Sword God Reborn

Chapter 250 : Taesan, Cloud, Changcheon

"..."

Namgung Jincheon quietly watched the Demon Repelling Squad training.

At the same time, he replayed the duel with Cheon Mubaeck in his mind. As he replayed it, a bitter smile naturally appeared.

'To call it a duel... it was one-sided.'

From the outside, it looked as if he were the one on the offensive, so some might think that Namgung Jincheon had fought well, regardless of the result.

But if you looked at the details, it was not like that at all.

'He was relaxed from beginning to end.'

In fact, it wasn't even appropriate to describe it as relaxed. But there was no other suitable expression.

You know how it is.

When a younger sibling is toddling around, they swing a wooden sword wildly, thinking they are imitating their father or older brother.

Is that painful or threatening?

No. It's not threatening at all. It's just cute. But from the outside, since the child is swinging it wildly, it's enough to make one worry that someone might get hurt.

At the very least, the duel that Namgung Jincheon was replaying was like that.

'It was like, "Just do whatever you can."'

As if he were watching his younger sibling swing a wooden sword, finding it cute.

Namgung Jincheon smiled bitterly.

'I thought we could cross swords and determine the victor. The martial world is indeed wide.'

Was it arrogance?

He even wondered if there was anyone in the Demon Repelling Squad training over there who could last a few exchanges against him.

At best, the three idiots would be worth a decent fight, but even they didn't catch his eye.

His father, Namgung Jo, was the Sword Saint.

He had learned from such a father and had honed his skills. Of course, he didn't think he would necessarily win.

Because even if you believed only half of the rumors in the martial world, Cheon Mubaeck's skill was a cut above his own.

Still, to think the difference was this much.

'It's like the helplessness I felt when I sparred with my father.'

At some point, he had started to think of the Sword Saint, the number one in the world, and Cheon Mubaeck as being in the same league. It didn't feel strange at all.

'How, at such a young age?'

He couldn't understand it at all.

A fortuitous encounter? A powerful martial art? A tremendous spiritual medicine?

What was Namgung Jincheon lacking among those?

'Were the conditions I had worse than his?'

Not at all. Not a single one.

There were no bad conditions. No, he had started from the best background and conditions that any martial artist in the martial world would dream of. Who was his master? Wasn't he the Sword Saint, the number one in the world? The starting line itself was so different that many had lamented that it was unfair.

'The more I think about it, the more I feel a sense of self-loathing.'

The more he dwelled on it, the more bitter the taste in his mouth became.

No matter how he thought about it, there was only one answer.

Something superior that far surpassed all those conditions and backgrounds.

'Talent. Truly brilliant talent.'

People had called him a peerless talent comparable to a divine body.

Many had praised him, and no one had doubted that he would become the number one in the world of the next generation, succeeding his father.

But his father had said otherwise.

'Your talent and my talent can be compared to Mount Tai.'

Mount Tai.

A great mountain that stands tall, not knowing the height of the sky.

He had taken that as a compliment.

But what appeared on his father's face was a bitter smile.

Since it was a somewhat self-deprecating smile, Namgung Jincheon had asked back.

'There is only one Mount Tai in this wide Central Plains. Does that mean there is no talent to follow in the Central Plains?'

'That's not wrong. The path to the summit of Mount Tai is treacherous. The end soars, not knowing the height of the sky. To climb it, you must overcome numerous hardships and adversities. It could be a landslide, a misstep, or even wild beasts.'

'I understand your advice to not be arrogant, even though I possess a talent like Mount Tai. Am I correct?'

'The opposite.'

'Yes?'

His father was silent for a long time. He just stared at the uncomprehending Namgung Jincheon.

A blazing gaze. But what was contained within it was pity.

As Namgung Jincheon's mind became complicated, his father's mouth opened.

'Your talent is a talent for effort. If you work fiercely, advance endlessly, and do not give up, you can climb that high Mount Tai under the sky. You have the talent of effort and perseverance to be able to climb Mount Tai. The same goes for me.'

