Chapter 16

In the central Martial Arts Field of Baek Manor, the Three Baek Siblings were sweating profusely as they threw themselves into training.

“Hah! Hah!”

“Yah! Yah!”

To the cadence of Baek Heon-so’s and Baek Yeon-yeon’s sharp kiais, Yang-hwi cycled through the first to third forms of the Three Sky-Covering Swords at an agonizingly deliberate pace.

Only after ten full repetitions did he finally let his stance settle.

Though sweat thoroughly drenched his training robes, a look of deep satisfaction crept across his face.

‘It’s done. Grand mastery over the Three Sky-Covering Swords.’

Achieving mastery in swordplay was never just about grasping its profound truths.

Every martial art, in the end, was an embodiment of heaven and earth’s natural order channeled through the mortal vessel.

Without a body forged to bear that weight, one could never hope to attain true mastery.

‘I’ve built up a year’s worth of Accumulated Effort, and my physical vessel is more than tempered enough to unleash the Three Sky-Covering Swords.’

A fresh, young body. A shortcut known only because he had once scaled those heights before.

In his past life, reaching this exact realm had claimed three full years of bitter toil.

Yet barely three months had passed since he entered Baek Manor. His progress was dozens of times faster than before.

“Whew……”

As Yang-hwi let out a long, steady breath, Baek Heon-so—who had stopped his own routine midway to gawk at his brother’s blade—cried out in admiration.

“Brother, that was incredible! Watching you just now was like watching Father. Could it be……?”

Yang-hwi nodded.

“That’s right. I’ve reached grand mastery with the Three Sky-Covering Swords.”

“Whoa!”

Not a shred of the petty jealousy from days past lingered on Baek Heon-so’s face.

All that remained on the boy’s innocent features was unvarnished Awe and boundless admiration for his elder brother.

A warm smile tugged at the corners of Yang-hwi’s lips.

‘Just keep growing up straight and true like this, So.’

He had never imagined mending his relationship with little So would be so effortless.

Why had something so simple eluded him in his past life?

‘I was just too young. Too immature back then.’

From here on out, things would be different.

Tucking that resolve away, Yang-hwi spoke.

“So. Yeon. I have an errand outside, so keep up your practice while I’m away.”

“Brother, you’re going out again?”

Baek Yeon-yeon’s face fell, her pout making it plain how badly she wanted to tag along.

“I’ll bring back candied sweets and grilled chicken skewers, so put your back into it while I’m gone. Understood, Yeon-ah?”

“All right……”

Seeing her hang her head tugged at his heart, but taking her along was out of the question.

His business today was with Deer-to-Horse Transformer Yeo Un-jeok.

Straightening his clothes, Yang-hwi went directly to find Manager Han.

“Manager Han, I’ll be stepping out for a while.”

Back when he first arrived, leaving the estate would have raised a fuss, but the entire household had grown accustomed to his excursions by now.

Manager Han gave a breezy nod.

“Of course, Young Master Hwi. By the by, when might you bring back word?”

“Word?”

“You know, this.”

Manager Han pinched his thumb and forefinger together into a circle.

‘Ah, money……’

Yang-hwi gave an awkward laugh.

“I’m working on it.”

“Please do. In our entire Baek Clan, you and I are the only ones who actually care about the household coffers, Young Master Hwi.”

“Doesn’t Father labor tirelessly every day as well?”

“The Family Head spends every copper as fast as he earns it, doesn’t he?”

He wasn’t wrong. Baek Mu-ryang was far too soft-hearted for his own good; he handed out charity left and right, leaving barely enough coin behind to keep the servants fed.

“Father is merely purchasing things that coin cannot buy. Besides, this house will be bidding farewell to the word poverty very soon. On that note, I’ll be on my way!”

“Bring back the God of Wealth with you!”

Stepping beyond the gates of Baek Manor, Yang-hwi headed straight for the designated rendezvous.

Yeo Un-jeok was already there, waiting.

“Young Master, you’ve arrived.”

“I made haste, yet you beat me here. Have you reviewed all the counter-techniques I gave you?”

A few days prior, Yang-hwi had written down the counters to every martial art practiced by the Black Dao Factions rooted in E’an County, including the Honggyo Gang.

Yeo Un-jeok had asked to test their authenticity first, wanting firm proof before placing his trust in the boy.

Yeo Un-jeok gave a solemn nod.

“I spent the past few days picking subtle scuffles, testing every single one.”

Though Yang-hwi already knew the outcome, he asked anyway.

“And how did it go?”

“Every last one…… was flawless.”

Of course they were. Yang-hwi could state with absolute certainty that he understood those E’an County underworld arts better than the thugs who actually wielded them.

