Chapter 144
The Divine, the pinnacle of the White Path, or perhaps not
The nickname “Gyeonja” comes from the saying “A tiger father, a dog son.”
It means a father is a tiger, but the son is a dog.
Examples of “tiger father, dog son” overflow in history. But Mado Gyeonja was called “tiger father, dog son” from childhood solely because of his ugly appearance. He adopted that very “dog son” label—a choice few ordinary people would make—as his own nickname.
It became his very identity.
He became the son of a dog, no longer a man.
Long ago, Gyeonja encountered masters of the Way of the Sword. Their path paid no heed to ugly appearances. They judged others solely by the excellence of their martial arts.
Finding this appealing, he stuck close to them.
Watching them quietly, he noticed they all had something off about them, like the sons of dogs.
That too pleased him.
With eyes closed, the Demon Dog Master slowly traced these memories. Thoughts and recollections, hatred and resentment, karmic bonds and ill-fated ties—all flashed past like a galloping horse’s shadow. Yet, he found no answers.
The sorcerer quietly opened his eyes, unable to find the answer within his own heart.
It was, as ever, a reed bed.
In that reed field, Uisin sat cross-legged, deeply immersed in silent meditation.
He was truly a man of profound calm.
For a fleeting moment, lost in reflection on his own life, the Demon Dog Master had momentarily forgotten that a master of the White Path stood before him. Had Uisin intended to kill him, it would have been ample time and a sure opportunity.
