Growth
"Keh keh keh. I came in out of concern, but it seems I worried for nothing."
"..."
When Yeon Hwi-tae lifted his head, he saw the grinning old man standing there with a mischievous smile plastered on his face.
"If you were still dazed or sulking, I was planning to give you another lesson..."
Crack.
A faint twitch appeared on Yeon Hwi-tae's forehead, only to disappear just as quickly.
"So you barged in just to mock me, is that it?"
"Heh heh. That aside, how was it, boy?"
"...?"
"Your first experience with defeat. It stings, doesn't it?"
Gi Hyeok-do meant to tease this rare prodigy who had shocked even him, mixing in a bit of mischief—but Yeon Hwi-tae's reaction was unexpected.
"…It wasn't my first defeat."
"Hm?"
In his previous life as Kang Sang-hyuk—called "Mr. Perfect" and revered for his relentless streak of victories—even he had not gone undefeated. He had suffered defeats, and each one became a springboard for his growth. But of course, Gi Hyeok-do had no way of knowing this, and merely tilted his head at the ambiguous reply.
"From what I can see, your martial arts don't follow the orthodox path."
"..."
"I don't mean that in a moral sense—it's just that your direction is different from the mainstream. And society doesn't take kindly to that sort of thing. It will be a difficult road."
"…I understand."
"Even so, you still intend to walk that path?"
Gi Hyeok-do asked with a firm expression. Yeon Hwi-tae answered without hesitation.
"I was prepared for that from the beginning."
"..."
A moment of silence stretched between them.
Then, Gi Hyeok-do broke the quiet first.
"If I may offer one piece of advice…"
"..."
"Your techniques weren't bad."
Hearing the old master acknowledge his martial arts, the corners of Yeon Hwi-tae's lips lifted slightly.
"However…"
But Gi Hyeok-do wasn't finished yet.
"Sticking only to your own techniques might, in a way, be a form of stubborn pride."
"…!"
Those words struck Yeon Hwi-tae like a bolt from the blue.
"Are you studying the profundity of martial arts to ascend in level, or are you simply pursuing pure martial combat for the sake of enjoyment? From where I stand, it seems to be the latter…"
He was right. Rather than learning new traditional martial arts styles, Yeon Hwi-tae had sought to convert modern combat techniques into martial arts. His goal was to fight and win more efficiently using the structured advancements of modern martial disciplines.
"Then why do you reject traditional martial arts entirely? Countless existing techniques each have their unique advantages—are you willing to forgo all of that? I believe someone like you could absorb those as well and make them your own."
"…Ah!"
A lightning bolt seemed to flash through Yeon Hwi-tae's mind. Why hadn't he thought of that?
He truly loved combat for its own sake and desired strength above all else. If something helped him in battle, he had no reason to reject it. And yet, hadn't he been clinging solely to the martial arts of his past life while dismissing the deeply developed traditional techniques of this world? Wasn't that just stubbornness?
He had pointed out that very flaw in others—yet he himself had fallen into that same trap of contradiction.
"Hahaha…"
Yeon Hwi-tae let out a laugh—not one befitting a child, but filled with weary realization. Seeing this, Gi Hyeok-do could tell the boy had learned something, and he relaxed his serious tone, speaking in a lighthearted voice.
"If the chance arises, come visit Mount Hua sometime."
"…Thank you."
Yeon Hwi-tae understood the weight behind those words and answered with sincerity. It meant that Gi Hyeok-do, the Head Elder of the Mount Hua Sect, had acknowledged him.
Once the old man left the room, Yeon Hwi-tae brought his hands together, clasping one over the other in silent determination.
Much time passed since that fateful day when guests from the Mount Hua Sect came and dueled.
A full ten years.
And ten years was more than enough time for the youngest son of the Geumho Manor to become a full-grown man.
As the saying goes, even mountains and rivers change in a decade. And much had changed indeed.
First of all, the Geumho Manor steadily grew in influence. It rose from the lowest of the Ten Great Trading Houses of the Central Plains to being ranked approximately fifth. Though the ranking was informal and based on the opinions of well-informed circles, it was a testament to Geumho's rising prestige.
Yeon Hwi-tae's eldest sister, Yeon Yuhwa, had married into the Namgung Clan of Heifei in Anhui Province. By chance, Namgung Hwang—the second son of the Namgung Lord—fell in love with her at first sight and pursued her passionately until she agreed to marry. To Yeon Hwi-tae, his new brother-in-law wasn't arrogant or problematic at all, and seemed kind and considerate toward his sister, which was a great relief.
When Yeon Hwi-tae made it clear he would not succeed the Geumho Manor and instead pursue the life of a martial artist, his father declared his second sister, Yeon Jumi, the next head of the house. She was known for her sharp mind and talent with numbers from a young age, and despite being a woman, there was little opposition since she clearly had the ability to lead.
