Chapter 644: The Thunderous Sword (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 644: The Thunderous Sword (5)
Wasn't he supposed to be in the secret cave in Shaanxi?
How could he be inside a treasure? What did that even mean?
Namgung Myung’s questioning words left me momentarily stunned.
Whoosh.
A chill ran down my spine. No, it was just my imagination. Everything around me had long since ground to a halt, so there was no way a breeze could stir. It was purely a sensation—a deep, biting chill.
An emotion welled up from within, piercing my chest and seeping into my mind. It wasn't Qi, yet it prodded at my upper dantian. It was something heavy and unsettling. It was only when a sense of dread washed over me that I managed to regain my senses.
"What do you mean…?" My voice trembled as I finally spoke. "His lingering thoughts were inside the Mount Hua Sect's treasure. Are you saying that wasn't what you seniors intended?"
Was my memory wrong? For a moment, I considered it, but I knew better than anyone that it wasn't the case. It was more plausible that Namgung Myung had simply misspoken.
‘Perhaps he meant it was in the secret cave?’
I tried to recall the name of the Mount Hua Sect's treasure, but I couldn't even remember it now. Maybe Namgung Myung meant that the treasure itself was located in the Mount Hua Sect's secret cave somewhere in Shaanxi. That seemed more likely.
But...
‘If that were the case, Namgung Myung's reaction wouldn't make sense.’
I still remembered the look of genuine shock on his face when I said it was in the treasure. It was clearly an unfiltered reaction.
‘Think.’
How could this have happened? While I stood there wide-eyed in confusion, Namgung Myung frowned and addressed me.
"It was inside a treasure... Is that true?"
"Yes."
How could I forget? I remembered absorbing the energy while the treasure was being sent to the Mount Hua Sect, and I remembered Elder Shin's voice echoing in my mind. More than five years had passed, but it was a day I could never forget.
That was exactly why this was a problem.
‘What in the world happened?’
Something had gone wrong. I had to find out what it was, no matter what.
"...Elder Shin, the Divine Sword of Mount Hua. Did you say he was in a secret cave?"
"Yes."
"Didn't you place his lingering thoughts into the treasure and leave it there?" I asked the question that had first come to mind.
Namgung Myung shook his head slightly. A clear denial. "We never did that, nor should we have."
"What do you mean, you shouldn't have?"
"Placing lingering thoughts in a treasure is nothing more than a way to buy time. For the goal we sought, it was something that should never have been done."
"Goal..."
He likely meant Elder Shin's reincarnation. Or rebirth. The goal Namgung Myung spoke of was surely that.
Hearing his words, my mind raced. Could he be lying? Could this man calling himself the Thunderous Sword be a fake in the first place? I had to consider even that possibility.
"Then... you're saying that what happened with the treasure was not what you seniors intended."
Even as I was lost in thought, I kept the conversation going. I couldn't show any sign of suspicion.
‘If...’
If what Namgung Myung was saying was true, one particular situation came to mind. A few months ago, when I was in Hubei, I had run into Yung Pung by chance. What he said back then kept replaying in my mind.
[I think I've become the descendant.]
Yung Pung, who had secretly told me he'd become the descendant of the Divine Sword of Mount Hua. Hearing that, I had feigned surprise and scoffed. Of course, I was Elder Shin's descendant. Even if Yung Pung was a member of the Mount Hua Sect, that fact wouldn't change. That's what I firmly believed back then.
‘...Yung Pung said he found it in a cave in Shaanxi.’
The familiar energy he possessed and the voice he claimed to have heard... he didn't seem to be lying, so I just thought there was some unknown issue. And yet, deep down, I was certain that I was the true descendant.
But now, that belief was beginning to waver.
‘The pieces are fitting together.’
A cave discovered in Shaanxi. The traces and energy within... and even a voice. Doesn't that perfectly match what Namgung Myung said about the secret cave? What if that place really was the secret cave they left for Elder Shin?
‘But that's just a trace, a fortunate encounter. Ultimately, it's different from reincarnation.’
Just as I obtained Elder Shin's energy and thoughts from the Mount Hua Sect's treasure, Yung Pung merely found a trace. It was different from the unique concept of reincarnation.
The reincarnation had failed. That was the only logical conclusion.
