The Great Heavenly Sword Emperor - Chapter 18

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

#018. The Path of Buk Gung (1)

Cheon Mu Gyeol gazed directly at Buk Gung Dan Ya, and Buk Gung Dan Ya returned that gaze to Cheon Mu Gyeol.
Their eyes met at the same angle, yet the meaning behind them diverged sharply.
Where Buk Gung Dan Ya’s stare brimmed with shock and bewilderment, Cheon Mu Gyeol’s held nothing at all.
“I suspected as much. You truly know nothing.”
At Cheon Mu Gyeol’s cryptic remark, Buk Gung Dan Ya looked at him as if to ask what he meant.
“You know nothing of your own clan, nor of its martial arts.”
“And what bearing does my ignorance have on you knowing the martial arts of our clan?”
Buk Gung Dan Ya pressed, and Cheon Mu Gyeol continued.
“The Buk Gung Se Ga and the Dong Bang Se Ga—both guardian clans. Their martial arts were perfected by the hand of the Heavenly Sword Sage.”
Blink. Blink.
At Cheon Mu Gyeol’s words, Buk Gung Dan Ya’s eyes merely fluttered, his mind offering no response.
He couldn’t grasp what was being said.
He heard the words, yet his mind couldn’t parse them swiftly enough.
‘What is he talking about? So that means…’
Even as he tried to sort through it calmly, his thoughts froze as if his mind had turned to stone.
Just as the body becomes rigid when a ma hyeol is struck, unable to move, so too did his thoughts come to an abrupt halt.
‘How could that be possible? Or rather—can it be possible?’
Thought resumed after that brief suspension, but now his mind churned in chaos.
Cheon Mu Gyeol watched in silence as Buk Gung Dan Ya’s composure unraveled.
‘More shaken than I expected. Is this truly so shocking?’
‘I couldn’t say, sir.’
Neither Cheon Mu Gyeol nor Cheon Sin Geom
could fathom the magnitude of Buk Gung Dan Ya’s distress.
Indeed, was there anything shocking about this at all?
Could Buk Gung Dan Ya truly have believed his clan was great from the beginning?
After allowing Buk Gung Dan Ya a moment to steady himself, Cheon Mu Gyeol opened his mouth again.
“I won’t burden you with explanations of the relationship between the Heavenly Sword Sage and the two guardian clans, nor their long histories. If you need time to accept this, I’ll grant you exactly one day.”
Though Cheon Mu Gyeol didn’t fully grasp Buk Gung Dan Ya’s reaction, he showed consideration nonetheless.
Such consideration was only forthcoming because Buk Gung Dan Ya had passed the trial.
Had he failed, they would never have met at all, and compassion would have been wholly absent.
“No. I’m fine. I can accept it—rather, I have accepted it.”
Though his mind still churned, Buk Gung Dan Ya held Cheon Mu Gyeol’s gaze steadily, his will evident.
Cheon Mu Gyeol’s eyes made clear he hadn’t fully shed the shock, yet he said nothing.
“Watch carefully.”
Cheon Mu Gyeol lifted the Cheon Sin Geom.
In that instant, Buk Gung Dan Ya’s expression sharpened with intensity.
‘The Correct Heart Stance.’
The opening form of the Hyeon Jeong Geom beop and its first technique.
Though the posture was the same, Cheon Mu Gyeol’s execution differed entirely.
The sword held upright and brought down sharply—yet in that moment, it was as if countless roots spread forth beneath Cheon Mu Gyeol’s feet.
Swish!
Cheon Mu Gyeol began to unfold the Hyeon Jeong Geom beop once more.
From the Hoek Un Dan Ro, the first true technique, through to the Hyeon Jeong Gwi Il, the final form.
Cheon Mu Gyeol completed the entire Hyeon Jeong Geom beop in an instant, returning to the Correct Heart Stance and steadying his breath.
Buk Gung Dan Ya stood half-entranced.
The shock that now seized him cut far deeper than when he’d learned of the bond between Buk Gung Se Ga and the Heavenly Sword Sage.
The beginning had been familiar.
But that familiarity did not last.
The moment Cheon Mu Gyeol moved from the Correct Heart Stance into the Hoek Un Dan Ro, Buk Gung Dan Ya lost the way.
This was a sword form he himself had trained in.
The sword path should have been familiar; it should have lodged in his eyes—and yet the blade following Cheon Mu Gyeol’s hand traced an unfamiliar course.
Then wasn’t this the Hyeon Jeong Geom beop?
But it was.
