Chapter 307
Chapter 307
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 307
Chapter Title: Namgung Hyun
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The time given to Namgung Hyun was a mere three days.
Namgung Myeong poured his full abilities into teaching him. On the surface, it looked like they were just endlessly sparring, but in reality, it was a bit more refined than that.
"Come on."
As Namgung Myeong spoke, Namgung Hyun steadied his breathing and assumed the preparatory stance of the Grand Swallow Sword Technique.
The tip of Namgung Hyun's sword did not stand straight at the center of his body but tilted obliquely toward his left shoulder.
A preparatory stance without holding the sword vertically was rare. It was unstable, and the directions from which the sword could thrust were limited. However, if handled well, it allowed for a bolder, more explosive extension of the sword.
In contrast, Namgung Myeong held his scabbard like a sword and lightly flicked it.
Namgung Hyun cautiously closed the distance, then suddenly swung his sword with full power. It was a stance somewhat dangerous to unleash with a live blade in a spar.
But as in the dozens of clashes before, Namgung Hyun was certain Namgung Myeong could block that sword strike.
Indeed, his certainty held true. Namgung Myeong extended his scabbard and naturally received Namgung Hyun's sword. Namgung Hyun's blade clung to the scabbard as if caught.
Namgung Myeong advised.
"Your sword tip is stiff. You can forget about it from the middle, but not from the first stance."
"Understood."
The tip of Namgung Hyun's sword took on a faint softness and sought its path again. Namgung Myeong's scabbard blocked Namgung Hyun's sword time and again. But it was a little better than at first.
However, Namgung Myeong's eyes still overflowed with points to critique.
"You've executed the Shredding Swallow Wings stance twenty times in front of me so far, and every one connected to the Seeking Worm Ascends to Heaven. The flow between the two stances connects unusually smoothly, but you mustn't get lost in that smoothness and limit your own flow. Your moves will become predictable."
"I'll keep that in mind."
Namgung Hyun's sword flew like a swallow once more, aiming for Namgung Myeong's openings.
Namgung Myeong stood firm in a defensive stance, but no single stance could provide perfect defense.
Namgung Hyun soon found Namgung Myeong's opening and thrust his sword.
Namgung Hyun's sword seemed to target Namgung Myeong's right side, then flexibly changed aim toward his right shoulder.
Blocking the shoulder of the sword-holding arm was no easy task. Even for Namgung Myeong, it was a position hard to parry easily.
Yet Namgung Myeong moved his left arm toward Namgung Hyun's sword path as if he knew it all.
Namgung Hyun thought Namgung Myeong's left hand moved like a whip bending softly. It was an extraordinary thing. Namgung Myeong's left arm was a prosthetic made of hard wood, after all—it couldn't bend. It must have just felt that way to Namgung Hyun; in reality, it hadn't bent.
But if it only felt that way, whether it actually bent or not might not matter much.
'How in the world does he move that prosthetic so naturally?'
Namgung Hyun had thrust with near-full power, but Namgung Myeong's left hand enveloped his sword.
It was undoubtedly a movement not found in the Namgung clan's martial arts. Moreover, Namgung Hyun was convinced it wasn't from any clan's arts. No martial art would teach catching an opponent's blade barehanded. Fingers wouldn't survive.
Namgung Hyun twisted his sword to escape Namgung Myeong's grip, but once caught, it wouldn't come free easily.
He couldn't even focus solely on Namgung Myeong's left hand. By then, Namgung Myeong's right hand had tossed the scabbard into the air and was approaching Namgung Hyun's wrist. The hand shape clearly signaled the Golden Claw Hand.
Namgung Hyun tried to counter with his own Golden Claw Hand but couldn't even resist properly before his wrist was twisted.
In a very brief gap, Namgung Hyun lost his sword to Namgung Myeong.
'How much training did he do for his hand movements to be so fluid and subtle? Was he always deft with his hands?'
