Namgung Heavenly Demon - Chapter 33

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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 33

Whoosh—.

The bamboo leaves swayed chaotically in the wind.

“….”

Namgung Mugang, left alone in the Bamboo Forest, silently stared at the wide-open door of Manyeon Hanjeol.

Thud.

Just then, the sound of footsteps on bamboo leaves came from behind him.

Within the family, there was only one person who could pass through the formation leading to Cheonmuggo and enter all the way to the front of this Cheonmuggo.

“You’ve come.”

Namgung Mugang spoke without turning around.

The figure who emerged through the bamboo grove was Jegal Hwa.

She approached with relaxed steps and stood beside him.

This was possible because she was the one who had directly managed and maintained the illusion formation and countless mechanisms surrounding this Cheonmuggo.

“I came because I felt the formation’s energy fluctuating.”

Soon, Jegal Hwa’s gaze turned toward the door that had been tightly closed but was now open.

A strange emotion flickered in her usually calm eyes.

“He finally… opened it.”

“Indeed.”

Namgung Mugang answered calmly.

“And through a very orthodox method at that.”

“Hehe.”

Jegal Hwa let out a small laugh.

“He takes after you, my lord. Confronting things head-on rather than using tricks.”

“…Takes after me.”

Namgung Mugang made a peculiar expression.

He had certainly seen himself in his son.

But at the same time, he had also sensed something completely different from himself.

It was difficult to define precisely, but if he had to say it.

“If my Cheoncheon is meant to embrace the world, then Cheon’s Cheoncheon seems to seek dominion over the world.”

“Are you worried?”

Jegal Hwa asked as if reading his mind.

Namgung Mugang slowly shook his head.

“I’m not sure. Though I haven’t seen Cheon for a long time, he has truly changed.”

Jegal Hwa nodded.

“Parents give birth to children, but they cannot know their hearts. There’s a reason such sayings exist.”

Both smiled awkwardly.

After a brief silence, Namgung Mugang quietly spoke again.

“I thought Hwi was the model of the Namgung family. I believed that’s how a young master of the Orthodox Faction, especially of the Namgung family, should be.”

He continued softly while gazing into the darkness beyond the open door.

“But Cheon is different. He follows orthodox methods yet isn’t bound by those frameworks. As if…”

Namgung Mugang’s eyes deepened.

“As if he already knows what lies beyond, he moves without hesitation. That’s why I think perhaps Cheon might reach places I could never reach.”

Jegal Hwa looked at him in surprise.

The Sword Emperor, called the greatest swordsman under heaven, was speaking of his own limitations.

Namgung Mugang continued calmly.

“So I want to watch. How that child will proceed from here on.”

* * *

A dazzling festival of light.

“Oh…”

An exclamation naturally flowed from Namgung Cheon’s lips.

Hundreds of luminous pearls were embedded in the ceiling and walls of the massive Stone Chamber, their light striking the numerous armor pieces displayed below, creating clusters of brilliance.

Namgung Cheon slowly approached where the armor pieces were arranged.

The first thing that caught his eye was a complete set of armor gleaming golden.

He picked up the arm guard and held it against his arm.

‘Golden Scale Bracer.’

An arm guard with scale-like patterns made by forging Yellow Steel, as hard as White Lotus Steel, multiple times.

He felt its substantial weight.

While ordinary swords couldn’t even scratch it, that was only by normal martial artists’ standards.

‘I don’t need this.’

He put down the arm guard.

Next was a helmet emitting a cool blue light.

When Namgung Cheon put the helmet on his head, his vision cleared and he felt his mind’s distracting thoughts disappear.

‘Clear Mind Crown.’

A divine artifact that suppressed inner demons and cleared the mind.

For demonic practitioners always at risk of qi deviation, this was a dream item.

But helmets obstructed vision and dulled the senses.

‘This won’t do either.’

He continued walking.

The Black Heaven Leg Guards once worn by an ancient Fighting King, the Wind God Feather Robe said to lighten one’s movements.