Even as he followed an unfamiliar sword path, what Cheon Mu Gyeol wielded was undeniably the Hyeon Jeong Geom beop.
That was what shocked him.
The Cheon Ak Geom Gyeol he hadn’t yet mastered completely was one thing, but the Hyeon Jeong Geom beop—he’d been confident in that.
He’d trained it the longest, and he prided himself on how refined it had become.
But watching Cheon Mu Gyeol unfold the Hyeon Jeong Geom beop had shattered that certainty.
He was far—so far—from that level.
Cheon Mu Gyeol turned to Buk Gung Dan Ya, who stood trembling with shock, and spoke.
“Don’t simply ask why. You must ask what differs, and how. That’s what matters.”
At his words, Buk Gung Dan Ya’s eyes blazed with fierce determination as he looked at him.
Yes. Please, show me how they differ.
No matter how difficult the explanation, I’ll grasp every word of it!
That’s what his gaze was crying out.
But then—
Whisper.
Cheon Mu Gyeol set aside words and drew his sword again.
Buk Gung Dan Ya thought he meant to show the form once more.
He believed Cheon Mu Gyeol would demonstrate it again, then gradually point out the essentials, piece by piece.
But the sword Cheon Mu Gyeol wielded traced out something entirely different from the Hyeon Jeong Geom beop.
‘This—this is—the Cheon Ak Geom Gyeol!’
With his mind still churning through the Hyeon Jeong Geom beop, Buk Gung Dan Ya was thrown off balance when a completely different technique bloomed before his eyes.
He quickly steadied himself and fixed all his attention on the Cheon Ak Geom Gyeol that Cheon Mu Gyeol was unfolding.
Swish! Swish-swish!
Buk Gung Dan Ya’s expression hardened.
Though he wasn’t facing Cheon Mu Gyeol directly, a crushing pressure—a weight—bore down on him as if he were the target itself.
“Hah… hah…”
His breathing grew ragged, his lungs gasping for air of their own accord.
Cheon Mu Gyeol’s Cheon Ak Geom Gyeol moved slower than Buk Gung Dan Ya’s own execution.
But slowness didn’t mean it could be dismissed.
Cheon Mu Gyeol’s Cheon Ak Geom Gyeol shattered his opponent before even reaching completion.
Boom-boom-crack!
The instant the final form of the Cheon Ak Geom Gyeol—the Cheon Ak Bung Myeol—unfolded, an explosion tore through empty air.
The accumulated power and momentum detonated in a single instant, obliterating even defense itself. The phenomenon matched the form perfectly.
Gulp.
Buk Gung Dan Ya swallowed hard.
Because he’d already seen the Hyeon Jeong Geom beop, the shock was relatively less severe.
But the psychological and spiritual pressure was far more intense.
‘Can I ever reach that realm?’
Cold sweat beaded on his skin unbidden.
He couldn’t quite focus on Cheon Mu Gyeol, and breathing felt like a struggle.
To pass Cheon Mu Gyeol’s trial.
To stand confidently beside the descendant of the Heavenly Sword Master—the weight of that path suddenly became visceral.
“Think carefully on this: what differs, how it differs, and why.”
With that, Cheon Mu Gyeol turned away.
“W-wait, is that all?”
Buk Gung Dan Ya blurted out, confused.
He’d assumed Cheon Mu Gyeol would point out his flaws, his shortcomings, everything he lacked.
But to simply show the Hyeon Jeong Geom beop and the Cheon Ak Geom Gyeol once each, and then leave?
Surely the real guidance was missing?
Cheon Mu Gyeol paused and looked back at him blankly, then opened his mouth.
“I’ve taught you everything that needed teaching. It falls to you to understand it, accept it, and grow from it.”
“But! If one could learn everything simply by watching, I wouldn’t still be at this level!”
Buk Gung Dan Ya protested.
Yet Cheon Mu Gyeol’s resolve didn’t waver.
“From its name to its form, the essence of a technique lives within the technique itself, not in words.”
With that, Cheon Mu Gyeol opened the door to the Byeol Chae.
“I’ll give you plenty of time.”
Bang.
He stepped inside the Byeol Chae and closed the door behind him.
[What an unhelpful master.]
“I’m not your master. And do you have the standing to say such things to me?”
[Was I really that unkind??]
“If anything, I gave more, not less.”
Cheon Mu Gyeol spoke, his mind drifting back across the past twenty years.
Outside, a deep sigh escaped from Buk Gung Dan Ya.

