The farmhouse was very shabby.
It was located far from the village, so it didn’t seem like anyone would visit.
The location was very good. It looked cozy at the foot of a small mountain, and the view in front of the mountain was excellent because it was wide open. Just by sitting in the room, one could see anyone approaching early on.
But no matter how you looked at it, the farmhouse was a ruin.
Clumps of earth had crumbled from the walls built of soil, revealing the bamboo framework. The owner of the house was so lazy that he hadn’t bothered to fix it. He had barely managed to thatch the roof to prevent leaks.
The path leading to the farmhouse was also very narrow.
A narrow path, no different from a side trail, twisted and turned.
The house was far from the main road, and the poor path made it seem even farther.
Walking along the narrow path, you first encounter the outhouse.
Passing the outhouse, you come to a shabby warehouse, and only after passing the warehouse do you finally enter the yard.
The yard was overgrown with weeds.
The old man went to the well on one side of the yard.
A bucket was tied to a long rope at the well.
The old man looked around the house while drawing water from the well.
He had thought it was no different from a ruin when he saw it from a distance, but up close, it was truly a ruin.
It was suitable for a passing traveler to spend a night avoiding the dew, but it was too dilapidated to live in. If one intended to stay, it needed repairs. It seemed difficult to live in as it was.
But people clearly lived here.
It was a two room house… a farming couple slept in one room, and their son slept in the other.
Swoosh!
The old man lifted the bucket and drank the water gulp by gulp.
“Kaaah! That’s refreshing.”
The old man said cheerfully.
It wasn’t a lie. The well water was truly clear and clean. It tasted sweet, smooth, and pure. At that moment,
Clatter!
The door to the room opened and a farmer stuck his head out.
“Who are you?”
The old man smiled brightly at the farmer.
“Sorry to wake you. Were you very surprised?”
“…”
The farmer’s face, which gave no answer, was full of vigilance.
It was a place where no one visited even during the day. It was unlikely that an uninvited guest who suddenly appeared in the middle of the night would be welcome.
“You’ve worked hard.”
The old man said, looking at the farmer.
The farmer’s eyes twitched. And he became much more tense than before. His eyes even held a hint of killing intent.
The old man chuckled and said something completely out of place in the current situation.
“One of the four fell into a ditch. So what? That place is the path to survival.”
It was a strange answer to the question of who he was.
But upon hearing those words, the farmer rushed out, straightened his clothes, and prostrated himself.
A woman who seemed to be the farmer’s wife also rushed out.
She too, like the farmer, straightened her clothes and prostrated herself politely.
Both of them were martial artists.
Their steps as they crossed the threshold were very light. Their movements as they rushed out of the room were as nimble as a squirrel’s.
The farmer had been watching the old man since he walked up the narrow path.
The roof of the outhouse that the old man had passed was full of hidden weapons. The same was true for the shed.
Throwing stars, shurikens, throwing knives…
Seeing that they were set up to be fired just by pulling a rope, they were a couple of assassins skilled in the art of ninjutsu.
“The young master is in that room.”
The farmer pointed to the small room.
“You don’t ask who I am?”
“I heard the secret code, so that’s enough. That secret code, only four people know it. The Sect Master, my wife and I, and you, sir. It’s better not to know anything else.”
“Is that so?”
The old man looked at the couple with pity in his eyes.
This night, many lives were being lost.
Cha Munryang, was he dead? Cha Munryang was a strong man, but he was a step below Dongbak. The Hell Warrior Squad were those who threw their bodies to protect the Sect Master, not guards who protected him with their martial arts.
He was probably dead.
He was someone who truly did not spare his life for the Sect Master, and such a person should not die… but the world unfairly takes such people first.
The people you really want to die survive tenaciously, and the ones you want to live are quickly snatched away.
“Hoo!”
The old man sighed.
The farming couple would also die.
Did Heo Dogi not know that his fourth nephew existed? He knew. He knew and left him alone. So if he harbored rebellious thoughts, he would first rush here and cut off the roots.
The farming couple would only live if Heo Dogi did not harbor rebellious thoughts.
“Seven years ago, we came here with nothing and started living. Others ask why we live in a ruin, but a chaotic place like this is easier for us to fight in.”
“I suppose so.”
The old man nodded.
“For the past years, we have raised the young master as our own child. The Sect Master told us not to touch anything related to martial arts, so we didn’t even build up his basic physical strength.”
“You did well.”
“Please go in.”
The farmer pointed to the small room.
Clatter!
The old man opened the small door and entered the room.
In the small room, a child who was just seven years old was sleeping.
He breathed softly, and his sleeping form was very cute.
‘…Huh? He’s not a Dragon Bone?’
The old man frowned deeply.
The sleeping child’s bone structure was very ordinary. The farming couple had said they hadn’t even touched his basic physical strength, but even so, it was so ordinary that it made him tilt his head.
The Heo family were Dragon Bones.
Should he say they were born martial artists, or that they were skeletons created by heaven to become martial artists?
A talented person is often referred to as a dragon among men.
It means they are such an outstanding talent that they can be identified at once even when mixed with other people.
The people of the Heo family were like that.
Even if they only trained in third rate martial arts, they would leap to become first rate masters. Even if they didn’t train in martial arts, they could fight reasonably well with their innate bone structure. They inherited thick bones, flesh like a rock, and above all, a firm will.
The Sacred Sword Sect became the number one sect in the martial world not because of the sword art called the Illuminating Thousand Swords. It was strong because the people of the Heo family who trained in the Illuminating Thousand Swords were exceptionally outstanding martial artists.
Looking at the people of the Heo family, one would naturally feel jealous.
Hear one and know ten? The people of the Heo family were like that. They weren’t like that when it came to literature, but when it came to martial arts, if you told them one thing, they would understand ten.
