At Namgung Byeok's hollow laugh, the elders bowed their heads. They too could imagine what Namgung Byeok's feelings must be like right now.
Everyone here who had watched Namgung Hye knew how much she adored and respected Do Heo-ok. As a father, having to plunge a dagger into his daughter's heart, his mind couldn't be at ease.
However, right now, preventing the crisis facing the family was far more important, so it couldn't be helped.
"I also have something to say to the Family Head."
After Namgung In finished speaking, this time Namgung Jung stepped forward. Namgung Byeok nodded to permit his statement.
"If we must restrain Do Heo-ok anyway, I believe we should also examine this Emperor King Hall which hasn't been investigated yet. Though the possibility is slim, there might be an accomplice helping Do Heo-ok hiding here. Also, the one who left the Four Bone Scripts, Four Blood Scripts might perhaps be hiding here as well. For whatever reason, that person is also someone who has drawn their sword against the Namgung Family. In a situation where we cannot know exactly what his intentions are, leaving him in the family would be like swallowing a heated sword, wouldn't it? Therefore, while investigating the Emperor King Hall, we should simultaneously send scouts outside the family again to clearly identify the enemy's scale and identity."
Though Namgung Jung was still on the side that believed Do Heo-ok couldn't have done such a thing, the fact that an unknown force was surrounding the family was true. If so, he thought it right to move assuming the worst-case scenario according to Namgung In's opinion for now.
"I've heard you well. Are there any others with different opinions?"
At Namgung Byeok's heavy voice, no one else answered.
"Then we'll end today's meeting here. Have the Heavenly Wind Group continue searching within the family as they are now, and the Limitless Sword Form Head, go immediately to the temporary reception hall and bring Do Heo-ok here. The Emperor Sword Form and Vast Sky Sword Form will thoroughly search inside this Emperor King Hall. Everyone else, go outside the family toward Hefei and identify the enemy's scale. The elders will stand by in the Council of Elders and prepare for any contingency. Understood?"
"Yes!"
"Yes, Family Head."
Namgung Byeok quickly assigned roles to all personnel.
Those gathered replied in unison, then left the Emperor King Hall like an ebbing tide to carry out their respective missions.
Silence and quiet soon came to the noisy Emperor King Hall.
However, Namgung Byeok's mind was still complicated and noisy.
Especially what was tormenting him was...
Moon full emperor falls, slowly going I become king.
When the moon is full, the emperor shall fall, and I who go slowly shall become king.
An ominous premonition that this phrase would come true exactly as written.
"Who exactly is that person and what is his purpose?"
It was curiosity about the intentions and identity of the one who wrote the Four Bone Scripts, Four Blood Scripts.
It would all be resolved if they caught him, but Namgung Byeok expected that the Heavenly Wind Group, Emperor Sword Form Head, or Vast Sky Sword Form Head would not find him.
If he were someone easily caught, he wouldn't have brazenly committed such an act in the first place, and when Namgung Il first entered the Emperor King Hall earlier, shouldn't he have already been brought in captured in his hands?
"Enemy? Ally? Or perhaps..."
Even if he didn't know who it was, it would be good if they were an ally. No, if he at least knew they were an enemy, he wouldn't be this anxious.
Not knowing.
People inevitably feel fear toward unknown entities. Even the ruler of the great Namgung Family couldn't help this. Moreover, what more needs to be said in a situation where an unprecedented crisis has struck like now?
Now inside the Emperor King Hall, only Namgung Byeok's low sighs were quietly laid out, breaking the silence.
***
Around the time Namgung Byeok was sighing over the problem of the unidentified intruder connected to the Three Holy Lights and Four Bone Scripts, Four Blood Scripts.
The person who caused that incident, Dong Bong-su, was 'dancing' empty-handed in his room at the Eastern Heavenly Guest Hall.
Enemy? Ally?
Such things were meaningless problems to him.
He was simply on his own side.
It wasn't a discussion of friend or foe in the general theoretical sense like there are no eternal enemies or allies. Just a person who goes thoroughly alone. That was Dong Bong-su, and that was his way of life.
Of course, to adapt to this New Murim Online and survive and continue hunting, sometimes he might raise a cup with enemies, and if necessary, he could pull out and chew the liver of bastards who seemed like allies.
Fundamentally, Dong Bong-su was that kind of species who advances alone. If one must discuss enemies and allies, to him, everyone except himself was either an enemy or prey. The concept of ally didn't exist in his instincts from the beginning.
Whoosh—
Dong Bong-su powerfully moved his fists left and right several times. Then suddenly thrust forward strongly before retreating backward. The sounds generated by Dong Bong-su's series of movements were laid out low and powerfully in the room.
