Chapter 246 : Jaseung, Follows
Chapter 246: Jaseung, Follows
Lee Jaseung's heart throbbed.
Thump-thump, thump-thump.
It was the first time in recent years that Lee Jaseung's heart had beaten so violently.
It wasn't merely because Lee Jaseung had met him again.
The resonance of fate.
Lee Jaseung had made up his mind that if they met again, he would surely fight him once more.
A fight where Lee Jaseung might possibly die.
Compared to the nervous Lee Jaseung, the man was far too peaceful and composed.
Was it truly by chance that Lee Jaseung had met him here?
The man looked at Lee Jaseung and spoke bluntly.
“It has been a long time.”
His voice was low, but somehow it felt as if it were piercing through the soul, and Lee Jaseung could tell.
Lee Jaseung knew the fact that they hadn't met by chance.
The man must have been waiting for Lee Jaseung here.
Lee Jaseung thought his fighting spirit would explode upon meeting him again.
However, Lee Jaseung's mind was unexpectedly calm.
It was due to a certain special atmosphere created by the man's presence.
A certain dignity that made one unable to treat him carelessly, which Lee Jaseung had felt even on the day they first met.
Strength, and the confidence created by that strength.
The man was still the same.
Lee Jaseung asked abruptly.
“Are you really him?”
“Him you say?”
“The First Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Sect.”
It was a bit ridiculous even to Lee Jaseung as he asked it himself.
If that were the case, Lee Jaseung was having a conversation with a ghost.
To be precise, it wouldn't be a ghost but a Demon God.
“How unexpected. I didn't think you were someone who would believe such absurd words.”
“Do you know me well?”
“I know as much as I need to know. It would be weirder not to know when you are causing such a great fuss.”
Lee Jaseung stared intently at the man.
He didn't look much different from when Lee Jaseung had seen him before.
Lee Jaseung himself had a youthful face, but the man truly had a face that didn't age.
The man began to move his steps again.
“Where are you going?”
“Home.”
“Home? Is your home near here?”
Lee Jaseung wore a puzzled expression at the word home. If so, it meant they could have run into each other by chance.
Did the man not wait for Lee Jaseung on purpose?
As if meeting by chance were indeed the truth, the man walked away with long strides without looking back.
Because Lee Jaseung couldn't let him go like this, Lee Jaseung quietly followed behind him.
***
“Fortunately, the Alliance Leader arrived in time and saved the Jiangxi branch.”
At Dan Woobin's words, the warriors in the strategy room wore expressions of admiration.
They were the ones who had received reports on the movements of the Rapid Unit moment by moment.
It was a time in which arriving punctually was absolutely impossible.
However, Lee Jaseung had turned that impossible distance into a possibility.
Right at that moment, Baek Seolyoung and Dan Ah visited the strategy room.
In their hands were dishes and tea they had made themselves.
Baek Seolyoung and Dan Ah distributed the food and tea they brought to the warriors in the strategy room.
“Now, everyone please eat.”
The warriors were all overwhelmed and deeply moved by the food brought directly by the wife of the Alliance Leader.
Dan Woobin spoke to Baek Seolyoung with a moved expression.
“The Alliance Leader has saved the Jiangxi branch.”
A bright smile formed on Baek Seolyoung's face. She was composed as if it were a natural outcome, but no one knew how much her heart had been anxious on the day Lee Jaseung left for that place alone.
“Everyone, please keep up the good work.”
Even without being told that, power welled up naturally. It was more encouraging than if Lee Jaseung had said it himself.
Baek Seolyoung and Dan Ah immediately left the strategy room. No matter how good the intention, they shouldn't interfere with the warriors in the strategy room.
Walking side by side, Dan Ah looked at Baek Seolyoung.
Even if others didn't know, Dan Ah could feel it.
Dan Ah felt that Baek Seolyoung was growing day by day.
Baek Seolyoung was a woman who cooked and fed her subordinates while erasing her anxious heart. She was a woman who remained resolute regardless of what news she heard. She looked cooler than someone killing a hundred enemies.
Now Baek Seolyoung looked radiant even without Lee Jaseung's presence.
