The Sword Emperor's Way of Establishing the Namgung Clan

Chapter 6 - Sword-Thunder of a Lightning Flash (2)

Namgung Jun, once again bringing his hand to the hilt of his sword.

The Demonic Being, watching this with a look of interest.

Muk Shim-jung, who was caught between them, came to his senses and hurriedly opened his mouth.

“Sword Demon Sunbae!* This child is a Cloud who has just entered the society, a newcomer!”

[N: Sunbae (선배) = Senior/Elder]

“A newcomer?”

Interest sparked in the eyes of the middle-aged man called the Sword Demon.

Namgung Jun felt the same.

‘The Sword Demon? How can such a person be in the Azure Sky Society?’

On the ash-grey sleeve of the Sword Demon, clouds were embroidered. Four black clouds, at that.

It seemed he was clearly affiliated with the Azure Sky Society, but he could not guess what the story behind it was.

“You’re in the way.”

The Sword Demon pushed Muk Shim-jung aside and focused his gaze solely on Namgung Jun.

Witnessing that blazing gaze was enough to make the fine hairs on one’s skin stand on end.

Despite this, Namgung Jun did not avoid the Sword Demon’s eyes. At this, the Sword Demon’s eyes narrowed even further.

“A newcomer, you say? How amusing. What was that sword style you just showed me? It is a martial art I have not seen in the Martial Repository of Self-Reflection.”

“It is a sword style I am in the process of creating.”

Though Namgung Jun answered calmly, Muk Shim-jung, who had watched the entire process from the beginning, let out an unconscious cry of shock.

“You’re in the process of creating a new sword style?”

Namgung Jun’s words sounded as if he had taken only the necessary insights and martial principles from the Swift Sword manuals and woven them into his own unique forms.

While Muk Shim-jung stood with his mouth agape, the Sword Demon’s bloodshot eyes had already swiftly scanned the surroundings.

“So it wasn’t a bluff.”

Was this what it meant to be a supreme master?

Just by looking at the messily scattered secret manuals, he seemed to have a rough idea of what had happened.

Rather, the gaze that had been blazing fiercely grew even deeper.

As if Namgung Jun were not a person but a spiritual creature, a kind of supernatural horror, the Sword Demon’s eyes were a chaotic mix of excitement and anticipation. As if he had discovered a delicious piece of prey.

The Sword Demon slowly lowered his two arms, which had been crossed. Naturally, his right hand came to rest on his scabbard.

“Show me the forms you have newly created. If you satisfy me, I shall give you a fitting reward.”

“Sword Demon Sunbae! Are you saying you’re going to cross swords with a boy who has only just now learned an internal art?”

“You with the knothole eyes. If you don’t understand, then just stay quiet and watch.”

While Muk Shim-jung’s eyes darted back and forth, Namgung Jun nodded his head.

“What can you give me as a reward?”

“What is it that you want?”

“Spiritual medicine would be good.”

“Spiritual medicine?”

The Sword Demon immediately gestured with his chin. It meant for him to follow outside.

Namgung Jun, who was staring intently into the Sword Demon’s eyes, gave a nod in return.

“Let us cross swords.”

“Compared to the youngsters these days, your straightforwardness is refreshing.”

Muk Shim-jung, who was listening to the conversation, felt his hands tremble.

Something completely unexpected was happening.

A newcomer Cloud who had just entered the Azure Sky Society.

And the only Demonic Being in the Azure Sky Society.

Who would have thought that these two would engage in a duel?

‘Heavenly Sword Hall Master! When on earth are you coming back!’

Muk Shim-jung could do nothing but scream internally.

ִ ﾒִ ﾒִ ﾒ

The Sword Demon stood with his hands clasped behind his back, holding his sword pointing down in his right hand. It was a truly defenseless stance.

“Come at me with all you’ve got. I won’t use any internal energy and will match your strength.”

“I shall also refrain from using internal energy.”

What on earth was this nerve?

Even the Sword Demon showed a crooked smile at the confidence Namgung Jun was displaying.

‘Does he intend to match me with pure sword skill alone?’

The Sword Demon twisted the tip of his left foot to the side and retorted.

“What a crazy bastard.”

Namgung Jun slowly brought his hand to the hilt of his sword, enduring the Sword Demon's violent aura with his entire body.

‘This is an opportunity.’

He had tried to weave his forms together on his own, but there were many unnecessary parts.

Furthermore, he had not yet found the core will-intent that formed the foundation of the sword style.

To be able to have a duel with a supreme master like the Sword Demon at a time like this, when he needed to sharply refine his techniques.

It was no different from a fortuitous encounter.

