Chapter 367
Chapter 367
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 376
Chapter Title: Buried Daoists
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Does it hurt?"
"……."
"Does it hurt?"
"……."
Namgung Hyeok let out heavy sighs as he spoke.
"That's why I told you to leave when I said to go—how much easier would that have been? I can't stand watching those long-nosed bastards breathe easy, but I still went easy on you since we're both from the orthodox sects."
True Void stared blankly up at the sky.
His skin had turned a bruised purplish-blue, and his face was so mangled it was unrecognizable, his expression lost in a daze.
'……Went easy?'
This?
This was going easy?
Even a dog on the hottest day of summer wouldn't get beaten this badly. No, not even war drums get pounded like that.
A person…… though he wasn't sure if that demon even saw him as one…… how could anyone thrash a being that looked even vaguely human like this?
He had personally experienced why this guy was called the Mad Dragon, why everyone who'd crossed paths with him screamed "demon" while fleeing in terror.
Demon?
Mad Dragon?
'……This guy's a Demon Dragon. He has to be. A mad Demon Dragon that'll plunge the world into chaos…….'
Oh god, my poor body.
Primordial Heavenly Venerable.
"Anyway, that's the problem with you long-noses. You claim to cultivate the Dao and forget worldly affairs, but did you clean out your brains too? Why can't you remember?"
What nonsense is this, you devil?
"Why does the same thing keep happening even after living two lifetimes? You long-noses need to get beaten. Beaten till you drop dead. I felt it all over again today."
Any more beatings here, and I'll really die.
I might even meet the Primordial Heavenly Venerable, you lunatic!
"Hey. True Void bastard."
"……."
"Send you to Daoist heaven before you even achieve enlightenment?"
True Void shook his head desperately from side to side.
No no no.
Shame, humiliation, doubt.
Those emotions paled compared to the fear of this madman Namgung Hyeok unleashing his insanity again.
"Oh? Got an answer for me?"
"Mmph! Mmph! Mmph!"
"Won't answer?"
As Namgung Hyeok rolled up his sleeves and started to rise, True Void's eyes shook wildly.
Paeng Jung-hyeok hurriedly intervened from the side.
"You said you'd kill him if he drops the sword from his mouth. Calm down!"
"Mmph! Mmph! Mmph!"
True Void clamped down harder on the hilt of the Pine Gate High Sword, his face twisting in misery.
"……Yeth, yeth."
"He's answered."
Geum Cheom-sang translated.
Namgung Hyeok, who had been fuming like a boiling kettle, settled back down.
"Yeah?"
"Mmph!"
True Void and the dazed second-generation disciples nodded frantically.
With the madness subsided, Namgung Hyeok shrugged his shoulders.
"See? That's why it has to be passed down through the generations. Mess with us, and you're buried. Beaten till you die. But weirdly, that lesson never gets passed on."
You think it'd get passed on?
Brag for generations in the histories that I got my ass kicked!
Namgung Hyeok spoke calmly once more.
"Anyway, that's the point."
"……."
"Don't mess with each other if we're just sitting pretty. Us orthodox sects should get along nicely, right? Right? Say it. Before you get beaten."
True Void squeezed his eyes shut and spoke.
Namgung Hyeok lightly pressed the exposed forehead of True Void.
"You think beating you makes me feel good?"
You seemed pretty thrilled about it.
Smiling the whole time.
People averted their eyes from Namgung Hyeok's words.
If there was anyone who could beat a man to death while smiling, it'd be the Namgung Hyeok standing right there.
Oblivious to the stares, Namgung Hyeok looked straight at True Void.
The air shifted in an instant, and True Void's swollen eyelids trembled.
'Wh-what is this?'
It felt like he'd been buried in eternal snow, chills racing up his spine.
Namgung Hyeok cracked a dry smile.
"This much is cheap for trying to kill someone."
"……!"
"Unfair?"
True Void couldn't utter a word.
It felt like his palms were laid bare. Every line, every wrinkle exposed from one to ten.
Namgung Hyeok chuckled.
"Think of it as a good experience. There's a saying in the jianghu."
……A saying?
"I let you off once, but if you bite the hook again, don't chop your head off—make sashimi out of it."
What kind of saying is that?
