Chapter 68: Chapter 68
“Heup!”
Namgung Jin-gyeong, who had lost his mind and been unconscious for a long time, abruptly raised his upper body.
“Where is this…….”
As soon as he raised his upper body covered in cold sweat, he hurriedly looked around and immediately began to look for Cheon-hwi.
“T-that person is…….”
“Have you woken up?”
Right at that moment, a voice came from beside him.
“U-uncle?”
The man called uncle, the Medicine Guild Leader, approached and sat next to Namgung Jin-gyeong.
“Where is this…….”
“It’s the Hall of Medicine. Is your body okay?”
“D-did I lose?”
“Rather than such things, you should pay attention to your body first. You seem fine right now, but you were unconscious for a full half day.”
“A-understood.”
At the reprimand, Namgung Jin-gyeong hurriedly sat cross-legged and focused on adjusting his breathing.
Fortunately, there were no internal injuries.
“My cheek throbs slightly, but the rest is fine.”
“That is a relief. However, you haven’t fully recovered yet, so take care of your body and manage your internal energy…….”
The Medicine Guild Leader’s worried words continued, but Namgung Jin-gyeong’s head was already filled with Cheon-hwi.
‘My sword art didn’t work at all.’
Even though he unleashed the Heavenly Thunder Sovereign Divine Art and executed the Azure Sky Boundless Sword Art, it was useless.
The beautiful sword strike that was swung.
By that sword strike, the Azure Sky Flying Thunder was completely split in half and even cleaved himself.
‘It was a nonsensical sword strike.’
Experiencing such an overwhelmingly defeat, he couldn’t even let out a hollow laugh.
‘I thought my only opponent would be elder brother…….’
Since becoming one of the Nine Dragons, he had thought he had no rivals among his peers.
But it was not.
The world was vast and there were many masters.
‘There is a heaven above the heaven.’
As he engaged in self-reflection, the conversation he had with Cheon-hwi also began to come to mind.
‘I was crazy!’
His face turned red in shame.
Suddenly recalling the sight of him confidently requesting a spar and the words he had spoken during the spar, his whole body twisted.
How ridiculous must he have looked.
When he was about to bury his head out of shame, feeling like he wanted to hide in a rat hole.
“……Did you step forward to firmly establish your position as the successor?”
The Medicine Guild Leader touched upon the subject that Namgung Jin-gyeong had been very sensitive to recently.
Startled, Namgung Jin-gyeong silently nodded his head.
The Medicine Guild Leader closed his eyes tightly.
On the surface, Namgung Jin-gyeong was known to have no interest in the Clan Leader position.
But that was not the case.
“I thought you had no interest.”
“I used to.”
Namgung Cheon, the Eldest Son of the Namgung Clan.
Not only was he the Eldest Son of the Namgung Clan, but he also possessed outstanding martial prowess, and lacked nothing in erudition and character.
For a long time, everyone had thought that the next Clan Leader would be Namgung Cheon.
Namgung Jin-gyeong was included among them.
However, his thoughts gradually changed.
The starting point of all of this was after he gained the title of Azure Sky Sword Dragon.
Originally, since he was the second son, he had been distant from the succession rights, but recently, after Namgung Jin-gyeong showed prominence and rose to the Nine Dragons and Five Phoenixes, he began to be mentioned as a candidate for the Clan Leader.
Due to that, everything changed.
The attention that poured on him in an instant.
The gazes of envy occasionally seen.
It was burdensome at first, but somehow he grew accustomed to it, and that drew out a desire even he didn’t know he had.
The desire for the Clan Leader position.
“I thought that now, when elder brother isn’t here, it would be a chance to make a good impression on father and the family members. Because he was still a young Taoist, I thought I would definitely win…….”
He couldn’t finish his sentence.
What was the point of saying more.
Ultimately, he had lost.
And miserably at that.
Now, the succession position must have drifted away.
“I lost.”
Simultaneously with finishing the unfinished words, a smile bloomed on his face.
Although he had grown distant from the Clan Leader position he had wanted so much, for some reason he felt lighthearted.
It was as if he had laid down a long-held burden.
“Are you okay?”
The Medicine Guild Leader asked with concern.
“Hahaha. I’m okay. No, rather I feel refreshed.”
Saying that, Namgung Jin-gyeong stood up.
“Ugh. I must get going now.”
The Medicine Guild Leader tried to grab him as he was leaving, but stopped and moved his lips.
“……Come back if your body feels unwell.”
“Hahaha. Understood.”
Taking his sword which he had left on one side, Namgung Jin-gyeong exited the Hall of Medicine.
Had he really been unconscious for two hours?
The blue sky of midday was already setting into a red-tinted sunset.
“……Good.”
Namgung Jin-gyeong immediately took a step.
* * *
“I expected a lot because it is a prestigious family among prestigious families in the Murim, but there is nothing to see.”
