I Became the Namgung Clan’s Omnipotent Item-Powered Martial God - Chapter 31

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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 31
Episode 31 – For the Namgung Clan
#1
A chaotic day had passed.
Instructors and cadets alike trapped in shock.
Only Namgung Yeon had spent it in peace, and now that day was fading into night.
As the hour grew late into the darkness.
There were those who moved while everyone else lay sleeping.
Squad Leaders Three and Seven, precisely.
They had watched their terrible superior meet his end.
Now the Changcheon Guard would rise as the inspection force.
‘When that happens, we’re all finished.’
‘We have to settle this today. We’re dead men anyway—might as well try something before we go.’
They were still young lives.
But they were cruel Demon Humans, creatures who would do anything to survive.
They had clawed their way through savagery to stay alive.
Those who had drunk the blood of fallen comrades and torn their flesh for the resurrection of Cheonma Shingyou.
They opened the door quietly, cautiously.
To kill someone who slept soundly.
‘You ready?’
‘Yeah.’
Eyes gleaming with cruelty.
Their gaze burned with a madness that could never be called that of a pure martial artist.
Who would call them mere youths not yet in their twenties?
Demonic Qi rose slowly upward.
Now an irrepressible survival instinct broke free, emanating a nauseating force.
Like the stench of wild beasts, they released that reek as they thrust their weapons at the bulging form beneath the quilts.
Squelch—!
A chilling sensation, something piercing through, delivered a sharp thrill.
One.
“……What?”
“What the—!”
This was not the feeling of puncturing flesh.
This was clearly—.
“Ugh!”
A blade erupted suddenly.
It pierced through Squad Leader Three’s chest and released an eerie jingling sound.
Tinkle-tinkle.
A suffocation as though the messenger of death itself had descended seized the chamber.
The instant strength drained from Three’s pupils, Seven’s body reacted with feral quickness.
The will to live.
He swung his weapon toward where the blade had emerged, but it found only empty air.
“So even you desire to live, just as humans do.”
Crack—!
A brutal grip seized the nape of his neck.
A voice clawing up from some bottomless pit.
What they faced were eyes hollow and utterly void.
“Guh! Guuuh—!”
Already his Blood Meridians had been seized in an instant, his weapon dropped, Seven thrashing in terror.
The helplessness of finding nothing would work.
The terror of death drawing so near.
And an awe—a reverence for something far greater than what he and his kind had endured through slaughter—that consumed his mind.
Tears, blood-red, streamed from his bloodshot eyes.
Tinkle—.
The last sound Seven heard was that eerie jingling.
#2
“…….”
When the instructors felt the killing intent and rushed in, they beheld the gruesome sight and clenched their teeth.
The Fourth Young Master, Namgung Yeon, standing motionless, blood dripping from the sword in his hand.
When he turned his gaze upon them, those hollow eyes unknowingly etched into their minds the certainty that he was a murderer.
“What on earth…….”
“This aura—they were Demon Humans too.”
“They were.”
A midnight ambush, then.
They must have felt the danger once they learned the instructor was dead.
The instructors’ eyes trembled as they watched Namgung Yeon wipe the blood from his blade.
‘He killed three people without a single tremor in his hands…….’
‘Can the Fourth Young Master truly be the same man who lay bedridden for so long?’
By now it all felt like deception.
They could not begin to fathom the depths that lay within Namgung Yeon.
What possible reason could the Fourth Young Master have…….
“Please retire to another room for rest. We will handle the cleanup.”
“……Much obliged.”
Namgung Yeon left without another word.
The evidence was conclusive, and the Demonic Qi lingering like warmth in the place where they fell struck his nostrils sharply.
Still, this affair would kindle the wrath of the Namgung Clan’s elders.
The instructors exhaled heavily in unison.
“At this rate, won’t we be demoted too?”
“…….”
“We can only hope the Young Master speaks well of us.”
They too were members of the Namgung Clan, drawing their salaries from it.
Nothing was more terrible than internal assessment.
Even what had transpired today would earn them censure they could not escape.
Cleanup began amid the oppressive silence.
Meanwhile, Namgung Yeon entered an empty room and stored away the Maryeong Sword.
He spoke to a figure that materialized from the shadows.
“You’ve labored well in hiding.”
“No, sir. I did nothing of consequence.”
“See that this reaches the clan lord.”
“Truly—does this contain the personal details of the Demon Humans?”
Man Ho.
The escort warrior who had kept silent despite the ambush occurring just as Namgung Yeon had said it would.
Man Ho, who had maintained his taciturn nature on Namgung Yeon’s counsel, could no longer hold his tongue.
Namgung Yeon chuckled softly and nodded.
“Once the clan lord is briefed and we wait and see, you’ll understand. The Changcheon Guard will move.”
“Then we can eliminate them all at once.”
“It’s not quite so simple.”
At Namgung Yeon’s words, Man Ho’s expression grew uncertain.
Why not simply sweep them away and be done with it?
But in that very moment, his lord provided further explanation.
For a reason that was, indeed, quite practical.
