Chapter 149. Trying to Row a Boat On Land (20)

Chapter 149. Trying to Row a Boat On Land (20)

If the observer had far lower cultivation than the one observed, the latter would seem like nothing more than a mere mortal.

This was the same for Woo-Moon as well. He would never have known that the eunuch before him was a Paragon if he hadn’t broken past the Absolute Stage and become a Paragon himself.

The middle-aged eunuch changed the subject.

“By the way, little brother, not that it’s anything important, but I can sense bloodlust coming from you. What, did you assassinate the emperor or something?”

The eunuch was still completely naked, his body fully on display in all of its glory.

“Yeah, yeah, do you think we could continue this conversation after you put on some clothes?”

In response, the eunuch seemed to spread out wider, stretching his arms and legs for an even better view.

“And what’s wrong with this? From the looks of it, you seem to be a daoist. Isn’t this very state the epitome of muhwi jayeon? The very act of discarding humanity’s artificially made clothes and eating when you want, mating when you want, and sleeping when you want is the true key to muhwi jayeon.”

“Inaction is action, and action is inaction. Nature has brought about humanity, and the things that humanity creates are also created within nature itself. How can you consider them to be unnatural?”

The middle-aged eunuch chuckled.

“To think you would interpret muhwi jayeon in this manner. What a fun little brother you are. How refreshing.”

A long robe flew out of nowhere and covered the body of the middle-aged eunuch.

“May I ask your name?”

“Do names really matter? All that I am is right here before you.”[1]

Instead of answering, Woo-Moon snorted, causing the middle-aged eunuch to burst into laughter again.

“I’ll stop joking around, then. My name is Jin Yo. As for my age... I’m about three hundred. That should be about right. I should be able to transcend and become an Immortal if I can surpass this level. But... it’s still somewhat difficult.”

“Jin Yo...”

Woo-Moon made sure to memorize the name. He was sure he had never heard it before, but he also believed without a doubt that Jin Yao was three hundred years old.

“Oh. just a minute, little brother. It seems someone has come to visit me this late at night.” .

Jin Yo’s flesh expanded, and from within him, another smaller Jin Yo detached and walked up the stairs.

Woo-Moon was completely stunned at the sight.

“That’s...?”

“Oh, that’s just a trivial trick, kekeke. It’s something I learned from a brat from the Heretic Cult a long time ago. Those little rascals really have so many extraordinary methods.”

“So you’ve been using those clones to stay in the imperial palace for the past three hundred years?”

“Hehe, you’re a smart one, little brother. That’s right.”

Shoooom. Shooooom. Shoooom.

Three more clones appeared. As each one detached from the main body, more and more of the weight seemed to disappear from Jin Yo’s body.

“That’s incredible.”

Jin Yo had created a child version of himself, seemingly less than ten years old, a man in the prime of his youth, and an old man, all with slightly different features.

“I create these little runts, claim that they are my heirs, and just pass down my titles and property to myself, hehehe.”

Jin Yo had basically been replacing himself with himself, with every generation that passed, all while messing around with the consorts.

Suddenly, Woo-Moon had a scary thought.

‘There have to be some consorts among all of those Jin Yo has slept with who later became the emperor’s favorite. Maybe even the empress has an affair with Jin Yo. No, maybe even the current emperor is Jin Yo’s son.’

“Would you like a drink?” Jin Yo asked, interrupting Woo-Moon’s thoughts.

Woo-Moon took the offered glass and drank it in one go, preferring not to continue on that train of thought.

“Haha! How impressive!!”

In the meantime, the consorts got dressed and prepared to leave due to a lack of attention from Jin Yo. One by one, they each left the basement chamber, carried by a clone.

The clones that Jin Yo had created all had the power of at least an Absolute Master. Thus, there was no issue whatsoever for them to take the consorts to their quarters without anyone noticing.

The two men drank as they spoke about various things, Woo-Moon’s admiration of Jin Yo growing further and further.

‘Being a Paragon doesn’t mean you’re perfect, then.’

The body can become perfect.

An Absolute Master was close to perfection, and a Paragon even more so.

However, the soul is a different matter.

Not even a Paragon would have a perfect soul. It was the same even for an Immortal.

‘If Immortals were perfect in body and soul, then those Immortals who make all those mistakes in the tales could never exist.’

“I guess I can’t do anything about it, then. Okay. I really enjoyed our conversation. Then, I’ll take my leave now.”

“Are you leaving already? Instead of keeping an old man company for a little longer... how wicked of you, hoho.”

Without saying a word, Woo-Moon bowed and left the palace of Jin Yo—as it turned out, the Seal-Holding Eunuch Director of Palace Eunuchs—then left the imperial palace.

As Jin Yo mused to himself, alone, another person entered the chamber.

“Chief Eunuch!” a beautiful woman clad in rich imperial attire called out.

“Oho, Crown Consort. You’ve come to see me.”

“I missed you, Chief Eunuch!”

Jin Yo hugged the Crown Consort and removed her clothes one by one before creating another clone. This time, it looked exactly like the Crown Consort and was sent back up the stairs.

He was planning on keeping her by his side for the entire day in order to soothe his complicated feelings. His clone would faithfully perform her role as a stand-in for the Crown Consort.

‘Yes, I’m happy with this life.’

Shaking off his worries, Jin Yo smiled happily as he buried his face in the Crown Consort's bosom.

***

Ma-Ra was currently halfway up a nondescript mountain.

She stood for a moment before the former headquarters of the Formless Veil, an empty cavern where nothing but ashes and ruins remained. After a moment, she began searching through the remnants.

She carefully looked around, analyzing pieces of wreckage to determine where she was with regard to the Formless Veil’s buildings.

Because so much time had passed since then, it took Ma-Ra quite some time to find the exact place she was looking for. In that span of time, she hunted in the nearby forest, filled her stomach when she wanted to, and slept when she wanted to.

After a few days, she finally found something.

‘The Martial Book of the Death God.’

The book hadn’t burned even as the entire Formless Veil burned down around it. It was made of a special material that Ma-Ra couldn’t recognize.

A faint memory came to mind.

One day, she was practicing eliminating all emotions. Someone handed her this book with wrinkled hands, an elderly person who had been taking care of her and her father.

She didn’t even know that person’s name, simply calling them Old Slave.

Old Slave asked Ma-Ra to learn the techniques within the book in their place, as they hadn’t been able to learn it with their own talents. Moreover, Old Slave asked her not to talk to her father about it.

Not that it mattered.

Even though the Formless Veil’s Assassin Master found her reading the book, he simply ignored her.

Thinking about it now that her emotions and self-will had been restored to some extent, Ma-Ra realized that Old Slave had felt sorry for her. That was the only reason why Old Slave would have gone so far as to give her this incredible killing art.

Even if Old Slave hadn’t been able to learn it themself, such a decision couldn’t have been easy.

Ma-Ra had mixed feelings toward her father, the Formless Veil’s Assassin Master. Hatred, but at the same time... pity.

As she stayed with Woo-Moon and learned many things about life, she had slowly realized that life had been completely unfair to her. That was the root of the hatred for her father.

On the other hand, she found him pitiful.

He had been a truly weak person.

Although he cared for Ma-Ra, more so than anyone else, he had been a foolish father who had ruined his own daughter with his own twisted choices.

‘He never drank, but on that day, he got drunk and talked about Mother.’

1. Yes, he’s referencing his third leg. ☜

2. The “martial” here is 武 (Mu), the same character in the Mu Heons’ name. ☜