Chapter 55
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: The Mastermind (2)
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Ancient trees that had grown for ages in some nameless place were felled, one after another.
*CRASH!*
The ground shook each time one of the colossal trees fell.
A series of artificial, unnatural gusts of wind blew from not too far away.
*SWOOOSH!*
And so, the leaves clinging to the branches on the mountainside, which should have been calm, fluttered wildly.
*Flutter!*
Perhaps because of this.
Countless birds, resting their weary wings, scattered into the sky all at once.
*KABOOM!*
The source of the explosion.
There, two swords were flying toward each other relentlessly.
In contrast to the violent clash, the eyes of the two facing each other were serene.
*CLANG, CLAAANG!*
It was because each of their flows continued, still noble and unbroken.
‘So… this is the sword of the Namgung Family.’
It was different from Namgung Seo-hui’s sword.
If her sword was a new style found nowhere else, the sword wielded by the man before him was the orthodox blade that carried on the tradition of the Namgung Family, known as the Sword King’s lineage.
‘It has to be at least this good.’
His reputation was well-deserved.
It seemed he could now understand why the Namgung Family was unfailingly counted among the Three Great Families of the world.
‘The Sword King Family…’
Now, they boasted a prestige so great that no one would object to calling them the Sword Emperor Family.
‘The world is indeed vast.’
He needed to change the flow.
However, it wasn't easy.
The Namgung sword, noble yet perfectly sharp, did not waver.
‘What do I have?’
Simply slashing at the sky would only get him blocked.
He needed a sword that could more forcefully drag his opponent down.
‘Ah, there was that.’
The sword of a king was a sword of the middle path, leaning toward neither side.
Thus, breaking its flow was no easy task, even for Cheon Muryang.
‘But just because he’s a king doesn’t mean he’s perfect.’
Even the most virtuous sovereign could not be flawless.
How much more so for a young king who had not yet fully matured?
‘He’s a man who tried to kill his own flesh and blood out of envy and jealousy.’
He was closer to a dark tyrant than a wise ruler.
And a tyrant never looks down upon those below.
‘With this sword…’
He should be able to drag the king down.
That sword was the one he had coincidentally obtained in the inspectorate building, the Ascending Heaven Slash.
Not a sword that always began from the sky.
A sword that began from below the sky.
‘I should be able to cut him.’
*Whoosh!*
The Heavenly Light did not aim for the sky.
It pointed toward the ground.
“…?”
He felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
The standoff was the same as before, but he instinctively felt that something had changed.
‘What is it?’
He couldn't figure out what it was.
“Are you trying some petty trick?”
“You talk too much. Weren’t you the one who told me to shut up?”
*Grit!*
He clenched his teeth tightly.
Cheon Muryang, the scoundrel of the Cheon Family.
To Namgung Sang-hyeok, who had always lived up to expectations as the eldest son of the Namgung Family, Cheon Muryang was nothing but trash.
‘Despicable piece of trash.’
Trash who was merely lucky enough to be born with the Cheon surname.
“That mouth of yours will truly be your downfall!”
“Don’t make me laugh.”
*Grind!*
It didn't matter what had changed.
The Namgung sword would not be broken.
With that absolute pride, Namgung Sang-hyeok charged toward Cheon Muryang instead.
*Swish!*
A sword lunging in a straight line.
However, despite being filled with rage, the sword of the imperial family did not lose its dignity.
‘How haughty.’
That's what made it laughable.
“To possess such a fine sword, yet be consumed by envy and jealousy.”
No, it was possible.
Namgung Seo-hui's sword was something no one in the Namgung Family could imitate.
However, that didn't mean it was right to ensure Namgung Seo-hui could never hold a sword again.
“I pity that child.”
“Shut up and die!”
The sword that had always stood in the path to Cheon Muryang’s neck was gone.
Thus, he was certain he could cut his throat.
*Shiver!*
But why?
Namgung Sang-hyeok felt an ominous premonition envelop his entire body.
“You might want to look down.”
Glancing away while swinging a sword was unthinkable.
However, Namgung Sang-hyeok’s head finally dropped downward.
*SWIIISH!*
“……!”
There, he saw a serpent-dragon, something he had never seen before, soaring up from below.
An ascending serpent-dragon, a dragon.
*Grit!*
Namgung Sang-hyeok was at a crossroads.
