The World’s Greatest Martial Arts Instructor - Chapter 238

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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 238. That Person is Namgung Hwi

 

 

Evening time after afternoon cultivation had ended.

A messenger bird landed on Han Seol-bing’s right fingertip.

A pitch-black dove.

To someone who didn’t know better, it would look like a crow.

It wasn’t just a dove with black feathers.

It was a spirit beast.

Thousand-Li Black Dove.

A spirit beast that could fly up to three thousand li in a single day, and possessed the memory to never forget a place it had been to once or a person it had met once.

Moreover, it was tough enough to hold its own against most hawks.

It was optimal for use as a messenger bird, but it was an extremely rare spirit beast because it was difficult to tame.

Such a spirit beast had flown down to Han Seol-bing’s hand.

“Baek-a. You came back quickly.”

Han Seol-bing smiled gently and stroked the dove’s head.

Han Seol-bing untied the message tube from Baek-a’s leg and lifted her hand slightly upward.

Flutter.

Baek-a immediately flew toward the forest.

It would return when Han Seol-bing called for it.

“Now then, let’s see what kind of person this is.”

Han Seol-bing unfolded the message.

It was the handwriting of Dam Mu-heun, another vice-leader of the Hocheon Corps.

As soon as she unfolded the message, Han Seol-bing frowned.

She had no choice.

The beginning was filled with nothing but complaints and grumbling.

To summarize, it was asking if she was enjoying her comfortable time after running away from the Hocheon Corps alone.

“I told him to quit and come out too. He’s just whining for no reason.”

Han Seol-bing muttered as if displeased.

But Dam Mu-heun couldn’t leave the Hocheon Corps. No, even if he left the Hocheon Corps, he was someone who couldn’t escape from the main branch of the Jeongcheon Alliance.

That was also the reason she had sent him a message.

Han Seol-bing carefully examined the message and burned it up with Samadhi True Fire.

“Hmm.”

She had thought there would be a story behind it, but it wasn’t an ordinary story.

Han Seol-bing quickened her pace.

The place she headed to was where Ha Mu-baek was.

It was the Maengryong Corps 7th Group Training Hall.

Ha Mu-baek was sprawled out on his usual rock after dinner, looking like he couldn’t be bothered with anything.

“What’s the matter?”

He glanced at Han Seol-bing entering the training ground and asked.

“It’s about Nam Hwi. That person.”

As soon as those words came out, Ha Mu-baek cast an energy barrier around the training ground.

He had confirmed with his ki sense that there was no one around, but it was better to be certain.

“You were curious the day before yesterday, and in just two days… You found out quickly. Did you ask Mu-heun?”

Han Seol-bing nodded her head.

“You sent Baek-a?”

Once again, Han Seol-bing nodded.

“Baek-a should be the alliance’s spirit beast. Is it okay to use it for personal matters? In the first place, bringing it when you left the Hocheon Corps… Tsk.”

Ha Mu-baek shook his head.

However, Han Seol-bing was confident.

“I never brought Baek-a with me, you know? Baek-a followed me.”

That was right.

Baek-a was the emergency messenger bird assigned to the Hocheon Corps.

But that creature seemed to follow Han Seol-bing particularly well, and from some point on, it only followed Han Seol-bing.

So now it had even followed her to Muchang.

“Right. So what did Mu-heun say?”

“He asked if I was enjoying sucking honey all by myself.”

At her words, Ha Mu-baek scowled fiercely.

“About me?”

At that reaction, Han Seol-bing chuckled.

“Does it hit a nerve? He was talking about me.”

Ha Mu-baek’s expression relaxed at the response.

“Then tell that guy to come suck honey too.”

“I’ll tell him that when I meet him next time.”

They knew.

Both Ha Mu-baek and Han Seol-bing.

That he wouldn’t be able to do that.

“Nam Hwi, or rather Namgung Hwi.”

Han Seol-bing finally brought up the main topic.

“There have been two people who used the name Hwi in the Namgung Family recently. One person is currently at the family estate, and the other person went missing about twenty years ago.”

Just from hearing that, they could tell who Namgung Hwi was.

It would be the person who went missing twenty years ago.

That time would be when the Blood Cult and demonic cult forces were just expanding their power.

It was before the war began.

“It was when Sanwol Demon Forest was at the height of its power.”

A time when it was much stronger than now.

It was an era Ha Mu-baek had only heard about.

At that time, he would have been wandering all under heaven as a beggar.

Han Seol-bing nodded.

