Chapter 238
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 238
Chapter Title: That Man is Namgung Hwi
Evening time after afternoon training had ended.
A single messenger pigeon alighted on the tip of Han Seol-bing's right index finger.
A pitch-black raven-like dove.
Anyone unfamiliar with it would mistake it for a crow.
It wasn't just any pigeon with dark feathers.
It was a spirit beast.
Thousand-Li Black Pigeon.
A spirit creature capable of flying up to three thousand li in a single day, with a memory that never forgot a place it had visited or a person it had met.
On top of that, it possessed a toughness that could hold its own against most hawks.
It was ideal for use as a messenger pigeon, but taming one was so difficult that they were exceedingly rare.
Such a spirit beast had flown down to Han Seol-bing's hand.
"Baek-a. You came back quickly."
Han Seol-bing smiled gently and stroked the pigeon's head.
She untied the message tube from Baek-a's leg and raised her hand slightly.
Flutter.
Baek-a immediately took off toward the forest.
It would return when Han Seol-bing called.
"Now then, let's see who this is from."
Han Seol-bing unfolded the message.
It was in the handwriting of Dam Mu-hyeon, the other deputy leader of the Hocheon Corps.
The moment she opened it, Han Seol-bing frowned.
It was inevitable.
The beginning was filled with nothing but complaints and grumbling.
To sum it up, it was asking if it was nice to ditch the Hocheon Corps alone and enjoy some leisure time.
"He should quit and come out too, then. No need to whine about it."
Han Seol-bing muttered in dissatisfaction.
But Dam Mu-hyeon couldn't leave the Hocheon Corps. No, even if he left it, he was someone who could never escape the Righteous Heaven Alliance's main base.
That was precisely why she had sent him the message.
After carefully reading the letter, Han Seol-bing incinerated it with the Threefold True Fire.
Whoosh.
"Hmm."
She had suspected there was a story behind it, but it was no ordinary tale.
Han Seol-bing quickened her steps.
Her destination was where Ha Mu-baek was.
The training ground of Fierce Dragon Corps Squad Seven.
Ha Mu-baek lay sprawled atop his designated rock seat after dinner, looking as if everything was a bother.
"What brings you here?"
He glanced at Han Seol-bing as she entered the training ground.
"It's about Nam-hwi."
At those words, Ha Mu-baek immediately erected a barrier of qi around the training ground.
He had confirmed with his senses that no one was nearby, but certainty was always better.
"You were curious about him the other day, and now just two days later... Bali found out already. Did you ask Mu-hyeon?"
Han Seol-bing nodded.
"You sent Baek-a?"
Han Seol-bing nodded again.
"Baek-a is the alliance's spirit beast. Is it right to use it for personal matters? Taking it with you when you left the Hocheon Corps in the first place... Tsk."
Ha Mu-baek shook his head.
But Han Seol-bing was unapologetic.
"I never took Baek-a with me. It followed me on its own."
That was true.
The emergency messenger pigeon assigned to the Hocheon Corps was Baek-a.
But the creature had taken a particular liking to Han Seol-bing, and before long, it followed only her.
Which was why it had come all the way to Wuchang with her now.
"Fine. So what did Mu-hyeon say?"
"He grumbled about how nice it must be to be sucking honey all alone."
Ha Mu-baek scowled fiercely at her words.
"Me?"
Han Seol-bing chuckled at his reaction.
"Does it hit a nerve? He meant me."
Ha Mu-baek's expression softened at the response.
"Then tell that punk to come suck some honey too."
"I'll pass it on next time we meet."
They both knew.
Ha Mu-baek and Han Seol-bing both knew.
He wouldn't do it.
"Nam-hwi, or rather, Namgung Hwi."
Finally, Han Seol-bing got to the point.
"In the Namgung Clan, there have been two people recently with the character 'Hwi' in their names. One is currently in the clan, and the other went missing about twenty years ago."
Just from that, they could tell who Namgung Hwi was.
It had to be the one who disappeared twenty years ago.
