Silence settled over the manor.
It was Baek Muryang’s booming laughter that finally broke it.
“Hahaha! Hahahaha! I took in a son out of charity, but it seems I’ve gained a truly exceptional talent instead. Wouldn’t you all agree?”
Steward Han answered on behalf of the retainers.
“He resolved the entire situation with nothing but his tongue. There can be no doubt that he is an extraordinary child.”
“And what do you think, Steward Han? As Clan Head, it seems to me that Hwi has done every one of us a great favor.”
Steward Han could hardly deny it. As the oldest and most experienced person present, he understood better than most just how grave a crisis the Baek Family had narrowly escaped.
He said he would earn a favor from us and use it as justification. Could that child truly have anticipated all of this?
Baek Muryang had been wondering the same thing.
“Hwi, did you know in advance that the Red Bridge Gang would attack our family?”
Yanghwi bowed his head politely.
“The Naheuk Sect were hardly careful enough to watch what they said in front of a beggar child they planned to sell into slavery. I heard them mention the Red Bridge Gang, so I knew about it.”
To everyone else, that sounded as though he had predicted the entire chain of events from scraps of information overheard from the Naheuk Sect.
An eight-year-old child.
What an astonishingly clever boy. If it’s this child...
Baek Muryang had decided to adopt Yanghwi because he felt there was some bond between them, but it was undeniable that his decision had begun with pity.
Now, however, it had grown beyond mere compassion.
Looking at Yanghwi, Baek Muryang felt ambition stir within him.
He himself had no time to spare, constantly working outside the manor just to keep the family afloat, while his frail wife spent most of each day bedridden.
He had always worried about his son and daughter because of that.
But perhaps this child could become both a good example for them and a dependable eldest brother.
Baek Muryang looked around at the retainers.
“An orphan with no one in the world, a child who lived as a beggar, has averted disaster for our family. Truly, this is a blessing! The Baek Family now owes him a debt. I intend to repay it by giving a new roof to a child who once had only the sky above his head. Does anyone object?”
Jeong Inhwa answered with a gentle smile.
“The Clan Head has made up his mind, cough, so I will simply follow his wishes.”
Steward Han bowed as well.
“The Clan Head’s generosity has brought fortune upon the family. I can only praise your chivalrous heart and admire your foresight.”
With the lady of the manor and the steward both accepting the decision, the other retainers seemed to have no objections either.
Yanghwi, however, was watching the faces of his two younger siblings, Baek Heonso and Baek Yeonyeon.
Baek Heonso’s cheeks were puffed out, his displeasure written plainly across his face.
His youngest sister, Baek Yeonyeon, was the exact opposite. She wore the wide-eyed, innocent look of a child who had just discovered something strange and new.
So reacts exactly as I expected. And our Yeon, on the other hand... adorable as ever.
She was five years old, three years younger than Yanghwi and two years younger than seven-year-old Baek Heonso.
Even in his previous life, Baek Yeonyeon had been the darling of the entire family.
And yet that child... Not this time. I’ll never let her end up that way again.
The course her unhappy life had taken came back to him.
He remembered the emotions he had felt when they enshrined his mother at a temple after her chronic illness finally claimed her life.
And then there was the reason his father—whose cultivation had never been especially high, but who trained diligently enough that everyone assumed he would remain hale even into his sixties—had eventually passed away as well...
There’s a lot I need to change in this life.
That was fine.
Because Yanghwi was confident he could change all of it.
*****
That night.
Freshly bathed and dressed in clean clothes, Yanghwi lay down on the bed in the room he had been given.
How long had it been since he had lain on an actual bed?
In this life, it might genuinely have been his first time ever.
Unlike his mind, his young body seemed determined to savor the unfamiliar sensation to the fullest.
Ah. This is comfortable.
He felt as though he could fall asleep immediately.
Instead, Yanghwi sat back up.
Who has time to rest?
He had gone back thirty years and returned to a fresh, still-undeveloped body.
He could learn martial arts all over again from the very beginning.
In truth, Yanghwi had been itching to start training immediately and had barely restrained himself until now.
In my previous life, I left the family at twenty and wandered the martial world for the next eighteen years, yet all I managed was to barely cross the threshold of the Transcendent Realm.
Even by his own shameless standards, Yanghwi had been born with extraordinary talent.
His qi sense was so sensitive and precise that calling it unprecedented hardly felt like an exaggeration.
His body and bones were remarkably sturdy; even after living exposed to the elements since infancy, he had never so much as caught a cold.
His comprehension allowed him to grasp the principles contained in something after seeing it only once, and his memory never forgot what he had learned.
