The True Sword of Namgung (2)
"My lord?"
Namgung Hae-seok called carefully.
The silence had stretched too long.
Kim Seohan shook off his thoughts and spoke.
"Honestly… this world is a far tougher opponent than I ever imagined. I really was underestimating it."
Having finished sorting his thoughts, Kim Seohan looked at Namgung Hae-seok.
"Namgung Hae-seok."
"Yes."
"The Namgung sword you learned isn't even half a sword."
Namgung Hae-seok's brow twitched.
He had already been cast out by his clan.
But having the Namgung sword itself denied was another matter entirely.
"…The Daeyeon Sword Art is a technique the Namgung Clan has refined for centuries."
"True. It's a fine sword art. As a foundation."
Kim Seohan raised his sword and settled into a stance.
"The Daeyeon Sword Art is the root. Roots exist so the trunk and the branches can reach for the sky. But the current Namgung Clan is just clutching the root and calling it a tree."
"Then… what is that trunk?"
"Burn it into your eyes yourself."
At Kim Seohan's words, Namgung Hae-seok's gaze fixed on the blade.
What is this?
The stance was not high.
There was no exaggerated flourish.
Yet the instant the tip of the sword pointed at the heavens, Namgung Hae-seok felt a strange sensation.
It was as if a vast sky unfurled behind the man standing before him.
"This is the true sword of Namgung."
In that moment, the blade moved.
Kwaaaaa!
Sword qi erupted from the tip and soared toward the heavens.
An endless expanse pressed down on him.
Changgung… the azure firmament?
The instant he saw that sword qi, the word rose unbidden in Namgung Hae-seok's mind.
Perhaps because he had just heard of the Changgung Muae Sword Art from Kim Seohan.
He could not help picturing a clear blue sky.
The path of the blade looked simple.
Yet within that simplicity there was nowhere to flee.
Just how vast is it?
Vast.
Too vast.
A single sword had moved, and Namgung Hae-seok felt like an insect standing beneath an immense sky.
The sky is not sharp like a blade.
Yet no one can escape from beneath it.
Changgung Muae… Boundless Blue Sky…!
There is no end to the azure heavens.
Namgung Hae-seok kept watching the sword and froze in place.
He forgot even to breathe, pouring every shred of focus into it.
The intent, the rank, the depth contained in that blade were different.
This was not the Namgung sword he knew.
And yet, at the same time—
This was exactly what the Namgung sword was meant to be.
The place the Daeyeon Sword Art had spent a lifetime trying to reach.
The sky the martial artists of the Namgung Clan had only ever dimly imagined.
That sky was now unfolding before his eyes, contained in a single sword.
That's it! That is the sword the Namgung blade was originally meant to become!
Having trained in the Daeyeon Sword Art, Namgung Hae-seok felt it more keenly than anyone.
The Blood Cult Leader who, in his previous life, had annihilated the Namgung Clan and perfected not only the Changgung Muae Sword Art but even the Emperor's Sword Form.
He was now demonstrating the most perfect Namgung sword imaginable before the very man who had once been the clan's heir.
At last the blade stopped.
"Did you see it, Namgung Hae-seok?"
"Yes… I saw it."
"Good. What did you feel?"
Namgung Hae-seok swallowed hard and answered.
"The sky… I saw an endlessly unfolding sky. And… within that boundless sky, I felt something freer than anything else."
A faint spark of interest flickered in Kim Seohan's eyes.
"You saw it properly."
"…Pardon?"
"The essence of Changgung Muae is freedom. A sword that advances without obstruction beneath an endless sky. If you read that at first glance, it means your efforts were not wasted."
Heat rose in Namgung Hae-seok's chest.
It had been so long since he last heard recognition.
And it came from the mouth of the man who had just unfurled the heavens before his eyes.
"Grinding away at nothing but the Daeyeon Sword Art was not empty labor. Because the root runs deep, you recognized the sky the trunk must reach for."
Kim Seohan returned the sword to Namgung Hae-seok and continued.
"The Namgung sword is the sky."
"The sky…"
"The sky does not hide. It does not deceive. It covers everything head-on, cleaves it, and advances. The ultimate pursuit of that is the Emperor's Sword Form… but without knowing the Changgung Muae Sword Art, you would not know the Emperor's Sword Form either."
"…No, I do not."
For some reason Namgung Hae-seok felt as though not knowing was a crime.
Kim Seohan went on explaining.
"Nothing can escape from beneath the sky. That is why anyone who stands before this sword loses every place to run before the blade even falls. That is why you felt like an insect."
Namgung Hae-seok swallowed dryly.
His mouth was parched, yet he kept his ears sharp and his focus absolute.
"The Daeyeon Sword Art is the vessel meant to contain that sky. Just as the name Daeyeon—Great Expansion—implies, it is a sword that widens the vessel. That is the work of the root: to broaden the vessel first so it can receive the sky."
