Chapter 29

In my entire life, I’ve only had one person to look up to as a teacher.
At the age of thirty-six, he inherited the monkfish and was considered to have risen from hell.
He is said to have risen from hell at the age of thirty-six.
His reputation is so great that even a victorious battle is considered to be a battle of the thirty-six realms.
Monkfish Master Huang Tianhou.
Only he was my teacher.
Only he could turn my lowly past into a shining present.
He was the one who helped me to be judged solely on my skills, even when my days were filled with arrogance and sneers because of my powerful background.
When asked why he was so good to me.
“How can I pretend not to notice when your eyes, your body language, are crying out to be touched, to be helped.”
I did.
I didn’t recognize myself either.
“Soldiers don’t cry. Also, a soldier does not abandon his comrades. It doesn’t matter where you come from. I will simply make common sense the way to common sense, so look at my back and follow me. ”
Once I joined the army, I too forgot my past and became a soldier and thought of myself as a soldier.
Even though I belonged to the army, I felt like I had someone to rely on for the first time.
I wanted to be recognized for my usefulness, and I had to worry every day that this trust would be broken.
Then Huang Tianhou told me.
“Someone is following me from behind. I sleep well at night because of you, so you should trust me and sleep well at night too.”
He was such a person. The first teacher who came into my dull life.
I thought I would never have another.
I didn’t think there would ever be another person who would be so generous to me.
* * *
“No. Grand Duke.”
He says no.
Is it so hard to accept a bow?
“It’s okay, what’s the big deal about being polite, and I don’t want to be bowed to like this.”
Sometimes he’s awake.
At other times, he would turn into a cranky old man.
I couldn’t believe how stubborn he was.
I couldn’t help but laugh.
“After all, I am the Grand Duke of the Southern Palace. I hate to say it, but to study swordsmanship with a grand duke would mean something different to any family.”
At my words, Elder Southern Palace Yue shook her head. If he was interested in such pretense, he said, he would have chosen a different path.
“I don’t like ceremonial, formal, old-fashioned courtesy.”
Elder Nangong Yue’s eyes, which shone as brightly as the young man’s, fixed on me.
“If it’s from the heart. I don’t know if it’s from the bottom of your heart, but I don’t like this kind of courtesy.”
Her words struck a chord with me. I didn’t know what kind of passion he was talking about, but I knew it was for me.
I, too, felt a spark deep in my chest, at the tip of my wick.
“I understand,” I said, ”but I will consider Elder Il to be my master, just as I will consider being trained in swordsmanship to be something else. I will act accordingly, so don’t try to stop me.”
“As you wish.”
After saying so, Elder Sun took out a bundle of jade cloth from his bosom.
“What is this?”
Wrapped in cloth, the shape was unclear, but one thing was certain. It was unusual.
The fragrant scent of nature, the kind you’d expect to smell in a lush, green garden, tantalized my nose.
A burnt odor that could have been a sloppy mess made me frown.
Realizing that I was about to reveal something indescribable, I turned to look at Elder Nangong Yue, who was smiling broadly.
“……You’re the Young Master?”
“That’s right.”
I followed Nangong Yeoul’s gesture to remove the cloth, and my gaze locked on the reishi, which contained an exquisite fragrance. The black, darkly colored, clumped together form of the elixir looked rather unremarkable.
Nevertheless, I trembled.
Past life and present life.
This was the first time I’d ever seen a reishi, a spirit medicine, in my two lifetimes. It was the first time I had ever been given a qi pill in my life.
“Did Elder Sun bring it here himself?”
At that, Elder Sun shrugged his shoulders.
“It’s just a reasonable reward that the Grand Duke earned.”
“You mean the Sword Branch Society, is that what this elixir is?”
“Yes, it’s also known as the Thunderclap.”
“You mean the Thunderbolt……?”
“Do you know what it is?”
Aldamada.
I couldn’t not know.
She was too busy making a living to pay much attention to elixirs and elixirs, but she knew what the Thunderclap was.
The Heaven’s Thunder Elixir was said to be the Nangong Family’s greatest masterpiece, comparable to the Shaolin’s Great Patriarch.
The Thunderclap was said to have been created in an unprecedented way by the Nangong Family, a family of sword masters.
It was said that he had spent his entire life crafting only three Thunderbolts.
However, Namgung-il never revealed the secret of the Thunderbolt, and it is said that only after his death did the officials of the Namgung Palace try to find a way to make it wholeheartedly by following his example.
Of course, their efforts were unsuccessful. It was said that the family had been unable to find out how he had hidden it, even when they went out and searched for it. The thunderclap that was said to have remained a mystery was now in front of me.
“I don’t think this is within the scope of what I’m thinking, so what have you done, Elder Sun?”
A sword club? A winner deserves to be treated well.
But the reward of the Thunderclap was not something that could be earned by being a winner.
“You should be able to fully enjoy the blessings and good fortune you’ve been given.”
“It’s a lot of pressure.”
If it wasn’t greedy, it was a lie. If you didn’t take it, you would regret leaving it behind.
So it was hard to understand.
“……I have a long way to go. If the Grand Duke truly considers me a master, he should consider this a gift for a disciple traveling a difficult path, a disciple who has come to him in his later years, so that even his rusty joints can move as if they had been oiled.”
