Ice Dragon of Namgung - Chapter 105

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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 105
Tang Baiho was genuinely alarmed.
The Secret Signal Talisman had been blocked so effortlessly.
He hadn’t even managed to fire the Secret Needle hidden in its wings.
If he had at least launched the Secret Needle before it was blocked, his resentment wouldn’t run so deep.
But the Secret Signal Talisman itself was completely destroyed.
A Secret Signal Talisman wasn’t meant to be used once and discarded.
Recovered and refilled with Secret Needles, it could be deployed again and again.
Yet the wings of the talisman had shattered entirely when it fell to the ground, frozen solid.
The wing assembly was the most crucial component of a Secret Signal Talisman.
With the wings damaged beyond repair, it would be impossible to use it again.
And to think how much money and time it took to craft a single one.
When his clan learned of this, they would surely kill him.
‘It’s all that bastard’s fault!’
To Tang Baiho, Namgung Geom appeared as the very architect of his misfortune.
In that moment, unable to contain his rage, Tang Baiho resolved to deploy the final secret technique among the Ten Forbidden Techniques at his disposal.
“Let’s see you block this!”
Tang Baiho raised his hand toward Namgung Geom.
Flash!
A Dark Arrow shot forth from his sleeve like a bolt of lightning.
The Dark Thunder Arrow.
A forbidden secret technique ranked seventh among the Ten Forbidden Techniques of the Sichuan Tang Clan.
The Dark Thunder Arrow was launched from a special mechanism concealed within the sleeve.
The black shaft made no sound whatsoever, and its speed rivaled that of light itself.
Within three paces, no one could evade the Dark Thunder Arrow.
Namgung Geom would be no exception.
Even if Namgung Geom managed to block the Dark Thunder Arrow, it wouldn’t be over.
The true danger of the Dark Thunder Arrow lay in the poison concealed within its arrowhead.
When the arrow struck, the poison would rupture and engulf its target.
The toxin was lethal in nature—without an antidote, one could lose their life.
It was a forbidden secret technique that must never be used in martial combat.
Yet Tang Baiho had lost his composure and unleashed it anyway.
The instant the Dark Thunder Arrow was loosed, Namgung Geom reacted instinctively, shifting his body to the side.
The speed of the Dark Thunder Arrow was beyond the eye’s ability to track.
By the time one saw it fired, it was already too late to dodge.
But Namgung Geom sensed the danger through his sixth sense.
And the moment the Dark Thunder Arrow was released, he twisted his body aside.
The Dark Thunder Arrow whistled past him like a streak of light.
Had he been even slightly slower, the arrow would have pierced his body clean through.
Goosebumps erupted across Namgung Geom’s skin.
Then, once again, his sixth sense flared to life.
In that instant, a second Dark Thunder Arrow shot from Tang Baiho’s sleeve.
There was no time to evade.
Namgung Geom moved to block the Dark Thunder Arrow with the Bing Long Sword.
But at that very moment—
A Throwing Net came flying from somewhere, snatching the Dark Thunder Arrow in an instant before sweeping back the way it had come.
Namgung Geom turned his head toward the source of the net, finding Tang Cheonsan standing there with a stern expression.
“G-Grandfather!”
Seeing him, Tang Baiho’s face went pale.
“Foolish boy! Did I not warn you plainly?”
Tang Cheonsan fixed Tang Baiho with a cold glare, then turned his gaze to Peng Daozhou and the other two young martial artists.
They wore expressions of shock at Tang Cheonsan’s abrupt arrival.
“You three—leave at once.”
At Tang Cheonsan’s command, the three young martial artists scrambled to their feet and departed the Training Grounds.
Who would dare defy such an authority?
Once they had gone, Tang Cheonsan turned his attention to Namgung Geom.
“My grandson’s competitive spirit got the better of him, and he deployed a forbidden technique he should never have used. On his behalf, I offer my apologies.”
The fact that Tang Cheonsan would apologize suggested that the forbidden technique Tang Baiho had ultimately resorted to concealed something far more sinister.
And it was plainly quite dangerous.
Otherwise, Tang Cheonsan would have had no reason to apologize at all.
Namgung Geom found Tang Baiho’s attitude irritating, but he kept his displeasure hidden as he spoke.
“Not at all. From the beginning, we agreed that any Secret Technique was permitted during this Martial Combat. It’s not your fault, Tang.”
“Even so, there are limits, regardless of what was agreed. In any case, this whole affair is entirely that fool’s doing.”
Tang Cheonsan fixed Tang Baiho with a piercing stare as he spoke.
