“How are your internal injuries?”
At the question from Jegal Jin, Clan Master of the Jegal Family, Jegal Geon answered calmly.
“Sixty percent of my internal injuries have been treated.”
“That is fortunate.”
Jegal Jin, Clan Master of the Jegal Family, said so, but his heart felt as though it were being torn apart as he saw that his younger brother’s complexion was still bluish.
They could treat the internal injuries somehow, but there was no way to restore the origin true qi that had been shaved away.
“The spiritual medicine you obtained for me this time worked very well. Thank you.”
“That is not something you should thank me for.”
“......?”
Jegal Geon looked at the Clan Master with puzzled eyes.
“The spiritual medicine you took this time was the Jaso Pill sent by the Sword of Wudang.”
Jegal Geon flinched.
“Clan Master, why did you accept something from Wudang? No, why did you give it to me without even telling me?”
To his younger brother, who had bitten his lip hard, Jegal Jin, Clan Master of the Jegal Family, said,
“The Sword of Wudang asked that you absolutely not be told. That was his condition for giving us the Jaso Pill.”
Tremble.
Jegal Geon’s body shook violently before he spoke.
“Clan Master, I am disappointed. As the Clan Master of the great Jegal Family, you simply accepted such a paltry gift of pity.”
“Even if you are disappointed in me, it cannot be helped. And even if it meant disappointing you a hundred more times, I would still do it.”
“Clan Master!”
“Call me brother.”
“.......”
“I do not want to be called Clan Master by you even when it is only the two of us.”
Jegal Geon was overcome and lowered his head.
“......Brother. This worthless younger brother has not only ruined the family’s great plan, but also made your position difficult.”
“It is not your fault. All of it happened because of me.”
“I am furious as well over the filthy deeds of that bastard Sangcheon, the Hidden Dragon Command Lord. If he had not died at the Cave Hermit Taoist’s hands and had lived, I would have beaten him to death myself.”
“.......”
Jegal Jin, Clan Master of the Jegal Family, silently watched as his younger brother erupted in rage.
He knew that once his younger brother’s anger surged, he could not control it.
The curse of that filthy martial art.
Jegal Jin, Clan Master of the Jegal Family, once again resented their father, who had shoved his innocent, guileless younger brother down that path.
The number-one family under heaven—what did that matter?
“......In any case, that is not something you, my brother and Clan Master, should blame yourself for. Controlling dozens of branch houses is impossible for any family.”
Seeing that his younger brother’s anger had eased somewhat, Jegal Jin opened his mouth.
“There is something I must confess to you. For your sake, and for Chief Secretary Kwak’s as well, I now believe I must not hide it any longer.”
“......?”
Jegal Geon looked at his elder brother with a slightly bewildered gaze.
“Jegal Waryong carried out the illicit silver mine to aim for the seat of Clan Master of the Main House. Jegal Seungsu, Strategist of the Hidden Dragon Command, confessed everything, and our uncle, the Elder Council Lord, acknowledged it as well.”
“Uncle and that bastard Jegal Sangcheon...... Is that really true?”
“It is. If I had revealed that truth to you, you would have dragged our uncle out of the dungeon and cut him down at once, so I had no choice but to keep it secret from you.”
Jegal Jin, Clan Master of the Jegal Family, could not add to his pitiful younger brother’s name the infamy of being a nephew who had cut down his uncle.
“Uuugh!”
Flames blazed in Jegal Geon’s eyes.
“The person who informed me of that truth was Chief Secretary Kwak. In that sense, Chief Secretary Kwak may be called a benefactor of the Main House.”
Only then did Jegal Geon understand why his elder brother had suddenly sought forgiveness and apologized to the Cave Hermit Taoist.
“Now you must understand why Chief Secretary Kwak was so enraged yesterday. From his perspective, we were repaying grace with enmity. Hoooh! Because of my complacent judgment, I wounded both you and Chief Secretary Kwak. My sin is truly great.”
“......Brother.”
“Erase your anger toward Chief Secretary Kwak. A calm heart will also help treat your internal injuries.”
When Jegal Jin, Clan Master of the Jegal Family, rose with a heavy expression, Jegal Geon asked,
“Brother, how are matters outside proceeding?”
“The alliance of the three great families has collapsed.”
Jegal Geon’s heart sank into misery.
The collapse of the alliance of the three great families meant the dissolution of the First Corps, for which he served as Corps Commander.
Jegal Jin’s heavy voice continued.
“The alliance of the three great families was never bound by anything stronger than a single strand of silk thread in the first place, so there is no need to regret it.”
“.......”
“The Sword of Wudang thankfully proposed that the Main House join them as an auxiliary force. But I declined politely.”
