Chapter 1

Chapter 1

A man sat slumped with a sword in hand.

His entire body was drenched in blood, and his eyes, glowing red as if harboring a red flame, instilled fear in anyone who looked at them.

The man looked down at his hands.

They were soaked in blood.

Staring at them, he let out a smirk and wiped his face without hesitation. His face, already blood-stained, turned even more hideous.

“How boring.”

It was a single word he spat out.

What did it mean?

The man's gaze turned toward his surroundings.

His vision was filled with an innumerable number of people. Those sprawled on the ground were, without exception, out of their minds.

They were all people who had been torn, slashed, and blown apart.

Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands?

No, it was likely tens of thousands.

As if the sitting man was the only one breathing, not a single person made even the slightest movement.

There was no way corpses could move.

The worst disaster under the heavens.

The strongest man throughout all times, east and west.

People called him the Limitless Demonic God.

The man stumbled to his feet.

Walking slowly toward the beyond of ascension, he was as imposing as if he possessed the entire world, and an untouchable majesty lingered around him.

Crack!

However, at some point, the body of the walking man froze. The man, who had turned into a giant block of ice, stopped in his tracks.

Before him stood eight men and women of all ages, who had appeared out of nowhere.

Some rode on clouds, some emerged from the ground, and others showed themselves along with the wind.

Their appearances were human, but they gave off a strong feeling of not being human.

An eccentricity like that of an immortal.

They wore sorrowful expressions as they looked at the brutally torn corpses scattered around.

“Tsk, tsk.”

There were those who turned their heads and clicked their tongues, unable to bear the sight.

“How deplorable! To think there is no one to stop this Slaughter Star!”

“How tragic! To think no one could kill him!”

A roar burst forth from the two oldest of the eight. The space shook violently as if vibrating at a sound loud enough to overturn heaven and earth.

The two old men, eyes wide, stared at the frozen Limitless Demonic God before turning their backs.

“Seal him in the deepest part of Dongting Lake!”

The six immortals bowed their heads deeply.

* * *

Yueyang, located north of Hunan Province.

The stream of water flowing past the city was a tributary of Dongting Lake situated to the north.

As countless people visited every year to sightsee Dongting Lake, it was larger and more prosperous than other cities.

Thanks to this, most of the citizens living here did not go hungry.

Since it was quite famous as a tourist destination and finding a job was easy if one put their mind to it, even beggars barely existed.

In the middle of such a bustling town, a man sat slumped as if exhausted, wrapped in a worn-out cloth of unknown origin.

Every passerby glanced at him.

It was because of the strange atmosphere emanating from the man.

“Time flows just as the wind flows.”

The man, with his head bowed, muttered.

Those words contained desolation. His eyes were empty as if he had lost something, and the words he spat out were filled with futility.

In truth, the man had lost everything.

Nothing existed for the man.

A smirk formed on his bowed face. It was because his situation was so pathetic.

‘There is truly nothing left.’

The man raised his head with a self-deprecating laugh.

The Eight Immortals.

They were the immortals who were said to protect this Central Plains.

Even so, the fact that they were nothing but beings obsessed with eating and playing remained unchanged, and being blindsided by such individuals dealt a blow to his pride.

‘No, I was the one who was foolish.’

He had run wild in all directions, not knowing how high the sky was.

His innate Heavenly Slaughter Star made him even more violent, and his surroundings shook him wildly, throwing the world into misery.

Without batting an eye, he destroyed the world, killed his enemies, and toyed with the era.

Ultimately, he spent a thousand years trapped in ice by the Eight Immortals.

The time that had flowed was too long to describe in words. The fact that he was experiencing it firsthand made the man feel even more empty.

There was no one he knew anymore, and not even those left behind remained.

It was only natural.

For there was no human anywhere who could live for a thousand years.

He just walked like that.

Perhaps because he had been trapped for a thousand years, the killing intent of the Heavenly Slaughter Star had vanished as if washed away.

It was not as if he had a place to go, nor did he have a small space to stay. Simply drifting along with the wind and clouds, searching for traces of the past years was what the man did.

Like a ghost bound by the past.

No, he could be called a ghost itself.

‘For the great Dan Woo-hyun to…’

Dan Woo-hyun scanned his surroundings with a bitter gaze. Even though three days had passed, he could not adapt to the landscape that had changed so much from before.

