Chapter 155
Chapter 155
Namgung Cheon and Tang Gunhyeon were able to obtain important information from Hyeonu while leaving Hwangbo Nyeong—who had fallen into confusion after her trust had been shattered—behind.
Having learned it, Namgung Cheon nodded with a displeased expression.
“Doesn’t that mean you ultimately know nothing…?”
And the words that Namgung Cheon had kept inside his heart burst out from Tang Gunhyeon’s mouth.
It seemed he had not intended to say them aloud, as Tang Gunhyeon wore an embarrassed expression.
However, Hyeonu did not mind and instead showed a bitter smile.
“That’s correct. In my case, I only regained consciousness around the time the battle ended, so I do not know the exact details. Even when I asked my junior disciples, they said there had only been a trivial exchange of words and nothing that should have escalated into a physical confrontation.”
“Then why has the Sword Exalted become so cold like that?”
“I do not know either. I once traveled alongside the Sword Exalted for a short time, so I believed I understood his temperament to some degree. But the attitude he is showing now is clearly hostile.”
“Nyeong noona, do you happen to know anything?”
At Namgung Cheon’s question, Hwangbo Nyeong came to her senses. However, when she shook her head, Namgung Cheon could only feel disappointed.
“What on earth happened…?”
As Namgung Cheon spoke with a sigh, Hwangbo Nyeong let out a deep breath.
“To be honest, that kind of battle was my first time as well, so I didn’t have the spare attention to care about anything else.”
“What kind of battle did you fight?”
“The formations were completely scrambled, and we had to improvise responses as naturally as breathing. It was so chaotic that I couldn’t even pay attention to our allies. It felt like fighting as wild beasts.”
“Are you referring to a melee?”
“It seems a little different from that… but in a way, it’s similar.”
“Nyeong noona has always performed brilliantly whenever we trained for melee situations at the Joint Training Ground, hasn’t she?”
“That’s true. The fists of the Hwangbo Clan possess a wild nature. For me, a melee battlefield was a place where I could truly run wild.”
“Then why…?”
“I’m curious too. During joint training, I could clearly recognize my allies and attack only the enemies. But this time was different. It felt as though I was fighting while wearing shackles that weren’t tied anywhere.”
As if entranced, Hwangbo Nyeong looked at Namgung Cheon and spoke.
“It even felt like the world itself was trying to break my spirit. Endless armies no matter how many I killed, and the screams and wails of allies beside me kept shaking my mind. I shouldn’t say this, but honestly, I’m glad the person beside me wasn’t a member of the Hwangbo Clan. If it had been, even if I had survived that place, my heart might have broken.”
Though she spoke calmly, Namgung Cheon and Tang Gunhyeon felt as if they had already experienced hell just from her explanation.
What would it have been like if they had been placed in Hwangbo Nyeong’s situation?
The endless army alone would be despairing. But if agonized screams and cries echoed beside them, and if their own lack of strength meant they could not save their people?
Just imagining it was horrifying enough that Namgung Cheon and Tang Gunhyeon trembled.
“But there were some bastards who handled that battle with ease.”
The battlefield Hwangbo Nyeong described was a place worthy of being called hell itself. Yet how had anyone managed to cope there well enough for such words to come from her mouth?
Looking toward the direction of Youngho’s residence, Hwangbo Nyeong spoke.
“Youngho’s direct escorts.”
“Are you referring to the Blood Sword Ghost and the Great Rock Sword?”
“It wasn’t just those two. There was also an assassin called Black Shadow, and an old man named Horyeung.”
“How did they fight for you to say something like that?”
When Tang Gunhyeon asked in disbelief, Hwangbo Nyeong shook her head repeatedly as though even she could not understand it.
“I don’t know. But at the very least, if those bastards hadn’t been there, almost none of us would have survived that place—including me. At best, only Youngho might have lived.”
