Chapter 33

The blinding flash blinded me. The moment I saw the killing intent in front of me, I remembered the people I had left behind.
“Brother! Brother! Where are you going?”
“Wall, you have to travel quite a long way.”
“Why? Why do you have to go?”
“I need to go so I can stay with you longer.”
At this hard talk, Namgung Wall sulked.
“Woof…….”
Namgungwong groped my face with his crooked finger.
“All I need is Nan Nan and my mom!”
“Haha.”
That’s right.
I’m glad. I have someone to lean on.
I hope you have fond memories of the name Namgung.
May the name of the Southern Palace that I will unfold be filled with warmth and happiness.
“That’s right, big brother, let’s go see Mom!”
“You mean your mother.”
“Yes, mom, the most beautiful mom in the world!”
No wonder the word “mom” comes out of the mouth of an unstained child.
I realized that the figure overlapped with my previous life.
If I left now, I wouldn’t be back here for at least five years. I had already asked Namgung Yue, my elder and now my teacher, for a favor. To watch over my mother and Walli.
Even though he told me not to worry and to go, a part of me was uneasy.
Mrs. Bai, my mother, had been sick for some time. I was always worried about her well-being because of her sudden illness. So, whenever I had a chance, I would stand around Mr. Bai’s house and ask the assistants in charge of her.
Is she sick?
Did she lose her appetite?
Did she look pale?
If anything suddenly happened to her health, please tell me.
A few times I had to force myself to take those inseparable steps.
“You love your mom, hehe, so you should see her before you go!”
I thought I was hiding it, but I guess I wasn’t. If only Walli could see it.
I don’t know if he knows my feelings or not.
He stretched out his cute little hand and took mine, and we walked along. I let myself be led by him. Soon, we arrived at the place where I saw the woman standing under a beautiful tree.
It was none other than my mother, Mrs. Baek, whose freshness and cleanliness matched the freshness and cleanliness of the tree.
“Hehe! Mom, you’re home!”
“……You’re here, I’m sorry I have to go.”
“I understand, you have many eyes to see.”
An awkward distance,
Somewhere in the awkward distance, I felt a stirring.
There was nothing but love and warmth in the way she looked at the South Palace walls.
I wanted to see this. I wanted to see this.
I wanted to see my mother, with her clear, high-pitched voice, her warmth and gentleness, above the sound of her sickly, constant coughing.
“Thank you, ……, for freeing my indifferent mother from her worries. Grand Duke, I don’t know how to express my gratitude.”
Perhaps she was thanking me for stopping Mrs. Pang from targeting the South Palace walls. I nodded, as if it were a matter of course.
“I hear you’ve traveled a long way.”
“It was unintentional.”
“……It’s not much, but I thought I’d make you something to take care of yourself.”
It’s my mother’s recipe. Whenever I was in the battlefield and couldn’t take care of myself, I made it with my sick body.
“I don’t know if it will fit in my mouth…….”
“It is. It’s absolutely right!”
Mrs. Bai’s pupils widened at my answer, which came out before she could hear it, and I blushed red.
I had been too hasty.
“……puhhhh!”
“Hehehehe!”
My mother laughed, and Wallie followed suit.
That’s right.
Two people laughing.
I decided to keep this.
Clearing my mind of the last flashback, I fired off a series of blinding flashes. To the men in black.
* * *
“Unkang.”
“Chong! We left a while ago, and there were ten of us in total. There was the Grand Duke, the Iron Blood Sword Sheng, the two young men who shared a hand with the Grand Duke in the Sword Branch Society, the Black Tiger who has to pay for his sins, and the other two, Sibby and Nanny.”
“……Sibi and the nanny?”
“Yes. I think they were the ones who discussed the case of Mrs. Ping……. They’re probably being taken away because if they’re left here, they’ll be harmed by the Fourth Duke.”
“Is that so…….”
Nangong Mu Bai clenched his jaw, his mind racing.
“When I look at the Grand Duke, he reminds me of Jia Zhu when he was younger. He’s determined, ambitious, and cares about his people. When I look at him, I’m filled with fear. ”
“I don’t want the Grand Duke to follow in Gazoo’s footsteps, and I don’t want the Southern Palace to be what Gazoo is building now, but a Changcheon that shines like a green pine tree in all seasons.”
The words and stories that Elder Nangong Yue had told him before flashed through his mind.
“……You seem to be deep in thought. The Grand Duke.”
“Indeed, as you can see.”
“Yes, and that’s why you shouldn’t talk presumptuously and…… open your mind a little. What happened in the past was caused by a misunderstanding, isn’t it? Before the rift gets any deeper…….”
“Forget it. Let’s not talk about it.”
The man named Yun Gang bowed his head and bowed tightly.
“What happened to Elder Sun?”
“He seemed very drained of energy. He must have spent a lot of energy enlightening the Grand Duke.”
“Elder Sun of the Southern Palace, it’s unthinkable that he would fall from such an illness, so let’s find a way to help him recover.”
“Chong, I will take care of him and make sure he is well.”
“Yes.”
“And prepare for the injustice that may befall the Grand Duke.”
