Jin Cheongha heard the two of them say, in the middle of their conversation, that it had been sealed retreat training, and suddenly realized that the Dark Cavern Taoist had not been suffering internal injuries.

At the same time, she understood that over the past two days, the Dark Cavern Taoist had not been circulating qi and practicing internal arts, but had spent time in awakening suffering.

That was why the Dark Cavern Taoist’s far-too-ordinary appearance, when he came out of the inner room, did not feel ordinary at all.

Even when she had first seen the Dark Cavern Taoist, she had not been able to sense in the slightest that he was a master of martial arts, but now he looked even more ordinary—so ordinary it could not be compared to then.

‘No way... Did he go beyond Furnace Fire at Its Purest and step into Returning to Simplicity and Returning to Truth?’

The greater the master, the more one gathered and concealed inner power true qi and looked ordinary.

A state so mature that one could not discern the realm by outward appearance alone was called Furnace Fire at Its Purest.

If one went beyond that stage and reached Returning to Simplicity and Returning to Truth, one would look like an utterly ordinary person. From that point on, unless the person himself intended it, absolutely no one else could recognize him as a martial artist who possessed internal power.

Jin Cheongha wanted to confirm whether her guess was right, so she held her breath and watched Kwak Yeon.

At last, Kwak Yeon opened his mouth.

“I think I climbed one step.”

In that instant, Jin Cheongha realized her guess was right, and she shuddered.

‘Ah!’

He had called it just one step, but she knew very well how high that one step could be.

The higher the realm of martial arts, the height of a single step rose exponentially.

And what was more, this Dark Cavern Taoist was already in the Transformation Realm.

Jin Cheongha could not even begin to estimate how immense the height of that one step he had crossed might be.

Just as Jin Cheongha was trembling with shock and astonishment at the same time—

“WUAHAHAHAHA!”

Hu Gae’s booming laugh rang out through the main hall of the detached annex.

The laughter was so exhilarating that it cleared out the listener’s chest.

“WUAHAHAHAHAT!”

When Hu Gae finally stopped after laughing for a long while, Kwak Yeon asked,

“Sworn Elder Brother, what is it that makes you so happy?”

It was not as though Kwak Yeon did not know Hu Gae was happy.

Kwak Yeon’s chest had tightened at the sight of Hu Gae being sincerely delighted as if it were his own achievement, and he spoke as though scolding him.

Hu Gae, of course, had no way of not knowing how Kwak Yeon felt.

Toward his younger brother who was picking a pointless fight, Hu Gae smiled broadly and asked,

“Kwak, have you ever watched a flower bloom?”

“Why are you suddenly talking about flowers?”

“Stop adding commentary and just answer what I asked. I’m trying to answer your question.”

At Hu Gae’s rebuke, Kwak Yeon had no choice but to answer.

“I’ve watched it about five or six times.”

“You’ve watched a flower bloom five or six times?”

Hu Gae opened his eyes wide as if he found it surprising, then suddenly cocked his head toward Jin Cheongha.

“Jin, it looks like our Kwak here has more of a sentimental side than he seems.”

“......!”

At Hu Gae’s mischievous attack, Jin Cheongha’s cheeks flushed slightly.

“Sworn Elder Brother, stop it. I already told you that if you force nonsense, Miss Jin gets uncomfortable.”

At Kwak Yeon’s cold dismissal, Hu Gae asked back with a shameless expression.

“Kwak, what nonsense did I force? I just said it was surprising. Honestly, how many men would sit in one spot just to watch something that takes a long time to bloom? Maybe once or twice by chance, sure, but five or six times?”

Hu Gae’s retort struck a real weak spot.

Because even Kwak Yeon had not watched flowers bloom because he wanted to.

“Martial Uncle! Come here quick. Hurry! Hurry!”

Whenever Cheongmu Taoist screamed like he was about to lose his breath after picking herbs, Kwak Yeon would run over in one burst—and Cheongmu Taoist would make him sit right there.