“Where are you going now?”
“I am going to the training ground.”
She was this kind of person.
This training of hers would surely repay her at a decisive moment one day. Telling her that she had done well so far.
Dan Ah was full of expectation.
Dan Ah wondered how far Baek Seolyoung's growth would reach.
Furthermore, Dan Ah wanted to be together at that brilliant moment.
***
The man's home was indeed in the vicinity. It was a manor with a modest garden.
A short and ugly old servant greeted the man.
“You have arrived? I will prepare water for washing immediately.”
The servant discovered Lee Jaseung following behind.
“Ah! A guest has come with you.”
The man walked with long strides and entered the building.
Lee Jaseung passed the servant and followed behind the man.
The servant spoke with a joyful voice from behind.
“Since a guest has arrived after a long time, I will prepare liquor and snacks.”
Lee Jaseung, who had stopped his steps for a moment, turned to the servant and bowed his head lightly to show his thanks.
At that sight, a slight glint flashed in the servant's eyes and then vanished.
Lee Jaseung could tell from the moment he first saw the old man. He knew that the man wasn't someone who should be acting as someone's servant. Well, it would be stranger if the servant were ordinary.
Lee Jaseung followed into the room even though the man hadn't given permission.
Even so, the man didn't seem to mind Lee Jaseung's behavior much.
The room was better furnished than expected. It wasn't flashy, but it wasn't simple either. Even the furniture wasn't cheap but felt quite antique.
Every item appeared extraordinary. Even a small vase placed on top of a cabinet felt unusual.
Looking around the room, a glint flashed in Lee Jaseung's eyes.
A painting was hanging on the wall, and it depicted a truly beautiful woman. Truly, she was a woman as beautiful as Baek Seolyoung.
“Who is she?”
The answer came after a short pause.
“She is my wife.”
Lee Jaseung asked in surprise.
“You were married?”
“Why are you so surprised? Do I look like someone who shouldn't be married?”
“No, it's not that.”
To be honest, Lee Jaseung thought that marriage didn't suit the man.
What suited him were harsh deserts, the summit of a snow-covered mountain, or a battlefield filled with corpses. It felt like this. The man resembled Lee Jaseung himself before Lee Jaseung met Baek Seolyoung. An appearance even more solitary than such a version of Lee Jaseung.
But, to think the man had such a beautiful wife?
“Where is your wife?”
“She is dead.”
It was an unexpectedly calm answer, but Lee Jaseung lamented.
“Ah.”
It was likely because Lee Jaseung thought of Baek Seolyoung the moment he heard the answer. Out of the thought of how sad it would be if Baek Seolyoung died.
“I am sorry. I asked an unnecessary thing.”
What Lee Jaseung was sorry for was not grieving her death, but thinking of Baek Seolyoung's death.
“It was a long time ago.”
The man answered as if it were no big deal, but his gaze looking at the painting was infinitely deep.
At that time, the servant brought simple food and liquor.
“I don't know if it will suit your taste.”
“Thank you.”
The servant, who was about to turn and leave, asked.
“Are you by chance planning to stay the night?”
The answer came from Lee Jaseung and the man at the same time. The man replied “No,” and Lee Jaseung replied “Yes.”
Then the servant smiled brightly and spoke.
“I will prepare the bedding. Before that, I will bring more liquor.”
The servant disappeared while humming. The servant truly seemed to be sincerely glad of Lee Jaseung's visit.
The man frowned while looking at Lee Jaseung.
“What are you doing?”
“I am the person busy making a great fuss, so don't say too much.”
It was the moment Lee Jaseung's petty side was exerted regarding the man's earlier description of his great work as a fuss.
In truth, the truly busy person was Lee Jaseung. Since a war with the Asura Demon Sect had broken out, it was not a situation for Lee Jaseung to be leisurely drinking liquor in a place like this.
However, it was a meeting with the person who had handed Lee Jaseung his only defeat, a matter more important than anything else. Perhaps this too was a war. A war for the individual named Lee Jaseung.
“I know. That you came to find me on purpose today.”
