As his father led him toward Baek Family Manor, Yanghwi was finally able to take stock of his situation.
Defy Heaven, Exchange Fate. Return to the Proper Course, Follow the Flow. Return to the Point, Fulfill Your Wish.
That mysterious voice had descended from the heavens immediately after he traveled back through time.
The flow that defied Heaven had altered his ordained fate, so the disrupted order of Heaven had to be set right.
Had some immortal realm or heavenly court handed down a decree?
If so, it was strangely lacking in instructions. Other than Return to the Point, Fulfill Your Wish—go back and accomplish what you desire—the voice had told him nothing else.
For now, Yanghwi had no idea what had actually happened.
And yet a delighted smile spread across his face.
He didn't know how it had happened or how such a thing was even possible.
But one thing's for damn sure. I've gone back in time.
His muscles were still immature. His hands were small and slender, like tiny fern shoots.
His body was so small and light that Baek Muryang could have carried him on his back while running at full speed.
He had been eight when he was adopted into the Baek Family.
That meant he had gone back a full thirty years.
In other words, this was a chance.
A truly incredible chance.
He had wandered the martial world for more than a decade without stumbling across so much as a single fortuitous encounter.
Then he died, and suddenly he got one this ridiculous?
Thank you, Primordial Lord of Heaven. Thank you, Grand Supreme Elder Lord.
No, wait. This felt more like reincarnation, so should he be thanking the Buddha instead?
He had no idea who had turned back the years for him, but before long he ought to find a Taoist temple or a monastery and make one hell of a generous donation.
While Yanghwi entertained such thoughts, Baek Muryang hurried along the main road and reached Agan County in Wuzhou, where the Baek Family resided.
Agan County could not compare with Nanchang, the provincial capital of Jiangxi, but it was still a sizable city, home to dozens of martial factions besides the Baek Family.
"We're here, Hwi. You can see our home over there."
Near the center of Agan County stood a sprawling manor, old but meticulously maintained.
Ahead was its main gate, with a plaque bearing the words Baek Clan hanging above it.
Unusually, the gate had not been made from ordinary timber but from hard black steelwood, its surface carved with hundreds of clouds.
"Quite a distinctive gate, isn't it? The founder of our family built and carved it with his own hands."
That wasn't why Yanghwi had been staring.
He had merely remembered what was going to happen to that gate in a little while.
"I know."
"Hm? Have you been here before?"
"How could I not know it? The Baek Family's generosity has kept hundreds of beggars alive. I was one of them."
It wasn't a lie. Before becoming Baek Muryang's adopted son, Yanghwi had come to Baek Family Manor several times to beg for food.
"Is that so? Then it seems our paths crossed even before today. Come. Let's go inside."
There was no gatekeeper.
The Baek Family was hardly wealthy enough to pay a man whose only job, when there were no visitors, would be to stand around doing nothing.
Baek Muryang opened the gate himself and walked inside.
"My dear! Steward Han! I'm back!"
At his booming call, the doors of the main hall opened and the household members began filing out.
There was the steward, Baek Muryang's wife, his two children, and a little over ten retainers.
That was the entirety of the Baek Family.
"Welcome back, Clan Head. And who might the child on your back be?"
A slightly awkward smile crossed Baek Muryang's face.
Clan Head or not, what he was about to announce was bound to meet with considerable resistance.
But Baek Muryang had no intention of changing his mind. He placed a hand on Yanghwi's shoulder and answered.
"From today onward, he is my son. His name is Baek Yanghwi!"
Every eye in the courtyard widened.
Their gazes converged on Yanghwi, filthy and bedraggled in his ragged clothes.
Yanghwi, in turn, looked at each of them with aching nostalgia.
His mother, Jeong Inhwa.
His younger brother, Baek Heonso, and his younger sister, Baek Yeonyeon.
Steward Han Seogeon.
And the dozen or so retainers.
At last, Han Seogeon, the steward responsible for virtually every affair of the household, stepped forward to speak on everyone's behalf.
"Clan Head, if I may ask... by calling him your son, do you mean to formally adopt him?"
Baek Muryang's eyes slid subtly away.
"Precisely, Steward Han."
"..."
Steward Han's expression turned troubled.
It practically said, So the Clan Head's compassion has gone charging off in another strange direction again.
Of course, Han Seogeon deeply respected Baek Muryang and would never openly challenge the Clan Head's authority.
So he voiced his objection indirectly.
"Clan Head. If you intend to do more than simply take care of the boy and formally adopt him, should you not first discuss the matter with Madam?"
Having said that, Steward Han turned toward Jeong Inhwa, Baek Muryang's wife and the lady of the household.
