Chapter 27
Chapter 27
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: Would You Like to Eat Together?
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The garden behind the Sect Leader's quarters was not large, but it was filled with a pleasant fragrance.
There were many gardens in the Namgung Family larger and more beautiful than this one. His mother had loved gardening. But now, all the gardens of the Namgung Family were dead.
Just like the Namgung Family itself.
The Sect Leader, Han Seo-hui, asked Namgung Urin a question.
“What do you think?”
“It's beautiful.”
“Do you like this sort of thing?”
“I have no interest in it.”
“I appreciate your honesty. To be truthful, I don't care for it either. No, I never had the time to.”
Ever since she turned ten, she had done anything and everything to become stronger. She had run this far with her eyes fixed solely on gaining strength.
Beauty was nothing more than a luxury to Han Seo-hui.
Han Seo-hui had a goal. No, it wasn't just her goal. It was the goal of the Iron Blood Sect.
To surpass the Namgung Family.
It was a mountain so high it seemed impossible to climb, but that only fueled her passion. She burned with it, fiercely, willing to be consumed by the flames until nothing but ash remained.
And it wasn't just the Iron Blood Sect.
Everyone wants to stand at the summit. And that summit had been the Namgung Family.
But now, that Namgung Family was no more. That towering, verdant mountain had crumbled in an instant. That didn't mean all the other mountains in the martial world had fallen as well.
Only the highest peak had vanished; there were still countless others to overcome.
However, the Iron Blood Sect had lost the former Sect Leader, Han Baek-gwang, who would have been a great force in climbing those mountains, and was now taking a moment to catch its breath.
It was one step back for two steps forward.
But right before her eyes was someone who could make it three steps forward.
Hadn't Sect Leader Han Seo-hui seen it herself?
The spar between the Iron Blood Lord and Namgung Urin.
The spar had been so remarkable that the Iron Blood Lord didn't need to sing his praises. Even she, the Sect Leader who had grown up being called a genius, was not yet at a level where she could have such a spar with the Iron Blood Lord.
“Young Hero.”
“Yes.”
“How can you be so strong at your age? Might I ask who your master is?”
Since he said he came down from the mountains, she presumed he must have a master.
“You know I cannot say.”
“You're right. I was about to cross a line.”
“It's natural to be curious. For the record, it's not because my master is strong, but because I am exceptional.”
Had the dissipated Primordial Chaos Art heard that, it might have felt a little hurt. Of course, even it had acknowledged Namgung Urin's tremendous talent.
“...Ah, yes. Because you're exceptional...”
‘…What is with this young hero…?’
He certainly seemed very different from others. And so, she grew more and more curious.
“Young Hero. Isn't that something difficult to say about yourself? It seems rather embarrassing.”
“I'm a bit dense when it comes to things like that.”
She couldn't tell if he was truly dense or just bragging.
“Ah… you're dense…? A dense person… who is so strong in martial arts, and so handsome…”
The moment the Sect Leader uttered the word "handsome," she knew she'd made a mistake.
She didn't want to sound like she was fawning over Namgung Urin, and she hated feeling like she was conceding something.
But the words swirling in her head had slipped out.
“I'm aware that I'm handsome. That's why I find my face to be a nuisance. People only ever stare at my face.”
Sect Leader Han Seo-hui was truly dumbfounded.
“...Ah... But don't you think you're being a bit too shamelessly brazen?”
“Not at all. I'm merely stating the facts.”
“I've lost. I concede.”
“I also despise losing.”
“Ah, yes. Of course.”
Just then, a shooting star streaked across the night sky.
“Ah! Look over there. A shooting star is falling.”
“I see.”
“They say if you make a wish on a shooting star, it comes true. So I just made a wish. What about you, Young Hero?”
“I don't believe in such things. I'm the type to seize what I want with my own hands.”
“...Ah, right.”
‘What on earth is this man?’
She was curious and wanted to know more.
Was this what getting to know him was like?
Or was it that the more she learned, the less she knew?
