Chapter 77
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 77
Chapter Title: Sword Queen (2)
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Cheon Muryang.
His presence alone made the air heavy.
*Rumble!*
Watching them squirm under a pressure so intense it restricted their movements, Cheon Muryang found it all rather amusing.
“Tsk.”
How pathetic.
‘To be so terrified by something this trivial.’
Why did they even step forward in the first place?
Shaking his head at their pitiful display, Cheon Muryang stared at the wavering warriors of the Namgung Family and Paeng Dohyeok's group.
“Hey, Paeng Dohyeok.”
He would start with Paeng Dohyeok.
“What is it…?”
“That spot you're in looks pretty good.”
Cheon Muryang walked forward.
No one dared to block his path.
“W-what did you say…?”
Standing before Paeng Dohyeok, Cheon Muryang gave him a sardonic smile.
“Care to get lost?”
His posture suggested he would swing his sword if the man didn't move.
“Ugh!”
The old Paeng Dohyeok would have charged in recklessly, but his internal injuries had yet to heal, and the memory of being defeated twice was still vivid.
*Thud.*
He stepped back.
With a smile full of ridicule, Cheon Muryang turned his gaze back to Namgung Sang-hyeok.
“Let's all agree the third parties should step aside.”
“Hmm…”
Now it was the Namgung Family's turn.
This was an internal affair.
Namgung Sang-hyeok asked her with a sour expression.
“What do you think you're doing? How dare you act up here, of all places!”
However, the faint killing intent emanating from his entire body was not an emotion one would direct at their own flesh and blood.
The Namgung Seo-hui he remembered would have backed down at just this much.
She had always been a weak-willed younger sister who had never once defied him.
“And where is this? Is it not the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly? It seems I've come to a place I'm not welcome.”
“…!”
But she had changed.
Namgung Seo-hui's dignified posture, so confident that he wondered if she had ever looked him straight in the eye like this before, was truly that of a sword's peak.
And so, it was Namgung Sang-hyeok who was flustered.
“Wh-what is this?”
“I have always yielded to you, brother, but I will do so no longer.”
“What did you say?”
“I will become the head of the Namgung Family.”
Everyone's eyes widened.
The head of the Namgung Family.
There was no one present who didn't understand the significance of that position.
“Wh-what are you talking about?”
“I said I will become the family head.”
“You?”
“Yes.”
*Fwoosh!*
Namgung Seo-hui raised her sword.
She knew as well that a hundred words would change nothing.
“…!”
“I will show you with my sword whether it is possible or not.”
Her very posture as she drew her sword was different.
Namgung Seo-hui looked natural and fitting with a sword in her hand.
“How dare you…”
Namgung Sang-hyeok was enraged.
The position of family head was his.
Who would dare covet it?
“It seems being called the Sword's Peak has made you blind to your place.”
Namgung Sang-hyeok laughed coldly.
He had been jealous.
But that didn't mean Namgung Seo-hui was stronger than him.
“Come.”
Namgung Sang-hyeok was supremely confident.
The last time he saw her, she had yet to make the peak of her sword bloom.
He could crush her now.
“…”
And so, Namgung Sang-hyeok drew his sword.
In response, Namgung Seo-hui dipped her head slightly, then charged straight in.
*Swish!*
The arc her sword traced was elegant.
“Ah.”
A sword that drew admiration from all.
That was Namgung Seo-hui's sword.
However, to be precise, her sword was not the sword of the Namgung Family.
“Hmph.”
Namgung Sang-hyeok snorted and roughly parried Seo-hui's sword.
*Fwoong!*
His was the sword of the Middle Path, the King's Path, which swayed to neither side.
*Clang, claaang!*
Seo-hui's sword relentlessly stormed forward.
But every one of her attacks was nullified by Namgung Sang-hyeok's sword.
“…”
Having become a steadfast wall, Namgung Sang-hyeok wore a triumphant smile.
‘Just as I thought, she hasn't bloomed yet. Right now, I'm stronger!’
Namgung Sang-hyeok had dreaded the day Namgung Seo-hui's sword would finally bloom.
Blinded by jealousy, he had constantly denied her sword, even pushing for a political marriage to drive her out of the family.
“Your sword is a heretical path.”
“…”
“Do you still not understand? Your sword is not the sword of the Namgung.”
An unswaying sword.
The sword of the Namgung Family pursued the perfect Middle Path.
Thus, Namgung Seo-hui's sword, which sought freedom from that framework, was bound to be different even when executing the same forms.