The time needed to pare down the incomplete forms and weave them into a single sword style would be remarkably shortened.

“Here I come.”

Namgung Jun slowly took a step forward. The Sword Demon watched without making any move in response.

The moment the gap narrowed to five steps, the sleeves of Namgung Jun’s robes fluttered violently.

The first beginning was the drawing of the sword.

A path of extreme speed, starting from the scabbard, was drawn in a straight line, emitting a cerulean sword-light.

As the air rippled faintly following the smoothly extending sword strike, it looked as if he were slicing through invisible silk.

First Form. One Flash.

‘Hah!’

Muk Shim-jung let out a sharp gasp.

Even though he had polished his advanced eye technique as the librarian of the Martial Repository of Self-Reflection, he could only see the sword strike as a blur. The surprising thing was that he was displaying such a sword strike without using any internal energy.

‘Like a monster!’

While Muk Shim-jung was in shock, the Sword Demon parried the sword strike charging toward his abdomen and launched a counterattack.

The tip of the sword, instantly driving toward Namgung Jun’s chest. If it pierced him, it would be instant death.

Screech!

Namgung Jun’s leather shoes let out a short scream as he spun around in a circle. At the same time, his center of gravity shifted diagonally.

He used the fluid motion of the force to gather power completely into his sword. The sword strike, soaring up from a low stance and drawing an ellipse, clashed with the Sword Demon’s thrust.

K-CLANG!

Namgung Jun’s sword, having parried the Sword Demon’s, was knocked roughly away.

But Namgung Jun’s posture did not break. Rather, as if he had induced this, the sword that had been sent flying was once again brought down vertically, unleashing a second sword strike.

The chain of successively linked sword strikes was so fast that it created the illusion of two moons overlapping.

Second Form. Two Moons.

‘In the middle of the sword path splitting upwards, he brought in the martial principles of the Twelve Swords of Snake Mountain…’

Namgung Jun did not stop at simply displaying the forms.

As he clashed swords with the Sword Demon, he recalled the insights from the secret manuals in real time and reconstructed his techniques.

Parrying a horizontal slash aimed at his side, he took a step back. He drew upon the rebound force laden in his sword to display an even swifter thrust.

He had responded with the same thrust the Sword Demon had shown a moment ago.

The only difference was that it was a thrust of three strikes.

Third Form. Three Points.

Ch-ch-chang!

The Sword Demon, who lightly swung his sword and blocked the forms.

“This bastard. How amusing.”

As Namgung Jun went beyond just receiving his blows and even counterattacked, the corners of the Sword Demon’s mouth split fiercely to the sides.

At the same time, the Sword Demon also took a step forward.

While the Sword Demon’s footstep revealed a heavy presence, the sword he swung quickly became a blur and seeped into the atmosphere.

SWOOOOSH!

Along with it, a savage sound of tearing air followed.

Clang-clang-clang-clang!

As the Sword Demon, who still had one hand behind his back, also began to unfold a Swift Sword style, the two swords clashed without rest.

Despite this, Namgung Jun did not retreat.

He pushed in deeper and deeper, pulling the insights from the secret manuals he had seen in the Martial Repository of Self-Reflection to the surface. The subtleties of the Swift Sword that he had accumulated, however little, in his past life also began to take shape alongside them.

‘Faster, more precise.’

The Sword Demon’s sword strikes, which darted across all the vital points of his body, were clearly killing moves, with only their power being controlled.

It was a duel where a single misstep would mean the end.

Though a duel in appearance, it was no different from a life-and-death battle.

But Namgung Jun, on the contrary, was pleased.

It felt as if he were, little by little, rediscovering the senses of his past life.

Every time he took a long breath, his lungs screamed, and an electrifying pain shot through all the muscles in his body.

His weak body, born with severed meridians, was shrieking.

Despite this, Namgung Jun’s sword became even swifter.

‘This part, I'll extend the stride of my step by another half a chi.’

In that process, the newly woven forms began to shed their unnecessary parts and take shape, one by one.

The fifth form, the sixth form, the techniques were refined in sequence. The insights into the Swift Sword that had been scattered like fragments began to gather one by one and form a whole.

Twelfth Form. Eternal Lightning Forge.

As Namgung Jun, floating in mid-air, swung his sword down powerfully, the sword strike split into twelve paths.

Like a fire spreading in an instant, the sword strikes, which had plunged down in different directions, suddenly gathered as one and battered the Sword Demon in succession.

C-C-CRACK!

Even while facing the relentlessly storming lightning flash, the Sword Demon’s posture remained unbroken.

The interest in his eyes only deepened, and his sword only became faster and faster. As if to say, “try and keep up with this speed”.

