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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Something is Wrong.
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Once the aunt's family, who had blatantly revealed their thieving intentions, had left, Masok, the half-gray-haired old man, and another old man who had been watching from a distance, approached.
"Young Master! What were you thinking, saying something like that?!"
Masok's bellowing shout stung his ears.
"What?"
Seeing Mujin turn to look at him while cleaning an ear, the white-haired old man spoke up instead of Masok.
"Wh-Why would you agree to such a duel with that bastard from the Cheong family!"
"...What did you say your name was, old man?"
As Mujin asked, looking at the half-gray-haired old man, Masok shook his head and answered.
"This is Elder Do Baek-shin, our steward."
"Right. Steward Do. That thief from the Cheong family was trying to snatch our ancestral martial arts for free. Should I have just let him?"
"W-Well, no, but…"
Confronted directly, Do Baek-shin was at a loss for words.
"Still, fighting a battle you can't win is a fool's errand."
The short, stout old man who had slowly approached said.
"And what's your name, old man?"
"That is Elder Jo Hwan-bong, who leads the Ju Sword Unit, the family's only martial force."
Again, Mujin nodded at Masok's explanation and spoke.
"Hey, Elder Jo. Aren't martial artists a breed that lives by the sword, fueled by nothing but the pride of their own convictions and stubbornness? Like moths diving into a raging fire. I have no intention of becoming a long-lived piece of trash who only calculates whether a fight is winnable or not. I've never lived that way."
Jo Hwan-bong's lips twitched at the reply, which was steeped in the conviction Jeongcheon had built over his past life.
It was a show of spirit as if the Flame Emperor, Hwa Ju-tae, whom he had followed and watched his entire life, had returned from the dead.
Finally, a smile tugged at Jo Hwan-bong's lips as he asked again.
"Do you have a plan?"
"I do."
Seeing Mujin answer as if it were obvious, a look of anticipation bloomed on Jo Hwan-bong's face.
"What is it?"
"From now on, I'll hone my martial arts and cut that thief's head off on the fifth day of the month after next."
"..."
"..."
"..."
At his words, a dark shadow fell over the three men's faces.
'The madness has flared up again.'
The thought passed through all three of their minds simultaneously.
"Brother…"
"Big brother…"
He looked down at the two children tugging at his clothes with their small hands and saw eyes that looked ready to burst into tears at any moment.
"You both worked hard to stand against those thieves. You can rest easy now."
As he finished speaking, he crouched to meet their eyes and stroked their heads, and the two children buried themselves in his arms.
"Sob…"
"It was s-scary…"
The children finally burst into tears.
"You endured well, like true children of a martial family."
Standing before martial artists filled with hostility, not goodwill, is a harder task than one might think.
Even a few large men with menacing expressions could make one's courage shrink, so for children this young to grit their teeth and face such a terrifying atmosphere was more than admirable.
"Brave. So brave."
Mujin patted the backs of the two crying children.
'Seok and Yeong-a were about this age.'
The only woman in his life, the one who made him risk even his own life for revenge.
A woman who had raised her younger siblings all by herself.
Seeing these children, who were about the same age as her siblings, seemed to warm Mujin's hardened heart just a little.
After comforting the two children, Mujin turned to Masok.
"Where is that Red Flame Arts?"
At Mujin's question, Masok looked at Steward Do and Elder Jo.
Elder Jo stepped toward Mujin and spoke.
"Are you planning to learn the Red Flame Arts?"
"Me? No. These children. I'm having my siblings learn it."
"His lordship's last will was that the Red Flame Arts be passed down only to the eldest son."
It is common in martial families to concentrate all of the family's power onto the eldest son.
The rule of eldest son succession, which permits only the eldest to inherit the secret arts, is a basic measure to prevent the family's power from weakening as it splits into branch families and to keep the secret arts from leaking to collateral lines.
