Chronicles of the Lazy Sovereign

Chapter 8: A Misguided Fate (2)

Wi Yeonho turned his head, looking for a way out.

He couldn’t understand why he was even having a conversation like this—with a ghost, no less.

“Three hundred years! Are you telling me three hundred years have passed?! Then that means, in all that time, not a single person has come to find me?! Even though I so kindly arranged a way for them to reach me?!”

“……”

Wi Yeonho cautiously stepped backward.

Judging by what he heard, it didn’t sound like this person was very well-liked even while alive.

“Well then, I’ll be going now.”

“Stop right there!”

A stern voice pulled Wi Yeonho back.

“I told you, I’m not learning anything.”

“There’s no one else but you!”

“I’m really fine, though.”

“If you just walk away, I’ll end up fading away after aimlessly spending the rest of my time like this! No one has come in three hundred years—if not you, then who else would ever come?”

He had a point.

But it had nothing to do with Wi Yeonho.

And if a ghost vanished from the world, wouldn’t that actually be a good thing for everyone?

That’s what he wanted to say, but saying it in front of the person concerned felt far too cruel.

Wasn’t he Wi Yeonho, the polite and kind one?

“Then if I happen to meet that descendant of the Baek Clan, I’ll tell them to come here.”

“…Would you really find them?”

“Maybe I’ll bump into them while living my life.”

“Grrr.”

The jewel spoke with a serious tone.

“Why! Why won’t you learn it! Do you look down on my martial arts?! Back in my day, everyone called me the Greatest Blade Under Heaven!”

“Never heard of you.”

“Well… It’s been three hundred years, after all.”

Wi Yeonho turned his head with a sulky face.

If a great warrior could be forgotten just because three hundred years had passed, then legends like Zhang Sanfeng or the Monk Bodhidharma would never have been passed down.

Even if one didn’t reach the level of such grandmasters, if they had any real skill, they would’ve at least been known. In the martial world, legends of great masters always lived on.

Yet Wi Yeonho had never once heard of the alias Radiant Sword.

Didn’t that say it all?

Just a con artist with a silver tongue.

“And even if you did teach me some incredible martial arts, I honestly don’t feel like learning.”

“Why not!”

“Well… you said I’d have to train for thirty years. Isn’t that crazy?”

“If you could become the Greatest Under Heaven with just thirty years of training, wouldn’t that be far too short?! Judging by your age, that means you’d reach the top before turning fifty! Do you even realize how astonishing that is?!”

“Still, it means I’d have to train until I’m fifty.”

“Of course it is! If you become the Greatest Under Heaven, all kinds of honor, wealth, and luxury await you. To gain all that with just thirty years of training—that’s dirt cheap!”

“Eh, I’d rather just live comfortably before I turn fifty.”

“……”

The jewel was at a loss for words.

Even if he remained as a Will, not once had he imagined he’d find himself in a situation like this.

Who was he, after all?

Wasn’t he the Radiant Sword, who stood aloof and unrivaled under the heavens?

Why did he have to suffer such humiliation?

But reality was cruel.

“If you become the Greatest Under Heaven, you could earn money easily!”

“My family’s already rich.”

“That’s not all! All kinds of beauties will follow you! A man must succeed in life!”

“What good is it if women start following me after I’m over fifty? They’d all be grandmas by then.”

Even if they were grandmas, with rejuvenation arts they’d look young, you brat!

And it’s not just grandmas—you’d have young girls following you too!

He wanted to say it, but there was no way to say it out loud and still keep his dignity.

“Ugh… and people would look at you with respect.”

“I’m fine without that. I’m kind of shy around strangers.”

The Radiant Sword’s logic was thoroughly sunk.

“Graaah! Enough! You must learn it! You have to! No matter what, you’re learning it!”

Wi Yeonho stood up.

“Well then, I’ll be going. Take care of yourself.”

“You think I’ll let you go that easily?!”

At that moment, the ceiling of the cave Wi Yeonho had been heading toward came crashing down.

Thud!

A massive stone gate dropped between the cave he had been in and the one he now stood in.

“Huh?”

Wi Yeonho turned around.

The jewel was glowing with radiant light.

“Mwahahahah! What do you think? A stone gate three meter thick! With your ability, there’s no way you can lift or break it! But if you learn my martial arts, you could slice that stone gate like paper!”

“…Can’t you just open it for me?”

“Not a chance! You brat! What now, huh?!”

Wi Yeonho sighed.

“Well, it can’t be helped.”

Ching!

Wi Yeonho’s sword was drawn.

“Hmph! I’m telling you, you can’t cut that stone gate with your skill!”

“Probably not.”

Wi Yeonho slowly approached the stone gate.

“Yah!”

Leaping into the air, he thrust his sword into the top of the stone gate.

Clang!

But oddly, the sword bounced off with a sharp metallic sound.

“Eh?”

“Bwahahaha! Did you think the top would be hollow just because the gate dropped down from there? Fool! I’m one step ahead of you! I reinforced that part with ten-thousand-year cold steel!”

“Hmm…”

“Now, obediently bow to me in the formal nine-prostration ritual and learn my sword. Just train diligently for thirty years, and I’ll make sure you can slice that stone gate like paper!”

“Thirty years?”

“That’s right! And I’ve already been generous about it.”

“I see.”

Wi Yeonho approached the stone gate, sword in hand.

“I told you, it’s useless!”

