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The swelling had gone down considerably since the beginning, but her face was still puffy.

It was a truly strange feeling. How could the same person look so different just because their face was swollen?

Just then, Su-ran spoke from behind.

“Are you laughing right now?”

“Huh?”

It seemed she had been smiling without realizing it.

“I’m not a child, I can’t cry just because I got beaten up, can I?”

“I can’t forgive Young Master Byeok.”

“Is that so?”

“My Lady! Don’t talk about it like it’s someone else’s problem. This is a serious matter!”

“I don’t intend to resent him for this incident.”

Song Hwa-rin had recalled that fight several times a day since then.

“I’ve been learning martial arts since I was young and had countless sparring matches, but I’ve never had a match like that one. That fight was… how should I put it…”

It felt like a real fight. No, it felt even more real than an actual fight.

“He’s stronger than me. Much stronger.”

“He was just lucky.”

Although she said it out of frustration, Su-ran, who had watched the match that day, could tell. Byeok Ri-dan’s martial arts were stronger. Stronger than Song Hwa-rin’s, and stronger than her own.

“Do you know what I thought when I was lying on the ground that day?”

“What did you think?”

“I felt relieved.”

“What? Relieved? Why on earth?”

While Su-ran was shocked, Song Hwa-rin remained calm.

“It felt like something that had been pent up in my chest was finally released. Do you understand that feeling? It’s like when you have something you need to do, but you just can’t get it done. You don’t feel like doing it, it’s bothersome. You know you should do it, but time just keeps passing. But that day, I felt the relief of finally accomplishing something I had been putting off. Like the feeling of taking a bath after a year?”

“Good heavens! Was that something that needed to be beaten up for? I can’t understand this.”

Song Hwa-rin gave a faint smile.

‘Right, I don’t understand myself either…’

At first, she thought the relief came from discovering the weakness in his techniques. But as time passed, she could feel that it wasn’t just for that reason.

She recalled what Byeok Ri-dan had said.

“Sometimes, there are things you can only escape from by fully acknowledging them.”

At that time, she had replied that she couldn’t do that. She thought she could never change.

She looked at the mirror.

Her swollen face.

Perhaps she was sensing a change in herself from the image in the mirror. Maybe she was happy about the change in her heart, not getting angry at something she would have been furious about normally, like Su-ran. Wasn’t ‘change’ what she had wanted most?

Song Hwa-rin slowly walked towards the window and stumbled. When Su-ran rushed to support her, Song Hwa-rin refused, saying there was no need.

She walked to the window on her own and opened it wide.

The hot summer had already burned away, and now a cool autumn breeze was blowing.

“The wind feels so nice.”

***

Gwang-du, whom I had been waiting for, returned.

Unlike usual, he had a serious and grave expression. I could feel that the reason was anger.

“As you said, Ma Jeongsu has bought land on the outskirts of Jinan to build a martial arts school. The contract has already been finalized, and they say construction will begin in earnest soon.”

Gwang-du had found out everything, from the exact location and scale to the number of people who would be involved in the construction.

What angered Gwang-du was this:

“But Ma Jeongsu bought that land at a ridiculously low price.”

“How much?”

“For an absurdly cheap price.”

“The owner wouldn’t have wanted to sell.”

“That’s right. The original landowner didn’t want to sell. But…”

Gwang-du said with an angry face.

“Not long after refusing the contract, an accident occurred and his youngest daughter died.”

“An accident?”

“There was a fire in the house…”

Gwang-du seemed too choked up to continue speaking for a moment. I waited for his next words with a calm expression.

“That’s not all. The next month, the eldest son fell off a horse and was seriously injured, and the landowner’s elderly mother died suddenly after eating something bad. The steward who opposed selling the land was nearly killed after being stabbed by a drunk. They reported it to the Martial Righteous Alliance branch, but it seems they couldn’t find any connection between the incidents. In the end, the landowner sold the land and left Jinan with his family.”

Gwang-du trembled, his fists clenched tightly.

“Is this really okay?”

Gwang-du was convinced that all of this was intentional.

His thinking is correct. There’s no way such coincidences could pile up like this.

My heart had already sunk coldly, but I didn’t show that anger.

“Did Ma Jeongsu come to make the contract himself?”

“No. I heard it was Flower Fan Elder who led the contract negotiations.”

This vile old man!

