Episode 1

A man sat there, clutching a knife, his entire body drenched in blood. His eyes shone red with a bloodlust so intense it made onlookers tremble with fear.

He looked down at his hands.

Red blood.

He stared at it and smiled, wiping his face without hesitation. His already bloody visage became even more hideous.

“Totally lackluster.”

He blurted out those words.

What did they even mean?

The man surveyed his surroundings.

His field of vision overflowed with so many people that he couldn’t even count them, all lying scattered around.

They were torn, cut, and shredded.

Dozens? Hundreds? Perhaps thousands? No, it was more likely tens of thousands.

The corpses wouldn’t move.

He was the law throughout the world.

The strongest man of both ancient and modern times.

People referred to him as the Martial Supreme Divine Demon.

Suddenly, the man rose from the ground.

He strode towards the other side of the light, exuding confidence as if he ruled and owned the entire world, carrying an odd sense of dignity.

Chaaang!

Suddenly, at some point, the man walking froze. Transformed into a massive block of ice, he stopped in his tracks.

In front of him stood eight figures—men, women, and children—who had appeared suddenly. Some rode in on clouds, others emerged from the ground, and more from the wind.

They had an air about them that suggested they were not humans.

Their presence was odd, almost saintlike.

They looked at the horrible and disfigured bodies around them with pitiful expressions.

“Tsk, tsk.”

Some shook their heads and clicked their tongues as if unable to bear the sight.

“I feel like puking! Is there no one who can stop this madness?”

“Truly heartbreaking! Not one spared!”

The two eldest among the eight were enraged. The space around them shook violently, as if trembling from a sound so loud it shook both heaven and earth.

The two old men, with their eyes wide open, looked at the blood-drenched man and turned their backs.

“Seal that person in the deepest part of Dongting Lake!”

The six men bowed at those words.

Yueyang, located to the north of Hunan Province.

The stream flowing next to the castle was a tributary of Dongting Lake to the north.

As many people visited the lake every year, it was larger and more prosperous than other cities’ lakes.

Thanks to this, most of the people living around this area were never hungry.

It was quite famous as a tourist destination, and it was easy to find a job when one wanted to, with almost no beggars.

In the middle of this bustling town sat a man looking tired, wearing old clothes, unsure of where he came from.

Everyone passing by glanced at him.

It was because of the strange atmosphere surrounding this man.

“Time flows like the wind moves.”

The man mumbled with his head down.

The one statement held a sense of desperation. His eyes were empty, as if he had lost something, and the words he spoke were emotionless.

Actually, the man had lost everything.

There was nothing left in this man.

A wry smile formed on his face as he bowed his head. He found his situation utterly pathetic.

‘There really is nothing left.’

The man raised his head with a self-deprecating chuckle.

Eight Immortals.

They were the good men who protected the Central Plains.

Yet, their preoccupation with frivolity remained unchanged, and the fact that he had been outwitted by them was a blow to his pride.

‘No, I was stupid.’

He had rampaged through the heavens and earth, unaware of his own limits. His innate instincts made him even more vicious, and the violent environment shook the man, sending his world spinning.

He destroyed the world, killed his enemies, and mocked the era without blinking an eye.

In the end, he spent a thousand years trapped in ice by the Eight Immortals.

The time that had passed was too long for him to speak about. Experiencing it himself left him feeling empty.

There was no one he knew left, and there were no people left behind.

It couldn’t be helped.

Because no human has lived past a thousand years.

And so, he walked.

Perhaps because he had been trapped for a thousand years, the life of the Heavenly Killing Star within him had faded, too.

He had no specific destination or a small hideout to head to. What the man was doing was simply following the wind, following the clouds, moving as if flowing, and searching for any traces of the past.

Like a ghost haunted by memories.

‘Dan Woo-hyun of this world…’

Dan Woo-hyun looked around with a bitter gaze. The scenery had changed so much that he couldn’t get used to it, even after three days.

