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However, it didn’t become as much of a topic externally as when we eliminated the Wild Beast Squad. After all, since the opponent was a black society, it was known merely as stopping the Seo Jong Association, a black society.

That wasn’t bad either. It was a time when internal substance was more important than external reputation.

This incident strengthened the cohesion within the sword squad.

There are many factors that bind an organization together, but among them, the role and appearance of the leader have a significant impact.

When a leader demonstrates strong political power or shows powerful strength as before, the core of the organization becomes solid, and the internal structure becomes even stronger.

Following someone worthy of following was, in itself, a worthwhile endeavor.

Gwan Hwi came to relay some news.

He said that when the squad members gather, they talk about wanting to become like the Squad Leader. He also mentioned that the number of people joining the dawn training had increased significantly.

It seems the image I showed this time has become a milestone for the squad members to strive towards.

Seven or eight more people came to learn flying dagger techniques. Including those who learned before, almost all the members had come to learn.

I gladly taught them the flying dagger techniques as well. When there are people who come to learn with enthusiasm, there are bound to be those who want to do it later.

I have no ill feelings towards the few who didn’t come to learn. They might not want to learn, and that’s fine. Both the learners and the teacher need to have an open mind.

Gwang-du was really working hard.

Even with the flying dagger technique, though he started later than Gwan Hwi, he was showing faster progress.

It wasn’t just because of effort. It’s not that Gwan Hwi didn’t try hard. Gwang-du’s innate talent was just more outstanding.

After learning for just a few days, when Gwang-du threw three daggers from twenty paces away, one would accurately hit the target. At this rate, it seemed like all three would hit within a month or two.

However, not everything was going smoothly.

The incident I had been worried about finally happened.

A fight broke out between a martial artist from our small sword squad and one from the existing sword squad.

By the time I arrived, they had already fought once.

It seemed they had exchanged blows, but our side had more visible facial injuries. Now they were engaged in a verbal argument as squad members from both sides came to stop them.

“Is being a senior all that matters?”

“This bastard is still at it!”

“Strictly speaking, you’re not even our senior, are you?”

This brash fellow’s name was Yang Gu[1]. As a former escort, he was quite old and had a rough personality from his long experience in the escort agency.

However, when I appeared, the rowdy Yang Gu bowed his head and became docile.

“First, let me say one thing: that person is indeed your senior. They are the main sword squad of the Byeok clan, and we are the small sword squad. Understand?”

Yang Gu answered weakly, “Yes.”

At those words, the expressions of the main sword squad martial artists softened slightly. These aspects are very sensitive, so they need to be addressed clearly.

“What did you fight about?”

Yang Gu hesitated to answer.

“Do I need to ask twice?”

“No! I was wrong!”

“I didn’t ask who was wrong, I asked why you fought.”

“Well… I was walking while looking elsewhere and bumped shoulders with that person.”

“So it was your fault for not looking where you were going?”

“Yes.”

“Then why did you fight?”

“I was about to apologize when he cursed at me first.”

This time, I asked the martial artist from the main sword squad.

“Is that true?”

“It wasn’t that serious a curse. It was just a reflexive word that slipped out.”

I looked back at Yang Gu.

“That’s what he says.”

Yang Gu sighed and said,

“When I saw his face then… he looked like the forest bandit who killed my comrade in the past.”

At this, everyone watching made expressions of dismay.

Especially the martial artist who fought with Yang Gu made a completely incredulous expression.

“Isn’t this guy crazy?”

Honestly, he deserves to hear such words.

But in Yang Gu’s slumped shoulders as he hung his head low, I saw the grief that only someone who has lost a comrade can understand.

I looked at the martial artist who had fought with Yang Gu and said,

“What should we do? Do you want to fight more with this crazy guy? Or should I tell him to apologize?”

“No, it’s fine.”

The martial artist turned away. He called Yang Gu crazy, but after hearing about the lost comrade, he probably couldn’t say anything more.

Everyone dispersed, leaving only Yang Gu and me.