Should he swing his own sword and aim for Cheon Muryang's neck as planned, or should he twist his body as much as possible to minimize the damage?
‘This bastard…!’
Rage surged within him.
He wanted to beat Cheon Muryang to death right then and there, but Namgung Sang-hyeok had no intention of dying together with trash he despised.
And so, he withdrew his sword and twisted his body as much as he could.
‘Damn it! Was I too late?’
It was only a fleeting moment, but his hesitation was a fatal mistake.
It was precisely that split-second judgment that decided life and death.
As Namgung Sang-hyeok saw the Heavenly Light aiming to pierce his heart, his mind went blank.
*Fwoosh!*
The hem of his robe fluttered in the air.
A few drops of blood scattered through it.
A clear line had been drawn on the skin over Namgung Sang-hyeok’s heart.
“……!”
“Scared?”
*Thud!*
Namgung Sang-hyeok had studied the art of kingship.
A king must never be defeated.
Namgung Sang-hyeok had trained with his sword, gritting his teeth, and had never once lost until now.
Everyone was beneath him.
He was convinced that the so-called martial masters of the present had merely practiced for a long time, and that he could surely defeat them when he reached their age.
“H-How could this…!”
Among the prodigies of his generation from each faction, he believed himself to be the best.
That was the pride that sustained Namgung Sang-hyeok.
So, he wondered how long it had been since his legs had given out like this, causing him to fall on his rear.
“I thought about killing you for sure.”
“……!”
*Chill!*
He tried to get up at once.
However, the killing intent blooming from Cheon Muryang's entire body was so overwhelming he couldn't even dare to try.
‘I’ll die.’
If he did, his head would truly be cut off.
But then, as if it had never been there.
Cheon Muryang's killing intent vanished.
“Nothing good comes from making an enemy of the Namgung Family. Consider yourself lucky.”
*Grit!*
Namgung Sang-hyeok used his sword as a support to get to his feet.
He didn't seem to have any intention of stopping the bleeding.
*Turn.*
Cheon Muryang's gaze shifted.
He saw Namgung Seo-hui staring at this place with sad eyes.
‘Where have I seen those eyes before?’
He remembered.
That time she had asked him to kill her.
Namgung Seo-hui had worn the same expression back then.
‘Did she find out that her own brother was behind the Thousand-Faced Demon?’
He thought he now understood why a woman once so full of life had come to have such eyes.
“But you know.”
“……”
Cheon Muryang sneered at Namgung Sang-hyeok.
“Trying to kill your own flesh and blood over mere envy and jealousy, have you no shame?”
“Shut up! Shut up!”
Having lost his senses, Namgung Sang-hyeok swung his sword wildly.
The sword of a king was nowhere to be found.
“Nothing but a fragile ego.”
It was impossible for him to display a proper sword technique with a body that couldn't even maintain its balance, his legs having given out.
*CLANG!*
After lightly parrying the blow, Cheon Muryang, with a scoundrel's smile that Namgung Sang-hyeok would surely despise, slammed his fist into his jaw.
*POW!*
He felt a thrilling impact in his hand.
It was a sensation he could never feel with a sword.
“Keoheok!”
Namgung Sang-hyeok was sent flying backward, rolling on the ground several times.
“Wh-What do you think you’re doing!”
“What am I doing? I’m beating a cur that’s worse than a dog. They say the Beggars' Sect uses their Dog Beating Staff for times like this, but I don’t know why. What’s better than a fist?”
“Y-Youu!”
*Thwack!*
*POW!*
It wasn't any particular fist technique.
It was just a flurry of reckless punches.
‘But why… why can’t I block it!’
However, Namgung Sang-hyeok didn't dare try to block the crude punches.
Because apart from the fists, the aura flowing from Cheon Muryang's entire body was real.
“Kuhuhuhuk!”
Pain makes even kings bow their heads.
In a struggle to survive, Namgung Sang-hyeok slowly began to curl his body into a ball.
“P-Please stop…”
Was it too difficult to watch?
Namgung Seo-hui staggered closer.
It seemed the poison hadn't been completely neutralized yet.
“This bastard tried to kill you.”
“Th-There must be some misunderstanding…”
“Misunderstanding?”
Cheon Muryang pointed at the decapitated Thousand-Faced Demon lying on the ground.
