Episode 218
Jin So-eun stared blankly at the ship splitting in two like a broken toy, sinking beneath the waves, and at the water bandits tumbling off, screaming in panic.
“That ship earlier… it was destroyed the same way…”
She quickly turned to Son Dae-su beside her and asked urgently, “I-is that even possible by human strength?! Who on earth is that person?!”
Son Dae-su, who had been watching with his mouth agape for the umpteenth time, suddenly snapped back to reality, cleared his throat, and replied, “Hmm, hmm… Even the elders don’t know much. But seeing how easily Lord In does it, it seems like something a human could do. As for his identity, you’ll have to hear it directly. It wouldn’t be proper for me to say.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you, sir.”
Meanwhile, Sun Woo-jin had just split another ship in two and was now flying toward the last vessel where Jin Ga-in was being held captive.
It seemed he was saving the best for last, having dealt with the others first.
Jin Gye-gun swallowed hard as he watched that inhuman display of martial power.
By appearance alone, the man looked younger than himself, yet how could someone so young possess such overwhelming strength? Even seeing it with his own eyes, it was hard to believe.
All the uneasy feelings Jin Gye-gun had harbored toward him vanished in an instant.
Jealousy and humiliation only arise when feelings are somewhat equal, after all.
To face someone with such power—no matter how arrogant—Jin Gye-gun, a true martial artist, could only feel fear and awe.
At that moment, Sun Woo-jin lightly landed on the deck of the ship where Jin Ga-in was tightly bound.
His movements were feather-light, as if he weighed nothing.
Slash!
The water bandits on deck froze in place.
A reaper who could split ships with a sword had come aboard their vessel.
As Sun Woo-jin glanced around, they screamed in terror and immediately began jumping into the river.
“Ahhh! Please spare me!”
“Mercy, Dragon King! Forgive us!”
“We’re sorry! We’re sorry!”
Splash! Splash! Splash!
Moments later, only Sun Woo-jin and the tightly bound Jin Ga-in remained on deck.
Sun Woo-jin scanned the cabin with his divine sight but found no one inside.
Muk-rang chuckled dryly.
But even Sun Woo-jin, in his second life, had never encountered anything like this.
He let out a wry smile and quickly freed Jin Ga-in before heading back to the Jin estate’s ship.
“Ga-in! Are you alright?”
“Is everything okay?”
Jin So-eun, who had been unable to cultivate her energy in her worry, rushed over to her.
Jin Gye-gun, watching Sun Woo-jin’s every move, sidled up and quietly asked after her as well.
Jin Ga-in smiled brightly in response.
“I’m fine. Nothing happened, so please don’t worry, brother. This gentleman, Lord In, saved me.”
As she spoke, she cast a heated glance at Sun Woo-jin.
There was so much meaning packed into that look.
In that moment, she realized—this was truly her destiny.
A handsome nobleman in white robes rescuing her from danger had been her long-held dream.
And now, it had actually come true.
Unmatched martial power, a handsome face, pure white robes…
It was almost unbelievable how perfectly he fit the image she had always dreamed of.
The name of Gyo Gwa-ryong, who had abandoned her and fled earlier, had already vanished from her mind.
She tried to speak to Sun Woo-jin in a coquettish voice.
“Eun-gong, my name is Jin Ga-in…”
But Sun Woo-jin didn’t even pay her any attention.
Instead, he turned to Jin So-eun.
“Your sister is safe now, so don’t worry and begin your cultivation, Jin So-jeo. We must head straight to the Jin estate, and time will be tight if you want to finish your cultivation before we arrive.”
At his words, Jin So-eun snapped back to reality and nodded resolutely.
“Ah, yes! Understood, Lord! I will never forget this kindness!”
Though receiving the elixir without reason was certainly a debt, she thought there was no time to fuss over such things when the Jin estate was in danger.
She had personally experienced the power of warriors who had reached the pinnacle of martial arts.
So she had to do everything she could to raise her strength before the battle began.
