Yeon’s Heart (1)
Jo Yeon’s life had begun in one of the Jo family’s estates, situated between Byeokra Kingdom and the northern deserts.
He was not a direct descendant of the Jo Clan. He was a branch of a branch.
His father had been a mere single-potion cultivator, yet one night he had taken a slave from the eastern lands as his wife and fathered Jo Yeon upon her.
For reasons no one could ever explain, Jo Yeon had been born with a hunchback.
His father had hated him for it.
Perhaps he simply could not bear to acknowledge that a deformed creature was his own flesh and blood.
Even before the boy had been weaned, the father sold his mother to the slave market and tried to abandon the infant at a common thief’s house.
Only when a spiritual root was confirmed in the child had he been forced to raise him.
Jo Yeon had grown up beneath his father’s beatings.
He was a three-spiritual-root genius—more than enough for the Jo Clan at the time—but the Jo Clan’s glory had reached its zenith, and geniuses of that caliber were a dime a dozen.
As a result, he received no special treatment whatsoever. Surviving the abuse felt more like a miracle than a birthright.
Yet when he turned ten, everything changed.
One day he dreamed of a colossal bird crushing him beneath its wings. The next moment, the Law of Seven-Colored Martial Dao awakened within him.
Any genius with spiritual roots was sent to the main house to be managed.
Thanks to that system, Jo Yeon had been freed from his father’s tyranny and brought to the main residence.
He had believed then that his life was about to improve.
How utterly naïve.
Seven-Colored Martial Dao.
The worst talent among the seven, known as the Seven-Colored Law.
Men whose aptitude was less than that of a rat, yet whose faces twisted into grotesque patterns whenever they became excited.
Trash who could only serve as breeding stock for the clan.
And Jo Yeon himself, hunchback and all.
Naturally he became the target of every bully in the compound.
Beatings in the back alley were routine.
Being stripped naked and buried head-first in the dirt for amusement was not uncommon.
The moment he was given a treat, it was stolen or forced down his throat.
Even the elders of the clan wrinkled their noses at the sight of him and simply walked past.
Some especially vicious souls delighted in kicking him whenever they were in a bad mood.
He had spent his childhood half as a training dummy for the clan.
Being beaten and mocked had become his daily existence.
Still, Jo Yeon endured.
After all, the Jo Clan was his own family.
One day, when he grew up, he would sell his mother back to the slave market, find her again, and live with her forever.
A childish dream.
That was all that had kept him going.
And when he finally reached adulthood, the world shattered.
“…Eh?”
“Your father is dead, so go home and arrange his funeral. Do you understand?”
In a flash, Jo Yeon returned to the estate where he had been born.
He stood before his father’s coffin.
The man had died of mercury poisoning.
It seemed the clan’s direct descendant had chosen Jo Yeon’s father to refine the mercury pill during the ceremony.
The patriarch had been the lowest single-potion cultivator in the family.
Jo Yeon arranged the funeral with hollow eyes.
…My family…
His father had been nothing more than a source of bad memories, yet he had been the only thread connecting the boy to the Jo Clan.
Feeling an inexplicable emptiness, he began to sort through his father’s possessions.
Then something absurd happened.
“Your father’s possessions? Hmm… I had them burned.”
“….”
Jo Yeon stared at the descendant who had killed his father, mouth opening and closing like a fish.
“Ahaha, sorry. I was just testing a new law artifact and, well… it got away from me. Truly my fault. Please don’t be too angry. It wasn’t my intention. Instead, here—ten Healing Pill Tablets. Without considering tolerance, it can extend your lifespan by at least thirty years. That should make up for it.”
“…Thank you…”
He had no interest in his father’s possessions.
Yet the family ledger recorded exactly where the mother had been sold.
The only clue he would ever have.
Jo Yeon hired thugs to search, but found nothing.
He had no choice but to throw himself into training.
As a Seven-Colored cultivator he was the clan’s worst piece of trash.
As a single-potion cultivator he was merely mediocre.
