Five days later.

Hm.

They had been so busy that the family had not had even one proper meal together.

Now that there was finally a little time, Yeon Wi had suggested the four of them gather quietly and eat. Thanks to that, his eldest son, his second son, and Mookbi were all present.

And there, Yeon Wi could feel Yeon Hojeong’s change at once.

“Hojeong.”

“Yes?”

Yeon Hojeong, who had been eating a piece of finely shredded meat with his chopsticks, looked at Yeon Wi in confusion.

......?

Yeon Wi’s expression turned strange.

The face his son showed him looked quite innocent. Those black-and-white eyes, clear by nature, were almost transparent.

How peculiar.

Since the fight with the so-called Twelfth Warrior-General of the Divine Flame Cult, something about his son had changed.

Or, to be more precise, it felt as though the nature he had been hiding had finally surfaced. The demonic madness he had cultivated while passing through hellish Asura fields seemed to have at last raised its head.

Because of that, Yeon Wi had worried greatly. If the body was wounded, one could call a physician and have it treated, but instability in the heart and mind could only be overcome by oneself.

He had arranged today’s meal hoping it might help, even a little, to clear the darkness lodged in Yeon Hojeong’s eyes. Yet unexpectedly, his son’s eyes were simply clear and deep.

Did something happen in that short time? Or......

Yeon Wi smiled.

“You are eating less.”

“Am I?”

“Did you not usually eat enough for three or four grown men?”

Yeon Hojeong scratched his head.

“I have not been pushing my body too hard lately. Right now, this much is just right.”

There was a common misconception people had: that martial artists did nothing but eat and fight.

But the truth was different.

The martial world was certainly a perilous world of blades and spears, but far more people had never experienced real combat than had.

Furthermore, there were far more who died in their first real battle than those who survived battle and grew from it.

Real combat, from the beginning, was built on someone’s death. There were occasional exceptions, but those who entered real battle usually did not keep survival after defeat in mind.

In other words, real combat was the act of staking one’s entire life up to that point. Beyond simple physical exhaustion, the drain on the mind was bound to be immense. The thing itself was extreme tension.

In that regard, Yeon Hojeong could be called an extraordinarily unusual case.

He had experienced more real combat than any martial artist of his era, and he had suffered countless defeats as well. Yet he had survived to the very end and was here now.

A life marked by immeasurable victories and losses.

In other words, to him, real combat and life-or-death struggle were no longer stages he had to steel himself before climbing onto.

Life itself was life-or-death, real combat, and a succession of tension. That was why his heart was calm, why he could treat real combat like a spar, and why he did not need to tense up.

An incarnation of real combat.

Because he possessed ghostlike skill found in only a handful of people under heaven, he could regulate everything—his amount of training, his meals, his rest, and his work—in proportion to his condition.

“How are your wounds? I heard you were hurt in the spar with the troops.”

“We have a skilled physician in our quarters, do we not? I am completely healed.”

“I see. That is good.”

It was a relief that his body had healed, but more than that, Yeon Wi was relieved that his son seemed to have returned to the wise, confident man he had been before.

Yeon Wi abruptly looked at Yeon Jipyeong and asked, “Are you bored?”

“Yes? Ah, me?”

“Yes.”

Yeon Jipyeong spoke awkwardly.

“I spend every day chasing the sword path. How could I be bored? I am only worried that I am doing nothing but eating. Father, Brother, and Sister are all so busy. It feels like I am the only one doing nothing.”

“Do not think that way. The Martial Alliance is an alliance of the Orthodox Path martial world. You, too, are a member of the Orthodox Path and of the Yeon Clan bloodline. It is right for you to train diligently day after day in preparation for the time the martial world calls you. Keep that sword well-honed.”

“I understand.”

“The reason I did not stop you from coming to the Martial Alliance was that the clan had become stable, and because I wanted you to come to a larger place and broaden your perspective.”

Yeon Wi gestured toward Yeon Hojeong and Mookbi with his hand.

