Namgoong the Sword Ghost - Chapter 164

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 164. The Sword Demon Senses Calamity
“Hahaha! Impressive, I must say!”
Ho Yeon burst into hearty laughter.
One body with two heads.
Even during his Sword Demon days, he’d never encountered a murin like this.
The arrival of this two-headed, four-armed warrior was like a sudden downpour breaking the monotony of academy life.
He found it exhilarating.
Crackle-snap! Sizzle-crackle!
“Thunder Lord, you say? That one wouldn’t be…?”
“That’s right, brother. His name is Namgung Ho Yeon.”
As Du Il muttered while tracking the white lightning bolts crawling across the ground in all directions, Du Yi revealed Ho Yeon’s identity.
“Oh? The Cheonroe Jewang Singong—that supreme divine art! I’ve been dying to test it against my Fire Yang Divine Art!”
“Let the right head play with the one in the back. I’m interested in the left head.”
“You insolent wretch! I am Du Il! My sister has a name—Du Yi!”
As Du Il roared in fury, Ho Yeon spoke as though he hadn’t heard.
“Ah, is that so? Bean One and Bean Two, then. Unique names indeed. I’ll remember that.”
“Hehehehe! Cheeky little one. Are you interested in this lady?”
“Very much so, actually.”
Smirk.
Ho Yeon smiled and gestured toward the White Yin Qi clinging to Du Yi’s sword.
“You’ve refined it well enough, but my eye sees through it. That’s Mixed Qi, isn’t it?”
“…What did you just say?”
“Have you met a man called Hoe Ju?”
“…!”
“Ah, since you’re one body, you both must have met him.”
“How could this one possibly…!”
At Ho Yeon’s words, both Du Il and Du Yi gasped in shock.
From behind, Ak San Gun asked.
“What in the world are you talking about?”
“You don’t need to know. Just focus on the right head. Catching half-baked mongrels like this is my specialty.”
Snap!
Ho Yeon leveled the Cheonrae Geom and sneered at the Twin Demons.
“One achieved Seungbyeok properly, but the other received help from outside. Curious. Did the female half lack patience?”
“……”
“You! Don’t insult my sister! You outsider who knows nothing!”
Du Yi fell silent at Ho Yeon’s words, while Du Il raged all the louder.
“Why should I concern myself with your affairs? All I want to know is Hoe Ju’s true identity. Tell me!”
Sizzle-crackle! Crackle-crackle-crackle!
The electric current running along the Cheonrae Geom’s surface like the strings of a zither formed Qi Force, and in an instant a double layer overlapped.
Boom!
Having drawn forth the Qi Armor Overlapping Tribulation, Ho Yeon immediately planted his footwork.
Whoosh!
“Namgung Ho…! Blast!”
Ak San Gun too followed in Ho Yeon’s wake, sweeping into a rushing step.
“These accursed brats!”
“Brother, leave the spear work to me.”
“Got it!”
Boom! Crash!
The Twin Demons likewise pushed off the ground and charged.
Du Yi, the Yin Demon, glared at Ho Yeon with cold eyes while sweeping her White Yin Divine Art into motion.
Shrill-clang!
The frigid yin-cold energy pouring from her froze the raindrops that had been falling softly into place.
Tap! Tap-tap-tap!
As she then flicked the ice shards away with her sword face, they transformed into True Qi-infused hidden projectiles that streaked toward Ho Yeon from all sides.
“Hahahah! Now that’s entertaining!”
In response, Ho Yeon rapidly scattered the Cheonrae Geom in wild arcs, dispersing Cheonrae Gi in all eight directions.
Crackle-snap! Flash!
The Thunder Lightning Thousand Branches technique unleashed a thousand branches of lightning, intercepting every incoming ice fragment.
Crackle-crackle-snap—!
The Cheonrae Gi spread like wildfire across the nearby pools, and Ho Yeon, smiling widely, cried out.
“This environment isn’t working in your favor alone!”
Crack!
Namgung Ho Yeon brought the Cheonrae Geom down toward the Thunder Cloud that filled the surrounding space.
Du Yi thought it was a feint and raised her sword in preparation for the next attack, but Namgung Ho Yeon’s strike was unmistakably real.
Snap-crack!
“What?!”
From within the white Thunder Cloud, more than a dozen lightning-infused blades erupted toward Du Yi.
Born from applying the mysteries of instant, transformation, and concealment in sequence using the Cheonrae Gi spread across the ground—the barrage of the Thunder Shadow Sword.