“……injustice?”
“Yes.”
“We’ll see about that.”
“I will send Pyo-young and Pyo-il.”
“Keep an eye on them so that the name of the Southern Palace is not tarnished.”
After saying that, Yun Gang could only sigh lightly as he watched the Southern Palace’s white-clad figure turn toward the window.
How could I be so dishonest with myself?
Not in a bad way.
You’re just worried about my safety.
You, the heaven-shattering swordsman, the master of the Chang Tian South Palace Family.
At times like this, he seemed no different from an ordinary father who couldn’t make up his mind. No, there was no difference.
* * *
Pyo-young and Pyo-il.
Yun Gang and the five shadows who strictly follow Namgung Mu Baek.
They had been the two people who had imprisoned Mrs. Ping in the Black Chamber. Even in the Southern Palace, their existence was a closely guarded secret.
Never before had they been ordered to watch over others like this.
And then.
“Young’er, can you go to……. now?”
“Yes. That’s what you’re seeing.”
The two men, who had similar faces, body shapes, and voices, stopped talking at once when they saw the same scene.
There were blinding flashes of light everywhere. At the same time, they could smell the bloody scent of blood mixed with the blinding flashes. With a gurgling sound, someone who had been advancing on the Grand Duke collapsed.
A hole had been punched through his heart.
“You caught me off guard.”
“Even so, this is not what we knew.”
“Could it be the Gohon Sword?”
“Is there anyone in the South Palace who still wields a gohon sword?”
“I heard that you were taught by the elder.”
The Gohon Sword Method, also known as the Dead Man’s Sword, is a sword used to appease the lonely souls of the dead.
In other words, it is a sword filled with murderous intent that requires the wielder to cut someone else to honor the lonely soul.
It was a sword that had been buried in the Southern Palace, but it had been resurrected. And even more remarkable.
“It’s hard to believe you’re only fifteen, but the tip of your sword is so clean. It’s like…….”
Faye shook her head at Feyoung’s comment.
“It’s like someone who has crossed the four realms countless times. Eyes that have crossed death many times.”
The Grand Duke’s eyes were as black as the abyss. The same eyes that had been so clear when he spoke with the others by the fire.
“I suppose we don’t have to do anything.”
“Not if you make a move.”
Fayle’s eyes showed an iron-black hue.
“We’ll be seen by the Sword City, so we’d better not show any signs.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll watch for a bit longer.”
The two men cleared their throats, their gazes fixed on the Grand Duke.
* * *
I could not die. I have something to protect, a path to follow.
Thunderous energy surged from the dais. My fingertips twitched as I sensed the enemy’s hostile gaze before me.
I drew one of the swords I had learned and mastered, the one that most closely resembled my memories of my previous life.
The Gohon Sword Method.
The Ghost Soul Eclipse.
In a blinding flash, the tip of the blade burst forth, like the talons of a hawk swooping down on its prey.
It pierced through the chest of the man standing in front of it.
The man fell to the ground as if dead, and the men on either side of him froze in their tracks at the incomprehensible outcome.
In that brief moment, I didn’t miss. The tip of my sword was still moving.
The Gohon Sword Method.
Two Souls Transplant.
All the energy contained in the Gohon blocks out the sun and moonlight in honor of the person it contains. This is why they don’t follow the same rules.
Faced with the crescent moon frost energy that instantly slashed at their waists, the two men quickly raised their swords to parry, and the wide range of their crossed swords caused them to fall farther apart.
Seeing the distance between the two men as they bounced away, I followed and extended my sword at the man on my left. The tip of my sword sliced through the air as I gave chase.
The Gohon Sword Method.
The three-handed slash.
The sword, covered in a full-blown killing spray, chased after the masked man as he quickly retreated backwards. As the masked man retreated backwards, the sword chased after him like a snake’s tongue, and he, too, quickly raised his sword.
At that moment, as if they were about to face each other, but they didn’t, he slashed at the blade of the masked man’s sword. At the same time, the tip of the sword sliced through the back of the masked man’s hand and wrist in an instant.
Shuriken! Shuriken!
“Kaaaaaah!”
The blood vessels wrapped around the wrist were sliced with precision. A fountain of blood erupted, and the man dropped his sword.
“How……!”
Despair shone in the man’s eyes. He had never doubted that he was going to die.
His eyes turned pale.
“Die.”
I drew my sword with determination.
The masked man’s eyes, separated from his neck and body, were filled with fear. I spun around to face the other masked figure, who glared at me.
I took a step toward the cowering masked man, whose martial arts level would be stronger than mine. But at this moment, it was a battle of momentum.
Once I had the momentum, I could overpower him, and I had the upper hand.
There was now a gap that could not be closed by martial arts.
On the battlefield, momentum overwhelms skill. The one whose will is broken can’t do half as much as I can.
I never gave a man who was incapacitated any leeway or favor. How many a man has been struck down by a blind sword after a curious laxity on the battlefield.
To defend my people.
To defend my people,
and those who look upon me as an enemy.
I will give them all death.
That was the life of a killer spirit in his last life.