Chapter 829 – Epilogue – The End

[TL Note- Some people may find this chapter confusing because JYS is viewing the future with his upper dantian power.]

There were petals deeply imbued with Jeong Yeon-shin’s spiritual nature and true energy. Leaves that brushed against his robe and were dyed with red flower water. All surrounded by a soft glow from I Tread’s lingering force.

And they mixed with the spring breeze.

Swoooosh…

The red flower cluster slowly followed Jeong Yeon-shin. And as they scattered here and there, they reflected various scenes like dew. Because they were filled with Jeong Yeon-shin’s spiritual nature, they thought like him.

[…Sword Master.]

It was after Tower Master glanced at Yelu Zhen. His face had aged decades more in that moment. He distanced himself from Sword Master with a transcendent expression.

[If you walk toward your homeland, the entire continent might shake. Our land has only now found peace.]

[I ask.]

Sword Master, with her back to Tower Master, asked toward Jeong Yeon-shin’s retreating figure.

[What can a swordsman do? If this truly is an era of peace.]

[You could hold farming tools, or make companions. Occasionally when bandits appear, you could take up your sword and lead the way.]

[Even if only a few years of life remain…?]

[What more would you need?]

Jeong Yeon-shin’s counter-question.

She smiled brightly.

Then Yelu Zhen’s mischievous Form Shifting Void sent Sword Master back to her homeland. Tower Master’s group was naturally greatly shocked.

Another petal reflected one of the Form Shifting Void mirrors hanging throughout the cavern. A scene where Yan Family Head Yan Wen-hak, carried in his retainers’ palanquin, faced Burning Abyss Squad Leader Shin So-bin.

A coffin existed in the middle of the long procession.

—Family Head, there’s a corpse in that coffin, right? I can feel its weight.

—Is that something to casually ask passersby? Of course there’s a corpse in a coffin, would there be a living person? I heard Desolate Fortress Lord’s top disciple believes in her position and acts arrogantly.

—Let’s open it once? Who knows. Maybe something like Six Star Lord Martial Star is giving off corpse stench.

—Remember that on this desolate path, there are only you and the Yan Family. If you show such rude behavior with only swift lightness skill in mind, you might broaden your knowledge with the Yan Family fist masters’ Divine Sibilant Resonance Fist Formation…

When Yan Wen-hak suddenly stopped speaking, the petal reflected above his head. Some giant’s shadow stepped limply on the palanquin, and the roof collapsed helplessly.

—……

The petal containing that scene swirled half a rotation.

Swish.

It reflected Jeong Yeon-shin facing Monk Beom-heo in another Form Shifting Void mirror.

—Monk, your wandering practice seems excessive at this point. You’d match my maternal grandfather if you competed with him.

—I was planning to return soon anyway.

Monk Beom-heo smiled warmly.

He patted Jeong Yeon-shin’s shoulder with a semi-transparent glowing Formless Hand. While glancing at Jeong Yeon-shin’s shadow.

—I once told you not to neglect the martial art of life. It seems you’ve become quite a master now.

Jeong Yeon-shin shook his head.

—I’ve needed the monk’s wisdom many times. I’m only strong in martial arts, but I can’t grasp how to become a good man and father. Of course, as Desolate Fortress Lord too…

—What truly brings wisdom is not time but meetings and partings. You’re wise enough now.

Jeong Yeon-shin’s smile bloomed on the red petal.

The petal reflected his face like a blurred mirror, then spun round and round. Because Jeong Yeon-shin had exited the Form Shifting Void mirror together with Monk Beom-heo.

Flower clusters crossing time.

After dancing in the sky for several days and nights, they reached Desolate Fortress’s central training ground. His brother Jeong Jung-san, who’d traveled far at Yelu Zhen’s single move, boasted to Jeong Yeon-shin.

“Honestly, how many people in the age range to be your spouse are stronger than this elder brother? At most the Nine Sects’ sect leader disciples, Desolate Gentlemen, Burning Abyss Leader, or Blood Radiance Queen. Even among these, few if you exclude men.”

“Se-in and So-bin’s titles aren’t those. Demonic Gentleman and Lightning Hero…”

“Anyway, I’m grateful for this martial competition invitation. Feeling acknowledged as your brother, I think I could die without regrets now.”

“That’s where the sect elders meet each other, your future father-in-law wanted to meet you. If you want, he’ll exchange blows too.”

“That… mm, how could I refuse?”

The flower cluster soon reflected Jeong Jung-san facing Blood King and wrapped around another night’s moonlight.

That night’s petal looked down on Radiant Demon Wing Hall. Jeong Yeon-shin and his seniors rippled in the dim moonlight.

“Greatest of All Time.”

