Namgoong the Sword Ghost - Chapter 189

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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 189. The Sword Demon Lectures on Ganggi
Seungbyeok.
To ascend the wall.
Seeing farther and more is merely the beginning.
Through the circulation of Qi via the Grand Heavenly Cycle, aging slowed, one became immune to heat and cold, and resistance to most poisons took root—a realm of transcendence.
In other words, Hwagyeong.
This was originally an abbreviated term for the Realm of Creation and Transformation.
Movement and communication combine to forge creation.
Humanity and reversal join to fashion transformation.
It signified the path into a realm where humans overturn existing concepts to forge change and give birth to the new.
Setting aside such conceptual matters.
The defining characteristic of Hwagyeong, without question, was the ability to discharge Ganggi as one would a blade.
“Aha! Come at me!”
Whirrr—!
Ho Yeon, his entire slender blade wrapped in brilliant blue Ganggi, stepped with swagger across the shattered sign of Geumcheon Do Mun’s eastern gate.
Crack!
The sect’s pride and symbol was reduced to treating like a stray dog’s food bowl.
Yet the martial artists of Geumcheon Do Mun who rushed toward the commotion dared not charge at Ho Yeon.
“G-Ganggi?!”
“Insane! An Ascended Master?!”
“Three swords with jade-white features… a sky-blue aura. C-could it be the Thunder God Dragon Namgung Ho Yeon?!”
The martial artists of Geumcheon Do Mun had recognized his identity.
―Ah, this Buddhist image. Even if Seungbyeok brings joy, does that mean you should advertise it so openly?
“Why not? You always say the good should be shared with all.”
―Don’t you know Hide Three-Tenths Strength? A martial artist must always conceal one-third of their power.
“I am concealing it.”
―Well… I suppose you are.
Cheon Rae Sword had nothing more to say.
In fact, Ho Yeon was indeed hiding Uigi Yeondong.
―Alas, the age of decline is upon us. The boy who was unremarkable has now achieved Seungbyeok. Who will now restrain the Sword Demon’s tyranny?
“Old grandfather. Whose side are you on?”
―Hahahaha! Let’s go, my friend! With this grand and magnificent Ganggi, let’s slice those fools to ribbons!
Zzzziiing!
Cheon Rae Sword sighed with worry for the welfare of the Martial World, while Heuk Ya, memories of the past stirring to life, joyfully released waves of Sword Call.
Step, step, step.
In the meantime, Ho Yeon strolled leisurely into the inner courtyard without spilling a drop of blood.
“Someone… someone stop him!”
“Are you mad? You stop him!”
“I-I decline! An Ascended Master!”
“We’ve never heard of such a thing! This violates our contract!”
Patter, patter!
Several martial artists fled, crying for their lives to be spared.
From the start, more than half of Geumcheon Do Mun’s forces were mercenaries hired for coin.
They say you can hire demons with money, but demons cannot be hired once they become demons.
“A rice-paper sect, are we?”
Ho Yeon let slip a quiet laugh.
“You bastards! Don’t run! Stand and fight!”
From the inner chambers burst a middle-aged man in golden robes, his jowls aflutter, bellowing in a voice thick with authority.
“If you flee like this, I’ll hunt you down and fine you ten times your contract price!”
“T-ten times?”
“Conversely, whoever captures Namgung Ho Yeon shall be rewarded with ten thousand gold coins!”
Gulp!
“If we fight together… couldn’t we take him?”
The middle-aged man wielded threats and honeyed words in rapid succession.
Doubt and greed flickered simultaneously in the eyes of the crowd.
Ho Yeon’s lips curled in contempt.
“Insects drawn to flame. I made myself clear: when the Il Gak ends, this place will become a Bloodstained Land.”
At Ho Yeon’s warning, Jin Sang Bo, the master of Geumcheon Do Mun who wielded the Golden Blade, burst into uncontrollable laughter.
“Hahahaha! Young Namgung! You’ve walked straight into the jaws of death!”
Jin Sang Bo was furious and, at the same time, delighted.
Thunder God’s Mighty Dragon, Namgung Ho Yeon.
He was currently the most celebrated Later Generation Disciple in the Jianghu.
‘If I capture that whelp, my sect’s name will reach the heavens themselves!’
Perhaps he might even be summoned to the seat of the Ten Thousand Immortals Emperor.
“Such predictable thinking from a mere boy! You saw our forces march to Anhui and thought our nest was empty for plucking, didn’t you?”
“Spot on.”
“Kha-ha-ha! Fool! Do you think I, the sect master, could not foresee what a child like you dreams up? My preparations are absolute!”
Jin Sang Bo turned to glance behind him and bellowed.
“You two! Honor our contract!”
Snap! Whip!
The moment Jin Sang Bo’s shout died away.
Two figures materialized beside him like phantoms.
“Hmph. Tsk, you dared disturb my slumber. What insolent worm are you?”
