Following my father to the dining hall, I saw that some people had already gathered. The group wasn’t much different from those who had eaten last night, but First Elder and Cheol Jiseon were nowhere to be seen. Cheol Jiseon had probably run off. As for First Elder, I had no idea where he’d gone.
When I entered the dining hall with my father, gazes shifted toward us.
Screech—! Several people who had been sitting in their chairs stood up.
It was Namgung Bia and Wi Seol-a.
Their eyes were fixed on my bruised, blue-black eyes, and the blazing emotion in them was anything but mild.
“Who…?”
It was a question asking who had done this to my eyes.
Though the words were spat out lightly by Namgung Bia, Gu Yeon-seo, who was sitting beside her, flinched at the emotion contained in them.
Seeing that, I waved my hand roughly and spoke.
“It’s nothing serious.”
“Liar.”
At Namgung Bia’s firm words, Wi Seol-a beside her also nodded.
“That is a lie. When the young master says it’s nothing serious, it usually means it’s a big deal.”
“…”
At the two’s simultaneous nodding, I had to feel a mixture of emotions.
Just how did they see me normally to speak so firmly? Did they think I only went around causing accidents?
‘…’
What was sad, now that I thought about it, was that I couldn’t definitively say they were wrong.
“Who… did this?”
Namgung Bia looked ready to draw a blade at any moment. Draw it, and then what? She was a child who’d barely recovered her health.
“And what are you going to do after drawing it?”
“Scold…”
“You’re going to scold them?”
“Yeah.”
At Namgung Bia’s words, I let out a hollow laugh inwardly.
I couldn’t even scold him, so how did she plan to?
I was grateful in my heart, but no matter how I looked at it, it was too much.
Since I wasn’t answering and just smiled, Namgung Bia approached and carefully caressed my bruised eye with her hand.
The worry contained in her touch felt warm, unlike her cold hand.
Wi Seol-a also approached and started pressing here and there to check for other injuries. It was incredibly awkward to show this to others.
“I said I’m fine. Stop it! People are watching.”
Only after I raised my voice slightly did the two step back. Of course, the worry in their eyes remained.
It was just slightly bruised eyes. Why were they reacting so strongly?
Wi Seol-a, who had stepped back, spat out words as if shocked.
“If the young master ended up like this… it must have been quite a fearsome opponent.”
I nodded at Wi Seol-a’s words.
“He was strong. Terrifyingly so.”
“…Just how fearsome an opponent must it have been…”
“It was fearsome.”
“A bad… person?”
“No, a bad person… probably not?”
Unable to give a definite answer, I felt a presence from my father behind me. It seemed like something terrible would happen if I teased him any more.
Reading the atmosphere, I spoke as if it were nothing.
“I got hit by my father.”
“…Huh?”
“…”
At my words, I could see the two stiffen. Their gazes shifted as well.
From my bruised eyes to my father, who hadn’t even bothered with morning greetings.
My father didn’t show any particular reaction. He simply looked at the two of them worrying about me.
Ah, that might be even scarier.
Then before long, the two shifted their gazes back toward me.
Their eyes were filled with resentment, as if asking why I was only saying this now.
‘…And you said you’d scold whoever did it.’
To think they’d turn the arrows of resentment toward me so immediately.
To me, that was quite an unfair and hurtful part.
******************
After roughly finishing my meal, I headed to the same cave as always. I needed to train after missing a few days, and I also had business with Paejon.
“I have arrived.”
The moment I gently set foot in the cave, the smell of alcohol assaulted my nose.
Frowning at the foul smell, I looked around. Liquor bottles were everywhere.
How many were there? At any rate, it seemed to exceed a number countable on one hand.
“You have come.”
Having pushed that multitude of bottles into a corner, Paejon stood in the center.
“What is that?”
When I pointed at the bottles, Paejon smirked.
“Old friends tilted our cups together for the first time in a while.”
“That’s beyond the level of just tilting cups.”
“Does it not become so when one drinks intoxicated by atmosphere and joy? It is simply because you are still young and cannot understand.”
“…”
I had to shake my head at Paejon’s words.
For the record, I hadn’t particularly enjoyed drinking even in my previous life.
There was no one worth enjoying it with either. At best, I had raised a glass beside the Demon Sword Empress when she took a sip with moonlight as her side dish.
“If by old friends you mean, did First Elder come by?”
“One could say that.”
The old men really drank like fish.
Looking at the amount, it didn’t seem like just the two of them. Had there been more? I didn’t know.
