Chapter 43. Heavenly Wind Sword Art
At Namgung Byeok's hollow laugh, the elders lowered their heads. They too could guess how Namgung Byeok must be feeling right now.
Everyone present who had watched Namgung Hye knew how deeply she admired and respected Do Heo-ok. As a father, having to plunge a dagger into his daughter's heart—how could his mind possibly be at ease?
However, preventing the crisis that had befallen the family was far more important than that, so it was something unavoidable.
"May I also offer a word to the family head."
As Namgung In finished speaking, Namgung Jung stepped forward this time. Namgung Byeok nodded, granting him permission to speak.
"If we must restrain Do Heo-ok anyway, I believe we should also inspect this Imperial King Hall, which has yet to be investigated. The possibility may be slim, but there could be an accomplice here who helped Do Heo-ok. Moreover, the one who left the blood script might also be hiding here. For whatever reason, that person is someone who has drawn a sword against the Namgung Family. When we do not know that person's true intentions, leaving him within the family grounds is no different from swallowing a blade, would it not be? Therefore, while investigating the Imperial King Hall, we should also send scouts outside the family again to clearly identify the enemy's scale and identity."
Although Namgung Jung still believed it was unlikely that Do Heo-ok was responsible, the fact that an unknown force was surrounding the family was undeniable. If that was the case, he thought it was right to assume the worst and act accordingly, just as Namgung In suggested.
"Well said. Is there anyone else with an opinion?"
At Namgung Byeok's heavy voice, no one else responded.
"Then we will conclude today's meeting here. The Heavenly Wind Squad is to continue searching within the family as before, and the Boundless Sword Squad is to immediately go out to the temporary guest quarters and bring Do Heo-ok here. The Imperial King Sword Squad and the Vast Firmament Sword Squad are to thoroughly search this Imperial King Hall. Everyone else is to go outside the family toward Hefei and ascertain the enemy's scale. The elders will remain on standby at the council hall and prepare for any contingency. Understood?"
"Yes!"
"Yes, family head."
Namgung Byeok swiftly assigned roles to everyone present.
Those gathered acknowledged their orders in unison, then flowed out of the Imperial King Hall like an ebbing tide to carry out their respective duties.
Soon, silence and stillness descended upon the once-noisy Imperial King Hall.
Yet Namgung Byeok's mind remained tangled and clamorous.
In particular, what tormented him was...
When the moon is full, the emperor falls, and I, who move slowly, become king.
A sinister premonition that these words might come true.
"Just who is that person, and what is his purpose?"
It was the question of the intent and identity of the one who had written the blood script.
If they could capture him, everything would be resolved, but Namgung Byeok expected that neither the Heavenly Wind Squad nor the Imperial King Sword Squad—or even the Vast Firmament Sword Squad—would be able to find him.
If he were someone who could be easily caught, he would not have committed such acts so brazenly in the first place, and when Namgung Il first entered the Imperial King Hall earlier, that man should already have been seized in his hands, should he not?
"Is he an enemy? An ally? Or is he neither ... "
Even if he did not know who the person was, it would have been better if he were an ally. No—if only he knew for certain that the man was an enemy, he would not have felt this uneasy.
Not knowing.
Everyone feels fear toward the unknown. Even the ruler of a great family like the Namgung Family was no exception. All the more so in a situation like this, where an unprecedented crisis had struck—what more needed to be said?
Now, within the Imperial King Hall, only the sound of Namgung Byeok's low sigh quietly broke the silence.
***
While Namgung Byeok was sighing over the issue of the unidentified intruder connected to the Three Sacred Lights and the blood script.
The very person who had caused it, Dong Bong-su, was dancing empty-handed in his room at the East Heaven Guest Hall.
Enemy? Ally?
Such things held no meaning for him.
He was simply on his own side.
This was not some general notion of friend and foe like "there are no eternal enemies or allies." He was simply someone who walked alone, thoroughly so. That was Dong Bong-su, and it was his way of life.
Of course, to adapt, survive, and continue hunting in this New Murim Online, there would be times when he shared drinks with enemies, and if necessary, he could even rip out and chew the livers of those who looked like allies.
Fundamentally, Dong Bong-su was a species that moved forward alone. If one had to discuss enemies and allies, to him, everyone except himself was either an enemy or prey. The concept of an ally did not exist in his instincts from the start.
Bung bung -.
Dong Bong-su swung his fists powerfully left and right several times. Then, without warning, he thrust forward strongly and retreated backward. The sounds produced by this series of movements spread low and forcefully throughout the room.
Dong Bong-su—why was he dancing?
