Chapter 237: The Namgung Clan Is in My Hands (7)
Chapter 236 – The Namgung Clan Is in My Hands (7)
Rumble…!
“Agh!”
“Aaargh!”
As the fierce waves of qi swept in all directions, dozens of men in black were blown away like autumn leaves to the wind along with their screams.
Namgung Geom fought as if he were truly possessed by the god of swords.
His sword sliced through the night air like a meteor, sometimes scattering like a cluster of stars, and at other times disappearing without a trace like the wind.
“He is holding out tenaciously.”
Amidst the men in black, the Black Heaven Demon Guest grit his teeth.
Namgung Geom was like a tiger surrounded by a pack of wolves.
Whenever it seemed the solitary tiger hesitated for even a brief moment, he unfailingly delivered a decisive blow.
Even so, Namgung Geom blocked it without difficulty. Truly, there was no expression for it other than tenacious.
‘But how long will he be able to hold out!’
Swish!
In an instant, the Black Heaven Demon Guest became a dark wind, flying and weaving through the men in black.
Swish, clang!
As the dark red blade clashed with Namgung Geom’s sword, the night air vibrated and a sound like a shriek erupted.
Rattle…!
The roof tiles of the surrounding pavilions trembled all over.
The Black Heaven Demon Guest twisted his lips in a smirk.
“Clan Leader Namgung…! You are still the same.”
“Your energy has dropped significantly.”
At the words Namgung Geom spat with an indifferent expression, the Black Heaven Demon Guest’s face twisted slightly.
“Hmph, to act so leisurely even in this state. Are you saying you’ll die with your head held high, even if it means dying soon?”
“You are still as lacking in dignity as ever.”
“Shut up! In a life-or-death battle, throw dignity to the dogs!”
Shhh!
When the Black Heaven Demon Guest raised his internal energy to the maximum and swung his blade, Namgung Geom slid back smoothly.
Taking advantage of that gap, the men in black charged.
“Die!”
“Now is the time!”
However, the one who shouted first had a sword thrust into him while his mouth was wide open.
Squish!
The blade, which pierced through to the back of his head, tore through his face and sliced the neck of the opponent charging from the side.
Slash!
Thump!
‘How absurd!’
As two martial artists fell in an instant, the eyes of the men in black charging behind them shook violently.
“Laughable!”
Coldly murmuring, Namgung Geom spun his body and unleashed the Nine Rings of the Heavenly Way stance of the Boundless Sky Limitless Sword Art.
Nine rings rotated, creating a path to heaven.
Although it was only a single stance, it looked as if several stances were being executed in a continuous sequence.
The Nine Rings of the Heavenly Way, which had reached mastery, filled the surroundings with a razor-like wind. If one jumped in recklessly, anyone would have their flesh sliced and bones severed by that wind.
Slash, slash, slash!
“Aaaargh!”
“Argh!”
As screams rose, several martial artists collapsed, their bodies rolling over. There were already dozens of fallen men around Namgung Geom.
“Tch!”
The Black Heaven Demon Guest clicked his tongue and glared at Namgung Geom.
Certainly, Namgung Geom’s skills had not rusted. No, for some reason, they had become even sharper.
Could it be said that he felt somewhat more free?
In his youth, Namgung Geom’s sword stances were as precise as a textbook. It was a perfect sword path without a single tremor.
Therefore, just watching his sword was enough to take one’s breath away.
It was not that there were no variations or feints.
However, even those variations and feints were executed precisely like a textbook. Even so, it was difficult to block.
The reason was simple.
Because it was the correct answer from the start.
Is a textbook called a textbook for nothing?
Since he utilized variations and feints with the sword path closest to the correct answer, it was difficult to block even when known.
The Black Heaven Demon Guest was someone who had been helplessly defeated by such a rigid sword art and suffered deep internal injuries.
Believing he would die at the time, he barely escaped and managed to preserve his life.
How much had he ground his teeth and sharpened his blade since then?
Rain or shine, he recalled Namgung Geom and refined his saber techniques.
He polished his unique martial art, the Black Heaven Demonic Saber, until he achieved great mastery.
And he studied Namgung Geom’s sword stances relentlessly.