―Ah! You’ve finally done it! Remarkable!
The Cheonrae Geom itself marveled at the sight.
Thunder Shadow Sword—Rain.
Namgung Ho Yeon’s technique was a transformation of the Thunder Shadow Three Techniques’ third form into sword work rather than palm technique.
Though “transformation” was the word for it, he had essentially reconstructed it from the ground up, keeping only the foundational structure.
“Tch!”
Du Yi, caught off guard by this disorienting ambush she hadn’t anticipated, raised her Protective Qi Armor.
Clang!
The White Yin Qi crisscrossing left and right to shield her body resembled the birth of an iceberg itself.
Yet to Namgung Ho Yeon’s eyes, everything was crystal clear.
‘A flaw!’
Despite her efforts to spread it as perfectly as possible, ragged weak points scattered across the ice formation caught his attention.
Crack! Bang-boom!
The Thunder Shadow Swords, responding to Namgung Ho Yeon’s intent, pierced precisely through the knots—the very gaps—in the Protective Qi Armor’s structure.
Sizzle!
“Kyaaaah!”
Cheonrae Gi surged through the opening in the fractured armor, searing across Du Yi’s body.
“Sister! Ahhh!”
Du Il, responding to his sister’s scream, spun the Fire Yang Divine Art to its peak, unleashing the scorching heat of an active volcano into the air.
Rumble-crash!
From Du Il’s Ring-Pommel Broadsword erupted nearly three lengths of devastating Fire Qi, and waves of flame burst outward.
Boom!
Du Il supported his sister with his left hand while spinning the Ring-Pommel Broadsword in a circle with his right.
The Fire Well Heaven-Earth struck, transforming the surroundings into a circular well of fire that barred all approach.
Whoosh! Thwack!
Whip-sound!
Namgung Ho Yeon bounded away on a leap, escaping the strike zone, and rebuked Ak San Gun, who had retreated with him.
“Seriously, try to block better.”
“Don’t say such easy things! That man and I don’t have good compatibility.”
“Tsk, right—Wind Generates Fire.”
“But you landed effective blows.”
“That’s because we have good compatibility. Ice arts are fundamentally water-based energy. They’re weak to lightning.”
“Ah, so that’s why you said you’d handle the woman. Who’s being underhanded?”
“That’s not the only reason.”
While Namgung Ho Yeon spoke with Ak San Gun, Du Il cried out anxiously, watching Du Yi.
“Sister!”
“Ugh…”
“Stay with me! Sister!”
“Ugh… Brother, it’s so hot.”
“Ah!”
Du Il, startled, dispersed his fire energy.
Watching him, Namgung Ho Yeon narrowed his eyes.
‘That’s strange.’
He sensed no killing intent from them—no resolve to annihilate their enemies.
In fact, among the Baekmu Academy disciples who had faced the Twin Demons, there were seriously wounded, yet not a single death.
‘Non-killing? Are they monks? What kind of martial artist holds such soft-hearted thinking?’
He had heard that the Yin-Yang Twin Demons, one of the Central Plains Ten Demons, were supposed to be masters between orthodoxy and heterodoxy.
There were two types of masters between orthodoxy and heterodoxy.
One kind were those like Dan Wee Myeong—men who had made enemies of both righteous and unrighteous factions alike.
The other kind were those who had little or no grudges with either side, or had grievances they could manage.
‘He must be the latter. But how? Hoe Ju is someone who kidnaps children and forcibly extracts their Spirit Energy. How could someone who clasps hands with such a creature hesitate at murder?’
While Namgung Ho Yeon pondered this contradiction, Du Yi opened her mouth, glaring at him.
“Brother, time is running short. If reinforcements arrive, we’re done for. Use that technique.”
“But your body—”
“I’m fine. Here goes!”
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
Du Yi drew upon the White Yin Divine Art and unleashed a barrage of thrusts, causing moisture in the air to crystallize as ice flowers bloomed in profusion.
“Hah!”
Click-clack! Whip-crack!
As Namgung Ho Yeon rushed forward and swung his blade, Du Yi’s sword elongated and contracted, whipping about like a phantom blade wreathed across all eight directions.
“What in—!”
“It’s a trick! Don’t trust your eyes!”
Ak San Gun’s eyes widened at the demonic technique, but Namgung Ho Yeon caught Du Yi’s deception at once.
