Actions carry inertia.
What one does consistently becomes a habit, becomes part of daily life… and eventually becomes a direction in itself.
That is how it becomes inertia.
The kind of inertia that is hard to stop even when you try, that makes you unconsciously do things the way you always have.
This is also why a martial artist of the Unorthodox Sects, even when weary of the unorthodox life, cannot easily turn to the Orthodox Sects.
Having lived that way their entire life, they know no other way. They simply live as their past self pushes them forward.
"In that sense, I too could say that I have been buried beneath the killing intent and grudges I have accumulated over the years."
"Hmm. Ah, it's the General."
"…Are you actually listening to what I'm saying?"
Tang So-wol had been the one to ask what I was thinking when I first reached the Harmony Realm, yet she wouldn't take her eyes off the game board.
As she'd said, we were sharing the bed while my injuries healed… but surprisingly, that was all we were doing.
Well, it wasn't as if I'd expected anything grand—we were inside the Tang Clan, after all, and there were two other people who treated my room like their own backyard.
Still, I had to admit I felt a twinge of disappointment that we were just passing the time with idle chatter and simple games like go.
Anyway, it was what it was.
I'd voiced my mild grievance toward Tang So-wol, who had asked the question in the first place but wasn't bothering to listen properly.
"Come on, there's more than that. Something easier to understand, simpler. I'm certain you said it out loud."
"How could you… Surely you weren't awake?"
"Yes. My eyelids couldn't even move, but my consciousness returned just before young hero Cheon came up. Probably because the Grand Ritual was half-broken."
According to what Tang So-wol said next, the entire Heavenly Poison Sect was like a massive device designed to extract the poison from her.
Not just the buildings, but including the affiliated Martial Artists, it was a completed, intricate formation of sorts.
But since I knocked down the Heavenly Poison Sect's Martial Artists left and right and smashed the buildings too, by the time I reached the Poison Demon, Tang So-wol's consciousness must have returned.
"Well then! You understand what I want to hear now, don't you?"
"So this was the goal from the start, not the fragments of my Enlightenment."
"That goes without saying. Just as young hero Cheon has his own path, I have mine—so why would I ask such a thing? Ah, of course, our paths differ slightly, but we look toward the same direction, so please don't be too disappointed."
"I've never been disappointed."
"Hmm. You certainly looked disappointed just now… Ahem. The conversation keeps drifting elsewhere. But I have no intention of letting you off so easily. Come now, speak up!"
"Hoo."
As I let out a faint sigh, Tang So-wol added in a subtle voice.
"I might be willing to yield a move, even now?"
"…"
I looked down at the game board. I'd left it in a complete mess while focusing on the conversation. It definitely wasn't because I was bad at the game.
After a moment's hesitation, I opened my mouth.
"It's just…"
"Just?"
Her dark green eyes sparkled with anticipation and playfulness. Looking at that gaze, a mischievous impulse crept up in me, making me want to refuse her whatever she wanted.
Of course, if I actually did that, she would surely wrap herself in the blanket and flail her arms and legs, or snatch my pillow away, pressing me even harder. So I held back.
"I just wanted to protect you. …Is that enough?"
"Hehe. Fine, fine. As promised, I'll yield a move."
Tang So-wol moved her piece back to its previous spot. This time, I said nothing more and focused solely on the game board.
"You'll regret this."
"Isn't that what you say almost every day?"
After One Da-kyung. In the end, I lost.
It was one of the routines that had continued for nearly five days now.
***
Growing tired of the game board (and definitely not because I'd never won a single match), I started flipping through the secret manual I'd brought from Gwiyeong Sin-tu's vault.
I'd been told not to use martial arts, but reading a martial arts manual should be fine.
For the record, this wasn't the original. I'd already agreed to return those to their original owners in exchange for a small fee. What I was reading was, at best, a copy.
In principle, when one obtains another clan's or sect's martial arts, the virtuous thing to do is return it without making a copy… but.
Who actually follows that rule that strictly?
Everyone makes copies, or memorizes them thoroughly and stores them in their heads.
The other side knows this well, but either way, they're grateful that it comes back to them directly instead of circulating elsewhere.
After all, if you searched other places, you'd find one or two martial arts from other schools there too.
The important thing isn't flaunting it openly, but hiding it away underground where no one knows.
For that reason, truly important secret arts are often designed so they can't be learned from the manual alone.
They deliberately make the language difficult, so you have to master all the connected lower-level arts before you can even understand it.
Or sometimes, they taught half through oral transmission and half through a secret manual.
However, the martial arts manuals stored in the secret vault of the Gwiyeong Sin-tu were of a slightly lower grade, so they weren't that thorough.
Thanks to that, there were often ones you could get a rough sense of just by reading them.
Using them as-is would be inefficient, but some of their mysteries and guiding principles were worth referencing.
As I lay face down on the blanket, flipping through page after page, I suddenly felt a soft touch and a heavy weight on my waist.
I had a rough idea of the cause, but I still craned my neck back to confirm.
Needless to say, Tang So-wol was there, having quietly climbed on top of me.
Elegantly crossing one leg, she sipped an ordinary tea instead of Poison Tea for the first time in a while, and I quietly watched her.
"Would the young hero Cheon care for a cup as well?"
"…No."
She showed no sign of getting up, so I shook my head and went back to reading the secret manual I had been studying.
It was a martial art focused on deflecting an opponent's attack and countering by turning that force back against them.
It had been created with the mysteries of Flow and Change at its core… It was a rather subtle art, and it was no wonder it had been kept in the secret vault of the Gwiyeong Sin-tu.
First of all, the requirements were too demanding. One had to be well-versed in the mysteries of Flow and Change, while also achieving considerable success in External Arts training, so that the body could easily absorb impact and concentrate it into a single point.
