Chapter 53
Chapter 53
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 53
Chapter Title: Firmament Unhindered Sword
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I lowered my stance and drew the sword in my right hand close to my chest.
And in my mind, I pictured the enemy I had to face right before me.
“Huuuuu...”
After taking a long, deep breath, I expelled internal energy through the Yongcheon acupoint in the sole of my foot and shot forward.
The moment I reached the enemy in a flash like an arrow, I swung my sword horizontally, infused with the essence of speed, slicing the foe in half in one stroke.
-Shrieeek!
But the imaginary enemy didn’t vanish.
Before I could even swing my sword, it leaped back, dodging the attack.
“...Tch.”
I clicked my tongue in dissatisfaction.
The technique I had just used was the first form of the Firmament Unhindered Sword, which didn’t even have a name yet.
A charging technique I devised while imagining a description of closing in on a distant opponent in an instant, incorporating the essence of swiftness.
I had only thought it through in my head until now—this was the first time actually trying it.
Was it because it was my first attempt?
Compared to the image in my mind, it was lacking in several ways.
And the most glaring deficiency was speed.
Even from seeing my imaginary foe dodge the attack, it was clear that the real technique was far too slow compared to my mental image.
The first form I envisioned needed to be faster.
Yes—like a single streak of light slicing through the heavens.
“...Ah?”
Right then, I realized I had come up with a name for the first form.
Firmament Flash
A single streak of light slicing through the heavens.
Once the name clicked into place, I instinctively knew what was needed to perfect the technique.
As expected, I needed to plunge into the enemy’s proximity even faster.
Simply expelling internal energy wouldn’t suffice for that.
Something else was required—something to make the charge even quicker.
After pondering deeply for a while, I suddenly recalled the concept of air resistance from my past life’s memories.
When objects move through the air, they encounter resistance, and this air resistance multiplies as the object’s speed increases.
In simple terms, charging forward by expelling energy through the Yongcheon acupoint creates far more resistance than just running normally.
In such conditions, there’s a limit to how much faster you can go by boosting your charge with internal energy output.
Forcing more speed would require unleashing a massive burst of qi all at once, but my meridians aren’t as robust as the others’.
If I tried to release that much qi in one go, I’d damage my Yongcheon acupoint again.
Plus, burning through that much qi recklessly would drain even my thirty years of cultivation in no time.
“There are limits to my internal energy... and my body.”
So what if I thought in terms of reducing air resistance instead?
If I could minimize air resistance, I could achieve even greater speeds with the same amount of internal energy.
As I rummaged through my memories for solutions, I suddenly recalled a phrase used to describe masters of lightness skill.
-His movements were as if riding the wind.
“Riding the wind... and moving...”
This was a phrase I had considered even back when I was first developing my lightness skill.
Not long after, I dismissed it from my mind, thinking, ‘Riding the wind? What kind of nonsense is that?’
But reconsidering it now made my mind tingle curiously.
Something... something was on the verge of surfacing...
“Wind... wind...!”
Wind is ultimately just moving air currents.
And I could spread air currents in all directions using qi waves.
Perhaps qi waves could be thought of as winds of qi.
What if I deliberately controlled the qi waves, projecting them sharply forward as I moved? Could they reduce air resistance?
In other words, maybe I could envelop my body in wind to charge even faster.
“In a way, it could be seen as riding the wind.”
Feeling like I had unraveled a key thread in my stalled lightness skill development, I decided to test the theory right away.
-Hummm
As soon as I gathered my energy, qi waves spread out in all directions.
The first task was to concentrate these qi waves forward.
“Huuuuu...”
I took a long breath and focused my mind.
Then, I tried to gradually direct the qi waves, which had been scattering everywhere haphazardly, into a single direction.
At first, I floundered without grasping the knack, but once I did, I finally managed to concentrate the qi waves.
The grass in the courtyard swayed wildly from the focused qi waves.
I assumed my stance once more and charged forward, swinging my sword.
-Shrieeek!
The speed was faster than before.
But it still felt like something was missing.
Faster, more explosively.
I kept executing the Firmament Flash.
Once, twice, three times.
How many repetitions had it been?
Even as I felt the sky reddening, I didn’t stop kicking off the ground and swinging my sword.
Thanks to that, the Firmament Flash evolved with each execution.
The qi waves’ concentration range narrowed further and sharpened.
Now, I could focus them like the edge of a keen blade.
