I Became the Namgung Clan’s Omnipotent Item-Powered Martial God - Chapter 27

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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 27
Chapter 27 – The Maker of Weapons
#1
The children were bewildered.
Why was the Namgoong Clan’s Branch Head Heir Competition considered the greatest festival in Anwhui, perhaps in the entire Martial Realm?
It was because they competed on pure merit alone.
Or rather, that was what they had come to believe.
Whatever the hidden circumstances, everyone who participated could seize opportunity fairly.
That was what the Namgoong Clan’s Branch Head Heir Competition truly was.
In this very moment, that rule had shattered into pieces.
“Wait a moment…….”
“If that’s how it works, wouldn’t direct descendants have a far greater advantage?”
“That, that might be true…….”
The instructor, who had been watching the murmuring crowd for a moment, opened his mouth again.
His gaze remained fixed on Namgoong Yeon, who stood motionless.
An unfathomable young master.
The rumor that he had engineered this entire situation had already become widespread.
“The Squad Leader Conquest Battle and the Mock Battle are not far off. We instructors are prepared to serve as sparring partners at any time, so feel free to make your requests.”
“……Yes.”
“And once every fortnight, there will be a verification test.”
The moment Namgoong Yeon heard those words, he looked toward someone.
Namgoong Cheolhwi.
His real name was Ma Cheolwi.
An instructor known to have a reasonably good character among his peers.
His internal reputation was solid enough that there was talk of his promotion soon.
Namgoong Yeon gazed at him and smiled faintly.
A man who remained vivid in his memory.
Yes, one of the Five Great Masters of the Ma Blood Squad, he had called them.
One of the Demon Beings’ mobile strike units, and the practitioners of the Explosion Technique who turned everything around them into wasteland.
‘Come to think of it, I’ve always wondered about this. They yearn for the Celestial Demon Divine Sect’s revival…….’
How could a mere human conceive of such vicious and ruthless martial arts?
Had the orthodox practitioners of the old Demon Cult also mastered such vicious and ruthless techniques?
Namgoong Yeon often imagined what the long-extinct Demon Cult must have felt like.
After dozens of regressions, he had reached a single conclusion.
[Behind the Demon Beings, there exists something else.]
This was the conclusion Namgoong Yeon had drawn.
When he possessed the ability to turn back time, it seemed strange to dismiss the possibility of something else entirely.
You were the first, then.
If I follow the tail upward, one day you will thrust your head forward.
You will bare your fangs in judgment for the audacity of hunting me.
At that moment, I must identify who the true master of the Demon Beings truly was.
When I think about it, I’ve been playing around far too much.
‘Despite so many regressions, I haven’t uncovered a single true mastermind.’
Perhaps they had deliberately hidden themselves away.
To achieve what that woman desired.
Setting aside his thoughts, he looked back at the instructor.
His gaze was fixed not on Namgoong Yeon, but on two others.
It couldn’t be helped.
With those he should be looking after writhing like that, how could his eyes not turn toward them?
Namgoong Yeon let out a quiet chuckle.
“Say…….”
And one of those training earnestly approached him to speak.
It was Namgoong Sewun, the son of the Weapon Hall Master.
“Now that we can receive support, why don’t we forge weapons ourselves?”
He had come with a most intriguing proposal.
Namgoong Yeon nodded without hesitation.
Namgoong Sewun.
A man destined to become the master of the finest Smithy beyond Anwhui, perhaps in the entire Martial Realm.
#2
“Hngh…….”
“My body feels strange lately…….”
“You too?”
“We didn’t eat anything odd, did we?”
“No. We all ate the same thing.”
Three and Seven whined constantly, their bodies aching.
They complained frequently of stomachaches and dizziness.
But they absolutely could not see a physician.
The moment a doctor took their pulse, everyone would know they were pawns of the Demon Beings.
Gurgle-gurgle.
An ominous sound erupted from Three’s belly.
Unable to endure any longer, he hurried to the outhouse.
Gripped by cramps that felt as though his intestines might tear, he pondered the matter.
‘How is this possible……. Just days ago, I was perfectly fine.’
Why had his stomach begun troubling him so often lately? Why did his head feel so heavy?
He suspected many things, but nothing quite fit.
Stomach pain usually meant something was wrong with what he ate…….
“Ugh……. We eat the same meat, drink the same water. So why is something wrong?”
The more he thought, the more bewildered he became.
Perhaps the only solution was fasting, to purge his body entirely.
That was what Three was thinking.
“Is someone there?”
The voice of Squad Leader Namgoong Yeon carried through.
Three answered weakly, groaning.
“Y-yes, Squad Leader. It’s me.”
“……All right, take your time. Today’s training will be difficult anyway.”
“……Understood.”
With those words, the footsteps faded into the distance.
Namgoong Yeon inhaled the peculiar stench rising faintly and smiled.
Suspicion would gradually eat away at their health.
Unable to trust anything, they would watch themselves starve while others grew fat on abundance.
That would be when the Demon Spirit Sword would devour them.
When their malice reached its peak, they would become my prey.
Namgoong Yeon savored how perfectly his schemes were unfolding and recalled Namgoong Sewun’s words.
“Weapons…….”
That was what he had said.
Now that the board had grown so large, he would be needed for the Third Squad to rise higher.
Namgoong Yeon agreed entirely.
To make that happen, first…….
‘I should compose a request letter to send to grandfather.’
At this moment, Namgoong Sewun’s value had fallen below that of an ordinary blacksmith.
His martial prowess was meager, and his skill with metal was amateurish compared to the craftsmen of Anwhui.
But what of the future?
Every weapon he crafted, even his failures, sold out as people lined up to buy them.
