“I sensed Sword Qi as vast and clear as a sky without a single cloud, so I thought it might be you... and it seems Clan Lord Yeon is here as well.”

Maybe because this was a private visit, his manner of speech was different from how he spoke in the council hall.

Yeon Wi raised his clasped hands in a formal martial salute.

“Abbot.”

Abbot Gonggong received the greeting with a half-raised palm.

Yeon Wi flicked his eyes toward Yeon Hojeong.

Yeon Hojeong returned the salute with proper courtesy.

“I’m Yeon Hojeong of the Yeon Clan. It’s an honor to meet you, Abbot.”

“Hoho, the honor is mine as well. This is the first time we’ve met like this in private, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

Yeon Hojeong lifted his head, eyes gleaming.

As I thought.

An ordinary build.

In a gray monk’s robe with a red ceremonial sash draped over it, Abbot Gonggong looked exactly like the classic image of a high-ranking monk.

But the heavy power he kept hidden inside was like an ocean filled with golden light.

He’s enormous.

Even with the gusting wind, that dense “sea” didn’t so much as ripple—packed so tightly it filled every part of Abbot Gonggong’s three Qi reservoirs without a single gap.

And even that was only conjecture. At Yeon Hojeong’s current level, he couldn’t see the full total of what Abbot Gonggong contained.

So he really is a titan.

Someone Yeon Hojeong had never met in his days as the Dark Emperor.

But he had fought alongside Shaolin warrior-monks more than once, joining forces to crush enemies. Most of the ones he’d fought with back then were first-generation disciples—often around Yeon Hojeong’s age, or younger.

And every single one of them had been astonishingly formidable.

They didn’t say “All martial arts under heaven come from Shaolin” for nothing.

And yet—

The martial level Yeon Hojeong had reached as the Dark Emperor had surpassed Abbot Gonggong by a wide margin.

Even so, Yeon Hojeong was shocked by the sheer density of the Abbot’s inner power.

What kind of inner power is this, to be this monstrous?

Yeon Wi asked in his usual blunt voice.

“But why have you come all this way without even a single attendant?”

Even Yeon Wi was meticulous before Abbot Gonggong. Part of it was the difference in age—part of it was the overwhelming weight carried by the title “Abbot of Shaolin.”

Abbot Gonggong smiled.

“Clan Lord Yeon.”

“Yes, Abbot.”

“May I speak privately with your eldest son for a moment?”

Yeon Wi looked at him in surprise.

“...”

Abbot Gonggong’s eyes were clear.

So deep, so clear, it felt like you could be pulled straight in if you stared too long. It was the insight of an enlightened person—something you couldn’t display with half-baked cultivation.

Come to think of it...

Despite forging that shocking inner power and terrifying martial skill, his face was still lined with fine wrinkles.

He carried dense Qi, yet his appearance still matched his age. Power that didn’t defy the natural order—Shaolin’s divine arts, handed down for a thousand years, pursued that kind of natural strength.

Yeon Wi nodded.

“Of course.”

“Thank you.”

Yeon Wi looked at Yeon Hojeong.

Yeon Hojeong dipped his head.

“I’ll be back.”

“Go.”

Then Abbot Gonggong spoke again.

“I heard you wield a heavy weapon—over a hundred and thirty pounds. Was that right?”

“Hm? Ah... yes.”

“Then bring that along too.”

It was a loaded remark.

Yeon Hojeong lifted Mad Dragon (Axe) as if it were nothing—then, just in case, he also brought Flood Dragon Chain.

When Abbot Gonggong saw the chain, a quiet interest flickered across his face.

But only for a moment.

“Come. Let’s go.”

The place Abbot Gonggong led Yeon Hojeong to was a forest deep inside the Alliance grounds.

All the way there, Abbot Gonggong didn’t say a single word.

Neither did Yeon Hojeong.

After pushing through the brush for some time, a wide clearing finally opened before them.

A clearing...

It was enormous. It looked at least three times wider than the inner fortress training ground where he’d sparred with his father.

Abbot Gonggong spoke.

“Here.”

“Yes.”

Soon, the two of them stood at the center of the clearing.

Yeon Hojeong looked around.

It’s like someone built this place just to tell you to fight.

And it seemed someone really had trained here violently not long ago. The ground was scarred and gouged in every direction.

