I Became the Namgung Clan’s Omnipotent Item-Powered Martial God - Chapter 26

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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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Chapter 26
Chapter 26 – The Day of Ritual Bathing Purification
#1
Namgung Yeon did not enjoy bathing.
Whenever he submerged his body in water, it felt as though he were drowning in dreams, as though he were being pulled down into his past life—one that had ended in tragedy.
When events had progressed beyond any possibility of reversal.
Or when, after battle’s end, he could steal only a brief moment of rest.
At some point, Namgung Yeon had stopped bathing altogether, instead using his Inner Qi to cleanse his body.
It was a calamity buried deep within his heart.
Emotions and experiences entombed in that darkness—black as the abyss, as the deep ocean itself.
Whenever he entered still water and the world fell silent around him, those buried feelings threatened to drown him entirely.
“Exhale…”
But what else could he do?
There were no more chances left now.
The time for evasion was finished.
He would face it all unflinching, would bear every burden and continue his ascetic path—only then would he finally end this wearisome cycle of return.
[Hundred-Year Ginseng]
[Silver Dust]
[Silver Scale Jujube]
[Sandalwood Powder]
[Deer Antler Essence]
[……]
As he rose to become a master of the first rank, he could draw upon far more of such materials.
Each of these medicinal ingredients he had tested one by one, slowly discovering their proper mixture.
All of it was a legacy accumulated over near-eternity.
One day he would need to spread these methods among the martial world’s practitioners.
‘Though how many would actually be capable of it?’
In monetary terms, the cost amounted to a gold coin per batch.
Moreover, for this great method to show results required both supreme martial discipline and unwavering consistency.
“Master, the bathwater has been prepared.”
“My thanks.”
“Not at all. Then I shall…”
Warm bathwater had been readied.
And today was an auspicious day besides—an excellent time for bathing.
Grinding and grinding, Namgung Yeon crushed each ingredient thoroughly in the mortar, coaxing forth the medicine’s fragrance.
The scent alone was potent enough that small insects hovering nearby dropped dead.
He also decocted the deer antler essence and ginseng separately, preparing them like a medicinal broth.
Simmered over high heat until rich, they would merge seamlessly with the bathwater and dissolve away.
Ritual Bathing Purification required four successive baths, each followed by careful drying to properly soothe the skin.
“Exhale…”
The first bath was a dark, blackish-red poison bath.
This was the first stage toward the Ten-Thousand Poisons No-Invasion, a technique whose effects would protect his body even without Inner Qi to sustain it.
The moment his toes touched the surface, a sharp, stinging pain shot through—as though thousands of needles were piercing his flesh.
Indeed, streams of dark red liquid began flowing from his skin.
Splash.
As he slowly immersed himself, a fine, pervasive ache spread throughout his entire body.
“Exhale… exhale… exhale…”
Now only suffering and endurance awaited.
In the broad tub, Namgung Yeon slowly closed his eyes and sank completely beneath the surface.
[Manyuigwiwon Divine Art]
A muffled, darkened world—a hell where all sides had turned to black.
And yet this too was merely a ritual.
Namgung Yeon’s body began to transform slowly.
#2
<You have been chosen.>
<Please save this world as it crumbles to ruin.>
At first, he had thought it was an opportunity.
But it took quite a long time before he understood it was the beginning of hell.
An ordinary person.
Learning martial arts in a place where all he possessed was shallow knowledge of this world had been painfully difficult.
It had taken decades alone to repair his severed meridians.
Despised, abused, tortured—he had clawed his way to knowledge by any means necessary.
In that crucible, he still held vivid memories of those who had died protecting him and the martial world.
Some had cursed him. Others had offered comfort.
“How unfortunate. But if it were you, I’m certain you could manage it.”
“I am she who turns back time. Therefore, I cannot interfere with this world.”
The woman who appeared with every calamity remained expressionless.
Whether she was genuinely sympathetic or simply indifferent after yet another failure—there was no way to know.
As his wounds accumulated, her expectations seemed to grow duller with each passing moment.
“Yes, I suppose traveling about and gathering information would be worthwhile.”
“Still operating at that level? Unless you can protect this world, there is nothing I can do.”
The horrific ends that befell people. The mental fortitude that bled away with each cycle.
He lost count of how many times he descended into madness, how many times he teetered on the edge of it, how many lonely deaths he suffered.
In the wake of countless losses, all that returned was disappointment.
“Must it take even longer!?”
That was when their relationship began to shatter completely.
Hope curdled into despair in a single instant.
Perhaps the woman had simply lacked the eye to discern talent and potential.
From that point forward, he endured on nothing but venom and the hunger for vengeance.
People ceased to appear as people.
Things ceased to appear as things.
Everything became mere resources to be hoarded for that final, decisive moment.
People, objects, and even the gifts that dwelt within them.
“You’re not even human.”
“You’re a monster.”
“You slaughtered your siblings and your own father, and now you scheme to rule the realm!?”
“You’re insane—completely insane!”
Their resentment.
Their curses.
That gaze with which they had hunted something inhuman—it all pierced through him now.
In the murky depths of the bath, they stabbed through Namgung Yeon’s entire body.
Splash!
As those terrible curses and malevolent essence tore through his spirit and flesh, Namgung Yeon surged upward through the water’s surface.
“Kgh—”
The bath had turned completely dark crimson.
Each drop that fell seemed to blur into blood.
“Hah… hah…”
Hollow.
Namgung Yeon, his eyes drained and heavy with exhaustion, rose slowly from the bath.
Do not worry.
The price I have paid… I will settle it in the depths of hell, alongside that woman’s life.
He drained all the water and drew fresh.