“You’ve warped the image by refracting moonlight through ice crystals!”
“Ho ho ho, correct you are.”
“Hmm! Not bad at all, but—!”
Namgung Ho Yeon simply closed his eyes.
Woom!
Uigi Yeondong activated, spreading a psychic field, and though his eyes were shut, he could perceive everything around him as clearly as if he held it in the palm of his hand.
“There!”
Cling!
Namgung Ho Yeon found the true blade hidden within the phantom sword and cut it down.
Bang! Bang! Cling-cling-cling!
“Remarkable!”
Though Du Yi unleashed a barrage of successive cuts, Namgung Ho Yeon blocked them all with ease, making clear that he had truly broken through the Ice Flower Confusion technique.
It was said that masters of high skill could perceive movement through Spirit Energy alone.
But moving freely without relying on the eyes was another matter entirely.
“Yet this too is but a feint. Ho ho ho, now we are ready!”
“What?!”
“Do your best to defend.”
“Kra-ha! Unless you want to die!”
“That is—!”
Ak San Gun witnessed unprecedented power surging forth from Du Il’s left hand and Du Yi’s right hand as they clasped together at the center.
Whoooosh!
Whoooosh-whoosh!
Du Il’s Fire Yang Divine Art created the warp threads to establish the framework, while Du Yi’s White Yin Divine Art filled the spaces between as the weft threads, and a unified Yin-Yang Qi sword emerged into view.
“Yin-Yang Converged Qi Sword?! This madness! Block it!”
Even Namgung Ho Yeon, eyes wide with alarm, was startled by the Yin-Yang Twin Demons’ creation.
Whooom!
At once he triggered True Qi Combustion, squeezing out a torrent of Qi through his meridians and wrapping the Cheonrae Geom with Surging Bow Qi.
“Haaah!”
Ak San Gun too spun Explosive Fierce Qi around his spear point, thrusting downward in a Point Spear strike.
Collision.
Boom—!
A deafening roar stretched across tens of li as the earth’s crust heaved upward and acrid dust exploded outward like an active volcano.
Patter-patter-patter!
As light rain settled the dust, the revealed landscape was a vast semicircular crater, shaped like a volcanic caldera.
“Cough!”
“Ugh! Pfft! You damned brutes!”
Ak San Gun and Namgung Ho Yeon both coughed blood, eyeing each other warily.
“Ho? You blocked that?”
“You withstood the Yin-Yang Explosive Qi and remain standing on two feet? I hear the younger generation’s prowess has grown by leaps and bounds—it seems the tales are true.”
Du Il and Du Yi marveled.
The Yin-Yang Explosive Qi was a technique that momentarily distorted the harmony of Yin and Yang, utilizing the resulting backlash as its mechanism.
It possessed such tremendous power that even ordinary Protective Qi Armor could be blown away.
“……I find it all the more incomprehensible.”
Regarding the Twin Demons with a puzzled expression, Namgung Ho Yeon spoke.
“One can know a person by their martial arts. Each of your techniques is rooted in profound understanding of martial philosophy.”
The method of creating whirlwinds by harnessing rising and falling currents of air.
The superb improvisation of freezing raindrops and firing them as hidden projectiles.
The phantom blade that warps images by refracting light through ice crystals.
And the Unique Sect Qi that merges Yin and Yang principles into a single force.
“You’re not the type to be swayed by brute strength alone. So why on earth did you make such a foolish choice as Forced Transcendence?”
At Ho Yeon’s question, Du Il’s cheeks trembled, and he muttered with bitter self-mockery.
“Ah, because I was stupid enough to achieve Seungbyeok.”
“……What?”
Was he making fun of him?
Deception and False Kung Fu?
“The Jianghu saw us only as monsters. We never took pleasure in killing, never sparked bloodbaths, and yet……”
“Heh, we were called monsters from the moment we were born. Even our parents feared us.”
“Well, I don’t resent them for that. They suffered terribly because of the way we turned out.”
“Two peas in a pod. That’s what we are.”
…….
As Ho Yeon listened to Du Il and Du Yi’s words, his expression hardened like stone.
He recalled the scorn and mockery he had endured for so many years under the name Dan Wee Myeong.
“……Monster bastard.”
“If only Uigi Yeondong didn’t exist!”
“It’s witchcraft!”
“Kill that monster!”
To be different was to be wrong.
Sword Demon Dan Wee Myeong understood this truth bone-deep.
