The Great Heavenly Sword Emperor - Chapter 55

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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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#055. Dongbang Clan’s First Sword (2)

Since that first meeting, Dongbang Cheongnyu had not shown his face once.
No one came or went from the inn, as though the establishment existed solely for the complete rest of these two.
The body could rest easily enough, but the mind could not.
An inn, by its nature, should ring with the sounds of comings and goings, the chatter and laughter of traveling companions, the innkeeper’s voice welcoming guests—all woven together in a proper tapestry of life.
But this place held a silence so suffocating that it became a pressure all its own.
It was impossible to tell whether Dongbang Cheongnyu’s consideration was genuine kindness or merely a strategy disguised as courtesy.
Even as Bukgung Danya felt this mental strain, Cheon Mujgyeol rested in perfect calm.
Washing, eating, sleeping.
One might wonder if this was truly a man on the eve of battle.
He seemed untouched by worry, anxiety, or tension.
It was characteristic of Cheon Mujgyeol, something Bukgung Danya had witnessed many times before, yet it remained endlessly surprising.
“You seem rather untroubled, if I may observe?”
Bukgung Danya asked quietly, watching Cheon Mujgyeol lost in thought.
“I am always troubled.”
At this answer, Bukgung Danya regarded him with evident surprise.
“Not a single day has passed without tension since I emerged from beneath Cheongeomjang.”
“It has never appeared that way.”
“I simply manage it well. Uncontrolled tension is a threat that would steal my life.”
“I see. You’ve astonished me.”
Bukgung Danya found his heart easing at these words.
If even someone like Cheon Mujgyeol felt tension, what excuse had he?
It seemed only natural that he should feel far more pressure himself.
“Still, as you said before, I won’t doubt. You’ll surely win, after all.”
At this, Cheon Mujgyeol shook his head.
The unexpected response made Bukgung Danya’s eyes widen.
“You mean you might lose?”
“No. I mean this isn’t a fight where victory matters.”
Bukgung Danya tilted his head, confused.
“But a fight is—”
“Dongbang Cheongnyu came seeking me to understand. Me as a person, my Mugong, everything he can possibly learn about me. That’s his true intention.”
Even with this clarification, Bukgung Danya’s frown suggested he still didn’t grasp it fully.
Cheon Mujgyeol had fought many times before.
Through those battles, the Dongbang Clan had surely gathered considerable information about him.
But was there still something more to learn?
‘Well, I don’t know everything about him either, and I’m standing right beside him.’
Now that he thought of it, Bukgung Danya himself still knew precious little about Cheon Mujgyeol.
How strong he truly was remained a mystery.
He wondered if Cheon Mujgyeol had ever fought with his full strength.
The Dongbang Clan must be thinking the same.
They had likely decided that only one of the Five Dharma Protectors stood a chance of drawing out Cheon Mujgyeol’s true power.
“In other words, this will be no ordinary fight.”
Dongbang Cheongnyu would seek to uncover everything about Cheon Mujgyeol, while Cheon Mujgyeol would fight to conceal as much as possible.
It was a constraint unlike anything he’d faced before.
‘To perceive all that from a single brief meeting—this one is truly remarkable.’
Cheon Mujgyeol’s grasp of the situation seemed to deepen with every exchange.
With overwhelming Mugong and such keen insight, one had to wonder if weaknesses even existed in him.
“Shall we go now.”
“Pardon?”
Bukgung Danya half-rose from his seat, puzzled by Cheon Mujgyeol’s sudden standing.
Then came the moment.
“Show yourself.”
The voice from outside was one Bukgung Danya had heard two days prior.
‘I detected nothing. Is the Dongbang Clan merely at this level?’
Bukgung Danya’s face went rigid.
Even as Dongbang Cheongnyu’s subordinate opened his mouth at the door, Bukgung Danya had not sensed his approach at all.
He could understand well enough why those who bore the Dongbang name were strong.
But for a mere subordinate to possess such skill as this—
Bukgung Danya’s pride was wounded.
At the same time, the thought that he still had far to go only tightened the cord of his tension all the more.
When Cheon Mujgyeol and Bukgung Danya stepped outside, Dongbang Cheongnyu’s subordinate—the one they had seen two days prior—was waiting.
“Follow me.”
The manner of speech had changed from when they first met, when he had spoken down to them.
Cheon Mujgyeol and Bukgung Danya left the Inn, trailing after him.
As they departed, the innkeeper’s gaze—glimpsed one last time—remained as cold as ever.

