The preparations for the New Year’s Ceremony were also nearing their end.

As a result of countless people busily moving their hands and feet, this year’s New Year’s Ceremony became a grand festival armed with unprecedented scale and splendor.

To this end, Na Rin also struggled day and night while eating rock candy.

The result was also dazzling.

“At the time of the winter solstice!”

Swish! Swish swish! Pat!

Na Rin’s sleeves fluttered, making the sound of the wind.

“May the weather be always pleasant and healthy!”

Swirl! Thud!

“Wishing for the health and safety of your jade body! I sincerely pray for it!”

Na Rin’s body spectacularly leaped into the air, spun around, and landed gracefully. Seeing this, Bi Cha momentarily had a dazed expression.

‘What on earth happened?’

Na Rin ran over and stood in front of Bi Cha, smiling brightly.

“How is it? I did well, right?”

“Your pronunciation is perfect. But what are those movements?”

“It’s a form I created!”

Na Rin proudly puffed out her chest.

It may be a bit of an unsophisticated method, but there’s no better way to study than directly engraving it into your body. If you think of the mouth shape and tongue position as part of the form, you’ll never make a mistake.

“Then what will you do during the New Year’s Ceremony?”

“Haha! I’ve thought it all out!”

Na Rin lowered her voice as if telling a great secret and continued.

“I created the form based on the greeting movements according to etiquette, so don’t worry.”

“Huh? No…, huh?”

“Ah. Just a moment.”

Na Rin took out a go stone-shaped rock candy from the pouch hanging at her waist and put it in her mouth.

“Hehe. It’s become a habit.”

Although it turned out differently from the original intention, the rock candy was helpful in a way.

Seeing Na Rin smiling so proudly, Bi Cha was quite perplexed.

‘What to do about this. It would have been better if only her pronunciation was awkward.’

Performing greeting movements according to etiquette and performing a form based on those movements are entirely different stories, aren’t they?

“Well done. Lady Ma Gong.”

But the New Year’s Ceremony was tomorrow, and there was no other way now.

“You were already perfect in other aspects, so there’s nothing to worry about, and if there’s anything I can help with, please speak frankly.”

“Hmm.”

Na Rin was lost in thought for a moment.

As Bi Cha said, Na Rin’s preparation for the New Year’s Ceremony was now perfect.

The ceremonial dress was all fitted, and the order and method of the ceremony were firmly in her mind.

If there was one thing that made her nervous…

“The people.”

Na Rin opened her mouth.

“The people coming there. I’m a bit anxious about just doing my part without even knowing who they are.”

If you simply want to become strong, you just need to train hard.

But if you want to win a fight, just being strong is not enough.

You can only win a fight if you are even a speck stronger than your opponent.

“The people…?”

Bi Cha pondered for a moment and then carefully opened his mouth.

“The New Year’s Ceremony is a big festival, so anyone from the Ma Sect can attend. But that’s probably not what you’re curious about, right?”

Na Rin nodded.

“To be honest, most of the attendees won’t have much interest in you, Lady Ma Gong.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Because the event that will take up the biggest part of this New Year’s Ceremony is the dedication of the Asura Sword. I’m afraid to say, but I think the appointment ceremony for Lady Ma Gong and the New Year’s Ceremony itself won’t receive much attention.”

Just as Na Rin thought she could relax a bit…

“But there will also be people who will watch you more closely than anyone else, Lady Ma Gong.”

“Who?”

“Those coming from the So Myeong Palace. You know, right?”

So Myeong Palace.

Na Rin had a rough idea of what kind of place it was.

“You mean the hell of fratricidal strife where forty siblings fight to the death over the position of the sole So Sect Leader, spilling blood, and when the victor is decided, the rest are all killed off?”

“It, it’s not that scary of a place!”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. There are also Ma Gong Lords who live out their natural lifespans… Sometimes.”

Bi Cha coughed, trying hard to hide his embarrassment.

“What I meant was that they might be interested because an unexpected youngest sibling has appeared. Because the family is growing.”

Is that so? Na Rin shifted her gaze as if she didn’t quite understand.

“Wouldn’t they be used to it? They must have experienced it forty times already.”

“Haha. Certainly, Young Master Ja Ryong might be like that.”

Young Master Ja Ryong?

As Na Rin showed a puzzled look, Bi Cha explained before she could ask.

“That’s the name of the first Ma Young Master. He should be fifteen years old this year.”

“Fifteen years old?”

At those words, Na Rin chuckled.

Aspiring to study. Ji Hak.

It was an idiom used to mean the age at which one decides which field to aspire to.

‘The first son of the Ma Sect is at the age of aspiring to study.’

Bi Cha seemed to guess the reason for Na Rin’s laughter and subtly added, changing his attitude.

“It’s not too far off when it comes to the first Ma Young Master. He seems to be a person molded directly from the saying ‘excelling in both literature and martial arts’.”

Dokgo Ja Ryong.

The first Ma Young Master who inherited the blood of Dokgo Cheon.

This fifteen-year-old boy, also called the person closest to becoming the So Sect Leader, is said to be unrivaled in martial arts, academics, tea ceremony, Go, embroidery, and everything under the sun, earning him the nickname “The All-Talented Young Master”.

“What an impressive elder brother.”

“Right? There are some evaluations that he’s a bit arrogant, but I heard that young ladies swoon over his neat teeth that show when he occasionally smiles.”

Na Rin repeated the name Dokgo Ja Ryong.

