Ice Dragon of Namgung - Chapter 36

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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 36
Huk Samsal.
One of the Huksalsamgeom, the elite masters of Huksalmun, he was skilled enough to kill even Masters of the True Martial Realm.
Huk Samsal had entered the Seomun Clan estate alongside three of the Huksalsibyeong whom Namgung Geom had defeated.
He did not step forward himself, instead ordering the three Huksalsibyeong to carve a path ahead.
There was no need for him to personally deal with small fry.
His target was the head of the Seomun Clan.
Until Seomun Chu appeared, he remained thoroughly concealed.
But then Namgung Geom suddenly emerged and struck down all three of the Huksalsibyeong.
Realizing that Namgung Geom was no ordinary master, Huk Samsal used the Concealment Technique to erase his presence.
And he waited for the warriors of the Taeho Sect to arrive.
He planned to launch an ambush the moment Namgung Geom engaged them.
Soon after, warriors from the Taeho Sect poured in, and the clash with Namgung Geom commenced.
Huk Samsal struck from behind, unfolding his ambush.
He had believed his attack would succeed.
But Namgung Geom blocked it as though he had been waiting.
“You knew I was in hiding?”
Huk Samsal asked in disbelief.
“No certainty, but I suspected you might be concealed somewhere.”
Namgung Geom had already identified the assassins of Huksalmun he’d disposed of earlier as three of the Huksalsibyeong sent to reinforce Sa Hae Bang.
And though they eluded his perception, he had considered the possibility that one of the Huksalsamgeom might also be present.
So even as he faced the Taeho Sect warriors, he had kept his senses open in other directions.
This was how he had detected Huk Samsal’s ambush in time.
“How long will you stand watching? Attack him now!”
Huk Samsal shouted toward the Taeho Sect.
He intended to launch another ambush while Namgung Geom was occupied with them.
At Huk Samsal’s cry, the Taeho Sect moved to attack Namgung Geom at once.
But before they could move, warriors of the Seomun Clan appeared.
The Four Guardians of the Changryong Sword Brigade had summoned the Seomun Clan’s warriors.
“Handle these.”
Namgung Geom handed the Taeho Sect over to the Seomun Clan’s warriors and turned toward Huk Samsal.
Huk Samsal quickly deployed the Concealment Technique, shrouding his form.
His concealment art was formidable enough that even Namgung Geom lost sight of him momentarily.
If he remained stationary after vanishing, Namgung Geom would have found him difficult to locate.
But the moment Huk Samsal moved, a disturbance rippled through space.
Before ascending to the True Martial Realm, detecting such disturbance would have been difficult.
But now, with heightened senses, he could feel the tremor in space itself.
“There.”
Namgung Geom extended his blade toward Huk Samsal, who was moving to his left.
The Blade Aura that erupted from his sword shot forth like lightning.
The Seongjeon Thirteen Sword Thunder.
A sword technique as swift as lightning and as devastating as thunder striking from the heavens.
But the Seongjeon Thirteen Sword Thunder that Namgung Geom deployed was different.
The sword thunder of Seongjeon was not mere thunder.
It was Freezing Thunder, imbued with glacial force.
Huk Samsal saw the Freezing Thunder flying directly at him and gasped.
“Gasp!”
He swallowed a mouthful of air, blocking the Freezing Thunder of Seongjeon.
Crash!
Huk Samsal’s body was driven backward violently.
The impact shattered his concealment, and his form was laid bare.
His strengths lay in concealment arts and assassin’s blade.
In pure martial skill, he was no match for Namgung Geom.
Namgung Geom pursued the now-exposed Huk Samsal and brought his sword down.
The Freezing Thunder of Seongjeon surged from his blade, crashing down upon his opponent.
Huk Samsal desperately used his sword to spring off the floor, hurling himself aside.
Crash!
The Freezing Thunder that grazed past him struck the ground, sending fragments scattering as white frost settled.
Huk Samsal trembled at the force.
Had he taken the Freezing Thunder head-on, he would have been frozen solid in an instant.
The chill from the impact moments earlier had already begun freezing his meridians.
He wanted to dispel the freezing energy, but Namgung Geom’s relentless assault gave him no such opening.
Even now, Namgung Geom pressed forward, unleashing a barrage of Freezing Thunder strikes.
Huk Samsal tried desperately to evade, but the speed of the Freezing Thunder was overwhelming.
Dodging was impossible—blocking alone strained him to his limit.
Huk Samsal gritted his teeth and met each Freezing Thunder strike with his blade.
Crack-boom!
With each collision, Huk Samsal was driven backward, step after step.
Fresh white frost settled across his right arm.
The freezing energy from the impact had spread across his entire right arm, encasing it in its grip.
“Ggh!”
His face twisted in pain.
The frost-covered arm hung rigid, refusing to move.
He attempted to melt the frost with his internal energy, but the Freezing Thunder energy now woven through his meridians blocked the flow of his power entirely.
In such a state, he could not withstand another assault.
Flash!
Namgung Geom’s blade erupted with Freezing Thunder once more.
His right arm was useless for defense.
Huk Samsal switched his grip to his left hand, desperately blocking the incoming strike.
Crack!
The impact sent him reeling backward again, his body movement dragging across the ground.
The freezing energy relentlessly invaded his left arm as well; he clenched his teeth against it.
He was running out of time.
Two or three more strikes, and his left arm would freeze as well—leaving him unable to resist.
‘It cannot end like this.’
He decided to deploy his final, secret technique.
The Black Shadow Illusion Transfer Technique.
An illusion art that instantaneously created a phantom double of the body, then relocated the true self.
Huk Samsal had only recently completed the Black Shadow Illusion Transfer Technique.