“Brother, then what do you intend to do......?”
“We will return to the Main House as soon as your internal injuries have been treated to some extent.”
“Brother, we absolutely cannot give up on the Martial World Pact. That would mean abandoning the family’s future for the next hundred years.”
Jegal Jin, Clan Master of the Jegal Family, shook his head firmly.
“Your safety matters more to me than some future of the family.”
“Brother!”
“I command this as Clan Master, so call me Clan Master.”
“......Clan Master!”
“It has already been decided. I will listen to nothing more, so focus only on treating your internal injuries.”
*****
—RUSTLE!
Kwak Yeon set the Jegal Clan Master’s letter down on the tea table and thought of the two elder brothers he had parted from in childhood.
Those two elder brothers, who had only played spiteful pranks on him and scolded him, had suddenly come to mind.
Kwak Yeon wondered whether he had only feared them because he had been too young back then.
If he had grown a little more, perhaps he too would have gotten along well with his brothers and played with them.
To his two brothers, who had been busy racing wildly over every mountain, field, and valley, their little brother must have been a troublesome burden they had to shake off somehow.
“......!”
Kwak Yeon °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° looked for a moment at the letter from the Jegal Clan Master that had made him suddenly recall those two elder brothers.
The Jegal Clan Master’s letter was steeped with the deep affection between brothers.
From the Jegal Clan Master’s sincerity, which had even revealed the family’s unspoken hidden history, Kwak Yeon felt something resonate.
Was that why? The warmth that had bloomed in one corner of his chest seemed to have grown a little larger.
Kwak Yeon abruptly realized that he was trying to lean on that warmth inside his chest.
Because it felt as though he had discovered a faint light in pitch-black darkness.
After returning to the guest residence yesterday, Kwak Yeon had focused on circulating the Honwonmusang Technique, trying to erase the sticky black energy clinging to every major point throughout his body.
He knew killing intent arose from that energy, and that it provoked uncontrollable anger.
He did not know exactly what that energy was, but it was clear that it was one of the obstacles he would inevitably encounter on the path toward the Ultimate Void.
“Only by transcending humanity’s seven emotions and five desires will one finally reach that realm.”
Recalling Patriarch Jang Sam-bong’s message, Kwak Yeon realized he had once been wrapped in gray energy similar to this black energy aboard the Cloud-Drifting Boat on Dongting Lake.
But what differed now from that time was that he could not immediately find the thing he had to overcome, or the method by which to overcome it.
He knew it was energy formed by hatred and sorrow toward humanity mingled together, but that made it all the more vague.
So he had shut himself inside the inner room and focused on the Honwonmusang Technique, but the black energy clinging thickly to the meridian points throughout his body like a leech did not budge.
Kwak Yeon had only confirmed that neither the Honwonmusang Technique nor his will could wash away the black energy.
Then, suddenly, he missed Unseon Taoist.
If Unseon Taoist, who had risen to the rank of Companion Immortal, had been here, he would surely have given instruction and guided him so he could break through.
But Unseon Taoist had ascended long ago.
His senior brother, Hyeonhae Taoist, was also ignorant of martial arts, and moreover was thousands of miles away.
Another person, Uncheon Zhenren, the Sword of Wudang, came to mind, but Kwak Yeon soon shook his head.
From Uncheon Zhenren, he had only received higher martial arts as successor-apparent to the Sword of Wudang; they were not in a formal master-disciple relationship, so he could not lean on him.
Moreover, though only as one part of the Wudang Sect, disappointment in Uncheon Zhenren had also played a role in the black energy growing denser.
Kwak Yeon felt briefly miserable at his isolated, helpless position, with nowhere to lean.
In the midst of that, he had obtained a spark of warmth from Taoist Hyeonam’s heart, and confirmed that the flame of that warmth had grown through the Jegal Clan Master’s letter.
Kwak Yeon thought that warmth was the purifying flame that could wash away the black energy.
The wound came from people, so I have to heal it through people!
That was how he had dispelled the gray energy through So Cheong of Sangjeon Village as well. And thanks to that, his Honwonmusang qi had grown still further, allowing him to leap past a stage of realm.
Yes. This black energy is another opportunity.
When he thought that, his gloomy mood disappeared.
To wash away this black energy, I have to go out into the world.
He had locked himself inside a cave of his own and struggled, but it had produced no effect.
If he suppressed the killing intent through mental strength and controlled the anger with a Taoist-immortal heart, he should be able to resist the black energy.
Meanwhile, if he continued to grow that warmth and burned away the energy of darkness layer by layer, in the end he would be able to clear it all away.
Kwak Yeon was truly grateful that Taoist Hyeonam had come to visit at just the right time.
