Chapter 68
Chapter 68
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 68
Chapter Title: Lakeside Enlightenment
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"Hup!"
Nangong Jingyeong, who had been out cold for quite some time after losing consciousness, abruptly shot upright.
"Where...?"
As soon as he propped up his sweat-soaked upper body, he frantically scanned his surroundings before immediately searching for Cheonhwi.
"Th-that guy..."
"You're awake."
A voice came from right beside him just then.
"U-Uncle?"
The man referred to as uncle, the Medical Hall Leader, approached and sat down next to Nangong Jingyeong.
"Where is this...?"
"The Medical Hall. How's your body feeling?"
"D-did I lose?"
"Worry about your own condition first. You look fine now, but you were unconscious for a full half-day."
"I-I understand."
Chastened, Nangong Jingyeong hurriedly sat cross-legged and began circulating his qi to regulate his breathing.
Fortunately, there were no internal injuries.
"My cheek stings a bit, but everything else is fine."
"That's a relief. Still, you're not fully recovered, so take it easy and manage your inner energy..."
The Medical Hall Leader's concerned words continued, but Nangong Jingyeong's mind was already filled with thoughts of Cheonhwi.
'My swordsmanship didn't work at all.'
He had unleashed the Heavenly Thunder Emperor Divine Art and even deployed the Soaring Palace Without Hindrance Sword Art, but it had all been useless.
That beautiful sword strike swung down.
His cherished Changcheon Biryeo sword had been cleaved clean in two, and he himself had been split apart.
'An absurd sword strike.'
The defeat had been so overwhelming that not even a hollow laugh escaped him.
'I thought no one my age could match me except my brother...'
Ever since becoming one of the Nine Dragons, he had believed himself without peers among his peers.
But he was wrong.
The world was vast, and experts were plentiful.
'There are heavens beyond heavens.'
As he reflected, the conversation he'd had with Cheonhwi began to resurface.
'I must have been insane!'
His face flushed with embarrassment.
Suddenly recalling how arrogantly he had challenged him to a spar and the words he'd spouted during it, he felt his entire body twist in shame.
How pathetic must he have looked?
In his mortification, he wanted to crawl into a hole as he buried his head.
"...Were you stepping up to solidify your position as heir?"
The Medical Hall Leader touched on the topic that Nangong Jingyeong had been intensely fixated on lately.
Nangong Jingyeong snapped to attention and silently nodded.
The Medical Hall Leader squeezed his eyes shut.
On the surface, Nangong Jingyeong was known to have no interest in the family head position.
But that wasn't true.
"I thought you had no interest."
"That was before."
Namgung Cheon, the eldest young master of the Namgung Clan.
As the firstborn son, he possessed exceptional martial prowess, vast knowledge, and impeccable character—nothing lacking.
Everyone had long assumed the next family head would be Namgung Cheon.
Nangong Jingyeong had thought so too.
But his thinking had gradually changed.
The turning point had been earning the title of Soaring Heaven Sword Dragon.
Originally the second son, he had been far from succession, but after recently distinguishing himself and ascending to the Nine Dragons and Five Peaks, he entered consideration as a candidate for family head.
Everything changed because of that.
The sudden flood of attention on him.
The occasional admiring gazes.
At first burdensome, but before long, it became familiar, awakening a desire he hadn't even known existed.
The desire for the family head position.
"With brother away, I saw it as a chance to impress Father and the household. I thought I'd surely win against a young Daoist still just a kid..."
He trailed off without finishing.
What was the point of saying more?
He had lost in the end.
Miserably so.
The path to succession was now distant.
"I lost."
As he voiced the unfinished words, a smile bloomed on his face.
Though he'd lost his shot at the position he'd so desperately wanted, he felt strangely unburdened.
As if a long-held weight had been lifted.
"Are you alright?"
The Medical Hall Leader asked worriedly.
"Hahaha. I'm fine. No, I actually feel refreshed."
Saying so, Nangong Jingyeong stood.
"Ugh. I should get going."
The Medical Hall Leader reached to stop him from leaving but hesitated, lips twitching.
"...Come back if you feel unwell."
"Hahaha. Got it."
Nangong Jingyeong grabbed his sword from the side and exited the Medical Hall.
