Chapter 272
Chapter 272
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 272
Chapter Title: Filling with the Body
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Namgung Hyeok flashed a subtle smile at the elders' desperate expressions.
He was dragging it out as if savoring the moment, and Namgung Wigyeong and the elders watching him were on the verge of losing their minds.
Finally, Namgung Hyeok opened his mouth.
"I don't know."
"...What?"
"I said I don't know."
Namgung Hyeok's face, which had held that subtle smile, turned sullen in an instant.
Bewilderment spread across the elders' faces, puffed up with anticipation.
"You don't know?"
"Don't know? How is that possible!"
"Think about it again. You really didn't see it? Really?"
Namgung Hyeok shrugged.
"I didn't. Was there an annotated book or something?"
The elders were struck dumb by his counter-question.
That's why they had come asking in the first place.
Namgung Wigyeong stared at Namgung Hyeok as if to bore holes through him.
A profound light gleamed in his eyes.
Namgung Wigyeong took a moment to steady his breath before speaking.
"Hyeok."
"Yes."
"Then how were you able to execute the Vast Heavens Invincible Sword?"
Namgung Hyeok shrugged once more.
"It just worked."
"...It did?"
"Yes."
"How? How did it work?"
"It just did."
"Just did!? You mean it just worked? Without any annotations?"
Namgung Wigyeong stared at Namgung Hyeok in excitement.
The other elders felt the same.
"There's no way it just works!"
"What kind of nonse—"
"No way. This isn't some street-side martial art."
"Ha, how are we supposed to take this?"
The elders' bewilderment and confusion reached a peak.
If the Vast Heavens Invincible Sword could be executed just like that, the elders wouldn't have racked their brains for three days and nights in the first place.
'If it worked without internal energy, we'd have done it ages ago!'
Had they never tried performing the Vast Heavens Invincible Sword just with the forms, without internal energy?
They must have tried it hundreds of times.
Without internal energy, they focused even harder, using every muscle in their bodies, only to feel their vitality draining away instead.
Yet Namgung Hyeok had executed the Vast Heavens Invincible Sword perfectly with a wooden sword and no internal energy.
He had overcome the very forms that stumped them and fully captured the sword's momentum.
How could they not be shocked and bewildered?
Namgung Wigyeong calmed the restless assembly and spoke in a heavy voice.
"Hyeok."
"Yes."
"Can you explain it? How you performed those forms?"
"Hmm, explain."
Namgung Hyeok shrugged.
"I don't know. It just worked for me. Doesn't it work for you?"
"...."
"That's weird. Why doesn't it work?"
Fifth Elder Namgung Sik couldn't hold back any longer.
"Stop saying 'just' and 'it worked.' Say something useful. How did you make it work when it doesn't for us?"
His voice dripped with frustration.
Namgung Hyeok tilted his head.
"How do you explain something that just works? It's like asking how to breathe."
"No, this isn't breathing."
"It felt like breathing to me."
"...Have you ever seen such a genius?"
Namgung Sik was at a loss for words.
If it just worked, what more could he say?
Namgung Hyeok tossed out casually.
"It's simple—just fill it in with your body."
"...Hm?"
"Want me to teach you?"
Namgung Hyeok asked with a beaming smile.
The elders flinched.
"Teach us?"
"...Hyeok, you're going to teach us?"
"Didn't you just say you couldn't explain it?"
Namgung Hyeok shrugged.
"Do you have to learn how to walk to walk? You make it walk, and it walks."
Why does that sound like a threat?
Namgung Wigyeong furrowed his brow.
"You're saying you can teach it?"
"Yes. It's not like I haven't done this before. Line up everyone I've taught, and the Great Wall would look short."
"...."
"Ah, if you don't want to, fine. I'm a busy man myself."
Namgung Hyeok leaned back in his chair and smiled softly.
Namgung Wigyeong and the elders were flustered.
'What do we do?'
'To fix the issues with the Vast Heavens Invincible Sword, don't we have no choice?'
'But our dignity...'
'Is this the time to worry about dignity? If we leave it like this, the art will be lost, or we'll be humiliated in front of the Family Head and the clan.'
No matter how great Namgung Hyeok's achievements or how he vied for the top among the younger generation, he was still just that—a junior.
For them, pushing fifty or sixty, to learn swordsmanship from this kid—what a joke that would be.
The clan's elders unable to teach, instead learning from a mere youth in his twenties? What humiliation.
People would point fingers, saying the elders were just old fools posturing from the back rooms.
Veterans of countless trials, how could the elders not know this?
Namgung Wigyeong cleared his throat.
"Ahem! Hyeok."
"Yes."
"What is martial learning?"
"Martial learning."
"It's the study of arts and martial arts."
Namgung Hyeok looked at Namgung Wigyeong with a sly grin.
Go on, keep going.
Namgung Wigyeong continued with a steady gaze.
"Teaching without theory or explanation is extremely dangerous."
"Hm...."
"The higher the martial art, the more caution and care it requires. It must be dissected perfectly in theory. That's the realm of transcendence."
Namgung Wigyeong's voice deepened softly.
"I'm not doubting your skill. But transcendent martial arts come with great risks. Bearing that risk is a heavy burden."
"Ah, so you're saying you won't learn?"
"Ha! Do you think we elders have just been idling?"
They wouldn't be idling.
They'd rack their brains until their heads split, then eventually give up.
Obvious, so obvious.
Namgung Wigyeong smiled leisurely.
