“Mine? You mean this spirit pill?”

“Yes. Each unit of the Divine Sword Squad is comparable to the core fighting force of one of the Nine Great Sects. The supplies we receive along with our budget include spirit medicines and spirit pills. Not many, mind you... Naturally, there’s nothing as extraordinary as Stone Marrow Elixir or Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng. I hear we have Shaolin’s Great Restoration Pills, but those aren’t under my jurisdiction.”

Ma Jin grinned.

“You look as though you want to take me as your master. Unfortunately, the laws of the Desolate Fortress forbid master-disciple relationships between its warriors. It’s to prevent personal ties from affecting our missions.”

“I’m grateful, but I hadn’t thought that far.”

“All right.”

“Should I perform the disciple’s rites, then? May I bow to you here?”

“Try it if you don’t fear the consequences of breaking our solemn laws.”

Yeonshin caught the spirit pill Ma Jin tossed him with a chuckle and gazed down at the white lump of medicine.

He had never seen anything like it at the Jeong Clan Estate. Not even a glimpse. It wasn’t because the clan head had hated him. A backwater martial family simply couldn’t have possessed something like a spirit pill.

“With your current level of internal energy, it should have a considerable effect. Have you ever taken spirit medicine before?”

“No.”

“Ordinary energy circulation won’t do when you’re converting medicinal energy into internal energy. One wrong move and you’ll waste its precious potency. I can help you. Come along.”

“Captain.”

“Hmm?”

“Why are you so kind to me?”

Someone stained by the ways of the world would never have asked that question. Perhaps only a boy who had once had nowhere to turn could have voiced it.

The scar across Ma Jin’s face twitched merrily.

“I’m not giving you special treatment. It’s the same for everyone in the Radiant Demon Squad. You’ll understand as soon as you’ve been through a life-or-death mission or two.”

He passed by with a tap on Yeonshin’s shoulder, telling him to follow. After gazing at his retreating back, Yeonshin slowly set off after him, giving Heon Wonchang a tap on the arm along the way. Wonchang was watching from beside him, looking ready to die of envy.

* * *

The match caused a stir. The experts of the two martial units hadn’t been the only people present, and word spread quickly.

“Wave Swordswoman! I hear an incredible hidden dragon has joined your ranks?”

“A hidden dragon?”

“What? Everyone’s heard about him. That young swordsman who joined your white robes. The one who sparred with the heavenly squad. Gu Ik-Hwan of the heavenly squad is a capable swordsman, isn’t he? His skills certainly weren’t so poor that he’d disgrace the Desolate Fortress’s blue robes.”

“No. I don’t know about a hidden dragon, but he does seem like a monster. How should I put it... He makes me nervous before he makes me hopeful.”

“Nervous?”

Baek Miryeo, the Wave Swordswoman, spoke again to the warrior from another unit who had echoed her words.

“He’s diligent and unassuming. It can be irritating when he speaks the truth without a thought for how it’ll be received, but he’s fundamentally polite. And yet...”

“And yet?”

“He’s good—very good—at unraveling martial arts. Isn’t that right, Chung Myung?”

The blue-eyed man in a headscarf beside her nodded with a faint smile.

“I’ve never seen talent like his.”

“If I use a One-inch Strike while sparring with someone, before I know it, that boy is beside us applying the same principles from a different stance. It’s terribly distracting, but when I turn to look, his combat path is far more precise. There’s something innate about his ability to reinterpret things. Enough to make me reluctant to use my personal martial arts in front of him.”

“And before that, he learns them in the first place,” Chung Myung added lightly.

“Exactly. I’m certain he would have ended up dead somewhere if he hadn’t joined the Desolate Fortress.”

“What sect in Murim would let someone like that live?”

At some point, Baek Miryeo and Chung Myung had begun talking only to each other. The warrior they had sidelined frowned.

“What are you talking about? Are you making fun of me? I don’t understand.”

“Neither do I,” Baek Miryeo muttered. Then she signaled Chung Myung with her eyes, as if telling him to send the man on his way.

The Radiant Demon Squad’s hall was casually surrounded on every side by its blue-robed experts, including Chung Myung and Baek Miryeo. Some concealed themselves on the roof. Others chatted nonchalantly with visitors, never once moving from their posts.

Inside the hall, at the center of that security perimeter, were Jung Yeonshin and Ma Jin. With a hand resting on the cross-legged boy’s back, Ma Jin spoke.