Each was a peerless treasure that would cause bloodshed if it appeared in the martial world.

Namgung Cheon tried them on directly, moved around, and examined them carefully.

But each time, he felt disappointed.

‘These are amazing items. However…’

Ordinary armor hindered martial arts execution, so most masters avoided wearing armor.

But the items here were masterpieces infused with craftsmen’s souls.

They were so excellent that he could barely feel them when worn.

Even so, Namgung Cheon shook his head.

‘Battles between masters are decided in an instant.’

No matter how light and excellent, the moment something was worn on the body, a very subtle sense of foreignness occurred.

In life-or-death battles decided in an instant, that subtle foreignness could become a fatal opening.

He quickly passed through the area where treasures were displayed.

Eventually, his steps stopped at the section where spiritual medicines were stored.

Dozens of jade and wooden boxes were arranged in perfect order.

Among them, a single jade box placed on a white jade table in the innermost area caught his eye.

Namgung Cheon opened the jade box.

Whoosh—!

Along with brilliant multicolored light, a rich fragrance struck his nostrils.

‘Nine Heavens Divine Pill.’

The miraculous spiritual medicine said to be created by Yakseun.

A divine artifact said to increase internal energy by decades.

Namgung Cheon pondered for a moment.

With this alone, he could instantly elevate his realm.

However.

‘Is this truly the best choice?’

Spiritual medicines were finished once consumed.

Of course, he would gain power, but could that alone allow him to reach Cheoncheon?

‘If I can only take one thing, I must find something more valuable.’

Namgung Cheon boldly closed the lid.

He put the elixir back in its place and moved on again.

The last place he headed to was the bookshelf.

Thousands of martial arts secret manuals were lined up there.

From lost techniques to secret traditions of other sects.

However, to him who had mastered all martial arts under heaven as Cheonma, most of them were merely trivial things.

‘As expected, there’s nothing useful here either.’

Just as he was about to head to the elixir storage area in disappointment.

In the very corner of the bookshelf, an old bamboo scroll covered in thick dust caught his eye in a crevice.

‘…?’

A shabby appearance that didn’t match Cheonmuggo, which was full of treasures that could shake the world.

‘A bamboo scroll, of all things.’

It must have been hundreds of years since bamboo scrolls were last used.

Namgung Cheon slowly approached and picked up the bamboo scroll.

Whoosh.

He blew away the dust, but there was no title written on the cover.

He couldn’t tell if it had been erased due to age, or if it had never been given a name in the first place.

‘What could it be to be stuck away in a place like this?’

As he naturally unrolled the bamboo scroll, the first passage caught his eye.

[The end of martial arts is not strength, but the mind. If the mind does not waver, even if the world shakes, I shall remain calm.]

Namgung Cheon’s brow furrowed.

‘Is this a mind protection technique?’

Mind protection techniques.

Taoists regarded them as part of mental cultivation for pursuing the Way, while in Makyō, they were occasionally learned as auxiliary means to prevent inner demons.

It was a type of martial learning that had been thoroughly ignored by martial artists because it didn’t help with the essence of martial arts—’fighting.’

‘No wonder it was stuck away in a corner.’

None of the previous family heads would have even glanced at it.

There wouldn’t be any family heads who would come into Cheonmuggo and take away something like a mind cultivation method.

Namgung Cheon lost interest and was about to close the bamboo scroll.

Then the next passage suddenly caught his attention.

[Let your mind be like still water. Water flows through all things but does not cling, flows but does not remain.]

The hand that was about to close the bamboo scroll hesitated.

It was a phrase that would typically be written in mind protection techniques.

However, Namgung Cheon thought about the meaning hidden behind the phrase.

‘…Is this the principle of softness overcoming hardness?’

He unrolled the bamboo scroll again.

And read through the next passage.

[Do not refuse what comes, do not grasp what goes.]

At first, it seemed to mean simply let things flow.