Tang Baiho’s spirit crumpled, and he lowered his head.
“I’m truly fine, really—”
“I’m not fine with it. Aside from everything else, if your grandfather learns of this, he won’t let it pass.”
Namgung Geom wondered just what Secret Technique Tang Cheonsan was so incensed about.
“That’s why I mean to give you a gift as an apology.”
“A gift?”
“Take it.”
Tang Cheonsan handed Namgung Geom an Iron Finger Ring.
“What is this?”
Namgung Geom asked, puzzled, as he accepted the ring.
“A Secret Technique weapon crafted by our main house.”
Namgung Geom recalled the ring worn by Heuk Cheonsal and realized there was some mechanism concealed within it.
“When you channel Inner Power into the Iron Finger Ring, it fires Feather Needles. In a moment of danger, it could save your life once.”
“I’m not certain I’m worthy of accepting something so precious.”
“It’s common enough in our main house. Think nothing of it.”
Tang Cheonsan said it was common, but it was anything but.
It was an upper-tier Secret Technique weapon, though not a forbidden one.
He had offered it readily to silence Namgung Baek beforehand, preventing him from pressing the matter of the Dark Thunder Arrow.
Tang Cheonsan was admitting to Tang Baiho’s fault first, then offering this upper-tier weapon from the Sichuan Tang Clan as compensation—a request to let the matter rest.
Namgung Geom grasped Tang Cheonsan’s intent.
At the same time, doubt crept in.
Just how dangerous was the Secret Technique Tang Baiho had used at the end that Tang Cheonsan would go to such lengths?
‘It must be far more than ordinarily perilous.’
The thought made Tang Baiho seem even more contemptible to him.
Namgung Geom had suspected that Tang Baiho harbored malice toward him.
He’d known Tang Baiho intended to use the Martial Combat as a chance for revenge.
But there were limits to such things.
The ordinary wounds sustained during Martial Combat were something he could overlook.
But if Tang Baiho had used techniques deliberately aimed at causing something worse, that was unforgivable.
“I’ll see to it that this fool is severely disciplined.”
Tang Cheonsan spoke after reading the expression on Namgung Geom’s face.
With Tang Cheonsan saying that much, it seemed inappropriate to press further against Tang Baiho.
Even if Tang Baiho had provoked the confrontation first, Namgung Geom bore some responsibility for the humiliation he’d inflicted on him in front of everyone.
Considering the relationship between the Namgung Clan and the Sichuan Tang Clan, it seemed best to accept the gift and let the matter end here.
“Then I will gratefully accept your gift.”
Namgung Geom pocketed the Iron Finger Ring.
“Then I’ll take my leave.”
Tang Cheonsan bowed to Namgung Geom, then turned his head toward Tang Baiho.
“You come along.”
Tang Baiho lowered his head deeply and followed in Tang Cheonsan’s wake.
As Tang Baiho passed beside Namgung Geom, he glared at him with murderous intensity.
It seemed to say: all of this is your fault.
‘Tch. A man beneath my acquaintance.’
Namgung Geom had still hoped to make peace with Tang Baiho and live amicably with him.
But seeing how Tang Baiho conducted himself, he was grateful they hadn’t resorted to blows.
Above all, from the look on Tang Cheonsan’s face, it seemed Tang Baiho would be severely scolded for what was to come—yet the way Tang Baiho was behaving suggested he would likely fail to recognize his own fault and instead redirect his resentment toward Namgung Geom.
Namgung Geom could only hope that Tang Baiho would not harbor any reckless thoughts.
“Should I report this to Grandfather?”
In any case, even if Namgung Geom didn’t speak of it, Namgung Baek would come to know what had transpired here.
No—it was likely he already knew.
If even Tang Cheonsan, an outsider, had learned of it and come to investigate, there was no way Namgung Baek could be ignorant of it.
So it seemed best to go make a report.
Namgung Geom headed directly to the Main Clan Hall.
“You fought the Tang boy in Martial Combat?”
Namgung Baek, as expected, already knew of the bout with Tang Baiho.
“Yes. I didn’t want to miss the chance to observe the forbidden techniques of the Sichuan Tang Clan.”
“So how did you find fighting him?”
“Impressive, certainly. I’m curious how he produces such secret techniques. Now I understand why the Martial World fears the Sichuan Tang Clan.”
Of course, Namgung Geom had blocked all of Tang Baiho’s secret techniques.
But that was only because Namgung Geom had done the blocking—not because the Sichuan Tang Clan’s techniques were weak.
“The Sichuan Tang Clan has over a hundred people researching and creating secret techniques alone. They’re all obsessed with the craft. If the techniques they produced were no different from ordinary ones, that would be the real surprise.”