“Ha…”
It was a shocking statement. Even though they had heard that those people were personally raised by Youngho, they had never imagined that Hwangbo Nyeong herself would acknowledge them.
‘Has that girl from back then really become strong enough for Nyeong noona to recognize her?’
Namgung Cheon recalled a certain girl he had met at every Dragon–Phoenix Gathering.
Her persistence in never taking her eyes off her prey until the end, and the stubbornness with which she clawed her way upward even after being shown a wall she could not cross.
Now she bore the ferocious title of Blood Sword Ghost, but at least Namgung Cheon knew very well that Kang Chowon’s true nature was kind.
If it hadn’t been, she would not have shown consideration for him ‘that time’.
“When will we be able to understand the Sword Exalted’s intentions?”
At Tang Gunhyeon’s anxious question, Hwangbo Nyeong snorted lightly before answering.
“There’s no need to wait long. The Alliance Lord will arrive tomorrow anyway. That’s when the joint training will begin.”
“…!”
Surely nothing would happen. Hwangbo Nyeong knew this. Youngho was rough with his hands yet kind at heart. The warmth he had shown the Orthodox Sect despite coming from the Unorthodox Faction had been genuine.
When a day passed like that, the soldiers of the Unorthodox Alliance finished preparing to welcome their king, and the Orthodox Sect likewise completed preparations to receive the king of the Unorthodox Faction.
Flinch!
Those with sharp senses trembled involuntarily.
Even those with dull senses soon felt their bodies begin to shake.
A tyrannical aura—both violent and restrained at the same time—poured tension into every muscle of their bodies.
Their muscles stiffened and hardened. It felt as though someone were pressing down hard on their heads, forcing them to bow.
Even those who had barely been resisting began to have their expressions stiffen.
Most of those gathered at the place where the Lord of the Unorthodox Alliance was to be received bowed their heads as if they were worshiping Cheonung.
Domination through overwhelming power.
Cheonung—whose presence had been overshadowed by the appearance of the Sword Exalted—was now revealing his fangs once more.
As if declaring that he was still in perfect health, as if saying that people like them were not worthy of judging him.
Just as they were thinking his presence rivaled that of an emperor, Cheonung opened his mouth.
“Alliance Leader. Have you been well?”
At the stiff tone, unlike his usual manner of speaking, Han Yonghu felt his throat go dry. But he could not avoid answering.
“I have not been bad. There have been many unsavory incidents in various ways, but thanks to the Unorthodox Alliance’s help, they were resolved well.”
It was the first time he had ever heard Cheonung use such a businesslike tone, so Han Yonghu deliberately mentioned a few words that openly praised the Unorthodox Alliance.
Yet Cheonung’s expression remained unchanged. Even a statue would have looked less stiff.
“I apologize, but I will speak frankly. I have only come to observe this training.”
“To observe?”
“That’s right. The ones who will likely lead this training will be you, the Murim Alliance Leader, and my fifth disciple.”
The Alliance Lord’s fifth disciple.
It was clearly a reference to Youngho, and Han Yonghu realized that the situation had truly become serious.
“The joint training is preparation for war. Even if he is the Sword Exalted, he has never experienced war before…”
“So I have one request.”
“A request?”
“Yes. It is a very trivial request, but it could create great waves.”
“If it leads to a good outcome, there is no reason I cannot grant it.”
“It is for what those who walk the path of the Righteous Path often call the peace of the world.”
He had never expected warm words like peace under heaven to come out of Cheonung’s mouth.
But his hesitation did not last long. Han Yonghu nodded and said,
“Very well. If it is a trivial request, you may speak here.”
“You know my first disciple, Jeonghyeon, quite well. You have met him personally as well, Alliance Leader.”
“I remember him as a child with outstanding talent.”
“That’s right. However, the talent of the fifth is so exceptional that Jeonghyeon is currently receiving instruction from Youngho.”
It was astonishing.
