Aiming at the Light (3)
The next day.
“It’s been a while since I broke a sweat like this.”
After finishing the Myeolsa Army training, Yeon Hojeong’s body was soaked through with sweat.
Perhaps because he had withdrawn his hand from the Moyong Family’s affairs and the political arena of the Martial Alliance, he felt a sense of mental leisure. Of course he was still keeping his senses razor-sharp in every direction, but the number of things demanding his attention had been cut in half compared to before.
Thud.
He set the Mad Dragon Axe down and peeled off his upper garment.
His sweat-drenched torso was packed with muscles so perfect they seemed sculpted. Though he might appear lean at a glance, the fibers were compressed to their absolute limit, granting him explosive power and endurance of the highest caliber.
“Huuup.”
Taking a deep breath, he lifted the Mad Dragon Axe once more.
The moment Myeolsa Army training ended, he moved straight into personal training. He had been unable to make time for cultivation amid recent events, so he intended to push himself to the maximum while he still could.
Whoooong.
With both hands gripping the Mad Dragon Axe and raising it all the way behind his head, Yeon Hojeong looked like a living statue.
His massively expanded pectorals and abdominal muscles radiated incredible elasticity. The back muscles that stayed hidden when he stood normally now spread wide like wings.
Yeon Hojeong began moving the Mad Dragon Axe with excruciating slowness. ‘Ugh.’ The motion was agonizingly deliberate.
He was swinging a weapon that weighed more than eighty catties at the slowest possible speed. A full breath had passed, yet the axe had only just cleared his forehead from its position behind his head.
It was blunt-weapon training that stimulated every muscle in his body, from upper torso to lower limbs. The speed was three times slower than the regimen he had used while escorting Ki Woo-hee in the past.
Crack!
The load on his muscles surged brutally. His entire upper body flushed crimson. The stress on his joints hovered at a precarious threshold. ‘As expected, this is brutal.’
Even a peak expert would struggle to endure it; a family-head-level master would find it nearly impossible without using internal energy to protect the joints. In short, it was training that bordered on insanity. Most martial artists would collapse even with the aid of profound qi.
Only Yeon Hojeong—someone who had already surpassed human limits and forged his body with dense true energy—could attempt such extremes. Even he knew that relaxing his focus for an instant could shatter his joints.
Vrrrr! Vrrrrrr!
The Yeon Family Divine Elixir trembled violently.
When the Mad Dragon Axe reached the level of his solar plexus, his body began hitting its limit. The Yeon Family Divine Elixir sent urgent warning signals to protect the physique, but Yeon Hojeong ignored them completely.
Thud! Thud!
His tightly contracted pectorals shifted from dark red to a bruised, almost bluish hue.
Two more hours passed in this manner.
The edge of the Mad Dragon Axe finally touched a pebble on the ground.
Pssssss.
Rather than splitting, the stone crumbled to dust. The pressure of the true energy loaded onto the axe had reached a level beyond imagination.
At the same moment, Yeon Hojeong released his grip.
Thud!
“Keuk!”
Letting out a ragged breath, Yeon Hojeong collapsed where he stood.
“Haaak! Haaak!”
It felt as if every drop of blood in his body had frozen, then suddenly surged forward at terrifying speed.
His joints remained undamaged, but every muscle in his body had been pushed to the verge of rupture. Had he not shielded his internal organs with the Four Gods Energy, two or three of his five viscera and six bowels would have burst.
“Cough! Damn it.”
A dry cough brought up flecks of blood. Though he had protected his organs, internal injuries were unavoidable. The sheer pressure transmitted through his abdomen had been overwhelming.
It wasn’t simply a matter of swinging the axe slowly; he had been adjusting its power moment by moment while imagining enemy attacks. ‘Still, I managed it without using internal energy except to protect my body.’
He had wielded the Mad Dragon Axe for nearly an hour using nothing but pure physical strength. It was not the power of an ordinary human.
Yeon Hojeong drew in a long breath.
Flash!
A beautiful green-blue radiance bloomed brilliantly across his body.
The Yeon Family Divine Elixir moved more vigorously than ever before. Like floodwaters bursting through a broken dam, true energy raced through every meridian, healing muscle tissue and internal damage at a ferocious pace.
Color soon returned to Yeon Hojeong’s face.
“Just one session gives this much… Not bad at all.”
Every muscle in his body was screaming with wild energy.
It was an extreme activation he had never experienced in actual combat. Even for Yeon Hojeong, this was not training he could repeat often, yet the benefits gained from a single cycle of exertion and recovery were enormous. ‘The body is the vessel that holds enlightenment. My current problem is that the gap between my enlightenment and my physical body is far too wide.’
That was why he had sought to unify the Five Great Divine Arts of the Yeon Family—to forcibly elevate the body’s level through the fusion of their various internal energies.
But if he repeated today’s training, he felt he could reach that realm far sooner than expected.
The ultimate domain only absolute masters could glimpse. A supreme state where one could confront a great sect’s full military power head-on with a single strike, needing neither strategy nor tricks.
It seemed he would reach the realm of the Martial God—the world walked by the Sacred Heavens Thirteen Seats—even faster than planned. ‘I already crossed blades with an expert at the level of the Shinwha Sect’s Eighteen Martial Generals. If they aren’t fools, they will have begun investigating long ago. The Martial Alliance’s eyes will slow them down, but eventually they will learn of my existence.’
Whoooooooong.
The green-blue light pouring from his body gradually subsided. His physique had recovered to a certain degree. ‘Faster. More surely. More drastically.’
Yeon Hojeong lifted the Mad Dragon Axe again.
