I Became the Namgung Clan’s Omnipotent Item-Powered Martial God - Chapter 23

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 23
Episode 23 – A Dependable Person
#1
Ting-ling—.
The sound of a bell chime broke through the quiet stillness.
The crisp mountain wind awakened his senses, drawing Namgung Yeon’s consciousness back from the depths of his cultivation.
Exhale…….
Namgung Yeon began his day by activating his Heart Method.
Opening his eyes, he spoke to the Demon Spirit Sword, which the wind kept causing to ring.
“Don’t be impatient. True delicacy comes only after fattening the bird well before the feast.”
Strangely enough, the wind continued to blow, yet the bell made no sound.
He smiled quietly and rose to his feet.
His condition still fell short of satisfaction, but it had improved markedly from three months ago.
Training, nutrition, rest.
When these three elements aligned properly, he now resembled a genuine martial artist.
He stood and made his way to the Training Grounds, where someone covered in sweat was catching his breath.
“Huff……. Huff…….”
“You’re pushing too hard. There’s no need to go that far.”
“What business is it of yours?”
The one answering curtly was Namgung Jinjin.
He hadn’t slept properly and had been wielding his sword relentlessly; exhaustion clung to every inch of his body.
Namgung Yeon knew the reason for all of it, but he chose not to speak.
“Come.”
…….
Namgung Jinjin was deeply displeased at how Namgung Yeon glanced at him and walked past.
But what could he do about it?
No matter how he thought about it, there was no probability of defeating his leader now…….
‘But someday I will catch up. I absolutely will.’
He caught sight of the instructor watching from a distance and hefted the Golden Dragon Chain onto his shoulders.
Then he lifted two massive water buckets as well.
His shoulders felt like they might tear, but by circulating Internal Power throughout his body, he managed to hold on.
At that moment, there came the inevitable words.
“If you exhaust your Internal Power now, you’ll suffer later.”
…….
“Do as you wish.”
Namgung Yeon smiled faintly.
Namgung Jinjin ground his teeth with a faint crunch but said nothing in return.
Honestly, he had no breath for back-and-forth when the water buckets and Golden Dragon Chain were so unbearably heavy.
He had no focus to spare on a war of words.
Managing True Energy was already demanding enough.
Meanwhile, Namgung Yeon steadied his breathing and moved forward at an easy pace.
When the body was this weary, it was actually better.
When he sat still, various memories would erode his mind.
Whoosh—!
With his ragged breathing, the serious work of morning cultivation began in earnest.
And there was an instructor watching it all with curious eyes.
“Hmm…….”
With an expression of intrigue, he jotted down this and that.
One was a paper for official records.
The other was—.
“Interesting. Or is it dangerous?”
The fourth son of the Namgung Clan, whom no one had paid attention to until now.
He’d never expected him to persist in such a systematic yet brutish method of training.
Martial arts is a study.
Train the body so recklessly, and it breaks easily.
At least that was what he believed.
Still far to go.
But it did seem worth observing a while longer.
No one had ever employed such a training method until now.
‘Perhaps it has something to do with the Soga Ju Gyeong Hab.’
A chance that comes only once in a generation.
If you could seize it, there was nothing you shouldn’t be willing to do.
The instructor turned his gaze slowly, regarding the remaining participants.
Now it was his turn to work.
Real work.
#2
Huff—! Huff—!
Namgung Yeon felt every muscle in his body trembling like aspen leaves.
His muscles were already exhausted beyond measure.
Jagged terrain, rough mountainside.
The descent alone had imposed an enormous physical toll.
It was in the midst of such imbalance that the body learned to correct itself—a strength truly necessary for any warrior.
There was no basic conditioning without this.
“Hah… hah…”
“You all right? Think you can make it without spilling the water like that?”
“…”
Namgung Jinjin was cursing with his eyes, and Namgung Yeon smiled despite himself.
Right—that’s why he’d said not to use Internal Power from the start.
