Chapter 69 : Chapter 69
Chapter 069. Sword King Joins
“……The Sword Ghost, and the Northern Heaven Sword Venerable.”
Namgung Gwan had reached the place where Un Wol-hyang and the Sword Ghost had fought a fierce battle before he knew it.
As if to show that the alias Sword King was not an empty name, he could instantly realize who the protagonists of this battle were just by glancing at the sword marks.
‘A fierce battle took place.’
Judging from the traces, it was a situation where one side overwhelmingly dominated.
It seemed the Northern Heaven Sword Venerable's skill was much more outstanding than what he had heard.
It is a fortunate thing. If Namgung Yeon is moving with her, minimum safety is guaranteed.
Namgung Gwan, who was moving his steps while thinking such thoughts, suddenly emitted a vivid glint from his two eyes.
“But that was not all……?”
What caught his eyes were traces of another fight.
Although those traces did not possess an extraordinary and huge scale like the ones Un Wol-hyang and the Sword Ghost left, they firmly caught Namgung Gwan's gaze.
“Someone blocked the Sword Ghost.”
At least an Ultra-Peak swordsman. Since there are so many hidden masters in the North, the closest border area to monsters, it is something that could sufficiently happen.
But the remaining sword marks had parts that looked strangely familiar to his eyes.
“……Is it the Sword Dragon?”
The Lord of the Martial Sovereign Castle's disciple who completely defeated Young Family Head Namgung Yeon several years ago.
He had already heard the story that Namgung Yeon was accompanying him.
I thought he luckily made a comeback after losing his dantian, but does this mean he has already reached a level where he can confront the Sword Ghost, even for a moment?
It is something possible only if there is a miracle.
But he couldn't deny it when the evidence was thrust before his eyes.
“I understand the reason why the Young Family Head talked about betting the family's fate and whatnot.”
Even if he hadn't lost his dantian, Dam Jeok-san is only twenty-five. Reaching the Ultra-Peak realm at that age is literally formidable talent.
Namgung Gwan continued to move his steps even while thinking so. To join them as soon as possible.
Then at some moment—
VROOOM!
Suddenly, the resonance felt from Namgung Yeon became several times stronger.
At the same time, her presence began to get closer.
“She noticed.”
Namgung Gwan muttered with a satisfied smile.
* * *
It was roughly two double hours after they set out to find him that the Monster Repelling Squad party encountered Namgung Gwan.
In the vast desert where an ordinary person might wander for a lifetime, meeting in two double hours was practically like meeting in an instant.
Dam Jeok-san gulped down his saliva while looking at the middle-aged man in blue robes approaching from afar.
Even at a glance, he felt an overpowering sensation surpassing the Sword Ghost. The body hidden under the fluttering robes seemed solidly forged through a hundred battles and ten thousand trainings, and the vividly shining eye gleam was intense as if looking down on and crushing all things.
That is the completed Sword of the Emperor. Is this the true worth of the Namgung Family Head, who chased right up to the chins of the Eight Sovereigns of Murim? Admiration flowed out naturally from Dam Jeok-san's mouth.
Perhaps if it was before reaching the Ultra-Peak, he wouldn't have dared to even make eye contact. But wouldn't it be a little, just a very little different now?
Dam Jeok-san looked at the Sword King Namgung Gwan while thinking so.
Intense eye gleam, breathtakingly powerful, extended from his flashing eyes. No, perhaps the Sword King was merely looking. Dam Jeok-san's weak body was just perceiving it as pressure.
However, that level of pressure could not break Dam Jeok-san's fighting spirit. He faced Namgung Gwan approaching from afar with his back straight.
Regardless of the truth, Un Wol-hyang and Dark Heaven are officially people who are not here.
So the person in charge of the procession is Dam Jeok-san himself, the head of the Monster Repelling Squad. That was why he could not back down even more.
Dam Jeok-san endured the impulse to kneel right away and pushed back Namgung Gwan's spirit.
WHOOSH!
A single strand of genuine qi soaring from his dantian. The will contained within it pushed back Namgung Gwan's spirit, which had been diluted coming from afar, in reverse.
“……!”
Astonishment flashed for an instant on Namgung Gwan's expression seeing that sight.
The Emperor Sword Form, the secret art of the Namgung Clan, is based on the principles of domination and control. Since those principles inevitably melt into all his actions, the space his spirit ‘controlled’ could virtually be called Namgung Gwan's domain.
However, Dam Jeok-san broke that control solely with his will, not even by drawing his sword directly.
A situation that didn't even look like the Sword Venerable made a move.
“Impressive.”
Namgung Gwan spat out an exclamation purely out of admiration.
“I still have a long way to go.”
Dam Jeok-san received those words calmly.
“A long way? You must be looking at a distant place.”
Namgung Gwan answered with a slight chuckle.
In his view, Dam Jeok-san was genuinely feeling fighting spirit towards him.
It is not an arrogant mind of ‘I will win’. It must be just a pledge to catch up someday. It was to the extent that he thought that someday might not be that far away.
Dam Jeok-san had reached a level more outstanding than what he thought while looking at the sword marks.
“……It has been a long time, I am the Monster Repelling Squad Leader Dam Jeok-san.”
Dam Jeok-san walked one step forward as if breaking his reverie and bowed his waist.
“Right, it has been a long time. You have become unrecognizably strong.”
The Sword King answered with a hearty laugh.
“Well, I have very many things to say, but first, I should bring up the thanks for saving the Young Family Head.”
After finishing those words, Namgung Gwan surprisingly bowed his head back to Dam Jeok-san.
