The next day, early in the morning. One of the young servants from the Medicine Hall carefully placed a tray with breakfast before Mok Gyeong-un.
“As you requested, the meat…..has been brought with the blood still visible.”
He had done it because it was an order, but the servant frowned, seemingly bothered by the sight of blood. At this, Mok Gyeong-un smiled brightly and said.
“Why? Is the bloodiness unpleasant to look at?”
“Ah, no, sir.”
The servant waved his hands in denial. As a mere servant, he knew not what trouble might befall him if he happened to displease the Young Master. But Mok Gyeong-un, still with a smiling face, said.
“When meat is fully cooked, the texture isn't very good. It gets tough, you see? I like it best when it's soft and still bloody. You should try it that way sometime.”
“...... Yes, yes.”
He couldn't understand what was so delicious about it. There was a difference between something moderately rare and something that bloody. Pork, especially, seemed like it would have a gamey taste; what a peculiar preference.
The servant withdrew, and Mok Gyeong-un savored his meal. His appearance was exceedingly elegant. He chewed each mouthful precisely thirty times before swallowing, and he never opened his mouth while chewing.
His use of chopsticks was also quite refined. Guard Go Chan, who was watching him with narrowed eyes, wondered inwardly. He said he lived alone in the mountains with his grandfather, but his mannerisms gave the impression he had been properly taught etiquette.
Come to think of it, his way of speaking was the same. For someone called a murderous demon, he had a habit of always speaking respectfully to others.
‘The more I learn, the less I understand.’
Just then, a sound involuntarily came from his stomach.
A growl.
Seeing someone eat, it was only natural to feel hungry. But, as if he had heard that faint sound, Mok Gyeong-un was looking at him.
'Huh?'
“You seem to be hungry.”
Go Chan, who had been watching with narrowed eyes, was startled and straightened up to bow.
“Y-Young Master. Did you sleep well?”
“No. I didn't sleep as much as you did, Guard Go Chan.”
“You didn't sleep?”
“Yes.”
“Then after you eat, you should get some more sle—” “No. I can sleep all I want when I'm dead.”
“.........”
His words always had a way of chilling people to the bone. Go Chan swallowed dryly and said.
“Is something troubling you?”
“It is a concern, of a sort. It's not a big deal, but I was planning to ask you when you woke up, Guard Go Chan.”
“What is it?”
Go Chan asked, his heart sinking with worry for no reason. After experiencing those bizarre events last night, he had been hoping for a quiet day today. He even had a dream where a female ghost smoking a long pipe appeared and stuck her hand into his stomach.
That's how much he felt like he was losing his mind lately. Mok Gyeong-un lowered his voice and said.
“Do you know the basic arts of the Lotuswood Sword Manor?”
“What?”
At that question, Go Chan looked at Mok Gyeong-un with a momentarily bewildered expression. And why wouldn't he? Why was he suddenly asking about basic arts?
Mok Gyeong-un asked again.
“Do you know them?”
“I happened to see the rea—” 'Oops!'
For a moment, he almost said the 'real Mok Gyeong-un' without thinking, but he quickly corrected himself.
“I saw the Young Master practicing them a few times before.”
No matter how lazy and untalented in martial arts he was, the real Mok Gyeong-un was still a man of a martial family. Naturally, he had practiced martial arts before. Of course, it was a practice he barely kept up with, so it was meaningless.
“That's great. Then can you teach me the basic arts?”
“What?”
“I'm asking you to teach me the basic arts.”
“H-How can I do that?”
Go Chan asked back, as if he couldn't understand Mok Gyeong-un's question. At this, Mok Gyeong-un recalled yesterday's dawn. ... After realizing he had formed a dantian, Mok Gyeong-un had tried to practice the Lotuswood Sword Formation Art, which he had memorized, in a hidden training room in the Medicine Hall.
But an unexpected problem arose.
[Hmm..... The movements don't connect. This is strange.]