Setting aside the fact that Youngho and Jeonghyeon had more than a ten-year age difference, no one would have imagined that the prideful Jeonghyeon would willingly receive Youngho’s teachings.
Seeing that Han Yonghu could not hide his surprise, Cheonung grinned.
“And Youngho trained Jeonghyeon and his subordinates very harshly. What kind of training do you think Youngho conducted? Aren’t you curious?”
Unease crept in. Instinct warned him not to satisfy that curiosity any further. His entire body screamed that if he learned more, an irreversible catastrophe might occur.
Nevertheless, Han Yonghu had no choice but to speak. As if lamenting the misfortune of being born in this era.
“If the Sword Exalted personally guided them, it must have been remarkable training. I am curious what kind of training it was.”
“I only glimpsed it briefly, but it was truly excellent. It made me wonder about one thing.”
At that moment, Han Yonghu realized it.
As though seeing the future, he could already hear the words Cheonung would say next.
Before Han Yonghu could hurriedly speak, Cheonung continued quickly.
“The training Youngho’s escort unit underwent and the joint training conducted by the Murim Alliance with the Unorthodox Alliance.”
Cheonung smiled wickedly.
“Which of the two do you think will produce the superior results? I am very curious what kind of fruit all this training has borne.”
In truth, there was not much meaning in comparing them. If the Asura Squad won, people would say the Sword Exalted excelled at teaching as well.
If the opposite happened, people would say that even the Sword Exalted’s direct escorts could not overcome the combined strength of the Murim Alliance and the Unorthodox Alliance.
That was, if the joint training had begun as usual.
All the Orthodox Sect martial artists present here recalled the memories they had recently had of Youngho and the subordinates he brought with him.
The way they treated the Orthodox Sect martial artists as though they were nonexistent—giving only curt replies before immediately leaving whenever spoken to.
The sight of Youngho yawning in boredom and weariness.
One by one, those actions they had shown until now began to gnaw at their nerves.
Thoughts tangled together, and shallow hypotheses began to churn inside their minds.
Eventually, they assumed the worst possible scenario their imagination could produce.
Had the training they conducted until now meant anything to Youngho?
No—had Youngho even held any expectations for the joint training participants in the first place?
As they recalled Youngho’s indifferent attitude toward everything, their hearts turned cold in an instant.
Just as Han Yonghu noticed the atmosphere around him becoming extremely dark and was about to speak with a stiff expression—
“Since the Alliance Lord himself also led the training, we should respond to his expectations.”
Namgung Cheon shattered the gloomy atmosphere and looked at Cheonung with a confident yet never arrogant expression.
“To be honest, I have been uneasy lately, feeling as though we committed too great a discourtesy toward the Sword Exalted. Fortunately, it seems we will have a chance to make up for it.”
Cheonung stared at Namgung Cheon for a moment before speaking.
“You improve more with each passing day. Your talent is truly dazzling. So what will you do?”
Woooong—!
A heavy aura flowing from Cheonung’s entire body crushed down upon Namgung Cheon.
The killing presence he emitted was so fierce that Cheonung’s hair began rising toward the sky and the sleeves of his arms fluttered wildly.
“Can you truly show results that will satisfy me?”
His throat tightened so badly he could hardly speak, but Namgung Cheon forced strength into himself and answered.
“Even if I cannot fully meet the Alliance Lord’s expectations, I will do my utmost.”
Cheonung watched Namgung Cheon—who stood with his fists clasped and head bowed—before turning his gaze toward Youngho.
“So he says. The rest is up to you.”
The moment he finished speaking, Cheonung’s aura quickly subsided. The martial artists who had been unable to breathe under the immense pressure gasped as they desperately inhaled air.
Youngho swept his gaze over the crowd with the same indifferent expression and spoke.
“I will give you time to prepare. Like my Master, I am also curious how real combat training is conducted at the Joint Training Ground.”
Youngho looked Namgung Cheon straight in the eyes and said,
“Let us have a good match.”