After leaving the martial hall, I headed straight home... or rather, I didn't.
When I was almost there, I veered off to the side toward my private training ground in the back mountain.
It was just an open patch of dirt in front of a small cave, nothing fancy.
By then, the surroundings had grown completely dark, so I lit the torches I'd set up around the clearing with my flint.
Then I recalled today's spar with my master.
The moment of brutality disguised as a spar.
"Ugh, seriously. Thinking about it just makes it hurt all over again."
My face twisted in discomfort, as if the barely subsided pain was surging back.
Why the hell couldn't I beat that guy?
It had already been five years since I'd begged my parents in this world to let me frequent the newly opened Heavenly Wind Martial Hall.
Five years since I'd waited for a peerless master to pass through our village until I turned ten, then tearfully gave up on that fateful encounter.
Five years since I'd learned the hard truth that the world doesn't hand you easy wins... damn it, enough!
No point dwelling on it—it just pissed me off more. Why keep bringing it up?
Anyway, five whole years had passed since I'd started learning martial arts.
Yet I still couldn't beat my master, Bae Wang-sam, who was obviously just a third-rate warrior from around these parts.
My grand ambition of surpassing him in three years had crumbled long ago.
"Yeah, this won't cut it."
Struck anew by that harsh reality, I steeled my resolve.
Things couldn't go on like this.
With some third-rate breathing technique and sword art picked up off the streets, I'd never manage sword qi or sword aura, let alone lightness skills.
Even now, I could release internal energy through my soles to accelerate or leap to heights twice my own.
That alone proved the past five years of training weren't wasted.
But what I truly craved was far beyond that.
Covering dozens of paces in a single bound, unleashing a three-chi sword aura that cleaved through everything in a flash—something that badass...!
"Urgh...!"
Just imagining it made my heart race.
But my pounding excitement quickly sank with the unwelcome memory that surfaced.
-Lightness skills? What nonsense is that?
-Sword qi? Sword aura? Pfft hahaha! You seriously believe in that crap?
"...Just you watch."
I remember your face perfectly.
Let's see if you can say the same when I'm unleashing sword aura right in front of you someday.
"Hoo..."
Back to the point: as I said earlier, at this rate, reaching the level I wanted was a pipe dream.
Third-rate arts wouldn't do it. I needed a peerless divine art.
But peerless divine arts don't just fall from the sky, and the fateful encounter I'd waited ten years for wasn't suddenly going to appear out of nowhere.
So there was only one answer.
"I'll make one myself."
Anyone overhearing would have laughed their ass off, calling me a lunatic lost in delusions.
Laugh all you want. It was a delusion, after all.
For now.
But the end result wouldn't be.
A feeble start leads to a grand finale—there's a saying for that!
With my determination renewed, I pondered what it would take to create that peerless divine art.
Two ingredients.
The Three Talents Miraculous Art I'd learned from Master Bae Wang-sam,
And the imagination fueled by all the wuxia novels I'd read in my past life.
How I combined them was up to my own abilities.
I entered the cave, sat cross-legged, and closed my eyes.
Just as I was about to begin circulating my energy,
"Ja-seong! What are you doing out here again!?"
"Cough...!"
A sudden shout pierced my ears, derailing my focus before I could even start. I coughed and opened my eyes.
The moment I did, I saw a woman glaring daggers from the cave entrance. I gave her an awkward smile.
"Ah, haha. Sis, you found me?"
"I knew you'd be here again. Why didn't you come straight home after training at the hall? What's the big idea?"
"Uh, ahem. A true warrior trains day and night without rest, as a matter of course..."
"Wanna die?"
"...Sorry."
From the Goon Family Manor hierarchy, number three—my big sister Goon Su-ae—shut me down cold with those icy words. I folded instantly.
She was so pissed I'd made her come all this way that she grabbed my ear and dragged me home.
"Ow...!"
I rubbed my stinging ear, groaning in pain.
Damn, is my ear even okay? It wasn't half-torn off and dangling, was it?
Thankfully, a careful touch confirmed it wasn't that bad.
