Chapter 408: Chapter 408

For the first time in a while, Baek Suryong spent some quality, peaceful time with his family. After days of staying on guard against assassins at the Azure Dragon Academy, this was the first proper conversation the three of them had shared.

Though most of their talk consisted of childish bickering between two men whose combined age was well over a hundred.

"Father-in-law, you always say that I was the worst delinquent, but honestly, Yakbing deserves that title more than I do."

"What? How dare you slander my daughter, you scoundrel?!"

"Don't you remember? When Yakbing was a second-year, on the school trip... Mmph!"

"Shut that insolent mouth of yours right now."

"What happened on the school trip?" Baek Suryong asked curiously.

"You don't need to know about that."

Baek Suryong chuckled as he observed their antics. Seeing the two men bicker relentlessly, he could tell that they felt very comfortable with each other.

In front of him, his father, Baek Muheun, was indignantly struggling to push his grandfather Mae Geuklyom's hand away from his mouth.

Instead of working somewhere else, why not...

A thought suddenly occurred to him, but he didn't voice it. It was still too soon.

After chatting without a care for about an hour, Baek Muheun checked his father-in-law's complexion and said to his son, "You must be busy, so you should go. Your grandfather needs to rest."

"You brat! Who are you to tell my grandson to leave?"

"You seem to forget often, but I'm this boy's father."

"Talking back at every opportunity..." Mae Geuklyom grumbled, but he seemed to be having difficulty sitting upright and slowly lay down.

Baek Suryong rose from his seat. "Grandpa, I'll come visit again soon."

"Very well. Don't overdo it. Are you going straight home?"

"Not yet, the Principal wanted to speak with me privately. I'll meet with him before I leave."

"Give my regards to him."

"Father-in-law, I'll just step out to see him off."

Baek Muheun tucked Mae Geuklyom into bed before heading outside with Baek Suryong.

"Let's walk for a bit," he said.

Walking side by side, the father and son pair were met with furtive glances from the students. Although classes at the Azure Dragon Academy had been temporarily suspended, quite a few students were still staying in the dormitories.

Since they were alone, Baek Suryong decided to subtly suggest his earlier idea to his father. "Dad, instead of a martial arts academy, why don't you..."

"...Teach at the Azure Dragon Academy?" Baek Muheun finished his son's sentence, smiling faintly. It wasn't hard to guess what his son was thinking. "Sorry, but I don't want to do that."

The Azure Dragon Academy needed a new instructor to fill Jin Euihyeop's vacant position. With Baek Muheun's skills and his history as an alumnus (even though he dropped out before graduation), he wouldn't need much time to adjust.

"If I replace Mr. Jin Euihyeop, malicious rumors will spread," Baek Muheun explained. "I am the Azure Dragon Hero's father and the Headmaster's son-in-law. People will assume that I only got the job by pulling strings."

Baek Suryong stared at his father in disbelief. "You're refusing just because you're worried about idiots running their mouths behind your back? Couldn't you just prove them wrong with your skills?"

"I don't care if they curse me behind my back." Baek Muheun shook his head and glanced back at Mae Geuklyom's house, which they had just left. "Your grandfather worked for the Azure Dragon Academy for over thirty years. I don't want to do anything that might tarnish his reputation. Also..."

Leaning closer to his son, he whispered, "Honestly, I don't fancy the idea of working under Father-in-law. You saw how much that damned old man nags, didn't you?"

Baek Muheun shook his head vigorously, as if he couldn't even imagine what it would be like to work with Mae Geuklyom every day.

Baek Suryong nodded. "Well, if you don't want to, Dad, I can't force you."

He felt it was a shame, but he didn't press the issue further. The current Baek Muheun was a free man, unbound by anything, and he wasn't about to tie him down.

"Now, let me ask you something." Baek Muheun stopped in his tracks and created a qi sound barrier to prevent being overheard.

Baek Suryong looked at him quizzically. "What's with the serious atmosphere?"

"It's about your martial arts."

Baek Suryong flinched. This moment has finally come.

Ultimately, he showed his father that he had learned the Heaven Defying Divine Art. At the time, however, he hadn't had any other choice. He had to do something drastic to draw Skykiller's attention away from everyone else. It was a necessary risk, and as a result, he was able to kill the assassin.

Baek Muheun asked, "Is it the martial arts that I read about in your diary?"

"...Yes." Baek Suryong nodded obediently. Fortunately, his father had already read his diary, so he didn't seem too shocked.

"So the reason your severed meridians suddenly healed was..."

"...Thanks to the Heaven Defying Divine Art. I had to do it. It was the only way for me to live."

Baek Muheun sighed deeply. Even though he had prepared himself, actually hearing these words from his son hit differently. Still, what he needed to say to his son now became clear.

"Suryong," he began seriously, recalling Noh Goonsang's expression and the words he had muttered the previous night. "The Principal might be suspicious of your martial arts... no, he's probably already certain."

"He'll definitely ask you about your martial arts." Baek Muheun reached out and gripped his son's shoulder firmly. "Whatever you do, don't tell him the truth."