Lee Jaseung felt such a conviction. All sorts of strange things happened in this Jianghu, but he was certain that he wouldn't meet the man by chance while traveling on a road in this vast Central Plains. The man had come to meet Lee Jaseung under the guise of coincidence.
Just why?
The man asked.
“While even preparing a house?”
Lee Jaseung replied to the question of how the man would explain having a house near here.
“If it's you, you could certainly do that. I too have built a house for someone in a matter of days.”
Lee Jaseung drank the liquor in case the man might ask about that matter.
“Whew!”
Exclamation naturally came from Lee Jaseung's mouth.
“It is truly delicious. I feel as if I am drinking such delicious liquor for the first time in my life.”
Lee Jaseung was speaking sincerely. If it were liquor being sold, he wanted to ask where it was sold, and if it were brewed, he wanted to ask for the secret recipe.
“Is this by chance an Immortal Liquor?”
The man chuckled and drank the liquor.
“Elder Hong would be pleased to hear that.”
Lee Jaseung could tell by those words. He knew that the previous servant's name was Elder Hong and that this liquor was brewed directly by that old man.
To think the man was living in such a secluded place with only one servant.
“How did you meet your late wife?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Because every time you empty your cup, you stare at your wife in the painting.”
As if the man were drinking with her.
The man's gaze grew slightly wistful.
“There are various meetings.”
Lee Jaseung had asked about the first meeting, but to think the man spoke of various meetings? He could not understand what those words meant.
However, the man mentioned no more of it. Instead, the man asked Lee Jaseung.
“Do you love her?”
“I love her.”
“How much?”
It seemed it was the first time Lee Jaseung had been asked how much he loved her.
“I love her enough to die in her place ten times or a hundred times.”
After answering, Lee Jaseung felt somewhat regretful. He felt embarrassed, and wondered if there might have been a better expression than such a cliché one.
However, the answer seemed to reach the man.
“……Ten times, a hundred times huh.”
The man repeated those words lowly.
Watching that sight, Lee Jaseung's heart felt strange. He had thought of meeting him countless times.
But Lee Jaseung truly hadn't imagined even once that it would become this kind of atmosphere.
Is this man really the Heavenly Demon?
Ho Yeonshin firmly believed that the Heavenly Demon was alive.
Now it was time to truly find out.
Lee Jaseung asked calmly.
“The wound you left on me…… is it truly the Nine Divine Demonic Arts?”
The man replied.
“Yes, it is the Nine Divine Demonic Arts. It is the Thunderstrike Form of the Nine Divine Demonic Blade Style.”
Lee Jaseung's gaze became intense.
“How do you know the Nine Divine Demonic Arts?”
The man did not answer.
Yes, what would that matter?
What was important was the fact that Lee Jaseung had been defeated by him and was now facing him.
Compared to the time he was defeated, his martial arts skill had developed beyond comparison.
Originally, Lee Jaseung would have fought him without a second thought. He had waited all his life to meet him again.
However, now that this moment had arrived, he hesitated.
A war had broken out, so was it alright to fight him?
What if he lost?
He might possibly die.
Suddenly, Baek Seolyoung's face came to mind.
He would be unable to see her again. Would Baek Seolyoung be able to endure it well?
At that time, Lee Jaseung's eyes met the man's.
The moment he saw the man's gaze, his heart surged.
The man was seeing through his mind.
The man knew that he was hesitating.
If the man had been mocking him instead, he could have endured it.
However, what was contained in the man's gaze was 'understanding.'
That the man understood everything.
Lee Jaseung slowly stood up from his seat and drew Asura.
The man looked at the glinting blade of Asura and asked.
“What does this mean?”
“What do you think it means?”
Then the corners of the man's mouth curled up. Lee Jaseung thought that smile resembled the smile he made himself.
“Has your skill improved a bit?”
Lee Jaseung replied to the man's provocation without yielding.
“Do I look like such a fool that I would follow someone I thought I would lose to?”
The man, who had been staring at Lee Jaseung quietly, stood up.
Picking up a sword that was standing carelessly in a corner, he brushed off the dust accumulated on the scabbard.
In the dust that rose up, the man's two eyes shone coldly.
“To my eyes, you look exactly like that much of a fool.”