Chapter 69
Chapter 69
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: Encounter with the Supreme Patriarch
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Three days later, Cheonhwi arrived at the lakeside as usual, and Namgung Jingyeong, who had been gazing at the lake from the pavilion, shot his hand up high.
"Cheonhwi Sodoja!"
He shouted and came running over in a flash.
His face, standing before Cheonhwi, was still bruised and uneven from the unhealed wound, but it was filled with a smile.
"I've been waiting."
"You're more energetic than yesterday."
"Hahaha. Sorry about that. After sparring with you yesterday, I had some realizations..."
Namgung Jingyeong laughed sheepishly.
He had lost everything in their sparring match.
But as they say, fortune comes after hardship.
Thanks to that, he had built a friendship with Cheonhwi and gained a new goal.
"How about we start right away?"
Cheonhwi locked eyes with him as he began drawing his sword with an excited expression.
He had been waiting for the sparring too.
And rightly so—guidance from a master like him was a rare sight.
It might seem like only he was benefiting, but that wasn't entirely true.
'I'm getting to witness the Namgung family's martial arts too, so it's mutual.'
The martial arts he had demonstrated numbered eight in total.
Most were ones he already knew, but that alone was a considerable gain.
'Not called the clan of the Firmament for nothing.'
All the techniques he had learned were connected as one.
Firmament! Thunderbolt! Lightning flash!
They seemed different at a glance, but they all embodied the vast sky in the same way.
Just as the Mount Hua Sect embraced plum blossoms and the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult embraced reverse heaven.
Cheonhwi, who had been organizing the martial arts he had seen so far one by one, met the eyes of Namgung Jingyeong, who was watching him with calm eyes.
"What martial art is it this time?"
Namgung Jingyeong's eyes sparkled immediately.
"It's the Heavenly Wind Sword Art!"
'Oh, Heavenly Wind Sword Art? It's been a while.'
"It'll be more powerful than yesterday's Grand Chain Sword Art!"
At the now-familiar confident shout, a chuckle escaped Cheonhwi's lips.
'His impression has changed a lot.'
Over the three days of sparring, his impression of him had shifted dramatically.
Even after suffering crushing defeats every day, he never grew despondent.
On the contrary, he reflected intensely on the same day he lost and showed up with a new martial art the next day, his fighting spirit ablaze.
'He's more likable now.'
He quietly approved.
His sincerity toward martial arts, and his unyielding spirit even against a stronger opponent.
Soon, he crooked a finger toward him.
"Come on, then."
"I've been waiting for those words!"
At the hand gesture he had seen countless times, Namgung Jingyeong drew his sword as if he had been waiting.
"Today, I'll make you draw your sword no matter what."
Unlike his spirit-filled words, Namgung Jingyeong's goal seemed terribly modest.
But Namgung Jingyeong knew that his goal was as grand as Mount Tai.
Because his opponent was Cheonhwi.
At that moment, Cheonhwi stoked his burning competitive spirit.
"If you can, that would be great."
Kwak!
Provoked, Namgung Jingyeong hardened his eyes and gripped his sword tightly.
"Then I'll go first!"
Having felt the skill gap with Cheonhwi down to his bones, Namgung Jingyeong seized the initiative.
Cheonhwi twisted his body to dodge the charging form and moved his mouth.
"Is that all?"
"This is just the start!"
Namgung Jingyeong circulated his inner power.
In an instant, crackling lightning bloomed, and his sword swung wide.
'No different from what I knew... oh?'
Cheonhwi's eyes curved.
No, it was quite different.
Somewhat—no, considerably so.
As the strikes repeated once, twice, Namgung Jingyeong's sword grew stronger.
'You can't maintain this kind of offense just by having a lot of inner power, right?'
Yet Namgung Jingyeong was pulling it off.
Whether thanks to the unique Heavenly Wind Sword Art, or his razor-sharp focus.
The onslaught continued like a storm.
'If he keeps attacking without rest like this, his inner power will deplete first?'
Interest flickered in Cheonhwi's eyes.
The Heavenly Wind Sword Art he knew from long ago centered on free variations.
Yet he was chaining strikes like this.
'Has this changed too?'
His gleaming eyes swept over Namgung Jingyeong as he swung his sword for a moment.
Swish—
Cheonhwi's hand moved.
As soon as he deflected the Heavenly Wind Sword Art and countered, Namgung Jingyeong reacted.
Clang!
He stepped back in a flash and twisted his blade to protect his body from the counter.
Having seen him react for the first time after being helplessly overwhelmed until now, Cheonhwi murmured lowly.
"Now you know how to dodge."
It was nothing special, but Namgung Jingyeong's lips twitched as if spasming at the words.
"You think I haven't seen your techniques once or twice!"
Namgung Jingyeong, who had barely swallowed an emerging laugh, moved his mouth.
"Isn't this enough to make you draw your sword?"
Cheonhwi looked at the excited man and said,
"No."
"What do you mean... hup!"
Namgung Jingyeong's eyes went wide. Cheonhwi had appeared right in front of him before he knew it, palm spread wide open.
The pure white palm grew to engulf his entire vision.
Bam!
Pitch-black darkness descended.
Namgung Jingyeong, struck hard on the forehead, felt his mind fading.
'St, still... at least recognition this time...'
In the end, Namgung Jingyeong lost consciousness and collapsed spread-eagled on the ground with a thud.
Blood trickled from his nose, but his face was fully smiling, giving an eerie impression.
"I've felt it before, but while everything else is sorely lacking, his continuous strikes are generally quite usable."
He stroked his chin, recalling the martial art Namgung Jingyeong had just demonstrated for a moment.
