Chapter 16: If Necessary (1)

It’s been three days since I returned to Gugga after finishing the Nine Dragon Gathering.

It’s already been three days since I learned I could use the Heavenly Demon’s demonic arts.

Over the past few days, I took advantage of my training to keep circulating the Nine Flames Wheel Technique, but I couldn’t feel any demonic energy within my body.

It was certainly fortunate, but I wasn’t letting my guard down, wondering if I might not know if the demonic energy was lurking inside me.

‘You filthy bastards are making me suffer even after I’m dead and back to life.’

The training ground in one corner of my quarters was filled with the heat radiating from my body.

Since I’m still only 2-star at best, it wasn’t a particularly threatening heat.

‘…Is my body not ready yet to ascend to 3-star?’

My understanding and proficiency in handling internal energy should have risen long ago.

Both the amount of internal energy I currently possess and the body that should contain it were not properly formed vessels.

Ultimately, repetitive training is the only answer.

Thanks to that, I’ve been suffering from muscle aches for days now….

I opened the door of the heat-filled training ground and went outside.

A spring breeze brushed past. Thanks to it, my hot body cooled down quickly.

‘Uh-uh! Isn’t there dust in front of that too?!’

‘Hohohoho….’

‘….Hmm?’

What kind of situation is this now?

Next to the Sword Master sweeping the yard, a familiar figure appeared. A height exceeding eight feet, broad shoulders, and muscles bulging as if about to tear the clothes, contrasting with the white hair that showed his age.

There was no need to confirm who it was; the figure was Elder Yi.

‘No, come on, shouldn’t you sweep more thoroughly! Look at this, it’s absolutely full of dust, really.’

‘Hohoho….’

‘…What is that crazy old man doing right now?’

Elder Yi was standing next to the Sword Master, pointing his fingers here and there, offering unsolicited advice.

In all my life, I never thought I’d see a situation where the Sword Master was being harassed for being bad at cleaning…?

‘Look at this, you’re acting like you’ve never swept a broom in your life.’

How should I describe the way he nitpicked every single speck of dust, the kind you could barely see even if you enhanced your vision with a technique….

‘…For starters, it’s really an eyesore?’

The Sword Master and Elder Yi were contemporaries who enjoyed their prime during the same era.

I didn’t think they wouldn’t know each other.

But what on earth is this scene?

‘Elder Yi, what are you doing?’

‘Oh! Yangcheon has arrived.’

‘…No, why are you suddenly bothering Old Man Wi?’

The Sword Master had asked to be called by his name, but as someone who knew his identity, I absolutely couldn’t do it, even if I died.

‘No, this old man isn’t sweeping properly, you see. Tsk, tsk, if you’re getting paid for it, you shouldn’t be doing this.’

No matter how I look at it, I don’t see any dust…?

‘It looks clean…?’

‘Uh-uh! Because you do such a sloppy job, isn’t that why your quarters are in this state?!’

What kind of baseless complaint is this?

For reference, the quarters looked clean to anyone who saw them.

Not only the other attendants, but even Wi Seol-ah had cleaned with care.

‘Why is Elder Yi acting like this? Could he possibly be teasing the Sword Master?’

Nah, surely not. Would an elder of a prestigious family really be playing around like this?

‘…Is the Sword Master okay?’

The Sword Master, wearing his usual benevolent smile, didn’t seem to mind.

He just continued sweeping silently.

‘Hohohoho….’

As expected, someone called the Sword Master in the current Central Plains should easily overcome even such trivial disturbances….

‘Hohohoho!’

‘No, he’s angry.’

Looking closely, I could see veins bulging on his forehead in the shape of a cross (十).

I felt I should leave the spot, so I tried to escape quickly, but Elder Yi grabbed me.

‘Are you coming from training?’

‘Yes, as you can see.’

‘Hmm….’

‘Why do you ask?’

‘It’s nothing. Your escort was waiting over there earlier.’

The direction Elder Yi pointed was towards the entrance of the quarters.

‘Mu Yeon?’

I told them I’d be training, so why isn’t Mu Yeon coming to find me and instead waiting?

I had clearly told them to just come into the training ground and call me if anything came up.

‘Thank you. I’ll be going ahead.’

‘Leaving…?’

‘Yes?’

As I started heading towards Mu Yeon, Elder Yi stopped me with a strangely pitiful voice.

‘Yangcheon, aren’t you perhaps hungry? This old man has something very delicious….’

‘Young Master finished his meal earlier.’

It was none other than the Sword Master who cut off Elder Yi.

‘W-What! How dare a blood relative interrupt when someone is talking!’

‘Seriously, why are you acting like this, Elder Yi….’

Seeing Elder Yi looking somewhat flustered, I called out to him, but suddenly felt a chilling sensation.

‘What is this chill…?’

Perhaps because I had just finished training, my enhanced senses picked something up.

It was the back of the Sword Master, who was diligently sweeping the floor with his back turned behind Elder Yi.

‘…Hmm.’

The Sword Master would never do such a thing, but his back seemed to be telling me that it would be best if I disappeared quickly.

…Then I should disappear quickly.

‘Elder Yi, I suddenly have a very, very urgent matter.’

‘In that case, this old man will also….’

‘Anyway, take care.’

I didn’t listen to the rest of his words. I felt like something bad would happen if I stayed here any longer.

Avoiding Elder Yi’s hand, which reached out again to grab me while adding some words, I quickly fled.

---

After Gu Yangcheon left, a strange silence remained in front of the training ground where only Elder Yi and the Sword Master were left.

Even amidst this, Elder Yi was looking around, observing various places.

‘There are too many trees in front of the wall, should I go over the roof towards the quarters…?’

…He was identifying an escape route.