Despite the midsummer heat, she was dressed in thick clothes, apparently due to her poor health.
"My husband must have his reasons... cough."
Even as she coughed, Jeong Inhwa smiled.
Like husband, like wife, perhaps. Her nature was much like Baek Muryang's.
"Madam! This is hardly something to smile about!"
"Cough... We've gained another member of the family on such a joyous day. Surely you don't expect me to cry, Steward Han."
Baek Muryang's face brightened.
Steward Han's darkened in exact proportion.
But he could not back down here.
As steward, it was his duty to uphold the family's rules and dignity.
With a sigh, he gave Baek Muryang a formal martial salute.
"The Han family, which has served as stewards to the Baek Family throughout its centuries of history, asks this of you. Clan Head, what is your reason for declaring that this child is to be adopted?"
"To save him from misery."
"I believe every word and deed of the Clan Head must rest upon sound purpose and proper justification. I understand your purpose. But what justification is there for going beyond accepting him into the household and forming the bond of father and son?"
"That is... the boy's eyes told me that his greatest misery was being an orphan with no one in this world."
"Then could someone other than the Clan Head not—"
Baek Muryang answered.
Steward Han questioned him again on behalf of everyone else.
The exchange continued for some time, and Yanghwi quietly watched and listened.
Looks like I really did return to the past. Most of them aren't happy about my adoption, exactly like last time.
It was only natural.
Baek Muryang was no ordinary man. However small his family might be, he was still its Clan Head.
Moreover, he already had two children: his eldest son, Baek Heonso, and his second child, his daughter Baek Yeonyeon.
Last time... I just hid behind Father and waited for him to settle everything. Even afterward, it took quite a while before the household stopped resenting my presence.
He couldn't simply let this life unfold exactly as the last one had.
With that thought, Yanghwi took a large step forward.
Naturally, every eye turned to him.
Under everyone's gaze, Yanghwi performed a proper martial salute.
"An old saying holds that every bond begins with an exchange of names, yet I have been terribly late in introducing myself. I am merely a boy who has lived with the sky for a roof and the grass for a bed."
Yanghwi saluted Baek Muryang once more before continuing.
"Baek Muryang, Peerless in Chivalry, gave such a boy the name Yanghwi. So I ask that you call me Yanghwi. Steward Han, would you hear me out for a moment?"
"Go on, Young Master."
"You said the Clan Head has sufficient purpose but lacks the justification to make me his son. Then would it be enough if I provided that justification myself?"
Steward Han looked puzzled.
"Provide it yourself? What do you mean?"
"What if I render the Baek Family a service so great that everyone here acknowledges it?"
Steward Han nearly slapped his knee and shouted in delight.
He had been desperately wondering how to talk the Clan Head out of this, only for a rope to drop from Heaven itself.
So the boy does have a sense of propriety! Thank goodness!
"If you can provide such justification, then I am certain everyone in the family will agree. Clan Head, let us do as he suggests."
Baek Muryang silently studied Yanghwi.
"Hwi. Taking you as my son was my decision. You don't need to worry about what anyone thinks or try to refuse out of courtesy."
Apparently not only Steward Han but Baek Muryang himself believed Yanghwi had made the proposal as a graceful way to decline the adoption.
But Yanghwi intended to live as his father's son in this life just as he had in the last.
It should be about time. Ah. There it is.
A commotion erupted outside.
Then, without warning, the main gate of Baek Family Manor was blasted off its hinges.
BOOM!
The hard black steelwood did not shatter, but the entire door tore free of its frame.
Through the now-gaping entrance marched a dozen or so Black Path thugs led by two men.
Blood Axe Gu Ak. Black Ghost Buk Aksin. Exactly like last time.
Gu Ak, the leader of the group, called out in a thunderous voice.
"Baek Muryang, Peerless in Chivalry! We've come to collect a blood debt!"
A family's main gate was a symbol of its dignity.
Yet even after seeing his gate torn down, Baek Muryang did not fly into a rage. His expression merely turned cold.
The pressure radiating from the two men at the front was certainly no weaker than his own.
"You're Blood Axe Gu Ak, are you not?"
"So you've heard my worthless name. That's right."
"I have never made an enemy of the Red Bridge Gang. What is the meaning of this discourtesy?"
"Discourtesy? You made an enemy of the mighty Red Bridge Gang and didn't expect even this much?"
Baek Muryang's face stiffened.
"Made an enemy of the Red Bridge Gang? What are you talking about?"
The Red Bridge Gang.
Even in Agan County of Wuzhou, where the Baek Family was based, it ranked among the three most powerful Black Path factions.
It was also notoriously aggressive about expanding its influence.
