Zhuge Cheongi.

A genius who transcended his era.

And yet, in the end, a being brought down by human greed.

In his youth, his wings were broken by his family's ambition, and in the end, he could not even enter Murim Academy.

The status of being a legitimate son of one of the Five Great Noble Clans without a Murim Academy diploma ultimately made him nothing more than a troublesome burden to both his family and the Murim Alliance.

In the end, the only place left for Zhuge Cheongi, rejected by both his family and the Murim Alliance, was among the lower-class warriors.

Was it called a sharp awl in one's pocket?

Like a pearl shining brilliantly even in sticky mud, Zhuge Cheongi revealed his genius every time, but genius revealed from a position with fixed limits only made incompetent men in power uncomfortable in the end.

His quick-witted creativity and mysterious stratagems were a dragon pearl far too precious to be wasted in the Minor Orthodox Unit.

And so the dragon of the open sky, who should have soared freely through the heavens, died rolling on the ground with its horns and claws torn out.

'Was it really this much?'

Perhaps, in my previous life, I had never properly seen the color of that genius that had died so vainly.

"So... you saw the Lesser Heaven Sword Technique and changed the Great Heaven Sword Technique?"

When Namgung San visited the Taiyi Sect in the past.

The kids had shown great interest in the Ascension Form of the Lesser Heaven Sword Technique I had performed.

Since I happened to know that every Taiyi Sect martial art besides the Lesser Heaven Sword Technique was trash, I taught them the Ascension Form of the Lesser Heaven Sword Technique so they would have something to devote themselves to until we found the Taiyi Sword Emperor's martial arts.

And that had been passed on and passed on, until it finally reached Zhuge Cheongi.

'And this crazy genius...'

He had seen through the essence of the Ascension Form of the Lesser Heaven Sword Technique and created an Ascension Form for the Great Heaven Sword Technique.

Considering that the process one went through before the Ascension Form was naturally the Destruction Form, it made sense that my sword had been sent flying so absurdly every time I used the Great Heaven Sword Technique earlier.

Once my thoughts reached that far, a hollow laugh escaped me.

'Just how fucking useless was the Murim Alliance in my previous life?'

Even the Minor Orthodox Unit members, who had been full of idiots at the time, all knew that Zhuge Cheongi was a genius.

There was no way the elite handpicked from each sect, and on top of that, the bastards who had graduated from Murim Academy, the officer school, had failed to notice Zhuge Cheongi.

'They just... didn't like it, did they? How outstanding he was...'

If he had at least passed the Mantong Bureau's exam, his opinions would have been respected as a scholar member of the Alliance, and he would have made the Murim Alliance even more solid with his genius.

At the very least, he could have helped the development of the 108 Peaks under the Murim Alliance.

But by then, Zhuge Somyeong had already died by assassination, and command of the Mantong Bureau had passed to someone else.

Zhuge Cheongi had once again missed the opportunity that should have been his.

Once my thoughts reached that far, chills ran over me.

In the end, the greed of insignificant humans had killed a genius bestowed by the heavens.

Lowly beings who could not be compared to Zhuge Cheongi had used all their strength to destroy him.

For the sake of their own desires.

I raised my eyes and looked at him.

"D-Did... I perhaps do something wrong?"

Zhuge Cheongi was fidgeting with his fingers while watching my expression.

It seemed my face had stiffened while I was thinking about those idiots.

I quickly drew a smile onto my lips.

"No."

Then I stroked his head.

"Not at all."

At my touch, Cheongi looked up at me with round, sparkling eyes.

"I-I was worried you might be angry because I changed the Taiyi Sect's martial arts as I pleased..."

That sight made emotion surge in me for no reason.

I did not like that he was reading the room.

Ordinarily, geniuses realized they were different from others and grew up into the kind of people who looked down on the foolish masses.

'Like that son of a bitch Yong So-ah.'

Zhuge Cheongi watched people's reactions and worried that even a single word he said might be twisted by the other person.

It must be because he had been taught all this time that his "difference" was "wrong."

Shouldn't I correct that, even now?

"Cheongi."

"Yes, hyung-nim."

So that this glittering genius could bloom.

"Wasn't the reason you interpreted the sword technique anew because that was the better direction?"

"... The truth is, that was why I ended up unable to learn martial arts at my house."

I flung open the latch of the cage he had been trapped in.

"This is not the Zhuge Clan."

Zhuge Cheongi opened his eyes in surprise, as though seeing the sky, his own stage, for the first time.

"And right now, you are a disciple of the Taiyi Sect."

"A disciple of the Taiyi Sect..."

