Chapter 148: The End of Childhood (7)

“You say you want to enter closed-door training?”

Namgung Hyeong narrowed his eyes and asked.

Namgung Seon quietly nodded.

“Yes, Father.”

It was an unusually solemn sight from him.

He had probably discussed it with the Sword Sovereign, his grandfather, and decided on it.

Most likely in order to break through the wall of Transcendent Apex in the shortest possible time.

Behind Namgung Seon stood Namgung Ak.

That was half a threat.

It meant that a wretch like Namgung Hyeong was not to become an obstacle to Namgung’s future.

However, his eyes......

Had caught something else as well.

“......Do that. From when until when do you plan to enter?”

“From seven days from now......until one month before the day the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering opens.”

“Even though you do not know when the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering will be held?”

“Yes. Even so, is the date not decided at least half a year before it opens?”

The Dragon-Phoenix Gathering was something decided by the leaders of the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Households after all of them gathered.

Of course, on average, it had never been postponed beyond five years......

But that also meant it might not be held for as long as five years.

He was saying he would continue a life without even seeing sunlight, eating nothing but fasting pellets, for all that time.

It was a decision that could only be called filled with extraordinary venom.

“......People do not usually remain in closed-door training that long.”

“There is someone I must break.”

“You mean that girl from Mount Hua?”

Namgung Seon nodded.

Behind him, the Sword Sovereign smiled with satisfaction.

Well, his father was not the sort to neglect the finest bloodline of the Namgung Household over a single defeat.

No matter what anyone said, the martial talent closest to becoming number one under heaven was, at least in the Namgung Household, indeed his son.

“I will absolutely win.”

“Are you confident?”

“I am choosing closed-door training because I am not.”

He was right.

If he had been confident he could win, he would not have used an extreme measure like five years of closed-door training.

Namgung Hyeong narrowed his eyes and nodded.

“Take as many spirit medicines and items as you want from the Family Head’s hidden cave.”

“......Is it truly all right for you to go that far?”

As many as he wanted.

That meant unlimited.

And until now, the Family Head’s secret storehouse had never once been opened “without limit.”

Namgung Hyeong glanced at his father, then turned his gaze back to Namgung Seon.

“Yes. If there is anything you need, take it without hesitation. Do not hesitate for no reason and regret it later.”

“Thank you. Truly, truly.”

Namgung Seon did not normally acknowledge Namgung Hyeong much.

As a father or as a martial artist, he was not exactly a model, excellent figure worthy of admiration.

But this decision, at least, could be called impressive.

Using what was in the Family Head’s hidden cave was entirely the Family Head’s right.

There was only one reason it had not been emptied until now and had instead been steadily accumulated generation after generation.

The Family Heads of past generations had gathered those things in order to give them to the true material of the number one martial artist under heaven, once they found such a person.

And Namgung Hyeong knew that intent precisely.

The fact that he was investing everything gathered there into Namgung Seon......

Meant that he was to defeat Cheon Soyak without fail and once again become the only dragon above the clouds.

“Good. Then go. I have something to discuss with Father.”

When Namgung Hyeong said that, Namgung Ak frowned.

But he soon let out a soft snort of laughter and relaxed his expression.

Because Namgung Hyeong had shown “sincerity” first.

The sincerity of yielding everything to Namgung Seon.

A step toward achieving Namgung Ak’s dream, goal, and ambition: hereditary succession of the Martial Alliance Leader’s position through his bloodline.

To be frank, if Namgung Hyeong used the spirit medicines in the hidden cave, he could drive out a single strand of Demonic Energy lodged in his dantian.

But Namgung Hyeong had not done that. He had handed them entirely over to Namgung Seon.

Instead, he intended to receive the price for it.

“This son shall withdraw now.”

Namgung Seon bowed his head to the two men and withdrew from the Family Head’s Office.

The door closed, and once Namgung Seon’s footsteps grew distant enough that they could no longer be heard.

Namgung Ak spoke first.

“You foolish bastard.”

“I am truly grateful that you at least say that after my son has left.”

“You showed sincerity, so should I not at least save your face?”

Namgung Ak stroked down his snow-white beard and sat in the chair behind the desk of the Family Head’s Office.

Originally, it was a chair only the Family Head could sit in......

But Namgung Hyeong was not stupid enough to point that out to his father, Martial Alliance Leader and Sword Sovereign Namgung Ak.

“When did it begin?”

“From the last regular inspection.”

“I did think things looked unstable, but your realm should not be that low.”

Namgung Hyeong nodded.

