That night.

Leaving the completely plastered Ga Deoksang where he lay, Yeon Hojeong stepped out into the rear garden of Army-Breaking Pavilion and sat down cross-legged.

WOOOOOOM...

A faint azure glow wrapped around his entire body.

It was qi far deeper, far more beautiful than it had been two months prior. Even while radiating qi like this, he didn’t let his qi waves leak beyond a certain range.

His control over true qi remained perfect even in the middle of circulation. As time went on, he only grew more adept at tuning his strength.

My body is finally catching up.

In his head, he had already summoned forth all the divine Four Spirit qi, brought Jade Wave True Qi to full great completion, and mastered all five of the Yeon Clan’s Five Divine Arts.

Reality had not been so accommodating. His muscles and bones, his blood vessels and internal organs—every component that made up his body had been too under-tempered to fully absorb that enlightenment.

Now it was different.

I’m starting to cross the line.

To become stronger, you needed more than effort.

It differed from person to person, but for Yeon Hojeong, that “something more” was faith—faith in the experience and enlightenment of himself as the Dark Emperor who had once ruled the Black Path.

That faith was slowly beginning to shine through harsh training and relentless inquiry.

My body is catching up. To the qi, to the enlightenment, to the will. It’s all keeping pace now.

Evolution was a shift from the lower to the higher. And one of the essential conditions for that evolution was environment.

Just as living things evolved to match their environment, Yeon Hojeong had radically altered the environment of his own body.

He swelled his qi and drove his body to the brink. Even when he let his body rest, his mind never stopped adjusting his qi, keeping his physical activity in a constant state of high gear. He had created a hell where he simply could not endure without growing.

With anything less than a monstrous will, either his body would have collapsed, or his upper dantian, unable to withstand the pain, would have caved in.

And in this very moment, after overcoming all of that—

Only now did his flesh lie fully under Yeon Hojeong’s will.

SSSRRK.

Eyes still closed, Yeon Hojeong stretched out his right hand.

White Tiger Qi unwound in fine strands from the naturally extended fingertips.

WHOOOOM.

It called up the wind.

On a cold winter night, White Tiger Qi spun a single current of cozy warm air, then latched onto a suitably sized tree in the distance.

His slackly extended hand slowly curled into a fist.

FWOOOOOSH!

The formless wind wrapped around the tree.

As time passed, that wind grew visibly stronger. The gust spinning around that one single tree began to accrue a faint, translucent white glow.

FLASH!

Yeon Hojeong opened his eyes.

CRACK!

A trace of the gust carved itself across the tree’s surface.

He hadn’t snapped the trunk, but the bark bore the savage scarring of the wind. He had poured a strong intent into White Tiger Qi.

Ordinarily, the tree should have been crushed and broken outright, but the density of his White Tiger Qi wasn’t quite that thick yet. Even so, this much was already a huge success.

“Seizing from the Void...?!”

A voice rang out, laced with shock.

Yeon Hojeong turned his head. Mookbi was standing there.

“Not sleeping?”

“T-that move just now! Wasn’t that Seizing from the Void?”

Yeon Hojeong shook his head.

“No.”

Seizing from the Void was the realm where you used inner force imbued with powerful intent to draw an untouched object to your hand.

Being able to use Seizing from the Void was practically the same as having stepped into the threshold of Sword Control. Of course, to wield anything like true Sword Control, you needed training that made you cough blood and an ultimate level of enlightenment.

“If it’s not Seizing from the Void, what is it?”

“Just one of countless inner-force skills. My body is changing, but my qi and my flesh are still too under-tempered to manifest Seizing from the Void.”

Yeon Hojeong let out a wry laugh.

“It’s fast if you call it fast... but I didn’t think it would still take this long.”

After returning to the past, at first he had thought he would quickly become stronger using the Dark Emperor’s enlightenment. If he repeated hellish training, he had believed he could at least reach the same realm as his father within a single year.

He had been wrong.

Martial arts were not that easy. The Dark Emperor’s enlightenment was indeed something that could be counted among the finest of his age, but it did not grant him divine power.

Even so.

Yeon Hojeong’s conviction never wavered.

I can grow faster. As long as the conditions are met, I can grow much faster.

And he knew exactly what sort of environment would let him explode in growth.

