Namgung Heavenly Demon - Chapter 7

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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 7

The next morning, as soon as dawn broke, an unexpected figure visited Namgung Cheon’s quarters.

It was Namgung Un, his mother Jegal Hwa’s confidant and the family’s chief steward.

He was a figure who always stayed by Jegal Hwa’s side like a shadow, and within the family, his actions were understood as Jegal Hwa’s will.

This same man came carrying a luxurious wooden box and bowed respectfully to Namgung Cheon.

“Third Young Master, this is an item sent by the Acting Family Head.”

His attitude was extremely courteous, but deep in his eyes lurked undeniable suspicion.

The youngest master who had no presence until yesterday had overnight become a storm that shook the entire family.

It was natural that he couldn’t fully trust Namgung Cheon’s sudden transformation.

Namgung Cheon silently received the wooden box.

A heavy yet strange warmth was transmitted through his palms.

When he opened the lid, inside the box was a single elixir with red and gold light mysteriously intertwined.

‘Cheonwang Bosimdan…’

Just its presence alone made the qi and blood throughout his body seem to boil.

“The Acting Head said that handling this elixir is also the Young Master’s responsibility. Then, I shall take my leave.”

After conveying only his business, Namgung Un turned around without hesitation and disappeared.

Namgung Cheon gazed at the closed door for a moment, then turned his gaze to look down at the elixir in his hand.

‘Handling it is also my responsibility.’

His mother’s test was not yet over.

This elixir was both a reward and another trial testing the size of his vessel.

He did not hesitate.

After sitting in proper meditation posture, he put the Cheonwang Bosimdan directly into his mouth.

The moment the elixir passed down his esophagus and reached his dantian.

Kwaaaaang―!

A ferocious and intense heat that could make one lose consciousness struck his entire body from within his stomach.

“Kugh.”

A groan burst from Namgung Cheon’s mouth at the pain that felt like his dantian would explode.

Cheonwang Bosimdan (Heavenly King Heart-Supplementing Pill).

Despite its name meaning ‘supplementing the king’s heart,’ its essence was closer to destruction.

A method of completely breaking the old, narrow vessel and forging a new vessel upon those remains.

If it had been an ordinary martial artist, just this first shockwave would have melted all the meridians in their body, turning them into a cripple.

But Namgung Cheon instead accepted this terrible destruction head-on.

‘Break it. And remake it.’

Based on his previous life’s experience, he grasped the reins of the wildly rampaging energy.

The meridians that had barely opened a path by completing one Small Heavenly Circuit now began to be mercilessly expanded by the massive energy flowing in like a great river.

Each blood vessel swelled taut, and his muscles and bones twisted while screaming.

Pain like flesh tearing and bones crumbling came in waves.

The moment his body exceeded the critical point it could endure.

His consciousness began to blur.

If he lost his mind like this, his body would be torn apart by the rampaging energy.

At that moment, memories from his previous life flashed through Namgung Cheon’s mind.

The arrogant will that had never been broken even amid countless betrayals and life-threatening crises.

Cheonma’s soul drove his weakened body.

‘I cannot kneel to mere pain of this level.’

He forcibly held onto his consciousness and drove the energy even more fiercely.

If he couldn’t avoid it, he would rather charge toward its center.

The pain had already transcended the realm of sensation.

Just as his consciousness was about to blur.

Crack crack crack―!

Along his body’s centerline, his spine, sounds of something firmly blocked breaking burst out in succession.

The Conception Vessel and Governing Vessel.

The two greatest channels through which heaven and earth’s energy flows in and out of the human body.

That forbidden realm that could never be reached with meager internal energy began to open through the Cheonwang Bosimdan’s ferocious energy and Cheonma’s will that overcame it.

The moment the two blocked vessels opened, the rampaging energy instantly regained stability like a river meeting a vast ocean.

And it began a circulation incomparably greater and smoother than before.

The destroyed meridians were reconstructed more tenaciously and solidly, internal energy flowed throughout his body without obstruction, and his dantian became deep and wide like an inexhaustible lake.

All the turbid energy in his body was pushed out and filled to his very bones with clear, pure energy.