Then he pressed part of the wall and several books, opening the door that led to the underground lightning prison where the Young Cult Leader’s head was sealed.

From that place......

Demonic Energy so dense that Namgung Ak had never once experienced anything like it during his years as Family Head flowed out.

“......The problem has become severe.”

“The seal is still holding for now.”

“It was not like this during the last inspection?”

“If it had been, I would have been suffering since then.”

Namgung Ak’s brow sharply furrowed, and then he nodded.

To begin with, if he had thought Namgung Hyeong could not withstand the Demonic Energy he himself had endured, he would not have handed him the Family Head position.

Watching over the Young Cult Leader’s head was one of the Namgung Family Head’s main duties and tasks.

He too had judged that Namgung Hyeong possessed at least the minimum skill and qualification to sit in the Family Head’s seat.

But if it was Demonic Energy of this degree......

It certainly would not have been easy.

With his brow furrowed, Namgung Ak looked at the Demonic Energy flowing out beyond the threshold of the open secret door.

“Originally, it should not even be able to cross the threshold.”

“That is not all.”

“Hm?”

“The Young Cult Leader’s head spoke.”

Namgung Ak’s expression worsened further.

To the point that his brow seemed to crumple outright.

Namgung Hyeong brought over a fairly fine wooden chair meant for guests.

Then he closed the door to the underground lightning prison again, sat in the chair, and let out a sigh.

“A severed head speaking......”

“Yes.”

“What did it say?”

“......It was an exceedingly irreverent thing to say.”

Namgung Hyeong bit his lip with an uneasy face.

It was partly because the meaning of those words was truly irreverent......

But also because each time he repeated them, it felt as though he himself came to believe them.

Whether it was some kind of evil rite or not......

Namgung Hyeong was not optimistic enough to ignore an ominous intuition.

“It shouted......‘The Heavenly Demon lives.’”

“What?”

“And at times, I hear those words inside my head as well. Not only that. The Young Cult Leader’s voice has also asked me whether I want talent. It must be an auditory hallucination, but......”

Namgung Ak glared at Namgung Hyeong with narrow eyes.

His sharp and intense gaze shot out as though it would strip Namgung Hyeong’s soul bare.

“So what did you say?”

“Pardon?”

“I asked how you answered.”

“......I did not answer at all.”

Namgung Ak grinned broadly.

Because that was the correct answer.

Whether good or bad, true or false, the moment one responded, it became an “acknowledgment of existence.”

Demonic Energy and internal energy acted similarly.

Only their direction and quality were different.

And internal energy was a power that moved and acted according to a martial artist’s mindscape.

Would Demonic Energy truly be any different?

In other words, the moment he answered the Young Cult Leader’s voice, he would be acknowledging the fact that a piece of the Young Cult Leader existed inside him.

And once he acknowledged its existence like that.

Uprooting it would become extremely difficult.

Something that originally was not there, that had never existed, could vanish without anything strange about it.

But when something that had existed was pulled out, a “trace” was bound to remain.

The human heart and the dantian were no different.

“Take off your upper garment.”

“......Thank you.”

“Hah. I am doing this because it is not your fault. If it had been due to your foolish mistake, I would have left you to suffer until you died.”

He was truly the kind of man who would do that, so Namgung Hyeong could not laugh.

If he were left as he was, it would take five years at the earliest before the Demonic Energy and demonic nature devoured him.

Ten years at the latest.

By then, Namgung Seon would be twenty, or twenty-five.

A father tragically lost, a new young Family Head......

Was that not a fine-looking reputation?

There was no way his father, Sword Sovereign Namgung Ak, had not calculated that far.

The martial world’s current quiet and sealed peace had been maintained thanks in part to his skill in conducting himself and in politics.

Namgung Hyeong took off his upper garment and hung it beside him.

The Sword Sovereign slowly rose from his seat, loosened his shoulders, and drew up the internal energy in his dantian.

Azure Sky Force.

The peerless heart method of Namgung that only the Sword Sovereign had mastered, and the secret art that would be passed down to Namgung Seon.

Namgung Hyeong felt that mighty, vast energy, one he had not even been able to begin learning due to his lack of talent.

“Breathe deeply. Close your eyes, and do not make a sound.”

“I know.”

With those words as the last, Namgung Hyeong could not move a single inch for an entire hour.

Guidance of true qi.

The instant he so much as opened his mouth, becoming crippled would be a matter of moments.

His breathing also absolutely could not fall into disorder.

With a tyrannical yet precise force, Namgung Ak poured true qi into Namgung Hyeong’s dantian......

Seized the single strand of Demonic Energy lodged there, and burned it away.