The next day, I entered seclusion training for a period of ten days.

I entrusted the affairs of the Yellow Spring Division to Seo Daeryong and deliberately forgot about the Ma Jons.

This training was urgent.

Everything has its opportunity and timing. Just as in a duel, when the moment feels right, you must challenge your opponent; likewise, training has its proper time.

My catalyst was still fresh—the duel with my father. Before that duel faded from my mind, I had to fully internalize it.

I decided not to think about the Ma Jons.

The next day, Chima might come find me, or the Ma Jons might start fighting among themselves. Since they were not people I could control at will, I focused solely on what I had to do.

I replayed the duel at the Pungnyu Tavern where I fought in a state of selflessness.

I meticulously recreated the duel with my father down to the smallest movement. When I moved like this, my father moved like that. When I attacked in that way, my father blocked accordingly. I compared and analyzed his movements and mine.

This duel held great significance in many ways. The fact that I fought without setting limits on myself, and the major constraint of not touching anything during that urgent fight, all of it was meaningful.

So I felt deeply and had much to learn.

This was not training to exhaust the body, but one of deep contemplation and introspection. I thought only about martial arts, and I immersed myself more deeply than ever before.

After ten days, I emerged from the training grounds with a scruffy beard.

At that moment, the sudden smell of alcohol hit me, and I half-expected it—but from behind, that half-expectation spoke to me.

“Who on earth are you trying to kill so earnestly? Me? No, right?”

Surprisingly, it was Chima waiting for me.

“Why are you here?”

“Why else? I was just waiting for you to come out. I heard you entered seclusion training for ten days right after drinking at the Pungnyu Tavern. Hearing that, I came running immediately.”

“Are you saying you’ve been waiting here all this time?”

“Of course! I’ve been waiting since day one.”

I looked at him sharply, then smiled and said,

“That’s a lie. You must have told the women warriors, ‘Let me know when this prince finishes seclusion training in ten days.’ Then you went off drinking and having fun, right? When did you come today? Just a while ago, right?”

“Hmm. Has Yeobin turned towards your side?”

I laughed at his candid confession.

Chima asked suspiciously,

“By the way, you didn’t enter seclusion because you were annoyed, right?”

“To be honest, I enjoy drinking and hanging out with you, Chima. It’s a problem because it’s too enjoyable.”

“When I heard you entered seclusion, I thought the sky was falling. If you had gone into a hundred-day seclusion, I would have turned to stone.”

“Don’t you have other drinking buddies?”

“Who?”

“You could drink with the Sword Sovereign.”

“After the humiliation I suffered from Soma that day, who would want to drink with anyone else? I need time to calm down.”

Is that really the case? This is the person who came all the way here to wait in front of the training grounds. Right now, he’s more interested in me than the Sword Sovereign, so she doesn’t catch his eye.

“This is precisely the time when one needs friends, isn’t it?”

“Friends avoid you for that reason.”

That was true, and I could not argue.

“Come on, let’s go drink.”

“Do you really enjoy drinking with me that much?”

“You said you don’t call someone ‘brother’ just for drinking twice together?”

That was what I told him at the Pungnyu Tavern. Apparently, it stuck in his mind.

“Maybe after about two hundred drinks, I might.”

“If we’ve drunk two hundred times together, then titles don’t really matter anymore, right?”

“No, it’s important. If we drank two hundred times and still don’t call each other ‘brother,’ isn’t that a strange relationship?”

“That’s true, but…”

“I haven’t even had five cups of tea with you, but I could have two hundred drinks with you.”

“Why go to such lengths to call me ‘brother’?”

Then an unexpected reason came out.

“It’s simple. Your chances of becoming Heavenly Demon right now are fifty-fifty, right? It’s an opportunity to have the Heavenly Demon as a younger brother with a fifty percent chance.”

“You’re making a big mistake.”

“What mistake?”

