My Dad Is the Strongest Under Heaven
Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Chapter 3: The Fortuitous Encounter of the Martial God
Generally speaking, when one imagines a cave concealing the fortuitous encounter of the supreme master of all time—the Martial God—one would picture countless hidden mechanisms and esoteric formations barring the path. One would expect that after overcoming every treacherous trial, an awe-inspiring, magnificent sanctuary would await at the journey’s end.
However…
“Ugh, this is driving me mad.”
For some baffling reason, the deeper one ventured into this wretched cave, the narrower the tunnel became, until it eventually forced him down onto his hands and knees.
A musty stench thick enough to choke on, dense dust motes drifting suspended in the air, and a suffocatingly narrow passage with no end in sight.
To say no sane person would endure this was an absolute understatement.
Even having experienced it once before in his previous life made it no easier.
Though his entire body was soon caked in grime and dirt, Yeo Woonhwi paid it no heed and crawled steadily forward.
He felt less like a martial artist and more like a mole burrowing through the earth—hardly a dignified sight.
Yet it was precisely because of this squalor that, in his past life, Yeo Woonhwi had chosen this place to hide without a second thought.
Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that that would be waiting at the very end.
“Phew.”
Having returned not to the soaring, invincible body of the Blood Demon, but to the frail frame of a mere scholar, Yeo Woonhwi was drenched from head to toe in sweat.
How long had he crawled?
At last, through the mounds of dirt ahead, a faint sliver of light caught his eye.
“Haah… haah, haah…”
He had finally arrived.
At the end of this damned cavern.
Before him lay a tiny stone chamber.
It was barely large enough for a single grown man to sit inside.
And there…
Wuuuung.
It was waiting.
A skeleton sat cross-legged in a solemn, meditative posture.
The garments draped over its bones had rotted away into tattered rags.
Yet an extraordinary aura seemed to emanate from the remains.
Even though centuries had undoubtedly passed since this person drew their last breath.
Without question, that was—
“The Martial God…?”
Hyuk Jong-hu, the Martial God—the supreme master of all time.
An unprecedented sovereign of whom it was said no one in the entire history of the Murim had ever reached the same peerless heights.
Who could have ever imagined that the final resting place of such an absolute master would be a cramped, pitiful stone chamber like this?
Just what kind of story had led him here?
And with what intentions had he chosen to leave his legacy behind in such a place?
Reflecting on it now, there were no hidden mechanisms, no mystical formations, nor any sorcery guarding the path. Yeo Woonhwi had simply crawled in. By pure, sheer coincidence.
Yet ironically, throughout those hundreds of years, Yeo Woonhwi had been the sole person to ever find this sanctuary.
As though, from the very beginning, he had been its destined owner.
For some reason, unlike in his past life, his mind was flooded with questions.
’Now that I think about it… did this place look like this back then?’
When Yeo Woonhwi stumbled upon this place in his past life, he had been gravely wounded, driven only by a frantic obsession to survive, scarcely in his right mind. He had not possessed the luxury to examine his surroundings.
Naturally, he had not given it much thought at the time.
He had simply assumed he had unintentionally wandered into some strange, forgotten cavern.
And so, without thinking, he had reached out his hand.
Toward the golden sphere floating gently before the skeleton of the Martial God.
In his past life, many assumed Yeo Woonhwi had acquired and mastered the secret manual of the Martial God.
But that was not the truth.
Yeo Woonhwi had merely claimed it.
That mysterious, radiant golden sphere.
“Phew. Well then…”
For some reason, a heavy tension gripped him.
Taking a deep, steadying breath, he slowly extended his hand toward the sphere.
Just as he had done back then.
Wuuuung.
Soon, the golden sphere drifted smoothly into the air before plunging directly into Yeo Woonhwi’s chest in an instant.
And then…
‘Here it comes.’
Thump, surge.
Something within his body began to convulse and transform.
Every blood vessel and meridian across his entire frame swelled unnaturally, throbbing with violent vigor.
“Ugh… grrgh…”
Fwoooosh!
A blinding, brilliant radiance erupted from him, glowing so fiercely that every vein beneath his skin became visible.
“…Khh! Aaaaargh!”
Overwhelmed by agonizing torment, Yeo Woonhwi lost consciousness.
This, too, was precisely as it had been before.
“…It is over.”
Thousands—no, tens of thousands of corpses lay strewn across the blood-soaked terrain.
The stench of blood was so overpowering, so nauseating, it was enough to drive a man insane.
This place was, without a shadow of a doubt, hell on earth.
“Over, you say?”
In the very center of that horrific battlefield, two men glared at each other with murderous intensity.
However, the man clad in the luxurious robe embroidered with a black dragon was already kneeling, having lost an arm and a leg.
“No. It is far from over.”
It would not have been strange if he drew his last breath this very second.
Even so, an uncanny serenity rested upon his face.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Even if… it is not today, it matters not. Heukam will rise again. Without fail. And by the time that day comes…”
The man in the black dragon robe pointed a trembling finger at the one who had severed his limbs.
“You will no longer be here. Heheh.”
“……”
“That is when the world of Heukam shall finally arrive. Accompanied by a bloodbath beyond anything you have ever known! Will you truly be able to stop us then? Hahahahaha!”