Thus, decades passed.
Was it not said that a gentleman’s revenge is not too late even if it takes ten years?
If so, a demonic guest’s revenge was not too late even if it took twenty or thirty years.
As long as he could kill Namgung Geom with his own hands when they met someday, it did not matter.
Thus, recalling Namgung Geom’s sword art every day, he continued virtual duels.
He lost hundreds and thousands of times.
He was so immersed that he suffered internal injuries as if actually stabbed by a sword, nearly falling into qi deviation.
However, exactly three years ago, the Black Heaven Demon Guest began to match Namgung Geom.
There were days when the Black Heaven Demon Guest, who had lost every time, could not reach a decision in the virtual duels, and at some point, he even won.
After that, he killed Namgung Geom dozens and hundreds of times.
He killed, killed, and killed again.
When he met Namgung Geom again, he intended to tell him this.
‘You are already dead.’
However…
Clang, clang, clang! Clang!
Namgung Geom, who wielded his sword as if a dragon were surging while bursting with sparks…
‘Damn it! Just what kind of life have you lived!’
Grit.
He grit his teeth.
Certainly, Namgung Geom had not unleashed such sword stances before. They were rigid stances that left one breathless. They were stances that would break rather than bend.
But why was he so free-spirited?
“Why?!”
The Black Heaven Demon Guest screamed and kicked off the ground, springing forward.
Swish!
The blade harboring a dark red energy fell as if to split Namgung Geom’s crown, tearing through the air.
Clang!
Shhh!
When Namgung Geom raised his sword to block it, he slid back another three or four chang.
The Black Heaven Demon Guest widened his eyes.
Again! He blocked it again!
It was a moment that the Namgung Geom he had fought all this time could never have blocked!
“Why… is it that you can block it?!”
At this rate, didn’t it feel like fighting a completely different opponent?
Because Namgung Geom had also grown stronger during that time?
Far from it!
Unless he was a fool, wouldn’t he have taken that into account?
This was not that kind of problem.
“The nature… the nature of your martial arts has changed.”
The Black Heaven Demon Guest muttered like a groan.
Yes.
The nature of Namgung Geom’s sword stances had completely changed.
Should it be said that the rigid sword art, which used to be stuck in a mold, was now like a brilliance fluttering in the empty air?
It was too different.
Namgung Geom narrowed his eyes and replied.
“As I grow older, it changes.”
“They say when a person changes, it’s time for them to die.”
“It is progress, not regression, so there is no need to worry about that.”
Whoosh!
Instantly, the hem of Namgung Geom’s long robe fluttered, and his body spun like a top.
‘As expected!’
This time was also different.
It was not a straightforward method that was hard to block even if known, but a bizarre sword whose movements and flow were unpredictable.
“Grr!”
The Black Heaven Demon Guest grit his teeth and unleashed the Black Heaven Demonic Saber.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
One saber became two, then four, eight… and soon multiplied to dozens.
It was a stance called Ten Thousand Sabers of the Black Heaven, which created darkness with the blade.
However, Namgung Geom was the wind.
The wind moves leisurely even in the darkness.
Finally, the wind brushed past the flank of the Black Heaven Demon Guest.
Splat!
“Ugh!”
The Black Heaven Demon Guest retreated quickly, swallowing a groan.
Swish!
The eyes of the Black Heaven Demon Guest shook.
‘Certainly… it is definitely different!’
It felt as if the time he spent polishing his martial arts over a long period, looking only at Namgung Geom, was collapsing like a sandcastle.
While Namgung Geom swept like a fierce storm, he secretly recalled Namgung Cheon in his mind.
‘You will be able to surpass me.’
In fact, the change in his sword art was solely due to Namgung Cheon.
In the past, he had a duel with Namgung Cheon.
And upon facing the Azure Emerald Sword that Namgung Cheon practiced for the first time, he had obtained a sort of enlightenment.
That enlightenment transformed Namgung Geom’s sword art.
His sword art, which seemed as if it would never bend, began to bend flexibly.
Boom!
In an instant, Namgung Geom flew with ghost-like speed.
“Tch!”
Swish!
