Emperor Namgung Mu of the Thousand Years - Chapter 84

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

#084

“Now that I think about it, it’s getting pretty annoying.”

Sword Master Hwirong Seo Ganghyeok’s golden eyes looked at Ha Song.

Those eyes contained no emotion whatsoever.

No, only one single emotion was contained within them.

That was pure irritation.

“Why have I been taking orders from a bug like you all this time?”

“…You bastard.”

Ha Song’s face twitched.

“I clearly warned you. If you interfere, no matter what kind of bug you are…”

Muscles bulged all over Ha Song’s body.

“I’ll kill you!”

-Bawung!

The hexagonal iron mace was swung.

-Kwaaang!!!!

At the end of that massive hexagonal iron mace was a single index finger of Sword Master Hwirong.

“Hmph! Try blocking this too!”

Ha Song’s hands moved like lightning.

Eight slashing strikes swung with the sound of tearing wind.

The speed at which the iron mace, thick as a human torso, was swung with fierce wind was almost surreal.

-Jjeojeojeojung!!!

-Kwaang!!

And Sword Master Hwirong blocked all of it by waving his fingers.

Ha Song was shocked.

“Im… Impossible! All of my Eight Flash Divine Break?!”

“I’ve been thinking this for a while now.”

Sword Master Hwirong approached without hesitation. He extended his hand.

He grabbed the wrist holding Ha Song’s hexagonal iron mace.

“This mace is getting in the way.”

-Kudeudeudeuk!!

The wrist was crushed as if squeezed.

The hand trained with Diamond Mountain Indestructible Force, the very weapon that had crushed dozens of masters, was torn, crumpled, and crushed like paper.

A scream burst from Ha Song’s mouth.

“Kraaaak!!”

The hexagonal iron mace fell to the ground with a thunderous sound.

“…”

The leaders of the Baekdo Alliance held their breath.

Their faces showed disbelief at what they had just witnessed.

Diamond Mountain Indestructible Force.

The martial art said to create the hardest body under heaven.

He had crushed Ha Song’s hand, trained with that martial art, with one hand.

Ha Song grabbed Sword Master Hwirong’s head with his remaining hand in one motion.

“You bastard…! You caught me off guard, that’s what it was!”

Internal energy exploded outward. As if to return what had been done to his hand, muscles all over his body swelled up.

“I’ll crush you like this!”

Tendons bulged out. His face turned red hot.

Sword Master Hwirong, whose face was being grabbed, spoke.

“Ah, so I caught you off guard? You should have said so earlier.”

It was an extremely calm voice.

Ha Song belatedly realized the strange sensation.

“When…?”

He hadn’t completely caught his head.

Just before that, Sword Master Hwirong’s left hand had slipped between his face and palm to block it.

-Kkuguk… guguguk…

Ha Song’s massive hand that was in contact slowly pushed back.

Hidden beneath it, Sword Master Hwirong whispered.

“I almost got disappointed there.”

“You bastard…!”

Then he shifted his gaze to the hand in front of his eyes.

“Your hand is solid. And big too.”

He interlocked his fingers with the hand that had been pushing against his.

“We look close, don’t we? Should we make a hundred-year pact like this?”

“…You dog…”

Ha Song’s voice trembled with humiliation.

“Has this crazy bastard lost his mind, what kind of foolish antics…!!”

“Keke, I’ve been listening to this for a while now.”

Sword Master Hwirong nodded his head.

“You seem pretty confident about having a tough body.”

Sword Master Hwirong hooked the back string of the black shackle around his neck with his index finger and pulled.

The leather cord dug into his throat and the shackle instantly clung tightly to his neck.

Madness-filled golden eyes looked down at Ha Song.

“Are you really that tough?”

-Kwaaaaang!!!

Sword Master Hwirong’s hand gripped as if squeezing.

“Kraaaaaaak!!!”

He began to crush.

With a tremendous roar, terrifying pressure centered on their interlocked hands began to crush Ha Song’s body.

“Keu… keuk!”

Tendons bulged all over Ha Song’s body. His body trained with Diamond Mountain Indestructible Force struggled.

“Let… let go… you crazy bastard…!”

He tried to free Sword Master Hwirong’s hand with both hands, even using his broken one.

He tried to push it away.

He tried to tear it off.

The interlocked fingers wouldn’t come apart.

Sword Master Hwirong’s hand moved downward.

Ha Song’s massive body followed downward.