Above all, this was a spear technique. It wasn't that there were no martial arts using the spear, but it was true that they were quite rare.
The reason was simple. For quite a long time, the spear and the bow had been weapons not permitted to martial artists.
The current dynasty is friendly toward the martial world, and conversely, the martial world is also loyal to the current dynasty… but it is said that in the past, the conflict between the two was considerable.
Official inviolability was nonsense, and unlike today, where there are no Forbidden Arts as long as a martial art doesn't violate human decency, back then, all sorts of martial arts were banned for all sorts of reasons.
For example, the bow and the spear.
The dynasty of that time must have been well aware of the importance of monopolizing martial arts.
Weapons with high practical value were banned to be monopolized by the military, and in severe cases, they were even confiscated.
That said, they weren't about to give up the martial arts they had trained in all their lives.
There were those who resisted and were wiped out in Clan Exterminations, but most began to rework their martial arts to fit the sword, which had too many users for self-defense to be banned.
A representative example is the Sa-il Sword Technique.
Why would a martial art created to emulate the legendary archer who shot down nine suns with his bow ever be meant for the sword?
The Sa-il Sword Technique was originally a martial art performed with a bow. Now, only the modified Oral Formula for the sword remains.
In that sense, this spear technique possesses a charm quite different from the current martial arts system, making it intriguing…
"Young hero Cheon. Your internal energy is stirring."
"Oh."
Tang So-wol's voice snapped me back to my senses, and I closed the secret manual.
"Is it a martial art impressive enough to elicit such a reaction from young hero Cheon?"
"It's fairly interesting, but not to that extent. …It's probably just because I haven't yet grown accustomed to my Bone-Exchange Rebirth body."
It is said that only when Intent permeates the martial art, and that martial art permeates the body, does one achieve Bone-Exchange Rebirth.
In simple terms, it means the Union of Essence, Qi, and Spirit.
Given that situation, even the slightest stirring of thought causes my internal energy to move on its own.
Ordinarily, having my internal energy respond nimbly to my will would be a cause for joy… but in my current state—my body not yet fully recovered, and with so much I still need to investigate—it sometimes feels inconvenient.
This, too, must be because I haven't yet grown accustomed to it. The fastest way to adapt to my current realm would be training that pushes me to my limits… but since even that is impossible, I can only sigh in frustration.
As I keep letting out heavy sighs, as if to comfort me, Tang So-wol sets her teacup down on the table and lies down on top of me.
It looks as though she has draped her body over my prone form. As her posture shifts, various parts of her naturally brush against me, and I can't help but flinch for a moment.
Whether she doesn't notice my reaction or pretends not to, Tang So-wol presses her chin firmly against the top of my head and continues speaking.
"Be careful. This is definitely different from a typical Bone-Exchange Rebirth, isn't it?"
"That's true."
I had been resting all this time, but it wasn't as if I had been idling about with nothing to do.
Just as I sometimes moved my internal energy without realizing it, Tang So-wol would occasionally release poison without being aware of it herself.
Strangely enough, I, who was hit directly by that poison from right beside her, felt nothing out of the ordinary.
And that was despite the fact that it wasn't a weak poison but a rather vicious one.
I suspect it might be because, when I achieved my Bone-Exchange Rebirth, I absorbed and reconstructed Tang So-wol's poison into my body as well…
As for the details, I decided to test them once my body fully recovered. For now, it was enough to know that I had developed a strong resistance to poison.
"Haah."
A sigh escaped me on its own from frustration. I wished it were the kind of frustration that could be felt from behind my back, encompassing all the world's frustrations.
Tang So-wol chuckled softly at my sigh and casually reached out to push the martial arts manual aside.
"Even if it's just reading, you're still keeping close to martial arts, aren't you? Just endure a few more days."
"Easier said than done. I've spent my whole life swinging a sword, and now you're telling me not to even think about it?"
"…You're not even of age yet, and already you speak like some old master. Do you know that even after this winter passes, young hero Cheon will only just be nineteen?"
"I often forget my own age, but I remember clearly that you, Tang So-wol, will soon turn twenty-four, so I suppose you must be right."
"Hehe. It's nothing much, but it makes me a little happy that young hero Cheon remembers me well. I'll praise you for that."
"…?"
Tang So-wol, who had suddenly brightened, fluttered about on top of me for only a moment.
Then, as if something had occurred to her, she abruptly changed the subject.
"Ah, seeing the secret manual reminded me of something, young hero Cheon."
"What is it?"
"Was it all right to hand the Alliance Leader's Token to young lady Sama?"
"Sama Yuryeon is someone who keeps her promises strictly, but precisely because of that, she doesn't make them lightly. Without a reward of that magnitude, she wouldn't have moved at all."
"No, that's not what I meant—I wasn't asking whether giving the token to young lady Sama was a waste. …That token was a gift from the Lord of the Black Alliance, telling you to come visit him sometime, wasn't it? I was just wondering whether it's all right to pass it along to someone else as you please."
"Ah."
I had completely forgotten about that part.
The Lord of the Black Alliance was a typical Unorthodox Sect martial artist—greedy to the core, yet surprisingly narrow-minded on the inside. There was a high chance he was harboring a grudge about it.
"I should send a letter saying I'll drop by sometime soon…"
I nodded vaguely and closed my eyes. To fill my head with Tang So-wol instead of martial arts.
***
A few days later, a letter arrived from the Black Alliance.
"What the…?"
In short, the Lord of the Black Alliance had swallowed the Sama Clan whole with Sama Yuryeon's help.
A bit of force. And through a political marriage, no less.
"What the hell is this…?"
It had only been a few days since he sent the letter!
And none of this had happened before the regression.