This was also why the quantity of water drawn each morning was so abundant.
This great ritual would continue unbroken.
He prepared the next bath with unfocused eyes.
The second bathing was a medicinal water infused with Iron-Skin Herb, Scale Armor Liquid, Deer Antler Essence, and Astragalus Concentrate.
His entire body felt the crushing pressure of iron setting.
This was the process by which the minute fractures in his skin from the previous bath were sealed.
The third bathing was a half-watch’s duration of pain that transcended the limits of human endurance.
Silver-hued water, Dragon Thunder Herb, Heavenly Poison Flower, and the finest powder of Five Poison Stone dissolved within it.
The process of carving minute traces of poison into skin, blood vessels, and capillaries to forge a No-Poison-Invasion body.
“Krraaaagh—!”
A dizzying agony, no matter how many times he endured it.
Despite experimenting across countless iterations, the pain had never become familiar.
No—if anything, it only grew worse, never milder.
The reason was simple.
It was the backlash of pursuing increasingly extreme effects.
Greater suffering brought faster results.
This was a law as fundamental as truth itself.
‘Beyond this point, raising the pain yields only diminishing returns. So this must be the limit.’
Namgung Yeon endured the pain as though his entire body were being seared by fire and ice, never ceasing his cultivation through superhuman force of will.
This was the heart of the great art.
“…….”
A body worn ragged, too ravaged by pain even to speak.
Now came the time for recovery.
A small basin holding water as cold as ice from a mountain stream.
Namgung Yeon infused his Inner Qi into it.
[Five-Color Yin Elixir]
The Five Organs symbolize the Five Elements, each harboring the corresponding vital force.
The Five-Color Yin Elixir is a miraculous medicine that forcibly awakens the Five Elements within a human body.
Once awakened, wielding it would be a simple matter.
‘You wouldn’t understand. What trials did I endure as an ordinary person to grasp such principles?’
Against such overwhelming spans of time, mediocre talent became as nothing.
Whoosh—
As his Inner Qi flowed out, the water grew cold as ice.
Transformation of vital force.
And release.
The cold qi chilled the water so thoroughly that even the surrounding air itself grew frigid.
And of course, such a bath would be incomplete without medicinal herbs.
After a cold bath enriched with generous helpings of health-fortifying ingredients, he proceeded to a dry friction treatment with silver dust.
In every sense, it was the pinnacle of extravagance.
#3
By the time he emerged from his bath, more than two watches had passed.
Yet his body had undeniably transformed.
If he repeated this for only two months, could he not achieve the Ten-Thousand Poisons No-Invasion state?
‘Transcending Ten-Thousand Poisons No-Invasion to become a Poison Human would require vastly more time and resources.’
A matter he could take his time with.
In the first place, he had not yet completed the physical body capable of withstanding the poisons needed to forge Ten-Thousand Poisons No-Invasion.
Though time was scarce, patience was the swiftest path to strength.
“It’s time I received word of developments…….”
With his body still damp and soft, he stood in the cool breeze, waiting for something.
Was he waiting for Man-ho, who had gone to Heukpung-bang?
No.
What he awaited was a directive sent down from the Main House.
This Sogaju Competition would soon undergo a great upheaval.
Speak of tigers and they appear—the instructor overseeing the Hapsan Training Ground revealed himself.
He then summoned those who had been attending to their daily duties.
“Squad Three. Gather. I have an announcement.”
“An announcement, you say…….”
“So it finally begins.”
Half a month had now passed since the Sogaju Competition began.
The training grounds had surely completed their internal deliberations regarding the incidents that had occurred across the various sites.
In the harder-pressed areas, cadets participating in the competition had already begun to fall.
After compiling it all, they would have adjusted the rules to suit their tastes.
The members of Squad Three gathered swiftly.
They were immediately informed of the newly issued directives and schedule.
The instructor unfolded an official document and spoke in a grave voice.
“Two months from now, the Squad Leader Seizing Battle shall commence. Furthermore.”
“…….”
“One month hence, there shall be a Mock Battle.”
“A Mock Battle, you say…….”
“The Mock Battle shall proceed by drawing lots, and the victorious squad shall be awarded one of the Intermediate Martial Manuals kept in the Namgung Clan’s archives.”
An Intermediate Martial Manual of the Namgung Clan.
Such would become a foundation for climbing faster and higher.
Moreover, it would be the opportunity to suppress talent with an Advanced Martial Art.
For the others, this Mock Battle was an unavoidable struggle for victory.
But the changes did not end there.
What the instructor was about to say—that was the great upheaval of this generation’s Sogaju Competition.
The instructor’s gaze lingered briefly on Namgung Yeon.
‘To think that one boy should alter even the Main House’s internal policies…….’
Some would see him as a loach thrashing in mud, while others would view him as a new opportunity.
Adapt or be discarded.
Namgung Yeon had anticipated that this Sogaju Competition would be fiercer than any before it.
“Ahem. And the rules have changed.”
“In what way?”
“An order has come down: the Namgung Clan is to marshal all its strength and cultivate the greatest martial artist possible.”
“That means…….”
“Now you are officially permitted to receive patronage from your own families and relatives.”
It was permission to do everything that was now possible.
Hearing the changed rules, Namgung Yeon grew certain.
This competition would be far grander than any before, and many more Demonic Martial Artists would come rushing at the Namgung Clan like ravenous beasts to tear it down.
But.
Because of that.
Namgung Yeon smiled faintly.
‘With this, I can kill far more Demonic Martial Artists all at once.’
Enter the Namgung Clan.
You will find we are not as easy to destroy as you imagine.
Ting—
The Maling Sword sang out, its bell-like voice ringing with joy.

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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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