I Became the Namgung Clan’s Omnipotent Item-Powered Martial God - Chapter 76

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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 76
76 — How to Create a Justification That Never Existed
#1
Poongyun Hyunguk.
The largest hyunguk in the Cheongyang region, and one backed by the protection of the Namgung Family.
After Namgung’s men visited a few times, rumors spread far and wide.
That if anyone dared lay a hand on them, the Namgung would not sit idle.
The name Namgung turned out to be far grander, far higher, and far more awe-inspiring than anyone had reckoned.
In all the Kangho, there existed laws in principle, but closer still than any law were swords and fists.
Killing one person?
To them, it was absurdly easy.
In their eyes, merely one person.
For ordinary people, it meant the collapse of an entire household.
And so it was that common folk had no choice but to bow their heads before the name of Namgung.
‘It’s all rotten,’ Namgung Yeon thought.
“Shrieeeeek!”
“What are you doing! There’s only two of them!”
“A—a woman! Grab the woman first!”
Several ruffians, driven half-mad, lunged instinctively toward whoever looked weakest.
How pathetic. How vile.
In that instant, a brilliant white force rippled forth from Wol Young’s fingertips.
Cold White Swift Palm.

Whoooosh—!
One ruffian froze in an instant, his entire body locked rigid as frost, and flew backward through the air.
From her outstretched palm, a biting chill still wavered and danced.
“Did you truly believe you could kill one of the Eun Wol House and escape unscathed?”

“Your sins must be paid with death.”
She did not restrain the fury that boiled up within her.
In every word she spat out lay the accumulated resentment she had held back all this time before Namgung Yeon.
Wol Young had not merely been idle all these days.
The sole technique she had mastered as a means of minimal self-defense.
She had thought carefully about how to deploy a powerful technique despite the frailty of a woman’s frame.
Her whole body had not been trained enough to wield a blade, and she was far too delicate to learn unarmed combat.
And so she had chosen this technique.
“H—icy force…!?”
“Are you from the witch clans of the North…?”
They had descended into madness, babbling nonsense without thought.
Namgung Yeon still swept his vacant gaze across the surroundings, raising the Maryeong Sword.
“All who lurk in hiding, come at me. And…”

