Chapter 570:
“……Will he be okay?”
“How would we know?”
“He looks like he’s going to die?”
“That’s quite possible.”
Divine Beggar stared at Wei Jeong-han with vacant eyes. Wei Jeong-han shrugged his shoulders. Seeing that reaction, Divine Beggar nodded silently without a word.
‘No wonder the kid turned out crooked.’
Parents are the mirror of their children. Growing up under such a hopeless case, how could the child possibly turn out right?
What he learned and saw was this mess, so naturally his actions would be the same.
‘To think I held this bastard in such high regard.’
Regret surged through him enough to make his chest ache. He was well-behaved, manly, and full of righteousness, so naturally he thought he was an excellent junior, but who could have imagined he’d be such a mess of a parent?
‘No wonder the Demonic Cult is furious enough to come attacking.’
This bastard raised that precious bloodline of the Great Demon Emperor.
If they found out that Wei San-ho grew up under such a person, the Demonic Cult’s protectors would come chasing after Wei Jeong-han with foam at their mouths, wanting to kill him. Or were they already doing that?
Even in the midst of all this, Wei Yan-ho’s appearance was burned into Divine Beggar’s eyes.
‘Is he really okay?’
Wei Yan-ho’s body cracked with a sseo-jeok sseo-jeok sound. It was the first time he’d ever seen a human body developing cracks. The only fortunate thing, if it could be called fortunate, was that no poisonous smoke was leaking out between the cracks.
Looking at Wei Yan-ho’s severely contorted face, he could keenly feel just how much pain Wei Yan-ho was enduring right now.
“Kkeul-leok!“
Wei Yan-ho’s mouth opened and bright red blood flowed out in streams.
“Ah!”
Divine Beggar unconsciously stepped forward. But before he could even take two steps, Wei Jeong-han grabbed his shoulder.
“You mustn’t.”
“…….”
Wei Jeong-han’s hand gripping his shoulder was trembling.
Divine Beggar couldn’t say anything.
What showed on the surface wasn’t everything. How could his heart not tremble? His child was going through such pain, experiencing such an ordeal.
“He’s someone who cares for those around him even without saying so. If you thoughtlessly approach and end up dying, he’ll never forgive himself for the rest of his life.”
“That, that much?”
“No, honestly speaking, maybe about three days?”
“…….”
Isn’t this being excessively honest?
Wei Jeong-han pulled up the corners of his mouth. But perhaps because his eyes couldn’t smile, it became a strange expression that was neither a smile nor tears.
“There are times when I feel upset about being a useless father, but I have to accept reality. What we need to do is not hold him back.”
“Mm.”
Divine Beggar let out a groan.
“But if something goes wrong…….”
“That won’t happen.”
Wei Jeong-han looked at Wei Yan-ho with a firm expression.
“If Heaven decided to entrust that bastard with great work, it wouldn’t take him away in a place like this. Look. Above that bastard’s head, there’s a clear sky…….”
Uru-ru-ru-reung!
Lightning strikes.
Dark clouds began gathering from over there.
“…….”
“…….”
Wei Jeong-han and Divine Beggar looked up at the sky once without saying anything, then lowered their heads again to look at Wei Yan-ho.
“Heaven?”
“…….”
“What about Heaven?”
“……I guess not.”
Worries appeared on Wei Jeong-han’s face.
“Then what do we do now?”
“Damn it, you cursed bastard!”
Divine Beggar kicked Wei Jeong-han in the ribs.
“Kkweaek!“
Wei Jeong-han rolled around on the ground.
“No help, no help…….”
Woo-woo-woo-woo-woong!
“Ah, damn it. There’s no time to do anything!”
Divine Beggar looked back at Wei Yan-ho with irritation.
“He really does all sorts of things!”
Wei Yan-ho’s body was floating up into the air. Wei Yan-ho, who had floated into the air while sitting cross-legged, was soon enveloped in brilliant radiance.
He didn’t even have the energy to be surprised anymore.
Divine Beggar just sat down right there. It wasn’t that his legs gave out. Now he had the mindset of letting whatever happens to happen. He had struggled trying to control the situation somehow, but he had to admit it. The situation here had now surpassed the level that Divine Beggar could handle.
It was a festival of the incomprehensible and extraordinary.
Woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woong!
Wei Yan-ho’s body was surrounded by dazzling light.
Sseo-jeok.
Sseo-jeo-jeok.
Then it sounds like something cracking could be heard continuously.
Tuk!
“Huh.”
Even Divine Beggar, who had now given up on everything, had no choice but to widen his eyes once more. Something had fallen to the ground, and looking closely, it was Wei Yan-ho’s face.
‘Face?’
Damn it, why is a face falling off, a face!
Divine Beggar concentrated his eyesight and looked at what had fallen again.
‘It really is a face?’
To be precise, it should be called facial skin, no, skin?
Skin is falling off?
Sseo-jeok sseo-jeok.
Along with sounds like forcibly tearing something off, skin torn from Wei Yan-ho’s entire body fell down with a thud thud. Then the skeleton of his entire body writhed as if twisting.
“Uh, so that means…….”
Divine Beggar rubbed his eyes.
He’d never seen this before, but it was definitely a scene he’d heard about somewhere. What was this called?
“Metamorphosis?”
Right, that was it.
Wei Jeong-han, who had gotten up at some point, said in a weak voice.
“That damned bastard is casting aside the precious body his parents gave him, scattering it all over the ground.”
“…….”
This bastard is crazy.
Divine Beggar resolved that if this war ended peacefully, he would strip Wei Jeong-han of all his positions and banish him to Guangdong Province.
The light grew stronger and stronger.
Soon Wei Yan-ho’s body was completely covered in dazzling light.
Divine Beggar watched that scene in a daze.
