A few days had passed since I left the Anhui Branch in the carriage the Alliance provided.

“...Ugh, my back...”

After sitting with my spine pressed to the backrest for who knows how long, I hopped down the moment the carriage stopped and let one line slip.

We were at a spot with a view of a valley. Looked like tonight’s campsite.

I walked out to a stretch of quiet gravel and glanced back at the carriage. Still the same ostentatious, oversized beast.

At first I’d gone wow, a carriage can be this soft? Amazing. But a few days of it and—yeah, not so amazing.

[See? I told you to just run there for the exercise.]

“You say insane things like it’s nothing.”

From the moment we set out, the old man had been spouting nonsense about not riding and just running all the way.

“How am I supposed to run that distance?”

Even by carriage it takes days. What lunatic runs that?

I gave him a look, and Yoo Cheongil answered:

[If you try, a day is plenty. Anything you can’t do is because you didn’t try hard enough.]

More bullshit, so I shot back as soon as I heard it.

“Then try coming back to life on effort. Funny how you can’t do that but keep pestering me.”

[What was that? You think that’s the same thing!?]

“How’s it different? Telling me to fix the impossible with effort is the part that makes no sense.” 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

[Oh? And now you’re just dropping honorifics?]

“Yo!”

Shameful to admit, but it’s been like this for days. Give us a spare minute and we’re at each other’s throats.

Truth is, we’re both just bored and using arguments as an excuse to loaf around.

We were bickering like that for a while when—

“No, I’m saying...”

Mid-sentence, I closed my mouth. Yoo Cheongil had flicked his chin at something.

That meant one thing.

“Young Master Bang.”

“Yes.”

Cheon Eujin appeared from behind. He studied me with a strange expression.

“What are you doing out here?”

“...Ah, some meditation.”

“Meditation, huh?”

“Yes. Call it time to observe the soul.”

Not wrong. I’d been checking for a particularly mean-tempered vile spirit.

At that, Cheon Eujin’s eyes widened a touch.

“Ah... time to observe the soul... As expected, Young Master Bang is well-versed in that realm too.”

“...Pardon?”

“An elder of the Dao once told me the martial and the soul are closely linked. Are you studying that aspect as well?”

“Ah... yes. Something like... that.”

“As expected...!”

“...”

He’d picked up some weird misunderstanding and his eyes were sparkling. It was exhausting.

‘Why’s he been like that since last time?’

Cold sweat prickled. It started the moment we left the Branch.

Whatever I did, he assigned it some heavy meaning, or he watched me with this evaluative look I couldn’t place.

Made it awkward to train.

Because I didn’t want to show my lousy swordwork.

With those expectant eyes on me, there wasn’t much I could do.

‘What is it, seriously.’

I truly didn’t know why he looked at me that way. And the problem was, I didn’t even want to ask.

“Anyway... how long until we arrive?”

I forced the topic to shift.

For now, I had to.

“Ah, we’re nearly there... We should arrive by tomorrow at the latest.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Yes. Ordinarily, we would have arrived today, but... it seems...”

“Ah.”

Got it. We were behind schedule. The terrain and the rain.

It had rained on the way, and the ground wasn’t great—understandable.

“I’m sorry...”

But Cheon Eujin felt guilty enough to apologize.

Honestly, that threw me.

“Why are you apologizing, Young Master Cheon? It isn’t your fault.”

It wasn’t the carriage’s fault, nor the driver’s. And °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° certainly not Cheon Eujin’s.

He wasn’t the one holding the reins—what fault could he have?

“...Even so, I’m in the position of escorting Young Master Bang...”

“Escorting what. We’re going because we have to go.”

I held in a sigh. A few days on the road had taught me something.

‘He’s overly sensitive to other people’s faces.’

He watched others more than I’d expected. Too much so.

Whether it was just with me or his default setting, I didn’t know.

Either way, the guy was a bit...

‘Spineless for how he looks.’

First impression said sharp and cold; in person, not so much.

“Anyway, it’s fine. Nothing changes because we’re late, does it?”