“Who first coined the nickname Lightning Genius…”

“People follow their names.”

Meanwhile, one-armed saber user Oh Wol-hyang indirectly scolded Jeong Yeon-shin.

“The child’s courtesy name must be well chosen.”

“…Monk Beom-heo said he would choose it.”

“I heard Tyrant Hero is systematizing childcare martial studies of Heavenly Gold Martial Arsenal, but you shouldn’t bring the child within the Ma Family walls. During busy times, rather entrust them to us.”

“Would Radiant Demon Wing be okay?”

Jeong Yeon-shin questioned back, and Oh Wol-hyang didn’t easily answer. The former Radiant Demon First Group who’d long since moved belongings out of Radiant Demon Wing Hall just laughed loudly.

Jeong Yeon-shin asked respectfully.

“I heard you’ve regained some memories, is that true…?”

“Young you.”

Wdi Gun-hye moved her lips slightly.

“I remember you at about fifteen. Coming into the Lord’s Hall and asking if you could obtain fruits…”

“Just as Divine Physician Old Man said. If your upper dantian spiritual nature deepens, you’ll remember everything. You just need to focus on your studies.”

“Teach me. This time, you.”

“Me…?”

It was when the petal danced in the moonlight.

The teacher asked the disciple, and the disciple became teacher.

Rustle.

Wei Gun-hye’s pale green robe. Jeong Yeon-shin’s fingertips, which had melted gold, carved the character Desolate (荒) on her hem. Shin So-bin asked with a face that didn’t dare show displeasure.

“I’m the Senior Sister right…?”

The night was as short as it was bright, and the petals wore sunlight.

Blue sky.

The flower cluster followed noontime Jeong Yeon-shin toward the central training ground. Countless crowds filled the alleys.

A crowd where commoners and jianghu people were equal.

“It’s really the Lord! Hey, don’t push!”

“Did you show such behavior to this Demon Contempt Blade?”

“What will you do…?”

“What would I do?”

…

The day the drawbridge of Desolate Fortress’s moat was lowered.

It meant not only commoners but any heretical practitioners could enter. There were no incidents. Even until Lazy Flame Dragon climbed the training ground under daylight’s purple lanterns.

The petals reflected Jeong Yeon-shin sitting in the seat of honor and Lazy Flame Dragon Hwangbo Gyeon-ryun standing ten steps before him. Ma Yeon-jeok and Shin Byeok with somewhat displeased faces only dimly shimmered in the leaves.

Jeong Yeon-shin suddenly asked Lazy Flame Dragon.

“I heard you went to visit Sister Yelu with a wine bottle? It was the night before your rank advancement ceremony.”

“She turned me away at the gate. She doesn’t see anyone as human unless they’re the Lord. No wonder she has no companions.”

“Why bother?”

“There’s a big reason. My wife.”

“How much did you miss her?”

“As much as the speed at which the Lord created Yeong-hwi…?”

Jeong Yeon-shin stopped mid-motion of bestowing the purple robe with Void Grasping Material Technique, and Hwangbo Gyeon-ryun snatched it with extremely swift Grappling Hand and wore it.

Flame Lord Hwangbo Gyeon-ryun examined his attire once and said.

“I’ll become a moderate hero.”

“That sounds like saying you’ll become quite lazy.”

“Not that far. Anything done moderately lasts long.”

“Is that so…?”

Jeong Yeon-shin tilted his head unconsciously, and Elder Council Lord Shin Byeok spat out words not to listen. On the opposite side, Ma Yeon-jeok kept his gaze only on Jeong Yeon-shin’s shadow the entire time.

His intent echoed heavily.

[Is that Earth Escape Divine Technique appropriate for the fetus? Is a trivial demonic cult trick suitable for a unified successor of Harmonious Flower Primordial Spirit Technique…?]

Constantly white-hot upper dantian. Even clouds rippled in the bluish energy waves. Jeong Yeon-shin’s flower cluster had been swept through them multiple times.

But Ma Yeon-jeok’s intent didn’t weaken at all for over ten days.

[I should get a Great Rejuvenation Pill from that monk.]

His figure rippling in the petal disappeared completely. While no one paid attention, there were many visits. Those who’d briefly stayed as guests in advance.

The sight of climbing the training ground on the feast day reflected in the flower cluster each differently.

“Lightning Genius.”

When Mount Hua’s Lady Lu Xian appeared, the Murim Guide from Hwangbo Gyeon-ryun’s arms flew on its own all the way to the Lord’s Hall.

Meanwhile, Tang Family Head Tang Woon-hwang received Remaining Thunder from Jeong Yeon-shin and headed to the forge. With low grumbling.