Taoist Hyeonam had occasionally given him invisible help, just as he had during the training ground kitchen incident.
Kwak Yeon realized that he was not the only one who had given him such unseen help.
Mr. Lee Jongsam, the training ground librarian who had taken the body-strengthening health-preservation text from the shelves for him; Senior Instructor Kang Ik-yu, who had grabbed him when he was running toward the Corps Commander’s office in a fury; Physician Hyeonik of the Medicine Hall, who had pretended not to notice his suspicious actions and kept silent to the end; Assistant Instructor So Jinsam, who had gone to a colleague from the True Martial Hall with whom he had an old grudge and bowed his head to ask a favor......
Many people had been watching over him and supporting him from places he could not see.
Yes. Not everyone in the world is cruel!
And now, he was not alone either.
Suddenly wanting to see Hu Gae, Kwak Yeon sprang to his feet.
—WHOOSH!
He raised the Threefold True Fire, burned the envelope and letter as the Jegal Clan Master had requested, then walked toward the door of the inner room.
“Hooooo!”
As Kwak Yeon entered the main hall of the guest residence, Hu Gae’s sigh reached his ears.
He also saw Jin Cheongha sitting opposite Hu Gae with a gloomy expression.
“Brother, at that rate, the ground will cave in beneath you.”
“Urgh!”
—CRASH!
Hu Gae jumped to his feet in shock, sending his chair toppling and rolling.
“Ah......!”
Jin Cheongha’s eyes widened too, and she stood up.
“You...... you......?”
“Brother, calm down. Is it that surprising that I came out into the main hall?”
“Surprising...... it isn’t. Of course you should come out. But you’ve been shut inside your room all this time...... What am I even saying?”
Hu Gae jerked his head once, then asked,
“......Anyway, are you all right?”
At Hu Gae’s subtly trembling voice, Kwak Yeon felt the warmth in his chest grow even larger.
“I have gotten somewhat better.”
Since he had resolved to clear away the black energy and had also learned the method to some extent, it was not entirely a lie, as the saying went that beginning was half the task.
“Then that really is a relief. Just crawling out of there is already impressive enough.”
Hu Gae had often seen people sink after falling into an inner demon. Most hid inside a world of their own for a long time.
And sometimes, they succumbed to their inner demon and burst out as demonic people.
“Chief Secretary Kwak, thank heavens.”
Jin Cheongha also welcomed Kwak Yeon as she spoke. But the light in her eyes was not very bright.
It was because she had seen the black shadow contained in Kwak Yeon’s pupils.
He hasn’t cleared away even a little of his inner demon.
Even so, seeing that Kwak Yeon did not show his inner demon outwardly, Jin Cheongha was all the more amazed by his astonishing mental strength.
“Miss Jin, thank you for worrying about me.”
“Thank me? It’s only natural as a companion. Ah! You haven’t eaten anything all this time, so you must be very hungry. I’ll go to the kitchen at once and bring a meal.”
“Miss Jin, there is food here, so there is no need.”
“This went cold a long time ago, so it is not good for you on an empty stomach.”
“It is fine.”
When Kwak Yeon sat down, Jin Cheongha could no longer insist.
Looking at the ice-cold food that no one had touched, Kwak Yeon’s heart tightened again.
“Brother, if cold food does not displease your palate, why don’t you eat with me?”
“Younger Brother Kwak! There is no beggar in the world who fusses over whether food is cold or hot.”
—CLATTER!
Hu Gae quickly took his seat as well.
Then Jin Cheongha quietly sat down too.
When the two men looked at her, Jin Cheongha said,
“Perhaps my tastes have changed too. I like cold things now.”
—CLATTER! CLINK!
As Hu Gae noisily swept over the table again and again, the great quantity of food soon dwindled by nearly half.
“Buuurp!”
After filling his stomach in a frantic rush, Hu Gae belched grandly, and Kwak Yeon furrowed his brow.
“Brother, this is not a place where it is only the two of us. I think that was rather excessive.”
“Hm? Was it?”
With an awkward expression, Hu Gae spoke to Jin Cheongha across the table.
“Sister Jin, my apologies. You feel so much like family that I was rude without even realizing it.”
“Sub-Branch Master, I don’t mind at all. In fact, even I felt relieved just watching you.”
“Really? Then should I belch refreshingly one more time?”
“Brother!”
“Younger Brother Kwak, I was joking, joking! Do you think I would not know that Sister Jin only said that to keep me from feeling embarrassed?”
Thanks to Hu Gae’s shameless humor, the heavy atmosphere inside the main hall lightened somewhat.
After a short silence, Kwak Yeon suddenly asked Hu Gae,
“Brother, what kind of person is Right Military Strategist Baek Ri-gi?”
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