As the man erupted into mad laughter, a cold blade flashed through the air.
Thud.
Roll, roll.
The head of the man in the black dragon robe fell to the earth, tumbling across the bloodied soil.
Yet the face of the lone survivor remained shrouded in bitter darkness.
Ugh…
Yeo Woonhwi slowly opened his eyes.
‘A dream? What in the world was that?’
Losing consciousness after absorbing the radiant sphere was something he had already experienced.
He had braced himself for that much.
Yet he had no recollection whatsoever of having such a bizarre dream in his past life.
Why?
Had his mind been too shattered and unstable back then to retain the memory?
Could that be it? No… frankly, he could not be sure.
Regardless, it felt far too vivid to dismiss as a mere dream.
Who was that man in the black dragon robe? And what on earth was Heukam?
Yet there was one thing he could tell with certainty.
The man who had survived until the very end, cutting down everything in his wake.
That man was undeniably the Martial God.
For the martial art he had wielded was one Yeo Woonhwi knew intimately.
The Heavenly Martial Divine Art.
It was the supreme technique of the Martial God, and the very martial art Yeo Woonhwi had cultivated in his past life.
Though he had only reached the second stage.
Which meant…
‘Could that have been… the Martial God’s own memories?’
How strange.
Had the sphere he absorbed not only imparted the Martial God’s martial art and inner energy, but his very memories as well?
Then why had such a phenomenon never occurred in his past life?
Looking around, he noticed the skeleton had already crumbled into dust, leaving not a trace behind.
Nor were there any inscriptions or messages left anywhere upon the stone walls.
Hmm.
For now, there were simply far too many unanswered questions.
Just then…
“Ugh.”
An unspeakable, putrid stench assailed his nostrils.
The foul odor emanated from every single pore of Yeo Woonhwi’s body.
Why?
It was the impurities expelled from deep within his physique.
In his past life, the exact same phenomenon had occurred after absorbing the Martial God’s sphere.
The moment his physical body was completely reconstructed and reborn, every last drop of accumulated impurity had been purged from his system.
This was what the martial world referred to as…
‘The cleansing of marrow and reforging of bone.’
If other martial artists were to witness this, they would faint from sheer shock.
To master profound inner energy and martial arts while simultaneously undergoing the total transformation of flesh and bone, simply by absorbing a mysterious sphere left behind by a grandmaster from centuries ago—such a preposterous miracle was unheard of.
Yet here stood a man who had experienced this impossibility twice.
“This is precisely why I came prepared.”
Yeo Woonhwi swiftly stripped off his clothes, which had been reduced to vile, filth-soaked rags, tossing them into a corner before wiping himself clean with a towel he had brought along.
Then, reaching into his travel pack, he drew out a fresh change of clothes and pulled them on.
“Phew. Now I can finally breathe.”
His body and mind felt featherlight, brimming with newfound vitality.
This was the true advantage of regression.
Knowing what was to come allowed him to prepare for everything in advance.
At present, the Heavenly Martial Divine Art naturally ingrained into him through the sphere rested at the first stage.
In his previous life, the highest stage he had ever attained was the second.
It was a realm he had reached naturally through endless bloodshed and battle, without ever undergoing dedicated cultivation.
Even so, he had held his own against virtually any formidable master in the Murim.
With merely the second stage.
It was not without reason that the Heavenly Martial Divine Art was hailed as the greatest martial art of all time.
It had simply met the wrong master.
The fault had lain with Yeo Woonhwi, who had used a blade meant for slaughtering dragons to butcher mere chickens.
But in this life, such a mistake would never happen again. And…
‘I will push this art to its absolute limit.’
If he achieved that, he would possess more than enough power to protect his family.
The safety and peace of his family—that was the only thing Yeo Woonhwi desired now.
With light, practiced movements, Yeo Woonhwi swiftly made his way out of the cave.
At a speed incomparable to when he had first crawled inside.
Astonishingly, not a single speck of dirt clung to his clothes or skin.
He had entered as nothing more than a frail, powerless scholar, but emerged as a peerless master of his generation.
It was a miracle far too great to believe it had unfolded in less than a fortnight.
Rumble, crash!
Not long after Yeo Woonhwi stepped outside, the cave collapsed behind him.
As if its ancient duty had finally been fulfilled.
Gazing quietly at the fallen stones for a moment, Yeo Woonhwi turned toward the rubble and bowed deeply.
‘Thank you. Thanks to this power, I will be able to protect my family. If the day ever comes when I can repay this debt in some way, I swear with all my heart that I will return your grace.’
Though there was no one to witness it, Yeo Woonhwi offered his reverence with utmost sincerity.
He felt he had to.
No matter that he had returned to the past, without the fortuitous encounter of the Martial God, Yeo Woonhwi would have faced the approaching future with nothing but dread and helplessness.
Yet thanks to the Heavenly Martial Divine Art, he no longer feared what lay ahead.
How could he not be profoundly grateful?
“Now then… shall we head back?”
Rising from his bow, Yeo Woonhwi lightly tapped the ground with the tip of his foot.
It was time to return home.
