Chapter 18

Time flowed on, and we came to the year my younger brother Jeok Wigun turned ten.

From childhood he’d lived busy days under the successor’s curriculum.

Maybe because of that, he was always full of complaints.

Even so, no one scolded him.

Everyone knew he was suffering through the successor’s training at such a young age.

I, too, felt for my younger brother taking my place, so until now I hadn’t touched the matter.

In truth, Wigun’s constant resentment wasn’t only that the successor’s training was hard. The bigger thorn was me—his older brother, Jeok Wigang.

It all piled up because of something he happened to overhear:

Ordinarily, the successor is the firstborn, not the second. That’s the rule.

But since I had no dantian, the role fell to him, the second.

I’m living like this, and my brother lives at leisure, enjoying whatever he wants.

Every time he saw me, his blood boiled.

I should be the one slacking off like that.

People told Wigun they envied him.

But he had not once liked being named successor of the True Martial Sect.

He hadn’t wanted it.

Even so, he didn’t say anything to me because he pitied me.

A body in a martial clan that can’t cultivate... there is little harsher than that.

Alongside pity, he looked down on me.

Even as the older brother, I often laughed it off when he did wrong.

Maybe I was putting on a bold face as an older brother, but he wasn’t fooled.

He’s pretending to be bold to hide being scared.

Every time, he despised me.

Then I would smile again as if I found him adorable.

He’s doing that because his pride is hurt.

One day, Mother happened to witness him treating me with contempt.

“Wigun! What kind of manners are those toward your brother!”

“Why not? I’m stronger than him, so I can do this, can’t I? In the martial world, strength is everything.”

“He isn’t ‘the martial world,’ he’s your brother! Apologize to your brother right now!”

“I won’t! And Mother, stop telling me what to do!”

BANG—

He was having a hard time too, and because she took my side, his anger spiked.

So he ended up doing something to Mother he never should have.

Should I go back in and apologize?

He loitered outside, and from inside my voice reached him.

“Mother. I’ll go calm Wigun down.”

“(Sobbing) Wigang... I don’t know why Wigun is like this. Did I raise him wrong?”

“No, Mother. He’s just having a hard time lately.”

“...You think so?”

“Yes. I’ll calm him down. Don’t worry.”

“All right. You’re the older brother—go soothe him a bit.”

“Yes, Mother.”

My voice consoling a grieving Mother.

It irritated him.

CREEEAK—

I opened the door and our eyes met.

A chill ran over him.

What—?

The moment he met my eyes, his whole body locked up and gooseflesh pricked his skin.

It was a face of mine he’d never seen.

He can make a face that frightening?

More than that, the fact he tensed up before an older brother who couldn’t even practice martial arts was what truly shamed him.

Shame surged and turned to anger.

I told him quietly to follow me.

He snorted through his nose and came along.

Let’s see what he does outside. A guy who doesn’t even know martial arts... maybe he’ll try throwing a punch?

If he hit me, what then?

Counter? ...No. He’s my brother. I’ll take it.

How much could that fist even hurt?

With Iron-Cloth Shirt spread over his body, it would be nothing more than a mosquito bite.

No, more like the tap of a mayfly hitting his chest.

Where in the world will you find a younger brother as kind as me.

Thinking that, he took my punch—

—and that day’s memory got erased.

****

He opened his eyes on a bed.

What happened?

He tried to sit up—his face hurt too much.

The pain was tremendous. He looked in a mirror; one cheek was bruised a deep blue and puffed up like a gourd.

What? Why is my face like this?

He clearly remembered my fist coming in.

Then who—?

One person surfaced.

Taecheon.

The one who was like my shadow.

Because of that unfailing loyalty, Wigun had always coveted him.

He had even asked Father several times.

Give Taecheon to me.

Father had said it could never happen.

Even so, he hadn’t given up.

When I become sect master, I’ll command Taecheon: assist me.

Until then, he’d yield him to me.

He looked again at his face.

My fist could never have done that.

It was Taecheon—

He decided Taecheon had been the one who hit him.

Even so, he didn’t hate Taecheon.

My brother must have ordered it. Told him to hit me. Taecheon only followed orders.

Coward.

Using your bodyguard in a fight between brothers? As the next successor, I can’t permit that.

Before he makes a bigger mess later, I have to straighten my brother’s cowardice out.

He tried to rise and go to me—humanly speaking, it hurt too much.

How did he hit me to make it hurt like this? Even with Iron-Cloth Shirt up, the pain’s like this. It really was Taecheon. I want him even more.

On the other hand, rage toward me surged.

To make a top-class warrior like Taecheon do something that craven—

Poor Taecheon.

I want to get him out of my brother’s clutches, but it’s not time yet. Once I’m sect master and pull him away, he’ll devote his loyalty to me.

The pain lasted a week. He barely recovered.

He came looking for me again.

When I saw him, I asked:

“Did you apologize to Mother?”

“You had Taecheon hit me and now you ask that?”

“I’ll ask again. Did you apologize to Mother?”

“I didn’t!”

“Then you haven’t had enough.”

“What?”

“Come here. You need more.”