Then, as Namgung Myeong raised the seized sword vertically, the scabbard that had flown into the sky fell and covered the blade. It was a sight like something out of a fairy tale.
Namgung Myeong grinned and extended the sheathed sword to Namgung Hyun.
"Still, it's much better than at first. Your progress is clear."
Namgung Hyun took the sword and shook his head.
"Thank you for the praise. But watching your skill, brother, my own progress feels small. You were already remarkable before leaving the clan, but now you've surpassed even that level."
At Namgung Hyun's admiration, Namgung Myeong replied plainly.
"I worked hard."
Hard work.
From what Namgung Hyun sensed, Namgung Myeong's martial arts were profoundly unique.
The foundation and framework were clearly the Namgung clan's. Yet Namgung Hyun couldn't gauge the identity of the arts wrapping that foundation and framework.
'...Did our Namgung clan have arts like that?'
In truth, it was natural that Namgung Hyun couldn't grasp Namgung Myeong's martial arts. They were the result of mixing arts from countless clans and sects.
Interspersed among them were even stances Namgung Myeong had created himself. In a way, it was the sword furthest from the Namgung clan's purity, even chaotic.
But at the same time, Namgung Myeong's sword had a clear consistency. No, not consistency—directionality, perhaps.
Namgung Hyun didn't know the nature of that directionality, but it was the path Namgung Myeong had chosen and was pursuing.
Warriors often spoke of all streams returning to the sea. Yet no one in the world understood the meaning as precisely as Namgung Myeong.
Countless martial arts take their first steps in their own ways and advance in their own directions.
But as time passes and countless people add their efforts, all martial arts inevitably head toward the ultimate pinnacle of martial prowess.
In that process, numerous impurities enter. Some call them trial and error, others the unique characteristics and individuality of each sword style.
Yet those practicing the arts have no way to know which parts point to the ultimate pinnacle of martial arts and which are superfluous. There's no basis for comparison.
But Namgung Myeong was different. He had seen a vast array of martial arts and mastered more than anyone.
The countless martial arts Namgung Myeong had learned became beacons illuminating his path forward.
Countless beacons gesture, claiming this way is correct. At a glance, they seem to disorderly light only their surroundings. An ordinary warrior has no choice but to follow the direction his own beacon points. Most warriors have only one beacon in life.
But Namgung Myeong could see dozens, hundreds of beacons.
Place hundreds of beacons and step far back to gaze upon them, and a different sight emerges.
The beacons set by each sect and clan light flames, each estimating in its own way where the pinnacle of martial arts might lie.
Amid the answers presented by countless sects, Namgung Myeong discerned a faint directionality.
That was the path Namgung Myeong had found toward all streams returning to the sea, the path to transcendent mastery he had discovered and begun racing down.
Of course, he couldn't convey such insights to Namgung Hyun. He couldn't reveal the origins of learning so many martial arts, and the concept was far too complex for Namgung Hyun to comprehend and accept.
Namgung Hyun closed his eyes, reviewing the previous spar, then murmured softly.
"If I may speak boldly, when I heard you'd lost your arm, brother, I thought you'd never rise again."
"That's usually the case."
Losing an arm wasn't simply about not using the left one.
Losing a limb throws the body's balance into disarray. That disrupted balance warps every stance learned so far. It means reworking every polished stance. That's why most armless warriors abandon the path of the martial world.
Even Namgung Myeong might have forsaken the warrior's path without Dang Mujin. If he hadn't received a prosthetic of the exact weight as his original left arm.
Namgung Hyun could broach such a sensitive topic because
he surmised that Namgung Myeong had nearly completely overcome that problem.
Namgung Myeong had grown stronger by leaping over the crisis. He had become a sword honed to an incomparable sharpness.
Namgung Hyun recalled Namgung Myeong's past self.
A twenty-one-year-old Namgung Myeong, at the edge of first-rate, gazing at the wall of peak mastery.