“Heh. Thanks to you, the embroidery work I labored over so carefully lies in ruins, honored sir. Will you accept responsibility?”
One was a man of slight build with crimson hair; the other, tall and dressed in scholar’s robes.
“What are these—the runt and the beanpole?”
“You little punk?!”
“Heh, careless of you.”
At Ho Yeon’s words, both men’s expressions darkened.
Jin Sang Bo cried out triumphantly.
“Behold! The Blood-Haired Evil Sovereign, Ma Seok the Wanderer, and the Scattering Flower Brush, Yu Ji Gong the Scholar! You have no hope of victory!”
“So in other words, the red-haired runt and the learned beanpole. Got it.”
“You!”
“How disrespectful.”
Clang! Screech!
At Ho Yeon’s mockery, both men drew their signature weapons.
The Blood-Haired Evil Sovereign Ma Seok unsheathed a Straight Sword from his belt.
The blade, guard, and pommel formed one seamless piece—a ring-pommel sword with a circular ferrule at the hilt end.
In contrast, the weapon Yu Ji Gong produced from his robes was a steel brush—the Judge’s Brush.
Whoooosh!
Hummmmm!
What was remarkable was that a red and a white Ganggi erupted from Ma Seok’s ring-pommel sword and Yu Ji Gong’s Judge’s Brush respectively.
“Kuk-kuk-kuk, brat! In this Jianghu, there exist eccentric masters as plentiful as grains of sand!”
“Heh, the ignorance of one who knows not the vastness of heaven and earth. You shall pay the price in death.”
“Uooooah!”
“Madness! Two Ascended Masters!”
“We have the advantage! Seize Namgung Ho Yeon!”
Chink! Whirrrrr!
At the appearance of the two Ascended Masters, the Geumcheon Do Mun warriors’ spirits surged, and they constructed a wide encirclement around Ho Yeon.
“Uh-ha-ha-ha! Ah-ha-ha-ha!”
Jin Sang Bo burst into triumphant laughter.
The Blood-Haired Evil Sovereign was a master who had fled the Fasun Blood Cult, while the Scattering Flower Brush was renowned as a skilled hand in the political arena, though versed in martial arts.
Both were known throughout the Jianghu as supreme masters, yet they were recently hired at great expense after succeeding in their Ascension.
“You two! Seize him without fail!”
“Kuh-huh-huh! We must earn our keep.”
“Heh, I’ll take an arm as commission.”
Whoosh!
Ma Seok and Yu Ji Gong positioned themselves fore and aft, blocking Ho Yeon’s every avenue of advance and retreat.
Two Ascended Masters.
By any measure, the advantage lay with them, yet Ho Yeon showed no sign of alarm.
“Ha, so this time it’s two half-baked specimens?”
At his dismissive reaction, Ma Seok and Yu Ji Gong’s eyebrows twitched.
Ho Yeon continued.
“Did they order you from the Society? To take control of Geumcheon Do Mun?”
“……!”
“……!”
At his words, Ma Seok and Yu Ji Gong’s eyes widened.
‘How does he know of the Society……!’
‘His strategy runs deep?!’
Ho Yeon’s conjecture was precise.
Ma Seok and Yu Ji Gong were ordered to slip into Geumcheon Do Mun during a gap in its military strength and expand their influence from within.
Jin Sang Bo, searching for masters, had accepted the two men of different backgrounds and hoped to set them against each other as a check—
but in truth, they both belonged to the society.
“Hmph, back in Hangju they were stirring up trouble trying to seize the Gangnam Samsang-hoe. These bastards are obsessed with money. Times getting tight, are they?”
“The society? You’re trying to take control of Geumcheon Do Mun?”
“You wretch! Spouting nonsense!”
“Sect Leader. This is a wedge tactic. Don’t be deceived. I say we cut out that schemer’s treacherous tongue before we waste time on the rest.”
Crack! Slash!
At Namgung Ho Yeon’s words, Jin Sang Bo’s brow furrowed, and Ma Seok and Yu Ji Gong rushed forward.
Killing to silence was, after all, the surest means of keeping secrets.
“What—I’ve no interest in your circumstances. You have one quarter of an hour. During that time, I’ll give you whelps a proper lecture on what Ganggi truly is.”
“Hyaaaah!”
“Hah!”
Ma Seok drew the Blood Wheel Reverse Heaven Heart Method to its peak, unleashing Blood Wheel Ganggi from his body.
Yu Ji Gong extracted Gawhwa Ganggi from his Gawhwa Heart Formula and wielded it like a whip.
Swish-swash-slash!
Whistle!
Crimson and white Ganggi came streaming from both sides, yet Namgung Ho Yeon merely curled his lips upward and raised Heuk Ya.
“First lesson. The Ganggi you’ve conjured is called Japganggi—tangled Qi of scattered stars. Your flaws are evident.”
Whoosh!
Shatter-shatter-shatter!
“Gack?!”
“What is this—!”