He couldn’t resist.

It was like a massive mountain pressing down.

It was like the sky collapsing.

-Ppagak!

Ha Song’s knee buckled.

He knelt down.

-Kkigik… kkigigiigik!!!

The air was crushed.

-Jjeoeong!

-Kwajijijik!

Ha Song’s feet dug into the ground.

The ground around where he knelt was torn apart.

“Kuh, kuhk…!!”

Ha Song coughed up blood. The sound of ribs breaking echoed continuously.

Below him, gravel was crushed and rocks were torn up.

The sound of bones creaking could be heard.

Ha Song spoke in a voice filled with agony.

“With this kind of pathetic pressure… you can’t make me submit…!”

“Oh, so you trained with an iron mace containing the power of a thousand-pound weight. Still holding out?”

Sword Master Hwirong’s eyes gleamed with madness.

“Then I suppose I can be a bit rougher.”

“…What?”

He placed one finger on top of his clasped hands.

“Like one finger, for instance.”

-Tap.

He tapped his finger on their joined hands.

-Kuaaaang!!!

The earth split apart.

Ha Song’s body was pressed vertically into the ground.

The sound of bones shattering.

The sound of flesh being crushed.

The sound of a body trained in the Vajra Mountain-Moving Technique being pulverized.

The sound of the world’s greatest shield being torn like paper.

-Thud… Thunk…

Stone dust fell along with dirt.

Sword Master Hwirong removed his hand.

Ha Song’s corpse was nowhere to be seen.

It was completely buried in the ground as if crushed.

As if nothing had been there from the beginning. As if he had never existed at all.

-…

The seven leaders of the Baekdo Alliance.

All fifty warriors were frozen solid.

No one could move.

No one could breathe.

No one could think.

They couldn’t tell if what they had just seen was reality or a dream.

Ha Song, the carefully selected expert they had summoned as the Baekdo Alliance’s executioner to eliminate any potential dangerous variables, was dead.

And he had died crushed to death, his mastery of the Vajra Mountain-Moving Technique completely negated in a frontal assault.

Sword Master Hwirong dusted off his hands twice in the air and spoke.

“I’ve been thinking about it. But this method really does seem best after all.”

His golden eyes surveyed the assembled group.

“Let’s pretend what happened here today never occurred. Amicably. Understood?”

The leaders’ faces contorted.

“…What did you say?”

“The Baekdo Alliance barely escaped after a fierce battle against a joint attack by the Sects and Cult Members trying to protect Guiryeongseuui.”

Sword Master Hwirong pointed his finger at the leaders, then at Leaf Huazi and the rest in turn.

“You Guiryeongseuui bastards will spend your lives on the run. Go anywhere – outside the Central Plains, wherever.”

He spread both arms wide.

“How about it?”

The Hyeongsan Sect Leader suddenly shouted.

“What kind of nonsense is that!!”

His face turned red and blue. Anger preceded fear. No, he tried to cover his fear with anger.

“Who do you think would keep such absurd words?! Even if we gave you a hundred concessions, do you think our Baekdo Alliance would accept such bullshit and play along?!”

“No.”

Sword Master Hwirong extended his finger.

“You will keep it.”

“…What?”

The Geoggyeong Sect Leader shouted in fury.

“There’s no way we’d keep it! Are you crazy, thinking we’d keep your word…!”

“Because among all forms of trust, I value the trust of the dead most highly.”

They realized the meaning of those words a beat later.

The color drained completely from the Hyeongsan Sect Leader’s face.

“…”

The other leaders were the same.

The trust of the dead.

There was no way they could misunderstand the meaning of those words.

“…Are, are you insane?”

The Hyeongsan Sect Leader’s voice trembled.

“You’re going to kill us all? Do you think that’s possible? These fifty people, us… No, possibility aside, aren’t you afraid of the consequences?”

“Afraid?”

Sword Master Hwirong laughed.

“I suppose I could be. Afraid.”

It was a low, cold laugh.

Then he continued speaking calmly.

“I like various stages – serious drama at the top, comedy and farce in the middle, variety shows at the bottom… I also enjoy listening to storytellers’ tales. Ah, I like jesters’ dances too. When I hear rumors of something interesting, I’ll even go to Luoyang to see it. I buy steamed buns and mix in with the crowd to watch those performances – the stories are truly fascinating.”

