Namgoong the Sword Ghost - Chapter 125

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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 125. The Sword Demon Captures the Fisherman
“The Namgung Clan’s forces have entered Geumneung Trading Company, I hear.”
“An unexpected complication.”
“So what do we do now?”
“We’ll suspend operations.”
Bang!
Chang Gwang Yeo, the stocky middle-aged proprietor of the Southern Trading Company with bronzed skin, let out a derisive snort.
“I’ve misjudged my allies. I didn’t know you lot were so spineless. Or is it simply a lack of ability?”
The figure in black made no reply to Chang Gwang Yeo’s mockery.
He was dressed in dark night clothes, subtly different from the dress of Zhongyuan.
Leather Gauntlets wrapped his wrists, a mid-length blade hung from his back between a long sword and a short knife, and Greaves bound his shins.
“There is no need to overreach.”
“A coward, then!”
“We simply endure and wait.”
The eyes of the night-clothed man—the only part of his face visible—narrowed slightly.
“We Assassin Operatives endure, and endure again. Until the perfect opportunity arrives.”
“That cursed opportunity has only a week left! The Initial Assembly opens in two days, then five days later comes the Final Assembly!”
The Samsang Conference unfolds across two sessions.
At the first Initial Assembly, each merchant declares their position, then must find those who disagree and persuade them before the Final Assembly.
Whether through monetary compensation or by mortgaging future value, the method is free.
In those five days between Initial and Final Assembly, how many merchants’ hearts can one turn?
That was the measure of a merchant’s competence.
“The Follower Merchants, terrified by the Namgung Clan’s show of force, are turning their backs one by one!”
Crash!
Chang Gwang Yeo brought his fist down on the desk, his face flushed with rage.
“Our only way forward is to assassinate the Geumneung Trading Company’s proprietor and strip the Absolute Merchants of their center of gravity. Without that wall-like Jin Won Chang, we can bring the Absolute Merchants to heel!”
Where the Namgung Clan sought to shake the board, Chang Gwang Yeo meant to overturn it entirely.
If he could draw in the wolves and assassinate Jin Won Chang, the proprietor of Geumneung Trading Company—
He could fill the vacancy left by the wavering Follower Merchants by purchasing the Absolute Merchants themselves.
“Find a way to kill Jin Won Chang, by any means!”
“That is a low strategy.”
“What?”
“So long as the Namgung Clan remains stationed at Geumneung Trading Company, the odds of a clean operation are slim.”
“Then you’d have me sit and accept this? Did you think I took your hand for nothing?”
“There is a higher strategy instead.”
“Don’t just talk—show me!”
“It stands beside you.”
“…What?”
At the black-clad man’s words, Chang Gwang Yeo turned his head. Then he started in shock.
There, right beside him, stood a man like a ghost, watching him intently.
“Gasp! W-who are you?!”
Shring!
Chang Gwang Yeo drew his blade swiftly, leveling it at the stranger, but the man stood unmoved, not even blinking.
“Compose yourself, if you will. He is an Assassin Operative of our Eumsal Mun.”
“…A killer?”
Chang Gwang Yeo’s pupils trembled.
The man had closed to arm’s length without a whisper of presence.
Which meant that had he wished it, Chang Gwang Yeo would already be dead.
‘Impossible. My cultivation is hardly shallow!’
Chang Gwang Yeo was no mere office-bound merchant, pushing papers from a desk.
He was an active Fleet Master who personally steered boats through the rough waters of the Yangtze and led commercial expeditions.
For that reason, he had long devoted himself to martial refinement, consuming elixirs like daily rice, and had only recently crossed the threshold into the peak of the Transcendent realm.
‘I took pride in my Qi Perception—as keen as any Supremacy Realm Master. How could this be…!’
As Chang Gwang Yeo stared at the man with wary eyes, the black-clad figure spoke.
“This one has unofficial credit for assassinating Supremacy Realm Masters—he is a top-tier Assassin Operative.”
“A S-Supremacy Realm Master?!”
“There are few such talents even in our organization, so it is hardly surprising you did not recognize him, esteemed proprietor.”
……
Chang Gwang Yeo felt cold sweat trickling down his spine.
He had meant to call in the wolves to check the tiger.
But now, doubt crept in—had he miscalculated after all?
“So… this person is assassinating the head of Geumneung Trading Company?”
“No.”
“No?”
“Look at his face carefully. Haven’t you seen him before somewhere?”
“His face?”
Chang Gwang Yeo studied the ghost-like man’s features methodically this time.
When recognition dawned, he gasped even louder than before.