“Hmph! Last time I got caught off guard, but not today! Where’s Taecheon?”

“Why are you looking for Taecheon?”

“You used him to hit me last time.”

At his words, I pointed at myself with a baffled look and asked back:

“Me?”

“Yeah! You think I don’t know? Spit it out straight!”

I went on, exasperated—but he wasn’t buying it. To him, that alone exposed my “lie.”

“Nope. Why would I make Taecheon do the honors when I’m giving my little brother a loving correction? Even if you’re disobedient, you’re still my brother. I won’t have someone else’s hands lay on you.”

“Dress it up all you want—I don’t believe it!”

“Believe it or don’t—what doesn’t change is you taking your lumps from me. Come here.”

“You come!”

“All right. I’ll come.”

I focused.

He tried to sense where Taecheon would jump out from.

“Huh?”

He couldn’t feel Taecheon’s presence anywhere.

In that moment, he saw me.

No—he saw my fist.

He saw it, and then it vanished.

When he opened his eyes again, he was back in a room, and his face was puffed up all over again.

No way...?

Was it really my brother who hit me? A brother who doesn’t know martial arts? Can a face end up like this from a fist thrown by someone who can’t even cultivate? Am I supposed to believe that?

He was confused.

Is he hiding martial arts? Why?

More than that—

I saw the fist. Why couldn’t I dodge it?

He didn’t understand.

Pain surged.

It felt worse than before.

While he was writhing, I came to him.

With the same frightening face, I asked:

“If you’re up, go to Mother and apologize.”

He couldn’t stand it anymore.

Is he toying with me?

“I only got hit because I let my guard down! Let’s do it properly!”

He drew his internal qi and rushed at me.

With Black-Tortoise Body-Shattering Steps he threw me off, took my back, and slammed Lock-Qi Sky Palm into my spine.

Of course, he held back.

I can’t kill my brother. I just want him to feel what I felt.

RIP—

Even so, because emotion bled in, he’d put in more power than he thought.

He figured I wouldn’t die.

He’ll need a month of quiet recovery at worst—

But I was standing there just fine.

I grinned.

“I was short-sighted. I kept knocking you out, so you kept forgetting. Sorry. I’ll adjust my strength now.”

Adjust... strength? What adjustment?

As soon as I finished, my fist flew.

Huh? What? Why do I see several fists? Did he learn something like Lightning Phantom Fist? Or am I seeing things—

THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD—

The pain came in clear, so it wasn’t a hallucination.

Every single one was a real fist.

What in the world—

Inside the unending crush of pain, he saw it:

Me, hitting him at a speed his eyes couldn’t even track.

He tried to resist, but it was no use.

No matter how he drew up his internal qi, no matter what strongest art he flung out to break me off, it didn’t matter.

The fists boring in without regard had no mercy.

The moment the thought If this keeps up, I’ll die flickered—

My words came back to him:

Did you apologize to Mother?

Jeok Wigun forced sound out of a throat that had no voice left.

“S-stop! I-I’ll apologize to Mother!”

But the beating continued without answer.

At this rate, I really might die.

He screamed with all his heart.

“I-I was wrong! Brother!”

Only then did the blows halt.

THUD—

He went slack and dropped to the floor, dazed.

“Kh—!”

There wasn’t a spot on his body that didn’t hurt.

Even with my movements stopped, the pain kept rolling as if he were still being hit.

“I’ll check later—whether you really apologized.”

“...O-okay...”

He gritted through the pain to answer.

“Talk back to Mother one more time. Next time, it won’t end this quickly.”

Wigun managed a heavy nod.

To that struggling nod, I said:

“By the way, the successor of the True Martial Sect is far too feeble. How will you lead the sect later like this?”

Wigun wasn’t weak.

Frankly, compared to his peers, he was strong.

He wanted to retort, but because the words came from someone stronger—me—he kept quiet.

If he said one wrong thing and got hit again, he’d die mad.

“Starting tomorrow, you train with me.”

“Huh?”

“What? Don’t like it?”

If he agreed to anything right now, it felt like it would be bad.

“No... I’ll work harder on my own.”

“No. Not like this. I’ll set a training regimen for you—so save it and come with me to a secret training ground starting tomorrow.”

“Secret training ground? Where?”

“There’s a place with no one around.”

“Why not use the True Martial Sect’s yard?”

I grinned.

“If we do it there and Mother happens to see your training? She’ll faint. I absolutely won’t let her see that.”

What kind of training would make Mother faint just from watching?

Suddenly he got ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) scared.

“Brother... I’m only ten. Can we go easy?”

“It’s the perfect age.”

No room for compromise in my tone.

He decided to obey—for now.

My fists were scary.

****

The next day.

I took him to a cave; inside, there really was a training ground.

The training tools felt just-made, practically new.

The cave itself felt recently dug.

It was clean.

There were no traces of earlier training.

“From now on, even when I’m not here, train here. Skip training and you’ll be in trouble.”

“O-okay.”

“All right, let’s begin.”

“Yeah. What first—stance work?”

“Hmm. As expected, we start by building your base stamina.”