The World’s Greatest Martial Arts Instructor - Chapter 258

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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 258. The Second Half As Well…

 

 

The people of the Namgung Family Estate who watched this scene knew its meaning all too well.

A one-on-one life-and-death duel between two people.

The bond between parent and child.

Natural order.

This was a confrontation with that as justification.

To settle it with a life-and-death duel.

Truly an act that departed from natural order.

But since both claimed to be the father and there was no way to prove it.

Like true Murim people of Gangho, they would ultimately speak with swords.

The Family Head personally drew his sword and stepped forward.

Though the Imperial Changcheon Sword Formation was already broken, the remaining warriors carried their fallen comrades and cleared an even wider space.

Ha Mu-baek also chuckled softly and stepped aside.

Chu Dong, Namgung Hwa-u, and the Namgung Siblings also moved together with Ha Mu-baek.

Namgung Hwa-hyeon, moving toward the center, glanced at those siblings.

Irritation was evident in his eyes.

Irritation that this trouble had occurred because of those children.

In his gaze toward his younger sibling Namgung Hwa-u was anger and contempt toward a traitor who coveted his position as Family Head.

And when he reached the center and faced Namgung Hwi who was waiting for him.

The emotion that appeared on Namgung Hwa-hyeon’s face was.

Ridicule.

‘If you were lucky enough to survive, you should have hidden and spent your remaining years that way. Why come here asking to be killed?’

Namgung Hwa-hyeon didn’t doubt for a moment that he would win.

He had no choice but to think so.

Hadn’t it been the same twenty years ago?

What good was outstanding talent?

When the martial arts one had learned had limits.

Back then, Namgung Hwi had resisted him with the Great Flame Sword Technique, but couldn’t handle the Azure Sky Unhindered Sword and the first half of the Emperor Sword Form.

That sword technique that had severed one arm and scarred his face.

The Emperor Sword Form.

In addition, he had certainly dealt considerable damage to his dantian as well.

Such a man had appeared after twenty years to point his sword at him.

Twenty years.

A long time.

With his talent, there must have been changes.

However, those twenty years had passed equally for Namgung Hwa-hyeon himself.

The self from twenty years ago and his current self were completely different martial artists.

What could change by cultivating something like the Great Flame Sword Technique for twenty years?

Namgung Hwa-hyeon thought so.

He had completely forgotten how Namgung Ji-hu had defeated Namgung Ji-rin in the banquet hall.

Namgung Hwa-hyeon had confidence in his Emperor Sword Form.

Namgung Hwa-hyeon had already reached the realm of mastery in the second half as well.

Though his talent might be lacking compared to that arrogant Namgung Hwa-u over there or Namgung Hwi before his eyes.

Still, he was the one who had become the Family Head of the Namgung Family Estate.

He had that much ability.

Namgung Hwa-hyeon took a ready stance toward Namgung Hwi.

The ready stance of the Emperor Sword Form.

Namgung Hwi looked at that sight.

A ready stance that seemed familiar yet unfamiliar.

‘Finally, I’ve come this far.’

After more than twenty years.

At last.

He would cross swords with Namgung Hwa-hyeon again.

That day.

Namgung Hwi had seen the wall of despair.

No matter how much he gave his all in deploying the Great Flame Sword Technique he had learned.

An iron wall he couldn’t touch even a hair of.

The Emperor Sword Form.

How long had he cultivated while recalling Namgung Hwa-hyeon’s sword that he had seen that day?

Since the only sword technique he knew was the Great Flame Sword Technique, he had delved solely into that.

The deeper he delved, the more he realized that the Great Flame Sword Technique was also endless, and he continued to step into new realms.

And.

While teaching the Great Flame Sword Technique to Namgung Ji-hu.

Hadn’t he himself also overcome a new wall?

With this.

There would be no despair like that day twenty years ago.

Namgung Hwi also took a ready stance.

A movement that any warrior of the Namgung Family Estate could recognize at a glance.

The ready stance of the Great Flame Sword Technique.

Seeing that sight, a sneer appeared at the corner of Namgung Hwa-hyeon’s mouth.

And as soon as Namgung Hwi took his ready stance, he kicked off the ground and swung his sword.

With the single-minded determination to end it in one strike without giving even a moment’s gap.

A sword thrust to split Namgung Hwi with a blade that bloomed sword aura while deploying the second half of the Emperor Sword Form.

Namgung Hwi’s sword also moved toward Namgung Hwa-hyeon’s sword.

A sword that also bloomed with sword aura.

In that moment, Namgung Hwa-hyeon’s eyebrows twitched.

He had no choice.

Namgung Hwi’s killing intent was not that of a warrior who had reached the peak realm.

That’s why he had been looking down on him even more.

The thought that ‘he dares to attack me with a level that hasn’t even achieved sword aura.’

That thought was shattered to pieces.

‘How could…’

It was unbelievable.

It was clearly insignificant killing intent.

Suddenly sword aura?

Such a thing couldn’t be possible…

It exists!

Though it was also an absurd thing, there was certainly a realm where one could hide their killing intent.

