Namgoong the Sword Ghost - Chapter 192

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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 192. The Sword Demon Arrives at Nakseong Dun
“Kneel down and keep your hands up.”
“Ugh…….”
“B-but how can one possibly stand while kneeling? That’s physically impossible…….”
“That’s right. It’s fundamentally impossible.”
“What if we cut everything below the knees? Then it’d be possible, wouldn’t it?”
Snap! Crack-crack!
At Namgung Ho Yeon’s chilling words, the three small-time ruffians of the neighborhood assumed the Horse Stance and hastily raised their hands high.
Their eyes swollen and blackened, they sniffled nervously while stealing glances at one another.
Namgung Ho Yeon gazed around at them and spoke again.
“Right then, Myeong Il, Myeong Yi, Myeong Sam.”
“B-but my name is actually Go Jung, a name most dear to me…….”
“Want to become mincemeat?”
Crash!
As Namgung Ho Yeon tightened his grip, the Iron Sword he’d seized from Go Jung shattered in an instant.
“Aaahhh!”
“Myeong Il. Want to die once?”
“N-no! I’m Myeong Sam! This one is Myeong Il!”
“H-hyung!”
“Cowardly…….”
“Shut it! I want to live first!”
“Rotten bastard, to think we served you as the eldest brother all this time!”
“You’re our little brother from now on!”
As the three began squabbling among themselves, Namgung Ho Yeon sighed and asked.
“So. What are you three thugs doing running around at dawn?”
“W-well…….”
“We’ve actually found employment!”
“That’s right! We’re not common brigands anymore. We’re bounty hunters now!”
“Bounty hunters?”
Namgung Ho Yeon’s eyebrows twitched, and Myeong Il explained.
“Hehe, a few hours ago the Wol Yeong Do Mun distributed a large batch of wanted posters. One person per poster nets a whole tael of gold!”
“Whew! That’s enough to buy our dear mother a silk dress!”
“A tael of gold! That’s the kind of fortune you read about in classics. We’re really striking it rich!”
“It’s not a tael of gold—it’s the Geum Ui Hwan Hyang. You dolts.”
“Huh?”
“Is that so?”
“No clue.”
Namgung Ho Yeon shook his head as he regarded the three scatterbrained ruffians, then asked.
“So, who exactly are these wanted fugitives?”
“Right here!”
Whoosh!
Myeong Il pulled out a wanted poster from his clothes and handed it to Namgung Ho Yeon.
Namgung Ho Yeon examined them one by one.
Rustle! Rustle!
“Jiksal Hyeol Bul. Geun Yuk Dwae Wang. Yi Ta Gwang Do?”
A terrifying blood spirit who kills on sight, the king of muscled swine, and a madman fallen twice over—the names were every bit as ominous as their rough-sketched likenesses on the posters.
The crude drawings themselves were as grotesque as the nicknames.
Jiksal Hyeol Bul had a pallid head and wore a contemptible expression.
Geun Yuk Dwae Wang appeared corpulent and greedy, with fleshy jowls hanging low.
Yi Ta Gwang Do looked depraved, his tongue thrust out like a serpent’s.
‘……That’s Beom Seok, Peng Gu Pae, and Jong Ri Pae, isn’t it?’
The resemblance was uncanny enough to sour his mood further.
The painter’s imagination seemed to run wild in bizarre directions, though the artistic skill was undeniable.
‘All three squad captains of the Byeol Dong Dae are wanted. They must have been quite conspicuous lately.’
As Namgung Ho Yeon studied the wanted posters, Po Seom, the branch chief of the Seon Mun in Dochang, whispered in his ear.
“It appears they’ve begun an earnest search and apprehension operation.”
“Then what do we do? Should we relocate our base?”
“Hehe, no need to worry. For now, I’ll have everyone move to Anhui.”
“Hmm?”
Namgung Ho Yeon nodded at Po Seom’s confident words.
“Hah, we’ve been searching the entire village trying to catch those fellows.”
“Then we saw light leaking from the Yeom Geon Jang, so we went in.”
“And here we were, finding our lost eldest brother! Brother! How about joining us in some bounty hunting?”
The three offered Namgung Ho Yeon a business partnership, grinning from ear to ear.
Namgung Ho Yeon gazed at them with pitying eyes before speaking.
“Listen here. You’ve barely graduated from being thieves to become bounty hunters—you want to turn into headless ghosts instead?”
“Pardon?”
“Go home, wash your feet, and get some sleep. Thank the heavens for your stupidity. You’re not even worth silencing.”
“Thank you?”
“Silencing? What’s that? Is it something to eat?”