With that, Nangong Yue placed the Thunderclap in my hand.
I don’t know what he gave up and what he put on the line to get it. He probably didn’t give up anything easy.
I just watched as my face remained etched on his retina.
Just.
I was just itching all over again for my undeserved life. I should be used to it by now.
* * *
Namgung Mu Baek was troubled by the name that was mentioned in the mouths of those who visited him day after day.
The Grand Duke.
The Grand Duke.
The Grand Duke.
Some said he should be removed from his position as Grand Duke and treated as a criminal.
Others said he should be treated as a meritorious man who built the Southern Palace.
After passing through such difficulties, I came over the hill.
“Elder Il is here to see you.”
Mount Taesan was in front of him.
Elder Il, the master of the Southern Palace, a man who even the patriarch of the Southern Palace himself considered difficult.
“You know about it, don’t you?”
“That child has brought a new wind to the Southern Palace. I didn’t expect everyone to be so interested in the Grand Duke.”
Even the First Elder of the Southern Palace, Yue Yue, visited Jia Zhu’s office on behalf of the Grand Duke.
“It’s the wind that the Southern Palace needs.”
“If the Southern Palace were to be swayed by such a wind, the world would laugh at it.”
Namgung Mu Baek’s cynical words made Namgung Yeol shake her head.
“That’s why it’s called the Sword Festival. It’s the Southern Palace’s entry ticket, and the Grand Duke’s name is on that ticket. It’s a fact that everyone in Anhui knows, and it’s become a matter of public knowledge for the Gu Family and the Six Great Families.”
“…….”
“Why are you so distant from the Grand Duke, is it because of your other in-laws?”
There were only a handful of people in the Southern Palace who could speak so unhesitatingly to the master of the Southern Palace. One of them was Nangong Yeol, who had protected the Southern Palace for many years.
She was the one who confessed that she didn’t have many days left to live, and that was why.
It was hard to find the right level of words for Namgung Mubaek.
“I don’t think you’ll care about such a small thing.”
The momentum of the storm gathered, and a vibration that could split a mountain came and went in an instant.
Even if the six great families were his in-laws, they would not be a hindrance to him.
The position of the Heavenly Divine Sword Namgung Mu Bai was just that.
One.
“Doesn’t this look like Mrs. An’s figure?”
Elder Sun’s next words caused the Southern Palace Swordmaster’s movements to stop like a lie. At the same time, the scar on his cheek that was caused by the Iron-blooded An Bai became painful.
“It’s not Jia Zhu’s fault, it’s not enough to drive two rich men apart.”
“You crossed the line. That’s all I need to know.”
“I just …… want you to know one thing.”
Elder Sun looked directly into the stone-like pupils of the Southern Palace’s two eyes.
“When I look at the Grand Duke, he reminds me of Jia Zhu when he was younger. So determined, so ambitious, so careful of his people.”
“…….”
“That’s why the Grand Duke doesn’t want you to follow in his footsteps anymore. I hope that Changcheon will shine like a pine tree in all seasons, rather than the southern palace that Gaju has become.”
The First Elder slowly rose to his feet, as if he had said all he needed to say. As he stared at the First Elder’s figure, Nangong Mu Bai seemed to have many thoughts.
And then.
“The Thunderclap that Yan Zhen left for me, I will take it.”
Namgung Mu Bai’s eyebrows twitched as his eyes returned to their blank expression.
“The thunder dagger that will cure Elder Sun’s illness…… to the Grand Duke.”
The expression of the Southern Palace Mu Bai, who didn’t realize that this was the only breakthrough for the disease that had been plaguing him for so long, changed drastically, but the other party, the Southern Palace Mu Bai, only laughed heartily.
“I feel like it’s a pleasure to give generously to the disciples I’ve gained over the years.”
“What the…….”
“I hope that time will pass and Jia Zhu will come to know this old man’s feelings.”
* * *
Honey- gulp.
A dull, swallowed thunderbolt pierced through his head. The energy rushed in like a surge, piercing through every inch of his frail body like a thunderbolt, just like the word “thunderbolt” meant.
I had only eaten one tiny nectarine.
The tiny nugget seemed to bring him to his senses, with the tidal wave of anger raging inside him.
“Wake up!”
Flash!
Nangong Yue’s voice shouted in anger, and I gritted my teeth against the vague pain.
Kaaaaaaaaaaaah!
The tenuous energy I had accumulated through my cultivation surged in waves of thunder.
The veins and arteries of his body were washed away, and the aura that had long since gotten out of control began to run wild here and there. The whole body became unbearably hot.
All the blockages were broken through, and at the same time, the wastes were burned away cleanly. Like new flesh sprouting, the veins and blood began to rejuvenate like new.
This was the power of the spirit pill.
No wonder he was so obsessed with elixirs.
I suddenly understood.
Now I understood why they would throw their lives away for a small spirit dantian.
After the Thunderclap’s energy had pierced through his veins and veins, he was unable to contain his overflowing energy, and now he turned to Danzhen.
“Now is the time. I will lead you.”
Nangong Yue’s two hands touched his back.