Namgung Jincheon's eyes wavered. A talent for effort. A talent to be able to climb Mount Tai.

It was somehow meaningful. His father looked up and sighed.

'The world now calls me the number one in the world.'

'Of course. Because it is an undeniable fact.'

'Wrong.'

'......!'

'I climbed Mount Tai after countless efforts. In people's eyes, I, who had climbed Mount Tai, would have looked like the number one in the world. Because I had conquered the highest place.'

'I find it difficult to understand what you are saying.'

'It's simple. I am not the number one in the world.'

'No way, are you thinking of the Sword Venerable, who has disappeared from the martial world? I don't know about the past, but now, your realm is even more...!'

'No. He is a cloud.'

'A cloud...?'

'No matter how high Mount Tai is, it is only under the clouds. The Sword Venerable, Yoo Baek-gi, possessed a talent comparable to a cloud.'

'A talent of a cloud, what on earth.'

Namgung Jincheon was perplexed. He knew the Sword Venerable was great. But he had disappeared from the martial world, and now, everyone said without hesitation that the undisputed number one in the world was the Sword Saint.

Just how great a person was he, that his father was still so self-deprecating?

'Sometimes, a cloud gets caught on a mountaintop. Even with the talent of a cloud, if you don't make an effort, you can be lower than Mount Tai.'

'That's right.'

'But for the most part, a cloud is higher than Mount Tai. And even if you climb Mount Tai through arduous effort, you cannot climb a cloud with effort alone. That is because we are human. You, and I, because we are human.'

'Ah...!'

Only then did Namgung Jincheon understand his father's intention. But the moment he understood, a violent fear washed over him like a tide.

In his eyes, his father was the talent like a cloud.

Just with his innate insight, he looked like a cloud floating in the sky.

'If you just make an effort, yes, if a person just makes an effort, they can climb Mount Tai. But not a cloud. Even with arduous effort, a human can step on the summit of Mount Tai above the clouds, but they cannot stand on a cloud. You have to be born with it. That is the Sword Venerable.'

'...'

'My son. In my eyes, you are also Mount Tai. Listening to the rumors about the rising stars in the martial world, you will stand tall as the only Mount Tai and become the number one in the world. But if... you meet someone like a cloud, you might despair like me.'

'Father...'

'But don't worry. Even if two or three talents of Mount Tai appear in a generation, the talent of a cloud does not appear more than a few times throughout all ages. Then wouldn't you be better off than me?'

His father, unlike his usual self, suddenly laughed. It was a somewhat sad laugh, filled with resentment.

'Even the Sword Venerable, who was born with the talent of a cloud, I can only look up to for my whole life, but I despaired after seeing a talent even greater than that.'

'A talent greater than a cloud, you say?'

A strange light flashed across his father's face.

It was something beyond respect and awe.

'Mount Tai, and the clouds, and that high, high azure sky that all of them cannot reach.'

It was the moment the two characters for 'azure sky' were deeply engraved in Namgung Jincheon's heart.

"You bastard. Look at this."

"......!"

It was then.

A sharp voice pierced his ear as he was reminiscing about the past.

A ruffian-like tone that he couldn't get used to.

It was Cheon Mubaeck.

"Wh-what is it?"

Namgung Jincheon hesitated with a reluctant expression. For some reason, it was difficult to meet Cheon Mubaeck's low-set gaze.

The corner of Cheon Mubaeck's mouth twitched.

In an instant, an ominous feeling came over him.

"What is it? You're asking what's going on? I'm not asking, you're asking? I have to explain what's going on?"

"......!"

Why was he angry?

Looking at Cheon Mubaeck's twitching lips, he was confused whether he was laughing or angry. But one thing was certain. Namgung Jincheon's well-honed senses warned him of danger.

"What's going on? Are you really asking because you don't know? Hey."

"...Wh-what."

"You're in the Demon Repelling Squad, right?"

"Me?"

"I told you to join, didn't I?"

"Well..."

He did.

Although he had passed out as soon as he heard and couldn't answer.

"But why are you here?"

"......?"