‘Could he be?’
Was he someone who fell from the moon shining so brightly in the night sky?
And that made her want to know him more deeply.
“Young Hero.”
“Yes.”
“Would you like to have dinner with me in my chambers again tomorrow night?”
* * *
After learning the location of his quarters from the Sect Leader, Namgung Urin headed there directly.
Behind the lodgings was a rather large training yard. There, the thirty people who had passed the sparring test today were engrossed in their training. Twenty of them were women, the rest men.
It seemed that many women with strong martial prowess were drawn to the Iron Blood Sect due to its nature.
Namgung Urin also found a spot and entered a state of meditation, his posture straight and his eyes open.
All eyes were drawn to him.
His face was one thing, but there were more eyes showing respect for the martial strength he possessed at such a young age. They wanted to see Namgung Urin train. But he simply stood there, eyes open, without a single movement.
Eventually, the others turned their gazes away from him and resumed their own training.
Namgung Urin was using Primordial Chaos to sketch out the training forms of the thirty individuals in his mind.
After drawing every single one of their thirty movements, he combined them into the movements of a single person.
It wasn't easy at first.
But as he repeated the process of envisioning and erasing, then envisioning and erasing again, the movements of thirty people were soon completed as the movements of one. Namgung Urin then began to merge this single set of movements with all the sword arts of the Namgung Family.
It was no different.
Envision and erase, then envision and erase again.
Of what remained after erasing, eighty percent were the sword arts of the Namgung Family. This was why the martial arts of the Namgung were considered supreme.
Namgung Urin didn't stop.
This time, he began to merge them with the sword arts contained within the Primordial Chaos Art.
The God-Annihilating Arts.
The Thunderbolt Flash.
And the most difficult sword art to master from the Primordial Chaos Art.
The Primordial Chaos Sundering.
It was a sword art that could split and sunder heaven and earth, or even the universe. Simply put, it was a sword art that tore through space.
It was a preposterous sword art that would make one laugh in disbelief, but Namgung Urin believed it was possible.
He was in the process of learning it, but he had not yet mastered it. Even Namgung Urin, with his god-like talent, found this Primordial Chaos Sundering to be extremely abstruse and difficult.
Which, of course, made it all the more intriguing.
Namgung Urin's visualization continued. He repeated the process of envisioning and erasing. This time, it was not easy. Envisioning was simple, but erasing was incredibly difficult.
But he did not give up. He continued to envision and erase, over and over.
An unknowable amount of time passed before Namgung Urin's abyss-like eyes opened.
“It's not working.”
It was a failure.
No.
It hadn't been achieved, but it wasn't a failure. If he tried again, and again, he would eventually succeed.
Namgung Urin had begun this training when he was ten.
His father had given him all the martial arts manuals of the Namgung Family, telling him to read them and memorize them if he could. It was then that he had found this training method within the Emperor Sword Form, the ultimate technique of the Azure Sky Infinite Sword Art.
One who enters the domain of the Emperor Sword Form feels as if time is slowing down. But time itself doesn't slow; rather, the pressure filling the domain of the Emperor Sword Form restricts movement.
Namgung Urin had gained an insight from this.
It started with the thought, ‘What if I could make time truly seem to slow down, in addition to the pressure of the Emperor Sword Form?’
If I erase my own distance and draw out my opponent's…
If I erase my sword's path and draw out my opponent's…
The erased distance would shorten, and the drawn-out distance would lengthen. Naturally, a shorter path is faster, and a longer path is slower; it was simple logic.
That was how he had been able to master the Namgung martial arts, which hadn't felt that difficult to begin with, so much more easily.
And yet the elders of the Namgung Family, ignorant of this, had nagged him for being lazy.
“Old geezers.”
But now, that nagging, those old geezers, had become objects of longing.
They had been erased and had vanished.
Since Namgung Urin himself had not been the one to erase them, there was no way for him to draw them back.
And even if he did, they would scatter in the wind and be erased in an instant.
