Namgoong the Sword Ghost - Chapter 160

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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 160. The Sword Demon’s Exposure
Bang!
“You let him escape?!”
“I, I’m terribly sorry.”
“What about the White Fang Squad?”
“Completely annihilated, sir.”
A broad-faced middle-aged man glared at his subordinate, his complexion flushing crimson and purple in turn.
“Annihilated? How many casualties? Surely you don’t mean to tell me that the Seonmun Lord or the Gimun Lord has arrived?”
“N, no sir. Unknown.”
“What do you mean unknown?”
“Not a single external wound. The victims appear to have been killed by precise strikes to their vital points. Beyond that, all we can say is that we’re dealing with a master of overwhelming superiority.”
“……Damn!”
Mo Son, the leader of the Gongryeong Mun, was left speechless by his subordinate’s report.
‘The White Fang Squad is the elite of our sect. True, they’re only at the half-Ascended Master stage, but when they circulate the Baekseol Gi, every last one of them becomes a first-class master. And yet someone assassinated them without a sound?’
Had they encountered the Invisible Kill King itself?
Or had the Spirit Lord somehow hired an Ascended Master?
‘A milk-reeking brat. He didn’t walk into this trap unprepared, did he?’
Grind!
Mo Son gnashed his teeth.
They’d learned an outsider—an arrogant young upstart intent on swallowing Hao Mun whole—had entered Uichang, and they’d launched an ambush. But they’d failed.
The reason that brat had come to Uichang was crystal clear.
‘He means to take this place by any means necessary. Uichang will become the second’s foothold. It’s a vital junction we absolutely cannot yield.’
After a moment’s thought, Mo Son issued his command.
“Tell every disciple working in the inns, brothels, gambling dens, and the like throughout the district. Catch rats.”
“Rats, sir?”
“Rats, you fool. Not a single one is to survive. Moreover, any small animals that enter the establishments are to be caught and killed. Sparrows, lizards, moles—everything.”
“……”
At the sect leader’s order, his subordinate’s face fell into bewilderment.
Of course rats were naturally drawn to places with food.
Killing every last rat? Not even a king could accomplish such a thing.
“Y, yes sir.”
But what choice did he have?
Orders were orders.
Even at his subordinate’s answer, Mo Son’s expression remained dissatisfied.
‘Now that the brat has arrived in Uichang, it’ll only grow harder to maintain intelligence superiority as time goes on.’
The Spirit Lord of Hao Mun could share senses with animals and gather information through them.
Because of this, he could infiltrate countless locations and rake in intelligence from all directions.
The fact that in every city the Spirit Lord had visited, there had not been a single intelligence battle won was proof of how terrifying his ability was.
“There’s no help for it. Summon the Yin Yang Twin Demons.”
“Yes! Right away!”
“At once!”
“Y, yes sir!”
Clatter-clatter!
As his subordinate rushed out in panic, Mo Son drummed his fingers against the table, lost in thought.
Tap. Tap. Tap-tap.
‘The Yin Yang Twin Demons, one of the Ten Demons of Zhongyuan, were already recognized as masters of the 108 Star Level. With the backing of the Society’s support, those two elevated to even greater heights would not falter even against the Twelve Kings!’
The chronic weakness of Hao Mun was precisely the shortage of true masters.
The Gongryeong Mun had been able to compensate for this through the Society’s support.
That was how they had surpassed their other competitors and seized control of the Point Business.
By contrast, the brat had few personnel available and would struggle to hold his own.
“Heh. What good is information if you can’t put it to use? It’s all for nothing.”
Mo Son smirked at the brat’s expense, but his expression soon hardened and he clicked his tongue.
“Tsk. I would have preferred not to rely on the Yin Yang Twin Demons. They were clearly eyeing Baekseol O……”
Mo Son glanced about before retrieving a rectangular wooden chest from beneath the table.
Clunk! Fwoosh!
As he opened the wooden chest, acrid steam rose in wisps.
“Squeak, squeak!”
“Hehehehe. Have you been well?”
Mo Son peered into the chest and greeted warmly.
Within it sat a rectangular cage made of red iron, and inside that cage, a small creature huddled in upon itself.
The small creature, no bigger than a fist, was a flying squirrel with two round black eyes and a body covered entirely in white fur.
The white flying squirrel, which had once bounded through the snow-covered tundra of Siberia, had drifted into Zhongyuan centuries ago and been elevated to the status of a spirit lord in the Point Business.
“Squeak!”
Baekseol O gave a sharp cry and glared at Mo Son.
