Of course, Seo-jun didn’t just drop everything and head off to the Western Regions on a whim.
He still hadn’t dealt with his Heart Demon, the political landscape was tangled with the likes of the Black Serpent Alliance, and the war wasn’t even fully over yet.
If he had to rank his curiosity about the Western Regions, it would be somewhere at the bottom of his list.
Maybe once things settled down in Zhongyuan, he could visit on his second or third honeymoon or something.
And so, when Seo-jun returned to the Namgung Clan, what greeted him was...
A furious Geum Chunbong roaring at the top of her lungs.
"No...! No, no! That’s not how you do it! Huh? Just swing it! Straight! Like this—! Swish! Bam! You can’t even do that!?"
****
All things that make up a person—body, mind, environment, wealth, talent—are decided even before they leave their mother’s womb.
It’s possible to refine what one is born with after birth, but the starting line is already set in stone.
As Bi-yeon put it, too many things were predetermined from the moment of birth.
The fact that his talent wasn’t just lacking but practically nonexistent wasn’t his fault.
He was simply born that way.
Hard work aside, Bi-yeon never chose to be talentless.
And that complicated Chunbong’s feelings.
A back-alley orphan without even the talent to become whole on his own—a kid robbed of the chance to move forward.
She wanted to give him an opportunity.
But she didn’t expect it to be this bad.
“No! No—! Huh? That’s not—! Ughhh...!”
Chunbong stomped around, swinging the wooden sword in her hand with exasperation.
“Like this! Just swing straight. Got it? Watch.”
She slashed at the straw dummy in front of her. Whoosh.
The wooden sword sliced through without a hitch.
She gave the top half of the dummy a gentle push, and it toppled over with a clean-cut surface. She pointed at the severed section.
“See? Perfectly smooth, right?”
“Y-Yeah....”
“But this is how you’re swinging, dumbass.”
Chunbong swung the wooden sword again—WHAM!
This time, it buried itself deep into the straw dummy. Straw exploded in all directions as if it had been blasted apart.
Bi-yeon gawked, nodding blankly.
“So... my sword path isn’t straight?”
“Exactly! That’s it!”
Technically, the top of the dummy still went flying because it was Chunbong’s strike.
But calling it a ‘clean cut’ would be generous—it looked more like a crime scene than a proper strike.
The edges were jagged and uneven, some parts torn rather than sliced.
It wasn’t a matter of “Well, at least the head got smashed, so it’s fine!”
This couldn’t even be called swordsmanship. He might as well be swinging a club.
“Alright, let’s go again!”
Suppressing her frustration, Chunbong instructed Bi-yeon to attempt a vertical cut again.
In fancier terms, it was the Initial Step of the Three Calamities Sword «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» Art.
In simpler terms—just a vertical slash.
Whooosh...
Bi-yeon’s sword wobbled and stumbled down from above.
“What the...”
Chunbong’s jaw dropped. Why? How was he struggling with a simple downward slash?
Even if he just dropped the sword from mid-air, it would fall straighter than that.
“Gyaaaaaah...”
Holding back a full-blown scream so she wouldn’t hurt Bi-yeon’s feelings, Chunbong trembled in frustration.
That’s when she heard snickering.
“Our dear Chunbong, playing teacher now?”
“Does this look like a damn game to you!?”
Chunbong instinctively snapped back—then froze.
“Lee Seo-jun!”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m back.”
“Why the hell are you so late!?”
Chunbong dashed forward and executed a flawless dropkick to Seo-jun’s side.
Thwack!
Seo-jun was sent flying, coughing up blood.
“Ugh...?”
Chunbong’s face went pale.
“The culprit... is Geum Chunbong....”
Leaving behind his dying words in blood, Heavenly Lord Lee Seo-jun closed his eyes.
“O-Oppa—!!”
****
“You motherf—! That’s not something to joke about!”
Chunbong’s face was beet red as she stomped the ground in frustration.
Well, at least he hadn’t actually taken damage—thanks to the Heart Demon.
“I wasn’t joking when I coughed up blood, though.”
“T-That’s....”
Chunbong shriveled, hesitating.
“S-S...”
“S...?”
“Son of a bitch! You should’ve dodged better, dumbass!”
Correction: That was not an apology.
Despite the completely shameless words coming out of her mouth, her tiny face had “I feel SO bad about this” written all over it.
Seo-jun just chuckled and conjured Primordial Chaos in his palm.
The ink-black mass, the source of all things, something beyond words and reason—Chunbong’s mouth fell open.
“This is Primordial Chaos. I absentmindedly peeled away my Mental World and looked deeper inside. And there... ugh...!”
Splurt! Seo-jun coughed up blood again. Chunbong’s face turned ghostly pale.
“H-Hey! No, wait, we need to—”
Seo-jun spat to the side, shaking his head.
“I’m fine. If I stay still, it’ll be fine.”
Coughing up blood was just a side effect of looking too deep into his own Mental World—at least, that’s what Seo-jun casually explained as he played with the Primordial Chaos in his palm.
Chunbong’s eyes bulged.
