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Chapter 03
Jin Yeon-gyeong and Dan Seo-yeon moved to the wooden floor to explain the full story of the misfortune that had befallen the Dan family estate.
The old, empty manor’s worn wooden floor creaked loudly, almost like it was screaming, every time Dan Hyeon-woo stepped on it.
Twenty years ago, it hadn’t made such noises.
Dan Seo-yeon went into the kitchen.
But when she came back out, she brought only a single cup of plain water.
There wasn’t even any tea leaves left to brew for the older brother who had returned after twenty years.
Dan Hyeon-woo took the water from Dan Seo-yeon and drank it down in one go.
“Just as I was getting thirsty, you noticed and brought me water.”
“You don’t have to put it so nicely. You can tell just by looking at the state of the Dan family estate.”
“No, really. I’ve been thirsty for a while.”
“I’ll just take it that way then. But, Brother, how have you been all this time?”
“I wandered around the Central Plains and did various things. I just lived like that.”
“After you disappeared, the whole family was in chaos. Everyone searched for you for over ten years.”
“Don’t tell me the reason the Dan family fell apart was because they were searching for me?”
“That’s not it. I just wanted to tell you how much everyone worried about you and looked for you.”
“I’m sorry. You must have suffered a lot because I was gone. While Father and Mother were searching for me, they may have neglected you.”
Dan Seo-yeon tightly pressed her small lips together.
She couldn’t bring herself to deny her brother’s words out loud.
Life right now was too harsh to cling to the past.
So she had tried to forget for a while, but in truth, Dan Seo-yeon had resented her brother deeply.
The ten years their parents had wandered the Central Plains searching for him—
It sounded like just a simple stretch of time, but for her, those were years she had to endure hardship all alone.
Those years were still a hardened knot deep in her heart.
And the fact that the brother who once dreamed of becoming a famous martial artist had returned looking shabby, as if he had fallen back to the countryside, only added to that bitterness.
In the end, Dan Seo-yeon changed the subject.
“By the way, Brother, you look very young. If we go outside together, people might think I’m the older one.”
“That can’t be. I just look a bit young for my age.”
“Even so, how can a thirty-seven-year-old have not a single wrinkle?”
“That’s… just how it is, I suppose. More importantly, tell me why the Dan family ended up like this.”
This time, Dan Hyeon-woo was the one who changed the subject.
After mastering the Manmu Divine Art, at some point, he had stopped aging altogether.
Watching him deflect the topic, Dan Seo-yeon stood up.
“I have to go work at the inn now. You can hear what happened from Mother.”
“You work at an inn?”
“How else would I make a living? If I’m lucky, I might bring back some leftover food. But don’t expect it. Those days are rare.”
Dan Seo-yeon opened the creaking gate of the Dan family estate and went outside.
Dan Hyeon-woo recalled that when they were young, Dan Seo-yeon had been very intelligent.
If he hadn’t left home, she might have received plenty of love from their parents and studied, living a completely different life by now.
But the current Dan Seo-yeon was thin and frail, her body marked everywhere by hardship.
‘I’ve done something unforgivable to Seo-yeon as well. I will repay it someday.’
Dan Hyeon-woo turned his gaze to his mother, Jin Yeon-gyeong.
Since it was something that had to be told eventually, Jin Yeon-gyeong spoke calmly.
“After you left home, your father and I did search all over the Central Plains for you. But we didn’t neglect the Dan family estate or the Danhwa Silk Shop.”
“Then why did the Dan family end up like this?”
“The Danhwa Silk Shop was actually growing. As you know, your father had great business skills. And his character was so good that people lined up to trade with him.”
Jin Yeon-gyeong continued calmly.
Just as the Danhwa Silk Shop was prospering and about to become the best silk shop in Hangzhou, a new merchant group called Mokhwa Trading Company appeared.
As their name suggested, their main product was cotton cloth, making them closer to a fabric shop than a silk store. The problem was that they started dealing in silk as well.
The silk from Mokhwa Trading Company was far inferior in quality compared to that of the Danhwa Silk Shop.
But the price was less than half.
Even though it clearly meant losses, they maintained that price and slowly began encroaching on the Danhwa Silk Shop’s market.