If I’d been able to learn the martial arts of some prestigious sect, I would’ve become the greatest under heaven.
After praising himself without a trace of embarrassment, Yanghwi sat cross-legged.
He was preparing to circulate the Heaven-Harmonizing Origin Art, the internal cultivation method he had created by completely rebuilding the Baek Family’s Six Directions Harmonization Art.
God, I suffered like hell creating this thing.
A sword art consisting of little more than swings and thrusts could be invented even by a third-rate martial artist.
Once someone reached the Peak Realm, they could devise their own footwork and movement patterns even if they had never formally learned such techniques.
But internal cultivation methods were different.
Unless one had reached the level of a grandmaster, creating one from scratch was all but impossible.
Why?
Because a single mistake in the process could kill you.
Thinking back on it, I really was an idiot. I tried modifying an internal cultivation method when I was only at the Peak Realm.
The price had been qi deviation.
Fortunately, it had neither killed him nor left him grievously injured, but it had saddled him with aftereffects that lasted the rest of his life.
Damage to his acupoints had interfered with the circulation of his true qi.
And I still became the First Sword Among Wanderers after all that. I really was a genius.
This life would be different.
He had no intention of settling for being merely some “First Sword” with “Among Wanderers” tacked onto the end.
And he had every reason to be confident.
At the age of eight, he could begin engraving into his body an internal art and sword art both worthy of being called divine arts.
How far can I go in this life?
The sudden question quickly hardened into resolve.
Greatest Sword Under Heaven, no matter what.
No.
The greatest under heaven.
He thought of the Namgung Clan, currently hailed as the Greatest Clan Under Heaven.
Then he recalled Namgung Cheonyeong’s face from the final moments of his previous life, when the man had ambushed him under the pretext of eliminating a future threat.
“I refuse to stand by while a clan like that gets called the Greatest Clan Under Heaven. I’ll make the Baek Family the Greatest Clan Under Heaven instead. No matter what.”
Hoo.
He breathed out.
In.
He breathed in.
Between one breath and the next, the natural qi of heaven, earth, and the six directions began gathering around him.
The Heaven-Harmonizing Origin Art.
To harmonize with heaven and earth and nourish the origin.
The gathered qi circulated through his acupoints, gradually transforming into an all-embracing true qi capable of harmonizing with anything.
Is it because this is before my qi deviation? Or because my body is still so young? Why does this feel so refreshing?
The energy itself seemed different from before—cleaner, clearer.
The difference was so striking that it almost felt as though the very nature of his qi had changed.
So this was how profound the effects of his qi deviation had actually been.
“In... out... in... out...”
How much time passed like that?
Deep in meditation, Yanghwi gradually surfaced back to awareness at the sound of someone knocking on his door.
“Young Master. Are you awake?”
When he opened the door, he found a young maid who looked about fifteen.
“What is it?”
“The Clan Head has ordered you to attend the dawn training.”
Baek Muryang left the manor early every morning to work for the family’s livelihood.
Even so, he always made time to teach his children.
That was why their training sessions were held before sunrise.
“I’ll be right there.”
Yanghwi had stayed up all night, but thanks to circulating his qi, he did not feel particularly tired.
His body was still ordinary, but now a seed of qi had taken root within it.
He quickly got ready and headed for the small training ground at the center of the manor.
“Hwi, did you sleep well? The room must have felt unfamiliar.”
“It was the best sleep I’ve ever had. Thank you for worrying about me.”
“I’m glad.”
Beside Baek Muryang stood Baek Heonso, still wearing a sulky expression, and Baek Yeonyeon, his little sister, who looked as curious as ever.
“I deliberately gave you no time to properly greet one another yesterday. I thought each of you needed time to think and adjust. Now then. Introduce yourselves.”
Yanghwi looked first at Baek Heonso, then Baek Yeonyeon.
“As of yesterday, I became your eldest brother. I’m Baek Yanghwi. I hope we’ll get along.”
“Wow! I have another brother now! Brother, I’m Baek Yeonyeon!”
Baek Yeonyeon bounced toward him, eyes sparkling.
Yanghwi could not help smiling warmly at the sight.
“Can I call you Yeon from now on?”
“Of course, Brother!”
She was so adorable that Yanghwi unconsciously reached out and stroked her hair.
It was a habit from his previous life, and fortunately, Baek Yeonyeon did not shy away from his hand.
Our Yeon really is such a sweet, well-behaved child.
A completely different breed from Baek Heonso, who was glaring at him from the side.
So is as full of complaints as ever. Some things really never change.
After Yanghwi’s adoption, his younger brother had abruptly been demoted to second son.
