The Genius Grandson of the Namgung Family Chapter 37

The Genius Grandson of the Namgung Family

Chapter 37

In Ha Hyeon’s mind, the events at Jung Dae-in’s estate kept replaying over and over.

This time, Ha Hyeon was particularly focused on observing the black-robed figure rather than Namgung Min.

It had been several days since then.

Ha Hyeon finally started to understand the martial arts of the black-robed figure.

‘Good. I think I can try it now.’

Ha Hyeon carefully opened his eyes after finishing meditation.

The empty training ground.

Ha Hyeon took a deep breath, stood up, and drew his sword.

‘The internal energy should flow like this.’

Whoosh!

Then he gently raised the qi throughout his body.

But this wasn’t his usual pure Changgung Mu-ae heart method.

It was an internal energy technique that made qi boil up from not just the lower abdomen, but seemingly from every minute acupoint simultaneously.

‘Ugh.’

Though his whole body felt like it was burning, Ha Hyeon endured the pain with clenched teeth.

‘Is this the qi flow I perceived correctly?’

Ha Hyeon had doubts for a moment.

He thought this pain must be coming from doing something wrong.

It was difficult to comprehend with the common sense of internal energy cultivation he had learned until now.

“Ugh.”

However, withdrawing the boiling internal energy was even harder.

Trying to suppress the energy only brought greater pain.

‘Then there’s only one way. Release it quickly.’

Ha Hyeon raised his sword to channel the internal energy through it.

Swoosh- Swoosh-

Perhaps due to the unstable qi, the hand holding the sword shook irregularly.

And naturally, the sword tip wavered.

Like a butterfly fluttering about.

‘Ah! This is?!’

Ha Hyeon stared in wonder at the minutely trembling sword tip.

The sword technique of the black-robed figure he had seen at Jung Dae-in’s estate was being reproduced exactly.

Ha Hyeon was convinced he was doing this pain and internal energy manipulation correctly, and naturally channeled the energy into his sword.

Flutter Flutter-

Ha Hyeon’s clothes fluttered with the flow of qi.

Transferring internal energy into the sword, and then releasing that energy from the sword.

These were all techniques difficult to accomplish without first-rate skill.

But they were being manifested at Ha Hyeon’s sword tip.

“Heeyah!”

Ha Hyeon shouted as he swung his sword to release a sword strike.

Swoosh-

Clang-!

Ha Hyeon’s sword strike left a sharp scratch on the marble training ground floor before dissipating.

“Wow! So this is it. It was simpler than I thought. If I train this to the extreme… I could release the sword qi I’ve only heard about!”

Ha Hyeon jumped up and down with joy at realizing something new.

As always, learning new things and physically experiencing getting stronger brought him greater joy than anything else in the world.

So Ha Hyeon didn’t notice.

The fact that two elderly men had entered the training ground and were watching him.

“Ha Hyeon!”

“Ah! Master.”

Chwiwol Geolgae used his movement technique to appear before Ha Hyeon in one breath, as if flying.

He spoke to Ha Hyeon with an excited face, almost shouting.

“How do you know the sword technique of the Hwanhyun Gate?!”

Though his voice was raised, his face showed no anger.

Rather, it was closer to astonishment.

“Hwanhyun… Gate? I don’t really…”

“You don’t know about the Hwanhyun Gate?”

“No. This is my first time hearing of it.”

“It’s an evil sect that agreed to never appear in the martial world again instead of being exterminated at the end of the Orthodox-Evil War fifty years ago. How do you know martial arts from such a place?!”

“Ah…!”

Ha Hyeon realized what Chwiwol Geolgae was trying to say.

“The martial art I just used was what the black-robed figure who fought with Brother Min at Jung Dae-in’s estate used.”

“Ah!”

That explanation was sufficient.

Chwiwol Geolgae finally realized where he had seen the yellow-robed figure’s face before.