That was when the Blood Cult and Demonic Cult were still expanding their forces.
Before the war began.
"Right when the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest was at the height of its power."
A time when it was far stronger than now.
Ha Mu-baek had only heard tales of that era.
He had been wandering the world as a beggar back then.
Han Seol-bing nodded.
"And the reason for his disappearance..."
"What about it?"
"You remember the story about the Namgung Clan head I told you before?"
It was recent.
Ha Mu-baek nodded.
"The escort warrior who took the wrong path back then... That man is Namgung Hwi."
Ha Mu-baek's face twisted in a scowl.
The missing escort warrior was alive.
Yet he had hidden his name and lived in obscurity, only now emerging into the martial world.
And he was still using an alias.
They had realized he was from the Namgung Clan because they saw him practicing the Great Connection Sword Method.
But who would think of the Namgung Clan upon seeing a one-armed man covered in scars?
"Why hasn't he returned to the Namgung Clan?"
"There must be a reason he can't."
Han Seol-bing answered Ha Mu-baek's question.
And at the same moment, both recalled the reaction he had shown while looking at Namgung Ji-hu.
"That ritual array... He said it only confirms Namgung bloodline, right?"
"Yes."
Something smelled off.
A foul, yet endlessly tragic scent.
Chudong was a shaman.
One of the most promising young talents of the Mosan Sect, no less.
By age twenty, he had mastered nearly every ritual art in his sect.
By thirty, he had reached mastery in most of the martial world's shamanic arts.
That was when arrogance and sloth came knocking.
The arts were too easy, and the world held no thrill.
What awakened his spirit was gambling.
The exhilaration of betting on a precarious hand and winning.
It was ecstasy, proof that he was alive.
By the time he snapped out of it, he had dipped into the sect's funds, got caught, had his dantian shattered, and was expelled from the Mosan Sect.
Losing one eye was just icing on the cake.
For a ruthless unorthodox sect like Mosan, that leniency was a massive mercy.
It was a crime worthy of execution on the spot.
His master, who cherished his talent, had begged endlessly for that mercy.
Even so, Chudong couldn't quit gambling.
He told fortunes for money, then blew it all at the tables.
Who would trust a fortune-teller who always lost?
He couldn't stay long in any one village.
And so he began wandering the world.
One day, a man sought him out.
He claimed to be the young lord of the Namgung Clan.
The man wanted one ritual—one that didn't require a dantian, fortunately.
A difficult-yet-simple art: discerning conception and the fetus's gender.
He performed it twice and received an enormous sum.
Of course, he squandered it all in less than a year.
That was when he realized.
"Heh heh. Who knew telling rich folks if their unborn child is a boy would pay so well? Kekeke."
And so he wandered the world, earning and losing money.
Thus, Chudong arrived in Wuchang this evening.
Wondering what rich fool he might fleece here.
Sunset.
The appointed time.
Namgung Ji-hu and Namgung Ji-yu arrived at the training ground.
Namgung Hwi was already there.
Namgung Ji-hu bowed deeply.
Namgung Hwi returned the bow calmly.
"You seem like direct lineage. Why cling to something as trivial as the Great Connection Sword Method?"
Namgung Hwi asked what had been nagging at him the moment he saw Namgung Ji-hu.
"Because my path lies within the Great Connection Sword Method."
"And what path is that?"
The return question.
Namgung Ji-hu fell silent for a moment.
Then he spoke slowly.
"...Emperor Sword Form."
A short phrase.
But a heavy one.
Namgung Hwi's eyes trembled faintly.
Practicing the Great Connection Sword Method to reach the Emperor Sword Form?
It was incomprehensible to him.
No one knew better than Namgung Hwi how insignificant the Great Connection Sword Method was.
Yet he had never dreamed it could lead to the Emperor Sword Form.
His own limits ended at the Great Connection Sword Method.
"Understood. My skills are poor, but I'll help however I can."
Namgung Hwi nodded slightly and replied.
A smile bloomed on Namgung Ji-hu's face.
He immediately drew his sword.