“Keh-heh-heh, I’ll be asking for your assistance shortly. Thirty of our people took losses, you see. I trust you can replenish our numbers?”
“Squeak! Squeak!”
“Ahahaha! You refuse? Well, I suppose there’s no helping it then.”
Clang! Clang!
Mo Son burst into boisterous laughter and shook the cage roughly.
At once, Baekseol O’s small body began colliding with the crimson bars of the Cheol Chang on all sides.
Thud! Thud! Hiss-squeal!
“Squeak-screech!”
Each time the creature’s body touched the bars, steam rose in wisps, and Baekseol O cried out in agony with a piercing shriek.
“Keh-heh-heh! These bars are forged from Yangwha Red Copper, a most precious metal. For one as yin-aspected as yourself, it’s pure torment.”
“Squeak, squeak!”
“I do hope you’ll mind your manners. If you keep struggling, I may have no choice but to hand you over to the Yin Yang Twin Demons. The yin demon spoke quite eagerly of your inner elixir.”
“Squeak…….”
Trembling at Mo Son’s threat, Baekseol O curled into a tight ball once more.
* * *
“Therefore, the crux of this Practical Evaluation lies in identifying Lei Jeok and uncovering the whereabouts of the Jincheol Lei.”
As Geum Jeong finished speaking, nearly thirty students began murmuring at once.
“What? The Jincheol Lei was stolen?”
“This is preposterous.”
“Have the administrators lost their minds? How could they possibly mishandle such a treasure?”
The students who had just learned of the Jincheol Lei theft from Geum Jeong were among the finest—the leaders of their respective factions.
Summoned early by the Academy Director and brought to the Academy Director’s Office, they had been taken aback by the unexpected news.
Yet among them, Mo Yong Cheol, who led Seommun Dan, showed no sign of alarm.
‘So it’s begun.’
Mo Yong Cheol watched Geum Jeong’s ambiguous expression and smiled faintly.
The situation was obvious enough.
Someone tracking the Jincheol Lei must have requested assistance from Baekmu Academy.
And Geum Jeong, recognizing the gravity of the matter, would have agreed.
‘No matter how much authority the Academy Director wields, she cannot simply command the students as she pleases. So she dangles this Practical Evaluation as pretext, setting them against each other.’
The Benevolent King, Geum Jeong.
Though her reputation for fairness and integrity—admired by all who know of it—obscures the deeper truth,
since she became the head of the Ami Faction, the sect has reached its greatest prosperity and influence in the present age.
Such achievement could never have been won by martial strength alone.
‘Old ginger is always the spiciest. The Gongryeong Mun will have their hands full.’
A major obstacle had appeared in the Society’s plan, yet Mo Yong Cheol welcomed it.
‘Excellent. We already know who the culprit is. This Practical Evaluation’s first place will belong to Seommun Dan!’
Mo Yong Cheol’s eyes swept across his competitors with keen calculation.
Ak San Gun, who led Gwangpung Dan, stood frowning in deep thought.
And the three masters of Hojung Cheon Dan, who had been thorns in Seommun Dan’s side throughout their recruitment wars, were absent due to serious injuries.
‘Heh-heh, things proceed smoothly.’
Of course, it was no coincidence that the Jincheol Lei had detonated near Young Geon, Jeon Pyeong, and Hong So when they visited Hyeopgang Daru.
Mo Yong Cheol had tipped off Mo Yong Hak about eliminating competitors, and his brother had tasked the Gongryeong Mun with delivering the Jincheol Lei.
‘That bastard Hak. He claimed the diversion was necessary—but what scheme is he truly weaving?’
Mo Yong Cheol paused briefly in thought, then shook his head.
The Society operated as a cellular network, and information exchange among members was strictly compartmentalized.
Operatives performed only their own narrow tasks and could not see the full picture.
Only Mo Yong Hak, the mastermind behind this Uichang operation codenamed “The Lament of Wang Zhaojun,” possessed knowledge of the complete scheme.
‘It grates on me that the bat lives above my head, but it cannot be helped.’
The information gap between a hound loyal for years and one freshly enlisted was only natural.
Mo Yong Hak’s sudden rise, once dismissed as beneath notice, was eyesore enough, yet Mo Yong Cheol harbored no real concern.
‘Once I become Student Council President, every evaluation will be reversed. I am a card they cannot afford to discard, and the Society will pour far greater resources into my hands!’
Ambition blazed in Mo Yong Cheol’s eyes like wildfire.