As a result, the charge of the Firmament Flash became exponentially faster.
Adding the explosive force of stomping the ground with the Whirling Dragon Step perfected it.
-Swoosh!
Finally, I succeeded in becoming a streak of light and slicing through the imaginary enemy.
Realizing the Firmament Flash was complete, I grinned broadly.
Though it was born from the imaginations of countless wuxia novel authors, the thrill of creating a new martial art made me exhilarated.
But I couldn’t stop here. This was just the first form. Time to create the next one.
Eagerly about to try the next form from my mental image, I suddenly recalled another signature technique of the Nangong family.
Imperial Sword Form.
A name too taboo to utter in this world, for fear of the imperial gaze.
Truth be told, I had already internalized a bit of the Imperial Sword Form in my mind.
No, it was more accurate to say I had imprinted it before even the Firmament Unhindered Sword.
Honestly, most wuxia novels depicted the Imperial Sword Form more intensely.
So it was only natural that it drew me in.
In any case, having successfully completed the first form of the Firmament Unhindered Sword, I couldn’t contain my urge to test the Imperial Sword Form from my mental image in reality.
“W-Well, trying it just once shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
Of course, no one answered my question.
I was the only one in this courtyard.
In any case, no one answered.
Silence means consent, doesn’t it?
It’s fine to do it, right? I can go ahead, right?
Suppressing my twitching lips, I raised my sword.
*
By now, the sunset had dyed the sky red.
Nangong Hyun, the young lord of the Nangong family, was heading to the guest quarters with his fiancée, Seol Yakbing.
Because there was something he needed to ask of their group—specifically, Ja-seong.
“Young Master Goon might feel we’re asking too much of him. We’ve already imposed on him several times.”
“Who knows? From what I’ve seen, he’d probably enjoy it.”
Yakbing chuckled as she replied.
In her eyes, Goon Ja-seong was a man of terrifyingly sharp insight and brilliance.
Yet he also had a childish side, interested only in what amused him.
‘Maybe helping the young lord’s group is just something he finds fun?’
To join, for the thrill of it, an event that might upend the history of the martial world long oppressed by the imperial court... Was it boldness or simplicity?
As Yakbing shook her head inwardly with a smile, a thunderous roar like a raging storm suddenly shook the entire family compound.
-Kwa-gagang!
“Kyaa!?”
“W-What is that!?”
Startled, Nangong Hyun pulled Yakbing into a protective embrace.
Even amid the shock, Yakbing’s face flushed crimson at the intense physical contact with her fiancé, and she bowed her head.
“Lady Bing, are you alright? Anywhere hurt...?”
“I-I’m fine.”
“I can’t tell just from words. I need to see for myself. Let me look at your face.”
“I’m really fine, I tell you?”
Nangong Hyun and Seol Yakbing.
The two lovers continued their back-and-forth, still locked in each other’s arms.
Their tussle only ended when Dae-un, Hwaryeon, and Seol-i arrived, drawn by the massive boom.
“Ahem...”
Coughing awkwardly upon witnessing the affectionate scene of the startled lovers, Dae-un shook his head and asked,
“Where did that sound come from just now?”
“T-That’s... probably from over there...”
Yakbing, still struggling to calm her burning cheeks, pointed toward a building while covering her face.
“That’s an empty guest hall, isn’t it...?”
Nangong Hyun, who had regained his composure faster than Yakbing, muttered with a furrowed brow.
Hearing that, Dae-un took the lead, cautiously entering the guest hall ahead of the others.
‘Did someone from the Heaven-Tyrant Fortress tamper with the Nangong family to threaten them? Don’t tell me they threw something like a thunderbolt bomb?’
Swallowing hard with tension, Dae-un slowly made his way to the inner courtyard.
And upon seeing the courtyard utterly devastated in a way that differed slightly from his expectations, his eyes widened.
“This is...!”
The entire courtyard was a mess of sword scars, as if a storm of blades had swept through.
Walls, ground, stone lanterns scattered about—everything was riddled with gashes, a pitiful sight.
And at the end of those scars stood one man, looking utterly embarrassed.
“Ah, ahaha... Master. It’s like this. I didn’t mean for it to turn out this way...”
Ja-seong scratched the back of his head with an awkward laugh.
“...What the hell did you do?”
Dae-un’s incredulous voice echoed hollowly across the ruined courtyard.