"Don't mess with a guy holding a sword."
Namgung Hyeok patted True Void's shoulder a couple times and stood up.
True Void's gaze followed the retreating back of Namgung Hyeok.
'How…… how did a monster like that only reveal himself now…….'
Leaving True Void's dazed stare behind, the bear-like Paeng Jung-hyeok muttered.
"But is 'make sashimi' really a saying? First time hearing it."
"I just made it up."
"……."
"What? Think you can't do it?"
"……No, sir. Next time we meet one, just fillet it and scatter the pieces off a cliff."
True Void watched the Mad Dragon crew's backs as they chatted and laughed menacingly, then dropped the Pine Gate High Sword from his mouth.
Thud.
"……Gone?"
"S-Seem to be."
"……Fuck."
"S-Sa-suk."
"Fuck a million times."
Remembering how Namgung Hyeok had cracked his head a dozen times just for chanting Daoist chants out of habit, True Void shuddered.
"Wh-what now?"
When Hyeon-baek asked, True Void sighed deeply.
"……We head back to the main mountain first. Gotta report the failure."
"……."
"Can't face the sect leader. Hoo! Don't make that face. It happened because we weren't good enough."
"Sa-suk, that's not it."
True Void looked at Hyeon-baek curiously. Hyeon-baek sighed.
"We can't get out."
"……."
"We're buried too deep."
True Void looked up at the sky. Well, more accurately, with his head tilted back and nose pointed up, buried and fixed in the ground, he had no choice but to face the sky.
True Void's lips quivered.
"Hey."
"……."
"Dig."
True Void and the second-generation disciples thrashed desperately in the earth, their acupoints sealed.
The pitiful sight drew quiet sobs echoing softly in the ravine.
* * *
As Namgung Hyeok walked, he lightly patted Namgung Ryong's back.
Smack smack!
The Creation Heaven Bright King Art activated, flowing into Namgung Ryong's back.
Color began returning to Namgung Ryong's pale face.
Namgung Hyeok clicked his tongue.
"Who told you to use sword forms with insights you haven't fully internalized? That's why you just hurt yourself for nothing!"
"Sorry for worrying you."
"Pfft, who said sorry? I mean, once you get the insight, you gotta internalize it properly."
"Got it."
Namgung Ryong nodded readily, flashing a light smile.
The sensation of his duel with True Void still lingered vividly in his sword-gripping hand.
It was a strange feeling he'd never experienced since picking up the sword.
Namgung Hyeok grinned.
'He broke through the wall.'
And now he'll build another.
A taller, sturdier one.
But this wall would be one Namgung Ryong erected anew, in a new shape.
Breaking one shell meant he'd laid the foundation to ascend to the next realm.
"What was it?"
Namgung Hyeok asked out of the blue, but Namgung Ryong answered calmly.
"Eagle."
Well, look at that?
'Seriously the Sword King's reincarnation?'
Didn't the Sword King say he envisioned an eagle when he first broke through his shell?
Every martial art pursues an ideal.
And to reach that ideal, certain stages must be passed.
Form the form, awaken the intent, establish the heart.
All martial arts bloomed, waned, and bloomed again.
Namgung Ryong had gained enlightenment through the Emperor Sword Form once, preparing to bloom anew.
He had perfected the form of the Emperor Sword Form, awakened its intent, and now was at the stage of infusing it with his own insights.
The plum blossoms of Mount Hua never wilt.
The taiji of Wudang never stops.
The mixed origin of the Paeng family never wavers.
And now, something unique was forming in Namgung Ryong's Emperor Sword Form.
'Eagle, eagle…….'
The emperor of birds, soaring highest and surveying the land below.
Perfect fit for the Emperor Sword Form.
What he saw and where he flew next was for Namgung Ryong to awaken.
"You won't go getting beat up everywhere now."
Namgung Hyeok grinned, and Namgung Ryong mirrored the smile.
"I've finally caught up a step."
"Mm!"
"One step is enough."
Namgung Ryong wore an expression like he half-understood at Namgung Hyeok's words.
Geum Cheom-sang and Tang Myeong-jin, listening from afar, blinked in confusion.
"What the hell are they talking about?"
"Eagle……."
"Is there an eagle? There isn't? It's a crow?"
