Chapter 25

Chapter 25

On a fictitious day, he lived a life of shitty behavior and brought all kinds of dirt on the Namgung family name.
Now you’ve done something that will bring reproach upon all those who have lived with pride in the name of the Southern Palace.
Foolish bastard.
I’m the one who exposed the shame of the Namgung family and shot myself in the foot.
That was how Namgung Hyuk felt in his gaze, and how foolish his brother was to not admit it.
I’ve heard that he’s only a basic master, that he’s using a dragon, and that he’s running every day because he’s fat.
And what about swordsmanship?
I only have six iron swords and thirty-three swords.
It’s ridiculous that he’s devoting his life to swordsmanship that only low-level warriors have mastered and that barely covers his body.
That’s what he is.
He’s so unworthy.
Namgung Hyuk didn’t want to believe, didn’t want to admit, that such an insignificant human being was above him.
Such a man was now crossing swords in front of him.
The elders who supported him and his mother, who controlled the Namgung family, had told him that if he did what he had been taught, he would be able to win.
It wasn’t something they had arranged, but they were just ordinary people who couldn’t use their strength anyway.
No matter who you ask, the odds were in her favor.
It must be true.
It must be so.
Pfft! Pfft!
He steadied his knees, which had nearly buckled several times, and straightened his stance.
There were no sudden kicks in the Iron Sword Sect that he knew of. But it didn’t matter.
If he could only endure a few kicks and hold on, this Heavenly Wind Sword Technique would shatter the Iron Sword.
But.
Tadadadadang!
I struck and struck and struck, but it was no use.
I couldn’t even use my full strength.
I can’t even parry with the Iron Sword Sixth Form.
Either he would preempt the scattering of the Heavenly Wind Sword Strike with a glance, and come forward and disrupt the flow of the herbivores.
He felt his hands and feet dizzy from the blasts that were aimed at his weaknesses.
……How on earth.
It was an incomprehensible question.
He could almost see the ease with which his master taught him his sword.
But then he realized it was ridiculous. The body of a boy only a year older than him, and a master who had reached a vastly superior level, were incomparable.
Shaking his head, Nam Gung-hyuk gritted his teeth and raised his sword.
The human, who had always been defensive, now switched his sword strike with a flip of the palm of his hand. The same sword technique would not have changed the tide so easily, but the bastard in front of him did it so effortlessly.
Then.
An involuntary groan escaped me. Bloodshot eyes calmed the raging short circuit. The tip of the sword that had just been thrusting and thrusting stopped.
“Ugh.”
He followed his gaze around the unarmed surroundings, realizing that it was now pitch black.
“Hmph, hmph.”
“The way of the lord, I will not tell you not to take it.”
The bastard’s mouth opened.
“If that’s the path you wish to take, then so be it, but if your steps are not of your own free will, then they mean nothing. It is not the path of a king, but that of a dark lord. It will only make you a scarecrow of foolishness.”
Not arbitrary.
Not a king, not a king.
Is this what you’re saying to yourself?
Just as I was thinking of an immediate retort.
“I look forward to seeing your southern palace, too.”
With those words, I could see him preparing his final move.
* * *
I let out a long breath after saying that. Perhaps one or two more moves would be all he could muster.
“Let’s see the end, I’m sure the waiting is getting tired.”
“What more can you do with a body like that?”
Nam Gung-hyeok’s whole body trembled like an aspen tree as he spoke. But he didn’t bother to hide it. Moreover, he felt that this was all he could do through the aura of his veins and veins, and he smiled lightly at Nam Gung-hyeok in front of him.
“This elder brother will teach you a lesson. When you walk the path of an emperor, you’ll encounter many situations that seem ridiculous. Whenever you do, remember who I am now.”
His dapper appearance was gone. The hero’s sash tied to his forehead was nowhere to be seen, and his disheveled clothes were already torn and slashed in many places.
It was no different from Feng Du Nanbal’s appearance.
“My final move is a top ranked move in the Heavenly Wind Sword Technique. I can’t stop you in your current state.”
“Are you worried about me now?”
“What, you’re being ridiculous……!”
I could only smile when I saw Namgung Hyuk’s excited face. Perhaps it was the smile of a strange and indescribable emotion that my aunt sometimes showed me.
A quaint smile, perhaps, one of a kind.
“Show me all that you can show me, and go forward, mindful of what I have said. I will consider it the way of kings.”
May the way of kings that the Southern Court offers be the way of the Holy Army, not the way of the Dark Army.
I raised the tip of my sword.
Thirty-three sword thunder.
Three formulas, three thunderbolts.
It is said that a dragon lurks at the tip of the thunderbolt, but it is not enough to summon the dragon.
In the olden days, people often mistook Goku for a dragon, so I will use the thunderbolt as a substitute.
The flashes of lightning would come and go in unison. Like the arthropod’s, the flashes of lightning were quickly linked together and burst forth in rapid succession. At the same time, my remaining power dried up, but I didn’t care.
