"How shall we test each other?"

"Since you're superior, block my attack."

"Huh?"

"I will unleash three strikes."

"What do you mean?"

Unlike the warm smile on his face, the aura emanating from him was sharp.

As if he had already prepared, the internal energy spreading around his body undulated like heat shimmer.

At that moment.

Boom!

Byeon Gil-tae forcefully stepped and extended his palm strike.

"Whoosh!"

It felt as if space itself was being pushed forward.

But it was a straightforward attack.

A linear strike that couldn't even be called a technique.

Since he asked him to block...

Cheonyeong immediately raised the Samyang to counter. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Crash!

Their palms collided powerfully, and simultaneously a thunderous sound erupted that shook the inn.

The shockwave swept through, turning the inn into chaos.

Tables and chairs lay shattered where the shockwave had passed.

"Ugh!"

It wasn't just his wrists that ached.

Cheonyeong staggered backward, his internal organs shaken, grimacing.

Byeon Gil-tae, as the direct descendant of the Eight Immortals, must have trained the Samyang far longer than he had. Yet he hadn't expected this level of strength.

Among those he had fought, he was among the strongest.

In terms of internal energy alone, he seemed far above Guishou.

"So reaching the Two Heavens was a lie? Unable to withstand even my single strike, how do you claim to continue the Samyang's will!"

Byeon Gil-tae shouted as if rebuking, immediately extending his hand without giving Cheonyeong a chance.

The same method.

A straightforward strike with an obvious target.

He could dodge easily if he wanted.

But Byeon Gil-tae wouldn't want him to dodge.

This was a battle of internal energy.

Cheonyeong, with a dark smile, slapped Byeon Gil-tae's palm strike.

Crash!

An even more powerful thunderous sound and shockwave shook the inn.

Windows shattered, doors broke.

* * *

"W-What is this? What's happening?"

Nangong Seong-hwi, standing far from the inn as Cheonyeong had requested, couldn't hide his shock.

After Cheonyeong entered and the door closed, he couldn't know what was happening inside.

After a brief time, suddenly a thunderous sound shook the inn as if it would collapse.

Then another thunderous sound.

This time, he even felt the shockwave.

Broken doors, shattered windows.

The ground tremor from the inn was felt clearly where he stood.

Nangong Seong-hwi, estimating the distance between himself and the inn, could only click his tongue.

Approximately thirty paces.

For the ground tremor to be felt at that distance, what level of internal energy was required?

And while Tang Cheonyeong was impressive, who exactly was his opponent?

"Um, Successor Beggar."

"Yes?"

"Inside the inn... was there someone else?"

"Well, just the innkeeper."

"Then these tremors are from the innkeeper and the Tang Family Head?"

"Probably..."

What could Beakta say?

He knew nothing.

He was also curious.

He had simply investigated thoroughly when Cheonyeong wanted to find the Eight Immortals, and came along after finding one of them.

"I don't know who the opponent is or what connection they have, but I can tell the Tang Family Head possesses remarkable strength."

When Beakta couldn't answer and hesitated, Nangong Seong-hwi didn't ask further and expressed his honest impression.

Regardless of other matters, judging by the shockwave felt here, wasn't his internal energy at a level comparable to his own?

"Is that all?"

"Huh?"

But Yu Seong-yeon, standing nearby, spoke with a displeased expression.

"The Tang Family Head is not merely at this level."

"What?! Then he's stronger?"

"Yes, I've fought him directly and know."

"R-Really?"

At Yu Seong-yeon's words, Nangong Seong-hwi's eyes widened.

The current shockwave was impressive, but there was more?

"I can do this much myself."

"Y-You can?!"

"I can... manage this level..."

"Ha!"

When even Beakta quietly raised his hand and smiled awkwardly, Nangong Seong-hwi burst into a helpless laugh.

The expressions were too serious to be joking.

Surely they wouldn't joke like this with him?

What had happened in the martial world while he stayed in Anhui?

Such young martial artists...

He suddenly became worried.

Yu Seong-yeon was the Green Blue Sect's senior disciple, and while the Tang Family Head's status was different, wasn't Beakta at a similar level to the Nangong family's eldest son?

But the skill gap was too large.

It was incomparable.

"Hmm..."

He should probably report to the Family Head.

That the eldest son's training was severely lacking, and if they didn't push him more harshly to improve his strength, someday the Nangong name would become shameful.

* * *

"Are you alright?"

Cheonyeong looked at Byeon Gil-tae leaning against the wall with concern.

The second collision.

He had slapped Byeon Gil-tae's palm strike, and at the moment of impact, unable to overcome the internal energy contained in that palm, Byeon Gil-tae was pushed back to the wall.

Moreover, though he was smiling, blood flowed from his nose and mouth—he was clearly injured internally.

Why exactly?

As Cheonyeong watched with bewilderment, Byeon Gil-tae wiped the blood flowing from his mouth with his sleeve.

"Indeed, you've reached the Two Heavens. However, this is insufficient. I will pour all my strength into my final attack, so do your best to block it."

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"You must be prepared!"

Boom!

Anyone could see he should compose himself and tend to his injuries, but Byeon Gil-tae immediately stepped on the ground and charged again.

He was faster and stronger than before.

The moment Cheonyeong met Byeon Gil-tae's eyes gleaming with madness, something flashed through his mind.

Could it be... this man?

It was certain.

The killing intent in those hands spoke volumes.

Mutual destruction?

No, suicide.

He was clearly trying to die by Cheonyeong's hand under the guise of testing his strength.