The Black Heaven Demon Guest quickly kicked the ground and leaped onto the roof of the adjacent pavilion.
Crash!
The Black Heaven Demon Guest kicked the roof tiles as a makeshift attack.
Clang!
However, when Namgung Geom swung his sword once, dozens of roof tiles shattered to pieces.
Embarrassment filled the face of the Black Heaven Demon Guest.
Previously, Namgung Geom’s sword was upright and hard.
But now, Namgung Geom’s sword was resilient.
Although the sword path shook arbitrarily depending on the situation, the flow was never cut off.
Just then, Namgung Geom, who flew like a gale through the fragments of roof tiles, thrust a decisive strike.
Swish!
Clang!
Sparks burst as the saber and sword clashed.
However, Namgung Geom’s sword tilted obliquely at the decisive moment.
It was a movement that the old Namgung Geom could never have imagined.
Since in this case, not only would internal energy be lost, but there was also a risk of posture being disrupted and suffering a counterattack.
But everything changes.
Space changes, and change brings flow. Opportunities derive from within the flow.
It was what he had realized while facing Namgung Cheon’s Azure Emerald Sword.
Squish!
Finally, along with the chilling sound of flesh tearing, the blade pierced through the flank of the Black Heaven Demon Guest.
“Ugh!”
The Black Heaven Demon Guest widened his eyes and froze like stone.
For someone who had sharpened his blade for such a long time, it was an incredibly futile moment.
However, even while bleeding, the Black Heaven Demon Guest laughed.
“Heh. Clan Leader… do you think you have won?”
“…”
As Namgung Geom narrowed his eyes, the Black Heaven Demon Guest slowly turned his gaze.
The place his gaze headed toward was the Deep Blue Courtyard, where the men in black were raging.
Indeed, in the Deep Blue Courtyard, the Namgung Clan was continuing a difficult fight.
The corpses of the Namgung Clan’s martial artists were scattered all over the manor, and only the elders and leaders barely survived, struggling in the Deep Blue Courtyard until the very end.
In another area, unexpectedly, the Mount Huang Yun Clan had brought martial artists and was fighting a desperate battle.
The Black Heaven Demon Guest smirked.
“It seems some bastards came to help… but it won’t change the situation.”
The Black Heaven Demon Guest smirked, revealing his teeth stained with red blood.
If someone were to detonate even a single Thunderbolt Bomb in the Deep Blue Courtyard, the Namgung Clan would suffer the damage of complete extermination.
However, from the standpoint of targeting the Demonic Pill Valley elixirs, they could not do such a reckless thing.
Because poisons and elixirs were the weakest against fire.
The problem was that even without using something like a Thunderbolt Bomb, the Namgung Clan could be wiped out at this rate.
The Black Heaven Demon Guest, with the sword lodged in his flank, burst into wild laughter.
“Hehehe! Hahaha! Do you see now? As of today, the Namgung Clan will disappear from history…!”
Squish!
“Agh!”
Instantly, a short blade burst through the chest of the Black Heaven Demon Guest.
As the Black Heaven Demon Guest slowly turned around with a distorted face, an old man with a pockmarked face stood with his hands behind his back.
Namgung Geom was equally surprised.
‘I didn’t notice his presence at all.’
While Namgung Geom glared with a stiff expression, the old man clicked his tongue.
“I followed just in case, and as expected, your handling of the matter was not clean.”
“El-Elder… why…?”
As the Black Heaven Demon Guest stammered, the old man called Elder shouted.
“What do you mean why! It’s because you, laughing even after losing, are so pathetic that I can’t bear to look at you!”
“How…”
Thud, crash!
As the Black Heaven Demon Guest collapsed just like that, the old man looked at Namgung Geom with settled eyes.
Namgung Geom also narrowed his eyes and met his gaze.
‘Is he a Demonic Cult Elder?’
He is a considerable expert.
He is strong enough that I didn’t even sense his presence. He is at a level incomparable to the Black Heaven Demon Guest.
Namgung Geom slowly brought his sword forward.
He recalled Namgung Cheon once again.
If he died, there was only one person to succeed the Namgung Clan.
‘I shall trust in you.’