The Commander turned his head with a contemptuous look and saw the Lecturer of the Hanlin Academy there.
The Commander grinned and asked,
“So you were here. May I ask you to explain what exactly this situation is?”
“Commander. It is not too late even now. If you promise to devote your loyalty to His Majesty, I will forgive you and convey your loyal heart to His Majesty.”
At the Lecturer of the Hanlin Academy’s words, the Commander gave a faint laugh and picked at his ear.
“What are you even talking about? Hurry up and hand over the Imperial Seal. I don’t like staying outside for long.”
“The Imperial Seal is not in my hands.”
“It isn’t? Then you have to die.”
The Commander stretched out his hand swiftly to kill the Lecturer of the Hanlin Academy.
At that instant, sword qi flew in, and he quickly withdrew his hand.
Kakakak—
The deep marks carved into the ground showed how powerful it had been.
“Kekeke. So you had something to rely on.”
As though amused, the Commander turned his head toward the one who had attacked him.
There, Taecheon was aiming his sword with a grave expression.
“Was it you? The one who sealed my men’s pressure points?”
“That was me.”
Chu Sohwan appeared.
“Oh? There were two of you?”
The Commander looked at the Lecturer of the Hanlin Academy.
“In the end, you dragged martial artists into this? His Majesty must have been quite desperate.”
The Commander smiled as he looked at Taecheon and Chu Sohwan.
“I will personally show you how pointless it is to place your faith in things like that.”
Grrrrk—
As the Commander drew up his inner qi, the earth began to shake.
“Krgh! What tremendous inner qi!”
“H-how can his inner force be this powerful...?”
Unable to withstand that immense qi, the Lecturer of the Hanlin Academy foamed at the mouth and fainted.
Taecheon and Chu Sohwan were shocked.
Chu Sohwan, in particular, felt the impact even more strongly.
He was a Profound Realm master himself, and his realm had risen recently as well. Yet the Commander before his eyes was a master so strong that even Chu Sohwan could not be his match.
“To think someone with martial arts like this is serving as an official...”
“Kekeke. Do you feel it? The gap in strength? Insolent wretches. I will kill you all.”
When the Embroidered Uniform Guard saw that the Commander seemed stronger than the men who had subdued them, their spirits rose.
Their expressions brightened.
“Hand over the Imperial Seal. Then I may consider killing you without pain.”
The Commander’s expression looked delighted.
Like a child who had found an enjoyable toy for the first time in ages.
“Or, if you entertain me, I will likewise kill you without pain. Come.”
The Commander smiled broadly, baring his white teeth, and his appearance was like that of a demon.
“You will not come? Then I will go first.”
Just as he grinned and was about to launch himself toward Taecheon and Chu Sohwan—
Jeok Wigang stepped between them.
The moment the Commander saw Jeok Wigang, he stopped moving.
It was a face he felt he had seen many times before.
And yet that face was one he did not even want to think about.
At the same time, his body went rigid.
How should it be described?
It felt like becoming prey before a predator.
Jeok Wigang grinned and said,
“Huh? The Commander was you?”
The way he spoke, as though he knew him well.
That tone was familiar.
That tone.
“You know me, don’t you?”
He remembered.
Why was that monster here?
“You don’t?”
The Commander took a step back.
“I-I do not.”
“You do.”
“I do not. I think you have mistaken me for someone else.”
“Muryang reacted exactly the same way you did.”
So Jin Muryang had already been caught.
He had to run.
But his body would not listen.
“Come here. You know what happens if you run, right?”
“I truly do not know you. I do not know who you have mistaken me for, but you have the wrong person.”
“Ye Yahyeon. No?”
“N-no.”
“Really?”
“Huk!”
The Commander flinched in shock when Jeok Wigang was suddenly right in front of him.
“You’re really not?”
“N-no.”
“Really? Then it can’t be helped. If you were my younger brother, I was going to spare you, but if you aren’t, I have to kill you. The Commander deserves to die anyway.”
Jeok Wigang showed him his fist.
“Hiiiik!”
The Commander—no, Ye Yahyeon—quickly lowered his body.
