A fortnight passed in the blink of an eye.
And throughout those days—short if one called them short, long if one called them long—Yul Hwi had spent every moment in strict solitude, save for the lunches he shared separately with each of the three elders who visited him one at a time.
The reason was clear.
The Sun and Moon Gate, which reportedly held every mid-to-small sect and even the tiniest martial hall in all of Gangso Province under its control.
He needed to meticulously ascertain the actual extent of their influence within Gangso.
Using the freedom of movement sanctioned by the Moon Master as his pretext, he had wandered Namgyeong ceaselessly to gather information, and the results were nothing short of astounding.
'I never would have imagined that every single sect and martial hall in all of Gangso Province was serving as a branch of the Sun and Moon Gate......!'
Despite being squarely within the Central Plains, Gangso was treated as if it were Beyond the Borders in all but name.
At least when viewed through the lens of the martial world—the domain of martial practitioners.
That was precisely why, even though he had roamed the realm so tirelessly during his days as Annihilation, he had remained utterly ignorant until now.
Ignorant of the staggering truth that every last one of the hundreds of martial sects and minor martial halls in Gangso Province, without a single exception, trained exclusively in the Sun and Moon Gate's foundational arts!
'No wonder there are a hundred or so applicants at every Vein Entry Trial, even though they hold two a year.'
This was not a contest held by a single sect—it was effectively a martial tournament spanning an entire province.
'Do the orthodox Beggars' Sect or the unorthodox Underworld Gate know about this? Does the Cult? Surely the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult had this intelligence as well?'
The conclusion left a bitter taste, but it was most likely so.
From the perspective of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, which schemed ceaselessly to seize the entirety of the Central Plains' martial world, there was no conceivable reason to single out Gangso and treat it as an exception.
"Staggering."
So the fact that he—having spent a full twenty years circling the Central Plains—was ignorant of Gangso's affairs was simply because, by some exceedingly slim probability, no connection to it had ever found him.
Then again, come to think of it.
This was, across both his previous and current lives combined, the very first time he had set foot in Gangso.
"...No, that's not what matters right now."
The crux was the Sun and Moon Gate's human resources, which surpassed anything he had imagined.
Even the Namgung Family and Songshan Shaolin Temple, both recognized as great powers dominating an entire province, had not managed to bring every mid-to-small martial sect within their territory under their heel the way the Sun and Moon Gate had done here.
And the same was true of the great unorthodox factions south of the Yangtze.
This was not something to be brushed aside with a dismissive "they're just mid-to-small sects and martial halls."
The reason mid-to-small sects and local martial halls were looked down upon was precisely because of the worthlessly inferior martial arts they possessed.
'But Gangso is a very different story.'
To draw a comparison with the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, this was effectively the same as having Demon's Gates—each devoted to producing outstanding talent for the Sun and Moon Gate—scattered across the entire breadth of Gangso Province.
It meant that the whole of the Gangso martial world was a single, unified power, much like the Cult in distant Singang.
"Truly extraordinary. At this level, they could readily contemplate a war against the Martial Alliance or the Evil Path Alliance on their own......"
In terms of overall military strength, no matter how tightly the Sun and Moon Gate gripped all of Gangso, an all-out war against either of the two great powers would be an overreach.
But unlike the Sun and Moon Gate, concentrated and unified within the single region of Gangso, the forces under the Martial Alliance and the Evil Path Alliance were scattered far and wide across the entire Central Plains.
And the fierce political maneuvering and power struggles within those coalitions were no trivial matter, either.
So no matter how many times he coldly reassessed the calculus, the Sun and Moon Gate was the single most powerful unified force in existence.
At least when measured within the Central Plains alone.
"And this Sun and Moon Gate just so happens to be situated in Gangso—at the far eastern end, practically the opposite side of the continent from Singang?"
In other words, should a fierce war ever erupt between the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult and the Central Plains' martial world, the Sun and Moon Gate, positioned in the deepest rear, could preserve its full strength until the very end.