"Guarding means preserving the teachings. It means thoroughly training the original study and making it your own. Do you know what comes next?"

Zhuge Cheongi nodded, as though he already knew.

"Breaking. It is the stage of creating original applications according to one's individuality."

How could this child be so clever?

"Yes. And there is the final stage, Departing. Entering a new realm of miraculous skill without being bound by anything. No matter what path you walk, you will eventually walk this path. So if you faithfully pass through these stages..."

Then he would be able to flap his wings to his heart's content and fly freely wherever he wished.

"No matter where you are or what path you walk, you do not need to watch anyone's mood. Do you understand?"

Zhuge Cheongi's eyes shone brightly.

Eyes that truly looked alive.

Honestly, what an amazing and adorable little...

"Hyung-nim! I've made up my mind!"

"Hm? About what?"

What was this all of a sudden...?

"I've decided never to leave your side for the rest of my life! Would that be all right?"

I opened the latch and told him to fly as much as he wanted, and he said he would stay by my side.

Would that be all right?

Of course it would.

I didn't know whether the Zhuge Clan would stay still, but if he himself wanted to stay, what could they do?

He was practically an abandoned child to begin with.

"Do as you wish."

"Waaah!"

Zhuge Cheongi cheered as though he had obtained something he had longed for his entire life.

But why was he that happy?

"Anyway, pick up your sword again."

"Yes?"

"There is still something left for me to teach you."

The third of Zhuge's Three Forms.

The Demon-Subduing Form.

I had worried a great deal about how I should apply Zhuge's Three Forms to the Taiyi Sect martial arts we had recovered.

But if things were like this, this would be child's play.

Our Cheongi would do it all for us.

#

After handing Zhuge Cheongi, who had collapsed from learning the Demon-Subduing Form, over to Yeongyeong, I went straight to the Taiyi Sect's guest quarters.

There waited the Sword Demon, one of the absolute Underworld experts of the past.

No, now he was neither this nor that, but the jobless man of all jobless men.

"You've come."

Baek Haegwang was waiting.

"You seem to have it easy."

"... Ugh. Being a guest seems more uncomfortable than I expected."

"What is? Are they not giving you three proper meals a day?"

"They are feeding me too well, and that is what makes me uncomfortable."

Honestly, this man was not used to receiving anything.

"What is there to be uncomfortable about when they treat you well?"

"The Daecheon Merchant Group is establishing a sect for me, and the Taiyi Sect has given me a place to stay. How could I not be uncomfortable?"

"That's because you do nothing but eat and laze around, Master."

"... Who is your master?"

"Anyway, what I'm saying is that being a guest is not a position where you just eat and idle away."

Baek Haegwang, who had been frowning, glanced at me cautiously.

"Then... what should a guest do?"

Ah, as expected, he was someone with the will and common sense to earn his keep.

I gave a shrug.

"You should do what you can. Originally, it would be beating down bastards who pick fights with the Taiyi Sect or acting as a problem solver... but, well, since the sect is closed, there is no particular need for that. Please watch over training instead."

"You want me to meddle in the children's training?"

... How did this man become an Underworld figure with such a cautious personality?

"Not just the kids. The adults too. It hasn't been long since we recovered our martial arts, so everyone is struggling upward."

"Is that all right?"

"What would be wrong with it? Didn't you become the Sword Demon by doing whatever you wanted in the first place, Master?"

"You damned brat, calling me the Sword Demon again..."

"Anyway, just do it. I don't think everyone will be that dissatisfied."

He was a man who had become a giant of the Underworld after fighting life-and-death duels with the Sect Leaders of enormous sects.

There would be no one who dared refuse Baek Haegwang's teachings.

After hearing me out, Baek Haegwang nodded for a long while.

"By the way, how far have you learned the White Moon HeavenSubduing Three Forms?"

"I have learned all of Extreme Speed."

"Already?"

"There was something a little urgent."

"No... no matter what, only half a year has passed. It is not as though you are Yong So-ah. How did you learn that?"

"..."

Really, why did he suddenly bring up Yong So-ah to compare me to him?

I briefly explained the method I had used to learn Extreme Speed.

"You crazy bastard..."

"Still, calling your disciple a crazy bastard is a little..."

And I got a violent reaction in return.

"Who said I would take a lunatic like you as my disciple?"

"Come now, your disciple feels hurt hearing that..."

"Hah... You fitted your body to your memories? Do you have two lives or something? How did you know what would happen?"

"If nothing else, my memory is quite good, isn't it?"

Fortunately, I also had the experience I had built up while facing Je Geumhak afterward.

For now, there was no major problem.

But Master sighed and stared straight at my face.