Dong Bong-su, why was he dancing?
In fact, this dance of his only looked like a dance but wasn't one. If it were called a sword dance, that might perhaps be correct.
The reason this vigorous rhythm looked like a dance was simply because a sword wasn't held in his hands. His current behavior of running around every corner of the room and spinning round and round like a crazy woman was actually retracing the battle with Go San-gong on the ship. Like personally recreating a virtual combat simulation in the modern sense?
Whoosh—
As the imaginary battle with Go San-gong rushed toward its climax, the movements of Dong Bong-su's fists and body became increasingly intense.
As always, even while moving his body, his thoughts didn't stop. His brain was reviewing the battle's content while simultaneously figuring out how to break his own movements.
'I almost died.'
The more he retraced the battle, the more he realized 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 Technique that Go San-gong used was a very excellent sword technique. Go San-gong hadn't properly utilized it. If Go San-gong could have executed the forms of the Heavenly Wind Sword Technique at appropriate times... it would have been his defeat one hundred percent.
'Weak.'
He keenly realized that he himself was still far too powerless.
He thought he had become much stronger, but he still had a long way to go. The special nature of being a game character seemed to have unknowingly planted the fatal weakness of carelessness in him.
Martial arts are, in a way, abilities far more overpowered than game skills. The people of this Martial World were learning such martial arts, and to be careless in such a place teeming with such people.
He cast a spell on himself once again that carelessness was forbidden.
'I must become even stronger. To survive, I must become even stronger.'
He resolved that leveling up was basic and he must also diligently learn martial arts.
The movements and swordsmanship of Go San-gong that Dong Bong-su felt had precision within their patterns. Though he couldn't use those movements meaningfully, the Heavenly Wind Sword Technique that Go San-gong displayed was incomparable to Dong Bong-su's flailing or the gymnasium swordsmanship he learned in Korea.
Martial arts.
Dong Bong-su clearly felt in that earlier battle why the people here called it martial arts and not martial techniques. Martial arts wasn't simply a skill that made the body faster and attacks stronger.
Even with the same sword strike, Go San-gong's, who had learned martial arts, was far more refined and natural than his own.
He must definitely learn martial arts to survive.
While strengthening his resolve, Dong Bong-su finished reviewing the earlier battle.
Boom, whoosh—
But he continued dancing without even a moment's pause. As the thought came to learn martial arts, his body was naturally moving that way.
Before he knew it, Dong Bong-su had become Go San-gong himself and was executing the Heavenly Wind Sword Technique.
If in the dance for reviewing the battle that just occurred, he became the level 7 Dong Bong-su facing Go San-gong, now he had become Go San-gong facing the level 7 Dong Bong-su.
The Heavenly Wind Sword Technique reproduced from his hands was a sword technique that lacked the mental cultivation method and only had the form, but that form was surprisingly similar to Go San-gong's.
Restoration of form.
Perfect battle review was making it possible.
Whoosh, boom—
Heavenly Wind Flowing Cloud, Heavenly Wind Thunderbolt, Heavenly Wind Opening Heaven.
Dong Bong-su imitated the three forms of the Heavenly Wind Sword Technique whose names he didn't even know several times, cutting down the imaginary himself.
In the process, he could once again tell how lucky he had been in last night's battle. If he had been the side properly executing the Heavenly Wind Sword Technique, 'the level 7 Dong Bong-su' could never have become level 10.
However,
Swoosh—
Strangely, as his movements progressed, his imitation was gradually moving further away from Go San-gong's Heavenly Wind Sword Technique. At the same time, the sound of wind from his hands was gradually becoming fainter.
What was happening?
Clearly his movements were becoming increasingly intense. Yet the 'sword wind' he created was only weakening. That wind was very different from Go San-gong's sharp 'Heavenly Wind.' It definitely wasn't a difference of whether internal energy was infused or not.
Simply, Dong Bong-su's sword wind was strangely gentle and leisurely.
More precisely, it was changing to resemble him with a feeling of 'nothingness.' Should one say the Heavenly Wind Sword Technique unfolding from Dong Bong-su's hands and its sword wind were naturally becoming Dong Bong-su-ified?
Perhaps if someone at the elder level or above of the Namgung Family saw Dong Bong-su's dance right now, no one would recognize this as the Heavenly Wind Sword Technique. No, actually Dong Bong-su's sword technique was no longer the Heavenly Wind Sword Technique in its form. If one had to name it, Windless Sword Technique. Something like that, perhaps?
Swoosh—
Swoosh–
Swoosh-
...