There wasn't a moment to waste.
Namgung Ji-hu demonstrated the Great Connection Sword Method.
Slowly, carefully.
Pouring his heart into each and every stroke.
Namgung Hwi watched quietly.
No, he was drawn into Namgung Ji-hu's swordplay.
How beautiful it was.
When had he last wielded the Great Connection Sword Method at such a level?
At least not at Namgung Ji-hu's age.
Six years ago, perhaps?
That was around when he had reached that realm.
Yet Namgung Ji-hu had achieved it at such a young age.
Admirable. Impressive.
As he admired Namgung Ji-hu's sword, his chest swelled.
Before he knew it, Namgung Ji-hu had finished all the forms and was looking at him.
His eyes brimmed with anticipation.
"Do it once more."
At Namgung Hwi's words, Namgung Ji-hu nodded and began again.
Namgung Ji-yu stepped back and watched the two quietly.
She studied Namgung Ji-hu's face intently, then Namgung Hwi's.
Her gaze simply shifted between them.
The sword forms themselves didn't register.
After the second round, Namgung Ji-hu regulated his breathing.
Then he looked at Namgung Hwi.
"Excellent. Flawless."
"Senior's Great Connection Sword Method was even more superb. It felt like it had touched something beyond."
Namgung Ji-hu replied.
Namgung Hwi nodded faintly.
He understood the meaning.
Something beyond the Great Connection Sword Method.
That was where his foot had reached—the Return to Truth realm.
"Then..."
Namgung Hwi began pointing out, one by one, what he had felt in Namgung Ji-hu's demonstration.
Namgung Ji-hu listened intently, eyes shining.
Namgung Hwi drew his own sword.
And slowly demonstrated the parts he had explained.
"Here, I'd suggest easing off about three-tenths of your power and flowing more smoothly."
Namgung Ji-hu nodded repeatedly.
Then, his eyes caught Namgung Hwi's sword.
A blade of pristine white.
Maintained as impeccably as his own or his sister's prized weapons.
'So it was him.'
Namgung Ji-hu performed the form again.
"Make that part stronger. Envelop everything, like the name implies—great and vast."
Explanation, then execution.
They repeated the process countless times.
There was no trace of yesterday's nervous excitement.
Instead, the pure joy of teaching and learning swordplay filled the space.
Namgung Ji-yu watched quietly.
A smile crept onto her lips unbidden.
They looked just like...
'A close father and son.'
Namgung Ji-yu startled at her own thought.
It was absurd.
To think of her father in this man from the Namgung Clan she had just met here for the first time.
She shook her head.
Ha Mu-baek watched from atop the schoolhouse roof.
Wi Ji-gun stood beside him.
"How is it?"
"Impressive."
A judgment on Namgung Hwi's skill.
"To me, they look like a happy father and son."
The question and answer missed each other.
Ha Mu-baek gazed at the pair wordlessly.
Indeed, that's how it appeared.
Though the two were utterly oblivious.
Or perhaps one of them knew.
"What do you think, Master?"
"Nam-hwi—no, Namgung Hwi? You can tell from his eyes toward the boy. He's no one who defies heaven's decree."
"Then someone else must have defied it."
Ha Mu-baek replied calmly.
"If it could be defied so easily, would it be heaven's decree? You can see it in those children."
Wi Ji-gun's eyes on Namgung Hwi and Namgung Ji-hu were warm beyond measure.
Their session ended after two hours.
"Thank you for the instruction."
Namgung Ji-hu bowed, drenched in sweat.
"Next time in five days."
Namgung Hwi bowed in return and turned first.
Only then did Namgung Hwi snap out of the Great Connection Sword Method and return to reality.
His heart pounded fiercely.
To think he would discuss the Great Connection Sword Method with that boy, teaching and learning.
He had never even dreamed of it, not even in his sleep.
Yet here it was, reality.
His chest swelled.
His eyes reddened, tears flowing.
But with his back already turned, no one saw.
Not Ha Mu-baek, nor Wi Ji-gun.