"... The one in urgent need is not the Taiyi Sect, but you."

"Pardon?"

"How many days did you say your rest period was?"

"One..."

"No, it does not matter how many days it is. Rather than watch you go mad while learning my swordsmanship, I would rather give you intensive training."

"What do you mean..."

"Do not worry. This will be far better than the insane thing you did."

No, why was he suddenly being so scary...?

#

"...ppa?"

What?

"Oppa! Why are you sleeping here?"

Wow, did I pass out again?

And this man abandoned me and left again?

"Ugh... I thought I had improved a little over the past half year..."

Wang Soso tilted her head.

"Huh? Improved what?"

"No. It's nothing. But what is that?"

Wang Soso was holding several booklets in her arms.

"Ah, these? Documents. The Daecheon Merchant Group's accounting ledgers."

"You do that?"

"Yes. Since Wangga Manor and the Daecheon Merchant Group do a lot of work together, I am the only person who knows both sides' accounts."

If it was the work of analyzing both sets of accounts and reconciling them into one, it was complicated enough to make even most scholar members stick out their tongues.

And yet she was doing that alone.

... Just who had I saved?

"I am going to the Daecheon Merchant Group now. Would you like to come with me?"

Elder Jang Dowon had told me to stop by the smithy... but, well, it wouldn't matter if I went tomorrow.

"Shall I?"

"Wow! How exciting! Let's hurry, oppa!"

In that instant, a mysterious profundity clung to Wang Soso's steps, and she came right up beside me.

Before I could react to anything, she had linked arms with me and was dragging me along.

"Let's go! Oppa!"

... Wow, what is this, really?

Just what the hell was happening in the Taiyi Sect?

#

On the way to the Daecheon Merchant Group.

The sun that had hung over the western mountains finally set, and darkness settled over our surroundings.

Suddenly realizing that Wang Soso and I were the only ones out on the street, I felt a strange sensation.

"Do you go to the merchant group at this hour every day?"

"Not every day, but usually, yes. If I train, work, and then head to the merchant group, time is tight."

"... Alone?"

"Today, I am going with you, oppa."

"No, I mean normally."

After the kidnapping incident, Lord Wang had clearly even sent escorts along when he sent Wang Soso to the Taiyi Sect.

"Ah, I told him I wanted to go around alone."

"Why?"

"When I am at the Taiyi Sect, it feels like I alone am somehow floating apart."

Most of the children of the Taiyi Sect were not from very well-off families.

Among such children, Wang Soso, the only daughter of Wangga Manor, naturally could not help but become an alien presence.

Just like Gye Cheolyeong had been in the past.

Even then, I had considered it fortunate enough that she did not use donations as an excuse to lord over people the way Gye Cheolyeong had.

But commendably, Wang Soso had shed the outward trappings she possessed on her own in order to blend into the Taiyi Sect.

"Still, I doubt the Lord of Wangga Manor would have allowed that easily."

"Yes! So I beat the escort warrior."

"Hm?"

Did I mishear something?

When I looked at her in confusion, she smiled bashfully.

"He said that if I beat the escort warrior, I would not have to travel with an escort anymore."

... Was that possible?

If it was an escort assigned to Wang Soso, he should be fairly skilled.

"Ah, of course, I mean in running away. It turned out that I had talent in running!"

She shook off an escort with the Taiyi Eighty Thousand Divine Steps, which was not even a full-fledged lightfoot technique.

... What was with this kid too?

As we talked about this and that, we soon arrived at the Daecheon Merchant Group.

"Father! We're he..."

Wang Soso, who had entered the courtyard and was running ahead as though announcing her presence, suddenly stopped.

Then she began emitting cold air from her entire body.

"... Why are you here?"

The girlish look she had shown until just a moment ago was nowhere to be seen, and her face was full of hostility.

Just who was it for her to react like that?

At the end of Wang Soso's gaze stood a woman in a red palace gown with gold ornaments, wearing an alluring smile.

"I believe I clearly said I would refuse. Moreover, you have not even stamped the contract yet."

Wang Soso spoke with a face full of hostility, but the woman was not looking at Wang Soso.

At the end of the woman's gaze...

"Because I did not know whether he himself thought the same. Did you ask him?"

I was there.

At the woman's question, Wang Soso bit her lip hard.

As though she had expected it, the woman raised the corners of her mouth slightly.

"As I thought, you did not ask."

The servant beside the woman raised a lantern and lit the ground at her feet.

She approached two steps with a light, graceful tread.

A sweet scent spread widely along with her movement.

"You are Young Master Jin Sowoon of the Taiyi Sect, correct?"

A woman I had never seen before was acting as though she knew me.