Geum Cheom-sang muttered while looking at the sky, and Tang Myeong-jin nodded.
'Something…….'
"Ah! Isn't it that brotherly game? You know, the stuff only brothers share…… yeah, probably not. Ha, haha."
Tang Myeong-jin scratched his head awkwardly, avoiding Paeng Jung-hyeok's gaze.
Paeng Jung-hyeok sighed while watching Namgung Hyeok and Namgung Ryong.
'Must've been talk about enlightenment.'
He felt the road ahead was still long.
'Wudang's top disciple.'
Even thinking it again, it was shocking.
Namgung Hyeok aside as impossible, he'd thought the gap with Namgung Ryong had narrowed a lot.
'Back home, back to training.'
Paeng Jung-hyeok burned with resolve as he walked.
* * *
Namgung Jang-cheon's pupils trembled faintly, then spasmed finely.
Clatter clatter!
Crates were carried one by one in front of the Creation Palace Hall.
Soon, the lids opened, revealing gleaming blades packed inside.
Even at a glance, their sharpness was extraordinary.
The elders gathered before the Creation Palace Hall gaped in awe.
"Hahaha!"
"These are all Iron God Sect swords?!"
"Look at that edge! True master craftsmanship!"
"Whoa! The famed Iron God Sect blades! Who in the world could haul Iron God Sect swords back like cart fodder?!"
Steward Geum Gwang-mo gave a thumbs-up.
"As expected of the young masters! Making money…… I mean, succeeding on the mission like this!"
They hadn't let down expectations.
No, as always, they'd exceeded them.
'Direct trade with the Iron God Sect, sharing techniques!'
The immediate profits from trade with the Iron God Sect felt like just the tip of the iceberg.
"Family Head! What fortune is this?!"
"Hahaha! Didn't I tell you to trust them?"
"Another huge win…… the young masters did it again."
"Whoa! No shortage at all despite the war—amazing!"
The elders looked at Namgung Hyeok, slouching crookedly before the Creation Palace Hall, and his increasingly Mad Dragon-like crew, with overflowing emotion.
Ah, just looking at them fills the belly.
So what if their posture's sloppy?
That's perfect form, naturally.
In the elders' eyes now, even if the Mad Dragon crew spat on the ground and cursed, they'd look like adorable kids.
"Family Head, your foresight is unmatched!"
Grand Elder Namgung Wi-gyeong chuckled, shoulders shaking.
"In all my years, I've never seen such fortune for the household, haha! Family Head! The young masters have grown so well!"
Twitch!
Namgung Jang-cheon, struggling to maintain his composure, subtly covered his mouth and stroked his beard.
Old memories flashed by like a lantern show.
Namgung Hyeok, treated like a good-for-nothing, and Namgung Ryong, whose status as heir was shaky, had begun racking up merits for the family until their feats now shone dazzlingly, radiantly.
Without Namgung Hyeok, could Namgung family have grown this big?
No one in the family's history had seized control through influence so swiftly.
"Haha! They were always talented, so what did I do? Just trusted and entrusted them."
"Hahaha! That's the key part."
"Ahem!"
Namgung Jang-cheon turned with utmost satisfaction to look at Namgung Hyeok.
"So, anything happen while you were out? I heard there was a minor clash with Wudang Daoists at the Iron God Sect."
"Yeah, nothing much."
Namgung Jang-cheon nodded at Namgung Hyeok's shrug.
He'd been shocked by the letter, but it seemed no big issue.
Just the Demon Sword acting up, causing a misunderstanding.
"Anything else?"
"Just some long-noses jumped us on the way back."
"Right, long-noses jumped you and……."
……Jumped?
Long-noses?
"Long-noses jumped you……?"
"Yeah."
"Wh-what happened then……."
"What else? Buried 'em."
Namgung Jang-cheon blinked, then turned his head.
The elders, who had been chuckling and admiring the Iron God Sect swords with shoulder dances, froze like statues.
Clang, dong dong.
As if on cue, the elders dropped the Iron God Sect swords from their hands, mouths agape wider and wider.
'……Not dazzled by shine—he smashed them and buried 'em.'
He'd forgotten.
Namgung Hyeok's process was as extraordinary as the results.