Namgung Heavenly Demon - Chapter 32
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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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Chapter 32
Before Namgung Cheon who stepped inside stretched an endlessly long passage.
And along that long passage, densely embedded night pearls emitted a gentle light.
It was enough to create the illusion of walking beneath the Milky Way in the night sky.
Namgung Cheon slowly began to walk.
A silent path where only his footsteps were the sole noise.
After advancing about dozens of steps.
The narrow passage ended, and his vision suddenly opened wide as a massive plaza revealed itself.
And.
“…The Namgung are truly obsessed with swords.”
Sword Forest.
The plaza was literally a forest made of swords.
On the floor, swords were densely embedded with their blades pointing upward, and from the ceiling, swords hung upside down like sharp stalactites.
Even the walls were completely covered with sword blades without gaps.
A space where only swords existed, with no room even to step.
When Namgung Cheon took one more step closer, the formation activated and the Sword Forest began to react.
Wooong—.
An unpleasant sound filled the space as thousands of swords resonated together.
The swords on the floor vibrated minutely, and the swords on the ceiling swayed as if they would fall at any moment.
‘It won’t be easy to pass through.’
Namgung Cheon realized that the swords were not simply fixed in place.
They would move like living creatures and tear apart any intruder.
He briefly steadied his breathing.
‘I can’t break through with force.’
There were too many swords.
If he broke one, ten would fly at him, and if he broke ten, a hundred would attack.
The moment he confronted them with force, he would be swept away by a wave of swords and disappear without a trace.
‘I must avoid them. Without touching, without grazing.’
Namgung Cheon took his first step.
At that moment.
Shing—!
One sword shot up from the floor, aiming for his leg.
Simultaneously, two swords fell from the ceiling.
Namgung Cheon instinctively used the Cloud Stepping technique.
He leaned his upper body backward to avoid the floor sword, then twisted his body half a beat later to deflect the ceiling swords.
Crash!
Where he had dodged, the ceiling swords embedded deeply into the floor.
But this was only the beginning.
Swish! Swish swish swish!
Reacting to his movement, swords flew like rain from all directions.
Front, back, left, right. There was nowhere to escape.
Namgung Cheon used Cloud Stepping once more.
It was the footwork technique he had previously improved by adding irregularity.
But it wasn’t enough.
‘The essence of Cloud Stepping lies in its roots.’
Firmly planting one’s feet on the ground and maintaining one’s center.
No matter how much irregularity he added, he still needed a moment to stop and apply force.
And that instant of stillness became a fatal opening in this torrential sword forest.
Slash—!
His sleeve tore away and a thin line of blood was drawn across his skin.
‘If I stop, I die.’
Namgung Cheon realized.
What was needed to break through this place wasn’t something like stillness within motion.
He had to advance continuously without stopping.
At that moment, the steps that Namgung Mugang had shown him earlier flashed through his mind.
Infinite Step.
A footwork technique without fixed form that changed infinitely according to the situation and advanced endlessly.
‘Yes, I’ll layer Infinite Step over the framework of Cloud Stepping.’
Namgung Cheon’s eyes changed.
Once again, dozens of swords rushed toward him.
‘I won’t stop.’
He neither stopped to avoid nor retreated backward.
Tap tap tap!
Namgung Cheon’s form shot forward.
Light movement that skimmed the ground like riding the wind, without putting force into his toes.
Whoosh!
His body slipped through the narrow gap between swords like sliding.
He passed by a sword blade flying from the front with a paper-thin margin, then used a sword rushing from the side as a foothold to leap into midair again.
A cold sword touched his toes, but didn’t cut him.
It was thanks to completely releasing his strength and entrusting his body to the flow, following the principle of Infinite Step.
‘Don’t go against the flow.’
The trajectory of the flying swords, the constant flow contained within them.
Namgung Cheon read that flow and rode upon it.
Like a boat cutting through water currents, he leisurely made his way through the pouring sword rain.
His movements gradually became faster.
Just as he seemed to dash in a straight line, he curved in an arc, and just as he seemed to stop, he explosively accelerated.
The explosive propulsion of Cloud Stepping and the unpredictable changes of Infinite Step began to fuse into one.
Thousands of swords danced aiming for him, but not a single sword could even graze his hem.
Wind.
He became simply a single gust of wind flowing through the gaps between swords.
‘I can see it.’
The movement of the swords and the rules contained within them were clearly visible.
Where was blocked and where was open.
Where to step to live and where stepping meant death.
Tap tap. Tap.
Namgung Cheon crossed half of the Sword Forest in an instant.
But the trial wasn’t over.
Crash!
As he passed the center of the plaza, the swords’ movements became even more bizarre and ferocious.
Instead of striking straight, they flew spinning and bent their trajectories to persistently target vital points.
The pressure felt like simultaneously dueling with dozens of swordsmen.
‘Good.’
A smile appeared on Namgung Cheon’s lips.
Shing—!
He increased his speed even more.
Crash!
Finally, the last barrier.
Hundreds of swords formed a massive wall as they came crashing down on him.
There was nowhere to escape.
Nevertheless, Namgung Cheon did not retreat.
Thud!
A single leap.
Namgung Cheon’s body stretched strangely in midair.
And he squeezed his body through the narrow gap between the swords.
Swish— Slash!
Dozens of sword blades simultaneously grazed past his clothes.
Perfect evasion without a hair’s breadth of error, cutting only clothes without touching flesh.
Thud.
Namgung Cheon’s feet touched the flat ground beyond Geomrim.
Behind him, hundreds of swords that had sliced through the air collided with each other, creating a tremendous roar.
Clang!
Namgung Cheon slowly straightened his body.
