Craaang!“Kh—!”Yeon Jipyeong staggered back.“Again.”Yeon Wi stood like a single stalk of bamboo.His left hand was clasped behind his back; the sword in his right dipped toward the lower line. His waist was straight; his eyes fixed forward.A bleakness rose in Yeon Jipyeong.“No openings.”It felt like he could attack anywhere, yet nowhere could be attacked.His father’s martial art was nothing short of an iron wall. The sword force that split the air crashed like waves, and the sword decisions that shed attacks flowed like wind.Staring at Yeon Wi for a moment, Yeon Jipyeong drew a breath and released his stance.Yeon Wi’s eyes lit.Dropping his guard while the spar hadn’t ended?“So you haven’t given up.”Though the stance was gone, the pressure pouring off him did not lessen. If anything, it was sharper than before.Yeon Jipyeong tapped the floor with his toe.Thoom!After softening his whole body, he clenched his muscles in an instant and drove his advance speed up.Papapapak!He seemed to rush straight in—but no. With frightening spring, his footwork carved a zigzag, closing in fast yet supple.It was an impressive approach, but Yeon Wi’s face stayed cool.“He knows it won’t get through.”Then—The moment Yeon Jipyeong, who had come in ten steps off the left, shifted to seven steps on the right—Whoosh.A crisp tensile force shot for Yeon Wi’s chest.Shraaak!Yeon Wi’s sword coolly split the tensile force.At that instant, Yeon Jipyeong crashed in from the left-center lane.His speed was half again what it had been before. He wasn’t peeling fully off to the left, either.Call it a feint within the footwork, a sharp psychological play. You make the opponent grow used to a certain lane of approach, then in the decisive beat, you land an explosive strike from an unanticipated bearing.Yeon Wi’s sword flashed up to the high line.Craaang!Yeon Jipyeong’s body jolted to a halt.He’d poured all his strength into the blow; he’d failed again.Of course, with Yeon Jipyeong’s current martial level he couldn’t so much as scratch Yeon Wi. But he’d thought he could at least make him hurried—yet even that didn’t land.Yeon Wi spoke.“That’s enough—”Flash!Yeon Jipyeong’s blade shot like lightning.It was a thrust, not a cut. A small surprise touched Yeon Wi’s face.Clang!Father and son’s swords struck and froze there.Looking down at his son with a cool gaze, Yeon Wi nodded.“Stop.”“Fuu!”Yeon Jipyeong staggered back.It was a one-sword he’d unleashed with his whole strength. And yet, blocked all the same.His pelvis and knees—his whole right arm—were tingling. He couldn’t show it.Sheathing his sword, Yeon Jipyeong bowed his head.“Thank you.”“Not bad.”Startled, Yeon Jipyeong looked at Yeon Wi.Sheathing his own sword, Yeon Wi went on.“Shaking the opponent’s mind and drawing a lightning one-sword in the decisive instant—that was impressive.”“Ah… th-thank you.”He’d never received praise like this from his father. Yeon Jipyeong’s face flushed red.Inwardly, Yeon Wi couldn’t help but admire him.“So the boy can use tactics like this.”Real combat is flooded with variables. Martial arts learned only in upright honesty will strengthen the roots but are hard to apply in the field.Thus far, Yeon Jipyeong had solidified his roots as a martial man—thick and sturdy roots that wouldn’t be pulled even a hundred years hence.He’d been thinking it was about time to teach him some unorthodox methods; before he knew it, the boy had researched them on his own and shown them. That change surprised Yeon Wi.And decisively—“That last one-sword.”“Oh, that?”“How did you execute that sword?”Yeon Jipyeong, a little shy, rubbed under his nose.“I realized it while blending the Flying Swallow Eight Swords and the Wave Nine Swords. It’s a bit crude, but when I mixed the quick-sword of Flying Swallow with the ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ chained-sword subtlety of Wave, a lightning-like strong sword popped out.”“…”“It’s not something I’d call finished, and if I want to use it in a match it needs a lot of honing. So I couldn’t show you before, but now I thought I could, so…”“No—you can finish it.”