“Without periodic hammering, it will transform into the world’s demonic sword…”

It wasn’t only Lady Lu Xian sitting around the seat of honor. Jeong Yeon-shin personally handed tofu he’d made to Emei’s Abbess Cypress Flame.

“Too chaotic, right? I’m overwhelmed myself, so I wonder if I invited the nun to an inappropriate place…”

“Amitabha.”

Abbess Cypress Flame smiled with his gaunt face.

“That’s needless worry. No purple rank advancement ceremony has been such a public feast. At least not in jianghu martial world.”

“I have many worries.”

“Everyone came to see you. Three years is short for mourning someone, yet long for being apart from someone missed.”

She mentioned Sword Star’s three-year mourning period. Abbess Cypress Flame was a master of life, so such behavior carried no rudeness.

It was when Jeong Yeon-shin fell briefly silent.

The petals he’d deliberately brought from the cavern fluttered countless times across the feast day training ground as originally intended.

They reflected many people.

Mostly those conversing with Jeong Yeon-shin rather than Hwangbo Gyeon-ryun made up the majority. But Hwangbo Gyeon-ryun didn’t care and headed to Hyeon Won-chang.

“I’d like to borrow swordplay from time to time.”

“For me to properly wield Winter Dream, I’d need at least three more years of training.”

“This is why dull ones…”

“I’m already a moderate killer.”

Then one of the petals was caught in Jeong Yeon-shin’s hand as he held Hwangbo Gyeon-ryun in his arms.

***

Jeong Yeon-shin looked down at the red leaf and said.

“It’s chaotic.”

“Thanks to the Lord, Father’s advancement ceremony isn’t lonely. There are even high-ranking figures I’ve only heard names of.”

Hwangbo Gyeon-ryun said while wiggling his small hands. He wanted to hurry and find the Murim Guide, but he was holding back, having noticed it was Jeong Yeon-shin’s doing. Very mature.

Jeong Yeon-shin shook his head.

“If your father hadn’t accumulated heroic deeds, no one would have bothered coming on such short notice.”

“That’s also fortunate.”

Hwangbo Gyeon-ryun raised his lips.

His plump cheeks formed rare dimples, and only then did Jeong Yeon-shin feel relieved. Because he’d hoped Lazy Flame Dragon would become a good father.

He set the child down and stood up.

“Where are you going?”

“I’ll briefly tour the fortress. There might be commoners crushed by masters’ energy waves.”

“As expected, you discuss the strong like roadside pebbles. I’m curious what it feels like to become the world’s best.”

“Well. Even if martial power is the world’s best, I still have worthy opponents.”

“Worthy opponents?”

Hwangbo Gyeon-ryun looked up at Jeong Yeon-shin blankly. Suddenly Jeong Yeon-shin overlapped himself at that age onto the child in the petal.

“…Regret and longing. Dealing with people is a choice every moment, and it always leaves traces like sword scars.”

Jeong Yeon-shin added while patting the child’s head.

“It’s not easy to win.”

“Ah…”

Hwangbo Gyeon-ryun nodded. A face without particular thoughts. It would be the same if six-year-old Jeong Yeon-shin heard it.

“Please come back.”

“Alright.”

Jeong Yeon-shin held a single leaf and stepped below the training ground. Golden sunset was being carved along the distant ridgeline.

Jeok Yu-ha’s mental transmission rang out.

—It’s really chaotic. I’m not going out.

“…If Brother had dealt with you, it would have been better.”

Jeong Yeon-shin said while thinking of Jeong Jung-san who’d become a guest of the Medicine Hall. But Jeok Yu-ha only asked back if it wasn’t an arranged match. She seemed to truly think so.

—Will you get stronger?

Jeong Yeon-shin looked down at the golden-tinged twilight and smiled faintly.

“I should make sure Hye-ah can’t find the Medicine Hall.”

Then brief silence descended.

Quiet sky.

The world’s silence that embraced people once in a while in life. Only the petals fluttering in all directions were noisy.

Jeong Yeon-shin blankly stared at the flower cluster’s dance.

His mind suddenly felt clear… Upper dantian prescience that occasionally came even unintended. Was it because he was somewhat tired? The petals reflected different scenery like beautifully fragmented mirrors.

Within them.

He and Jeok Yu-ha were wrapping a black-haired, red-eyed baby in bright red robes. On one side, maternal grandfather Ma Yeon-jeok stared at the baby like a divine gambler.

The child grew quickly.

In another leaf, the child at about five or six years old was leading Jeong Yeon-shin. The familiar Shaolin abbot’s chamber. The child seemed very interested in Monk Beom-heo’s Formless Hand.

—Father, me too…

—No.

Jeong Yeon-shin shifted his gaze. The feeling of crossing the years between petal and petal.