By using the Martial Alliance and the Evil Path Alliance—enemies in all but name—as shields.
GULP.
"This......"
Yul Hwi's eyes began to gleam with a peculiar light as he swallowed a thick lump in his dry throat.
His heart had suddenly begun pounding fiercely, hammering against his chest.
'If I could seize complete control of this Sun and Moon Gate......?'
Had he not heard that the next generation's Gate Master was to come from the Moon Vein, and that the position had been reserved for the Vice Moon Master?
With the Young Moon Master—the sole heir meant to succeed the Moon Master—lying unconscious from Qi Deviation, and with he himself on the verge of becoming the Moon Master's new disciple—
"I feel as though a picture is starting to form."
A grand picture, vast enough to engulf the entire world, was slowly taking shape in Yul Hwi's mind.
A masterpiece that would be passed down through the history of the martial world for ages to come.
***
The next morning.
At last, the long-awaited day of the Vein Entry Trials had arrived.
Yul Hwi, having already returned to peak condition, strode toward the examination grounds with an endlessly arrogant expression.
Trailing closely behind him like a shadow was a martial artist from the Elder Council, assigned by the elders who had been too busy to accompany him in person.
A young woman of roughly the same generation, she was naturally a member of the Moon Vein as well.
Having been sneaking glances at Yul Hwi—who maintained his silence throughout the leisurely walk—she finally could not help herself and addressed the back of his head, which towered a good two heads above her own.
"You gave me the slip again yesterday and vanished like a ghost, did you not? Young Master Yul?"
"Hm? Oh! Seaside cuisine just does not agree with my stomach, you see. I stopped by the privy and then headed straight back to the gate."
"That is word for word the same excuse you gave the day before yesterday and eight days ago. Am I imagining things?"
"Ha ha! Well now. Would you have me announce beforehand that my meal has upset my stomach and I need to relieve myself, then ask you to wait patiently outside the privy? Miss Baek?"
"Th-that is not what I meant and you know it!"
The answer was far more blunt and explicit than on the two previous occasions.
At his curt retort, the woman who had spoken up—Baek Seol—shrieked with a face flushed crimson.
"Honestly. What am I supposed to do, then? Must I seek your express permission every time I visit the privy?"
"Of course not, but...! You use the privy as an excuse to leave and then never come back, that is why!"
"A real man goes where the wind takes him. Why make such a fuss?"
"Grrrr! Hoo, hoooo! Hoooooo......!"
Teased by Yul Hwi, who looked down at her with a sly grin, the thoroughly riled Baek Seol glared at him with vicious eyes.
"Please have some consideration for the pitiful position of the girl who received orders from the elders to attend to Young Master Yul at close. range. "
"I shall endeavor to."
"......All talk, that silver tongue of yours."
"Hm? What was that?"
"Nothing."
Baek Seol's sulky pout, brimming with displeasure as she grumbled under her breath.
At that, Yul Hwi casually shifted his gaze forward, and the sly grin vanished from his lips as if it had never been.
'What a nuisance.'
A brash greenhorn, recklessly arrogant on the back of talent alone.
In the midst of imprinting the persona of "Yul Hwi" as such a flawed and easy mark upon the Sun and Moon Gate, the existence of this woman trailing behind him like thread following a needle was a thorough annoyance.
Not only was her martial prowess solidly at the pinnacle, but after being given the slip by him a few times, she now refused to let her guard down when it came to maintaining her qi sense even while walking beside him.
That was precisely why, from five days ago onward, he had been forced to employ the stealth techniques of the Phantom Slaughter Demonic Art to shake her off.
She might be called an attendant in name, but in truth she was nothing more than a tail attached to monitor his every move.
'Normally, when a tail latches on, my principle is to kill them and destroy the evidence.'
But that was a course of action not even remotely available to the brash greenhorn Yul Hwi, as opposed to the Soul-Severing Wanderer Annihilation.
