Kwaaang!

The impact rang through his skull and threw him back more than sixty yards.

Paat!

Seo Woojin barely caught himself. When he tried to stand, he staggered.

For a moment, his eyes wouldn't focus.

Tak!

He spread his feet and dropped his weight, and only just kept from falling.

"Haa, haa..."

The sword in his hand was as heavy as a thousand catties. His sweat-soaked martial robes dragged at him.

He wanted nothing more than to collapse and black out.

[Hmph. So you've deigned to show your face. I thought you'd decided you didn't need my teaching anymore.]

A sulking old man is scarier than you'd think.

No amount of sweet talk could soften an old man who'd heard it all before.

And no apology, however sincere, could work its way into his narrow heart.

Would it be any different with a warrior whose name had once rung across the Central Plains?

Not at all.

If anything, there was no handling him by force, so they had to swallow every bit of his spite.

[Oh, is that so? You had no choice, because you had to save your precious subordinate? Heh heh. Well, well. What a fine deed. Your grandfather must be overjoyed. The grandson of the Sword Saint, who was the terror of the dark path, not only becomes the sky of the dark path but throws his life away to save a dark-path warrior. Heh heh heh. That bastard must be dancing a jig up in heaven, he's so pleased, eh?]

Once the old man brought up his grandfather, Seo Woojin had nothing left to say.

All he could do was bow his head to the ground and beg forgiveness, over and over.

It took a full day of placating him, and even then, what he finally heard made him want to laugh.

[My Suryeon takes care of this old man's every need without even being told. If you brats were even half like Suryeon, I wouldn't be this fed up. Tsk, tsk. Nothing's uglier than some nobody strutting around because he thinks he's a warrior. It's…