〈 Episode 642 〉 Thunder Heaven Sword (雷天一劍).
‘That bastard, for real.’
Wuhyeok, no.
I recalled looking at the bastard wearing Wuhyeok’s body.
How many times is he gonna get his body stolen? I’m fucking tired of saving him.
‘If he’s gonna be like that, I should’ve just let him get stolen. Fucking hell.’
It’s absurd.
I went through blood and sweat to save him, and now he goes and gets his body stolen by some nobody again.
‘Is that bastard really not a genius?’
A once-in-a-generation genius.
The greatest talent of Wudang who surpassed the Meteor Generation.
If he hadn’t thrown his life away for nothing in his previous life, he would surely have been a monstrosity who vied for the position of Sword King in the later generation—yet here he is, that very Wuhyeok.
Looking at the state of that bastard, now I’m even starting to doubt his talent.
At this point, isn’t he basically kneeling down going, ‘Oh my! Please use my body!’ and offering it up on a silver platter?
‘Besides.’
I frowned looking at the bastard.
‘Who the fuck stole him this time.’
For a moment, I wondered if it might be Mang.
I thought he was dead, but he was actually alive.
Maybe he’d shown up riding Wuhyeok’s body again this time.
The thought crossed my mind, but.
‘No.’
I shook my head resolutely.
That’s not Mang.
‘It’s not a bastard like that.’
It was an existence so far above Mang that comparing the two would be an insult to him.
A sharp jolt—!
My fingertips trembled.
It was an indescribable sensation.
My body instinctively went on guard.
My instincts were telling me.
That this was something dangerous.
‘I’m going crazy.’
Feeling this, even the corners of my lips trembled.
Not just from Mang, but even when I saw the hundred-grade demonic beast that seemed to be his true body, I hadn’t felt this.
It was so incredibly sharp. Thus, I felt fear. And terror too.
Would a famed blade forged over an eternity by a heavenly artisan be like this?
The figure before me was like a keenly honed blade.
Is this an impression one can have when looking at a human?
Even as I felt it was absurd, that was the only impression that came to mind.
‘I can’t feel any inner energy.’
I couldn’t feel any particular energy at all.
That made it even more horrifying.
‘This means it’s coming purely from presence alone.’
A martial artist’s presence stems from the vessel built up through long years of training.
The quantity of inner energy, the level of external arts. The tier of mental arts. Presence was the manifestation of all those things gathered together.
Then, what of that one before me?
“…Huuu…”
For a few seconds, I barely controlled my breathing. I forcibly calmed my pounding heart and flicked my fingertips.
Could I win?
My beastly instincts were screaming at me to charge in right this moment, but.
My instincts were colder than I thought.
I couldn’t see it.
I couldn’t see anything.
I could barely feel it at the tips of my hair; because I couldn’t see a single thing, I could barely keep my toes from moving.
For a few more seconds, we maintained a confrontation that was no confrontation.
“Hmph.”
Something wearing Wuhyeok’s face spat out a sound.
A low breath. I furrowed my brows at that voice.
Though the expression was clearly blank, for some reason, it felt as if he were smiling.
“Your instincts are good. I praise you. That hesitation has saved you, and shall continue to save you.”
“...”
A chill ran down my spine.
Though his words may have sounded arrogant, they sent shivers down my spine. When speaking of life and death, the truth becomes visible.
He truly thought so.
Ridiculously, I too saw those words as truth.
Without averting my furrowed eyes, I asked him.
“Who are you.”
At my question, he sliced his gaze thinly.
Wuhyeok himself had a foolish and lax disposition, but his face was no less unpleasantly handsome than the Namgung family’s good-for-nothing ruffians.
Was that why that expression felt like a piece of shit.
“Would you know if you heard? I am merely a remnant of the past.”
“Then get out of that body. The owner didn’t give permission, so what the fuck are you crawling inside for.”
For some reason, the man smiled faintly at the words I growled out.
“A whelp?”
“How precious. Also amusing. It has been long since one used such crude tone toward me.”
Then.
The man moved his right arm slightly. Seeing that, I involuntarily took a step back.
My body had reacted on its own to the eerie energy.