The Ganggi they had thought absolutely invincible shattered like sprinkled metal shavings, and Ma Seok and Yu Ji Gong went pale with shock.
Namgung Ho Yeon continued.
“Second lesson. The Ganggi I’ve drawn now is called Pyeongganggi—in other words, Bujikganggi. You’ve merely laid the weft lines atop the warp lines without weaving them together.”
Whoosh!
Treading upon a palm stone, Namgung Ho Yeon moved light as wind and unleashed a strike of Cheonpung Gisi, the beginning of heavenly wind.
“Ugh!”
“Bastard!”
Ma Seok and Yu Ji Gong drew their Ganggi again and pressed forward.
Swish-swash-slash!
Ma Seok’s Straight Sword sprayed continuous streams of crimson blood-energy, forming a murky wheel of blood.
It was a chained strike of the Ghost Blood Wheel Cycle.
Meanwhile, Yu Ji Gong’s Judge’s Brush had been transformed from the brush techniques found in the Lingquan Gaozhiji collection into piercing methods.
It had attained the realm of Heavenly Brush Technique, painting images in empty air without paper.
Whistle! Crack!
Yu Ji Gong’s Judge’s Brush unleashed the subtle thrusting strike of Grass Bee Leaf Point, mimicking the gentle way a bee brushes against leaves.
Yet.
Whoosh!
Crash-crash-crash!
As the heavenly wind blew forth, the rings of Ghost Blood Wheel Cycle snapped one after another, and the bee-needle strike of Grass Bee Leaf Point bent helplessly.
“Hack!”
“Ahhh!”
As their Ganggi shattered once more, Ma Seok and Yu Ji Gong coughed blood from internal wounds.
“Im… impossible! We’re wielding the same Ganggi!”
“Cough! I’ve surely achieved Ascended Master! How can one of the same rank—!”
Ma Seok and Yu Ji Gong denied the unthinkable reality.
They had thought they had only to ascend to the realm of Hwagyeong, that stage they’d dreamed of so long, and sweep the heavens uncontested.
How could it be that two of them together couldn’t match a single Namgung Ho Yeon, not yet twenty?
“The same? You and I? Your tongues grow reckless, don’t they?”
Namgung Ho Yeon smiled coldly.
The same Ganggi?
The same Ascended Master rank?
No.
It was entirely different.
“Half-baked wretches who can’t even draw out Pyeongganggi—what makes you think you’re our equal? You haven’t even reached the Iphwagyeong realm.”
“Pyeong… ganggi?”
“What in the world is that!”
Ma Seok and Yu Ji Gong examined Namgung Ho Yeon’s Ganggi carefully.
The crystalline blue Ganggi lay in neat weft lines across the straight warp, emanating a serene yet refined martial presence.
‘Is that what Pyeongganggi looks like?’
‘And my own Ganggi is……’
Ma Seok and Yu Ji Gong each examined their own Ganggi.
Unlike Namgung Ho Yeon’s, theirs was tangled like a knotted ball of yarn, chaotic and unrefined.
“Only when you can manifest Pyeongganggi can you truly be said to have reached the Iphwagyeong realm. And the Ganggi wielded by those in Gakhwagyeong is something else entirely.”
“……!”
“……!”
As Ho Yeon’s words continued, Ma Seok and Yu Ji Gong were struck with astonishment.
There was another form of Ganggi beyond Pyeongganggi?
Ho Yeon’s lips curved upward as he spoke.
“The third. You said Pyeongganggi was the weft woven over the warp, yes? But what if you were to weave that warp and weft together, thread by thread?”
Crackle! Crackle!
The moment the words left his lips, Ho Yeon’s Ganggi transformed.
The weft moved like a serpent, threading between the warp lines to begin weaving cloth.
Click-click-click!
Whoooosh!
It resembled the process of spinning thread with a wheel and then crossing warp and weft with a shuttle and beater to weave fabric.
“This is called Jikganggi. Compared to Bujikganggi, it is far more durable and resilient. Victory among Ascended Masters is determined by how tightly they can weave their organizational structure.”
“Jik……ganggi.”
“So this is……Hwagyeong.”
Boom―!
As the Jikganggi, infused with an unprecedented and terrible power, bore down upon them like a surging blue tidal wave, Ma Seok and Yu Ji Gong understood.
The level was different.
Unlike themselves, who had been playing happily atop a small hill.
In that single strike lay the insight of one who had ascended through bitter training, melted in thick and deep.
Slice! Slice!
Crack―!
The heads of Ma Seok, the Bloodfang Tyrant who had made a name for himself in the Jianghu, and Yu Ji Gong, the Solitary Brush Master, flew free and fell to the ground.
Thud-thud-thud!
Thump! Boom!
Their headless bodies, as if offering thanks for having glimpsed a higher realm, collapsed in unison toward Ho Yeon in a final bow.
Silence filled the inner courtyard.
Ho Yeon rendered his judgment.
“Il Gak is over.”

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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
—————