Cheon-hwi revealed his disappointment on his face.
He had wandered around and looked at the Namgung Clan for two hours, but there was nothing particularly worth seeing, nor anything interesting.
There were only pavilions and gazes that occasionally glared at him.
‘Still, I realized one thing.’
There was nothing to see, but there was something he realized.
‘All the pavilions I saw here are better than the lodging where I stayed at the Murim Alliance.’
He had thought the pavilion he stayed in at the Murim Alliance was quite old, but not that severe.
However, coming here, he realized it for sure.
That the Murim Alliance’s lodging wasn’t just old, it was a completely dismissive treatment.
‘They gave me a place worse than the numerous pavilions scattered around the clan as a lodging?’
Cheon-hwi’s eyes sank deeply.
‘Did they treat me like dog shit?’
A cold smile formed on his lips.
He had to overturn it or something.
As he was thinking about the first thing he should prioritize doing if he returned to the Murim Alliance.
“Little brother.”
Someone blocked his path.
He was Namgung Jin-gyeong.
“Hm?”
What was it? Was he trying to attack again?
He still hasn’t come to his senses.
To think he would try to attack after being beaten like that, this time he would have to beat him up thoroughly and cripple him so he couldn’t defy him again…….
“Thanks to you, I realized a lot of things.”
“Yes?”
A deflated sound leaked out for a moment.
‘Realize what?’
He couldn’t understand it.
He was knocked out after being beaten one-sidedly, but was there anything to realize?
“I came to my senses after being hit by your strike.”
Came to his senses after being hit?
‘Could it be…….’
A chill ran down his spine for a moment.
He had seen this kind of person in his past life.
A crazy bastard who gets excited by being hit.
“Little brother.”
At that moment, as Namgung Jin-gyeong took a step forward, Cheon-hwi immediately stepped back.
“Don’t come closer.”
As Cheon-hwi spoke coldly, Namgung Jin-gyeong flinched as if deliberately taken aback.
“W-why are you doing this?”
As Namgung Jin-gyeong tried to approach again.
Flinch!
Cold killing intent washed over him.
‘S-such killing intent!’
Namgung Jin-gyeong swallowed his breath.
He had never experienced such intense killing intent.
‘It is like the Heavenly Demon Cult’s…….’
He hurriedly swallowed the thought he was having.
‘What am I thinking?’
The opponent was a Taoist of the Mount Hua Sect.
But the Heavenly Demon Cult.
“I don’t know what the misunderstanding is, but thanks to you, I realized how arrogant I had been.”
What, it was that?
He let down his guard.
Cheon-hwi observed Namgung Jin-gyeong.
The words he spat out weren’t lies, his two eyes weren’t trembling at all.
He immediately withdrew his killing intent.
“It’s fine.”
When Cheon-hwi was about to walk on the path again.
“What were you doing?”
Namgung Jin-gyeong hurriedly called out to him.
“I was looking around the Namgung Clan.”
“Do you mean the main clan? I will guide you.”
“No. It’s fine.”
Cheon-hwi rejected the offer.
“There was nothing particularly worth seeing. Besides, every time I wander around, they keep glaring at me.”
Cheon-hwi slightly turned his gaze.
Over there, the servants of the Namgung Clan were secretly peeking and sending sharp gazes.
“Haha.”
Namgung Jin-gyeong laughed awkwardly.
“Still, there must be something to see.”
“There wasn’t.”
Cheon-hwi spoke firmly.
“At least the martial arts I saw when I sparred with you were the most worth seeing.”
Namgung Jin-gyeong’s eyes widened.
“Do you mean my martial arts? But I was miserably defeated by you…….”
“It was ‘at least’.”
As he said, it was ‘at least’.
It was a martial art that couldn’t be executed properly, but it was much better than looking at the Namgung Clan, which wasn’t anything special.
“I kind of want to see the other martial arts of the Namgung Clan as well.”
“Do you mean the other martial arts of the main clan?”
Namgung Jin-gyeong raised his head abruptly.
“If it is that, I can perform them.”
“You learned other martial arts besides that Heavenly Thunder Thirteen whatever and the Azure Sky Boundless Sword Art?”
Namgung Jin-gyeong immediately shrank back.
“I can’t execute them properly like the two sword arts I showed during the spar but…….”
“Hmm.”
Sensing Cheon-hwi showing interest, Namgung Jin-gyeong spoke carefully.
“Still, would you like to experience it once?”
“Then I would like that.”
Cheon-hwi immediately spoke with a smile.
What did it matter if it was a martial art that couldn’t be executed properly.
It was a chance to see another martial art.
The spark of interest that had extinguished revived.
“Then follow me.”
Excited, Namgung Jin-gyeong took the lead and walked ahead.
“There is a place where I often practice and meditate.”
How long had they walked like that?
