I was slowly catching on. The Sangdanjeon was far more useful than I had initially thought.
Its applications were endless.
Expansion of senses. Tracking of qi currents.
I closed my eyes and opened my Qi Sense. Beneath the window of the room I was in, I sensed someone pressed against the wall. That person was definitely placed there by Elder Lee Cheongmyeong, so there was no need to chase them away.
They still underestimated me too much. Even if I treated them well, they only saw it as a hint of rebelliousness. After all, they had many enemies to watch out for besides a twelve-year-old kid.
So, even when I quietly practiced Qi Circulation and Breathing, those people—merely servants—couldn’t detect the flow of qi.
“Was it roughly like this?”
I imagined my hand as a sword and moved it.
I was trying to imitate the sword technique that Geumwolsang had shown me. It was called the Igungcheonroe Heart Method and Sword Technique.
Its speed was like Lightning Strike—powerful yet heavy, with five distinct transformations at the tip of the blade. The flow and form looked as if the sword tip was forging a path forward.
When I first saw it, I wondered how the joints moved like that and how such explosive power was generated. Trying it myself, I realized it wasn’t impossible.
Following the qi flow that had coursed inside Geumwolsang’s body, I made hand motions and roughly matched the form. The unnatural-looking stiffness in the joints was partly compensated by my internal power.
Of course, my martial arts lacked intensity, variation, and style, but that alone was enough.
“Is this difficult?”
I kept moving my hands. Anyone should be able to imitate simple movements, right? Geumwolsang had been quite surprised just because I was able to see martial arts.
“Maybe it would be easier if I understood the nine sections.”
I kept swirling the form of the Igungcheonroe Sword Technique with my hands.
For fifteen days.
Without stepping out of Okmyugak even once, all I did was practice Qi Circulation and Breathing and sword techniques.
For meals, I just asked Jichul to bring me some rice gruel or wall gourd. It was basically no different from being under house arrest.
I kept to the meal rules, but neither the Elders nor the servants dared to give me any slack. If outsiders came looking for me to threaten or persuade me, I instead shouted back coldly and drove them off.
However, this self-imposed imprisonment only lasted so long. It was because fifteen days had passed. If my calculations were correct, today the Guest of Honor was supposed to arrive.
Soon, as usual, Jichul quietly knocked on the door and opened it.
“Are you skipping your meal again today?”
“I have to go.”
Jichul was somewhat surprised. After fifteen days of not eating, it must have seemed strange that I was finally leaving.
“Yes.”
Still, Jichul didn’t show any curiosity. I suddenly realized that he was nervously scratching his head. I didn’t remember when he started doing that. I just assumed it was an efficient way to scratch his ear.
Walking out of the gate, people looked at me with curious eyes after such a long absence.
“Oh, it’s the youngest son of the family. What have you been doing inside?”
“Stop staring. There are rumors going around that he’s gone mad.”
“He’s acting like a guest when he doesn’t even know his place.”
At that moment, a voice sounded clearly as if directed at me. I looked toward where the voice had come from.
“Huh.”
“Did we just see him?”
“If we had, we’d have freaked out. It’s so far away.”
The place where they were talking was much farther than I had expected. The three people appeared about the size of a fingertip.
“Is there a problem?”
When I stopped, Jichul asked. I shook my head.
If even servants started picking fights one by one, I wouldn’t have any time left. Those were minor troubles that naturally got resolved when handling bigger issues.
Hitting Jichul was a reckless act on my part at first because my range of movement was narrow, but now I wasn’t lacking such leeway.
I ignored them and continued on my way. Not caring about even the servants was the right choice after all.
On the way to the Great Hall, all eyes were fixed on me. The Elders, servants, table attendants, martial artists, and even external guests—all watched me closely.
The news that the youngest son of the Hwanggeum Family had gotten into a quarrel with the Elders had already spread this far. The consequences of hitting just a servant’s snake and trying to overpower an Elder were worlds apart.
The problem was that those eyes weren’t only on me. It was reasonable to suspect that my brothers’ influence was behind the report to the Elderly Council. Outsiders apparently believed the Hwanggeum Family’s main branch had filed a complaint against an Elder.
I was approaching the Great Hall. With my expanded Qi Sense, I could tell my brothers were all gathered inside the dining hall.
“Jichul.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t come in with me to the dining hall today.”
Jichul hesitated slightly. One of the exclusive servants’ duties was to serve meals, which involved changing tableware or providing tea utensils depending on the food.
Normally, he would have refused for fear of being scolded by his Outer General, but Jichul soon nodded.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
I left Jichul outside and entered the Great Hall. As I did, the three brothers were shocked and showed very different reactions.
Geumwolsang wore a kind expression, Geumhwacheong’s face twisted in displeasure, and Geumsurin’s lips were pursed as if full of discontent.
“Good morning.”
I said naturally and sat down. Geumhwacheong’s face contorted further.
“Good morning?”
He snarled at me.
“You cause trouble wherever you go, and then you disappear for fifteen days? Are you dumb and cowardly too?”
Geumsurin gave me a glare, apparently agreeing with him.