Time passed like this, and when complete night had arrived.

Namgung Cheon slowly opened his eyes.

Flash―.

Blue energy momentarily illuminated the room.

‘…Tremendous.’

The Cheonwang Bosimdan was in no way inferior even compared to Makyō’s high-grade elixirs.

No, considering that Makyō’s elixirs usually left side effects even after enduring them, this could be said to be better.

‘My level has risen greatly.’

Everything in his quarters looked different from before.

Even a single speck of dust floating in the air, even the outline of moonlight flowing through the window paper was clear as if he could grasp it in his hand.

‘Opening the Conception and Governing Vessels. I’ve crossed one mountain.’

He slowly rose from his seat.

With each movement of his body, he felt lightness and fullness.

With a satisfied smile, he opened the door and stepped outside.

To completely surpass yesterday’s self.

And to lead Namgung’s sword to a new realm.

* * *

Namgung Cheon stood in the small courtyard behind his quarters.

He drew Changcheon from his waist.

The sword’s weight, which had felt heavy before, now felt as comfortable as an extension of his own arm.

Sring―.

As the blade revealed itself with a clear sound, the cool blue light mingled with moonlight to create a mystical scene.

It was truly worthy of being called Namgung’s treasured sword.

Namgung Cheon adjusted his grip on the sword and slowly closed his eyes.

In his mind rose the first technique of the Namgung Clan’s hereditary sword method, the Vast Sky Limitless Sword Technique.

First technique, Mountain-Splitting Heaven-Opening.

Meaning to split layered mountains and open the heavens.

It was the fundamental technique of the Vast Sky Limitless Sword Technique that crushed opponents head-on with overwhelming weight and momentum.

The original Mountain-Splitting Heaven-Opening required firmly fixing the lower body while gently circulating internal energy through the muscles, bones, and meridians of the entire body.

The orthodox method was to slowly layer energy throughout the sword, making the sword and body achieve weight as if they had become one ‘mountain.’

That was the essence of the Mountain-Splitting Heaven-Opening sword technique.

But Namgung Cheon did not follow it.

‘Crushing? What foolishness.’

Cheonma’s thinking was different.

‘Power weakens the more it’s spread. Everything must be condensed to one point and torn through.’

He pushed the abundant internal energy flowing through his Conception and Governing Vessels directly into his arm.

Unlike before, his strengthened meridians easily handled all that power.

Bluish sword energy thickly wrapped around the entire blade.

And he drew the sword vertically toward the front.

Slash―.

There was no thunderous roar.

Instead, a sharp sound of cutting through air rang out.

In the void where the sword had passed, a vivid blue afterimage seemed to flicker, and soon a streak of sword energy shot forth, cleanly splitting the massive rock in the corner of the courtyard like tofu.

“….”

Namgung Cheon silently gazed at that overwhelming result.

‘The trajectory of the technique is Jungsan Opening Heaven. However, the interpretation contained within it belongs to Cheonma.’

Though it was Namgung’s swordsmanship, the destructive power and killing intent hidden within it.

This was precisely the path he would walk.

He devoted himself to training until dawn broke.

Each time a technique of the Changung Muae Sword Method unfolded, increasingly vivid and ominous blue trajectories layered upon each other in the courtyard.

The lines that had been unstable at first gradually transformed into sharp and consistent forms.

When the eastern sky finally brightened, he at last sheathed his sword.

His entire body was drenched in sweat, but he had never felt this good since obtaining his new body.

As he caught his breath for a moment, he suddenly recalled the final scene of his previous life.

Cheonmajeon stained with blood.

What had become of Makyō after that terrible internal strife?

But he immediately shook his head.

‘There’s no time to be bound by the past.’

Decades had already passed.

Whatever those bastards were doing, whoever had become the new master, it was meaningless to his current self.

What mattered was only the power held in these hands and the greater power he would need to obtain in the future.

Power.

That was the sole law and order of this world.

In his previous life, the elders of Makyō had schemed to gain influence, forming factions and engaging in sordid political maneuvering.