* * *

Dongbang Cheongnyu’s subordinate led Cheon Mujgyeol and Bukgung Danya out of the village.
Beyond the settlement stood a Low Mountain, not particularly high, and the three made a wide circuit around it.
After circling the mountain for some distance, they heard the sound of water.
A shallow Stream Bank came into view.
Running water, trees standing tall at a suitable distance from the stream, sparse grass filling the spaces between them—
Were it not about to play host to a fierce battle, it would have been a place of great beauty.
Dongbang Cheongnyu stood with his hands clasped behind his back, admiring the landscape that stretched wide beyond the stream.
“I have brought them.”
At the subordinate’s words, Dongbang Cheongnyu released his hands and turned to face them.
“Welcome.”
Dongbang Cheongnyu greeted the two with his characteristic expressionless face.
‘Now that I see him, he feels rather like the Young Master Cheon.’
Bukgung Danya thought as he regarded Dongbang Cheongnyu.
It was not merely the expressionless countenance—the entire atmosphere about them was similar.
Perhaps because of this, Bukgung Danya found himself more tense than even Cheon Mujgyeol himself, the subject of the confrontation.
Dongbang Cheongnyu and Cheon Mujgyeol regarded each other in silence.
It seemed as though they were exchanging countless stories through the mere exchange of glances.
Slash.
As if words were unnecessary, Dongbang Cheongnyu drew his sword first.
At that, Bukgung Danya found his hand moving instinctively to his own blade.
In that moment—
“We will not tolerate the intervention of others.”
Dongbang Cheongnyu’s subordinate stepped swiftly into his path, blocking him as he spoke.
Taken aback, Bukgung Danya withdrew his hand from his sword.
Without stopping there, the subordinate advanced slowly, and Bukgung Danya found himself forced backward, retreating step by step.
As space opened between them, Cheon Mujgyeol and Dongbang Cheongnyu focused entirely on each other.
“I would ask one thing.”
Cheon Mujgyeol, who had been gazing at Dongbang Cheongnyu, finally spoke.
“Speak.”
“What purpose do those surrounding us serve?”
At Cheon Mujgyeol’s question, Bukgung Danya started and glanced hastily about him.
He saw nothing.
Yet Cheon Mujgyeol would not speak carelessly.
“They are my retainers. Wherever I go, they follow—it is merely their nature. You need not concern yourself with them.”
At Dongbang Cheongnyu’s response, Cheon Mujgyeol regarded him in silence for a moment, then spoke again.
“If their target were the Young Master Bukgung—”
“You need harbor no such concern. I harbor not the slightest intention of such petty tactics. It would be unworthy of the Dongbang Clan.”
At Dongbang Cheongnyu’s words, Bukgung Danya clenched his teeth and his fists until they trembled.
Petty tactics unworthy of the Dongbang Clan?
What else could he call everything they had done thus far, if not petty?
At Dongbang Cheongnyu’s shameless reply, Bukgung Danya felt a fury he could scarcely contain.
Yet he burned with anger at his own powerlessness—his inability to do anything but endure.
“Draw your sword.”
Dongbang Cheongnyu spoke, his gaze fixed on the Cheonsingeom still sheathed at Cheon Mujgyeol’s side.
“This will suffice.”
But Cheon Mujgyeol did not draw his blade.
Then, for the first time, a furrow appeared on Dongbang Cheongnyu’s brow.
“That would be difficult.”
“If I draw my sword, you will die.”
It was bold speech, unlike Cheon Mujgyeol.
Dongbang Cheongnyu’s face hardened at those words, color draining from his features.
Fear? No.
It was anger.
Among the Five Dharma Protectors, Dongbang Cheongnyu was known for the best emotional restraint and unwavering composure.
Yet now he showed an emotional turbulence unbecoming of him, stirred by a single sentence from Cheon Mujgyeol.
“Then I suppose I must oblige you.”
Swift—a sound like wind.
Dongbang Cheongnyu took a martial stance.
