Emperor Namgung Mu of the Thousand Years - Chapter 79

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#079

Three days remained until the escape date I had coordinated with Leaf Huazi.

Leaf Huazi worried about my physical condition until the very end, but I assured him that I would somehow pull myself together to meet that deadline.

Of course, even as I said those words, I couldn’t be certain myself, so it was like burning my bridges behind me.

‘Sword Master Hwirong is one thing, but that giant with the hexagonal iron mace, Ha Song… It’s unsettling how quiet that bastard has been.’

This unease had grown even more after I belatedly recalled additional information I had forgotten.

‘Could it really be that he hasn’t found this place? Is that why there’s this silence?’

The butcher of Sinnong Sect.

The alias he revealed in the Baekdo Alliance’s tent was actually secondary.

Based on information from my previous life, I knew his true identity.

-Imperial hunting dog.

Besides being affiliated with the Baekdo Alliance and working for Sinnong Sect, that bastard was probably operating beyond simply coordinating with the imperial family, even accepting commissions from them.

A man who had made quite a name for himself taking contracts to eliminate political enemies for the imperial family.

Even when killing just one person, he did so very cunningly and meticulously, framing others for the deed, and with his persistent nature of always tracking down anyone, he was especially popular in the imperial political circles where dark struggles were common.

‘…And his martial prowess is excellent too.’

The past me naturally, and even with my current physical condition, a direct confrontation would be suicide.

I could guarantee that the skill gap was such that I’d be killed within ten exchanges.

If I were to face that bastard…

Regardless of winning, just to literally ‘face’ him…

I touched my back.

‘The fourth Pasabeolsik… Could I even use it?’

Currently, I hadn’t completely reached the extreme level, but I had at least opened up to the third blood ceremony, Dong (Movement), and the blood ceremony had expanded.

That meant in an emergency, I might be able to use the final fourth blood ceremony of Pasabeolsik, which was also the ultimate technique of the Dark Emperor’s Eight Forms, ‘Shura Great Destruction Calamity Ryu’…

But that would require being prepared to die.

No, in the first place, I couldn’t even be certain of activating it in this physical condition.

I suddenly felt puzzled.

‘No, even so, that’s strange. There’s no way an imperial hunting dog wouldn’t be able to find this place for so long… is there? Whether it’s formations or fortresses.’

How should I interpret this?

Was this place such a natural fortress?

Were the formations that Cheongwun had laid down that effective?

Moreover, how was the Baekdo Alliance moving now?

Was my fake letter working well?

“…”

And this anxiety made me throw myself into training all day long.

Perhaps it was because the only thing I could do right now was awaken the sensations throughout my body and accelerate the pace of rehabilitation.

All day long, I would grab onto the iron sphere that wouldn’t budge and strain until I fainted, repeating this cycle.

And Cheongwun, who had been quietly watching this from the side, placed a cold wet towel on my head and said,

“You look pitiful. Don’t be so impatient.”

“…Huff… huff.”

“I don’t know you well, hyung-nim, but surely heaven will recognize your efforts.”

“…”

I silently removed the wet towel and clung to the iron sphere again.

“That makes me even more anxious. Heaven has never recognized me even once.”

Then, Cheongwun suddenly spoke up.

“But hyung-nim.”

“What.”

“Why does your speech become so stiff whenever you let your guard down a little?”

“…?”

“No, you’ve been like that from the beginning. Using formal speech, honorifics, and such… We’re not elders or anything. Can’t you be a bit less distant now?”

Cheongwun complained.

“It makes me uncomfortable when you do that.”

Gangbi, who had been moving around the room organizing luggage, chimed in with a comment.

“That’s right. Why maintain such formality here? We’re all patients. Besides, the palace members of Flying Red Palace have a custom of speaking casually to those they truly like. Cheongwun would never pester anyone like this for days on end.”

Cheongwun spoke once more.

“Can’t you treat me more comfortably? We’ve been living together and getting along for several days now.”

“…”

Suddenly, a man’s face flashed through my mind.

Someone who seemed somewhat unreliable, like a wandering merchant.

‘Young Master Hwi, treat me casually.’

‘I’ll just call you Young Master. What does it matter how others address you? You should call me casually too!’

The person who said there was only one way to survive,

Who always spoke in that deflating manner while laughing heartily toward me, who was full of poison, in order to create the Bukmyeong Singong.

