Chapter 7
No one knew what had become of the ruffians who had barged into Sodam Village.
Yeo Un-hwi had thrown their corpses deep in the mountains where wild beasts swarmed, and soon after, the rain washed away even the remaining blood.
"Phew."
Yeo Un-hwi washed his face by the stream.
Perhaps it was because he had just taken lives, but even though there was no blood on his hands or face, he felt compelled to do so.
He quietly gazed at his reflection in the water.
It was the first killing he had committed since his regression.
Did he regret it? Not at all!
He didn't regret it even the tiniest bit.
Those men deserved to die.
People like that never change.
Those who have once tasted power and oppressed the weak will never go back to how they were before.
Because it's far too sweet and easy.
Un-hwi knew well that such people only pretend to change when their lives are in immediate danger, but they never truly become good.
Of course, there might be one exception somewhere in this world.
But in his two lifetimes, spanning no small amount of time, Un-hwi had never once seen or heard of such an example.
So he didn't believe in that slim possibility.
Mistakenly believing in that possibility could lead to countless more people suffering.
So why was Un-hwi doing this now?
He was simply a bit afraid of returning to his family so nonchalantly after taking lives.
He even worried if any bloodlust might linger on him.
It was a concern he had never had in his past life after losing his family.
Of course, back then there had been no need for such worries.
In any case, he couldn't stay like this forever.
Soon, Un-hwi stirred his reflection in the stream and stood up.
It was time to return to his family.
"Daddy!"
His precious daughter Yul ran up and hugged him lovingly.
"Did our Yul-i behave well while I was gone?"
"Yes!"
"Did you miss Daddy?"
"Yes, yes!"
Seeing his daughter made all the complicated thoughts from earlier vanish completely.
As expected, family was truly all that mattered to him...
"Did you have a good trip?"
"Ah haha. Y-yes, dear."
Only then did Un-hwi notice Paeng Seo-yeon glaring at him.
He had been gone for several days beyond the fifteen they had agreed upon.
Moreover, he hadn't properly explained what he was doing or why he needed to go in the first place, so Un-hwi's transgression was too great to simply gloss over.
Hmm.
Un-hwi was at a loss for how to explain himself.
In the end, what was the point of making excuses?
In times like these...
"I'm truly sorry. I have no words to justify myself."
"You know you did wrong?"
"Yes."
"Yes yes! Daddy did wrong!"
Yul chimed in, nodding along with Un-hwi.
The sight made both Un-hwi and Seo-yeon chuckle despite themselves.
Still, some hurt feelings must have remained, as Seo-yeon asked with a slight glare:
"How are you feeling?"
"Me?"
"Who else would I be asking besides you?"
"Who else!"
"Haha!"
Yul seemed to be enjoying mimicking their words today.
Un-hwi kissed her cheek and smiled brightly.
"Haha, I'm perfectly healthy of course."
"Hmm... wait a minute."
Seo-yeon leaned in closer as if she had noticed something.
Un-hwi's eyes widened as he asked:
"What is it?"
"Your... skin looks better, doesn't it? You seem a bit taller too. And your shoulders look broader somehow..."
"Ahem. What are you talking about? I'm hardly at an age to still be growing."
"No, really, something seems subtly different. Right, Yul? How does Daddy's skin feel? Touch it. Yul. Isn't it firm and smooth?"
"Daddy's skin is smooth and firm. Smooth and firm!"
Yul bounced up and down, apparently enjoying the phrase "smooth and firm."
"Ah haha..."
Meanwhile, Un-hwi was quite flustered.
The changes that had occurred to his body after absorbing the Martial God's sphere and being unconscious for over fifteen days.
People called it "bone and marrow cleansing."
Just as his wife said, he had grown a bit taller, his skin had improved, and his body had reached an optimal state for learning and using martial arts.
His wife Seo-yeon had quickly noticed those changes.
As expected, a wife's intuition was not to be underestimated.
"You..."
Suddenly, Seo-yeon's eyes narrowed.
"Where exactly did you go?"
"Ah, um... well, you see."
No matter how he thought about it, the best answer that came to mind was a hot spring.
Perhaps this was the most critical moment Un-hwi had faced since his regression.
Just then,
Grumble.
Un-hwi's stomach growled loudly.
"Mommy, Daddy's hungry!"
"You haven't eaten?"
"Ah haha. I guess that's how it turned out."
"Oh my. Come inside quickly. I'll make something right away. I've been simmering your favorite meat soup for days, wondering when you'd be back. I'll serve it with some noodles."
"Wow, that sounds delicious."
Phew.
Thanks to his growling stomach, he had narrowly avoided a crisis.
Having overcome that hurdle, Un-hwi carried Yul inside.
And,
"Hmm hmm."
Seo-yeon hummed happily as she prepared the meal in the kitchen, glad her husband had returned safely.
But as Un-hwi watched her back, his eyes grew troubled.
Why?
*What... happened?*
Something he couldn't have predicted had occurred during his brief absence.
Un-hwi's gaze fell on Seo-yeon's hands.
The skin beneath her nails had changed ever so slightly.
To a blackish color.
That was...
*Poison.*
He didn't know since when.
But it was clear that Seo-yeon was now poisoned.
And as far as he knew, this had never happened in his past life.
Un-hwi's eyes grew cold.
Night had deepened, and the hooting of an owl could be heard in the distance.
"Mmm. Mmm. Candy... I want one more piece of candy."
Yul mumbled adorably in her sleep, nestled in her mother's arms.
Un-hwi sat quietly, gazing at his sleeping wife.
But her breathing was subtly labored.
His eyes were filled with confusion.
But there was something he needed to do first.
He quietly reached out towards his wife.
Wooong.
A gentle light emanated from her body.
Then, a green bead about the size of a finger emerged from her body.
It was an incredible feat.
Almost unbelievable to witness.
Normally, methods for detoxifying and expelling poison involved excretion, sweating, or vomiting the poison and damaged parts through the mouth.
But to create and extract a poison pellet like this without causing any harm to the body was indescribable.
Perhaps the Poison Venerable of the Sichuan Tang Family, said to be the world's greatest in poisons, could do such a thing, but no one else was known to be capable of this.
All of this was possible because Un-hwi had learned the Martial God's technique, the Heavenly Martial Divine Art.
The Heavenly Martial Divine Art was the purest of all and had the power to expel all evil things.
It was truly worthy of being called a divine technique from the heavens.
"Hah... so this is it."
Un-hwi looked at the poison pellet resting in his palm.
After gazing at the sticky, foul-energy-filled object for a moment, he placed it in a small vial.
His wife's breathing soon became peaceful as she slept.
Thankfully, it wasn't the type of poison that would quickly destroy all internal organs and take a life in a short time.
Moreover, since she hadn't been poisoned for long, there likely wouldn't be any aftereffects.
But this was undoubtedly an extremely potent poison.
It was the kind that would slowly, gradually cause one to wither away and die over a long period of time - in some ways, the most vicious type of poison.
*Poison... how could this be.*
...What on earth had happened?
His thoughts grew complicated.
What grudge could someone have to use such a terrible poison?
Above all, what confused Un-hwi was that in his past life, his wife had never been poisoned like this before she lost her life to illness... wait a moment.
Un-hwi held up the vial containing the poison pellet.
*Could it be...*
Perhaps his wife hadn't died of illness, but had actually been murdered by poison.
And in his past life, he had simply been completely unaware of it?
Judging by the type of poison, this seemed to be the undeniable truth.
Ha, haha...
Anger welled up inside him.
It had been strange.
His wife was the daughter of a renowned martial arts family, raised from childhood on all sorts of elixirs and trained in martial arts.
In other words, she was far healthier than ordinary people, not weak or sickly in the slightest.
Yet in his past life, she had suddenly collapsed and fallen ill.
And before long, her condition had become so severe that even the best physicians gave up, until she finally lost her life.
At the time, Un-hwi had cursed the heavens.
The heavens that had so suddenly taken his wife away.
But it turned out,
*There was a culprit after all.*
In the end, both his wife and daughter had been taken by someone else's hand.
His past self had failed to protect anyone.
Un-hwi shook his head unconsciously.
He felt sick at his utter incompetence.
Moreover, the culprit was a master.
A master skilled enough that even his wife, who had reached a considerable level herself, hadn't noticed she was being poisoned.
*I see.*
Un-hwi's mind grew cold and clear.
He resolved to uncover the identity of this culprit from now on.
Never again would he lose his wife without knowing anything. Never again.
Un-hwi clenched his fist in anger.