Root and trunk.
Vessel and sky.
Inside Namgung Hae-seok's mind, the forms of the Daeyeon Sword Art he had drilled for a lifetime began rearranging themselves into new meaning.
So that was why.
The paths of the Daeyeon Sword Art had always felt somehow unfinished.
They stretched wide and then stopped; they expanded and then broke off.
Into every broken place, the sky he had just witnessed fit with perfect precision.
"And there is one more step above that sky."
"…Above the sky? Could that be…?"
"Yes. Not merely containing the sky, but becoming the sky itself and reigning over all things. That is the Emperor's Sword Form I mentioned earlier."
Emperor's Sword Form.
Just hearing the name made Namgung Hae-seok's heart pound hard.
If I were to master the Emperor's Sword Form…?
The Changgung Muae Sword Art and the Emperor's Sword Form.
He now knew the path he must walk.
Kim Seohan continued.
"I could simply teach you the formulas directly, but there's a more efficient method."
"A more efficient method?"
"Yes. What some call force-feeding."
Among the arts of the Blood Cult was a transmission method that forcibly jammed the formulas and operational principles of a martial art into both body and mind.
The complete essence of the Changgung Muae Sword Art.
The key principles of the sword paths that followed from the opening stance.
Even the breathing rhythm for loading internal energy.
"I'll also transmit the formulas of the Changgung Daeyeon Shingong."
Even the core internal cultivation method practiced by the direct bloodline of the Namgung Clan.
He would pass down all of it.
The only problem was…
"I'll warn you in advance—it will hurt like hell. But if you endure this pain, you'll be able to begin the Changgung Muae Sword Art."
"I am prepared."
Namgung Hae-seok, who had already endured bone-grinding effort countless times, answered calmly.
"Good. Then sit first."
"Yes, my lord."
Namgung Hae-seok settled into a cross-legged seat.
Kim Seohan's hand rose above his head.
"Not the back?"
"For this, going through the upper dantian is more efficient."
Internal energy was one thing, but Blood Cult techniques were more stable when channeled through the head.
"Then we begin. No canceling now. Bite down hard."
"I am ready—kkkeuuuuuugh?!"
Namgung Hae-seok's eyes flew wide with shock.
His skull felt as if it were splitting.
His joints twisted from the inside.
It was as though dozens of red-hot iron skewers were stabbing through his body from within all at once.
I'd… rather die…!
Watching that face, Kim Seohan thought,
This is only the beginning.
What he was doing now was merely transmitting martial formulas via the transfer method.
And because it was orthodox martial arts, it was only this bad.
Even without the Blood God True Scripture, most Blood Cult heart methods brought endless, crushing pain.
Aside from the agony there were no side effects, and the energy was purer than any orthodox art—yet there was a reason not just anyone could learn them.
It was no accident that only the desperate ever knocked on the Blood Cult's door.
"What I'll teach you later as a supplement will hurt even more, so endure well."
And half a shichen later.
"Kkeueoeoeo…"
When the entire transmission ended, the tension left Namgung Hae-seok's body and he collapsed, foaming at the mouth.
Ten days passed.
First Form — Qingyun Liushang: Azure Cloud Flowing Cup
Namgung Hae-seok's sword slipped forth like flowing water.
It was not a cutting sword.
It was a flowing sword.
The trajectory drawn by the tip held no corners.
Like clear clouds drifting across the sky, the sword path connected in smooth continuity.
A form that swings the blade gently to seek the enemy's vital points.
Namgung Hae-seok's progress was unusually swift for an orthodox martial art.
Because the vessel had already been prepared by the Daeyeon Sword Art.
The Daeyeon Sword Art had opened the vessel, and atop it the Changgung Muae Sword Art now flowed as naturally as water.
"Stop."
Namgung Hae-seok withdrew his sword and turned.
Even his eyes were different from ten days ago.
Not the eyes of a discarded man, but the eyes of a martial artist who possessed his own sword.
"The sword path has settled into your body."
"It is all thanks to my lord's teaching."
"Good that you know. There's something else I need to tell you."
"Something to tell me… has something happened with the Namgung Clan?"
At Namgung Hae-seok's question, Kim Seohan nodded.
"Yes. Under Namgung Hye-min's lead, a social gathering of the direct heirs of the Five Great Families is being held."
For a moment strength entered the hand gripping Namgung Hae-seok's sword.
"…The Five Great Families Direct Heirs Gathering. Until last year, I was the one who attended as Namgung's representative."
His voice was calm.
Not lingering attachment—simply stating a fact.
"A place for the direct bloodlines of each family to become acquainted and build ties. Now it has become Hye-min's… no, Namgung Hye-min's stage."
"Right. Even though the true sword of Namgung is the one being learned over here."
At Kim Seohan's words, Namgung Hae-seok smiled.
"Yes. All of it is thanks to my lord."