* * *

“Hmm…….”
Buk Gung Dan Ya stood alone in the rear courtyard of the Yo Sa Chae, sword in hand, lost in thought.
Five days had passed since Cheon Mu Gyeol showed him the Hyeon Jeong Geom beop and the Cheon Ak Geom Gyeol.
Yet he had still arrived at no clear answer.
Rather, as the days wore on, his mind only grew more tangled with too many competing thoughts, as though his head might split open from the confusion.
The one mercy was that with each passing day, the memory of Cheon Mu Gyeol unfolding the Hyeon Jeong Geom beop and Cheon Ak Geom Gyeol grew only sharper, etched more vividly into his mind.
Had that clarity faded, Buk Gung Dan Ya would have been utterly lost.
“Sigh…….”
Buk Gung Dan Ya lowered his sword and exhaled a long breath.
He held the blade, but could not link one movement to the next.
It was as though he had forgotten how to swing a sword entirely, like an infant with no knowledge at all.
The Hyeon Jeong Geom beop and Cheon Ak Geom Gyeol that his mind knew so well—he could not manifest them.
The sword path of Cheon Mu Gyeol, burned so vividly into his mind, had consumed the sword path he had known before.
He had lost his old way, yet though the new path glowed clear in his thoughts, he could not bring it forth—only frustration mounted.
“You seem to be suffering greatly.”
“Ah, Gwang An.”
At the sound of Gwang An’s voice, Buk Gung Dan Ya turned.
Gwang An stood there holding a medicine bowl.
“It seems you cannot do as your heart wishes.”
“Yes. I feel like a newborn who can do nothing at all.”
Buk Gung Dan Ya took the medicine bowl and spoke.
“That’s not so bad, really. Your body still hasn’t fully recovered anyway—better not to strain it.”
Buk Gung Dan Ya’s brow furrowed at Gwang An’s words.
Whether it was the bitterness of the medicine or the words themselves that displeased him, he wasn’t certain.
“I’d far rather face Muk Ryeon and take a real test.”
“To that extent?”
At Gwang An’s question, Buk Gung Dan Ya popped one of the candies Gwang An had prepared into his mouth and nodded.
“Then, whatever happened, I could do something. Now I have no sense of what to do or how to do it. That’s why it’s so maddening.”
Gwang An nodded at Buk Gung Dan Ya’s words.
“Seeing the young lord suffer like this…….”
Gwang An trailed off, glancing furtively around before lowering his voice further.
“It seems Cheon Mu Gyeol has no talent for teaching others.”
At Gwang An’s words, Buk Gung Dan Ya let out a snort of laughter.
The thought brought a touch of comfort to his mind.
“Or perhaps…….”
Gwang An paused again, then smiled faintly at Buk Gung Dan Ya.
As Buk Gung Dan Ya tilted his head at that expression, Gwang An continued.
“What if Cheon Mu Gyeol simply judges that much to be enough, and so offers nothing more?”
Buk Gung Dan Ya’s eyes widened.
“Well then, I’ll take my leave.”
Gwang An picked up the empty bowl and quietly departed.
Buk Gung Dan Ya stood rooted in place, watching Gwang An fade into the distance with a dazed expression.
He had never considered such a thing.
If he was honest, the first explanation Gwang An had offered felt more believable to him.
It hurt less to think that way.
It let him blame his frustration on Cheon Mu Gyeol.
But what if.
What if the second reason were true—that Cheon Mu Gyeol judged his own capacity large enough that merely showing him once was sufficient?
“That’s right. I even passed that trial, the one with the higher chance of death.”
A new thought took root: had he been underestimating himself all along?
He had endured Muk Ryeon’s assault alone and survived.
Twice, no less.
In that crucible, Cheon Mu Gyeol must have seen something in him, something that warranted his passing grade.
If he had passed Cheon Mu Gyeol’s trial, he had earned the right to believe in himself.
I shouldn’t think so little of myself—I can afford to give myself more credit.
Cheon Mu Gyeol tended to see himself in grander terms, but the thought that he might be underestimating himself struck something loose in Buk Gung Dan Ya, and suddenly his chest felt lighter.
Confidence surged through him like floodwater, and the world around him seemed to shift into focus, vivid and clear.
“Yes. I can do this!”
Buk Gung Dan Ya steadied his resolve.

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