As I massaged my ear and shot my sister a resentful glare, she ignored me completely and strode into the house first.
No guts to run off again, so I meekly passed through the main gate. Soon, the grand manor came into view.
This was the Goon Family Manor.
A fairly established landowning family in Goon Gang-hyeon—and my home.
It was also the lifeline for the Heavenly Wind Martial Hall, which had only three disciples.
-Growl
The moment I stepped inside, my stomach let out a mighty rumble.
Oh right, I hadn't had dinner yet.
"The rest of the family has already eaten. I've told them to bring your meal to your room in the annex, so go see Mother first."
"Ahem. A training warrior must abstain from grains. These rice cakes will suffice for me..."
"You wanna die for real?"
"...Thank you. I'll eat well."
My big sister clicked her tongue as I backed down again.
"Kid's gotta eat proper meals, not this rice cake nonsense."
Her words were sharp and snappy, but laced with affection underneath.
That's why I could afford to push her buttons like that.
After bowing to my sister in thanks, I headed to Mother's room.
I made a soft sound outside the lit door.
"Mother, it's me."
"Ah, Ja-seong's here. Come in."
I eased the door open and stepped in. Mother smiled at me.
"Did you go to the martial hall again today? Is that why you're so late?"
"Ah... Yeah, and I did some personal training after. Haha..."
She shook her head helplessly as I scratched the back of my neck with an awkward grin.
"It's been five years already since you started going there to learn that martial arts stuff. Don't you ever get tired of it?"
"Tired? No way. It's fun every single day."
Learning martial arts was the fun part.
Not getting beaten by Master Bae Wang-sam.
That damn master—third-rate as he was—had real wulin savvy where it didn't show, blocking out every vital spot perfectly.
Thanks to that, no one in the family knew I got thrashed daily.
Naturally, I had no intention of telling them.
A man's pride, you know—I couldn't just go blabbing about getting beat up.
Besides, once I became a master, I'd thrash third-rate scrubs like him black and blue.
Imagining Master Bae Wang-sam begging for mercy under my foot made my lips curl up involuntarily.
"You like it that much?"
"...Huh? Oh, yeah! Of course."
Mother gave a wry smile, misinterpreting my grin.
Then came the usual loving nagging.
Don't come home late for meals. Don't go picking fights just because you know some martial arts, and so on...
I finally left Mother's room half a shichen after entering.
"Whew..."
I'd devoured the surprisingly lavish meal set out for me alone. Now I clutched my full belly and flopped onto the bed.
Checking the time, it was still a while before midnight.
"Can't forget to circulate before sleep."
I'd love to research martial arts with the extra time, but that was pushing it.
This cursed third-rate art I'd learned from Master Bae Wang-sam—the Three Talents Miraculous Art—was as slow to circulate as you'd expect from trash.
A single full circuit took at least two shichen. What a pain.
But skipping it wasn't an option.
That's how pissed off I was—I'd invent that peerless divine art somehow.
With a short sigh, I sat cross-legged on the bed and began circulating.
Internal energy flowed from my dantian up the Governing Vessel to the crown, then down the Conception Vessel back to the dantian—a small heavenly cycle.
Feeling the sluggish energy, like a tortoise on land, merge with a droplet of gathered qi from my breathing and return to my dantian, I opened my eyes. Sure enough, midnight had passed; it was nearing the ugly hour.
"Ugh, seriously."
I wanted to circulate all night, but my body protested the fatigue from two shichen of immobility.
"Isn't circulating supposed to relieve fatigue and let you skip sleep?"
I'd tried an all-nighter once, and instead of refreshing me, I nearly died of drowsiness.
That day, I staggered around in a daze and got demolished by Master Bae Wang-sam.
Was it because the breathing method sucked, or were wuxia novels just inaccurate?
Pondering that unsolved question, I lay back on the bed.
"At this rate, when the hell will I invent a martial art and draw some sword qi?"
It wouldn't really take another five years to hit ten total, right?
Nah, no way. I believe in my genius.
At worst... three years? That should do it.
...That's what I thought back then.
Who knew 'it can't happen' would bite me? It really took five whole years.
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