Yeon Hojeong bowed.“I have returned, Father.”“Mm.”Yeon Wi nodded.“Rise.”“Yes.”Rising from his place, Yeon Hojeong straightened his attire.He still looked rough. It seemed he had kept training on the road; patches of his clothes were torn and stained.Even with a guest at his side, he truly couldn’t help but ask.“Did you train again on the way?”“Yes.”As if it were only natural.Yeon Wi was pleased with that unadorned answer from his son.A martial man must maintain his best condition anytime, anywhere. At the same time, it is proper to hone oneself day by day so that the peak itself can be raised.Most in the martial world neglect that obvious training and endurance. But his son was different.He kept to the basics and followed the truth. The boy would surely become great.No—he was already a man great enough.Remarkable.Words he could not speak aloud with others watching.Honest astonishment rose in Yeon Wi’s eyes as he looked at Yeon Hojeong.When in the world did he grow this much?From harsh training his true qi was unstable. It looked as though he had wrung his internal power to the utmost.And even so, he was like this.He had felt it as the boy approached with a flow like running water—it was like seeing a rock filled solid to its core. The true qi might be unstable, but the qi that pierced straight through the center of his body did not waver.At a glance he seemed no different than before, yet Yeon Wi could glimpse the terrifying explosive force his flesh now put out.And those eyes.Even before leaving the clan, there had been no tremor in his gaze; now it downright called to mind steel. It meant he had not the slightest doubt about the path he pursued.Heart, qi, body. You have cultivated all three without lack.Yeon Wi spoke.“They say a man becomes an adult only after going out into the world—this trip to the Central Plains seems to have helped you greatly.”It was praise said slantwise. Yeon Hojeong shook his head.“I am still # Nоvеlight # far off. I mustn’t be satisfied with only this.”Whatever else, that temperament was the same. No—if anything, it seemed even sterner.Yeon Hojeong’s martial skill was now beyond the point of speaking in terms of age.Even among apex masters there are tiers. Judging by the external qi Yeon Hojeong exuded, astonishingly, he seemed no less than an elder of the Nine Sects and One Union and Six Great Houses.Even for his own son, the speed of growth was hard to grasp. There was no precedent.But that qi?The post-fire of the Jade Wave True Canon was already at nine-tenths.That was surprising, but truly startling was the peculiar energy the Jade Wave True Qi was sheathing. Not one but three, no less.Each was distinct, and yet they did not harm one another—internal powers of a single through-line.Quietly examining his son’s body, Yeon Wi asked:“Did you gain a providence?”Yeon Hojeong answered with a smile.“Every meeting and every clash with a person is a providence. Compared to that, this is nothing.”“Pretty words.”There was much to note about Yeon Hojeong’s internal power and martial art. Yeon Wi decided to speak on that part later.“And then…”Yeon Wi looked to Mookbi.For a woman, she was quite tall. Her body was slender and her limbs long. Even at a glance, a frame of extreme suppleness.Though tanned by the sun, her skin had not a speck of blemish. With a healthy beauty, her features ran bold—a striking beauty.But appearances were not what mattered.A gleam rose in Yeon Wi’s eyes.A master?Astonishingly, the girl his son had brought was also a master.Not merely an ordinary master. The internal power she held surpassed even Yeon Hojeong’s; one could almost call it the reserve of a near-superlative apex.He did not know how she had come by such tremendous internal strength. Only, more than half of the power she possessed was diffused through the whole-body fine meridians, so it seemed she could not use it at once.Excellent internal power. But her skill…Seeing a true qi no less unstable than his son’s, it seemed she had come along with similar training; overall, she gave the impression of dullness.Below Hojeong.Her internal power surpassed Yeon Hojeong’s, but her actual skill was lower.At Yeon Wi’s level, a mere look was enough to see through an opponent’s skill. To his eyes, this girl sorely lacked the sword-like keenness a martial person should have.Even so, impressive. All the more for her years.Yeon Hojeong nudged Mookbi with an elbow.Startled, Mookbi bowed her head.“Baek… no—my name is Mookbi.”“Mookbi?”“Yes.”Yeon Wi cocked his head.A curious name.Well, what of it? There are plenty with curious names in this world. All the more so in the martial world.“Are you a friend of Hojeong’s?”Mookbi hesitated.Yeon Hojeong answered at once.“A friend.”“Is that so?”As before, there was no rise and fall in his voice, but it sounded a touch drained.Only for a moment, though.“Pleasure to meet you, Miss Muk. I am Hojeong’s father.”“N-nice to meet you.”Mookbi could not gather her wits.Astounding!She had never seen a master like Yeon Wi.He let no qi ripple outward, but that was only what showed on the surface. What lay within was a divine sword as massive as a mountain peak of Mount Tai.An overwhelming master to a shocking degree. The instant she sensed that colossal qi, her entire body froze; she could not so much as twitch a finger.Even Brother Gungcheon and the Music Master wouldn’t last ten moves!More than that.Even if all the ghost archers who had entered the Yi God Contest charged him, they would not win. Until she perfected the Nine Dragons Heaven-Breaking Bow, she would scarcely be able to draw a bowstring before him.Yeon Wi glanced at the bow and quiver at Mookbi’s hip.