He had never tested it in actual combat before, but this was no time to hesitate.
Huk Samsal immediately unleashed the Black Shadow Illusion Transfer Technique.
A strange energy rippled from his body, and phantom doubles of Huk Samsal materialized around him from every direction.
In an instant, his true body and the illusions switched positions.
Huk Samsal, now positioned to Namgung Geom’s left, thrust his blade forward without hesitation.
The Black Killing Shadowless Sword.
A silent, traceless blade—one that merged with shadow itself—drove straight at Namgung Geom.
Namgung Geom lost sight of Huk Samsal’s position in that split second of technique activation.
By the time he located him, the blade was already closing in at point-blank range.
Namgung Geom threw himself backward, arcing his body to evade the incoming strike.
But the distance was far too close.
Slice!
Huk Samsal’s blade carved across Namgung Geom’s arm, and blood sprayed into the air.
Namgung Geom withdrew further back, not even pausing to register the pain.
Huk Samsal’s expression darkened.
His trump card—an attack he had poured everything into—had failed to finish his opponent.
In truth, his technique had been flawless.
Had his body been in normal condition, Namgung Geom could never have escaped.
But now, the freezing energy in his arms prevented his internal energy from flowing smoothly through them.
That disruption had slowed the Black Killing Shadowless Sword.
And that was precisely why Namgung Geom had managed to dodge it.
Namgung Geom examined the deep gash across his arm, his expression hardening.
He had let his guard down, believing victory already assured.
Even against an opponent of lesser skill, there is always one last hidden card.
He should never have relaxed his vigilance until his enemy lay defeated completely.
Yet, unguarded, his mind had wandered.
One moment of carelessness like that could have cost him his life.
From this moment forward, he vowed never again to drop his guard, against any opponent.
Namgung Geom steadied himself and raised his blade once more.
The arm holding the sword throbbed with each heartbeat from the wound.
Yet Namgung Geom had endured far worse wounds in his previous life.
This wound was nothing.
“That last attack—truly, I hadn’t anticipated such a move.”
At Namgung Geom’s praise, Huk Samsal twisted his lips into a bitter smile.
“It’s a pity I couldn’t end you.”
“You won’t have another chance.”
Namgung Geom hurled himself toward Huk Samsal.
His body movement flowed like wind, and in a heartbeat he was upon his opponent.
Startled by that speed, Huk Samsal retreated and thrust his blade forward.
The blade aura of the Black Killing Shadowless Sword shot through the air in silence.
Invisible and soundless—yet still felt.
Namgung Geom twisted aside to evade the aura, then extended his own blade toward Huk Samsal.
Flash!
Freezing Thunder erupted from his sword.
Not just one—ten streams of Freezing Thunder cascaded forth.
They poured down in succession, engulfing Huk Samsal.
He stumbled backward, his sword thrashing in desperation.
Crash-crash-crash!
Each time the Freezing Thunder struck, its frigid essence pierced deeper into his body.
When the tenth bolt finally struck, the accumulated cold energy ravaged his meridians, freezing them solid.
“Gaagh!”
Huk Samsal desperately surged his Internal Energy to purge the freezing force, but it was useless.
The agony of his meridians being locked in ice drove him to collapse to the ground.
Namgung Geom approached him.
Moving swiftly, he sealed both Huk Samsal’s pressure points and death points.
He could not risk Huk Samsal attempting suicide.
Huk Samsal, one of the Huksalsamgeom and the supreme master of the Huksalmun, would serve as proof that Sa Pae Ryeon had intervened in the Seomun Clan’s attack.
He had to be brought back alive.
Had Namgung Geom truly sought Huk Samsal’s death, the conclusion would have come far more swiftly.
But subduing him without killing him required time.
In truth, Huk Samsal’s blow against him had come precisely because of that restraint.
Even so, subduing Huk Samsal was a satisfactory outcome.
With Huk Samsal secured, Namgung Geom turned his attention to the clash between the Seomun Clan and Taehomun.
At first, Taehomun had held the advantage.
But the moment Seomun Chu, the patriarch of the Seomun Clan, entered the fray himself, the tide shifted in an instant.
Taehomun had no master capable of withstanding Seomun Chu.
Baek Gyeong-won, the sect leader of the Taeho Sect, joined forces with two of his chief disciples, yet it was not enough.
The original plan had Baek Gyeong-won and the two chief disciples occupy Seomun Chu while Huk Samsal ambushed him from behind.
But with Huk Samsal subdued by Namgung Geom, the plan unraveled.
Baek Gyeong-won and his chief disciples threw everything at Seomun Chu.
Yet before his martial prowess, even their combined strength crumbled.
Two of the chief disciples fell in succession under his assaults, and Baek Gyeong-won found himself utterly on the defensive.
Namgung Geom did not intervene, instead studying Seomun Chu’s technique.
Seomun Chu wielded the Thunder Heavenly Blade Technique, the supreme martial art of the Seomun Clan.
The Thunder Heavenly Blade Technique was built upon speed and destructive power.
It shared the same fundamental nature as the Seongjeon Thirteen Sword Thunder of the Namgung Clan.
Yet Seomun Chu’s Thunder Heavenly Blade Technique, while exceedingly swift, lacked sufficient destructive force.
From what Namgung Geom understood, the Thunder Heavenly Blade Technique required a harmony between speed and power.
It seemed Seomun Chu had sacrificed a measure of destructive force to heighten his speed.
Whether Seomun Chu had made this choice deliberately or was forced into it, Namgung Geom could not determine.
What was certain was that tilting so heavily toward one aspect prevented the Thunder Heavenly Blade Technique from unleashing its true might.
“I need to have a word with him.”
Namgung Bing-ryong
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Baek Wol Geom
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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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