Paejon, having confirmed my reaction, laughed heartily and waved his hand.
Then, a fierce wind burst forth from his body.
Whoosh—!
The wind swept through the entire cave and went straight outside.
Then, surprisingly, the lingering smell of alcohol in the cave vanished.
‘Amazing no matter how many times I see it.’
I looked at Paejon with surprised eyes. It was an astonishing application of internal energy, no matter how many times I saw it.
If it were merely creating wind, I could do it too.
But the wind Paejon generated didn’t touch any other objects in the cave; it swept out only the air inside.
Without moving the piled-up bottles or the stone ridges on the floor, it had touched only the air.
Just how was that possible?
Perhaps noticing my gaze, Paejon asked.
“Shall I teach you?”
“Is that something one can learn?”
“Perhaps not for others. But for you, it would be possible.”
“…No, thank you.”
“Is that so? It is quite a useful method. What a shame.”
Paejon clicked his tongue regretfully. I knew it was a useful method, but the reason I refused was none other than this:
‘That man overestimates me too much.’
Paejon often said things like “You can do it” when teaching me.
The meaning contained in those words was: “Since you are like me, anything is possible.”
In other words, he seemed to think the talent I possessed was on the same level as his own.
‘That’s the problem—it’s not like that.’
To me, it was merely an overwhelming expectation.
If you watched Paejon from the side, you could realize it before long.
That man is the real deal among the real.
Among the so-called prodigious martial artists spread throughout the Central Plains, Paejon was one who could be counted on one hand.
There were times we chatted during training, and each time, Paejon would occasionally let out complaints.
—“Why can’t they do that? These youngsters have no perseverance. It’s something you can do if you set your mind to it.”
Whether it was applications of internal energy or methods to read an opponent’s movements. According to Paejon, you could see as much as you wanted if you tried, but…
The old man didn’t seem to know that if it were that easy, every dog and cow would be a master.
‘Easy my ass.’
From a listener’s standpoint, there really was nothing to say.
A man who created a new martial art with his own hands, and despite emptying all the internal energy he learned at a late age and starting anew, had now become one known as the Three Venerables.
That was Paejon.
Those called the Three Venerables were all like that, but Paejon was said to be a genius who could be counted on one hand even in history.
To me, such a person’s expectations were truly burdensome.
No matter how I looked at it, I was at best an ordinary person, not a genius.
“But, lad.”
“Yes.”
“Why are your eyes in such a state? You look like you got beaten somewhere.”
“…”
“You shouldn’t be someone who goes around getting hit… How did you end up in such a wretched state? Ah, but since it looks amusingly funny, it’s fine by me.”
Saying it’s fine because it’s amusing. What kind of dog-shit nonsense was that?
“…It’s an injury from sparring with my father.”
At my words, Paejon’s gaze turned intrigued.
“With the Gu Patriarch, you say.”
“Yes.”
“Tsk tsk. Then it is understandable. How was it, your spar with your father?”
“…”
A spar with my father. Honestly, there was nothing to think about or say.
“I couldn’t even graze his sleeve.”
At my words, Paejon made a strange expression.
“Your father seems to be the same as ever.”
“Do you know something about my father?”
“Literally, only a little.”
“How?”
“If you ask how, I simply know. It is not easy to find a martial artist who has reached that level. Conversely, lad, how much do you know of your father?”
“Ah… well…?”
If asked how much I knew about my father, honestly, I didn’t know. All I knew was that he was much stronger than his reputation.
‘Now that I think about it.’
A question did occur to me. To Paejon, specifically.
“Elder.”
“Yes.”
“Why did you not offer my father a disciple position? Or did he not catch your eye?”
I didn’t know how much talent my father had, or what realm he had reached, but from my perspective, he seemed closer to the kind of person Paejon wanted than I was.
He stuck to my side like glue telling me to do this and that, so why hadn’t he done the same to my father?
At my words, Paejon stroked a beard he didn’t even have and spoke.
“You are curious about strange things. Why are you curious about that?”
“Literally, just because I’m curious.”
“Hmm…”
Paejon fell silent as if he had something to think about, then continued shortly after.
“The time when I checked your father was when I had not yet undergone rejuvenation.”
So he meant it was a time when he didn’t need to seek a disciple?
“Of course, after going through an incident, when I thought of seeking a disciple, I did recall your father.”
“Yes.”
“I immediately excluded him.”
“May I ask the reason?”
“Because it would have been meaningless.”
What did that mean?