As time passed, it was inevitable that the Danhwa Silk Shop’s silk would be pushed out.
In the face of low prices, no business could survive.
So the Danhwa Silk Shop had no choice but to lower its prices as well, even while taking losses.
Then Mokhwa Trading Company lowered their prices again.
The Danhwa Silk Shop followed.
Prices dropped to the point where even commoners could start coveting silk clothes.
The fight escalated to extremes, continuing until one side would collapse.
During this fierce price war, one day, Father went to visit Mokhwa Trading Company.
He judged it was time to talk.
He suggested that continuing such a loss-making competition would only lead to ruin for both sides, so they should reach a compromise.
But the only response he received was a sneer from the head of Mokhwa Trading Company.
It was then revealed that from the beginning, their plan had been to destroy the Danhwa Silk Shop—known for producing the highest quality silk—and then sell their inferior silk at high prices.
Father was deeply shocked.
All the money they had saved had already been poured into the price war.
The only option left was to borrow money and endure until Mokhwa Trading Company collapsed.
The problem was that this debt became a major issue.
At first, the lenders approached as if they were kind people supporting the Dan family.
But in reality, they were wolves in sheep’s clothing, vicious men connected to black-market martial sects.
Normally, Father would never have made such a mistake.
But he had been shaken by the plan of Mokhwa Trading Company’s leader, and his judgment had clouded under the anxiety of possibly losing the family and his determination to protect it.
After that, the mounting losses from Mokhwa Trading Company’s attacks and the high-interest loans from the Nine Dragons Sect caused the family to fall rapidly.
The speed at which debt piled up from the shop’s losses and the interest was beyond imagination.
Even so, Father held on desperately.
But even that lasted only three years.
At the end of last year—
While working with his weakened body, Father finally collapsed.
And now, in a dazed state, unable to make proper judgments, he was slowly dying in his room.
After hearing the full story, Dan Hyeon-woo asked heavily,
“Has the Danhwa Silk Shop completely gone under?”
“Rather than going under, it was taken over by Mokhwa Trading Company. For a ridiculously low price.”
“And this estate?”
“After losing everything, this estate is the only thing left. But… we’ll probably have to leave it soon as well. Those men from the Nine Dragons Sect won’t leave it alone.”
“I understand the situation.”
“Hyeon-woo, you just came back after so long, and all I can tell you is bad news. I’m truly sorry.”
“No, Mother. I’m the one who should be sorry. If I had come back even once, it would have been enough… but I lacked the courage, so I’m only seeing things properly now.”
Jin Yeon-gyeong shook her head.
There had been a time when she thought she wouldn’t mind losing all their wealth if only she could find her runaway son.
Her desperate heart had even wished to give her life in exchange for getting him back.
Dan Hyeon-woo took her hand.
“Mother, don’t worry anymore. I’m back now. The Dan family will rise again. And we will naturally reclaim the Danhwa Silk Shop as well.”
“Even just hearing you say that is enough for me, my son.”
Jin Yeon-gyeong took his words as nothing more than the bold talk of her spirited son.
But Dan Hyeon-woo was different.
A firm resolve was already growing like a spark in his chest.
‘I turned Joo Un-cheon, who was merely one of the princes in the Forbidden City where the crown prince had already been decided, into the Emperor. I even killed the Blood Night Heavenly Demon, the strongest under heaven, with my own hands.’
There had been nothing he failed to achieve so far.
He would achieve this as well.
Just as he always had.
Dan Hyeon-woo stood up.
“I would like to see Father.”
“He should still be asleep, but it seems you want to see his face at least.”
Jin Yeon-gyeong led the way, and Dan Hyeon-woo followed behind.
At the threshold of the room she opened, Dan Hyeon-woo hesitated once more.
Even for someone who had become the strongest under heaven, crossing this threshold was not easy.
Because the reason he had run away from home was a fight with his father.
But Dan Hyeon-woo shook his head.
From now on, he had to take responsibility as the head of the Dan family.
Without hesitation, he stepped over the threshold.
The father who was supposed to be asleep had his eyes open, staring blankly into the air.
The moment Dan Hyeon-woo saw him, it felt like his heart was collapsing.
