Chapter – 02
“Too young… far too young.”
Moyongjin lay on the floor, lamenting his miserable state.
His body was drenched in sweat—and for good reason: he had just spent the last few moments practicing External Source Skill (외원공) with all his effort.
For a whole… one minute.
“My original body already had the Gu Yang Meridian condition… but this is worse. Seriously!”
Moyongjin’s body was in a truly dire state.
It was more miraculous that he was alive at all than anything else.
His gaunt, emaciated frame could barely even rise from the floor, and even lying still, the massive influx of Qi pressed down on him.
Breathing itself was an ordeal.
And yet, he was attempting External Source Skill in such a state?
Any ordinary person would have given up at the very thought of sitting cross-legged.
But now, Moyongjin was Cheon Girin, the Mad Demon, from his previous life.
His temperament left him no choice: whatever he wanted to do, he would see through to the end.
So he endured the extreme pain, attempting the External Source Skill dozens of times a day.
“If I want to survive, there’s no choice. I have to keep going.”
Lying on the floor, he began chanting the Jewel Grip Life (절악명, 節握命) hand seals.
Jewel Grip Life was one of the techniques from the old master, Cheon Yonghyeon, known in the past as Yakseon.
The name literally meant “the nodes that grasp life.”
Even just reciting it in his mind could heal the body, and the effect was amplified.
“How did anyone even come up with something like this? Amazing… That Yakseon guy can’t have been normal.”
Moyongjin could not comprehend it at all, yet he continued chanting the hand seals.
And indeed, there was an effect.
A faint hum resonated in his ears as the latent internal energy within his body slowly began to stir.
His internal energy was so weak and his meridians severed that even gathering Qi through the internal energy method could not form a Danjeon (energy core).
Yet the human body struggles to survive by any means possible. Even without a Danjeon, the Qi he gathered did not vanish entirely.
It clung stubbornly to the various organs, spreading throughout the body. This was the result of his Innate True Qi (선천지기) attempting, by any means, to keep the body alive.
Thanks to this, Moyongjin could slowly begin to recover.
Because the internal energy had spread widely across the body in the absence of a Danjeon, even without meridians to channel it, the body could self-heal.
The recovery was minuscule, though.
Like the flapping of a butterfly’s wings causing a ripple a few dozen meters away—barely noticeable.
In other words, what he was doing could not fully heal the body.
But what choice did he have?
If he didn’t do it, he would die.
Moyongjin persisted, repeating External Source Skill and Jewel Grip Life over and over, solely to survive.
“Still, this poor kid…”
He referred to the original owner of the body.
The body still held Moyongjin’s own memories—most of them of a bandit… no, his father, Moyong Hyuk, weeping—and the rest was just the ceiling he was looking at now.
In short, he had spent his entire life lying here.
A child, pitiful beyond measure.
That was why Moyongjin had to survive.
He wanted to show this child more of the world.
There were so many things to see, so many things one could do.
Even if his soul was gone, he thought: since it was now him in Moyongjin’s body, perhaps the child could see through his eyes.
Just as he was about to drift deeper into these strange thoughts, drawn into a deeper state of meditation…
Bang!
The familiar figure appeared.
“Jina!”
Ah, here it comes again.
A bandit rushing in, crying.
It was Moyongjin’s father, Moyong Hyuk.
Rolling in from somewhere, battered, he rushed to him, and Moyongjin hastily closed his mouth, which had been chanting the hand seals.
“Is my son alright today? Are you hurt anywhere? Oh… I’m sorry… I’m sorry… You’ve sweated so much; let me wipe you clean.”
Sobbing, Moyong Hyuk grabbed a bowl and cloth from the corner of the room and carefully began cleaning Moyongjin’s body with water-soaked cloths.
“I’m sorry I brought you into this body… I’m sorry… I’m so sorry.”
It had been ten days since Moyongjin entered this body.
Moyong Hyuk always acted like this.
Just seeing Moyongjin would bring tears to his eyes, and the word “sorry” was always on his lips.
The warmth and love of a parent could be felt… or so it seemed.
Nonsense.
It was maddeningly frustrating.
Cheon Girin, in his previous life, had been a parentless orphan, unaware of parental “love.”
And now, he wanted nothing to do with it.
He knew perfectly well how devoted Moyong Hyuk was, and how deeply he loved Moyongjin.
But still—day after day, crying and apologizing—he was a walking burden.
If only his appearance were at least decent, maybe those tears would seem beautiful.
