Ice Dragon of Namgung - Chapter 70

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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 70
Gang Mujin laughed heartily when Namgung Geom accepted his proposal, then spoke.
“Excellent! Then come aboard the Suyong Ship.”
“I’ll have a drink first and then come over.”
Namgung Geom turned to speak to Namgung Gwan and Namgung Woo behind him, as well as the four masters of the Changyong Geomdan.
“Will it be all right for me to go alone?”
Namgung Gwan was uneasy about Namgung Geom crossing to the Suyong Ship by himself.
Based on Gang Mujin’s manner, it didn’t seem he meant to harm Namgung Geom.
But how could one trust the dark underbelly of the Unorthodox Faction’s Changhang Suromeng?
“If I meant to harm you, I wouldn’t be going through all this trouble. I would have attacked from the start. So don’t worry.”
After reassuring them, Namgung Geom unfurled the Heavenly Wind God Technique and leapt across to the Suyong Ship.
Namgung Geom soared through the air, riding the wind across a distance of more than ten zhang, and landed on the deck of the Suyong Ship.
The martial artists of the Changhang Suromeng aboard the ship looked at him with eyes that mingled vigilance and reverence as he descended onto the deck.
A monster of a man who had shattered the final secret technique of So Yongja, the pirate leader, directly.
And he was ten years younger than Gang Mujin at that.
As a martial artist, one could do nothing but respect him, setting aside the divide between enemy and ally.
“Come inside.”
Gang Mujin ordered his subordinates to prepare wine and side dishes, then led Namgung Geom into the ship’s cabin.
The cabin of the Suyong Ship was wider than most rooms and decorated with old-fashioned elegance.
“Don’t look at it like that. This isn’t my taste—it’s my father’s.”
When Namgung Geom looked at him with surprise, Gang Mujin chuckled and spoke.
Then he gestured to the table placed in the center of the cabin.
“Sit.”
Namgung Geom nodded and sat down before the table.
Shortly after, a subordinate brought wine and meat into the cabin.
Gang Mujin picked up the wine jug and filled both his cup and Namgung Geom’s to the brim.
Glug-glug!
A rich aroma rose from the clear, transparent liquor.
Gang Mujin handed the cup to Namgung Geom, then picked up his own.
“It’s Suyong Intoxication, the pride of Changhang. It’s fierce, but leaves no aftertaste.”
Suyong Intoxication.
A potent spirit so strong it could put even a dragon to sleep.
“Thanks to your kindness, I get to taste the Suyong Intoxication that only Changhang’s true heroes drink.”
Namgung Geom raised his cup.
And in one swift motion, he poured the wine into his mouth.
A searing burn traced down his throat and seemed to blaze through his lower dantian, then gradually a sharp, pungent aroma filled his mouth.
“Splendid.”
“Ha! I’m glad you enjoy it.”
After several more rounds, the atmosphere in the cabin grew noticeably warmer.
Gang Mujin fingered his cup while studying Namgung Geom’s face carefully.
The more he looked, the more he liked what he saw.
Though ten years his junior, the spiritual bearing Namgung Geom exuded matched his own.
As for the depth of martial prowess, it need not be mentioned—there was also an intangible charm about him that drew people in.
Gang Mujin felt a genuine affection for Namgung Geom.
Thud!
Gang Mujin set his cup down on the table and looked directly at Namgung Geom.
By nature, he was a man of straightforward temperament, decisive in his commitments and separations.
When he encountered a kindred spirit, hesitation and deliberation went against his grain.
“Namgung Geom. I’ll speak plainly. I like you very much—your martial prowess, your nerve, and your bearing as a warrior, all of it. What say you? Will you become sworn brothers with me?”
Namgung Geom’s eyes widened at Gang Mujin’s proposal.
It was an unexpected offer.
Most Orthodox Faction martial artists would have rejected Gang Mujin’s proposal.
In the Martial World, where the boundary between Orthodox and Unorthodox was strictly drawn, forging sworn brotherhood with the leader of the Unorthodox Changhang Suromeng carried heavy implications.
But Namgung Geom was different.
He understood well that a person’s character and integrity were never determined by the label of their faction.
There were many corrupt individuals within the Orthodox Faction, and among the Unorthodox there existed those of genuine faith.
To his eyes, Gang Mujin was a man whose outside matched his inside, one broad-minded enough to accept his own defeat cleanly.
Gang Mujin’s position as leader of the Changhang Suromeng posed no obstacle to Namgung Geom.
He saw only the man before him, Gang Mujin himself.
Namgung Geom smiled and spoke.
