The Head of the Northern Heavens, Episode 3
Vajrayaksha Divine Art was a supreme martial art I had obtained by sheer chance.
They said it had once been used by a great martial artist known as the Bright King.
Its power was simple: it remade the user’s body into something worthy of the name Vajrayaksha.
In other words, it made the body extraordinarily strong.
“Hup.”
I drew in a breath at once and began the basic martial routine of Tai Chi.
Vajrayaksha Divine Art was not a stillness-based cultivation art, one where you sat motionless and accumulated qi. It was a moving art, one that absorbed qi through motion.
That meant I needed movements I could continue endlessly, even while maintaining absolute concentration.
“Haa.”
With each breath I drew in and let out, subtle changes began to gather.
At the same time that I regulated my breathing, internal energy began to accumulate—and as it did, it started changing my body.
Crack.
Creaaak.
Slowly, it began to reshape my muscles and bones.
Even the bones that had been slightly fractured started knitting back together at a rapid pace.
Just circulating the art filled me with vitality and made my body feel lighter.
The effect was truly astonishing.
That only made me let out a bitter smile.
If only I’d obtained this a little earlier in my previous life…
Maybe the outcome would have been different.
Even if I still had died, I could at least have landed a devastating blow on those bastards behind the curtain before I went.
Well, no matter. I can just work from now on.
Vajrayaksha Divine Art was the kind of martial art whose effects only deepened with time.
If I cultivated it steadily from this point on, then in a few years, wouldn’t I possess a body unmatched by all but a handful in the Central Plains?
And if that happens, my resistance to poison will rise dramatically too.
Then I’d never have to suffer from being poisoned the way I had in my first life.
So I trained the Vajrayaksha Divine Art with fierce intensity.
By the time I’d gone on for a while, my whole body was drenched in sweat.
This is enough for today.
Since it was a moving art, the physical drain was severe.
Pushing further wouldn’t do me any good.
Feeling the newfound toughness in my body, I returned to my quarters and bathed.
Because from here on, I was about to have an important meeting.
The place I headed for afterward reeked of medicinal broth and the stale odor of sickness.
It was the residence where my father was staying.
“Father. I’m here.”
“Cough. Muyeol, is that you? Come in.”
When I opened the door and stepped inside, I saw my father lying there.
The sight made something boil up inside my chest.
Jin Yu-gwang, the sixth head of the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect.
That was my father.
In his youth, he had led the Jin Family to glory with his exceptional martial skill and ability as clan head...
But now he was bedridden, just like I had been.
No—unlike me, whose symptoms were still relatively mild because I had only recently been poisoned, he looked far worse.
As a result, all the duties that should originally have been his had been passed down to me.
And it’s because of poison.
I forced down the anger rising in me and looked at him.
Father was studying me with a strange light in his eyes.
Had he noticed that I was different from usual?
“You caused quite a stir this time.”
He was, of course, referring to my killing Wang Ho, the chief administrator.
I answered in a calm voice.
“I merely did what had to be done. I only removed one parasite gnawing away at the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect.”
“But that parasite was Elder Wang Jin’s nephew. He won’t let this pass.”
Wang Jin was one of the sect’s elders, a man with considerable influence.
At the very least, people feared him more than they feared a dying clan head or a puppet young lord.
But I felt no fear.
So what if he came after me?
Compared to everything I had already lived through, a man like him wasn’t enough to make me flinch.
“Elder Wang won’t be able to move against me openly just yet. The evidence of corruption found in Wang Ho’s house is too clear.”
“Cough... yes, that’s true. But he’ll definitely try to take revenge.”
“Then let him try. If he really comes at me, I’ll simply cut down Wang Jin next.”
“Do you mean that?”
Shock spread across Father’s face.
He must never have imagined his once-timid son would respond like this.
But Father—
I meant every word.
“Clan Head... no, Father. I intend to set this Northern Heavenly Sword Sect right.”
I would cut out every parasite feeding on the family.
I would drag out the shadows pulling their strings from behind the scenes.
And I would restore the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect to the brilliance it once possessed.