Finally, after experimenting with unusual martial techniques and gaining insight through his encounter with the Mount Hua guests, Yeon Hwi-tae…
RUMBLE—
Deep within the inner recesses of the Geumho Manor lay a hidden cavern.
A sound of crumbling stone echoed as the entrance slowly opened. From within emerged a man with hair and beard wildly overgrown—but eyes that shone with depth and clarity. He shielded his eyes from the sun and stretched.
"Uugh… Is it just because it's been so long? The sunlight feels blinding."
Mumbling to himself, Yeon Hwi-tae stepped out and turned to glance back at the chamber, lost in thought.
"Phew… It took a long time, but… I've finally stepped into the realm of the Transcendent Peak."
Anyone else who heard that would've scoffed at such a ridiculous joke—but Yeon Hwi-tae was dead serious.
After all, the Transcendent Peak Realm was a level reached only by a rare few among the countless martial artists in the world. In a minor sect, such a person would be considered strong enough to lead it. Even among the Nine Great Sects, someone at that level would be treated with honor.
And yet here was Yeon Hwi-tae, just barely an adult, having reached that pinnacle.
Even the most promising prodigies of his age group were still struggling to break through the Peak Realm. Luck had clearly played a role, but so had relentless effort.
"Sigh… I never imagined the seclusion training would take this long."
Yeon Hwi-tae reflected on his long period of closed-door training.
After winning the bet, Yeon Hwi-tae was able to free himself from his father's interference and devoted himself to the continued training of modern martial arts, mental cultivation, and the refinement of internal energy techniques. As he gradually transformed the modern combat techniques he had mastered in his past life into martial arts, he accumulated a wealth of insights. Especially significant was the duel with the elder from the Mount Hua Sect—it became a pivotal moment that changed his entire perspective.
"It was then that I realized just how lacking I was—in both external and internal techniques."
Though his shortcomings were understandable, given his young and undeveloped body, the truth remained: he had been lacking in both internal energy (naegong) and physical conditioning (oe-gong).
"I was also sorely lacking in experience."
However, thanks to that duel, he was able to gather invaluable data. Even though he had only faced a master of that level once, it was enough to gain high-quality data that greatly improved the quality of his mental training.
One especially profound revelation came to him a few years ago.
"At first, I underestimated the value of insight. That only proved how immature I was."
Before parting, Elder Gi Hyeok-do had offered him precious words of advice. Those teachings became flesh and blood to Yeon Hwi-tae as he continued his training. Perhaps because of that, as if by a miracle, he completely broke through into the Peak Realm a few years ago—and greedy for more, immediately entered closed-door seclusion to aim even higher.
"The vast number of secret manuals I collected before entering seclusion helped immensely."
Based on Gi Hyeok-do's advice, he began to take an interest in traditional martial arts. Truthfully, Yeon Hwi-tae had avoided traditional techniques for a reason. In his past life, he had seen Chinese martial arts as impractical compared to other modern disciplines.
It was rare to see masters of Chinese martial arts in the world of mixed martial arts, and even when they appeared, their skills often seemed unimpressive. Because of that, he had developed a distaste for martial arts connected to traditional Chinese systems. But that line of thinking turned out to be wrong. This world's martial arts had no actual connection to ancient China, which meant his entire assumption was flawed from the start.
"Besides, internal energy doesn't even exist in the martial arts of my past life—it's a completely different system here."
The moment he realized that, it felt like the veil of his prejudice had finally lifted. It was as if a wall had peeled away. Reaching the Transcendent Peak Realm was in large part thanks to the diverse secret manuals he obtained through the wealth and connections of the Geumho Manor.
"Honestly, converting modern martial arts into traditional ones was full of trial and error. I gained many insights through the process, but still…"
He had long realized how inefficient it was to strengthen his body with internal energy and then perform modern martial arts techniques. The essence of martial arts here was that each move was intricately tied to specific energy channels, allowing for greater speed and destructive power. To perform martial techniques with internal energy from a base of modern combat was not the same as refining them into martial arts—it was more akin to doping without side effects.
"So, every time I practiced modern martial arts, I had to become my own lab rat—figuring out the optimal timing and meridian paths to channel internal energy for the best results."
In other words, it was a dangerous method, not without risk.
Fortunately, since childhood he had consistently cultivated energy through breath control (un-gi-jo-sik), unblocking his governor and conception vessels (im-dok-yang-maek), maintaining clean meridians, and training under the stable Three Essence Method and the Right Clarity Method (Jeongmyeong Simbeop) given to him by Gi Hyeok-do. That likely prevented any serious dangers.
"Still, how is it even possible that I never once succumbed to qi deviation (ju-hwa-ip-ma) while forging my own internal energy paths from scratch?"
Come to think of it, that in itself was strange. The countless orthodox methods in the current martial world had all been refined over centuries to prevent exactly that risk. And yet this so-called martial arts novice had forged his own path without incident?
And yet, he had undeniably passed through countless thresholds and overcome many crises and walls on his journey.