There’s an unspoken rule in a duel with Big Brother: not to hurt each other seriously. That’s why we had to adjust the strength of our internal energy, and pause during the fight to exchange words.

Anyway, with just the power of the Wooden Dummy Art, I couldn’t face Big Brother.

As Big Brother and I were facing off, the laborers dropped their work and ran out to watch us. Since watching a fight is an instinct one can’t help, I let them be.

Big Brother showed entirely offense-oriented movements with the Dokgo Heavy Sword in the lead, but unfortunately, I also knew the essence of the Dokgo Heavy Sword. I could predict most of the attacks and variations without much difficulty. That didn’t mean I could easily find a gap in Big Brother’s defenses. In the end, we gradually raised our internal energy to the point the wooden swords could no longer endure.

Just as many times as our swords clashed, Big Brother and I exchanged glances. It felt as if we could understand each other without even speaking.

‘Just a bit more...’

After confirming each other's gaze, we drew out more energy. Now that fighting spirit was manifesting from Big Brother’s body, his breathing grew fierce, and I too entered a combative state and swung my wooden sword.

Whether the duel would end first,

or the wooden swords would break first—it was hard to say...

Right at that uncertain moment, Big Brother’s sword path, which had been attacking my shoulder, suddenly curved sharply and fell toward the right side of my neck.

At the same time, I thrust my wooden sword into Big Brother’s chest and struck Big Brother’s wooden sword precisely with the Middle Finger Flick Technique using my left hand.

Pak!

The moment Big Brother’s wooden sword shattered, my wooden sword had already reached his chest.

But Big Brother caught it between his index and middle fingers, then rotated his wrist and snapped the wooden sword in two.

We glanced at the handles of our broken swords, then nodded.

Big Brother asked, “How did you knock it away like that?”

“Middle Finger Flick Technique. Did you deliberately catch it with your fingers too?”

It looked as if he treated it like a real sword and grabbed the blade with his fingers. At that moment, the workers who had been watching suddenly cheered and clapped at once.

“Waaaah!”

Did we look like something amazing in the eyes of those workers?

I sat back on the bench with Big Brother. Big Brother asked curiously, “Can you really shatter something like that with the Flick Technique?”

“It was a momentary explosion of internal and external energy at a single point. I followed the trajectory all the way, so I could strike precisely. Well, it was a wooden sword, so that helped too.”

We looked at each other with calm expressions, then resumed carving our wooden swords, holding our daggers in hand.

Big Brother, with a rare satisfied expression, peeled the grain from the wood with his dagger. It seemed the duel had pleased him quite a bit. I also focused on crafting my wooden sword.

After we each completed a new wooden sword, we rested.

Our breathing grew easier.

Before we knew it, the sun was setting, like the end of an ordinary day.

The workers hired by the Demonic Cult continued building the barracks with lights on, while the workers of the Zaha Inn stopped their tasks and gathered in the clearing to prepare dinner. Since they always made enough for Big Brother and me too, if we wasted time like this, we’d probably hear someone calling us to come eat.

Anyway, it was fortunate that I no longer had to feed Big Brother food I made myself.

I sat on the bench and watched the sunset from beginning to end with Big Brother.

There weren’t many times peace came to my heart, but today felt rather calm. Knowing that Big Brother’s heart was also at peace, I found my breathing remarkably easier.

I felt as if something was peeling away from my chest, so I let out a dry cough.

“Hrm...”

Big Brother looked at me and asked, “Why?”

“It’s nothing.”

Next, I felt as if a thin membrane or film peeled away from my head, so I straightened my posture and sat upright. It was a sensation I’d never felt in my life, so I was honestly a bit surprised inside.

‘What is this?’

After I sat upright and folded my legs into a lotus position, Big Brother quietly watched me.

Seeing my expression, Big Brother asked, “What’s wrong?”

“My senses feel strange. It’s not a bad feeling.”

“Do you need to circulate your energy?”

“I’ll meditate for a moment.”

“Go ahead. With a calm heart.”

I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing.

Something was happening inside my body, but it was a phenomenon I had never experienced, so I felt confused.

