The Great Heavenly Sword Emperor - Chapter 38

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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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#038 Episode. Public Enemy of the Martial World (1)

While Gwang An was delivering Cheon Mu-gyeol’s warning to the Dong-bang Family.
Cheon Mu-gyeol was spending time alone with Buk-goong Dan-ya at Bo-hyeon Temple.
Buk-goong Dan-ya’s wounds had not fully healed, yet he showed the resolve to do whatever was needed at any moment.
“Are you heading to the Dong-bang Family now?”
“Yes, I am.”
“The Dong-bang Family’s offensive won’t be trivial, will it? They’ll likely deploy everything they can.”
At Buk-goong Dan-ya’s words, Cheon Mu-gyeol fell silent.
In truth, whatever methods they employed, he had never given it a moment’s thought.
If they attacked, he would fight, crush them, and move forward.
Cheon Mu-gyeol’s thinking was that simple.
It wasn’t a lack of thought, but rather an unshakeable confidence that he could overcome anything.
Buk-goong Dan-ya gazed at Cheon Mu-gyeol, then suddenly let out a long, heavy sigh.
“Hah… What could trouble the Heavenly Sword’s heir? It’s I who am the problem.”
Buk-goong Dan-ya offered a bitter smile.
His confidence had swelled greatly through his fight with Muk-ryeon, and later through the battle with the Heuk-oe Party.
But it was also true that his confidence had been somewhat shaken by his encounter with Gwi-gok.
Yet from Cheon Mu-gyeol’s perspective, Buk-goong Dan-ya had no reason to lose faith.
Gwi-gok was stronger than Muk-ryeon, more numerous in force, and far more ruthless in their tactics.
The fact that Buk-goong Dan-ya had endured and held firm against such concentrated assault—that alone was proof his strength had grown considerably.
“I suppose I’ll have to find an Elixir and take it. Ha!”
Buk-goong Dan-ya, who had worn a bitter expression, deliberately lightened his tone as if trying to push such feelings aside.
“Inner Strength alone does not resolve everything.”
Cheon Mu-gyeol answered seriously to Buk-goong Dan-ya’s jest.
“I know. I was just speaking to ease my frustration.”
Buk-goong Dan-ya, who had tried to lighten the mood, offered an embarrassed expression.
“You have clearly grown. Had you not, you would not have survived Gwi-gok’s assault—you would have perished.”
“Is that so?”
“It is good that you think you are still lacking, that you have far to go. But do not become lost in that thought. What matters is knowing your true level, your true position with clarity.”
At Cheon Mu-gyeol’s earnest words, Buk-goong Dan-ya softened his expression and listened carefully.
“There is something I wish to ask you.”
“Yes.”
“What were those twenty years like for you?”
Buk-goong Dan-ya asked about the twenty years Cheon Mu-gyeol had spent beneath the Cheon Geom Hall.
Cheon Mu-gyeol paused, seeming to drift into thought, then spoke after a moment.
“Every day, I thought it would be easier to let everything go and die.”
At Cheon Mu-gyeol’s words, Buk-goong Dan-ya found himself at a loss for words.
While he could not fully empathize with that sentiment, he could grasp something of it.
Buk-goong Dan-ya himself had often harbored similar thoughts.
Especially in the days before meeting Cheon Mu-gyeol, when he had lost all hope, such thoughts came frequently.
But the weight behind Cheon Mu-gyeol’s thoughts differed vastly from his own.
From his voice, one could sense that Cheon Mu-gyeol had endured an ordeal so severe that death would truly have seemed preferable.
