Yanghwi stared at Baek Muryang’s grave expression, puzzled.
Why is he acting like this?
He had stood out from his very first training session in his previous life as well, though nowhere near as much as he had this time.
Even as a genuine eight-year-old child, he had mastered the Heaven-Covering Sword Art in only three years.
That alone said plenty.
“Hwi. Pay close attention to the internal training method I’m about to teach you, and try to follow along.”
Baek Muryang planted his feet firmly against the ground and began moving through a sequence of postures.
The Six Directions Harmonization Art.
Internal arts were normally cultivation methods practiced while sitting cross-legged, accumulating and circulating qi.
The Baek Family’s internal training, however, consisted entirely of the Six Directions Harmonization Art, a moving exercise that combined physical conditioning with a small degree of qi accumulation.
Apparently, the family had once possessed a superior internal cultivation method, but it had been lost.
“Have you memorized both the口诀 and the movements?”
“Yes, Father.”
“Then try it yourself.”
Yanghwi drew in a breath and slowly began to move.
His young, completely untrained body made his execution clumsy, but the principles of the Six Directions Harmonization Art were embodied perfectly in every motion.
Baek Muryang’s expression darkened even further.
“Hwi. You truly are...”
An unbelievable genius.
Even if the art itself is low-level, the口诀 alone runs to several hundred characters, and every movement must be performed precisely enough to stimulate the proper acupoints. How can he do it so easily...?
“So. Yeon.”
“Yes!”
“Yes, Father.”
“I need to speak with Hwi alone. You two continue training on your own.”
After instructing his two biological children, Baek Muryang led Yanghwi to a corner of the training ground.
“Hwi.”
“Yes, Father.”
“You may not have known it until now, but it seems you were born with extraordinary martial talent.”
“Yes. I knew.”
Baek Muryang blinked in surprise.
“Hmm? You already knew?”
“Yes. Fights break out among bands of beggars more often than you might think. Whenever I watched them exchange punches and kicks, I often wondered why they couldn’t dodge attacks that looked so slow.”
“...I see.”
Baek Muryang fell silent for a moment before continuing.
“Hwi. I am thinking of taking back my decision to make you my son.”
“What? Why?”
Yanghwi had not expected that at all.
Why was Father saying this?
“You are a pearl buried in mud. Your worth is too great for the Baek Family to keep to itself. Instead of adopting you, I am considering sending you to my sworn younger brother.”
“...”
Baek Muryang’s sworn younger brother was an expert from a renowned great sect.
Only then did Yanghwi realize what his father was thinking.
I showed him too much talent.
Instead of growing greedy after discovering a prodigy, Baek Muryang wanted to release him into a wider world where his potential could fully bloom.
That’s the kind of man Father always was.
Peerless in Chivalry, Baek Muryang.
A martial hero renowned above all for the chivalry he showed others.
Throughout all his years wandering under heaven, Yanghwi had never once met another man of comparable character.
“Father.”
“Speak.”
Yanghwi looked Baek Muryang squarely in the eyes.
“You chose me. You asked me to become your son.”
But—
“You weren’t the only one who made a choice at that moment.”
I chose the Baek Family too.
“My name is Baek Yanghwi. I am the man who will make the name of the Baek Clan shine throughout the world. I decided that the moment you held out your hand to me.”
“...Hwi.”
“I don’t mind taking another master, but I have no intention of leaving this family. Nor do I intend to live a life where I can no longer call you Father.”
The Baek Family will become the Greatest Clan Under Heaven.
Yanghwi smiled at his visibly moved father.
“I understand. You need to build your foundations first anyway, so we can think about that slowly.”
Baek Muryang called Baek Heonso and Baek Yeonyeon back over.
Baek Heonso approached with his cheeks puffed out in a sulk, while Baek Yeonyeon came over beaming.
Yanghwi had to suppress a laugh when he saw Heonso’s face.
He looks like a pufferfish.
The brat’s attitude definitely needed fixing, but...