“If I become Heavenly Demon, I won’t treat you as an older brother. All two hundred drinking sessions will disappear at that moment.”

“Outwardly, maybe?”

“Not even in my heart. Nor behind your back. Rather, I might treat you more strictly because I don’t want to be misunderstood.”

Chima looked at me with a strange gaze.

“I thought you would be open-hearted even if you became Heavenly Demon. I thought you’d break formality and live as brothers with the Ma Jons.”

“That’s a prejudice about me. I’m colder and less affectionate than I appear. Maybe that’s why I pretend to be warmer. If I become Heavenly Demon, I’ll strictly separate work and personal matters. If you expect me to casually call you ‘brother’ over the remaining one hundred ninety-eight drinks, you’d be better off investing in drinking with your real brother.”

Then Chima said in a meaningful tone,

“Your brother must not become the sect leader.”

“Why not?”

“I’ll tell you over a drink.”

Chima hastened his steps.

I walked the other way.

From a distance, Chima chased after me.

“You’re too much. Prince, aren’t you curious?”

“Not at all.”

“This is why your brother must not become sect leader.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

This time, I spoke with a meaningful tone.

“Do you want to know why I’m not curious?”

“Yes.”

“I’m pretending not to be curious so you will be curious. You’re trying to lure me into drinking with no other reason, aren’t you?”

“If a person’s too smart, they lose their humanity!”

“I’ve already told you I’m cold.”

As I walked quickly, Chima persistently followed.

“I’ve waited ten days. Prince, is it really like this?”

Well, with this effort, I have to admit defeat.

“I give up. I’ll wash up, rest a bit, and visit Daechirim tonight.”

Only then did Chima’s expression brighten.

“I’ll be waiting. You must come.”

“But you have to tell me why your brother must not become sect leader.”

“You said you’re not curious?”

“That’s impossible. See you later.”

I returned to my place, shaved off my beard, washed up, and changed into fresh clothes.

Then I stood in front of Donggyeong.

I was different now than I was ten days ago.

Through seclusion training, I had raised Pungsin Sabo to a new level.

Pungsin Sabo Eight Stars.

When entering seclusion, I expected results.

I had mastered the Twelfth Level of the Bicheon Sword Style and gained enlightenment from the words left by the Man Sa Jongju.

I had fought Baekmanggi and later had the unusual experience of reviewing that fight through a third party’s eyes in a dream.

The duel with my father was decisive. As if he foresaw this outcome, my father had used the Pungsin Sabo footwork against me throughout the duel.

Ah, there was one more thing. I was desperate to achieve mastery of Pungsin Sabo before I could learn the Nine Flame Demon Technique.

As a result, I achieved the remarkable feat of reaching the Eight Star level of Pungsin Sabo.

Upon reaching Eight Stars in Pungsin Sabo, the biggest change was an overwhelming desire to run somewhere with swift steps. My body itched as if it wanted to dash to the training grounds immediately, but I held back. That desire had to be properly satisfied, or it wouldn’t do.

First, I lay down on the bed and slept. Maybe because of the good mood, I slept soundly for the first time in a long while without any worries.

That evening, when I bought a bottle of liquor and went to Daechirim, Chima was lying on a boat drifting on the lake.

I slowly approached the boat Chima was on, riding a boat Yeobin had prepared.

His boat held nothing but bottles of liquor.

“As expected! You don’t eat side dishes when I’m not looking.”

“If you drank with me every day, I’d eat side dishes every day. Here, have a drink.”

“I’ll drink the liquor I brought.”

One good thing about Chima was that he never forced anyone to drink. Whether I drank his liquor or just touched it and put it down, he didn’t care. He never pressured me to get drunk. I think Chima truly loves drinking.

“When I came before, I felt this lake was really nice.”

“Daechirim has even more wonderful places. I’ll take you next time.”

“Do you really think there will be a next time for us?”

“Why do you think there won’t be?”

I didn’t answer but drank instead.