His muscles and internal injuries had not fully healed, yet the weapon felt lighter than before training. It was as if every dormant nerve and muscle fiber had awakened in a violent explosion.
Feeling satisfied, Yeon Hojeong spoke in a calm voice.
“Training’s over.”
“So you knew I was here?”
Flutter!
Ga Deuk-sang dropped lightly onto the wall surrounding the Pagun Pavilion.
Yeon Hojeong’s eyes widened slightly.
“Your movements have become much lighter.”
Ga Deuk-sang clicked his tongue in amazement.
“You can tell just from that?”
“Wouldn’t it be strange if I couldn’t? Your true energy feels denser too.”
“Young Master Yeon, that eye of yours really is the best of the current generation. I’m still dying to know—how in the world did you become such a monster at your age?”
There was no way to explain the long story behind it. Yeon Hojeong simply offered a faint smile.
“Still, that body of yours is truly something else. Swinging a crazy heavy weapon over eighty catties for slow blunt training? Aren’t you worried about wrecking yourself?”
“I’m adjusting the load properly.”
“Right, who am I even worrying about?”
Ga Deuk-sang jumped down to the ground, dusting his hands as he continued.
“No time to waste, so I’ll get straight to the point. I kept watch on the Moyong Family’s side.”
Yeon Hojeong’s eyes sharpened.
“What did you find? Any suspicious movements?”
Ga Deuk-sang let out a sigh.
“I’m not sure.”
“Not sure?”
“Truth is, once you reach the level of the Six Great Families’ patriarchs, you don’t leave any openings when handling affairs. You’d know that better than anyone, having watched your father from up close.”
“Mm.”
“There definitely seemed to be suspicious activity. Especially with Moyong Yeon-hwa—I observed her movements, and unlike her usual routine, she was touring various places inside the inner fortress.”
“And?”
“It was definitely suspicious, but she didn’t send any messenger pigeons or dispatch anyone outside the alliance. Of course I stationed people at every location she visited, but they reported no unusual activity.”
Yeon Hojeong nodded.
“Moyong Yeon-hwa moved differently from usual. That alone is enough.”
“Sorry about this.”
“Don’t be. Like you said, if Moyong Gun is truly determined to hide something, it would be difficult for anyone to notice.”
Ga Deuk-sang smacked his lips. He felt apologetic toward Yeon Hojeong, but it also stung that the Beggars’ Sect—renowned as the greatest information network in the Central Plains—had failed to catch the opponent’s tail.
“Anyway, the fact that Moyong Yeon-hwa is acting out of character likely means something is going on with her.”
“It might. Or it might not. Let’s keep watching for now.”
“Agreed. Ah, and one more thing…”
“Yes?”
Ga Deuk-sang’s expression turned grave.
“About that information outpost belonging to the Shinwha Sect.”
“……?”
“There’s no direct problem there, but something feels off.”
Yeon Hojeong’s eyes gleamed.
“What is it?”
“The Military Counselor ordered our members to monitor movements in central and northern Henan—specifically regarding the government.”
“……!”
No matter how weakened the empire had become, observing the government’s movements was extremely dangerous. If the fact were discovered, relations with the officialdom would deteriorate catastrophically.
Of course both sides watched each other in secret, but only in ways that remained hidden. If it became overt, a massive political crisis could erupt.
In other words, Jegal Mun-ho had decided the need was great enough to warrant the risk.
“And?”
“We received intelligence that an unnamed high expert is moving south.”
“An unnamed high expert?”
“Yes.”
Ga Deuk-sang’s face was deadly serious.
“The world is wide, and many experts operate without revealing their names. Setting that possibility aside, our sect knows nearly every high-level expert active in Henan and Hubei Provinces.”
“……”
“Yet we’ve detected someone we’ve never heard of. According to the report, this unknown expert’s martial prowess is at least on the level of the Six Great Families’ patriarchs.”
“……!”
“A master at the level of the Six Great Families’ patriarchs. No matter how vast the world, such experts are rare. Naturally our sect tracks the movements of every supreme peak expert in Henan and Hubei, but this man is unknown to us. After examining his description, we confirmed he has never been active in the martial world before.”
“……”
“His attire?”
“That’s exactly what’s giving us a headache.”
Ga Deuk-sang frowned deeply.
“He wasn’t wearing official government uniform, but he was dressed in the robes issued to high-ranking officials.”
“……!”
“And on those clothes… was a red epaulet that only someone of at least Regional Vice-Commander rank is permitted to wear.”
Yeon Hojeong’s face hardened instantly.
There were sixteen Regional Military Commissions across the Central Plains, each overseeing the guards and outposts of an entire province.
A Regional Vice-Commander was a high official—only four existed per province—and held real third-rank authority. The position was on an entirely different level from the Jinmu post once held by Gyu Jeok of the Shinwha Sect.
“And this man is traveling southwest from central Henan. Precisely toward the Martial Alliance and Daeryeol Mountain.”
“……”
“I see.”
“We still don’t know if he belongs to the Shinwha Sect. What’s strange is that if he wanted to avoid detection, he should have avoided such conspicuous attire. Yet he boldly wore government-issued robes. It doesn’t add up.”
“There’s nothing strange about it.”
The corner of Yeon Hojeong’s mouth twitched.
“A Regional Vice-Commander is on a completely different level from a mere Jinmu of a Regional Military Commission. If he truly is affiliated with the Shinwha Sect, it would actually be difficult for us to touch him. The empire itself would launch a direct investigation.”
“Mm, that’s true.”
Ga Deuk-sang’s eyes sparkled.
“So what will you do? Will you go investigate him yourself?”
“Well.”
Yeon Hojeong looked down at the Mad Dragon Axe.
“……How should I handle this one?”