‘Half-Step Return to Truth…’

It was an absurd thing.

Namgung Hwa-hyeon had barely, just barely reached the end of the peak realm, the beginning of the super peak.

He still hadn’t stepped into the super peak realm.

Yet Half-Step Return to Truth was something one could only enter after reaching a certain level even within the super peak.

Namgung Hwi had entered that realm?

Just with the Great Flame Sword Technique?

Though the Great Flame Sword Technique was the Namgung Family’s sword technique, this was absurd.

It wasn’t that he looked down on the family’s sword technique.

Martial arts inherently had their limits.

The Great Flame Sword Technique was a martial art that could never reach the Super Peak realm.

That was Namgung Hwa-hyeon’s common sense.

That’s why he dismissed the thought that Namgung Hwi might have entered the Half-Step Return to Truth realm.

‘He must have learned some trick to hide his killing intent somewhere.’

Thinking that way was much more realistic.

Having organized his thoughts, Namgung Hwa-hyeon flew forward with the Emperor Sword Form, targeting all the vital points on Namgung Hwi’s body.

It looked as if Namgung Hwa-hyeon had become one giant sword.

“That’s the latter half…”

Namgung Ji-hu muttered as he watched that sight.

Since it was his first time seeing it.

Ha Mu-baek simply watched calmly.

‘The latter half as well… Tsk.’

A sight that made him click his tongue involuntarily.

He had hoped when Namgung Hyeon-cheol displayed it.

But seeing Namgung Hwa-hyeon perform it, he was certain.

The sword technique Namgung Hyeon-cheol had displayed back then was indeed the latter half of the Emperor Sword Form.

However.

‘To perform such excellent martial arts at merely that level.’

A disappointing sight.

The martial art was wasted.

To Ha Mu-baek’s ears, it seemed he could hear the Emperor Sword Form lamenting.

Regardless of Ha Mu-baek’s impressions.

Namgung Hwa-hyeon’s sword still moved with murderous momentum.

Namgung Hwi calmly blocked Namgung Hwa-hyeon’s attacks.

Namgung Hwa-hyeon persistently targeted Namgung Hwi’s right side.

The place where an arm was missing.

A place more difficult to defend because he was a left-hand swordsman.

He continuously targeted only what could truly be called Namgung Hwi’s weakness.

Even so, Namgung Hwi was blocking it all.

With the Great Flame Sword Technique.

“Hey. Was the Great Flame Sword Technique such a sword technique?”

Someone asked their companion beside them.

Since he was also learning the Great Flame Sword Technique.

The sword technique the Family Head was displaying must surely be the Emperor Sword Form since it was something he’d never seen before.

But blocking the Emperor Sword Form like that with the Great Flame Sword Technique?

Did this make any sense?

Such thoughts began to arise one by one in the minds of the Namgung Family martial artists.

The power of Namgung Hwa-hyeon’s sword grew even stronger.

The sword’s manifestation he displayed grew increasingly massive, and his Gang Qi became denser.

The momentum spreading in all directions was also fierce.

Even so, there was no change in Namgung Hwi’s expression.

Instead, the Sword Aura gathered on his sword also became denser.

And his sword’s movements became heavier.

At some point.

Namgung Hwi’s sword began to show movements that departed from the Great Flame Sword Technique’s sword path.

Though it was the Great Flame Sword Technique, it moved as if it wasn’t.

A sword that moved like that.

Namgung Hwa-hyeon was momentarily flustered.

It was because his Emperor Sword Form felt as if it had lost its way in a vast ocean, a boundless sea.

“Damn it!”

If there was an ocean before his eyes, he just needed to destroy it all.

That was the emperor’s path built with blood, the path of the Emperor Sword Form.

That was Namgung Hwa-hyeon’s interpretation.

So he cut through the ocean with his sword.

But more seawater came crashing through the split areas.

He cut and cut again.

But the seawater only kept filling back up.

Namgung Hwa-hyeon’s face turned bright red.

His sword moved even more roughly.

Bang!

Crash crash bang!

Boom!

The ground burst open here and there.

They were all sword strikes that Namgung Hwi had deflected.

“This damn rat…”

Words that slipped out without him realizing.

Did those words serve as a signal?

Namgung Hwi’s sword showed another transformation.

If until now it had been an endlessly spread ocean.

Now it was like a violent sea with raging storms.

Sword strikes attacking Namgung Hwa-hyeon.

Clang!

Kang!

Kaang!

The positions were completely reversed.

Namgung Hwa-hyeon became desperate just to block Namgung Hwi’s sword.

Crash crash bang!

The sword strikes that Namgung Hwa-hyeon couldn’t fully block spread out, devastating the surroundings.

“D-dodge!”

Several warriors nearby hastily threw themselves away.

Namgung Hwi’s sword, showing the appearance of such a rough and violent sea.

Was gradually forming a single shape.

One giant sword.

“Th-this is impossible…”

Someone muttered with a dazed expression.

And rightfully so.

A sword technique that could form such a manifestation.

Though it certainly existed in the Namgung Family, it wasn’t something just anyone could learn.

Wasn’t it the very sword that Family Head Namgung Hwa-hyeon had shown just moments ago?

The manifestation of the Emperor Sword Form.

That was truly the Emperor Sword showing its form.

Namgung Hwa-hyeon’s lips trembled violently.

How could they not?

Right before his eyes, Namgung Hwi was displaying the Emperor Sword Form.

This was impossible.

He had clearly been performing the Great Flame Sword Technique, but the sword forms gradually changed, and suddenly it was the Emperor Sword Form.

Such a thing…

Namgung Hwa-hyeon’s gaze sharply turned toward Namgung Ji-hu.

Come to think of it.

Wasn’t the Emperor Sword Form that Namgung Ji-hu displayed in the banquet hall just like that?

“You, you bastard…”

Eyes like frost turned toward Namgung Ji-hu.

The suspicion that he had passed the Emperor Sword Form’s secret manual to Namgung Hwi.

Hadn’t those bastards entered the Namgung Family Estate together in the first place?

Even forming a group all the way to Seonyu Valley.

“Isn’t the manifestation of the Emperor Sword only possible in the latter half of the Emperor Sword Form?”

Then Ha Mu-baek asked calmly.

Though it was a low voice.

Since he infused it with internal energy.

It clearly struck everyone’s ears.

That was right.

A manifestation that could only be shown after completing the latter half.

The manifestation of the Emperor Sword.

That was the Emperor Sword Form.

The secret manual that Namgung Ji-hu took was merely the first half.

For Namgung Hwi to create such a manifestation with that was impossible.

Then what the hell was going on here?

He was the only one who knew the latter half of the Emperor Sword Form.

No, his uncles who made secret deals with Father would also know, but there was no way they would have leaked it to Namgung Hwi.

They hadn’t even known that damned bastard was alive until today.

It meant it was impossible for that bastard to create that massive sword manifestation.

Yet the Emperor Sword was floating proudly before his eyes.

What the hell was going on?

That bastard who was only learning the Great Flame Sword Technique at best, using the Emperor Sword Form.

“This is ridiculous! Damn it!”

Talent.

That bastard’s talent.

No matter how outstanding it was, how could he display martial arts he had never learned?

A sword filled with such resentment flew toward Namgung Hwi.

The massive Emperor Sword was dyed red.

What met Namgung Hwa-hyeon’s Emperor Sword was Namgung Hwi’s blue Emperor Sword that resembled the sea.

The two sword manifestations collided directly in midair.

Kuaaaaaaaaaang!

A massive and thunderous sound tore through the sky.

It didn’t end with a single clash.

“Kugh.”

Namgung Hwa-hyeon let out a small groan.

Twice.

Terrifying pressure squeezed Namgung Hwa-hyeon from all directions.

Three times.

Namgung Hwi’s Emperor Sword scattered deep blue light.

Four times.

Namgung Hwa-hyeon’s red Emperor Sword wavered precariously.

The Emperor Swords continued their deadly attacks toward each other.

As the clashes continued.

The red Emperor Sword gradually grew dimmer.

And.

In the fifth clash.

Finally.

The red Emperor Sword disappeared.

Slash.

Namgung Hwi’s sword cut Namgung Hwa-hyeon’s right arm.

Puhak!

Red blood scattered into midair.

“Kugh.”

A groan flowed from Namgung Hwa-hyeon’s mouth.

Namgung Hwi’s sword didn’t stop.

Now all Namgung Hwa-hyeon could see was the dark sky and that bastard’s sword form rushing like angry waves.

The sword surged like waves toward Namgung Hwa-hyeon’s face.

In an instant, Namgung Hwa-hyeon’s face became covered in blood.

Namgung Hwa-hyeon was brutally torn up, as if the skin of his face would be peeled off at any moment.

Because of the blood covering his face, he couldn’t even open his eyes properly.

Blood filled with greed.

It covered both eyes so that even the sky was no longer visible.

Then.

The last place Namgung Hwi’s sword aimed for.

That place was Namgung Hwa-hyeon’s heart.

This duel was a life-and-death battle.

The loser would not keep their life.

Even if he was the Family Head of the Namgung Family Estate.

If he killed him like this, the Namgung Family Estate might be enraged.

But such things didn’t matter.

Hadn’t he already seen clearly with his own two eyes?

Ha Mu-baek’s martial prowess.

If it was him, he could at least protect the two children.

He would cut the past evil ties with his own hands.

So that only happiness would lie ahead for the two children.

Just as he thought this and was about to launch his final strike toward Namgung Hwa-hyeon’s heart.

[You mustn’t kill him!!]

Gongsun Mu-oe’s sound transmission struck Namgung Hwi’s ears.

The sword path changed.

Thunk!

Namgung Hwi’s sword pierced Namgung Hwa-hyeon’s dantian.

The life-and-death battle was over.

With Namgung Hwi’s victory.

Heavy silence descended upon the Namgung Family Estate.

—————
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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