Namgung Yeon headed toward the trickling stream.
There he filled his container and began to speak.
“When we fight, our bodies face countless moments of imbalance.”
“Does this training relate to that?”
“The mountain is treacherous and our bodies are constantly losing balance in subtle ways. Add weight to that, and how grueling must it be?”
“…”
The logic of it left nothing to say.
While moving like this, channeling True Energy felt even more burdensome.
Did Father, Baek Ryong Dae Ju, endure training like this as well?
Or had he simply swung a sword?
Doubt suddenly crept in.
Was his loss to Namgung Yeon… perhaps because of a difference like this?
His own movements too—the way he reached down to scoop water—appeared unstable.
He could barely manage to gather himself, his body quivering uncontrollably.
“When your Internal Power runs dry, all you can rely on is a strong body. And equally important is understanding when and how much Internal Power to expend.”
“…”
“Don’t spill it. This is the water you’ll need for the entire day. Go on ahead.”
“Wait—just a moment—!”
Namgung Yeon didn’t even wait for a reply, ascending the mountain with quick, balanced strides.
That bastard—reserving his Internal Power and deliberately—
“This dog-damned…”
Namgung Jinjin now understood why the chief had spoken like that before they’d set out.
And even now, he was offering advice without hesitation for his benefit.
But I…
“Pathetic. Truly pathetic. If I can only manage this much… how can I face Father?”
He clenched his teeth.
He didn’t even aspire to be the Soga Ju.
After all, the direct heir to the clan head stood firm in his position—the eldest son called Cheonoe-Cheon, Namgung Cheon.
But the Third Unit, judged as the relatively weaker unit.
If he proved weak even here…
Perhaps there was no point in living at all.
His trembling body filled the container with water.
But the fate of one who didn’t know when and where to expend his strength was pitiable indeed.
“Hah… hah…”
“You’re finally here.”
“Damn it…”
“What? The container’s not even half full. You’ll need to fetch more.”
“Ahhhhh—!”
The water sloshing in the container.
The treacherous mountain path.
Exhaustion and a body drained of Internal Power.
And as the crowning touch, the extraordinary weight of the Golden Dragon Chain.
What happens when these three forces collide?
What does it matter?
All that water he hauled up comes pouring back out, and that’s the end of it.
In the end, Namgung Jinjin had to make the trip twice more before he could fulfill his quota.
“Today’s training is finished, wouldn’t you say?”
……
He wanted to tell the man to leave at once, but Namgung Jinjin lay sprawled on the ground with barely a shred of strength left.
The others rose quietly to their feet, exchanging glances, trying to piece together what on earth had just transpired.
Namgung Jinjin was the second strongest person in the Third Unit, after all……
How had he been reduced to such a wreck?
Surely Namgung Yeon hadn’t harbored a grudge and——
The trainees swallowed hard.
It could be their turn next.
“If you’re awake, you should be training. What are you doing?”
……
Namgung Yeon spoke to them without emotion, his eyes fixed upon their faces.
That vacant stare seemed to press down on them all the harder.
Namgung Yeon began his training in earnest.
The laborers arrived as well and commenced reinforcing the Training Grounds.
The same as always.
Another day beginning, one that was gradually becoming routine.
Naturally, Namgung Yeon showed no sign of curtailing his extravagant spending here either.
“Your food supplies have arrived!”
“You’ve arrived at the perfect time.”
“Sir, thank you so much for patronizing our butcher shop again.”
A great crowd of workers appeared.
They had all climbed this treacherous mountain with their carrying frames laden upon their backs.
What they carefully set down was meat—nothing but meat.
The instructor came rushing over to stop them, but Namgung Yeon blocked his path.
A breach of protocol was a grave matter.
That was why he’d moved to intervene at once.
“During training, nothing may be consumed or drunk except the authorized provisions. You understand this, do you not?”
“There are exceptions, sir.”
