RATTLE RATTLE--...

The wide training ground’s wall collapsed, rubble pouring down. Chunks of stone rolled across the floor, and dust filled one whole side of the space.

A wall completely destroyed.

The throwing knives that had pierced through it and buried themselves in the ground.

I stared at the little knives that had created that spectacle and couldn’t get a single word out.

After I’d stood there blankly for a long time—

“...Huh...?”

The one line I finally squeezed out was truly pathetic.

“That’s...”

What the hell is that?

I was the one who’d used it, and I still didn’t understand.

What is this? What is this?

If it wasn’t just my imagination, what I’d just used was—

[Myriad-Flowers Rain...?]

Yoo Cheongil answered in my stead. The old man seemed pretty shocked too; he was covering his mouth with that big hand of his.

[...What the hell is this.]

Even that big-shot couldn’t seem to make sense of what was happening; his wide eyes twisted in no time.

[What on earth did you do.]

He must have turned it over in his head and come up empty, because now he was asking me.

The problem was—

‘...Right?’

I didn’t know either. What had I just done?

The moment I touched the throwing knives, my hand had just moved on its own. Qi suddenly circulated through my body, and the knives burst out.

And the throwing knives that flew out like that—

‘...Were pure bombardment.’

They became a brutal bombardment and smashed the wall to pieces.

The firepower was on a completely different level from Poison King’s attempt at Myriad-Flowers Rain.

It was like it was showing this was the real thing—fierce and rough, the momentum was something else—

STAGGER-!

“...!”

In the middle of my thoughts, one knee hit the ground. That sharp dizziness feeling filled my head.

“...Hah...”

I wondered why I felt like this, then checked my body and understood.

‘My internal qi is...’

All the qi that had been filling me had vanished in an instant. With everything I’d been stuffing into myself, and with me having just reached pinnacle, I’d figured it was by no means a small amount.

But with a single use of that technique, almost all of it was gone.

‘What the hell.’

What kind of stupid consumption is that? It was worse than when I drew out sword force.

So while I was kneeling like I was exhausted and panting—

“...Hah...”

Poison King, who’d been behind me, let out a hollow sigh.

I heard that and immediately turned my head.

He wasn’t looking at me.

He was frozen, staring holes through the wall I’d destroyed.

The faint qi rising in the debris,

and the intense spectacle the little throwing knives had created—Poison King’s eyes were glued there, his body frozen like a rock for a while, and only after some time passed did he shift his gaze to look at me.

When he did, the savage desire in his eyes made me shudder without meaning to.

*****

I barely managed to escape the training ground, practically running away.

After that, Poison King tried every which way to hold onto me and ask about Myriad-Flowers Rain, but there wasn’t much I could say.

‘I just did it and it worked.’

I’d simply grabbed the knives and executed it the way it felt in the book, and it worked.

When I said that, Poison King looked like he’d lost the power of speech.

Well, of course. Something he’d never managed to see with his own eyes, I’d just pulled off, and on top of that, it was the ultimate art and symbol of his own clan. That reaction made sense.

I could understand that much but...

‘What exactly am I supposed to do for him.’

Like I already said to him, there was nothing I could do.

‘I don’t even know how I used it.’

How the hell had I been able to use Myriad-Flowers Rain?

It was too strange to say I’d “tried something.”

The moment I grabbed the knives, my body had moved on its own.

‘And it wasn’t even me controlling my internal qi.’

The qi had moved on its own, like it had a will, and executed the technique.

Which meant I was the most freaked-out one here.

‘How exactly did I use it?’

My face was full of nothing but question marks.

Of course it was. Leaving aside that I’d gone and used Myriad-Flowers Rain without meaning to—

the fact I’d used it at all was the real problem.

‘I don’t have Tang Clan’s internal art.’

For bloodline techniques, especially when you’re talking about a secret art, you obviously need that clan or sect’s core internal art.

If you try to use a technique like that without having it in your body, it’s common sense that there’ll be backlash and your meridians will twist.

In other words—

‘You fall into qi deviation.’

You end up in qi deviation, which for a martial artist is as good as death.

‘Then how?’

My body didn’t show any sign of that.

My internal qi had just drained out wildly, that was all. Apart from that, I didn’t have any major sense of exhaustion.

How was that even possible?

Maybe Yoo Cheongil would know something. With that hope, I looked at the old man, but—

[...What a bizarre body you’ve got.]

‘...’

He was just looking at me like I was some curiosity, which meant he didn’t particularly know either.

I’m gonna lose it.

[How are your meridians not tangled? Boy. Did you do something without me knowing?]

“What would I do. Even if I tried, there’s no way I could do something without you knowing, and if you don’t know what it is, how the hell would I?”

The greatest of ancient and modern, the former greatest under heaven.

If Yoo Cheongil, who’d once been called the pinnacle of martial artists, didn’t {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} know about this, there’s no way I would.

[Hmmmm...]

He knew that too; that’s why he kept just looking at me like I was fascinating.

I was less fascinated and more busy checking myself over with a panicked face.

What if something in my body had gone wrong? That’s what I was worried about.

‘I have no idea what’s going on.’

Since I knew nothing, it was just complicated.

Because of that, while I was turning things over and over in my head—

‘Oh.’

Something suddenly brushed through my mind.

‘No way?’

I frowned and thought of something that had happened not long ago.

Poison Sovereign attaining deliverance and pouring his qi into me.

Maybe that was the problem.

No matter how I looked at it, if there was a problem, that was the only candidate.

If that was the case—

‘How?’

What exactly had Poison Sovereign left with me?

If he’d given me something besides qi and this was the result, what was it? I was chewing on that for a long while when—

[Boy.]