‘Perhaps this might be a scene that will be talked about forever in martial history.’
And it might be the beginning of the legend that Wei Yan-ho would create.
The situation was still not good, but with what Wei Yan-ho was showing now, wouldn’t it be okay to have hope?
It was around the time he was thinking such thoughts.
Kwa-a-a-a-a-a-a-ang!
Suddenly a tremendous explosion erupted. But no one was surprised. There had been too many things experienced here today to be surprised by such an explosion now.
Along with the explosion, the earth shook as if there was an earthquake, but that was just, well, it must be shaking.
Even if lightning struck right in front of them, everyone would just think ‘so it goes.’ Or look for something to grill.
But this time there was definitely a change.
The light disappeared in an instant. And in that spot was Wei Yan-ho, who had somehow come down to the ground and was sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed.
“…….”
At least he was definitely alive.
But it wasn’t easy to approach him. It seemed like a halo was shining from behind Wei Yan-ho’s back.
‘Is this what they mean by being difficult to approach?’
Wei Yan-ho sitting cross-legged with an expressionless face seemed like a completely different person from the Wei Yan-ho up until now. With the languidness and playfulness that always appeared on his face gone, he looked like a different person.
Gulp.
Divine Beggar unconsciously swallowed dry saliva.
But not everyone was tense like Divine Beggar.
“Hey, are you okay?”
Jang-il approached Wei Yan-ho nonchalantly as if nothing had happened.
“Are you okay, I said!”
‘That crazy bastard.’
Why isn’t there a single person here with their head screwed on right? They just need to act like normal people with common sense. But is that so difficult?
Now he couldn’t tell whether these bastards were wrong, or whether Divine Beggar himself, who couldn’t get along with them, was wrong.
“Hey, Wei Yan…….”
Flash.
At that moment, Wei Yan-ho opened his eyes. Then a dazzling light that seemed like it would blind them shot out from his eyes.
Even the composed Jang-il flinched.
“……Are you okay?”
Wei Yan-ho’s head slowly turned toward Jang-il. A gentle smile formed at the corners of his mouth.
Even Jang-il seemed to realize that the current Wei Yan-ho was somehow different from the Wei Yan-ho he’d known up until now, stepping back with a bewildered expression.
‘What’s different?’
It was more of a sense of incongruity than alienation.
Such an expression didn’t suit Wei Yan-ho. What should that face be called……. Together with the halo that seemed to subtly shine, it created an unknowable sense of holiness.
Didn’t it seem like he might cry out ‘I alone am honored in heaven and earth’ at any moment?
Wei Yan-ho, who had been quietly looking at Jang-il, smiled even more gently and slowly opened his mouth.
“Ah…….”
“Ah?”
“Ah…….”
“Ah?”
“I almost died.”
“…….”
Wei Yan-ho’s body fell sideways with a thud. Wei Yan-ho, who had buried his head in the ground, muttered weakly in that position.
“I really thought I was going to die. I thought it was hopeless this time! Ugh, I must be crazy. What kind of guts did I have to do such crazy stuff? People should know how to live contentedly and happily! I was crazy! I was crazy!”
Jang-il nodded with a pleased expression.
‘That’s right.’
Damn that holiness.
The bastard in front of him now was definitely Wei Yan-ho. The sense of incongruity and alienation disappeared instantly.
“You, you got kind of glossy?”
“Well, all my skin peeled off.”
“Did you really undergo metamorphosis?”
“I don’t really know either.”
Jang-il tilted his head.
“Looking at you, it seems like you did, but for something like that…….”
Jang-il, who had examined various parts of Wei Yan-ho’s face, made an expression that was hard to accept.
“For something like that, your face is the same? From what I know, when you undergo metamorphosis, people become handsome.”
“Where are you spouting such quack-like nonsense? Kkeueung.“
Wei Yan-ho struggled to get up.
He had no strength in his body at all. His legs were shaking. Although he had recovered somewhat by absorbing energy at the end, reconstructing his physical body was no ordinary task. Now he really needed to rest.
Wei Yan-ho walked unsteadily toward Divine Beggar.
“I took care of everything.”
“…….”
“Hehe.“
“…….”
How should he put it?
Divine Beggar looked at Wei Yan-ho with a very reluctant expression. Wei Yan-ho had the face of a puppy that had brought back a bone.
This reaction was, in other words…….
‘He wants to be praised?’
That seems right.
He understood the psychology to some extent, but strangely, he didn’t want to say what Wei Yan-ho wanted to hear. If he had just stayed quiet, he would have naturally praised him, but when he looked for it so blatantly, he didn’t want to do it.
‘My personality has gotten nasty too.’
Divine Beggar chuckled.
‘I should praise him a thousand times.’
He had accomplished such a feat.
He had saved the Central Plains from the brink of complete collapse, so couldn’t he give just one word of praise? He could give him a thousand gold, and within his means, he could do anything he wanted.
“Yes, you really did well…….”
Uru-ru-ru-ru-ru-reung!
In an instant, Divine Beggar’s eyes trembled.
The sound of thunder?
No.
Did an earthquake happen?
No.
This sound was the sound of the Righteous Alliance’s main building, which couldn’t withstand the continuous fierce battles and shaking, collapsing. The ten-story pavilion collapsed all at once like a sand castle hit by fierce waves.
The sound of lumber getting tangled and creaking, the sound of things falling to the ground, and even the screams of those watching……. Countless sounds mixed together, creating pandemonium.
Kwa-reung! Kwa-reung!
Soon dust clouds rose over the completely collapsed pavilion.
“…….”
Divine Beggar, who had quietly watched the collapsed main building, said to Wei Yan-ho with a pleased expression.
“……You did reaaally～well.”
Really weeeell.
You damn bastard.