His father, who had once been upright and handsome—
A man of generous character who helped many people, the pride of their family.
And yet, that very man could not even recognize the son who had returned after twenty years.
No—he didn’t even notice that Dan Hyeon-woo had entered the room.
“Father.”
Even knowing there would be no answer, he called out for the first time in twenty years.
His breath caught in his throat, painfully tightening his chest.
He had led the Great Ming into an era of peace.
And yet he couldn’t even protect his own family.
What on earth had he been doing all this time while his father ended up like this?
Regret pressed heavily on his chest once more.
‘If only I had asked His Majesty for even a small favor.’
He would have taken care of his family with sincerity.
Thinking that, a bitter feeling rose within him.
‘No. What’s done is done. What matters is the future.’
There was still a chance to turn things around.
This would likely be the last opportunity.
The fact that he had returned home while his parents were still alive was something to be grateful for.
Thinking that, Dan Hyeon-woo checked Dan Yu-seon’s pulse.
As he closed his eyes and sensed the acupoints, meridians, and even the fine channels, Jin Yeon-gyeong spoke.
“Hyeon-woo, the physicians said your father’s illness cannot be treated. Even the most famous doctors in Hangzhou all shook their heads.”
They weren’t wrong.
Mediocre physicians couldn’t cure it.
By Dan Hyeon-woo’s standards, even the famous doctors of Hangzhou were merely mediocre.
‘But that person could treat him.’
Dan Hyeon-woo spoke.
“Mother, please allow me to write a letter.”
“There should still be ink and paper in your father’s study.”
“I’ll be right back.”
Entering his father’s study after twenty years—
This was the room where he had fought with his father and run away from home.
Nothing in the room had changed.
After grinding ink and writing a letter, Dan Hyeon-woo returned and placed his hand on his father’s back.
Then he slowly infused his energy.
The energy of the Manmu Divine Art—Muya Heavenly Energy.
Unlike the internal energy cultivated by other martial sects, its nature was completely different.
Its greatest characteristic was its incredible purity.
So pure that the internal energy refined through it was cleaner than that extracted from Shaolin’s famed elixir, the Great Rejuvenation Pill.
Dan Hyeon-woo was certain.
‘Among the tens of thousands of internal energy methods under heaven, none produce energy as pure as the Muya Heavenly Energy of the Manmu Divine Art.’
With that energy, even without medical skill, he could revive his father’s severely weakened vitality.
‘I can’t make him get up immediately…’
But he could buy enough time until the physician he called arrived.
Perhaps he could even partially restore his condition before then.
The power of Muya Heavenly Energy he had experienced in war was that kind of force.
It was internal energy—but also something beyond it.
It did not simply reside in the dantian, meridians, or channels.
It permeated every part of the human body—
Muscles, blood vessels, even every joint and bone.
This was the very reason it had elevated Dan Hyeon-woo to the position of the strongest under heaven and allowed him to overpower the Blood Night Heavenly Demon.
Holding his father’s wrist, Dan Hyeon-woo closed his eyes and guided the Muya Heavenly Energy into him.
Passing through the wrist and flowing through the fine channels, the energy gently and warmly swept through the body, dispersing the accumulated impurities.
Just as he expected.
But he did not let his guard down.
He gave it his all.
Cold sweat formed on his forehead.
Since he wasn’t truly a physician and his father’s condition was severe, he feared making even the slightest mistake.
He focused with everything he had—
As if facing the Blood Night Heavenly Demon.
No, even more than that.
Perhaps because of that—
The lifeless, darkened complexion of his father began to regain a clear, healthy color.
And it didn’t stop there.
After a little while, his father’s fingertips trembled slightly.
Jin Yeon-gyeong, who had been watching with confusion, gasped in shock.
“Gasp…?!”
But instinctively realizing she must remain quiet, silence fell again.
Yes—silence.
“…!”
Amid that silent astonishment,
Dan Hyeon-woo slowly opened his eyes and gently let go of his father’s wrist.
At the same time, the once-motionless eyes of his father slowly moved and turned toward him.
Meeting his father’s gaze, Dan Hyeon-woo smiled for the first time in ten years.
It was a painfully aching smile.
