SHIIIIIIK!
A blue blade sliced through the air.
The movement of the sword itself was fluid, but its speed and sharpness did not suit a soft sword at all. It was clear that the swordsman wielding it had his heart drawn taut and sharp.
The swordsman, Yeon Jipyeong, stared ahead with bloodshot eyes.
A fairly large boulder sat motionless before him, as if mocking him.
PAAK!
Yeon Jipyeong closed the distance in a breath and swung a terrifying swift sword.
SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH!
Despite his unstable emotional state, he displayed precise swordsmanship, cutting across the surface of the boulder with only an inch of the sword tip. It showed that the martial arts he had learned and trained had fully soaked into his body.
PABABABABAK!
Stone dust burst up from the boulder.
It was swordsmanship distinguished by sharpness and precision, but in terms of the delicacy of his True Qi, it was hard to give it high marks. If he had properly infused True Qi into the blade, the stone dust would have crumbled beneath the sword wind before it could fly up. If it had been a little sharper, the dust itself would not have scattered at all.
It was proof that the technique had settled into his body, but his True Qi was wavering because of a psychological problem.
And no one knew that better than Yeon Jipyeong himself.
Damn it!
Gritting his teeth, Yeon Jipyeong flung out his left hand.
KUNG!
The boulder heaved up violently, then fell back into place.
Considering its size, its weight must have been tremendous as well. The fact that he had made such a boulder lift halfway off the ground showed truly remarkable Inner Qi.
But Yeon Jipyeong was not satisfied.
KAAAAANG!
In a single motion, he drove his sword into the ground. There was an unknowable anger in the act.
“This is all I am.”
Yeon Jipyeong let out a sigh.
“This is all.”
Judged purely by objective realm, Yeon Jipyeong did not even reach the feet of his father, Yeon Wi, let alone his brother, Yeon Hojeong. Those two had not merely broken through the Wall of Martial Arts; they were true masters walking the seventh and eighth ridges of Mount Tai.
However, when one considered Yeon Jipyeong’s age, the fact that he had reached the realm of a Peak master before even turning twenty was itself astonishing. Yeon Hojeong had been fast only because he had walked back along a path he had already traveled. In terms of talent, he could not be compared to Yeon Jipyeong.
What heights might he reach five years from now, ten years from now?
The realm Yeon Hojeong had completed in his forties as the Dark Emperor, through the finest martial arts, unrelenting drive, and countless life-and-death battles, Yeon Jipyeong might achieve in his thirties through pure effort alone.
The problem was the present.
“HOOF!”
Breathing out heavily, Yeon Jipyeong sank down where he stood and looked at his sword with complicated eyes.
I’m weak. Far too damn weak. So this is how powerless I really am.
When had it started? Probably after he had received instruction from his brother at the Martial Alliance.
Yeon Jipyeong had become able to view his own talent and skill objectively. He had honestly acknowledged that his talent was not ordinary, and thanks to that, he had gained the eye to distinguish between what was possible and what was not.
From then on, Yeon Jipyeong had seen the road he had to walk with greater precision and certainty.
And because of that, he had no choice but to feel an even more piercing sense of defeat.
With my skill as it is now, I can’t be of any help to Father or Brother.
If his skill had been far greater than it was now.
If that had truly been the case, he could have taken part in this battle as well. He certainly could have.
Because he was blood kin? Because he was young? No.
Though he was his brother, Yeon Hojeong was also among the youngest in this battle. And yet he had not only led the battle, but returned after accomplishing tremendous military merit.
In other words, I still haven’t been acknowledged by anyone.
Yeon Jipyeong closed his eyes.
I still have so far to go.
The fact that he had not been acknowledged was not what saddened him. What truly saddened him was that, because he was weak, he had not been able to assist his brother.
If he had been stronger than he was now and had joined this battle, if he had been able to share even a little of what his brother had to do.
Then perhaps his brother would not be lying in bed now. Naturally, that would also have erased the worry etched across his father’s face.
The reason Yeon Jipyeong felt confused, and beyond that, felt self-loathing.
It was because no matter how outstanding his talent or how good his skill, he believed it meant nothing the moment he could not become strength for his family.
“Never seen that before.”
At the sudden voice, Yeon Jipyeong flinched in surprise and turned around.
Gangryang was there.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen you wearing such a deathly face.”
“Ah! You’re here, brother.”
Gangryang looked at the boulder not far away.
The boulder, carved with dozens of netlike sword wounds, looked like a work of art.
Gangryang’s gaze changed abruptly.
SHRAAAANG!
Along with the sword draw, a blue sword-light cut across the air.
Click.
Gangryang, who had drawn and swung his sword before anyone knew it, sheathed it.
The three steps of drawing, cleaving, and returning were extremely fast and precise. It was a ghostly skill no one could have seen from the old Gangryang.
And that was not all.
CRAAACK!
Only after he sheathed his sword did the boulder split in half.
It was a perfectly straight sword force without even a single inch of wavering. The blow was so sharp that the cut surface of the boulder was as clean as glass.
Yeon Jipyeong was greatly shocked.
Gangryang asked in an even voice, “What do you think? Of my one sword strike.”
“It’s... incredible.”
“Is it? It still looks lacking to me.”
“No. I haven’t seen such a fast and precise swift sword since Father. It really is incredible.”
“Thanks.”
“But when did you learn a sword technique like that...?!”
