Chapter 227: Sword Destruction (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 227: Sword Destruction (3)
Seo-jun quietly watched Namgung Su-ah as she slept in his arms.
‘She almost gave me a heart attack.’
Last night, Namgung Su-ah had whispered that she suddenly felt lonely before clinging to him.
It wasn't their usual cozy embrace; she held him tight, like a child clinging to her mother after a nightmare. Thanks to that, Seo-jun hadn't slept a wink.
The body of Namgung Su-ah, huddled against him like a child, was as far removed from the word 'immature' as one could get. With her entire body pressed against his and her limbs wrapped tightly around him, how on earth was he supposed to fall asleep?
‘Should I just...’
Should he just go all the way?
But looking at her peaceful, sleeping face, he felt guilty about waking her. How could he disturb someone sleeping so soundly?
‘But I can’t sleep because of you, Noona.’
Should he just wake her up and do this and that? As for protection... couldn't he just invent some kind of contraceptive martial art?
Morning arrived while he was locked in intense deliberation.
Sunlight streamed through the window. Namgung Su-ah’s eyelids fluttered, and she rubbed her face against his chest as if talking in her sleep.
“Mmm... Did you sleep well?”
The way she peeked up at him with a playful, beaming smile was almost infuriating. Seo-jun let out a hollow laugh.
“I didn't sleep at all.”
It wasn't a major problem. The Transcendent Realm wasn't a level one achieved by winning a game of ddakji. In Seo-jun’s case, he didn't even need sleep if he didn't want to. In fact, if he truly wanted to suppress his desires, he could do so without much effort.
...Theoretically, at least. It just wasn't that easy with Namgung Su-ah pressed right up against him.
“Ngh...!”
Stretching slightly in his arms, Namgung Su-ah hugged Seo-jun tighter and whispered into his ear.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve slept this well.”
“Is that so?”
Well, she certainly had slept well. She wore a faint smile, looking like she had experienced a pleasant dream rather than a nightmare.
“What should I do? I feel so bad.”
Through their thin clothes, Namgung Su-ah’s body felt incredibly warm against his. Seo-jun was also wearing thin pajamas. Namgung Su-ah blushed at the distinct sensation pressing against her lower abdomen, yet she continued to smile playfully.
Seo-jun let out another hollow laugh at her peculiar expression.
“That does it.”
He firmly grabbed her plump backside. Namgung Su-ah’s body flinched.
“Ah...”
Even so, she didn't resist much. Having grown quite accustomed to his physical contact, this was actually what Namgung Su-ah had been hoping for. She looked up at Seo-jun through her lashes and asked, “Are you mad?”
“No, it’s not that.”
“No, you’re mad.”
“What?”
“Do you want to touch my chest?”
Namgung Su-ah was quite perceptive. She took after her mother in that regard. She had known for a long time that Seo-jun was very interested in her chest. She knew he wasn't actually angry, but she simply wanted this. She wanted him to desire her, no matter the excuse.
“Anything is fine...”
There was no reason to hesitate anymore. He was her family. Her one and only partner. As time passed, his presence in her heart only grew larger.
Namgung Su-ah took his hand, placed it over her breast, and smiled brightly.
“Do as you please.”
If he wished for it, she was ready to give him everything. She carried the blood of the Namgung Clan. That noble blood that blindly loved only one person for a lifetime.
*
Seo-jun moved his hand as if possessed. A soft, overflowing sensation yielded beneath his palm.
At the same time, he pondered more seriously than ever before.
Baby fat versus soft curves.
His heart swelled with grandeur. The weight of the flesh asserting its presence beneath his hand, the warmth, the texture—one star for mother, another star for mother...
‘I see.’
Enlightenment came in an instant. It was a meaningless comparison. It was an act as futile as comparing a car to pasta.
Chun-bong’s cheeks and Namgung Su-ah’s chest.
While the sensation felt through his fingertips was similar, their essence was as different as heaven and earth. There was no need to determine superiority between heaven and earth.
In the end, myself, the earth, and the heaven harmonize to form the Trinity of Heaven, Earth, and Man. Not one of the three could be missing. Even if harmony were achieved with only two, it would no longer be the Trinity.
The same applied to Essence, Qi, and Spirit.
Even if one achieved the expansion of the Spirit upon reaching the Transcendent Realm, the ultimate goal was harmony. By using the surrounding space as Essence and Qi, there would be no deficiency in any of the three elements.
The moment he realized this, the space around Seo-jun wavered.
‘A Domain isn't something you just turn on and off.’
A very faint Domain dyed the area around Seo-jun. This Domain would not disappear unless something happened to Seo-jun himself. It was a Domain he could maintain at all times.
‘No one can sense it, yet I can observe everything within my Domain.’
He suddenly realized something. That strange feeling he got whenever he faced his father-in-law... That must have been his father-in-law’s Domain.
“Ngh... Seo, Seo-jun...?”
Namgung Su-ah’s voice snapped him back to reality. Seo-jun looked down at her. Her face was dyed bright red, and she spoke in a small, trembling voice.
“The tips are sensitive... so be gentle...”
“What?”
“Or... just do it harder...”
Haa... A hot breath escaped her lips. Her intoxicating scent made his head spin.
His martial trance broke, and the vivid sensation in his fingertips returned. He was sitting on the edge of the bed with Namgung Su-ah in his arms. He could clearly feel her body trembling against him.
And then— Clack!
Chun-bong entered the room with a refreshed expression and raised her hand.
“A powerful and good mor... ning?”
Chun-bong froze. Her stiffened eyes locked onto Seo-jun and Namgung Su-ah.
“What the...”