"The lingering thoughts were definitely inside the treasure. The Mount Hua Sect's treasure, no less. Do you have any idea what might have happened?" I put the matter of Yung Pung aside for now and focused on my own experience.
"I do not know. If what you say is true, descendant, then it means something unexpected occurred."
"..."
Tap. Tap.
I secretly tapped my fingers against my waist. No matter how I thought about it, I couldn't understand.
‘What happened?’
They had made arrangements in advance, but for things to turn out like this meant, as Namgung Myung said, that an anomaly had occurred somewhere along the way. Perhaps what Yung Pung experienced was also related to that anomaly...
‘Something went wrong, the arrangements were twisted, and Elder Shin failed to reincarnate. His lingering thoughts were sealed in the treasure instead.’
Meanwhile, Yung Pung discovered Elder Shin's traces in Shaanxi and was even acknowledged as the descendant by his sect. And it seemed the past heroes I had met were unaware of these facts.
‘I don't know about Tang Jaemoon and Yeon Il-Cheon, but The Light of Might and Namgung Myung seem to be in the dark.’
That is, if the Namgung Myung before me was real.
It was all twisted and tangled. The diverging paths were so complex I couldn't see the end. How did Elder Shin fail to reincarnate? I pushed the thought aside and asked Namgung Myung.
"Why on earth did you try to reincarnate the Divine Sword of Mount Hua?"
There was too much to process, and I couldn't reach a conclusion. I needed more information. Putting aside the fact that Elder Shin's reincarnation failed, why him of all people? I decided to ask that first. I didn't ask how such a thing was possible; that was a pointless question right now. The purpose was more important.
When I posed the question, Namgung Myung looked at me with a peculiar expression. "Why are you curious about that?"
"Because it's strange."
How could it not be?
"The Zenith Under the Heavens at the time was the Golden Heaven Fist King."
The story of a man from a minor clan in Sichuan who surpassed the masters of the great sects and noble families to stand at the top was still famous today. Furthermore, the merchant association run by his clan became the number one in the Central Plains, making him a perfect figure who possessed power, fame, and wealth.
He was Yeon Il-Cheon, the Golden Heaven Fist King—the strongest man under the heavens several centuries ago and one of the heroes who stopped the Blood Disaster.
On top of that...
‘He was a regressor, just like me.’
A being who had even turned back time. And yet...
"So why did you choose the Divine Sword of Mount Hua over him?"
Why choose the Divine Sword of Mount Hua when they had the strongest man of their era? It was something I had been wondering about for a long time.
"..."
Namgung Myung fell silent. I waited. He seemed to be considering how to answer rather than ignoring the question. After a short wait, Namgung Myung looked at me and spoke.
"He was the right one."
"Pardon?"
A rather strange answer.
"No matter how much we thought about it, it had to be him."
"I don't understand."
Elder Shin was the only option? Did that mean...
"...Was the Divine Sword of Mount Hua actually stronger than the Golden Heaven Fist King...?"
"No, he never defeated Il-Cheon. The same goes for me and the others."
"I see."
I thought maybe he was a hidden powerhouse, but Namgung Myung was firm.
"Then why?"
"Descendant."
"Yes."
"You said you spoke with Shincheol's lingering thoughts."
"...That's right."
It was less of a conversation and more of us bickering or trading insults, but if that counted as a conversation, then yes.
"In your eyes, what kind of person was he?"
"...May I answer without filtering my words?"
"Go ahead."
"He was a crazy old man who called himself a Taoist but acted nothing like one. He was clueless and had such a foul temper that I'd get angry after exchanging just ten words with him."
"..."
Oops. Was that too blunt? I thought maybe I should have been more diplomatic, but Namgung Myung's reaction was unexpected.
"You truly are his descendant."
I thought he might get angry at me for insulting his friend, but for some reason, he just nodded. His reaction was strangely irritating.
"That wasn't the answer I was looking for, but you saw him clearly. He was not like a Taoist."
As Namgung Myung began to speak about Elder Shin, his expression changed slightly. He looked somewhat nostalgic.
"Unlike other Taoists, his mouth was filled with curses instead of hypocrisy. He had no interest in dignity or honor, and the moment he grabbed a sword, he became a madman."
"..."
His expression looked nostalgic, but his words were the complete opposite. What kind of life had the real Elder Shin lived? To be treated like a madman by his own friend...