As the sole disciple of a one-man school, Mujin certainly respected such rules, but he couldn't care less about the rules of the Yeomhwa Family.
"I am the Flame Emperor… I don't need my grandfather's martial arts. I have something far superior. So don't worry about the succession rule. As the family head, I permit it. Let my siblings learn the Red Flame Arts."
At Mujin's words, Elder Jo asked again.
"Are you truly permitting this? You cannot take it back later, no matter what you say."
"I have never stooped to the disgrace of taking back words I have spoken."
This was the moment the restriction of eldest son succession, which had troubled the Yeomhwa Family the most, was broken.
The previous generation could not learn the Red Flame Arts due to blocked meridians, and in this generation, the line was cut off due to madness.
There had been vassals who had argued that the martial lineage should be passed to the younger siblings, bypassing the mad eldest son, Mujin.
But because of the last will of the Flame Emperor, Hwa Ju-tae, who founded the Yeomhwa Family, all such arguments were buried, and the vassals who made them all left the family.
For a child of a martial family, starting to learn internal energy cultivation at the age of eight was extremely late.
"Were you the one who laid the foundation for my siblings, Elder Jo?"
At Mujin's words, Elder Jo's eyes twitched.
"You had the boy practice leg techniques to strengthen his lower body and the girl practice capturing arts to build her foundation. Not bad. A standard choice."
'Is he… not mad?'
For a moment, Elder Jo doubted Mujin's condition, which he had been so sure was madness.
But even if Mujin were sane, it was impossible for someone who had never set foot in the world of martial arts to read the children's internal energy at a glance.
"Have you seen the two of them train before?"
"Let's just say something like that."
With those words, Mujin looked down at the two children.
"You must train diligently from now on. If it's the martial art of our grandfather, who was called the Flame Emperor, then at least in Sichuan, no one will be able to touch you."
With that, Mujin turned and walked toward the inner courtyard.
"Wh-Where are you going?"
To Elder Jo's question, his mind a complex tangle, Mujin replied without looking back.
"I need to form a dantian and build my internal energy quickly. If I'm going to break that thief's neck."
'It really is madness…'
"Y-Young Master, let's go together!"
Masok hurriedly grabbed Mujin's arm and led him.
"This way. That way only leads to an empty storehouse."
"Is that so?"
As Mujin and Masok moved away, Do Baek-shin sent a telepathic message, making sure the two children couldn't hear.
-What do you think? He's still not right in the head, is he?
-Probably not. He still doesn't seem to remember the past. But… how should I put it? He seems a little different than before.
The two men's gazes remained fixed on Mujin's retreating back.
"Elder. Elder!"
"Grandpa. Grandpa!"
Startled from their thoughts by the two children's urging, the two men looked down at them.
"Yes. What is it?"
The steward bent his knees to meet the children's eye level as he replied.
"Can we really learn the cultivation method now?"
"Grandpa, big brother gave his permission, so it's okay, right?"
It wasn't just the eldest son, Mujin, who had inherited the Flame Emperor's martial talent.
The martial talent of the two children, who had absorbed the leg techniques and capturing arts taught to them for physical and mental discipline like sponges despite their young age, was enough to greatly astonish the two old men.
"Of course. Since the Young Master has given his permission, you will now be able to learn the family's martial arts."
Do Baek-shin replied with a bright smile, then glanced up at Elder Jo.
"It should be fine, don't you think?"
"...It is a choice the Young Master has made. A vassal has no choice but to follow."
The two old men considered it a blessing that Mujin's madness had taken this turn.
They thought it was far better to preserve the martial lineage this way than to stand by and watch the Flame Emperor's legacy be stolen by the Cheonghwa Family, with whom they shared not a drop of blood.
'Seventeen years is a long time to endure after being struck by the Seven Wounds Fist.'
'You have suffered much all this time.'
The two old men believed that Mujin did not have much time left.
On the fifth day of the month after next, that thief, Cheong Bo-do, would surely end Mujin's life.