“Your brother and Bia are not merely strong in martial arts, nor are they simply busy. You must watch carefully what the two of them see and experience, and how they resolve conflicts and incidents.”

“I will remember that.”

Yeon Hojeong’s expression remained calm, but Mookbi’s face flushed for no reason. She felt embarrassed, as though he were praising her too highly when she was not such an impressive person.

Yeon Wi looked at Mookbi with a smile.

“By the way, congratulations.”

“Yes?”

Mookbi blinked.

“Me?”

“Yes.”

“For what......?”

Yeon Wi frowned and looked at Yeon Hojeong.

“You did not tell her?”

Yeon Hojeong answered calmly.

“I thought it was important for her to realize it herself. She only needs to continue as she has so far, so from the perspective of martial advancement, I did not think it was anything to make a fuss over.”

“You little brat. She is a genius who has half-demolished the wall that announces the first destination of martial arts. Even celebrating for three days and nights would not be enough.”

Yeon Hojeong smiled sheepishly.

“She is in the middle of demolishing it. She has not demolished it completely.”

“That is still not the point.”

It was a strange conversation. At least to Mookbi, it was.

Yeon Jipyeong looked at Mookbi in shock.

“Sister!”

“Huh? What?”

“Congratulations!”

“......For what?”

“You are breaking through the Wall of Martial Arts! That is incredible!”

Mookbi blinked.

“The Wall of...... huh? Breaking what? Who? Me?”

Honest admiration appeared on Yeon Jipyeong’s face.

“I thought your True Qi had become strangely deeper, Sister. So that was it after all.”

“Huh?”

Flustered, Mookbi looked at Yeon Wi.

Yeon Wi nodded.

“You are in the middle of breaking through the Wall of Martial Arts. If you continue steadily as you have been doing, it seems you will reach the higher realm before this month passes.”

“Gasp!”

Mookbi was startled.

“I-I broke through the Wall of Martial Arts?!”

Yeon Hojeong shook his head.

“Say it properly. You are in the middle of breaking through. You have not broken through yet.”

“That is the same thing!”

“It is different, you idiot. So do not overdo it just because you are excited. Just do exactly as Father said and continue the way you have until now.”

Mookbi’s face flushed bright.

Yeon Hojeong clicked his tongue.

“This is why I was not telling you.”

Yeon Wi shook his head.

“It is only right that she be happy. You are young, yes, but Bia is young as well. A master who breaks through the Wall of Martial Arts at this age is by no means common.”

“Well, that is true too.”

Mookbi swallowed.

I am breaking through the Wall of Martial Arts......!

Her fists clenched without her realizing it, overwhelmed by swelling joy.

But only for a moment.

“But.”

“Hm?”

Mookbi’s face turned bewildered.

“I did not know I was ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ changing...... so how in the world do you know I am breaking through the Wall of Martial Arts?”

“Ah, that?”

Yeon Wi smiled.

“In truth, breaking through a realm is an intensely personal sensation, so it is not easy for an outsider to judge. However, there is a certain ‘gateway’ that countless people experience just before reaching similar heights.”

“Ah, yes.”

“But the process of passing through that gateway differs greatly from person to person. In Hojeong’s case, he manifested all the martial arts of the Four Spirit Martial Art and achieved complete mastery of the Jade Wave Art at ten stars, passing through in one breath. In my case, I struggled quite a bit at the gateway of the Wall of Martial Arts.”

His sons’ talents were so exceptional that it was easy to forget, but Yeon Wi himself was a man whose talent stood second to no one. If even such a once-in-a-generation swordsman had found it difficult, the complexity of the Wall of Martial Arts was beyond imagination.

“Each person has a different method of breaking the wall and advancing. But when one reaches the ultimate principle, everyone encounters a similar wall. Of course, that wall of ultimate principle also differs in form and difficulty from person to person.”

“Yes. So what I mean is......”

“However, one characteristic appears in those who demolish that wall and move forward.”

“A characteristic?”

“Yes.”