He moved his body according to the secret manual he had memorized, but the movements didn't flow together at all. Why was that? At this, Blue Spirit looked at Mok Gyeong-un, chuckled, and said. -It's a profound martial art.
[What?] -Mortal.
You truly know nothing about martial arts.
[What is a profound martial art?] -To put it simply, it's a high-level martial art.
With ordinary martial arts, no matter how much you practice, it's difficult to reach a profound realm, but profound martial arts are different. You can think of them as a concentration of enlightenment for reaching a higher, more sublime realm.
[Then isn't that a good thing?] -Fool.
What's so good about it?
[Huh?] -With profound martial arts, you cannot understand the forms without the basic arts.
To eliminate unnecessary postures and forms, the basic arts must be the foundation in the first place.
[........] -Do you even understand?
[Roughly.] -Tsk, tsk.
Anyway, if you don't practice the basic arts, you won't be able to learn even a quarter of a move from that sword art. ... And that's what had happened. So, Mok Gyeong-un had asked Go Chan if he knew the basic arts of the Lotuswood Sword Manor.
“It seems I can't learn the Lotuswood Sword Formation Art without the basic arts.”
Mok Gyeong-un told Go Chan honestly. At his words, Go Chan asked with surprised eyes.
“You're trying to learn the Manor Lord's exclusive secret manual?”
“Yes. Is there a problem?”
“W-Well, more than that... Young Master, don't tell me you're aiming for the position of successor?”
That was the reason for Go Chan's surprise. He knew well that Mok Gyeong-un wanted to learn martial arts. But if that martial art was the Lotuswood Sword Formation Art, the Manor Lord's exclusive art, then the story was a bit different.
There was a reason the words "Manor Lord's exclusive" were attached to that secret manual.
“No. Of course not.”
“But why?”
“If it's the Manor Lord's exclusive martial art, doesn't that make it more useful?”
Can this be assessed as merely 'useful'? Among the past Manor Lords of the Lotuswood Sword Manor, there was one who became the hegemon of Anhui Province with the Lotuswood Sword Formation Art. That's how well-regarded the Lotuswood Sword Formation Art was in the martial world, as a profound martial art.
“It's not just useful, it's a formidable sword art. But Young Master, if you learn it, it could cause problems later...”
“It'll be fine as long as I don't get caught.”
“Don't......”
It wasn't a problem that would be solved by not getting caught. The moment he learned this, it was tantamount to participating in the war for the Manor Lord's succession. Aside from the Manor Lord who was on his deathbed, no one else had been able to learn the secret manual.
Imagine if Mok Gyeong-un learned it alone. There would surely be an uproar. But Go Chan couldn't bring himself to finish his sentence.
It wasn't as if Mok Gyeong-un would stop just because he told him not to.
“Hoo. But Young Master. This subordinate cannot teach you the basic arts.”
“Why?”
“Even if I've seen the basic arts a few times, I don't remember them precisely, nor do I know the energy circulation incantations for them.”
“Ah.......”
Right, in the secret manuals, there was an energy circulation incantation for each move. When performing a move, the operation of internal energy was different for each stance. If it was wrong, the full power wouldn't come out, and at worst, one could suffer internal injuries.
At this, Mok Gyeong-un asked.
“Then who knows the basic arts?”
“That would be the other Young Masters and the Manor Lord, who is on his sickbed.”
The basic arts of the Lotuswood Sword Manor. The Lotuswood Nine Forms and the Lotuswood Beginner Sword Art. Although these were basic arts, they were martial arts that could only be learned by those with the blood of the Mok family.
“Is it only them?”
“....... Yes. That is correct.”
“Hmm.”
Mok Gyeong-un placed his chopsticks on his rice bowl and stroked his chin. He hadn't expected that only they would know the basic arts. He thought there would be some martial artists within the Lotuswood Sword Manor who knew them, but his assumption was wrong.