“Isn’t he talking about rice planthoppers?”
“Right, they’re pests.”
“Not leaving? Want me to exterminate you?”
“Eek!”
“We’re g-going!”
“Long life to you, brother!”
Patter-patter! Patter-patter-patter!
After the three fled as though their lives depended on it, Namgung Ho Yeon turned to Po Seom.
“Everyone here isn’t like that, are they?”
“……Those three are unusual.”
“So, where are we going?”
“By boat, sir.”
* * *
Half an hour later, Namgung Ho Yeon and Po Seom, having boarded a boat at Jang Gong Ryeong northwest of Inui Village, were crossing the lake.
Creak! Splash! Creak! Splash!
Po Seom rowed earnestly while Namgung Ho Yeon, sitting across from him at the bow, stroked his chin thoughtfully.
“So, let me understand this. The Surah Do Mun’s lord, Jong Ri San, proposed a betrothal to the Wol Yeong Do Mun’s master, and now his son, Jong Ri Pae, the Narak Do Chamber Master, is in Dochang to get a firm answer?”
“That’s correct. Though they call it a marriage proposal, it’s really closer to coercion.”
“Hmph, nearly forty years’ difference. The old man’s certainly vigorous.”
When Namgung Ho Yeon let out a dry laugh, Po Seom’s expression hardened.
“Jong Ri San intends to absorb and consolidate the Wol Yeong Do Mun. If that happens, there will be no one left in Gangseong to stand against the Surah Do Mun.”
“I see.”
“……If the Surah Do Mun’s influence grows stronger in Gangseong, the ripples will reach all the way to Anhui. In fact, the Surah Do Mun, which has been quiet until now, is beginning to make its move.”
At Po Seom’s words, Namgung Ho Yeon let out a soft chuckle, studying him closely.
“Don’t overstep your bounds.”
“…….”
“I don’t know what your connection to the Wol Yeong Do Mun is, but if you’re thinking of manipulating me, drop it.”
Namgung Ho Yeon’s cold blue eyes seemed to pierce through Po Seom’s true intentions.
“What I want is to drive Dochang out of Anhui—not chaos in Gangseong. A full-scale war here would only complicate things.”
“…….”
Po Seom fell silent at the warning.
Creak! Splash! Creak! Splash!
After a brief spell of hearing only the sound of oars cutting through water, Po Seom finally spoke.
“I am of Wol descent.”
“Hmm?”
“Most of the boatmen here are the same. Though it’s been over a thousand years since the Wol Kingdom fell, I still take pride in being descended from the Wol people.”
Po Seom continued with a bitter smile.
“Truth be told, it’s hard to endure this reality without thinking that way. For people like us who are despised and ignored, the pride we carry in our hearts is terribly important.”
“…….”
“So when I see the descendant of a Wol king being sold away for lack of power…… it feels like I’m looking at people like us. That’s all.”
Po Seom shook his head and broke into a hearty laugh.
“Hah, strange, isn’t it? No matter what becomes of the Wol Yeong Do Mun master, our lives won’t change much anyway.”
“…….”
“It was just idle talk. Please forget it.”
With that, Po Seom returned from being a Wol descendant to being a branch director of the Seon Mun.
“Look! We’re almost there. That right there is Nakseong Dun. They say it’s a hill formed when a star fell, though nobody knows the truth.”
“Hmm?”
As Namgung Ho Yeon looked in the direction Po Seom pointed, something whitish began to come into view.
“For an island, it’s awfully small, isn’t it?”
“Hah, that’s not an island at all.”
“Then what?”
“In Nakseong Dun, there stands a nameless temple. What makes it mysterious is that it lies submerged during the rainy season and reveals itself only briefly in the dry season.”
“But we’re in the rainy season now, aren’t we?”
“Indeed. However, a few boatmen who know these waters well understand something else—within that sunken temple, there is precisely one structure that never sinks, even during the rains.”
Creak! Splash! Creak! Splash!
He continued rowing forward.
Namgung Ho Yeon could make out something pale gleaming at the very top of the tower.
“Originally a seven-story pagoda, but around this time of year, the topmost story rises above the water to form a tiny island.”
“Ah?”
“Space enough to shelter thirty men. And given its proximity to the northern waterway leading toward the Janggang, it’s perfectly suited for intercepting supply convoys.”
“Remarkable.”
Namgung Ho Yeon breathed out the word in admiration.
―Hm, even one who has wandered the land like myself has never seen anything so wondrous. A temple drowned in a lake.
―Oho! This is interesting!
