“I thought Investigator Seo was really impressive.”

As we walked back to my residence together, Ian said this. I was taking her to show the place I had moved to after becoming the Small Sect Leader.

“He seems like a completely different person from when I first saw him.”

“He’s worked hard since then.”

Knowing Ian’s own relentless effort, I added,

“But don’t think you have to work harder because of that. You’re already putting in more effort than anyone else.”

“No way. I’m going to work not just moderately hard, but pouring everything I have.”

I could guess what was on Ian’s mind right now. Everyone else was moving ahead, and she might feel left behind.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“I’m only visiting the new residence today. Back then, I would have come on the first day of moving in.”

She seemed sorry for the late visit. Her already slumped shoulders sagged even more.

“By that logic, I’m the same. I came to the new house without inviting you.”

“You were busy.”

“You were busier. What’s more important, sightseeing the room or our work? The answer is obvious. So you don’t need to feel sorry at all.”

I led her inside. The place was much bigger than before, and she was surprised.

“Wow! It’s really huge.”

“This body is the Small Sect Leader of the main school!”

Passersby politely greeted Ian. She returned their greetings with a smile.

When she entered my room, she was even more surprised.

“This is so different from what I imagined.”

Bookshelves lined the walls, a large bed with spotless white bedding, a desk and chair by the sunny window—nothing like what she expected.

“This isn’t your taste, right?”

“This is my taste.”

“I didn’t know. You should have told me.”

Before reincarnation, I had no sense of taste.

I didn’t care if the bed was big or small, or if there was a bookshelf or wardrobe. My only concern was becoming the successor.

That’s why I drifted away from the path of succession. I saw nothing, not even people, and didn’t care what was in my room.

I thought I was passionate back then, but now I realize it might have been an escape into passion.

“There are so many books.”

She took interest in the bookshelves first.

“You have to look knowledgeable as the Small Sect Leader.”

“These books are so thick.”

“Don’t take them out! They’re just for decoration. It’s hard to put them back.”

“I want to take them out, but they won’t come out. You need inner energy to pull the books!”

She examined another bookshelf.

“There are many books that Elder Dokma has?”

She once borrowed books from Blood Heaven Demon.

“Yes. I copied all the books from there. He knows a lot about books.”

She took a book from another shelf and looked at it carefully.

“There’s a book like this.”

The book she held was titled Escape from the Heavenly Net.

“Have you read it?”

I nodded.

“I have.”

“Do you think you could escape by following it?”

“I didn’t read it to escape. I read it to make sure I couldn’t escape.”

She laughed at my words.

“You can open the Heavenly Net, Master Lee! But I might get trapped by the Martial Alliance’s Heavenly Net, so please lend me this book.”

“Anytime.”

“Please lend me this one and that one, too.”

She chose several books. She usually read poetry collections, but now the books she picked were all guides to surviving in the martial world.

“Do you still read books?”

“I try to read at least one chapter before bed. It’s a way to gain indirect experience.”

She still worried about becoming a frog in a well.

“Ian.”

“Yes?”

I turned her toward me.

“You think it’s better to have more worldly experience, right?”

“Of course. Isn’t it?”

Ian’s eyes widened.

“That’s right. People with more experience seem cool and reliable somehow. They have insight and teach others new lessons or experiences. But getting there means going through all kinds of dirty, nasty things. Seeing the bottom of humanity, even developing distrust and disgust toward people. Is such experience really good in one’s life?”

Before reincarnation, I had been through a lot. Yes, that made me stronger and kept me alive.

So? Can my life be said to be better than Ian’s, who quietly walked the path of a bodyguard? Maybe I’d have a better chance surviving if thrown somewhere, but that doesn’t mean it’s a better life.

“You don’t have to regret your quiet life walking one path. You don’t have to carry all those wounds and pains disguised as experience. You can fight and win without them. I believe the life you’ve lived through effort will protect you stronger than any other experience.”

I reached out, and a poetry book slipped from the shelf.

The poetry book floated through the air and landed in her hands.

“So read whatever you want, too.”

I noticed Ian glance at the book twice.

She slowly approached me and stared.

“Maybe there really is bloodline.”

I returned her gaze seriously. She looked embarrassed and quickly looked away.

“The bed is really big and comfortable, right?”

“If you’re curious, lie down.”

“You thought I’d say, ‘How dare you lie on the Small Sect Leader’s bed!’ didn’t you?”

She threw herself onto the bed.

But her new body floated above the bed.

“No clothes from outside! Now I understand why Elder Dokma forbade lying down.”

I gently floated her back to her original spot. Sitting on the bed’s edge, she said seriously,

“We recently recruited five for the Guard Unit. Personality and skill were checked. As you said, we aim for a smaller, elite organization rather than just numbers.”

“You’re doing well.”

“Also, tomorrow I’m going out with Cheongmyeon and my subordinates to recruit people for the Guard Unit. I should’ve gone earlier, but I postponed leaving until after the appointment ceremony of Huang Cheon Hall’s Master. I’ll visit General Go and Lord Pungcheon on the way.”

She was fully stepping into the martial world now.

Noticing the worry in my gaze, she smiled.

“Don’t worry. I have nine tails, remember?”

“Come back stronger!”

She stood, bowed respectfully with a fighting stance.

“Yes, Small Sect Leader!”

I threw myself into martial arts training.

This was the time I trained the hardest, before and after reincarnation.

Knowing I was in the midst of intense training, my father postponed all school events.