“If I were to call a hero of the Changhang like you my elder brother, it would be an honor to me as well.”
At Namgung Geom’s reply, Gang Mujin laughed heartily.
“Ha ha ha! You certainly don’t hold back. I was right to recognize you.”
He had proposed the sworn brotherhood, but he’d expected Namgung Geom to refuse.
Yet when Namgung Geom accepted without the slightest hesitation, Gang Mujin’s regard for him deepened all the more.
“Then shall we share a cup of wine to mark this bond of brotherhood?”
“I would like nothing better.”
Gang Mujin filled a wine cup and offered one to Namgung Geom.
“Though we were not born on the same day and hour, with this single cup we become true brothers, bound by ties thicker than blood.”
Gang Mujin raised his cup toward Namgung Geom.
“Let the waters of the Changhang bear witness to our resolve.”
Namgung Geom raised his cup to meet his.
Clink!
The cups struck in mid-air, and both men drained them in a single breath.
“I look forward to our brotherhood henceforth, elder brother.”
Namgung Geom, as the younger brother, performed the formal salute of respect to Gang Mujin.
“And I to you, younger brother.”
Gang Mujin clasped his hands and received Namgung Geom’s greeting.
In that moment, the eldest grandson of the Namgung Clan—leader of the Orthodox Faction—and the master of the Changhang Suromeng, leader of the Unorthodox Faction, became sworn brothers.
After thus sealing their bond, the atmosphere between the two grew noticeably warmer.
Yet there remained one pressing matter they had yet to resolve.
Gang Mujin’s expression grew grave, and he spoke.
“My younger brother! From now on, we must discuss something weighty.”
“You mean the matter of the Heuksuchai Band.”
Namgung Geom had already guessed what Gang Mujin meant to say.
“The Heuksuchai Leader has never acted against the League’s decisions until now. The fact that he suddenly committed such an act is deeply suspicious.”
“What precisely troubles you about it?”
Namgung Geom asked, wishing first to hear Gang Mujin’s reasoning.
“No matter how I think on it, the Heuksuchai Band has no reason to act as they did.”
The Heuksuchai Leader bore no grievance so deep that he would stake his life to attack Namgung Geom’s party.
There was no particular gain to be won from attacking them either.
Gang Mujin suspected there must be some reason he did not yet know.
But he could not fathom what it might be.
“What if someone other than the Changhang Suromeng stood behind the Heuksuchai Leader?”
At Namgung Geom’s words, Gang Mujin’s eyes flashed with keen interest.
“You mean the Heuksuchai Leader is an agent for another power?”
“That is how I see it.”
“Then which power do you believe the Heuksuchai Leader serves?”
“A place known as a Sect.”
Gang Mujin paused to consider where this Sect might be.
Then, startled, he asked aloud.
“Do you mean the Three Demon Sect?”
“I believe it to be one of them, at least.”
Gang Mujin’s face showed bewilderment at this name he had never anticipated.
“You must have good reason for thinking so?”
Gang Mujin knew Namgung Geom was not a man to speak idly.
There would surely be evidence behind such a claim.
“We were once attacked by the Hyeolrangchai Band of the Green Forest League.”
“Did you not eliminate the Hyeolrangchai Band?”
Gang Mujin asked, as if puzzled.
“What do you mean by that?”
Namgung Geom’s face registered astonishment.
“I heard a rumor that you eliminated the Hyeolrangchai Band without warning and burned them to ash.”
Gang Mujin recounted the rumor he had heard before coming here.
“You say I eliminated the Hyeolrangchai Band?”
“They say you slaughtered every last bandit of the Hyeolrangchai Band in brutal fashion.”
Namgung Geom’s brow furrowed.
A rumor entirely at odds with the truth.
Clearly someone had spread it deliberately.
Namgung Geom recalled a story he had heard at an inn.
Back then, he’d claimed that Heuksuchai attacked first.
It mirrors the rumors surrounding Hyeolrangchai.
Clearly, the same person had spread both stories.
Namgung Geom had a suspicion of where this originated.
The Three Demon Sect.
If not them, there was no one capable of fabricating and spreading such falsehoods.
“Do you believe those rumors, brother?”
“I did, before I saw you. But not anymore. Your word matters more to me than the whispers of the Martial World.”
Gang Mujin would trust Namgung Geom’s account over market gossip.
Sworn brothers ought to have at least that much faith in one another.
Moreover, the Namgung Geom that Gang Mujin knew was far too proud to deny his own deeds.
Namgung Geom’s chest grew warm at Gang Mujin’s trust in him.