“The Hwanhyun Gate leader had a son who looked exactly like him! How could I remember someone I saw fifty years ago – it must be that man’s son!”

Chwiwol Geolgae spoke while snorting angrily, though it wasn’t clear what exactly he was angry about.

“If it’s the Hwanhyun Gate, that could be possible! If they’re an evil sect, it makes sense they could increase their internal energy through strange methods.”

“Indeed. Those bastards would do such things. They didn’t even try to make it look like the demon cult’s doing! That’s exactly what you’d expect from evil sect rabble!”

The pieces that hadn’t fit together until now started falling into place one by one.

Chwiwol Geolgae spoke while snorting, apparently thinking he had been insulted by an evil sect.

“Mu-ryong! I’m returning to the Martial Alliance right now to lead warriors to the Hwanhyun Gate. Those sons of bitches. They dare break their promise to close their gates?”

“Should I prepare too?”

“No, don’t come. I’ll beat those bastards myself. You just keep an eye on your grandson!”

“Alright. Keep me informed.”

“I will. I’m leaving. And Ha Hyeon.”

“Yes, Master.”

Ha Hyeon felt that Chwiwol Geolgae’s eyes looked very warm for just a moment.

“Take care of yourself. You’re the hope of our orthodox martial world.”

Then, as if embarrassed, he disappeared in an instant, leaving only wind behind.

“Um… Grandfather. Did I do something wrong?”

“No. Thanks to you, my headache seems to be easing a bit. I’ll explain the details later. I need to make an urgent visit to the Changcheon Tower myself.”

“Yes, I understand, Grandfather.”

“Before that, did you just replicate that martial art solely from watching it?”

“Yes. I thought this was how it should be done.”

Namgung Mu-ryong’s eyes flashed.

Although he obviously knew that Ha Hyeon’s talent was extraordinary, seeing him perfectly recreate a martial art technique after seeing it just once nearly made him gasp in admiration.

“However, I hope you won’t use this martial art anymore.”

“If you say so, I will never use it again.”

“Good. Evil sect martial arts give great achievements in a short time, but they eat away at your blood vessels each time you use them. You must have experienced tremendous pain since it was your first time. Are you alright?”

“Haha… Actually, it hurt quite a bit. I’ll follow your wishes, Grandfather.”

“Good, good.”

Namgung Mu-ryong patted Ha Hyeon’s head affectionately and used his movement technique to head toward Changcheon Tower.

After his grandfather completely disappeared from view.

Ha Hyeon slumped down on the training ground floor.

His gaze was fixed on the scratch mark left by his sword qi earlier.

“So it hurt because it was eating away at my blood vessels. But I think I could find a way to do it without the pain…”

Ha Hyeon was an obedient grandson, but he wasn’t a disciple who followed instructions literally.

“Grandfather told me not to use this martial art because it eats away at blood vessels, so if I solve that problem, I can keep training it, right?”

Ha Hyeon muttered to himself and fell into deep thought.

* * *

Four days after Chwiwol Geolgae returned to the Martial Alliance.

After returning to the Martial Alliance, Chwiwol Geolgae carefully selected the experts to raid the Hwanhyun Gate.

Considering the level of the black-robed figure that Namgung Min encountered, and the yellow-robed figure he himself fought, he thought bringing many weak warriors would only result in needless casualties.

‘Rather than bringing large numbers, it’s safer to bring several reliable experts.’

So he departed for the Hwanhyun Gate with warriors of elder rank or higher from each sect residing at the Martial Alliance.

Though they numbered only ten, they were powerful experts whose strength couldn’t be judged by numbers alone.

However, when they actually arrived at where the Hwanhyun Gate was supposed to be, even these experts including Chwiwol Geolgae couldn’t find it.

“Amitabha. Are you certain this is the place?”

“You damn monk. You don’t trust me? I’m Chwiwol Geolgae. Chwiwol Geolgae.”

“Hehe. Perhaps too much drinking has affected your memory.”