The place where Namgung Jin-gyeong, who had been walking for quite a long time, stopped was a small lakeside.
Unlike the other places he had seen so far, it was a desolate place where no human presence could be felt nearby, and a small pavilion right in the middle of the lake caught his eye.
“How is it? Isn’t it quiet and good for training?”
“I suppose so.”
Cheon-hwi agreed half-heartedly.
However, just with that, Namgung Jin-gyeong advanced with excited steps as if he liked it.
“Let’s go inside.”
A moment later, the distorted figures of the two were cast and swayed on the small lake.
A silence that even felt lonely.
Even though the lakeside was inside the Namgung Clan, it felt like a different space.
Liking that atmosphere, Cheon-hwi nodded his head and then twitched his index finger.
“I will concede the first move, so come.”
Namgung Jin-gyeong let out a hollow laugh.
It was an action that completely ignored him, but he couldn’t help but be naturally convinced.
The difference in skill shown during the spar today was clearly huge.
To the extent that he couldn’t fathom the gap.
Especially that sword strike…….
Goosebumps rose on his forearm holding the sword.
It was clearly Single Sword Bisection, one of the moves of the Six Harmonies Sword Art.
Unlike its grand name, it was just a simple sword strike slashing from top to bottom.
However, that simple sword strike completely cut the Azure Sky Flying Thunder in half just like its move name.
Pfft…
Laughter leaked from between his lips.
Captivated by the vain fame of the Azure Sky Sword Dragon of the Nine Dragons and Five Phoenixes, he was a frog in a well who didn’t realize the world was vast.
‘I am weak……!’
Acknowledging his own weakness, his mind felt much more at ease.
Perhaps thanks to that, the sword he was holding also felt infinitely light.
‘My mind is light.’
He slowly roused his internal energy.
Crackle… Crackle…
Watching Namgung Jin-gyeong, whose hair stood on end under the influence of the Heavenly Thunder Sovereign Divine Art containing lightning qi, Cheon-hwi muttered.
“It is much better than when we sparred.”
The internal energy operation, which had only been emitted, was smoothly adjusting its strength and weakness.
“I will show you the Lightning Thirteen Sword Thunder.”
“Hmm. I already saw all of that though.”
“It will be different this time.”
Namgung Jin-gyeong’s eyes were dyed blue.
At the same time, he kicked off the ground and dashed at Cheon-hwi in an instant, swinging his sword.
Swaaaaek!
The sword left a blinding flash and instantly cut through the empty air as well as Cheon-hwi.
However, Namgung Jin-gyeong wasn’t relieved.
‘He is definitely not someone who would be taken down this vainly with just this.’
As he thought, Cheon-hwi’s figure, whose waist was cut, wavered and disappeared.
It was an afterimage.
“It’s definitely better than during the spar.”
Namgung Jin-gyeong got goosebumps at the voice heard from behind his back.
‘When did he get behind me……?’
Even if it was Shape Shifting Position Changing, was it this fast?
When Namgung Jin-gyeong broke out in a cold sweat.
‘It’s completely different from the spar, down to the internal energy operation and the swinging of the sword.’
Cheon-hwi looked down at Namgung Jin-gyeong.
The sword strike from just before felt completely different from the sword strike he swung during the spar.
The power was stronger before.
However, this sword strike was fitting for the name Lightning Thirteen Sword Thunder.
The severing and connecting was clear.
Cutting it off before clearly slicing through.
Like a whip, it caused a rupture at the end and instantly amplified the power.
‘It’s different from the spar.’
Because of that slight change, it was felt to be truly close to lightning.
At that time, Namgung Jin-gyeong twisted his sword.
“It’s not over yet! Hah!”
With a vigorous shout, Namgung Jin-gyeong twisted his waist and unfolded the next sword strike.
A sword strike that became faster than before!
Flashing and leaving behind flashes of light, the continuous strikes relentlessly pressured Cheon-hwi.
‘At this level, it’s still somewhat usable.’
Cheon-hwi changed his evaluation of Namgung Jin-gyeong.
From a bug to a dog now.
Cheon-hwi, who had only been dodging Namgung Jin-gyeong’s sword strikes this way and that, raised his hand and started to counterattack.
Seureuk… Teong!
Some sword strikes he deflected the flat of the blade with the back of his hand, and some sword strikes he struck the sword body with his palm, turning them useless.
As that situation continued to repeat.
“……!”
Namgung Jin-gyeong’s eyes trembled.
With light hand gestures, the Lightning Thirteen Sword Thunder vainly missed and crumbled away.
‘Does it still not reach even with this!’
Just when he was gritting his teeth.
Peok!
An aching pain was felt on his chest.
“Keoheok!”
Namgung Jin-gyeong shook from the impact.
Cheon-hwi, who had thrust his palm into Namgung Jin-gyeong’s chest, rested his sword on his shoulder.
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