“Who knows? While you were losing sleep worrying about your father and brother?”
Yeon Jipyeong’s face stiffened slightly.
It was not simply sarcasm. There was an unusual meaning contained within it.
Gangryang continued as if nothing were wrong.
“You were always calm and courteous. But right now, you’re shaking badly. Even your True Qi is wavering because of anger that has lost its way.”
“......”
“Are you angry because you couldn’t be of strength to the Clan Lord and your brother?”
It was an eerily accurate eye.
Yeon Jipyeong could not answer yes. It was true, but for some reason, his lips would not part.
After quietly studying Yeon Jipyeong’s expression, Gangryang asked as if tossing the words out, “You said my sword just now was incredible, didn’t you?”
“What? Ah, yes.”
“You may have seen it that way, but I don’t. What I see in it right now is the absence of power to support the sword path. I preserved its sharpness, but I lack the fundamental strength to drive that sharp cleaving strike forward.”
“......!”
“If I fill it with strength, then controlling the speed will likely become difficult. Once I control the speed, preserving the sharpness will become hard. If I solve each problem one by one like that, the time will come when I lack strength again.”
Gangryang looked up at the sky and smiled.
“There really is no end to the way of the sword. And since the sword is martial path itself, the martial path must have no end either.”
After looking up at the sky for a long while, he lowered his head and looked at Yeon Jipyeong again.
“Jipyeong.”
“......Yes.”
“What were you doing?”
“......”
“The Clan Lord and your brother secretly went off to carry out a difficult mission? That’s worrying. It’s also frustrating. If those two had acknowledged my strength, if I had been acknowledged as fighting power, they would at least have considered whether to take me on this mission.”
“......”
“But just like you, I couldn’t go with them. Because I’m from the Dark Path? I absolutely don’t think that.”
Gangryang’s eyes deepened.
“But so what?”
“What?”
“I wasn’t even treated as fighting power. And by fighting power, I mean everything—adaptability, real combat experience, eye, all of it.”
“......”
“In other words, they didn’t leave me behind simply because my martial arts were weak. They did it because I, as a person, was lacking.”
“......!”
Yeon Jipyeong’s eyes shook.
He had realized his own insufficiency to the bone. But he had never thought as deeply about it as Gangryang had.
He had simply felt self-loathing, and his worry for his father and brother had been far too great. He had been angry that his brother returned injured, and that anger had expressed itself as powerful disappointment in himself.
Then what about Gangryang?
“So should I suck my thumb and do nothing but worry until the two who already went off to a death ground come back? Should I look up at the sky and lament, asking why I didn’t work harder sooner, why I didn’t gain that much experience sooner?”
“I...”
“What I did after sending those two off was reduce my sleep and swing my sword.”
Gangryang pointed at Yeon Jipyeong.
“What you’re doing right now, taking your anger out on a boulder, isn’t truly swinging a sword. I forced myself to forget all that worry and anger, and lost myself only in the sword. Why? Because I had to become even a little stronger in the time I would have spent worrying.”
“......!”
“People can’t know the future. In other words, from the moment they left the Martial Alliance, those of us left behind had no choice but to trust them. To trust that they would return alive, and that they would accomplish the mission as they should.”
“......”
“The problem is me. What I do besides trusting and waiting for those two is the core of it. Worry? If I worry about them all day, will a mission destined to fail suddenly succeed? If I don’t pray, will a mission that would have succeeded end in failure?”
“......”
“Don’t mistake yourself for someone too important. There may be differences in talent, but in the end, you and I are both the sort who stake our lives on a single sword. Then you should have invested this time called today, which never returns once it passes, solely into yourself.”
Gangryang pointed at the boulder.
“This is the fruit I gained in that time. There’s still much that’s lacking, but at least I’ve become better than I was yesterday. It was a sword strike that felt vague to me ten days ago, and a result I could never have dared imagine a month ago.”
Yeon Jipyeong bit his lip.
Gangryang did not say that he should not have done that, that he must not do so. He simply posed a question that sought no answer, and revealed how he himself had acted in that situation.
Yeon Jipyeong felt ashamed.
For the past dozen days or so, let alone training in martial arts, he had been busy simply trying to set his chaotic heart straight. But Gangryang had immediately faced reality, then immersed himself in the sword and achieved the results before him.
I lost.
Talent was kindling. The more high-quality kindling one had, the stronger the fire burned, and the longer it lasted.
And that kindling, in the end, could burn only if there was a spark. What sent that spark into talent was effort.
Effort was not simply devoting oneself to something. Looking at one’s own state was the foundation, and beyond that, one had to read the surrounding situation as well before one could plan when, how, and how far to strive.
Gangryang had done that. Thanks to it, he had been able to refine such astonishing swordsmanship.
Gangryang looked steadily at Yeon Jipyeong’s face, then smiled.
“I thought I’d rejoice when the person I was chasing hit a standstill, but somehow, it just irritated me.”
“What?”
“That’s all I’m saying.”
Gangryang turned around.
“The higher the peak, the more worthwhile the climb. A dozen days ago, you turned into a low hill I had already conquered. The you right now has collapsed so badly that you can’t even draw my interest.”
“......!”
“Become a great mountain again. Become the highest mountain under heaven, and make my eyes catch fire. I, too, will become a Mount Tai that can set your heart ablaze, and I will look down over all under heaven.”
Life returned to Yeon Jipyeong’s eyes.
