Chapter 101

There was no such thing as a cliché phrase like “How could you—”.

Namgung Sol accepted it calmly, as if they had expected it, without showing any emotional disturbance.

“Right. If you’ve come this far, you must have heard it from the Alliance Leader.”

The surname Namgung had become the exclusive property of suicidal hopefuls in the current martial world.

Even though it was a situation where survival tomorrow couldn’t be guaranteed if it became known, Namgung Sol stood firm.

Namgung Woo didn’t particularly expect Namgung Sol to show a dramatic reaction.

From the beginning, even the Jegal Family Head knew about Namgung Sol.

Although it’s unclear how far it spread, the upper echelons of the martial world probably had a rough idea of Namgung Sol’s existence.

Who revealed it?

The Martial Alliance Leader, Gakwon? The Sangpyeon Hall Master, Woo Myeon?

No.

Those who protected Namgung Sol and were concerned about their exposure wouldn’t make such a reckless move.

Therefore, the one who spread the word about the survivor of the Namgung Family was Namgung Sol themselves.

‘Was it the Alliance Leader who hid Namgung Sol’s identity belatedly?’

And unlike the previous moment of pushing others away, Namgung Sol accepted the Alliance Leader’s assistance.

Even changing their initial attitude of wanting to reveal themselves completely.

“I see. The Alliance Leader is someone connected to the Namgung Family. That’s why you received help without being included in that ‘anyone’. Then, is the Sangpyeon Hall Master an extension of the Alliance Leader?”

“…You already have your conviction, so it’s meaningless for me to deny it now. Yes. The Alliance Leader is someone who cannot be said to be unrelated to the Namgung Family. He was the only close friend of the last Family Head.”

The friendship between the young master of the Namgung Family and the top talent of Shaolin Temple.

Although it’s a relationship known only to those who know in this changed era, it was an open story that didn’t need to be hidden.

“Now you know? My duty is the family business of the Namgung Family. It’s something I, who inherited the surname Namgung, must bear. So… I can’t involve you.”

Namgung Woo realized the identity of what had been continuously bothering him.

The growing sense of incongruity as he talked with Namgung Sol. It was the difference in perspective between the two regarding the goal called the Namgung Family.

Namgung Woo saw the Namgung Family as an object of reconstruction.

And although he vowed to rebuild the Namgung Family, his relationship with it was extremely dry, sharing only the surname and martial arts. Therefore, Namgung Woo didn’t hesitate to borrow others’ strength for his goal.

But Namgung Sol regarded the Namgung Family not as something to be rebuilt but as a grave they must enter.

Revealing the Namgung surname openly. Trying to leave despite knowing the danger and having someone with the will and power to protect them.

But did Namgung Sol have the same powerful martial prowess as Namgung Woo? Not at all.

Simply put, Namgung Sol was pursuing a path of self-destruction.

As if they must end with the Namgung Family because they are of the Namgung bloodline.

Perhaps because, unlike Namgung Woo, they are truly of the bloodline. As a pure blood relative, Namgung Sol harbored special feelings for the Namgung Family.

Honestly, Namgung Woo had no right to criticize Namgung Sol’s chosen life principle. The two shared the same surname but were not blood relatives.

But the sight of rejecting surrounding help was so reminiscent of Namgung Woo himself when he first entered this world that he couldn’t leave it be.

So Namgung Woo spoke.

“Then, all the more reason I must join.”

Swoosh—

With a rough metallic friction sound different from the usual, Bonding was drawn from the Dragon Eye Wood scabbard.

Bonding, trapped in the stuffy scabbard and finally out in the world, exuded energy as if delighted.

The evil energy suppressed by the spiritual energy of the Dragon Eye Wood and the aura of the Jeseon Scripture, which Namgung Woo had personally inscribed using Samadhi True Fire, burst forth, instantly filling the training ground.

“Ugh…! Wh-what are you doing…!”

Namgung Sol reflexively raised their sword, their body shrinking from Bonding’s evil energy.

But before Namgung Sol could even take a stance, Namgung Woo gathered all of Bonding’s evil energy and stood in the center of the training ground, passing Namgung Sol.

“I’ll show you. What kind of path of the sword you should walk.”

Namgung Woo’s sword began to draw refreshing sword strokes.

Even without a hint of internal energy, the sword’s power increased with the occurrence of sword qi.

Such was the martial arts of a martial artist whose boundaries between inner and outer universes had collapsed.

Even without drawing out their internal energy, the movement naturally resonated with the energy of the outer universe.

Namgung Sol froze in place. What Namgung Woo was displaying. It was a familiar sword technique. It perfectly matched the movements of the secret manual that Namgung Sol had seen over and over until the paper tore.