When he heard Namgung Myeong hadn't abandoned the warrior's path despite losing an arm, Namgung Hyun had thought simply: Losing one arm is nothing for such talent; he can surpass the peak wall.
But Namgung Myeong wasn't one to settle for the peak realm.
The question filling Namgung Hyun's mind now was one: Had Namgung Myeong reached the realm beyond peak? Or merely approached it?
Regrettably, Namgung Hyun's discernment couldn't accurately tell if Namgung Myeong had entered the transcendent realm.
Namgung Hyun started to ask directly but shook his head.
Impressive as Namgung Myeong was, surely not yet.
Instead, Namgung Hyun posed another question.
"Brother, after leaving the Namgung clan, how did you train?"
"A lot. I learned to face danger head-on without avoiding it, to strive endlessly, to find rivals. Opportunities to reflect on what I lacked or overdid—"
Namgung Myeong rambled on, then suddenly stopped.
Namgung Hyun turned to look at him. Namgung Myeong was smiling faintly.
"No. I just had a good connection. That's all. The rest followed naturally."
"I don't understand."
"You wouldn't even now if I explained. I hope such a connection finds you someday."
Namgung Myeong paused briefly, then changed the subject.
"Hyun-ah. Don't obsess over winning or losing."
Plain advice. But Namgung Hyun shook his head.
"I will win."
"You can learn from victory too, but there's even more to learn from defeat. Hong Gyeon may be better than you think."
"It's too close to predict defeat."
"The world is vast, and eccentrics abound. Hong Gyeon might be one of them. He might walk outside your thoughts and common sense. No, he surely does."
"But I must win, and I will."
Namgung Hyun's voice brimmed with confidence. Some from years past, but most gained in these few days.
The time under Namgung Myeong's tutelage was short.
Yet Namgung Myeong pinpointed exactly where and how Namgung Hyun was stuck, neatly resolving the blocks.
With countless accumulated doubts resolved, Namgung Hyun achieved tremendous progress in a short time.
He was confident he could beat his three-days-ago self eight out of ten times.
Entry into peak realm. The subtle clumsiness seemed blown away.
Such swift, certain growth instilled confidence in Namgung Hyun.
Yet Namgung Myeong looked at him with a hint of regret.
He had only one thing to say to Namgung Hyun.
"Yes. I hope for good results."
A faint regret tinged Namgung Myeong's voice.
*
Final day of the martial tournament. So many spectators gathered it seemed all of Wuchang had come. Even those usually disinterested in martial arts or the jianghu were plentiful.
The world lacks spectacles and amusements. The finals were too enticing to pass up while pretending aloofness.
"Ahh, please quiet down, everyone."
Before the announcer signaled the match's start, Namgung Hyun gazed at his opponent, Hong Gyeon.
'Defeat that guy, and it's victory.'
As in nearly every match, Hong Gyeon today wielded no weapon—bare-handed.
Namgung Hyun gauged Hong Gyeon's prowess from his minor movements and gaze. And gained certainty.
'I'm stronger.'
The gap between Hong Gyeon and himself was too small to call two steps. But at least one step ahead. Confidence surged.
But Namgung Hyun didn't grow complacent like others. Too much was at stake.
The tournament announcer drew attention with a loud voice, then drumbeats sounded. The clamor died instantly, all eyes on him.
The announcer shouted.
"No need for lengthy introductions now! Two warriors whose names alone everyone knows: Namgung Hyun and Hong Gyeon!"
"Waaaaah—!"
Matching the announcer's strong voice, the crowd roared wildly. Cheers showed no sign of stopping for several breaths.
Namgung Hyun's heart raced. It felt like the people were already celebrating his victory. Excitement enveloped his body.
As the cheers seemed endless, the announcer finally beat the large drum to signal the finals' start.
Hong Gyeon and Namgung Hyun.
The two warriors lightly cupped their fists toward each other and took their stances.