Seeing So this young again, he really was adorable.
He might resent Yanghwi, but family was family and a younger brother was still a younger brother.
Yanghwi had never hated Baek Heonso.
He was simply a younger brother who required considerably more work.
“I should be leaving soon. Train in martial arts for another two hours, take a break, then devote some time to your studies.”
After supervising their training for roughly two hours, Baek Muryang told his children to keep working hard and left the manor.
That left only the three Baek siblings in the training ground.
“...”
A brief silence followed.
With Baek Muryang—the adult and mediator—gone, an awkward atmosphere settled over them.
Of course, Yanghwi felt perfectly comfortable, and Baek Yeonyeon was too innocent to care.
Which meant Baek Heonso was the only one suffering from the awkwardness.
He really is sulking hard.
“So.”
“...I never accepted you as my brother. Don’t call me that.”
So had always been prone to envy and jealousy.
And now Yanghwi had perfectly reproduced the family’s martial arts, impressed Baek Muryang, and even been taken aside for a private conversation with him.
For a seven-year-old boy hungry for his father’s affection, some hostility was only natural.
...That doesn’t mean I’m going to let him act like an arrogant little brat.
Looking at Baek Heonso brought a warm smile to Yanghwi’s face.
Though it was a very different sort of warmth from the one he felt toward Baek Yeonyeon.
I was already planning to start reforming you, and here you are handing me the perfect excuse.
Yanghwi sharpened his qi sense as much as he could and checked whether anyone else was nearby.
Once he was certain the only witness to what was about to happen was a smiling Baek Yeonyeon, Yanghwi cocked one hip and adopted the posture of a street thug.
“Hey, you little shit.”
“?!”
Baek Heonso was utterly stunned.
The Baek Family might be only a third-rate martial family, but by ordinary standards they were still prominent local gentry of respectable standing.
In other words, Baek Heonso had never once in his life been addressed with anything remotely as crude as you little shit.
“Y-You... were you talking to me?”
“Do you see any other little shit around here?”
Baek Yeonyeon promptly raised her hand.
“Me too, Brother!”
Her reaction could not have been more different from Baek Heonso’s.
She was still smiling brightly.
More precisely, her entire body practically screamed that she wanted to talk to Yanghwi and bombard him with questions as soon as possible.
This really brings back memories.
Baek Yeonyeon.
Yeon had always taken after their gentle, warmhearted mother, Jeong Inhwa.
Pure as a blank sheet of paper and warm as spring sunshine, she had always been someone Yanghwi wanted to protect.
He gave Baek Yeonyeon a tender smile.
“Our Yeon isn’t a little shit. You’re a sweet, lovely young lady.”
“Really?!”
“Of course.”
“But you only met me yesterday! How do you know, Brother?”
“I know everything. I can tell just by looking. For example...”
Yanghwi looked at Baek Heonso.
“I could tell at a glance that So doesn’t like me.”
While Baek Yeonyeon was thinking that not noticing that would have been stranger, Yanghwi continued.
“You insolent brat. Whether Father adopted me or not, I’m still older than you. Have you never heard that the young should respect their elders?”
For the sheltered Baek Heonso, the situation was one shock after another.
He was hearing outrageous language for the first time in his life, and Yanghwi’s demeanor had changed completely from the polite, mature attitude he had shown in front of Baek Muryang.
Baek Heonso could barely keep up.
“What are you even so unhappy about, anyway?”
“I’m the eldest son of the Baek Family! Why should I accept you as my brother?!”
“First, because Father decided it. Second, because Mother accepted it. And third, because you’ll still be the one expected to fulfill the duties of the family heir.”
Young Baek Heonso failed to notice the deeper meaning hidden beneath those three reasons.
All he knew was that he was losing the argument.
“Grr...”
Watching a seven-year-old tremble with indignation was undeniably cute.
But—
No. I can’t go soft on him like I did last time.
In his previous life, Baek Heonso had been forced to become Clan Head at the young age of nineteen.