But with a bandit’s rough face crying like that every day… ugh.
He wanted to tell him off, to yell at him to stop, but… he couldn’t.
Because Moyongjin, the child, had never properly learned to speak.
He was not only young but had lived every day in suffering, never learning to communicate.
Cheon Girin could speak, of course—he had practiced his monologues.
The problem was Moyong Hyuk.
If the sick child suddenly began speaking fluently, he would certainly find it strange.
‘Just endure it. It’s better than arousing suspicion. I can curse inwardly.’
“Ah, just stop crying already…”
At that moment, the air in the room grew icy.
He had accidentally spoken his thoughts aloud.
A slip.
And in an instant, Moyong Hyuk’s expression, already stern, stiffened even further.
Moyongjin froze, unsure how to respond, and saw Moyong Hyuk move toward him.
Damn it! With his current weak body… he couldn’t evade him. He could only endure.
“Jina! Jina! Did you just… speak? Jina!”
Moyongjin was scooped into Moyong Hyuk’s arms as he wailed uncontrollably.
His face was quickly soaked with tears and snot.
‘Damn it!’
Thankfully, no suspicion arose.
Listening quietly to the conversation from lying down, Moyongjin “explained” that he had simply picked up words by listening while lying down. Moyong Hyuk was overjoyed, calling him a genius.
And Moyongjin had to endure even more pain.
His father’s tears, snot, and kisses rained down relentlessly.
Being held like that, Moyongjin thought the place might as well be hell.
Moyong Hyuk cried for nearly an hour, then cleaned Moyongjin’s face and brought a meal.
As always, it was barley porridge.
Barley porridge with finely chopped radish pickled in salt.
Moyong Hyuk apologized for not being able to provide more than this, but Moyongjin was content.
At that moment, his frail body needed nothing more than the barley porridge.
Even the salted radish was gentle enough for his fragile state.
“Father, I have a question.”
“Hahaha! Now that my son can speak, we can finally have a conversation. Let’s hear it, Jina… oh, my son… oh… sob…”
Moyongjin quickly stopped him from crying again.
“If you keep crying, we cannot talk, Father!”
“Ah… right. I’m sorry, my son. You want to know something… yes… go ahead, but don’t push yourself too hard…”
“I’ve heard it occasionally while lying down: aren’t we the Moyong family? My name and yours both contain ‘Moyong,’ yet why are we living in this shabby hut? I heard that our family, the Moyong family, used to be a central family in the martial world…”
Moyong Hyuk was stunned by his son’s fluent speech.
“How… how do you know all that? And you speak so well… you’ve never been taught…”
“I only listened while lying down. I didn’t speak, fearing it would seem strange… but now I’m just going to say it outright.”
Moyongjin had decided to reveal everything.
Hiding it had only caused frustration.
“My son is truly a genius! A literary prodigy! No, perhaps he’ll become a famous figure in this world! Oh my… sob…”
Once again, Moyong Hyuk cried and tried to hug him.
Moyongjin used his bowl of porridge as a shield to fend him off.
His father’s face was now covered in barley porridge, but still, he hugged him and cried.
“Ah, for God’s sake, stop crying!”
It took nearly another hour before Moyong Hyuk finally stopped.
‘This idiot probably knows I’m not his real father,’ Moyongjin thought.
Soaked with tears, snot, and barley porridge, Moyongjin wanted to hit Moyong Hyuk but couldn’t.
After all, he was the father of this body, and he knew how devoted Moyong Hyuk had been.
Moreover, striking him in this body would harm himself, not Moyong Hyuk.
Moyong Hyuk carefully wiped his son’s face.
“Now, tell me your question.”
Moyongjin’s voice was slightly rougher. Moyong Hyuk flinched but took it in stride.
‘Already showing a rebellious streak! So fast these days… my son is amazing! Surely a great man in the future…’
“Uh… the Moyong family.”
Now that Moyongjin had fully spoken, Moyong Hyuk took a deep breath and nodded knowingly.
“Alright. As you said, the Moyong family was once the strongest, surpassing the Nangong family. That was not so long ago, when your father was about your age…”
As the story began, Moyongjin listened intently.
Suddenly, his head spun lightly.
He had overexerted himself.
Just raising his voice had exhausted him…
His consciousness blurred as he felt his father run to him and embrace him, his face dampened again.
He tasted the salty, unpleasant mixture in his mouth and thought:
‘In my previous life, I didn’t have parents, so why not commit a little filial sin in this life? I think it would be considered excusable in the afterlife.’
