Han Sin began training with Hwan merely for amusement, waiting for his final breath to come.
He suffered from a painful disease, one that ate away at his mind, his soul, and his body.
His only way to survive was to break through his bottleneck and ascend, to gain more years and achieve immortality.
But life never goes as one wishes.
He expected nothing from Hwan.
He simply tried to train him as a final attempt to leave behind an heir who could do what no one else ever could—
to attain immortality.
Immortality, the dream pursued by all martial artists.
Immortality, the cause of endless battles.
Immortality, for which countless lives were lost.
Han Sin gripped his staff and told Hwan to attack.
But Hwan did not move as any normal person would in such a situation.
He bent down, picked up several stones from the ground, took one, and threw it straight at Han Sin 's face.
Han Sin deflected the stone with a flick of his staff.
Hwan began circling him in a wide arc, his steps fast and light.
He grabbed three stones and hurled them infused with chi.
The old master redirected them effortlessly.
But Hwan twisted their path again, then kept running until he launched ten stones at once.
Han Sin leaped aside.
Hwan rushed toward the scattered stones and picked up a thick branch about half a meter long.
The old man smiled.
"So, that was your plan from the start? You threw the stones hard only to prepare a weapon suited for you. Your intelligence is quite impressive. Among all the students I have trained, none have matched your wit, despite your age."
Hwan dashed toward him in a zigzag motion.
His heavy branch clashed with Han Sin 's slender staff, diverting its path.
Then Hwan spun quickly and kicked Han Sin right in a Sin sitive spot.
"AAAAAAAH!"
A loud scream burst from Han Sin 's mouth.
He gripped his staff tightly, vanished behind Hwan with killing intent, and struck the boy on the head with the branch.
"Damn it… I lost my composure because of a thirteen-year-old child.
How pathetic… not even my greatest enemies could make me lose control like this.
This kid is gifted."
The old man rubbed the sore spot calmly, as if a mother soothing her crying child.
Behind him, an enormous wave of chi surged—pure killing intent.
Han turned to look.
Hwan's eyes blazed with a dark crimson light, and a sun-shaped mark had appeared on his forehead.
He gripped his branch unconsciously and ran in a zigzag, dark red energy bursting from him like a living flame.
Han Sin summoned his own chi, cut another branch from a tree, and caught it midair.
He tried to block Hwan's swing using only ten percent of his power,
but Hwan's chi burned through it, shattered the branch, and bruised Han's hand.
The old man's anger flared. He raised his power to twenty percent.
He did not wish to go higher—
for how could the former leader of the Murim Sect use more than twenty percent of his strength against a child?
That alone was enough to stain his pride.
If his old rivals or the people he once defeated saw this, they would die laughing.
Han unleashed blades of wind with his staff, intending only to knock Hwan back and make him faint, not to kill.
But to his surprise, Hwan cut through them all.
Then he raised his branch high and spoke in a voice that was not entirely his own.
"Kago no Kagura."
He vanished in an instant and appeared right before Han Sin .
With a single swing, chi flared around him like a blazing sun, burning everything—even his clothes.
In that moment, Han Sin saw behind Hwan the spirit of an ancient swordsman,
his hair flowing like sunlight, his gaze piercing through worlds.
Awe crept into the old man's heart, as if he were witnessing the birth of a legend.
With one mighty strike, Han was thrown back, crashing through six trees in a row.
He tried to resist by raising his power to thirty percent.
The forest trembled violently, and birds fled their nests from the shockwave.
He did it only to avoid death.
But if he went further, his pride as a swordsman would shatter, and his life would lose meaning.
That was Hwan's talent—it was as if he was born to be the strongest, to rule.
That was his very purpose of existence.
The talent Han Sin saw was despair itself.
He never expected to find a hidden dragon in such a remote village.
The clash of chi between Hwan and Han began.
Each strike met its equal.
Han's experience far outweighed Hwan's age,
but the boy's adaptability erased that difference,
pushing the old man to the cliff's edge.
Hwan lifted his weapon as if to end it all in one strike.
He whispered coldly, almost unconsciously,
"Kago no Kagura: Burning Sun."
A blazing slash of chi erupted like a miniature sun, then Hwan collapsed unconscious.
Han blocked the slash with his chi shield,
but it didn't stop.
He was forced to raise his power to fifty percent.
Only then did he realize Hwan's chi burned through opposing chi itself.
He looked down at his bleeding hand.
Han Sin fell to his knees, shame consuming him.
A thirteen-year-old boy had reached a realm he had spent half his life striving for.
Six months of training—without learning a single special technique—
Only for him to destroy everything Han Sin once stood for.
Tears welled up in the old man's eyes.
He wiped the blood from his hand onto the broken branch,
feeling that being taught by a child had pushed him into despair.
"So this is the kind of talent that appears once in billions of years…
a talent not recorded in any scroll."
That single swing had left the old master Han completely paralyzed.
—------------------------
Hi readers!
I'm the author — hope you're all doing well.
I'd really appreciate it if you could check out my main novels; they're much better than this one.
Sorry if the writing in Chapter 1 wasn't that good — I was still learning back then.
I'd love for you to join my Discord for new chapters and updates, and to support me so I can keep writing more!
You can find the Discord link in the synopsis.
Also, my main novel's plot took me two years to complete.
They're called "Shoujo Hater" and "Jester The Cursed Clown."
Both are far better than this one!