Chapter 37
— — —
“Hong-seol, say ‘ah’.”
Chopsticks in hand, Namgung Baek stealthily began to bring a piece of meat toward Hong-seol’s mouth.
Clink! Clink! Clink!
Each time, of course, Namgung Ho’s brilliant chopstick skills mounted an ironclad defense.
In the end, Namgung Baek had to put his chopsticks down without having fed Hong-seol a single bite.
A displeased wrinkle formed on the young wolf Beastkin’s nose.
“…”
He didn’t voice his thoughts, but it was plain to see what he was thinking.
‘He’s probably wondering how he could use an exclusive martial art, passed down only to the Clan Lord, for something as trivial as a chopstick fight.’
And against his own grandson, no less.
Namgung Baek’s face visibly hardened, but Namgung Ho was unfazed.
In fact, he was even grateful that his grandson was breaking down his walls and showing such an expression.
Besides, he had done it on purpose to provoke Namgung Baek.
He wanted to give his grandson, who thought he no longer needed to learn Martial Arts, even a small reason to do so.
“Hmph. If you feel it’s unfair, then you should train in the Martial Arts and become the Clan Lord yourself.”
At those words, Namgung Baek’s face stiffened as he set his chopsticks down on the table.
Catching this out of the corner of his eye, Namgung Ho spoke in an even more vexing tone.
“Too bad, but this is one joy your grandpa won’t concede. My dear! Ah.”
“Ahhh.”
Namgung Ho sat Hong-seol on his lap and carefully picked up a piece of meat to place in her mouth.
By now, Hong-seol was used to this kind of situation and readily accepted the food with a little “nom.”
Watching her, Namgung Ho savored the heartwarming moment.
Her cheeks, which had grown quite plump, were utterly adorable.
‘I can’t even imagine she was once that timid little child.’
When the children’s bellies were full, Namgung Ho dusted himself off and stood up.
“Seol-ah, you should get up now too.”
“Yes, sir!”
What’s happening?
As a very tense Hong-seol hopped down from her chair, the boys’ curious eyes all gathered in one place.
Seeing this, Namgung Ho grinned.
He had finally secured some time to have Hong-seol all to himself.
“Today is the day Seol-ah receives her first training since becoming my disciple.”
At his words, the jaws of Heuk and Jeok dropped.
Her first training since becoming the Grand Patriarch’s disciple. How grueling would it be?
The curiosity in their eyes instantly turned to pity.
Only Baek still wore a look of discontent.
In Namgung Ho’s opinion, this was far better than his usual indifferent expression.
‘So you don’t like me monopolizing Seol-ah. But it’s no use, you little rascal!’
Jutting out his chin like a victor, Namgung Ho said.
“Seol-ah, let’s be on our way.”
What kind of training would she undergo today?
Knowing nothing, Hong-seol tensed up and followed him, walking as stiffly as a wooden doll.
---
“Um, Grandfather.”
In the spacious training ground attached to Azure Sky Pavilion, a voice as small as a mosquito’s emerged.
It was the voice of Hong-seol, who was sitting at a lone writing desk placed in the middle of the training ground.
Namgung Ho, standing imposingly before her, answered with a solemn air.
“Why are you calling me in the middle of training?”
“Um, is this really…”
Is this really related to martial arts training?
Hong-seol’s face was filled with the question she couldn’t bring herself to ask.
And for good reason. For several days now, all she had been doing was sitting in the middle of the training ground attached to Azure Sky Pavilion, reading the books Namgung Ho had given her.
It was a peculiar routine for someone who had become the disciple of the “Sword King,” a position everyone coveted.
‘Thanks to that, I’ve perfectly learned how to read, but…’
How long was she supposed to just sit here reading books?
Besides, the book she was reading wasn’t even a martial arts manual.
“Is the book not interesting?”
“No.”
Hong-seol shook her head with all her might.
“It’s not that… I was just wondering if it’s okay to just sit here like this…”
‘She must be getting antsy just sitting around after all that hard training with the Master of the Azure Sky Unit. Our Seol-ah is a natural-born martial artist!’
A grin spread across Namgung Ho’s face as he covered Hong-seol’s head with his large hand.
“Ehehe.”
Hong-seol, enjoying the sensation, laughed without a care. She found herself laughing like this often these days.
“Seol-ah, what do you think is the most important quality a martial artist should possess?”
Quality?
It was too difficult a word for Hong-seol to know.
“Umm…”
As Hong-seol hesitated, Namgung Ho spoke with a serious expression.
“It is two things: Righteousness and Chivalry.”
“Teeth and tongue…?”
Namgung Ho fought back a burst of laughter and repeated in a solemn tone.
“No, Righteousness (義) and Chivalry (俠).”