“Then just! Stop! Using it! You crazy bastard—!!”
With a furious roar, she let out all her pent-up frustration.
“Don’t use it! That... whatever the hell it is! Why would you keep using it when you KNOW it makes you spit blood!?”
“The hell? Who do you think you are, telling me what I can and can’t do with my own martial arts?”
Seo-jun was literally fighting against his Heart Demon inside his own mind.
Watching her brother argue with himself, Chunbong let out a serene smile.
The kind of smile you’d expect from the enlightened Buddha.
Then she patted Bi-yeon’s shoulder, who was standing there, utterly bewildered.
“Sorry, kid. You’re actually a way better listener than I gave you credit for.”
“...Uh.”
Bi-yeon rolled his eyes and then hung his head.
Only then did Seo-jun finally turn his attention to the boy.
“And who the hell is this?”
****
"Ah, so you kidnapped him from the backstreets?"
After listening to Chunbong’s explanation, Seo-jun gave a slow nod.
Judging from what he’d heard, the kid did remind him of Chunbong. Maybe just a little.
And the reason why that cheeky little street brat had suddenly become so obedient? That much was obvious.
Most people got scared the moment they stepped into the Namgung Clan’s estate.
To Seo-jun, it was just home, but to outsiders, it might as well be a royal palace.
Chunbong looked at Seo-jun and asked, “So? What do you think we should do?”
Seo-jun might not seem like it, but he was a self-made legend.
He had crawled up from the very bottom, with just a little help from Chunbong and a rampaging level of talent, reaching the peak entirely on his own. He was the embodiment of self-made success.
Chunbong figured that if she asked the most incredible martial artist she knew (and yes, she still thought that even when Namgung Jincheon was alive), she’d get a solid answer.
And so, in response to his sister’s faith in him, Seo-jun replied,
"Well, you see—"
"Yeah?"
"He should probably... find a different path?"
Chunbong’s piercing stare drilled into Seo-jun’s face.
His skin burned under her glare, but he stood by his answer.
"If someone has no talent in a field, they should find another path. Unless they love martial arts so much that they’re willing to starve to death for it, the goal should be success. And to succeed, they need to find what suits them best."
"Didn’t you say martial arts is the only way to stand on your own in this world?"
"That’s just my opinion. If someone finds fulfillment in scrubbing dishes like a master, then that’s enough. In the end, the world is defined by the observer's perspective, right?"
As he spoke, Seo-jun glanced at Bi-yeon.
The boy was hunched over, shoulders stiff, but deep within those eyes, there was still a burning flame.
Honestly, Seo-jun didn’t really care what happened to the kid.
As long as the people around him were doing well, that was enough for him. He wasn’t some saint trying to save the world.
But...
"Still, I mean..."
His younger sister—no, his fiancée now—was standing there, pouting and stealing glances at Bi-yeon.
The same Chunbong who once beat the crap out of his inner demon.
If it was for her, well... he could make an exception.
"Fine. It’s not like thinking it over is that hard."
Chunbong’s head shot up. Seo-jun smirked.
"Keep teaching him. Wait, what exactly are you teaching him right now?"
"He says his sect had its own sword art, but I figured it’d be better to start with the basics first. So, I’m teaching him the Three Calamities Sword Art."
"Oh, the Three Calamities Sword Art."
Seo-jun nodded nostalgically.
"The meat dumplings I had back then were amazing."
"I just had some before coming back."
"...What."
Seo-jun’s jaw dropped. He had been betrayed by the one person he trusted most—Geum Chunbong.
And that’s when—
"Seo-jun!"
Namgung Sua suddenly came running from the distance, her face pale with worry. She rushed up to Seo-jun, scanning his body frantically.
"Are you okay!? I heard you coughed up blood!"
"Oh, that. Yeah, it happened when Chunbong drop-kicked me—"
"What?"
Namgung Sua’s blue eyes flashed.
Her chilling gaze locked onto Chunbong.
"Geum, no matter what, you can’t just hit someone so hard that they cough up blood."
Her voice was sharper than usual, almost cold.
Seo-jun’s eyes widened in shock.
Sua, the soft-spoken and gentle Sua, was actually scolding Chunbong?
He had only been joking, but she was taking it way too seriously.
And the one receiving the scolding—Chunbong—was simply outraged.
"I mean, yeah, but! It’s not like she’s wrong! But also—! Ugh!"
Frustrated to the point of trembling, Chunbong finally clutched her head.
"Uuuuuugh—!!!"
Geum Chunbong has attained enlightenment!
****
Seo-jun hadn’t thoughtlessly decided to take a look at Bi-yeon’s martial arts.
With external suppression-type Heart Demon inhibitors like Geum Chunbong and a manifestation of inner peace like Namgung Sua by his side, there was no immediate risk of his Heart Demon worsening.
And besides, Bi-yeon’s struggles were somewhat related to Seo-jun’s own insights.
Talent. The things people were born with.
If he kept thinking about that invisible leash wrapped around everyone’s necks, maybe... just maybe...
'...Could I resolve my Heart Demon too?'
...He wasn’t sure.
Seo-jun scratched his head.