Shaolin’s Master Juwon and Wudang’s Master Yu Yeop-jin didn’t miss the chance to tease Chwiwol Geolgae.

Master Juwon was a Shaolin elder of the highest Won rank, and Master Yu Yeop-jin was likewise a Wudang elder of the highest Yeop rank.

Both were longtime friends with Namgung Mu-ryong and Chwiwol Geolgae, and were powerful experts themselves.

Though Chwiwol Geolgae felt his temper rising at their words, even he had to keep quiet this time.

He clearly remembered the location of the Hwanhyun Gate when it closed its doors fifty years ago after the Orthodox-Evil War.

That’s why he had brought the experts here as quickly as possible, expecting it to be here naturally.

However, at the site where the Hwanhyun Gate had been, there were only ruins of what seemed to have been quite a large estate, with no signs of human habitation anywhere.

“Could the Hwanhyun Gate have moved their sect somewhere else?”

“No, that’s impossible. There have been no reports of large groups of people moving in this area. Unless they’ve hidden deep in the mountains, they couldn’t have escaped the Beggars’ Sect’s eyes.”

Beggars exist everywhere and can see and hear everything.

It was said, with some exaggeration, that if the Beggars’ Sect wanted to, they could even match the color of one’s undergarments, so if the Hwanhyun Gate had moved somewhere, he should have received information about it already.

“If there’s no trace of a large movement, perhaps they slipped away one by one, quietly?”

Chwiwol Geolgae shook his head.

“It’s hard to detect people leaving one by one, but if they gathered again somewhere else, that would inevitably cause rumors. A sect with many adults naturally needs food and daily necessities. And we’ve heard reports of someone in black martial arts clothes buying large quantities of food from the markets around here. They must still be in this area.”

“Hehe… Then where on earth did they go? They didn’t fly into the sky or sink into the ground… Infinite Buddha.”

“Huh? Sink into the ground?”

Hearing Master Yu Yeop-jin’s words, Chwiwol Geolgae seemed to realize something and suddenly began examining the ruins thoroughly.

Sometimes smelling the dirt, sometimes stomping on the ground.

His face showed a different kind of certainty than before.

Thunk thunk-

While stomping on the ground, when he heard a hollow sound, Chwiwol Geolgae said with a pleased smile.

“Hey, Master Malko. You’re right. These bastards never left this place, but we can’t see them anywhere… That means they’ve gone underground.”

Chwiwol Geolgae glared at where the hollow sound came from and took a stance with both arms at his sides.

As powerful qi gradually gathered in both hands.

“Heeyah!”

When his hands were filled with qi, he struck downward with the Subduing Dragon Eighteen Palm technique.

Kwarrung-!

With a thunderous sound, the ground where Chwiwol Geolgae stood collapsed, revealing a cave passage leading underground.

Just as he had predicted, the ground had been hollow.

“Haha. See?”

“Amitabha… The Dragon Head Leader surely didn’t pass down the Subduing Dragon Eighteen Palm technique for such use.”

Master Juwon made a comment, but Chwiwol Geolgae maintained his triumphant expression.

“Monk! Taoist! This way. I don’t know when these bastards dug tunnels like rats, but wasn’t I right?”

“Cough, cough. Then there must obviously be a mechanism somewhere around here to open the entrance. If we’re going to be this noisy about it, we might as well have sent them a letter announcing our arrival.”

“That’s why I’m telling you to hurry down, Master Malko. Instead of wasting time, it’s better to kill even one of these escapees.”

“Hehe… Original Heavenly Venerable…”

The other experts, except for the three, seemed familiar with such scenes, as they remained silent.

“I’ll go down first, everyone follow me.”

Chwiwol Geolgae lit a torch to illuminate the way and stealthily descended the stairs, with the Martial Alliance experts quietly following behind.

Master Juwon and Master Yu Yeop-jin’s faces also turned serious as they followed suit.

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