KWA-KWA-KWAAANG—!
Even though he had dodged, his clothes were torn away and his skin throbbed.
When he looked back, a round valley had been carved into the once-dense mountain.
“You dodge well, just like Jin Muryang. Dodge again.”
“B-Big Brother! I am Ye Yahyeon!”
He urgently shouted that he was Ye Yahyeon, but Jeok Wigang’s fist was already flying.
He dodged with all the strength he had.
CRAAACK—
“Kehhek!”
Whirl—
CRASH, THUD, RATTLE—
The blow struck his side, and his body spun violently as he rolled across the ground.
He had managed to survive only because, while dodging, he had concentrated all his qi into his side to defend himself.
If he had not?
He might have died.
“You should have said so sooner. Looks like your body’s gotten a little tougher while I wasn’t seeing you. Seeing as you endured that.”
While they had not met, he had gritted his teeth and trained, then trained again.
In preparation for the possibility that they might meet again, so he could either flee or, if he could not, endure being hit like this.
It was too late to run.
No matter how fast he ran, shaking off Jeok Wigang was impossible.
The pain rising from his side made his mind grow hazy, but he gritted his teeth and endured with willpower as he answered.
“I-I trained a bit.”
“Really? Good job. I heard you learned the Thousand-Faced Bone-Shrinking Art too?”
That damned Jin Muryang.
So he had already spilled everything.
Vowing that he would not let Jin Muryang off if they met, Ye Yahyeon released the Thousand-Faced Bone-Shrinking Art.
Then his sharp impression changed into a gentle one.
When the Embroidered Uniform Guard saw his transformed appearance, they all stared at Ye Yahyeon in shock.
He had no particular desire to explain himself to those bastards, so he simply ignored them.
If anyone questioned him, he could just rip that man’s head off.
The problem was the pain that would not settle even as time passed.
Before, by the time this much time had passed, the pain would have subsided to a degree.
Jeok Wigang grinned and said,
“It’s been a while. That face.”
“Have you been well during that time, Big Brother?”
“Yes. Thanks to you, I’ve been well. I have more than one thing to thank you for. That’s why I kept you alive instead of killing you.”
Something to thank him for?
Just as Ye Yahyeon tilted his head.
“Young master? Do you know this man?”
“Hm?”
“I have followed you since childhood, and this is my first time seeing him. How did you come to know him?”
Ah.
How was he supposed to explain this?
“Is this man also a younger brother you knew before your reincarnation?”
So the excuse Jin Muryang had given was working again like this.
“Th-that’s right. Memories from a past life truly make things confusing again like this. It is strange for someone older than me to call me Big Brother, isn’t it?”
Ye Yahyeon looked at Jeok Wigang with an expression that asked what in the world he was talking about.
—Just nod.
Ye Yahyeon flinched in shock at the voice that suddenly rang inside his head.
—Y-you know how to use voice transmission?
—I learned a few little tricks.
—Did you learn martial arts?
—No, not martial arts. I learned sorcery.
—Big Brother, you have no dantian. How can you do that without inner qi?
—My sorcery doesn’t need a dantian. I’ll explain the details later, so just nod for now.
At Jeok Wigang’s words, Ye Yahyeon smiled awkwardly and played along.
“Th-that is what I mean. B-Big Brother, even after reincarnating, you are exactly the same as before. Hahaha.”
At that awkward laugh, Taecheon and Chu Sohwan gave him suspicious looks.
Jeok Wigang quickly changed the subject.
“But why are you in the imperial palace?”
“Th-that is...”
—I thought that if I stayed in the imperial palace, Big Brother wouldn’t be able to find me... You rarely came outside, so when would you ever have reason to come to the imperial palace? Even if you did come, there was no way you would come all the way inside, so where else could be more suitable to hide?
—True. The old me would never have thought of the imperial palace. But now, even if it hadn’t been here, we were destined to meet anyway.
—Pardon?
—I’m on my way to take the imperial examination.
—Holy...
The words least suited to Jeok Wigang had popped out.
The imperial examination.
Wait. If he had come to take the examination held in the imperial palace...