"The rest of the kids are training to death, and you're sitting here reciting poetry under the moon? You're very leisurely, aren't you?"

"...Ah."

But... to make me do that kind of basic mountain climbing?

My realm is already...

"You think that kind of basic stuff is beneath you, is that it?"

"..."

As if he had seen right through him, Cheon Mubaeck's words hit the mark, and Namgung Jincheon was at a loss for words.

Cheon Mubaeck clicked his tongue.

"I'll let you skip that if you pass the three slaps."

"Three?"

In an instant, the painful memory of yesterday flashed by. His left and right cheeks ached at the same time.

'Three of those?'

He could endure two. But the moment he was hit for the third time, the thought of even raising the internal energy in his dantian had disappeared.

"..."

"You don't want to do that? Then do you want to take the test now?"

Ududuk.

As Cheon Mubaeck stretched out both his hands and stretched, Namgung Jincheon's heart suddenly sank.

No matter how miserably he had been defeated, wasn't this just plain rude?

When had he ever been treated like this?

"I have no intention of joining the Demon Repelling Squad..."

"Huh? What did you say?"

"...You have to give me the sandbags to train, don't you?"

In the end, Namgung Jincheon resigned himself.

However.

'I haven't submitted. After showing results through training, I will challenge him again.'

Although he himself didn't think of it that way.

But he was sincere.

He would challenge him again, no matter what. Because he wanted to confirm.

If what his father had said was true.

If there was another talent on top of Mount Tai.

As he ran towards the mountain, Namgung Jincheon glanced back. Cheon Mubaeck, standing tall with his arms crossed.

"Are you Mount Tai, a cloud, or the azure sky?"

If he were Mount Tai, he would follow. And he would stand together.

If he were a cloud, he would watch from the highest place.

And if he were the azure sky...

"...I don't know."

If it were up to a cloud, yes. He would challenge until the end. Because sometimes, a mountaintop is above the clouds. Because he could become such a mountain.

But if he were the azure sky...

"I will see. If the sky truly exists."

He would climb Mount Tai, the highest place a human can climb, and watch from the place closest to the sky.

The new azure sky (蒼天).

* * *

"He's the son of Namgung Jo. It seems the blood of the Namgung family is indeed the thickest in the martial world."

Cheon Mubaeck chuckled.

Watching the blood relative of an old connection was a rather strange feeling, but he was used to it now.

At that time, when he was living as the Azure Sky Sword God, Cheon Mubaeck had picked out the prodigies of the world, and one of them was Namgung Jo.

To be precise, he had picked his disciple, the Sword Venerable Yoo Baek-gi, as the first, and then Namgung Jo as the next.

The innate insight of the Namgung Clan's bloodline, the peerless martial arts, the numerous spiritual medicines, and the enlightenment and teachings passed down through the generations.

If the prodigy of the world, Yoo Baek-gi, had not appeared, it was obvious that Namgung Jo would have become the number one in the world after Cheon Mubaeck.

'Although that Gwak Yong fellow grumbled.'

At the talk that he was inferior to Namgung Jo, the young Gwak Yong had grumbled, but what could he do?

It was a fact.

Although Gwak Yong showed his true worth in his fierce mental strength, like his moniker, the God of Combat, in terms of pure skill, Namgung Jo was amazing.

To think that he was the son of such a Namgung Jo, it was indeed as famous as the rumors.

Of course, in Cheon Mubaeck's eyes, he was still a long way off, a mere fledgling.

'He's a skilled person who can reach the Divine Realm at any time with just a few more enlightenments at the end of the peak...'

In fact, although he had said three slaps, there was a fact that they did not know.

'I put quite a bit of force into it.'

The results of the Demon Repelling Squad's training were clearly showing. But the reason they couldn't pass the test was that Cheon Mubaeck's slaps were getting more and more cunningly stronger.

"Namgung Jincheon has also come, and those idiots have also become quite warrior-like."

Cheon Mubaeck thought for a moment and then nodded.

"It's about time to move."

His head turned to the north.

It was the direction where the Wolya Faction was.

(End of Chapter)