“I get it. I know why. Blood Heaven Butcher hates me.”

He drank, too.

“Right. Who else does he hate besides me? Is he really willing to gain one and lose three? Isn’t that a bad bargain? That person would go to the Great Prince at the right moment.”

Chima began sowing discord, trying to push Blood Heaven Butcher away.

“I told you that day. I’ll get all three. That’s why I’m here today.”

“If you can’t distinguish ideal from reality, the Great Prince will become successor. The successor Heavenly Demon is not decided simply by superior martial skill or intelligence.”

“Then how is it decided?”

“Think about it. Choosing a successor isn’t like choosing the greatest martial sword. It’s about choosing someone who can lead the sect well. Someone who can compromise and get along with the Eight Ma Jons. Without that, the sect will split and eventually be devoured by the Martial Alliance. Why do you look at it that way?”

“I didn’t know you saw the sect’s future so rationally.”

“I’m the classic victim of misunderstanding and prejudice.”

“If you hate that, why don’t you quit drinking?”

“Chima who quits drinking? The entire martial world would laugh.”

Then he drank.

“May I ask you something? I’ve wanted to ask for a while.”

“What is it?”

After a moment, I asked,

“Do you drink to forget, or to remember?”

“...!”

Startled for a moment, Chima looked at me intently, then answered neither.

“To enjoy. I just like drinking. Because I like alcohol itself. If you think I drink [N O V E L I G H T] because of some story, that’s prejudice.”

He drank again. Whether he was sincere or bluffing, I couldn’t tell. As long as he drank, it was hard to see the truth in him.

I drank the liquor I brought. When I’m with him, I drink more. When I drank heavily back then, there was surely a reason.

Was I drinking then to forget? Or to remember?

“Then why don’t you support your brother as successor? He wouldn’t insist on reconciling with Elder Butcher like me.”

Then Chima said something unexpected.

“The Great Prince must not become successor.”

He repeated what he said at the training grounds. The fact he brought it up first meant it was not just a ploy to lure me into drinking.

Maybe that was why he approached me—to call me ‘brother.’

“The Great Prince... likes the sect leader too much.”

“...!”

Chima said something I hadn’t expected.

“I also like my father.”

“But he likes him incomparably more.”

I couldn’t deny it. Whether out of genuine affection, reverence for his authority, or ambition to become successor, my brother would do anything for Father.

“I admit you are better than the Great Prince. But I’m not yet confident that you’ll become successor.”

I agreed. After dueling me today, my father could very well say coldly tomorrow that the successor is my brother.

“Fine, even so, why is your brother liking Father a reason he shouldn’t be successor?”

“The Great Prince would never go against the leader’s will.”

“What will that will be?”

Then a surprising statement came from Chima.

“The will of unifying the martial world.”

Chima knew. He knew Father harbored ambitions for unifying the martial world.

I recalled a conversation with Father regarding the Master of Pungcheon.

“Not yet the time. Just know that.”

At the time, I suspected Father dreamed of unifying the martial world.

Chima had sensed Father’s ambition. Perhaps not only Chima but some other Ma Jons also knew. They never mentioned Father.

“The Great Prince will faithfully follow Father’s orders as successor. Surely he will become the vanguard in conquering the martial world. But what about you? You would stop the leader. From what I’ve seen, you are not a man who supports war.”

“That’s right. I do not desire war.”

“Then you must become successor and stop the leader.”

I never dreamed Chima chose me for this reason.

That he chose me to prevent the coming war? That this usually drunken Chima? The one among the Eight Ma Jons who seems the most thoughtless?

I brought my face close to his.

“Why are you like this?”

“To check what is truth and what is false.”

“All I say is truth.”

“You expect me, a drunken man who only drinks, to have chosen you for the peace of the martial world? Believe that if you will.”

“Call it my last prejudice.”

Chima, his eyes glazed, confessed the truth to me.

“That’s why I sent you the broken bottle.”