I believed that was why I had been sent back to the past.
“And to do that, I’ll do whatever I must. Even if the road is stained with blood.”
“Muyeol...”
Father’s voice carried a deep sorrow.
“If you do that, you could destroy yourself. Look at me. Do you really think I ended up like this because I simply fell ill?”
“No. You were poisoned. By the ones trying to control the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect.”
“And even knowing that, you still mean to go through with this?”
“Yes. I will see it through. And I’ll restore your health as well.”
In truth... two years from now, my father was supposed to die.
But I had no intention of watching that happen.
I had no intention of repeating the same outcome as before.
Fortunately, I had a way.
Because the stroke of fortune I’d gained at the end of my previous life hadn’t only been Vajrayaksha Divine Art.
“Father. Memorize the incantation I’m about to tell you, and begin practicing it.”
“An incantation...?”
“Yes. I know a martial art that can improve your condition.”
Its name was Jeonghwagyeol.
A martial art capable of purifying all poison and evil qi.
I had obtained Jeonghwagyeol from a Daoist priest.
Not one from a great Daoist sect like Mount Wudang, Zhongnan, or Mount Hua...
Just an ordinary Daoist.
But he and I had shared the same enemy.
We had been fighting against the same hidden force.
I wonder if he’s doing well now.
He had still been alive when I died, so he was probably doing just fine.
Someday, I intended to go see him.
Though for now, that was impossible.
In any case—
“Hah... where in the world did you obtain such a martial art?”
“I can’t answer that for now. But I guarantee its effect. With this alone, we can at least prevent your condition from worsening.”
“Muyeol...”
Father’s eyes grew damp.
To him, the fact that his son had brought him something like this must have been deeply moving.
But seeing him like that only made my chest ache.
Because it reminded me of the father I had failed to save in my first life.
I swallowed down the surge of emotion and passed on the formula for Jeonghwagyeol.
As soon as he heard it, Father’s eyes shook violently.
“This... this truly is a divine art. Just where did you find something like this...”
“Every day, when no one is watching, circulate Jeonghwagyeol and drive the poison out of your body. If you do that, the poison will no longer be able to harm you.”
“Thank you. Truly, thank you, my son. To think I would receive something like this from you...”
“This won’t be the end of it. As I said, I intend to restore the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect to its former greatness. And to do that, I’ll be making many moves.”
I spoke as though asking for his understanding, but I didn’t forget the warning either.
“However, Father, you must not cure yourself completely just yet. Forgive me, but I need you to wait before making a full recovery. If there’s at least some excuse, that’s one thing—but if you suddenly rise in perfect health with no warning at all, there’s no telling how the ones who poisoned you will react.”
“Even after I’ve purged the poison, you want me to keep pretending to be ill?”
“Until we uncover the exact size and identity of the enemy, we have no choice. If we want to root them out completely, I need you to act.”
“Then I will. This body was going to die if I did nothing anyway. I might as well make one last struggle.”
Resolve entered Father’s eyes as well.
That meant he still had the will to fight those hidden forces.
If so, then I could rest easy.
I bowed deeply.
“Then I’ll take my leave now. Please take care of yourself.”
“Very well. We’ll speak again.”
I left Father’s residence and started back toward my own quarters.
But partway there, a middle-aged man leading a group of guards stepped in front of me and blocked my path.
I looked at his face and spoke evenly.
“Elder Wang.”
The man was none other than Wang Jin, Wang Ho’s uncle.
He was glaring at me with a face full of rage.
“Do you need something?”
“Need something? Hah!”
Wang Jin raised his voice as if the question were absurd.
“After brutally murdering my nephew, you dare ask me that?”
The shamelessness of him, lashing out at me without preamble.
So I decided to be shameless too.
“Wang Ho was a parasite who dared embezzle the clan’s money to fatten himself. Worse, he even tried to take my life on the spot. And yet you’re criticizing me because I didn’t politely let him kill me?”
That left Wang Jin momentarily flustered.
No matter how little respect I had been shown, I was still the Young Lord, the only direct heir of the clan head.