It was obvious he would then come swaggering in to take the Flame Emperor's martial arts.
-We'll have to run away before then, right?
-We can't let the two young masters fall into their hands as well.
It was the moment the last two remaining vassals of the Yeomhwa Family hardened their resolve.
The moment the two vassals who had protected the Yeomhwa Family to the very end decided to leave the family that was on the brink of ruin.
The family head, who had suddenly been burdened with the family, was looking around his very first room.
"This is my room?"
"Yes."
Masok replied in a voice that was barely a whisper, unable to even lift his head properly, as if in apology.
"It's spacious and nice."
"Pardon?"
"I said, it's spacious and nice."
Once a place where many merchants in Sichuan were desperate to form connections, it was now just a small, declining martial family.
Masok didn't know how to respond to such a comment about a shabby room in an old, worn-out courtyard.
"It has been well-maintained for a long time. It puts my mind at ease."
What was so great about a room with warped windows from age and not a single common decoration?
But Masok simply bowed his head and said.
"Then please rest. I will come for you when it is time for dinner."
"No need. I'll be busy until noon tomorrow, so don't disturb me."
"You'll be busy?"
"Didn't you hear me earlier? I'm going to form a dantian. I'm short on time if I'm to form it and develop it."
"...Yes. If you get hungry, please come to my quarters, the place I mentioned earlier."
Masok decided not to argue with every word from Mujin, who seemed to be deep in his madness.
He had lived as a servant in a martial family for nineteen years.
Even though he had never learned martial arts himself, he had overheard a great deal.
Masok knew that it took at least several months just to create the foundation for internal energy upon entering the world of martial arts.
It could take months just to sense ki.
He had also heard that the faster one could sense ki, the more talented they were considered.
The rumor that the prodigy who was the head disciple of the current Wudang Sect had sensed ki in just half a month and completed his dantian in a month, earning him the title of a child genius, was always brought up when discussing the Wudang Sword Dragon.
'One day…'
"Haa."
Stepping outside, Masok let out a deep sigh and shook his head.
Unaware of what the people of his household were thinking, Mujin sat cross-legged on the floor.
'Starting over again.'
He was suddenly reminded of when he first met his master and began his training in the Demonic Spirit Arts.
'It wasn't easy back then.'
The Demonic Spirit Arts and the Demonic Spirit Sword Arts he had learned from his master.
Those two martial arts were the entirety and the essence of the Demonic Spirit Sect, a school of sole succession.
Without so much as a single movement technique or palm art, there was only one cultivation method and one sword art.
But in his time as Jeongcheon, he had been able to kill all the elite masters of the Nine Great Sects with just those two arts.
-Movement arts, palm arts, fist arts, leg arts, you don't need any of it. A sword is the best for killing people, and you don't need anything besides a sword.-
His master's philosophy.
And the Divine Demon Jeongcheon, who had proven that philosophy with his own body.
After briefly reminiscing about the past, he closed his eyes and began to concentrate.
The process of sensing ki was, of course, unnecessary.
It was partly because the body's owner possessed outstanding martial talent, but for him, who was once more adept at controlling ki than moving his own limbs, he could feel the ki just by closing his eyes and concentrating.
Mujin began to draw that ki into his body through familiar breathing.
And so, about eight hours after he sat in a meditative posture.
-GUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
A great scream erupted from Mujin's mouth.
Why would he scream like this, he who hadn't even let out a groan, let alone a scream, when a sword was plunged into his heart?
Startled by the scream that shook the courtyard in the middle of the night, Masok, the elder, and the steward all rushed to his quarters in a single breath.
-Young Master!!
The two old men, already aware that his life was nearing its end, thought his time had come.
Masok, on the other hand, worried that the fits of the man who had barely been maintaining his sanity had started again.
Throwing open the door and rushing inside, the three of them found Mujin clutching his stomach and rolling back and forth on the floor.
-Young Master!!