"Finding my annotations was to take a shortcut and verify my theories. Perfecting the theory and understanding the martial art—that's the path for the main family, isn't it?"
"Ah, yes. I've heard you loud and clear."
"Thank you for understanding...."
"So everyone else thinks the same?"
Namgung Hyeok breezed past Namgung Wigyeong and looked at the stunned elders.
The elders flinched under his gaze.
One elder, glancing around, spoke up.
"Ahem! Yes, the Grand Elder's words are right. We all think so, don't we?"
"Ha, of course. That's why we came, isn't it?"
"Yes, exactly. To verify the theory, and then refine the swordsmanship."
As the elders nodded in agreement one after another.
Fifth Elder Namgung Sik, who had been watching quietly, raised his hand slowly.
"I want to learn...."
The elders glared at Namgung Sik as if to kill him.
'No, why not? We can learn.'
Better to learn directly than bang our heads against the same unsolvable problem, right?
Unable to withstand the other elders' stares, Namgung Sik flinched and stealthily lowered his hand.
"Aigoo, then you must learn."
"...Hm?"
"What, we'll take it slow and steady, won't we? Martial arts are best learned by filling in with the body anyway."
Namgung Hyeok grabbed Namgung Sik's hand and pulled.
"Let's go!"
"N-Now?"
"Strike while the iron's hot."
What?
An ominous feeling washed over them.
Suddenly, the image of Namgung Hyeok rolling the Thunder Dragon Squad flashed in their minds.
'...Nah, respect for elders will hold him back. He won't go that far.'
Namgung Sik, with uneasy eyes, recalled the ultimate shield—respect for elders—and let Namgung Hyeok lead him.
Right, no decent person would treat a clan elder like that!
With such complacent thoughts, Namgung Sik followed Namgung Hyeok out of the hall.
The elders groaned as the two vanished in an instant.
"Ha, haha... he just went."
"No shame at all!"
"Hyeok doesn't even glance our way. Ha, the end times."
"Let's follow and watch... no, research."
Namgung Wigyeong scowled, then stroked his beard and murmured lowly.
"Sigh, we can't lose to a child, can we? We elders will fully grasp the swordsmanship's flaws and add the annotations ourselves."
That was the only way to save face and uphold their dignity as elders.
"Let's go!"
Namgung Wigyeong stormed out of the hall with a grim expression.
* * *
Namgung Hyeok beamed at Namgung Sik.
"Welcome."
"...You dragged me here."
"Ah, that's a wise choice. I love that spirit—saying yes when everyone else says no."
Namgung Sik cleared his throat.
"Haha, learning knows no age. Ashamed to ask a junior? That's the way of petty men. Hahaha!"
"Kuh, indeed. Fifth Elder, you're the true pillar of the clan. Who else is this enlightened!"
"That's right! The others are just stubborn old fools. Happens at that age."
"Haha! True, back in my day, I saw plenty of... er, elders like that. Fifth Elder, you're different."
"Right, right."
Namgung Sik gazed at Namgung Hyeok with a pleased face.
Seeing Namgung Hyeok honor him as the clan's pillar stirred his motivation.
Any worries had long flown away.
Namgung Sik spoke gently.
"So, where do we start? Shall I demonstrate the forms? Or correct my stance?"
"You planning to master it that way?"
"...Aren't you going to point out the flaws?"
"Of course I will."
Swoosh.
Namgung Hyeok drew the wooden sword from his waist with a grin.
"But didn't you hear? I can't explain it."
"...What?"
"I said fill it with your body."
"Hyeok, I'm an elder."
"So?"
"...."
"Not drawing yours?"
Sweat beaded on Namgung Sik's forehead.
Was this the same polite kid from moments ago?
That crooked stance and tilted head reeked of back-alley thug.
The wooden sword dangling and shaking before his nose was maddening.
This guy... he's really going to hit me?
'No way... he's not actually going to, is he?'
And even if he did, would he dare hit back properly?
He was a Namgung Clan elder, after all.
'I was called a prodigy in my day, took care of business. This punk doesn't know his place!'
Namgung Sik drew a wooden sword from the training ground.
"Fine, if I'm learning, better to learn quick."
"We'll use only the Vast Heavens Invincible Sword."
"Agreed. That was my plan."
"Here I come!"
Namgung Hyeok barked once and lunged.
Hm?
Fast.
No, too fast?!
Namgung Sik's eyes widened at the sword already at his nose.
Thwack!
"Ungh?"
A heavy impact shot up his wrist, followed by a flurry of strikes. Namgung Sik flailed to block.
What?
Why is this kid so fast?
Namgung Sik panicked under the swift, heavy assaults.
Ah, wait.
Something he forgot...
'Right! This is the guy who nearly beat Namgung Baekdo senseless!'
He'd forgotten amid all the cheeky antics.
Namgung Sik waved his hand.
"Wait, wait!"
"I'll go easy!"
"No, wait!"
That forgotten memory turned to dread in a flash.
Thwack!
"Arghhh!"
Namgung Sik's pitiful scream echoed across the training ground.
The Thunder Dragon Squad, watching from afar, gaped.
Geon Cheon-hwi spat out his water and muttered.
"...Now he's beating elders too."
"Tell me about it."
"...But why only Fifth Elder getting pummeled?"
"Tell me about it."
"Sigh, whatever. Hey, avert your eyes. Eye contact means trouble."
The Thunder Dragon Squad looked away as if they'd seen something they shouldn't.