Chapter 77
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 77
Chapter Title: One Inch Short
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Seo Mun-ha left the sparring platform first, abandoning the two who had gone pale and the other three.
"Young Master."
Then a maid he had never seen before came to greet him.
"Yes?"
The year had changed, and so had the seasons.
While he could gauge the shift in his own perception and reputation from the maid's polite demeanor, the internal affairs of the Seo Mun Clan were gradually deteriorating.
"You must be Young Master Seo Mun-ha."
It felt like a case of one gain and one loss, perfectly balanced on both ends.
A-so's presence played a role, as did his personal temperament, but Seo Mun-ha couldn't even keep a single ordinary maid by his side. This glimpse revealed fragments of the current clan's situation.
"The patriarch summons you."
The clan's finances were in poor shape.
"Father does?"
The reason was simple.
The losses among the clan's warriors—the true assets of a martial house—were mounting.
"Yes. What shall you do?"
It had started even before Shandong became overrun with demon humans.
Fortunately, A-so's absence during training wasn't felt too keenly.
"I'll go for a bath or a change of clothes."
Unlike the young masters of other prestigious clans, Seo Mun-ha was different and quite accustomed to handling things alone.
"Right away."
Not a drop of sweat on him, unlike the three who were utterly drained—this was merely incidental.
Seo Mun-ha, without any formal ceremony or etiquette, followed the maid toward the patriarch's quarters.
Thud.
The fact that it was a maid he hadn't seen before meant he hadn't met the patriarch privately in quite some time.
'She said it was a personal matter.'
Setting aside official business, the times Seo Mun-ha had faced Seo Mun Jeong-cheon could be counted on one hand.
"This way, please."
Thus, he pondered her intentions.
Receiving directions in his own home felt awkward, and sure enough.
The place the maid led him to was not the patriarch's quarters.
Turning past the hall, he unexpectedly began ascending a mountain path toward a remote area.
'Was there a place like this?'
Seo Mun-ha knew every inch of the clan's inner and outer compounds.
At least within the clan walls, there was nowhere he didn't know.
Whoosh.
A cool mountain breeze brushed past him.
It was too early for the sun to set, yet Seo Mun-ha soon witnessed the source of the rising wind.
"I've brought Third Young Master."
The maid bowed formally and descended the mountainside path.
"......"
No response came.
Seo Mun-ha quietly watched Seo Mun Jeong-cheon's back.
In the dense mountain foliage.
Seo Mun Jeong-cheon stood before a massive boulder, eyes firmly closed.
He seemed like a stone statue, oblivious even to the arrival of the two.
As if the two had merged into one.
A sharp aura emanated from Seo Mun Jeong-cheon, lost in a trance-like state.
'Tiger's Might Descending Sword.'
Seo Mun-ha recognized the clan's signature technique at a glance.
One of the clan's supreme arts, vying for the top spot—this was his first time seeing it with his own eyes.
Its overwhelming presence evoked the image of a great tiger.
Crack.
In the blink of an eye, a flash of lightning streaked through.
"Hmmm."
Seo Mun Jeong-cheon let out a groan of frustration.
The boulder bore countless scars.
Deep and shallow sword marks.
Having added one more, he clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction.
"One cun short."
It was a clean, perfect strike that deserved admiration.
How many in the entire martial world could wield such swordsmanship?
Seo Mun Jeong-cheon, ranked among the world's top hundred masters, had few peers.
"What do you think?"
As the rumors said.
"In your eyes, that is."
Still facing away, Seo Mun Jeong-cheon asked.
"One cun short."
Seo Mun-ha echoed his soliloquy.
Having tested his insight, Seo Mun Jeong-cheon let out a wry chuckle at the clever response.
"It's been two years already."
He quietly confessed the stagnation in his sword marks.
Defining martial arts in one word is easy.
But dissecting its inner principles reveals endless depths.
The Six Realms, the Infinite Realm.
A state reached by only a rare few among the era's renowned warriors.
"Is it azure gangstone?"
Seo Mun-ha pointed to the mottled stone surface.
"Azure gangstone it is."
Though it was a rare meeting, the father-son conversation was utterly dry.
Blue jade-like stone.
As Seo Mun Jeong-cheon said, carving one more cun deep would signify reaching the Seventh Realm.
The azure gangstone, etched with innumerable sword marks, was a testament to his path—and it was known that Tang Cheol-son, the Poison Bee King, had practiced something similar.
"I've heard of it."
Seo Mun-ha was genuinely impressed.
"Hm?"
"Heavenly Thunder Without Delusion, and when things reach their extreme, they must reverse. By letting go of desire, one aligns with nature's laws. All things at their peak return to their essence, and by upholding the Way, one encounters rain in drought."
Caught off guard, Seo Mun Jeong-cheon nodded dazedly.
"......Impressive."
It was an utterly unexpected insight, and he hadn't imagined Seo Mun-ha grasped the principles of higher realms so deeply.
The truths of the world are simple laws, and sometimes the simplest are the hardest.
A sword strike infused with a lifetime's essence.
How many trials and errors had it taken to manifest this single stroke?
The stone surface bore the scars of long suffering and hardship, and Seo Mun Jeong-cheon's martial principles overturned all preconceived notions about the Seo Mun Clan.
Like Daoist or Buddhist arts, the Seo Mun Clan's techniques had surprisingly few killing moves.
It was often called hypocritical for a prestigious clan's arts, but beyond the depth of martial learning, Seo Mun-ha saw in his familiar father's form a great tiger roaring atop a mountain.
A kitchen knife is still a knife, sufficient for killing.
He vaguely realized the meaning embedded in the Seo Mun Clan's arts, a difference in purpose.
