Namgoong the Sword Ghost - Chapter 120

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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 120. The Sword Demon’s Instruction
Tap-tap-tap!
The surrounding landscape warped.
Cheon Se Geuk’s face was taut with concentration.
Nothing but grass, trees, and rocks surrounded him, yet his eyes darted constantly, his awareness sweeping in all directions.
Whoosh!
A long branch lashed toward his waist like a whip.
“Hup!”
Slice!
Having severed the branch, Cheon Se Geuk immediately drew forth a blade infused with Cheonsa Geom Ryeong Gi, spinning it furiously before him.
Clatter-clatter-clatter!
Pebbles, hurled with considerable force, struck the whirling blade and burst into sparks.
‘Magnificent! It’s as though I’m facing the whole world at once!’
Cheon Se Geuk fashioned the Ma Ryeong Sa Gung, trembling with admiration and dread, awe and exhilaration.
His left arm bent into a bow-shape, leveling through the tall grass, and having nocked his blade into the arm-bow and drawn the string, Cheon Se Geuk released at once.
Twang!
Crash!
The blade-arrow, wreathed in Jeon Sa Ryeok and spinning wildly, mowed through the grass and reached its destination.
“Ah, quick to sense that, were you?”
Ho Yeon let out a brief exclamation of praise, then swatted down the blade Cheon Se Geuk had launched as easily as one might swat a fly, using the Heukya Tae Geom.
Bang!
Thud!
As the blade lodged itself in the earth and dust billowed up, Cheon Se Geuk seized the opportunity without hesitation and rushed forward.
From his Yongcheon point, crimson Nae Gi, redder than blood itself, surged forth and scattered like petals across the ground with each friction against the earth.
“The Bo Hwa Bo Bo is an illusion step meant to deceive the opponent’s eyes—a phantom footwork. It pairs beautifully with the Pungma Sal Geom, which makes unpredictability its weapon.”
Ho Yeon smiled thinly.
He had transmitted one of the two secret arts obtained from Jin Heuk Cheon to Cheon Se Geuk, and the young man was making admirable use of it.
Patter-patter-patter!
Watching the crimson Nae Gi scatter through the air with each step, Ho Yeon felt as though he stood beneath a plum blossom tree in full bloom.
‘If I weave it together with Un-am’s Seryoo Pyo, it could become something quite interesting.’
Ho Yeon was lost in these thoughts when it happened.
Cheon Se Geuk, having clouded Ho Yeon’s vision with dust and the phantom steps of the Bo Hwa Bo Bo, suddenly pulled back all ten of his fingers.
Whoooosh!
As the dust cleared, what emerged was the Sa Cheop Jeon Yo—Cheon Se Geuk’s hidden gambit.
A mass of crimson threads, woven and tangled, had formed a casting net to ensnare Ho Yeon.
“Haa!”
With a sharp cry, the Sa Cheop Jeon Yo rapidly tightened around Ho Yeon.
Ho Yeon gazed at it calmly for a moment, then smiled and extended his index finger.
“Here.”
Bang!
White lightning flickered at his fingertip.
The Cheon Noe Ji struck one knot of the Sa Cheop Jeon Yo’s net in an instant and severed it cleanly.
Snap!
“Ugh!”
The Sa Cheop Jeon Yo collapsed uselessly, and Cheon Se Geuk, realizing Ho Yeon had vanished from sight, immediately took up a defensive stance.
Whoosh-whoosh!
Before Cheon Se Geuk could blink, Ho Yeon was upon him, and the palm strike was wreathed in layered azure clouds.
Even as it extended with blinding speed, Ho Yeon’s palm rotated half a revolution—the Yun Hae Jeon Bok, the Chung Un Man Gyeop Jang technique to overturn the sea of clouds themselves.
Thud!
“Khagh!”
Blocking the strike with his sword blade, Cheon Se Geuk felt his feet lift into the air against his own will, his eyes widening in shock.
Crash!
As he flew backward through empty space, a faint crimson glimmer caught his peripheral vision, and Cheon Se Geuk, alarmed, quickly focused his eyes.
‘A blade! He sent it ahead along the path of my flight?!’
It was a combat sense beyond measure—the ability to read the entire space before him and the trajectory of the battle itself.
‘But I saw it!’
Slice!

Cheon Se Geuk predicted the trajectory of the Wol Young Dan Hong aimed at the space between his brows and swung his blade to intercept it.
But then.
Boom!
With a soft explosion, the Wol Young Dan Hong’s trajectory shifted from the space between his brows straight toward his heart.
“……!”
