Chapter 24
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: The Emperor's Qualification
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Paeng Gak, after saying something utterly incomprehensible, put Paeng Hyang on his shoulders and left.
To my uncle's question about leaving without seeing the end of the Sword Branch Assembly.
Why waste time watching something whose conclusion is already set? Buy me a drink next time. A big one.
That was what he said before leaving.
When did you become friends with the Tiger Saber?
Believe it or not, there's not a soul in the Orthodox Martial World who hasn't heard my name or seen my face. Especially if they saw me in my prime.
I was wrong. So very wrong.
Why did I have to dredge up the memories of a man trapped in his past glory?
I realized there's nothing quite as pathetic as a drunkard rambling about his old days.
Only after he'd spent a good while digging through his glorious memories, making my ears bleed.
They're here!
Oh, ooh!
At someone's shout, I saw Namgung Mubaek, Namgung Ho, and the other leaders ascending the dueling stage of the Sword Branch Assembly.
Everyone was curious.
What would be the fate of the Great Young Lord who had exposed the family's shame?
Would Lady Pyeon truly never emerge from the Black Prison?
Would the Sword Branch Assembly continue?
They were all burning questions, and everyone hoped for answers.
However.
The final match of the Sword Branch Assembly will now proceed.
They were not so kind as to resolve all those curiosities.
Of course not.
I looked at Namgung Mubaek, and he was staring right back at me. The pressure was so immense I thought my heart would pound out of my chest.
Overwhelmed by his gaze alone, my rebellious spirit flared.
Cold-blooded and utterly indifferent.
Exactly as he was in my past life.
The memory was still vivid.
Lady Baek, my mother, as fresh and warm as a spring breeze, calling that man's name from time to time as her illness worsened, right up until her death.
Don't resent him. Your father has his reasons for everything.
Reasons, my ass.
He's giving me that same look right now, Mother.
If that's his way of loving his child, then I want no part of it.
As I was thinking this, Namgung Ho's voice continued.
I know you are all curious. However, the matter of the preceding disturbance will be carefully deliberated within the Namgung family, and a decision on the consequences will be made. We ask that you focus solely on the original meaning of the Sword Branch Assembly and the significance of the matches.
Namgung Ho spoke calmly and composedly.
Rest assured, the decision and its outcome will be publicly announced so that all of Anhui and everyone who has watched may know. Please do not worry, and enjoy the Sword Branch Assembly to its conclusion.
Since it couldn't be hidden anyway, the Namgung family promised to be transparent about the matter after the assembly. Thanks to this, not a single person in Anhui complained, and they all raised their heads to fully enjoy the event.
Now, only the final match remained.
It was none other than my turn to ascend.
For something that happened in just half a day, it certainly felt long.
As my uncle said, the Sword Branch Assembly had started early in the morning. The sun was now setting, its blazing crimson light illuminating the steps leading to the dueling stage.
Go on. Show them who you are.
The troublesome, good-for-nothing Great Young Lord.
The Great Young Lord who, despite his splendid background, had acted in the most despicable wayslet him climb these stairs and show the world that he was changing.
Perhaps this victory could place him in the most advantageous position in the competition for the family headship, or even allow him to aim for something greater.
My uncle said as much, but I shook my head.
The competition for Family Head. It's all fleeting, when you think about it. If Namgung can simply remain Namgung, that is enough.
That was what Namgung Ban from my past life, the Great Young Lord, had told me when he came to me.
If Namgung can remain Namgung. That is enough.
I could feel the traces of those words he had left behind, right here and now.
Step, step.
With every step I took up the stairs, changed gazes were fixed on me.
Though dissatisfaction and suspicion still dominated those gazes, among them, for some reason...
...some looked strangely similar to the way my nanny looked at me. There were even a few looks of unprecedented approval.
They have no idea who I am. For all they know, I was a ghost of the battlefield, a Sword Demon who believed none could match him with a blade.
As I stepped onto the stage with what must have been a dumbfounded expression, a sharp voice cut through the air.
What's so amusing that you're smiling? Do you think victory is already yours?
Apparently, I was smiling, not looking dumbfounded. I shrugged at the boy who had pointed out something I hadn't even realized.
What's got you so worked up?
Because of your foolish actions, the honor of Namgung has been dragged through the mud. You are not qualified to become the Young Family Head.
...Qualified?
I scoffed at Namgung Hyeok's talk of qualification.
That's right. Qualification. The path of Namgung is the path of an emperor. The shame you revealed has cracked the emperor's reputation. That crack, carved by a good-for-nothing, will remain as an eternal scar. You have forfeited your right to be an emperor.
It was an unrealistic speech for a mere fourteen-year-old boy. But the look in Namgung Hyeok's eyes was one of unwavering belief that he alone could reach the path of an emperor.
Arrogance and insolence burned in his gaze.
And within it, an absolute conviction in himself.
Emperor.
The qualification to be an emperor, he says.
Hearing that, I turned to look at my uncle. I scanned the other Namgung leaders and met the eyes of the elders, one by one. My gaze happened to cross with the Poison Flower, Dang Miyeon, and finally, it locked with Namgung Mubaek's.
I see.
So they all believe this is the first step in discussing who will be the emperor.
Being put on a pedestal by everyone has really gotten to your head.
This isn't that kind of place.
It was laughable. How could they not end up twisted?
