Chronicles of the Lazy Sovereign Novel - Chapter 455

C455: The lazy does a good deed (5)

“I don’t know.”

“…Huh?”

Wei Jeonghan looked at Wei Yanho with a stunned expression.

“You don’t know?”

“No.”

Wei Yanho’s response was, as always, nonchalant.

“Not ‘yes’ or ‘no’, but you don’t know?”

“Yes, I’m not sure.”

Wei Yanho lightly shook the secret manual before placing it on the table.

“I didn’t find anything particularly remarkable, so I should say no… but there are ambiguous aspects.”

“Explain it more clearly. Ambiguous in what sense?”

“There are many parts that I can’t decipher. And I can’t understand how the qi would flow if someone practiced the techniques described here. I would only know by practicing them myself. Do you want me to try?”

“Don’t even dream about it!”

Wei Jeonghan waved his hands frantically. If the manual was really the cause of all this chaos, Wei Yanho would end up like the others who suffered convulsions from practicing it.

‘That would be hell.’

He didn’t dare imagine Wei Yanho, already unpredictable, losing control completely. The mere thought terrified him.

He would even beat his own father without a second thought.

“You especially shouldn’t practice it!”

“…Is that worrying about me?”

“O-of course.”

Wei Yanho blushed slightly at the unusual gesture of paternal affection.

“But why does it give me so much unease?”

Ignoring the comment, Wei Jeonghan changed the subject.

“What exactly does it mean that you can’t decipher it?”

“Literally that.”

Wei Yanho added, as if the explanation wasn’t enough:

“The first time I saw it, I thought it was fake. A convincing imitation.”

“Yes, you said that.”

“But now I see things differently.”

“How?”

“That maybe it’s not a convincing imitation, but a useless original.”

Wei Jeonghan tilted his head in confusion.

What the hell did that mean?

“Please explain yourself clearly.”

“Uff.”

Wei Yanho sighed deeply. It was difficult to explain.

“Basically, it’s true that this manual is quite useless.”

“Wait!”

Tang Yongmin abruptly raised his hand.

“Yes, you have permission to speak.”

“Useless?! Did you just say that the Sword Emperor’s Treasure is useless?”

“Yes.”

Wei Yanho’s natural response made Tang Yongmin’s eyes widen.

“But you sold it!”

“There seems to be a misunderstanding. I sold it as the Sword Emperor’s Treasure, not as an extraordinarily valuable manual.”

“…….”

Tang Yongmin asked, astonished:

“You mean you sold it knowing it was worthless?”

“If someone was willing to pay for it, wouldn’t it be stranger not to sell it?”

“What a scoundrel!”

“Hehe, thanks for the compliment.”

Tang Yongmin let out a resigned sigh.

This guy was capable of selling even the water from the Yangtze River.

“Continue.”

While Tang Yongmin mentally calculated the lost money, Wei Jeonghan urged Wei Yanho to continue.

“It’s definitely useless… well, maybe I’m not so sure. In any case, it doesn’t seem to be of much use. But I don’t think it’s fake.”

“So it’s authentic?”

“Authentic in what sense?”

“Huh?”

Wei Jeonghan frowned.

What kind of riddle was this at such a critical moment?

“If you ask me if this manual contains the genuine techniques of the Sword Emperor, I would say no. But… it was definitely created by someone of his level.”

“Of his level? But not by himself?”

“That’s also ambiguous, but probably not. He used to say that transmitting martial techniques through manuals was like a blind man touching the tail of a qilin.”

“Ah, yes?”

Wei Yanho nodded to himself.

No matter how he thought about it, there was no reason for Baek Muhan to create such a strange manual. He had sealed his legacy in his own dantian, not in a book.

It didn’t make sense for him to leave an incomplete manual. Unless it was a bad joke.

“The problem is that the ideas contained here are not ordinary. I perceive a deep understanding, but I can’t grasp it. It’s not the work of just any con artist. Probably, my level is simply too low to understand it.”

“…I don’t understand it at all. So, who the hell created it?”

“That’s just what I don’t know.”

“Could it be the Demon Cult?”

“I doubt it.”

“You doubt it? If it’s not the Demon Cult, who else could create something like this?”

“It’s hard to explain, but it’s almost certain it’s not them.”

“Mmmm…”

Wei Jeonghan looked at Wei Yanho skeptically. But even Wei Yanho was in a predicament.

