I Became the Namgung Clan’s Omnipotent Item-Powered Martial God - Chapter 78

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

Chapter 78
Chapter 78 – The Namgung Family’s Enemy
#1
The Yangtze River stretches on and on.
It is the great waterway that divides the realm in two, and the artery through which commerce flows.
Long ago, the great battle known as the Red Cliffs was fought upon these very waters.
The Yangtze is vast and endless.
One must travel upstream for days on end, for it is the crucial hub of all trade and transport.
Naturally, then, such things must emerge.
“Captain, I see the Suro Faction’s colors ahead.”
“Good. The toll money is ready, yes?”
“Yes, sir. This time we’ve prepared more than enough. The Suro Faction and Eunwol Merchant Guild may be establishing new relations, after all.”
Groups drawn by profit converged upon the Yangtze.
Among them were those who seized dominion and ruled this stretch of river.
They were called the Yangtze Suro Faction.
Though the name suggested river routes, they were a force of arms operating on these waters.
They conducted their business by collecting tolls at each strategic point.
Too genteel to be called bandits, yet far too commercial to be called a martial sect.
Like any organization hungry for coin, they typically maintained cordial relations with merchants to keep business flowing.
But today.
Something felt wrong.
“Slow the pace.”
“Ahoy there! Greetings to you all!”
A rowdy crew aboard a swift vessel approached.
The ship’s captain called out in a loud voice.
“We’ve come to pay our respects, as the Eunwol Merchant Guild has only recently been established!”
“Eunwol Merchant Guild? Never heard of it. And the toll’s quite steep these days!”
“How much are you asking for, then?”
The sound of water being cut fell silent.
A second warship from the Suro Faction had appeared, blocking their path.
Namgung Yeon observed the situation and quietly rested his hand on his sword hilt.
‘At this time, the Suro Faction was beginning a new realignment of ranks.’
And such a realignment demanded vast sums of money.
For war, by its nature, required enormous resources.
Thus innocent merchants were stripped of their wares, and their lives were taken.
If they had merely stolen coin, there would have been no issue. But they could not hide humanity’s base instincts.
As a result, the surface of the Yangtze grew red with blood again and again.
Like that river of corpses in Tianzhu…… here too, blood never ceased to flow.
‘Why concern yourself when the Namgung Family suffers no direct harm?’
Because if the waterways could not be used, the entire Namgung Family enterprise would face grave difficulties.
When he became Family Head one day, controlling these river routes would be among his most vital tasks.
Recalling those memories, he gave orders to the cadets under his command.
“Prepare for combat. These bastards don’t look like they’ll back down easily.”
“…….”
Tension settled across the faces of the cadets in his unit.
And just as Namgung Yeon had spoken, the panicked voice of the captain rang out.
“Such an absurd sum! There’d be no profit left for transport costs!”
“Is that so? Then…….”
And it came.
The Suro Faction’s typical refrain.
“Hand over everything you’ve got and get out of here. Before we slaughter you all.”
Did they not know who was aboard this merchant vessel?
Namgung Yeon drew his sword quietly.
#2
The Suro Faction’s vessels closed in from both sides.
Swaying decks and limited room for movement.
Because of this, ordinary martial masters found themselves struggling in Naval Combat.
Keeping balance on flat ground was entirely different from maintaining it on a pitching deck.
It was for good reason that the great warlord Cao Cao’s armies, famous for their prowess, used the Chain Link Formation to bind ships into a level platform.
Even on a stationary ship, one’s strength could not be fully channeled—this was both the subtlety and the challenge of naval warfare.
“How dare you ignore the Suro Faction’s orders!”
“Hand over everything you’ve got and jump, Captain.”
“No, wait——. You really think you’ll walk away from this unscathed!? There’s such a thing as the Merchant Code!”
The Captain shouted, watching the bandits creep up one by one.
Whether he trusted the guards behind him or simply had an unbending nature, there was no way to tell.
But it was clear enough that the Captain was the type who said everything on his mind.
“You rotten bastards! Everything you’ve eaten and lived on came from the tolls we paid! You used to survive through mutual aid, and now you’re playing at banditry——!”
“Wow, that’s refreshing……?”
“Are you thieves!? Huh!? You’re the same ones who lived managing security in this region!”
It was a fair argument.
A way of speaking that invoked their past purpose, denouncing their current actions as wrong.
The old Suro Faction might have fallen for it.
Namgung Yeon heard the Captain’s words and let out a quiet laugh.
Then he stepped forward and placed a hand on the Captain’s shoulder.
As he moved, the Namgung martial masters likewise advanced with confidence.
The Paekgeom Brigade.
And Chief Instructor Gwang-min.
Finally, even three units of cadets.
“It seems it’s our turn to step in. Wouldn’t you say, Instructor?”
“Yes, so it appears.”
“You’ve done well, Captain. Leave the rest to us.”
The Captain continued trying to persuade them through words, but it would not reach bandits who had come with a fixed purpose.
Then there was no point in drawing this out.
The Namgung emblem was a credential, a warrant of authority.
In the southeast of the Central Plains.
A symbol of dominion over Anhui, and a symbol of pitiless military force.
Where their swords had been pointed, not a single foe had walked away alive.
“What…….”
“N-Namgung……!?”
“Stop moving.”
O Gwang-seok stepped to the very front, settling his massive blade against his shoulder.
Rumble-rumble-rumble——!
The already unstable ship trembled all the more violently.
