In response to my impolite comment, Elder Heo Gyeom said,

“...It’s true, in my younger years, this old man was very much a man’s man. That was already more than half a century ago.”

I nodded.

“I don’t know what exactly you expect from me, Elder, but if the Blood Night Palace intends to remain part of the Demonic Path, I can’t help.”

Elder Heo Gyeom nodded.

“As I said, the Blood Night Palace will become a faction that does not oppress, kill, or bleed the weak dry. If we truly become that kind of force, I hope you’ll support us, Master Yi. I intend to spend the rest of my days nagging about this. Fortunately, the Mistress tends to heed my words well, so I don’t believe it’s a hopeless task.”

Though I’m usually a man full of nonsense, actually making a promise like this weighed heavily on me.

But for some reason, the elder’s burning gaze was not something I could easily avoid.

“All right, Elder. Let’s do that.”

“Will you give your word, Master Yi?”

Looking into the old man’s eyes, I answered.

“Let this be a promise between an old man’s man and a young man’s man. If the Blood Night Palace leaves the Demonic Path, then Haomun will support it.”

With just a few words, I’d ended up promising to help the Blood Night Palace.

I wasn’t sure if this was the right decision, but watching the old man’s slow-spreading smile made me feel like I’d walked right into a trap.

Heo Gyeom was not simply an old man who had lived long.

“I don’t care who the Blood Night Palace fights in Jianghu. As long as you don’t oppress those who can’t cultivate martial arts, Haomun will lend its support.”

Heo Gyeom replied,

“I will remember those words.”

In any case, the old Elder Heo had complete control of the room.

Suddenly, he snapped his fingers, and the young man waiting nearby stepped forward.

“Yongmyeong.”

“Yes.”

Everyone turned to look at Elder Heo.

“Can you guess what I’m about to ask for?”

The young man called Yongmyeong replied,

“I think I know. Please say it.”

“Third bookshelf, sixth row, thirteenth book. Go bring it.”

“Yes, sir.”

As Yongmyeong briskly left the main hall, Elder Heo turned to me.

“Master Yi.”

“Yes?”

“Martial arts that combine extreme yang and extreme yin are rare in the world. There aren’t many in Jianghu who’ve researched it either. Though I’ve lost my internal energy, I haven’t neglected my studies. Among my notes, I have a book where I’ve organized my thoughts on combining polar energies.”

I crossed my arms and looked at the old man.

“Hmm.”

“What’s important is that you take it only as reference. Martial arts is not an academic field where you define things as strictly this or that. Everyone has different physical conditions, circumstances, and types of internal energy. Do you understand that?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll give you a simple analogy. If you hold water in both hands and try to bring them together, what happens?”

“It just spills through.”

“And if you hold snowballs in both hands and combine them?”

“You get a bigger snowball.”

“And what if one hand holds a rock, and the other a snowball?”

“It becomes more destructive.”

“It’s a book that explains such simple principles in terms of how energy manifests and harmonizes. How to express energy with texture. How to actually combine them to produce power. I separated internal and external applications. It’s a disorganized collection of things I figured out through personal experience, fights, and getting beat up in this old body. Honestly, I never expected to pass this on to anyone, so the title is just a placeholder. It's simply A Study on Yin and Yang.”

Heo Gyeom had poured out martial theory like a summer storm, yet I understood every word.

Because it aligned exactly with the dilemma I’d been facing.

Elder Heo added more explanation.

“It’s the same with the Taiji principle in Daoism. It’s the moment of greatest efficiency when yin and yang meet that’s called Taiji. Whenever two forces meet, there’s always a moment of explosive contact. To counter that, practitioners of the Demonic Path studied the Reverse Taiji for a long time. In the end, you realize that striving for the ultimate point brings everyone to contemplate the same things. Whether it’s reaching the peak or transcending evil, they’re just signposts near the path to completion.”

His words seemed to resonate not just with me, but also with the Sword Demon, the womanizer, the Mistress, and Gyoyeong—all of whom practiced martial arts.

Soon, Yongmyeong returned and handed the book to the elder, who received it without a word or any hint of condition, then extended it to me.

“Master Yi, please read and use it as you see fit.”

Since I had already promised to help the Blood Night Palace, I accepted it without resistance.

“I’ll study it well.”

“Yongmyeong, let us take our leave.”

As the elder looked to Yongmyeong, the young man stepped forward and helped him up.

Heo Gyeom glanced around the room and said,

“Well then, carry on with your discussion. And when you attack Saryugok, bring Yongmyeong with you. He’s been trained well enough not to be a burden.”

Everyone turned their eyes toward the young man.

From the context, it was clear that Yongmyeong was the elder’s protégé, someone he had passed his lifetime’s martial knowledge to.

The Mistress of Blood Night Palace stood up and addressed Elder Heo.

“Elder, please go safely.”

Heo Gyeom made comfortable eye contact with everyone and said,

“To live long, one must sleep early. I’ll take my leave first.”

Ordinary words no longer felt ordinary, so everyone stood up together.

“Rest well, Elder.”

“Farewell, Elder Commander. Until next time.”

“Take care.”

I stopped the old man and Yongmyeong for a moment.

“Wait a moment.”

I placed the book he had given me back on the table and said,

“Elder, allow ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) me to escort you to your quarters.”

Yongmyeong looked surprised as he watched me and the elder. When Elder Heo nodded, Yongmyeong stepped aside.