“We grew disgusted with such a Jianghu and became hermits. We shut ourselves away in Deep Mountain Valley for over a decade, the two of us alone. Then one day……I carelessly achieved Seungbyeok while wielding my sword.”
“Brother……”
“The harmony of Yin and Yang shattered because of it, and Du Yi couldn’t withstand my heat—she began to wither. Because of my stupidity, my sister……!”
“That’s not true! Brother, you did nothing wrong! I’m the foolish one!”
Du Yi spoke up in defense of Du Il.
“My brother came back to the Jianghu he so despised, just to save me. He searched everywhere for a way. That’s all.”
“……And then we caught their attention.”
Ho Yeon nodded, now understanding the circumstances of the Yin-Yang Twin Demons.
He had thought they were people who didn’t fit the Society, but there was a reason they had to join hands with them.
“But the Seungbyeok was never perfect. So when we heard rumors of a spirit creature skilled in Yin energy residing at Gongryeong Gate, we came to Uichang……”
“Pfft, to think you’d be this insane……”
Du Il and Du Yi faced each other and broke into wry smiles.
Ho Yeon, who had been watching them intently, sheathed his Cheonrae Geom and offered a formal bow with cupped fists, then spoke.
Sheathed with a clean sound.
“This junior has misunderstood you, the Yin-Yang Twin Demons, Du Il and Du Yi. I offer my deepest apologies.”
“Hm?”
“……What did you say?”
“What?”
At Ho Yeon’s words, not only Du Il and Du Yi but even Ak San Gun, who had been watching from the side, showed clear signs of shock.
Yet Ho Yeon, overlaying the image of the past Sword Demon upon these two figures, continued without hesitation.
“Truly remarkable martial arts. I have learned much from you. It must have required bone-grinding effort.”
…….
…….
“Most of all, I was moved by the fact that despite countless hardships, you never strayed from the righteous path. You are truly extraordinary.”
Ho Yeon meant every word of it.
Sword Demon Dan Wee Myeong had not possessed such endurance.
He had poured all his rage outward to strike at the world, and he had ended his life alone, grasping at nothing.
“Hm, well.”
“……What a remarkable child.”
Du Il and Du Yi felt something stir in them as they looked into Ho Yeon’s eyes.
The eyes of those who looked upon them usually held fear, contempt, and rejection.
Du Il and Du Yi had encountered many who tried to exploit them with honeyed words, and they could recognize such falsehood.
Namgung Ho Yeon was speaking from his heart.
‘Empathy……? How does a Later Generation Disciple not yet twenty understand our lives?’
‘It’s not mere pity. He truly sees us as equals.’
After a long moment of staring blankly at Ho Yeon, Du Il spoke.
“Come to think of it, you’ve never once called us monsters.”
“I don’t casually treat others as monsters. I hate men like that.”
When Ho Yeon spoke firmly, Du Il and Du Yi exchanged glances.
Confident that they wore the exact same expression, they opened their mouths.
“……You wanted to know about Hoe Ju? I’m sorry, but we don’t know much either. Because of the strange oppressive force, we couldn’t even see his face properly.”
“Instead, let me offer you one warning. Evacuate your acquaintances from Uichang as quickly as you can.”
“……What do you mean?”
At Namgung Ho Yeon’s question, Du Il lifted his gaze to observe the angle of the moon, while Du Yi turned toward the south, staring at something in the distance.
“Half a double-hour until midnight?”
“Uichang will be submerged within half a double-hour. At minimum, the Central District will certainly be swallowed by water.”
“What, what did you say?!”
“That’s……!”
Namgung Ho Yeon and Ak San Gun were stunned.
In the same instant, a certain conversation flashed through Namgung Ho Yeon’s mind.
“Flood damage has dropped sharply since the Three Gorge Dam was constructed.”
“The Three Gorge Dam?”
“The greatest dam in Zhongyuan was built in the upper reaches of Xiling Gorge. You didn’t know?”
“No.”
“A century ago, a catastrophic flood broke out, and over one hundred fifty thousand people perished in what became known as the Three Gorges Aquatic Transformation. After that calamity, the Silver Dynasty’s imperial court completed it over thirty years—a monumental engineering feat of the age.”
The gazes of Ak San Gun and Namgung Ho Yeon met, and in that instant, they cried out as if seized by terror.
“Ten crates of True Heavenly Thunder!”
“The Three Gorge Dam!”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————