Namgung Geom nodded.
“The Martial World calls secret techniques cowardly, but creating them is a skill in itself. I cannot deny the greatness of the Sichuan Tang Clan.”
“There’s a reason the Sichuan Tang Clan earned a place among the Five Great Clans.”
Namgung Baek spoke as though acknowledging the Sichuan Tang Clan’s techniques himself.
“But seeing the Secret Arrow King’s martial prowess, it seems his strength lies not merely in the techniques themselves.”
“Did you witness the Clan Patriarch’s martial arts?”
Namgung Baek asked.
“During my duel with the Young Master, the Secret Arrow King suddenly appeared and confiscated the final secret technique the Young Master deployed.”
“Is that so?”
Namgung Baek’s eyes narrowed.
“Yes. He threw a Throwing Net and snatched a Dark Arrow that flew like lightning from the air—his skill was extraordinary.”
“So the Clan Patriarch himself intervened in the middle of the duel and confiscated the technique?”
Namgung Baek tilted his head in puzzlement.
It was already strange that Tang Cheonsan had bothered to watch the martial combat at all, but intervening mid-duel to seize the technique was even stranger.
“Yes. And he apologized, saying the Young Master had overstepped his bounds, then gave me this as compensation.”
Namgung Geom pulled out the Iron Finger Ring to show him.
“What did the technique look like?”
“A black arrow—its speed was like lightning.”
Namgung Baek’s brow furrowed.
“He used the Dark Thunder Arrow in a duel.”
“The Dark Thunder Arrow?”
“An arrow as swift as thunder. But the true danger of the Dark Thunder Arrow is the poison.”
Namgung Baek explained with a grave expression.
“Poison?”
Namgung Geom was taken aback.
“When impact is applied to the Dark Thunder Arrow, poison hidden in the arrowhead spreads.”
“So the Young Master used poison against me?”
Namgung Geom’s expression hardened.
He had thought it merely a dangerous technique, never imagining it could contain poison.
Now Tang Cheonsan’s sudden appearance made sense.
“That old fox, the Secret Arrow King, gave you the Iron Finger Ring to smooth things over.”
“What should I do then?”
“That depends on what you wish.”
“On what I wish?”
“If you desire to punish that man from the Tang Clan, I will see it done. If you prefer to let it pass, then let it pass.”
Namgung Baek left the choice to Namgung Geom.
Namgung Geom pondered for a moment before finally speaking.
“I think it’s best to let this matter rest as it is.”
“You don’t find him offensive?”
Namgung Baek asked.
“Of course I do.”
“Then why let it pass?”
Namgung Baek asked with interest.
“As the Junior Patriarch of the Namgung Clan, I must consider my family’s interests before my own feelings.”
“Your family’s interests?”
“To establish the Zheng Tian Alliance and have our main branch become the alliance leader, we need the support of the Sichuan Tang Clan.”
Namgung Baek smiled at Namgung Geom’s answer.
“So you mean to use this incident to win over that old fox, the Secret Arrow King?”
“Besides, punishing the Young Master wouldn’t gain me anything anyway.”
Namgung Geom shrugged and held up the Iron Finger Ring.
“I’ve already received a gift, after all.”
* * *
Bang!
Tang Baiho, unable to contain his fury, slammed the door shut.
After being dragged from the Training Grounds, he had endured more than an hour of reprimand from Tang Cheonsan.
They said that once he returned to his family, a Confinement Order would be issued for a month.
Tang Baiho could not bear it.
All of this was because of Namgung Geom.
He could not forget what had happened to him at Namgung Geom’s hands during the banquet.
It was the first time in his life he had suffered such humiliation.
And now he had even fallen out of favor with Tang Cheonsan.
If he could, Tang Baiho wanted to take revenge on Namgung Geom immediately.
But there was no way.
He lacked the strength for it, and besides, he was forbidden from leaving his room until he returned to the Sichuan Tang Clan.
Tang Cheonsan had locked him away entirely for fear he might cause more trouble.
Unable to suppress his rage, Tang Baiho fumed for a long while.
Then a slip of paper on the table caught his eye.
It was certainly not there before he left.
“Who left this?”
Tang Baiho felt a stir of suspicion as he unfolded the note.
Inside, there was only a single line written.
[Namgung Geom is a descendant of the North Sea Ice Horse.]
Namgung Bing Long
Author |
Baek Wol Geom
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The contents of this book may not be used in any form or by any means without the written permission of (Corp.) Samyang C&C – Dream Books.

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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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