Chapter 366
Chapter 366
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 375
Chapter Title: Triumph Over the First-Disciple
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Jingong glared at the Radiant Dragon crew with a fierce look.
Even after being pushed back a good distance, he somehow regained his footing and corrected his stance.
If it had been a Wudang disciple doing that, it would have drawn admiration for sure, but to Jingong now, it was nothing more than an irritating action.
What irritated his mood even further was Nangong Ryong slowly stepping forward and drawing his sword.
On top of that, the Radiant Dragon crew stood immovable, as if telling the two of them to fight alone.
‘How laughable must the great Wudang Sect seem for these juniors to act so arrogantly, oblivious to their place?’
How could they behave like that against the Wudang Sect of the world?
Jingong ground his teeth as he turned his gaze to the defeated second-generation disciples.
The second-generation disciples couldn’t even meet his eyes.
“You’ve bungled this beyond belief.”
It was already a problem that the second-generation disciples had stepped up against mere twenties juniors, but for them to suffer defeat on top of it.
What had started as a lighthearted outing now weighed heavily on their return.
Jingong drew his sword.
Shing!
“You truly are an unlucky child.”
His voice turned icy.
“To block my path just when I’ve steeled my resolve.”
A pale mist rose over the Songmun High Sword like threads, coiling around the blade like clouds.
His previously empty aura sank in an instant, growing heavy and profound.
Feeling the air shift in that moment, Paeng Junghyuk and the others’ pupils dilated.
It was an aura that overwhelmed even the second-generation disciples they had faced so far.
‘A... first-generation disciple.’
Like a pine tree standing firm against fierce winds, Jingong’s presence was unshakable and steadfast.
Paeng Junghyuk swallowed hard at the suffocating density of Jingong’s aura.
Wudang experts grew stronger with the passage of time.
The higher their seniority, the less it was just about age—they truly became more powerful.
The gap was like heaven and earth.
A late bloom.
Wudang’s swordsmanship was, in a word, a late bloom.
The aura of the first-generation disciple Jingong was astounding enough to surprise even world-class experts like Paeng Junghyuk.
Paeng Junghyuk shook out his stiff wrist and looked at Nangong Ryong.
“Brother Nangong!”
Nangong Ryong couldn’t possibly be unaware of Jingong’s aura.
Yet he calmly raised his sword.
His intent to face the first-generation disciple alone was resolute.
At the sudden shift in his aura, Paeng Junghyuk and the others didn’t dare intervene.
Jingong watched Nangong Ryong approach steadily.
Eyes without tremor, honest steps.
A sharpening aura.
Each element was exceptional, yet all of it grated on him.
Twitch.
His eyebrow twitched once.
Coming straight at him?
Was it confidence in his skill, or mere bravado?
It didn’t matter.
Jingong had already felt enough humiliation and rage.
“No need for a senior’s concession!”
Flash!
Jingong, who had been glaring silently at Nangong Ryong, suddenly shot forward.
He glided without even a rebound from his knee.
Like an immortal riding clouds across the land, he flew in and unleashed a palm strike.
The power gathered in his palm was so heavy it was hard to believe he had cultivated the Taiji Heart Method.
“Gasp!”
“Brother Nangong!”
The onlookers from the Radiant Dragon crew cried out in alarm—Jingong’s palm was ferocious and abrupt enough to startle them.
They thought Nangong Ryong would surely falter or suffer a setback.
But!
Clang—!
Nangong Ryong’s sword blocked Jingong’s palm as if it had always been there.
Jingong twitched his eyebrow and circulated his internal energy.
The Wudang Cotton Palm created a fluid flow, deflecting Nangong Ryong’s sword and pressing in.
It was a momentum like a tidal wave crashing in—immense and solemn, as if ready to crush Nangong Ryong’s heart at any moment.
However.
Clang!
Nangong Ryong’s sword, appearing once more, blocked the Wudang Cotton Palm.
Boom! Boom boom!
Heavy impacts rang out in succession as the Wudang Cotton Palm’s unique flow pressed Nangong Ryong relentlessly.
‘...He blocks the Cotton Palm this easily?’
Jingong’s pupils shook slightly at Nangong Ryong’s sword and stance, which severed the flow repeatedly.
The Wudang Cotton Palm, once mastered, could shatter iron plates two inches thick—or even crumple them outright. It was a fearsome soft palm technique with devastating weighted power.
