I Prayed for a Murim Reincarnation, But I Was Born as the Youngest Imperial Prince - Chapter 100

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 100
“Both parties, greet each other.”
“I am Namgung Su’on, the Jian Long of the Namgung Clan. Since my uncle mentioned he learned a great deal from the fast sword of the Eunhak Sect, I have high expectations as well.”
“Dan Suyeong of the Eunhak Sect. As for my moniker… I believe it will be decided after this martial sparring ends.”
Dan Suyeong held back his temper and exchanged greetings.
Though their swords remained sheathed, the momentum rising from each man was already piercing the other.
Dan Suyeong’s sword qi was sharp.
A razor-thin aura, concentrated into a single strand, shot forward as if to impale Namgung Su’on.
Conversely, the momentum Namgung Su’on unleashed to counter it was noble and grave, like a sovereign ruling the heavens.
Even if both possessed immense weight, a presence imbued with the grandeur of mountains was distinctly different from one possessing the majesty of a heavenly ruler.
It was not merely grand; it carried a crushing dignity that looked down from above.
That very dignity resided within Namgung Su’on’s momentum.
“Oh, that really is a monarch’s presence.”
Seonwu admired.
[Hey, compared to you, that guy’s presence and dignity make him look much more like a king, don’t you think?]
Seonwu let out a smirk at the sound transmission Zhuge Jun tossed his way.
[What are you talking about? I know how to carry myself with dignity when the situation calls for it!]
[Really?]
[Gosh, you’re only saying that because you didn’t see how solemnly I behaved during my investiture ceremony.]
[That must have been pure acting.]
[Ahem. Don’t you think being unkingly and frivolous is something only a true king can afford to do?]
If those who aren’t kings act frivolous, they’re just frivolous—it doesn’t make them ‘unkingly.’
Only a true king can be ‘unkingly frivolous.’
Zhuge Jun sneered at Seonwu’s logic.
[By your logic, cross-dressing must be the most manly thing to do, since only men can do it.]
Seonwu was struck speechless.
Damn it, it was even more infuriating because he couldn’t think of a comeback right away.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t learned how to act like imperial royalty or a proper king, nor was it that he lacked the ability.
It was just that since the consciousness of his past life still existed, he found it more comfortable to put on etiquette only when necessary and cast it aside normally.
What was so wrong with that!
He decided to just cheer instead.
“Hey! Dan Suyeong! Don’t back down! Don’t let his momentum crush you! Are kings and nobles born from a different seed?!”
Seonwu’s shout suddenly drew the attention of the entire audience.
More eyes locked onto Seonwu than onto the two combatants themselves.
Horrified, Zhuge Jun jabbed Seonwu in the flank with his fan.
[You madman! How could you yell that here!]
[Uh… is that bad? I just meant he shouldn’t be intimidated by the Imperial Sword Form.]
[Hey, you idiot. That phrase carries a level of danger on a whole different dimension compared to metaphorically calling someone a king or an emperor within their own field.]
In actual history, that was the representative declaration of a rebel commander who shook the empire to its core.
To think he would shout something fitting for a budding rebel in a place where everyone could hear.
[Is… is that so?]
Zhuge Jun fanned himself and added aloud,
“Looking at the monkers of the Wulin, the title of king is earned by the strongest master, not inherited because of whose son you are. However, your words could be misinterpreted, so they seem rather inappropriate.”
“Ahem, I got caught up in the atmosphere and went too far.”
Responding to Zhuge Jun’s words, Seonwu salvaged the situation.
‘Come to think of it, while I don’t know about counts or generals, denying that kings are born from a special lineage is basically a prelude to treason.’
The crowd’s gaze finally drifted away.
‘Reports will probably go up later saying that Seonyoung of the Eunhak Sect made a sacrilegious remark…’
But the two adages of the admirals would cut it off.
Seonwu chose to think light of it.
Would the Golden Dragon Guard or Yuelongwei really come investigate just because he made a small slip of the tongue?
He had a very sturdy backing, after all.
* * *
The martial sparring commenced.
As the two drew their swords, the crowd forgot about Seonwu’s slip of the tongue and focused entirely on the arena.
Namgung Su’on stood motionless with his sword extended forward.
Yet, the momentum rising from him expanded, enveloping the entire dueling platform.
To him, a monarch was one who sat facing south to rule over all under heaven.
A ruler who, by majesty alone, made ten thousand people submit and follow.
Furthermore, one who sat at the highest peak, attending to all affairs of state while looking down upon the masses.
Every single word he spoke had to be absolute.
Therefore, every single strike of his sword had to be supreme.
The sword of a martial artist is different.
The sword of a general is different.
And the sword of a monarch is different.
The aura enveloping and observing Dan Suyeong signaled that whatever he chose to do, he was already within that sovereign majesty.
‘Emperor’s Heavenly Eyes.’
