts only possible for someone who treated their life as a plaything.
Naturally, his body couldn't have been in good condition.
Because of that, he hadn't been able to fully refine the Heavenly Martial Divine Art, which could be called a once-in-a-millennium fortuitous encounter.
Or more accurately, he hadn't even thought to do so.
The only reason Yeo Un-hwi lived was to find and kill the trash martial artists.
But now it was different.
Yeo Un-hwi was no longer the Blood Demon, a murderous ghost obsessed with revenge.
Now his focus was on how to protect his precious family as safely as possible.
And to do that, Yeo Un-hwi needed to become strong.
Stronger than anyone.
Moreover, he had the Heavenly Martial Divine Art.
The Heavenly Martial Divine Art was the martial art of the Martial God, who had been the greatest person of all time.
Raising his level in the Heavenly Martial Divine Art was the fastest way to gain strength surpassing anyone else.
What he needed to do to protect his family became clear.
So there was no reason to delay or be lazy anymore.
Thus, Yeo Un-hwi had been focusing on cultivating the Heavenly Martial Divine Art here every early dawn.
Fortunately, at this time and place, no one ever came, so he could concentrate solely on his practice without any disturbance.
Thanks to this, Yeo Un-hwi's achievements were increasing at a speed incomparable to his previous life.
Still, even he hadn't expected to reach the next level so quickly.
He felt both happy and somewhat dazed.
Yeo Un-hwi didn't know.
He had already inherited everything the Martial God Hyeok Jong-hu had accomplished in his lifetime.
All he needed was time to calmly digest it all.
But before his regression, he hadn't been able to do that, and now things were different.
Without realizing it, Yeo Un-hwi was perfectly prepared to accept everything of the Martial God.
'3rd Star of the Heavenly Martial Divine Art.'
Roughly estimating based on his past life memories, he thought that at his current level, he wouldn't be too outmatched even if he had to fight one of the Twelve Venerables of the World.
Of course, it would greatly depend on which of them he faced.
He thought it might be difficult against the 'Four Emperors,' including the 'Martial Emperor' and the 'Red Monk.'
After all, they were considered the strongest among the Twelve Venerables of the World, the absolute rulers of the current martial world.
But even so,
'If I risk my life, I could probably take an arm or two.'
Yeo Un-hwi suddenly burst out laughing at his own thought.
He had unconsciously slipped into his Blood Demon way of thinking.
No, what on earth would he do with that arm anyway...
Yeo Un-hwi soon shook his head.
It wasn't just about protecting his family.
To protect his family's happiness, he needed to survive somehow as well.
From now on, he decided he should abandon his old Blood Demon way of thinking.
It wouldn't be easy right away, but Yeo Un-hwi was determined to do so.
'Come to think of it, it's much more bearable than I thought.'
A month since coming to the Peng Family.
Yeo Un-hwi felt that adapting to the Peng Family was much easier than he had anticipated.
Anyone who knew how Yeo Un-hwi was being treated in the Hebei Peng Family recently would be shocked to hear him think this way.
The pressure he was experiencing now would make most people want to cry.
Gossiping behind his back, ignoring him, ostracizing him, rejecting him.
They did everything short of outright violence, and Yeo Un-hwi was experiencing it all.
But to Yeo Un-hwi, all of this was merely amusing.
To him, this couldn't be called pressure.
Nor could this be called suffering.
He had suddenly lost his beloved wife without even knowing why, and later held the charred corpse of his daughter while shedding tears of blood.
And how desperate were his days as the Blood Demon?
He had fought and fought even as his flesh was torn, pus oozed out, and his body rotted.
To him, the current situation was like child's play. Just childish and cute.
So it wasn't much of a problem.
But that didn't mean he planned to remain passive forever.
He intended to react when the right time came.
Very slowly and properly at that.
In fact, Yeo Un-hwi had no intention of constantly hiding his martial arts.
There was no reason to hide it like a criminal, as long as the martial art he learned wasn't from the Demonic Heavenly Cult or a past master of the Evil Faction.
However, if it became known that it was the martial art of the Martial God, the greatest person of all time, there was a high chance that all sorts of riffraff would gather, coveting the Heavenly Martial Divine Art.
So he planned to be as careful as possible until he was confident he wouldn't lose to anyone.
Until then, it was right to reveal his presence as naturally and slowly as possible.
"...Hmm."
Lost in thought for a while, Yeo Un-hwi suddenly frowned.
The rising sunlight was tickling his eyes.
The sun was already rising.
'Well then, shall we go?'
Yeo Un-hwi got up and dusted himself off.
Then he leapt off the dizzying cliff.
A smile spread across his face as he fell at high speed.
He already missed his wife and daughter.
"Hya, hyaah!"
"Eurarachacha!"
"The formation is breaking! Get your act together!"
Morning had dawned.
The mornings at the Hebei Peng Family were always filled with the shouts of warriors.
After finishing Hell's Morning Run, which the Hebei Peng Family prided itself on, from early morning, the warriors would undergo intense training until lunchtime.
Of course, after lunch, training would continue.
Because of this, the Hebei Peng Family was a place where even fairly tough individuals couldn't last a single day.
Finally, during such grueling training that constantly pushed their limits, a 10-minute break arrived.
It was a sweet respite, all the more precious for being so brief.
As they lay sprawled here and there, catching their breath, one of the warriors suddenly spoke up.
"Seriously, isn't he just too annoying?"
"What? What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
"Who else? That 'scholar bastard.'"
"Ah, right."
Somehow, in the Hebei Peng Family, everyone knew who was meant when someone said 'scholar bastard.'
That's how much all the warriors in the Peng Family strongly disliked Yeo Un-hwi.
In fact, if at first they merely found him disagreeable, now they hated him much more.
Why was that?
Normally, when people openly mock and ridicule someone as a group, it's natural for that person to become intimidated and discouraged.
But this scholar bastard somehow didn't care at all and went around grinning.
Seeing this, the warriors came to dislike him even more.
After all, a man who knows no shame is never popular.
So everyone was busy cursing that 'scholar bastard.'
Just then,
"Tsk tsk. Looks like you still have energy to spare."
"Ah, you're here, Squad Leader."
"What are you all whispering about? It looks unsightly."
"Ahaha. Well..."
The warriors soon began grumbling about that scholar bastard to their superior as well.
Squad Leader No Il-bong let out a dry laugh.
"So, you're saying that no matter how much you bully him, it doesn't work, and that makes you dislike him even more. That scholar bastard?"
"Yes. I don't know if he's just clueless or if he's got guts."
"You all seem to have a lot of time on your hands, doing such pointless things."
The warriors thought No Il-bong was scolding them.
But then,
"You should have told me about this sooner."
"...Pardon?"
"Such an interesting matter, I mean."
"Ahaha..."
No Il-bong soon grinned.
"There's only one proper way to deal with guys like that."
"What...?"
Everyone tilted their heads, not understanding what No Il-bong meant.
But regardless, No Il-bong started cackling as if something was very amusing.
"Let's make him shit blood. In our own way."