“I know it's different.”
That was the inner demon that had tormented Namgung Seo-hui until now.
No one in the family understood her sword.
So, she thought she was wrong.
‘I always thought I was wrong.’
Because everyone said I was.
I believed it myself.
It wasn't that I didn't try.
I tried to force myself into that mold time and time again.
‘But each time, my inner demon only grew stronger…’
Eventually, simply staying in the Namgung Family became suffocating.
‘So I ran away.’
And I met Cheon Muryang.
The man I thought was the Cheon Family's scoundrel was more serious, stronger, and more uninhibited than I had imagined.
‘I…’
After that, through a series of events, Namgung Seo-hui realized something.
‘I shouldn't have run away.’
The Wandering King made me realize this.
Cheon Muryang showed me himself.
‘What I needed to do…’
Was not to run.
‘But to face it head-on.’
So, she faced it without avoiding it.
And she realized.
That she was not the one who was wrong.
“But why does that matter?”
“W-what did you say?”
It was the first time Namgung Seo-hui had ever talked back.
“If you pride yourself on being a king, you should be able to embrace my sword as well.”
What is a king?
Is the sword of the Middle Path, the King's Path that sways to neither side, the only sword of a king?
“Is pursuing only one predetermined path truly the way a king should walk?”
That was wrong.
A true king must be able to embrace all things.
“Brother.”
“…!”
*Shing!*
Her sword moved.
It was her sword alone, one that transcended the rigid framework.
*Pshat!*
Blood flowed.
The unshakable throne of Namgung Sang-hyeok began to crumble.
“I will be the king.”
“…!”
Namgung Sang-hyeok realized.
What he had feared so much.
‘Has she bloomed…?’
That Namgung Seo-hui's talent had finally bloomed.
*Fwoooosh!*
The cry of the sword, its resonance, deepened.
Its depth was something Namgung Sang-hyeok could not even begin to fathom.
“So, do not stand in my way.”
“…”
“If you try to stop me.”
*Twitch.*
Namgung Sang-hyeok felt a sense of unease.
It was as if the entire space was submitting to Namgung Seo-hui's will.
‘This is…’
Not just Namgung Sang-hyeok.
The warriors of the Namgung Family flinched.
A familiar yet alien sensation emanated from Namgung Seo-hui.
“I will cut you down.”
“The Imperial Sword Form…?”
It was the ultimate technique of the Namgung Family, their final sword form, the Imperial Sword Form, said to be usable only by the Sword King, Namgung San.
*Zzzzt!*
Of course, it was nowhere near Namgung San's level, but her intent was clearly conveyed.
Tens, hundreds, thousands of invisible swords were aimed at him.
*Shhhng.*
It was in that moment.
The warriors of the Namgung Family drew their swords as one, without a single person initiating it.
Dozens of swords shot up toward the sky, then in a flash, plunged toward the ground.
“…!”
At the very least, Namgung Sang-hyeok understood it was a display of courtesy and respect for the one who had inherited the Imperial Sword Form.
*Grind.*
That was why Namgung Sang-hyeok had nowhere left to retreat.
“No. I am the head of the Namgung Family. I am the legitimate heir! How can a mere woman ascend to the position of family head!”
Namgung Seo-hui let out a small laugh.
It was the same kind of prejudice she would have to fight against relentlessly in the martial world from now on.
“It doesn't matter.”
“…!”
*Fwoong!*
The domain of the Imperial Sword Form expanded.
Now, everyone gathered here faced Namgung Seo-hui's sword.
“Because if there is anyone who thinks that way, they will have to face my sword.”
She would see if they could still say such things before her blade.
And she would cut them down.
“That is my path.”
Such confidence.
How could one even describe it?
Those around her recalled a lost title from the past.
“The Sword… the Sword Queen…”
“Is it the second coming of the Sword Queen?”
“Ooooh…!”
The Sword Queen.
An immortal symbol that had vanished when the Putuo Sect of Mount Putuo was annihilated.
The woman who brought that past symbol to mind—that was Namgung Seo-hui.
“Shut up! I said shut up!”
Namgung Sang-hyeok denied reality.
This couldn't be happening.
He was the legitimate heir of the Namgung Family, the one who would succeed the Sword King.
“It's my place. It's my place, I tell you!”
Wielding deadly techniques with bloodshot eyes, Namgung Sang-hyeok seemed to have completely lost his composure.
“What a pathetic sword.”
Cheon Muryang commented harshly.
