After several pages of rambling self-pity—
On the very last page, there was a single anatomical diagram covered in a chaotic scatter of marked points.
He counted them — a hundred and eighty in total.
"What is this supposed to be? It skips all eight great qi meridians and the twelve standard meridians, and even the Conception and Governing vessels are missing."
It defied all common sense.
Out of three hundred and sixty major points in the human body, every critical meridian had been stripped away, leaving only half of the remainder — what kind of sword art used such a scheme?
Follow it as written, and it was a perfect recipe for qi deviation. Yet there it sat, firmly listed in the clan's catalog of martial texts.
That, at least, meant the art was considered to hold real value.
"Sigh, that may be true, but...... ah!"
CRUMBLE......
"Again......?"
Having reduced all three texts to ash in short order, Hyeol-u was left in stunned disbelief.
"A clan's former glory, all turning to dust. Well, I might as well try running the Three Powers Heart Formula."
Suppressing his racing heart — as though this moment had been long awaited — he crossed his legs and began to circulate his qi.
Inhale, hold, exhale.
Drawing air deep within, holding it still, then releasing it slowly.
At first, Hyeol-u focused solely on the breathing, but before he knew it, he had reached a state of selfless absorption.
"Huuuu......"
A feeling of refreshing coolness washed through his chest, and he awakened to a sense of fullness in his belly.
"Feels good, but...... the qi center is still hollow. Long way to go."
It was a touch deflating, but forming a qi center through a breathing technique normally took at least a year of practice with a beginner's mental method.
Only with luck would it come any faster.
"But I'm different."
He had already walked the path to the pinnacle.
This was not a trail blazed for the first time, but one he had traveled countless times before.
"All right, time to head out."
His legs had gone stiff and numb from the first attempt, and Hyeol-u loosened them as he walked with almost dance-like steps, when—
"Hm."
He frowned at something hard beneath his foot.
It looked like a piece of half-burnt wood.
KICK.
ROLL, ROLL.
Something like a walking stick with horn-like protrusions on both sides of the handle rolled away where his foot had struck it.
"A cane......?"
Whether ironwood or birch, he could not tell — it was a cane, charred black.
He picked it up.
A subtle, indescribable sensation washed over him as he brushed the ash from its surface.
Underneath the soot, the body was just as black as coal.
"No, this is......"
Engraved on the handle of the three-foot cane were the characters: "Lone Soul Single Sword — Tae-seok."
***
It was around noon.
The breeze was warm, and the sun had parted through banks of cloud, hurrying its way toward its zenith.
A splendid day for sleeping under the open sky.
"So there she was, wearing red peony-colored undergarments underneath, and that's when I......"
"A-and then......?"
'Oh, for the love of......'
Hyeol-u's good mood curdled instantly.
The guards posted at the martial archives were passing the time with vulgar stories while on duty.
'At Black Dragon Temple, that would earn you summary judgment on the spot.'
Unable to hold back any longer, Hyeol-u barked at them.
"And then what, you pathetic bastards? Stand up straight!"
The two guards' eyes narrowed with displeasure.
"Hey, do yourself a favor and just keep walking."
Both men bared their teeth and tapped the sword hilts at their waists.
A clear warning that if his tongue kept wagging, things would not end peacefully.
Hyeol-u raised the cane he had just picked up and held it in both hands.
"Oh? Let me list your offenses in detail."
"Ha, what the......"
With the air of a man set on fixing their manners, he swung the cane in swift strokes.
WHOOSH—!
The tip of the cane closed in like the wind and began striking the two men in rapid succession.
"One! Dereliction of duty guarding the martial archives!"
THWACK.
"Two! Disrespecting a superior!"
CRACK.
"Three! Insubordination!"
SMACK—!
"Gakh—!"
Both guards took the cane's baptism and slammed into the wall of the archives almost simultaneously.
Their clean martial arts uniforms were now streaked with black soot, leaving them looking like beggars.
The two men, sprawled on the ground, stared up at Namgung Seong with dazed eyes.
"On your feet!"
"Y-yes...... AAGH!"
At Namgung Seong's command, the two sprang up — only to crumple back to the ground, faces twisted in agony.
Their heads, backs, and backsides were already in bad shape.
Hyeol-u fixed them with a hard stare, then reached out and patted their shoulders with both hands.
"Guard those texts well. There are precious few of the Namgung Clan's treasures left — how can you lot afford to act like this?"
"Ugh, w-we're sorry!"
'As I always say, they never learn until they get a beating.'