Then, as the Manor Lord is currently bedridden, the only ones who know the basic arts are the three Young Masters, excluding himself.
‘Impossible.’
Go Chan shook his head slightly. There was no way the other Young Masters would teach Mok Gyeong-un the basic arts. In the first place, if he asked them to teach him because he didn't know, he would attract unnecessary suspicion.
There was no way around it. But then, Go Chan became puzzled.
‘Wait a minute, but he hasn't even formed a dantian yet. What is he trying to learn?’
As far as he knew, Mok Gyeong-un hadn't even created a dantian yet. But trying to learn moves already, whether basic arts or not, was too hasty. Just then, Mok Gyeong-un slowly got up from his bed.
“Young Master?”
“I have no choice.”
“Huh?”
“Let's go.”
“W-Where are you going?”
“Since they're the only ones who can teach me, I have to find a way to learn from them.”
“But Young Master......the other Young Masters would never teach you the basic arts, would they? And if you ask them to teach you, you might arouse suspicion.”
“I'll have to try, whether by making a suitable excuse or persuading them.”
“What? How?”
“I'll figure that out myself. So for now, let's go.”
Go Chan carefully tried to dissuade the urging Mok Gyeong-un.
“Young Master.....for now, you're also injured, so why not rest for a few days? Besides, the outer hall guards are guarding this place, so if you wander around with an injured body......”
“You don't need to worry about the outer hall guards.”
“What?”
Don't worry about the outer hall guards? What does that mean?
On the path to the first training ground, reserved for the Young Masters. Guard Go Chan, still unable to understand, glanced back towards the Medicine Hall and tilted his head.
'Good grief.'
Something was strange. Just yesterday, the outer hall guards had been treating him as if they were watching him. But suddenly, their attitudes had changed.
As soon as they saw Mok Gyeong-un, they politely performed a fist-and-palm salute. When he said he was going to the training ground, far from stopping him, they even tried to follow and act as his guards.
[We will escort you, Young Master.]
[No. It's alright.]
Of course, Mok Gyeong-un had refused.
‘What is this?’
I don't know why they're acting like this. It was also strange that this suspicious little demon didn't find this odd at all. Did something else happen while I was asleep?
I can't understand it at all. But that wasn't the important thing right now.
“Young Master......are you really going?”
“Yes. I said I was going.”
At Mok Gyeong-un's unwavering answer, Go Chan was troubled. And for good reason, as the person Mok Gyeong-un was going to see was none other than the youngest Young Master, Mok Yu-cheon.
‘This is driving me crazy.’
Of course, his relationship with the other Young Masters wasn't good either. But with Mok Yu-cheon, it was much worse. It wasn't for nothing that the real Mok Gyeong-un had been reluctant to face him.
Go Chan cautiously warned him.
“Young Master......something truly terrible could happen. Even now, it would be better to go back...”
“Terrible, you say. He must hate him that much, huh?”
“Did I not tell you before?”
“Ah, yes. The one about how the dead, real Mok Gyeong-un was beaten to a pulp after disparaging Mok Yu-cheon's mother, calling her a lowly courtesan wench?”
“....... If you remember, why are you still going?”
Go Chan still remembered.
[Stop! Stop it! I was wrong! Gaaah!]
The sight of the real Mok Gyeong-un crawling on the floor with his leg bones and ribs shattered. He had been screaming for his life. After such an incident, the youngest Young Master Mok Yu-cheon genuinely hated Mok Gyeong-un.
If he went to someone like that and asked about the basic arts, would he teach him?
“The other two are not in a position to make a deal right now.”
“But still......”
“If you're picky about this and that, you can't get anything done. So for now, let's just go.”
‘Ah.......’
As expected, he doesn't listen. He seems to have no sense of crisis. I think I need to be clearer.
“Young Master. Young Master Mok Yu-cheon is a monster who reached the beginning of the Peak Realm at the mere age of sixteen. A master who has reached the Peak Realm is several times stronger than a first-rate master. If you provoke him wrongly, something terrible could happen.”