He had been spoiled growing up, never correcting his immaturity or crooked temperament before the responsibility fell on him.
The family’s fortunes declined day by day as a result, while Yanghwi watched the money he had worked himself to the bone earning disappear into a bottomless pit.
“Little brother, answer me one thing. Why can’t a beggar become your brother?”
“You’re not even related to us by blood!”
“You’ve heard the story of the Oath of the Peach Garden, haven’t you? Father himself has sworn brothers.”
“Th-That’s...”
Baek Heonso faltered, then suddenly shouted.
“It doesn’t matter! You were still a beggar!”
At that moment, Yanghwi decided just how strict his correction of Baek Heonso needed to be.
I can’t allow the future Clan Head of this family to grow into a spoiled delinquent. I’ll have to wield the rod with the determination of Mencius’s mother.
He abruptly flicked Baek Heonso hard on the forehead.
Thwack!
“Ow! What are you doing?!”
“Baek Heonso. Like you said, I was a beggar. That means I’ve had to feed myself with my own strength every day since I was born. What I’d like to know is whether you’ve ever earned even a single meal for yourself.”
“What’s there to brag about?!”
“It is something to brag about. If I were thrown out of this manor today, I could survive on my own just fine. I’m asking whether you could do the same.”
Yanghwi raised his hand for another flick.
Perhaps being the child of a martial family counted for something, because Baek Heonso reacted quickly this time and tried to dodge.
Thwack!
Yanghwi’s finger still struck dead center on his forehead.
“Augh!”
“So. You know the Beggars’ Gang is one of the Nine Great Sects and One Gang, don’t you? It’s a sect made up of beggars. Would you dare look down on beggars in front of one of their disciples?”
Baek Heonso fell completely silent.
“No one beneath heaven is without worth. You’re Father’s son, so I’m sure you’re normally kind enough not to despise someone merely for being a beggar.”
That was not a guess.
Yanghwi knew it for a fact.
Before he grew crooked in Yanghwi’s previous life, Baek Heonso had been a good child.
The real problem was simply that he saw Yanghwi as an outsider who had barged into his family and could not accept him as an older brother.
Yanghwi lifted his wooden sword.
“Seems you need a lesson. Pick up your sword.”
“Hmph! You think I’m scared of you?!”
Baek Heonso snatched up his wooden sword.
“Baek Heonso. If you win, I’ll grant whatever you ask. But if I win, you’ll address me properly as Brother from now on.”
“You mean it? A man’s word is worth a thousand pieces of gold!”
Baek Heonso was brimming with confidence.
He was only seven, so he had no real understanding of just how extraordinary the talent Yanghwi had displayed earlier truly was.
All he knew was that he had trained with a sword for more than two years, while Yanghwi—despite being one year older—had held a wooden sword for the first time that very day.
There was no way he could lose.
“I’ll even give you the first three moves!”
Yanghwi snorted.
Three moves?
The brat could not even judge the difference in their skill.
“This little punk really picked up all the worst habits.”
Yanghwi slowly walked forward and brought his wooden sword down from above.
The strike was so slow that Baek Heonso easily raised his own sword to block.
Crack!
Yanghwi’s wooden sword seemed to bend around Baek Heonso’s guard and smacked him squarely on top of the head.
“Gyaaaaaah!”
Yanghwi sighed as Baek Heonso collapsed clutching his head.
He had not lasted three moves.
He had not even lasted one.
“Get up, brat.”
“Hic... Waaaaah...”
He might have been born into a martial family, but he was still a pampered seven-year-old child.
Baek Heonso was far too young and soft to endure the pain of being struck over the head with solid wood without crying.
Yet seeing the tears streaming down his face only made Yanghwi sterner.
“Get up. Or I’ll hit you again.”
Thud!
Yanghwi struck the stone paving with his wooden sword.
Baek Heonso let out a terrified squeak and scrambled upright.
His body trembled visibly.