When the Jianghu fell into the hands of Demon Beings, Namgoong Sewun would be among the first to be abducted and forced to forge weapons.
Because of that, all the Orthodox Faction’s martial artists had suffered immensely.
‘Namgoong Sewun said he regrets participating in this Branch Head Heir Competition.’
<I should have simply continued my ironworking practice, Head of House.>
<I could have spent that time thinking about how to work the metal better.>
<This is my best effort. Anything more……. I’m sorry.>
A man who had always strived to forge better weapons.
Looking back, one who regretted not having gone to the Smithy to work iron instead of entering this competition.
He harbored such regrets, but Namgoong Yeon thought differently.
Rather, the experience here would greatly benefit his skill.
The problem was one of balance.
Balance between martial prowess and blacksmithing.
If he could practice bit by bit here…….
‘That’s why I ordered him to build a provisional smithy.’
Even now, clink-clink, these men were busily constructing the Training Grounds.
Those who had been continuously consuming Clear Spring Water worked at a pace beyond compare.
Perhaps the Clear Spring Water was finally showing its true power.
Perhaps by next week, it would be ready for actual use.
In that case, he planned to ask for it straightaway.
After all…….
[Iron Blocks: 999,999,999,999]
[Silver Blocks: 999,999,999]
[Blue Jade Blocks: 99,999,999]
[…….]
He was overflowing with enough wealth to spend for a lifetime and never exhaust it.
Would someone like Namgoong Sewun actually use all these Iron Blocks?
He’d accumulated them most abundantly.
‘My past life as Namgoong Sewun helped me greatly.’
Don’t worry about materials.
With money, nothing is impossible.
If Namgoong Yeon’s wealth were converted to currency, perhaps he could buy the entire continent.
The money he possessed was earned across countless futures and pasts.
Spending it all in a single lifetime would be quite difficult.
That was why such extravagant spending was possible.
Even if the elders and other factions tried to check him, it mattered not.
Nothing existed that could surpass what he possessed.
‘By the way, I wonder how well the Black Wind Method is progressing.’
Namgoong Yeon withdrew an Iron Block from his breast pocket and began walking slowly.
He deliberately ignored the foul odor that was subtly spreading through the Training Grounds.
#3
Seven more weeks had passed.
The construction was nearly complete by now.
Namgoong Yeon, seeing the state of things, summoned the squad members.
He needed to increase the supply of water to match the expanded Training Grounds.
“From today onward, we’ll double the amount of water we draw.”
“…….”
“Why? Don’t you want to use that Training Grounds?”
No one answered.
Of course they wanted to use it.
Once they’d experienced the Training Grounds firsthand, they’d surely thought it wasn’t a place fit for human habitation.
This place had laid bare the Namgoong Clan’s misdeeds.
A place where embezzlement and breach of trust had been hushed up and overlooked within the family itself.
In time, this would become a gaping wound for the Namgoong Clan—a difficult matter to address.
A heap of garbage piled so high that one didn’t know where to begin cleaning it.
“Larger facilities require larger resources. And Sewun.”
“Mm?”
“I’ve procured Iron Blocks. Try making weapons here and there with them.”
“Oh…… Thank you.”
Namgoong Sewun received the Iron Blocks and offered his thanks.
The others, too, watched Namgoong Sewun with curious eyes.
People who could craft military equipment were not common.
“Then, could you make something for me too?”
“Me too, me too.”
“If you bring me the materials, I’ll make it for you.”
Namgoong Sewun had a gentle, easygoing temperament and a kind heart.
It felt like watching a well-raised puppy.
Yet he possessed his own stubbornness, which would give rise to various incidents.
No one could stop his obsession with weapons.
Children want to befriend interesting companions.
So Jin Jin and Lee Hyun, who had once been part of Namgoong Jin’s clique, also took interest in Sewun.
With just Iron Blocks, could he really make anything?
Namgoong Yeon even handed over a small hammer as well.
[Hammer Bearing Master Craftsman’s Touch]
“This is……? Looks like someone used it before?”
“It should suit you well.”
Tools naturally settle into the grip of whoever used them before.
This hammer was one that Namgoong Sewun himself had used in a past loop and in a future time.
His words: without that hammer, the work simply wouldn’t turn out right.
And it was also the hammer he had pressed into his hands at the very end.
“You said the Patriarch can turn back time. If that’s so…… please deliver this to me, who exists in both past and future.”
‘So I’m finally keeping that promise.’
All these years, he had kept it hidden away, locked tight.
If he lost it in some failed attempt, some loop that went nowhere, he felt he couldn’t bear it.
He didn’t want to entrust something so precious to something so fleeting.
And so…… only now was he keeping the promise.
“With this, we’ll manage just fine.”
“Something about this feels familiar though…….”
“Don’t we get anything?”
“You lot just focus on eating your meat.”
“Hey now, that’s discrimination right there. Technical folk get the shaft, huh?”
Lee Hyun had grown comfortable enough to speak with a casual, irreverent tone.
Namgoong Yeon chuckled softly and outlined what came next.
His gaze naturally turned toward Ma Cheolwi.
“You lot had better keep up with your training. If you don’t want to get beaten down by the instructors, you’ll need to work hard.”
“Well said. Cadet Namgoong Yeon—how about you and I cross blades?”
Ma Cheolwi.
He had spoken to Namgoong Yeon naturally enough.
Yet it was provocation, and something worse besides.
Ting—
The Demon Spirit Sword rang out as if delighted, singing its bell-like cry.
“I’d be glad to.”
There was no reason to refuse.
An itch had been building—maybe it was time to taste a little Demonic Qi.

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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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