I Became the Namgung Clan’s Omnipotent Item-Powered Martial God - Chapter 84
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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 84
84 — The Confrontation
#1
Hwanghakmnu.
One of the most spectacular pavilions in all the vast Jianghu under heaven.
It had belonged to the Sun Clan in Shaanxi long ago, before the Peng Family absorbed it.
Even in those ancient days that he had never lived through, the struggle for dominance had raged on.
Namgung Yeon gazed at the steady stream of goods flowing past as a cool river breeze brushed his face.
Several of the merchants had died.
Cut down by the Demons’ blades, or dragged away in the nets of water bandits……
The escort masters who had fought to protect them had fallen as well, many of them.
Those were days when desperate defense could not prevent sacrifice.
If only he had abandoned everything and lived in quiet obscurity — what would have become of the world?
‘Not that he hadn’t entertained such thoughts.’
All of them dead.
The Martial Realm overflowing with Demons.
A cauldron of chaos burning itself to ash.
Namgung Yeon had witnessed that ending countless times.
If he withdrew his hand, those living out their single lives would never endure it.
There was no choice.
Nothing rang more hollow than those words.
For days now, Namgung Yeon had sunk deeper into such thoughts.
“Young Master Namgung, the escort delivery was completed without incident. Though……the Hwanghakmnu staff seemed somewhat puzzled.”
“Because it wasn’t the Fengyun Escort Bureau?”
“Yes. In any case, it seems we must meet them face to face at least once.”
Namgung Yeon nodded.
Was dying while fulfilling one’s duty something noble?
Or was it just a dog’s death — recklessly throwing oneself like a moth into circumstances beyond one’s power?
He decided to let the answer to that question reveal itself in time.
“I should see their face. Is it Lu Zhu?”
“Yes. And……it appears someone from the Peng Family has also come to this place.”
“All the better.”
“Here, take this……”
Wol Young extended something toward Namgung Yeon.
Right — he’d told her to shake the board with this.
Along the Yangtze River.
And in these sprawling urban centers of Muhan and Hubei, the Demons would certainly be scheming in the shadows.
So the time had come to draw out those things lurking silent in the depths.
The Jegal Family.
And the Hebei Peng Clan.
These two great Major Martial Clans would have to play the fool on the surface for him.
“Let’s go.”
“……Yes.”
Two on their side.
Then two on his side would be fitting.
If they demanded more coin, he would pay it.
If they demanded still greater wealth, he would give them more than they ever imagined — and that would be the end of it.
But.
If they failed to uphold their contract or shirked their responsibility.
He would make them vomit back every last coin and treasure that had gone down their greedy throats.
He would slit open their bellies bloated with appetite and avarice if he had to.
‘I wonder what she would think if she saw me now.’
Would she call him a cowardly murderer?
Or a spineless coward?
Either way, it didn’t matter.
He had lived bearing every insult, humiliation, vulgar word, and contempt.
Perhaps only after the blade finally found his throat would he return to what he once was.
Either way, he would have to go and see.
Namgung Yeon quietly followed Wol Young into the depths of Hwanghakmnu.
“Have you found the whereabouts of that child?”
“Yes. We’ve confirmed he’s currently cleaning the underground storage vault here.”
“……I see.”
There was nowhere better to hide than the underground storage if one were determined to clean it.
Namgung Yeon climbed quietly to the Hwanghakmnu, one of the most beautiful towers in all the land.
In the moment when the third-year students, their instructors, and Gwangmin were absorbed in handling their duties.
They were moving about busily to learn how the Jianghu actually turned.
Now was the time to learn not from himself, but from his instructors and those who lived within this Jianghu.
With this brief window of opportunity, he had decided to meet with the Peng Family’s First Son.
“Welcome, Young Master of the Namgung Family. Allow me to show you the way.”
As they entered the Hwanghakmnu, Jeom Soi appeared as though waiting, ready to guide them.
She was more than just a hostess—her refined attire spoke of her elevated station.
“Lu Zhu awaits you.”
“Much obliged.”
Wol Young and Namgung Yeon.
The two ascended slowly to the very peak of the Hwanghakmnu.
There they met two figures.
“Are you Namgung Yeon?”
Through the thin curtain, he could see only a silhouette, yet Namgung Yeon remembered that voice unmistakably.
The First Son of the Peng Family.
The one called the New Dragon Tyrant Saber.
Peng Muhyuk.
The man who had taken the name straight from the Lightning Force Sect Master of old.
True to that name, he was counted among the strongest of the Late Stage Martial Artists.
The very leader of the next generation had arrived here in person.
Namgung Yeon smiled faintly.
The thought that a bigger fish had taken the bait than he’d expected.
#2
First Sons of Major Martial Clans.
Heirs of each faction.
Such people rarely moved on private business.
Especially the direct lines of Major Martial Clans—most of them either traveled to meet people for their various enterprises.
Or they shut themselves away in private training halls to cultivate their martial prowess.
When they traveled, they used horses or carriages; they seldom went on foot.
They were rare individuals, ones the common folk had almost no chance of meeting.
And if it was the First Son of the Peng Family, competing for supremacy among the Five Great Clans, he was doubly precious.
‘That such a man would come all this way simply to meet me.’
Namgung Yeon found that most intriguing.
Peng Muhyuk.
In past encounters, he was someone Namgung Yeon had clashed with repeatedly.
Yet all those conflicts had pointed toward one thing.
Protecting the Martial Realm.
‘A rival friend, then.’
His peculiar arrogance and his gambler’s nature—the desire to settle all things through martial combat.
Namgung Yeon had repeatedly called Peng Muhyuk reckless for it.