Like the eyes of a monarch looking down from the heavens, Namgung Su’on’s aura, which dominated the territory, completely swallowed Dan Suyeong.
The slightest tremor of his muscles.
The fluctuations of his qi.
There was absolutely nothing that went undetected.
‘Domain control.’
Namgung Su’on was achieving at the Peak Realm what masters of the Realm of Creation were known to do.
Of course, it wasn’t to the extent of rewriting the laws of that domain like a master of the Realm of Creation would, but…
Seonwu marveled, taking the opponent’s cultivation realm into account.
‘Still, with that level of control, he can completely grasp his opponent’s movements and any underhanded tricks even with his eyes closed.’
That was an incredible feat.
It truly deserved to be called the maximization of qi sense.
At the same time, because he suppressed his opponent’s movements with the qi he deployed, the enemy would feel overwhelmed and daunted, completely read and suppressed before they could even attempt anything.
While qi sense was something any master at the peak possessed, the level of the ‘Emperor’s Heavenly Eyes’ conjured by the Namgung’s Imperial Sword Form was in a different class entirely.
It truly dominated the entire domain and grasped every single movement of the opponent.
To be this uniquely precise and thorough made it an exceptional ultimate technique.
As expected of a first-class master from the Earth Pavilion.
‘And it’s interesting. It’s clearly a martial art of a king, just like mine, but it’s completely different from the arts I’ve learned.’
Looking back, his own Soaring Phoenix Sword was also the sword of King Zhuang of Chu.
In truth, the sword of King Zhuang of Chu, one of the most powerful rulers of the Spring and Autumn period, did not put on airs of majesty like that.
‘In a way, it’s a cunning and clever sword.’
The first move, Neither Flying Nor Crying, possessed the subtle logic of gathering qi without the opponent’s knowledge to launch a surprise attack.
The second move, the Banquet of Broken Hat-Strings, was equally covert and dangerous.
The third move, Inquiring the Weight of the Nine Cauldrons, charged straight ahead, but that could be seen as driving in the final stake after gaining an advantage with the previous two.
Perhaps it was because King Zhuang of Chu himself chose to devise strategies and crush his enemies to expand his territory rather than simply reigning with pompous dignity.
The way of the king for King Zhuang of Chu was a military strategy that never shied away from schemes.
On the other hand, what about the Zhuyu Tianxia Bu?
It retreated quickly and fled stealthily.
How could this be considered a king’s dignity?
Yet, as one mastered that footwork technique, the philosophy of Jin Wengong became clear: dignity didn’t matter; surviving until the very end was what meant winning.
One had to survive to act as a king.
‘Indeed, that’s absolutely true.’
The reason the Zhuyu Tianxia Bu had been so easy to learn was that it aligned perfectly with his own thoughts.
Was it not said that the one who laughs last laughs best?
‘Even during the Ming Dynasty, if Emperor Chongzhen had fled south at the right time, the Southern Ming might have held out much longer.’
Though in this world, that piece of history didn’t matter at all…
While it was better not to have to flee, knowing when to run was also an ability.
Jin Wengong embodied that kind of kingly way.
‘In contrast, the fist technique of Emperor Shizong of Later Zhou feels like the world will be governed naturally if I just march forward straight and upright as a king.’
It seemed similar to the Imperial Sword Form, yet it differed.
Rather than pressing down and reigning, his fist technique was a direct action to pacify the world by extending straight forward.
‘Fascinating. They are all kings, yet they are all different kinds of kings.’
And the real show of the Namgung’s Imperial Sword Form was about to begin.
He wanted to see how he would maintain his reign when facing a rebel like Dan Suyeong.
Just as Seonwu anticipated, Dan Suyeong moved first.
Swoosh.
A truly swift sword shot forward in an ultra-high-speed straight line, aiming directly at Namgung Su’on’s vital point.
In response, Namgung Su’on used his heavy sword to claim the key position first, blocking and suppressing that swiftness.
‘He really is fast.’
Even while blocking, Su’on admired his opponent.
If his uncle, Namgung Hyeok-in, hadn’t warned him in advance that this fast sword surpassed the conventional boundaries of speed by half a beat, he might have been caught off guard to some extent.
Dan Suyeong’s sword poured down like a sudden shower.
Stabbing.
Stabbing again.
And stabbing once more.
Aiming for the upper body.
Aiming for the lower body.
Aiming for the midsection.
The strikes rained down in continuous succession, shifting targets in the blink of an eye.
It was a barrage of flashes, a series of single flashes that threatened to pierce through the slightest opening.
The rapid, continuous thrusts were barely visible to the majority of the spectators.
Even for those with decent eyesight, the sword left afterimages, making it look as though multiple blades were striking at once.
Only masters of a certain caliber could perceive it accurately.
“My goodness.”
“He is incredibly fast.”
Had it been them, they would have only realized they were attacked after being impaled by the very first strike.
