Rebirth of the Thunder God

Can a sword that killed a person be held accountable?

Of course, O Mujin had acted with his own will, so even if the act ended in an attempt, it was right to hold him accountable.

However, Namgung Hui judged that there was no need to break the sword.

Instead, he decided to take the sword and wield it against the opponent.

And there was something he had realized in his past life.

The fact that simply taking a life was, in its own way, a great mercy.

The most cruel method he had thought of was to kill slowly and painfully until death.

Because that was how the Demonic Cult created fear.

So, he decided not to take his life right away and instead give him a mission.

‘And if he completes the mission I give him, O Mujin will be pursued even if I don't personally take action.’

O Mujin, upon receiving a counter-request from Namgung Hui, half-opened his eyes and asked.

“You're going to give me a job? What if I run away?”

“The reason your Five Poisons Sect went into seclusion is because of the war with the Sichuan Tang Clan, right?”

The Sichuan Tang Clan and the Five Poisons Sect, both famous for their poisons.

The two seemed like they would be close, but they were actually rivals.

Sichuan and Yunnan were not that far apart, so the two often fought over poisonous materials and herbs.

‘In this life, it seems they even went to war. Why can't people stop fighting even after the Great War between Justice and Evil ended.’

Is it because humans are selfish animals?

They would not hesitate to go to war for their own interests.

The Great War between Justice and Evil was also a war that broke out in that way.

The war between the Sichuan Tang Clan and the Five Poisons Sect was also the same in that context.

However, there would be some differences in scale and method.

“What does that have to do with you giving me a counter-request? Are you going to lend a hand in that war? I was careless and got subdued like this, but that's a ridiculous notion.”

“You talk a lot. Your thoughts will change when you see what I give you.”

Namgung Hui took out a scroll he had written in advance and threw it to O Mujin.

He hurriedly caught the scroll that suddenly flew towards him and said.

“What is this?”

“Just look at it. You really are a talkative one, aren't you.”

When Namgung Hui glared at him, O Mujin finally unfolded the scroll and began to read.

“!!!”

“How about it? Is that enough to accept a counter-request?”

“How on earth do you know this? The detoxification method for the Ten Tang Family Poisons.”

The Ten Tang Family Poisons.

The reason the Sichuan Tang Clan became widely notorious was because of the existence of these Ten Tang Family Poisons.

Immortal's Lung, Crane's Red Crown, Soul-Severing Powder… etc.

All were terrifying poisons just by hearing their names.

It was naturally extremely difficult to obtain antidotes for such deadly poisons.

It was safe to say that there was no way to detoxify them other than the Sichuan Tang Clan.

But for some reason, Namgung Hui knew the detoxification method for those Ten Tang Family Poisons.

‘I found out in my past life by beating up a guy called the Poison King. Of course, it must have changed a lot since then.’

Sixty years ago, the Poison King had a history of being severely beaten by the Thunder God.

Even though he wasn't unaware that thunder ki and poison ki were incompatible.

Perhaps it was a sense of rivalry, but he had repeatedly challenged him, trying to overcome thunder ki with poison.

However, the Poison King's realm was low, and in the end, he could not overcome the difference in compatibility.

On top of that, the Thunder God's personality was not gentle, so he didn't just let him be.

‘Still, being a Tang family member, he endured the thunder ki torture well. He was a tough one in his own way. In the end, he spilled everything about the Ten Tang Family Poisons, though.’

The Poison King probably would have modified most of the manufacturing methods of the Ten Tang Family Poisons because of the information he leaked.

At the very least, he would have changed it so that the detoxification method the Thunder God knew would not work.

Well, it didn't matter anyway.

The information he gave to O Mujin was just for show.

Still, the theory itself would be flawless, so it would look real.

It was a real detoxification method to begin with.

And the Five Poisons Sect and the Sichuan Tang Clan.

If you simply compared them by size, the Sichuan Tang Clan, one of the Five Great Families, was superior.

That would be a given.

The Five Poisons Sect was in a situation where it couldn't even make it to the bottom of the Nine Sects One Gang.

Therefore, he was bound to accept this counter-request.

Seeing a Five Poisons Sect member coming all the way to the distant Anhui province to act as an assassin, the current situation of the Five Poisons Sect must not be good.

“So, are you going to accept the counter-request? Or not? If you complete the mission, I'll tell you the other five detoxification methods. If you don't want to, then forget it.”

When Namgung Hui tried to take the scroll back, O Mujin quickly brushed his hand away and said.

“No! I'll take it. Please let me take it. So what do I have to do?”

Namgung Hui opened his mouth with a wicked smile.

“The job I'll give you is….”

* * *

The next morning.

Namgung Hui had given O Mujin a mission and was spending a comfortable day.

But he wasn't just killing time idly.

Last night, while dealing with O Mujin, he had been taking the time to check his current condition.