Was he going to do something? While I kept my guard up and watched, he stopped his hand motion and spoke to me.
“By rights, I would have punished you. Yet I find I miss such a tone, and thus have no desire to do so.”
“What kind of dog-shit nonsense is that? Say what you mean straight.”
Knowing my opponent, I should probably watch my mouth. But this goddamn mouth of mine couldn’t do it.
I knew my place, yet I couldn’t control myself.
It seemed my damn disposition was never going to change.
Even as I kept barking with my life on the line, the opponent remained unchanged.
“You resemble him. Do you not? No, you do. I miss him. That worthless bastard, especially.”
“What the…”
What was he talking about? I tried to spit out another question filled with doubt, but.
I couldn’t easily open my mouth.
Because I had belatedly checked my surroundings.
“…Damn it.”
Perhaps because I’d been conversing in a state of extreme tension, only now could I see the anomaly that had occurred around me.
It had stopped.
The Paejon who had been trying to block my way at some point was frozen in place.
Seongyul too was frozen stiff in the moment of drawing the sword at his waist.
There was even a Black Lion gripping its posture to protect the Palace Lord.
Flowing embers had become lanterns in the empty air.
Snow goblins that had been faintly flickering had solidified stiffly into afterimages, unable to flow.
Seeing this, I had to open my eyes sharply.
Time had stopped.
It was a wondrous sight comparable to the martial prestige I’d seen from my father, though I’d witnessed it a few times myself.
For now, rather than this situation, I had to focus on what this meant.
“…Who might you be?”
I immediately changed my manner of speaking.
Hearing that, the man burst into a short laugh.
“Your reaction is fast. Moreover, you seem to already know the answer.”
“...”
A dagger lodged in my chest.
Yes, the moment I saw the situation, I’d realized who he was.
If it had happened once or twice, I wouldn’t have known. But counting the times, it was more than enough to fill one hand, and through that I could tell who he was.
I’d simply hoped it wasn’t.
If my guess was correct, it was strange enough that he was inside Wuhyeok’s body, and I hadn’t expected to see him so out of the blue.
‘I’d momentarily forgotten that this place is the Northern Sea.’
To be exact, I’d forgotten the words saying we were in the Northern Sea.
No, even if I’d known, I wouldn’t have expected to see him.
‘Because the time is not now.’
There were too many variables to deal with while I was here. Thus, I’d planned to postpone it for later.
‘To think he’d appear personally like this.’
And of all things, riding the body of that idiot friend of mine.
Should I offer a martial salute? While a brief hesitation came and went, it was the opponent who spoke first.
“Even if you know the answer, there are still words that must be exchanged.”
In the stopped world, the man took a step.
Crunch.
Watching the snow being crushed underfoot, I felt somehow tingly.
“There is no need to remember it for long. I have discarded attachment to my name.”
The sight of him walking with hands clasped behind his back emanated a hegemonic air.
It was the most overwhelming presence I had ever seen.
“Though I was called many things. One follows the family name from birth, so I shall express myself accordingly.”
The man standing before me spoke with blade-like eyes.
“I am called Myeong of Namgung.”
“...”
“Pleased to meet you.”
Thunder Heaven Sword (雷天一劍) Namgung Myeong.
The hero of the Namgung family said to have vomited lightning from his sword tip and reigned above the heavens.
“Descendant of that damned bastard.”
He had appeared before me.
******************
Not long ago.
Around the time Gu Yangcheon was fiercely battling the hundred-grade demon.
The Ice Palace, and the hallway leading to the Palace Lord’s chamber.
Swish.
Wind came in through a wall that had been cleanly pierced open.
A young man walked down such a hallway.
He wore a somewhat awkward expression.
‘It’s quiet.’
Strangely quiet. I could hear the wind and the outside was full of loud noises, but.
What the young man meant was different from that.
‘Why is it quiet?’
The usual noises that could be heard were no longer audible. It was an anomaly.
It was something he had wished for so much, yet only doubt settled within him.
‘Is it because of that friend?’
When that friend who had come to the Northern Sea was present, the noises couldn’t be heard, but when the distance grew, they would return.
