Namgoong the Sword Ghost - Chapter 142

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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 142. The Sword Ghost Betrayed by His Own Son
“Krhehehehe, here it is.”
Peng Yi Chae surveyed his surroundings with a sinister smile.
No matter how prosperous a city, darkness dwells within it.
If even the glittering Beijing harbored its slums, Hefei could hardly be different.
Upon reaching the sparsely populated Back Alley, Peng Yi Chae muttered to himself.
“The brighter the light, the darker the shadow it casts. This Hefei must conceal truly immense darkness!”
Peng Yi Chae believed this darkness might lead to clues connected to the Society.
‘Thunder God Dragon Namgung Ho Yeon’s achievements defy explanation. He must surely be a Dark Sword being deliberately cultivated by the Society!’
If one were asked to name the most watched Later Generation Disciple in the Zhongyuan Martial World today, Namgung Ho Yeon would undoubtedly rank first.
Many admired him, and far more envied and despised him.
‘All that fame would become renown, and renown would become his power. A Later Generation Disciple wielding such tremendous influence as the Society’s instrument? The situation grows dire.’
Because of this, Peng Yi Chae had to uncover clues before Namgung Ho Yeon’s name grew even greater.
If he were to enter the Baek Mu Hak Gwan and use his reputation to expand his faction, it would become a grave calamity for the White Path in the Martial World.
Before such a thing could occur, Peng Yi Chae was determined to find the tail—to locate his weakness—in Hefei, the heartland of the Namgung Clan.
Tap-tap-tap!
“Huff! Huff! I’m late!”
At that moment, a boy came into Peng Yi Chae’s view, rushing swiftly through the Back Alley.
‘Hmm?’
Peng Yi Chae’s eyes gleamed.
The child wore threadbare but meticulously clean clothes, and his flesh was plump and well-fed, his complexion ruddy and healthy.
‘Hehehehe! Fortune smiles. A child so well-nourished is likely the ringleader of whatever gang roams these streets.’
He must be extorting the other children—forcing them to steal and beg, hoarding everything for himself.
If the boy was indeed a ringleader, he would know all the rumors and secrets of this Back Alley.
Whoosh!
Peng Yi Chae’s form vanished, only to materialize before the child.
“Gasp?!”
“Krhehehehe. You there! Have your crimes announced themselves?”
“Oh, it’s the Sack Grandfather! Ahhhhh!”
The child was horrified at the ghostlike apparition of Peng Yi Chae.
That hideous visage. It was unmistakably the Sack Grandfather from old tales.
The terrifying child-snatcher who takes naughty children who disobey their parents and carries them away in his sack!
“Help! Someone save me!”
Tap-tap-tap!
The child ran quickly, but he remained within Peng Yi Chae’s palm.
Swoosh!
“Krhehehehe! What crimes have you committed to be so terrified?”
“Wahhh! No, Sack Grandfather! It wasn’t me!”
“Puhehehehe, what do you mean it wasn’t you?”
“I’m not a naughty child who disobeys his parents! I don’t have parents to begin with!”
As the child screamed with his eyes clenched shut, Peng Yi Chae’s smile deepened.
“Krhehehehe, your misfortune does not justify your wrongdoing. The resentment of the other children you’ve harmed has summoned me!”
“Wait, resentment? I did steal Geon Yi’s pastry and Hyang Yi’s honey cake, but…….”
“You wretch! You stole those precious sweets? So you truly are the ringleader?”
“What, a ringleader?”
“Hehehehe. Behold this.”
Convinced the child was the gang’s ringleader, Peng Yi Chae sought to frighten him.
Crack!
He reached out and grasped the stone wall, and it crumbled soft as mud beneath his hand.
“Eek!”
“Krhehehehe. If you do not answer my questions honestly, next time it will be your head that becomes like this!”
“Okay, I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything honestly!”
The child trembled with terror.
Peng Yi Chae felt a twinge of conscience at bullying the helpless boy, but consoling himself that the greater good demanded it, he pressed on with his questions.