He had resented and disliked Yanghwi as though something that belonged to him had been stolen away.
Back then, Yanghwi had simply been so happy to have a family that he had even found that endearing. He had always yielded to Baek Heonso and let him have his way.
Father was too good-natured to discipline So harshly, either. In the end, the brat grew up crooked.
In his previous life, Baek Heonso—who had become Clan Head by then—had been one of the reasons Yanghwi left the family as soon as he turned twenty.
This time, I’m going to straighten you out too, So.
“Baek Heonso. I’m Baek Yanghwi, your new older brother. I’ll call you So from now on.”
“...Hmph!”
“So. Is that any way to speak to your brother?”
“...But, Father...”
When Baek Heonso showed no sign of remorse, Baek Muryang was about to admonish him gently, but Yanghwi stopped him.
“Father. I believe affection between brothers is all the more precious when they build it themselves. I don’t mind, so why not give So some time to accept me as his brother?”
“Hwi, if that is what you wish, then so be it.”
Baek Muryang smiled fondly at Yanghwi’s mature response before continuing.
“Hwi, now that you are a member of a martial family, you must begin learning martial arts as well.”
“Understood.”
“Our family has two ancestral martial arts. The Six Directions Harmonization Art, our internal art, and the Heaven-Covering Sword.”
Yanghwi knew that.
He knew them so well that he had mastered them through the twelfth level and then torn them apart and rebuilt them from the ground up.
“Let us begin with the sword. Our family’s Heaven-Covering Sword Art consists of three moves in total.”
Baek Muryang demonstrated the sword moves, then turned to Yanghwi.
“Try following what I just showed you.”
Yanghwi quietly raised the wooden sword.
How much should I show him?
He considered for a moment how he intended to shape the future from here.
Then he made his decision.
And swung the wooden sword.
At that instant—
Baek Muryang’s eyes flew wide open.
“H-How...?!”
He could hardly react otherwise.
Because the Heaven-Covering Sword Yanghwi displayed was more perfect than Baek Muryang’s own.
The Heaven-Covering Sword Art.
Despite its grand name, which claimed it could cover the heavens, so many of its moves had been lost that only three remained, leaving behind a crude and incomplete sword art.
Even so, it could not be compared to commonplace techniques like the Three Talents Sword Art sold in the marketplace.
The art might have been riddled with gaps, but the depth contained within each surviving move could not be dismissed.
In other words, it was not some crude swordplay that could be perfectly reproduced after seeing it once.
And yet the Heaven-Covering Sword Art Yanghwi had just performed was flawless.
Baek Muryang was stunned.
Could he have learned the Heaven-Covering Sword before...? No. Impossible.
For an instant, Baek Muryang suspected that the family’s sword art had been leaked.
Then he realized the idea made no sense.
He had already confirmed that Yanghwi’s body showed no signs whatsoever of having trained in martial arts.
Even now, every muscle in the boy’s body was trembling.
His body couldn’t withstand the swordsmanship he just performed. He strained himself.
Was it not said that Shaolin made its young novice monks practice nothing but horse stance for an entire year before teaching them martial arts?
All martial arts, swordsmanship included, required the body to be conditioned first.
Yanghwi’s physical reaction was exactly that of an ordinary boy who knew nothing whatsoever of martial training.
Then how had he reproduced the Heaven-Covering Sword Art so perfectly?
“Hwi. Would you perform it one more time? You needn’t hold the wooden sword this time.”
His body was still trembling, but Yanghwi silently obeyed his father.
His hands were empty, yet he settled into a stance as though holding a sword.
Then, using an unfamiliar child’s body, he drew out the three moves he had once practiced so relentlessly that they had been engraved into his very soul.
The shock on Baek Muryang’s face deepened.
Just as I thought.
Perfect.
A technique shown to him only once.
Performed perfectly in a body that had never trained in martial arts even once.
There was only one conclusion such a thing could imply.
“Hwi...”
From the moment Baek Muryang first saw him, he had felt that this child was vastly different from ordinary children.
He had been drawn to those eyes—eyes that seemed never to have seen a single ray of light in this world—and had offered to adopt him.
But that decision had only been made because he believed in the values he pursued, because he believed helping the helpless was the path of chivalry.
Now, however, Baek Muryang understood.
The child who had lain in the mud, soot smeared across his face and filth caked into his clothes, was in truth the finest jewel under heaven.
“I only meant to help a child in need... and a peerless prodigy has fallen right into the Baek Family’s lap.”
But—
Instead of rejoicing, Baek Muryang’s expression gradually turned grave.
Watching that change come over him, Yanghwi grew puzzled.
Why is he reacting like that?