The battlefield.

Combat.

In the past, and now, he had always grown while fighting. The environment where you could most explosively feel the need for evolution at the knife-edge between life and death was the one that completely transformed his martial path.

The closer he drew to death, the more his growth bloomed. Truly fitting for an heir of the Four Spirit Arts.

“If that’s what you call taking a long time, I should just ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) walk outside and die.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve got tricks no one else knows. You don’t. From that angle, you’re the greater one.”

“Tricks?”

“I’ve got them.”

“So many secrets, honestly.”

Trudging closer, Mookbi sat down beside him.

“It’s cold. Why’d you even come out? You could’ve just gone in and rested.”

“I napped earlier, so I can’t sleep.”

“Is that so.”

The two of them looked up at the sky.

It was winter, but it didn’t look like it would snow for a while. Moonlight lay soft and clear.

“Did you finish the alcohol?”

“I did. That’s why I’m sitting out here in this cold, polishing my inner force.”

“And the beggar?”

“He’s sleeping. Man’s got a strong stomach.”

“Tell me about it. He looks like he’d be shameless as hell.”

“He is shameless. It’s not a joke.”

Mookbi let out a small snort.

She turned to look at Yeon Hojeong.

“It’s a bit random, but... can I ask you something?”

“Ask.”

“What’s your dream?”

“Dream?”

“Yeah. Your dream.”

Yeon Hojeong shook his head.

“I don’t really have some grand dream. I have a life’s goal, though.”

“Is it what you talked about before—preparing for the future?”

“Yeah.”

“And that’s more important to you than your own dream?”

“Of course. If our base is wiped out and my people all die, what meaning would fulfilling any dream have?”

Yeon Hojeong smiled faintly.

“I suppose there are people who don’t care about any of that. I’m not one of them.”

“So that’s how it is.”

“Why ask?”

“I told you. It’s a bit random.”

“Pointless woman.”

Mookbi clicked her tongue.

“At least we’ve got something similar.”

“Hm?”

“I want to protect my people too.”

Yeon Hojeong smiled.

“Am I one of your people?”

Mookbi grimaced.

“I don’t exactly want to admit it, but yeah. I’ve got a mountain of debt to pay back.”

“Haha.”

“If you’d just cut it out with the stupid, pointless pranks sometimes, you’d be great.”

“They’re the driving force of my life. Dream on.”

“For all that lofty talk, you’re basically saying you lose all your energy if you can’t mess with other people—classic personality disaster.”

Yeon Hojeong wanted to ask the Mookbi of the past:

With vocabulary that sharp, why did you live with your mouth shut for so long?

“Ugh. Sitting in the cold this long, I can’t feel my backside anymore. I’m going in to sleep first.”

“Already?”

“It’s not ‘already.’ It’s past midnight, idiot.”

“Tch.”

“You should sleep more too. The journey here must’ve worn you out.”

“I’m telling you, I’m not sleepy. And really, what’s going to happen? This is the main fortress of that righteous Alliance of the Martial World.”

“Well, that’s not exactly guaranteed.”

“Hm?”

A chill smile curved Yeon Hojeong’s lips.

“Something’s starting to stink.”

His Three Spirit Qis let out a low, thrumming HUM.

*****

The next morning.

“You’re back?”

“Yes.”

Yeon Hojeong clicked his tongue.

“What took you so long? All the leaders of the Nine Sects and the Six Great Clans aren’t even assembled yet.”

“They’re almost all here. So we spent quite some time wrangling over the topic of founding the Alliance of the Martial World.”

“Well, that figures.”

Even after spending the whole night locked in discussion, Yeon Wi didn’t look the least bit tired.

“Got time?”

“I do, but aren’t you going to sleep?”

“When you’ve got a free moment, come out and talk with me.”

Yeon Hojeong’s eyes flashed. There was something off in his father’s voice.

“Understood.”

“By the way, where’s Hu Gae?”

“He’s still sleeping in my quarters.”

“...”

“Don’t expect too much from that man, Father.”

“Khmm!”

A short while later, the two of them sat facing each other in Yeon Wi’s room.

Yeon Wi got straight to the point.

“The founding of the Alliance of the Martial World is as good as decided.”

Yeon Hojeong’s eyes deepened.