Suited me. I had a lot to think through before we arrived.

‘Still not enough.’

I had to prepare for whatever might happen.

Who knew what would blow up at the Blue Moon Sect, so I had to grind my brain more. And besides—

‘...I had to keep up that damned training.’

The nightly idiocy.

I had to get it solid before reaching the Blue Moon Sect.

****

Night rose with the moon. Prime time for a campfire and a roadside bivouac.

Back at the Branch, this would’ve been about when I stood first watch.

I stood with a sword in hand, eyes closed.

I’d been repeating this every night for days.

[Do you feel it?]

I didn’t react to the old man. No need to answer, no need to care.

He knew that too.

[Focus your breathing. Your shoulders are uncertain.]

Even without answering, he would clearly understand my intent.

[Ignore everything else. Focus only on the flow.]

The flow. The movement of energy felt in the body.

I fixed my breath so my shoulders didn’t rise and observed within.

Something moved.

So faint I could barely feel it—but it was there, a hair-thin thread.

If I got even a little uneasy or my focus wavered, it scattered to nothing.

I sent it slowly through my whole body so it wouldn’t break.

I held that thought when—

[Correct your thinking.]

The old man spoke as if he’d been waiting.

[You’re not maintaining energy—you’re maintaining light. Remember the moon contained inside your body.]

I wanted to swear the instant I heard it. Abstract nonsense.

‘Damn it. How am I supposed to maintain that.’

Energy is energy—where’s the light? My eyes were closed; I couldn’t see a thing.

Even so, I clenched my teeth and tried. I didn’t know what kind of cosmic drivel that was, but I could at least try.

Because I’d experienced what he meant in my body.

Forget the light and the moon and the airy metaphors.

I just followed what my body had felt.

‘The speed the energy moved. The reactions in my body then. Muscle sense and the measure of breath.’

I remembered everything and copied it.

This was the assignment he gave me the first day of travel.

‘I’ll show you once. Learn it.’

Barely ten seconds. That’s how long he stayed inside me.

In that blink, he didn’t do anything fancy.

He just kept the body’s energy moving, over and over, then slipped out and told me:

‘Did you memorize it?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then keep doing it from now on.’

That’s when it started.

‘...Until when?’

‘Heh. Obviously until you can do it the same.’

So for days,

I repeated it endlessly on the road to Henan, shaving off sleep to keep trying—and it wasn’t as easy as I’d hoped.

‘Memorizing doesn’t mean you can reproduce perfectly.’

Even if I recalled every step and mimicked it, my body wouldn’t just comply.

If I settled my breath, the energy shook. If I focused on the energy, my breath floated.

When I tried to hold both, the body went slack.

‘It’s going to take time.’

To shape it exactly like the old man had, it would take a good while.

‘Hmmm...’

Which made me worry more.

‘They say we’ll reach the Blue Moon Sect by tomorrow—what do I do with this.’

The old man said I had to have it firmly under control before we arrived.

Time was tight.

‘...Tch.’

I’d said this might be too hard, but he insisted it had to be done for the plan.

And also—

‘I even showed you everything and you still can’t do it? Tsk tsk. Talentless, aren’t you.’

—he just had to needle me.

‘I know, you vile-spirited old man.’

I’d long known I lacked talent. If I had any, I wouldn’t have spent a year bumbling around the Branch like an idiot.

“Hoo... damn.”

Cursing in my head, I sent the energy circling again.

Blue Moon Heart Art, was it? Different enough from the Bang family’s martial art I’d trained all my life to make it harder.

I’d only just managed to keep the energy from breaking.

I had no sense for how long it would take to refine it until it flowed as naturally as the old man made it.

The one thing I knew for sure—

‘A few days won’t cut it.’

—was that there was no way I’d reach his pace in days.

“This isn’t going to work.”

I said it straight.

[Hmm?]

He cocked his head and pinched his brow.

[So—you’re thinking of giving up?]

“No. Not giving up.”

I couldn’t get a feel for it at all. So I had to reset that first.

“Show me again.”

[Heh.]