He looked back at the path he had walked, at Geomrim.
The swords still dancing while emitting killing intent.
But now they could no longer pose a threat.
He had already mastered the way to walk upon those swords.
A new footwork technique, a new sensation.
Footwork as if walking upon the heavens.
Namgung Cheon quietly opened his mouth.
“Cheonhaengbo (Heavenly Steps).”
It was new wings for the Cheoncheon Mansang Style.
* * *
His steps after obtaining Cheonhaengbo were without hindrance.
The minor traps that sprang out from the darkness could no longer even pose a threat.
He passed through the passage leisurely as if taking a stroll.
How long had he walked?
The narrow passage widened once more, revealing a massive cavern.
A space far more vast than even Geomrim.
But this place was not as chaotic as Geomrim.
Rather, it was filled with a quiet and solemn atmosphere where even breathing could be heard.
And in the center of that space.
A massive cliff stood towering.
A giant stone like a pillar supporting the heavens, reaching dozens of zhang in height.
Namgung Cheon instinctively sensed that this cliff was the core of this trial.
As he approached the cliff, a single massive mark carved on its surface caught his eye.
‘A sword scar.’
From the very top of the cliff to the bottom.
It was a massive sword scar created by a single slash.
The cut surface was smooth, and its depth was so deep it seemed endless.
Moreover, a cool and sharp energy still flowed from the sword scar.
‘Remarkable.’
Namgung Cheon was genuinely amazed.
And only then did the scenery around that massive sword scar come into view.
Around the cliff, countless small sword scars were chaotically carved on the ground and walls.
From shallow ones to fairly deep ones.
‘Were they trying to imitate that sword scar?’
His gaze turned to small writing carved next to the massive sword scar.
“Namgung Heon.”
It was the name of the founder of the Namgung Clan, the First Head of the Clan called the Heavenly Sword God.
Next to the sword scar stood a small gravestone.
A single phrase was carved on the gravestone.
「 .」
“Only after cutting down the heavens can one stand above the heavens.”
Namgung Cheon immediately grasped the meaning of the phrase.
‘Does it mean to surpass this sword scar?’
He reached out to trace the surface of the sword scar.
It was to read the exact depth of the sword scar and its energy.
At that moment.
Tingle—!
A thrill flowed through his fingertips.
‘This energy…’
An energy that transcended sword principles where dominance and swift strength coexisted.
It was not unfamiliar.
Memories from his past life flashed through his mind.
The noble yet rough swordsmanship that Namgung Mugang had displayed.
Namgung Cheon’s eyes narrowed.
‘Then this sword scar is…’
The ultimate sword born from the culmination of all of Namgung’s techniques, the Imperial Sword Form.
The First Head of the Clan had carved the principles of the Imperial Sword Form into this cliff.
The successive heads of the clan probably opened the path by synchronizing with or recreating this sword scar through the Imperial Sword Form.
Through the proper method.
But the Imperial Sword Form was a secret technique that only the head of the clan could learn.
Namgung Cheon let out a bitter laugh.
The current Namgung Cheon didn’t even know its incantations.
How could he imitate a sword he didn’t know and open this door?
But at that moment, a thought crossed his mind.
‘Do I need to imitate it in the first place?’
Was what the First Head of the Clan truly wanted a descendant who would mimic his sword?
His gaze turned to the gravestone beside the cliff.
Only after cutting down the heavens can one stand above the heavens.
‘No.’
The words written on the gravestone meant to surpass the past Namgung and open new heavens.
‘By imitating the Imperial Sword Form, one can never become greater than it.’
There is no copy superior to the original.
Then there was only one answer.
‘I cut with my own sword.’
Namgung Cheon drew Cheoncheon.
Shing—.
He erased the afterimage of the Imperial Sword Form from his mind.
He forgot both the swordsmanship Namgung Mugang had shown and the First Head of the Clan’s massive sword scar.
Within him remained only one thing, the sword he had created himself.
‘Cheoncheon Mansang Style.’
A sword that envelops with the softness of sea of clouds, pierces with the destructive power of heavenly thunder, and cuts with the light of moonbeams.
Whooooom—!
Cheoncheon began to resonate.
Black light mixed into the blue sword energy that wrapped around the blade.
Namgung Cheon slowly raised his sword.
Air currents swirled around him like a storm.
Stones from the ground rose up, and small sword marks were erased by the currents.
‘My goal is not to stand above the heavens.’
Another heaven.
To become that itself.
‘That is my Cheoncheon, and my sword.’
The moment Namgung Cheon brought down his sword.
Kwaaa—!!
A thunderous roar erupted.
Next to the First Head of the Clan’s sword mark, a massive sword mark began to be carved into the cliff.
Kugugugugung!
The entire cliff shook violently. Dust poured down from the ceiling.
After a moment, when the dust settled and visibility was restored.
Namgung Cheon looked at the cliff while breathing heavily.
Another massive sword mark had been created.
If the First Head of the Clan’s sword mark was smooth yet deep.
“It looks like something a beast clawed.”
Namgung Cheon’s sword mark was endlessly ferocious.
A terribly destructive trace.
This was a new path that had never existed once in Namgung’s history, one that only Namgung Cheon could create.
He glanced once at the First Head of the Clan’s sword mark, then caressed the sword mark he had made.
“A Namgung sword, or a non-Namgung sword?”
At that moment, the inscription on the gravestone glowed softly as if congratulating him.
Kugugung.
And beside the cliff, the wall of the cavity slowly split open with a rumbling sound.
Brilliant multicolored light poured out from within.
A smile spread across Namgung Cheon’s lips.
“Now this finally looks like a proper Treasure Trove.”
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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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