I approached the old man and said,

“Since the old man’s man and the young man’s man are walking together, no one get in our way.”

I slid in beside Heo Gyeom and gently supported his frail body. He was so light it felt like I could lift him with a few fingers.

Heo Gyeom lightly patted the back of my hand that was supporting him.

“Master Yi, let’s go.”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

I walked very slowly alongside the old man. Though it would have taken only a moment to carry him on my back, we were men’s men—so we walked.

“If my grandfather up in heaven could see me now, he’d be very surprised.”

“Oh? And why is that?”

“A guy who couldn’t even make noodles properly and just wiped floors is now going around beating Jianghu warriors to death—just imagine how shocked my grandfather would be. He probably would’ve worried even if I just kept working day to day at the inn. And seeing me roaming Jianghu like this? He’d be even more anxious.”

“Do you regret coming to Jianghu?”

I shook my head.

“I like it now.”

“This old man feels the same. If there is such a thing as a next life, and Jianghu exists there too, I’d choose to live in it again without hesitation.”

I nodded.

“Same here.”

As the old man and I walked together, a flurry of nameless flower petals scattered before us, and we stopped for a moment.

Only after the drifting petals passed did we resume walking.

“It took me more than half a century to understand the world and recognize the foolishness of people, including myself. The more you push, criticize, and scold, the more people go astray—I’ve seen that too many times. I shouldn’t have done it like that. There were times when I fell into despair, realizing that no matter how many people were killed, it never ended.”

“I’m a foolish man’s man too—if I had met you earlier, Elder, you probably would’ve scolded me a lot.”

“Master Yi, when did you first start going astray?”

I grinned and tried to recall.

“Who knows. I guess from the moment I could understand speech. I heard too many drunken ramblings from idiots growing up. It’s an old story, even for someone as young as me. I probably started going crooked very early on. I remember thinking that when I got older, I’d beat the crap out of those bastard drunkards… What about you, Elder?”

“I spent my whole life in training and battle. I had no time to look back. Only after I lost all the martial arts that had supported me did I begin to see the world differently. There was a time when I believed martial arts were everything. Only after losing it all did I realize it wasn’t. I was foolish and understood it too late. Fortunately, perhaps because of the merits I had accumulated, no one in the Cult tried to kill me.”

“I believe it. Even among devils, a man’s man deserves respect.”

“It was after I lost my martial arts that I truly resolved to kill the Cult Leader. I was so old that I briefly forgot I’d lost my martial arts.”

I chuckled and replied,

“If only you had faced the Cult Leader during your prime, how great that would’ve been.”

“It’s not easy to reject the place you belong to or to think differently.”

“True words.”

Following the elder’s gaze, we arrived not at some luxurious residence, but at a neat wooden house with a training yard in front. I slowly looked over the humble home of a retired demonic path master.

The old man said,

“I’d like to sit on the bench for a bit.”

I guided him to the bench, and we sat down together.

From this spot, one could clearly see the main residence where the Mistress stayed and the scenic view of the inner garden.

“Master Yi, your progress is fast, but don’t grow complacent.”

“I won’t.”

“I taught my disciple Yongmyeong this. Take it to heart.”

“I’m listening.”

“When you meet someone greater than you, serve them as your master. When you meet someone lesser, leave without hesitation. But if you ever come across someone exceptional whom you absolutely cannot accept, then stick to them with complete loyalty—become their friend first. A blade from a friend who knows your heart is harder to block than anything. Do you understand the logic behind this?”

I locked eyes with Elder Heo Gyeom and nodded.

“That’s the logic of a truly ruthless assassin.”

Heo Gyeom said,

“That’s correct. Yongmyeong is the last assassin I trained. He’s someone who would approach a target, devote his whole life to them, and only recall the mission at the most certain moment. It’s a method reserved for assassinating someone almost impossible to kill. I trained him with the Cult Leader in mind. The battle between me and the Cult Leader isn’t over yet.”

I touched the elder’s hand. Though he had lost his internal energy, the calluses thickly built up on every knuckle remained.

“Were you the Instructor One who wiped out Saryugok?”

“I still think about how I failed to capture Instructor Seven back then, but I never expected him to reappear like this. You should be careful too, Master Yi. Just as I raised Yongmyeong, Instructor Seven likely passed on his teachings to someone as well.”

I nodded and looked off toward the distant sky.

“I have too many enemies. Thanks to these assassins, I haven’t slept properly in days. I even nod off while eating lately…”

The old man fell silent in thought, then replied,

“There’s no real solution. For assassins too, resisting sleep is the hardest part. Enduring for three or four days is manageable, but even top-tier assassins struggle after more than ten days. If you can still take naps here and there, then you’re actually in a better state than they are—just be mindful and hold out. Make good use of your subordinates. Ideally, an assassin guarding you would be the best protection, but once trust is tainted by suspicion, even that won’t bring peace of mind.”

His response made me sigh in frustration.

“Surviving really isn’t easy.”

“And yet, living so fiercely is what makes life joyful.”

“You’re right. That’s the life of a man’s man.”

As I stood from the bench, Elder Heo looked up at me.

“Master Yi, please come visit again before this old man dies.”

I took the elder’s wrinkled hand.

“My elder man’s man, stay alive for a long time. I’ll be back to see you.”

Heo Gyeom nodded, then gave a toothy smile.

“I’ll be waiting.”

Since we were men’s men, we just nodded a few times—and parted without another word.