“…”

“Especially since my own story ended, I’ve come to love watching other people’s stories. When I get immersed, they feel like my own stories. But the problem is that even those fascinating stages eventually come to an end. And I find myself getting immersed in what comes after that too.”

“What the hell… what incomprehensible nonsense have you been spouting?”

“After the stage ends and all the audience and family have left, the jester alone in the darkness on the stage.”

Everyone held their breath.

The golden eyes looked down at the Hyeongsan Sect Leader.

“Nothing else matters anymore. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

The Hyeongsan Sect Leader grimaced. His voice cracked.

“You swore to heaven, to heaven that you wouldn’t interfere!”

“Then I’ll just kill that heaven I swore to as well.”

“You crazy bastard…!”

“I’ll say it again. No one in the martial arts world will know what happened here today.”

Sword Master Hwirong said.

“I’ve just decided it so.”

“This arrogant bastard, I’ve been watching and watching!”

All the Baekdo Alliance leaders drew their swords.

“Everyone, draw your blades!”

“Don’t be afraid! The enemy is just one man! Press him with combined formations and take the heads of the Boatman and that bastard, then announce today’s events to the world through the Namgung Family and establish righteousness!”

-Waaaah!!

The Baekdo Alliance warriors charged forward.

Sword Master Hwirong said.

“Yes. This is the true face of you rotten waters.”

And then.

He raised a single finger and quickly drew a stroke through the air.

-Zzzeeeong!!!

That was all.

The Hyeongsan Sect Leader’s body rolled across the ground several times. His clothes tore. Blood burst forth.

“Kugh…!!”

He barely managed to get back up.

“Really… let’s do this!!”

Above him, all the remaining warriors of the Baekdo Alliance charged forward in unison.

-Kik.

Sword Master Hwirong laughed.

“You don’t even need finger techniques.”

Then he made a fist for the first time.

“Uh…?”

There wasn’t even time for someone to make a dumbfounded sound.

-Flash.

A blue lightning swept across the battlefield like a shot.

Sword Master Hwirong moved as if dancing. With graceful and light movements, he weaved between the leaders.

Like a butterfly flapping its wings.

Like wind passing by.

Wherever he passed, heads exploded.

Based on ultra-high-speed instant steps, he rampaged in all directions, as if running alone through an empty field.

“Uh.”

“Ah.”

They couldn’t even scream.

They couldn’t even move their weapons.

-Jjeng!

-Jjeojeojeong!

His black hair fluttered as Sword Master Hwirong’s hands moved like lightning.

One person per swinging fist.

Limbs were severed.

Organs spilled out.

Blood poured down like rain.

Rather than cruel, it was a bizarrely beautiful sight.

One human figure exploded like a firecracker, and before those fragments could hit the ground, the second and third figures exploded.

“What are you doing?”

Sword Master Hwirong’s lightning-like instant steps stopped for the first time.

“You’re not resisting.”

“Ah… aah!”

Gekyong Bangju was trembling.

Looking at that quivering flesh, Sword Master Hwirong shook his blood-soaked hand once.

That was the signal.

-Shwaaaaa!!!

A massive red downpour.

The countless flesh pieces and blood of the fifty warriors and remaining Baekdo Alliance leaders that had shot up to the sky poured down like a storm.

“Ah, I tend to forget people’s faces. You’re Geoggyeong Sect Leader, right?”

Sword Master Hwirong said, spreading both arms.

“The guy who mocked me first. Now, where did that spirit go?”

He walked over. He grabbed Geoggyeong Sect Leader’s head with his bare hands.

Geoggyeong Sect Leader flailed his hands.

“Wait, spare me. Please spare…!”

“Too late.”

He crushed it like gripping a watermelon.

Red matter splattered in all directions.

“…”

There was only one person who maintained his form.

It was the Hyeongsan Sect Leader, who had first blocked Sword Master Hwirong’s fist and been sent flying.

He was sitting on the ground, trembling violently.

In his hand was a broken sword.

Sword Master Hwirong approached.

“Still, that sect leader has some skill.”

“Kugh… uk.”

Sword Master Hwirong looked down.

“I wonder how many fingers you’re worth.”

“…All of us… really all of us.”

“Right. You even blocked my fist. Since you’re a sect leader and a master, I should add quite a bit more, shouldn’t I?”

“…You bastard…”

“Let me see.”

Sword Master Hwirong pondered.

He nodded his head.

Then he held up his fingers in front of the Hyeongsan Sect Leader.

“Will two fingers be enough?”

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