Who Am I (3)

Back in his quarters, Jin-hyeon shut himself in again and sat cross-legged.

Wooong.

A faint haze rose from Jin-hyeon’s body.

For some reason, his dantian held a measure of internal energy. Compared to what he had as Leader of the Eight Wastes Alliance, it was pitifully small. But considering he had done no qi-gathering cultivation, the fact that this much had accumulated was something to be grateful for.

‘Good.’

The Body-Refining Qi filling his dantian flowed through his opened meridians, awakening his senses.

He loosened his body with circulating qi, breathing long and thin, drawing external energy to linger within.

Chiik.

Below the navel, the lower dantian activated, forcing open a narrow, rough path upward.

That path, fragile yet unbroken, was the way to the middle dantian.

‘As I thought.’

The Body-Refining Art cultivates the lower dantian, reaching even toward the middle. All internal arts, apart from external cultivation, were like that.

The Soul-Refining Art, in contrast, cultivated the upper dantian through the middle.

That was why the two arts were considered one, and why mastery accelerated when both were trained together.

‘The dantians were already open.’

The three dantians were not so easily opened by slightly training in martial arts.

Typically, internal cultivation polished the lower dantian, transforming natural energy into true qi. That qi was what people commonly called “internal energy.”

Awakening the middle dantian strengthened one’s ability to govern emotions and regulate the internal organs.

It can be used to strengthen the mind through spiritual cultivation, or to refine divine qi and manifest arts such as sorcery. In Daoist lore, it is said one may even nurture the spirit and aspire to transcendence into immortality.

This was a simple distinction, for in truth the three dantians moved organically, influencing one another.

‘The channel to the middle dantian is open. The preparation is quick.’

A novice could not open the three dantians. Only someone gifted, after decades of effort in first-rate martial arts, can hope to unlock them.

Talent, effort, and fortune varied, but opening them before forty was exceedingly rare.

Jin-hyeon was different.

Having returned with the memories, power, and experience of the Leader of the Eight Wastes Alliance Leader, Jin-hyeon already had his upper dantian opened and the path to the middle cleared.

And now, all three dantians of his body began to resonate together.

‘Is this because of what happened at the inn?’

His middle dantian had been open, but it had not properly received energy from the lower.

He had thought it would take three or four months, but the path opened in an instant.

This was likely because of rage and killing intent.

The middle dantian, governing the emotions, wavered when they flared. Coupled with the Soul-Refining Art, it must have undergone a great shift.

‘Perhaps the signs had been there earlier.’

Little by little.

By colliding with others, he was rediscovering himself—his body, his mind, his qi, all settling into balance.

When he had first gone out with Do-min and found the lively crowds uncomfortable, it was because he himself had been changing.

Not that bustle was a good thing.

‘I’ll reach it sooner than I thought.’

Jin-hyeon opened his eyes.

‘Once I master the Body-Refining Art……’

The Body-Refining Art, unlike most first-rate martial arts, boasted versatility and stability. Anyone could practice it without harm, but no one could see its end.

But thanks to the Soul-Refining Art, Jin-hyeon could see the end. And he had a clear reason to do so.

‘Heavenly Wolf.’

The Heavenly Wolf Six Paths Divine Art—shortened as the Heavenly Wolf True Art.

It was the Eight Waste Alliance Leader’s exclusive martial art, a culmination of all martial skills and insights gathered over decades of conquest.

Once the Heavenly Wolf Five Paths True Art, it evolved into the Heavenly Wolf Six Paths Divine Art after the Ten-Thousand-Year Only-White Art perfected the Body-Refining Art.

If he mastered the Body-Refining Art quickly through the Soul-Refining Art and then trained the Heavenly Wolf True Art, his progress would surpass even the former Alliance Leader’s.

‘The question is when I’ll achieve mastery.’

Jin-hyeon rose to his feet.

“Min, are you out there?”

“Yes, Master!”

The faint smacking sound stopped abruptly, and Do-min darted in. She must have been snacking.

“I’m out of brush and ink. Fetch some.”

“Yep! Just a moment, please!”