“You use archery, it seems.”“…Pardon? Ah—yes! I do!”It was a resounding answer uncharacteristic of Mookbi.Yeon Hojeong knit his brow. What had gotten into her?Yeon Wi nodded.“You are quite the adept. As you are a friend of my son’s, I shall treat you at ease.”“Yes!”“…?”“…”“Ahem.”With a cough that dispersed the odd mood, Yeon Wi asked Yeon Hojeong:“On what occasion have you brought a friend?”“I wished to ask you a favor, Father.”“A favor?”Pointing to Mookbi, Yeon Hojeong said:“May this one live at the main house from now on?”Yeon Wi’s eyes flashed.At the same time, Mookbi’s complexion went ashen. From a mere change in Yeon Wi’s gaze, a chill ran down her spine.“Do you mean we should accept her as family?”“Yes. If that is too much, then at least allow her to stay in the guest wing…”“Nonsense.”Yeon Wi shook his head flatly.“I don’t know what story lies behind her, but as my son’s friend she ought naturally to be received with the rites of a guest.”“Ah. Yes.”Yeon Wi addressed Mookbi.“Miss, have you no other ties?”“Pardon? Ah—y-yes!”From Mookbi’s position it could be quite a gloomy topic, yet because it was Yeon Wi asking, it passed as only natural. Such was his presence.“If you have nowhere else to go, think of the Yeon Clan as your home and stay.”“…Pardon?”“You are the first Hojeong has brought as a friend. For that heedless boy to go so far as to say ‘accept her as family,’ how much must you have caught his heart.”“…?!”“Live comfortably. Don’t trouble yourself over food and clothing.”Startled, Mookbi looked to Yeon Wi.His gaze was still fearsome. Within eyes clear as crystal was packed the edge of a peerless sword of the world.But they did not hold only the edge of a martial man. Having always lived by reading the room, Mookbi could read frank goodwill in Yeon Wi’s eyes.It was kindness without price. Because she was his son’s friend, he simply thought of her as one of the household. Even to world-ignorant Mookbi, it was a purity of trust shocking enough to amaze.Ah…Mookbi’s rims slowly reddened.Unbidden, she was choking up. She hurriedly bowed her head.“T-thank you.”Yeon Wi nodded.“Deputy Lee.”“Yes, Clan Lord.”“Beside Hojeong’s quarters, make Yeonryeowon her quarters. See her there.”“Understood.”Smiling, Lee Baekhyeon said to Mookbi:“Please follow me.”“Yes.”Before following Lee Baekhyeon, Mookbi bowed once more to Yeon Wi.“I will be in your care. Thank you, Father.”“You have labored long on the road. Rest easy.”“Yes.”Thus Mookbi went with Lee Baekhyeon to her quarters.Yeon Wi shook his head.“For one so young she has piled up astonishing martial skill, yet her heart is as fragile as porcelain.”“That’s the problem. She needs to harden.”“Becoming like you is not so easy. It is not something to force.”“Such things don’t bend to force anyway. If she judges it necessary, she’ll harden on her own.”“Not that alone. From the look of it, the child bears a great wound in her heart.”Yeon Hojeong smiled bitterly.“Yes. She has reason.”“Wounds on the body heal with treatment, but wounds of the heart do not heal because someone tries to help. Still, better to have a person at one’s side than not; whenever you have time, soothe her well.”“Yes.”Yeon Wi nodded repeatedly.“That aside.”His gaze on Yeon Hojeong turned cold in an instant.For a moment he seemed a different man. Had Mookbi seen Yeon Wi now, she might have fainted on the spot.Even Yeon Hojeong—who could claim to be the most even-tempered under heaven—couldn’t help but flinch at his father’s change.He tried, in the roughening air, to force the subject aside.“Ah! By the way, where’s that rascal Jipyeong gone? His older brother’s come and not a single—”“I knew you were heedless, but you exceeded imagination.”His throat went dry. Unconsciously, Yeon Hojeong swallowed.In a voice cold to the extreme, Yeon Wi said:“What is called the bonds of Heaven are the duties that parents and children, that those of blood, must rightly keep. Those duties are nothing grand. They are the courtesies easy yet demanded, the rites one must possess as a person.”“COUGH!”“I have never once thought my son some wretch who knows nothing of those bonds. I did not expect a letter every day from a son who went out into the world to learn the realm under heaven—but were you so busy you could not even send a simple line that you were well?”“Well, Father, the thing is… what happened is—”“Silence!”His ears seemed to buzz. Like a turtle, Yeon Hojeong drew in his neck.Yeon Wi turned his body.“I will not hear the excuse that you’re worn from the road. Follow me.”Yeon Hojeong couldn’t help but sigh.At his age, the reality of being scolded by his father was lamentable; looking back, the fact that he himself was at fault and had no one else to blame left him dejected.In the end, with the heart of a sheep being driven to slaughter, he had to follow behind his father.That day, Yeon Hojeong had to recite by heart the Mirror for Enlightening the Mind — Filial Conduct Section until he could rattle it off—he could scarcely even remember when he’d last read it.

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