‘This is more than possible.’

Namgung Jun gladly accepted the tempering that the Sword Demon was offering.

Around the time he was weaving together the thirteenth form.

His intensely heated Heavenly Prominence Point dyed Namgung Jun’s vision pure white.

FLARE!

At some point, the silhouette of the Sword Demon, who was striking down with his sword right before his eyes, shimmered and scattered like a piece of darkness.

A cerulean flash of light took its empty place.

The flash of light, which had been tightly bundled together like a halo, filled his vision as if it were blooming.

The streaks of light that spread out in all directions branched out like a dangling cluster of lightning bolts.

Namgung Jun immediately realized what the scene before his eyes was.

‘Sword paths.’

Countless sword paths, centered around a new insight.

They were also the forms of the sword style that Namgung Jun would newly create.

Sword forms that resembled lightning.

Namgung Jun swung his sword in succession, following the sword paths. His sword speed became even faster.

A thrilling feeling, as if lightning were flowing through the meridians of his entire body, rose up.

Clang-clang-clang-clang!

In the next moment, as he finished tracing all the forms pictured in his mind's eye, Namgung Jun naturally thought of the will-intent to place within the sword style.

No matter how sublime the martial principles and insights it contained, if there was no will-intent to bind the core of the martial art, it could not be called an advanced martial art.

For that reason, Namgung Jun decided to imbue the sword style with the attitude toward life that he intended to adhere to in this life.

A new will-intent blossomed in Namgung Jun’s mind's eye.

[What is held in my hand is a forged flash of lightning.]

To live a life as dazzling and unstoppable as lightning.

To strike down with my will, as upright as a lightning bolt.

Vwoom!

As Namgung Jun vowed this to himself, the will-intent began to be perfectly forged to completion.

[I must rightly become an upright Sword-Thunder and charge forth.]

As the will-intent was woven into the sword style, the connections between the thirteen forms he had unfolded until now clicked naturally into place.

R-R-RUMBLE!

The boundary of his mind's eye blurred, and the form of the Sword Demon once again entered his vision.

At the same time, the final form was deployed.

Thirteenth Form. Single Lightning-Thunderbolt.

Becoming a single streak of lightning with his sword at the fore, Namgung Jun’s silhouette passed straight through the Sword Demon.

KREEEEEEANG!

With a metallic sound like a giant gong being struck, Namgung Jun’s arm was thrown violently.

Drip, drip.

Blood trickled from the hand with which Namgung Jun gripped his sword. Though his hand was torn, he was satisfied that he had not let go of the sword.

Because to drop one’s sword was a swordsman's shame.

‘That last form. It seems he used the momentary acceleration from a powerful stomp to make his entire body into a swift sword.’

The Sword Demon, who was analyzing the final form Namgung Jun had displayed, looked down at his own sword.

The impact must have been quite powerful, as the body of the sword was still vibrating minutely.

‘My sword is ringing like this after receiving a strike from a mere One-Cloud member?’

The Sword Demon suddenly realized his mistake.

‘I used internal energy.’

Though it was only a speck of dust’s worth of internal energy, it was clear that he had used it. Namgung Jun was staring at him intently, as if he had noticed as well.

‘How absurd.’

Looking back, he could have blocked it easily enough without drawing on his internal energy.

However, a certain viscous will-intent laden in the form had presented a sense of pressure. That was why his body had reacted naturally.

‘I felt threatened by that bastard?’

The Sword Demon’s bloodshot eyes stared at Namgung Jun.

Though he had been off his guard with the relaxed mindset of enjoying some amusement, it was difficult for something like this to happen.

He had to admit it.

That the boy before him was born with the talent of a supernatural horror.

“Those forms just now. From a certain point, they were woven together in a well-ordered way. I’d say it’s enough to be called a single sword style. Was it thirteen forms in total?”

Namgung Jun gave a quiet nod.

“What is the name of the new sword style?”

Namgung Jun thought about the name for the sword style he had created for the first time in this life.

There was no need to attach a profound name.

For the sword style was just that intuitive.

On top of that, having learned the Heavenly Thunder True Yang Art, it would be difficult to find a sword style that suited it as well as this.

“The name is…”

Having finished his contemplation, the boy showed a gaze as sharp as a lightning bolt.

“The Thirteen Sword-Thunders of the Lightning Flash.”

It was also a sword style that contained his vow on how he would live this life.

The Thirteen Sword-Thunders of the Lightning Flash.

As swift as a flash of lightning.

As sharp as Sword-Thunder.

The thirteen forms would present the path for the lightning bolt to follow.

It was the birth of Namgung Jun's first unique martial art.