“What of the wealth held by individuals? If the Demon Human is an elder or a major lord?”
“…….”
“If foreign enemies exploit that vacuum and strike, could we repel them?”
“The Namgung…….”
“The Namgung can repel them, you might believe. But the price of losses we would suffer in the process would be considerable.”
At Namgung Yeon’s words, Man Ho fell silent.
So even what seemed half-hearted was done entirely for the Namgung Clan’s sake.
He could only nod heavily.
“Pride alone is not a reason to rush to judgment. It is better to suffer no losses.”
When a fox dies in its burrow, a far larger tiger might take its place.
Or a viper as vast as a pit viper, carrying lethal venom.
Among those Namgung Yeon remembered, there were quite a few whose positions mattered deeply.
First, one must cultivate able successors to fill those roles admirably.
And select those capable of adequately bridging that vacuum—this must come first.
Succession could wait; it should come only when preparations were complete.
“A family does not run as smoothly as all that.”
“I see. My thinking was too shallow.”
“No matter. Your shallow thought has its advantages.”
“…….”
Unsure whether it was praise or insult, Man Ho fell silent.
Namgung Yeon smiled faintly, offering solace to Man Ho, whose expression had turned inscrutable.
Perhaps he’d taken the remark to mean he sounded simple-minded.
“All that’s required is that you follow my words faithfully. The more one thinks, the more one’s mind wanders down other paths.”
“I see.”
“Your vision will open naturally in time. For now, discharge your duties with diligence.”
“Understood, my lord.”
Namgung Yeon handed Man Ho something from the Secret Storage along with the note.
Of course—a reward was essential for a subordinate who listened well.
It was Namgung Yeon’s acknowledgment, having remembered how Man Ho had looked wistful about something last time.
“You work hard always.”
“This is…”
Gong Cheong Yu.
With those words, Namgung Yeon placed the Maryeong Sword across his knees and sat in formal position.
His eyes closed smoothly.
Man Ho watched silently as Namgung Yeon began his Yunji practice, as if signaling he would brook no further interruption.
‘I shall return.’
Not a single mistake will mar my execution of your command.
His loyalty burned all the deeper.
Man Ho slipped away quietly.
And Namgung Yeon entered his own world, beginning his Yunji cultivation.
The Demonic Qi that had been absorbed into the Maryeong Sword flowed out thread by thread, returning to its master.
Crack—
Namgung Yeon’s frail body began to transform, bit by bit.
And—
[…has been unlocked.]
He felt certain he could draw out more from the Secret Storage now.
It was as if such a message were ringing through his very mind.
The Squad Leader Succession and the Mock Battle.
He could not fall behind his siblings—he would have to redouble his efforts.
#3
The next day arrived.
Whatever had happened in the night, all the students of Squad Three had noticed.
It would have been stranger not to notice such commotion.
Ho Ho was the first to ask.
“Young master, are you truly all right?”
“I told you I am. How many times must you ask?”
“But…”
“Instead of wasting time on questions, train harder. Why don’t you try fetching water for us?”
“…”
Ho Ho shook his head slowly, watching Namgung Yeon’s impassive face.
What was he made of, to remain so unflappable?
With Squad Three’s numbers depleted, Ho Ho had even been given the chance to train.
Whether that was truly training or something else entirely, he couldn’t say.
Both Ho Ho and Namgung Yeon had done far worse to grow stronger.
He already knew that following the fourth young master’s words would make him noticeably stronger.
“Very well. I’ll wake before dawn and help every day.”
“Good.”
The two were exchanging pleasantries when—
Namgung Jinjin appeared, his eyes seeming to glow with light from whatever he’d endured through the night.
Unlike Namgung Yeon’s vacant, hollow gaze, his blazed with vitality.
Seeing this, Namgung Yeon smiled softly.
It looked as though Namgung Jinjin had taken a Dan Yak, and appeared to have undergone some mental transformation through meditation during the night.
What thoughts had he held, what change had he undergone?
‘Perhaps I should test this.’
Namgung Yeon rose leisurely from his seat.
Namgung Jinjin spotted him and approached with bold strides.
The two stood close and exchanged a light greeting.
“Something unpleasant seems to have happened last night, Squad Leader.”
“Right. Looks like there were more Demon Humans hiding around.”
“Hmm…….”
Namgung Jinjin’s expression grew serious for a moment before he asked.
“You’re not injured anywhere?”
“No, I’m fine.”
The change in him was so dramatic that anyone might have mistaken it for a man transformed overnight.
But he knew better than that.
This was Namgung Jinjin’s true face.
What he had shown before was merely a man wrestling with confusion.
Now, having found peace of mind, his genuine nature had finally emerged.
Years.
Decades.
Namgung Yeon, who knew him better than Namgung Jinjin knew himself, was certain of it.
“It seems you’ve put your mind at ease.”
“Actually, there’s something I need to ask of you.”
“What is it?”
Namgung Jinjin spoke with solemn resolve.
What could he be asking for?
For the first time in ages, a flutter of anticipation stirred in Namgung Yeon’s chest.

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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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