‘How do I explain that I feel the trace of my master here?’

Saying it would only complicate things.

He was sure that Baek Muhan hadn’t created it. But it was also true that he perceived his essence in the manual.

The most likely explanation?

‘Someone inherited my master’s techniques.’

And there was only one possible candidate:

‘The Great Family of the Infinity Sword.’

The much-mentioned Great Family of the Infinity Sword. No one else could have created this manual.

Since he entered the martial world, Wei Yanho noticed that his master’s techniques differed completely from the conventional ones. They were on another level in interpretation and application.

It wasn’t a matter of superiority, but of a radically different approach. Where others saw the qi flowing in one direction, his master insisted that it could flow in all directions.

He couldn’t be sure, but there was clearly influence from the Great Family in this manual.

‘Besides, such a prosperous place wouldn’t disappear just because my master died.’

Baek Muhan had mixed feelings towards his family: pride in his roots, but resentment for their rejection. Even so, he wanted his techniques to endure through them.

Surely he had transmitted something to them in life. After all, his own techniques were based on those of the family. It wouldn’t be strange to find similarities.

The problem was…

“Why would they have created it?”

“Huh?”

“Whether it’s authentic or fake, one thing is certain: that supposed Sword Emperor’s tomb is fake.”

“Fake?”

“Yes. Because my master’s real tomb wasn’t there.”

Wei Yanho knew this because he himself had entered Baek Muhan’s real tomb. His master would never have built something so ostentatious, and if his family had done it, they wouldn’t have kept it a secret.

The tomb of the greatest martial artist in history would have been an imposing monument.

“There are two possibilities: someone created this manual and another built the fake tomb to store it. Or… the same person did both.”

“Why?”

“To give it credibility.”

Jangil’s and Wei Jeonghan’s expressions hardened.

“The ending was suspicious.”

At Jangil’s comment, Wei Jeonghan looked at him.

“Thanks to this guy getting the manual and distributing it, the chaos dissipated. But what if I hadn’t shown up? The martial artists would have fought to the death for it.”

“Mmm.”

“And in the end, an exceptional master would have obtained it. That was their goal. In fact, except for the quick resolution, they achieved what they wanted.”

Their bad luck was that Wei Yanho was the one who got it.

A normal martial artist wouldn’t share a secret manual, not even with family. He would study it thoroughly before passing it on to others.

But Wei Yanho skimmed through it and sold it. To half the world.

That’s where their plan went awry.

“Yanho.”

Wei Jeonghan asked in a grave voice:

“One thing. Do you think this manual could be the cause of everything?”

“Mmm…”

After a moment of reflection, Wei Yanho nodded.

“Yes. It’s possible.”

“Possible?”

“Yes. There are parts that I simply don’t understand. They could only be understood by practicing them. That suggests that the creator designed them that way on purpose. Someone of a level that I can’t even imagine.”

“You think he spread it to sow chaos?”

“No.”

Wei Yanho was emphatic.

“Definitely not.”

“…Why? According to your logic, the creator knew what it would cause.”

“No, it’s not that. I simply don’t think he wanted to cause chaos.”

“Why not?”

“I already said it. Whoever did this is incredibly powerful. If you put ten like him together, they could face my master.”

“…Doesn’t that make him weak?”

“Just so you know…”

Wei Yanho put on an exasperated expression.

“If my master were alive, all the great masters of the martial world together couldn’t defeat him. Not even if there were a hundred like me.”

“…”

Wei Jeonghan was stunned.

A hundred Wei Yanhos.

With that they could challenge the Demon Cult. Although Wei Yanho lost against the Heavenly Demon, that was one of the most powerful in the cult. There couldn’t be a hundred like him.

‘Does he mean that he could play with the Demon Cult as if it were nothing?’

Was that humanly possible?

But Wei Yanho’s conviction forced him to believe it…

“For someone like that, chaos is unnecessary. With a gesture he could cause ten times more confusion. Unifying the martial world would be a simple morning exercise.”

“E-em…”

It was difficult to process the existence of such enormous beings. Wei Jeonghan didn’t know how to interpret the situation.

“In short: whoever created this is incredibly strong. He could reorganize the martial world in an instant. If he did it a long time ago, maybe he’s already dead. But if he’s still alive…”

Wei Yanho swallowed, unusually serious, before continuing:

“The Demon Cult would be the least of our problems.”

It was the most terrifying statement of all.