“I know.”

He slowly raised his sword and dragged it down the surface of the stone gate.

Grrrrk.

But all it left was a faint scratch.

The stone gate had to be at least one meter thick. Trying to cut it with a sword was clearly impossible.

“Heh… now give it up—”

Grrrrk.

Grrrrk.

Crrrk.

“What are you doing?”

Wi Yeonho didn’t answer. He simply continued making the same motion, dragging his sword steadily across the stone.

Grrrrk.

“I asked what you’re doing.”

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m digging a tunnel.”

“Digging a tunnel?!”

“No matter how tough it is, it’s still just stone. If I keep scratching it with metal, it’ll wear down bit by bit. If I keep at it steadily, I’ll eventually break through.”

“That’ll take forever!”

“It won’t take thirty years, will it? At most a year. If I’m fast, maybe even within a month.”

“…You’d really keep at that for a whole year?”

“Haha, that’s a funny thing to say coming from the person who told me to train for thirty years.”

“T-training gives you something in return!”

“This gives me something too.”

“And just what would you gain from that?!”

“Twenty-nine years of freedom.”

“……”

The jewel said nothing more.

He was speechless.

Where in the world could there be another person like this?

Baek Muhan was now completely getting dragged along by Wi Yeonho.

A typical lazy person wouldn’t even think of tunneling through a ten-foot-thick stone gate just to avoid training.

But Wi Yeonho wasn’t just any lazy person.

He was the Greatest Slacker Under Heaven.

People often assume that lazy folks don’t think much because everything feels like a hassle—but once you reach Wi Yeonho’s level, it’s a different story.

When laziness exceeds a certain threshold, it demands a high level of strategic thinking.

You need to be able to act precisely at the right time, doing only what’s necessary, to secure as much rest time as possible.

Wi Yeonho understood that principle better than anyone.

In this situation, the best decision he could make was to sacrifice one year in order to gain twenty-nine years of peace.

It was, in every way, a perfectly rational choice.

Grrrrk.

Grrrrk.

“A-are you seriously planning to dig through that whole thing?”

“Of course?”

“That’s going to take a really long time.”

“You’re really worried for me, huh?”

“…And what if it collapses? One wrong move and you could die.”

“Staying here means dying anyway. Might as well bet my life on the one option that has a chance.”

Baek Muhan threw up both hands in utter surrender.

There was just no reasoning with this man!

He couldn't see a single way to persuade him.

“H-how about you just give my martial arts a try? Then you really could get out of here easily!”

“Haha, Elder, I don’t think you really understand what ‘easy’ means.”

“Grrgh!”

For the first time in his life, Baek Muhan wanted to cry blood at the taste of such a devastating defeat.

“Do you have no dreams or hope at all? I’m offering to teach you the Greatest Martial Arts Under Heaven! Don’t you want to become the Greatest Under Heaven?”

“Are you seriously asking that?”

“Do you mean you have no dreams?”

“Of course I do. I really want to become the Greatest Under Heaven too.”

“Yes! Of course you do! Then what’s the problem?! I’ll give you the martial arts! I’ll make you the Greatest Under Heaven, I swear it!”

Wi Yeonho replied nonchalantly.

“Well, that may be so…”

“Hm?”

“I just hate training.”

Baek Muhan was momentarily speechless.

It took him a moment to process what he had just heard.

A simple, two-word sentence—and yet the shock it delivered left Baek Muhan reeling.

A martial artist!

A martial artist, of all people!

Saying he hates training!

Saying he’d give up the path to becoming the Greatest Under Heaven just because he doesn’t want to train!

“What nonsense is that?! It’s only natural that to master martial arts and grow stronger, one must go through bone-crushing training!”

“Right.”

“If you overcome that, you’ll become the Greatest Under Heaven!”

“But I don’t want to.”

“You just said you wanted to become the Greatest Under Heaven, didn’t you?”

“I do!”

“Then you need to train!”

“But I don’t want to.”

“No, wait, you clearly said… that you want to become…”

“Yes! I do!”

“Then training…”

Wi Yeonho shook his head firmly.

“I don’t want to.”

“……”

Baek Muhan was at a complete loss.

“I want to become the Greatest Under Heaven, but I don’t want to go through bone-crushing training. Wouldn’t it be great if I could get strong just by training a little bit?”

“Haah…”

Baek Muhan looked up at the sky with a heart full of resentment.

Who could’ve imagined that the fated encounter after waiting three hundred years would be with someone like this?

Baek Muhan swore he had never in his life met a human being with such a rotten mindset.

“And thirty years, really? You expect me to live in this dark, gloomy cave for thirty years? That’s just horrible.”

If he could, Baek Muhan wanted to beat this pitiful brat to death with a single blow.

But he couldn’t.

If Wi Yeonho died, who knew when another person would come across this cave?

If that happened, Baek Muhan might never meet anyone again and would simply fade away in solitude.

He didn’t have much time left.

“T-then how long would you be willing to train?”

“Pardon?”

“…If thirty years is too much, I’m willing to reduce it a bit.”

“You’re planning to just teach me the basics, aren’t you?”

“Absolutely not! Learning my martial arts means carrying my name on your back. If I teach you anything half-heartedly, it would be a disgrace to my name!”

“Hm.”

Wi Yeonho seemed to ponder for a moment.

But before that, there was something he needed to check.

“By the way… is it actually strong?”