Sun Woo-jin smiled faintly at her, then looked over at Son Dae-su, who was sipping from a small bottle of liquor.
Suddenly startled, Son Dae-su said, “Ah! You asked me to guard, right? Understood, Lord In. Leave it to me.”
Jin So-eun and Son Dae-su soon found a secluded corner of the ship.
Meanwhile, Jin Ga-in, who had been sulking after being ignored, quietly approached Sun Woo-jin again, brushing her hair back softly as she spoke.
It was a confident gesture that had always earned her favor with men.
“So you really are Lord In? I’m sorry, my lord. I just haven’t heard of any young, handsome master named In before.”
Though she apologized for not knowing who he was, it was really a request for his name.
But Sun Woo-jin glanced at her coldly and replied, “You’ll find out soon enough.”
Then he turned to Jin Gye-gun.
“As I said before, time is short, Lord Jin. Get the ship moving toward the Jin estate as quickly as possible.”
Jin Gye-gun, who had been nervously watching Sun Woo-jin, jumped in surprise.
“Y-yes?! Ah, understood!”
He gathered the scattered crew and began moving the ship.
Sun Woo-jin watched them with cold eyes.
Behind him, Jin Ga-in bit her lip and glared at him.
After she had come so close, to be treated like this—it was the first time someone with her strong background and stunning beauty had ever been so coldly dismissed.
Her pride was deeply wounded.
Suddenly, she spotted Gyo Gwa-ryong’s face among the survivors—the one who had abandoned her and fled.
She thought, Should I go show him how well I’m doing? Maybe make him jealous?
But she quickly abandoned the idea.
She no longer wanted to speak to someone like Gyo Gwa-ryong, and besides, he probably wouldn’t be jealous.
He might even look down on her as a frivolous woman.
That’s absolutely out of the question.
After a moment of biting her lip and lost in thought, Jin Ga-in recalled how Sun Woo-jin had spoken gently to Jin So-eun earlier.
She approached him again and said, “Please don’t be too kind to So-eun, Lord.”
Sun Woo-jin frowned, as if puzzled, and looked at her.
Jin Ga-in continued with a pitying expression.
“She’s spent almost fifteen years living in the mountains. She doesn’t know how to dress up or speak properly. Maybe she doesn’t even realize she’s a woman. I feel sorry for her, so I treat her well…”
Lowering her voice as if sharing a secret, she added, “Actually, she’s my half-sibling. Not a direct descendant. So she’s not very important in the family. When someone treats her well, she tends to mistake it for affection. So please be careful when dealing with her…”
Sun Woo-jin let out a dry chuckle and said, “So-jeo.”
Jin Ga-in’s face brightened at the sound of him finally speaking to her.
“Yes?”
But what came next was far from comforting.
He asked coldly, “I’ve heard you’re also a daughter of the Jin estate?”
“Yes! That’s right! I’m a direct descendant of the Jin estate…!”
Sun Woo-jin cut her off sharply.
“If the Jin estate is truly such a powerful force, why aren’t you worried about the possibility of an attack?”
“…What?”
Caught off guard, Jin Ga-in blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
“Ah, well, our Jin estate is the strongest in Gwangju. Even if attacked by those people, nothing serious would happen…”
“Nothing serious? Like how you were captured by them earlier?”
“…”
Jin Ga-in turned pale, speechless.
She had never been interrogated like this before.
Sun Woo-jin’s cold gaze was so harsh it almost brought tears to her eyes.
But he didn’t stop.
“And if the Jin estate is really that great, why were you just standing there like that?”
“What? I wasn’t…”
“You weren’t even resisting, yet you let the water bandits capture you quietly. Aren’t you ashamed as a martial artist? I even doubted if you were truly a daughter of the Jin estate.”
“Ah, well…”
Pale and on the verge of tears, Jin Ga-in was dealt one final blow.
“If you truly want to raise yourself, it’s better to polish your own skills than to rely on your family’s reputation or badmouth others. Right now, you look… rather pathetic.”