“Sir?”In his characteristic blunt voice, Yeon Wi said,“The Flying Swallow Eight Swords, the Wave Nine Swords, and the characteristics of the Brilliant Grand Sword—when you combine them and imbue them with a higher martial logic, you arrive at the Iron Sword Great Derivation Thirty-Six Forms.”“What?!”Yeon Jipyeong started.The Iron Sword Great Derivation Thirty-Six Forms was one of the Yeon Clan’s three great sword methods. Of the three, its raw sword force was the lowest, yet it was also the art that implemented not a single missed attribute the sword should possess.Thus the Iron Sword Great Derivation was both sword method and divine art. Among the three, it was also the first that Yeon Wi had completed.“When you polish the Iron Sword Great Derivation, you gain a middle-way sword that leans to nothing. The one move you just showed is a method called Lightning-One-Breath from the back twelve forms of the Iron Sword Great Derivation.”“Ah…!”“You implemented an un-taught art through a sword logic you honed on your own.”Yeon Wi nodded.“Well done.”Frank joy colored Yeon Jipyeong’s face.More than the pride of having grasped an un-taught art alone, he was far happier to be praised by his father. At last he felt recognized as a swordsman.“Thank you.”“Feints and combined-sword. You no longer need to bind yourself to basics alone. Since we’re on it, starting tomorrow I’ll transmit the Sword Ultimate Essence and the Iron Sword Great Derivation to you.”It meant he would transmit both the clan-representing divine art and sword method. Yeon Jipyeong bowed low.“I’ll work hard.”“I trust you.”I always trust you.Yeon Wi didn’t bother to voice the words that rose in his mind.Was it because they’d butted heads over so many things? With his first son, he would show his inner mind from time to time. With the second, that still wasn’t easy.“Fast.”Whatever the reasons, Yeon Jipyeong’s pace of martial completion was fearsome. He himself had been acknowledged as an outstanding talent in his generation, but Yeon Jipyeong had far surpassed that self by a long margin.“Five years faster.”He’d begun completing the Sword Ultimate Essence at seventeen, yet he didn’t start polishing the Iron Sword Great Derivation until well past twenty.What’s more, he’d never even thought to combine the subtleties of mid-level sword methods.In every way, the boy’s talent was superb. And he didn’t rest on talent—he ground away day by day. The future was truly worth anticipating.And the second still hadn’t fully flowered his talent.By nature, Yeon Jipyeong was gentle and good-hearted. A temperament that didn’t suit a swordsman, where matches turned in a single instant.The moment that temperament is planed and polished into a single jade—that’s when the real beginning starts.…Yet Yeon Wi didn’t think that gentle nature was bad. If anything, he wanted that purity kept for a long time.As for himself, needless to say, and his first as well, they were both too stained by the world. Perhaps because of that, in some corner of his heart Yeon Hojeong held a cold streak that was almost excessive.Yeon Wi wished the second would not come to possess that coldness. For a warrior of the rivers and lakes, it may be a fate—but he hoped the second alone would slip that fate.He truly wished it.“Let’s end today’s training here.”“Yes! Thank you for your work!”“Mm.”It was when father and son set their swords on the rack.“Clan Lord!”Lee Baekhyun came pelting in, out of breath.“A letter! Word from the First Young Master!”Yeon Jipyeong’s face brightened at once.“F-from my brother?”Yeon Wi took the letter from Lee Baekhyun’s hand. He’d all but snatched it, though he didn’t notice.He unfolded it.As Yeon Wi opened the letter, Yeon Jipyeong cleared his throat and slid oh-so-casually to his father’s side.I’m sorry. I’ve been so busy I haven’t been able to write often. I heard the Beggars’ Union sent a separate message. The matter went well, and I’m safe.Eyes fixed on the letter, Yeon Wi spoke.“Pyeong.”“Sir?!”Startled, Yeon Jipyeong flinched a step back without meaning to.Calmly, Yeon Wi said,“When, someday, you go out into the martial world—you must not act the way your brother does.”