Chapter 7: Beneath the Smiling Tiger
Even as Jang Hui disappeared into the forest mist, Mu-won didn't relax.
He stood still for a long time, his body tense, his senses sharp. Every instinct—honed through two lifetimes—screamed at him.
That man was no ordinary elder.
> His qi was too still. Too perfect. That kind of calm only comes from killers.
Mu-won slowly released his breath, letting his muscles ease. But his mind was racing.
The Jade Tiger Sect wasn't just another sect. In his past life, they were notorious for their smile-and-strike reputation—benevolent on the surface, brutal beneath. They didn't ask questions. They eliminated threats. Quietly. Completely.
And if they sent someone like Jang Hui, then it wasn't curiosity that brought him.
It was execution.
> "I've triggered something I wasn't ready for."
But Mu-won didn't panic. Instead, he smiled.
He liked challenges.
---
That evening, back in the village, Mu-won sat with Seo Hana on the roof of the blacksmith's hut, legs dangling, watching smoke from nearby chimneys rise into the painted dusk sky.
"You're quieter than usual," Hana said. "What happened in the forest?"
He didn't answer right away. Just watched a flock of birds take off.
"A powerful man came looking for me," he said finally. "He doesn't know I'm the one yet, but he will. Soon."
Hana raised an eyebrow. "You seem… excited?"
"I am."
"You're insane."
Mu-won smirked. "No. I'm alive."
She shook her head but didn't press further. Instead, she held out a cloth bundle. "You're bleeding through your bandages again."
He took it and quietly rewrapped his forearms, the process almost meditative.
"You know," she added, "for someone reborn with 'genius powers,' you spend a lot of time covered in your own blood."
"That's because I don't believe in miracles. Just effort."
---
Later that night, Mu-won returned to the forest. Not to train. Not to hunt.
But to set traps.
He didn't have the power to face someone like Jang Hui directly. Not yet.
So he relied on what he did have: intelligence, experience, and ruthlessness.
> "If I can't win in a head-on clash, I'll bleed him from the shadows."
He moved silently between trees, coating threads with qi, hiding needles in bark, carving symbols into rocks that would amplify sound and movement. Everything crafted to confuse, delay, or weaken his enemy.
A spider preparing for the wasp.
By the time the moon reached its highest point, Mu-won had turned the forest into a hidden battlefield.
---
At the Jade Tiger Sect Encampment – Nearby
Jang Hui sat cross-legged inside a tent made of green silk, sipping tea that no longer tasted sweet.
His fingers tapped against his knee in thought.
> "That boy… he lied. He looked me in the eye without fear. No child does that."
His hand hovered over the hilt of his sword.
"I'll give it three days," he murmured. "If I sense that pulse again… I'll erase the entire village."
---
Back in the forest
Mu-won sat beneath the ironwood tree, eyes closed, meditating.
His body ached, but his mind was still.
Three days.
That was the time he had.
Three days to become stronger.
Three days to prepare for a clash with a sect that once ruled entire provinces.
> "You should've killed me the moment you met me, Elder," he whispered.
> "Now it's too late."
To be continued....