‘I was able to win easily because O Mujin was careless. And it was fortunate that he was from the Five Poisons Sect.’

The natural enemy of poison ki was fire ki.

thunder ki was an extreme yang ki with a much higher purity than that fire ki.

However, it was just much more difficult to handle thunder ki than fire ki.

Namgung Hui handled that thunder ki better than anyone else, so he could only be called the natural enemy of poison arts.

Besides, his five senses were extremely activated due to the Pure Lightning Essence, so he was particularly good at avoiding hidden weapons.

It could be said that O Mujin had truly met the wrong opponent.

That also meant that if a real assassin, not a poison artist, had aimed for Namgung Hui's life, things might have been different.

If a true first-rate assassin had targeted Namgung Hui, he would not have been able to lie down in one piece.

‘Besides, according to the information Chohwa brought, it's probably not just the third brother who's after my life.’

After hearing the truth from O Mujin yesterday, Namgung Hui had detected a strange sign.

Over the past ten years, the third brother, Namgung Sang, had had several opportunities to kill Namgung Hui.

Yet he had remained quiet all this time and suddenly changed his mind recently?

There was something fishy about this.

If he had tried to kill him out of jealousy from the beginning, there were many opportunities in between.

From Namgung Hui's point of view, it seemed as if he had been instigated by someone recently.

‘Chohwa said so. The second brother secretly visited the third brother a few times. The second bastard is the most suspicious.’

Even after searching all of Namgung Hui's memories, there were almost no memories of the second brother.

It was truly strange. No matter how much they were half-brothers, how could this be when they were people of the same family?

Anyway, he had sent O Mujin to lure out that second brother, so even if there were no memories, new ones would be made.

Having roughly organized his thoughts, Namgung Hui got up from the bed.

It was now time to train his body so that he could block even a real first-rate assassin.

And so, Namgung Hui calmly walked out to a quiet training ground.

The sunlight shining down on the training ground felt unusually clear.

Like the days that would unfold for Namgung Hui in the future.

* * *

Seven days and nights had passed since Namgung Hui sent O Mujin away.

Seven days was not that long, but for some, it was a quite meaningful time.

As the saying goes, to see someone in a new light.

This was especially true for Namgung Hui, who was changing day by day.

During those seven days, Namgung Hui devoted himself to external training.

In fact, a period of seven days was not very long.

For external training, it should rather be considered short, unlike internal training.

But who was Namgung Hui?

He was the body of the Thunder God in his past life.

Not only did he know how to train efficiently to develop muscles.

He also awakened the nerves that had been dormant all this time with the Pure Lightning Essence, maximizing its effect.

As a result, his gaunt appearance was nowhere to be found.

He had developed enough muscle to now look like a respectable martial artist.

Namgung Hui's current appearance was no longer that of a handsome young man with fine features.

Of course, he wasn't bulging with muscles, but the faint, lean muscles shining in the sunlight even gave him a nimble impression.

Such a Namgung Hui wiped the sweat glinting in the sunlight at the training ground.

“Hoo…!”

He let out a hot breath and lowered the sword he had been pointing at the empty air.

At first, the sword was awkward.

The Thunder God had always lived by using only his fists, palms, and kicks.

But now, it was quite familiar to his hand, and he was also quite proficient in the Heavenly Thunder Sword Art, so wielding the sword felt quite fun.

It was always a joy to learn and practice from time to time.

Just as Namgung Hui finished sheathing his sword, someone burst into the training ground as if they had been waiting.

“Young Master~! The young lord is looking for you.”

“My brother? He's finally looking for me. Alright. I'll wash up and go right away.”

“Shall I wash you?”

“That's alright. I'll wash myself.”

“Aww~ I always washed you when you were sick, Young Master.”

Namgung Hui gave Chohwa, who was smiling slyly, a light flick on the forehead and immediately headed for the well.

‘I needed to go to the Thunder Sect anyway, so I can leave after giving this to my brother.’

Through his training so far, the vessel of his current body was somewhat prepared.

He had already achieved his insights in his past life.

What he lacked the most right now was internal energy.

Although he had formed a tiny Pure Lightning Essence by being struck by lightning, its amount was only the size of a chestnut.

Still, he was well above a second-rate, but compared to his past life, it was naturally not satisfactory.

Besides, considering the fights to come, he could not be satisfied with his current state.

‘At the very least, I'll be satisfied after consuming the Thunder Core.’

Thunder Core.

The treasure of the Thunder Sect and the symbol of the Sect Master.

The disciple who consumed the Thunder Core became the Sect Master of that generation, and the Sect Master forged a Thunder Core for the next generation.

The beginning and the end.

That was the meaning of the Thunder Core.

He finished his bath while thinking about the Thunder Core.

After wiping off the sweat, his body felt as light as a feather.

‘Now, shall I go see my brother.’

* * *

-Knock. Knock. Knock.

