Chapter 54
Truth Revealed (2)
An invisible clash of forces.
Namgung Hyuk poured all his internal energy into the technique he had just unleashed.
Empowered by that strength, his momentum rose, allowing him to momentarily push back the immense power emanating from Namgung Hwang.
But Namgung Hwang’s advance did not stop.
“My inner strength is greater… yet I’m being overpowered?”
To be overwhelmed in strength—he couldn’t comprehend it.
Then suddenly, a voice reached his mind—Namgung Hwang’s sound transmission.
“The force your sword creates is merely large. It holds no true pressure.”
“……!”
Namgung Hyuk was deeply shaken.
Another sound transmission followed.
“Without understanding what purpose your sword serves, merely pouring strength into it doesn’t make it a King’s Sword Technique.”
The words struck him like a whip.
Indeed, it was as he said.
The technique he had just used was a crude imitation—an empty shell of a form built by merging other techniques, swung blindly with force.
“The King’s Sword is one of absolute domination—
A sword that marches forward and crushes every obstacle before it.”
Step.
Namgung Hwang took another step forward.
At that moment, Namgung Hyuk felt a suffocating sense of pressure.
“Moreover, it expands its domain beyond the reach of the blade—
And eliminates all foes who enter that realm.”
Five steps now separated them.
Namgung Hwang raised his foot again.
“This… is the stride of a King—and the sword of a King.”
To Namgung Hyuk, the moment before Namgung Hwang’s foot touched the ground felt unbearably long.
During that fleeting interval, he replayed all that his elder had just said.
And then—he sighed inwardly.
“So I only skimmed the surface, yet dared to think I had created a King’s Sword…”
He couldn’t even lift his head from shame.
If that wasn’t the King’s Sword, then what was this sword he had forged?
The composition of his self-made “pseudo King’s Sword” flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern—
Eight total forms.
And as he reviewed them, realization struck him like lightning.
“I understand now… what I’ve been doing wrong all along!”
This was not a sword to be used the way he had.
Namgung Hyuk finally understood that.
But by now, Namgung Hwang was only three steps away—
within sword’s reach.
Fwoosh!
Namgung Hwang’s blade descended from above.
“Move!”
Namgung Hyuk willed his body to react, but the overwhelming energy radiating from Namgung Hwang pinned him in place.
At that instant, a memory flashed before his eyes—
the moment he had defeated the renowned master Gongsun Cheok.
“Haaah!!”
Namgung Hyuk roared and channeled Thunder Qi (Cheonraegi) into his arm instead of internal energy.
The electric current surged into his sword—
And in that instant, lightning coursed through the blade.
Sword of Thunder (Geomroe).
The overwhelming power split apart Namgung Hwang’s oppressive aura—
even before the sword itself swung.
Shraaak!
At last, his sword moved, intercepting Namgung Hwang’s strike.
“Good. Well done.”
Namgung Hwang actually praised him, glancing down at the younger man’s sword blocking his own.
The aura radiating from Hyuk’s sword was distinct—neither sword qi nor mere energy.
Of course, Namgung Hwang recognized it.
“A fusion of Thunder Qi and inner energy… ordinary sword force can’t block that.”
The sword Namgung Hwang wielded carried the King’s Sword Force (帝王劍罡).
Without it, his blade might have been cleaved apart just now.
Curious, Namgung Hwang asked,
“This power—does it come from one of our clan’s techniques?”
“Yes. It’s based on a martial art left behind by Ancestor Namgung Hyul, the Sword Emperor Who Split the Heavens (破天劍皇).”
At that name—Namgung Hyul—Namgung Hwang’s eyes trembled.
Even as head of the clan, he had never heard of such a technique.
That alone was shocking.
“If you wish to hear more,” Namgung Hyuk said firmly, “you’ll have to defeat me first.”
With that, he released his locked sword and immediately slashed upward.
“Reverse Heaven Rising Thunder (逆天昇雷)!”
From below, his sword erupted like a lightning geyser.
Namgung Hwang leapt high into the air to avoid it—
and Namgung Hyuk followed, chasing him skyward.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Their blades collided again and again midair, sparks bursting in the storm of energy.
Then, their bodies separated, falling in opposite directions.
“Haaaah!!”
Namgung Hyuk shouted, scattering arcs of lightning around him as he gathered all remaining Thunder Qi.
The lightning on his sword blazed ever brighter.
“Lightning Heaven Slash (Thunder Heaven One Strike)!”
The same devastating technique he once used against Hye-yeon—
now reborn in full force.
The massive blade of thunder shot toward Namgung Hwang, who countered with his own ultimate strike.
“Azure Heaven Infinite (蒼天無極)!”
Namgung Hwang’s sword moved slowly, yet its power was vast—
a phantom of a giant blade appeared behind it.
When the two techniques collided—
the once-silent mountain shook violently.
* * *
Countless mountain birds took to the sky, frightened by the explosion of sound.
Below, the mountainside bore two enormous scars—
deep gashes so vast they resembled canyons.
Between those cuts lay a single clear space.
There stood Namgung Hyuk, unmoving.
His face was pale from exhaustion after expending so much inner energy.
He gazed at the place where Namgung Hwang had been.
“…You’re not hurt… right?”
Whoooosh.
The mountain wind blew—
and through the settling dust, Namgung Hwang appeared, walking calmly toward him.
His clothes were tattered, his usually neat hair disheveled—
but otherwise, he was unharmed.