"You crazy bastard!"

Whoosh!

At the same moment of realization, Byeon Gil-tae's palm strike extended again.

Recognizing the true intent in that strike, Cheonyeong deflected Byeon Gil-tae's internal energy-infused palm and, using the assassin's footwork, the Three Palace Steps, dove to the side.

"...!"

Byeon Gil-tae's eyes widened, not expecting his attack to be deflected.

"You... went too far."

With those final words, Cheonyeong grabbed Byeon Gil-tae's wrist and pulled.

Crash!

Having lost his center of balance, hitting the ground was the natural result.

"Ugh!"

With a groan and pain contorting his face, Byeon Gil-tae glared at Cheonyeong looking down at him.

"What are you doing?!"

"That's what I should ask."

"What?"

"Did you think I wouldn't notice?"

"..."

"Your wrist was already broken on the second strike."

Cheonyeong glanced at Byeon Gil-tae's left hand as he spoke.

"If you only wanted to test me, you should have stopped then. But why did you switch hands and continue with a third strike? And with killing intent."

"That was..."

"Were you trying to die?"

"..."

Byeon Gil-tae didn't answer.

His silence meant affirmation, so Cheonyeong asked the reason.

"Why?"

"Because I must disappear."

"What?"

"The Samyang must be passed to only one person. That was my father's will."

"..."

"When someone who has learned the Samyang appears, fight them with everything you have, and either kill them in victory or accept defeat through death."

"What kind of..."

As Cheonyeong questioned, he finally realized one fact.

"You crazy bastard! So you planned for everyone to die except the one who inherits the Samyang?"

"That's correct."

"You're insane. Both the father who left such an absurd will and the son who follows it."

"The dead have no words. Since the dead cannot speak and only one will remember the Samyang, that is how the Samyang is protected."

"..."

"I don't know how many generations have passed. It's been said that someone has been chasing the Samyang for a very long time. And if it fell into their hands, the Samyang's will would be corrupted."

Byeon Gil-tae spoke weakly.

Cheonyeong looked down at him with one eye narrowed.

They chase the Samyang.

I am powerless and cannot shake off their pursuit, so ultimately I must hide what I have.

Was that what this meant?

According to Beakta's account, the war at that time was against the Demonic Cult.

After the Samyang Divine Immortal died, the Eight Immortals won the war and the Demonic Cult retreated.

Now he understood.

Why Jingagu seeks the Samyang Divine Skill.

Jingagu existed far longer ago than the time he remembered.

There's no confirmed connection to the Demonic Cult yet.

But based on Byeon Gil-tae's words and various circumstances, the Demonic Cult must have created the Jingagu assassin organization and, over generations, searched for the Samyang Divine Skill.

That's why the Eight Immortals couldn't emerge into the world and hid while raising descendants.

But still!

Cheonyeong's eyes sharpened, and his tone strengthened.

"Byeon Gil-tae. Don't misunderstand."

"...?"

"There's no secret in this world worth protecting with your life. If someone is targeting the Samyang, you should prepare to fight back rather than let it be taken."

"Fight back?"

"Yes."

"I've already tried."

"..."

"But it was all in vain. Everyone around me died. My father, my mother... They came at me like blades in the darkness, and I barely survived by running and running."

The gleaming killing intent that had filled Byeon Gil-tae's eyes faded like someone who had given up everything.

"I once vowed to take revenge someday, but I reached my limit. Despite reaching this age, I've only achieved survival. So I waited for the true master of the Samyang. To die by his hand and protect the secret, asking him to take revenge."

His teeth ground.

The blades in the darkness he spoke of were surely Jingagu assassins.

So you're saying that for three hundred years, you've been kidnapping children from the streets, raising them as assassins, and committing murders?

Damn bastards.

Taking people's lives to earn money and survive, so persistently.

"Byeon Gil-tae."

"...?"

"You don't know something."

"Something I don't know?"

"The Samyang has already been passed to many people."

"W-What do you mean?"

He had done so himself.

He had directly taught it to his own family members who bore the Tang name.

"And if you must fight those targeting the Samyang, and if they're that strong, you can't do it alone."

"..."

"So live. Live and fight to the end."

"Fight?"

"Yes. In return, I will definitely find all the Eight Immortals' descendants and learn everything the Samyang Divine Immortal left behind. And I will definitely avenge your grudge."

As Cheonyeong spoke, Byeon Gil-tae's pupils trembled finely.

"So fight with me. As a member of the Tang Family I've established. Revenge is better done by your own hand anyway, isn't it?"

Cheonyeong smiled and extended his hand.

Not death, but life.

Not by another's hand, but by your own.

As if the trembling of his pupils extended to his body, Byeon Gil-tae shuddered once, then grasped Cheonyeong's hand firmly.

His resolve was set.

Cheonyeong smiled broadly and pulled him up.

"Looking forward to working with you."

Smiling, Cheonyeong helped him outside.

"Cheonyeong."

"Huh, what about the innkeeper...?"

Seeing those who rushed over knowing the situation had ended, Cheonyeong smiled and said.

"Introduce yourself, senior brother."

"Huh?"

"A member of my family, and my senior brother."

At the reintroduction, unlike the others, Beakta blinked and stared.

"You had a senior brother?"

"..."

"Didn't you say before that you learned family martial arts?"

At that, Cheonyeong smiled slightly at Beakta and spoke.

"Myeongson."

"Huh?"

"Shut up."

What? Why?

Since they learned secret martial arts from the same person, they're senior and junior brothers. Yes, exactly.

(End of Chapter)