Namgung Yeon is officially the successor of the family, and privately the eldest daughter who is precious to him.
Since he received a grace that cannot be converted into any wealth, bowing his head to express gratitude was natural for him.
“If there is anything you want, speak anytime, whatever it is. If it is something this Namgung Mo can do, I will naturally grant it.”
A plain tone that was hard to see as mixed with empty words. Saying that it doesn't have to be now meant that he would really grant anything as long as it was within his ability.
“May I postpone it? Because I feel a moment where I definitely need it will come.”
Dam Jeok-san answered that question nonchalantly.
“Of course.”
Although anyone would hear it as hoping he would lend a hand in the succession dispute of the Martial Sovereign Castle, Namgung Gwan answered without an inch of worry.
“Also, the Young Family Head suffered a lot too. It is my fault for not knowing things would become this complicated.”
He said while looking accurately at Namgung Yeon mixed among the Monster Repelling Squad members in the back.
Failing to see through the trick targeting the family was his mistake itself.
“Lastly…….”
Namgung Gwan muttered so and turned his gaze toward a secluded corner.
“It has been a long time, is it almost 15 years?”
The Northern Heaven Sword Venerable, who made eye contact with him, smiled brightly and opened her mouth.
“That is right, since it was even before I was called the Sword King, and before you were called the Sword Venerable.”
Namgung Gwan said with a slightly nostalgic look.
“Are you confident?”
“Of course, since the Sword King has joined, the situation is not on the bad side.”
“Is it okay just to the extent of not bad? It seemed a disaster would occur if we fail.”
“Of course not. But Sword King, was there ever a fight in our lives where it was okay to be defeated?”
“Hahaha! A wise answer to a foolish question.”
Namgung Gwan burst into laughter at her answer.
“Now then, shall we go to the battlefield where the fate of the North hangs? Martial Nephew will guide us.”
Un Wol-hyang pointed at Dam Jeok-san and said.
“Let us go.”
Dam Jeok-san looked at the two people for a moment and nodded his head.
Although they spent some time joining the Sword King, it is a clear fact that stopping the ritual as soon as possible is advantageous.
* * *
When they were crossing the desert after joining the Sword King.
[I can feel it…….]
Telepathy was heard in the mind of Dam Jeok-san, who was passing through the acrid sandstorm.
It belonged to Dark Heaven, the Northern Wind Sword Corps Commander.
[My other half is getting closer. To achieve something that even I could not track. I am just amazed.]
Telepathy is a high-level technique of embedding will itself into the mind.
Therefore, the admiration and surprise contained in the telepathy were conveyed very nakedly to Dam Jeok-san.
[……I was just lucky.]
Dam Jeok-san swallowed a sigh and answered with telepathy. There is no other way to explain it. Him awakening the ability of Predation is ultimately ‘luck’. Because there must be countless people who achieved nothing in the end despite trying more desperately than him.
[Even if the very first thing was luck, the one who pioneered it was yourself.]
Dark Heaven spat out words close to the correct answer even without knowing Dam Jeok-san's circumstances clearly.
Should I say she is indeed a Long-Lived Species who lived a time incomparable to humans? Her insight surpassed even the Lord of the Martial Sovereign Castle in some aspects.
[That is true.]
Dam Jeok-san nodded his head slowly.
How much time passed like that?
The Monster Repelling Squad party now reached a section where demonic energy whirled intensely enough for anyone, not just Dam Jeok-san or Dark Heaven, to feel the abnormality.
“……It is an ominous sign.”
Sword King Namgung Gwan looked at the pitch-black waving demonic energy and muttered with mixed feelings.
Even he, who learned the Emperor Sword Form, the martial art of domination and control, did not dare to compete in strength against the domain of that demonic energy.
Just how powerful an existence is asleep for such an ominous spectacle to unfold?
“At this rate, a new Demonic Realm will be created sooner or later.”
Un Wol-hyang also muttered in a serious tone as if agreeing with Namgung Gwan's words.
If they fail to block it, not only the North but the entire Central Plains will fall into chaos.
She already knew that fact in her head, but actually realizing it was another matter. A little cold sweat gathered on Un Wol-hyang's hands. Although she was revered as the Sword Venerable, she felt burdened by the weight placed on her shoulders because she was also just a human.
“Martial Aunt.”
Perhaps feeling such a mood, Dam Jeok-san placed his hand lightly on Un Wol-hyang's shoulder.
“As I told you, there is no need to bear everything alone.”
“Right.”
Un Wol-hyang turned her head to look at her martial nephew.
A force more fierce and powerful than ever was felt from him. To the extent that she mistook whether he obtained another realization while coming here.
No, her thought was not completely a mistake.
The whirling demonic energy raised the Predator's instinct inherent in Dam Jeok-san to the extreme.
He was currently in a state more powerful than ever.
As they approached a little closer towards the whirling demonic energy.
A pitch-black curtain covering heaven and earth welcomed them.
Although made of demonic energy, its structure is too solid to call it pure demonic energy.
A density high enough to burn a first-rate master in an instant just by passing through.
Hardness incomparable even to steel.
“It is a barrier.”
Dark Heaven, the Northern Wind Sword Corps Commander, could recognize its identity at a glance.
“Black Heaven Nine Hells Great Wall……. Only those permitted can enter and leave, and it is one of the most solid among existing barrier techniques.”
“……Can we break it?”
Dam Jeok-san asked while clenching his molars tightly.
“If it is the Sword Venerable and the Sword King.”
Dark Heaven answered with certainty.