Swish—
He jerked his head back and spoke.
"Why don't you come out already?"
At that instant, a gust rose before him, and an old man appeared with hands clasped behind his back.
'That face?'
As he scanned the somehow familiar old man, he spoke lowly.
"This is the second time I've seen you."
"Ah! From three days ago."
He recognized him from the voice.
It was the one who had pressured the gatekeepers three days prior to allow the Namgung family's visitors.
"I thought you'd keep hiding, but you came out."
The old man stroked his beard, looking embarrassed.
"You knew?"
"Hard to miss with you staring so intently the whole time."
The old man cleared his throat and turned his head.
"Truth be told, I meant to come out midway. But watching our family's boy spar with a Mount Hua Sect Taoist was so fascinating that I got absorbed and... forgot to come out."
"Forgot?"
"Yes."
Just plain forgot?
It was dubious, but seeing his repeated embarrassed coughs, it didn't seem like a lie.
"Having Mount Hua Sect Taoists stay in our house brings back memories."
The old man quickly changed the subject.
"I never imagined figures from the Nine Great Sects would stay here again... Perhaps because we're the same righteous faction, relations have improved."
"Pardon?"
"Hoho. So you did listen to me. I said there's nothing good about clashing with the Murim Alliance..."
It was baffling.
In the three days staying at the Namgung family, what he had felt was mostly hostility and wariness.
Yet good relations?
"No way."
"Your main enemies are the vile demonic sects... What?"
The muttering old man widened his eyes.
"No way? Then why are you staying in our house?"
He looked at the old man strangely.
The reason for their visit was already widely known throughout the Namgung family.
Otherwise, why would so many retainers have gathered at the Firmament Grand Hall?
He spoke as the old man brought his face close.
"Because of a deal."
"A deal?"
"You already all know."
Cheonhwi stared at the old man fixedly.
"Ahem, ahem."
Meeting his gaze, the old man coughed awkwardly and smiled.
"Hoho. I've been secluded here lately, so I'm not up on family matters."
'Even so, it was a big enough deal for the family head to step in—how could he not know?'
The old man wore an awkward smile across his face.
'Something's up with him.'
Suspicious, but he didn't press.
It wasn't a major issue, and the deal was public knowledge anyway.
"We handed over the Black Hawk Demon Killer's corpse and are receiving something in exchange, though I don't know the details of what."
"The Black Hawk Demon Killer?!"
The old man's expression changed completely.
The awkward smile vanished like a mirage, and a chill settled in his eyes.
"You killed that utterly loathsome bastard and brought his corpse?"
Cheonhwi's eyes narrowed to slits.
In that brief instant, the old man's aura had been sharp and intense.
'Stronger than the family head...'
"So the Mount Hua Sect took him down."
"Pardon?"
At the old man's following words, Cheonhwi had no choice but to tilt his head again.
"Sort of, but it's strange. Usually, no one thinks the Mount Hua Sect handled it."
The old man's eyebrows twitched violently.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"No one believes the Mount Hua Sect caught an expert of that level."
"Hoho. Mount Hua Sect can't handle the Black Hawk Demon Killer? What nonsense."
"Pardon?"
"Huh?"
Both tilted their heads at the same time.
They stared at each other for a moment with utterly incomprehensible expressions.
'No way he doesn't know the Mount Hua Sect's state?'
A sudden hypothesis came to mind.
In the past five years, he had never seen anyone speak well of the Mount Hua Sect.
Most dismissed it as a declining Taoist sect or treated it as past its prime.
Of course, outwardly they praised it as befitting Mount Hua, but the disdain within was hard to hide.
'But this one is different.'
He genuinely believed so.
His earlier words carried thick goodwill and reverence.
'Nah, he has to know.'
The Mount Hua Sect's near-collapse was known throughout the world.
It wasn't as if they were secluded in some remote valley; living inside the Namgung family and not knowing was odd.
'But just in case.'
Cheonhwi asked while looking at the old man.
"Do you know the Mount Hua Sect has declined?"
"What? Declined? Hahaha. Looks like Mount Hua Taoists study jokes these days."
The old man waved his hand laughing.
"Mount Hua declining, of all places? Absurd."
Wow, he really didn't know.
The moment he confirmed that was the reason their conversation had kept crossing purposes.
Ah! No wonder...
A thought flashed through his mind, and he clicked his tongue with a 'tsk tsk'.
'No wonder he knows nothing—he's an old man banished to the back room.'
The lingering doubts now clicked into place, starting to make sense.
'Poor guy.'
No matter how profound his martial arts, what did it matter?
He was no different from having his ears plugged and eyes covered by his own family.
"Right now, the Mount Hua Sect is the lowest of the Nine Great Sects."
Cheonhwi told the truth to the old man who still didn't grasp his own situation.
His tone was kinder than usual.
He felt sorry for the one chased to the back room, so he decided to be a bit nicer.
"What? The lowest of the Nine Great Sects...?"
The old man stared at Cheonhwi with a shocked face.
"I-is that true?!"
"What would I gain from lying?"
"That's ridiculous..."
"Of course, it'll rise again."
He added the afterthought, but the old man's ears, fixated on the Mount Hua Sect being the lowest of the Nine Great Sects, didn't register it at all.
"How could the Mount Hua Sect... Their sword flowers bloomed across the world, their sword fragrance engulfing all..."
As pity welled up seeing the old man unable to recover from the shock,
"Gasp!"
Namgung Jingyeong regained consciousness and shot to his feet.
"So, Sodoja!"
As soon as he stood, he looked for Cheonhwi, then spotted the old man and flinched.
"Gr-Grand Patriarch?!"