So what choice did he have?
Under the circumstances, the best course of action was to sweep every bout of today's Vein Entry Trials with decisive victories, then hurry to claim the Moon Master's disciple seat.
'First things first—I absolutely have to get them to take this persistent leech off me.'
"Young Master? What is that? That look in your eyes, as if I'm the most tiresome thing in the world?"
'Sharp senses, too. She'd have made a fine assassin.'
With their height difference, that brief downward glance he had stolen lasted barely an instant—and she had caught it with uncanny precision, snapping her head up immediately.
"Ha ha! What an impolite thing to say! Ah! Speaking of which, I heard that Miss Baek herself achieved a very impressive result in the previous winter solstice Vein Entry Trials. Might I hear that story in some detail?"
"......Something feels very off about this, but since it is an important day, I shall let it slide just this once. As for the Vein Entry Trials, well......"
"I believe I heard from the Sixth Elder that you took second place......"
"Ha! I did. But I had the misfortune of falling victim to a truly vile scheme in the semifinals, so I was unable to perform to my full ability in the finals. Those wretched twins......!"
Baek Seol's face twisted with irritation and fury as she ground her teeth.
"Hm? Twins? Did you face siblings back-to-back in the semifinals and finals?"
"Exactly. They're from the Yang Sword Gate—one of the larger sects under our gate's banner here in Gangso—"
'Yang Sword Gate. Given the character for "yang" in its name, it must be a sect affiliated with the Sun Vein.'
"—just before the older twin lost to me in the semifinals, the younger twin suddenly lunged at me with a mutual-destruction attack. I couldn't avoid sustaining serious internal injuries. So I had no choice but to accept a bitter second place."
"What a shame."
'If that level of martial achievement was enough to contend for first place—'
Tossing out a hollow, spiritless word of consolation, Yul Hwi was able to roughly gauge the overall level of the Vein Entry Trials.
Since the information came directly from someone who had experienced the immediately preceding trials firsthand, it was self-evidently the most accurate picture of reality available to him right now.
Even as these thoughts ran through his mind, Baek Seol's sulky voice continued without pause.
"But it's fine. My master saw fit to recognize my achievements and talent, and graciously took me on as her disciple."
"Ah, yes. The Sixth Elder is your master, I recall......"
"That's right. The reason I'm trailing after you like this, tending to your every need, is entirely because I heard the story of how you saved my master's life back in Taewon."
"In that case, there really is no need to go to such lengths......"
"......And what is that supposed to mean? Not content with giving me the slip and running away time after time, are you now saying to my face that I am a bother?"
The instant her gaze turned vicious—like a wildcat's eyes glaring up at him—Yul Hwi quickened his pace with an awkward smile.
"Ha ha, of course not. It is a misunderstanding. I never said anything of the sort."
"Wh-what? Then why are you walking faster? H-hey! Slow down—!"
Maintaining a steady distance from Baek Seol as she scrambled to keep up, yapping at his heels, Yul Hwi settled on how he would handle her going forward.
'Noisy and tiresome, but her loose lips have their uses. And as the Sixth Elder's disciple, she'll make a useful ally down the road.'
Furthermore, if she had already reached that level at barely past the age of twenty, there would be plenty of ways to put her to good use in the future.
"GRRR! Y-Young Master! Why are you using movement arts?! W-wai—!"
SHRIEK!
'If only something could be done about that infernally shrill temper of hers.'
Flatly ignoring Baek Seol as she howled shrill protests behind him, Yul Hwi glided smoothly onward toward the examination grounds.
And the first opponent who greeted him upon arrival was—
"Th-that bastard! That's him, Young Master!"
"......?"
"The wretched younger twin I just told you about!"
"What? The mutual destruction...?"
"Yes! That garbage has the nerve to crawl out here again?!"
—the very swordsman of the Yang Sword Gate who had dealt this noisy woman her greatest humiliation.