The longer the flow continued, the more the opponent should suffer shocks that rupture their internals and collapse.
Yet Nangong Ryong’s expression remained unchanged from the start.
Jingong’s face subtly hardened.
‘Is this the internal energy one can possess at just twenty?’
The sticky palm force unique to the Wudang Cotton Palm failed to bind Nangong Ryong.
Instead, Nangong Ryong flicked away the palm’s energy bit by bit, pushing back with his own internal energy.
This required not just experience, but rock-solid foundation to back it up.
Seeing Nangong Ryong handle what no one else could with such ease stirred an unpleasant feeling in Jingong’s chest.
Boom!
‘They said the Nangong family has two dragons... and it wasn’t an exaggeration.’
How far could this young dragon grow?
And if this young dragon now harbored malice toward Wudang, what would the future hold?
One alone wouldn’t shake the Wudang Sect.
But he could become a stumbling block.
The mere possibility of that was enough for Jingong to harden his resolve.
‘I’ll sever the young dragon’s neck before it grows!’
Shing!
In an instant, Jingong drew his sword and aimed for Nangong Ryong’s throat.
The killing intent in his blade followed a different path from the Wudang swordsmanship the second-generation disciples had shown.
Sharp, fast.
And lethal.
That was when it happened.
A blue gleam burst from Nangong Ryong’s previously calm eyes.
And the sword he had extended toward his chest changed in a flash.
Shiiiing!
With a ferocious roar, lightning flashed.
Emperor Sword Form.
A single bolt tearing through the heavens and descending struck Jingong’s shoulder faster than his sword could reach Nangong Ryong’s throat.
Jingong cried out in shock.
“Hup!”
Faced with Nangong Ryong’s sword momentum erupting like molten lava, Jingong hastily withdrew his sword.
Sword tip to the sky, blade toward the ground, he deflected the cascading fiery thunderbolt.
‘Th-this?!’
Lightning threads raced up his arm, snapping the Taiji Heart Method’s energy.
Nangong Ryong’s sword didn’t stop—it kept moving.
“Ta-Tai chi?!”
Nangong Ryong’s Emperor Sword Form, tracing a reverse circle, shredded Jingong’s Taiji Sword.
Blue gleams poured from Nangong Ryong’s eyes.
The Emperor Sword Form embracing the heavens swallowed Jingong’s Taiji Sword and poured down as a gale.
Dozens of lightning strands converged into one sword.
Crackle!
Rumble!
The lightning writhed and roared.
The azure thunder engulfed Jingong, who frantically formed a sword seal and circled in defense.
Kwaaaang!
With a deafening roar that shook the eardrums, Jingong was blasted back.
Thud!
Nangong Ryong pursued the retreating Jingong with steady steps.
With each step, lightning writhed from his sword.
His sword light, slicing space as it fell, glowed blue.
Boom! Kwaang! Kwaaaang!
“E-Elder Uncle?!”
“Wh-what is this?!”
“Wh-what in the world is happening?!”
“Huh! That bastard!”
The second-generation disciples were aghast.
Jingong was being pushed back.
It was a shock on a different level from their own defeats.
Jingong of Wudang, who had held his sword decades earlier and cultivated internal energy decades ahead, was being overpowered.
It was a sight unbelievable even to witness.
If it were a dream, one could wake up—but this was reality.
Paeng Junghyuk was equally stunned.
‘...Who the hell was I worried about?’
At the same time, his fist clenched tight.
This wasn’t the time to celebrate toppling second-generation disciples. Nangong Ryong was now pressing a first-generation master far above them.
What realization had he gained in the meantime?
How much further ahead was he?
Even as those thoughts raced, Nangong Ryong advanced steadily.
Jingong’s eyes trembled at the sight of his charred black sleeve.
‘To require resolve—true resolve!’
It wasn’t mere threat; this foe might demand staking his life.
No, he was a proper adversary.
This wasn’t a child of ten facing an adult—it was an equal high-level expert.
The young dragon had a far larger presence than he’d imagined.
Jingong’s eyes changed.
The flustered sword momentum stabilized in an instant.
A composure worthy of being called a Wudang sword master.
With his mind settled, his sword flowed.
The halted Taiji reemerged, and the churning energy like angry waves refined itself.