“But the reason he went missing…”

“What about it?”

“You remember the story about the Namgung Family Head that I told before?”

It was from not long ago.

Ha Mu-baek nodded.

“That bodyguard warrior who took the wrong path back then. That person is Namgung Hwi.”

Ha Mu-baek’s face scrunched up.

The missing bodyguard warrior was alive.

But he had been living under a false name, and only now appeared in Gangho.

Yet he was still using an alias.

They had realized his surname was Namgung because they had seen him practicing the Great Flame Sword Technique.

But looking at his one arm and face full of scars, who would think of Namgung?

“Why didn’t he return to the Namgung Family Estate?”

“There must be circumstances that prevent him from returning.”

Han Seol-bing answered Ha Mu-baek’s question.

And both of them simultaneously recalled his reaction when he saw Namgung Ji-hu.

“That magic circle… it only confirmed whether someone was of Namgung bloodline, right?”

“Yes.”

There was a smell.

A smell that was ugly yet might be infinitely sad.

 

***

 

Chu Dong is a mystical arts practitioner.

He was also a promising late-stage disciple of the Mosan Sect.

At the age of twenty, he had mastered almost all mystical arts within the sect.

By the time he turned thirty, most of Murim’s mystical arts had reached the realm of complete mastery.

What came to him then was arrogance and laziness.

Mystical arts were too easy, and the world was boring.

What awakened his spirit was gambling.

The thrill of betting on a precarious hand and winning.

It was ecstasy, proof of being alive.

And when he came to his senses, he had already been caught reaching into the sect’s public funds and was expelled from the Mosan Sect with his dantian destroyed.

Losing one eye was just a bonus.

Since the Mosan Sect was a merciless demonic sect, ending with just that was already great mercy.

It was something that deserved immediate death.

It was lenient treatment achieved because his Master, who pitied his talent, begged and pleaded.

Even so, Chu Dong couldn’t give up gambling.

He told fortunes and squandered the money he received as payment on gambling.

Who would believe the words of a fortune teller who only lost at gambling?

So he couldn’t stay long in one village.

He began wandering All Under Heaven.

Then one day, a man came to him.

He said he was the Young Family Head of the Namgung Family.

What he wanted from him was one mystical art, and fortunately, that mystical art didn’t require a dantian.

A mystical art that was difficult if you called it difficult, easy if you called it easy.

It was pregnancy detection and determining the gender of the fetus.

He performed it twice and received an enormous amount of money.

Of course, he squandered all that money in less than a year.

That’s when he realized.

“Hehe. Who knew that telling rich people whether their unborn child is a son would be so profitable. Hehe”

So he wandered All Under Heaven, earning money and losing money.

Going round and round like that, Chu Dong entered Muchang this evening.

Thinking about what kind of rich person he might meet here to earn money.

 

***

 

Haejeong.

It was the promised time.

Namgung Ji-hu and Namgung Ji-yu went to the training ground.

Namgung Hwi was already there waiting.

Namgung Ji-hu bowed his waist respectfully.

Namgung Hwi also calmly bowed his waist.

“You seem to be a direct descendant, so why are you obsessing over something like the Great Flame Sword Technique?”

As soon as Namgung Hwi saw Namgung Ji-hu, he asked what he was curious about.

“Because the path I must take lies in the Great Flame Sword Technique.”

“What is that?”

The question came back.

Namgung Ji-hu closed his mouth for a moment.

Then he spoke slowly.

“…Emperor Sword Form.”

A short phrase.

But it was a heavy, very heavy phrase.

Namgung Hwi’s eyes trembled.

To say he was cultivating the Great Flame Sword Technique to advance to the Emperor Sword Form.

It was a story he couldn’t understand.

Namgung Hwi knew better than anyone in All Under Heaven that the Great Flame Sword Technique was an unremarkable sword technique.

However, he had never thought of it as a path to the Emperor Sword Form.

That his own capacity only reached the Great Flame Sword Technique.

“I understand. Though my skills are lacking, I’ll help as much as I can.”

Namgung Hwi answered with a small nod.

A smile appeared on Namgung Ji-hu’s face.

Then he immediately drew his practice sword.

Because he couldn’t delay even a moment.

Namgung Ji-hu unfolded the Great Flame Sword Technique.

Slowly and carefully.

He put his heart into each and every sword strike.

Namgung Hwi quietly watched that sight.

No, he became absorbed in the sword that Namgung Ji-hu was wielding.

How beautiful was that swordsmanship?