There was a saying in the martial world.
If the people of the Heo family entered each sect and trained in their martial arts, in thirty years, all the sect masters of all the sects in the world would be filled with people from the Heo family.
In the martial world, the people of the Heo family were Sacred Bones.
But the sleeping child was not a Dragon Bone. He was so ordinary that it seemed like he had seen a child from the neighborhood.
If he were a Dragon Bone, his chest should be firm. Even if he hadn’t trained his physical strength at all, it should be firm just from his innate bone structure. His bones would be thick, so his build would be large. He would be tall. The proportions of his limbs would be good, so he could train in any martial art at once.
None of those features could be read from the child.
First, his bones were thin. His limbs were so thin and withered that it was like looking at a bird’s legs.
His flesh was also soft.
‘Huh?’
The old man tilted his head.
If he was a child who inherited the blood of the Sacred Sword Sect Master, he should be a Dragon Bone. He should absolutely not look like this.
Did he hide him because he looked like this?
Did he hide him because he was too weak to live in the martial world, because he would only be prey that would be easily eaten?
‘Why this child and not another…?’
The old man tilted his head again.
The Sacred Sword Sect Master had three grown children. They had all grown up and were making a name for themselves as martial artists.
If he was going to entrust a child to the Single Instant Sect Master, shouldn’t he have entrusted one of them?
But at the last moment, the secret letter placed in the old man’s hand contained a request to take care of a fourth child, a seven year old child that the old man had not even known about.
The Sacred Sword Sect Master had hidden the child and raised him.
Until he met the Sacred Sword Sect Master, the old man had no idea that the Sect Master had a fourth child. He knew every detail about the Sacred Sword Sect, down to the number of spoons in the kitchen, but he was completely ignorant of his family history.
If he was the fourth child, he was a late child.
There was a gap of almost twenty years with his third son.
If he was such a child, he would be too cute to even bite and suck, so why did he hide him so completely?
Even his own children did not know that they had a late younger brother. No one in the Sacred Sword Sect knew.
The old man was very curious about the reason why he had hidden the child and raised him.
Now that he had seen the child’s appearance, he was even more curious. No matter how weak his bone structure was, he was his own child, so what reason was there to hide him so thoroughly and raise him?
The child was lying down and sleeping.
Because he was a child who had not learned martial arts, he was innocence itself. His sleeping form looked very peaceful.
Swoosh!
The old man gathered his true energy in his hand.
He was disappointed by his appearance, but he was thinking of examining his inner bone structure with his true energy. But then,
Swoosh!
The child opened his eyes.
Even after opening his eyes, the child did not move. He just waited… quietly… quietly.
‘Oh!’
The old man was startled.
The child had woken up… because he felt the true energy. He had woken up from his sleep after feeling the true energy gathered in the old man’s hand.
‘This rascal! He’s a True Bone!’
He had not inherited the muscles. He had inherited the energy. The most necessary things for a fighter, the instinct, the reflexes, the eye for catching the moment… he had inherited these things.
Among the people of the Heo family of the Sacred Sword Sect, no one had been born with a True Bone.
The True Bone was only a legend even in the Heo family.
Many people had come and gone, but he had never heard of anyone inheriting qi.
There are many types of dragons. Blue dragons, yellow dragons, white dragons, black dragons… but even among them, there is a leader.
The True Bone is the leader dragon.
The old man finally understood why the Sacred Sword Sect Master had secretly hidden the child and raised him, and why he had entrusted the child to him.
If this child had been raised in the Sacred Sword Sect, he would have been assassinated long ago.
He had recognized the True Bone, so would Heo Dogi not recognize it? Would the people of the Heo family not know?
To think that the reason he couldn’t be raised in the Sacred Sword Sect, couldn’t be entrusted to his mother, and was raised in secret was because of the True Bone.
This child could achieve great success as soon as he learned any martial art.
Wasn’t he a child born for martial arts? It wouldn’t take long to transform him into a real dragon. If he were told to obtain the Single Instant Blade, he would obtain the strongest Single Instant Blade.
“Are you awake?”
“…Yes.”
The child answered calmly. Not like a seven year old.
“Then shouldn’t you sit up? An adult has come to visit.”
“You’re an uninvited guest.”
“You’ll have to come with me.”
“…”
The child did not answer. But his shoulders were trembling. A child is a child. No matter how much he was the child of the Sacred Sword Sect Master, he was just a little kid who didn’t want to be separated from his parents.
But the child knew that he had to go.
The child had already read the superiority of power.
The old man could kill anyone. He refused resistance. He had read the old man’s energy, his internal energy.
The child’s unchildlike behavior came from feeling the power.
This old man, he’s someone who can even beat my parents. He’s very strong. I have to listen to him.
“I’m not taking you by force. I discussed it with your parents, and we found a good path for you. Your parents are waiting outside, so say your goodbyes. You’ll only be separated for a little while.”
The last words were a lie. If Heo Dogi harbored rebellious thoughts… this farewell would probably be their last meeting in this life. If he did not harbor rebellious thoughts, the old man’s words would be true.
Swoosh!
The child stood up.
The child looked at the old man and said, “Even if I say I won’t go, you’ll take me by force, won’t you?”
“That’s right.”
“How long do I have to be gone?”
“I’m going to teach you something, and it depends on how quickly you learn. If you want to see your parents quickly, learn like your life depends on it. When you’ve learned everything, I’ll send you back without any regrets.”
“Alright.”
The little child stood up.
“Hoo!”
The old man let out a sigh.
Heo Dogi… he must not do anything. If he made the wrong judgment, the end would not be good. Because he too would not know that a True Bone had been born in this world.
(End of Chapter)