Chronicles of the Lazy Sovereign Novel - Chapter 503

Chapter 503 – The Lazy Man Screams (3)

Jangil’s body froze like a statue.

‘Older brother’?

Did he just say “older brother”?

Older brother?

No.

It can’t be.

As far as Jangil knew, there was only one person in the world whom Wei Yanho called “older brother.”

Wei Sanho.

Only him.

His close friend and Wei Yanho’s older brother.

Wei Sanho, the Demon-Expelling Sword, the future hope of the martial world.

But…

“Older brother…?”

It can’t be.

There’s no way that guy is Wei Sanho.

Jangil’s face twisted grotesquely.

‘Damn it.’

He denies it. He denies it again and again.

He repeatedly denies the possibility that the man dressed in black, emanating a demonic aura, could be Wei Sanho.

But his eyes didn’t deceive him.

Once the thought that it was Wei Sanho arose, he had certainty. He could recognize him even without seeing his face.

He was a martial artist.

It wasn’t difficult to distinguish a person just by their bone structure. Given his experience in the Beggar Sect, where handling information was crucial, the ability to identify someone with just a glance was essential.

His eyes were telling him.

Who that person really was.

“No!”

Jangil shouted.

Wei Sanho, who had been captured by the Demon Cult, had returned. Under other circumstances, it might have been cause for joy.

But Jangil shouted in despair.

Because it was too obvious.

The demonic aura flowing from that man’s body, and the actions he was carrying out, made it too clear for whom he was acting.

“…Sanho?”

Wei Jeonghan’s voice trembled as he spoke.

“Sanho…? Is that you, Sanho?”

The man in black turned his head and looked at Wei Jeonghan. Then, slowly, he raised his hand and removed the mask that covered his face.

Sliding smoothly.

His hair fell down.

The carefully tied ponytail came undone, leaving his hair loose and messy.

‘Mokwu.’

Wei Jeonghan couldn’t help but remember a man upon seeing that image.

A man who used to dress in black.

A man who always emanated a sinister aura.

And a man who was always alone.

He now understood.

Why he had been repeatedly dreaming about Jeok Mokwu recently, and why those dreams had ceased abruptly, as if they were a lie, right after Wei Sanho was captured.

They looked alike.

Too much.

Without realizing it, Wei Sanho’s appearance had become identical to Jeok Mokwu’s. So much so that even Wei Jeonghan might confuse them if he didn’t look at them carefully.

“Sa… Sanho.”

“Father.”

Wei Sanho bowed respectfully.

“I hope you have been well.”

“…Why are you doing this?”

Wei Jeonghan murmured as if he were beside himself.

“Why?”

Wei Sanho looked at him silently with serene eyes before speaking.

“Given the circumstances, I beg you understand that I have not been able to pay my respects as due.”

“……”

Wei Jeonghan couldn’t continue speaking.

He was Wei Sanho.

That really was Wei Sanho. He was no different from the Wei Sanho before being captured by the Demon Cult, it was simply him.

That certainty terrified Wei Jeonghan.

If that man was clearly Wei Sanho, why was he emanating a demonic aura? And what did that mean by “rescuing the Heavenly Flowing Sword”?

And besides…

‘How far is this distance?’

Far. Too far.

The distance between where he was and the eaves where that man was felt unbearably large.

“Patriarch Wei! The veil! Deploy the veil!”

“…Ah!”

Wei Jeonghan was startled and looked around.

Jegal Yeom was deploying a veil around him, covered in cold sweat. It was to prevent the martial artists around them from being able to hear.

He didn’t know what was happening, but even a child would understand that it wasn’t good for others to hear this. Wei Jeonghan deployed a wide veil.

The man in black.

No, Wei Sanho watched the scene in silence before directing his gaze towards Wei Yanho.

Wei Yanho’s flaming eyes and Wei Sanho’s ice-cold eyes.

Those two gazes met in the air.

“Why are you so angry?”

“What the hell are you doing? What is that black clothing?”

Wei Sanho, who had thrown back his cloak, gave a slight smile.

“It’s not to my liking, but they didn’t have white robes there. So I had to wear this.”

“It seems you still have the spirit to joke.”

“Of course. I am completely in my right mind. So that there is no doubt, let me clarify that I am not under any brainwashing, nor am I acting like this because I have given in to threats.”

“Then?”

Wei Yanho’s voice was almost a heart-wrenching scream.

“Then it means you’re there of your own free will? That you’re willing to fight even raising your sword?”

“Of course.”

Wei Yanho took a deep breath.

After holding his breath, he shouted with all his might.

“That’s the last thing you should say!”

Wei Yanho’s whole body was trembling.

“How can you say that without being crazy? Are you going to point your sword against us?”

“If necessary.”

Unlike Wei Yanho’s voice, which seemed about to explode, Wei Sanho’s voice was serene.

It wasn’t cold or sharp. It was a voice as gentle as if he were calming a capricious younger brother.

“Why?”

Wei Sanho replied with an expression of discomfort.

“What should I say? Wow, this is a tricky problem. This isn’t the right place to explain everything. Don’t you think?”

“Don’t talk to me like you’re consoling me! Damn it.”

“I’m sorry that it sounded like that to you.”

Wei Yanho couldn’t accept this situation.

He was Wei Sanho. His older brother.

The brother who always looked at him with a kind expression. The brother who, more than his father or mother, had given him blind faith.

