Emperor Namgung Mu of the Thousand Years - Chapter 81

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#081

Cult Members.

If my memories from my past life are correct, they are the ones who destroyed the Kunlun Sect while all of the Martial Arts World turned a blind eye.

I know what that word means to Sword Master Hwirong Seo Ganghyeok.

“….”

Sword Master Hwirong looked at me.

His one uncovered golden eye quietly shifted its gaze behind me.

The three people – Leaf Huazi, Gangbi, and Sadoren, plus the three patients from minor sects who were in the village.

He looked at them one by one as if burning them into his eyes.

I see Cheongwun behind me, flinching and grabbing my sleeve.

Then he spoke in a dry, emotionless voice.

“Boatman, you. I wondered where you had gone all this time, and here you are.”

Golden light began to emanate from Seo Ganghyeok’s eyes.

“To cut to the chase, you were actually in collusion with the Cult Members, is that it?”

I sense it instinctively.

There’s no point in denying it.

The conclusion has already been reached.

It makes sense too.

Purple mist.

Purple laundry.

Purple chimney smoke.

The entire village is tinted purple.

When they burst in to find such a scene unfolding, what excuse could possibly work?

Especially if that’s the very thing that created the current Sword Master Hwirong.

Just then, more people appeared from beyond the bushes.

“Well now, when we received intelligence from the scouts, we had our doubts, but I never expected it to be this blatant in these deep mountains.”

The first to appear was the Hyeongsan Sect Leader.

He gave Sword Master Hwirong a gentle smile.

“Hehe, truly befitting of Sword Master Hwirong. Thanks to you, we crushed that rather complex formation array with a single gesture and struck at the enemy’s weakness.”

“….”

The Hyeongsan Sect Leader looked at me.

“And who do we have here. What could this be about. Oh my….”

Fox-like eyes.

“Isn’t this the Namgung Family Boatman who only contacted us through messenger birds?”

“Kahaha! What’s this, this sinister aura reeks of a Cult Members’ den.”

Behind him, the rest of the Baekdo Alliance leadership, including the heads of Geogyang Sect and Haesa Sect, emerged through the grass.

“It seems we’ve discovered a power struggle in the Martial Arts World that’s greater than we thought.”

“Today must be the day our Baekdo Alliance establishes a new cause and raises our banner. Hehe.”

All seven members of the Baekdo Alliance leadership were casting aside even the pretenses they usually maintained.

Their eyes were filled with mockery and greed.

Protruding his large belly, the Geogyang Sect Leader said:

“And one of the results of that… it’s connected to the Namgung Family, one of the Five Great Houses? How will the Martial Arts World receive this?”

The Haesa Sect Leader tilted his head and looked at Sword Master Hwirong.

“Sword Master Hwirong. What is this? The person who came to support us turns out to be a Cult Members’ collaborator?”

The Haesa Sect Leader’s words were like those of a hyena.

With a vile expression as if he had grasped a golden opportunity to seize the Namgung Family by the throat, he continued:

“Indeed, to resolve this situation, or at the very least if you want to save the Boatman, the Master himself will have to come directly to our Baekdo Alliance headquarters. He’s never shown his face once, always making excuses about being busy, but that’s the only way we can have close negotiations-.”

“Kill him.”

It was like cold water being poured over them.

“I don’t mind if you kill him.”

All the laughing Baekdo Alliance leaders stopped.

“What did you just say?”

The man from Kunlun wearing shackles spoke without the slightest hesitation:

“Whether it’s someone who colluded with Cult Members or an actual Cult Member, the Namgung Family doesn’t care who it is – you can kill them. There’s no need to keep him alive to use his identity as leverage for negotiations. Kill him. If you want, execute him on the spot right here.”

“Ooh…?”

The Hyeongsan Sect Leader said:

“Sword Master Hwirong. You know this isn’t a situation for wordplay or speaking in anger.”

“Because of the promise we made with our Five Great Patriarchs, Master Namgung Cheonhyeok will definitely understand.”

Sword Master Hwirong said:

“If Cult Members are involved, even if it were the one and only Young Master of the Namgung Family, it would be a matter for execution. Moreover, the target isn’t even that Young Master, but just one of four princes who are merely candidates.”

He crossed his arms and went to the cliff behind him. He leaned against the cliff.

“I’ll handle the report myself. Execute him along with the Cult Members.”

The Geogyang Sect Leader narrowed his eyes.

“How can we trust that? Who knows if you’ll interfere and obstruct us when we actually try to kill him?”

“I’ll swear to heaven. I won’t interfere.”

Seo Ganghyeok pulled down one side of his diagonal steel shackles to completely cover both eyes.

“I’m going to sleep, so handle it yourselves.”

“Keke, truly Sword Master Hwirong! How refreshing! A heavenly oath!”

The Geogyang Sect Leader giggled.