I shook my head. ‘Just how strange of a person was he?’
As a normal person, it was something I couldn't comprehend. The more he explained, the more I thought they shouldn't have entrusted him with anything, but then—
"However," Namgung Myung spoke in a clear voice, "he was also a man who would never bend his convictions."
"His convictions?"
Conviction. The difficult, heavy word weighed down on my shoulders.
"You asked why it was Shincheol."
"Yes."
"Because among us, his conviction was the most righteous."
His conviction was righteous. What did that mean? I didn't know. My confusion must have been plain on my face, because Namgung Myung continued his explanation.
"The Light of Might has a firm heart, but he is weak."
He was talking about the bald old man from Shaolin, the one sealed in the fish.
"He knew this himself, so he chose to step back and remain in Shaolin."
Stepped back. Did that mean he gave up on being reincarnated?
"Tang Jaemoon, unlike The Light of Might, possessed a solid conviction, but her martial prowess was the weakest. Moreover, she was not a good match."
I recalled the woman I met at the lake in Sichuan. Unlike her name, she was a delicate and beautiful woman.
"Yeon Il-Cheon's conviction was incomplete, and my own regrets ran too deep. That is why it had to be Shincheol."
"I still don't understand. What does any of that mean?"
He kept going on about conviction, but what the hell was he talking about? Why would the convictions of the heroes who saved the world be weak? They must have been deeper and stronger than mine, at the very least.
When I asked with that sentiment, Namgung Myung made a strange expression. He looked bitter, yet also as if he had reached enlightenment.
"We could not afford to break."
The words that followed felt particularly precarious.
"Therefore, we had to choose someone who would not break, no matter what happened."
"What does that have to do with conviction? Are you saying the others' convictions were weak?"
"No, everyone's was strong."
"Then..."
"The problem is that the direction of our convictions was different."
Namgung Myung's gaze seemed to blur. "Do you know what conviction was important to us?"
"...I do not."
"The world."
My eyes widened slightly at his words.
"We had to save the world. And for that, we needed a conviction that would not break."
"That is..."
"The Light of Might was not confident in his own conviction, which could break at any moment. Tang Jaemoon's martial skill was weak, and her conviction was affection, so she had to be excluded."
Affection. There was no need to ask who it was for. It seemed everyone knew except for that clueless old man.
"The same goes for me. I..." Namgung Myung paused for a moment before continuing. "I desired the prosperity and safety of my clan more than the world."
I tilted my head at his somewhat somber words. "Is that different?"
Stopping the Blood Disaster to save the world—isn't that all that mattered? I didn't understand why he saw it differently.
"It is different. Very different."
"In what way?"
"Living for the world and having that as a secondary benefit are two different things. That is why we all had to step back."
"Then, are you saying Elder Shin lived for the world?"
"Yes."
"...!"
The answer came without a hint of hesitation. His words left me speechless.
"Saving the world. That was the only reason he ever drew his sword. For a man who was the sect leader of a clan, he was unbelievably stubborn about that one thing."
That man? Recalling Elder Shin's usual disposition, I was about to retort, but then I remembered that I myself had treated him as a hero.
"A sword solely for saving the world. That was the reason we chose him and sought to bind his soul to the secret cave, and yet..."
Namgung Myung trailed off, his gaze shifting as if lost in thought.
"I cannot fathom how the body manifested correctly, yet the soul ended up sealed in a treasure."
He too seemed puzzled. Indeed, the plan must have been thwarted by someone...
Huh?
"Wait a moment." I was about to speak when I realized I'd just heard something strange. "Senior."
"Speak."
"...What did you just say about the Divine Sword of Mount Hua's body?"
Namgung Myung had just said the body had manifested correctly. The soul may not have been sealed within it, but Elder Shin's body was reincarnated properly? Stunned by this incredible piece of information, I asked again.
"What are you talking about?"
Namgung Myung looked back at me. And then he said, "Is it not right before your eyes?"
"...Pardon?"
At his words, I immediately looked around. I saw the Dishonored Venerable and Seong Yul. The Black Lion and the Palace Lord. They were just frozen stiff.
Is it one of them?
When I looked back at Namgung Myung with a shocked expression, his gaze was fixed on one spot.
"You."
It was me.
"You are his reincarnation."
Hearing this, my face twisted into a bizarre expression.
"What?"
...Me?