“So that is how you became so hard.”
Buk-goong Dan-ya replied briefly.
“I am not hard. I am merely still working toward becoming hard.”
At Cheon Mu-gyeol’s response, Buk-goong Dan-ya let out a quiet laugh.
“I think you’ve hardened quite enough already.”
Then, looking at Cheon Mu-gyeol, he continued.
“If you harden any further, you’ll lose all emotion and stop seeming human.”
Cheon Mu-gyeol made no reply to Buk-goong Dan-ya’s words.
Yet what Buk-goong Dan-ya said came from the heart.
It seemed as though Cheon Mu-gyeol was driving himself to the very precipice.
He appeared to be forcibly suppressing the emotions that any person should rightfully feel.
As though that was the only way.
Buk-goong Dan-ya had come to wish, even as he understood the reason well enough, that Cheon Mu-gyeol might seem a little more human.
A silence fell between them for a moment.
And it was Buk-goong Dan-ya, as expected, who broke it.
“Ah, and there is something I wish to say to you.”
“Then speak.”
“Now that you are going to the Dong-bang Family, I ask this of you — please lower your speech toward me.”
Buk-goong Dan-ya spoke gravely, his gaze fixed on Cheon Mu-gyeol.
“You are descended from Cheon Geom Dae-je, and I am a member of the Guardian Family. It is not fitting that a descendant of Cheon Geom Dae-je should speak with formal deference to a Guardian Family member.”
At his words, Cheon Mu-gyeol shook his head.
“Formality and that are separate matters.”
“They may be, between you and me. But now things are different.”
Cheon Mu-gyeol regarded him quietly.
“From now on, this will no longer be a clash between Cheon Mu-gyeol and the Dong-bang Family, but between Cheon Geom Hall and the Guardian Family. Whether you think so or not, the Dong-bang Family will think so, and the world will think so.”
Cheon Mu-gyeol met his gaze steadily.
“That is why you must awaken to your role not as Cheon Mu-gyeol, but as a descendant of Cheon Geom Dae-je, and act accordingly.”
“My thoughts are the same. The awareness of being Cheon Geom Dae-je’s descendant and formal deference are distinct things.”
“No. There is a relationship that has been carried on by necessity. The Guardian Family chose to place themselves under Cheon Geom Dae-je’s command. It is a master-servant relationship that has flowed naturally through the years, and it was precisely because you felt that bond shattered and twisted that you seek to go to the Dong-bang Family, is it not?”
Cheon Mu-gyeol had no answer to give.
“I am not suggesting that you and I enter into a master-servant relationship immediately. I suspect you would object to that more than anything. But your manner of addressing me must change. Such a thing is itself both justification and qualification.”
At his words, Cheon Mu-gyeol fell into thought for a long while.
Relationships.
For Cheon Mu-gyeol, who had spent his youth alone in the basement of Cheon Geom Hall, this was the most foreign thing of all.
Though he had relationships with Gwang An and Buk-goong Dan-ya, it was difficult to say they flowed smoothly and without trouble.
It was only because of their considerable forbearance that no problems arose.
After a long silence, Cheon Mu-gyeol spoke.
“I will think on it.”
“Very well.”
Buk-goong Dan-ya did not press him further for change.
He thought that when Cheon Mu-gyeol arrived at the Dong-bang Family and brought judgment upon them, it would change naturally.
“I wonder if the warning reached them safely.”
Buk-goong Dan-ya murmured softly.