“Did you hear that? Ha Song of Sinnong Sect.”

He pointed at us and shouted:

“Since we can negotiate even after taking heads anyway, it would be laughable to the Martial Arts World if our Baekdo Alliance showed mercy to Cult Members. Though it pains our hearts, for the greater cause, please cleanly dispose of them including Guiryeongseuui!”

Ha Song stepped forward, wielding a massive hexagonal iron mace.

“Let’s begin immediately.”

It was a calm voice.

As if starting work. As if starting a slaughter.

At that moment.

“Fuck!”

With a thunderous shout, a shadow shot forward.

It was the largest of the three Sadoren members.

“You bastards, I’ve been watching and watching, but you’re just talking among yourselves like it’s nothing!”

He draws his sword from his waist.

His form stretched out in a straight line.

His target was the Baekdo Alliance leaders.

Gangbi shouted:

“Is he trying to take a hostage…!”

The martial arts level of the Baekdo Alliance leaders didn’t seem very high.

Though they were leaders of has-beens, if he could capture just one, negotiations would be possible – it was a method befitting the unscrupulous Demonic Sect.

“This bastard.”

The Geogyang Sect Leader frowned.

But Sadoren’s feet were faster.

He instantly squeezed through to the front of the leaders. He pressed a dagger to the throat of the fat Geogyang Sect Leader-.

-Thud.

The sound came first.

“Huh…?”

The dazed expression on Sadoryeon’s face showed he couldn’t even comprehend what had happened to him.

His lower body was still standing in place.

Only his upper body had spun and flown away like a wet towel.

“…”

Ha Songi stood in front.

Still in the posture of thrusting forward his massive hexagonal iron mace.

Sadoryeon’s body had been pierced through and torn away as if crushed by a mortar and pestle.

I widened my eyes.

‘I…’

The pounding throughout my body pulsed.

‘…missed the movement for a moment?’

“A hostage.”

Ha Songi chuckled and casually wiped the blood from his iron mace with his sleeve.

“If that worked, why would I be here?”

And calmly, while wiping the blood from the edges of his hexagonal iron mace, he said.

“First, one down.”

“Baekdo Alliance, you bastard!”

“Cheonhu in one strike…!”

The two remaining Sadoryeon shouted.

Especially among them, the lean Sadoryeon was the most enraged.

“If we die, we die, but how dare you declining bastards! You’ve messed with the wrong people!”

“Wait, Hyeonbaek! Stay calm and let’s work together…!”

Before the remaining Sadoryeon could stop him, the lean Sadoryeon called Hyeonbaek charged forward.

“Die, you fat bastard!”

-Swoosh!

A steel spear was drawn from Hyeonbaek’s hand with fierce energy.

The steel spear thrust toward Ha Song’s heart with full force.

That momentum was definitely that of an orthodox martial artist.

It was extraordinary, and by my estimation, it surpassed my skill level from my previous life.

-Thud!

Blood splattered.

At the same time, the second Sadoryeon who had charged, Hyeonbaek, stopped.

No, he hadn’t stopped.

“How… is this possible?”

Hyeonbaek hesitated.

“It should have… pierced through.”

The steel spear had definitely stabbed Ha Song’s heart area.

It had even penetrated.

But the spear couldn’t advance further through the muscle.

“My spear is solid steel from blade to handle, there’s no way it can’t pierce human muscle…?”

A massive shadow fell over Hyeonbaek’s face.

“Geumgang Yeoksan Bulgoe (Diamond Mountain Indestructible). A martial art that creates a steel body by enduring iron mace strikes with thousand-pound weight techniques for five years. Only four people in this martial arts world have completed this body that can only be wounded by sword energy.”

Ha Song raised his iron rod and aimed.

“I am one of those four.”

Hyeonbaek urgently shouted.

“Help me-!!!”

-Crash!!

The mortar pestle was driven vertically into the ground.

Beneath it was a blood-soaked lump of meat.

Pulling the iron mass from the ground, Ha Song said.

“That makes two.”

“D-d-don’t be ridiculous.”

The third Sadoryeon turned around.

“You think I’ll die so futilely!”

He began running in the opposite direction.

The direction he headed was toward the cliff.

He seemed to judge that using lightness skills to climb down the steep cliff had a higher chance of survival.

The Sadoryeon threw himself into the air and shouted.

“Farewell! I’m getting out of here alive-!”

-Thud.

A dull sound came from his back.

The Sadoryeon’s body bent forward and collapsed as he tried to leap.

Coughing up blood, he looked down at his navel.

A protruding hexagonal iron mace was there.

“How… did you catch up from that distance…?”

“You were trying to jump off the cliff, I see.”

Ha Song pulled the iron mass from the Sadoryeon’s back.

“Let me help you the rest of the way. Farewell.”

He grabbed the Sadoryeon’s head and threw him straight off the cliff.