“I’ve heard there is a villain of extraordinarily poor character in this Hefei.”
“Ah, a villain?”
“Tell me everything you know of this villain. Then I will let you go.”
“Who exactly are you talking about…….”
“Namgung Ho Yeon. The youngest young master of the Namgung Clan. An evil among evils, not yet known to the world!”
At Peng Yi Chae’s words, the child’s brow twitched.
The child who had trembled with fear was trembling no longer.
“Namgung Ho Yeon… a villain?”
“So you knew all along! What did he make you do? Did he order you to lure children and bring them here?”
At the child’s words, Peng Yi Chae’s eyes blazed with excitement.
He thought he might finally obtain information about this new Monster Group Incident.
But the child’s response was nothing like what he expected.
“I can’t say anything.”
“Huh?”
“I will never speak ill of Namgung Ho Yeon!”
“You little rat? Do you want your head split open?”
Crack!
Peng Yi Chae scraped the stone wall again, like tofu, his threat unmistakable—but the child’s eyes burned with an unwavering resolve.
“I will never become a burden to Namgung Ho Yeon! To repay kindness with betrayal is worse than the beasts. I’m an orphan, but I’m a person!”
“This… this little brat?”
“You won’t hear a word against him, not even from my corpse!”
The child opened his mouth wide and stuck out his tongue.
Peng Yi Chae’s brow twitched.
Surely the child wouldn’t…?
Crunch!
Eyes squeezed shut, the child bit down on his own tongue with all his strength.
“Uh… uh… huh?”
But when no pain came, the child slowly opened his eyes.
Only then did he realize it was not his own tongue he had bitten, but the old man’s finger.
Peng Yi Chae’s expression hardened, and he muttered under his breath.
“What in blazes is this? Don’t tell me this child has been brainwashed like some hired assassin? Or is this some kind of mental Spirit Ability?”
“Ow! Ow ow!”
Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!
Peng Yi Chae stared at the child chewing on his finger, then flicked his opposite hand.
Thump!
The child struck at a Hun Hyeol point fell into immediate sleep, and Peng Yi Chae tucked the unconscious child under his arm, muttering.
“Well, I’ll need to find another child.”
Tap!
Peng Yi Chae launched himself into motion.
It wasn’t long before he found another child, just like the first—rosy-cheeked and plump.
The problem was that this child’s response was exactly the same as the first.
“Tell me Namgung Ho Yeon’s secret…”
“Just kill me instead!”
Thump!
“That villain Namgung…”
“No! You dog of an old man!”
Smack!
“What you know about him…”
“Seol Ah will never betray her brother!”
Thump!
Thump!
Thump!
For the better part of an hour, the sound of flicked fingers echoed through the Back Alley.
Peng Yi Chae stood among a dozen unconscious children, leaning them against the stone wall, and let out a wail of despair.
“By the heavens! What kind of cursed city is this! Not a single word!”
Not one of them would speak ill of Namgung Ho Yeon.
How was such a thing possible?
Not even a speck of dust could be shaken loose?
Pitter-patter!
“Good heavens! Master?!”
Just then, a middle-aged beggar who had heard Peng Yi Chae’s wailing came running and froze in shock.
“What are you doing here? We heard you were coming to Hefei, but…”
Gal Pung, the beggar chief of Bun Ta in Hefei, looked back and forth between the children slumped against the wall and Peng Yi Chae, bewildered.
“Kidnapping?”
“No, you fool!”
“Then… then what exactly are you doing?”
“Information gathering.”
“……?”
“Bun Ta. This is serious. There’s an Expansion Criminal operating here in Hefei.”
“W-what? An Expansion Criminal?”
“Look at these brats carefully. Every last one of them is plump and well-fed—they don’t look like orphans at all. This has to be some sort of scheme. Could it be they’re fattening up the children to eat them……?”
“Heavens, Uncle!”
At Peng Yi Chae’s words, Gal Pung cried out in alarm and distress.
