Chapter 104

With the realization of the Thunder Emperor Divine Sword, I felt that my own sword was also at its peak. It was more than enough to defeat Shima, I thought.
But.
“Are you sure that’s enough?”
At Kwangseung’s words, I realized that it was not, even though the sword was clearly forged with my own power.
“It’s not enough, senior.”
Not enough.
The Qingyun Red River Sword that Guangxuan had perfected by himself was a super-ascended sword technique that would not be inferior even if he became a Celestial Immortal. It was the one sword method that he, a master of the Wu Nai Fifty Saints, had cultivated in his lifetime, and had spent a long time creating.
And when he looked at the emperor sword form that Nangong Mu Baek had unfurled, he felt the center of the world stirring as if it were centered on this one sword. It was probably an imperial sword form that he had perfected himself to live up to his reputation as the Chang Tian Divine Sword, but I couldn’t help but feel its value.
Especially.
“Bai Guang, do you think you can defeat him with that sword you just unleashed?”
I shook my head in disbelief. I remembered Bai Guang’s terrifying strength against the Emperor Sword Formation.
With the Thunder Emperor Divine Sword, he might even be able to overpower and defeat Huang Bo Geng, and the Black Woong, Zhao Woong, and Qing Woong he had faced. No, it would.
But.
“No, it’s not enough.”
Bai Guang, King of the Green Forest, the strongest man in the Mountainous Highlands, his hostility and murderous intentions could not be underestimated, for he was the greatest master in the entire Zhongyuan Martial Forest.
“Now you have a reason, a reason to learn from us.”
The Taihe Dragon Sword and the Unyielding Dragon Eight Forms.
The descriptions of the Qingyun Red River Sword.
Zhuge Liang’s teachings on martial arts, instincts, senses, and suddenness.
The teachings of the ancestors have been merged into this sword.
* * *
Chang Tian Daiyun.
And the Thunder King Divine Sword and the Mournful Spear.
The Heavenly Wind Divine Technique unfolding simultaneously.
My own method of unleashing the six energies simultaneously.
It’s a story of six purifications of enlightenment.
And it was soon recreated into a single sword.
The Emperor Sword.
A great sword is drawn. At the same time, the great sword is drawn.
Quadruple, quadruple, quadruple!
It was clumsy. It was clumsy compared to the greatsword of the Southern Palace.
It was insufficient. It wasn’t enough to cut through the aura of the White Light Demonic Beast.
It was awkward. It was a bit awkward, unlike the fluid Blue Cloud Canal Sword that Kwangseung unfurled.
However.
The horns on the creature’s head were sliced off, and its throat was sliced open. The beast’s gaping maw was sliced open, and it spewed out a stream of ink-like blood.
KOOOOM!
The huge, powerless beast collapsed with a loud thud, and I sighed deeply as I watched the scene. It was the second most humiliating thing I’d ever seen an unmanned person do, after being carried, but what the hell.
I could only smile as I watched the Emperor’s Sword, which I had summoned all my energy to create, vanish into thin air.
This,
this is what I forged.
The Sword of the Southern Palace, the Emperor’s Sword, which is all that the Southern Palace is.
A sword shaped like an emperor’s sword, where the lives of my previous and current lives were concentrated and manifested.
In the empty cave, despite feeling exhausted, I couldn’t help but laugh. The years flashed by like a lantern.
Then I realized I might be able to keep a little of what I said.
“Mother, and the wall.”
I could finally protect them.
With this sword, I should have no trouble protecting them.
With a sigh of relief and a burst of laughter, I closed my eyes, using the severed head as a pillow. A maddening drowsiness washed over me.
“Let’s get some sleep.”
I hadn’t slept much in a long time, but this would have to do.
* * *
A purr.
“Baby.”
The tiny child bared its teeth at me. It was obvious hostility. At the same time, a pitiful wail echoed through the cave.
It was.
Only after I saw, and only after I opened my eyes, did I realize what the old man had said.
I felt a sense of mystery at the words of the old man, that there is newness in the end. The dark-blooded hatchling could not take his eyes off me.
“The masters of Kunlun were slaughtered by your father. And I killed your father, and thus life goes round and round.”
I wanted to say something.
“When you grow up and seek revenge on me, come. Find the name Van. No, I’ll be gone by then. Find the house of Namgung. My descendants will surely avenge your grudge, for where there is an end, there is a beginning.”
Someone builds up a grudge and harms someone to settle it.
Someone helps someone, and someone helps someone to return the favor.
Life is a cycle, a cog in the wheel. I spoke to him.
“My name is Ban. Namgung Van.”
I wondered if it was a spirit or a mood.
I don’t know if it understood, but it tore off one of the scales of my father’s Muklin Bloodnet with its sharp teeth and burrowed into the flesh.
At first, I did not understand the act, but then I realized.
“It is the inner circle of the Muklin Blood Net.”
It was the inner circle. The inner core of a thousand-year-old spirit.
It was an elixir, an elixir of life, an elixir that would have no equal in the world.
But I did not covet it. The creature ate it greedily.
It had the will to live off of what my father had left behind, and I felt like I was just like him.