-Ahhhhh…!

A desperate scream echoed from the distant bottom of the cliff before disappearing.

“That makes three.”

“…”

A suffocating air of death pressed down from all directions.

“…Brother.”

Cheongwun’s voice was trembling. The hand gripping my sleeve was also trembling.

Gangbi stepped forward.

“…Everyone stay back.”

His voice was shaking.

But he stepped forward and drew his sword.

“Cheongwun, take Hero Hwi and Elder and fall back. I’ll attack that bastard as much as I can and lure him as far from the cliff as possible. Then run toward the plank road on the cliff.”

Cheongwun shouted.

“What are you saying? Let’s fight together instead!”

“Right now, as Elder Yeophwaja mentioned, Hero Hwi’s body can barely move, worse than an ordinary person. It’s like hitting a rock with an egg, but in the end, I’m the only one…! With my level of skill, I should at least be able to deal some damage.”

“Still…!”

“Please!”

Before anyone could stop him, Gangbi charged forward.

Energy flowed into his sword.

Red energy flowed along the blade. A strike pouring out everything Gangbi possessed.

[Blood Dragon Ascending to Heaven]

A red blood dragon coiled around Gangbi’s sword tip as he dove beneath Ha Song.

-Roarrr-!

It wasn’t a simple sword strike.

The explosive sound of scraping the ground and tearing the air struck the eardrums.

It thrust upward as if soaring.

Ha Song raised his eyes.

“Ho. Was there such martial arts in the Central Plains?”

And with his bare fist, he struck the side of the Blood Dragon and sent it flying.

“…In just one strike?!”

Gangbi’s eyes widened in shock.

“…”

Ha Song looked down at his palm. There was a thin line of blood beaded on it.

“Quite a skilled fighter.”

“Kuk…!”

“This is a return gift for a rare master.”

Ha Song lightly struck Gangbi’s solar plexus with the hexagonal metal piece.

Really, just lightly.

As if shooing away a fly.

-Kwang!!

Gangbi’s body bent and flew away.

He rolled on the ground two or three times before crashing in front of us.

“Kueok!!!”

He vomited blood.

“Brother!”

Cheongwun ran over and supported Gangbi.

Dark red blood poured endlessly from Gangbi’s mouth. He was dying moment by moment as if sinking into a swamp.

Ha Song chuckled.

“How ugly it is to watch insects struggle. Sometimes cleanly offering one’s neck is the only way to reduce the ugliness.”

An unavoidable disaster.

Those words circled in my head.

Warriors of the Baekdo Alliance closing in from all sides. In front, a monster who had mastered the Diamond Mountain Immovable technique. And behind, Sword Master Hwirong who had completely turned his back on us.

I gritted my teeth.

‘Damn it, my body hasn’t fully recovered yet. If only my body had recovered…!’

Could the current me kill that monster even if I used the Asura Great Annihilation technique, the final chapter of both Pasabeolsik and the Eight Forms of the Dark Emperor?

If I used Donggwieojin… would there still be a possibility?

Somehow kill Ha Song and take one of the Baekdo Alliance’s leaders hostage.

Yes, that’s the only way.

Then at least we could scatter and maybe one person could survive-.

That’s when it happened.

“Uwaaaak!”

The source of the scream came from the remaining three patients.

Despite Leaf Huazi’s restraint, they had completely lost their reason from the thick blood and consecutive executions.

“This is why I wanted to run away quickly! We wasted time being cautious…!”

“We’re not cult members, we’re not cult members…!”

They began running frantically in three different directions like madmen.

“…Huu.”

Ha Song, whose words were cut off, looked exasperated.

With a deep sigh, he raised his hand high.

“How embarrassing in front of the elders… What’s wrong with you insects.”

And he lowered his hand.

“Why do you never deviate even slightly from my expectations?”

Simultaneously, the bushes on all sides split apart and countless spears and swords began to emerge.

“Keuaaak!!”

“Euak!”

“Aaaak!”

The one who was running died from a spear that shot up from the ground.

The one who ran toward the bushes by the cliff died pierced by a sword that fell from a tree.

Even the last one who escaped into the forest, to what he thought was a blind spot, had his head roll off with a single scream.

A moment of silence.

And then heaven and earth began to shake.

People began pouring out.

They began surging from all directions centered on the hermitage.

I blinked my eyes in a daze.

“My… God.”

“Hwi… Brother Hwi…”

Cheongwun sobbed.

“We’re… really finished, aren’t we?”

-Thump… thump… thump…!

The ground resonates.

Vibrations can be felt.

Warriors of the Baekdo Alliance surrounded us from all sides.

Their numbers increased.

They emerged through the bushes.

They came along the cliff ledge.

Warriors forming a combined attack formation toward the hermitage, closing in from all directions.

I muttered with a trembling voice.

“…And Fifty is added to this?”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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