At Ryeon-hwi's declaration.
Go Gu's already scarlet face flushed even deeper, mottling between red and purple.
Ryeon-hwi spoke as if the matter were settled.
"You may go. I won't bother seeing you off."
Go Gu stormed out of the training grounds with furious strides, and Ryeon-hwi immediately took command.
"What are you all standing around for?! Get Hyeok and Ja-pil to the infirmary, now!"
"Y-yes, sir......!"
The warriors who had been pressing their foreheads to the ground leapt up as if on cue.
One of them hoisted Ja-pil and Gwak Jeong onto his back, while two others flanked Un-hyeok to support him.
"L-let's go, Young Sect Leader."
A far cry from their earlier attitude — deferential to the extreme.
Un-hyeok nodded.
"All right. But before that."
Un-hyeok turned to Ryeon-hwi.
"Father, as for the details of what happened......"
"No need. Won is here, isn't he?"
"Yes, Brother. I'll fill Father in on everything, so don't worry and go get treated."
"Won is right. Hyeok, the only thing you need to do now is focus on your recovery."
"......Understood."
After Un-hyeok was helped away from the training grounds.
Ryeon-hwi turned to Mu-won.
"Won, explain. How on earth did your brother manage to defeat Ja-pil?"
"Well...... even I could hardly believe what I saw. Brother was wielding twin swords as if they were extensions of his own body, and on top of that, he even used hidden weapon techniques."
"What?"
"And what's more, the thing that actually brought Captain Neung to his knees was none other than......"
Mu-won's gaze darkened.
"Poison."
"Poison? Explain."
"It was only for an instant, but I saw it clearly. Brother unmistakably used poison arts during the match."
"How is that possible...... I haven't even taught Hyeok the Thousand Poison Heart Method yet."
The Thousand Poison Heart Method was the most foundational of the supreme martial arts available only to the Poison Demon Sect's direct bloodline.
And even after learning it, one could not simply produce poison right away.
It demanded grueling effort that cut to the bone.
'After wrapping up the Golden Dragon Chamber affair, barely a week had passed. And Hyeok spent most of that time in the Dark Archive.'
Far too little time to learn anything of substance.
'Unless he mastered the Founding Patriarch's Myriad Streams Return to Poison Divine Art, there's no way he could wield poison arts this quickly......'
Then a single hypothesis flashed through Ryeon-hwi's mind.
'Wait — didn't they say Hyeok saw traces of the Founding Patriarch's divine art in the Dark Archive?'
According to Seok In-gu, Un-hyeok had then proceeded to devour every text in the archive.
"Could it be......"
Ryeon-hwi clapped his hands together.
"Yes, that's it! Now everything falls into place!"
Mu-won tilted his head.
"What is it, Father? Did you figure something out?"
"Indeed. Won, your brother is almost certainly......"
Ryeon-hwi's eyes brimmed with conviction.
"A genius."
"Huh? What do you......"
"Listen. The reason I believe so is this......"
Ryeon-hwi laid out his hypothesis and how he had arrived at his conclusion.
After hearing it all, Mu-won thought for a moment, then nodded vigorously.
"You're right, Father. If Brother is a genius, then it would be entirely possible for him to replicate techniques after reading the manuals just once."
"Exactly! If he has the talent to restore the Myriad Streams Return to Poison Divine Art, doing something like that would be child's play!"
Had anyone else overheard this conversation, they would have called it madness.
But Mu-won was a brother-worshipper beyond all measure, and Ryeon-hwi was a hopelessly doting father.
"A genius always defies conventional thinking."
The moment the premise of "genius" was applied, every unexplained piece fell neatly into place.
"The reason he read every secret manual in the Dark Archive was likely to exploit the fact that all of the Poison Demon Sect's martial arts derive from the divine art."
"That makes sense. But how did Brother trace them back to the source? No one in the Poison Demon Sect has ever managed to restore the divine art."
Mu-won marveled in genuine awe.
"What an absurd level of martial talent!"
The Dark Archive alone held well over three hundred martial manuals.
The total number of techniques within them exceeded ten thousand.
Without seeing through martial arts in their entirety, restoring the divine art was simply impossible.
Martial arts degraded over time, and their original meaning faded with them.
Yet Un-hyeok had accomplished this impossible feat.
"Father, but......"
"......?"
"Why did Brother hide his talent all this time?"
"Hmm......"
After a moment's thought, Ryeon-hwi arrived at yet another answer of his own.
"Your brother was probably afraid."
"Huh?"
"After your mother passed. Your brother drowned his grief in wine and women. But he possessed a talent no one else had."
"......"
"If that talent were discovered, they would never have left him alone. They certainly would not have given him even the time to mourn."
In the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, weakness was a sin.
And no one would allow talent like Un-hyeok's to go to waste.
Any father blessed with a genius child would think similarly — but Ryeon-hwi was different.
"Foolish boy. How did he endure all that suffering alone?"
Hiding his talent, betraying everyone's expectations.
All so he could grieve his mother's death in peace.
How many times must Un-hyeok have wept alone, where no one could see?
The memory of nearly casting Un-hyeok out, ignorant of everything, stung Ryeon-hwi's conscience.
His eyes began to burn.
"What a wretched father I am. To know nothing at all about my own son."
"Father......"
Seeing how pained Ryeon-hwi looked, Mu-won offered comfort.
"If you know it was a mistake, you can start making it right from now! Just like Brother showed us today!"
"......You're right. A father shouldn't show such a shameful side to his son."
