Chapter 160
Chapter 160
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 160
Chapter Title: Shattering the Thirty-Six Swords of the Realm
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A blue gleam began to flash in Namgung Ryong's eyes.
His presence swelled like Mount Tai, and the erupting energy wave started pushing back Hyun-gung's sword momentum.
Namgung Ryong's sword began striking down the onrushing sword intent of the Thirty-Six Swords of the Realm, like a tidal wave.
The wooden sword thrust straight ahead, unwavering and steadfast.
Each swing of the wooden sword unleashed sword qi that glittered fiercely.
The sword shadows created by the wooden sword bloomed and faded repeatedly in the air.
Paaang! Paaaang!
The sharp whooshes rang in their ears, and at the same time, Namgung Ryong's wooden sword clashed with Hyun-gung's in midair.
Lightning from Namgung Ryong's wooden sword wrapped around Hyun-gung's blade and flashed.
Startled by the electricity surging up his wrist, Hyun-gung twisted his sword path.
Namgung Ryong's sword pressed straight forward, enduring the onslaught of the Thirty-Six Swords of the Realm's momentum.
Jjee-eong! Jjeeong!
A massive roar echoed, and the shockwave made the青stone floor tremble.
Namgung Ryong's sword kept moving.
The Sovereign Sword Form, Heavenly Thunder Divine Skill, and Sovereign's Dominion Step operated in unison.
The Sovereign Sword Form clashed with the Thirty-Six Swords of the Realm, again and again.
It shattered them.
It smashed and crumbled them.
As if performing the most natural task in the world, the Sovereign Sword Form was relentless, and Namgung Ryong's expression remained unchanged from the start.
Without a hint of strain, he began blocking, pushing back, and shattering the Thirty-Six Swords of the Realm.
Hyun-gung's face paled.
It was hopeless.
The majestic sword art of the Thirty-Six Swords of the Realm—which embodied mountains like Tai, the heavens, and the seas—was accomplishing nothing.
Namgung Ryong was like a sea rock.
Like a solitary crag rising from the ocean, he took all of Hyun-gung's strikes and deflected them.
And eventually shattered them.
Every sword momentum of the Thirty-Six Swords of the Realm broke into pieces like waves crashing against the sea rock.
'This, this bastard...!'
The sword art meant to crush and dominate his foe crumbled powerlessly.
"Eek!"
The next stance Hyun-gung unleashed was blocked once more.
Kung!
"Kuhk!"
He staggered back a step and launched the stance again, aiming for the shoulder.
Kwang!
Namgung Ryong's sword shook lightly, blocking the stance with powerful impact.
"Ugh!"
His mouth fell open from the shock that felt like it would rip his wrist apart.
The third stance, the fourth...
In the end, all thirty-six stances were completely blocked.
Even pounding on a stone wall wouldn't feel like this.
Each blocked stance brought a surge of rebound force, futility, dizziness, and suffocating frustration at things not going his way. His teeth ground together.
Hyun-gung's face flushed beet red.
His techniques grew rough and brutal.
He targeted vital points that would cripple on impact, the head, the throat.
He twisted his sword path for feints and stabbed at openings.
But all failed.
The Thirty-Six Swords of the Realm crumbled.
The stances grew disordered, and the sword lost its way.
Hyun-gung's pupils shook.
Every stance of the Thirty-Six Swords of the Realm was being sealed by Namgung Ryong's swordsmanship.
Shattered thoroughly, one by one.
Namgung Ryong silently advanced, smashing the Thirty-Six Swords of the Realm.
Pressing down everything in his path, he simply advanced.
Having never experienced this before, Hyun-gung's bewilderment shook him even more.
Hyun-gung's eyes bulged as if they would tear.
'T-This can't be!'
Was this possible?
How could the Thirty-Six Swords of the Realm be pushed back by the sword of the declining Namgung Clan?
How!
He couldn't believe it.
But disbelief didn't change the outcome.
All too naturally, all too smoothly, Namgung Ryong's Sovereign Sword Form pushed him back and devoured the Thirty-Six Swords of the Realm.
And the moment every technique of the Thirty-Six Swords of the Realm was blocked, Namgung Ryong's sword momentum shifted once more.
Kwarung! Flash!
"Kruuuh!"
Hyun-gung groaned and was helplessly pushed back.