She looked inside the room, then back outside into the hallway. Frowning at the bright sunlight pouring in, Chun-bong smacked her forehead.
“What the hell are you doing first thing in the morning, you crazy bastard?!”
A Chun-bong Dropkick exploded against Seo-jun's face.
*
A pouting Chun-bong sat on Namgung Su-ah’s lap, glaring at Seo-jun.
“Hmm.”
Thump, thump. Chun-bong lightly tapped the back of her head against Namgung Su-ah’s chest and clicked her tongue.
“Tsk, I guess this can’t be helped.”
“Right?”
“Agh...! I should just...!”
Seo-jun had taken a bit of a beating from a flurry of Chun-bong Punches, but it was nothing serious. Even Chun-bong acknowledged it. She accepted the fact that this wasn't something a man could reasonably resist.
“Phew.”
Seo-jun let out a sigh of relief and wandered around the Namgung Clan estate without any particular destination. There was something he had been thinking about ever since the new martial artists joined the clan.
‘Expanding our forces is definitely important.’
Countless martial artists had flocked to the Namgung Clan. It was unlikely they would ever lack manpower, but there were still areas that felt lacking.
‘There are a lot of people in the Central Plains.’
Not just a lot, but a truly staggering amount. He wasn't sure of the exact number, but it had to be in the billions.
How was such a massive population maintained? He didn't know. Seo-jun didn't know much about anything besides martial arts. However, he knew that this Central Plains was vastly larger than Earth’s China, and surprisingly, its population wasn't small even when compared to modern times.
‘Is it because of Qi?’
It didn't matter. What truly mattered was that there were a lot of people. And where there were many people, there were naturally many talented individuals.
If he could pick out only the hidden gems among them and bring them into the fold of the Namgung Clan, it would surely be a great help to the family.
‘Since it’s hard for commoners to ever encounter martial arts, they might not even know they have talent.’
Seo-jun, who was sketching out a plan in his head, suddenly stopped walking. A brilliant idea had just occurred to him.
‘I’ll save this for later.’
There was a more pressing matter at hand.
*
Seo-jun entered the Murim Alliance as boldly as if he were walking into his own home.
When he found Jegal Tong without prior notice and asked him a point-blank question, the man seemed to have grown somewhat accustomed to Seo-jun's sudden visits, answering without much panic.
“It is impossible to pinpoint the exact locations of those in the Transcendent Realm. A rough estimate is possible, of course... but their exact coordinates can only be determined when they exercise their martial power.”
For that reason, they didn't know exactly where the Transcendent masters near the Sword Sect were currently located.
“However, one thing is certain: they won't be very far from their own sects. They should be roughly around here.”
Jegal Tong drew a circle on the map. Seo-jun took a quick look and nodded.
“This should be enough.”
“...Do you truly intend to go through with this? It is too reckless.”
“I’ll handle it.”
It wouldn't take very long to take Geom-hyeon’s head.
Seo-jun left the Murim Alliance. His eyes glowed a sinister red as he moved, tearing through space.
‘Today, the Sword Sect will be exterminated.’
*
The former leader of the Sword Sect, the Heavenly Sword Lord Geom-hyeon, reviewed the battle from a few days ago while his entire body was wrapped in bandages.
‘His skill is certainly remarkable.’
That Domain that seemed to contain the world itself, and another Domain that dyed it in demonic energy. Geom-hyeon judged that the former Domain was advantageous for dealing with many opponents, while the latter shined when facing a single person.
‘To martial artists of a lower rank, he must be a literal calamity.’
That appearance of his, showing not a single sign of exhaustion even after repeatedly pouring out massive attacks.
Usually, no matter how great a master one was, things tended to get difficult when a horde of lower-ranked martial artists with significant power swarmed them. While one rarely lacked internal energy upon reaching the Transcendent Realm, the consumption of mental energy was unavoidable.
Even Geom-hyeon had to worry about distributing his stamina if a dozen or so martial artists at the peak of the Super Peak Realm or the beginning of the Transcendent Realm rushed him. If he recklessly poured out his full power, he would exhaust himself before he could cut them all down.
While one could simply retreat for a moment to recover, that man, Lee Seo-jun, wouldn't even need to do that.
‘He said he was a martial artist of the Namgung Clan.’
Geom-hyeon recalled the information he had gathered about the man after the battle. He knew why the man held a grudge against the Sword Sect, and he knew what kind of path that martial artist had walked.
‘I only came down from seclusion for a moment because there seemed to be trouble in the sect...’
Things were turning out rather strangely.
Geom-hyeon let out a sigh and opened his eyes. A strange light flickered within them.
‘Regardless, I will cut him down if we meet again.’
He had mostly recovered from his injuries by consuming the sect’s spirit herbs. He had also heard that the Transcendent masters of the surrounding sects were keeping an eye on the Sword Sect.
‘I doubt they will properly listen to the Alliance’s words, though...’
They would surely come to provide support if the fight dragged on. Since they knew that the Evil-Annihilating Heavenly Lord Lee Seo-jun’s mobility surpassed imagination, they would be surrounding the area to some extent.
“Whew...”
Geom-hyeon stood up. His eyes sank heavily as he finished reviewing his battle with the Evil-Annihilating Heavenly Lord one last time.
‘I can cut him this time.’
Geom-hyeon was an experienced old master. He had already devised a secret plan to deal with the Evil-Annihilating Heavenly Lord.
BOOOOOOM—!!
At the sound of the massive explosion, Geom-hyeon calmly began to walk. Chiriring— the blades of the Thousand Flower Sword hovered around him.
Geom-hyeon had a premonition.
Today, one of them would die.