He chuckled.

“It’s only been a few days. Even if I go in, it won’t be much different in duration from last time.”

“That alone is fine.”

What mattered was checking again.

Right now, a clearer sense of direction was more important.

[Hmmm...]

He rolled his eyes, thinking for a moment.

[Hm?]

Then lifted his head and looked somewhere.

“What is it?”

[Nothing. Thought I saw a fox.]

“A fox?”

What fox, out of nowhere? I followed his gaze, but there was nothing.

Just the dense forest beyond the gravel.

Then—

[Fine.]

He spoke to me.

[It’ll be the same as last time, but I’ll be generous and show you again.]

“What’s with the ‘generous’? You’re making me do this for your own—”

[Or not.]

“...I meant, I’ll do my absolute best to learn.”

Someday I’ll find a way to exorcise him. Not crossing over—exorcism.

I forced a smile with that iron vow.

[Heh.]

He smiled back and slowly seeped into my body.

No matter how many times, it was a strange sensation.

Still didn’t like how my body stopped feeling like mine.

The good news—

‘I don’t black out anymore.’

—was that I could keep my mind, and though I hadn’t tried it—

‘I could probably take it back if I wanted.’

—I had this baseless certainty I could reclaim control anytime.

Clench.

My hand curled into a fist. My eyes slid shut.

Vmm— The energy stirred deep in my gut.

I focused on that. First: speed.

‘Three times faster than me.’

The energy moved several times faster, and instead of wobbling like mine, it ran like a clean current.

‘Almost no wasted strength.’

Toes just held the body. The breath propped the flow.

Muscles opened pathways so movement had no hitch.

‘How is that possible?’

To hold the energy, I had to tense my muscles. Supporting it with breath alone left me flimsy.

What was the difference? I couldn’t tell.

As always, I just memorized.

‘The breath is a touch faster and deeper than I recalled. Right—if I drink deeper, my shoulders don’t lift.’

I logged each difference.

‘What does that formed current mean?’

That delicately crafted path of energy—

It was shaping something inside the body.

Unlike the messy strands I made. It looked almost like—

‘A circle... No. That’s—’

A moon?

Huff—!

The instant I grasped the shape, my eyes snapped open. Not me—Yoo Cheongil’s.

And he stared at something.

‘Old man?’

I called out, annoyed he’d stopped the show.

He was faster.

“If you have something to say, come out.”

‘Huh?’

Out of nowhere. What...?

‘...Oh?’

A cold thought slid in.

‘Since when does he just grant my requests... Don’t tell me—’

Sssk! My body lifted the wooden sword and aimed it at where the gaze pointed.

“I don’t like being watched from the shadows. Best come out before I kill you.”

‘You—!’

“Or do you want me to come to you?”

The corner of his mouth curled.

“If you want, I can do that.”

With that, the foot moved. One step forward—

Huff—!

“Crazy...!”

I seized my body back. I clamped my mouth shut on the words that slipped out.

I rolled my eyes sideways. Yoo Cheongil was looking at me with his signature scary smile.

[Focus.]

I couldn’t even spit the curse climbing my throat. Something was already moving ahead of us.

[The foxes are coming.]

I steadied my breathing and hid the cold sweat.

Then I looked forward.

And saw them.

A sizable group approaching me.

White martial robes with blue embroidery.

Swords at every waist, and the air changed with their arrival.

A little under ten by eye.

Their firm, settled qi made me hunch without thinking.

Different from the fighters I’d seen at the Branch—the feel of them, from the start.

The middle-aged man at their head addressed me.

“Are you Young Master Bang of the Bang Family of Liaoning?”

“...If... I am...?”

Yes. That’s me. Please don’t kill me.

I swallowed those words before they slipped out.

Because of the mess the old man had just picked.

The man studied me after hearing my non-answer. More precisely, he examined my eyes.

Thump—

All at once, that many people dropped to their knees.

“The Blue Moon Sect’s little moon greets the Sword Saint’s successor.”

On a night not yet late,

the Blue Moon Sect came to find me.