Indeed, had he been out for a full hour?
The midday sky, once brilliantly blue, was now dyed red with sunset.
"...Good."
Nangong Jingyeong set off immediately.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "I had high expectations since it's one of the famed houses of the murim, but there's nothing worth seeing."
Cheonhwi's face was full of disappointment.
He had wandered the Namgung Clan grounds for a full hour sightseeing, but there was nothing noteworthy or interesting.
Just halls and occasional glaring stares.
'At least I learned one thing.'
Nothing to see, but he had realized something.
'All the halls here are better than the lodgings at the Murim Alliance.'
He had thought the Murim Alliance's accommodations, though worn, weren't that bad.
But coming here made it clear.
They weren't just worn—they were outright contemptuous treatment.
'They gave us places inferior to the countless halls scattered around the clan?'
Cheonhwi's eyes darkened coldly.
'They saw us as dog shit?'
A chilling smile curled his lips.
He'd have to turn things upside down.
As he pondered the first thing to do upon returning to the Murim Alliance.
"Little brother."
Someone blocked his path.
It was Nangong Jingyeong.
"Hm?"
What? Trying for round two?
Hasn't learned his lesson yet.
To charge again after that beating—he'd have to thrash him thoroughly this time, cripple him so he couldn't act up anymore...
"Thanks to you, I've gained much insight."
"Pardon?"
The air deflated from him with a whoosh.
'Insight? What insight?'
It was incomprehensible.
Beaten one-sidedly and knocked out—what insight could there be?
"Taking your strike woke me up."
Woke up from a beating?
'No way...'
A chill ran down his spine.
He had encountered such types in his past life.
Masochists who got excited from being hit.
"Little brother."
As Nangong Jingyeong stepped forward, Cheonhwi immediately retreated.
"Don't come closer."
Cheonhwi's cold words made Nangong Jingyeong flinch in feigned surprise.
"Wh-why?"
As Nangong Jingyeong tried to approach again.
Flinch!
Cold killing intent washed over him.
'Such intense killing intent!'
Nangong Jingyeong swallowed hard.
He had never felt such fierce killing intent before.
'Like the Demonic Cult's...'
He hastily swallowed the thought.
'What am I thinking?'
His opponent was a Daoist of the Mount Hua Sect.
Demonic Cult? Absurd.
"Whatever the misunderstanding, thanks to you, I've realized how arrogant I've been."
That's what it was?
Cheonhwi dropped his guard.
He eyed Nangong Jingyeong.
His eyes were steady, unwavering—no trace of deceit in his words.
Cheonhwi withdrew his killing intent.
"Fine."
As Cheonhwi turned to leave.
"What have you been up to?"
Nangong Jingyeong hurriedly called out.
"Sightseeing the Namgung Clan."
"The main grounds? Allow me to guide you."
"No need."
Cheonhwi refused.
"Nothing worth seeing anyway. Plus, everyone glares whenever I wander."
Cheonhwi glanced aside.
There, clan retainers were stealthily peering with sharp eyes.
"Haha."
Nangong Jingyeong laughed awkwardly.
"Still, there must be something worth seeing."
"Nope."
Cheonhwi stated flatly.
"The martial arts I saw during our spar with you was the most interesting thing."
Nangong Jingyeong's eyes widened.
"My martial arts? But you crushed me miserably..."
"The most interesting."
As he'd said, the most.
Not properly demonstrated, but far better than touring the unremarkable Namgung Clan.
"I'd like to see the clan's other martial arts sometime."
"Other clan techniques?"
Nangong Jingyeong's head snapped up.
"I can demonstrate those."
"Besides Heavenly Thunder Thirteen-something and Soaring Palace Without Hindrance Sword Art?"
Nangong Jingyeong deflated immediately.
"I can't perform them as flawlessly as the two sword arts from the spar..."
"Hm."
Noticing Cheonhwi's interest, Nangong Jingyeong cautiously added.
"Still, care to take a look?"
"Sure, why not."
Cheonhwi grinned readily.
Didn't matter if not perfect.
A chance to see other techniques.
His flickering interest reignited.
"Follow me then."
Excited, Nangong Jingyeong led the way.