And yet he had positioned him precisely where needed, allowing him to fall gloriously…….
As his humanity slipped away, the memory of casting him aside like a spent chess piece rose to the surface.
An unforgivable sin, one that could never be washed clean, never forgotten.
Namgung Yeon chewed on such memories in silence, waiting for his words.
“I never expected someone to appear trying to buy the Hwanghakmnu outright.”
“…….”
“I’m afraid it’s not for sale. This place holds a value far beyond money.”
“I’m aware. It’s a legacy left by Leishen.”
He knows well, then.
Peng Muhyuk murmured as much, then pressed forward.
Now for the real matter.
It was time to hear why he had gone to such lengths to meet with the Peng Family’s heir.
“So then, what is your true purpose, Namgung? Fair warning—I dislike roundabout talk.”
“I’ve come here hoping you might help me find the owner of this sword.”
Namgung Yeon produced a sword wrapped in cloth.
But this was not the end.
Since I’m raising the stakes anyway, I might as well do it properly.
He held no desire to see the Peng Family destroyed.
And so…….
[The Vault of Muhan]
[Yunxing Thunder Saber]
(隕形雷刀)
A legendary blacksmith, now lost to history.
A man who had pledged himself to the Peng Family, arriving from the distant lands of Yunnan.
A blade forged according to the methods left behind by Huang Ujin-mo for the descendants of Leishen.
Only those who wielded the Lightning Force could truly master this saber, or so the saying went.
A treasure infused with the rare and precious Gui Tie.
Though mere powder, even that much sufficed to imbue it with Mystical Power.
At the appearance of such a treasure, Peng Muhyuk rose from his seat beyond the curtain.
“That’s…….”
“A gift, though not one I’ll simply hand over.”
“Haven’t you considered the possibility that I could kill you here and now and take that treasure for myself?”
“The First Son of the Peng Family wouldn’t resort to such methods.”
The boy was reckless, perhaps, but never a coward.
At Namgung Yeon’s words, Peng Muhyuk laughed heartily and swept aside the curtain, revealing himself.
A youthful face.
Not one roughened by thick whiskers, but smooth and luminous—a young face that now stood before Namgung Yeon.
Half of him was gladdened.
Half of him was weary.
In this moment where past and future seemed to overlap, Namgung Yeon finally spoke formally.
“I greet you, Peng Muhyuk, the true heir of Leishen and First Son of the Peng Family.”
“……Good to see you, Namgung. So, what is it you’re asking of me?”
“A dance of the blade, if you would.”
The moment Namgung Yeon’s words rang out, Hwanghakmnu was filled with a clear, resounding laugh.
#3
This boy here.
When Peng Muhyuk first encountered Namgung Yeon, a desire to trade blows had stirred in him.
The Peng Family’s intelligence network was hardly careless.
At the very least, they kept track of every ship entering Muhan and where each one departed from.
He too was aware that Demons had been active in the region…….
Yet he never expected such a thick scent of blood to radiate from the youth before his eyes.
Peng Muhyuk, possessed of a beast’s keen senses, had first taken him for a mere killer intoxicated by blood.
‘But that wasn’t it at all.’
At first, he’d wanted to send him away promptly.
Or perhaps suppress him through martial prowess, ensuring he’d never show his face again.
In any case, the Peng and Namgung families were not on smiling terms at present.
“Certainly, there’s an eerie aura about you. The Demons would be quite fond of it.”
“I wish for you to find the original owner of this item. To do so…….”
“Someone we support would need to wield the Demonic Sword and lure the Demons out.”
“Precisely.”
Business at Hwanghakmnu had already been declining due to the Demon problem, so this was timely.
To have someone extend a hand while he was still deliberating…… this boy was no common figure.
‘Though it’s said that warriors don’t choose their weapons…… with a treasure of this caliber, the situation is different.’
Faction mattered, yes, but the most important thing to a warrior was strength itself.
As a warrior, possessing this treasure saber would allow him to surmount a great crisis.
It wasn’t merely a matter of acquiring a new weapon—it was an opportunity to accumulate merit.
That was the true worth of the Yunxing Thunder Saber.
To surge ahead in the succession struggle from this point forward—a certainty as obvious as fire.
So the Namgung boy understood how to conduct a transaction.
“You’ve piqued my interest. Crushing Demons is the eternal duty of righteous Jianghu.”
Just as the legendary Leishen and the great warriors of the Peng Family did long ago.
Peng Muhyuk spoke with confidence.
Then he accepted the sinister blade, the Gui Tie.
“I’ll gladly accept the bargain. Is there anything else you need?”
“Just one person—someone cleaning in the basement. Could you release them to me?”
“Why?”
“We’ve grown rather short on staff to manage the ship.”
Peng Muhyuk nodded readily at Namgung Yeon’s words.
Hiring cleaners was simple enough—there was no shortage of them.
But why specifically ask for cleaners in this underground vault?
He didn’t let the suspicion go easily.
“I’ll prepare a grand stage for the festival soon.”
“Thank you.”
“And you handled the task beautifully. This is your proof of completion.”
In this world, payment and documentation together were what made success official.
Namgung Yeon secured the certificate carefully, then left Lu Zhu’s office with a noticeably lighter step.
“You’ve worked hard.”
“It was nothing—just small matters. I look forward to working with you further.”
“……Yes.”
Now came the turn to meet an old friend.
Though he was hunted now, his talent was genuine.
Namgung Yeon pictured his friend’s brilliant future blooming bright, and descended to the very depths below.
The underground vault, where no one ventured.
True treasures that no one can recognize are always hidden in the darkest places.
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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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