The swarms of light exploded out and moved towards the blind Namgung Hyuk.
Nam Gung-hyuk, who looked somewhat uncomfortable, raised the tip of his sword in advance, causing a blue surge of energy to form on the tip of the incoming sword, and met the flash of light with it.
Kwaang!
* * *
“……I’ve lost.”
Staring at the ceiling, the boy chewed his lower lip and squeezed his eyes shut. He felt like he was facing an unwanted reality.
“You’ve done well.”
“…….”
“Your credentials are well-regarded within Anhui Province. The future of the Southern Palace, and the future of Anhui, has never been brighter.”
“Then what’s the point, that bastard…… lost anyway.”
Lying on a bed filled with the smell of medicine was none other than Namgung Hyuk, the second duke of the Namgung family.
“What’s the reason for your defeat?”
“…….”
“Tell me, Hanya.”
The man called Hanya wondered if he should say the unspeakable, but after a few more moments, Nam Gung-hyeok spoke up.
“At the end of the fight, when I was performing my first move, I was distracted. Perhaps the shin injury you suffered earlier in the match was causing problems.”
It was still throbbing.
“You must have done a lot of research. It’s like a reinterpretation of the old iron sword style.”
A reinterpretation.
It wasn’t just a reinterpretation. This was a human being who was practicing the art as if it were his own body.
“But if we fight next time, I’m sure you’ll be able to win…….”
“He doesn’t even have a history.”
“It is.”
“If he had been intact until the end, I would have been defeated.”
“No, it’s too early to tell…….”
“What is the king and what is Namgung?”
Looking at the fourteen-year-old Nam Gung-hyuk, Hanya realized for the first time the depth of the boy’s troubles.
As she watched, she realized that Namgung-hyeok’s problem was his high shoulders and the stiff bridge of his nose that was built in the name of Namgung. His condition worsened with each passing day due to the constant expectations of those around him.
“It hurts, defeat.”
The two words, “defeat,” would stay with him like a seal and haunt him for a long time.
But.
“But what’s so joyful about my defeat, I’m smiling. Han.”
“You will grow even more in the future. Confucius.”
“How can you be so judgmental?”
“Isn’t Confucius looking pleased, too?”
Hanya looked at Confucius, wondering what was so joyful.
If the two characters of defeat can spur you to reflect and move forward, so can the other two characters.
Growth.
I learned to move on.
The second duke Nam Gung-hyuk, deep in thought, opened his mouth as if something had occurred to him.
“More than that, that man.”
“You mean the Grand Duke…….”
“Uh.”
“……Some.”
Hanya, who had been smiling, quickly shook her head with a stern expression.
“Why. Did you cause trouble again?”
“That.”
“Don’t be stupid, just tell me. If you’re the winner, you can tell me that you want me to cover your ass, or even make you the head of the family, whatever you said.”
“Then you wouldn’t be in this trouble.”
Namgung Hyuk’s expression grew puzzled at Hanya’s distress.
* * *
“The winner of the sword tournament is none other than the Grand Duke of the Namgung family, 1st Duke Namgungban!”
Applause rang out from all around as the members of the Iron Sword Team urgently carried the fallen Second Duke Nam Gung-hyuk away and cleared the hall.
Bright lanterns were lit everywhere, and at the same time, at every street corner. Every seat in the house was lit. As if it were a nocturnal castle, the crowd cheered for the winner.
The Grand Duke, panting for breath as he propped himself up on the bluestone floor with his sword sheath as a cane, stretched his back. None of the people who watched the sword ceremony moved to enjoy the festivities.
This was because the real end of the Sword Festival was just around the corner.
“…… and the end.”
“I wonder what will happen. You’re still going to be punished for what you said earlier, aren’t you?”
“Arthur, if that were the case, the Archduke would have done what he did, and he would have done it with a plan.”
“So you’re going to ignore them and tell them to let you become a cattleman?”
“We’re all here to go through the process, and if I don’t say so, what’s the point?”
The people watching the Grand Duke with interest as he stood before the sword council were very curious to see what he would say and what he would want.
Also.
“The patriarch is coming!”
Nangong Mu Bai, curious to see what kind of reaction he would have to the sight of him walking and heading towards the offstage area of the Sword Branch Conference.
Jab, jab, jab.
The two of them stood face-to-face, and the entire crowd gasped in admiration.
They looked so much alike, and the way they looked together was like a painting.
“This is …… Gaju. This year’s winner of the sword competition.”
“I know.”
Namgung Mubai shook his head, and then looked at his son, the Grand Duke, with eyes that invited him to say anything.
“Speak.”
My son. His voice was hard and stiff, as if he were speaking to his own child. At that moment, Elder Tenth Elder Namgung Ho fidgeted.
“I will share the punishment and accept it in return.”
Nam Gung-ho could barely hold on to his dizzying mind.
What is this?
The winner’s wish was to take the punishment for him.
Everyone who had been waiting for the Grand Duke’s words with excitement opened their mouths with the same dumbfounded expression as Namgung-ho.