He rose through the Qi Condensation realm faster than anyone and reached Foundation Establishment within twenty years.
Of course, Foundation Establishment was nothing special.
Small clans took their elders from Foundation Establishment.
The Jo Clan was a continent-spanning giant.
In such a place, a single-potion cultivator was like dust beneath every footstep.
Jo Yeon had to be content with a slightly elevated status within the family.
After reaching Foundation Establishment, he left the clan.
He claimed it was to wander the martial world and temper himself.
In truth, he was hunting for his mother.
After five years of wandering, he finally found her trail.
She had been sold into a minor martial clan and spent the rest of her life there.
Jo Yeon slipped into the servants’ graveyard of that clan, lit incense, and offered a silent prayer.
…Where do I go now?
He had confirmed the death of his mother.
An inexplicable sense of emptiness settled over him.
Of course he would have to return to the Jo Clan eventually.
The Jo Clan granted its Seven-Colored disciples a wandering period of forty-nine years.
If he did not return within that time, the clan’s hunting dogs would come for him.
Yet Jo Yeon no longer felt any belonging.
No matter where he went, he felt like a piece of kelp drifting in the vast sea of the world.
That was when he looked up at the sky and felt an inexplicable longing.
“Who in the world are you? A servant I’ve never seen before… How did you even get into our Moon Family graveyard!”
One of the clan’s guards shouted.
Jo Yeon looked at him and let out a soft laugh.
“I don’t know. Get lost, thief. My mood is terrible right now…”
“You bastard! You barge into the main estate without permission and spout nonsense! You look like one of the servants’ family members, but even if you are, you should have reported to the head steward first! I heard nothing from the steward, yet you just walked right in…”
Puff!
Jo Yeon flicked a Foundation Law technique at the man’s head to shut him up.
“Shut your mouth. I told you my mood is terrible, thief. A small clan like yours doesn’t even know what a single-potion cultivator is. I could exterminate you right now if I felt like it… Last warning. Get the hell out.”
He had no desire to create trouble, but the man proved a problem.
Clang!
The guard’s eyes burned with rage as he gripped two broad spears.
“So… you are a noble. The crime of not recognizing a guest of Moon Family. I apologize. But the clan has rules! If you wish to visit the family cemetery, you must first speak to the steward!”
“You keep talking….”
Jo Yeon surrounded the man with dozens of law techniques and glared.
And in that instant, he froze.
The man’s aura around him condensed into a solid sphere—the form of a single-potion cultivator.
The guard smiled faintly.
“I don’t know what that is… but I know this. This is the realm of Five Qi Consorting with the Origin!”
“Hah, even as a thief you have arrogance. Let’s see, then! If it’s boring, you’ll pay for disturbing my mood!”
“Huh, you’re full of yourself. A few months ago I comprehended the Law of Sword Gang! I, myself, am stronger than the Heavenly Sword of the current martial world!!”
On that day, the early-Foundation Jo Yeon clashed with Moon Bi, the hidden expert of the contemporary Byeokra Kingdom martial world.
* * *
“Huu… ha…”
Jo Yeon stared at his slowly healing wounds and at Moon Bi.
He had nearly died.
If the man had simply stood there and thrust his spear straight through his skull without fainting, it would have been over.
He had been a Foundation Establishment cultivator facing a thief.
Jo Yeon waited until all his wounds were healed, then approached Moon Bi, pried open his mouth, and poured a few healing pills into it.
A while later, Moon Bi regained consciousness.
“Hah, hah hah! I lost. Truly… I never imagined there was someone this strong.”
“….”
Jo Yeon clicked his tongue as he looked at Moon Bi.
“I am worse than an insect in my own clan. And you’re telling me I should apologize while bragging that you’re stronger than the Heavenly Sword of the world? What a ridiculous man.”
“Hahaha, a large clan is truly terrifying. So many people stronger than the large clan…”
“You don’t understand the single-potion world at all, do you? And why am I calling you ‘brother’?”