“What kind of friend was he?”

“He was my peer who became an escort with me.”

“I see.”

“That friend…”

Yang Gu let out a long sigh and continued with difficulty.

“…died because of me. That day, I was too tired and couldn’t wake up… My friend, thinking of me, told me to sleep more and stood guard alone…”

Yang Gu couldn’t continue speaking. He lowered his head. He clenched both fists tightly, and his shoulders and back trembled slightly. He was forcibly holding back tears.

I looked up at the sky.

A clear sky without a single cloud. How can it be so clear without even a single cloud, let alone rain?

Yang Gu spoke with a moist voice.

“…I killed him.”

Staring at the fellow who was quietly hanging his head, I said,

“Maybe so.”

Yang Gu’s trembling intensified.

I spoke calmly.

“You, I, or others might think so. But just one person… that friend wouldn’t think that way.”

A tear fell from Yang Gu’s eye.

I saw the tear fall to the ground but pretended not to notice and spoke. It’s not polite to hold onto a crying man.

“You made a mistake, so you need to be punished, right?”

“Yes! I’ll accept it willingly.”

“Run fifty laps around the training ground without using inner energy!”

“Yes!”

Yang Gu ran towards the training ground.

Although I understood him, the reason I punished him like this was for his own good.

When they hear that he was properly punished, not only the martial artist he fought with but also their comrades will let this incident pass. This group wasn’t one that wouldn’t understand this much.

I watched Yang Gu running around the training ground for a moment.

What is he thinking now? He’s probably running while thinking about his dead friend.

I know better than anyone what that feeling is like. Because I lost so many people in that long war. That unbearable sense of loss, and the miserable experience of gradually becoming numb as I lost more and more people.

I hope that someday Yang Gu will come to me and ask to have a drink together. I hope his heart can be eased a little if that happens.

***

Kong Su-chan came to me with a happy face.

“We’ve had a big success from an unexpected investment. We expected twelve hundred taels, but we’ve made a profit of four thousand five hundred taels. Considering the additional income from the Dongping Merchant Guild earlier, I think we can recruit not just forty but eighty new members next year.”

“Oh, that’s really good news.”

I shared in his joy. But apart from the joy, I didn’t accept that proposal.

“However, I still plan to recruit only forty more squad members as originally planned.”

At my words, Kong Su-chan gave a strange smile.

“Why are you smiling?”

“I’m relieved that you’re not being greedy. I came running here happily, but I guess I was hoping you’d say that.”

That’s what I should be saying to him. For not making risky investments and steadily increasing our money.

There’s a saying that an old horse asks for more beans. It means that as one gets older, one becomes more greedy.

During my time as Alliance Leader, I saw countless examples of elderly greed. The elders of the Council of Elders were prime examples. Desires that I couldn’t understand no matter how much I thought about it.

Since I was of a similar age, I was wary of becoming like that myself. I took them as negative examples.

The desire to improve and greed are different things.

I will not be greedy, but I will improve.

I urged Kong Su-chan. Not to make too risky investments. To always make stable, diversified investments.

“It’s okay to go slowly, one step at a time. The important thing is to keep moving forward.”

Kong Su-chan bowed politely.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

I feel that the relationship between him and me is also improving little by little.

***

Under the last rays of August sun, just a few days before September, the squad members were training, swinging their swords.

I was watching their training from the side.

It’s been five months since the sword squad was formed. Thanks to my intensive management, our small sword squad has completely settled in. To an outsider, it would look like a squad that had been established for years. In reality, they were demonstrating skills and unity comparable to a squad that had been around for several years.

After the Wild Beast Squad and Dongping Merchant Guild missions, our sword squad completed three more missions.

I went along for one of them, and for the other two, I sent only the squad members. Although a few members were injured during the missions handled by the squad members alone, they completed them successfully. Of course, we also earned money. The money earned from these three missions was four thousand five hundred taels. Not a small amount.

Besides the money, these real-world missions were a great stimulus for the squad members.

