Chapter 117

The azure sky fills my retinas.
The cloudless sky, so high and so vast, is but a tiny speck in the vastness of the landscape. This is the realization of Namgungal, who has fought countless enemies as he struggles to survive in the Great Wall.
Once, he had been blinded by his position as the head of the Namgungse family. He remembers the day he bit his gallbladder in his mouth as he was compared to this Confucius, Nam Gung-hyuk, who was only a year older.
Her mother, Mo Yongye, would not tolerate any inadequacy.
The smiles of her relatives, who were not related to her, showed that they were compelled to take Namgung’s place.
Perhaps that was why.
I wanted to fulfill that expectation.
I wanted to make my presence felt.
Only then would I feel like the name Namgunggal was alive and well.
But then.
Some random brother who didn’t pay attention to me came to Namgunggal and won the sword competition. I was quite shocked that day.
At the same time, I still remember the way he chose to go to the battlefield for his men after the sword tournament, and the way he proudly said he would go to the Green Forest Front.
He chose to go to Daemak rather than the Yangtze River because of his competitive spirit, and he was determined to make his mark in Daemak.
Only then would he be able to stay in the competition for the Jiajue.
So, on the day he returned to the Southern Palace, he decided to show that scoundrel, the Grand Duke of the Southern Palace, a lesson. That no matter how hard you try, nothing will change.
Don’t expect the coincidence of the Sword Council to continue,
Namgungal realized from the lesson he had requested.
As there are heavens upon heavens.
As there are mountains upon mountains.
It was as if there was an iron wall upon an iron wall.
He wondered if that was the power of this Confucius Namgung-hyuk and the three Confuciuses, Namgung-gal himself, who had broken a front that he had not been able to break.
That’s all.
With the power of their own bodies, they broke the green forest front in Shandong, captured the three vegetable lords called Shanzhongziak, and helped stabilize the people’s lives.
He made the Southern Palace’s forces, called the Fang Clan, his own, and created the Huang Family and the Kite Family, the mainstays of the current Fengyun Branch.
He mortally wounded the first elder of the Southern Palace, Yue Yul, and captured the evil enemy of Qingcheng, Yeogon, who had crossed over to the North Sea, eventually forcing an apology from the great winner of Qingcheng.
Seeing it before his eyes, Namgungal despaired.
What a ridiculous deity,
who had made countless revolutionary achievements worthy of the name Southern Palace.
“……How could he do such a thing?”
Struggling not to lose to the mere mortal, Namgungal was forced to resent his talent and revel in the feeling of being sucked into a downward spiral.
Then.
“All you want is to become the head of the Southern Palace.”
The words pierced Namgungal’s ears. Namgungal had to turn and look. His second brother.
“What’s the matter, sir? This is not the place for us to be looking at each other. I’m not comfortable, so please leave.”
“Foolish. You still haven’t gotten over the beating.”
“That’s what I came here to say, and you can’t help it.”
At these words, Confucius Namgung Hyuk sneered.
“Do you remember the sword meeting?”
“Yes, I do, and if I hadn’t been poisoned, the victory would have been mine.”
“If that’s what you think, I can’t help it, but will you listen to me?”
The two men remember the Grand Duke’s days as a cripple. He didn’t want to know how he had changed so much, nor did he want to check, but Namgung Hyuk told himself that it was time to find out.
“The path of the emperor, I will not tell you not to take it. If that’s the path you want to take, then you should take it, but if your steps are not voluntary, if they are not motivated by good intentions, then there is no point. It is no longer the path of kings, but the path of dark lords. It will only make you a scarecrow of foolishness. ”
“You have discussed the way of the emperor, at the age of fifteen, and you are still good, discussing the emperor, not the dark lord.”
Not arbitrary.
Not an emperor.
“I, too, look forward to seeing the southern palace you show me.”
“Gala, I have gained strength to move forward rather than despair. I pondered, and pondered, and pondered, and I understood. From then on, his vessel was different.”
“…….”
Namgungal was speechless. He had been discussing such stories since he was only fifteen.
“Is that really true……?”
Unlike before, when his thoughts had been limited to how to become a patriarch and how to win the cattle races.
“Why should I discuss falsehood with you here,” he said, ”but know one thing for sure.”
This Confucius, Nam Gung-hyuk, he said to Nam Gung-gal.
“He has not envied us, not even once. If he had, we would already be no different from the Namgung dogs.”
It was true.
Never once did he turn against Namgung-hyeok and Namgung-gal.
They never sought to retaliate for the mistreatment they had received.
They simply apologized for their hardships and granted them the full benefit of the doubt.
“Perhaps we should change, too.”
“We should give up Gaju.”
Namgungal shook his head at the lack of an easy answer.
“There is still time for the patriarch to make amends. It’s not too late for us. I’m not asking you to give up your position. At the very least, we should be ourselves, build up our credentials and accomplishments to convince others. But not by bumping into each other and gnawing at each other within the clan…….”