The Taiji Sword divided heaven and earth, deflecting and absorbing Nangong Ryong’s sword momentum.
It spun, flowed, adhered, and repelled.
Slash! Slash slash!
Nangong Ryong’s calm eyes pushed the Emperor Sword Form into the Taiji flow.
Emperor Sword Form.
His conception of the Emperor Sword Form.
What he had pondered again and again.
What is my sword?
What sword do I wish it to be?
Namgung Hyeok’s image flashed in his mind.
Namgung Hyeok’s shadow formed, following the Emperor Sword Form his brother had displayed.
The Emperor Sword Form that encompassed all of the Nangong family’s swords.
Majestic, intense...
But he was not Namgung Hyeok.
He was different.
He did not follow.
He stood side by side.
Nangong Ryong’s sword began to change.
Rough, crude, clumsy—but it changed.
At the same moment, cracks formed in the massive wall created by the Taiji Sword.
Jingong’s eyes widened.
“Im-impossible! Did he gain enlightenment in that instant?!”
With what?
Ah, so that’s it!
This bastard had stood there from the start to test himself against me.
Using me as a stepping stone to ascend...
“You arrogant wretch! I’ll kill youuu!”
Jingong spat vulgar words unfit for a Taoist’s mouth as he unleashed his Taiji Sword at Nangong Ryong.
A single thread of killing intent flew toward Nangong Ryong.
The momentum was so immense it made all onlookers widen their eyes.
The pale mist coalesced into a single sword qi and blasted toward Nangong Ryong.
In that instant.
Nangong Ryong’s sword twisted.
Crackle!
Lightning spread like wings, surging up and shooting like beams of light.
A strike too swift for the eyes to follow.
Shiiiing!
Kwaaang!
A collision that hammered the eardrums erupted, and Jingong’s sword, wrapped in mist, snapped in two and flew into the air.
Jingong dropped his torn hand, mouth agape.
Urk!
Jingong spat blood and collapsed to the ground.
Silence fell over the hall in that moment.
The second-generation disciples broke it.
“You filthy beast!”
“Protect Elder Uncle!”
“How dare you!”
As they surged forward, Paeng Junghyuk snapped to attention and raised his greatsword.
“Don’t move a muscle—if you do, your arms fly off!”
“...You bastards!”
“Wasn’t the poison sweet enough, you snout-faced pricks? Where do you get off yapping?!”
Paeng Junghyuk, along with So Hye-yeon, Paeng Yeon-hwa, and the Tang siblings, stepped up to guard Nangong Ryong.
The second-generation disciples glared, cheeks trembling.
They stood in confrontation like that.
Jingong looked up at Nangong Ryong with convulsing eyes.
A smile spread across Nangong Ryong’s pale face.
‘...Ha, hahaha.’
He had lost.
It was absurd.
He had lost in everything.
Martial arts, attitude toward the sword—even that will.
Jingong bit his lip and rose.
Paeng Junghyuk and the second-generation disciples flinched.
Jingong spoke lowly.
“...I’ve lost.”
“...!”
“But this defeat is not Wudang’s. It is mine, Jingong’s, and the second-generation disciples’.”
Jingong’s voice rang bitter.
The second-generation disciples raised their heads and shouted.
“E-Elder Uncle!”
“No, we haven’t lost yet!”
“We can still fight! For Wudang’s honor...!”
Jingong raised his voice.
“Enough!”
“...”
“We’re leaving.”
At his hollow yet firm tone, the second-generation disciples bowed their heads.
Paeng Junghyuk sighed inwardly in relief.
‘Fuck, thought we were done for.’
Yeah, leave already. Hurry up!
As they exhaled in relief—
Namgung Hyeok, who had been silently watching Nangong Ryong’s spar from the side, suddenly jumped in.
“Hold it right there.”
Freeze!
The Wudang Taoists, turning to leave, flinched.
Namgung Hyeok grinned.
“Hahaha! These snout-faces started whenever they wanted, and now they wanna end it on their terms too?”
Paeng Junghyuk and the others broke into cold sweats.
Ah, right—that Radiant Dragon was still here.
Namgung Hyeok curled his lip at the Wudang Taoists.
“I was just getting started?”
...Oh, Primordial Heavenly Lord.
As they stared at Namgung Hyeok’s white teeth, everyone’s faces began to drain pale.