One of the Paekgeom Brigade’s captains.
His martial prowess was such that he could cleave steel itself asunder.
A stage where one shed the shell of humanity and drew ever closer to the superhuman.
Here, we beheld a sword wreathed in azure flame and spoke thus:
Peak Realm.
(絕頂之境)
Inner Force blooming like jade fire, staining the pristine blade in blue—the manifestation of Inner Force Manifestation at its height.
The primary goal of all martial masters, a realm that could only be reached by transcending the boundary between the common and the extraordinary.
“Either withdraw quietly, or be sliced open cleanly. Choose.”
“…….”
“If you don’t answer, I’ll take it as a no.”
Difficult temperament though he had, there was a reassurance to him in moments like this.
With the Namgung Family’s appearance, the bandits who had climbed aboard began to panic.
Wait—this wasn’t in the intelligence……?
The Namgung Family’s reputation had spread even to the regions near the Yangtze River.
The martial prowess of Namgung would have been a deterrent powerful enough to quell all this chaos.
But in this era, such things no longer held sway.
“……Namgung, is it? All the better.”
Whoosh——!
Someone launched from the enemy’s vessel.
A figure radiating an unmistakably ominous aura.
O Gwang-seok narrowed his eyes, taking measure of his opponent’s caliber.
‘Dangerous. All the more so on this ship…….’
The enemy’s level had risen dramatically.
From a simple task to one where survival itself had to be factored in.
The figure who had climbed onto the merchant vessel opened his mouth.
“Namgung Family. Are you the descendants of that Namgung?”
“…….”
“Today, here, I’ll cut down every last root of it.”
Inner Force Manifestation flowed from his eyes.
Namgung Yeon gazed at the familiar face and quietly gripped his sword.
Here, the darkness of the Namgung Family had revealed itself once more.
To sever the chain of hatred that spiraled endlessly forward, there were moments when a decision had to be made.
‘I’ve nothing but regret for you, Jin Mu-ik.’
The corruption of the Namgung Family.
Their greed.
He had failed to prevent yet another catastrophe from blooming.
Namgung Yeon felt the weight of that guilt, deep within his heart.
For a time that stretched nearly infinite.
#3
The Severing River Blood Wolf, Jin Mu-ik.
A wolf maddened by blood, one who had ascended to the Peak Realm by his own hand.
Once an ordinary escort agent, yet his future had been destroyed by Namgung.
<Traitors……. You conspired with the Suro Faction.>
<I’ll slaughter every last one of you.>
One day, fellow agents from the escort agency came crashing in without warning.
And not only that—even the head of the escort agency had denounced his father as a traitor.
The household that had lived simply on wages from the escort agency crumbled in an instant.
Behind it all lay a cadet branch of the Namgung Family.
The cadet branch that had sought to expand Namgung’s influence from Anhui down through the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
Their choices to earn even a scrap of recognition from the main family had made things this way.
“You let my wife and my children die.”
“…….”
“Surely you won’t claim you don’t know what happened that day. The Pungyun Escort Agency was part of that very scheme.”
“Are you referring to that old business.”
The answer came from Gwang-min.
He, too, had heard of it.
A venture undertaken by one of the elders.
Recklessly pursued to elevate the cadet branch’s power…….
Had he been a victim of it.
But it had nothing to do with those who stood here now.
“Victim or not, those present here bear no fault in it. Stand down.”
“Ha……. Hypocrites never change, do they.”
“…….”
“You wear the mask of humanity and wield power—does it suit you? You stole the homes of ordinary people.”
His words, spoken each syllable clear and deliberate, carried an enormous hatred.
Hatred that transcended simple emotion.
The rage and resentment he had endured through years, swallowed and swallowed again.
Began to seep out uncontrollably, like water streaming through a cracked dam.
Left unchecked, that flood of emotion would sweep away innocent people.
Namgung Yeon quietly gripped his sword and drew something from his satchel.
Yes, it was fortuitous timing indeed.
A perfect moment to absorb the Spirit Medicine he had taken before departing on this mission.
“Then let us do this.”
A voice both cold and composed, youthful yet weighted, rang out.
Gulp—.
With the sound of something being swallowed, Namgung Yeon pushed past everyone and stepped forward.
Then he pointed boldly to himself and spoke.
“I am the heir apparent of this Namgung. Fight me.”
“……Ha.”
Jin Mu-ik stared at the youth with an expression of disbelief.
His resentment was twisted so that Namgung, too, ought to suffer the same way.
His mouth twisted upward into a smile.
“You, planning to repay my grudge for me. Very well…… the young master of Dae Namgung has spirit, at least.”
In the way Jin Mu-ik spoke, chewing the words as if to spit them out, there lay a strange shadow of guilt.
Perhaps because his nature was fundamentally decent.
Namgung Yeon would not ask for his kindness.
In this moment, every thread of fury lurking in his depths had to be unleashed.
“But if you lose, you’ll become my faithful dog.”
“…….”
At Namgung Yeon’s words, Jin Mu-ik’s inner force detonated.
No—his rage began to pour forth, unstoppable and wild.
“You dog bastard—!”
If he becomes my loyal servant, I’ll show him how the world transforms.
Namgung Yeon deliberately swallowed the rest.
Now was the time to demonstrate the stark difference in power.
Everyone rushed to stop him in alarm, but Namgung Yeon paid them no mind and drew his blade.
Come then, enemy of Namgung.
He was a man who could never afford defeat.
Now, in the future, and until the moment you breathe your last—I will never fall.
In Namgung Yeon’s eyes, Inner Force Manifestation began to bloom.

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