‘Truly admirable!’

During our last meeting, he kept pestering me about the Sichuan Tang Family matter, so I told him.

Upon hearing it, Wu Biaoyun clapped his hands and rejoiced like family.

Sometimes he lamented, got angry, sometimes he was truly happy, and sometimes he was truly exhilarated.

It was the first time someone had listened to the traces and remnants of my life and shown such reactions.

So I just stood there blankly, not knowing how to react.

Wu Biaoyun laughed at me like that and patted my shoulder.

‘You can do it like that, one step at a time. You can fix things gradually. Even if it’s unfamiliar. Even if it’s clumsy.’

Those similar words… I felt like I had heard them from the old man sometime.

‘…You can practice trusting someone like that too. This Wu Biaoyun will be that stepping stone. Should you try the next practice with that Baekjao? With Guk?’

Wu Biaoyun grinned and clenched his fist.

‘Living like that, someone will surely repay your trust someday.’

“…Alright.”

Did I speak too quietly?

Cheongwun tilted his head.

I moistened my dry lips.

I spoke in a hoarse voice.

“Alright.”

“Oh?”

Cheongwun’s eyes widened.

“Hyung-nim, did you just speak casually?”

“…Did I?”

“You did! Gangbi hyung-nim, you heard it, right? Wow, I finally heard casual speech from this person. Normally I should feel bad about being spoken to casually, but why do I feel good right now?”

I frowned.

“Noisy.”

“It’s so sad that after clinging to you for days, the content of the first casual speech I finally heard was that.”

“Damn it.”

I shot up to my feet. I focused again on pulling the iron sphere until my face turned bright red.

Cheongwun picked up the dirt-covered wet towel that had fallen beside me, dusting it off as he spoke.

“It reminds me of the sisters from Flying Red Palace.”

I caught my breath and asked back.

“Sisters?”

“Haha, would you like to come to our Flying Red Palace? Somehow I feel like our Palace Master really, really hates other people, but I think she’d absolutely love you, big brother.”

“Hmm, that’s probably your misconception.”

“No way.”

“They say people can’t live alone. How about you try leaning on others for once, Brother Hwi?”

“I’m not that weak.”

“That’s a separate matter. And from what I can see, someone will appear before you soon, big brother. They say it’s better to have one genuine person than countless people who are like hollow rice cakes with no substance. And from what I can see of you, big brother, it won’t be just one person…”

He counts on his fingers.

“I think there’ll be at least five people, don’t you think?”

I was so absurd that I laughed.

“That’ll absolutely never happen. But it does make me feel good.”

“Just wait and see. Our Palace Master said I have pretty good prophetic abilities.”

I thought he was really good at making jokes all around.

“Sure, sure. Whatever you say.”

“Wow, this big brother. You don’t believe me at all. The Palace Master told martial artists not to make prophecies carelessly, but I’m making a special exception for you, big brother. I’m going to tell the Palace Master everything later.”

Cheongwun also seemed to get embarrassed after shouting and stopped talking while scratching his cheek.

Then he suddenly exclaimed.

“Anyway! They said rest is necessary for recovery. There’s also a saying that the more urgent things are, the more you should take a detour! I may not know martial arts, but I know that much! What you’re doing right now is self-torture!”

Gangbi, who was passing by the wooden floor carrying a huge bundle of clothes again, spoke up.

“I agree as well. For most martial artists, what they lack is always training, but at least Hero Hwi right now absolutely needs rest. Especially not just physical rest, but mental rest even more so.”

“But now I understand.”

Cheongwun said.

“Big brother is going to ignore what we say anyway and stick to that iron sphere again. Even pretending to listen to us now is just because you’re standing there catching your breath, right?”

“That’s an accurate statement.”

“Eeek!!!”

Even on this day, Cheongwun didn’t back down.

He even called over Gangbi who was packing, grabbed onto the hem of my clothes as I clung to the iron sphere, and practically dragged me to one side of the basin, near where the spring water flowed.

When I say I was dragged here, that’s not a metaphor.

…I don’t faint as easily now, but my body still had no strength.

I was overpowered and dragged along by the two of them.

“I… need to train!”

As I struggled and shouted, the two of them circled around me and exclaimed.

“I need to pack!”