Ryeon-hwi resolved himself.
"From now on, I will give Hyeok my unconditional support in whatever he sets out to do. That must be how I can help him."
"I feel the same! Father, I think I finally understand my role!"
Mu-won clenched both fists, his will blazing.
"To help Brother — the greatest prodigy of all time — and restore the Poison Demon Sect to its former glory! That's what I'm meant to do!"
"Well said! That's my son!"
And so, without Un-hyeok's knowledge.
The misunderstanding continued to grow.
***
Meanwhile, at that very moment.
Un-hyeok returned to his quarters after treatment.
A splint braced his arm.
Plaster had been poured over it and secured tightly with cotton cloth.
"Tch. Lying around for days over a scratch like this? Ridiculous."
The infirmary had insisted he needed several more days of treatment.
Un-hyeok had refused.
"They said even seasoned warriors would scream at a wound like this."
Un-hyeok scoffed.
"If a wound this minor makes you whine about dying, you've got no business calling yourself battle-hardened."
During his days as the Sichuan Tang Clan's hound.
Un-hyeok had been deployed on nothing but life-or-death missions.
'Lying around recovering from injuries? Not even in my dreams.'
Wounded or not.
The mission continued.
He had learned acupoint sealing for emergency treatment back then too.
The enemy does not wait.
If you cannot kill, you die.
Compared to those days, the rest he had now was downright luxurious.
"Haah. Still, there's a long way to go."
He had won the match against Ja-pil, but the content left much to be desired.
'Getting hurt was ninety percent the fault of that garbage equipment, sure. But I can't say I had zero problems myself.'
A true artisan never blames his tools.
More important than the weapon was the person wielding it.
The greatest sword in the world became third-rate in a third-rate fighter's hands.
And a roadside twig became the world's greatest blade in the hands of the world's greatest master.
'Still, I do need a proper weapon.'
The problem was that he had neither the materials nor a craftsman to help.
'I could probably borrow money and a forge from the Golden Dragon Chamber......'
After a moment's thought.
Un-hyeok reached a conclusion.
'Realistically, I need to shelve this problem for now. I should focus on building my skills with what I have.'
Given his arm, physical training was out of the question for a while anyway.
He was just thinking he might as well devote the time to refining the Myriad Streams Return to Poison Divine Art when.
"My lady, please! The Young Sect Leader needs rest. Please go back!"
A commotion outside.
"What's going on?"
Un-hyeok approached the door, and a young girl's voice reached him.
"B-but...... I heard my brother was badly hurt......"
The voice was young and tender, but Un-hyeok recognized it at once.
Dok Un-hyeok had only one younger sister.
'Dok Seo-ryeon.'
The original owner of this body, Dok Un-hyeok, had treated Dok Seo-ryeon as if she did not exist.
Their mother had died from complications giving birth to Seo-ryeon.
Dok Un-hyeok's resentment had naturally fallen upon her.
But.
'Ironically, Dok Seo-ryeon was the spitting image of her mother.'
Seeing her face would stir his resentment — yet also his longing.
And so all Dok Un-hyeok could do was coldly turn his back on his own sister.
"My lady, standing here and waiting won't change anything. You know why the Young Sect Leader dislikes you."
"I...... I know......"
Seo-ryeon spoke in a voice on the verge of tears.
"Because I'm the wretch who devoured Mother and was born from it?"
"No, my lady, that's not what I......"
"Just because I'm young doesn't mean I don't know anything!"
Tears welled in Seo-ryeon's eyes.
Several among the Poison Demon Sect's household had blamed her as Un-hyeok's spiral worsened.
"I know...... I know they whisper behind my back! That it's my fault...... that big brother went astray because I was born!"
"Th-that's not......"
But the grievances that had built up over the years made Seo-ryeon deaf to anything else.
"They're right, it's all my fault! If only...... if only I had never been born......!"
"Enough!"
The sliding door flew open, and Un-hyeok stepped out. Both the servant and Seo-ryeon went wide-eyed.
"Young Sect Leader......"
"B-Brother......"
Un-hyeok approached Seo-ryeon slowly.
She squeezed her eyes shut without thinking.
The person who hated her — no, despised her — had heard her causing a scene right outside his door. How furious he must be.
"I-I'm sorry......"
Seo-ryeon trembled like someone struck with chills.
"I...... I just...... I was worried about you, Brother......"
"Do you know what you did wrong?"
Her heart sank.
Through all the years of Un-hyeok's coldness, the one reason Seo-ryeon had kept clinging to him was simple.
She was starved for love.
Mu-won had told her stories — how, in the past, Un-hyeok had cherished and loved her in their parents' stead.
And so she had begged for it.
Craved his attention.
Craved his presence.
Craved his love.
'I just wish...... big brother would love me too......'
But now it seemed she had to give up.
She had heard that Un-hyeok had changed and had let herself hope, just a little.
'But I've ruined everything. Brother will keep hating me.'
Utterly crestfallen, Seo-ryeon hung her head.
"I'm...... sorry. I won't bother you anymore, Brother."
"That's not why I'm scolding you."
Not understanding, Seo-ryeon raised her head.
And for the first time, Un-hyeok was not looking away from her. He was meeting her eyes.
"Ryeon."
A hand settled gently atop Seo-ryeon's head.
"None of this is your fault. So don't blame yourself."
"......Huh?"
"Mother's death......"
A tangled mess of thread, knotted beyond all hope of unraveling.
Un-hyeok had decided to cut it clean.
"That is no one's fault."