"No matter what, you must deny it. The principal's a good person, but he's an elder of the orthodox murim, a secular disciple of Shaolin, and someone who participated in the war against the Blood Cult. Right now, it's just a groundless suspicion, but if it's confirmed... I don't know what he'll do."

Baek Suryong took a moment to think, then nodded. "There's no proof anyway. No one saw anything besides you, Dad, and I have an excuse ready."

He had a wooden box containing the Blood Demon's finger in his pocket. If he claimed that he had only used the energy within it to dispel Skykiller's sorcery, he could easily evade suspicion.

It's not like I didn't expect anyone to doubt me.

He might get in trouble for secretly taking possession of a sacred Blood Cult artifact, but compared to learning the Heaven Defying Divine Art, that was a trivial problem.

"Then I'll go see the principal."

After parting ways with Baek Muheun, Baek Suryong headed straight for the principal's office.

Trying his best to calm his nerves, he knocked on the door.

Noh Goonsang's voice rang out from within. "Come in."

Baek Suryong opened the door and entered. Noh Goonsang was buried under piles of documents from various places, most of which were marked 'urgent.'

Noh Goonsang put down the documents he had been reading. "Ah, Mr. Baek. How is Headmaster Mae?"

"He's recovering well, and he asked me to give you his regards. Oh, if you're busy, I can come back again later?"

Noh Goonsang shook his head and pushed all the documents to one side. "Not at all. Have a seat."

The two sat facing each other. Noh Goonsang rubbed the bridge of his nose, visibly tired.

Baek Suryong broke the silence, saying, "I'm sorry."

Noh Goonsang chuckled. "What do you have to be sorry for? Retirement is something I've been thinking about for a long time. You just gave me one more reason to quit."

"That's not it..." Baek Suryong exclaimed, flustered. Noh Goonsang had taken the blame to buy him time. For his sake, an elder of the orthodox murim had chosen to play the role of a petty man who, for the sake of revenge, ordered someone else to torture and kill an assassin.

Still, he couldn't openly deny it. Doing so would only make Noh Goonsang a liar and draw attention to the secret the principal had sacrificed himself to protect.

Ultimately, he would be forced to add more lies to all the lies he had already told.

"Principal, the reputation you built over decades crumbled overnight because of me. No amount of apologizing is enough."

"What does a washed-out old man's reputation matter? I did what I did to protect the Azure Dragon Academy, and that's enough for me." Noh Goonsang gazed steadily at Baek Suryong, his eyes glittering with profound wisdom. "Anyway, there's something I wanted to speak with you privately about."

"He'll definitely ask you about your martial arts."

Baek Suryong recalled his father's warning as he made eye contact with Noh Goonsang.

I'm sorry, Principal.

With the excuse and evidence he had prepared, deceiving the old man wouldn't be difficult. No matter how suspicious Noh Goonsang was, he only had circumstantial evidence. He was confident that he could cover his tracks perfectly.

However, the Azure Dragon Academy Principal's next words took him by surprise.

"You know, I had the opportunity to witness the Blood Demon's martial arts in the past."

"I've seen the Blood Demon fight a few times. He truly didn't seem human. Back then, I was quite arrogant, even proclaiming myself to be one of the hundred great masters, yet I didn't dare cross blades with that man."

The Thousand-Armed Bodhisattva, Noh Goonsang, was one of the heroes who returned alive after fighting in the war against the Blood Cult. He was also a tragic figure whose martial arts had stagnated for decades due to an injury he sustained in the war.

"While I was lying bedridden for a year, on the verge of death, I often recalled the divine prowess the Blood Demon had displayed."

"To be honest, I was jealous. If I had learned such a divine art, I wouldn't have ended up in this state. I resented him for it, too. Why would the heavens grant such earth-shattering power to a great villain while subjecting me, someone who'd spent my whole life protecting the weak and punishing the wicked, to such a harsh fate?"

Noh Goonsang chuckled self-deprecatingly. He no longer suspected that Baek Suryong might have learned the Heaven Defying Divine Art. After several days of deep reflection, he was now absolutely certain.

"Perhaps the real cause of my martial arts stagnating all this time was not a physical injury, but my own inner demons."

"Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"

"...I'm not sure I do," Baek Suryong answered honestly.

"Martial arts are just martial arts."

"......" Baek Suryong's eyes widened. Principal Noh Goonsang of the Azure Dragon Academy was a much bigger man than he had thought.

"Just as learning orthodox martial arts doesn't necessarily make you a righteous hero, learning demonic arts doesn't make you a demonic master. Martial arts are merely a tool. The one who decides how to use it is a person. Even if you kill someone with a stone, can you pin the blame for the murder on the stone?"

Noh Goonsang smiled warmly at Baek Suryong, who was trying to hide his anxiety, and finished the story he had wanted to tell. "I only realized such a simple fact after getting so old. You should keep that in mind as well."

There was only one thing Baek Suryong could say in response. Read complete versıon only at n0velfire.net

"Yes, I'll keep that in mind."