“Is that Hui? Come in.”

Permission was granted before Namgung Hui could even speak.

Namgung Hui, not wanting to take up his brother's precious time, immediately opened the door to the office and entered.

The young lord, Namgung Chan, was still looking down at his documents even though Namgung Hui had entered.

“You're here? Sit there for now.”

“Yes.”

Looking at Namgung Chan's face, Namgung Hui was vividly reminded of Namgung Cheonhu from his past life.

As if to prove they were of the same bloodline, they looked exactly alike, and even their unique atmosphere was slightly similar.

Perhaps this was the weight of being the head of the family.

‘My sworn brother was a family head, and my brother is the acting family head, so they are bound to be similar.’

As Namgung Hui sat in the chair and reminisced, Namgung Chan was still moving his brush and organizing documents.

-Swish. Swish. Swoosh.

After about half a shichen (one hour) passed, Namgung Chan's hand finally stopped.

“I'm sorry. To call you and make you wait. It's because I've been busy lately, so please understand.”

“It's alright. I'm the one who's sorry for not being of any help.”

“Just getting better like this is a great help. There have been almost no good things lately, so it's a great fortune that you've risen from your sickbed. Hey! Bring some tea.”

Namgung Chan, who had put down his brush, sat opposite Namgung Hui.

It was now hard to tell who was the sick person, as Namgung Chan's complexion was not good.

The area under his eyes was dark, and his skin was dry, looking as if he hadn't slept for several days.

“Brother. You look very tired. Are you alright?”

“Of course I'm alright. In fact, this is not a position where I can say I'm not alright, is it?”

That was how heavy the position of family head was.

It was more comfortable to live without any position like Namgung Hui.

Of course, one could wield power using the position of family head, but the responsibility that followed was immense.

The number of family members to feed alone exceeded several dozen.

“But what is the reason you called for me despite being so busy?”

“Of course, your well-being is the biggest reason. I wanted to see with my own eyes if you have truly regained your health. I was too busy to visit you myself.”

Namgung Chan pointed to the documents piled high on his desk.

Anyone who saw it would think it was the Zhuge family, not the Namgung family.

That's how much the family's fortunes had declined, so there were many things to do.

It was a relief that there was at least work like that, rather than no work at all.

“I see. I'm glad you didn't call me because something happened.”

“Well, there seems to be some strange movement within the family lately, but you don't need to worry about it. Here. Let's have some tea first.”

-Slurp.

Namgung Chan savored the tea and leaned back deeply in his chair.

As if to fully enjoy this fleeting moment of rest.

When Namgung Chan opened his closed eyes, Namgung Hui carefully handed him a booklet.

“Brother. I happened to obtain a manual from the Azure Sky Pavilion recently, would you like to take a look?”

“Ah. Yes. I heard you visited the Azure Sky Pavilion. You found something there?”

Namgung Chan took the booklet that Namgung Hui handed him with a half-believing, half-doubting face.

“But, for a manual from the Azure Sky Pavilion, it looks new.”

“It is new because I wrote it anew. The original manual was so old that it was hard to read. Please read it first and then we can talk.”

“Alright. Then I'll read it right away.”

A moment later.

Surprise gradually appeared in Namgung Chan's lifeless eyes.

That surprise soon turned into astonishment.

He roughly put down the booklet and opened his mouth.

“Hui. Did you really find this?”

“Yes.”

“Did you really find the latter half of the Boundless Azure Sky Sword Art?”

“Yes.”

Namgung Chan's hand holding the booklet trembled.

Now, the gloom on his face had disappeared, and only an emotional expression remained.

“Heavens…! You truly have not abandoned our Namgung family.”

Namgung Hui, worried that his brother's tears would fall on the booklet, subtly moved the manual away and said.

“Brother. Do you believe the contents of that manual?”

“You wouldn't do something like this to play a prank on me, would you? And the saying that a fortuitous encounter is hidden in the Azure Sky Pavilion has been passed down for generations. Of course, you were the only one to obtain it.”

‘A strange fate. I obtained it because of the memories of my past life, so it's not exactly wrong.’

The Emperor Sword Form that Namgung Hui found. Within it was the essence of the Boundless Azure Sky Sword Art.

Based on that, Namgung Hui had restored the latter half of the Boundless Azure Sky Sword Art.

Now that the Boundless Azure Sky Sword Art was complete, his father, who was in seclusion, would also show himself again.

‘Fortunately, he doesn't suspect anything. I had thought of various excuses, but I won't need them.’

Whether it was because Namgung Chan trusted Namgung Hui that much.

Or whether he no longer had the energy to be suspicious, either way, it was a good thing for Namgung Hui.

Namgung Hui was about to open his mouth to get to the main point he had come for, but Namgung Chan's words were faster.

“Then, now that you've regained your health, we can proceed with the marriage proposal that has been postponed.”

(End of Chapter)