“After a fight between men, don’t we call each other brother? Ahahaha!”
“….”
Jo Yeon clicked his tongue again.
Yet strangely, he felt no anger or melancholy like he had with his own clan siblings.
It was refreshing.
He realized he was smiling without realizing it.
“You… would you like to be my disciple?”
A man who had never made friends with anyone in his life, Jo Yeon offered the best human relationship he knew.
Moon Bi shook his head.
“Hmm, sorry, but I already have a master, brother…”
“….”
“Still, you could be a friend.”
“Friend…?”
Jo Yeon was stunned by the unfamiliar word.
He had never had a friend since childhood.
But Moon Bi simply pushed on.
“Friend. From today onward, we are brothers. Hehe!”
“Wait, hold on…”
Thus, Moon Bi became Jo Yeon’s first friend.
* * *
Five years passed.
Jo Yeon had worked as a blacksmith for Moon Bi’s clan.
He crafted weapons for his best friend and learned about the martial world.
The martial arts invented by thieves to survive.
A world where geniuses competed with each other.
Smaller than the single-potion realm, yet Jo Yeon felt beauty there.
He discovered the beauty of martial arts.
Graceful movements.
Countless meanings that flowed beyond them.
The realm beyond that—where meaning reached its limit, where intentions exchanged, the pinnacle and Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown, and the realm beyond that, Five Qi Consorting with the Origin.
Countless fascinating realms of martial dao…
For the first time in his life, Jo Yeon wanted to use all his talent to create the greatest weapon for the friend who lived in this world.
That was why he had remained in the Moon family as a blacksmith for thousands upon thousands of weapons.
Moon Bi wielded them and always looked satisfied.
Because Jo Yeon could handle every kind of weapon, the forging itself was enjoyable.
Whenever he finished a blade, Moon Bi would take it up, demonstrate the matching technique, and explain the meaning behind it.
“This Sword Tempering Technique was created with what kind of heart…”
“This Sword Intent Cutting Technique…”
“The Three Iron Cannon technique requires powerful rebound. And at its root lies the rejection of others…”
Those moments had been the happiest of his life.
Yet even the happiest moments eventually ended.
“What? You’re leaving the martial world?”
Just as Jo Yeon had left his family to wander, the martial world had its own version of wandering.
“Yes, brother. Since I’ve perfected my own dao, I need to find a disciple to inherit it… Please understand.”
“Hmm… All right.”
He nodded.
“I was already preparing to create a law technique based on the intention you taught me… It’s perfect timing. Go and build your reputation.”
“Haha, understood. Since brother says so… Then I’ll prepare a gift for brother and see you later. Farewell!”
“Mm!”
The two parted ways.
Jo Yeon went to a nearby Moon family estate, studied their records, created a law technique, and began crafting weapons for Moon Bi.
They were twin broad spears.
Twin broad spears that would wield his friend’s ultimate martial art, prepared by Moon Bi, for Moon Bi.
A perfect weapon created solely for his friend’s dao!
To create the perfect weapon, Jo Yeon had locked himself away for years.
Ten years passed.
Finally, he completed two twin broad spears perfectly matched to Moon Bi’s Blood-Intent Spear Law.
He set off once more for the estate to deliver the gift.
But Jo Yeon had made one crucial mistake.
The time perception of single-potion cultivators and mortals was entirely different.
For a Foundation Establishment cultivator like him, ten years was “just” a moment.
For ordinary martial artists, it was enough time for entire empires to rise and fall.
Jo Yeon, who had been beaten and bullied since childhood, had always kept his heart closed.
He had never truly opened it to anyone except Moon Bi.
He had no way of knowing that the time sense of single-potion cultivators was completely alien to mortals.
The children of other clans had at least some social interaction and thus understood the passage of time.
But Jo Yeon had not.
Standing before the ruined Moon family, he dropped the spear he had carried for ten years.
“…What…?”
The tragedy born of the gap between single-potion and mortal time perception.
He quickly inquired and learned the truth.