It was a literal instant kill.
“What a terrifyingly fast sword and a deadly killing sword.”
However, there stood a shield capable of blocking this uncatchable speed.
Namgung Su’on, who had dominated the arena with a monarch’s majesty, tracked the flow of every incoming strike with perfect qi sense.
Reading both the variations and the speed, his heavy sword preemptively occupied the spot where the attack would land.
A monarch does not act rashly, but when he takes a single step, it shakes the mountains.
The momentum generated each time his sword moved piled up in layers.
The fast sword piercing through it began to lose its impetus.
As the heavy sword deflected the strikes, the fast sword did not dare to collide directly and retreated instead.
At a glance, it looked as though Dan Suyeong’s fast sword was fleeing of its own accord each time Namgung’s blade advanced a step, despite trying to mount a surprise assault.
“Wow, but to think even such a fast sword can’t break through, the Namgung Clan is truly something else.”
“Indeed, absolutely. It’s true that the young masters of the Eunhak Sect have achieved great things recently, but even so, how can the depth of their martial arts compare to the Namgung Clan?”
Those who had wagered their money on the Namgung Clan spoke in that manner, discussing their side’s dominance.
However, Muyyeonggae and Cheolbonggae of the Beggars’ Sect, who were watching as judges, felt differently.
‘It is much tighter than it looks.’
If one purely looked at the clash of swords, it appeared as though Namgung Su’on was pressing down on Dan Suyeong.
But why was he failing to advance boldly and only countering?
There was a risk that he could crumble from a single counterattack.
The opponent possessed that level of speed.
Despite reading the movements perfectly with the Emperor’s Heavenly Eyes—
—the attacks arrived with such extreme speed that there was simply no opening to counter after blocking.
An attack of extreme speed that seemed to ask the one reading it, ‘So what if you can read me?’
With this, Dan Suyeong fought back against the Imperial Sword Form.
There was one more reason…
‘It must be because of the armguards.’
The armguards on Dan Suyeong’s left arm that had brought down Namgung Hyeok-in.
An ordinary piece of armor would be sliced like tofu by the sword of a peak master.
However, when worn by someone who knew how to infuse it with protective qi to block and slide a blade away, it became an entirely different story.
‘If he attacks carelessly and his blade slips, he will expose his throat to the fast sword’s counterattack in the next instant. Even the Namgung Clan cannot suppress him as easily as they would a novice.’
In the current exchange, Dan Suyeong was testing the waters while holding back his trump card, and Namgung was doing the same, highly conscious of that very card.
Neither could easily transition to the next phase.
‘This won’t last forever, so who will be the first to seek a change?’
* * *
Dan Suyeong waited.
Deep down, he wanted to tear his opponent apart and secure a swift victory, but the man was formidable.
He was stronger than Namgung Hyeok-in, and he understood Dan Suyeong’s patterns even better than his uncle had.
‘I must wait.’
At this rate, it was a tense equilibrium.
Even if they exchanged a thousand moves, a victor would not emerge.
If this were a life-or-death duel, they would see it through to the bitter end regardless, but this was a martial sparring match.
And if it dragged on too long and the judges declared a draw, who would suffer a greater loss?
‘No matter how much my true heart wishes to offer victory to my lord, on the surface, the Eunhak Sect is an unknown sect.’
They were a group on the brink of ruin, barely being revived by two young masters who had found a fortuitous encounter.
On the other hand, the Namgung Clan was a force of renowned prestige that still possessed martial arts and masters, even if their wealth had been confiscated by the Imperial Family.
‘From their perspective, needing to reclaim their dignity through martial arts and rebuild their clan’s fortune, a draw against me is no different from a defeat.’
Strategically, there are battles where a draw is acceptable, and battles where one absolutely must win.
The one who had to squeeze out the next move was Namgung Su’on.
‘Now, come at me.’
* * *
Zhuge Jun assessed the situation in this manner.
‘It’s a situation where one sets an ambush and waits for the enemy to advance. The opponent knows this as well, but there are times when you have no choice but to charge even when you know.’
For instance, like a general who must charge even with an unprepared army because the emperor is pressuring him.
‘Of course, Namgung Su’on also knows that Dan Suyeong is aiming for something, so he won’t rush in blindly.’
What would he choose to do?
* * *
Namgung Su’on also recognized that the moment of decision had arrived.
‘If this drags on too long, the strength of the Namgung Clan will be questioned even if I win.’
He had grasped the opponent’s speed.
The only thing left unanalyzed was the armguard technique.
However, he had studied it thoroughly beforehand.
‘If he tries to deflect it, I will simply crush it entirely.’
The majesty of a monarch cannot be bypassed by petty tricks.
Kneel down.
‘Heaven’s Will Cannot Be Evaded.’
The ultimate move of the Imperial Sword Form finally flared into motion.
This was the exact moment Dan Suyeong had been waiting for.

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