Martial Arts Ain't Anything Special-Chapter 69: The Namgung Clan (1)

Time slipped away as Seojun emptied both his mind and his cups, the sky darkening before he noticed.

The cool river breeze swayed the boat gently. Seojun raised his glass to the moon reflected on the water.

A smaller moon floated in his wine.

“Here, here.”

As Seojun held out his glass, Hyeonwol smiled bitterly.

“You drink quite well.”

“Of course. I’m murim master Lee Seojun after all.”

“Ah, so I’m finding it a bit difficult since I’m not a murim master. Then I’ll have to drink at my own pace.”

Hyeonwol raised his glass in return and just wet his lips.

Seojun downed his drink in one go and slumped back in his chair, Namgung Suah chuckling next to him.

“Oh? You really can drink.”

“Hey, you’re one to talk.”

Despite drinking with them all evening, Namgung Suah showed no signs of intoxication. She might as well have been drinking water.

Seojun glanced at the courtesans Hyeonwol had brought along.

The two women, clearly not professional drinkers, had eagerly drank whatever was given to them and were now passed out on the table.

Chunbong? After running around excitedly, she was fast asleep in a corner.

As Seojun gazed up at the sky with a gentle smile, Hyeonwol spoke.

“Did I ever mention that I owe you my life?”

“No?”

“Then I’m telling you now. Thank you. I almost had my neck snapped by that crazy old Soul-Stealing Demon, but I survived thanks to the mechanical formation you fixed up.”

“Oh... that’s good to hear. And here I thought he was a nice old man, but turns out he needed killing?”

“Haha! You’re probably the only person who’d call the Soul-Stealing Demon a nice old man.”

Namgung Suah chimed in after quietly listening to the conversation.

“There certainly seem to be a lot of incidents lately. The Black Serpent, the Soul-Stealing Demon...”

Guessing her intention, Seojun added on.

“Right? I even saw some Black Serpent guys in Shaanxi.”

“Pardon?”

Namgung Suah’s eyes widened.

“Yeah, I just happened to see them on the way to Mount Hua. I cut them all down though.”

Swoosh swoosh, Seojun swung his hand.

Looking back, maybe I swung my sword a bit recklessly, but they did draw their swords as soon as they saw us, so it was clearly self-defense.

Come to think of it, they were basically spies anyway.

Armed and gathered in a group like that? That’s grounds for immediate execution, no one could blame me for that.

“...Could there really be a war coming?”

“Who knows. Oh, right.”

Seojun casually sat up a bit.

“You haven’t heard anything unusual about Shaanxi? With the Black Serpent guys and all, I’m a bit concerned.”

“Shaanxi, you say?”

Hyeonwol rested his chin on his hand, deep in thought. Then he shook his head.

“Nothing major that I know of.”

“Is that so? That’s a relief.”

Seojun exchanged glances with Namgung Suah.

Jongin must have disappeared, but the Hao Sect branch leader hasn’t heard anything?

Perhaps Mount Hua is keeping it under wraps internally.

There were too few clues to guess the reason.

They could be in league with the Black Serpent, or they could be wary of the Black Serpent.

Either way, it was good news for their group if Mount Hua was still concealing Jongin’s disappearance.

“Alright then.”

Seojun got up and trudged over to one side of the boat.

He picked up the sleeping Chunbong, half-asleep cuddling in his arms.

“Mmm... what is it...”

“The finale of any water play is always fireworks.”

“What are you on about now...”

Seojun stepped onto the railing of the boat and jumped off.

“Oh...! He-!”

Hyeonwol rushed over in shock, but Seojun was calmly walking on the water as if it were solid ground.

Water Walking. The realm of walking on water.

There were probably various methods, but in Seojun’s case, after lightening his body with light body arts, he expelled inner qi from the Bubbling Well acupoint on his soles, allowing him to walk on water without much difficulty.

It felt like walking on slightly undulating ground.

Splash splash, when he stomped his foot, it felt solid like ground yet water splashed up.

“Let’s see...”

Seojun tilted his head back while holding Chunbong and looked at the large moon hanging in the middle of the night sky.

The stars dazzling around it were quite beautiful.

Seojun hummed a little tune as he floated his own star among those stars.

Whoosh──────────

In the darkness lit by the boats’ lights, red and blue plum blossoms soared up to mingle with the stars in the night sky.

“Ooh...”

Chunbong, seemingly awake now, looked up at the sky in admiration.

“Hey hey, what about the Yellow Cloud Divine Sword?”

“With all these people around?”

“It’s fine. This is Henan. Just do it subtly.”

“Is that so? I guess you have a point.”

Henan, home of Shaolin—one of the Orthodox Faction’s two great pillars alongside Wudang.

No sane person from the Black Serpent would dare act rashly in Henan.

If Shaolin had allied with the Black Serpent, the Orthodox Faction would have already crumbled.

These days, watching Chunbong filled him with a sense of ease and comfort, improving his mood considerably.

Am I becoming someone she depends on?

In high spirits, Seojun jumped up from the water’s surface.

But the sky was too high to reach in a single leap.

Seojun unleashed Yellow Dragon Crossing the Rosy Clouds applying the same principle as blooming plum blossoms.

Like a yellow dragon soaring through twilight, though now it crossed the night sky instead.

Golden qi manifested beneath his feet in the form of a dragon, guiding Seojun skyward.

“Wow... this bastard’s really grown a lot.”

Seojun chuckled at Chunbong’s words.

“The student surpasses the master, right?”

“Yeah yeah, surpassing and all that. You’re spreading the name of the Divine Sword Geum Clan throughout murim.”

“That sounds nice.”

Ascending through the sky of scattered plum blossoms, he could almost see Mount Song where Shaolin was, looming in the distant darkness.

