Chapter 1
Mumu (1)
The cliff of Tianzi Mountain.
“Shuuuuuuuk!”
“Pak!”
Something flew like lightning toward the sack that was falling at a tremendous speed.
The thing that snatched the sack was none other than a Taoist Master with a Divine Bone Structure, with White Eyebrows and a White Beard (白眉白髥), wearing a pure white robe.
The Taoist Master, who had barely caught the sack, clung to the cliff and squeezed his eyes shut.
“Oh, dear.”
In the end, he couldn’t just watch it happen.
It was a target that shouldn’t have been saved, but because it was a baby, he couldn’t bear to watch with his eyes open.
The Taoist Master with a Divine Bone Structure repeatedly chanted the name of Yuanshi Tianzun.
“Kya-ha.”
Then, seeing the baby burst into a wide grin, he smiled.
“This little one is quite spirited.”
To laugh after falling from a Thousand-gil Cliff.
Did he somehow know he had survived what was supposed to be certain death?
The Taoist Master shook his head.
‘I have violated the Heavenly Secret (天機).’
This was the first time something like this had happened in his life.
Curiosity had brought a great disaster.
Perhaps, for the sin of violating the Heavenly Secret, he wouldn’t live out his natural lifespan, or his chance at apotheosis might be gone.
But seeing the child’s laugh, he had no regrets.
‘A child who, had he lived, would have possessed a talent feared by the world. But because even heaven coveted it, it tried to take him away as soon as he was born.’
“Hooo.”
The Taoist Master let out a deep sigh.
Then, suddenly feeling pain, he was horrified.
“Crack!”
“Huh?!”
Startled, he looked down to see his index finger bent backward.
The Taoist Master’s eyes widened as he stared.
The culprit who bent his finger was none other than the baby gripping it.
‘How can this be…’
It was a truly astonishing event.
A baby, not long after being born, had bent his finger.
It was no exaggeration to say his strength was that of a strongman.
‘Haa…’
Veins were slightly visible on the back of the newborn baby’s hand.
Was it not said that a tree destined for greatness is known from its seed leaf?
Indeed, it seemed this was without a doubt the baby mentioned in the Heavenly Secret.
‘This is troubling.’
If this child were to grow up as he is, he would develop the formidable talent mentioned in the Heavenly Secret.
If that happened, there was no telling what might occur later.
‘What should I do about this?’
This must be why his Master had so earnestly warned him not to meddle in the affairs of the Mortal World or do anything that would violate the Heavenly Secret.
He could uphold it by throwing the baby off the cliff again.
But how could he kill this innocent and beautiful baby?
After staring at the baby’s face for a long while, the Taoist Master finally made up his mind.
‘Right. Let’s make it so the baby grows up as ordinarily as possible.’
That was the only way to save the baby while violating the Heavenly Secret as little as possible.
A deep valley forest in Guilin, Guangxi Province.
In that place untouched by human feet, there was a shabby thatched house.
A signpost was stuck in the ground in front of the yard.
[Do not go more than ten ri from the place of exile.]
A man in his early thirties, wearing yellowish hemp clothes and sitting on the wooden floor, stared blankly at the baby in the sack.
‘Eight months into my life in exile…’
He had just thought he was finally getting used to this life.
Just as he was beginning to find peace of mind, something dream-like happened.
No, a dream had become reality.
Yu Yeop-gyeong, who had fallen asleep while lying leisurely on the wooden floor, had a dream.
[Hehehehe.]
A Taoist Master with a Divine Bone Structure appeared before him amidst five-colored clouds.
It was such a fantastical event that he prostrated himself flat on the ground.
He believed this Taoist Master was an Earth God guarding this forest, or a Mountain God.
[Listen here, Scholar-Official Yu (學正).]
Ooh, he was undoubtedly a Mountain God.
Scholar-Official was the Senior 8th Rank title he had received when he was at the Guozijian (Imperial Academy) in the Imperial Capital.
But he had been exiled after getting caught up in a ridiculous affair.
‘Lord Mountain God, please bestow your teaching upon me.’
Though he said that, his inner thoughts were actually hoping to be released from exile and return to the Imperial Academy.
However, the words that came from the Taoist Master with a Divine Bone Structure were completely unexpected.
[Raise this baby for me.]
The Taoist Master with a Divine Bone Structure suddenly held out the sack to him.
‘…Yes?’
How absurd.
To tell him, an exiled man, to raise a baby.
‘You’re joking, right?’
[I’m serious.]
‘……..I won’t see you out.’
He pushed the baby back.
Right, of course.
A Mountain God? What Mountain God?
As he was feeling disappointed, the Taoist Master with a Divine Bone Structure pushed the baby toward him again and said,
[If you raise this baby with all your heart, something good will happen to your family in Kaifeng one day.]
‘Is that really true?’
[I’ve looked at the Heavenly Secret, and it is certain.]
He was doubtful, but there was no rule against liking pleasant words.
At this, Yu Yeop-gyeong accepted the sack.
Looking at the baby, he felt like he had never seen such a beautiful child before.
He thought of his second child, whom he had left behind in Kaifeng.
‘He’s more handsome than my second.’
He possessed the dignity to acknowledge what needed to be acknowledged.
But then he saw something peculiar on the child’s hands and feet.
They looked like rings made of iron, and their considerable thickness made them seem heavy.
‘That, Elder… what is this?’
Yu Yeop-gyeong asked out of curiosity.
At this, the Taoist Master with a Divine Bone Structure spoke with a serious face.
[Right, right. I had forgotten. I have just one thing to ask of you.]
[This child was born with the fate to grow strong even by just staying still.]
‘…What do you mean by that?’
[So if you want to raise him as a normal child, never remove the artifact, the Strength-Limiting Ring.]
[No, you won’t be able to, but don’t try to force it off.]
[And if the baby grows up and his strength continues to increase, raise the number on the ring’s dial.]
Now that he looked closely, the number one (一) was engraved near the ring’s dial.
Yu Yeop-gyeong looked up from examining the dial and said,
‘So I just turn this…’
But the Taoist Master with a Divine Bone Structure had already disappeared along with the five-colored clouds.
Waking from his sleep, Yu Yeop-gyeong thought it was just a dream.
But there before him was the baby in the sack, wearing iron rings on its arms and legs.
“As if exile wasn’t enough, now I have to be a wet nurse… Aaaah.”
All that came out was a sigh.
Some seventeen years passed since then.
Yu Yeop-gyeong, sitting in meditation and drinking tea, seemed to have been struck hard by the winds of time.
His face was full of wrinkles, and his once-short beard had grown long and slightly streaked with white.
The thatched house, once barely big enough for one person, had grown considerably and was now divided into three separate buildings.
One of them was even being used as a warehouse.
Yu Yeop-gyeong, while drinking tea, sighed and spoke to a boy of about seventeen who was chopping firewood in the yard.
“Mumu. What did this father tell you?”
“Ah. Father.”
The boy turned his head slightly.
The appearance of the boy, with his long hair let down, was radiant.
White, fine skin, a sharp nose, and eyes that looked slightly listless.
It was a face that would surely make many women’s hearts flutter if he were in the Imperial Capital.
The boy scratched the back of his head and said,
“You told me to maintain my dignity.”
“Then what should you be doing?”
“I should use the axe.”
The boy—no, his adopted son Mumu—was chopping firewood with his bare hands, leaving a perfectly good axe aside.
And a whole lot of it, at that.
“Slurp.”
Drinking his tea, Yu Yeop-gyeong once again fell into serious contemplation.
What on earth had that Taoist Master with a Divine Bone Structure handed over to him?
