The Harmony Realm.
Even counting all the retired masters of previous generations, there are barely twenty people in the entire Central Plains martial world who have reached this level.
…Simply saying "twenty" makes it sound like a lot, but one should note that most of them are the heads of the Five Great Families or the Nine Great Sects and One Gang.
While others train their entire lives and barely manage to break through to the Peak Realm, these people possess several advanced martial arts that guarantee reaching the Peak Realm just by taking the time to properly master them.
When everyone else considers themselves a remarkable martial artist just for reaching first-rate, and debates whether to settle down by opening a small martial hall.
I've also seen someone who, having just passed the Age of Twenty, agonized over why he couldn't reach the Peak Realm like the friend next door (a direct-line descendant of another of the Five Great Families).
That was from my previous life, so it's a fairly old memory, but it was so striking that I still remember it.
Yes. The Five Great Families and the Nine Great Sects and One Gang were truly the Corrupt Establishment of the martial world. They could be called the Veterans among veterans.
You could see it just by looking at the Hwangbo Clan, which had taken a wrong step. When no more Harmony Realm martial artists emerged from the family, they had resorted to Forbidden Arts!
"Young hero Cheon? From an objective standpoint, aren't you now a member of the Sichuan Tang Clan, one of those Corrupt Establishment factions? You even reached the Harmony Realm before the Age of Twenty, so why would you suddenly say something like that?"
"If you flatter me like that, doesn't the Harmony Realm I reached seem even more impressive?"
"Even without flattery, the Harmony Realm is a level everyone acknowledges, but…"
"What comes next is what matters. If having a Harmony Realm martial artist is the condition for establishing and maintaining such a great martial sect, then I can do it too, anytime. A martial artist who can match a regional hegemon carries different gravity than just an incredibly strong one."
As I shrugged my shoulders, Tang So-wol made a strange face, as if she had witnessed something bizarre.
Of course, Seomun Hwa-rin, who had been listening from the side, seemed to have a slightly different opinion.
"Oh! If you want a new family, the Seomun Clan's successor position just happens to be open…"
"Clan head."
"Hm?"
"Senior Seomun Hwa-rin. I am now an absolute master of the Harmony Realm, just like you. How could I be satisfied with a mere successor position? Unless you're willing to hand over the position of clan head directly, please stop with those suggestions."
"Tsk! You're already treating this lady like an old woman relegated to the back room…!"
I didn't know about the back room, but the "old woman" part wasn't far off.
Still, saying that out loud would be too harsh, so I held my tongue. After all, I was a Harmony Realm martial artist now. I needed to carry some gravity.
"Ahem."
"Somehow, I get the feeling you're having a very disrespectful thought."
"Don't worry, Sister Seomun. Cheon Hwi has always been a bit rude, so this is no different from usual."
Seomun Hwa-rin reacted sharply to my single cough, and Seol Ri-hyang tried to soothe her. Yet somehow, their words were full of veiled slander.
Tang So-wol seemed to think so too, adding her own remark with a giggle.
"Both of you, don't be too harsh. Isn't a bit of roughness part of young hero Cheon's charm?"
"You can dress that up as charm?"
"If it doesn't make you want to look away, isn't that charm?"
"Your standards are generous."
Seomun Hwa-rin, who had said that, naturally looked down at Tang So-wol's chest due to the height difference and nodded.
"…Mmm. You really are generous."
Tang So-wol, who must have noticed Seomun Hwa-rin's gaze, casually brushed it off and continued speaking.
"Well. Even setting aside all that, it's true that you seem to be in a good mood today. Did something happen, young hero Cheon?"
"Something happen? I finally got permission from the Medical Pavilion head to swing my sword again, now that my body is better."
Spending that time lazing around in the room playing with Tang So-wol, and chatting about this and that with Seol Ri-hyang or Seomun Hwa-rin when they visited, had been enjoyable.
But it was also true that not being able to hold the sword he had swung every single day felt hollow.
And as his body recovered, he could clearly feel how different it was from before, and the thirst only grew stronger.
It was only after nearly a month had passed that he was finally able to hold a sword again. As a bonus, he learned through the head of the Medical Pavilion, who had been examining his body, that he had gained something akin to Immunity to All Poisons.
How could he not be excited?
"There are many things I want to test. Sword Force, of course, but if possible, I'd also like to grasp the knack of Protective Qi."
"You're greedy. For a while, even focusing solely on Sword Force won't be easy. Your Intent has surpassed the norm, allowing you to compress Sword Qi into Sword Force, but… being able to use it and being able to use it in real combat are two different things."
"Protective Qi is the same, I take it."
"Correct. Furthermore, Force also consumes Intent, so even with ample internal energy, there are often cases where one exhausts their Intent and collapses from fatigue. How much more so for Protective Qi, which must envelop the entire body?"
"Can Intent also be trained?"
"Of course it can. It's just not possible to accumulate energy periodically through a Mental Cultivation Method like internal energy, or to skip several stages with Spiritual Medicine."
Seomun Hwa-rin, who claimed that Intent could be cultivated through nothing but meditation, concentration, and a bit of enlightenment.
Having spoken excitedly for a while, she glanced over at me and added one more remark.
"I will tell you this in advance, since you will soon come to understand it yourself after using it a few times. The reason for this difference in training between internal energy and Intent lies in their fundamental nature."
"Fundamental nature, you say?"
"Correct. Internal energy is, as you commonly know, a concept of accumulation. You refine Natural Qi according to the flow of your Mental Cultivation Method and store it in your Dantian. However, Intent is not something you accumulate—it is closer to something you grow accustomed to and sharpen like a blade."
"…So the difference lies in where it comes from."
If internal energy is about taking in something from outside and making it your own.
Then Intent is about how skillfully you can draw out and use what is already within you.
