Namgoong the Sword Ghost - Chapter 20

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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 20. The Sword Demon Emerges
Hapsan.
Crash!
“Damn it all!”
A massive man draped in tiger skin brought his fist down on a crude wooden table.
Crack!
The table, its legs shattered, clattered pitifully across the floor.
“Yikes!”
The lean man sprawled flat on the ground flinched violently, his whole body trembling.
“Maeng Sam! Say it again! What did you just say?”
“I, it was……”
“You wretch! Are we bandits or nursemaids? