My Father Is the Number One Under Heaven [Novel] Chapter 157

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Confession
[Chapter 157]

“H-hahahaha.”

A hollow laugh escaped Jin Sobaek’s lips.

He had seen it all clearly.

Yeo Woonhwi’s absurdly overwhelming martial prowess.

He had already known that Yeo Woonhwi was strong, considering that he had defeated even the Extreme Evil Lesser Demon and the Ghost Spirit Divine Lord in the past, but he had never imagined he would be this powerful.

It was so utterly ridiculous that he could only laugh.

“Seriously… He’s incredible.”

Bae Chojin could not help but admit it as well.

How could someone so young be that strong?

And why had he been hiding his martial arts all this time?

But there was no way to know the answers right now.

There was only one thing that was certain.

From this point on, the martial world would begin to revolve around that man.

Some distance away, Namgung Sanghyeok, the eldest son of the Namgung Clan, approached Tang Mujun, Hwangbo Cheonwoo, and Jegal Woojin and spoke to them.

It had been a major battle, so they were all in terrible shape.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes. We’re fine. Haha.”

But for some reason, they all looked dazed.

Every one of them was staring at Yeo Woonhwi.

What did I just witness?

The four of them were known as the Four Dragons, each recognized as one of the most gifted talents in the world and expected to become the future of the martial world.

Naturally, from childhood until now, they had never once envied or felt jealous of another person’s talent or ability.

Their only goal had been to surpass their fathers, the heads of the Five Great Families.

Nothing else had ever caught their attention.

But today, they had learned just how much they had been like frogs in a well.

Until now, their only goals in life had been to eventually succeed their fathers as heads of the Five Great Families and hone their martial arts until they reached the ranks of the Ten Great Masters.

They had believed that achieving those goals would be enough to command the martial world.

Although there existed beings above them known as the Twelve Venerables of the World, they regarded that as a world beyond the heavens themselves—something far beyond their reach.

Yet Yeo Woonhwi, who did not appear to be much older than them, had just effortlessly killed four of the Ten Demons, each of whom was considered to possess strength comparable to the Ten Great Masters.

Furthermore, he had even defeated the former Demonic Cult Leader, the Heaven-Shattering Asura Emperor Gwak Cheon-gang, who had once been one of the Twelve Venerables of the World before becoming a monster.

The Heart Sword.

They had actually witnessed the Heart Sword, a technique said to be usable only by those who had reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship.

And among them, Tang Mujun looked particularly stunned.

‘I actually crossed hands with a man like that? I’m insane.’

He remembered the first time he had encountered and fought Yeo Woonhwi at Cheonghwa Pavilion.

Back then, he had thought Yeo Woonhwi was perhaps one level above him.

But when the masked Yeo Woonhwi stopped and cut down his elder brother, Tang Guhwi, after he had gone berserk, Tang Mujun realized that he had been wrong.

Could he be at the level of the upper ranks of the Ten Great Masters?

That alone would have been incredible.

Yet even then, Tang Mujun had secretly thought that, with his own talent, he might someday be able to reach that level.

But—

I was completely wrong.

That is a realm I could never even dream of reaching.

Having exceptional talent, in other words, also meant being better than others at gauging one’s own limits.

And so he knew.

He would never reach that realm.

He also knew just how strong Yeo Woonhwi truly was.

More vividly than anyone else, he was feeling the difference firsthand.

Thus, the Four Dragons, including Tang Mujun, were trapped in a tremendous shock and could not escape it.

Then, suddenly, the youngest among them, Jegal Woojin, turned his gaze elsewhere.

His brow soon furrowed.

There was already a mountain of dead Demonic Cultists’ bodies piled up there.

“They really are a vicious bunch.”

After the battle ended, most of the Demonic Cultists who had survived until then bit down on their tongues and committed suicide.

Having been rendered incapable of fighting by Yeo Woonhwi, they saw no hope of escaping and had resorted to such an extreme choice.

Still, a few apparently lacked the courage to kill themselves and were unable to bite through their tongues, so they were imprisoned instead.

Their fate would be decided later through a council of the Five Great Families.

Whatever decision was made, there was no doubt that they would not be allowed an easy death.

They were nothing more than armed bandits.

Pity was a luxury they did not deserve.

Not even the slightest trace of pity could be found.

What was truly regrettable was that there had also been no small number of deaths and injuries among the Five Great Families, including the Peng Clan.

That was simply how war was.

Some people died. Others were wounded.

Faced with that horrifying reality, sorrow outweighed the joy of having stopped the Demonic Cult.

“…So it’s over? We really stopped them… the Demonic Cult…”

And just a short while ago—

Someone had finally arrived here, panting heavily.

After quickly taking in the situation, he soon broke into a joyful smile.

It was Jegal Gil.

“We did it. We did it. Thank goodness. Haha.”

He did not bother approaching Yeo Woonhwi to speak to him.

He could have at least said that he had arrived late but had still come to help.

But Jegal Gil was simply happy that the Peng Clan had not been annihilated by the hands of the Demonic Cult.

That was enough.

He soon quietly turned around.

Now that he had confirmed the Peng Clan was safe, he had no reason to remain here.

He had to return to the Martial Alliance and resume his own battle.

Though he was terribly exhausted, a relieved smile had already spread across his lips.

And so, the war between the alliance of the Five Great Families and the Demonic Cult had finally come to an end.

The Peng Clan’s Head Residence

Peng Mugang, Dan Heeyoung, and Peng Seojin had gathered there.

Though they were all exhausted after enduring such a brutal war, not one of the three showed any signs of letting their guard down.

No.

If anything, they looked somewhat tense.

The reason they had gathered here was because Yeo Woonhwi had said that he had something to tell them.

They did not know what exactly he intended to say, but they had a fairly good idea what it was about.

The martial arts he had displayed while dealing with the Demonic Cultists today.

It had to be about that.

How long had they been sitting there, each lost in their own thoughts about it?

The door to the head residence quietly opened.

Yeo Woonhwi entered with Peng Seoyeon and Yul, who was asleep in Peng Seoyeon’s arms.

The skin beneath Peng Seoyeon’s eyes was red.

It seemed she had heard the story beforehand.

“I’m sorry I’m late.”

“Sit down.”

A seat had been prepared for them opposite Peng Mugang.

Yeo Woonhwi and Peng Seoyeon took their seats.

Without saying a word, Peng Seoyeon tightly held Yeo Woonhwi’s hand.

He had already told Peng Seoyeon everything, but even so, bringing up something he had struggled with for so long was not easy.

Yeo Woonhwi stared at the table for a moment, seemingly choosing his words carefully.

Then he slowly opened his mouth.

“I once lost my wife and Yul.”

And with those words, an astonishing and almost unbelievable story began to spill from Yeo Woonhwi’s lips.

Their meeting.

Their opposition.

Their escape.

Those were things everyone present already knew.

But the forgotten past in which she was poisoned and eventually died, or perhaps the future that had never come to pass.

No one present knew anything about what happened after that.

“I was powerless. I was even foolish. I thought that simply standing my ground and refusing to back down was what courage meant.”

But he had been wrong.

He had not known that sometimes, letting go was also an act of courage.

When Peng Seoyeon died and Peng Mugang came to Sodam Village, he should have entrusted Yul to him.

But he had foolishly believed that he could protect Yul on his own.

And in the end, he lost Yul as well.

The faces of the Peng family changed from moment to moment as they listened to Yeo Woonhwi’s shocking story.

When he spoke of Peng Seoyeon and Yul’s deaths, Peng Mugang clenched his fists so tightly that the veins stood out.

Yet even in front of his family like this, Yeo Woonhwi calmly continued his story from beginning to end.

The memories were still painful and filled him with anger.

But at the same time, they were a past he had revisited over and over again until he had finally become detached from it.

“My wife and Yul died, and I lived half-mad.”

“All I could think about was finding evil people and killing them.”

“That did not change even after I obtained this power, the Martial God’s Fortuitous Encounter.”

He had never regarded that fortuitous encounter as a blessing.

He had used it solely as a tool for revenge.

And as karmic retribution for that, he came to bear the name Blood Demon.

Countless evil people.

Endless slaughter.

He spent his entire life floundering in the swamp of revenge, only to eventually meet a meaningless death.

But then—

“…When I opened my eyes, my wife and Yul were standing before me.”

“Just as they had been when they were happy, before hell came.”

Whenever he thought about that moment, his heart still churned.

His beloved family, whom he had thought he would never see again.

What could possibly compare to the joy, happiness, and overwhelming emotion of meeting them again?

“I don’t know how it was possible.”

“I simply vowed that, with this second chance I had been given, I would never make the same mistake again.”

And so, everyone knew what happened afterward.

He obtained the Martial God’s Fortuitous Encounter once again and returned to the Peng Clan to protect Peng Seoyeon and Yul.

Regardless of how he was treated.

Regardless of how much he was mocked.

He did not care about any of it.

Only—

Only for his family.

Having finished his story, Yeo Woonhwi turned toward Peng Seoyeon, who was sitting beside him.

Her large eyes were already filled with tears as she looked at him.

Before telling his family, the two of them had spoken privately first.

She had listened to everything without saying a word, then quietly bit her lip through her tears.

It was a story full of holes and difficult to believe.

There were countless things she could have questioned.

Yet she did not.

Instead, she simply stretched out both arms and embraced Yeo Woonhwi.

And she had said:

‘Thank you. For protecting us.’

‘And I’m sorry. For making you carry everything alone.’

She had felt no betrayal or resentment whatsoever over the fact that he had never told her about this.

She only felt sorry for Yeo Woonhwi, who had suffered and worried alone for so long.

How difficult must it have been?

How much pain and sorrow must he have endured?

Now he had finally told his family everything about this unbelievable story as well.

There was nothing left to hide.

Yeo Woonhwi looked over the faces of his family.

Shock…

Confusion…

Every reaction was understandable.

What will they say now?

Yeo Woonhwi feared nothing in this world.

But at this moment, he felt afraid.

Finally, someone spoke.

It was Peng Mugang.

“As you say.”

His low, heavy voice cut through the air and landed squarely on Yeo Woonhwi.

“For those of us who never experienced such a thing, it is difficult to believe.”

“A person returning to the past… It is difficult to even imagine.”

For a moment, Yeo Woonhwi felt as though his heart had dropped.

Peng Seoyeon tightly squeezed his hand.

Yeo Woonhwi answered as calmly as he could.

“Yes. I understand.”

He had expected this kind of reaction.

The fact that they had listened to this much of his story without dismissing him was remarkable enough.

Regression.

What could sound more absurd than that?

If he himself had not experienced it firsthand, he would have simply regarded such a story as a joke.

“But.”

However, Peng Mugang was not finished.

“The fact that your feelings for Seoyeon, for Yul, and for our Peng Clan are sincere… that much, I can believe.”

“And everything you have shown us for the sake of our Peng Clan. I can believe that as well.”

“And you are a member of our Peng Clan.”

“I am Peng Mugang, the head of the Peng Clan.”

“I trust the people of my family.”

Yeo Woonhwi stared blankly at Peng Mugang.

His eyes trembled.

Noticing the turmoil in his eyes, a smile appeared on Peng Mugang’s lips.

It was not his usual intimidating yet hearty smile.

It was the gentle smile of a father more loving than anyone else.

“You’ve been through a lot.”

“Thank… you.”

Moisture crept into Yeo Woonhwi’s voice as he desperately swallowed back his emotions.

But everyone pretended not to notice.

From that day onward, Peng Mugang and Dan Heeyoung sincerely began to regard Yeo Woonhwi not as their son-in-law, but as their own son.

It was the moment Yeo Woonhwi truly became a member of the Hebei Peng Clan’s family.