“Where on earth did you get your hands on such knowledge? To hold the counter-techniques to not just one faction, but all of them……”

His answer was deliberately nonchalant.

“Back when I was rolling in the dirt with the Beggar Gang, I must have watched the Black Path Band scoundrels of E’an County brawling well over a hundred times.”

“You expect me to believe you devised them yourself? Impossible. You are barely eight years old, Young Master, and have studied martial arts for only a handful of months.”

A fair point. By ordinary logic, it made no sense whatsoever.

And yet.

“Elder. How many prodigies beneath heaven do you imagine exist who simply defy worldly common sense?”

“……Are you claiming that you are one of those peerless geniuses?”

Yang-hwi met his gaze with unblinking audacity.

“If not that, how else do you propose to explain what sits before you?”

“……”

Keeping a face bathed in utter composure and towering self-assurance, Yang-hwi quietly measured the shift in Yeo Un-jeok’s countenance.

In truth, his argument was far from airtight.

There were only so many convenient excuses he could invent without exposing his regression.

And yet.

‘Persuasion isn’t just about flawless logic. More often than not, it’s about who is doing the talking.’

If a common bumpkin and a legendary master spoke the exact same words, whose voice carried real weight?

The latter, without question.

Acting the part of an otherworldly, transcendent prodigy lent far more credibility to his words than any rational explanation ever could.

Besides, the deeds he had already displayed—counter-techniques aside—were already far too extraordinary for an eight-year-old child.

“……Arrogant beyond measure. Yet I suppose there is truly no other way to explain it. What do you intend to do now?”

‘He bought it. Good.’

Yang-hwi offered a faint smile.

“Elder. Imagine two rival Black Path Band factions of equal strength, locked in a bitter feud. What do you think happens if one side suddenly gains the counter-techniques to the other’s martial arts?”

“They would move to swallow them whole without a second thought.”

“And what if, at the critical moment of their doom, the other side is handed the counters as well?”

“I see. They will tear into each other’s throats until both are butchered. Judging by the sheer volume of counters you’ve prepared, you aren’t aiming for a simple clash between two rivals, but a three-way bloodbath—or perhaps something even grander.”

Yeo Un-jeok’s gaze bored into him.

“Countless men will perish. Are you truly prepared to bear that?”

Was the old man trying to press him, or simply testing his resolve?

Yang-hwi didn’t hesitate for an instant.

“It is their own Greed that will kill them. If they held no Greed in their hearts, no war between Black Dao Factions would ever ignite in the first place.”

“True enough. Yet regret may still find you. The price of blood weighs equally on all souls, hardening into a Karma that crushes the shoulders of those who spilled it.”

Yang-hwi let the silence stretch before quietly answering.

“Tell me, Elder. Are you aware that in E’an County, young children cannot even step outside on their own?”

The first time he had tried to take his siblings out, Manager Han had thrown himself in front of the gates, insisting they could not take a single step without armed guards.

That was what E’an County was like. A wretched place where anything could happen to an unattended child, and no one would bat an eye.

“When the headwaters are foul, the downstream shall never run clear. There are simply too many Black Path Band ruffians infesting E’an County. If even a scion of a martial clan must endure such misery, what hope is there for the common folk?”

Yang-hwi had breathed not a word of this alliance to anyone.

Yet he knew with absolute certainty that even if his father, First in Dispensing Chivalry Baek Mu-ryang, were to find out, the man would fret over his safety, but never forbid him.

Nothing Yang-hwi sought to accomplish had ever strayed an inch from the Way of Chivalry his father had instilled in him.

Perhaps that conviction bled through his expression.

After a heavy silence, Yeo Un-jeok finally let out a low breath.

“You are an enigma, Young Master. Your martial arts, your cunning schemes, even your unshakeable resolve…… none of it belongs to a boy your age.”

Yang-hwi merely gave an easy grin.

“Which is precisely why I call myself a World-Unrivaled Talent. Now then, I leave the rest in your capable hands, Elder.”

* * *

Gyo Cheol-jeong, the Fourth Snake Hall Master of Cheongsa Gang, clutched his throbbing leg as he tried in vain to sleep.

‘Rotten bastards. Cursed thieving scum. The moment I lay hands on you, I’ll rip you limb from limb.’

He ground his teeth until they ached, recalling the thieves who had ransacked the Secret Hideout under his charge.

Those wretched dogs had used a scrawny beggar brat as bait to strip the place down to the bare earth.

Thanks to them, the gang leader had thrashed him within an inch of his life. Even now, over two months later, the ruined bone in his leg shot agonizing jolts of pain through his body every night.