“Baek Heonso. If you’re a child of a martial family, don’t surrender to pain. And no matter what happens, don’t let go of your sword. Understand?”
“Y-Yeah... hic...”
“Not ‘yeah.’ Say ‘yes.’ Don’t speak casually to your older brother, you rude little punk.”
“Hic... y-yes...”
Yanghwi smiled with satisfaction.
I’ll raise him tough. That’s the only way he’ll become strong.
“This time I’ll give you three moves—no, ten. Come at me, So.”
“...”
There was no way Baek Heonso had failed to hear him, yet he merely shuffled his feet without advancing.
He looked completely cowed.
“If you’re not coming, then I am.”
“Grr... grr!”
Baek Heonso charged like a cornered animal.
“Diiie!”
Ah.
This insolent brat.
Isn’t ‘die’ a bit much, little brother?
Yanghwi touched the tip of his wooden sword to Baek Heonso’s incoming blade.
With a tiny application of force, he diverted it aside, then jabbed Baek Heonso in the waist with one finger.
“Using your waist is important when bringing a sword down, but putting strength into your body and stiffening your whole body are two different things.”
He hooked Baek Heonso’s ankle out from under him, then caught the back of his collar and pulled him upright before he could hit the ground.
“And don’t focus only on your upper body just because you’re swinging a sword. In martial arts, your lower body is always the foundation.”
And so, with every move Baek Heonso attempted, Yanghwi pointed out another flaw.
“Right. That makes ten. Done.”
Yanghwi lightly pressed the tip of his wooden sword against Baek Heonso’s solar plexus.
Baek Heonso’s wooden sword slipped from his hand.
I trained for two whole years... and I lost... to someone who learned the sword for the first time today...
“Sniff... hic...”
Yanghwi watched his sobbing brother for a moment.
Now it was time to put away the stick and offer the carrot.
“So. Look at this.”
Yanghwi pulled a silver piece from inside his clothes and held it out.
Baek Heonso’s eyes grew almost as round as the silver itself.
He was so shocked that he stopped crying altogether.
“Silver...? How did you get that much money...?”
A single silver piece was a full day’s wage for an ordinary laborer.
It might not have been a fortune to an adult, but to young Baek Heonso it was an enormous sum.
“You saw those Black Path thugs leave their coin purses behind yesterday. I was standing closest to them. I swiped one.”
“W-Why would you do something like that...?”
Yanghwi grinned.
“Why else? Today’s the first day I’m properly spending time with my adorable younger siblings. I wanted to buy you something tasty. So how about we skip training today and go out for some sweets?”
A true eldest brother had a duty to teach his younger siblings the joy of playing hooky!
“Yeon, what do you think? Want to go out with your brother?”
“Yes! I really, really do!”
Baek Heonso watched Baek Yeonyeon bounce excitedly, then muttered under his breath.
“Me too...”
“What? Couldn’t hear you, little brother.”
“I want to... come too...”
They might have fought only moments ago, but the temptation was far too strong for a seven-year-old to resist.
Chuckling, Yanghwi pulled Baek Heonso to his feet.
“You’re both covered in dust. Go wash up and change clothes!”
“Yes!”
“Yes...”
Yeon skipped away cheerfully, while So followed more cautiously, still stealing glances back at Yanghwi.
The carrot and the stick had been effective tools of discipline since ancient times.
Come to think of it, it was today... or more precisely, tomorrow, wasn’t it?
Yanghwi recalled something that had happened on this day in his previous life and began planning what he needed to do once they left the manor.
If I handle this right, I can gain an ally for the family and make a sizable amount of money at the same time. And for that... I should start by finding Gu Ak.
That, incidentally, was why Yanghwi had acted so familiar with Gu Ak yesterday and brazenly called him Brother Gu.
For a tiny eight-year-old child to negotiate with Gu Ak, he had needed to leave an impression so deep it bordered on bizarre.
“Well then. Maybe it’s time to make Gu Ak keep his promise and call me Brother.”
Yanghwi grinned slyly.