I Became the Namgung Clan’s Omnipotent Item-Powered Martial God - Chapter 98
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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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Chapter 98
Episode 98 – Collapsing Catastrophe
#1
Have you ever felt the air itself change with the entrance of a single person?
In the Martial Realm, it happened often enough.
A presence that arrived amid fierce combat, capable of crushing every hostile intent and murderous aura beneath it.
Was it momentum? The Internal Energy that flowed from them naturally?
To those who cultivated strength by sensing and accumulating Qi, such an existence was deemed capable of single-handedly overturning the tide of battle.
And so one prayed desperately that they would be on your side.
But in this moment, the hostility was unmistakable.
[Hehehehe…….]
A seething sound rang out, and that laughter alone sent tremors through their bodies with its eerie resonance.
A phenomenon where every action drew reaction from such an abundance of internal power.
Some called such a being one who had transcended walls; others named them superhuman.
‘A Transcendent Expert…….’
A monster capable of moving Internal Energy by will alone, of performing feats beyond mortality.
If the human limit represented the absolute peak, then those who had surpassed even that were called Transcendent Experts.
No Gyeong-hu, standing before them now, embodied that form perfectly.
[Prey, then. I hunger still. Surrender your Internal Energy.]
Thud.
Barefoot, clad in nothing but rags, yet every soul present felt it.
They could never—not in any conceivable way—defeat this monster.
Dang Sal, who led the Dang Clan’s Black Guard, felt it too.
The aura of certain defeat bore down upon them.
Morale crumbled, and death drew near.
What could be done?
Though his mind raced with desperate speed, his body remained frozen.
“Everyone, prepare to run.”
In that instant.
A voice rang out—young, still deepening past adolescence but growing firm.
Namgung Yeon.
Even as a monster capable of shaking their bodies to its core stood before him, he moved with such composure that his words jolted the paralyzed warriors awake.
Namgung Yeon had prepared things for this very moment.
The first was a variant of Qi-Sealing Poison—one that rendered Internal Energy unusable.
The second was an explosive device designed to weaken that formidable body.
“Run, now! This instant!”
Namgung Yeon’s voice, uncharacteristically loud, cut through the air.
Immediately after, something flew through the sky.
[Hehehehe…….]
A glass vial.
And something spherical.
Click-click—the sound of mechanisms engaging.
‘A time-delayed explosive. I modified this one specially for this day.’
[Jincheon Thunder]
Not merely standard Jincheon Thunder.
He had bisected the cap and engineered it so the detonation could be precisely controlled.
No Gyeong-hu batted the incoming vial away instinctively.
This too was a tactic Namgung Yeon had devised through countless experiments.
The catastrophe’s nature—to trust in his own strength, to barrel through everything head-on.
Having discovered this, he had designed the trap across several ordeals, enduring death more than once.
[Kuh……?]
The effect would likely manifest immediately.
For this was no ordinary Qi-Sealing Poison.
[Divine Fall Demon Poison]
A name both grandiose and terrible.
A poison that dragged gods down into ruin, twisted and strange.
Because of this poison, he had died once.
And another time, he had walked the brink between life and death.
The Sichuan Dang Clan and he had poured their hearts into crafting it.
The Qi-Sealing Poison meant to topple the calamity.
[Screeeeeech!]
And in that instant.
The Jincheon Thunder rolled away.
Dang Sal, recognizing what that spherical object was, cried out in terror.
“A bomb—!? Everyone, run! Now-!”
“Aaaaaargh! Namgung Yeon, you madman-!”
Kabooooom-!
Yi Hyeon’s scream was swallowed by the explosion.
Rumble rumble rumble!
The cave began to collapse.
“Yeon! You bastard, we’ll settle this later!”
……
It was only natural that So Yeon’s fury was directed at Namgung Yeon.
#2
Rumble rumble rumble-!
Whoooosh-!
The lake flooded and the underwater cave began to crumble.
Several figures burst forth from within it.
“Ahhh! Keep running! Keep going-!”
“It’s collapsing! Faster!”
Crack crack crack crack!
Had they not trained constantly, they would have been crushed under the cave’s descent.
The party barely escaped, throwing themselves forward with all their strength.
Kaboom-!
A deafening roar accompanied the trembling of the earth itself.
Namgung Yeon, Dang Sal, and Gwang Min meanwhile struck down the falling boulders, ensuring the party’s safety.
‘That worked well. But…….’
Watching the cave collapse completely, Namgung Yeon’s eyes gleamed.
He hoped the calamity would remain sunken forever.
If the matter could be resolved without sacrifice, how fortunate that would be.
The violent tremor and deafening noise that made it seem the whole world was crumbling ceased.
……
……
Silence and stillness settled over them.
Crack-!
Namgung Yeon felt heat burn across his back and flinched in shock.
Turning around, he saw his mother standing there with a terrifying expression.
“Ah…….”
“What? What—? Where on earth did you get that, huh!?”
“I found it while I was out-.”
I can’t take this. Even so, we almost all died together!”
Namgung Yeon fell silent.
He could see tears glistening in his mother’s eyes.
So he simply bowed his head.
Had he not sworn an oath?
To protect the Namgung, everyone, and the entire Martial Realm.
It was only natural that his mother would worry.
What mother wouldn’t grow angry watching her son take such risks?
“I apologize.”
“Still, thanks to you, we all survived.”
“Haha! That’s the truth. Your nephew did something remarkable, didn’t he?”
It was the Dang Clan members who had come to Namgung Yeon’s aid.
True enough—had Namgung Yeon not thrown that bomb, they would all have been absorbed and killed by that monster.
So Yeon exhaled sharply and sighed.
She understood.
That those of the Martial Realm must constantly face death.