Following the Ten Iron Sword Techniques, the Great Flame Sword Technique revealed its true form through Namgung Woo’s hands.

It followed the same imagery as the sword technique Namgung Sol had just been practicing.

It wasn’t copying after seeing what Namgung Sol did. The sword technique, based on a deeper understanding than Namgung Sol’s, was far beyond what could be achieved by merely seeing it once.

That sword technique wasn’t copied from someone else; it was purely what Namgung Woo had mastered.

Realizing this, Namgung Sol understood how he could so exquisitely point out the immature parts of their sword technique.

“Ah… Ahh……”

While the twenty-one moves of the Great Flame Sword Technique were being displayed, Namgung Sol didn’t even perceive the passage of time.

Namgung Sol’s internal clock started ticking again when the sword technique Namgung Woo was showing changed its form.

The center of gravity of the movements lowered, and instead of fierce strikes that seemed to split the sky, graceful sword strokes that gently enveloped the void stretched out like a swallow soaring through the sky.

They knew immediately. The name of that sword technique.

The ascending sword technique for the women of the Namgung Family, thought to be lost without even a secret manual.

“Azure Sky Flying Swallow Sword Technique…”

Instead of strength, grace.

Instead of destruction, illusion.

Based on flexibility surpassing men, the Azure Sky Flying Swallow Sword Technique is purely tailored for women.

Even Namgung Woo couldn’t fully utilize the maximum potential of the Azure Sky Flying Swallow Sword Technique.

But Namgung Woo had mastered it.

What does that mean?

That person.

That person is the one.

That person is indeed the last successor who inherited all the true transmissions of the Namgung Family.

A being who grew up in the cradle of martial arts built by the Namgung Family and wholly embraced its legacy.

The existence that could only be dreamed of or imagined suddenly appeared before Namgung Sol without any forewarning.

Namgung Sol didn’t know what to call the emotion they were feeling now.

Happy yet fearful, welcoming yet empty.

A paradoxical emotion.

The word ‘love-hate’ doesn’t fit. Namgung Sol themselves had no right to harbor hatred.

So let’s not name it and leave it as it is.

The swallow finishes its flight and returns to the nest. After displaying the last move and sheathing the sword, Namgung Woo looked back at Namgung Sol.

Namgung Sol was crying. With eyes wide open, sniffling, they shed tears endlessly.

Even as tears streamed down their cheeks and dripped off their chin, Namgung Sol, without thinking to wipe them away, repeated in a tearful voice,

“It’s a relief… truly, a relief…”

They say the first to shed tears wins.

Namgung Woo couldn’t bring himself to rush Namgung Sol and waited quietly for them to compose themselves.

Feeling awkward just watching, Namgung Woo checked if the barrier he had set up before entering the training ground was still intact.

The barrier, set up to hide energy waves and block surveillance or eavesdropping, still enveloped the training ground as it was initially.

Namgung Sol’s tears didn’t stop, but as the atmosphere around them gradually calmed, Namgung Woo asked,

“Have I proven that I’m not that ‘anyone’?”

“Yes… of course. More than enough. Overflowingly so.”

Namgung Sol’s tone had noticeably changed from the thorny one before.

Biting their lip and wiping away tears, Namgung Sol spoke candidly, as if shedding an invisible burden they had been carrying.

“I’ll tell you everything. Everything I know.”

§

Standing still in the training ground was uncomfortable, so the two moved slightly.

Sitting side by side on the resting area prepared on one side of the training ground, Namgung Sol began their story.

Namgung Sol’s story resolved many of the doubts Namgung Woo had.

The Namgung Family had a larger force than the current top martial family, the Heonwon Family.

Even after losing much of their strength in the Blood Sect’s calamity, it was strange that they fell so helplessly after losing to the Dokgo Family in the Sword Family Blood Feud.

Despite several defeats and the thick atmosphere of defeat, after the life-and-death duel between the family heads where the Namgung Family Head died, it was somewhat puzzling that the family fell to the point of having no survivors within twenty years.

They say a rich family lasts three generations even in ruin. Shouldn’t a family like the Namgung Family, even if the Dokgo Family was determined to eradicate them, have fled to the righteous faction’s territory to dream of a comeback?

Namgung Sol knew the reason.

“The fall of the Namgung Family was due to a traitor within.”

“…A traitor.”

A traitor who sold out the remaining forces of the Namgung Family’s plans to the Dokgo Family for their own safety.

Because of this, the Namgung Family lost even the chance to plan for the future and collapsed helplessly.

And the traitor left the martial world, got married, and had a child.

And they named the child.

“Sol (率). A name given to live simply, without entangling with the martial world.”

Namgung Sol said self-deprecatingly.

“That’s right. The traitor who sold out the Namgung Family to the Dokgo Family was my mother.”