“You’d do well to scurry to the hyunguk master like a dog with ten tails between your legs.”
Namgung Yeon watched as someone bolted away in panic.
Then he turned to Wol Young.
“The elixir and martial training seem to have taken effect.”
“Yes, thanks to your kindness.”
“You are not the helpless woman of before. What you harbor in your heart will become a burden that strangles you again and again, over and over.”
So purge yourself. Release it all.
Yet even if you do, the knots in your heart will not vanish entirely.
Better to burst them open before they fester and rot, giving birth to yet another calamity.
In this moment, the Wol Young who stood before him was no longer a helpless woman crying out in despair.
No longer the woman whose neck had been cut after she fell to her knees before overwhelming force.
She was someone who possessed the strength to confidently chart her own course.
“Rage as you wish. Today, the order of Cheongyang will be overturned.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Let them understand clearly.
Whom they had provoked.
How the Eun Wol House would devour them and grow its power from this day forward.
Watching Wol Young stand with her resolve now hardened, Namgung Yeon smiled faintly.
He swung the Maryeong Sword, cleaving through the Demon that rushed at him.
Now that these creatures had revealed themselves, the game had changed.
Cleanup?
Turning around a mission gone wrong?
That could be solved with money.
#2
So Un of Cheongyang.
He was hurrying toward some destination, summoned by an urgent call.
Park Man-ho, the martial artist of the Namgung Family who had promised to help him.
Together with him, he had come to a place called the Eun Wol Sangdan.
The atmosphere was considerably hostile, but on the surface, at least, it possessed all the trappings of a proper merchant house.
A great merchant, they said, who had appeared suddenly from the south.
Events had unfolded rapidly, and in the midst of it all, an executive of the Eun Wol Sangdan had died.
‘Did he go to settle things with the Poongyun Hyunguk? But…… why does it smell so salty?’
He mounted his horse and rode straight toward the Wharf.
The salty smell swept along by the river wind.
So Un advanced toward the Poongyun Hyunguk, unease gnawing at him.
“This is…….”
A smashed gateway.
Blood and scraps of flesh scattered into view.
Severed arms and legs lay in abundance.
Among people trembling in terror, a familiar figure knelt before a boy, handing him something.
The boy, who emanated an eerie and murderous air, seemed to sense the newcomer’s presence and turned toward So Un.
A sword dripping with blood.
And blood smeared across his face in several places.
Moreover, eyes devoid of emotion and focus swept across So Un.
‘What manner of gaze is that…….’
Had it not been for the nerve he had cultivated during his years as a merchant and Lu Zhu, he would have collapsed then and there.
He couldn’t be more than twenty, yet how could he carry such an air about him?
“Are you the one called So Un?”
“……Yes, I am So Un of Cheongyang. Someone called for me, so I came in haste…….”
What is this?
This sight was hardly familiar to him.
For though the Poongyun Hyunguk was ruthless, it had never indulged in such slaughter.
It had always pressed through money and account ledgers, never driven matters to such extremes.
‘Who exactly is this person? Given that Warrior Man-ho is at his side…….’
So Un’s judgment of the situation was swift.
The Namgung Family emblem.
And a warrior—Park Man-ho—standing guard.
It was clear at a glance that this was someone of great standing.
“You are the one who called for me.”
“Indeed. Here is what you need.”
“…….”
Namgung Yeon took something from the trembling Hyunguk master and tossed it to So Un.
So Un’s eyes widened as he examined it.
This was an Account Ledger.
A ledger passed down from his time—no, from the generation before.
Within it was written precisely how So Un had been deceived, and what plan lay behind the seizure of the Yellow Tea Field.
It was called a ledger, but it was really a kind of blueprint for schemes.
So Un’s hands trembled.
Multiple, conflicting emotions tangled within him.
“Such…… filthy machinations…….”
“…….”
Namgung Yeon observed him, then turned his gaze toward the Hyunguk master.
He too had not always been in this state.
Disobedient creatures respond best to the lash.
It was only because Man-ho had applied an appropriate touch that things had come to this.
“What was it I said? Whether he knew who was backing him?”
“P-please…… spare me…… I beg you…….”
“Go and tell the person at the Geumryong Gak. Even if you must crawl to do it.”
He could sever his limbs and shatter his Dantian this very instant.
That he hadn’t was simply laziness.
Namgung Yeon looked down at him and opened his mouth.
“My father, too, possessed considerable strength, you see.”
“I—I have committed a crime deserving of death. I swear I will never do this again! Please…… spare my life…….”
“Then I shall grant you one final chance.”
“What—what is it! Whatever I know, I shall lay bare without reservation!”
Namgung Yeon let out a soft laugh.
Then he asked in a chilling voice.
“Name everyone who had dealings with Demons.”
And then I myself will sever your neck.
The moment Pyo Guk Ju heard the word Demon, his face turned ashen.
It was something he truly did not know.
Namgung Yeon’s voice grew even more desolate.
“Why do you not know?”
Then you must die.
Namgung Yeon’s sword fell.
#3
Poongyun Hyunguk vanished overnight.
It was an act that shouldn’t exist—one that two people alone could scarcely be believed to have accomplished.
It was only natural that the instructors who arrived late with news, and the members of Pae Geom Dae, clicked their tongues in disbelief.
“Just what…….”
“Wasn’t Poongyun Hyunguk said to be connected with Namgung?”
“So I’ve heard…… Well, this is quite awkward.”
Had he not killed Hwang Chil, he might have used O Gwang Seok of Pae Geom Dae instead…….
Then perhaps Pyo Guk Ju’s life might have been somewhat longer.
Though the suffering he received from O Gwang Seok would not have lessened.
Namgung Yeon opened his mouth, observing the startled faces around him.
Though it appeared to be done on impulse, this too had been necessary.
Poongyun Hyunguk had been a place that manufactured justification.
In his past life, and in this one.
“They were entangled with Demons.”
“With Demons, you say…… Then there’s room to dig deeper, isn’t there?”
“Indeed. Moreover, the mission itself seems to require some alteration.”
Namgung Yeon spoke, openly glancing at Wol Young.
The Yellow Tea Field owned by So Un, lord of Cheongyang.
And Wol Young, who had established a new merchant house.
The primary objective of the mission was to escort goods to Hwanghakmnu.
So did it matter whether that shipment came from Eun Wol Sangdan or Poongyun Hyunguk?
The lord of Pae Geom Dae nodded as well.
Now that he heard it put that way, it made sense.
Moreover, evidence had emerged that Poongyun Hyunguk was entangled with Demons.
“Since things have turned out this way, we can change it arbitrarily, can we not?”
“Quite. After all, those paying the bill need only receive their goods and send payment—what else matters?”
“Hmm…….”
The overall responsibility for this mission fell to Gwang Min, the chief instructor.
That’s right.
Regardless of Poongyun Hyunguk’s corruption, any entanglement with Demons was something that could not simply be overlooked.
Even without Poongyun Hyunguk, anyone could transport goods.
But.
“Sir. We shall need the ships connected to Poongyun Hyunguk, and the manpower necessary for transporting the goods.”
“These people will take care of that.”
Namgung Yeon gestured toward So Un, lord of Cheongyang, who stood dazed, and Wol Young, owner of Eun Wol Sangdan.
Swallow all the profits that Poongyun Hyunguk held.
And in doing so, block every Demon that came sailing down the Jang Gang.
For that purpose, they had to prove their capability in this mission.
For the power structure of Cheongyang to shift overnight, they would have to demonstrate that power.
Namgung Yeon opened his mouth again, regarding them.
“What are you doing standing around? You should be out spending money.”
“…… Ah.”
Fortunately, they possessed enormous wealth flowing from Namgung Yeon’s coffers.
Before their true master, they would have to prove themselves.
What money could accomplish.
What endeavors gold could set in motion.
‘Everything is…… for you, my lord.’
Moreover, for whatever it is that you desire.
Wol Young steadied her resolve and stepped forward, her voice clear.
“I shall undertake the Namgung commission personally.”
Cleanly.
Perfectly.
Her eyes gleamed like soft moonlight, luminous and tranquil.

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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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