The World’s Greatest Martial Arts Instructor - Chapter 218

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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 218. You’re More Shameless Than I Thought

 

 

“Whew.”

Namgung Ji-hu let out a deep sigh as he lowered his sword.

After the martial duel with Dan Mok Un-rae, Namgung Ji-hu stopped practicing the Emperor Sword Form his father had taught him.

Instead, he began training according to his own interpretation.

Though he felt uncertainty and fear about whether this was correct, at least the instinctive resistance he felt when wielding his sword had disappeared.

Namgung Ji-hu looked up at the night sky twinkling with stars, then turned his gaze in one direction.

It was toward the Great Training Ground.

“I should visit again tomorrow.”

As he muttered quietly to himself.

“There’s no need for that.”

Namgung Ji-hu was startled by the sudden voice.

This instructor always appeared like a ghost without any presence.

“Have you come?”

Namgung Ji-hu tried to act composed as he greeted Ha Mu-baek.

Ha Mu-baek took out a copied secret manual from his chest.

It was the first half of the Emperor Sword Form that Namgung Ji-hu had written with great care.

“What were you thinking when you entrusted this to me?”

“I want to become stronger.”

To Ha Mu-baek’s question, Namgung Ji-hu answered immediately without hesitation.

“And?”

“I want to become the Family Head.”

An honest answer.

Namgung Ji-hu’s eyes shone with desire for the position of Family Head.

“Why?”

“Because it would be proof that I’ve been acknowledged.”

“By whom?”

Ha Mu-baek continued his questions with an expressionless face.

“….”

For the first time, Namgung Ji-hu’s answer was blocked.

Ha Mu-baek simply stared at him intently.

“…By my father.”

The answer flowed out faintly.

Though it was a small voice, it contained Namgung Ji-hu’s sincere feelings.

Ha Mu-baek gazed quietly at Namgung Ji-hu’s face.

Namgung Ji-hu did not avoid Ha Mu-baek’s gaze.

“Is that acknowledgment something you must receive? Even while entrusting your family’s secret ultimate technique to an outsider?”

Ha Mu-baek had not yet opened the Emperor Sword Form.

Knowing what it meant to see another sect’s secret ultimate technique manual, he had accepted it but left it untouched.

He thought that even if he were to turn the first page, he should do so after knowing the story behind it.

“Because I’m his son.”

It was an answer filled with firm resolve.

That resolve was.

Declaring that he was definitely his father’s son.

Ha Mu-baek read that resolve.

‘Well, that kid couldn’t possibly not know.’

He must have heard the whispers of the noble family members, whether he wanted to or not.

He had been deliberately ignoring it while believing himself to be his father’s son.

Each time he faced his father’s cold demeanor, he would tell himself that he wasn’t acknowledged because he was lacking.

“Do you think you can be acknowledged even if you display the Emperor Sword Form in a different way from your father?”

“Might makes right. The Emperor Sword Form is an incomplete sword technique. No, it’s a sword technique that must continuously grow stronger. If I’ve taken it one step further and made it stronger, he will acknowledge it.”

“Incomplete?”

“Yes. Though I haven’t seen the latter half, I can tell just from the first half. That will is contained in the incantation formula.”

“As long as you become stronger, it’s fine to receive help from an outsider?”

Ha Mu-baek asked again.

“….”

Namgung Ji-hu was silent for a moment.

“You’re not an outsider.”

Ha Mu-baek raised his eyebrows. His expression seemed to say, ‘What kind of strange nonsense is this now?’

“You’re an instructor.”

“You’re in Jamryong Corps, and I’m in Maengryong Corps.”

“I’m a cadet of Gyoryong Hall, and you’re an instructor of Gyoryong Hall.”

To Ha Mu-baek’s words, Namgung Ji-hu replied with a calm face.

“You’ve actually given me teachings as well. I think of you as my master.”

Ha Mu-baek looked at Namgung Ji-hu with an incredulous expression.

“You. You’re more shameless than I thought.”

Even at Ha Mu-baek’s frank words, Namgung Ji-hu showed no change.

That’s how desperate he was.

But it wasn’t just a desperate desire for his father’s acknowledgment.

Another feeling was hidden there.

Ha Mu-baek could see it.

‘Something desperate and fierce and… burning…. Burning?’

Ha Mu-baek also possessed that burning emotion.

He still carried it in a corner of his heart even now.

And that was.

‘Revenge.’

Revenge against the Demonic Cult and Blood Cult bastards who had ravaged the village where he lived and killed his parents.

Revenge against the Blood Cult and Demonic Cult bastards who had thrown his young sister’s life into the gutter.

It was that thirst for revenge.

He looked at Namgung Ji-hu again.

It was certain.

It wasn’t a desire for acknowledgment.

Rather, it was a thirst for revenge against his father.

‘Perhaps he knows the details.’

Now it made sense.

For the sake of revenge, secretly showing a noble family’s secret ultimate technique to an outsider was nothing.