Each time, a flower bud, swollen to the brim, would be right in front of his nose.

Yellow honeysuckle, purple balloon flowers, white deodeok flowers....

“It’s going to bloom any moment.”

As if they understood Cheongmu Taoist’s words, the buds would soon begin to open.

At first, Kwak Yeon thought Cheongmu Taoist had simply happened to catch the moment of blooming, but after it happened several more times, he realized Cheongmu Taoist had some special ability.

Of course, when he asked how that could be possible, the answer he got back was, “I don’t know.”

“Sworn Elder Brother, stop saying pointless things and answer me.”

When Kwak Yeon urged him on, his old memories rising up and making his chest tighten, Hu Gae looked at Jin Cheongha again and said,

“It’s clear our younger brother is being considerate of Jin.”

Jin Cheongha spoke with a face that had turned properly red.

“Sub-Branch Master, come to think of it, I completely forgot that you two have gone two whole days without eating. I’ll hurry out and order food and bring it back.”

With that, Jin Cheongha hurriedly turned away—then quickly turned back again.

“Taoist Kwak, congratulations on your attainment.”

“Miss Jin, thank you.”

Even in the middle of all the commotion, Jin Cheongha did not forget to offer congratulations. Then she hurriedly turned and left the detached annex.

“At times like this, she really is exactly like a young lady from a proper household.”

Hu Gae continued with a regretful expression.

“And she’s sharp, too. That’s why she found that bomb, after all.”

“......”

When Kwak Yeon stared blankly, Hu Gae, thinking he was curious, continued.

“I heard Jin saw an assassin disguised as an old woman among the onlookers, lighting the fuse on a bomb. Jin refused the credit, saying it was only because she got lucky, but spotting an assassin’s subtle movements is absolutely impossible with ordinary sharpness.”

Hearing Hu Gae praise Jin Cheongha without end, Kwak Yeon felt a strange prick in one corner of his heart and hurriedly said,

“Sworn Elder Brother, continue what you were saying.”

“Hm? Sure. But how far did I get?”

“I asked why you asked me if I’d ever watched a flower bloom.”

“Ah! Right.”

Hu Gae deliberately let out an exclamation and asked,

“While you watched a flower bloom, what did you think?”

“It was wondrous and mysterious.”

“Not that superficial feeling. I’m asking what your honest emotions were.”

At Hu Gae’s serious pressing, Kwak Yeon recalled himself squatting beside Cheongmu Taoist, watching the flowers bloom back then.

“Martial Uncle, don’t tease me for crying. These are tears I’m shedding because I’m happy.”

Kwak Yeon remembered that, back then, he too had secretly wiped away tears behind Cheongmu Taoist’s back.

“......I was happy.”

At Kwak Yeon’s answer, Hu Gae nodded.

“That is my answer to your question earlier.”

“......!”

“To me, watching a martial artist climb one stage of martial arts is like a flower blooming. It’s the moment it finally bursts into full bloom after enduring a time of hardship.”

Kwak Yeon could tell that Hu Gae’s pure joy came from his passion for martial arts.

That was why he could rejoice in another’s attainment as if it were his own.

“And the flower that just bloomed is you, Kwak. So how could I not be happy? Honestly, I’m barely holding myself back from running out into the marketplace and yelling at the top of my lungs.”

Kwak Yeon’s chest tightened again as he said,

“Sworn Elder Brother, please don’t. If you do that, Beggar Clan Leader Yongdu will come running at full speed.”

“Tsk! I held it in because I figured that old bastard would do exactly that.”

When Kwak Yeon finally gave a small smile at Hu Gae’s impudent manner, Hu Gae suddenly asked,

“Kwak, but what’s with that expression? Don’t even think about lying. It’s all written on your face.”

It was hard to believe this was the face of someone who had just attained a step of martial arts—there was a shadow cast over Kwak Yeon’s face.