With that, Sun Woo-jin turned coldly and walked toward the ship’s railing.
He didn’t care that he could feel Jin Ga-in breaking down behind him.
At that moment, Son Yi-rang, granddaughter of the curious and lively Son Dae-su, approached with sparkling eyes and asked eagerly.
“Why is Lord In only kind to Sister Jin over there? Does he have a thing for women with short hair?”
Sun Woo-jin chuckled softly at that and answered loud enough for Jin Ga-in to hear.
“Among everyone on this ship, Jin So-jeo was the only one you could call a true warrior. The children of the Mu family lack the spirit of a warrior—why should I show them any respect?”
As he said that, Sun Woo-jin glanced coldly at Jin Ga-in, who was quietly shedding tears behind him, then turned and walked away.
Inside his mind, Muk-rang’s voice chimed in with a teasing tone.
—Oh ho, a cold man. Quite charming. I wish I’d said something like that when I was alive. Makes me a bit envious.
Sun Woo-jin smirked and replied silently.
‘It seems the elder was kind to all women.’
Muk-rang seemed momentarily taken aback by that, then sighed.
—Well, to be precise, he couldn’t really talk to any woman. If he said even a single word to another woman, our lady’s wrath would fall on him for days. Honestly, that was scarier than fighting a demon.
Sun Woo-jin chuckled quietly at that.
The thought of the greatest swordmaster of all time being henpecked by his wife was just too funny.
At the same time, he could easily imagine Muk-rang’s description fitting the man he knew—terrifying to enemies, but gentle to those close to him.
Muk-rang then asked again.
—By the way, why did he go so far instead of just ignoring that girl?
Sun Woo-jin smiled bitterly and answered.
‘When I looked at her, I thought of my younger sister, Yeon-ha.’
—Ah, I see. That explains a lot.
With that, Sun Woo-jin shifted his thoughts back to Baek Gyo-bang.
Piecing together information from the Hapsan faction and the Hao clan, it seemed likely that most of Baek Gyo-bang’s forces were pirates from the South Sea.
Because of that, Sun Woo-jin could also guess who was behind Baek Gyo-bang’s ship, even though their identity remained unknown.
Aside from Manhak Soong of the South Sea Demon Realm and Jin Tae-do of the South Sea Demon Sword, the strongest and most ruthless pirate in the South Sea had suddenly disappeared a few years ago for unknown reasons.
That was Yoon Sak, the Blood Sea Demon Sword, one of the infamous South Sea Three Demons.
Muk-rang suddenly asked.
—Wasn’t that guy said to be a half-breed of Han and Japanese? So he mastered both Han internal energy techniques and Japanese demon arts?
‘Yes, that’s what I heard.’
—Hmm, be careful. My elder brother once nearly died facing a master of Japanese demon arts when he was young. If he’s reached the pinnacle with those arts, his skills could be far more threatening than other top-tier masters. He might even be ranked among the world’s thirty-six greatest warriors.
‘Understood. I’ll keep that in mind.’
Though Muk-rang warned him, Sun Woo-jin already suspected Baek Gyo-bang wouldn’t be as easy to handle as the Hapsan faction.
Just the presence of Yoon Sak, one of the South Sea Three Demons, was a serious threat.
And if his martial prowess was truly at the level Muk-rang suggested, this time Sun Woo-jin himself might be in danger.
‘They plan to kidnap the Jin family’s children as hostages, so they probably haven’t made their move yet. I’ll have to secretly contact the Jin family and then launch a pincer attack.’
Sun Woo-jin glanced at Jin Gye-gun, who was still nervously leading the late-stage disciples and steering the ship.
If he wanted to reach the Jin family, Jin Gye-gun would have to play a role.
But as he thought that, Sun Woo-jin frowned.
‘Still… I don’t trust him.’
Suddenly, he found himself missing Seol Poong, who had parted ways earlier and was moving elsewhere.
Even Jeung Chil, too.