“As expected.”

“You anticipated it?”

“Mo Yong Clan Lord invoked his grand-council authority and rendered great service in declaring the Ming Clan of the Nine Provinces a public enemy of the martial world. In doing so, he created an environment where the leaders of the Nine Sects and the Six Great Clans couldn’t help but focus on him.”

“That’s right.”

“And Mo Yong Clan Lord wants the Alliance of the Martial World founded.”

“Mm.”

“The flow of the times isn’t something you can resist. Besides, Mo Yong Clan Lord is the type whose brilliance stands out in full-scale war rather than local skirmishes. No doubt he took the lead in steering the tide.”

Yeon Wi nodded.

“Exactly as you say. To be honest, even knowing perfectly well that he’s an obvious enemy, I found myself swayed by his rhetoric.”

“I understand.”

For Yeon Wi, the important thing was not that Mo Yonggun was an enemy.

What mattered most to him was the Way of Chivalrous Righteousness and the safety of the people’s everyday lives. For that, he could join hands even with a mortal enemy. There was a reason the world praised him as a Great Hero.

Precisely because he was that kind of man, it was possible for Mo Yonggun’s words to stir his heart.

And it was for that very reason that Yeon Hojeong thought his father was extraordinary.

“Most of the leaders who haven’t yet arrived belong to forces with aggressive temperaments. The odds are high they’ll openly back the idea.”

“So it’s fair to say the founding of the Alliance is already decided.”

“You can look at it that way.”

Yeon Hojeong smiled.

“As I said before, I also support founding the Alliance.”

“Phew.”

Yeon Wi let out a sigh.

Yeon Hojeong smacked his lips.

“Since it’s decided anyway, don’t let it weigh on you too much. If the Alliance improves public order under heaven, that alone is—”

“That’s not why.”

“Sir?”

Yeon Wi’s eyes, fixed on his son, were full of turmoil.

In that instant, Yeon Hojeong instinctively sensed that something had happened—and it concerned him.

“What happened?”

“Mo Yong Clan Lord... no, it started with him, but there was something most of the leaders became very enthusiastic about.”

“...?”

“The newly founded Alliance of the Martial World will not have any real combat units to speak of. Strictly speaking, even if we call it the Alliance, it’s really just the combined strength of the Nine Sects and One Union, the Six Great Clans, and the minor sects.”

“That’s true.”

“But they seem to think they need to create combat units that belong to no one—but exist solely under the Alliance of the Martial World.”

Yeon Hojeong’s eyes flashed.

Yeon Wi shook his head.

“I agreed with that, myself. If the Alliance is going to be founded, it’s better for it to have real power. However...”

“...”

“They want to form combat units whose commanders are masters supplied by each of the major factions.”

A cold smile touched Yeon Hojeong’s lips.

“So the power struggle for initiative has already begun.”

“Yes.”

“What was the outcome?”

“For now, the decision to establish multiple direct-command units under the Alliance of the Martial World passed by unanimous vote. But making commanders out of each faction’s masters—that part drew objections from four people, myself included.”

“Four?”

“Myself, Je Gal Clan Lord, the Abbot of Shaolin, and...”

Yeon Wi’s eyes turned icy.

“Mo Yong Clan Lord.”

Yeon Hojeong wasn’t surprised. He knew perfectly well why Mo Yonggun had opposed it.

When he becomes Alliance Leader someday, he wants to command only his own troops. If they create combat units led by each faction’s masters, he’d have to watch the eyes of those around him.

He was already laying the groundwork. If nothing else, his drive was impressive.

“Since the Alliance of the Martial World is a group with heavy symbolic weight, it’s only right to strip it as much as possible of the colors of the Nine Sects and the Six Great Clans.”

“I feel the same.”

“In any case, it was still a distant matter. Something to ponder slowly, later on...”

“Mo Yong Clan Lord recommended you.”

“Sir?”

Suspicion clouded Yeon Wi’s face.

“As a compromise, he proposed that only half of the combat units have commanders drawn from each faction’s masters. And Mo Yong Clan Lord recommended you as commander of one of those units.”

“...Oh?”

“Do you see his intent?”

“I see one thing clearly.”

A wicked smile spread over Yeon Hojeong’s face.

“That man’s very afraid of me.”