Ah.
Hong-seol raised her now quite chubby finger and traced the strokes in the air.
They were characters she had definitely learned before.
“Does it mean I should do the right thing with the power I have and help others?”
“Yes, that’s it exactly!”
Namgung Ho’s hand, resting on Hong-seol’s head, squeezed gently.
It was a sign that he was proud of her for figuring out the meaning on her own.
“When you learn Martial Arts, you naturally gain power. You, Hong-seol, will gain even greater power than others in the future. Because you have talent.”
At his words, Hong-seol’s cheeks turned red.
‘He says I have talent!’
She had grown used to smiling now.
But she still hadn’t adapted to the recent flood of compliments from those around her.
‘If I learn Martial Arts and become a person who practices Righteousness and Chivalry, will everyone love me more?’
Maybe even Mom…
Hong-seol swallowed the words she couldn’t dare to speak aloud.
“That is why I am having you read these books. So you can see and learn from the Righteousness and Chivalry of our ancestors.”
The title of the book in Hong-seol’s hands was <The History of the Great War Between the Righteous and Demonic>.
It was a book that recorded the war between the Righteous Faction and the Demonic Cult from three hundred years ago.
“As it is written in that book, there exists a being in the world called the Heavenly Demon. He is a monster whose nature has become savage from mastering the Demonic Arts to their very limit, and who regards human lives as specks of dust.”
Hong-seol imagined the Heavenly Demon with bloodshot eyes and long hair that flowed down to his waist.
‘Hic!’
The mere thought made her knees weak. But she forced strength into her eyes and tried not to show her fear.
‘I’m the disciple of the Namgung Clan’s Grand Patriarch, for goodness’ sake. I can’t be scared of some Heavenly Demon!’
“The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, or what is commonly called the Demonic Cult, worships the Heavenly Demon as its leader. Their dream is to swallow the world whole, and three hundred years ago, they finally pushed their way into the Central Plains.”
Waaaaah.
It was as if she could see the swarm of Demonic Cult followers pouring over the mountain ridges like a black tide.
“First was Kunlun. Wherever the hundred thousand cultists swept through, rivers of blood flowed.”
Children and the elderly were no exception.
The moment they fell into the hands of the Demonic Cult, they were all slaughtered senselessly.
The cruelest part was the fact that the fingernails and toenails of every corpse had been pulled out.
Apparently, for those who practiced the Demonic Arts, human nails served as a medicine that lessened the pain caused by their arts.
Because of this, the battlefields were littered with corpses whose hands were stained red.
And so, the medicine was said to be called ‘Red Hand Pill.’
‘S-Scary…’
Terrified, Hong-seol swallowed hard and asked.
“Did the people of the Namgung Clan fight the Heavenly Demon too?”
“Of course. The Azure Sky Swordsmen, led by the Clan Lord of that time, the Azure Sky Sword Emperor Namgung Wiyo, were all mobilized.”
In today’s terms, not only Namgung Ho but also the Clan Lord Namgung On and the Master of the Changcheon Unit, Namgung Uigyeol, would have drawn their swords and charged without hesitation.
Because that was the Righteousness and Chivalry of Namgung.
The thought sent a shiver down Hong-seol’s entire body.
“D-Did we win?”
Namgung Ho slowly shook his head. Hong-seol, her face looking as if she were about to cry, asked.
“Th-Then did we lose…?”
“We didn’t lose either. We continued a drawn-out battle without being able to inflict a fatal blow on each other’s forces.”
Even with the Clan Lord of the Namgung Clan personally taking the field, the best they could do was fight to a stalemate.
Just what kind of being was the Heavenly Demon?
Amidst her fear, a small seed of curiosity began to sprout in Hong-seol’s heart.
“Were the Kunlun Sect and the Namgung Clan the only ones who fought the Heavenly Demon?”
At that, Namgung Ho shook his head.
“No. All the clans that possessed the Righteousness and Chivalry I spoke of became one under the banner of the Martial Alliance.”
“Who were they?”
“Those known as the Five Great Clans and the Nine Sects, One Union, and all the other orthodox clans belonging to the Martial Alliance.”
“The Five Great Clans, does that include the Tang Clan of Sichuan by any chance?”
Hong-seol recalled the giant white snake that had risen above the lake.
“Yes. It was thanks to the combined efforts of the Namgung and the Tang Clan that we were able to poison the Heavenly Demon in the end.”
Impervious to all poisons.
To have been able to do that to the Heavenly Demon, who was said to be immune to any poison, could only be called a stroke of heavenly luck.
And the sacrifices had been just as great.
Hearing the story, Hong-seol’s eyes sparkled.
“So, did the Heavenly Demon die?”
0 Comments