“Are you injured anywhere?”
“No, sir. I’m fine.”
During the final clash, Namgung Hwang had subtly redirected the shockwave to spare him injury.
Namgung Hyuk wondered inwardly,
“So… who won?”
Both had used their ultimate techniques, yet neither triumphed.
Of course, that was because Namgung Hwang had clearly held back.
“Even when I gave it everything… I still couldn’t win.”
To get the answers he sought, Hyuk would have to keep fighting.
But his fighting spirit had already waned.
Then Namgung Hwang sheathed his sword.
“I will tell you about your father.”
“Truly…?”
“Yes.”
Gone was the stern clan head—
his tone softened, like when he was roasting that rabbit earlier.
He glanced around, then sat down on the stump of a tree cut in half during their battle.
“The story will be long. Sit.”
“…Yes, sir.”
Namgung Hyuk sat down opposite him—his heart pounding with anticipation.
Finally, he would learn the truth.
Namgung Hwang looked at him steadily and began.
“Your father, Namgung Cheol, was one of the finest martial artists I’ve ever seen.”
Namgung Hyuk already knew that.
But hearing it from the clan head himself stirred something within him.
“Though he left the clan because of his branch-line status, he made a great name for himself in the martial world.
Then, one day, he returned—with the woman who would later bear you.”
“……”
“I accepted him back into the family on one condition—
that he serve as a member of the Dark Heaven Unit (암천대).”
He wanted his beloved family to live safely within the clan’s protection rather than wandering the harsh rivers and lakes of Jianghu.
So Namgung Cheol had set aside his personal ideals of chivalry—
and served as a secret operative for years.
“Then… the incident happened.”
“You mean the Hwangsan Blood Massacre?” Hyuk asked.
Namgung Hwang’s eyes flickered, but he shook his head.
“No. An incident before that—
one that the Namgung Clan has long hidden.”
He paused.
“When my first son, Namgung Mugang… disappeared.”
“……!”
* * *
Fifteen years ago.
A young warrior with a strong, rugged face sprinted through a storm, sword on his back.
It was Namgung Cheol—Hyuk’s father.
“Mugang…”
His childhood friend and the clan’s heir, Namgung Mugang, had vanished after leaving the estate four days ago.
The place he was last seen—
a small village where the woman he loved lived.
When searchers arrived, the village was annihilated.
Everyone slaughtered.
Only Mugang’s sword remained.
Upon hearing this, Namgung Hwang had immediately summoned the Dark Heaven Unit.
“This was sent by the one who took Mugang.”
He opened a box.
Inside was a severed little finger.
“They demand something in exchange for Mugang’s life.
But the main family will never bow to blackmail.”
Namgung Hwang’s decision was absolute.
Yet he could not abandon his son.
So Namgung Cheol led a covert operation to track Mugang’s whereabouts.
“Using all my years of experience and the tracking arts of the Dark Heaven Unit,
I followed the faintest traces…”
He finally arrived before the Yellow Mountain (Hwangsan).
Never would he have imagined—
that the culprit would be hiding within the domain of the righteous Hwangsan Sect.
“Clever bastard… hiding in plain sight.”
But it was too late to summon reinforcements.
The appointed time to hand over the demanded item was almost up.
If he delayed, Mugang would surely die.
Thus, Namgung Cheol climbed the mountain alone.
And then he saw it—
“Damn it!”
Corpses.
Dozens of them.
Hwangsan Sect priests lay strewn about, slaughtered brutally.
He searched for survivors—none.
“These wounds… it’s as if they turned on each other.”
With a grim expression, he proceeded toward the main hall.
Then—
“Did you come from the Namgung Clan?”
A disembodied voice echoed.
Cheol instantly drew his sword.
He extended his senses wide, but couldn’t locate the speaker.
“So… have you brought the item I asked for?”
“…I have.”
He didn’t, but he lied—
hoping to buy time and rescue Mugang through negotiation.
“I’ll need proof that the hostage is alive first.”
He spoke firmly, keeping one hand near his sword.
“Heh. Very well.”
A fierce gust of wind swept through the hall.
When Cheol lifted his arm from his face, he saw—
Mugang.
Tied to a beam beneath the roof, bound by rope.
“Young Master Mugang!”
He rushed forward—
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Suddenly, blasts of energy struck the ground before him, blocking his path.
“Before you come closer, hand it over.”
“……”
Cheol hesitated, then slowly reached into his robe.
He pretended to take something out—
then hurled it onto the ground instead.
“…!”
He sensed surprise from afar.
That was his chance.
Cheol dashed forward in an instant, sword flashing—
Slash!
He cut through the ropes and caught Mugang as he fell.
Thankfully, aside from his severed left little finger, Mugang seemed merely unconscious.
“Young Master!”
“Ugh…”
As Cheol pressed a few acupoints, Mugang slowly opened his eyes.
“…You came… for me.”
“Don’t worry now.”
Cheol untied the rest of the bindings and helped him stand.
The killer who had massacred the Hwangsan Sect was still unaccounted for.
“Even if I die, I’ll get him out alive.”
Cheol’s sword began to glow with a pure azure light—
sword energy rising like fire.
He guided Mugang toward the exit.
Then—
Thuck.
The sound of flesh being pierced.
Cheol froze mid-step.
Slowly, he looked down.
A dagger had run through his back—
its tip emerging from his chest.
The hand holding that dagger—
belonged to Namgung Mugang.