The sensation I'd felt in the final moment of fighting the Poison Demon. As I unconsciously clenched and unclenched my hand while recalling it, my internal energy moved on its own.
Perhaps out of old habit, I instinctively suppressed my internal energy, but soon realized there was no need to and simply let it be.
The feeling of internal energy moving more naturally than I'd expected, swirling around my fingertips. But I now knew that this alone wasn't enough.
As we walked, chatting about this and that, the entrance to the training ground gradually came into view. Feeling the corners of my mouth curl up on their own, I stepped inside.
***
The first thing I did upon entering the training ground was to scatter to our respective spots.
There was no particular reason. It was because I wasn't the only one whose realm had risen after this incident.
She hadn't been as obvious about it as I had, but Tang So-wol, who had reached Transcendent Peak, must have also wanted to test her new realm in private.
Seol Ri-hyang would continue her training as usual, and Seomun Hwa-rin would be helping her with it.
"Hoo."
I let out a long breath and looked at the scarecrow in front of me.
A sturdy thing, with a solid Cheonggang Stone core and straw wrapped around the outside.
At this thickness, even wrapping it in Sword Qi might make it hard to cut through in one go… but Sword Force would be different.
What I couldn't cut before, I can cut now. Isn't that the easiest change to see?
…It was a fairly expensive one, so I might hear some complaints later, but since I brought some things from the secret vault, one or two should be fine.
I nodded to myself inwardly, then drew the sword from my waist and aimed it.
The feeling of my palm sticking to the sword, as if taking root in the blade. It was the familiar sensation of Sword-Mind Unity.
It seemed this hadn't changed much from before. Come to think of it, being able to trace the path of the sword exactly as I envisioned, without a single misstep, was itself a fundamental application of Intent, wasn't it?
I recalled the memory of focusing my mind and drawing out my Aura.
I set aside the various emotions that had accumulated over my life, and looked squarely at the true feelings I had been avoiding.
Now I understood. The unique atmosphere I'd sensed from Harmony Realm martial artists. It didn't come from the martial arts they'd mastered, but from within themselves.
My honest self, unadorned by anything.
What I fished up from the very bottom of the well in my heart, after stripping away killing intent and delusion, was a wish far purer than I'd expected.
I had only ever wanted to protect those precious to me.
The moment I became keenly aware of this, something other than internal energy—something that had already passed through my fingertips and was swirling around the blade—began to stir.
When essence, energy, and spirit become one, there is no reason to draw distinctions between them.
The Intent, born from fierce will, naturally blends into my internal energy.
The Sword Qi, shimmering like a thread, slowly coalesced, and soon became a Sword Flame blazing like fire.
It compressed and sharpened to a level that should have been impossible, all according to my will.
Wooong—!
I had merely swung it, yet such intense power gathered that the solid sword made of Black Iron trembled lightly.
The internal energy that had blazed on the ink-colored blade was clearly Dark Red, but the moment it formed a distinct sword shape and transformed into Aura—
The existing blood-red color shattered into pieces, revealing a pure white Sword Force.
As expected, drawing out the Sword Force was slow and required a considerable level of concentration.
Still, I took meaning in the fact that I had succeeded on the first try, and quietly examined the blade.
The gleam was too vivid to be called merely the light of internal energy.
Perhaps the first person to reach the Harmony Realm had thought the same, and named it Aura by incorporating the stars of the Big Dipper into the term.
However, to my eyes, the Aura was less like starlight and more like the color of snow that blankets winter. Or perhaps closer to moonlight.
It was the same snow that melted helplessly in flames and soaked in blood, and also the faintness I couldn't properly see on that final night because of the clouds.
It might still be insufficient to stand before the Heavenly Demon, that massive dark cloud, but at least it was proof that I had reached the starting line.
With resolve and a wish to illuminate the night I had failed to brighten, I swung the sword with all my might.
The Three Talents Sword Technique, the foundation of all sword arts. Among its forms, a plain vertical slash named Taesan-apjeong.
The pale white sword drew a single straight line through the air.
KWA-GA-GA-GAK!!
…And the wall of the training ground, made entirely of solid Cheonggang Stone, collapsed along with the scarecrow embedded with Cheonggang Stone shards.
"Ah."
I must have swung with too much force.
At the same time, all the strength in my body drained away, and I staggered under the oncoming headache.
Startled by the loud noise, Seomun Hwa-rin, who had come running hastily after stopping her examination of Seol Ri-hyang, looked me over from head to toe, then shook her head.
"You need to learn how to control your strength first."
"Isn't it fine if I can take down an opponent with a single slash?"
"And if there are two enemies, will you just offer them your neck?"
"…"
I tried to grumble for no reason, but what came back was a sound argument that left me speechless.
This was the first time having too much power was the problem.
Before my regression, I had always suffered from a lack of inner qi, and in this life, I thought I had become skilled at controlling my inner qi thanks to my past experience… but it seemed Intent was a different story.
Still dizzy, I barely managed to keep my balance before asking back.
"Of course I need to practice controlling my power, but it's a bit of a problem if I wreck the training ground every time."
"If I were the head of the Tang Clan, I'd tell my son-in-law not to worry about the training ground when he's about to reach Harmony Realm and train… but still, if you can avoid breaking it, it's better not to."
"Is there some way?"
"Of course there is."
Seomun Hwa-rin, who said that, subtly rose onto her tiptoes, puffed out her flat chest, and lifted her chin.
"Ahem."
"?"
"Do I not exist?"
"Surely not?"
Seomun Hwa-rin nodded toward me, my eyes wide open.
"For a while, you shall spar with me."
"Ah, that's a bit…"
"…?!"
At my flat refusal, Seomun Hwa-rin's shoulders, which had been raised high, drooped.
There is a reason for it all.