“Yes, yes. I understand.”
‘Aargh!’
Go Chan beat his own chest repeatedly. There was nothing he could do now. It seemed he would only realize what the relationship between the real Mok Gyeong-un and Mok Yu-cheon was like after meeting him and experiencing it himself.
Before long, the first training ground came into view. There, he saw Mok Yu-cheon, shirtless and training in the horse stance just like last time. He was someone who never neglected his training, not even for a single day. -Hoh.
He's quite a decent mortal. The voice of Blue Spirit entered Mok Gyeong-un's ear. Despite being under the sunlight, perhaps because her rank was high, she was maintaining her true form, unlike the Demonic Monk.
After taking a deep drag from her long pipe and exhaling, she spoke. -He has martial talent.
“You can see that?” -Do you think there are many brats who possess that much life-nurturing energy at the mere age of sixteen?
In Blue Spirit's spirit eyes, the surging energy over Mok Yu-cheon's shoulders was clearly visible. He possessed an outstanding martial talent, one that would make her want to take him as a disciple if she were alive. She warned Mok Gyeong-un. -He's the kind of person commonly called a genius.
You'd best be careful. Even this master finds it hard to use my full power under the sunlight. Sunlight was life-nurturing energy itself.
Thus, it was a state where even maintaining her form was difficult. At Blue Spirit's warning, Mok Gyeong-un gave a slight nod and stepped into the training ground. At that, Mok Yu-cheon's gaze, who was in a horse stance, naturally turned towards him.
Upon spotting Mok Gyeong-un, Mok Yu-cheon's face hardened frighteningly. Anyone could see it was a face filled with anger.
‘Damn it.’
As expected.
Believing it could be dangerous if Mok Yu-cheon were to strike out in a fit of anger, Go Chan quietly tried to stop Mok Gyeong-un in a whispering voice.
“Young Master..... I really think it would be best to go back. Young Master!”
Despite his attempts to stop him, Mok Gyeong-un strode confidently towards Mok Yu-cheon.
‘Damn it all.’
There was no other choice now. Just then, Mok Yu-cheon spoke while still in his horse stance.
“Get out of the training ground.”
As expected, no kind words came out. He wanted to recommend leaving the training ground while he was giving him the chance. However, Mok Gyeong-un had no intention of doing so.
He smiled brightly at Mok Yu-cheon, who was exuding a hostile atmosphere, and said.
“Hello.”
‘He's smiling? At me?’
At this attitude from Mok Gyeong-un, Mok Yu-cheon raised an eyebrow. The guy who, since that incident, had been so afraid of him that he was always busy avoiding him, was now showing a smile in front of him. Does he have something to rely on?
Mok Yu-cheon looked around. But the only one protecting Mok Gyeong-un was Guard Go Chan.
‘Just a second-rate.’
He was not a guard with the martial prowess to protect Mok Gyeong-un from him. Mok Yu-cheon snorted inwardly. To him, Mok Gyeong-un spoke with a smiling face.
“By any chance, do you want to become the Manor Lord too?”
“What?”
At Mok Gyeong-un's completely unexpected words, Mok Yu-cheon frowned and turned his head. Then, as if finding it absurd, he said.
“What are you talking about right now?”
“Exactly what you heard. I asked if you want to become the Manor Lord too.”
At those words, Mok Yu-cheon raised his voice and said.
“I don't know what kind of trick you're trying to pull by showing up in front of me, but stop spouting nonsense and get lost. If you don't want to crawl away like last time...”
“Well. I think you'll want this.”
With those words, Mok Gyeong-un took something out from his robes. It was a secret manual with the words Lotuswood Heart Transformation Technique written on it. Seeing this, Mok Yu-cheon's eyes widened.
“You!...... How do you have that?”
“Do you want it?”
Mok Gyeong-un asked Mok Yu-cheon, dangling the secret manual enticingly.