Seeing one of the Three Sovereigns of the World sweeping the ground with a broom in someone else’s quarters sparked a playful mood unbecoming of his age.

So, I teased him a bit excessively. This was also Elder Yi’s nature: to act first without thinking about the consequences.

Thanks to that, I felt a sense of crisis I hadn’t felt in years.

‘….I went too far.’

Although the Sword Master, Wi Hyogung, was now living his life pretending to be a benevolent old man, to Elder Yi, who knew his past actions and personality, it was a spine-chilling sight.

‘A Sword Demon who would draw his sword first if it were the Demonic Path.’

The man called the symbol of the Orthodox Path was, from the perspective of the Demonic Path, the Sword Master was a murderer and a Sword Demon.

He was the Sword Master who never hesitated even an inch when punishing evil people.

‘Guryeon.’

When the Sword Master called Elder Yi’s name, a chill ran down his spine. It was a sensation he hadn’t felt in a long time.

‘Ahem, ahem… Senior, are you perhaps angry? I was just playing around. Thanks to me, Yangcheon didn’t receive unnecessary suspicion….’

‘That child is truly a curious child.’

‘…Hmm?’

As Elder Yi pondered where he could quickly escape to, the Sword Master suddenly brought up an unexpected topic.

The Sword Master was thinking about Gu Yangcheon.

‘Different every day.’

The Sword Master’s initial impression of Gu Yangcheon was merely that he was a young man from Gugga.

Gu Yangcheon gave the Sword Master, who judged character solely by reputation and appearance, considerable enlightenment, but that was all.

The fiery energy he contained within his body was insignificant compared to the blood relatives of Gugga, and even when compared to children of similar age from other families and sects, his talent ranked far behind.

A child of Gugga, that was all.

That was Gu Yangcheon as seen and thought by the Sword Master.

‘But what about now?’

He thought of Gu Yangcheon, whom he had just glimpsed moments ago.

Unlike when he first saw him, the fiery energy contained in his dantian hadn’t become hotter, nor had its quantity noticeably increased.

However, it was stable.

Among the cultivation methods of the Orthodox Path, the Gugga cultivation method is said to be the most violent, especially when intertwined with the Peng family’s methods.

To circulate such rough power stably within the dantian was not an easy task.

This requires intuition, thus it is definitely an area of time and talent.

Considering Gu Yangcheon’s age, the word ‘time’ doesn’t fit here, so…

That was clearly within the realm of talent.

‘I can’t feel anything particularly special, but the energy contained within his body is not something that should exist at his age.’

‘I was also quite surprised when I saw him after a long time.’

‘…Are you saying it wasn’t like that last time you saw him?’

‘About three months ago, perhaps. He ran away saying he couldn’t do the demonic stances even a little.’

Such a child suddenly changed in just a few months.

Just looking at the intensity of the training he was doing now, it was incomparable to before.

According to his escort and attendants, he spent all his remaining time training, except for eating, sleeping, and brief rests.

And that too, training of extreme intensity.

And the Sword Master, watching from the side, knew best that Gu Yangcheon’s actions were not false.

‘What could have suddenly awakened that child?’

It’s natural for people to change as time flows.

There is always a reason for sudden change.

This was an immutable law.

What had changed Gu Yangcheon so drastically? The Sword Master suddenly became curious.

‘Senior, you always have so many thoughts.’

Elder Yi clicked his tongue, watching the Sword Master like that. It seemed he had become full of useless thoughts as he aged.

‘What’s good is good, why are you always so complicated?’

Elder Yi felt as if his biggest worry had subsided.

‘I wonder what Elder Il would think if he knew.’

The face of the old man who gave off an unpleasant vibe flashed through his mind.

He was someone who opposed Gu Yangcheon becoming the family head, criticizing his character and talent.

And it was an eyesore how he kept subtly introducing his own bloodline for the position of family head, so I feel completely refreshed now.

‘Senior, don’t overthink it, whatever it may be.’

The inner demons harbored by the Sword Master could hardly be resolved by his own words.

Especially if it concerned family matters.

‘Thank you.’

The Sword Master, knowing the words were meant for his well-being, expressed his gratitude to Elder Yi.

‘Ahem… Well, I’ve seen your face once, so that’s enough. I’ll be going now….’

‘Where are you going?’

‘No, well, I saw Senior’s face and that Yangcheon brat’s face too, so I should be going to do my work too….’

‘Guryeon, haven’t we yet finished our important discussion?’

‘What do you mean….’

Elder Yi stopped speaking, sensing a chilling aura. There was an imperceptible energy hidden in the Sword Master’s smiling eyes.

‘Weren’t you going to teach me about my sweeping? I’m still curious about that.’

Only then did he remember how he had teased him earlier. He thought the Sword Master might let it slide since the conversation shifted to Gu Yangcheon, but that wasn’t the case.

‘This narrow-minded fellow….’

As soon as the Sword Master took a step forward, Elder Yi launched himself onto the roof behind.

It was the escape route he had calculated earlier.

---

-Kuuung-kung!

‘Are they doing some construction somewhere? Why is it so noisy.’

‘I heard yesterday that they were renovating one of the family’s buildings, so I suspect that might be it.’

‘Really? They must be doing quite a large-scale renovation if the noise reaches this far.’

I felt a strangely familiar energy, but I ignored it.

What I needed to focus on now wasn’t construction or whatever.

As I approached the entrance, Mu Yeon was fidgeting, wearing an expression that clearly said, ‘I have something important!’

When I asked why, Mu Yeon handed me a letter.

Within the few lines of text was the message I wanted.

[Request, Accepted.]

I grinned upon seeing the written words.

There was no need to think about what it meant.

The letter was from the Hao Clan.