As I calmed my mind and observed my inner body, I felt the same sensation again. The membrane that had wrapped around my chest peeled away once, and another unknown layer peeled from my head. Each time this happened, my breathing grew just a bit more comfortable, and my chest felt lighter.

It didn’t feel like I needed meditation anymore...

So I opened my eyes again.

Big Brother was looking at me from the side, and the surroundings had already turned dark. When I looked up at the sky, the stars were densely packed. Sure enough, the lights set up by the people building the barracks nearby were clearly visible.

Strangely, all the lights around me looked especially vivid.

It felt like even the thin film on my eyelids had been peeled away. Above all, when I focused on my hearing, I could faintly hear the voices of the people working on the barracks.

Only then did I realize that my five senses had expanded somewhat.

Big Brother seemed to guess my state and said, “Doesn’t seem like the Deviation of the Heart.”

I nodded. “My sensory perception has risen a bit.”

“And?”

I told Big Brother about the changes in my body.

“My chest feels a bit clearer. My head feels sharper. My vision improved, and everything looks more vivid than before.”

“Hold on.”

“Okay.”

Big Brother got up, brought over a torch from the workers, and examined my face carefully. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

“How’s your breathing?”

“It’s comfortable.”

“Compared to yesterday or before, how’s your mental state?”

“Mental state? It’s the same as always. Nothing different.”

“If something stirs in your danjeon or you feel a change in your body, prepare to circulate your energy immediately. I’ll stand guard, so don’t worry. But this bench feels a bit unstable, so let’s go inside.”

“Sure. Nothing’s wrong, but let’s head in for now.”

I got up from the bench and headed toward the workers. As they saw us, one of them said, “Dinner will be ready soon. Please come this way.”

Big Brother handed the torch to a worker and replied, “You eat first.”

“Yes, sir.”

Suddenly, I stopped in my tracks and took in the construction site of the Zaha Inn. The framework had just gone up, with foundation stones placed here and there and pillars standing. On one side, I could see the flags of the Murim Alliance, Jecheon Alliance, Black Cat Gang, Nammyeong, and Unhyang. As I added imagination to the scene, the completed Zaha Inn looked like a dream.

“......”

Only after looking at the Zaha Inn did I realize...

Even if it were engulfed in flames again, I wouldn’t feel regret, or rage, or sorrow, or hatred. I was ready to accept whatever outcome came.

After looking at the Zaha Inn...

I realized that a layer of madness that had been choking my heart had been peeled away.

It was slightly absurd.

In my past life and in this one...

No, even up to the moment I was dueling with Big Brother...

I had never been sane.

It seemed I had been mad all along.

How could a person be like that? I was insane even with my eyes open, and even when I slept with my eyes closed. It wasn’t something to be surprised about, but today felt different. Big Brother was the only one I could ask.

“Big Brother.”

“Yeah?”

“Have I been a really crazy bastard all this time?”

At times like this, Big Brother always answered honestly.

“You weren’t moderately crazy. You were always walking a tightrope between heart demons and inner calm.”

“How about now?”

Big Brother looked at me and replied, “It’s something happening in your heart, so I wouldn’t know. How does it feel to you?”

I met Big Brother’s gaze and replied, “Not bad.”

Hearing my words, Big Brother smiled pleasantly.

“Then that’s good enough. What more could guys like us ask for? If it’s not bad, then it’s fine. Just in case, sit cross-legged and circulate your energy. I’ll stand guard.”

I sat down in front of the under-construction Zaha Inn, closed my eyes, and asked Big Brother, “What do you call this phenomenon? There must be a word for a situation like this. But I can’t remember it.”

With my eyes closed, I heard Big Brother’s voice.

“I don’t think there’s a term for your current state in orthodox martial schools.”

“Then?”

“It exists in the demonic path.”

“What is it?”

Calming my heart, I waited for Big Brother’s answer. His voice struck my ear.

“It’s probably the phenomenon of Breaking Free from Madness.”

So it was something that ridiculous.

Breaking Free from Madness, huh?

I let out a short sigh and fell into meditation.

Does this mean the path I’ve been walking all this time was the demonic path?

It’d be laughable to stubbornly deny it.

