The meal at Warbreaker Pavilion was less awkward than expected.

Surprisingly, that was thanks to Yeon Wi. Unlike usual, Yeon Wi spoke a great deal, and Yeon Hojeong responded to his father as he always did, naturally leading the mood.

Mookbi, too, joined the conversation now and then with a much brighter expression. At first, Gangryang had eaten stiffly and awkwardly, but little by little he seemed to grow used to the atmosphere, and eventually he filled his stomach in relative ease.

Just like that, the meal, which had lasted half a shichen, came to an end.

“It’s colder than yesterday. Looks like winter really has come.”

When he let out a light breath, a white cloud poured from his lips.

“For people who live busily, time always flows quickly. And the older one gets, the faster each year seems to pass.”

Yeon Hojeong deeply agreed with Yeon Wi’s words.

He had cultivated the Four Spirit Martial Art and stepped out into the martial world, throwing himself into the Dark Path. Then one day, when he looked back, he had already founded the Black Emperor’s Citadel, and the martial artists of the world feared him as the Dark Emperor, the Lord of the Black Emperor’s Citadel.

Truly, time had passed so quickly that he could hardly understand when it had all flown by. Even after returning to the past, time had once again rushed onward in a blur until it reached the present.

So much has happened.

And much more would happen in the future.

If I don’t die, that is.

Yeon Wi spoke in his usual blunt tone.

“He seemed like a decent young man.”

“Hm?”

“I mean that boy, Gangryang.”

Yeon Hojeong smiled.

“His lack of experience is a problem, but he’s steady and loyal.”

“So it seemed.”

Yeon Wi looked up at the sky.

Until yesterday, snow had been pouring down. Today, the sky had been clear from morning to night. The glittering stars were extraordinarily beautiful.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what?”

“That the young man was the heir to the Ghost-Iron Sword Gate.”

“Did I not?”

Yeon Wi spoke as if his son were incorrigible.

“I only heard that the boy had lost his parents and siblings and that his sect had been destroyed. Until he introduced himself, I had no idea he was from the Dark Path.”

“It seems I forgot.”

There was no chance that was true. His son lived a busy life by nature, but he was not the sort to make that kind of mistake.

Yeon Hojeong shrugged.

“But what does it matter? He’s a decent man. Just because someone comes from the Dark Path doesn’t mean every last one of them is some rotten scum. You know that too, Father.”

“Of course I do. In truth, the Ghost-Iron Sword Gate was famous for its bold temperament, though the road it walked differed from that of our Orthodox Path.”

“I know.”

“Did you want to test your father?”

Yeon Hojeong waved a hand.

“Please don’t say that. There are people one may test and people one may not. How could I possibly test you, Father?”

“Then perhaps we can soften it a little and say you wanted to see my reaction?”

Yeon Hojeong looked at Yeon Wi.

Yeon Wi let out a faint chuckle.

“You never revealed yourself very well, even when you were young. But no matter how much a child may try to hide things from a parent, what parent fails to understand the child’s heart?”

“Is that so?”

“I may have raised you too sternly, but I never once looked away from you.”

“...”

“Of course, there have been times when your sudden changes startled me greatly.”

By “sudden changes,” he meant the very moment Yeon Hojeong had returned.

Yeon Hojeong smiled faintly.

“Hearing it put that way, I sound like a rather easy man to understand.”

“Anyone to whom you have shown your true heart would think so.”

It was an accurate read.

When Yeon Hojeong truly set his mind to deceiving someone, he could deceive anyone. Hadn’t Yangcheon, the Fighting King himself, been utterly fooled by Yeon Hojeong’s flawless performance?

Still, that only happened when necessity demanded it. Under ordinary circumstances, Yeon Hojeong did not try to deceive others.

If anything, he preferred to smash things apart openly.

“Father.”

“Yes.”

“As you once said before, I’m quick-tempered and twisted.”

“I do not recall ever saying you were twisted.”

“Well, it amounts to the same thing.”

“Heh.”

“But even someone as foul-tempered as I am knows at least this much.”

“What is that?”

“That factions and sects may divide enemy from ally, but even within the same affiliation, people’s natures can differ as widely as heaven and earth.”

Satisfaction appeared on Yeon Wi’s face.

“Well said. It took this father of yours nearly thirty years to realize that. You have reached that point several years faster than I did.”

Yeon Hojeong wanted to say that was not true.

If he had never cultivated the Four Spirit Martial Art, if he had never thrown himself into the Dark Path—

If he had never founded the Black Emperor’s Citadel and fought a decisive struggle against the Orthodox Path martial world, then he would have remained trapped inside his own preconceptions forever.

That’s why you are the remarkable one, Father.

Yeon Hojeong forcefully swallowed the words that had risen all the way to his throat.

“Just because someone is from the Dark Path doesn’t make that person bad. And on the other hand, not everyone from the Orthodox Path overflows with chivalry either.”

“Of course.”

“It’s just that, in the future, I don’t know what kind of strange people I may end up becoming close with. They may come from the Dark Path. They may be the child of some third-rate martial hall. They may be a fortune-teller, or even a beggar.”

With slightly trembling eyes, Yeon Hojeong looked directly at Yeon Wi.

“Even so, would you be able to treat my friends the way you treated Gangryang?”

Yeon Wi gazed silently at Yeon Hojeong for a moment, then tilted his head.

“This father of yours has not yet had the chance to build a proper friendship with that child named Gangryang.”

“...”

“But I will treat Gangryang the same way I treat Bia. From what I have seen so far, he seems more than worthy of becoming acquainted with, though the world is always uncertain.”

“...”

“I trust my son, and so I will regard my son’s friend as I would my own child. But for trust to take root in a relationship, a certain amount of time and conversation is necessary.”