She scurried off and soon returned with brush and ink, grinding diligently. Her grinding skill was surprisingly decent.

Jin-hyeon immediately took up the brush and filled sheet after sheet with writing.

He wrote densely across dozens of sheets, then carefully transcribed them into blank volumes.

After three days of such work, the result came to four volumes.

And another day passed.

“Min.”

“Yes, Master.”

“How many days has it been since we returned from the Seol Clan?”

“Today makes four days.”

“Let’s go there again.”

“Me too?”

“Not if you don’t want to.”

“I’ll prepare right away!”

“Good.”

The atmosphere at the Seol Clan was uneasy.

As Jin-hyeon passed through the outer grounds toward the Clan Head’s quarters, unfamiliar figures came into view.

They were not dressed in the Seol Clan garb. There were about twenty experts and ten servants, their attire and bearing exuded severity.

“Whoa…”

Do-min let out an involuntary gasp.

“What is it?”

“Look at them. They’re obviously servants, but they’re in silk.”

“And if they aren’t?”

“They must be. Their servile look is obvious.”

“So your sense in other things is a complete zero.”

“Huh?”

“They’re from the Mighty Tiger Merchant Guild.”

Do-min’s face went pale.

“By the way, where are the swordsmen who were around here? Off training?”

“Huh?”

“……”

“Ah! They usually rotate, but every half month they go train together at Mount White, which is 5 kilometers away. It must be today.”

“Is that so?”

That was a coincidence.

‘Did they plan their timing for this?’

He couldn’t tell.

They didn’t seem to have come to fight. It was likely just to exert pressure.

‘Still, it’s too empty.’

Whatever their aim, Jin-hyeon strode toward the Clan Head’s quarters unbothered.

At that moment—

Clang!

Two warriors in silk crossed their spears to block Jin-hyeon.

Jin-hyeon looked at them.

One spoke stiffly.

“Whoever you are, turn back. The Clan Head’s quarters are…”

“Do you even know who you’re blocking?”

“?”

“I’m the Patriarch’s guest. Step aside.”

Still, they did not lower their spears.

“The Patriarch is speaking with the master of our merchant guild. Wait.”

Jin-hyeon’s eyes gleamed.

‘So he came himself.’

Four days—neither quick nor slow. He had come thinking the timing was right, and it matched perfectly.

He was about to speak again when—

“Step aside.”

Jin-hyeon turned to the side.

Surprisingly, the voice belonged to Do-min.

“What do you think you’re doing, blocking someone in the Seol Clan’s inner court? This man is our most honored guest—he needs no permission from the likes of you. Make way, now.”

The warrior looked down at Do-min strangely.

Her gaze grew colder, her bearing unlike her usual self.

The warrior’s lips curled.

“A cute little thing.”

“…What did you say?”

The warrior glanced at her chest.

“Come back when that’s grown. You’re too young to—”

At that instant—

Crack!

“Argh!”

The warrior screamed and collapsed.

His right knee bent the wrong way. It was not just a fracture—bone had pierced through flesh.

Jin-hyeon swung his foot again.

Thud! Crunch!

The warrior sprawled flat. He tried to scream, but with his jaw crushed all that came out was a garbled groan.

The other warrior’s face turned pale. He grabbed Jin-hyeon’s shoulder.

“What are you—!”

Thud!

There was no scream. The warrior crumpled, felled by Do-min’s fist to the gut.

Do-min spoke in a voice laced with killing intent.

“Don’t lay filthy hands on master.”

Whoosh!

A chilling aura swept the front of the Clan Head’s quarters.

Do-min’s aura, fully unleashed, was formidable. It was utterly different with her usual scatterbrained demeanor.

Shiiing!

The Mighty Tiger Merchant Guild warriors all drew their blades.

Then, the Clan Head’s door opened.

“What is all this commotion?!”

Out came Seol Hong-baek—and a stout middle-aged man.

Seol Hong-baek’s eyes widened.

“Teacher?!”

Jin-hyeon bowed.

“Patriarch.”

“What is going on here?”