Then a woman appeared at the edge of his vision, peering about as if searching for someone.
“Tch. Where has she been gallivanting since yesterday? With such momentous news breaking…….”
Jegal Ahyeon was wandering about, looking for someone.
Mo Yong Cheol’s gaze upon her grew cold and guarded.
‘It all belonged to me originally. Jegal Ahyeon. The Patriarch’s attention. The position of Dragon Phoenix. The subsidiary branch leadership of the Moyong Clan. Everything!’
All of it had been stolen from me.
So from now on, I would take it back.
Starting with the Student Council President position, one by one.
I’m going to take everything from you.
Look forward to it.
Namgung…!
“Namgung Ho Yeon.”
Just then, Geum Jeong spoke, her gaze fixed on the entrance to the Academy Director’s Office.
“Don’t stand there—come inside.”
Creak!
The moment she finished speaking, Ho Yeon shuffled in with a hand running through his disheveled hair.
“Ah, yes. I was told to come here, right?”
“You’re late.”
“Well, I ran into a junior I know.”
“As the director of Dongari, shouldn’t you show a bit more dedication?”
“Ugh, I’ve been exhausted with all these assignments. Could you lighten the load a bit?”
“Huh huh huh.”
Geum Jeong looked at Ho Yeon with an amused smile as he played around.
‘No matter what this boy does, I can’t find him disagreeable. Truly a remarkable child.’
Geum Jeong gazed at Ho Yeon with the warmth one reserves for a grandchild’s antics, then began explaining the Practical Evaluation once more.
“There exists a Lei Jeok in Uichang who has stolen a Jincheol Lei.”
“Huh?”
“Any Dongari that identifies their identity and uncovers the whereabouts of the Jincheol Lei will be guaranteed a perfect score on this Practical Evaluation.”
“I… see.”
“But do not overexert yourselves. The safety of our students comes first and foremost. Once you’ve determined the whereabouts of the Jincheol Lei, the Instructor Corps will handle the rest.”
Ho Yeon listened to Geum Jeong’s words while blinking, then scratched his cheek and asked.
“So you’re telling us to take down the Gongryeong Mun, right?”
“Pardon?”
“They’re the Lei Jeok. Didn’t you know?”
“…!”
* * *
Geum Jeong hurried out, leaving only the students in the Academy Director’s Office.
Mo Yong Cheol glared at Ho Yeon with an ominous gaze, while Ak San Gun approached him with a rigid expression and asked.
“Is it true?”
“What is?”
“That the Twin Gentlemen belonging to the Gongryeong Mun are the Lei Jeok who stole the Jincheol Lei.”
“Well, I heard it from a junior I know.”
“….”
When Ho Yeon shrugged his shoulders, Ak San Gun, who had been staring at him intently, furrowed his brow and asked.
“I cannot comprehend this. Why did you make that information public to everyone?”
“Hmm?”
“We are competitors. Had you monopolized that information, the others wouldn’t have stood a chance.”
“What?”
“It was the perfect opportunity for Nakjeon Dan to consolidate its position. Your chances of becoming Student Council President would have skyrocketed. Why on earth did you do this?”
Ak San Gun asked genuinely puzzled, and the gaze of every student present fixed upon Ho Yeon.
In response, Ho Yeon chuckled and replied.
“Well, let me be clear about this once and for all—I’m not particularly interested in the Student Council President position.”
“What… did you just say?”
“Competition means pushing each other forward and achieving results together. If we tear into our own allies and miss the prey we should be hunting, that’s just disgraceful.”
“….”
“Don’t put the cart before the horse.”
Step, step, step.
Just as Ho Yeon was about to walk past, Ak San Gun asked with a stunned expression.
“…If the Student Council President isn’t your goal, then what exactly are you after?”
Tap.
Ho Yeon halted at the question, then smiled wickedly and answered.
“Number One Under Heaven.”
“…!”
After answering curtly, Ho Yeon continued on and, spotting Jegal Ahyeon, gave a wave.
“Yes.”
“Yes? No, it’s not! You’ve been— Wait, what’s with you?”
“What do you mean?”
“You look incredibly pleased with yourself.”
“Do I?”
“Who did you meet?”
“Oh, well. I ran into a junior I know. But listen, Ahyeon—there are people going around trading on my name.”
“You don’t mean the Nakjeon Dan, do you?”
“That’s the one. Call them over for me. I want to put them to work.”
Ho Yeon’s smile turned cryptic as he continued.
“They’ll have to earn their right to bear my name.”

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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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