"So close yet so far—it's been ages."
Lost in regret, Seo Mun Jeong-cheon gazed up at the blue sky.
Enlightenment varies as much as there are warriors, differing between intellectual understanding and bodily realization.
Seo Mun Jeong-cheon, standing at the threshold of higher realms, knew this well, yet the remaining inch felt farther than the path he'd walked.
'Desire......'
That reality remained unchanged.
But before his son, who had grown beyond recognition, he could somewhat set aside the weight of being patriarch.
"Perhaps I was too greedy."
Thinking a brief rest might not be bad, he sighed and turned to Seo Mun-ha.
"But why did you summon this humble son?"
Seo Mun-ha spoke first.
"Heh, does a father and son need a reason to meet?"
"At least until now, I've only seen Father on official business."
"Was that so?"
"Yes."
Seo Mun Jeong-cheon cleared his throat awkwardly.
Seo Mun-gyeol and Seo Mun Jeong-cheon.
And Seo Mun-ha—same blood, same kin.
Even from how he often forgot his own stance.
"You're of marriageable age now."
The link between past and present life seemed no mere coincidence; between the two lone wolves, Seo Mun Jeong-cheon spoke again.
"I've heard you've been looking after Young-ryeong and the others lately."
"Not by choice."
This was the first such meeting since the demon human incident and the mourning hall.
"You visit Hwa Young Hall more often too."
Was it thanks to Seo Mun-ha's rising personal status?
His two mothers no longer showed overt hostility as before, and he'd shared breakfast amid Seo Mun Young-ryeong's tricks more than once.
"Does it bother you?"
Seo Mun Jeong-cheon, shortening his words, examined the flawless blade while subtly probing his feelings.
"Let me rephrase: Do you resent them?"
Mothers and siblings.
And resentment toward himself—that was what he omitted.
"Well."
"That vague answer is just like your mother."
Seo Mun-ha's birth mother, the clan's second wife, Golden Lotus.
"Aren't you curious?"
She had maintained neutrality, belonging to no faction.
Little else was known about her.
Her origins were murky, and Seo Mun-ha's past behavior had cast a negative shadow.
Setting aside Im So-young and Jo Young-mi, who upheld minimal propriety, she became fodder for idle gossip among those who cared little for truth.
"I assume there's a reason you've never spoken of her."
Her existence was the rift between father and son.
"It'd be a lie to say I'm not curious. Hasn't twenty years passed already?"
The emotional chasm had deepened inevitably.
Sadness flickered in Seo Mun Jeong-cheon's eyes.
"It just came to mind."
"I see."
"Word came from the Baek Ri Clan."
Speaking more circuitously than usual, Seo Mun Jeong-cheon got to the point.
The great tiger was gone; in its place sat an awkward father facing his son.
"Leaving aside other clans' affairs, they inquired about your wedding date with Seol-ah."
His gaze was fixed on distant mountains.
"What are your thoughts? Is there another woman on your mind?"
"Another woman?"
"The Tang and Ha clans, that is."
Setting aside clans, their intimate, barrier-free relations stood out.
Seven years old and no sitting together, as the saying went.
Though martial world's women were bold, from Seo Mun Jeong-cheon's perspective, he couldn't help connecting the dots.
"......Friends."
Seo Mun-ha recalled the woman he'd discussed branch altars with and the one about vacations.
"At most, drinking buddies."
To him, even Baek Ri-seol was the same.
"Are you saying Seol-ah doesn't please you?"
"She's a fine woman. As some say, too good for me. Still, marriage seems premature."
"Premature."
Seo Mun Jeong-cheon repeated his words.
Awkward in private father-son moments, but his patriarch's keen eye remained sharp.
His son, showing repeated astonishing growth, had no intention of marrying anyone now.
But what had changed him so?
And since when?
Swallowing unresolved questions, Seo Mun Jeong-cheon continued.
"I know you resented your heartless father and disliked this marriage. I don't know now, but I wanted you under the Baek Ri Clan's protection."
A heartfelt truth never voiced before.
Awkward in expression, but still his child, not hated.
"Even if others call it a political marriage for the main house's gain."
The Seo Mun Clan's third young master, without any support, was merely a hostage to secure alliance with the Baek Ri Clan.
A public rumor, but in truth, Seo Mun Jeong-cheon's decision aligned the clan's interests with Seo Mun-ha's safety.
"But now, you seem beyond needing others' protection."
Seo Mun Jeong-cheon observed Seo Mun-ha intermittently.
His grown third son.
Seo Mun-ha could live his life unshaken by the world.
He had the ability and qualification to fend for himself.
"The betrothal is yours to decide."
Seo Mun Jeong-cheon acknowledged Seo Mun-ha.
"Do as you will."
His son, once a headache and object of mixed emotions.
Seo Mun-ha said nothing.
It was a strange feeling.
For one raised without parental affection, he felt he now understood what a father was.
There had been the old general from the Imperial Inspectorate, who served as mentor, parent, and guardian......
"Thank you, Father."
Closing and opening his eyes briefly, he replied.
"Ahem."
Seo Mun Jeong-cheon waved his hand embarrassedly.
If even the person himself felt awkward, how much more the observer.
Even one as iron-willed as him was human, prone to moments of weakness, but he couldn't show it.
As patriarch, it was unacceptable.
With so many dependents to shoulder, weakness or benevolence meant the same to him.
'Separate from that.'
Pulling himself together, Seo Mun Jeong-cheon fixed his gaze on Seo Mun-ha.
Having shed a minor burden at this chance, he could now dispatch the long-delayed task; as father and clan head, he steeled himself for a greater resolve.
"Follow me."
The place he led Seo Mun-ha to was the patriarch's private training ground.