They cruelly instill such expectations in a fourteen-year-old boy, burdening an unripe child with so much responsibility. I glanced over at Namgung Gal, who still hadn't recovered his internal energy; thought of Namgung Gyeon, who wasn't here but was surely listening with bloodshot eyes; and finally, Namgung Byeok, who I hoped wouldn't have to, but would one day feel the same sense of deprivation.
I felt their anguish keenly.
Without knowing what these children will become.
The adults were just passing their own greed-filled desires onto the children.
And the child was accepting those expectations as if they were a blessing, a given. All I could do was let out a hollow laugh.
I had suspected that Lady Pyeon wasn't the only problem.
But I never knew the rot ran this deep. It was a tangled mess that defied common sense.
What a difficult fight you must have had, my friend.
You must have been so lonely.
Now, I will carry that burden.
After looking up at the sky and smiling once, I finally spoke the words I'd been holding back.
If an emperor can be shaken by a mere scratch like this, then he is meaningless. I guess I'll have to shatter him.
...Come.
Namgung Hyeok raised the tip of his sword. The energy rising from it like a heat haze was the energy of the Heavenly Wind.
This was the first time in my life I had witnessed the Namgung family's swordplay up close. Despite sharing the Namgung name, it was a sword I had never once wielded.
A superior sword art, incomparable to the Ten Forms of the Iron Sword or the Thirteen Thunders of the Flash.
And yet, it had an incredibly familiar scent.
Both the Ten Forms of the Iron Sword, forged countless times to contain the life of an iron sword, and the sword of the Flash, containing thirteen bolts of lightning.
They were all sword arts created under the name of Namgung.
And I.
Facing the tip of the Heavenly Wind sword, the pride of Namgung, I raised my own.
Shing.
Ten Forms of the Iron Sword, First Form.
Heavy Sword Haste.
I took my stance, and Namgung Hyeok's expression twisted.
To think you'd face the Heavenly Wind with a mere Iron Sword.
A mere Iron Sword, he says.
Did you say you'd shatter me? Hmph! I will be the one to shatter that outrageously arrogant thought of yours.
Namgung Ho's signal to start the match had already sounded. Simultaneously, a sharp blue flash cut through the air, aiming to split my head.
Ten Forms of the Iron Sword, Second Form.
Drawing Sword Haste.
I met the blue flash with my iron sword.
Kreeee!
The clashing flash of light scattered sparks and slid away in the direction I twisted my blade.
Cough!
Despite deflecting it, my undeveloped body and stagnant dantian struggled against an opponent who could ceaselessly draw out his internal energy.
Feeling a jolt in my chest, I corrected my sword tip. At the same time, I raised my foot and kicked Namgung Hyeok's shin.
Thwack!
...What are you doing.
Namgung Hyeok, who had intended to end the fight quickly knowing I couldn't use internal energy, twitched an eyebrow.
He probably knew that no such hand-to-hand combat existed within the ten forms of the Iron Sword.
Witness it. The life of one who overcame a grueling existence to survive the pandemonium of hell.
Namgung Hyeok shook his throbbing leg and raised his sword again. The sharp blue flash grew brighter with each passing moment, striking like a bird of prey at my temple, eyes, throat, armpit, and solar plexus in succession.
My whole body screamed as I squeezed out the residual internal energy from my veins and meridians, but I showed no sign of it, raising my sword to parry every attack that tore through the air. At the same time, I repeatedly kicked at Namgung Hyeok's thigh and knee.
The sheer ferocity of his casual sword strikes prevented me from doing more, but I figured it was enough. The accumulated pain would surely hinder him later.
Ten Forms of the Iron Sword, Third Form.
Shield Sword Haste.
I took a purely defensive stance. My fingertips grew numb with every strike I blocked.
Brute strength alone was not enough to block the internal energy-infused Heavenly Wind. Against the strikes that came down with the force to cleave in two, I stepped forward to minimize the impact.
At the same time.
Ten Forms of the Iron Sword, Fourth Form.
Bow Sword Haste.
As if striking an unguarded point, the tip of my sword thrust into an opening. Namgung Hyeok twisted his head and stepped back, nullifying the attack.
A brief lull followed.
I had no intention of stopping. I twisted the tip of my sword sideways.
Thirteen Thunders of the Flash.
I was the unrivaled master of transitioning from the Iron Sword to the Flash, a skill that had made me a ghost of the battlefield.
The flow from one sword art to the next was like a wave.
Thirteen Thunders of the Flash.
Second Form, Wave Thunder.
Against the wave-like flashes of light embroidering the air, Namgung Hyeok gritted his teeth and relentlessly thrust out the blue flash of the Heavenly Wind Sword Art.
Clang-clang-clang-clang!
As the twilight faded and darkness fell, what decorated the dueling stage was not the sunset, but...
...the light of clashing swords, born from the continuous ringing of steel.
My whole body felt like it would explode, my limbs and muscles churning as if they would snap at any moment.
The faint internal energy I had managed to muster was not enough to withstand a boy armed with a superior internal art and a superior sword art.
And yet, I suddenly found it enjoyable. I could feel it so vividlythe sensation from the vibrations each time our swords met.
At the same time, I felt the world around me grow quiet. I sensed a moment of tranquility.
Had everyone left?
It was certainly possible. After all, wasn't this just a duel between children?
In that fleeting moment, I turned my head.
Still there. All of them.
The crowd still packed the area around the dueling grounds.
Seeing their resolute determination not to miss a single moment, a smile crept onto my face without me realizing it.