“You… you’re the head of Geumhwa Trading Company?!”
The man’s face belonged to one of the five most prominent merchants in all of Zhongyuan.
It was the face of Shin Ji Ho, patriarch of Geumhwa Trading Company.
“How is this possible? How did the head of Geumhwa come to be with Eumsal Mun?”
“Hehehehe.”
The man in black chuckled with satisfaction at Chang Gwang Yeo’s reaction.
“It is the secret art of our Lanpa Ryu—the Thousand Faces Technique.”
“A thousand… faces?”
“In Zhongyuan, you call it the Face-Changing Art, I believe?”
“…!”
“While Zhongyuan seems infatuated with crude methods like mask-wearing, our tradition employs the refined Qi Manipulation Technique—allowing us to reshape facial muscles and bone structure at will.”
“Surely you don’t mean…”
Chang Gwang Yeo trembled as he stared at the man wearing Shin Ji Ho’s face.
If what he said was true, then the real head of Geumhwa Trading Company had been completely replaced.
“This is our superior strategy. We eliminate the merchant lords who hold voting power and plant our Assassin Operatives in their place. Hehehehe.”
Madness gleamed in the black eyes of the smiling man in black.
It resembled the pure, crystalline insanity of a child delighting in tearing the wings from dragonflies.
‘Insane… these lunatics have gone beyond all reason!’
Chang Gwang Yeo sensed that something had gone terribly wrong.
He had thought they were mere money-grubbers seeking profit.
He had planned to use them, pay them well enough, and discard them when the time came.
‘They don’t want money. They want the money itself—the endless flow.’
Chang Gwang Yeo was a seasoned merchant.
He could read the sinister intentions beneath the surface.
And now he understood: he could not withdraw.
If he tried to back out now, would they simply let him go?
‘No. They’ll eliminate me and put a replacement in my stead.’
Chang Gwang Yeo had come to understand.
He had already waded too deep into the mire.
“What has become of the real head of Geumhwa Trading Company?”
When Chang Gwang Yeo asked in a trembling voice, the eyes of the man in black flickered with delight.
“Who knows? What do you think became of him? Hehehehe.”
* * *
The sun had set, yet West Lake still gleamed with light.
Does heaven hold back the sun itself to reflect the beauty of West Lake?
In truth, it was the lanterns and torches flowing from the hundreds of pleasure boats scattered across the water.
“Kyahahaha, my lord!”
“Wahaha! Chunyeong, come here!”
“To compare West Lake with beauty incarnate—subtle or bold, all adornment suits alike.”
“Bravo!”
“The lake at night is like a painting!”
“Magnificent!”
From hundreds of pleasure boats, the sounds of celebration, recited poetry, and plucked strings mingled into a symphony of revelry.
It was nothing particularly extraordinary.
Hangzhou’s nights were always thus.
“Hmm…”
Yet the posture of the fisherman lying sprawled in a small fishing boat was far from an ordinary sight.
He held a long cylindrical tube to his right eye while keeping his left eye shut.
The tube’s direction pointed toward the topmost floor of a tall pavilion visible even from a distance.
“Well now. Since I’ve come to Hangzhou, I should view the Twin Phoenix Clouds, listen to the bells at Linyin Temple, visit the Moon Reflection Tower, and embrace some of Hangzhou’s famous beauties. Yet here I am, spending the entire day watching a roof?”
The fisherman muttered in a gravelly voice.
After a full day of surveillance.
All that could be gleaned was that the young master of Cheong Yeon Pavilion showed little fondness for wine and women.
Since he scarcely ventured outside, there was precious little information to extract.
“Tsk, if you’re not going to use that face, give it to me. A wealthy young master like yourself—why be so abstemious?”
The fisherman’s grumbling had scarcely left his lips when—
the lights atop Cheong Yeon Pavilion went dark.
“Ah. That’s done. Blegh!”
The fisherman withdrew his eye from the telescope and stretched, loosening his stiffened body with a long groan.
After lying prone all day, his neck had bent like a turtle’s.
“Ugh, I’ll ask the branch master for three more silver coins to treat this tortoise neck. He’ll probably say, ‘Well, tortoises live long, so you hand over five coins.’ Kah-hack, ptui!”
Creak, creak, creak!
The fisherman, muttering his senseless remarks, slowly rowed the boat toward the shore.
Unlike the other boats, the fishing vessel bore no lantern light and slipped swiftly into the darkness, merging with the night.
Thump!
The fisherman leaped from the boat onto the dock and was skillfully tying the rope to the bow when—
“Catch any fish?”
“Huh?”