I could guess what had happened. He’s an outsider. To get in Ma Jeongsu’s good graces, he would have needed to accomplish something.

Flower Fan Elder had committed an unforgivable act to maintain his own wealth and power.

“I felt incredibly angry, but at the same time, I was scared. How can a person do something like this?”

“It’s because they’re not human. How can someone who commits such acts be considered human?”

“Young Master! Please punish them. Please, really punish them. I’m asking this because I’m still not strong enough.”

Gwang-du’s eyes were filled with sincerity. There had been various incidents since I met Gwang-du, but this time he was truly angry. Much more than when he himself had been insulted.

“I will.”

My brief response. But it was a more definite answer than a hundred words.

Gwang-du read the determination in my answer.

“Thank you, Young Master.”

The kid was growing and becoming a true martial artist.

Yes, you should be angry. You should realize that we hone our martial arts to punish such evil deeds.

“I truly felt it this time. That if you’re weak, you can’t do anything. I hate this helplessness of not being able to do anything.”

“I’ll help reduce that sense of powerlessness a bit.”

“What?”

I took out a box from the leather bag at my side.

“Open it.”

“What’s this?”

Gwang-du opened the box. Inside were three roots of Vitality White Hare’s Ear Root.

“What are these roots?”

“They’re what’s called elixir in the martial world.”

“Gasp!”

Gwang-du was startled. His hands holding the box trembled.

“Th-this is elixir?”

“It’s not the best kind. It’s considered a low-grade elixir.”

“But it must be expensive, right?”

“It is expensive.”

“How much?”

I told Gwang-du the honest price. When he heard it was nine thousand taels per root.

“Gasp! That’s incredible! Where can you dig these up? I’ll climb mountains right away. It wasn’t the time to ride horses!”

I chuckled. I remembered how he had returned riding a horse quite skillfully.

“If anyone could get it by just climbing a mountain, would it be this expensive?”

“I guess you’re right. But why this?”

He must have thought, “Surely not,” when I said I’d reduce his sense of powerlessness.

“Yes, I brought it for you. Eat it.”

“Really?”

“Would I have shown it to you just to brag?”

Gwang-du jumped up.

“No way! Absolutely not! You should eat it, Young Master! Absolutely not!”

Gwang-du stiffened again. He had stiffened like this before when I suggested we share a room at an inn.

Well, eating and sleeping are probably the most fundamental issues for people.

“I’m fine. If something worth twenty-seven thousand taels goes into my mouth, my cheap tongue will melt.”

“I’ve already eaten. I bought this for you.”

“Then eat more.”

“I can’t eat more.”

“What?”

“It’s just like food. Even the best food can make you sick if you eat too much, right? It’s the same with elixirs.”

Of course, it wasn’t exactly the same meaning, but it conveyed a similar idea.

“Then give it to the Master and Madam.”

“I’ll take care of my father and mother separately. So don’t worry and eat it.”

“But something this expensive… I don’t know where you got it, but you should go sell it.”

“It’s not something I can sell. So hurry up and eat it.”

“Young Master.”

Gwang-du sighed and hesitated again and again. He asked several times if it was really okay.

He would know from his qi circulation training. How precious this elixir is, how much it will help him. Even knowing this, he’s still declining like this. Even though he really wants to eat it.

It’s because he’s like this that I don’t mind giving it to him.

Gwang-du looked straight at me. This time he asked with his eyes if he could really eat it, and I nodded.

“Alright, I’ll eat it then. I’ll eat it and be even more loyal.”

“Good, be loyal to the death.”

Gwang-du sat cross-legged, holding the box.

“How do I eat this?”

“Just chew it thoroughly and swallow. After you eat it, you’ll feel a hot energy in your body. When that happens, circulate your qi as you’ve learned and absorb that energy into your meridians.”

“Will I be able to do it?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll help you.”

“If that’s the case… alright. But do I eat them all at once? Or eat one and circulate qi?”

“Eat them all at once.”

“Okay.”

If I weren’t here, it would be safer to eat one root at a time. There was always a chance of failing to absorb the elixir.

But since I was here to help, it didn’t matter if he ate them all at once.

Gwang-du chewed and swallowed diligently.

When all three roots had gone down his throat, I said,

“Now, start circulating your qi.”

He began circulating his qi.

I injected a handful of internal energy to examine his body.

“Slowly, calmly.”