In truth, this "dance" of his only looked like a dance; it was not a dance. If one were to call it a sword dance, that might actually be closer.
The reason this fierce rhythm looked like a dance was simply because there was no sword in his hands. His behavior—spinning and roaming around the corners of the room like a madman—was, in reality, him retracing the battle that had taken place aboard the ship with Go San-gong. It was as if he were physically reenacting a modern-style virtual combat simulation.
Bung bung -.
As the imagined battle with Go San-gong surged toward its climax, the movements of Dong Bong-su's fists and body grew increasingly violent.
As always, even while moving his body, his thoughts never stopped. His brain replayed the battle while simultaneously identifying ways to counter his own movements.
'I almost died.'
The more he retraced the battle, the more he realized just how dangerous it had been.
If he had been Go San-gong, and Go San-gong had been him?
'I wouldn't be standing here right now.'
The Heavenly Wind Sword Art used by Go San-gong was an excellent sword art. Go San-gong simply had not utilized it properly. If Go San-gong had been able to deploy the forms of the Heavenly Wind Sword Art at the right moments ... it would have been a complete, one-hundred-percent defeat for him.
'Weak.'
He clearly realized how powerless he still was. He had thought he had become quite strong, but he was still far from it. The special nature of being a game character seemed to have unknowingly planted the fatal weakness of complacency within him.
Martial arts, in a sense, are far more overpowered than game skills. The people of this martial world were mastering such martial arts, and in a place teeming with such people, to be careless—
Once again, he cast a spell upon himself that complacency was forbidden.
'I must become stronger. To survive, I must become even stronger.'
Leveling up was basic, and he resolved to diligently learn martial arts as well.
The movements and sword art of Go San-gong that Dong Bong-su had felt possessed discipline even within their patterns. Although those movements had not been used meaningfully, the Heavenly Wind Sword Art that Go San-gong displayed could not even be compared to Dong Bong-su's flailing or the gym-taught swordsmanship he had learned back in Korea.
Martial arts.
Dong Bong-su clearly felt during the earlier battle why the people here called it "martial arts" rather than simply "martial techniques." Martial arts were not merely techniques that made the body faster or increased attack power.
Even when performing the same slashing motion, the one executed by Go San-gong—who had mastered martial arts—was far more refined and much more natural than his own.
To survive, he absolutely had to learn martial arts.
As he firmed his resolve, Dong Bong-su finished reviewing the earlier battle.
Bang, buuwoong -.
However, without even a brief pause, he continued to dance. As soon as the thought of learning martial arts arose, his body naturally moved that way.
Before he knew it, Dong Bong-su had become Go San-gong himself, unfolding the Heavenly Wind Sword Art.
In the earlier dance meant to review the battle, he had been level 7 Dong Bong-su facing Go San-gong, but now he was Go San-gong facing level 7 Dong Bong-su.
The Heavenly Wind Sword Art being reenacted through his hands lacked the internal method and possessed only form, yet the shape itself was astonishingly similar to Go San-gong's.
Restoration of form.
A perfect review of the battle had made that possible.
Huuwoong, bung -.
Heavenly Wind, Flowing Clouds, Heavenly Wind Thunderclap, Heavenly Wind Opening the Heavens.
Dong Bong-su mimicked the three forms of the Heavenly Wind Sword Art—whose names he did not even know—over and over, cutting down his imagined self.
In the process, he once again realized just how lucky he had been in last night's battle. If he himself had been the one properly deploying the Heavenly Wind Sword Art, "level 7 Dong Bong-su" would never have been able to become level 10.
And yet.
Hwiruryuryu-.
Strangely, the more his movements progressed, the further his imitation drifted from Go San-gong's Heavenly Wind Sword Art. At the same time, the sound of wind produced by his hands gradually grew fainter.
What, exactly, was happening?
His movements were clearly becoming more intense with each moment. And yet, the "sword wind" he generated only grew weaker. That wind was very different from Go San-gong's sharp "wind of heaven." This was clearly not a matter of whether internal energy was being applied or not.
Rather, Dong Bong-su's sword wind was strangely gentle and unhurried.
More precisely, it was transforming to resemble him—into a feeling of nothingness. It was as if the Heavenly Wind Sword Art unfolding from his hands and its sword wind were naturally becoming Dong Bong-su himself.
If someone at the elder level or above of the Namgung Family were to see Dong Bong-su's dance right now, no one would realize that this was the Heavenly Wind Sword Art. No—in truth, Dong Bong-su's sword art was no longer the Heavenly Wind Sword Art in its form. If one had to name it, perhaps Windless Sword Art would be appropriate.
Hwiriririri -.
Hwiriri...
Hwi.....