“Just wait.”
Soon enough, I will erase you bastards who did this, just the same.
Much time had passed, and it was an hour when everyone was asleep. The training yard was, of course, empty. Still, just in case, Namgung Urin spread his senses and swept the surroundings meticulously.
After confirming that no one was around, Namgung Urin called forth the Shadows.
The Shadows paid their respects to Namgung Urin.
“We greet our Lord.”
“Yes. Tonight…”
“We know.”
“How?”
“We do not know. Our abilities have suddenly improved.”
They had become able to read Namgung Urin's thoughts.
“Ah.”
It was likely because of the rapid increase of Primordial Chaos within his body.
“That's a good thing.”
“Yes, it is.”
“Then, search every nook and cranny. Just confirm its location. Understood?”
The location of the 500-year-old ginseng.
“Understood.”
“Go.”
*Swish, swish, swish, swish.*
The Shadows vanished in an instant.
The Shadows were limited by the distance they could be from their Lord, Namgung Urin. But within the Iron Blood Sect, the distance was not great enough to be a problem.
Shadow One went to the Sect Leader's office, while Shadow Two, Shadow Three, and Shadow Four decided to search the elders' quarters first.
The Sect Leader's office, which Shadow One entered, was empty. In the place Shadow Two entered, someone was asleep, though he didn't know whose quarters they were. In the place Shadow Three entered, someone was also asleep, so there was no problem in searching for the ginseng.
Unless they willed themselves to touch an object, the Shadows passed through everything. Therefore, as long as there was darkness, no one could detect a Shadow.
They made no sound and gave off no energy.
At the place Shadow Four arrived, two people were talking. They relied on a single small flame for light.
‘Lord, what should I do? Should I move to another location?’
‘No. Get as close as you can and eavesdrop on their conversation.’
‘Understood.’
If the Shadow could hear, so could Namgung Urin.
“Elder Myeong, here you go.”
A man handed a wooden box to the person called Elder Myeong.
“What took you so long?”
“I was a bit late making sure everything was handled properly. Oh, and here is the money.”
The man handed an envelope to Elder Myeong.
“But Elder, what do you plan to do with so much ginseng?”
Elder Myeong replied as he checked the bank notes he pulled from the envelope.
“With ten 500-year-old ginseng roots, wouldn't even the Baekri Family acknowledge my intentions?”
“But, you dislike the Sect Leader so much, so why are you so desperate to connect her with the second young master of the Baekri Family?”
“Listen here. I dislike the Sect Leader, yes. The child has no manners. But I am still a man of the Iron Blood Sect. My desire to see our Sect prosper is no less than the Sect Leader's.”
“That's admirable. If only the Sect Leader could recognize your heart, Elder.”
“Enough about that insolent brat. I simply wish for our Iron Blood Sect to join hands with the Baekri Family and rule Anhui. That's all.”
“It will surely happen. Haha.”
“We got the ginseng for free, so let's go for a drink.”
“To a good place?”
“Isn't that obvious? We got ten 500-year-old ginseng roots for free. I'm treating tonight with this money.”
The old man called Elder Myeong placed the box of ginseng under his bed, fussed with it for a moment, and then quietly left the room with the other man.
Namgung Urin, who had been listening to the conversation through Shadow Three, tilted his head.
“Ginseng for free? And 'handled properly'?”
Namgung Urin's head tilted to the other side before returning to its original position.
“It's obvious. They killed the man who sold the wild ginseng and took the money back.”
How wonderful.
‘Shadow Three. Bring me that box.’
‘Wasn't the plan just to confirm its location today?’
It was.
But that was assuming the ginseng was in the Sect Leader's possession.
However, the current situation was that the Sect Leader knew nothing about the ginseng, and it had been obtained through murder.
Would anyone point a finger at him for stealing ginseng that was stolen through murder?
If they did, let them.
‘Just bring it.’
‘Yes, sir!’
But what was this?
‘Lord… the box has vanished.’