It felt like a dream.

A dream from which he could wake at any moment and then return to daily life.

“Uh?”

Around the time he was mulling over this, he found something discarded, like trash in a deserted alley.

It was a person, a very small child, barely breathing and seemingly about to draw her last breath at any moment.

Dan Woo-hyun felt drawn to the child and approached her.

‘A beggar?’

No matter how closely he looked, that was the only conclusion he could draw.

A beggar, an orphan.

There was a begging bowl next to her, and food, now inedible and covered in dirt, lay beside her.

She was covered in scars, likely earned while begging.

Dan Woo-hyun slowly approached her and checked for a pulse. It was weak, but she was still alive. It didn’t seem like her faint breathing would stop anytime soon—two hours at the most.

The child looked up at him with a blurry gaze.

He tried to ignore her and stand up, but her eyes were fixed on his ankles.

It felt as though he was looking at his younger self, back when he was a child and an orphan.

He scratched his head.

“Consider yourself lucky, kid.”

Dan Woo-hyun channeled his internal qi through his palm. This was how he had managed to survive a thousand years after being attacked by the Eight Immortals.

As he infused his qi, the child’s face slowly regained vitality. Her once-dying face now looked full of life. But there was a problem.

‘She hasn’t eaten anything for a long time.’

Her nutrition was quite poor. Although his technique could revive vitality, it didn’t mean he could provide sustenance.

‘Is there anything for you to eat?’

He scanned the surroundings.

There was food covered in dirt, now untouchable because it would cause further complications. He needed something else.

Dan Woo-hyun, deep in thought, searched his arms.

He found one thing.

It was a simple pill. This pill didn’t increase internal qi but healed wounds and internal injuries, and it was also effective for hunger on an empty stomach.

The problem was…

“This is from a thousand years ago; will it be alright? It seems far too old now.”

In fact, it should have decayed and vanished long ago. His conscience nagged at him for considering giving the child such an ancient item, but it seemed better than letting her starve.

If things went wrong, the child might suffer from diarrhea, and in the worst case, it might be fatal. But without any intervention, she would surely die.

Uncertain yet determined, Dan Woo-hyun carefully placed the pill in the child’s mouth. As soon as it touched her saliva, it dissolved.

“What happens next all depends on your luck.”

With that, he left that place.

Just because you’ve helped someone doesn’t mean you need to take responsibility for them. He had helped her out of sympathy and as a reminder of old times; there was no deeper meaning to it.

The eyes of the child, who remained fixed on him, followed Dan Woo-hyun.

The next morning, Dan Woo-hyun, who had been sleeping in a remote place, slowly opened his eyes to the rustling sounds around him.

A child.

It must have been the child he saw yesterday. Her face, which was dying then, was now full of life. Her skinny appearance hadn’t changed since then, but her eyes were lively now.

The child, smiling brightly and bustling about, held something in both hands.

A dumpling.

“What is this?”

“Dumpling…!”

“I know it’s a dumpling when I see it. I’m asking what the meaning behind you giving it to me is.”

Why give it? He couldn’t understand. Even though he was hungrier than she was, there was no hesitation in her hand or actions.

What did this mean?

Was she repaying him the favor?

For a moment, his mind felt confused. Although he had received things from others before, this child was the first to give something to him with such a bright, innocent smile and without fear.

It felt so odd that he couldn’t get used to it.

Without a word, the child placed the dumpling in the man’s hand and sat next to him. She hummed as if all her pain had healed, and she even smiled brightly when he made eye contact with her.

The child paid no mind to Dan Woo-hyun’s feelings, displaying typical childlike innocence.

“Just what…”

He tried to question her, but the child didn’t respond. Just like that, the next day, and the day after that, the child continued to bring food from somewhere and give it to Dan Woo-hyun.

If he told her that he didn’t want it, she would cry, and if he accepted it, she would smile brightly. This cycle repeated several times, and so much time had passed that it was no longer strange to say that this had become a daily occurrence.