Yoo Cheongil called me.

“Yes.”

[Step aside for a moment.]

At his next words, my eyes widened a little. I had a pretty good idea what he wanted to do.

Without any fuss, I closed my eyes.

In that instant, I felt Yoo Cheongil enter my body.

WOOOONG-!!

Qi immediately started moving.

It raced through my whole body, then sank back into my dantian.

And then—

“Huh!”

Yoo Cheongil let out a short exclamation through my mouth, then pulled back out of my body.

[Ha, ha?]

“What is it?”

[What kind of ridiculous thing is this.]

His reaction was not normal. Had something really gone wrong? With a creeping anxiety, I asked—

[...Boy.]

“Yes.”

[You said your house was the Bang family of Liaoning, right.]

“That’s right.”

It was a place I was embarrassed and heartsick to show anyone, but that was my home.

Why was he suddenly bringing that up?

I looked at Yoo Cheongil with that question in my eyes.

[...What exactly is your family’s true nature?]

“...Huh?”

A rather strange question came out.

“What do you mean, what is my family.”

What is Bang Clan? Bang Clan is Bang Clan. The half-collapsed, ruined house in Liaoning. That was Bang Clan.

As far as that went, Yoo Cheongil should know that story quite well, so him suddenly saying something like that left me thrown.

But—

[Boy.]

Even at my weird expression, Yoo Cheongil’s face was serious.

With a heavy and hardened face, he said to me,

[Tang Clan’s qi is mixed into your body right now.]

“...What?”

My brows scrunched tight. What kind of bullshit was this?

“By Tang Clan’s qi, you mean...”

The Tang Fang-Ringing Internal Art. That’s what he meant, right?

“Why would that be in my body...?”

It was nonsense. They’d said that internal art required you to endure desperate, torturous training, like being put through hell, before you could embed it in your body.

Even putting that aside—

‘Does it even make sense for another qi to enter my body?’

My body was already over capacity.

I’d originally had Bang Clan’s internal art in me.

On top of that, Yoo Cheongil had forcibly implanted Blue Moon Heart Art.

If that went out of control, my body could explode, which is why I’d been forced into training whether I liked it or not.

‘And now Tang Clan’s qi on top of that?’

That would mean I was in a state where it wouldn’t be strange if I’d already exploded and died.

It was so absurd I couldn’t even rush to deny it.

‘If that’s true.’

It explained, to a degree, why I’d been able to use Myriad-Flowers Rain.

Except—

“How is that even possible?”

Here’s where I needed to hear how something like that could be.

If what he said was true, then like I’d said, I should have long since fallen into qi deviation, if not outright exploded.

At my urgent question, Yoo Cheongil spoke to me with a deeply troubled look.

[What did you say your clan’s internal art was called again?]

“...You mean Guardian Fang Art?”

[Yeah. That one.]

“What about it?”

Guardian Fang Art was the Bang family of Liaoning’s internal art and bloodline inheritance technique.

Only my brother and I had learned it; my sister, being a daughter, hadn’t even been allowed to inherit it.

She’d grumbled that it was blatant discrimination, but she hadn’t actually complained all that fiercely.

Thinking back, she’d probably already made up her mind to run away, and that was part of it. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Even if that wasn’t it—

‘It’s not like anyone would be dying to get this pathetic internal art anyway.’

Even if you called it a bloodline inheritance art, it was a truly miserable thing.

‘I heard that with other great clans’ internal arts, your qi builds up just by breathing.’

Guardian Fang Art had nothing like that.

It was slow to absorb qi from the air, and even the internal qi it did absorb piled up in a pathetically flimsy way.

Why else do you think I was still third-rate after ten years of training internal art?

Sure, talent played a part.

‘But mainly it was because our family’s internal art is trash.’

A third-rate internal art with absolutely no bang for your buck.

I’d been certain that was why I was stuck with it in my body.

It was only natural.

‘Compared to Blue Moon Heart Art, the gap is ridiculous.’

Blue Moon Heart Art, the one they called a divine art.

Once I learned this one, the comparison was obvious.

‘They’re on completely different levels.’

The speed of absorption.

The solidity and purity of the qi that gathered in my body. In every respect, Guardian Fang Art was nowhere near it.

I’d had to admit it.

‘Our family’s internal art is garbage.’

With an internal art like that, no wonder the clan collapsed.

That was what I’d told myself to make peace with it.

“...So what about it?”

Why Guardian Fang Art all of a sudden?

I looked at Yoo Cheongil with puzzled eyes.

Did it have something to do with the state of my body right now? That couldn’t be, right?

I just couldn’t see the connection.

In that situation, Yoo Cheongil said—

[That Guardian Fang Art inside you is stopping the other qi from clashing.]

“...What?”

I gave a dumb reaction at those words.

What did he just say...?

[Blue Moon Heart Art wants to tear Tang Clan’s qi to shreds this instant. That Bang family internal art is standing in the middle and stopping it, keeping it from going berserk.]

“...Is that even possible?”

[Of course not.]

Emotion entered Yoo Cheongil’s usually blank face.

Seeing that, I flinched without meaning to.

He was smiling.

Yoo Cheongil’s mouth was splitting wide in a grin like he’d found something fun.

Exhilaration.

Rapture.

Or maybe awe.

It was a hot expression, full of every kind of joy.

[I’ve never seen anything like this in my life. Not even that Heavenly Demon bastard ever showed me something like this. What the hell are you, boy.]

His big face came all the way up in front of my nose.

[What exactly is Bang Clan’s true nature?]

At that question, my pupils shook like crazy.

What is this internal art, and what is Bang Clan’s true nature?

‘I don’t know, fuck...’

That was the question I wanted to ask more than anyone.