It wasn’t just the direction that changed—the speed had accelerated through the air as well, hurtling toward him with terrifying velocity. And yet, just before the Wol Young Dan Hong’s blade could pierce Cheon Se Geuk’s heart.
Screech!
The tip of the Wol Young Dan Hong stopped a single inch before his chest.
Thud!
Landing on the ground, Cheon Se Geuk turned toward Ho Yeon, who was retrieving the Wol Young Dan Hong, and asked in a stiff, controlled voice.
“Was that the Uigi Yeondong……?”
“No.”
“No?”
Cheon Se Geuk pressed further, taken aback by Ho Yeon’s answer.
A thrown weapon changing direction mid-air of its own accord. And gaining speed to boot.
It defied all conventional understanding.
“Anyone can learn this technique with enough practice.”
“A technique, you say……?”
“It’s called the Sealing Transformation method.”
“Seal and transform?”
“When you throw a short blade, you seal Nae Gong at the hilt’s end. Then you manipulate it carefully so it detonates at the exact time, place, and circumstances I choose.”
“…….”
“If you know your opponent’s movement patterns, habits, defensive forms—their tendencies—the technique becomes far simpler. Using the Cheonsa Geom Ryeong Gi’s extension and adhesion, you could even execute two or three Sealing Transformations in succession.”
“……Hah.”
Cheon Se Geuk let out a sigh.
Ho Yeon spoke of it as though it were nothing, yet for such a thing to be possible, one would need to read the future with the clarity of precognition.
‘An absurd lord indeed. His strength isn’t simply due to the Uigi Yeondong. It’s his comprehension of martial arts itself—it transcends comparison.’
Shaking his head slowly, Cheon Se Geuk asked next.
“What method did you use to break through the Sa Cheop Jeon Yo?”
“There’s no method to speak of. I merely exploited the flaw in the structure.”
“The flaw in the……structure?”
“All things in heaven and earth have structure. Trees, stones, grass—all of them.”
Snap!
Ho Yeon plucked a single leaf from a nearby plant and held it up to examine it.
In his eyes, every intricate vein running through the leaf became distinct.
They consisted of thick primary veins running lengthwise—the Gyeong Seon—connected across by delicate secondary veins perpendicular to them, the Wi Seon.
“Once you grasp that structure, you can sever it. Like this.”
Ho Yeon channeled Nae Gong through the leaf, methodically severing each vein along its structural lines.
Shred!
With its structure broken, the leaf decomposed and scattered into fragments.
“Heh, I’ve caught a few frauds using this method. Try practicing it. You can do it too.”
“…….”
Cheon Se Geuk fell silent.
He wanted to shout something.
But he held his tongue out of respect for his lord.
‘Reading and severing structure during fierce combat? Easy to say…….’
Reading Cheon Se Geuk’s expression, Ho Yeon let out a soft chuckle and spoke.
“If you assume death awaits failure, you can accomplish anything.”
“Pardon?”
“The enemies are closing in. They break through my defenses far too easily. I don’t know how they do it. So I must learn. Why? Because I must survive.”
Cheon Se Geuk didn’t grasp the meaning behind those words.
So Ho Yeon rephrased it, applying it to Cheon Se Geuk’s own circumstances.
“That man who took both your arms. Seung Byeok Ja, yes?”
“…….”
“Mastering this technique is absolutely essential if you’re to face him again. Does that kindle some desire in you?”
“……Immensely so.”
Cheon Se Geuk’s expression twisted like a demon’s, and his eyes began to blaze with fierce, ghostly fire.
Seeing this, Ho Yeon nodded with evident satisfaction.
“Good. I’ve indulged you thus far, so now you’ll help with my experiment.”
“Pardon?”
“I’m going through with this. Grit your teeth.”
Crack―!
Ho Yeon’s momentum transformed entirely.
At the same moment, his Gi Hae Hyeol twisted violently.
The blue sky and white clouds both began to fracture as if viewed through a kaleidoscope.
‘True Qi Combustion!’
From Ho Yeon’s eyes blazed an intense azure light.
This was a forbidden technique of the highest order.
He had extracted secrets from the Blazing Darkness Devouring Demon technique and reshaped them in his own way.
Where Jin Heuk Cheon absorbed others’ vital force to use it through combustion, Ho Yeon burned his own true essence as fuel.
“Whoooosh!”
Over two years’ worth of Nae Gong ignited at once, and in that instant Ho Yeon felt his output surge dramatically.
‘If I have this…!’
The total volume of Qi he could release at once had grown, and Ho Yeon immediately channeled all his Nae Gong into the Heukya Tae Geom.