“You’ve got patience.”

Yeon Hojeong turned his gaze to Abbot Gonggong.

The Abbot’s face was filled with an easygoing smile.

“Not opening your mouth once on the way here... for a young man these days, you’ve got restraint.”

“I’ve got a lot on my mind. It’s not that I’m especially patient.”

“Hohoho.”

Abbot Gonggong laughed, broad and unguarded.

His laughter was genuinely pleasant to hear.

“Let’s greet each other properly. I’m a worthless monk—shut up in the abbot’s quarters on Mount Song, killing time with whatever nonsense I can find.”

Yeon Hojeong couldn’t help a short laugh.

It was quite the introduction. When people thought of Shaolin’s Abbot, they usually imagined a compassionate man with imposing gravity.

Abbot Gonggong was different.

Maybe he showed different faces in public and in private.

“I’m the Yeon Clan’s idiot who only came to his senses recently—after hammering nails into my family’s hearts.”

Abbot Gonggong laughed loudly again.

“What kind of bizarre introduction is that?”

“Not as bizarre as yours, Abbot.”

Even though it was their first meeting, the tone between them had become strangely familiar.

Abbot Gonggong smiled and nodded.

“As expected. You’re not what the rumors say.”

“Hm?”

“They say you’re a hot-blooded young man whose inborn talent is focused solely on martial arts... but you seem nothing like that.”

“Is that so?”

“It is. A tiger general, yes—but also someone with a fox’s cunning, a snake’s wisdom, and even a dragon’s ever-changing face.”

Yeon Hojeong flinched without meaning to.

“You’re praising me too highly.”

“Am I? Hoho. And if I am, so what? Excessive scolding is a problem, but I doubt there’s any harm in excessive praise.”

“Too much praise makes people arrogant.”

“Are you that kind of person?”

“I might be.”

“Between us—at your age, with your level of achievement, I think it’d be fine if you got a little arrogant.”

Strange.

He was the Abbot of Shaolin, a man who had mastered the Buddha’s teachings deeply—yet this conversation felt like something you’d hear between ordinary men.

From a monk’s mouth, saying it’s fine to get arrogant?

He was unusual.

It sounded sincere... and yet, in another light, it felt oddly layered. Like he might be asking by way of saying it—or like he might be saying it without any meaning at all.

Either way, he’s definitely not ordinary.

Abbot Gonggong asked,

“Why? Am I not acting like the Abbot of Shaolin?”

Yeon Hojeong gave a small, amused snort.

“You’re something else. Like a ghost.”

“Hey! Even a worthless monk is still someone who follows the Buddha’s teaching—calling me a ghost?”

“...You get worked up over the strangest things.”

“Hoho. So what’s your answer?”

“Up until a moment ago, I did think you weren’t.”

“And now you don’t?”

“People’s personalities all differ, don’t they. Monk or Daoist, they’re still people in the end. Just because you pursue enlightenment doesn’t mean your nature has to be the same.”

“Hohoho!”

Abbot Gonggong laughed loudly.

That hearty laughter carried a bright, delighted mood. Yeon Hojeong’s words had clearly amused him.

“One thing’s certain. No one has ever spoken so boldly in front of Shaolin’s Abbot—especially not on a first meeting—like you just did.”

“There’s no reason not to.”

“Exactly.”

Abbot Gonggong’s eyes brightened.

“That’s the point. Even if you can’t avoid worldly etiquette, there’s no need to bow your head more than necessary.”

“Did that please you?”

“More than enough.”

Yeon Hojeong’s expression hardened.

“Then tell me. Why did you call me here?”

“Why?”

Abbot Gonggong tilted his head.

“Doesn’t this ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) place answer that for you?”

“Is it just a spar?”

“If it weren’t, would I have told you to bring that heavy axe too?”

Yeon Hojeong looked a little thrown.

“So it is...?”

“Hohoho. That face of yours—now you finally look like a young man my age. I’m relieved.”

Relieved?

Abbot Gonggong brought his palms together as if in prayer, then slowly opened them.

“We’ve talked too long. Come—let’s begin.”

Yeon Hojeong stared at him in silence.

A spar...?

With a first impression and a bit of conversation, you could usually get a feel for the other person’s temperament and likely reactions.

But not with Abbot Gonggong.