Despite the hostile atmosphere, the meal was served. Shark fin and shark liver porridge came first. The servants quietly came forward, briefly dipped the Silver Spoon in the porridge, then withdrew it.
Since only one servant possessed the Silver Spoon, I simply ate it. Sangdanjeon was useful for distinguishing Poison Qi.
Passing through the garden, I sensed Green Smoke from grass and flowers. That meant the plants were toxic if eaten by humans.
But Geumhwacheong seemed to accept me feeding on the porridge without any hesitation.
“What a worthless brat!”
Geumhwacheong immediately lunged across the table at me. I half-heartedly raised my energy to defend and tried to climb onto the table, but before I could, Geumwolsang, standing between us, moved.
Thud.
Geumhwacheong was completely powerless against Geumwolsang and was stopped.
“Ugh!”
Naturally, the strongest person here was Geumwolsang. Geumhwacheong was just a schemer. There was no way he had truly mastered martial arts or studied any real skills. His consistent failures in past lives were proof of his incompetence.
“Even so, you tried to stab a six-year-old kid. Are you crazy?”
Geumwolsang looked at Geumhwacheong angrily. Geumhwacheong staggered away, barely able to breathe, having no strength to respond.
I met Geumwolsang’s eyes meaningfully and subtly nodded my chin. That meant “enough.”
“You’ve had a rough fifteen days.”
I started gently.
It was the expected result. My actions would only cause my family to tighten their surveillance and oppression.
Geumwolsang knew my strategy and probably didn’t feel burdened, but Geumhwacheong and Geumsurin certainly struggled.
Geumwolsang’s eyes sparkled as if expecting something from me. I continued indifferently.
“But if that’s hard, it’s nothing compared to some people in the world who have it worse than you.”
At my words, Geumwolsang closed his eyes, disappointed. Geumhwacheong and Geumsurin squinted suspiciously.
While Geumwolsang’s eyes were shut, Geumhwacheong lost his temper and charged at me again. I saw his face and knuckles twitch right before me.
I closed my eyes. Since I had opened the Sangdanjeon, my senses were sharp enough to dodge beforehand, but I chose not to.
Flash!
Someone was there to block for me.
“Nice to see you back after a long time. To witness a scene like this too.”
The one who caught Geumhwacheong’s fist from behind was a giant about seven or eight feet tall. The three brothers and the servants who knew his identity stood speechless, but I immediately showed proper respect and greeted him.
“Welcome back, Outer General.”
“Ho.”
This person who looked at me with interest was the only one I could truly trust.
In truth, the Outer General was a genuinely troublesome existence to us. He was despised by the elders and the lower servants alike, but objectively he was above us.
It’s not that the Outer General outranked the main branch, but rather that the Outer General was our family’s patriarch.
He had long maintained private relations with the head of the family and was also one of the few martial artists who had his father’s complete trust.
But their surprise wasn’t because of those reasons. The Outer General had not returned to the main family for several years.
Geumwolsang cautiously greeted him.
“…Outer General, it’s been a long time.”
“Yeah.”
The Outer General smoothed out his scruffy beard and looked down on us.
“Looks like there hasn’t been much progress.”
“What progress can there be in a place like this?”
Geumhwacheong complained. Immediately, he was grabbed by the flesh and thrown headfirst to the ground.
Crack. The sound of something breaking echoed sharply in the courtyard.
“You’re too weak to be making excuses like that.”
The Outer General shouted at Geumhwacheong like thunder.
I remembered that I had once feared the Outer General. My brothers probably still did.
His name was Gwak Jindo (80 years old). I didn’t know much about martial arts or his background, but I guessed he was a formidable martial artist respected by others.
The reason I called him was that he was the biggest obstacle the Hwanggeum Family faced until the very end. A protector who guarded us against external forces.
Of course, there was a problem. Elder Lee Cheongmyeong and other elders soon arrived at the dining hall. Except for Lee Cheongmyeong, the others were new to me, so I made a mental note of their faces.
“Outer General. If you’ve come to the family, didn’t you forget to come to Jingjeongwon and report your return? Why are you causing a ruckus here?”
“Ah, I forgot for a moment.”
“Two days from now is the Elderly Council meeting. Stay quiet until then.”
“Alright, alright.”
Gwak Jindo feigned nonchalance. It was clear he already knew.
He swept through the red curtain and left leisurely. As the sound of beads clinking faded and the curtain closed, I saw him glance at me. He mouthed something, and I suppressed a smile.
After confirming Gwak Jindo’s departure, Elder Lee Cheongmyeong and the other elders left immediately. They gave us no greetings.
Geumwolsang quietly stuck to me and whispered.
“…The Outer General is someone who will protect us?”
“That’s right.”
“I never thought much of someone who hadn’t been seen for years. But the Outer General probably doesn’t like the main family. As we saw earlier, he doesn’t exactly like us either. How can someone like that be on our side?”
“The difference between the Outer General disliking the elders and disliking us is one of pity versus hatred.”
“How do you know that?”
I turned away. What was I supposed to do, not share what I knew? Whether Geumwolsang believed me or not was irrelevant.
“Let’s eat.”
I clapped my hands once to lighten the mood. Geumwolsang and the others looked at me as if I were crazy.