It felt as if everything was just a dream.

A dream from which he could wake up at any time and return to his daily life.

“Hmm?”

Around the time he was having such thoughts,

he discovered something discarded like trash in a secluded alley.

It was a person, and a rather small child at that. The child was barely breathing, on the verge of taking their last breath at any moment.

Dan Woo-hyun approached the child as if drawn by something.

‘A beggar?’

The answer was clear at a single glance.

A beggar, an orphan.

Beside the child lay a begging bowl, and foods covered in dirt, now inedible, were scattered around.

Perhaps having incurred someone's wrath while begging, the child was covered in wounds here and there.

Dan Woo-hyun slowly approached and checked the pulse.

Though weak, it was beating.

The faint breath did not seem like it would cut out immediately, but it would last four hours at most.

The child looked up at Dan Woo-hyun with a hazy gaze.

He tried to ignore the child and stand up, but that gaze held him back.

Because it felt like looking at his own eyes when he was a helpless orphan in his childhood.

He scratched his head roughly.

“Consider yourself lucky, kid.”

Dan Woo-hyun poured energy through the pulse. The Heavenly Unity Creation Art; it was thanks to this that he had been able to live and breathe for a thousand years even after receiving the Eight Immortals' attack.

As he infused the energy, vitality returned to the child's face. The dying face seemed to gradually come back to life. However, there was a problem.

‘They haven't eaten anything for a long time.’

Nutrition was too deficient. Although he had infused vitality with the Heavenly Unity Creation Art, it could not replenish physical nutrition.

‘Is there anything to eat?’

He looked around.

The dirt-covered foods could not be eaten. It might cause more trouble. If so, something else was needed.

Pondering, Dan Woo-hyun rummaged through his robes.

He did have one thing.

It was a pill. It was not a spiritual elixir that increased internal energy, but simply a medicine taken when sustaining internal or physical injuries. Of course, it was also excellent for soothing an empty stomach.

The problem was…

“It's from a thousand years ago, so will it be alright?”

It was far, far too old.

In fact, the time for it to decay and disappear had long since passed.

Feeding such a thing to a young child pricked his conscience for no reason, but even so, it seemed better than feeding nothing.

If things went wrong, it might just be diarrhea, or at worst, death, but either way, the child was bound to end their life if left abandoned like this.

Dan Woo-hyun felt uneasy in a corner of his heart, but he nevertheless carefully popped the pill into the child's mouth. The moment it touched the saliva, it melted away smoothly.

“What remains is your luck.”

He left the place.

Just because he helped did not mean he had to take responsibility. Even the act of helping was merely out of simple pity and nostalgic thoughts, and there was no meaning beyond that.

Only the gaze of the child remaining in that spot chased after Dan Woo-hyun.

* * *

The next morning, Dan Woo-hyun, who was trying to sleep in a secluded spot, slowly opened his eyes at the rustling sound and approaching presence.

It was the child.

It was definitely the child he had seen yesterday. The dying face was now full of vitality. The skinny appearance remained unchanged from then to now, but the eyes were shining with vitality.

The child, smiling brightly for some reason, held out both hands.

It was a dumpling.

“What is this?”

“Dumpling…!”

“I can see that. I am asking the meaning of you giving this to me.”

Why give it to him? He could not understand. Even though the child's own stomach must be hungrier than Dan Woo-hyun's, there was no hesitation in the outstretched hand and actions.

What was the reason?

Was it to repay the favor?

In an instant, his mind became jumbled. Though he had received things from others before, this child was the first to offer something with an innocent smile, without a shred of fear or a hint of killing intent.

It was so unfamiliar that he could not adapt.

Without saying a word, the child pressed the dumpling into his hand and sat beside him. Perhaps having fully recovered from the illness, the child was humming and even grinning brightly whenever their eyes met.

Not caring about Dan Woo-hyun's mood in the slightest, the child was truly a child.

“What on earth…”

He wore a puzzled expression, but the child did not answer. Thus, the next day, and the day after that, the child continued to bring food from somewhere and hand it to Dan Woo-hyun.

If he said he would not eat, the child would put on a tearful face, and if he brought it to his mouth, they would smile brightly. As this was repeated several times, enough time had passed that it wouldn't be strange to call it a daily routine.