* * *

The moment Dong-bang Cheon-baek confirmed the coffin sent by Cheon Mu-gyeol and read its inscription, the atmosphere around him turned glacial.
Hold us accountable? How dare he?
Not a soul in this world could speak such words to Dong-bang Cheon-baek.
“You say his name is Gwang An?”
At his question, Gwang An bowed deeply again with hands clasped.
“Yes, it is.”
“Go and tell him this — I await him with interest.”
“I shall convey your words.”
Dong-bang Cheon-baek left the message hanging and turned to depart.
“Burn that coffin to ash.”
“Yes.”
At his command, Dong-bang Jin-hyeok bowed his head.
He felt the same anger and shame as Dong-bang Cheon-baek.
“Namu Amitabha Buddha. Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva.”
Watching the Dong-bang Family members gather and carry away the coffin, Gwang An whispered a Buddhist invocation softly.

* * *

Back in Dong-bang Cheon-baek’s office.
Dong-bang Cheon-baek was furious, yet his outward composure remained unshaken.
His expression and bearing showed no sign of disturbance.
But the Qi flowing from his body rippled harshly in time with the storm raging in his heart.
“Chief Strategist.”
“Yes, Patriarch.”
“You said you would make them feel the power of the Dong-bang Family?”
“I did.”
“Are you confident?”
Dong-bang Yeon-hwi nodded at Dong-bang Cheon-baek’s question.
“That’s correct. But Cheon Mu-gyeol will eventually reach the Dong-bang Family.”
“That’s precisely what we want. If he arrives after overcoming the power the Dong-bang Family wields, then we must acknowledge him.”
Dong-bang Yeon-hwi agreed with Dong-bang Cheon-baek’s words.
“Indeed. We would have to grant him that acknowledgment.”
“But even if he does arrive, the true strength of the Dong-bang Family will be waiting for him.”
“A most apt observation, sir.”
Dong-bang Cheon-baek opened his mouth at Dong-bang Yeon-hwi’s response.
“Tell me, then. How do you plan to crush Cheon Mu-gyeol?”
At Dong-bang Cheon-baek’s question, Dong-bang Yeon-hwi smiled faintly.
“As I mentioned before, everything he has done will become a snare that strangles him.”
“Indeed it will.”
“Cheon Mu-gyeol has stirred up the Heuk-oe Party. On the surface, the Heuk-oe Party connects directly and indirectly with the daily lives of ordinary people through the trading posts and relay stations, among others. Naturally, this has caused considerable disruption. Some have fallen into grave hardship.”
“You mean to make Cheon Mu-gyeol a Public Enemy of the Martial World?”
“Precisely. The Dong-bang Family possesses the power to sway public opinion and establish justification. Soon enough, wherever Cheon Mu-gyeol goes, he will be surrounded by hostility and subjected to attack.”
“Will that truly wound Cheon Mu-gyeol?”
“We cannot take his life directly, of course. But he will fall into grave difficulty. If he kills those who show him hostility or attack him, his own actions will become chains that bind him all the tighter.”
Dong-bang Cheon-baek nodded at Dong-bang Yeon-hwi’s answer.
“Since we’ve received his challenge, we must answer in kind. Execute what you have prepared. Mobilize everything we can.”
“Understood, sir.”
Dong-bang Yeon-hwi bowed his head.

* * *

The next day.
Proclamations bearing Dong-bang Cheon-baek’s seal were posted throughout the land.

Recently, certain trading posts and relay stations—places essential to our lives—were raided and utterly destroyed.
The Dong-bang Family, recognizing the gravity of the matter, conducted its own investigation and uncovered the culprit’s identity.
His name is Cheon Mu-gyeol. He falsely claims to be a descendant of Cheon Geom Dae-je!
Yet the historical Cheon Geom Dae-je was a just man who punished evil but never brought harm to the lives of the people.
The Dong-bang Family, bearing the mantle of Guardian Family, hereby designates Cheon Mu-gyeol—who tarnishes the honor of Cheon Geom Dae-je and fraudulently claims his name—as a Public Enemy of the Martial World!
We believe that countless practitioners of the Martial World likewise would not wish to see the honor of Cheon Geom Dae-je, that hero of Kangho, brought low.
Therefore, the Dong-bang Family shall bring Cheon Mu-gyeol to justice and once again elevate the righteous name of Cheon Geom Dae-je!

The Dong-bang Family’s proclamation spread swiftly throughout Jung-won.
A family at the apex of the Martial World had resurrected the name of the Guardian Family, long kept hidden, and declared Cheon Mu-gyeol a Public Enemy of the Martial World.
The people burned with fury.
Though many years had passed, and though Cheon Geom Hall had been utterly destroyed.
The name Cheon Geom Dae-je remained a source of pride and honor for countless practitioners of Kangho.
And so when one dared to tarnish that sacred name, the people’s rage spread like an unstoppable fire.
The news reached Cheon Mu-gyeol’s ears through Bo-hyeon Temple, as it inevitably would.
“The Dong-bang Family has begun to move.”
Upon hearing the news, Buk-goong Dan-ya spoke in a voice edged with concern.
But Cheon Mu-gyeol seemed utterly untroubled.
“A ruthless tactic indeed. By refusing to step forward themselves, they’ve turned the entire Martial World against you.”
“It matters not.”
“That is not a matter to dismiss so lightly. First, it would be wise to wait for Master Gwang An to return and devise a proper strategy before we act.”
“I am here.”
Before Buk-goong Dan-ya could finish speaking, the temple doors opened and Gwang An entered.
His expression was grave and tightly drawn.

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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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