"There's a place I often train and meditate."
How long did they walk?
Nangong Jingyeong finally stopped at a small lakeside.
Unlike other places he'd seen, it was serene with no signs of people around, and a quaint pavilion at the lake's center caught the eye.
"What do you think? Secluded—perfect for training, right?"
"Yeah."
Cheonhwi gave a perfunctory agreement.
That alone seemed to thrill Nangong Jingyeong, who quickened his steps excitedly.
"Let's head inside."
Moments later, their distorted reflections rippled on the small lake.
A stillness that felt almost desolate.
Though within the Namgung Clan, the lakeside felt like another world.
Liking the atmosphere, Cheonhwi nodded and beckoned with a finger.
"I'll yield the first move."
Nangong Jingyeong let out a hollow laugh.
A blatant disregard, yet he couldn't help but accept it.
The skill gap from today's spar had been glaringly obvious.
Impossibly so.
Especially that sword strike...
Gooseflesh rose on his sword-holding arm.
It had clearly been One Blade Two Cuts, one of the Six Harmonies Sword Art forms.
A grandiose name for a simple overhead downward slash.
Yet that simple strike had cleaved Changcheon Biryeo exactly as named—one blade, two cuts.
Fufu—
A laugh slipped through his lips.
He had been a frog in a well, blinded by the empty fame of Soaring Heaven Sword Dragon of the Nine Dragons and Five Peaks, oblivious to the world's vastness.
'I'm weak...!'
Acknowledging his weakness lightened his heart.
Perhaps because of that, the sword in his hand felt endlessly light.
'My heart is light.'
He slowly circulated his inner energy.
Bzzt— Bzzt—
Cheonhwi muttered watching Nangong Jingyeong's hair stand on end from the Heavenly Thunder Emperor Divine Art laced with thunder qi.
"Much better than during the spar."
His inner energy control, previously just flared out, now smoothly adjusted in strength.
"I'll demonstrate Lightning Flash Thirteen Thunderbolts."
"Hm. Already saw that."
"This time it'll be different."
Nangong Jingyeong's eyes tinted blue.
Simultaneously, he kicked off the ground, charging Cheonhwi in one breath and swinging his sword.
Screeech!
The sword left a blinding flash, slicing through the air and Cheonhwi in one go.
But Nangong Jingyeong didn't relax.
'He won't go down that easily.'
As expected, the image of Cheonhwi with his waist severed shimmered and vanished.
An afterimage.
"Definitely better than the spar."
Nangong Jingyeong got chills at the voice from behind.
'When did he get behind me...?'
Even Phantom Shift shouldn't be this fast.
As Nangong Jingyeong broke into cold sweat.
'His energy control and sword swings are completely different from the spar.'
Cheonhwi looked down at Nangong Jingyeong.
That last strike felt entirely different from the spar.
Power still ferocious.
But this one suited the name Lightning Flash Thirteen Thunderbolts.
Clear start and finish.
Cut off cleanly before fully slicing.
Like a whip cracking at the tip to amplify power instantly.
'Different from before.'
That subtle change made it feel truly lightning-like.
Then Nangong Jingyeong twisted his sword.
"Not over yet! Hah!"
With a spirited shout, he twisted his waist and unleashed the next strike.
A faster barrage than before!
Flashing lights in relentless chain assaults pressed Cheonhwi.
'This is at least usable.'
Cheonhwi revised his assessment of Nangong Jingyeong.
From bug to dog-level.
Cheonhwi, who had been casually dodging, raised a hand to counter.
Swoosh— Clang!
Some strikes deflected with his sword flat using his hand's back, others smacked aside with his palm, rendered useless.
As this repeated.
"...!"
Nangong Jingyeong's eyes shook.
Lightning Flash Thirteen Thunderbolts crumbled futilely under light gestures.
'Even this misses?'
As he gritted his teeth.
Thud!
A sharp pain bloomed in his chest.
"Kuhuk!"
Nangong Jingyeong staggered from the impact.
Cheonhwi, who had palm-struck his chest, slung his sword over his shoulder.
"Seen enough of that."
He spoke indifferently, unconcerned with Nangong Jingyeong's state.
"Now show me something else."