Did it mean my father wasn’t to his liking? Before my question could grow, Paejon added an explanation.
“Your father had already become one with his martial arts.”
“…Become one with his martial arts?”
I had to ask again, unable to properly understand.
Become one…?
Perhaps because of my continued questioning, Paejon put on a slightly annoyed expression but began to explain.
“Have you heard of the Unity of Spirit and Sword?”
“Yes. I know of it.”
Unity of Spirit and Sword.
It was said to be the realm where a swordsman becomes one with the sword.
He is the sword, and the sword is him.
The state of becoming completely one without boundaries. It was said to be something swordsmen dreamed of more than raising their realm as martial artists.
Swordsmen who reached that point were sometimes bestowed the title of master, and it was said they could draw an invisible sword called the Mind Sword.
This was also a realm the Demon Sword Empress had reached in my previous life.
“To say one has become one with their martial arts means they have advanced a little beyond that.”
“Advanced beyond that…”
“Having understood all the martial arts one has learned. The body becomes not a vessel to display martial arts, but the martial arts itself.”
Paejon’s words were full of incomprehensible things, yet for some reason, the weight of his words felt like it pierced through my body.
“This is called Transcendence. But it is not something you need to understand yet.”
“Transcendence…”
Why was it? Hearing Paejon’s words, I fell into questions.
It was a story I had never heard in my previous life.
It seemed like an important story. Why was I hearing it for the first time?
“…Then are you saying my father has reached Transcendence?”
“At least from what I saw, he had. Therefore, it is not something I could suggest to someone who has reached such a level.”
Did that mean one had to reach such heights for Paejon to approve of them, yet still give up?
Furthermore, did it mean my father had reached such a level?
‘I’ll have to ask him about this later.’
It seemed like something I could casually ask my father.
After organizing my thoughts up to there, I decided to ask Paejon something else.
“Then have you also reached the realm of Transcendence?”
“…”
I immediately regretted asking.
Because Paejon’s expression distorted slightly at my question. Was he in a bad mood?
Paejon soon began speaking in a voice mixed with a sigh.
“…Do you know what the minimum requirement to reach Transcendence is?”
“I do not.”
“It is the completion of one’s martial arts.”
“Ah.”
Only after hearing those words did I understand why Paejon had made that face.
“I could not reach it. That is why I am more curious. What lies in that place that my martial arts can reach.”
“Then you’re using me because you want to see that?”
“…Your way of speaking grows prettier by the day. ‘Using’ you, you rascal.”
No matter how I looked at it, what I had said seemed like the correct answer.
That was probably why Paejon nitpicked my wording without denying it.
‘Transcendence.’
He had said it could only be attempted after completing one’s martial arts.
There was one more thing I wanted to ask after hearing this, but I couldn’t bring myself to.
The question: Then does that mean my father is stronger than you, Elder?
That was a bit difficult to ask outright.
‘For the minimum requirement to be the completion of one’s martial arts.’
It was an absurdly high condition.
Whether it was the Nine Flames Fire Wheel Art or the Toapacheonmu.
They were martial arts of ridiculously high difficulty.
What kind of dog-shit nonsense was it that a realm could only be attempted after completing these?
‘It means it’s still not a level I can aspire to yet.’
For now, rather than worrying about Transcendence, I had to aim to raise the Nine Flames Fire Wheel Art to the Ninth Star.
“We’ve chatted enough. Let us slowly loosen our bodies.”
Paejon spoke to me while twisting his wrists this way and that.
The meaning of loosening our bodies was to spar.
The rule was not to use internal energy, but to spar using only forms.
I had done so every time I met Paejon over the past few months.
I had never once beaten him.
It would probably be the same this time too.
Seeing that I was about to take another beating, I was clicking my tongue inwardly when—
“Ah, right, Elder.”
“Hm?”
I remembered something I hadn’t told Paejon yet.
“What? Do you have more to say?”
“Ah, it’s nothing big.”
“Speak.”
“My father said he would like to meet you.”
“…Hm?”
At my words, Paejon was rarely flustered.
“Suddenly? Why would your father…”
“Ah, it’s nothing major.”
At Paejon’s reaction, I awkwardly scratched the back of my head.
“He found out I became your disciple.”
“What…?”
“I tried to use your martial art during my spar with my father. But he noticed right away.”
Haha!
I tried to speak around the fact that I had caused trouble.
“So my father said he would like to meet you once. Would that be impossible?”
At my words, Paejon’s face instantly soured.