—Did you pass the provincial examination?
—Yes. Top scorer.
—What? T-top scorer?
—Why?
—W-well, Big Brother, you always were intelligent. Enough to copy anything after seeing it once.
—Yes. That’s true.
He had not considered that.
If he had calculated that far, he would never have set foot in the imperial palace.
He should have just gone far beyond the frontier and lived quietly.
Regret washed over him.
“How did you become Commander?”
“My martial arts are fairly strong, aren’t they? I smacked the people above me around a few times, and they offered up the position on their own.”
Had he really only smacked them around?
They must have had their lives threatened.
Though his face looked quiet and unsuited to fighting, Ye Yahyeon was one of the Four Divine Demons, and his martial arts were profound.
His martial arts had become far stronger than before, but as expected, he still was no match for Jeok Wigang.
Even though the fist had only grazed him just now, his side still hurt.
And that was after he had drawn up all his qi to scatter the force of Jeok Wigang’s punch.
If he took that blow cleanly?
Ye Yahyeon shook his head as though he did not even want to imagine it.
“In any case, it’s good to see you. I need to resolve some imperial family matters. You’ll help me, right?”
Tap tap—
As Jeok Wigang smiled and tapped his shoulder, Ye Yahyeon bowed as deeply as he could and said,
“O-of course! If I do not help Big Brother, then who would? I will become Big Brother’s hands and feet and help you with all my sincerity.”
“Thanks.”
Along with that word of thanks, he heard a voice transmission.
—You’d better not think about running. I don’t track people by scent anymore.
—Th-then with what?
—I told you I learned sorcery earlier. I planted a mark called the Heavenly Mechanism Seal.
—When?
—Just now, while I was tapping your shoulder.
Ye Yahyeon’s expression distorted on its own.
He had been planning to put Jeok Wigang at ease for a while, then run with everything he had.
—Are you scowling?
Ah.
—You really are exactly like Jin Muryang.
—How so?
—You only come to your senses after getting beaten. Shall we go behind there and talk one-on-one for a little while?
“N-no. Even without talking, I will follow you, Big Brother.”
—No. If I only speak nicely to you people, you quickly start thinking about other things.
—I absolutely will not think about anything else. It is true. Please believe me.
—Yes. I believe you. That’s why I’m saying we should talk briefly.
“I-I cannot go!”
—Really?
CRAAACK—
CRASH, THUD, RATTLE—
Ye Yahyeon could not gather his senses.
He had not been able to see Jeok Wigang’s movement at all.
More shocking than the pain that felt as though his head would split open was the fact that Jeok Wigang had become even stronger than he had been in the past.
Just as Ye Yahyeon had become stronger, Jeok Wigang had become stronger as well.
But the difference was so vast that comparison itself was impossible.
He had already been strong, so what was anyone supposed to do if he became even stronger than that?
Did the heavens not know the meaning of moderation?
The sorcery that monster used was surely no ordinary thing either.
Meanwhile, when Jeok Wigang suddenly struck Ye Yahyeon in the middle of what had seemed like a perfectly normal conversation, Taecheon and Chu Sohwan stepped in to stop him.
“Young master. How could you strike someone so suddenly like that?”
“That is right. You should at least have made a motion as though you were about to hit him first.”
At the two men’s words, Jeok Wigang’s expression became one of realization.
“Ah! Is that so?”
Then he looked at Ye Yahyeon and said,
“From now on, you’re getting hit. Understood?”
“N-no! I-I did not understand!”
“No. You need to get hit a little.”
“I-I do not need to get hit!”
Ye Yahyeon backed away.
But it was no use.
Jeok Wigang snatched him up in an instant and swiftly disappeared somewhere.
At that, Taecheon and Chu Sohwan shook their heads.
“Whew. Poor guy. Poor guy.”
“He was an incredible master. He looked quite tough, too.”
“Let’s not worry about it. When has anything involving the young master ever been normal?”
“True, isn’t it? In fact, just not worrying about it is better for our mental health. Let’s move the Lecturer of the Hanlin Academy, who’s collapsed over there, somewhere else.”
“Let’s do that.”

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