Namgung-hyeok’s words were followed by Namgung-gal’s unintentional addition.
“You mean, instead of gnawing away at each other from the inside, we should show it from the outside, because there’s no point in doing so.”
“You’re right.”
Namgungal’s shoulders sagged. What had he been running for all this time?
At that moment, Nam Gung-hyeok stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder.
After that, Namgung-hyeok and Namgung-gal spent a long time looking at the once-ruined Namgungban.
* * *
“No, I said, tell me about this heavy thing.”
“Grand Duke! Aigoo!”
The meal that the servants were carrying was headed for the unmanned members of the Thunderbolt Sword Squad, and the Grand Duke, who lifted it with a flourish, quickly took care of the work that the servants had to do.
Then, he set the table in front of them and scolded them once more.
“I know you’re all working hard, but if you have any energy left, why don’t you move yourself?”
“No……!”
Kwao!
One of the Thunder Sword Sect’s swordsmen who had reacted to those words was immediately thrown to the ground.
That was it.
The Grand Duke, who had come to the forge and listened to the campaigning Iron Swordsmen, threw down the anvil and hammer used by the blacksmiths and shouted at the Iron Swordsmen and their master.
“I know it is no easy task to train and cultivate martial arts for the Southern Palace, but you must realize that it is not your privilege. Forging swords in a forge is no different from your training, so it’s not like I’m forbidding you to train in swordsmanship.”
“You’re wrong. Grand Duke, it is by no means like that…….”
“Accusation, do you call it an accusation when you threaten me to forge the best sword in front of my eyes, or do you say I am telling a lie?”
“…….”
The Grand Duke sighed as he looked at the silent swordmaster and his swordsmen.
“Very well. Convince me.”
And with that, he spoke to the hundred or so Iron Swordsmen.
“If you defeat me, I will personally forge a master sword and give you a hundred swords. I’ll stake my name and my position on the sword.”
One of the Iron Swordsmen, blinded by greed, asked.
“Even so, how can we possibly defeat the Grand Duke…….”
“You don’t have to do it one by one. If any one of them inflicts more than three wounds on me, I will declare myself defeated.”
It took less than half a jin for a hundred men and the master of the Iron Swords, long known for his mastery of the blade, to be cut to pieces.
“Don’t you ever come to the forge with that attitude again. If I hear such words in my ears one more time, I will break your limbs.”
From then on, the blacksmiths honored the Grand Duke’s name, until one of them found the dead Iron Swordsmen’s performance hall.
“Who told you to do the iron sword sideways,” he said, ”back straight, shoulders deep. A little more twist at the waist, right!”
“It’s not the knees that give you strength, it’s the thighs. Ehey, you need to build up your glutes a bit more. Your sword skills also come from your lower body. Do you understand?”
There were no limits to his teaching. One by one, the members of the Iron Sword Squad became immersed in the Grand Duke’s enthusiastic teaching.
“If this continues, we may be able to defeat the Grand Duke in no time, so be prepared!”
“Ohhora, you’re so bold as to show off your lower polearms, Inoueom!”
“I’m not afraid of you at all!”
Sometimes they’re like best friends.
At other times, they’re like gods.
Namgungal couldn’t help but recognize that the Grand Duke’s unbelievable inclusiveness made him a much better person than the staid family of the past.
And with that realization, he told Mo Yongye, who was still clamoring to be made a patriarch.
“It doesn’t matter what’s more right or wrong. If you’re a clan, you embrace the people of your clan, and if you’re a family, you embrace the people you call family. When they do something that’s not right, you should be able to scold them for not being right, and when they go the right way, you should praise them.”
He said what he meant to say.
“That doesn’t mean I’m going to give up my seat at the head of the family,” said Mo Yongye, ”I’m going to train myself and grow up to be able to hold the head of the family’s bowl, so if you’re patient, I’ll be sure to repay you.”
Mo Yongye agreed to do so. He should have done this immediately.
What was so urgent, so urgent?
And the realization melted into the tip of his sword.
* * *
Extreme swordplay.
And the simultaneous use of sword and dao.
The only family that could demonstrate the supreme art of dual wielding.
That was Mo Yongxue.
“You’re said to be the most talented man in the Southern Palace Clan. You’re just as insignificant as your grandfather said.”
Mo Yongru snorted, clenching his teeth tightly as he spoke to the man in front of him, who was barely holding up his trembling head, supported by his wobbly legs.
“I see you’re no good with a sword, for all your skill.”
Mo Yongru clicked his tongue.
“That’s why I’m not in Grandpa’s eyes.”
“Grandfather, grandfather, that grandfather bastard. You can’t do anything without your grandfather, you little brat.”
Mo Yongru’s face twisted at Namgungal’s words.