Not with the eyes of the Green Mountain Tiger General—

Not even with the eyes of the Dark Emperor—

Yeon Hojeong couldn’t pin down who Abbot Gonggong truly was.

More precisely, he couldn’t read his intent.

“...”

After staring at Abbot Gonggong for a long moment, Yeon Hojeong raised Mad Dragon (Axe) upright before him.

Interest rose on Abbot Gonggong’s face.

“I was surprised earlier too, but... you really do lift it like it’s light.”

“It’s my main weapon.”

“And that chain isn’t ordinary either, is it?”

“I brought it, just in case.”

“Hohoho.”

With a cheerful tone, Abbot Gonggong said,

“One last thing.”

“Go ahead.”

“Before I called you, I had a round with Commander Mo Yong as well.”

Yeon Hojeong’s eyes flashed.

“With the Demon-Sweeping Corps Commander?”

“That’s right. He was impressive. The spar was only a short while, but in that brief time, he’d grown explosively.”

“Oh?”

A natural smile spread across Yeon Hojeong’s face.

Abbot Gonggong’s eyes twinkled.

He means it.

It was a clean smile, with no trace of competitiveness or jealousy.

That was unexpected. The more talented a young man was, the more impatient he tended to be when he saw another genius’s growth—

Yet Yeon Hojeong showed none of that.

Confidence? Or does he simply acknowledge others with sincerity?

Either way, he wasn’t ordinary.

Just as Yeon Hojeong couldn’t read Abbot Gonggong’s true face—

Abbot Gonggong couldn’t read Yeon Hojeong’s true face, either.

That was, to Abbot Gonggong, truly surprising.

He hadn’t lived through slaughterfields like Yeon Hojeong had—but he did possess inborn wisdom, Shaolin’s divine arts, and true sight gained through cultivation.

I was right to call him.

Abbot Gonggong asked,

“Shall we truly begin now?”

“...Fine.”

BOOOOM!

With a powerful stamping step, the earth trembled.

Abbot Gonggong’s eyes lit up—admiration for the leg strength carried through the ground.

Yeon Hojeong’s smile turned cold.

“I’ve been using my head so much lately... I almost forgot what I’m like when I’m simple.”

“Hohoho.”

“I’m counting on you to take it all.”

“I am the Abbot of Shaolin.”

That was the moment—

FLASH!

Abbot Gonggong’s eyes widened.

Huh?!

FWOOSH!

A streak of light flashed—and Yeon Hojeong had already closed to within about ten feet.

Fast! 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

It was like a gigantic fireball had been launched. The crimson radiance surging through his whole body looked like the wingbeat of a Fire God.

Yeon Hojeong swung Mad Dragon (Axe).

FLASH—KRA-KOOOM!

A terrifying barrage tore up the skin of the earth.

It was a real attack—no mercy, not even a little. He didn’t lace Vermilion Bird Qi with killing intent, but Vermilion Bird Art itself was ruthless Killing Methods from the start.

FLAP-FLAP-FLAP!

Abbot Gonggong’s red sash tails snapped and fluttered in the wind as his body lifted into the air.

Incredible.

Six merciless axe strikes in a single second.

Abbot Gonggong was genuinely shocked. He’d never imagined Yeon Hojeong would unleash something this brutal right from the start.

And that footwork is—?

SKREEE!

Abbot Gonggong’s eyes widened further.

This wasn’t footwork. It was a Body Method.

Yeon Hojeong’s figure, soaring with his waist held straight, evoked the posture of a refined gentleman.

A gentleman holding a savage axe.

It didn’t fit at all—and yet it fit in a strange way. Under the open sky, with fighting spirit surging, Abbot Gonggong roared,

“Starting like this?!”

“You said you’d take it all!”

Abbot Gonggong thrust out his hand.

THOOM! CLANG!

Struck by soft, yielding palm force, Mad Dragon (Axe) rebounded at tremendous speed and plunged into the ground.

Abbot Gonggong’s eyes flashed.

He let go of his main weapon?!

SNAP.

Yeon Hojeong appeared at his left.

Abbot Gonggong was startled inside.

He read it?

Yeon Hojeong smiled, vicious and sharp.

“Don’t let your guard down, Abbot.”

White Tiger Qi exploded from his fist.

KABOOM!