In his childhood, Wei Sanho had been more like a father to him than his own father, whom he barely saw. And now, Wei Sanho was on the other side, pointing his sword at him.

With a genuine intention to kill.

How was he supposed to understand this situation?

“What did they do to you there?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“Yes. I just learned the truth.”

Wei Sanho’s voice remained gentle.

But Wei Yanho’s voice was getting more and more intense.

“Truth? What nonsense are you saying!”

While Wei Yanho’s emotions were stirred up, Wei Sanho didn’t show the slightest disturbance from the beginning. It seemed that meeting with his parents and brother didn’t provoke any emotion in him.

“Yanho.”

The way Wei Sanho called Wei Yanho hadn’t changed from before.

A voice full of affection, as if calling an immature younger brother. The dissonance that voice conveyed made Wei Yanho tremble.

“The truth can sometimes be terrifying. The world in which I lived was distorted in an instant. Sometimes it’s better not to know.”

Wei Sanho shook his head.

“I only saw the truth. And I knew what I had to do. So there’s no need to be angry. Everything has simply returned to its place.”

“Return to its place? Joining the Demon Cult is returning to its place? Are you serious?”

“You know better than anyone if I’m serious or not.”

“Enough.”

Wei Yanho raised his sword.

“It doesn’t matter what they’ve done to you. If you don’t understand with words, I’ll beat some sense into you.”

Wei Sanho shook his head.

“Don’t do it. I don’t want to kill you.”

“…Kill me? Me?”

It was an absurd statement.

Who was Wei Yanho? How could he say that after witnessing how he had defeated the Heavenly Flowing Sword?

“If our paths diverge, if in the end we must face each other… the day will come when I have to kill you with my own hands. But today is not that day. I still can’t kill you. So for today, this is all.”

Wei Jeonghan shouted.

“Sanho, that sword…”

“Yes.”

Wei Sanho raised the sword he carried on his waist.

“It’s my father’s sword.”

“……”

Wei Jeonghan clenched his fists.

Father.

Until now, only he had been the rightful owner of that title. But now Wei Sanho was calling someone else father.

“Sanho.”

“No, father. Don’t try to persuade me.”

Wei Sanho gave a bitter smile.

“I still deeply feel the debt of gratitude for raising me. I fully understand the great risks you took to raise me and the immense pain you suffered. I know it’s a debt that I couldn’t repay even if I were reborn a hundred times.”

Wei Sanho bowed deeply once more.

“I will never forget, even in death, the kindness of welcoming a cursed descendant and raising me as your own son. If I am reborn in another life, I will make up for it. But in this life, it seems that it will not be possible.”

Wei Jeonghan could understand it.

Wei Sanho was completely lucid. He wasn’t possessed by the demonic aura, nor under the control of the Demon Cult’s brainwashing. He was exactly the same Wei Sanho that he had last seen.

And yet, he was on the other side.

Of his own free will.

By his own choice.

‘How can it be…?’

Was it impossible to defy fate?

He had dedicated his whole life to giving Wei Sanho a normal life. And in the end, had he found his own path in this way?

This was too cruel.

“What are you planning to do!”

Wei Jeonghan shouted.

“Mokwu is dead! Dead! What will you change by avenging a dead man! And who killed Mokwu was…!”

“I know.”

Wei Sanho’s cold voice interrupted Wei Jeonghan.

“I know that nothing will change, that there is no clear target for my sword, and that all of this is meaningless… I know everything. I know it better than you, father.”

His voice rose.

The voice of Wei Sanho, which until now had not shown the slightest disturbance, began to rise gradually.

“I know. I know, but even so I can’t let it pass. How could I allow this world full of hypocrisy, which turned my father into a demon and has enjoyed peace at the cost of his sacrifice, to continue like this!”

A demonic aura as black as pitch began to flow from Wei Sanho’s body.

“…Damn it.”

A groan escaped from Cheok Soogwang’s lips.

That image was exactly…

‘The Great Demon King.’

Yes, he remembered.

Cheok Soogwang, who like a flaming boar charged at any follower of the Demon Cult, had fled on all fours after glimpsing that entity from afar only once.

That overwhelming force and presence that shattered even the will to resist.

It wasn’t perfect yet. But now, the image of Wei Sanho clearly overlapped with that of the Great Demon King.

‘What the hell is going on?’

At that moment, Wei Yanho stepped forward.

“Are you done talking nonsense?”

Wei Yanho’s sword rose again, pointing towards Wei Sanho.

“Yes, keep talking. You’ll be able to do it even when you’re lying in a bed.”

“Yanho.”

Wei Sanho shook his head.

“Don’t push yourself. I don’t want to hurt you. At least not yet.”

“Don’t worry.”

In that instant, Wei Yanho jumped towards the eaves where Wei Sanho was.

“There will be no need for you to do it!”

A blinding glow sprang from Wei Yanho’s sword. Dazzling balls of light, as if they were going to cover the entire world, fell like meteors towards Wei Sanho.

A supreme attack that not even the Heavenly Flowing Sword would dare to face.

But Wei Sanho’s eyes, which received those balls of light, remained completely serene.

“What unnecessary effort.”

Ssshh.

A sword as black as darkness came out of its sheath.

The sound of the sword being drawn sounded like someone’s scream.

Wei Sanho wielded his sword slowly.

And then…

Aaaaaaaah!

With a screech that tore at the ears, a storm of black demonic aura swirled violently.

Light and darkness.

The sword waves emanated by the two brothers intertwined in the air.