“This bastard was the one pulling his strings from behind, and it’s a misunderstanding?”
Cheon Muryang grabbed the fallen Namgung Sang-hyeok by the collar and roughly pulled him up.
“Go on, why don't you say it yourself. Was all of this a misunderstanding?”
For some reason, Cheon Muryang felt a surge of anger.
Namgung Seo-hui's destined future felt, in a way, like looking at his own past life.
“Ugh…”
Namgung Sang-hyeok couldn't say a word.
“Pathetic fool.”
Cheon Muryang roughly threw Namgung Sang-hyeok behind him.
Then, he swung his sword toward him.
“……!”
Namgung Seo-hui was horrified.
*SWIIISH!*
The Heavenly Light flew through the air.
However, it passed by Namgung Sang-hyeok and cut through a shadow standing behind him.
“You’d be wise to take him and get lost.”
*Clink!*
The sound of something like a glass bottle falling was heard.
*Flicker.*
Cheon Muryang’s gaze briefly darted toward a nearby tree.
Of course, it was a glance so fleeting it was impossible to notice.
“……”
The person standing in the shadows took the unconscious Namgung Sang-hyeok and left the area.
*Hissssss!*
Gray smoke began to rise from where the glass bottle had fallen.
It was likely a potent poison.
‘The Tang Clan…’
Cheon Muryang did not pursue them.
He had already assigned a mission to the head of the Heavenly Watch Corps.
‘So they think they can just strut around Zhejiang like this?’
Zhejiang was the territory of the Cheon Family.
Whether it was the Demonic Cult, the Tang Clan, or the Namgung Family.
It meant they were not allowed to roam freely.
‘I will make you pay the price for this.’
Cheon Muryang looked at Namgung Seo-hui.
She stood there with the same expression Nameless had faced in his past life, as if tormented by some great sorrow.
A face that looked like it would shatter if touched.
*Drip!*
“Ah…”
It seemed there was no need to touch her.
Water was already streaming down her cheeks.
“……”
Cheon Muryang said nothing.
No honeyed words could comfort her heart.
He simply stood beside her.
Until the eastern sky began to brighten.
How much time had passed?
A faint sound could be heard from somewhere.
“…please…”
*Whip!*
Namgung Seo-hui reacted to the sound.
As if possessed, she moved to find the source of the voice.
Not too far away, a cave came into view.
“……”
The voice grew clearer.
Entering without hesitation, Cheon Muryang and Namgung Seo-hui discovered women who were bound and trapped inside.
*Grit.*
Namgung Seo-hui bit her lip.
Not clear tears, but red blood flowed.
*CRASH!*
She destroyed the crude prison and faced the women captured by the Thousand-Faced Demon.
Every one of them had eyes as empty as if their spirits had been broken.
“Please save me…”
Unlike the emaciated women.
There was one woman, perhaps captured recently, who still had the will to live.
“You are…?”
Cheon Muryang was surprised.
She was a face he recognized.
“Aren’t you Maehong?”
“G-Great Young Lord?”
Maehong recognized Cheon Muryang as well.
“How did you end up here…”
“Sob…!”
Maehong wept with relief at having survived.
Namgung Seo-hui held her tightly.
“It’s okay.”
“……”
“All of you will be okay.”
Had she made some kind of vow?
‘She’s changed.’
Namgung Seo-hui was no longer crying.
She simply embraced them with determined eyes.
“I will protect you.”
Namgung Seo-hui erased Namgung.
She would no longer live for the Namgung Family.
Cheon Muryang felt he could vaguely guess what that decision was.
‘Righteous heroism…’
Namgung Seo-hui had made up her mind.
Cheon Muryang simply watched over her from the side.
“It’s okay.”
At Namgung Seo-hui’s benevolent comfort, even those with empty eyes shed hot tears.
*Thump!*
Was even that too much for them?
Several of them fainted.
Cheon Muryang infused them with his internal energy to give them some strength to hold on.
“Hurry. Let’s go to the Cheon Family.”
“Yes.”
“I-I’ll help too!”
Maehong, who still had some energy, helped carry the unconscious women back to the Cheon Family estate.
That day, the Cheon Family officially announced the death of the Thousand-Faced Demon.
“The Great Young Lord of the Cheon Family, Cheon Muryang, has taken the head of the Thousand-Faced Demon.”