At the same time.
*Clang!*
Namgung Sang-hyeok's sword broke in two.
*Thud.*
A fragment fell, having lost its light.
Namgung Sang-hyeok, with eyes full of despair.
*Chk!*
The cold eyes of Namgung Seo-hui, who had placed her sword at his neck, met his in the empty air.
“No.”
“…”
“There will be no place for you, brother.”
A perfect defeat.
But Namgung Sang-hyeok still hadn't given up.
*Step, step.*
Because he had spotted an old man approaching from the distance.
“Grandfather!”
The Sword King, Namgung San.
He walked over.
Another Imperial Sword Form overlapped with Namgung Seo-hui's.
*Shhhng.*
Another set of invisible swords began to press down on the space.
“Sang-hyeok.”
“Th-this isn't right. How can Seo-hui become the family head! Please, please tell me. Tell me this is wrong!”
He was the only one he could rely on.
So, he shouted desperately.
Pitifully so.
“Tsk.”
The Sword King clicked his tongue.
The Namgung Sang-hyeok he faced now was not the grandson he had poured his affection into for so many years.
‘So this is how worthless the boy was.’
The position of the Namgung Family head was an absurd, unbearable seat for Namgung Sang-hyeok.
And so, Namgung San spoke in a cold tone, as if addressing a stranger.
“That is enough, Sang-hyeok.”
“…!”
“The chances given to you are over.”
“What?”
Namgung Sang-hyeok looked dumbfounded.
“Wh-what does that…”
His expression was one of disbelief.
It was then.
“Sword Emperor!”
The elders of the Namgung Family, having belatedly grasped the situation, rushed in.
But Namgung San paid them no mind and declared to the world.
“This child, Namgung Seo-hui, will become the Sword Queen of the Namgung Family.”
*Thoom!*
Those words were heavy.
The warriors of the Namgung Family knelt.
“Wh-what is the meaning of this!”
*Ssk.*
The silent Sword King, Namgung San.
His cold eyes turned toward the Namgung Family elders.
“Huk!”
“That is my will.”
The Sword King raised the Imperial Sword.
“Behold.”
The Sword King offered the Imperial Sword to Namgung Seo-hui.
“…”
It had already acknowledged Namgung Seo-hui as its new master.
*Fwoooosh!*
The Imperial Sword, held in Namgung Seo-hui's hand, let out a resounding hum that spread in all directions.
It was over.
Who could possibly defy the Sword King's will?
“H-how can this be…”
Namgung Sang-hyeok lowered his head, his eyes vacant with despair.
“With this, the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly is over.”
The Sword King declared the end of the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly, and everyone departed with shocked expressions.
“…”
Among them was Dang So-hye, who stared at Namgung Sang-hyeok with cold eyes, and Paeng Dohyeok could also be seen with a meaningful smile.
“How can this be…”
“Take him away.”
“Yes.”
The dazed Namgung Sang-hyeok was also carried away.
The only ones left were the Successor Beggar and Cheon Muryang.
“This is not the end.”
“I know.”
“Good. Gaining their swords is entirely your task, so do well.”
“Yes, Grandfather.”
The Sword King walked past Namgung Seo-hui.
His retreating figure looked somewhat relieved, yet also complex.
“Child of the Cheon Family.”
“Yes.”
“Let us meet again.”
“I look forward to it.”
Namgung San left.
At that, the Successor Beggar rushed over as if he'd been waiting and started fawning over her.
“I never knew Lady Seo-hui could be so resolute.”
The Successor Beggar, who was rambling on about the second coming of the Sword Queen and what not, stopped at Cheon Muryang's gesture.
“That's enough.”
“Ah, yes. Of course.”
“You know what needs to be done, don't you?”
“Yes, yes. Of course. I've already attached it.”
A meaningful conversation.
At this, Namgung Seo-hui asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Ah, I was just wondering if the Tang Clan would really back down just like this.”
Dang So-hye.
There was clearly some kind of relationship between her and Namgung Sang-hyeok.
“Isn't it obvious?”
“Pardon?”
The corners of Cheon Muryang's mouth lifted.
“It means that while the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly is over, the Tang Clan is not done yet.”
The Successor Beggar also smiled.
“Yes, yes. That must be it.”
“…?”
“Sorry, but I'm thinking of using your brother as bait.”
“Ah.”
Namgung Seo-hui understood as well.
Their relationship was already shattered, so there was nothing to be hesitant about.
“It's fine.”