“There’s no telling how much of its potency you’ll absorb. Even if it seems to fall short of your expectations, don’t do anything rash. You can always build more internal energy, but damage your energy core or your acupoints, and you’ll spend years recuperating. Keep that in mind unless you want your progress to grind to a halt.”

“Yes, Captain.”

The care the entire Radiant Demon Squad lavished on its youngest member was truly extraordinary. More than he deserved, Yeonshin thought. Was this what it meant to belong to a martial order? An emotion he had rarely felt before tickled the crown of his head.

“Listen. Astonishing as it is, you’ve already achieved greater circulation, so this should be easy to explain. There’s no need to circulate core energy through the acupoints of your lower body. Think of connecting the major acupoints of your upper body into a single circuit, with the Conception and Governing Vessels as its two ends. Place the medicinal energy within the flow of your core energy, then keep circulating it until it dissolves. That is the essence of taking a spirit pill. I’ll intervene if your circulation becomes unstable, so don’t be startled. Follow my lead.”

“Yes.”

Yeonshin lifted the spirit pill to his mouth. He chewed, but it had little taste. They said supreme spirit pills such as Shaolin Temple’s Great Restoration Pill melted away on the tongue the moment one ate them, but this one required chewing and swallowing.

Soon, energy arose from the spirit pill inside him—and in the time it took to drink two cups of tea, his circulation was complete.

Ma Jin hadn’t even had a chance to help. He now looked as though he had given up trying to understand.

“... Congratulations. You absorbed it completely. Every last bit of medicinal energy.”

“Yes. The added core energy is incredibly robust. It’s nothing like the energy I had before.”

Having taken spirit medicine—a spirit pill—for the first time, Yeonshin examined the inside of his body in wonder. He had meant exactly what he said. His original reserves of internal energy had been so meager that they amounted to less than even one of the Desolate Fortress’s standard-issue spirit pills.

“I marvel that you managed to fight with so little internal energy. Only now do you have core energy somewhat befitting a white robe,” Ma Jin said, looking rather less deflated.

“I should go outside. You’re here helping me, and so are all my seniors. I can’t keep putting everyone through this.”

“Does it weigh on you?”

The scar extending beneath Ma Jin’s chin rose with his smile. It was a smile Yeonshin now found familiar, even warm.

“There’s no need. Once you’ve gone out into the martial world and saved one another’s lives a few times, it’ll seem natural. The stronger your martial arts become, the better.”

“And I’ll earn merit in the process?”

He had to stay alive to repay their kindness, however great or small. Watching Ma Jin nod, he spoke almost to himself.

“I want to venture out into the martial world.”

* * *

He returned his seniors’ congratulations with well over a dozen grateful martial salutes. Observing the courtesies alone was enough to wear him out.

‘Chung Myung and Senior Baek Miryeo hardly act like martial artists. They keep touching my shoulders and head without any hesitation.’

Excessive physical contact between martial artists was bound to be uncomfortable. In a martial world tangled with debts of gratitude and grudges, how could one know whether someone might use a puncturing technique to batter one’s insides?

Though the match with the heavenly squad had earned his seniors’ affection, Yeonshin himself had yet to truly settle into the Radiant Demon Squad. Absorbing the spirit pill had strengthened his internal power, but mentally, he was exhausted.

That changed once he returned to his quarters.

“You’re going to train again?”

Heon Wonchang asked with an appalled expression. Yeonshin gave a perfunctory nod and left the room.

‘The main training ground is a bit much for me right now.’

The Radiant Demon Squad had two kinds of training grounds. The first was the main training ground, where they practiced coordination for group combat and received announcements concerning missions, laws, and other matters. His destination now was the smaller training ground, where the squad’s experts practiced their personal martial arts other than the radiant demon arts.

Passing behind the main training ground, he came upon a large, roofless building. It felt like the labyrinth of an imperial tomb built aboveground. Even from outside, the pulses of qi resonating within were extraordinary. Yeonshin wasn’t the only one training.

For someone whose internal energy had reached a certain level, distinguishing another person’s qi fluctuations was not difficult. He passed occupied rooms in search of an empty one. Even where he sensed no energy, he skipped any room with its cotton curtain drawn across the entrance, just in case.

Just as he found an empty training room, a voice reached him.

“Youngest!”

It was sound transmission, not an audible call. That was the etiquette of the smaller training ground. He had been told that everyone took care not to disturb anyone who might be on the verge of enlightenment.

Turning, he saw Baek Miryeo, the Wave Swordswoman, standing with waves of core energy emanating from both hands. With a trained physique that suggested she practiced forceful martial arts and an imposing air about her, she was a difficult senior to approach. At her beckoning gesture, he cautiously went over.