“What kind of characteristic?”

“True Qi.”

“......?”

Mookbi tilted her head.

Yeon Hojeong chuckled.

“The density of the True Qi changes. If I just say it like that, you may wonder what is so impressive about it, but it is completely different.”

“How?”

“When the density of True Qi changes, the dantian you originally possessed rapidly contracts. Naturally. It has to raise the density.”

“......!!”

“The dantian grows smaller, but the True Qi it contains becomes firmer and more concentrated. Depending on the practitioner’s method of operation, efficiency is maximized as well.”

Yeon Wi continued after Yeon Hojeong.

“Furthermore, once the wall is pierced and the density of True Qi rises, even the True Qi lodged in the muscles and bones gathers into the dantian.”

“What?!”

“Must it not be emptied before it can be filled? The pure qi of great nature lodges in the emptied muscles and bones, so not only the dantian but the body itself develops more perfectly and without gaps.”

HWARURURUK.

Yeon Hojeong set one chopstick aflame.

The chopstick burned black in an instant, then turned white.

Crush.

He shattered the charcoal-like chopstick with his powerful grip and trapped it inside his fist. This time, he drew up Black Tortoise Qi.

Chiiiiik!

With pale smoke, a small bead formed in his palm. It had been compressed so fiercely that it was as tiny as his thumbnail.

“A body of the highest realm, its impurities removed, and a dantian with increased density.”

“......!!”

“It is the reconstruction of the body so it can gain further enlightenment. With the body as it is now, it cannot fully contain the enlightenment people call Transcendent Peak. That is why the inside and outside of the body begin to change from the roots. In order to contain a stronger martial path.”

Mookbi’s eyes trembled.

“......Are you talking about shedding the mortal frame?”

“Strictly speaking, it is different. But if you think only in terms of transformation, then yes, it can be considered that as well. Though the muscles and bones themselves do not change.”

Yeon Hojeong smacked his lips.

“In any case, I was not going to say anything until you realized it yourself, but here we are. Congratulations.”

“Yes? Ah, yes!”

If it had been Mookbi as usual, she would have grumbled at Yeon Hojeong even as a joke.

But she could not do that now. She was bewildered, and she was happy. Her mind was a complete mess.

Yeon Hojeong chuckled.

“Since we are gathered like this, shall we have a drink?”

“That sounds good. You and Jipyeong go prepare a drinking table. Since the subject has come up, I should take a look at Bia’s internal force.”

“Understood.”

Yeon Hojeong was just rising from his seat.

Hm?

He and Yeon Wi turned their eyes toward the window almost at the same time.

Yeon Wi tilted his head.

“Well now, what brings him here at this hour?”

“I know.”

“Did you perhaps ask him for something?”

“I did, but it is not something that would produce results in just a few days. It seems he has come for something else.”

“Hm.”

Yeon Wi spoke to Mookbi.

“Wait here with Jipyeong for a moment.”

“Yes!”

Her answer was strangely forceful. Yeon Wi stood with an awkward look on his face.

And so Yeon Wi and Yeon Hojeong opened the gate of Warbreaker Pavilion.

Tang Gwan was there.

Yeon Wi clasped his fist.

“Welcome.”

Tang Gwan also clasped his fist briefly. There was no separate greeting.

Yeon Hojeong asked bluntly, “What brings you here?”

Tang Gwan glanced at Yeon Hojeong.

After looking at him silently, Tang Gwan spoke to Yeon Wi.

“Clan Lord Yeon.”

“Speak.”

“Lend me your brat of a son for a while.”

Yeon Wi asked with a puzzled expression, “For what......?”

Tang Gwan smacked his lips.

“I will tell you after we return. For this matter, this rude bastard seems better suited than Clan Lord Yeon. Well, it is his own shit, so he should be the one to clean it up.”

“Hm?”

Tang Gwan turned around.

“Follow me.”

Yeon Wi and Yeon Hojeong looked at each other.

For the first time in quite a while, the father and son had very similar looks in their eyes.