Mount Tianzi.
Swoosh! Pak!
With the speed of lightning, something flew at a very high speed.
The thing which flew threw was none other than a white-haired man wearing white clothes.
The warrior, who barely managed to catch the end of a branch, closed his eyes tightly and hung onto the cliff.
“Ah-chahcha!”
It was something he shouldn’t have seen, something he shouldn’t have saved, but as it was a baby, he couldn’t turn a blind eye.
The old man in white ended up acting.
“Kya!”
When he saw the child burst into laughter, he smiled.
“You seem to be quite strong.”
The child fell off the Thousand Cliffs and was laughing.
The child was destined to die, but did he realize that he was saved?
The man shook his head.
‘I violated the Heavenly Rule.’
It was the first time in his life that this happened.
And his curiosity caused anger to rise within him.
Perhaps the child was someone the parents couldn’t handle, and such an act was done, or maybe the feeble child was blown away by the wind.
But seeing that small child smile, the old man didn’t regret saving it.
‘If he’s kept alive, he will have talent which will push the world into fear. The heavens must have claimed him, for him to be thrown down a cliff as soon as he was born.’
“Sigh.”
The man let out a deep sigh.
Then, suddenly, he felt terrible pain.
Crack!
“Ack?!”
He was shocked to see his index finger bend backwards.
The man looked at the broken finger.
The culprit was none other than the child he was holding.
‘No way…’
It was truly shocking.
For a newborn child to break a finger.
It was no exaggeration to say that the power in the child was unprecedented.
‘Huh…’
A small vein on the hand of the baby was bulging lightly.
Was it said that the Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree?
It seemed that there was no doubt as to why he ended up breaking the Heavenly Rule because of this child.
‘This is unexpected.’
If the child grows up like this, he will grow with formidable talent.
If so, one would never know what would happen at a later time.
‘What should I do now?’
Maybe that was why his masters always told him not to violate morals or the rules.
He could once again throw the child off the cliff from where he was to save the unknown future.
But could he kill an innocent child?
The man, who contemplated for a long time while looking at the child’s face, came to a decision.
‘Yes. We’ll change you into a normal child.’
It was the only way to save the child.
A deep valley forest in Guilin, Guangxi province.
A shabby, thatched house that no one could visit.
There was a sign posted in front of the thatched house’s yard.
[Do not go within ten li (1 li is 500 meters) of this place of exile.]
A man in his early thirties, wearing a yellow burlap coat, was sitting on the ground as he looked at the baby in the sack with a blank expression.
‘Eight months of exile…’
He thought he was getting used to this life.
As he was trying to find peace of mind, something which happened in dreams turned out.
No, the dream turned into reality.
Yu Yeop-kyung, who was lying on the floor and fell asleep, had a dream.
[Huhuhuhu.]
A certain warrior appeared in front of him with a five-colored cloud.
It was so fantastic that he didn’t even realize that he rolled on the ground.
He considered that warrior in white to be God or a mountain god who protected the forest.
[Look here. Hakjeong Yu]
Ah, he definitely had to be a mountain god.
Hakjeong was the 8th ranked teacher he was given while he served in the Royal family’s Imperial Academy.
But he got caught up in an outrageous thing and was exiled.
‘The only one who can know that is a mountain god, please guide me.’
He did say that, but in reality, he was just hoping to be released from exile and head back to the Imperial Academy.
However, the words of the white warrior were completely unexpected.
[You should raise this baby.]
He handed him the child first.
‘… huh?’
Absurd.
To raise a child, as a man in exile at that.
‘Are you kidding me?’
[I mean it.]
‘… I cannot accept this.’
He pushed the child back.
Right, he should do that.
Mountain god! What kind of mountain god goes around giving others babies to raise?
A little disappointed, he pushed the baby back to the man and said.
[If you raise this child with care, good things will happen to your family one day.]
‘Is that really true?’
[I look at the sky, you don’t have to doubt.]
It was dubious, but it wasn’t like he hated those nice words.
With that, Yu Yeop-kyung accepted the child.
He looked at the child. It was his first time seeing such a pretty child.
He thought that the moment he opened the cloth covering the child.
‘Your handsomeness is second to none.’
However, there was something unusual about the child’s hands and feet.
They looked like rings made of iron, and they looked heavy because they were thick.
‘Elder, what is this?’
Yu Yeop-kyung asked.
With a serious face, the man said.
[Yes, yes. I forgot about that. I only have one thing to ask of you. This child is destined to become strong even if he stays still.]
‘… what is that supposed to mean?’
[That, if you want to raise him as an ordinary child, never take off those rings, they are things which need to stay on him. They won’t solve the issue, but they will give you some time. And if the child grows and continues to become stronger, increase their strength by turning them.]
When he thought about it, the number one was engraved around the turned rings.
Yu Yeop-kyung looked at the rings and raised his head.
‘To turn these…’
Suddenly the five-colored cloud holder, the white warrior, disappeared.
After waking up, Yu Yeop-kyung thought that it was a simple dream, but in front of him was the baby in the sack with metal turned rings on his limbs.
“It wasn’t enough to be exiled. Now I’m a nanny… ah, ah, haha.”
All that came out was a sigh.
Seventeen years have passed since then.
Yu Yeop-kyung, who was drinking his tea while sitting still, now had a face full of wrinkles, as if he had been hit with winds and waves for years, and his short beard is slightly grey and long.
The thatched house, which was difficult to live in, had grown considerably, and now it was one of three houses.
One was being used as a warehouse.
While drinking tea, Yu Yeop-kyung looked at the 17-year-old boy who was chopping firewood in the yard.
“Mumu-yah. What did this father tell you?”
“Ah. Father.”
The boy turned his head.
The boy’s appearance, with his long hair loose, shone.
White and fair skin, a straight nose, and slightly languid eyes.
If he had been in the capital, it would be a face that would have snatched the hearts of quite a few women.
The boy scratched the back of his head.
“I was asked to stay dignified.”
“Then what should you do?”
“I should use an axe.”
The boy, no, his adopted son Mumu, didn’t use the axe, which was in good condition, instead he was cutting firewood with his bare hands.
At that, very easily.
Thud!
While drinking tea, Yu Yeop-kyung fell into serious concern.
Just what did that man in white give him?