But when he read it again, the meaning changed.

‘Accept it.’

Don’t refuse great power, overwhelming torrents—accept them into your vessel.

[If the vessel of the mind is like the sea, even if all the rivers under heaven flow into it, it will not overflow.]

“…!”

A gleam appeared in Namgung Cheon’s eyes.

It was speaking of infinitely expanding the size of the mind itself, creating absolute tranquility that could subdue any turbulence.

Namgung Cheon continued reading through the bamboo scroll’s contents.

Each character embedded itself in his mind and penetrated his inner self.

[Having no form, it can become anything; having no mind, it can contain anything.]

Namgung Cheon’s eyes ceaselessly read through the bamboo scroll’s contents.

At some point, he could no longer smell the fragrance of elixirs filling Cheonmuggo, nor see the brilliant multicolored light emanating from the treasures.

Only himself, the bamboo scroll, and the principles contained within remained.

His consciousness slowly sank into an abyss of unknowable depth.

A state of selflessness.

Absolute immersion where he couldn’t even perceive how much time had passed.

In that silence, Namgung Cheon faced his inner self.

Cheonggung Daeyeon Simbeop settled in his dantian.

That energy, reinterpreted by Cheonma’s will and transformed into something fierce and tyrannical, was always writhing, trying to explode beyond the confines of his narrow body.

He had always controlled this, but there were limits.

However, as the mind protection technique’s incantations permeated him, changes occurred.

A dantian, yet not a dantian—a space.

A vast space was created where energy could rampage freely.

A space without limits.

The writhing energies finally found their place and stabilized, stretching out freely.

‘I can contain it.’

My arrogance, destructive power, and even the greater strength I will gain in the future.

This space could contain it all.

Namgung Cheon trembled.

Setting aside countless treasures and elixirs, this old bamboo scroll hidden in a dust pit was the true secret treasure that Cheonmuggo had been concealing.

Only after reading through to the last passage did he finally open his eyes.

As if awakening from deep sleep, his mind was clear and transparent.

[If there is no mind, there is no enemy and no self.]

[…Then finally, one becomes one with heaven and earth.]

Namgung Cheon looked down at the bamboo scroll in his hands.

A discarded secret manual without even a name.

But now he knew.

This was an important clue that could complete his martial learning as both Namgung and Cheonma.

“It has no name.”

A faint smile spread across Namgung Cheon’s lips.

If it had no name, he could simply give it one.

He fell into thought for a moment.

Something that wouldn’t waver amid all the world’s turbulence—a vast, empty space that could contain anything.

Namgung Cheon quietly murmured.

“Taeheohosimgong.”

The moment that name left his lips.

Whooom—.

The old bamboo scroll in Namgung Cheon’s hands began to vibrate subtly.

Instead of the old wood smell, an indescribable clear and pure fragrance brushed his nostrils.

White clusters of light began rising from the end of the bamboo scroll.

Like a swarm of fireflies dancing, each character became light and scattered into midair.

Those lights didn’t disappear but circled around Namgung Cheon before seeping into his chest area.

A full yet warm energy swirled around his chest.

And then.

Crumble—.

The bamboo scroll instantly turned to ash and flowed through his fingers.

“….”

Namgung Cheon stared blankly at his empty hands.

The substance he had been holding just moments ago had vanished without a trace.

However, he felt a heavier and more massive energy than ever before in his chest.

‘The form disappears, but the essence remains?’

It was an ending that seemed to embody the teaching of Taeheohosimgong that one must empty to fill.

“Strange. But not bad.”

He turned his body toward the exit of Cheonmuggo with empty hands.

‘This is enough.’

Taeheohosimgong, plus the Infinite Treasure and the fully completed Cheoncheon Mangsang Style.

There was nothing more to gain from Cheonmuggo—no, from Namgung right now.

Therefore.

‘It’s time to leave.’

To the vast world called Junghwon.

And in that world, I will prove it.

That my sword can reach Cheoncheon.

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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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