After all, I’ve always suffered from Qi Deviation and Ipma throughout my cultivation. That was true in my past life and this one. Moreover, the Zaha Divine Art manifested only through the process of the Deviation of the Heart.

So the state right before manifesting the Zaha Divine Art was Qi Deviation.

And the state while invoking it was Ipma.

No wonder I could never use it freely.

In truth, some of my actions were driven by madness—slaughtering martial artists—and were closer to the demonic path.

Let’s admit it. If this isn’t the demonic path, ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) then what is?

I had been mad all my life...

Only after my mind returned to normal did I realize how seriously mad I had been. This realization was somewhat different from just thinking of myself as a crazy bastard.

As ridiculous as it sounds...

It meant I had rarely been sane.

A few memories flashed like a lantern reel.

The memory of smashing in the skull of the already-dead Black Line Pavilion Lord, splitting the Vice Leader of the Woonwoo Society with an axe, how I felt while killing the assassins from Saryugok by the lakeside, grabbing Gyo-yeong by the collar and throwing her off a cliff, using Heaven-Piercing Sun-Moon Radiance, unfolding the Zaha Divine Art, the moments when my body felt on the verge of collapse and I’d fall asleep, how I felt when I danced in the rain after killing the Four Heavenly Kings...

That is the Deviation of the Heart. That is the demonic path.

If that’s not the demonic path, then nothing in this world is.

Just how far had I run before I escaped it?

...I saved Moyong Baek, dragged Cha Seong-tae along, came to understand Im Sobaek, tried to make Sword Demon smile a bit more. I gave up on killing the Drunk at the last moment, and although I tormented the Lecher, I never truly pushed him away.

Because deep down, I knew I wasn’t any better than them.

Seeing a senior who regrets his past reminded me of my own faults.

From the Beggars’ Sect Leader, who I couldn’t imitate even if I were reborn, I felt the nobility of heart.

From Cheonak, who always trained harder than me, I felt awe.

The White-Robed Scholar... I still don’t know about him.

Anyway, what I tried to change was the fate of several people—

And it seems those people slowly healed my heart demons. While I was always running through the night, they gradually turned me back toward the light.

I came to know the union of extreme yin and extreme yang.

I came to know the combination of external and internal energy.

But when it comes to human relationships, I’m still clumsy. Dispelling heart demons isn’t about technique, internal energy, or divine martial arts.

As an unknowable regret entered deep into my chest and I let it out in a sigh...

I felt the dam surrounding the Heavenly Pearl—or maybe my danjeon—collapse.

Was something surging in?

How should I accept this?

I recalled the great sea I once gazed upon with Gwangseung.

Maybe I had always hoped to one day contain that vast current. The waves of regret and past sins surged and spread throughout my body. To accept and endure it, I had no choice but to forcibly expand my narrow heart.

Whether it was the words Master Giseongja left in books, or what Gwangseung used to say while smacking me upside the head...

The intent was the same.

Disciples often only hear what they want to hear, and I was no exception.

In a space that may have been a dream or a vision, I saw the Crazy Demon of my past life running through a dark night, pursued by the Murim Alliance and the Demonic Cult.

Why had I lived like that?

Watching myself run all night, I felt sorrow.

Where was I even running to?

The Crazy Demon kept running through the night. Even then, saying he wasn’t afraid of death felt laughable. If he wasn’t afraid of death, he wouldn’t have been running through the dark. He himself was one of the craziest monkeys in the world, yet he hated the other mad monkeys and wandered through the night.

I followed the Crazy Demon.

I saw my own face staring at the Zaha Inn engulfed in flames. Before I knew it, it wasn’t the Crazy Demon anymore—it was the inn boy from Ilyang County, glaring at the Zaha Inn with a furious expression. In those helpless eyes were the flames of the burning Zaha Inn. As Yi Zaha turned back into the Crazy Demon, he dashed into the darkness, muttering like a lunatic.

It was a vow to come back and kill them all.

As I ran through the night, I was suddenly swept away by pitch-black waves and struggled to stay afloat. Amidst the rolling, boundless sea, I heard Big Brother’s voice.

“...Focus. Little Brother.”

I cast off all distractions and began circulating my energy to receive the flow of the Heavenly Pearl.