He couldn’t justify an attempt on my life.
“No, that’s not—”
“Even from an elder, that’s not something I can simply overlook. I’m very curious what exactly you mean by saying such a thing.”
Then I drove the final nail in.
“Or have you come to kill me too?”
“...!”
His eyes shook at my harsh words.
He clearly hadn’t expected me to come at him like this.
He probably thinks I’ve just been hiding my claws all this time.
But whatever he thought didn’t matter.
I kept staring him down.
Go on, I thought. Try to explain yourself.
At that, Wang Jin cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Ahem. Of course not. But even if Wang Ho committed wrongdoing, your methods were too brutal, Young Lord. Rather than kill him, you should have captured him and judged his crimes properly.”
“That only proves you don’t understand the situation. My martial skill is not that great, and Wang Ho was stronger than I was. When someone stronger than you comes at you with full intent to kill, how exactly are you supposed to subdue him if you aren’t prepared to kill in return? I truly had no choice. Another moment, and I might have been the one who died.”
“...”
“In any case, if you came here to question me over Wang Ho’s death, then I suggest you step aside. I have no desire to keep arguing over it.”
I’d made my position more than clear.
At this point, Wang Jin had to understand.
That was what I thought as I looked at him, but unexpectedly, he was wearing a strange expression.
I’d expected anger, or perhaps bewilderment, but apparently not.
Then he said,
“...You’ve changed.”
“What?”
“You, Young Lord. You’ve changed a great deal. You don’t seem like the Young Lord I knew.”
“Anyone changes after facing death. It seems your nephew was kind enough to provide me with that opportunity. I’m not especially grateful for it, though.”
At my barbed reply, Wang Jin gave me a peculiar smile.
“But, Young Lord, change is not always a good thing.”
“Is that so?”
“It is. Haven’t you heard the saying? When a person changes overnight, it’s a sign that death is coming for him.”
“Hah. What a ridiculous saying. Nothing more than words invented by people afraid of change.”
“Haha. You may see it that way. But words like that exist for a reason. I hope you’ll keep that in mind.”
“Thank you for the advice. It doesn’t seem to come from any real concern for me, but I’ll consider it all the same.”
“You should. Otherwise, there’s no telling what might happen. Someone with ill intentions toward the Young Lord might appear, after all.”
Hah.
That was practically an open threat.
In an ordinary clan or sect, something like this would have been unimaginable.
Only here—in the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect, where the authority of the clan head had fallen to the ground and even the standing of the Young Lord was precarious—could such a thing happen.
But his threat did not frighten me in the slightest. Instead, the corner of my mouth lifted.
“Thank you for the warning. Safe travels.”
In other words: if you’re done talking, get lost.
“...”
Wang Jin glared at me for a moment, then turned and left with his men.
I stood there for quite some time, watching his retreating back.
That hostility runs deep. He may try something more direct next.
An assassin, for instance.
Or poison in my food.
It doesn’t matter.
I let out a quiet laugh.
It wasn’t bravado. I meant it.
By then, I would already be stronger than I was now, strong enough to deal with it.
I might have lived as a puppet, but I still carried more than twenty years of experience.
There was no way I would now be brought down by a small fry like Wang Jin.
And if he does try something like that...
Then I’d seize the evidence and drag him down myself.
Nephew and uncle could go to hell together.
Thinking that, I returned to my quarters.
To do any of it, I had to become stronger as quickly as possible.
But just as I had steeled my resolve and thrown myself back into training, a martial artist came to deliver a message.
“Young Lord, a summons has arrived from the Elders’ Council.”
“From the Elders’ Council?”
“Yes. The Head of the Elders’ Council says a clan meeting is being convened at once.”
“A clan meeting...”
That was the gathering of the clan’s senior figures, where important matters were decided.
I was wondering when they’d call one. So it’s finally happening.
No doubt this meeting had been called to deal with the aftermath of Wang Ho’s embezzlement.
If that was the case, I had every reason to go.
I had been waiting for this.
With a cold smile, I said,
“Lead the way. I’ll go at once.”