Kwak Yeon thought for a moment, then let out a quiet sigh. After that, he spoke in a dark voice.

“I climbed that step, and I saw a wall.”

Hu Gae immediately understood what wall Kwak Yeon meant.

‘He reached the utmost point of the Transformation Realm and saw the wall of the Entrance-to-Divinity Realm!’

But the rapture and emotion were brief, and soon his chest went numb.

Because Hu Gae, too, had despaired when he first saw the wall of the Transformation Realm.

The despair he had felt when he first faced that wall—so high it seemed to pierce the sky, with no end in sight—was like the feeling of falling endlessly into a bottomless pit.

And it was a wall one had to climb alone, in the middle of a silent world with no one else.

If the wall of the Transformation Realm was like that, then what of Kwak Yeon, who now stood before the wall of the Entrance-to-Divinity Realm?

Hu Gae spoke quietly, feeling pity.

“Kwak, I can’t even measure how stifled and overwhelmed you must feel, as your sworn elder brother. But isn’t the Entrance-to-Divinity Realm a realm you can only climb if heaven permits it? I think you can afford to have a little breathing room.”

“.......”

“The one who said that stepping back can be a method was you.”

Kwak Yeon understood Hu Gae’s heart, trying somehow to comfort him, but he could not easily smile.

Kwak Yeon knew, of course, that stepping back was a way to rise from despair.

If you let go of greed and look back, the impatience that had been tightening your heart loosened.

But he had a fate that would not allow him to settle.

‘If you fail to achieve it, you will be seized by an unachieved dream and suffer; and even if you achieve it, you will suffer in an unfulfilled hope—so to you, Yeonja, it will become a heavenly punishment.’

Once more, the message of Patriarch Jang Sambong rang loud in his ears.

Only if he went beyond the Entrance-to-Divinity Realm and touched the Boundless Realm could he finally break free of that unachieved dream. And so, the dizzying wall of the Entrance-to-Divinity Realm looming before his eyes was, to Kwak Yeon, an existence he had to cross.

Just as Kwak Yeon was sinking into a sense of isolation he could not pour out to anyone—

“Kwak, sometimes when I look at you, I think maybe you’re some great serpent or a demon that turned into a human.”

“......?”

“We’re clearly walking the path of martial learning with the same stride, but strangely, at some point you end up far ahead.”

Kwak Yeon gave a faint, empty smile.

“Sworn Elder Brother, even so, it’s too much to look at an innocent man like he’s some great serpent or a demon.”

“I’m sorry.”

At the serious apology that did not suit Hu Gae, Kwak Yeon kept his mouth shut and waited.

“Kwak, you know better than anyone, but you’re walking with steps different from the martial artists of the world.”

Kwak Yeon realized that Hu Gae was precisely pointing at the mechanism of the Honwonmusang Technique.

Whenever he held the hearts of the people of the world within his chest, the Honwonmusang Technique’s function would broaden the scope of his martial arts all at once, and he would leap up one step.

That was why Patriarch Jang Sambong had said it was the will of heaven’s path to reaching the Boundless Realm.

Because Kwak Yeon had come to understand the will of heaven, at least a little, through what happened on the main road of Aju, he had been able to climb the step that had felt unreachable.

“So you will cross that wall.”

Hu Gae looked at Kwak Yeon and continued, speaking as if declaring it.

“As your sworn elder brother, I do not doubt that fact even a little.”

In that moment, Kwak Yeon realized he was not the only one thrown alone before the wall of the Entrance-to-Divinity Realm.

Not only Hu Gae, but Patriarch Jang Sambong, Master Unhyeon, Hyeonhae Taoist, Hyeonmun Dojang, Cheongmu Taoist, Seokjangsan, Steward Jang Gusam, and countless others were watching over him from behind.

Kwak Yeon was no longer lonely.

“Sworn Elder Brother, I also do not doubt that fact.”