The Cheon Rae Sword and the Heukya Tae Geom showed keen interest as well at the sight of the pagoda’s uppermost level jutting sharply from Nakseong Dun.
It was truly a mysterious place that only a native to these waters could know.
“Someone’s coming?”
“Is the strike team back already?”
“Eh? That’s not the Master, is it?”
As the boat carrying Namgung Ho Yeon drew near, the pagoda erupted into commotion.
“Master!”
“Teacher!”
Through the tower’s windows, the figures of Hye Il and Gwang Myeong came into view.
Unlike Un Am and Nan A, who remained in Anhui to establish the Three Evils Disease Remedy, the two priests had been requisitioned for the Byeol Dong Dae.
“Then I shall return around the Hour of the Dog’s Beginning.”
“Yes, go carefully.”
Namgung Ho Yeon rose from his seat.
Then he spoke.
“If fortune allows, I’ll give it thought.”
“Sir?”
“Only if fortune allows, that is.”
Tap! Whoosh!
Namgung Ho Yeon pushed off from the boat’s edge and vanished into the tower as though pulled by an invisible current.
Po Seom, who had been watching with vacant eyes, let out a soft laugh and muttered to himself.
“……Thank you.”
* * *
At that same moment.
A supply convoy was under attack.
Clang! Clang-clang!
Crash! Boom!
“These… these bastards…!”
“Hold the line! What shamelessness, losing to merely ten men?!”
“Commander! We can’t! They’re all masters!”
The escort commander’s voice cracked with desperation, but the situation was hopeless.
“Amitabha. Everyone. Please try to avoid fatalities.”
The monk with the shaven head gleaming under moonlight was the particular problem.
Thud!
Crash!
Each time the masked monk threw his fist, the escort guards collapsed as if struck by something invisible.
“I-it’s the Jiksal Hyeol Bul!”
“Amitabha?”
“H-how terrible… the rumors were true then—one glance, and flesh separates from bone!”
“F-flee! Jiksal Hyeol Bul is a demonic priest who serves the Blood Buddha—a creature of hell!”
“We’re being offered as sacrifices!”
Tap-tap-tap! Tap-tap-tap!
As comrades fell one after another without understanding why, the men began to scatter in panic from Beom Seok.
But then.
Boom!
Beom Seok’s form multiplied into five, and he positioned himself directly in their path of flight.
“Amitabha. To speak of the Blood Buddha—such slander cannot simply be overlooked. Has some peculiar faction risen once more somewhere in Zhongyuan?”
Crack!
With his solemn question, golden light exploded from Beom Seok’s half-opened eyes.
The people screamed.
“Ahhhhh!”
“Help! Somebody help us!”
“The Sarin Gwang Seon!”
“Tell me, monks. Where exactly is this Ma Ra Seung?”
“You—you bastard!”
“Amitabha?”
It was then that Beom Seok tilted his head in confusion.
“Captain! Over there!”
“Hmm?”
Beom Seok turned to look.
In the darkness, a small boat was drawing near.
Moments later.
Crack! Tap-tap!
A woman descended like a bird, landing feather-light upon the deck.
Whoosh!
“Heh heh, finally caught the tail.”
The woman drew her Wol Ah Dao from her waist and smiled.
Her short hair tossed in the wind, and the unique cut of her garment left her right shoulder’s muscular contours plainly visible.
“Ah, Amitabha!”
Beom Seok recoiled at the woman’s revealing attire.
“Such scandalous clothing!”
“Hm?”
“Form is emptiness, emptiness is form! There is no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, or mind! All conditioned dharmas are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows!”
Beom Seok, his startled heart steadied by the Heart Sutra, cried out in a great voice.
“You, Ma Ra Seung! Desire is the root of all suffering, and without severing it, one cannot attain liberation. Yet you grasp at that which must wither and fade, wandering in delusion!”
“…What?”
“Desire is like an arrow—unfulfilled, it brings torment; fulfilled, it brings greater pain still. You now plant that very arrow in your own breast!”
“What exactly are you—”
“Has the Hedonist Temple revived? Or the Phantom Lust Sect? Whatever it is, it cannot be forgiven!”
Thwack! Blaze!
As Beom Seok took his stance, a golden aura blazed brightly behind him.
“You, Ma Ra Seung! This admonishment is not to punish you, but to save you! To enlighten the foolish masses and set the deluded on the right path!”
……
Mu Ga Yak, the Wol Yeong Do Mun master, watched Beom Seok as he declared Gye Do, and a thought formed.
‘Have I… miscalculated?’
Mu Ga Yak found herself reconsidering her desperate stratagem of appearing bound—whether she needed to start from scratch.

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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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