“Exceptions? Are you referring to a patron?”
For the sake of fairness in training, the principle held that only the officially distributed rations could be consumed.
But this was merely the surface justification.
Did this person think there were no privileges in such an unreasonable world?
If so, they were either still naive or lacked experience……
Namgung Yeon smiled faintly and nodded.
I came prepared for precisely this.
He produced a document and handed it to the instructor.
“A patron……? D-Dang Hoyeon!?”
“Since he is my maternal grandfather, I believe his qualifications as a patron are more than sufficient.”
……
Originally, a patron could be designated without any conditions whatsoever.
Moreover, one could not have multiple patrons.
Once a patron was officially established, one could receive support without limit—this was the clever mechanism of the Soga Ju Gyeong Hab.
The reason such a system had been put in place?
It was obvious.
Everything was a maneuver to secure power within the clan.
Everyone knew it, but they all kept quiet and let it pass.
‘This was supposed to be a conflict between the elders and the clan head, but now the Dang Family is involved too……’
The situation had become far more complicated than before.
The weight carried by the name Dang Hoyeon itself added to the pressure.
That document meant the Dang Family’s Former Patriarch was exerting all his power for Namgung Yeon alone.
The instructor’s face went deathly pale.
‘Is this even possible? I need to report this at once.’
So it was said.
Yet times change and circumstances shift.
When one thought about it, that was simply how things were.
The Dang Family was no longer a stranger to him.
They were unmistakably the maternal relatives of this child.
“Ah……. Then all of this is…….”
“It’s specially aged meat from the Dang Family. Would you like to try some?”
Would you like a taste of meat cured in poison?
#3
“Wow…….”
“What a delicious aroma—it carries all the way here.”
“They say it’s specially aged meat from the Dang Family. I wonder how it tastes.”
Hoho licked her lips.
Rigorous training had sculpted her body lean and taut, but her appetite remained unchanged.
Hoho loved food dearly and possessed a natural gift for cooking.
Dang Family Aged Meat was so rare that even the imperial court sought it out.
Yet they’d sent such an abundant quantity, simply because of the connection as maternal relatives.
Infused as it was with all manner of medicinal herbs, the nutritional value would be considerable.
No one had given it much thought before…….
Moreover, Namgung Yeon then produced Cheonwon Water from his stores.
“This much should suffice for cooking.”
“Th-thank you very much.”
Hoho was astonished by Namgung Yeon’s unstinting generosity.
So this was the true wealth of a great family.
A tumult of emotions swirled through her in that moment.
‘I have to grow stronger soon. I want to be recognized.’
As Hoho’s resolve hardened, Namgung Yeon distributed Cheonwon Water to the other members of the Third Unit as well, and spoke.
“Use this during rest breaks in your training.”
“Is that also something you’re sponsoring?”
If he said no, they could always trace where it came from anyway.
Namgung Yeon simply nodded.
The instructors had no grounds to object on that account.
Instead, he decided to distribute it to the instructors as well.
[Cheonwon Water]
[999,983,212 units]
[Daily withdrawal limit: 200 units]
Two hundred units a day was enough for everyone in this place to drink it like water.
And there was one more thing—the Cheonwon Water possessed a most beneficial property.
[Cheonwon Water: For those addicted to Demon Energy, it acts as a poison that slowly deepens their addiction.]
He’d explained this to the Demon Spirit Sword.
That it was a delicacy to fatten one’s prey plump before devouring it.
Right now, Namgung Yeon was raising livestock.
‘And soon, it will be time to put them to work.’
The Dark Wind Technique awaited deployment.
Furthermore, he would need to deliver a shock to his father and the elders as well.
On the surface all seemed peaceful, but already the blade had risen to their throats.
“I’m quite curious to see who will bite. Don’t you think?”
Jingle-.
The bell on the Demon Spirit Sword chimed.
Namgung Yeon’s gaze was not on the members of the Third Unit, but on the instructors.

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