But all those dark struggles were nothing more than sandcastles before his overwhelming martial prowess.

What they truly feared and submitted to was not the position of sect leader, but the absolute power possessed by the being called Cheonma.

‘Power itself is authority, the throne, and the only path to make others follow.’

This was not merely the way of the demonic path.

Whether orthodox or unorthodox sects put forth plausible justifications, ultimately the essence of the martial world was that the words of the strong carried weight.

Then there was only one path.

‘Prove it.’

The martial prowess hidden behind the name of this once-weak Namgung Cheon.

And the most certain method of that proof was to defeat the strong.

‘In that case….’

A faint smile crossed his lips.

Then he turned without hesitation and left his residence.

* * *

Bieliong Gate.

As a mid-tier orthodox sect, though it hadn’t made a great name for itself under heaven, it had formed a power within Anhui Province that no one could ignore.

Since Gwak San of the Thunderbolt Blade had become sect leader over a decade ago, Bieliong Gate had been growing in momentum day by day.

“Keuaaap!”

In the center of the training ground, Gwak San’s arm moved with a resounding battle cry.

The great blade in his hands struck down like lightning.

The blade edge imbued with sharp blade energy pierced between the wooden dummies filling the training ground.

Kwakwakwang―!

Five or six wooden dummies exploded simultaneously, scattering wood fragments in all directions.

Exclamations involuntarily burst from the mouths of the disciples watching the training from the surroundings.

It was undoubtedly the realm of absolute mastery.

But Gwak San’s assessment was different.

‘…Just when will I be able to surpass it?’

He caught his rough breathing and readjusted his grip on the blade.

Others praised his martial prowess, but he himself could not be satisfied.

Though he had reached the peak of absolute mastery, he could hardly see any clue to advance beyond it.

This frustrating state of stagnation had been continuing for several years already.

Moreover, the rumors circulating in Hefei recently were further fanning his impatience.

The story that the insignificant youngest young master of the Namgung Clan had received sword tokens, and two of them at that.

‘If that rumor is true, the situation in Anhui Province will soon be greatly shaken.’

To survive in such turbulent times and furthermore elevate the sect to the next level, his current power was insufficient.

“Sect Leader! Sect Leader!”

Just as he was about to raise his blade again, a disciple came running into the training ground with an urgent expression.

Gwak San frowned and asked.

“What’s the matter? Causing a commotion during training.”

“B-but Sect Leader! A guest… a guest has come!”

“A guest?”

The disciple swallowed his dry saliva and spoke almost in a whisper.

“The Third Young Master of the Namgung Clan has come personally!”

“What?”

Gwak San’s eyes shook violently.

The Namgung Clan.

A massive existence under the same sky of Hefei, yet one he had never dared to even consider approaching for relations.

For what purpose had a young master of such a Namgung Clan, and the Third Young Master who was at the center of recent rumors at that, come?

All sorts of imaginings flashed through his mind.

“…Guide him in.”

Gwak San spoke while hiding his complex feelings.

He hastily arranged his attire and moved his steps.

His footsteps heading toward the guest hall were filled with heavy tension instead of his usual boldness.

The guest hall he finally arrived at.

In its center stood the man he had only heard about in rumors.

Expensive-looking martial robes and two swords hanging at his waist.

Despite his handsome appearance, the aura felt from him was so quiet and cold that its depth was difficult to fathom.

Gwak San unconsciously swallowed his saliva.

Though his opponent appeared much younger than himself, his mere presence was suppressing the momentum of himself, an absolute master.

He instinctively sensed that the rumors related to the sword tokens were by no means boastful.

Gwak San struggled to maintain his composure and spoke first.

“Bieliong Gate Leader Gwak San greets the Third Young Master of Namgung. For what purpose have you graced this humble place….”

Namgung Cheon.

He lightly acknowledged Gwak San’s greeting with a nod.

Then, without any beating around the bush, he brought up his business.

“I have heard much of the Thunderbolt Blade’s reputation.”

He continued speaking.

“I have come to verify with my own eyes whether that reputation is genuine.”

Proof of martial prowess.

It was the beginning of a martial challenge.

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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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