Words first, fists second was fine in theory — but Black Dragon Temple's principle of beating first and talking later apparently worked just as well in the prestigious Namgung Clan.
A smile bloomed across Hyeol-u's face — or rather, Namgung Seong's.
When he returned home, So-i came dashing out.
"Young Master! Aren't you hungry?"
"How could I not be?"
He was at the age where he could chew through rocks, and having skipped breakfast only to swing a cane around all morning, he was ravenous.
"Let's head to the dining hall......"
As Hyeol-u made his declaration, So-i fidgeted before finally passing along the message.
"Young Master, I'm sorry to tell you this, but...... the Grand Steward says you need to pay for your meals starting today......"
"What......?"
That damn Grand Steward.
"Never mind. Let's just go. If everyone else is paying for their meals too, then fine — but if I'm the only one being charged, I won't stand for it."
"It's the Grand Steward's orders, so obviously everyone's paying. There's really no need to go and check......"
As if that were true.
It was obvious that after meeting the First Young Master yesterday, the topic of Namgung Seong must have come up.
'So I'm the easiest target in this household?'
Hyeol-u's teeth ground together, but he kept a calm facade and spoke evenly.
"You never know. Oh, and bring me a wrapping cloth."
"Huh? What do you need that for?"
"I need it, so just hurry up and get one!"
With the wrapping cloth So-i fetched, Hyeol-u headed to the dining hall.
Beside a protruding hall, a fairly respectable building caught his eye.
The landscaping around it had been given some attention — a subtle hint that this was the dining hall.
"That's it, Young Master. I'll be heading to the servants' dining hall, then. So......"
"Servants' dining hall?"
The total household was supposedly only about a hundred people, yet apparently they could not all eat in one place.
In fact, three separate dining halls were still in operation: one exclusive to the clan head's family and upper echelon, one for the warriors, and one for the servants.
Even now.
'Ah, there......'
Hyeol-u watched about a dozen people filing into the exclusive hall and his eyes lit up.
The First Young Master led the procession, followed by the Grand Steward and others.
Latching on at the very end like a cicada clinging to a branch, Hyeol-u scanned the food laid out on the tables.
'The spread is this lavish for a household on the brink of ruin?'
Foods that the warriors' or servants' halls could only dream of were each flaunting their own colors and aromas in a dazzling array.
Starting with gleaming, lustrous rice, then a glistening braised carp.
Cao Cao roast chicken, tofu dishes, soft-shell turtle soup, griddle cakes, and all manner of other delicacies gathered on one table.
In an age when a single palm-sized griddle cake was enough for an entire family to share.
"My, what a spread."
As Hyeol-u approached the table, Grand Steward Namgung Cheol's eyes flashed wide.
'How dare that brat ignore my orders?'
His instruction to pay for meals was a thinly veiled order to stop using the family dining hall altogether.
If the boy was too stupid to understand, one pass could be forgiven — but why on earth had he brought that lowly servant along?
"Hey, you......"
"......"
Hyeol-u blithely ignored Namgung Cheol glaring daggers right beside him.
He pulled out a chair in full view of the First Young Master across the table and sat down.
On either side of the First Young Master sat a sturdy-looking young man with a slightly pockmarked face and a pretty young woman.
'Well now, so this is the Second Young Master Namgung Byeok and the Young Lady Namgung Hye.'
When Hyeol-u flashed a broad grin, the two stared at the sudden appearance of Namgung Seong with undisguised curiosity.
So-i stood awkwardly to the side.
From the way he shifted from foot to foot, it was clear the whole situation made him deeply uncomfortable.
'Just hang in there for a moment.'
Discomfort was fleeting, but the blessing of a good meal lasted far longer.
"Hahaha, our family dining hall really is wonderful. Where else could I sit across from my most respected Elder Brother and share a meal?"
Even as he spoke, Hyeol-u's hands were busy.
He began piling meat onto an empty plate — everything in sight — followed by half a braised carp, spiced silken tofu, and finally two perfectly browned griddle cakes, then handed the plate to So-i.
"Eat up."
"Gulp — a-all of this?!"
'What the hell does he think he's doing?'
The First Young Master, the other household members — every hand holding chopsticks over the table froze in mid-motion.
But Hyeol-u paid them no mind and began loading his own plate.
Since mutual disregard was the obvious state of affairs, there was absolutely no reason to care.
"With a frame like yours, you need to eat at least this much. Now, go outside and eat, and bring the plate back here when you're done."