Seeing this, they should have been faintly audible by now. Yet for some reason, no noise could be heard.
I couldn’t understand it.
Even as he pondered this, the young man continued walking. Soon he reached his destination and stopped.
Frigid cold grazed his cheek. The young man could only swallow dry saliva at what lay before him.
A corpse with a miserable appearance was visible.
Whether because its energy had been completely drained, the flesh bore not a drop of moisture and had long since lost its original form.
The dead body, unable to even close its eyes properly, was utterly pathetic.
Looking at this, the young man soon bent his torso and gently closed the woman’s eyes.
“....”
There were no words to speak.
So it had come to this. That was all that remained.
Do I feel refreshed? The young man, Uhyeok, asked himself.
He could not bring forth an answer.
—Listen to me. Then, I will save the child you carry in your womb.
The curse said to afflict the bloodline.
The authority to maximize it. That was both a threat and a longing.
If I were to ask where it went wrong, perhaps it was coming here in the first place.
Or perhaps being born upon this land was wrong from the start.
Ah, yes. That was probably the problem.
A fact he had never denied from birth until now.
Even when he had been painfully abandoned to one side by his family.
Even when his father, unable to bear his child, tried to execute him using justification as an excuse.
Even when he broke through and barely hid himself in the Central Plains, moments he had never forgotten.
It had been that kind of life.
How absurd it was when he survived and survived and returned to this land.
His father, frightened by his level, had hidden his ambition and true nature and sought him out.
The sight of him calling the name he had abandoned in childhood and acting as if nothing had happened was so grotesque.
He knew then.
That he had already cut off his emotions.
Thus, even when his father had his throat torn out and met death, he would have shown only an expression of indifference.
‘They call it a hometown, don’t they.’
They say it is a place you hold deep in your heart and yearn for.
To Uhyeok, this place was hell.
A hell frozen cold that would never melt.
In a corner of that hell, Uhyeok left the dead woman behind.
How she had been so obsessed with him.
What emotions had made her act so pathetically. He still didn’t understand, yet somehow he didn’t want to look at her in that state for long.
His emotions cooled like the weather.
Feeling this unfamiliar sensation, Uhyeok stoked his heat.
He couldn’t let his emotions die.
Even if he didn’t know the reason, he had to keep them alive.
There was nothing more unsightly than a dried-up husk.
Uhyeok raised himself and turned around.
The frigid cold remained, but behind him sat something semi-transparent.
A familiar face.
It couldn’t be helped, for he bore the exact same face as his master.
Only, the person himself was different.
[Are the greetings finished?]
At the middle-aged man’s words, Uhyeok lowered his head.
“…Thank you for your consideration.”
At Uhyeok’s greeting, the man’s hair swayed slightly.
[What is your relationship with the girl? Is it perhaps romance (戀)?]
Had it appeared so?
At the man’s question, Uhyeok smiled softly.
“It is not so. If forced to classify, she would be closer to an enemy.”
[Hmm.]
No more words were heard.
How could you treat an enemy like that? Even such an inevitable question was absent.
There was no interest.
The man’s expression showed exactly that, and from it Uhyeok instead gained comfort.
He asked softly.
“Please tell me how I should address you, Senior.”
A voice filled with tension.
Naturally. Had anyone in the Central Plains learned of that man, they would have reacted the same.
Ah, though there might be exactly one exception.
That mad dog bastard, though a friend of mine, was absolutely not normal.
[Titles are not important. So long as you maintain due courtesy, you may call me whatever you wish.]
“Then, I shall call you Thunder God Senior.”
At the words spat without hesitation, the man’s brow twitched.
[A useless coat of paint.]
He had certainly been called that before. But he had been called other things far more.
Seeing him call him God (神) despite knowing that, he was clearly currying favor.
[Let us put aside trivial talk. I now wish to get to the main point.]
“I shall listen with all my attention.”
Even as he answered, he observed the man as if marveling.
‘He resembles him.’
He resembled his master, Goeseon, far too much.
He was a descendant, so it was natural that he resembled him.
‘But they look so alike.’
They could almost be considered twins.
A sudden longing. Perhaps because he had thought of Goeseon. Uhyeok smiled bitterly.