Since the opponent was a family head, he thought it was something that could reasonably be attempted.

“What makes you burn so fiercely?”

After a moment of silence, Ha Mu-baek asked the question.

At that question, Namgung Ji-hu showed a startled expression.

“What’s important to you isn’t the family.”

At those words spoken with certainty, Namgung Ji-hu stared intently at Ha Mu-baek.

His eyes were truly blazing with fire.

Meeting that gaze, Ha Mu-baek nodded his head.

Sometime.

Somewhere.

It was a look in the eyes he felt like he had encountered before.

“I’ll teach you.”

Ha Mu-baek said with a slight smile.

That desperation for revenge moved Ha Mu-baek’s heart.

Because Ha Mu-baek was no stranger to such emotions either.

He slowly turned the first page of the secret manual.

Rustle. Rustle.

Only the sound of pages turning echoed.

One moment.

That was the time Ha Mu-baek spent examining the first half of the Emperor Sword Form secret manual once.

Truly just the time it took to slowly turn the pages.

At this sight, Namgung Ji-hu tilted his head.

It seemed like he was only roughly examining the general contents of the secret manual.

‘He must be planning to examine it in detail after returning.’

He had come to that conclusion when.

“You’re right, kid. This is a seed.”

Namgung Ji-hu’s eyes widened greatly.

“And the Emperor Sword Form that the Namgung Family Head has learned now has grown branches in the wrong direction.”

The Emperor Sword Form that Ha Mu-baek had seen in the last war.

And the secret manual he was looking at now.

Combining those two things, he seemed to understand why the current Namgung Family had lost the prestige of being the greatest family under heaven to the Hubei Yeon Family.

Because they had grown branches and roots in the wrong direction, the Namgung Family was slowly withering away.

“Great Flame Sword Technique.”

“Yes?”

At Ha Mu-baek’s quiet words, Namgung Ji-hu asked back.

“Completing the Great Flame Sword Technique comes first.”

For a seed to take root and grow straight stems, solid soil and nutrients are necessary.

Ha Mu-baek could see what that was.

It was precisely the Great Flame Sword Technique, the basic sword technique of the Namgung Family.

And the Azure Sky Unhindered Sword as well.

“If it’s that, I already…”

At the bewildered Namgung Ji-hu’s words, the corners of Ha Mu-baek’s mouth rose.

“Watch carefully.”

Ha Mu-baek drew his sword.

And slowly swung it.

It was an extremely simple movement.

A form that Namgung Ji-hu also knew.

It was natural.

Because it was the Three Talents Sword Technique.

However, Namgung Ji-hu widened his eyes and couldn’t move at all.

Because he felt the enormous power contained in each sword strike.

Though it was a simple movement, it contained incomprehensible changes that he absolutely could not grasp at a glance.

“I haven’t completed this yet either.”

At Ha Mu-baek’s single remark, Namgung Ji-hu received a heavy shock.

To say he hadn’t completed such an incredible level of Three Talents Sword Technique yet.

“Achieving twelve complete forms doesn’t mean it’s completed.”

Each word was a teaching filled with deep meaning.

“Before the Great Flame Sword Technique, take another look at the Three Talents Sword Technique first. It seems you’ve practiced it somewhat during the break.”

“…”

“That desperation. I’m not unfamiliar with it either. But don’t act rashly.”

Leaving those words, Ha Mu-baek left the training ground.

Step by step.

The sound of Ha Mu-baek’s footsteps gradually grew distant, but Namgung Ji-hu still seemed unable to recover from the shock.

When he first saw him, he had only thought the Instructor was just an eccentric.

Now it seemed like he had seen part of a giant whose depths he couldn’t even fathom.

 

***

 

Ha Seol-ran was lying down looking up at the sky.

Dang Jin-san had returned to the dormitory.

Yeon Ha-min had also returned.

She had suggested they go together, but Ha Seol-ran wanted to stay like this a little longer.

The dirt ground of the Great Training Ground.

Though her back and waist should have hurt, Ha Seol-ran felt completely happy.

It was the first time.

The first time she had pushed her body to the point where it felt like it would break apart immediately.

“You came?”

Ha Seol-ran glanced at Ha Mu-baek who sat down heavily beside her.

“What happened?”

“What?”

“I’m asking what happened with the Waryong Corps kids.”

“Ah.”

As expected, she couldn’t escape Elder Brother’s ki sense.

“They had a story. A story of falling into despair. They had the same eyes I had when I fell into despair.”

“…”

At the answer that came back, Ha Mu-baek said nothing.

Back then, he had been so consumed with revenge that instead of staying by his younger sibling’s side, he had roamed Gangho covered in blood.

“I’m sorry.”

Ha Mu-baek said calmly.

“Thanks to Elder Brother, thanks to Master, I was able to overcome that despair.”

A gentle smile appeared on Ha Seol-ran’s lips.

