I Became the Namgung Clan’s Omnipotent Item-Powered Martial God - Chapter 82
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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 82
Episode 82 – The Enemy Within, Aid From Without
#1
Jin Mu-ik and Namgung Yeon.
The two of them had foreseen this crisis beforehand.
When they spoke on deck, Namgung Yeon had conveyed his thoughts through Sound Transmission.
<The bandits will continue to attack, and they’ll target the Eunwol Merchant Company’s ledger keepers and escort masters.>
His words came true in earnest.
Even Jin Mu-ik, renowned throughout the realm, had no real options when adrift on a merchant vessel in the vast sea like this.
If they kept coming in waves, the ship could sustain enough damage to make sailing impossible altogether.
When he voiced this concern, Namgung Yeon had replied with eerie calm.
As if he’d already laid careful preparations in place, he simply asked for Jin Mu-ik to act as provocation.
And this was the result.
The men tearing into one another, the Namgung family—champions of justice—reduced to petty squabbling among themselves.
“Nngh…….”
The figure who had forcibly halted the situation on a knife’s edge groaned in agony.
His appearance was so wretched and gruesome that no one could bear to show killing intent toward each other anymore.
Namgung Yeon strode forward and turned the man’s body so his face was clearly visible.
Then he opened his mouth toward empty air.
In the brittle silence, he spoke with perfect composure.
Everyone held their breath, yet he remained unmoved.
He didn’t seem nervous at all.
“Is this truly the man?”
He asked the empty air, and the answer came from it as well.
More precisely, from the small dock ahead.
“Does this old man look like someone who does sloppy work?”
A gravelly, hearty voice.
Internal energy so vast it seemed to echo from all directions at once.
Not just the Namgung family, but everyone turned toward where the voice came from.
‘Surely not……that voice.’
Oh Gwang-seok, commander of the Paegeom Brigade, was particularly unable to mask his shock.
He knew the face of the man now sprawled in blood.
He shouldn’t have been here at all—yet somehow he’d appeared before him in this horrific state.
A figure was seen cutting through the waves, gliding toward them with ethereal grace.
The urge to prevent that person from boarding the ship surged through him.
Since that was impossible in reality, his sword hand merely trembled uncontrollably.
Namgung Yeon watched him and smiled faintly.
“Commander, I’m not sure why you’re so troubled. I simply called in a favor to expose the culprit myself.”
“…….”
The figure who landed gracefully on the ship’s rough surface and rose to the deck let out a groan.
“Aching all over now—can’t even do this anymore. Guess I should retire and take up farming.”
“You’re still spry, Grandfather. Don’t say such things.”
Everyone gasped when they saw who had arrived, patting his lower back.
The face illuminated by lamplight was that of one who had once made the entire Central Plains tremble with nothing but poison and a dagger.
The true heir of the Dark Emperor Dagger Sovereign and the one known as the Ten Thousand Poisons Dagger King stood before them.
He spoke, gesturing to the bundle he’d brought.
His words were exceedingly heavy.
And bitterly cold.
“That’s right. This dog hired himself out to Salgak to kill someone. And this bastard’s superior was that one there.”
The Ten Thousand Poisons Dagger King raised a finger to point at someone.
His status and honor.
And his epithet—everything he said carried immense weight.
The one Dang Yeon-ho, Namgung Yeon’s maternal grandfather, was pointing to was none other than Oh Gwang-seok.
One of the commanders of the Paegeom Brigade.
#2
When Dang Yeon-ho received the message, he couldn’t hide his bewilderment.
He still remembered Namgung Yeon’s promise to protect him.
Yet now he was being asked to come to the dock to fulfill that very promise.
Fortunately, he had been staying near Huangshan at the time.
‘I was just passing the time collecting medicinal herbs……and now I’ve caught such a big fish.’
He was a man who had once been a Family Head, and now stood apart as Grand Patriarch, watching from a single step’s distance.
Of course he understood that the affairs unfolding within the family were scarcely different from those he’d seen before.
Did the great Namgung Family truly differ?
Yet even within a family, there existed unwritten laws and boundaries.
But this man—not content with laying hands on the direct line of succession—had murdered innocent commoners.
Simply to line his own pockets.
“So you had Salgak dispatch this wretch to kill the man your grandson met. And as a deputy commander of the Pungyun Express Company, you’ve performed quite admirably, haven’t you?”
……
“I’d appreciate a word or two, Deputy Commander.”
Oh Gwang-seok had become silent as a statue, his eyes darting frantically in their sockets.
His mind was utterly consumed with one thought: how to escape this situation.
The gathered crowd fixed him with faces full of shock.
They could never have imagined—that their own Deputy Commander would commit such acts.
Some had followed him with unshakeable faith.
And so they found the courage to object.
“We bow to you, Ten Thousand Poisons Dagger King. If I may dare ask…… is what you say truly fact? Our Deputy Commander……?”
“Well, that’s what I’m telling you. Otherwise, why would I have beaten this wretch half to death to subdue him?”
……
That meant he’d extracted the confession through brutal torture.
Oh Gwang-seok pushed back there.
“Through cruel torture you’ve wrung a false confession. I have never committed such vile acts, I swear it.”
“Is that so? I thought you might say that, which is why I brought this along.”