If it weren’t for the emperor sword form that Namgung Mu Bai showed me, I wouldn’t be able to wield the sword I do today.
I felt a strange sense of identification with him, and I watched everything he did.
I wonder if he felt my gaze.
It tore off its scales and burrowed deeper into the cave, leaving the defeated inner circle behind.
It was a final goodbye, but I could sense why. Someday, I would meet him.
With that brief greeting, I walked up behind Muklinbloodnet, glowing with a brilliant color.
At the same time, I carefully plucked out a scepter, which was soaked with the blood of the Muklin Blood Net, adding a dark color to the brilliant light.
With this, he was able to cure the princess’s illness.
“Elder brother will be pleased.”
Huang Tianhou’s face lit up. He had finally gotten what he wanted.
* * *
“Why are you bringing that?”
Guangxiang stared at me in disbelief, then glanced at Qi Sheng.
“Isn’t it a shame that Kunlun’s specialty has disappeared like this?”
“More than that, I am deeply suspicious of the mind of that child who brings it here as if it were a prize.”
Kuung.
A heavy head resounded in the center of the Kunlun Sect. It was the head of the Muklin Blood Net.
One of its eyes was unable to open and was congealed with ink-colored blood, while the other was still emitting red light.
At the sight of it, Qi Seong and Kwang Seung nodded their heads in brief admiration.
“It is indeed a spirit beast.”
“It looks like he’s still alive.”
Jie Galzhuhu and Jie Galyuhu stepped forward and gently touched the scales with their hands. The slightest movement, the slightest touch, was enough to cut them and draw blood.
“They say it’s a thousand years old, and I guess they’re right.”
“A sword made of scales must be quite strong.”
Even the two of them spat out their admiration.
But why?
“Why, not a single one of you has said that you toiled, even if you did.”
“There is no labor. You left out of necessity.”
“Cancer, you were blinded by the Three Kingdoms and cut off the head of a spirit to ascend.”
I was about to ask a counter-question when I heard the words of the Adept and the Venerable.
“That is true. My greed was not able to overcome you in the end.”
I was interrupted by the words of another swallowtail, and had to stop gritting my teeth.
“You must be greedy, by the way, because there must have been a chunk of the inner core.”
“Oh, no. Senior Jagal……!”
No, no.
No way.
I clapped my hands and was about to reply, when the eyes of both Kwangseung and Gisheng widened in surprise.
“Did you eat all of the hollandaise?”
“What we have taught you, it is not enough if you share it!”
Even Jegaljuhu’s expression, which had been relaxed and warm, turned cold as he looked back at me as if to ask if I was serious.
“Really?”
Or even.
“Really? Really? A thousand-year-old inner altar should have been that big.”
Fang Xiang interrupted, fanning the flames.
“Grand Duke, if you’re greedy like that, you’ll get in trouble. It is said that if you are greedy, you will get a sore spot.”
Black Ho joined in, pouring oil on the fire.
“What the hell!”
What do you think I am!
When did I do that!
They didn’t bat an eyelid at my frustrated expression.
By the time I calmed down, I was done exploding.
“Namo Amitabha, you shouldn’t have done that, after all we’ve been through together.”
“Namo Amitabha, I’m disappointed to hear that’s the way the Master of the South Palace spoke.”
“Wood Amitabha, I knew it when you said you were going alone. Heh.”
Grrrr.
Drawing my sword, I lunged. Those bastards.
I’ll give them a taste of my sword-type today.
* * *
“It’s called the Fengyun Ji Society.”
“That’s right.”
“That’s good. Gu Feifang and the Sixth Dynasty are coming together. The timing is right.”
He turned and looked at Zhuge Linghu.
“So the heavens are as you say.”
“Indeed.”
Zigal Zhuhu nodded and opened his mouth.
“Spear Dragon Outbreak, Thunder Dragon Ascension.
The first two heavenly periods to be mentioned.
“It’s awkward to say, but it’s none other than the Blue Dragon of the Southern Palace that can resolve all of the long-standing differences between the factions.”
“That’s not a bad way to put it. It’s part of the flow of things to guide the younger generation in the right direction when their predecessors have chosen a foolish path.”
The main pillars of the Kunlun School and the Jegalsega are right here in front of me. And I felt like I had already heard the answer to the question of whether or not I would participate in the Fengyun Branch.
“Kunlun will participate. The Blue Dragon of the Southern Palace.”
“I’ll make sure Jie Galse joins us as well. You’ve forgotten one thing.”
I grunted at the words. I looked at Jie Zhu Hu, who was smiling broadly.
“Fengyun Branch, I know it’s meant to be a place of harmony and reconciliation, but in a martial arts tournament, there must be a winner. We, the Jie family, have no intention of conceding the victory.”
At those words, the K’un-Lun master, the Qing Shui master, as well as Fang Xiang and Black Lake, lit up. The eighty-nine monks of Shaolin also spoke up.
“Namu Amitabha, Shaolin will be the winner of the Fengyun Conference.”
“That’s impossible. The championship will belong to the Southern Palace family.”
Shaolin, Kunlun, and Qingcheng.
Nan Gong, Jie Gal, and Fang Family.
The future of the Fengyun branch was being mapped out at this gathering of six major families.