As he started circulating, he began to absorb the energy of the Vitality White Hare’s Ear Root. The handful of internal energy I injected guided his internal energy and helped with the absorption.

Gwang-du had practiced his mental techniques diligently, and because he was smarter than anyone, he followed my intentions well.

Ssssshh.

He absorbed as much of the elixir’s energy into his meridians as possible.

“Now, calmly circulate your true qi through one full cycle.”

Gwang-du calmly followed as instructed.

Finally, after circulating his true qi through three full cycles, Gwang-du opened his eyes.

“Is it done?”

I nodded. His expression changed from “How is it so simple?” to worry.

“Did it go well?”

I sighed and put on a regretful expression.

Instead, Gwang-du let out a sigh of relief.

“It went well, didn’t it?”

“Why do you think that?”

“If it hadn’t gone well, you wouldn’t have made such a serious expression. You would have smiled to reassure me instead.”

This kid, he knows me too well.

I smiled and said,

“You’re right. It went well. Go ahead and check your danjeon.”

Gwang-du closed his eyes and felt his danjeon.

A moment later, he opened his eyes wide and shouted.

“There’s an incredible energy in there!”

“Haha, not quite incredible energy. How much is there?”

“I don’t know how much this is.”

“I guess you wouldn’t.”

I placed my hand on Gwang-du’s danjeon.

The internal energy in Gwang-du’s danjeon was equivalent to eight years of cultivation. He had absorbed three years, three years, and two years of internal energy from the three roots. If he had taken them alone, he would have gained about five years. Because I helped him, he gained about three years of additional internal energy.

“It’s the internal energy you would gain from eight years of cultivation.”

“Goodness! Eight years? Really? You’re not going to say you looked again and it’s actually eight days, are you? Hahaha!”

Gwang-du was overjoyed, almost jumping.

I know that feeling well. The joy of learning martial arts for the first time, the indescribable happiness with each step of improvement in martial arts.

“Thank you. Young Master, thank you so much.”

“Now you need to be careful. Although it’s eight years, when your internal energy is imbued in your techniques, it will have incomparable power compared to before. What used to injure will now kill.”

“I’ll be careful, very careful.”

Regarding Gwang-du’s martial arts, I had previously told a story about how he had gone into the mountains with me to train and by chance met a master who passed on his skills.

With the subtlety of the Seven Forms of the Southern Sea Techniques, he had killed four members of the Wild Beast Squad without internal energy, and now he had eight years of internal energy to back it up. Not only the Minor Sword Squad, but in the Main Sword Squad as well, no one except for the leader Seo Jung would be able to defeat Gwang-du.

Gwang-du asked in a trembling voice,

“It might be an obvious question, but the more internal energy you have, the stronger you are, right?”

“That can be said to be true. But just because your internal energy doubles doesn’t mean you become twice as strong.”

“Then?”

“Inner force definitely affects the power of your techniques. But it doesn’t make you as strong as the amount of internal energy you have. It only affects up to the maximum internal energy required by that technique. The rest is influenced by various factors such as the person’s understanding of the technique, their physical strength, mental state, and their insights into martial arts. If anything, internal energy has the most impact on sustainability.”

“By sustainability, do you mean being able to fight longer?”

“That’s right. You can think of it as being able to use techniques more times the more internal energy you have.”

“Ah, I understand well. But Young Master, why did you feed me this elixir?”

“Well…”

“Because you care about me?”

“No. Because I was full.”

At my joke, Gwang-du glared at me and asked,

“You’re not trying to make me throw my body in front of you when you’re in danger, are you?”

“That might happen during a fight.”

“In other words, I’m a meat shield?”

“In our terms, we call it a ‘sword catcher’. Haha.”

To the kid who was pouting, I said,

“Instead, I’ll make you an invincible sword catcher. A sword catcher that can cut down even masters. For my sake, and for your sake too.”

At those words, Gwang-du’s expression brightened.

“I’ll work hard too.”

Gwang-du definitely has the makings of someone worth teaching and raising.

Once, an instructor at the Martial Righteous Alliance who taught martial artists said something like this: The more enjoyable someone is to teach, the faster they grow. Perhaps he was talking about someone like Gwang-du?

And Gwang-du, keep your promise.

It has been decided which wing of Ma Jeongsu to cut first.

Flower Fan Elder.

This filthy old man killed innocent parents and even a young child to satisfy his own greed?

Gwang-du, watch closely.

See how I finish off this person.