The great pillar of the martial world. Mount Tai. Mount Tai...

“Though Mount Tai stands high it is but a mountain beneath the heavens. As I roam the skies above, even Mount Tai lies beneath my feet.”

“What’s that mean?”

“I don’t know either.”

Seojun chuckled and looked down at the river below.

The boats dotted the river with their lights. Seojun made eye contact with Hyeonwol and Namgung Suah looking up at them, then put his palms together while sitting on the yellow dragon dancing in the sky.

“Namu Amitabha.”

At that moment, plum blossom met plum blossom.

Yin and yang harmonized then burst apart, illuminating the night sky in a brilliant display.

BOOM────────!!!

Caught in the explosion, Seojun laughed loudly as he fell towards the river.

“Wahaha!”

“Kyaaaah...!”

“Laugh, Chunbong!”

“Stop... this... BULLSHIIIIIT...!!”

Splash, Seojun landed on the water nonchalantly and bowed.

“Thank you.”

“Ugh...! Hick... You crazy bastard...”

Amidst thunderous applause from countless people, Seojun casually returned to the original boat.

*“Martial artists are more amazing than I thought! To create such a spectacle with merely their own bodies!”

Hyeonwol was still excited even after getting off the boat, praising the fireworks display over and over.

“With this incredible power, I wonder why other martial artists only do such petty things. In my opinion, there must be something wrong with their heads.”

This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.

“Fufu, not just any martial artist can do such things. It’s because this Young Expert is extraordinary.”

“Is that so?”

“Of course.”

Namgung Suah smiled gently as she supported a staggering courtesan.

“Oh... thank you, sister.”

“It was my pleasure.”

“Speaking of which, that was quite a spectacle today. Makes me a bit envious, especially since providing entertainment is supposed to be my job!”

The courtesan’s eyes sparkled as she clenched her fists.

“I need to work harder too. I may not be able to do such amazing things, but I’m confident in my zither playing.”

“Oh my, then I must come see you perform sometime.”

“Really? Hehe, you’ll come with him then too, right?”

The courtesan asked, gesturing towards Seojun with her eyes. Namgung Suah smiled softly.

“Hmm, perhaps? I indeed hope so.”

“Oh, what’s with that? If you just set your mind to it, you could just... you know?”

“I wonder...”

Namgung Suah watched Seojun running around the street with Chunbong on his shoulders.

“I truly, truly hope so.”

*From Henan all the way across to Hefei in Anhui Province.

The Central Plains were vast beyond measure, making for an incredibly long journey. However, their increased realm allowed them to travel swiftly, significantly reducing their travel time.

Of course, it still took months. It’s really fucking far. Crazy, isn’t it?

During their journey, Namgung Suah explained that while the Namgung Clan originally established themselves south of the Yangtze River in Jiangnan, they eventually relocated their base to Hefei, north of the river, as their influence grew.

So Hefei became the capital of Anhui?

When he inquired whether it was a provincial rather than national capital, Chunbong replied that both descriptions were accurate.

He had heard it a few times before, but indeed, the Six Noble Clans were treated as their own nations.

Fortunately, nothing particularly eventful happened on the way to Hefei.

He spent the time refining his martial arts, incorporating the Supreme Law of Essence Absorption into the Primordial Divine Art.

By strategically integrating parts of the Supreme Law of Essence Absorption to draw in surrounding qi, he significantly increased his qi accumulation rate.

He planned to incorporate it into the Blue Cloud Divine Art later and teach it to Chunbong as well.

“By the way, why do you keep carrying that around?”

When she asked that, he tucked the snake’s inner core into his clothes.

“This is your tonic, you know?”

“What.”

However, this alone wasn’t enough. Assuming the Azure Sky Pill Namgung Suah promised is on par with the Plum Blossom Pill... he’d need about two more spirit pills.

Seojun would have to consume all the gathered spirit pills at once, purify the qi, and use the Supreme Law of Essence Absorption in reverse to push it into Chunbong.

When all’s said and done, Chunbong will be fully healed. Everyone lives happily ever after! Clap clap clap.

Seojun nodded with satisfaction at the picture he had drawn in his mind.

“Alright, anyway we’ve finally arrived! So where’s your house, big sis?”

Seojun looked around.

As expected of a provincial capital, the buildings are grand.

Namgung Suah chuckled seeing him like this.

“You can basically consider all of Hefei to be Namgung Clan property.”

“Huh...?”

What does that mean? As Seojun scratched his head, Chunbong abruptly cut in between them.

“You can basically consider all of Hefei to be Namgung Clan property.”

“Then are all these people part of the Namgung Clan?”

“It’s not that simple. It’s more like the Namgung Clan lets other people live here.”

“Oh... But then it’s not really your house, big sis.”

“Fufu, that’s right.”

Namgung Suah ahead of them suddenly stopped walking.

“This is the real Namgung Clan residence.”

Seojun blankly looked up at the building before him.

It’s big as fuck.

Of course, it wasn’t just a single building called a house, but rather a space surrounded by walls similar to a fortress, with numerous buildings within.

Above all, Seojun was amazed by the flow of qi he sensed from inside.

Though he didn’t know much about formations, he could roughly tell just by looking at the qi flow.

Each and every building inside the walls was a component of the formation.

“Wow... mess with them and you might just disappear without a trace.”

Indeed, so this is what it means to be one of the Six Noble Clans.

He could vividly see the true might of the Namgung Clan before even entering.

And above all, his potential future father-in-law lurking inside...!

I’m really not confident in my acting...

Yes yes, I’m actor Lee Seojun playing the role of Namgung Suah’s lover. Whew.

Well, time to head in.