Shwiiing!
Blue sword lights stretched vertically, forming longitudinal meridians. This much was familiar, the shape of his usual sword force.
Crackle!
But as lateral meridians materialized, wrapping those vertical lines like cross-threads, a mystical constellation of light settled over the blade’s face like blue silk.
Celestial Force.
―Owwww! Yes! This is it!
―This mad bastard! He’s actually done it!
The moment Ho Yeon drew forth the Celestial Force, the Heukya Tae Geom shrieked with ecstasy while the Cheonrae Geom gasped in horror.
“Bwahahaha! Ha!”
Ho Yeon erupted into wild laughter and drove the Heukya Tae Geom toward Cheon Se Geuk, its blade now infused with deep blue Celestial Force.
Crack―!
‘I’m… dying….’
Cheon Se Geuk froze like a mouse before a cat, unable to move even an inch, waiting helplessly for death.
Whoosh!
The Heukya Tae Geom came down with the force to cleave the world in two, stopping just before it split Cheon Se Geuk in half, the blue Celestial Force scattering into empty air.
Cheon Se Geuk stared blankly at that azure shimmer before speaking.
“Did you… hold back?”
“No. Ugh, cough! Ptuey!”
Ho Yeon sheathed the Heukya Tae Geom and spat blood that had risen in his throat, shaking his head.
“Tsk, I need to refine the method. The efficiency is terrible.”
……
“Still, I’ve achieved the first objective.”
Satisfied with his success, Ho Yeon quickly crossed his legs and observed his Gi Hae Hyeol.
His lower Dan Jeon was a disaster, as if a hurricane had swept through it.
The endlessly expanding blue sky had contracted, and the white clouds hung limp, stripped bare like wool plucked from a sheep.
‘I burned through Qi beyond my limits with True Qi Combustion. What remains now….’
Whooom!
Ho Yeon focused his mind on his upper Dan Jeon and visualized an enormous dragon vortex.
‘Gather. Gather. Gather.’
Under the force of that powerful will, the Uigi Yeondong began to reshape the world itself.
The Qi Attraction Force activated, and a powerful vortex of suction formed around Ho Yeon.
Boom-boom-boom!
“Krrgh!”
Crack! Pop!
Cheon Se Geuk, who had been standing watch, yelped in alarm and leaped far from Ho Yeon.
‘He’s… drawing in natural Qi?!’
As Cheon Se Geuk recoiled in disbelief at this impossible sight,
restoration work was underway in Ho Yeon’s lower Dan Jeon.
Boom!
A powerful current of Qi rushed in, beginning to repair the devastated Gi Hae Hyeol.
The blue sky began to expand once more, and new white clouds grew upon the old like fresh skin sprouting on a wound.
When sufficient time had passed, Ho Yeon could see a higher azure expanse and a white cloud thicker than before.
‘Excellent—this way I can enlarge my Dan Jeon rapidly!’
Ho Yeon exulted.
A Dan Jeon expands and strengthens through gradual strain, much like muscle.
Then why couldn’t one artificially apply that strain and expand the Dan Jeon accordingly?
Fortunately, Ho Yeon possessed the Yeol Heuk Sik Ma Gong within his grasp, so there was no reason not to attempt it.
Flash!
Ho Yeon’s eyes snapped open, his gaze sharpening as it swept across the surroundings, and the voices of the swords rang out.
“Pfu-haha! Oh my! You’ve begun relearning the To Hyeol Gong!”
“Good grief, you crazy fool! Do you have a death wish, courting the Ju Hwa Ip Ma?”
‘Well, I’m alive, aren’t I?’
“Merciful heavens, I’m losing my mind! What in the world am I to do with you?”
‘Just leave me be. I’ve lived this well all this time.’
Step, step, step.
While Ho Yeon conversed with the swords, Cheon Se Geuk approached his side and spoke.
“Truly, I never imagined there remained surprises yet to be had.”
“Is this really something to marvel at?”
“You are certainly… my god.”
Cheon Se Geuk gazed upon Ho Yeon with reverent eyes.
That this man—who had restored both his arms and returned his daughter to him—was none other than the Geom Gwi he had longed to serve.
“My lord. I entrust Seon Hyang to your care.”
“You’re leaving?”
“Yes. My skill is such that remaining at your side would offer little aid, I fear.”
Thud.
Cheon Se Geuk knelt on one knee, awaiting his orders.
Ho Yeon rose from his seated position and commanded him.
“Return to the Geumgeom Mun and raise a disturbance.”
“I obey!”
* * *
The next day.
Cheon Se Geuk departed from the Namgung Household.

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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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