“I know.”

“Yes. It is enough that you understand that.”

Yeon Hojeong smiled once more.

“That’s enough for me.”

Because he was his son’s friend, Yeon Wi would treat him as he did his own son.

But Yeon Wi was a person too. Separate from the fact that he was his son’s friend, the relationship between Yeon Wi and that friend mattered as well.

In other words, Yeon Wi would accept whatever friend Yeon Hojeong brought, but he was asking that his son understand that time would still be needed between him and that person.

In the end, it was his way of saying not to worry. Yeon Hojeong felt strangely reassured by his father’s words.

Yeon Wi rose from the platform.

“I will have to watch him further, but now I understand why you took a liking to that child. Of course, if the two of you are to grow together from here on, it will take quite a bit of effort.”

“It will.”

“I will help with the smaller details. Of course, that is if the boy says he is willing to receive instruction.”

“It would be instruction from the Judge’s Sword himself. Who in the world would refuse that?”

“You do have a good tongue, brat.”

Yeon Wi drew his collar closed.

“Your Inner Qi is so flexible and unbound that you probably do not feel much cold, but do not stand in the chill wind too long.”

“Understood.”

“I’ll be off.”

Yeon Wi headed toward the main gate of Warbreaker Pavilion. It seemed he had separate business to attend to regarding his duties as a Service Lord.

Watching his father’s back in silence, Yeon Hojeong spoke.

“Father.”

“Hm?”

“In truth...”

Yeon Hojeong hesitated for a moment.

There were many reasons he had never spoken of his past until now. Even after his bond with his father had deepened, he had not found it easy to speak, because with his father’s temperament, he feared his father would not be able to keep his expression under control.

But perhaps now—

Now, when his father not only trusted him exactly as he was, but recognized him as a proud and proper warrior.

Now, when his father, with not even the slightest trace of falsehood, had told him he would treat whatever strange people Yeon Hojeong brought back as he would his own son.

And now, when the Clan Lord of the Yeon Clan had begun using the wisdom he possessed with such deftness amid all this political struggle.

If so, then perhaps it was all right to say it now.

“It seems you have something you wish to tell me.”

“...I do.”

Yeon Wi quietly studied his son’s face, then smiled.

“I knew long ago. That you were hiding something from me. That secret may well be the greatest secret you possess.”

“You knew?”

“As I said a little while ago, you are easier to understand than you think.”

Yeon Hojeong smiled.

Yeon Wi shook his head.

“A secret, once spoken, is finished. You must have had troubles of your own, but if that secret truly is your greatest one, then I believe you ought to be cautious, cautious again, even if the person before you is your parent.”

“...”

“I will not hear it today. Think it over once more, and when you are truly certain that it is all right to confide it to this father of yours, then tell me at that moment.”

With that, Yeon Wi left Warbreaker Pavilion.

Yeon Hojeong watched the gate through which his father had gone, then sat back down on the platform.

“When I am truly certain it is all right to confide it...”

Yeon Hojeong looked up at the sky.

The stars his father liked so much were shining especially beautifully tonight.

“In truth, that kind of certainty isn’t necessary. I know you would believe me no matter what absurd thing I said.”

Yeon Hojeong closed his eyes.

“It’s just that I only realized that now.”

Parents knew everything about their child, yet the child was the one who wanted certainty from the parent.

I still have a long way to go.

He had grown by cutting his way through battlefields soaked in blood, but in the end, that was all it was.

He had reigned as the king of the Dark Path, but he was still young. At least in front of his father, he had no need for transcendent martial arts, no need for an eye that saw through weaknesses, no need for brilliant stratagems.

Perhaps most of the things he had shown his father until now had simply been the childish urge to boast that he had grown this much.

A chance.

He had wondered all along how he had returned to the past, and if heaven had truly sent him back, then why it had done so.

Until now, he had thought it was to prevent the Central Plains from turning into a sea of fire. Whether heaven truly wished that or not, he did not know, but thinking that way had at least eased his mind.

But now he decided to think differently.

That his return to the past was not only to stop the Three Fanatic Creeds and the Ming Clan of the Nine Provinces.

That for him, the greatest value of all lay in building the trust he had never been able to share with the family he had regained.

“Ahem!”

Yeon Hojeong turned his head.

Before he knew it, Gangryang was standing there.

“You done eating?”

“I am.”

“What about Mookbi?”

“She said she would clean up herself. She told me to head out...”

Yeon Hojeong looked at him in disbelief.

“Older sister?”

“That’s right.”

“Why is Mookbi your older sister?”

Gangryang tilted his head.

“She’s much older than I am. Then of course she’s my older sister.”

...That bastard is slicker than I thought. He wasn’t like this before.

“So anyway.”

“Don’t.”

“Young Master Yeon is my savior, and besides, you’re a year older than I am.”

“I said don’t.”

“So I was thinking I’d just call you brother.”

Yeon Hojeong scratched both arms furiously. Goosebumps had risen all over him.

Of course, back in the days of the Dark Emperor, Gangryang had called him brother too, but this process really wasn’t right.

“I don’t know when it’ll be, but until I leave, I’ll be in your care.”

“Fine, but cut out the ‘brother.’”

“No.”

He looked ready to keep calling him that even if the sky collapsed tomorrow. Once he decided to do something, he would do it even if it killed him.

Yeon Hojeong let out a sigh and stood.

“For the time being, just rest here.”

“Hm? Where are you going?”

“Mookbi and I have a few places to go.”

“A few places? ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) Inside the Alliance?”

“Yes.”

Yeon Hojeong looked west.

The chill that had settled into his eyes had grown so sharp that Gangryang’s spine turned clammy.

“...Because it’s about time that rabid lunatic started moving.”