Born as the eldest son of the Ma Sect Leader and having forty younger siblings. He can be said to have faced forty threats, yet he remains a strong candidate for the next Sect Leader.

‘I should get close to him.’

Someday when Ja Ryong ascends to the throne as the next Sect Leader, he will put all the siblings he had bad relationships with to the sword.

To survive then, it was necessary to establish a harmonious relationship from the beginning.

“Could you tell me a bit more in detail?”

“About what?”

“About elder brother Ja Ryong.”

Na Rin smiled brightly as if she had no bad intentions at all.

“I’m just curious. The family is growing, isn’t it?”

“Ah… Well, I don’t know much either…”

“Sir Priest.”

Na Rin grabbed the wrist of Bi Cha, who was stepping back.

The long-awaited activation of the 1,009’s pressure blocked Bi Cha’s escape route.

“Didn’t you say to speak frankly if there’s anything you can help with?”

Bi Cha had a feeling that he had touched on something wrong. But it was already too late to get involved too deeply.

At the time when Na Rin was grilling Bi Cha and thoroughly extracting information about Dokgo Ja Ryong.

“It’s been a while. Bi Sa Mun Cheon Wang.”

Dokgo Ja Ryong was at the Buk Cheon Palace.

Even at the age of fifteen, he had a tall stature and dignified appearance not inferior to a fully grown adult. Inheriting his father’s sculptured features and his mother’s confident eyes.

He was a boy who showed a spirit like a dragon, just as his name suggested.

Jeok Gun Ak looked at Ja Ryong with eyes that could hardly be called welcoming and reluctantly opened his mouth.

“What an esteemed person. For what reason have you come to visit the stern Buk Cheon Palace?”

“I came to see the sword.”

“For such a matter, it seems right to go to the Armor Storage.”

“Wasting time is a loss for both of us. If we’re comparing, you, the older one, will lose a bit more.”

Ja Ryong scattered the spirit of a young man with his inner energy in all directions.

As if showing off. Or as if threatening.

“Hand over the Asura Sword. Bi Sa Mun Cheon Wang.”

Jeok Gun Ak’s brow furrowed. When you raise an army to its fullest, fools who have this kind of misunderstanding appear. Bi Sa Mun Cheon Jeok Gun Ak has a great army, but his individual martial prowess is not much.

“It cannot be done.”

“Why can’t it be done? You… can’t even hold it anyway, right?”

Jeok Gun Ak painfully bit his lip.

Because Ja Ryong had pointed out the most painful part for him.

From the day he received the sword until this very moment, the emotion that embroidered Jeok Gun Ak’s heart was solely despair.

No matter how tough a leather he added, no matter how strong a metal glove he wore.

In the end, Jeok Gun Ak could never grasp the Asura Sword.

“Do you know why you’re suffering?”

Dokgo Ja Ryong said.

“Because you covet what you can’t have. So you have to taste rejection at every moment. That’s why it’s so painful.”

And he tapped Jeok Gun Ak’s chest.

“Wouldn’t it be nice to put it back in its place and be at ease?”

At that moment, Jeok Gun Ak’s deep dark green eyes boiled with humiliation and anger.

Is there a reason to receive this kind of treatment from not Dokgo Cheon, but even from Dokgo Cheon’s br*t?

‘There is.’

Because he’s enduring it even after being treated like this.

If something like this happened to Gong Son Wu, would he have endured it?

‘No way.’

He would have immediately swung the Blue Dragon Sword, saying he’d fix his habit, causing a commotion.

People would gossip about Gong Son Wu’s rashness and hot temper, but at least they wouldn’t look down on him.

Jeok Gun Ak’s dark green eyes sank deeply.

“…Young Master Ma’s words resonate deeply with me.”

Jeok Gun Ak slightly twisted his body to open up Ja Ryong’s view towards the Buk Cheon Palace.

As if opening the fortress gate.

“Please come inside.”

Ja Ryong moved his steps as if it were natural.

Not knowing that the end of those steps led to a crucible where molten iron flowed.

Before long, Ja Ryong was able to actually see the Asura Sword.

In the depths of the Buk Cheon Palace.

At the Crystal Altar.

The Crystal Altar was a holy place, half made of a white salt hill like snow, and the other half a clear mercury pond like a mirror.

The Asura Sword was in the very center.

It was slanted as if piercing through a broken mirror.

“It’s truly beautiful.”

Ja Ryong entered the Crystal Altar with long strides and pulled out the Asura Sword.

It was an unhindered act, as if picking up an object that had been his from the beginning.

‘The contents recorded in the Ma Scripture are not wrong.’

The divine sword that the God of Light and Wisdom personally bestowed upon a chosen person before the war with Indra.

Just by looking at it, an unknown sense of exaltation and reverence rushed in, making the heart throb roughly.

“But, Young Master. Do you know?”

Ja Ryong turned around.

Jeok Gun Ak was looking at him with a sharp smile.

“That numerous dynasties’ rebellions began from none other than the hands of the crown prince.”

“What are you suddenly talking about?”

“The Asura Sword seems to have been the sword of Cheon Ma.”

Ja Ryong’s eyes trembled finely.

It was clear that he had deliberately waited without saying a word until the sword was in his hand.

Jeok Gun Ak chuckled, suppressing the rising laughter as if holding his breath.

“Young Master, are you Cheon Ma?”

“You… How dare you!”

Ja Ryong’s face turned pale.

At this, Jeok Gun Ak stretched out his arm as if he had been waiting.

“Hyeon Mu Corps! Arrest that traitor!”