“…Sir?”Yeon Wi shut his mouth.“Thoughtless brat.”How busy can you be that you can’t send a letter on time?Call it unfilial, even. Even if he’d only penned a few words—would I scold him for lack of sincerity? What matters is not the content, but whether there’s anything amiss with his person.With the first, everything else is fine—but in this sort of thing, he has a problem.Impudent boy.It seems I’ll have to undergo some questioning as a witness in this incident. It’ll end quickly, I’m sure. But it may take a bit of time before I return. It’s nothing; I mean to look around the world some while I’m at it, so be at ease.Even more impudent.When the matter is done, return, pay respects, then go out again. It seemed he’d learned another of the first’s shortcomings.I wonder if the clan works are finished. I trust Jipyeong is well? I’m already looking forward to seeing how much he’s grown.Yeon Jipyeong grinned.Yeon Wi cut him a glance. Yeon Jipyeong hurried to school his face.He turned his eyes back to the letter.Ah, and please send me separately the evidentiary documents for the salt-works tax the Ming scum extorted illegally by threatening East Sea merchants. I’d also be grateful if you enclose the papers showing they kidnapped Western Region merchants and sold them as slaves on the black market.Yeon Wi spoke to Lee Baekhyun.“In the archive there’s a bound ledger marked Red Sandalwood Ledger. Hand the thickest of those documents to the Iron Cudgel Beggar branch master. Have it sent to the Temporary Alliance of the Martial World.”“Understood, Clan Lord.”Lee Baekhyun scampered off.I’m sorry for starting things on my own without telling you first. I’ll receive my punishment when I return. The days are very hot. Please take care of your health.At the bottom was written: Unfilial son, Hojeong.“…So he does know.”Yeon Jipyeong blinked.Folding the letter, Yeon Wi looked up at the sky.The clouds were fairly scattered, but the sky was clear. Summer had truly come.Since you’ve gone out into the world anyway, come back grown even larger. ****“Huh? What? Where are you going?”Ga Deoksang looked at Yeon Hojeong with a puzzled eye.Yeon Hojeong was in a freshly laundered martial robe, even holding his axe. Judging by appearance alone, he looked ready to leave any moment.“I’m about to leave Henan.”“What? Now?”“Is there a problem?”“Uh… no, well, no problem.”He’d finished all the questioning as a witness on the case. A few days had passed, enough that he could move; there was no more need to remain in Henan.“If I hadn’t come find you, you’d have left without a word, huh?”“Probably?”“You heartless bastard!”Yeon Hojeong smiled faintly.“You’ve got to get back to your main post anyway, Rear Beggar. If fate ties us later, we’ll meet again.”“My ‘main post’ is watching you.”“What’s that supposed to mean?”“Our master said so. This one’s dangerous, and if he starts drifting into the demonic path, lop his head off. Call it a special order.”A frown creased Yeon Hojeong’s brow.“Is the Rear Beggar seat so leisurely? Not busy?”Ga Deoksang gave a powerless smile.“A little busy. So I can’t tag along right now.”“Tagging along with me would only mean tiring work anyway.”“Wretched man. Cold-blooded man.”“See you later.”“Hold up.”From his bosom, Ga Deoksang produced a little pouch stained with grimy age and handed it over.The look on Yeon Hojeong’s face was something to see.“Take it.”“…”“What? Too dirty?”“I’ll take it. What is it?”“A Foul-Essence Token.”“Name’s a masterpiece.”Ga Deoksang shrugged.“I don’t know where you’ll go or what you’ll do, but if something happens, take that and go to any branch. You’ll be able to get the information you want.”Yeon Hojeong smiled.“Thanks.”“Save it. It’s for keeping tabs on you, so use it as much as possible.”“Noted.”Yeon Hojeong stepped through the door.“Then I’ll be off first.”“Young Master Yeon.”“Mm?”Ga Deoksang formed a cupped-fists salute.“I wish you fortune in arms.”Yeon Hojeong did not take that greeting lightly.Setting his axe down, he returned the salute face-to-face.“See you later.”

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