When had he himself displayed the Great Flame Sword Technique at that level of mastery?

At least it was impossible at Namgung Ji-hu’s age.

Perhaps six years ago?

Around that time his mastery was at that level.

But Namgung Ji-hu was at such a level at just that age.

It was admirable and praiseworthy.

As he was appreciating Namgung Ji-hu’s swordsmanship like that.

His heart swelled with emotion.

Before he knew it, Namgung Ji-hu, who had displayed all the sword techniques, was looking at Namgung Hwi.

Those eyes were full of expectation.

“Please display it once more.”

At Namgung Hwi’s words, Namgung Ji-hu nodded and unfolded the Great Flame Sword Technique again.

Namgung Ji-yu stepped back and quietly watched the two men.

She carefully observed Namgung Ji-hu’s face, then carefully observed Namgung Hwi’s face again.

Her gaze just moved like that.

The sword technique that Namgung Ji-hu was displaying didn’t enter her eyes.

After the second time ended, Namgung Ji-hu regulated his breathing.

And he looked at Namgung Hwi.

“Excellent. It’s excellent without any flaws.”

“Senior’s Great Flame Sword Technique was more excellent. It seemed to be touching somewhere beyond the Great Flame Sword Technique.”

Namgung Ji-hu answered.

At those words, Namgung Hwi nodded slightly.

Because he understood what it meant.

Somewhere beyond the Great Flame Sword Technique.

When his foot touched that place, he had entered the realm of Half-Step Return to Truth.

“Then…”

Namgung Hwi began to speak one by one about what he felt from Namgung Ji-hu’s Great Flame Sword Technique.

Namgung Ji-hu listened to those words with sparkling eyes.

Namgung Hwi drew his sword.

And slowly demonstrated the parts he had explained.

“In this part, I think it would be better to reduce the force by about thirty percent and transition more smoothly.”

Namgung Ji-hu nodded repeatedly.

Just then, Namgung Ji-hu’s eyes caught sight of Namgung Hwi’s sword.

A pure white sword blade.

It was a sword maintained so cleanly that it could rival his and his elder sister’s practice swords.

‘So it was this person.’

Namgung Ji-hu performed the sword technique again.

“That part should be stronger. And you must unfold it with the feeling of covering everything. Just like the name Great Flame, large and wide.”

He listened to the explanation again, then performed it again.

They repeated the same process several times.

There was none of the nervousness from the previous day.

Instead, there was the exhilaration that came from teaching and learning swordsmanship.

Namgung Ji-yu quietly watched this scene.

A smile unconsciously appeared on her lips.

That sight was like.

‘They look like a close father and son…’

Then Namgung Ji-yu was startled.

It was because of the thought she had just had.

It was absurd.

To think of a father when looking at someone from the Namgung Family she had met for the first time in This Place.

Namgung Ji-yu shook her head.

 

Ha Mu-baek climbed onto the Academy Rooftop and quietly watched the scene.

Wi Ji-gun was beside him.

“How is it?”

“Quite good.”

It was an assessment of Namgung Hwi’s skills.

“To my eyes, they look like a very happy father and son.”

The focus of the question and answer was different.

Ha Mu-baek gazed at the two people again.

Indeed, if you looked at it that way, that’s how it appeared.

The two people were completely unaware of it.

No, perhaps one person might be aware of it.

“What do you think, Master?”

“Nam Hwi, no, was it Namgung Hwi? You can tell by looking at that fellow’s eyes. He’s not someone who would go against natural bonds.”

“Then it seems someone else has gone against natural bonds.”

Ha Mu-baek answered calmly.

“If natural bonds could be severed just by going against them, would they be natural bonds? Can’t you tell by looking at those children?”

Wi Ji-gun’s eyes watching Namgung Hwi and Namgung Ji-hu were infinitely warm.

 

Their training session only ended after two hours had passed.

“Thank you for the teaching.”

Namgung Ji-hu bowed deeply, drenched in sweat.

“Let’s do the next one in five days.”

Namgung Hwi, who bowed in return, turned around first.

Only then did Namgung Hwi emerge from the Great Flame Sword Technique and return to reality.

His heart began pounding fearfully.

To think he would discuss the Great Flame Sword Technique with that child and exchange teachings.

It was something he had never dared imagine even in dreams.

Yet it was reality.

His chest swelled with emotion.

His eyes reddened and tears flowed down.

However, since Namgung Hwi had already turned around, no one saw this sight.

Neither Ha Mu-baek nor Wi Ji-gun could see it.

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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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