Elsewhere, three men were walking through the streets of the Namgung city. Their leader moved quietly among the townspeople until he gave the others the order to stop there and split up.
As he did it, he was remembering the information he had bought from a citizen. That man had said that a client had come through two days ago. So he had immediately gathered the people who knew Wangshan and started asking about it at the Crimson Pebble. The name of the person he wanted was Jin Wigong. And obviously he had killed the informant afterwards.
Han, meanwhile, had returned to his quarters, where nobody could reach him directly.
Uncle. Uncle. Somebody was shouting outside the door.
Han opened it. It was his old master.
Now his nephew wanted to know why he was not training. Han replied casually that he had been given the Namgung clan's cultivation art and there was no need to learn it.
That made the boy angry at once, and he ordered Han to come with him. Han was thinking that in a past life that glare would have terrified him. Now it looked almost cute.
Namgung Sang was furious. He hated this situation, especially after learning that Han was gifted enough to copy a technique after seeing it once. Yet he believed the boy had talent only in the external arts. Without inner training a fighter has a terrible life in front of him. And he still could not sense even a trace of internal energy in Han.
So he took hold of Han's shoulder firmly and said again that he should come with him.
Han was thinking only that this flower was digging his own grave. With a wicked look, he turned around. He decided that the time had finally come to start training his disciples.
He removed the boy's hand from his shoulder and said that he had heard his nephew's plan was to teach him, but that there was nothing to be learned from him. It was Han who had a useless nephew to teach.
The boy shouted that he had shown so much politeness, uncle this and uncle that, and Han was still behaving this aggressively.
Han simply asked what sort of face that was. Was he trying to force his uncle? Would he kill him for it? Then he told him to try it and see, and called him nephew again.
That only made the boy worse. A dark aura began to come off him.
Han asked what the harm was in calling him nephew. Was there a problem? Then, with a crazy grin, he mocked him by calling him nephew once more.
The boy shouted that he was completely insane and unbelievably arrogant.
Honestly, arrogant was a very weak word for that much anger. There should have been a great deal more cursing. The provocation had clearly worked. He looked ready to explode, and still he did not swear.
Han pointed out how casual he sounded, when arrogant was the worst he could manage. Then he mocked him again to draw out a real insult.
In his past life this man had used a different curse every day. Han remembered him as someone who swore constantly when he was young. In those days his sword did not match him, and people called him the Sword King of Seven Emotions. He could express every human emotion through his martial arts, and he pushed each of them to its limit. He would kill a man for waking up in a bad mood, or because he felt good after eating. Because of all those moods, Han had suffered enormously in the past.
So none of this made sense. How was this man so polite?
In the second timeline his emotional madness had reached its peak. If Murim changed, that hero would never exist at all, and Han could not allow that. His intention at first had only been to help him with martial arts. Now he would have to fix the boy's personality as well.
He called it a suffering body, although the wicked smile on his face said something else.
His nephew was calling his uncle a scoundrel now, demanding to know what he was talking about. Then Han suddenly appeared in front of him and said that once he had been beaten he would understand.
The man started thinking. Was that the Heavenly Wind Step?
Taking his stance, he declared that a cheap copy had no chance. Then he rushed in, saying he would show him the gap between the real thing and the fake. His attacks were genuinely fearsome. Han was impressed even while he was slipping the blows. Yet attacks like those were never going to touch him.
He struck again, and Han leaped in an odd way. Instinct made the boy get his guard up quickly. But a single kick knocked him off balance. He blocked it, and the force still blew him several metres back.
While the boy was trying to catch his breath, Han asked whether his plan was simply to keep on blocking.
Then Han charged with blinding speed. Expecting a punch, the boy tried to block, and the strike did not arrive there. For a split second he thought about dodging with internal energy. But Han smiled coldly and told him that would not work. A punch wrapped in a blue aura was already waiting.
The boy realised it too late. He tried to take the hit with internal energy, then found he could not stop himself, and tripped.
Han used the opening. He drove his fist down and tore straight through the defence. The hit landed cleanly, and he used the Namgung clan technique to do it. His nephew's own Explosive Illumination struck him directly in the face, and Han was laughing while he did it.
The poor boy flew back and collided with the wall. Han went after him when he was already finished.
Blood was coming out of him. Shocked, he asked how Han could use Explosive Illumination when he appeared to have no internal energy at all. Had he really learned it just from watching it once? If that was the case, then he truly was a Heaven Saint Genius. Standing in front of this monster, there was nothing at all he could do.
Han simply said that his nephew still had a great deal to learn.
The poor boy only felt frightened. The sounds of impact went on ringing out. Han beat him down and told him that he did not know how long he had waited for this day, and he spoke without any mercy at all while he kicked him and smashed him.
After all, he had suffered exactly the same under this man in his past life. He had waited eagerly for this day, and now that it had finally come, he was thrilled.
Still cursing, the boy could only ask him to stop, because he was in so much pain. Then something clicked and he remembered things from the past. The feeling he was having right now was anger. With a teary face he cried out at him to stop this nonsense, and then another brutal hook came in.
His nephew was still very weak. Seeing that, Han began to think about making him stronger. He also considered going after that other mysterious creature.
After a while he pointed at the boy and said that from now on they would train together. That was only the beginning of the poor child's nightmare.
A few days later, at the Namgung family palace, the harsh training was still going on. It continued for ten days straight, and the boy finally began to respond to the hellish routine.
Taking his feelings out on the air, he swung the sword. Han clearly felt that there was already a solid amount of internal energy in that attack. In only a few days he had mixed his Anger Blade into it.
That made Han realise something. This boy grew fastest when he was pushed to his limit. Merging anger into power was the lesson for now, and there was a great deal in it to learn. The next step would be training him to get rid of that anger.
Thinking this, Han hit him and blew him away, then rushed straight in for another punch. But suddenly his nephew's face changed. His eyes filled with rage.
That was exactly what Han wanted. His nephew answered with a huge strike wrapped in an angry aura. As soon as he understood what had happened, he realised he had missed, and panicked. If Han attacked him now he would probably be out for three days.
But Han suddenly said that today they had to go somewhere. His nephew could only ask where.