“Would you give me a moment?”

“What…”

Jin-hyeon stomped down on the eye of the writhing warrior with the crushed jaw.

Thud!

“Ughh.”

The groaning warrior fainted outright, mind shattered by pain.

Seol Hong-baek’s face hardened.

“Teacher!!”

The stout man behind him stepped forward.

“What is the meaning of this?”

His low voice carried quiet fury.

Jin-hyeon looked at him.

“You’re the one in charge of the Mighty Tiger Merchant Guild?”

“??”

The middle-aged man, Lee Ho-gon, owner of the Mighty Tiger Merchant Guild—gave a hollow laugh.

This youth, barely thirty by the look of him, dared ask so boldly? Nowhere in Sichuan—indeed nowhere—would someone his age address him so.

Seol Hong-baek spoke.

“Teacher, I don’t know what this is, but calm yourself. This person is—”

“I thought only your son was poorly raised, but your men are the same. You may be good at earning money, but can’t you manage your people better?”

Lee Ho-gon’s face stiffened.

“Clan Head. Who is this insolent whelp?”

“……”

“Clan Head—I asked you a question.”

“May I hear what happened first?”

Lee Ho-gon frowned. Seol Hong-baek was speaking with the youth, ignoring him.

Jin-hyeon nudged the warrior with his foot.

“Should outsiders bar people without knowing who they are?”

“Don’t tell me, for that alone?”

“That much I could overlook as thickheaded loyalty.”

Jin-hyeon pressed his foot on the warrior’s neck.

Even unconscious, the warrior twitched faintly at the pressure.

“But mocking my people is another matter.”

“?!”

“Whether servant or master, one should not scorn others.”

Whoosh.

A sharp aura flowed from Seol Hong-baek.

His eyes fixed on the fallen warrior.

“He did that?”

“I wanted to crush both the eyes that ogled, but thought he’d need them to reflect later—so I spared him.”

Jin-hyeon’s voice grew ever calmer.

“I couldn’t very well kill someone before the Patriarch. Life is still life.”

At those words, chills ran down everyone’s spines.

Seol Hong-baek and Lee Ho-gon felt it, but especially the nearby warriors—their bodies tensed with dread.

Threats of killing were common enough on the street.

But from Jin-hyeon’s lips, the weight was different.

He dismissed “life” itself as trivial. The moment he deemed someone unworthy of humanity, there was no telling what savage action might follow.

“Clan Head.”

Lee Ho-gon’s gaze deepened.

“Who in the world is he?”

“A guest of this house.”

Seol Hong-baek answered stiffly.

Lee Ho-gon frowned. He disliked the sudden hardness in Seol Hong-baek’s tone.

But what concerned him more—

“Then, it’s him?”

“Yes.”

Lee Ho-gon silently fixed his gaze on Jin-hyeon.

Jin-hyeon glanced at Seol Hong-baek and shook the cloth bundle he carried.

“Shall we go in? I imagine the Guild Master himself would like to see my face.”

Their eyes tangled with complexity.

Seol Hong-baek recalled the words from four days ago, weighed them against this moment, and considered the flow.

After a pause.

“Come in. Guild Master Lee was just saying he wished to meet you.”

“Very well.”

“Guards, take the injured warriors to the West White-Physician Hall.”

The warriors of the Mighty Tiger Merchant Guild moved quickly.

After settling matters, Seol Hong-baek entered first. Lee Ho-gon, hands clasped behind his back, glared at Jin-hyeon, then followed.

Jin-hyeon and Do-min walked toward the Clan Head’s quarters. The warriors who had been so stiff moments before now parted silently.

A thought struck Jin-hyeon, and he turned to Do-min.

“Don’t mind the trash’s words too…….”

He broke off. Do-min was trembling, biting her thumbnail.

“Master, what do we do? What if the Patriarch gets angry that we beat their men? Will I be cast out?”

“……”

“You’ll protect me, right? Won’t you?”

Jin-hyeon looked at her blankly, then shook his head and walked on.

Do-min jumped and hurried after him.

“Master. Wait for me!”