Fifteen days like that.

Dan Woo-hyun met the child every day and ate the food she brought.

The day was bright and sunny.

The sun was shining so intensely that it was hard to believe spring had just begun, and the sky was clear without a single cloud.

Dan Woo-hyun, who always sought isolated places with no people around, went to the marketplace for the first time in a while without any particular plan.

He just wanted to walk.

“Yah, you bitch!”

The moment he entered the marketplace, he stopped. He saw a person yelling and a child with a familiar face crouching down.

Several dumplings were in her arms.

Perhaps because she didn’t want them to get dirty, she crouched down even more to protect the dumplings. It was probably because of this that the scars on her body never healed.

Dan Woo-hyun was speechless.

‘She stole them…?’

When a child begs, they garner sympathy from adults. Adults could get more than that if they begged. Dan Woo-hyun thought that she was doing just that, but he didn’t think she would steal.

He felt irritated by that.

For 15 days, he had been living off the things the child brought, and he didn’t even know how she got them. He just took what was given and then got through the day.

He didn’t like it.

Why so?

Dan Woo-hyun, who had never received any sympathy from anyone, approached the child. It was the moment when the man was about to deliver another sharp kick.

Crack!

“Kuaaak!”

Dan Woo-hyun also kicked the man’s foot. The sound of bones breaking felt so clear, and the man’s scream felt satisfying. It was clear who was at fault, but that didn’t matter to Dan Woo-hyun.

The child was crying and curled up on the road, looking up at Dan Woo-hyun with a dazed expression at the sudden noise.

In a situation where many people were watching, Dan Woo-hyun stared at the child for a while and then turned his back.

They couldn’t be together any longer.

He walked away, ignoring the child’s gaze.

He heard the sound of the child standing up in a hurry, but he ignored that, too. Because he hoped that he and the child, who was causing trouble, would no longer be involved.

He quickened his steps.

He actually had no idea where to go. He himself didn’t know where to go, unable to find a place that could fill the emptiness of a thousand years.

But he couldn’t just stand there.

He just walked.

Following the wind and clouds.

“Dongting Lake…”

It appeared before him.

The vast lake seemed endless.

It was hard to believe that he had once sunk to its deepest depths, a space now filled with tranquility.

The more he thought about it, the more absurd it seemed.

Dan Woo-hyun, who was praised as the Martial God…

“I was trying to shake it off, but it feels like it got tied around my ankles.”

Dan Woo-hyun looked at the lake with a puzzled expression. He had thought he would never see this lake again, but before he knew it, his steps had brought him here.

He turned his head, thinking that this situation was truly absurd. And at the end of his gaze, he saw the child hurriedly following him.

He could tell the child was breathing heavily.

The child’s feet were already drenched in blood.

There was no way the child could keep up with an adult who walked with such swift strides. Dan Woo-hyun wondered why she was so stubborn about following him.

Hadn’t he done just one thing for her? But the child seemed blindly devoted, as if willing to give him everything.

He didn’t like it, so he frowned and asked,

“Why are you chasing after me?”

“… don’t… don’t like… being… alone…”

The child’s words touched his heart.

Not wanting to be alone.

Dan Woo-hyun had never once used the phrase ‘with someone’ since his childhood.

He was independent and alone.

Because of that, it wasn’t easy to understand the child’s feelings, but he could feel genuine warmth.

The child reached out and grabbed the hem of his clothing.

“D-don’t go…”

The words, spoken through tears, shook his heart. As he imagined the child being beaten, the grip on his clothes tightened.

All of this had to be fate—the fate of both him and the child.

“Name?”

“Hwa… Somi…”

“Right, then I am Dan Woo-hyun.”

He stretched out his hand with the selfish thought that, as Dan Woo-hyun, he could create a safe space to protect her.

His outstretched hand gently stroked the child’s head.

“Why don’t you come along with me?”