“Thanks to that, I’m feeling this kind of refreshment now. The feeling of pushing my body to exhaustion. It’s my first time. It’s refreshing.”

Throughout the run, Ha Mu-baek had been monitoring Ha Seol-ran’s physical condition.

Because she was managing it, he had let her continue running until sunset.

She had become healthy.

His younger sibling.

“I also wanted to remove the unreasonable despair from someone’s eyes, like Master and Elder Brother did.”

And the story of the Waryong Corps Twentieth Group flowed from Ha Seol-ran’s lips.

‘Orphans.’

That was the word that caught Ha Mu-baek’s attention.

The despair probably had a lot to do with that part as well.

“It won’t be easy. Don’t overdo it. If it gets difficult, come find me.”

Ha Mu-baek said as he got up.

“Go inside and rest. It’s still cold. You’ll catch a cold.”

With those final words, Ha Mu-baek left the training ground.

Ha Seol-ran raised her upper body from the ground.

She quietly watched Ha Mu-baek’s retreating figure.

“Thank you. Elder Brother.”

She couldn’t remember her parents’ faces.

The first page of her memories was.

Before meeting her Master.

The time when Elder Brother held her in his arms and wandered Gangho as beggars.

Elder Brother who cared only for Ha Seol-ran even when he had nothing to eat himself.

In those hellish times when abandoning blood relatives meant nothing.

Elder Brother only looked after her.

She didn’t know it then, but she knows now.

 

***

 

Early morning.

Mind Technique cultivation at the Maengryong Corps 7th Division Training Ground.

Dang Jin-san and Yeon Ha-min fell even deeper into their Mental Cultivation trance.

They had diligently practiced Energy Circulation before sleeping last night too.

Thanks to that, their muscle pain wasn’t too severe.

Just slightly bothersome when moving?

It was the same for Ha Seol-ran as well.

And so they headed to the School Building.

Today’s lesson was ‘The Beginning of Swordsmanship’.

As they entered the Classroom, Dang Jin-san looked around.

As if searching for someone.

“They’re not here.”

He muttered quietly.

Neither Waryong Corps 1st Group nor Twentieth Group were in today’s class.

The lesson content was, as expected, the Flowing Dragon Sword Technique.

Just as he felt while learning the Movement Technique yesterday, it was indeed an excellent martial art.

Who on earth at Gyoryong Hall created such martial arts?

Dang Jin-san listened to the lesson with even greater focus.

It was the same for Yeon Ha-min.

Since the Flowing Dragon Sword Technique was truly important martial arts for their plans, they maintained maximum concentration.

As the lesson ended.

Dang Jin-san was the first to hurriedly move his steps.

The Garden in front of the School Building.

He had business there.

The other Maengryong Corps Cadets looked at each other.

Dang Jin-san’s behavior today was different from usual.

Yeon Ha-min also tilted her head in puzzlement.

Meeting the Waryong Corps 20th Group Cadets would only be possible after dinner time today.

What could be so urgent?

When she came out to the Garden looking for Dang Jin-san.

He was standing in front of Five Cadets with his arms crossed, wearing a confident expression and smirking.

“What?”

Byeok I-gyeom recognized Dang Jin-san and spoke with displeasure.

Dang Jin-san opened his mouth toward Byeok I-gyeom.

“Hey. I’m feeling peckish, so go to Damryong Pavilion and bring me some fried chicken. With some cold water so I don’t choke.”

At those words, Byeok I-gyeom’s face twisted hideously.

“Fuck. What are you babbling about? A Maengryong Corps Cadet ordering around other Cadets?”

Harsh words poured out. As if trying to assert dominance.

“A second-year wants to order around a first-year, and this pathetic thing is rebelling?”

Dang Jin-san glared at Byeok I-gyeom.

His gaze was filled with killing intent.

“Ugh.”

Byeok I-gyeom was overwhelmed by the momentum.

More precisely, he was overwhelmed by the skill Dang Jin-san had shown in his Martial Duel with Eon Mu-ung.

It was obvious he would be at a disadvantage if they clashed.

Byeok I-gyeom looked around.

Everyone was watching with fascinated expressions.

“Fuck. At Gyoryong Hall, Cadets and Cadets are equal! Regardless of affiliation or year!”

He shouted as if for other Cadets to hear.

His intention was to let them know that if he was treated like this, they would also be treated the same by this bastard.

Dang Jin-san smirked.

“You were ordering around Other Group Cadets yesterday too.”

“Ah, that’s different from this!”

“How so?”

“Those bastards are our…”

When he got that far, another Group Cadet urgently grabbed Byeok I-gyeom’s arm.

He shouldn’t say any more than that.

There might be people who already knew, but if they openly talked about it, it would become a problem.

Byeok I-gyeom also realized this fact and glared at Dang Jin-san with a resentful face.

“You. Want to make a bet with me?”

Dang Jin-san, who had been looking at Byeok I-gyeom with an amused expression, said.

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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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