Enduring Namgung Ryong's overwhelming sword pressure, Hyun-gung let out a groan.
'Losing? Me?'
Hyun-gung gritted his teeth.
"Kraaaah!"
He swung his wooden sword with all his might.
"S-Senior Brother!"
Hyun-gong's eyes widened.
An unbelievable sight unfolded right before his eyes.
Hyun-gung, Zhongnan Sect's top later-generation talent, was being utterly overwhelmed.
No, it wasn't just being pushed back.
Ppak! Ppapak! Kwang!
"Kuhk! Keok! Euhk!"
Roars that shook the eardrums boomed as Namgung Ryong's wooden sword battered Hyun-gung.
The Sovereign Sword Form rained down like a downpour, thoroughly smashing the wall created by the Thirty-Six Swords of the Realm and pounding Hyun-gung.
Kwang kwang kwang! Kwaang!
Having witnessed the Thirty-Six Swords of the Realm shatter completely, Hyun-gong's mouth hung open.
"I-Impossible!"
This couldn't happen.
How could Hyun-gung be crushed so overwhelmingly?
How could the Thirty-Six Swords of the Realm be broken so easily by the Namgung Clan's sword!
Hyun-gong's shock was beyond words.
He had never once imagined that Hyun-gung—who had mastered Zhongnan's countless martial arts, including the Thirty-Six Swords of the Realm—could lose.
Much less be so helplessly overwhelmed.
The junior brothers were aghast.
"Th-This..."
"H-Hyun-gung Senior Brother!"
"Heuk, S-Senior Grand Brother is being pushed back. Is this, is this possible?"
"This can't be!"
For Hyun-gung, who had mastered Zhongnan's supreme sword art, the Thirty-Six Swords of the Realm, to lose meant Zhongnan had lost to the Namgung Clan.
And that was exactly what was happening.
Every stance of the Thirty-Six Swords of the Realm, every Zhongnan sword technique Hyun-gung knew, was crumbling one by one.
They were third-generation disciples brimming with pride in Zhongnan.
They couldn't easily accept that Zhongnan's martial arts were being thoroughly dismantled.
Hyun-jong and the Zhongnan disciples stared blankly at the spar, their faces filled with shock.
Kwaang! Kwang!
"Kruuuh!"
Another massive boom resounded.
Namgung Ryong struck down vigorously with the same unchanged expression.
Flash! Kwarurung! Pijijik!
Lightning fell, thunder roared, and bolts scattered in all directions.
Sword qi like a bolt of lightning whipped Hyun-gung.
Kwajik!
Paaaak!
"Keoeok!"
The wooden sword snapped in half, and Hyun-gung tumbled disgracefully to the ground.
Thud!
"S-Senior Brother!"
"Seeenior Brother!"
Hyun-gong and Hyun-jong cried out in alarm, rushing to support Hyun-gung.
"Kuhk, Kk!"
Supported, Hyun-gung glared at Namgung Ryong.
Namgung Ryong looked back at him steadily, letting his charred wooden sword hang down.
"Proven..."
"..."
"...homeland."
Namgung Ryong's voice rumbled low.
Hyun-gung's face crumpled pathetically.
His bloodshot eyes glared at Namgung Ryong before turning to the back.
Namgung Hyeok giggling nonstop, and the Thunder Dragon Squad standing calmly as if they had expected this.
No agitation at all, as if they had foreseen this outcome from the start.
'These bastards... dare... dare!'
Hyun-gung ground his teeth and turned to Hyun-gong.
Hyun-gong, Hyun-jong, and the others avoided his gaze, faces at a loss.
The Zhongnan Sword Dragon had been defeated by the Namgung Clan's young master.
Thoroughly.
The shock was indescribable.
Even Hyun-gong and Hyun-jong, who would normally never tolerate Namgung Ryong's words, could only groan in silence.
But the silence fell only over Zhongnan Sect.
Namgung Hyeok, unconcerned with their feelings, laughed freely at them.
He pointed at Zhongnan Sect with his finger, chuckling.
"Puhahaha! I told you, you'd get beaten to death! Did you come here just to get thrashed? Aigoo, our young master. You worked hard, real hard!"
Geon Cheon-hwi said in panic, trying to stop him.
"...Second Young Master, calm down. It's still a spar, so some courtesy..."