A martial stance was rare to see in a true Life-and-Death Duel where death was possible—not in sparring or practice bouts.
It meant he intended to do this properly from the very beginning.
By contrast, Cheon Mujgyeol remained standing motionless, the Cheonsingeom hanging loosely at his side.
Their gazes locked across the empty space between them, and a suffocating standoff ensued.
It seemed violent collision might erupt at any moment, yet both men stood frozen in place.
To an observer, time dragged on tediously.
But these two were different.
Between them, countless battles were being waged.
It was hard to tell from Cheon Mujgyeol’s composed bearing, but Dongbang Cheongnyu made it clear.
The sweat beading on Dongbang Cheongnyu’s brow was proof.
Dongbang Cheongnyu had already rushed at Cheon Mujgyeol dozens of times—no, hundreds.
But every technique he unleashed was blocked by Cheon Mujgyeol.
Like an impenetrable shield.
Yet the images one draws in the mind are not always matched by reality.
To produce a result, they had no choice but to clash directly.
Swift—a sound like wind.
There was almost no preparatory movement.
Dongbang Cheongnyu closed the distance as if gliding over water.
The Cheonggun Bo, powered by Cheongmyeong Jeongsim Gong—the Heart Technique of the Dongbang Clan—was breathtaking in itself.
Using Cheonggun Bo to draw Cheon Mujgyeol into his range, Dongbang Cheongnyu’s blade swept out with lethal sharpness.
Only then did Cheon Mujgyeol, who had been standing motionless until now, finally move.
Light footfalls, and the Cheonsingeom traced through the air with equal lightness.
At that instant, Dongbang Cheongnyu’s movement transformed.
Immediately after Cheon Mujgyeol moved, and before he could execute anything properly.
A sword technique carved through that infinitesimal moment with sublime precision.
It was the Myeongguang Jeol-yeong technique from the Dongbang Cheongmyeong Geomgyeol, the Sword Technique of the Dongbang Clan.
His move seemed to have been read, yet Cheon Mujgyeol was not shaken in the slightest.
Taking a long stride, he broke free from Dongbang Cheongnyu’s range while maintaining his original trajectory without interruption.
Whoosh!
The first technique of the Cheonmyeol Sibi Geom: Changcheon Gaemun.
Though this technique is usually employed like a martial stance, Cheon Mujgyeol’s Changcheon Gaemun was different.
Dongbang Cheongnyu cut off Cheon Mujgyeol’s beginning.
But Cheon Mujgyeol opened the entire space and flow that had nearly been blocked, including that interruption.
Crash!
Blade met blade.
No—this was a collision of Naeryeok.
Cheon Mujgyeol’s inner force and Dongbang Cheongnyu’s inner force collided without a hair’s breadth of retreat.
Clatter-clatter-clack!
Dongbang Cheongnyu’s blade and the Cheonsingeom’s scabbard locked together perfectly.
Their inner forces pushed against each other while simultaneously pulling.
Their gazes locked once more across the blades and scabbard pressed between them.
Through the locked swords and the searching eyes, much flowed between them.
In that moment, Cheon Mujgyeol understood.
That Dongbang Cheongnyu had not come merely to test his martial skill.
His true purpose was to see through everything about Cheon Mujgyeol—not just his Mugong, but his very being.
Crash!
The taut inner force erupted.
Dongbang Cheongnyu and Cheon Mujgyeol rebounded simultaneously, both stumbling backward.
Cheon Mujgyeol took two steps; Dongbang Cheongnyu took five.
The pure difference in Naeryeok manifested clearly in the number of steps backward.
Dongbang Cheongnyu lowered his sword again.
And looked directly at Cheon Mujgyeol.
Cheon Mujgyeol did not turn away from his gaze.
‘What is the source of the power that makes you so formidable?’
This was what Dongbang Cheongnyu was asking.

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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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