He also saw a black-haired, red-eyed boy setting out on his first heroic deed with Hyeon Won-chang. Jeong Young-hwi at about twelve years old. Beside them Lazy Flame Dragon was babbling something, but Hyeon Won-chang was covering the boy’s ears.

Jeong Yeon-shin decided to see only up to there. Of course, he also decided to completely suppress his upper dantian prescience now.

‘Even if I lack confidence as a father…’

What fun would knowing everything be?

Jeok Yu-ha asked.

—What did you see?

“Nothing.”

Suddenly.

Jeong Yeon-shin decided to use his upper dantian function one more last time. It was to overcome the regret he’d spoken of to Hwangbo Gyeon-ryun.

‘Though I’ve caused many dead people…’

There was a person he hadn’t deliberately called even when cutting the World Tree or observing the three-year mourning. Because they were someone who gave him a lifelong challenge.

Whoosh!

The moment he thought of them, his vicinity filled with fierce blade wind.

Turning his head, he saw a shabby-dressed old swordsman. An elder with gleaming eyes like a wanderer, yet gentle eye corners meeting Jeong Yeon-shin’s gaze.

Sword Star Hyeon So-baek asked quietly.

“Did you bloom many spring flowers?”

Jeong Yeon-shin hesitated briefly.

The sword Sword Star taught was a blade that brought spring to the faces of the weak. He’d said it was a flower many jianghu people could bloom with just a little courage, but Jeong Yeon-shin hadn’t cared for commoners for six years.

That was when.

A scattering petal in the distance caught his eye. The last leaf reached after crossing all the leaves like stepping stones.

The Jeong Yeon-shin within it was drinking with another old swordsman. An elder with twin swords whose clear eyes showed long years.

—When will you grow old?

He asked Jeong Yeon-shin with a smile. That elder had once taken the exam with a country boy, and together roamed jianghu. He’d also turned wicked people’s insides out with his three-inch tongue.

‘Brother Hyeon.’

A day that still seemed far away and wouldn’t arrive yet. A moment to talk about as many things as footprints left in life.

“……”

Shifting his gaze below that petal, he saw people tilting wine cups like old Hyeon Won-chang at the feast day training ground. Seniors and peers from white, blue, black, and purple ranks, high-ranking figures from the Nine Schools, commoners who didn’t fear troublesome heretical practitioners like Yelu Zhen or Helian Feng-yue, and the former Radiant Demon Wing First Group gesturing from among them.

He could read Cheong Myeong and Baek Mi-ryeo’s lip movements.

‘You really don’t fit in.’

‘Come over here.’

Jeong Yeon-shin’s lips drew a large arc, and he soon smiled brightly. Did that look funny? Jeok Yu-ha also raised her lips in the shadow along with him.

Sword Star, who’d smiled warmly, disappeared mixed into the flower cluster simultaneously.

Jeong Yeon-shin’s smile remained like wine’s scent.

《Did You Bloom Many Spring Flowers?》 Epilogue End.

—Author’s Note—

Hello, this is Cheongshiso.

The small epilogue I mentioned ends here.

Of course, there are many stories that will unfold.

From Helian Feng-yue-wol who became one of the Imperial Five Great Masters as the price of being pardoned along with daughter Hwa Yeon-bi…

Fifteen-year-old Jeong Yeong-hwi who’s the complete opposite of Dad and a true gentleman, Hwangbo Gyeon-ryun and Jeong Yeung-hwi’s chaotic jianghu travels, Ma Yeon-jeok and Literary Star’s island nation tour seeking the sacred sword dharma treasure and new things respectively, Yu Shou-lin guarding the Divine Sword Group Leader position amid purple rank bargain sales, Jeong Yeong-hwi who’s more comfortable with Yong Hye-myeong and the former Radiant Demon Wing First Group than his parents, Shin Byeok and Ma Jin’s bone-changing body-transforming rebirth, Jeong Yeon-shin seeking guidance on raising an adolescent from Jin Myeong-jo who couldn’t retire…

But I’ll make Jeong Yeon-shin’s new diary visible only to Jeong Yeon-shin alone.

I want the old diary to be remembered.

I wrote how to survive, but Jeong Yeon-shin will write how to live.

I’ve conceived the next work for quite a long time. It’s the story of a slow-witted illegitimate child who endlessly regresses with the Transcendent Martial Art of Shaolin Temple’s last abbot during the Demonic Cult occupation era. His personality might be like Wan Hui or Yong Hye-myeong, but… I should deliciously mix familiar ingredients either way.

Of course, I might visit you with a completely different story.

It was a truly enjoyable journey.

Thank you.

Surviving As A Genius on Borrowed Time

Epilogue End