The Moon family had risen overnight around Moon Bi, the Heavenly Sword of the world.
But the jealousy of countless others had also burned within it.
The clan was overflowing with the supreme weapons Jo Yeon had forged.
Other large martial powers, coveting those weapons, had begged the single-potion realm for help.
And the Jo Clan itself had stepped in to execute Moon Bi, causing the Moon family to be destroyed by the largest martial factions.
Jo Yeon clutched his chest and wailed.
“Why! Why! Why!!! Why did you take my friend away from me when you gave me nothing! Why!!!”
He screamed at the sky.
At the same time, the words were for the Jo Clan.
Jo Yeon spent months like a madman.
And a few months later, he regained his composure.
‘I must take revenge.’
Revenge was impossible within the Jo Clan.
The Jo Clan commanded five Heavenly Person experts, twenty-nine Nascent Soul experts, and one hundred sixty Core Formation experts.
It was an overwhelming force.
And the Jo Clan was, if not his blood family, at least his home.
Therefore, Jo Yeon decided to use the Moon family’s destruction as an excuse to eliminate the martial clans that had requested the Jo Clan’s help.
Even if there were Five Qi Consorting with the Origin experts, he did not care.
He had no fear of a handful of Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown masters.
Revenge was swift.
Jo Yeon submitted three large clan destruction requests to the Jo Clan.
The reason: because they had insulted him.
And the Jo Clan, viewing the large martial sects as livestock, granted his request.
A single-potion cultivator was still human in their eyes.
A beast that insulted a human deserved extermination, no matter how large it was.
Jo Yeon gave each sect ten days’ notice.
He destroyed two, then the last one ten days later.
Fwoooooosh!
The signboard of the large clan, Gicheonggak, ignited.
The entire main hall burned.
Servants fled, but those who wielded martial arts—especially the ones using the weapons Jo Yeon had forged for Moon Bi—did not survive.
Jo Yeon stood on the highest floor of Gicheonggak, waiting for the clan master.
The clan master looked at him with hollow eyes.
“…What have we done wrong, single-potion senior?”
“….”
“We offered tribute on time. Then why… why are you exterminating us…?”
Jo Yeon said nothing.
It was merely an act of wanton cruelty.
The strong oppressing the weak for no reason.
A meaningless gesture that repaid evil with evil.
He therefore prepared his law techniques in silence.
The clan master raised his spear and prepared to meet him.
Jo Yeon’s law techniques flew toward him.
And that was when—
Kwaaak!
Someone stepped between them.
The newcomer sliced through Jo Yeon’s law techniques as if dancing and struck a pose.
Jo Yeon froze the instant he saw the stance.
A woman wearing a mask, holding two twin broad spears.
Her posture was eerily identical to Moon Bi’s.
She looked alternately at Jo Yeon and the clan master, then asked.
“Who is the clan master?”
The clan master shouted with glee.
“Reinforcements! I am he! I am the clan master of Gicheonggak…!”
Puff!
In the next instant, the clan master could not even react before a spear gang pierced his heart and killed him.
The woman spat the words out.
“Master’s revenge.”
“You… you are… Moon Bi…’s…”
The clan master could not finish his sentence before he died.
A meaningless death.
The woman laughed freely atop the burning hall.
“…Revenge complete… Master.”
And Jo Yeon, looking at her, opened his mouth.
“You are Moon Bi’s disciple.”
“…?”
Jo Yeon’s hands trembled.
His friend, dead without a trace, stood before him.
He remembered the day he had first met Moon Bi.
His eyes were red.
“Let us fight.”
“…Who are you? And why…?”
“If you win…”
Dozens of law techniques rose around Jo Yeon.
He pulled two twin broad spears from his storage ring and showed them to her.
“I will give you my master’s spear!”
The woman listened silently, then assumed a stance without a word.
Her determination, visible through the mask, was unmistakable.
She would take the spear at any cost.
The next moment, the two clashed atop the burning hall.
That was their first meeting.