“I never suppressed Hyeolrangchai. In fact, we were ambushed in the dead of night.”
Gang Mujin harbored no doubt about Namgung Geom’s words.
“Then what does Hyeolrangchai’s attack have to do with suspecting the Three Demon Sect?”
Gang Mujin pressed back to the heart of the matter.
“After capturing the Hyeolrangchai Leader, I interrogated him to learn who orchestrated the ambush. The name that came out was the Three Demon Sect.”
“There was nothing else?”
“The moment he revealed the Three Demon Sect, he triggered the Seven Aperture Shattering Blood and died.”
Gang Mujin’s brow creased.
“A binding curse, then. A vicious one.”
“Only the Three Demon Sect possesses the knowledge to place such a curse.”
“But what connection does the Hyeolrangchai Leader being an agent of the Three Demon Sect have with the Heuksuchai Leader?”
Gang Mujin raised the question.
“Heuksuchai attacked my party and the Namgung Clan’s warriors without any apparent cause, just as Hyeolrangchai did.”
Heuksuchai had no reason to move against Namgung Geom’s group.
There was no material gain for them in such an attack.
Even when the Changhang Suromeng’s command ordered restraint, they struck anyway.
“Moreover, they deployed suicide vessels—an extreme measure that makes no sense without someone pulling the strings.”
“If the Three Demon Sect truly manipulated the Heuksuchai Leader as you suggest, what possible reason could they have for wanting you dead?”
Gang Mujin asked about the Three Demon Sect’s purpose.
“I believe they’re scheming to provoke a conflict between the Orthodox and Unorthodox Factions.”
Gang Mujin grasped his meaning at once.
If Namgung Geom, the eldest grandson of the Namgung Clan, were killed by the Green Forest League or the Changhang Suromeng, the Namgung Clan would never stand idle.
Should the Namgung Clan retaliate against either faction, full-scale conflict between Orthodox and Unorthodox would be inevitable.
“They intend to fuel a war between the factions, weaken the Martial World, and conquer it in one stroke.”
“That is my assessment.”
From Gang Mujin’s perspective, it was the most plausible explanation.
“Then we must prevent such a collision at all costs.”
Namgung Geom nodded.
“For that, both factions must exercise caution not to provoke one another.”
“That sounds rather pointed toward my league.”
“I’ve heard that recently the Changhang Suromeng has been demanding excessive tolls and resorting to violence with increasing frequency. If conflict erupts between the factions due to such aggressive behavior, that would be precisely what the Three Demon Sect desires.”
It was words that might grate on Gang Mujin.
Yet Namgung Geom spoke his mind without reservation.
“The command council has warned them repeatedly about this matter, but the pirate bands simply refuse to listen.”
Gang Mujin’s frustration was evident.
The Changhang Suromeng’s hold over its members was weaker than one might expect.
At its foundation, the Changhang Suromeng was merely a vast coalition of hundreds of pirate bands scattered across the Changhang, bound together by mutual interest.
It maintained the appearance of unity only through the absolute military power of the Dragon King, while individual band leaders ruled their territories as petty sovereigns.
Though they nominally obeyed the command council, their own profits came first.
Even when the council forbade excessive tolls and restricted the use of force, many bands ignored such directives.
They had observed certain limits before, but of late their conduct had crossed the line.
“If I may say so, the Three Demon Sect’s reach may extend beyond Heuksuchai alone.”
Namgung Geom suggested that agents of the Three Demon Sect might be embedded in other pirate bands of the Changhang Suromeng.
Gang Mujin’s eyes flashed with sharp clarity.
“Which is why I intend to use this opportunity for a comprehensive reorganization of the league.”
He harbored ambitions to transform the Changhang Suromeng from a pirate collective into a true Martial World power.
But the pirate bands that composed the Changhang Suromeng had not shed their brigand nature.
Where Orthodox Faction warriors might stake their lives on righteousness or family honor, the pirates of the Changhang Suromeng chased only silver and the thrill of plunder.
No matter how hard Gang Mujin worked to establish order within the confederation or cultivate the Changhang Suromeng as a legitimate force in the Martial World, the deeply ingrained habits of his men did not change so easily.
‘If they won’t change on their own, then I’ll force them to.’
Gang Mujin resolved to use this opportunity to draw forth the blade of reform in earnest.
Resistance would come, he knew, and it would be fierce.
But it was a mountain the Changhang Suromeng had to cross if they were ever to be reborn as a true power in the Martial World.
Namgung Byung-ryong
Author |
Baek Wol-geom
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(주) Samyang C&C
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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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