Through experiencing real situations, the squad members felt a sense of belonging and realized the need to improve their skills. They acutely felt that in the martial world, those without skills die first.

Their growing respect for me, increasing day by day, didn’t need to be mentioned.

My personal achievements weren’t bad either.

In the five months since I started seriously accumulating inner energy, I’ve built up four years’ worth of inner energy. Now I have inner energy equivalent to twenty-four years.

It’s thirty-six years until I reach my goal of sixty years of inner energy.

At this rate, I can fill it in four more years. If I’m lucky and get even one root of elixir, it could be much sooner.

Not only my inner energy but also my physical strength has improved incomparably to before, and I can now freely use the early three forms of the Soul-Chasing Asura Sword Arts, my unique martial art, along with the White Moon Sword Technique, my family’s martial art.

Despite these achievements, sometimes I feel self-deprecating.

Now, no one in the inns talks about my death anymore. While it seems natural, I feel an inexplicable bitterness.

Yes, fine. That’s how everyone forgets, I try to understand with this mindset, but there’s something I really can’t understand.

Ma Bonggi has become the Martial Righteous Alliance Leader, but not a single person seems worried. It’s so peaceful that it’s almost unbelievable. The martial world I see as a former Alliance Leader is this different from what ordinary people see.

I decided to interpret all of these things positively.

The past Cheon Hajin is truly dead, I told myself.

I am now truly Byeok Ri-dan.

Yes, in my later years, I lived like a fossil trapped in a mold. Now I must live anew.

The wind that has blown in is now cool.

Summer is ending.

***

The signs of the storm appeared in an unexpected form.

Yang Minor Faction Leader, Jeong Yeo, came to see me secretly.

“Someone from the Heavenly Blade Sect has come down this time.”

“From the Heavenly Blade Sect?”

“Ma Jeongsu[2]. One of Ma Bonggi’s sons.”

He had so many children that I couldn’t remember who this one was.

Anyway, one thing I could understand was that the nature of their internal successor fight must have changed.

If one becomes the official successor, they wouldn’t inherit the Heavenly Blade Sect, but the Martial Righteous Alliance. It must have become more fierce and brutal.

“It seems Ma Jeongsu met with the Shandong Branch Leader and asked him to gather all the clan leaders here.”

“For what reason?”

“He didn’t state the reason, but…”

Jeong Yeo trailed off, and I nodded.

“It’s unlikely to be for a good purpose.”

As always, if the purpose were good, there would be no need for such a dubious method. Ma Bonggi’s faction was already exerting influence in the martial world.

“The Shandong Branch Leader refused.”

“He refused?”

“Yes.”

“What kind of person is the Shandong Branch Leader?”

“As far as I know, he’s quite an upright person.”

Yes, how could all the Martial Righteous Alliance martial artists be corrupt like Gong Jong?

“Afterwards, Ma Jeongsu came to our clan. He pressured us to hold a banquet. After saying he’d contact us again, I rushed here immediately. What should we do?”

After pondering for a moment, I said,

“Tell him you’ll hold it.”

If not the Yang Minor Faction, the next in line would be the Song Clan. It’s a problem whether we refuse or not. It’s better to handle it at the level of Yang Minor Faction, where I can intervene to some extent.

“Understood.”

“Have you firmly grasped control of the Yang Minor Faction?”

“Yes. You don’t need to worry.”

“Next time, you don’t need to come in person. Send your most trustworthy person. If it’s someone you trust, I’ll trust them too.”

I know well that a single word like this can greatly change a person’s heart.

With one word, you can turn tofu-like loyalty into steel, or make existing affection drop away. The core of politics is words.

“If you need anything, please contact me anytime.”

“I will.”

Until I first established Jeong Yeo as the sect leader, I didn’t plan to actively utilize him.

But looking at the current situation, the importance of Yang Minor Faction was growing. Just this incident alone was proving to be of great help.

After sending him back, I thought about this incident.

Is it a sign of a typhoon?

Or just a passing wind?

We’ll soon find out what kind it is.