“Of course they’re well-fed! These are children from Ho A Won!”
“What? Ho A Won—a garden where children sigh? What manner of heretical nonsense……!”
“Good gracious…….”
Thud.
Gal Pung grabbed his head, at a loss for where to even begin explaining.
“L-let’s just head to Bun Ta. You there! Carry the children!”
Gal Pung barked orders at his subordinates trailing behind, shooting Peng Yi Chae a resentful glare.
“Careful, careful! If anything happens to them…… we could face real trouble.”
“……Hmm?”
* * *
“What did you say?”
“The Ho A Won children…… have been kidnapped.”
“By whom?”
“The culprit’s identity is unknown…….”
“Bring me the leader of Cheon Yi Dang.”
Namgung Ho Yeon spoke in an even, measured tone.
At his words, Chui Chong Myeon, a Cheon Yi Dang member, trembled as he bowed deeply.
‘This is bad. This is serious trouble!’
Chui Chong Myeon had witnessed exactly once before when the unflappable young master lost his temper.
It was sometime last year—half-baked vagabonds who’d drifted in from outside had picked the Ho A Won children’s pockets.
The Ho A Won children earned wages working the tea fields at Suh-ok Toh, and the thieves had stolen an entire year’s worth of their earnings.
When the young master found the children weeping, he’d spoken to them thus:
“You were at fault. You had strength but failed to use it. You’ve received the punishment for that failure.”
“Sob! B-but we haven’t learned martial arts……”
“Martial force isn’t the only kind of strength. You belong to Yuk Young Dang, one of the Nine Halls of the Namgung Clan. You should have invoked the Namgung name.”
“B-but we can’t do that…….”
“Why not?”
“We can’t bring dishonor to the young master’s house…….”
“Y-yes, that’s right. We’re fine. This sort of thing is just everyday hardship for us.”
“Sob! We can earn the money back by working hard.”
“We’re sorry. For causing you trouble…….”
“……Fools.”
After the exchange, the young master took several Cheon Yi Dang members and stepped out briefly.
Chui Chong Myeon was among them.
‘Those bastards didn’t die clean. Even now, just thinking of that day……’
“What are you doing? I said fetch the Cheon Yi Dang leader!”
“Yes, yes!”
Tap-tap!
As Chui Chong Myeon vanished in a flash of Divine Movement Technique, Namgung Ho Yeon stroked his chin, lost in thought.
‘Cheon Yi Dang didn’t pick up on that movement? Something doesn’t add up.’
In Hefei at least, there were few places beyond the reach of Cheon Yi Dang’s intelligence network.
The situation made no sense unless one of the five major intelligence organizations of Zhongyuan had intervened.
‘Could it be the work of that Society?’
Namgung Ho Yeon’s gaze sharpened.
The Monster Group Incident came to mind.
‘Jiseon’s Secret Art. It was definitely a method of extracting Spirit Energy from children to artificially create Spirit Ability Users. Have those vermin’s claws reached all the way to Hefei?’
Grin.
A smile spread across Namgung Ho Yeon’s lips.
“Daring to reek of corruption within the main clan’s domain? Looks like it’s time for some cleaning.”
Why had he eliminated Baek Yun Sang Dan and Yeom Bang?
Because they’d grown bold and disrespectful within Namgung Clan territory.
He’d thought he’d thoroughly scoured the area these past years, yet now more insects had crawled back in?
“Those orphan bastards are Namgung Clan property. Don’t think you can covet the main house’s assets and walk away unscathed.”
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
Ho Yeon moved forward step by step.
Thunk!
Something struck the tip of his boot.
“Hmm?”
It was a stone no larger than a fist, wrapped suspiciously in cloth.
“Who left this thing here?”
Rustle.
Ho Yeon picked up the stone and unwrapped the cloth.
As he did, crude characters scrawled across the cloth in ink came into view.
[Gae Bang is the culprit who kidnapped the children.
They are in Bun Ta.]
“What?”

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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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