Dang Yeon-ho produced a piece of paper—unmistakable evidence.
Upon seeing it, Oh Gwang-seok shut his eyes tight.
There was no way out now.
<What if we’re discovered?>
<Don’t worry about that.>
Someone’s words echoed in his mind.
Even if discovered, there was nothing to fear.
But how—how could anything be done here, in the middle of the Yangtze River?
Crack-crack-crack!
In that moment, the transformation began.
Something within Oh Gwang-seok’s mind started to shift.
His chest, his very body began to warp and distort unnaturally.
“Deputy… Deputy Commander……?”
He saw his subordinates—those who had always looked up to him—backing away.
Why?
Were you not my loyal followers and comrades?
Were you not the ones who would bear this burden with me unto the grave?
“Come here…… obey my orders……”
“Deputy Commander! Come to your senses, Deputy Commander!”
As they retreated further, they began to form a defensive circle.
At its center stood none other than their Deputy Commander—himself.
Why, why were they turning against him like this?
<Kill them all.>
A voice resounded in his mind, one he could not refuse.
Kill them all.
They moved to topple the Namgung Family, to tear down what mattered.
Kill them.
Kill them, and let us forge a New World together.
Growwwl!
Unaware of the changes consuming his own body, he reached out toward the Paegeom Brigade members.
“You……. Why…… do you betray me?”
“Deputy Commander! Regain yourself!”
The desperate pleas of his men fell on deaf ears.
Only bitter betrayal and a senseless resolve filled him to the brim.
He did not know that his form was becoming something hideous.
Power surged through him.
Realms he had never before reached were beginning to open before his eyes.
Yes…
So this is what it feels like.
“Grrrrgh…….”
“……It’s already too late.”
The Ten Thousand Poisons Dagger King drew a small dagger from his sleeve.
At the same moment, Namgung Yeon unsheathed the Maryeong Sword.
Was Oh Gwang-seok to be the sacrificial lamb this time?
He’d cut off the tail before climbing higher to interrogate it.
Still, it mattered little.
This too had been part of the plan, and rooting out the true conspirator at a higher level wouldn’t prove difficult.
Namgung Yeon spoke to Gwang Min, who stood beside him guarding the third battalion cadets.
“Instructor.”
“Yes.”
“Record this carefully. What is happening within the Namgung Family now, and what deeds we accomplish here.”
What the children—the future architects of Namgung—have done for the Namgung of tomorrow.
How we must excise the rot from the Namgung Family, and by what means.
[How dare you……traitors. I’ll slaughter every last one of you.]
If victims like Oh Gwang-seok continued to multiply, the present generation of the Namgung Family would crumble at an accelerating rate.
Even if there was bleeding, the corrupted flesh had to be cut away.
Even if they had to endure terrible agony, searing the wound with fire afterward—it had to be done.
“That man is no longer the Company Commander you knew.”
“…….”
“Ordinarily, I would need to hold the battalion members accountable for knowingly obstructing the mission…….”
But now, with a formidable enemy appearing on a boat drifting in the middle of the river.
So he would give them a chance to atone of their own accord.
If they upheld the honor of the Paegeom Brigade here and now, their sins would be forgiven.
“Paegeom Brigade, prepare for Demon Slaying.”
“…….”
Their eyes transformed.
Though they had waded into unjust waters, now the fog cleared from before them.
Knowing precisely what they must do, their eyes kindled with brilliance and passion.
Gulp.
Namgung Yeon drank a Spirit Elixir and stepped forward once more.
Such opportunities were rare, and he needed to absorb the essences of the Heavenly Genius Spirit Elixir and Five-Color Yin Elixir entirely.
“Shall we see what you’re made of? If you slip up, you’ll lose your limbs.”
“I must show Grandfather as well.”
How much stronger I’ve become.
Whether I’m worthy of the support of my maternal grandfather, who once ruled Sichuan as a despot.
This was a stage for proof, and a testing ground.
No external aid came without conditions.
Nothing in life is gained without a price.
To grow under the protection of a powerful ally, he would prove himself here.
If someone asked Namgung Yeon what was the rarest treasure in the Martial Realm, he would answer without hesitation.
People.
Ones who surround you, ones within your clan.
Those capable of changing even the future of the world—they alone were the rarest treasures in existence.
‘Grandfather will come to craft a treasure the world shall not see again.’
To purge internal enemies, accepting help from outside was one strategy.
It felt like ages since he’d fought Oh Gwang-seok.
As he steadied himself and stepped forward, his maternal grandfather’s gentle voice reached his ears.
“If it grows too hard, fall back. Your old grandfather will finish it quickly.”
“……Yes.”
With such reassuring reinforcement at his side, confidence he hadn’t possessed swelled within him.
The Maryeong Sword chimed with a clear bell-like tone.
“How fortunate.”
Namgung Yeon smiled, his mouth curling upward.
He would likely root out the true conspirator within the Namgung Family far faster than expected.
That dissonance which had amplified his unease now began to appear in a different light altogether.
“Come.”
Kurrrrr——!
Terrible vital energy erupted from the youth’s body.
This was the demonic essence that the Maryeong Sword had consumed until now.
It was also the Sichuan Dang Clan Secret Martial Arts.
Dang Yeon-ho’s eyes flew wide open.
[Roooaaarrr—!]
The collision began.
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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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