“I like playing with you big brothers!”

-Kugugugu…

The spring water was a huge pond where it fell like a small waterfall.

I muttered.

“Why here? This is a waste of time.”

“Hehe. A waste of time, you say. Don’t you know that mental demons are the biggest problem in martial arts?”

Gangbi brought a fishing rod.

“How about we fish and catch our breath? Just for a very short while, that’s okay, right? And who knows? If we take a little break like this, maybe your mind will heal and you’ll be able to lift that iron sphere easily?”

I looked at the spring water.

“So you’re saying there are fish in a place like this?”

“Of course.”

Gangbi said as he handed a fishing rod to Cheongwun as well.

“The power of life is amazing. Even in a water puddle sitting alone on a mountain with no connections, fish will appear.”

“What I mean is, are they big and numerous enough to eat as a meal?”

I looked at the small spring water in bewilderment.

To that, Gangbi confidently said.

“At most they’re the size of a pinky finger? And even that’s extremely rare. If you catch one, let’s consider that day extremely lucky.”

“…”

This is absurd.

Cheongwun suddenly asked.

“Big brother, you must have been expecting to eat fish. Do you like fish?”

I trailed off for a moment and then said.

“I don’t like… no, it’s just so-so.”

What if they find some fault with that too.

But to that, Cheongwun exclaimed.

“Oh, really? I hate fish. The fishy smell is weird, isn’t it?”

Gangbi exclaimed from the side.

“Oh my, I hate it too.”

I looked at them in disbelief.

“…Then why are all three of us here?”

“It’s nice to just sit around blankly.”

“We need an excuse like this to play with Brother Hwi.”

Three big men sitting side by side with three fishing rods.

What we faced was just a tiny spring water pond.

And all three of us hate fish, sitting in a row.

This is absurd.

At the same time, I felt a faint laugh coming on.

“Oh, did you just smile?”

“You’re mistaken.”

I turned my head to look at the float bobbing on the water.

Since this is my first time fishing, I wonder if I’m doing this right…

“…But.”

I suddenly looked at the mist filling the hermitage along the ridge and said.

“Hasn’t the fog been a bit strange lately? The color and such.”

Even as I spoke, I wasn’t confident.

As my energy perception became dull, I couldn’t distinguish colors well above all.

It felt like I’d become colorblind.

So I had more constraints than usual when making judgments about things.

“The fog?”

Cheongwun tilted his head.

“It seems to have a bit of purple mixed in.”

“Ah, that?”

Cheongwun answered nonchalantly.

“I thought that was a bit strange too. For the past few days, the purple tint in the fog seems to be getting gradually darker, but it’s probably nothing serious. The weather here is so strange anyway. The mist doesn’t clear easily either. Master Leaf Huazi said it’s definitely not poison or anything like that.”

His tone wasn’t concerned at all.

‘…Is that so?’

I certainly don’t sense any poison.

No matter how dull I’ve become, I’m not so far gone that I can’t notice poison.

And since it’s none other than that physician Leaf Huazi who said so, it must be certain.

But somehow I have a suspicious feeling.

Though using beacon fires or smoke to indicate or signal someone’s location would be meaningless in this place anyway.

Setting aside formations,

Due to the terrain characteristics of this place, the ridges block like folding screens, cutting off visibility from distant places.

Moreover, the smoke doesn’t rise to the sky even when it accumulates above a certain level between the ridges, but instead escapes and disperses behind the cliff.

If you know how to read terrain to some degree, no one could miss this.

…It might literally just be a natural issue.

“Hyung-nim.”

Cheongwun called out.

“Yeah?”

“The float has gone under twice now, so why aren’t you jerking the rod?”

“…No, just.”

“Even if hyung-nim is injured, there’s no way you’d miss that.”

Cheongwun looked into my eyes.

“Hyung-nim, honestly, you hate fish, don’t you?”

I said calmly.

“No, I like fish.”

“Why is your speech getting formal again?”

“I like fish.”

“….”

Cheongwun grinned.

“Hehe, well, truth aside, I’m happy that you’re speaking casually now. And I’m getting more confident. No matter how I look at it, our palace master will really like you, hyung-nim.”

“….”

Noisy.

Really noisy.

But.

This wasn’t entirely unpleasant either.

And that evening.

The iron ball trembled for the first time.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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