That to evade death, one must resort to any means necessary.
Still, to see her own son undertake such perilous and reckless actions—her heart had nearly stopped.
“From now on, I won’t be able to go on missions with you, little one.”
“……Ha.”
“Don’t laugh.”
So Yeon brushed off her clothes as she spoke.
Well, at least it ended well—surely everything had turned out for the best.
Or so he thought in that moment.
A terrible wail tore through the air—!
Screams began pouring from the direction of the Slums.
It seemed the ordeal was far from over.
“The fire is still…….”
“It looks like people are evacuating this way.”
The Dang Clan warriors watched intently as the masses surged out from the Slums.
But then—their voices began to change in a peculiar way.
“Wait.”
“Those people… something’s wrong with them, isn’t it?”
“What in the world……? Don’t tell me those wretches are already poisoned by Demonic Energy?”
“…….”
Namgung Yeon furrowed his brow, watching those who rushed toward him.
They’d already completed one purification—why was this happening again……?
This, too, was something that had never occurred before.
‘Why on earth…….’
Crimson vapor began rising again.
Why did calamities keep mounting without end?
What fundamental cause lay at the root that nothing was being cleanly resolved?
The light was slowly draining from Namgung Yeon’s eyes.
What held twisted fate in such a tenacious grip, dragging it on and on?
He resolved then: he would find that culprit and rip it out by the roots.
This was how Distortion worked—alternating between hope and despair, dealing out both in turn.
While they were preoccupied with the crowds pouring from the Slums—
The cave mouth erupted with a deafening boom—!
The entrance shattered outward.
“Ghh—!?”
“L-Lord—!”
In the blink of an eye, two Dang Clan warriors were seized in the grip of a monster.
A sickening sound of suction—
Every shred of Internal Energy was drawn into No Gyeong-hu’s hands with a clarity that made the skin crawl.
[Aaaaaahhhhh—!]
The two warriors of the Dang Clan withered in an instant, their lives stolen.
A nightmare given flesh.
Blood caked, skin peeling away, their corpses drained of every drop—the Calamity had crawled up from hell’s own pit to take the Clan’s lives.
It had escaped from the abyss and seized the Dang Clan.
“Ho Ya! Jin Cheol! This bastard……!”
“It… it was alive……!?”
No Gyeong-hu howled, pouring out Demonic Energy as if swearing vengeance.
Dang Sal unleashed killing intent in waves, while the other warriors stared at the Calamity with faces twisted in terror.
Then they understood.
Why those who had fled the Slums had made this place their target.
A resonant, mournful cry echoed from far away—
The masses approaching from the Slums let out a unified wail.
Their appearance was like a hundred ghosts converging at once.
“Instructor.”
“Yes, young master.”
“Please hold back those pouring out of the Slums together with the Third Squad.”
“…….”
Even in this chaos, Namgung Yeon moved with composure, taking command of the crisis.
This was no time to be consumed by emotion.
One misstep and they truly would all perish.
“Hah…….”
Namgung Yeon opened the Secret Repository once more.
Had he failed to account for this possibility?
No.
The Dang Clan warrior’s carelessness had been unforeseen, but everything that followed was not.
For this day, he had consumed elixirs without number, grinding his body to dust through relentless training.
His lavish use of treasures from the Secret Repository was for one purpose alone: to permit no room for error.
[Secret Repository of Muhan]
[True Soul Elixir]
[White Tiger Blood Spirit Orb]
[……]
[Imperial Spirit Elixir]
Along with various Spirit Elixirs, he retrieved a forbidden medicine—one unlocked only after awakening his Imperial Qi.
A Spirit Elixir crafted solely to amplify Imperial Qi.
It was a single-use elixir in which the secret teachings and essence of the Namgung clan had been distilled—a pill to be taken only when resolved to claim certain victory.
Rummmmmble—!
Devastating power erupted from his body.
The duration was short.
Within that window, he had to sever the calamity’s head from its body, no matter what.
“Mother.”
“…….”
“I ask for your aid once more.”
“Then very well—.”
So Yeon extended her hand.
And spoke with quiet certainty.
“Give this mother of yours the reason why you’ve grown so strong.”
Namgung Yeon hesitated for an instant.
These elixirs would sharply elevate a martial artist’s power, but they exacted a heavy toll—each one a tremendous burden.
He was young, with time aplenty to train and recover.
But…….
“I’m fine. I’m stronger than you think, child.”
“You mustn’t strain yourself.”
It had always been this way.
So Yeon, his mother, had always been the first to discover his secrets.
Yet she had never pressed him for answers—only cherished him in silence.
Now, to see her make such a demand of him struck Namgung Yeon as profoundly strange.
‘Yes. If this too is a change in fate…….’
His mother had always been someone adrift in powerlessness.
But what of her now?
Her will transmitted itself to him with unmistakable clarity.
[……Unlocked.]
And in this moment.
He realized that something else stored in the Secret Repository had become accessible.
Namgung Yeon placed a single pill into her palm.
“……What is this?”
[Poison Essence]
A legendary substance that one must consume to become a Poison Master.
And it had been unlocked—for So Yeon.
Namgung Yeon gazed at the Poison Essence and spoke.
“Pour everything you have into this, Mother.”
“…….”
With those words, Namgung Yeon drew the Demon Spirit Sword and rushed toward the calamity.
So Yeon stared at the Poison Essence for a long moment, then swallowed it whole.
Thump—!
“Ahhhhhhh—!”
With the pain came a surge of verdant poison, spreading outward like a living thing.
Wait just a moment longer, my son.
She began to master the power of the Poison Essence, drawing on an inhuman endurance born of her love for family.
Gradually, So Yeon’s eyes began to glow with a vivid, piercing green.
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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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