The sudden voice made the fisherman freeze mid-motion, startled.
‘Damn it, I forgot to maintain the Concealment Breath. My focus must be depleted…….’
Realizing his mistake, the fisherman offered a bitter smile.
Had he kept the Concealment Breath active, his presence would have been erased—invisible even to someone standing beside him.
The fisherman continued tying the rope tightly to the bow, keeping his tone as natural as possible.
“Nothing doing, friend. The pleasure boats are too loud—scared all the fish into hiding.”
“Then why not work the pleasure boats yourself?”
“A simple country fellow like me? The wealthy young masters wouldn’t have it.”
“Strange thing for a simple country fellow to be carrying about. What do you call that tube?”
“Ah, that’s a Thousand-Li Telescope—a Western device, and—wait!”
Pat, pat!
The startled fisherman fumbled at his waist, then went pale.
‘What—it’s gone?!’
The fisherman spun around quickly.
Beneath the moonlight stood a fair youth in blue martial robes, posed like a living painting.
The young man, three swords hanging at his waist, held the Thousand-Li Telescope to his eye as he surveyed West Lake.
“Quite the clever device, isn’t it?”
“Y-you—Namgung Ho Yeon?!”
“Hmm? You know me?”
“That is—well…….”
The fisherman forced his trembling body to still, mind racing.
“Ha, yes—I saw you this morning. Your confident bearing, like a triumphant general, left quite an impression.”
“Don’t smile.”
“……Pardon?”
“I mean it. Don’t smile at me. Once I grow fond of someone, killing them makes me sad.”
“……!”
Thud!
The fisherman’s feet launched him from the ground.
In the same breath, he activated the Concealment Breath, his form swallowed by darkness as if it had never been.
Whoosh!
‘Damn! I’m caught! Run!’
Silent as a ghost, the fisherman bolted toward Ho Yeon’s blind spot.
Yet Ho Yeon turned with such natural ease, raising the Thousand-Li Telescope toward where the fisherman had been.
“Does this thing have good range?”
“Gasp!”
Flick!
As Ho Yeon snapped his finger, a blade of wind sliced through the air and pierced the fisherman’s Great Bone acupoint.
Crack!
Thud!
With his vital point sealed, the fisherman went rigid as deadwood and collapsed, his presence snapping back into visibility.
“You’re a boatman from the Boat Gate, aren’t you?”
“…….”
At Ho Yeon’s question, the fisherman’s eyes darted about frantically.
Yet no matter how desperately his mind raced, he could conceive of no escape from this abnormal monster who had shattered the Man-Eating Demon Field itself.
“That peculiar concealment art, that alien Qi Aura—there’s no forgetting it.”
Ho Yeon gazed at the fisherman and let out a low, amused chuckle.
Three hundred years ago, back when he was the Sword Demon, during the war with Hao Mun.
He’d cut down hundreds of assassins wielding this exact same Qi.
“And how is that crow of yours doing?”
……!
The fisherman’s eyes went wide at Ho Yeon’s words.
It was something he could scarcely believe he’d heard.
‘How—how does he know of Eun Hyeong O’s existence?!’
Had he sensed the surveillance and taken him captive?
It was entirely possible.
After all, his opponent was the Thunder God Dragon who had killed a Supremacy Realm Master.
But knowing Hao Mun’s most closely guarded secret was another matter entirely.
“I warned you clearly. If we meet as enemies again, I’ll snap those wings clean off and feast on his inner core.”
“U-ugh!”
“Even if I’m an animal lover, there are limits to my forbearance, yes?”
Step, step. Crouch.
Ho Yeon squatted down in front of the fisherman and continued.
“Still, I owe a debt to Hao Mun, so……”
“I am Ha Rin, belonging to the Hao Mun branch house.”
Remembering what had happened in Jeongju, Ho Yeon nodded and raised his index finger.
“I’ll let you go. Take me to your branch master. If you cause trouble, things will get very sad. Seems I’ve grown quite fond of you in this short time.”
Tap!
Ho Yeon released the pressure points of the fisherman, whose eyes were brimming with fear.
“U-ugh……”
“Your answer?”
“Y-yes, I’ll guide you.”
The fisherman scrambled to his feet and answered, and Ho Yeon nodded in satisfaction.
“Good. Hehe, Hangzhou never disappoints me, does it? This city still knows how to entertain.”
The fisherman glanced sidelong at Ho Yeon, who murmured with evident satisfaction.
He trembled inwardly, his mind cycling through Hao Mun’s most vicious curses.
‘Oh no……I’ve stumbled straight into the clutches of a Sword Demon……’

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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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