‘To think I would meet him here…’
When he had heard the introduction about him underground, Uhyeok had been startled.
How could he not be.
The hero of the Namgung family who had saved the world in the distant past.
Who could have known he was sleeping in the Northern Sea?
Even looking at him, it was hard to believe.
‘A lingering spirit (死念).’
Such a thing existed? From the standpoint of someone who bore the will of Wudang, it was truly wondrous.
What was slightly regrettable was that he, of all people, had encountered such a lingering spirit.
‘I am unworthy.’
There were two of the Namgung bloodline in the Northern Sea.
One had abandoned the family name and settled in Wudang, yet could become the family head whenever he wished.
The other was someone who might perhaps become the first female family head of the Namgung family.
‘But it would be faster for her to become the Sword Empress instead.’
She was more than sufficient to rise to that position.
He had never properly faced the current Sword Empress, but surely it would be so. Uhyeok was certain.
It wouldn’t take very long either. She was a born swordmaster, and her talent would be higher and broader than the snow piled up in the Northern Sea.
Anyway, facing the greatest existence of the Namgung family in such a situation felt somewhat ominous.
It was regrettable.
That he was in this place rather than his master or his martial sister.
That was truly regrettable.
[What do you seek from me?]
Uhyeok flinched at the lingering spirit’s words.
He seemed to have stared too long.
“I apologize. You resemble someone I know, so without realizing…”
[Hmph.]
At Uhyeok’s words, the lingering spirit nodded and continued.
[Of the Namgung family, are you?]
“Yes…. That is correct.”
Hearing that he resembled himself, it seemed he naturally assumed so.
[I see.]
However, the subsequent reaction was dry.
Even upon hearing that the Namgung family still existed after all this time, he showed little concern.
To the point of feeling not an ounce of interest, which seemed rather subtle.
It was a far too cold a reaction for an ancestor.
Uhyeok ignored this as best he could and asked.
“…So, by the main point you wished to discuss, you mean…?”
Namgung Myeong’s lingering spirit spoke with an expression no different from before at Uhyeok’s question.
[Before long, a calamity will befall the world.]
Throwing away all preceding explanation, he truly dove straight into the main point.
Words so brutal that they were an ill fit for his blunt tone.
Upon hearing them, Uhyeok’s eyes became as wide as lamp flames.
“A calamity… you say?”
A calamity suddenly? What did that mean?
It was so out of the blue that he couldn’t understand it at all.
However, Namgung Myeong paid no mind to such reactions from Uhyeok.
[Little time remains. That the seal has broken is proof of that.]
“Senior, what exactly…”
Uhyeok, who rarely interrupted his elders, tried to cut in with confusion.
Once again, Namgung Myeong did not allow it.
[Much has been twisted, but it is not too late to right it. Thus, I have a request to make of you, using providence as collateral.]
“A request, you say?”
[Yes.]
Those uniquely sharp eyes.
Blue eyes that seemed to hold the sea, or perhaps the sky, turned toward Uhyeok.
[Become my successor.]
“...!”
Uhyeok’s breath stopped for a moment.
[Take up the sword for the world. Then I shall give you everything I have left behind in this land in my name.]
Upon hearing those words, his body trembled with a jolt.
Seeing that reaction, Namgung Myeong opened his eyes slightly and continued.
[It is regrettable that you are not a child of the main family. But this cannot be helped. Think of it as your fortune.]
“I apologize.”
[Yes, so first, the mental art contained within your body… Hmm?]
Namgung Myeong, who had been speaking as if it were obvious, suddenly paused.
His expression changed slightly. A face as if he had misheard.
[What did you say just now?]
“Well….”
At the repeated question, Uhyeok repeated his answer with a rather brazen expression.
“I’m sorry…. I think that would be rather difficult.”
[…?]
A brief silence passed. A stuffy discomfort permeated the quiet air.
Uhyeok was looking at Namgung Myeong somewhat nervously, and Namgung Myeong seemed lost in thought, wondering if he had heard correctly.
About thirty seconds passed like that. Barely having finished his thoughts, Namgung Myeong asked Uhyeok.
[…Why?]
He still seemed unable to understand.