Fifteen days passed like that.

Dan Woo-hyun met the child every day and ate the food the child brought.

That day was a day when the sun shone brightly.

A hot sunlight, making it hard to believe spring had just begun, beat down, and the sky was clear and blue without a single cloud.

Dan Woo-hyun, who always sought out secluded places without people, moved after a long time and headed towards the marketplace. It was not as if he had any particular plan.

Quite simply, he just wanted to walk.

“Hey, you crazy wench!”

The moment he entered the marketplace, he paused. Along with a person's shout, he saw the child with the familiar face curling up.

A few dumplings were clutched in the child's chest.

Perhaps not wanting to get them dirty, the child curled up even more to protect the dumplings.

It was for this reason that the wounds all over the child's body did not heal and kept appearing.

Dan Woo-hyun was temporarily lost for words.

‘Was it stolen…?’

When a young child begs, they receive people's sympathy. They are bound to get more than when an adult begs. For that reason, Dan Woo-hyun thought it was just like that and did not imagine it was stolen.

Suddenly, irritation surged within him.

For fifteen days, he had lived off of what that child brought. He did know how they were obtained, simply receiving and eating them, and thus endured day by day.

He did not like it.

Why was that?

Dan Woo-hyun, who had never received sympathy from anyone, approached the child. It was the moment the man was about to kick the child fiercely.

Crack!

“Aaagh!”

Dan Woo-hyun also kicked that man's foot. The sound of a bone breaking was heard, and a scream burst from the man's mouth. Although it was a clear situation of who was in the wrong, such things did not matter to Dan Woo-hyun.

The strange man rolled on the ground screaming, and at the sudden scream, the child looked up at Dan Woo-hyun with a dazed expression.

In that situation where many people were watching, Dan Woo-hyun stared at the child for a while before turning his back.

He could no longer stay with the child.

Ignoring the child's pitiful gaze, he walked.

He heard the sound of the child quickly standing up, but he ignored that as well. He hoped that he, who only caused trouble, and that child would no longer be entangled.

He simply walked away with long strides.

In fact, even he himself did not know where to go. He had not found a place that could fill the emptiness of a thousand years of time.

However, he could not afford to just stand still in this spot either.

He just walked.

Along with the wind, along with the clouds.

And when he came to his senses at some point,

“Dongting Lake…”

It revealed itself.

The massive lake seemed endless.

It was a space where stillness lingered, making it impossible to even imagine that he had been submerged at its deepest bottom.

The more he thought about it, the more ridiculous it felt.

For this Dan Woo-hyun, who was praised as the Martial God…

“I tried to shake you off, but instead you are holding me back.”

Dan Woo-hyun looked at Dongting Lake with an incredulous expression. He had thought he would never see this Dongting Lake again, but his footsteps had already headed back here before he knew it.

Thinking it was truly ridiculous, he turned his head. At the edge of his vision, he saw the child gasping for breath, as if they had urgently followed behind Dan Woo-hyun.

Their feet were already covered in blood.

For there was no way a child could keep up with the footsteps of a fast-walking adult. Dan Woo-hyun thought as he looked at the child. Why are they chasing so persistently?

Was it not just a single treatment he had given? Yet, the child showed a blind devotion, as if willing to give up even their liver and gallbladder.

“Why are you following me?”

“…I… don't want to… be alone… anymore…”

The child's single sentence struck a chord in his heart.

Hating to be alone.

He was Dan Woo-hyun, who had never once used the word 'together' from his childhood until now.

He had always stood alone, always lonely.

For that reason, he could not easily understand the child's feelings, but that true warmth was transmitted to him.

The child reached out and grabbed Dan Woo-hyun's sleeve.

“Please don't… leave…”

The tearful word shook his heart once again. As the scene of the child being beaten played out in his mind, his hands clenched involuntarily.

If all of this was his connection and destiny with this child…

“Your name?”

“Hwa… Hwa So-mi…”

“Right, I am Dan Woo-hyun.”

With the slightly selfish thought of whether this child might create a space where Dan Woo-hyun belonged, and the warm desire to protect them crossing paths, he reached out.

His outstretched hand stroked the child's head.

“Come with me.”