He gave So-i a pat on the backside and shooed him off. The boy had the presence of mind to bow deeply to the First Young Master.
"Thank you for the meal!"
"......!"
DASH—
The moment a gap-mouthed So-i scrambled out of the dining hall—
Namgung Cheol shot to his feet and jabbed a finger at Hyeol-u.
"Namgung Seong, you wretch! You get drunk, fall off a railing and crack your head on the ground, and now you've completely lost your mind! How dare you give this precious food to a servant at your own whim? Can you not see the First Young Master and the other elders sitting right here?! To think a worthless little mudfish of a bastard like you runs amok in the great Namgung Clan!"
'I've been waiting for this.'
Hyeol-u dug a finger deep into his ear and met Namgung Cheol's gaze head-on.
"Please. Isn't this a bit much, Grand Steward? They say even a dog is left alone while it eats — so are you saying I'm worse than a dog?"
"N-now wait. I'm not saying you're worse than a dog, but how dare you give a servant......"
"Enough. Then you're saying all the servants of the Namgung Clan are lower than dogs?"
"No, that's not...!"
As Namgung Cheol floundered, unable to form a response, Hyeol-u rose from his seat.
"Damn it, if I eat here I'll twist my guts inside out. And there's no cure for twisted intestines, they say."
He swiftly gathered food into the wrapping cloth and tied it up with deft hands.
"And one more thing. I may not be the legitimate heir, but as a human being, a man has to eat, does he not? Elder Brother, wouldn't you agree? And Second Young Master, Young Lady — close your mouths and eat. You'll catch flies."
"Gulp......!"
Both of them instinctively clapped their hands over their mouths.
Hyeol-u scooped up the bundle and strode out of the dining hall.
Not before throwing the First Young Master a wink.
"That, that......?"
Everyone at the table sat speechless.
Then, all of a sudden, Namgung Hye grabbed her sides and burst into a fit of girlish laughter.
"Ohohoho! That was hilarious, absolutely hilarious! You thought so too, didn't you, Big Brother?"
"Stop with the nonsense and eat your food."
The First Young Master, a light eater, was picking at his food with his chopsticks as though the table were empty.
Meanwhile, the Second Young Master, Namgung Byeok, had been about to bite into the last remaining drumstick when his eyes suddenly turned ice-cold.
'That bastard, born of a servant mother — the gall of him, with that lowly blood.'
Namgung Hye might find the whole thing amusing, but he did not.
He screamed silently that the next time Namgung Seong showed his face, he would snap both his legs so the whelp would have to come crawling in on crutches.
Meanwhile.
So-i stared at Hyeol-u with eyes full of astonishment.
"Um, Young Master. I'm grateful you looked out for me, but...... if you keep this up, you'll pay for it later. What are you going to do?"
"Forget it. You just stick with me, watch the shamanic ritual and eat the rice cakes. Life gets complicated when you think too hard about everything. Keep it simple. Got it?"
So-i gave a thumbs-up and regarded Hyeol-u with newfound wonder.
"Wow, the way you talk, Young Master — you sound like a grizzled old veteran who's been through every battle on mountain and sea! I'm genuinely impressed."
"Kid, you think I've only been through mountain and sea? I've been through death, too."
"Huh? Through death? Oh, you mean what happened at the Great Prosperity Pavilion? Hehe. Then it all worked out, didn't it? You've been like a completely different person ever since."
"Is that so?"
'That's not good.'
If word got around that he had suddenly changed, things could get complicated.
"Well, they do say a near-death experience changes a man."
"Hehe, I suppose so."
"I'm fine. Same as always."
By the time they reached the cottage, Hyeol-u unwrapped the bundle of food he had taken from the dining hall.
There would be no need to go back for dinner.
He had packed quite a bit in the brief window he had.
A short while later.
After wolfing down his meal, So-i was rubbing his protruding belly.
Hyeol-u sat atop the stone in the yard.
"Nice and warm......"
The boulder, having soaked up the full warmth of the midday sun, was hot enough to scorch his backside.
Recalling the fire character formula among the five elements of the Three Powers Heart Formula, Hyeol-u began immersing himself in the breathing technique of inhale, hold, and exhale.
'The most dangerous moment is when I forget myself, forget the world, and forget the very meaning of existence.'
He may have awakened here with no plan and no resources.
But if he simply sat still and did nothing, even a strong gust of wind could make him cough up blood and send him into qi deviation.
And then, at a certain moment—
Hyeol-u felt something wriggling like an insect below his navel and awakened from his qi circulation.