The reason it had suddenly descended upon Baek Family Manor was simple.
"The Naheuk Sect you wiped out today was under our banner! I'm sure you understand what that means!"
A low groan escaped Baek Muryang.
The Naheuk Sect had been nothing but third-rate rabble that he could wipe out alone.
The Red Bridge Gang was another matter entirely.
Simply put, the Baek Family's total strength was not even a tenth of the Red Bridge Gang's.
"I merely punished men who had abandoned all human decency. Did you know the Naheuk Sect was trafficking people and even selling narcotics?"
"Whether they abandoned human decency or Heaven itself, they were under our banner. If punishment was due, it was ours to mete out! Peerless in Chivalry, you crossed the line."
He wasn't entirely wrong.
If the Naheuk Sect truly had been subordinate to the Red Bridge Gang, then Baek Muryang had technically struck first.
"I merely followed the code of chivalry. How could I discover men committing such crimes and simply walk away?"
"Now that sounds like Peerless in Chivalry."
At Gu Ak's reply, Buk Aksin, who had been standing behind him, burst out laughing.
"Peerless in Chivalry! So the rumors were true! They say you can never pass by injustice without sticking your nose in, and I see they weren't exaggerating! Hahahaha!"
"Enough, Aksin."
"My apologies, Brother. I just couldn't help myself after seeing how perfectly he lives up to his epithet. When it comes to parading his chivalry, he's truly peerless."
Yanghwi watched Buk Aksin shrug and secretly ground his teeth.
That arrogant son of a bitch.
Peerless in Chivalry, Baek Muryang.
Clan Head of the Baek Family and a second-rate martial artist.
The wording of his epithet carried a pun: the character 施 could mean not only to bestow, but also to flaunt or parade something.
Buk Aksin had just twisted that second meaning into a sneer.
Baek Muryang's martial arts might be nothing special, he was saying, but when it came to showing off his chivalry, no one under heaven could compare.
I was wondering which way to handle this, but that settles it. Black Ghost Buk Aksin... you're fucking dying today.
With that thought, Yanghwi did something that would have been impossible for him at this point in his previous life.
"Haaaaah... Hooooo."
With a single breath, he became aware of the qi filling Heaven, earth, and every direction around him.
In that instant, the world changed.
His qi sense had awakened.
The small fry average about ten years. Buk Aksin has around thirty... and Gu Ak around forty.
Had anyone else known what Yanghwi had just done, the revelation would have shaken the martial world.
No matter how acute someone's qi sense might be, estimating another martial artist's internal reserves without the aid of a specialized qi-reading technique should have been impossible.
An almost frightening sensitivity to qi.
It was one of the extraordinary talents Heaven had granted Yanghwi.
Compared to them, our side is... The retainers barely have any internal energy worth mentioning, and Father's sitting at about thirty years. Yeah. There's no way the Baek Family can drive them off by force.
It couldn't be helped.
When everyone had to spend their days earning enough money just to keep the family afloat, there was hardly any time left to devote to martial training.
The Baek Family bore the name of a martial family because it had been one for generations, but in reality it had long since fallen short of the title.
Its Clan Head had only reached the second-rate level, while most of its retainers were third-rate.
A third-rate martial family in the truest sense.
That was the Baek Clan—now more commonly known simply as Baek Family Manor.
On this day in my previous life, the family suffered a wound it could never wash away.
That day, Baek Muryang had been injured badly enough to require months of recuperation.
The family's property had even been looted.
For the Red Bridge Gang, robbing what little the Baek Family possessed had never been about the money.
It was about humiliation.
They wanted every chivalrous martial artist in the area to hear the message loud and clear:
Never touch anyone flying the Red Bridge Gang's banner again.
Like hell I'm going to stand here and watch Father and the family suffer that humiliation twice.
Fortunately, among Yanghwi's thirty years of memories were plenty concerning the Red Bridge Gang.
And some of that knowledge could be put to use immediately.
Yanghwi hurried over and whispered to Baek Muryang.
"Father."
"Hwi, stay where you are."
"I have a plan to get us out of this."
"What do you mean?"
"It would take too long to explain. I want to make use of something I picked up while living on the streets."
There was no time.
It was discourteous to act without permission, but Yanghwi ran forward before Baek Muryang could answer.
Then he stopped before Gu Ak and gave him a formal martial salute.
"Brother Gu! How have you been?"
For an instant, Gu Ak's fierce face went utterly blank.
And he wasn't the only one.
Everyone in the manor stared at Yanghwi in bewilderment.
"Brother... Gu...?"
For the record, Gu Ak was about twenty years older than Yanghwi.