‘Curse them. Curse them all! I have to catch those thieves before time runs out.’

After leaving him half-dead on the floor, the Cheongsa Gang Leader had given him a single command: drag the thieves back alive.

He had been granted three months. If he failed to produce them before the deadline expired, his life was forfeit.

The bitter truth, however, was that he didn’t possess a single lead.

‘I must find them. And if I can’t, I have to achieve some massive merit to balance out my failure.’

Yet how?

He had nothing. With every passing day, an invisible noose seemed to tighten around his throat.

It was in the suffocating depths of that despair that—

Thud.

Something struck his door. Startled, Gyo Cheol-jeong limped outside, discovering a fist-sized rock wrapped in several sheets of paper lying on the porch.

‘What is this?’

Unfurling the sheets, his eyes nearly bulged from their sockets.

[Imparted herein are the counter-techniques for the first three forms of the Honggyo Gang’s prized martial art, the Rock-Cleaving Axe Technique.]

Having clashed in bloody skirmishes with the Honggyo Gang nearly every other day, Gyo Cheol-jeong recognized the patterns instantly.

The ink on the page laid bare the true counters to the Rock-Cleaving Axe Technique, the foundational art of their bitterest rivals.

‘Who in the world…… No, that doesn’t matter! With this in my hands……!’

Why had the Cheongsa Gang built Secret Hideouts and stockpiled gold and weapons in the first place?

It was all preparation for the day they would rise up and swallow the Honggyo Gang whole.

‘If I present these counter-techniques to the Gang Leader, it will be a merit vast enough to wipe away my failure ten times over!’

The instant that realization struck him, the origin and motives behind the mysterious missive vanished from his mind.

Gyo Cheol-jeong cared only about preserving his own neck, and a miraculous rain had just fallen upon the fire consuming his feet.

‘I have to see the Gang Leader right this instant!’

Dead of night though it was, he bolted from his residence and sprinted toward the gang’s stronghold.

“Open up! Tell the Gang Leader that the Fourth Snake Hall Master seeks an urgent audience on a matter of life and death!”

After barked words to the gatekeepers and an agonizing wait, a middle-aged man emerged with a scowl carved deep into his face.

He possessed an ashen, sickly complexion that gave him the sinister air of a venomous serpent.

It was the Cheongsa Gang Leader himself.

“You worthless dog. I believe I warned you never to show your miserable face until you dragged in the bastards who cleaned out our Secret Hideout.”

Even with the vicious curse spat in his face, Gyo Cheol-jeong bowed until his nose nearly brushed the floor.

“Gang Leader, I beg your forgiveness, but I have acquired something of grave importance that must be delivered into your hands at once. Please, take a look at this.”

The Cheongsa Gang Leader snatched the papers from his trembling hands.

“If this is some pathetic ploy to waste my time, I’ll flay you alive…… Huh? What is this……?”

Keeping his spine bent low, Gyo Cheol-jeong tilted his head up, a broad grin splitting his face.

“It is as you see, Gang Leader. The counter-formulas to those Honggyo Gang dogs’ Rock-Cleaving Axe Technique.”

“Where did you come by these?”

“While scouring every corner of the district for the thieves, I happened upon an old gentleman gravely wounded and hovering at death’s door, granting him a Gumyeongjieun. He turned out to be an eccentric master of terrifying renown. To repay the debt of saving his life, he left me these formulas before vanishing into the night.”

It was a flimsy tale full of holes, yet the kind of absurd encounter that wasn’t unheard of in the Jianghu.

The martial world beneath the heavens was vast, after all, and eccentric masters roamed wherever the wind blew.

“Is this the truth? If a single lie has crossed your lips, I will sever your head myself.”

“You know the Honggyo Gang’s arts better than anyone, Gang Leader! You can see with your own eyes that there is not a single falsehood on those pages!”

He wasn’t lying about that. The Cheongsa Gang Leader, whose martial prowess far exceeded Gyo Cheol-jeong’s, could tell at a single glance that the counter-techniques were terrifyingly authentic.

“Mmm……”

The gang leader’s mind spun with ferocious speed.

‘These are only the counters to the first three forms, but the vast majority of their common foot soldiers have only mastered those very three forms. If that’s the case……’

What if he drilled these exact movements into every single man in the gang before marching on the Honggyo Gang?

Victory would be an absolute certainty.

“Summon the guards! Dispatch messengers to the First Snake Hall Master, Second Snake Hall Master, and Third Snake Hall Master immediately! Tell them to assemble in my chambers at once!”

And just like that, the ominous winds of war began to gather over the Unorthodox Faction of E’an County.

A storm stirred from the palm of an eight-year-old child.