The Nine Flames Demon Skill and the Si Cheon Secret Technique.

Martial arts I could not neglect.

First, Si Cheon Secret Technique. The more I trained, the more it seemed time dilated between the outside and inside of space-time transformation techniques.

But the difference was # Nоvеlight # still too slight to use Si Cheon for actual training.

After using space-time transformation technique, then Si Cheon technique, I trained again.

Inner energy stacked threefold.

Yet the time difference between outside and inside was still too small, so it took longer to recover inner energy.

Though anxious, I didn’t rush. Martial arts aren’t learned overnight; consistency is key. Repeat and repeat. Eventually, I’d reach the next stage.

Next, the Nine Flames Demon Skill.

Familiar with its Heart Method, I began serious practice of the First Technique. It was complicated and profound, but I calmly analyzed the hand seals and improved gradually.

Today, I planned to try the First Technique.

Nine Flames Demon Skill: First Technique, Annihilation Form (Inmyeol Sik).

From the start, it means annihilation. Anyone caught would surely die.

I fixed my gaze on the wooden dummy ahead and calmed my mind. When I was ready, the Black Demon Sword was drawn.

In an instant, the dummy’s neck was severed. The strike was faster than the Flying Sword Style’s Changsung Technique.

So did I succeed with the First Technique? No.

I approached slowly and inspected the severed dummy.

Faint traces of sword energy remained on its back. None on the left or right.

Annihilation Form unleashes four sword energies simultaneously from front, back, left, and right.

Imagine.

In a flash, sword energies fly not from one place but four directions at once. Each targets a different area.

The front sword targets the neck, the rear the back, left the waist, and right the leg.

But only the front sword flew properly. The other three didn’t reach properly.

Closing my eyes, I recalled the hand seals.

After reorganizing, I unleashed sword energy again at a new dummy.

This time the back was cut, but the neck remained.

I repeated again and again, but the First Technique would not unfold as intended. I was missing something.

My father wanted to see how I interpreted the Nine Flames Demon Skill.

How could my version surpass his? I trusted in my Heavenly Dance Body, but I wasn’t sure I could master a better technique than him.

In deep thought, I suddenly realized.

My greed to learn a stronger Nine Flames Demon Skill than my father was holding me back. That greed included a desire to be recognized by him, weighing heavily on me.

This wasn’t my way.

I left the training hall at once.

When I entered Cheonma Hall, my father stood with his hands behind his back, staring out the window.

“Come here.”

“Yes.”

I climbed the bloodstained path and stood beside him. It always felt good to look at the school grounds with him like this, now as Small Sect Leader.

“We’ve decided to double the poison production in Heavenly Poison Forest.”

“Why?”

Pretending not to know, I asked. He looked at me. Knowing my dealings with Duke Dok, he probably suspected I influenced this decision.

His gaze returned outside. After a moment’s silence, he quietly said,

“Don’t provoke Duke Dok. He could be the beginning and the end of everything.”

I understood. Because of him, war could start or end. Martial artists are sensitive to poison. A single poisoning could end a lifetime of training.

“I will keep that in mind.”

He turned to me.

“Why did you come today?”

“I came to ask a favor.”

“What favor?”

“Please teach me the Annihilation Form.”

He was startled.

“You became successor just to want to die?”

“No way.”

I loosened my chest.

“I’ve been granted the Supreme Heavenly Spear Armor and Fierce Tiger Robe. I only ask that you perform it so I won’t die.”

“Why?”

“I want to gain a feel for it through experience.”

I should have learned more from him. But he only gave minimal interpretation, wanting to see my version of Nine Flames Demon Skill, so this was a reasonable request.

“Very well.”

With his permission, I stepped back to keep distance.

No words like “Ready?” or “Here I go.” The sword was drawn from his hand immediately.

Suddenly, four evil spirits attacked from all directions simultaneously.

My father’s Annihilation Form wasn’t just four streams of sword energy. It conjured terrifying illusions of four evil spirits wielding swords from north, south, east, and west.

I blocked two attacks, one lightly, but one struck me squarely.

Sword energy clashed with my Body Protection Energy, and I was thrown, rolling on the floor.

“Ugh!”

It hurt. Even using the Supreme Heavenly Spear Armor and Body Protection Energy, my waist felt like it was breaking.

Thanks to my father controlling the inner energy, I survived. If he had unleashed full power, I might have died or at least suffered fatal wounds.

It was the first time I felt the true terror of Nine Flames Demon Skill.

At that moment, I wondered:

“When my Nine Flames Demon Skill advances, will these evil spirits also manifest in my Annihilation Form?”

My father nodded.

“Similar, but different evil spirits will appear.”

Similar but different.

Because I interpret the Nine Flames Demon Skill differently, the evil spirits that appear will be different.

My heart began to race. Seeing the Heavenly Demon was still far off; I wanted to see my small evil spirits in the Annihilation Form.

“Is that enough?”

“Yes.”

I bowed while massaging my waist, then turned to ask,

“Have you named those evil spirits?”

A smirk appeared on his lips.

“Duke Dok likes naming things. I’ve been around him a lot lately; maybe I’ve been influenced.”

After respectfully bowing to my father, I left.

My martial achievement is not only mine. If my father and I have different Annihilation Forms, he will also gain inspiration from my Nine Flames Demon Skill. We will influence each other and grow stronger.

At the end of the blood path, I said,

“Next time I visit, I’ll bring four friends.”