“What is it?”

He had learned sound transmission alongside the radiant demon arts, but his delivery was still somewhat clumsy. His voice should have traveled outward in a tightly condensed bundle; to Yeonshin, it still seemed more like a gentle breeze. His internal cultivation—also known as his degree of refinement—was insufficient. Fortunately, Baek Miryeo didn’t seem particularly bothered.

“I need a partner. Will you take a move from me?”

“Have you gained an insight? Congratulations.”

“Only the smallest clue. Surely you aren’t about to tell me you can’t exchange a few moves after putting on a match like that?”

“Won’t we make too much noise?”

“Let’s go outside.”

They left the smaller training ground. After walking in silence, Baek Miryeo spoke as they neared the main one.

“If you had training planned, I apologize. I was impatient. An idea came to me out of nowhere.”

“I think this is better, actually. I can train alone anytime, but the chance to experience your fist and palm techniques won’t come often, Senior Wave Swordswoman.”

“My Famed Ultimate Technique is swordsmanship. Why do you mention fist and palm techniques?”

“Weren’t you concentrating on both hands with your sword sheathed? Of course, it might be different if you were practicing your draw. You could unleash a swift sword strike no matter where your hands were.”

His matter-of-fact reply drew a gentle smile from Baek Miryeo. Despite her cold eyes, it suited her remarkably well.

“Senior Baek will do.”

As they talked, they arrived at the main training ground. A few warriors who enjoyed training in the open, unconcerned about revealing their forms, nodded to them, as did those practicing the radiant demon arts.

“Now, let’s exchange a few moves first.”

“I’ll take the first move.”

Since coming to the Desolate Fortress, he had heard people offer him the first move more times than he cared to count. At his cheeky declaration, Baek Miryeo chuckled and beckoned.

She stood barehanded, holding nothing, and Yeonshin drew his sword without hesitation. Then, with astonishing speed, she caught his wrist. She had darted in and seized it in one motion. It was an incredibly swift grappling technique. This was how strong a blue-robed warrior could be when not caught off guard. All he had seen was a blur of her incoming hand.

‘Not yet. The radiant demon arts.’

He still had his left hand. He tried to drive a straight punch along the combat path traced by his core energy, but they were too close for him to put any force behind it. Instead, she pressed closer still.

Then the back of Baek Miryeo’s hand struck his abdomen from only an inch away.

“Hup!”

It was a short blow of almost unbelievable power, given the distance. His body was driven back, but his wrist remained caught. At once, the radiant demon arts guided his body of their own accord. In that fleeting instant, he drove his knee upward, filling it with the core energy of the Classic of Initiating Transcendence.

Her arm bounced away with a thud. Baek Miryeo rubbed it, her face showing satisfaction as well as surprise.

“I varied the core energy I put into the Burst Discharge. I thought I felt something, and sure enough, the One-inch Strike has become more efficient. I could put even more force into it,” she said with satisfaction.

“Were you practicing the One-inch Strike?”

“A swordswoman who has learned the radiant demon arts can’t rely on her sword alone. The One-inch Strike is extremely useful in close-quarters unarmed combat. If an opponent has layered qi around their body, you can start by breaking through that protective force qi.”

Yeonshin spoke cautiously.

“May an unworthy newcomer offer a word? My energy detection has been rather sensitive since childhood, and something about the way you handle your core energy caught my attention.”

“You can see core energy moving? Surely not, even for you.”

“I’m only observing the waves of core energy spreading outward along with the flow of force from your Burst Discharge. How could I see the core energy that remains inside your body?”

“That alone is hard to believe. Energy detection like that... Perhaps a purple-robed master might possess it.”

She was referring to the Desolate Fortress’s hierarchy of white, blue, black, and purple robes. Baek Miryeo’s eyes, which had widened slightly, soon settled back into calm.

“But if it’s you... We’ve noticed a few things ourselves. Very well. I would be grateful to hear what you have to say, youngest.”

She ended with a playful smile. Looking puzzled, Yeonshin spoke.

“I’ve been learning Burst Discharge from the captain lately, but your palm technique seems better suited to a puncturing technique than to a One-inch Strike, Senior Baek. The way you gather and release core energy seems suited to a puncturing technique.”

“Hmm?”

“If you channeled the same force into a puncturing technique, it would be much more... Ah, have you already brought that technique to the same level as well?”

“What?”

Baek Miryeo’s eyes widened slightly.