"Courtesy my ass. Hey, laugh. We won, so laugh!"
"..."
"Not laughing?"
"Ahaha, hahaha!"
As Namgung Hyeok shook his fist, Geon Cheon-hwi reflexively raised the corners of his mouth and laughed.
Namgung Chang muttered blankly.
"B-Big Brother turned Zhongnan Sect upside down. Zhongnan Sect..."
People glanced at Namgung Chang and lightly shook their heads.
Namgung Hyeok patted the returning Namgung Ryong's shoulder.
"You did great! Excellent, excellent!"
"Hm!"
"But going over fifty stances? That's a bit much, no?"
"...Proof."
"Proof my foot."
As Namgung Hyeok stared, Namgung Ryong slyly averted his gaze.
Zhongnan Sect's disciples bristled at the sight.
They talked as if crushing Zhongnan's sword was only natural, mocking them—naturally, anger surged.
Supported, Hyun-gung muttered.
"It can't... end like this. Absolutely not."
He, who bore Zhongnan's full expectations, could not lose to the likes of the Namgung Clan.
Absolutely!
He had to smooth over this somehow, find fault, and turn the tables.
"We must salvage this somehow."
"Senior Brother?"
"You want rumors spreading that Zhongnan lost to the Namgung rabble like this!"
He couldn't allow such humiliation.
What started lightly had become a situation that could never be taken lightly.
The Zhongnan Sword Dragon was Zhongnan Sect's representative later-generation talent.
For Hyun-gung—master of Zhongnan's martial arts and called Zhongnan's future—to lose carried huge implications.
It was no different from Zhongnan losing to the Namgung Clan.
Hyun-gong and Hyun-jong grasped his meaning.
They looked around.
No one was there.
Meaning they could end this here before it escalated further.
Hyun-gong stepped forward.
"Your hand was too heavy in the spar! Starting a quarrel first and turning it into a life-or-death duel! What kind of behavior is this!"
"..."
"Apologize! To our sect and senior brother!"
Hyun-gong gritted his teeth and shouted at Namgung Hyeok.
He knew how unreasonable and absurd this was.
But there was no other way.
'This is all for the sect.'
Thick-skinned, he glared at Namgung Hyeok.
People blinked at Hyun-gong laying down threats in his booming voice.
Namgung Hyeok's eyes slowly, very slowly, turned toward Hyun-gong.
"What are you doing! Apologize quickly! If not, you'll regret..."
"Uheheh."
"..."
"...it..."
"Hahahahahahaha!"
Hyun-gong furrowed his brow.
'That guy?'
The Namgung bastard who had provoked them from the start.
The one mocking Hyun-gung's defeat so blatantly!
And now he was laughing like a madman.
Hyun-gung's eyebrows twitched.
"You bastard! Ignoring our sect right..."
"Puhahahaha! Ah, fuck. Tears are coming."
Namgung Hyeok guffawed at Hyun-gong, then cocked his head.
"Apologize?"
"Y-Yes..."
"Apoloogiiize?"
"..."
"No, but these fuckers?"
Namgung Hyeok suddenly sobered and stomped the ground.
No one could stop his sudden charge.
In an instant, Namgung Hyeok leaped out and unleashed a flawless double side kick at Hyun-gong's face.
The lightning-fast kick smashed Hyun-gong's face.
Ujjak!
"Kuaaaah!"
Hyun-gong spewed twin streams of nosebleed as he flew three zhang.
The onlookers, who had blankly followed Namgung Hyeok's movements, had their pupils shake wildly.
Shock filled Zhongnan disciples' eyes, jaws dropping.
"S-Senior Brother!"
"Hyun-gong Senior Brother! Are you okay!"
"Senior Maaaster!"
The distraught cries of Zhongnan disciples rang out.
Half-dazed Hyun-jong snapped his head up.
"Y-You bastard! Daring to touch a Zhongnan disciple..."
"What're you saying, fuck!"
Paaaaak!
Hyun-jong's jaw spun around.
Thud. Kung!
With a heavy thud, Hyun-jong collapsed limply.
Crack!
Namgung Hyeok cracked his knuckles and twisted his lips up.
"Here, apology."
...No, that's not an apology.
Geon Cheon-hwi clutched his forehead, and Namgung Ryong gazed at distant mountains.
Zhongnan had already crossed an irreversible river.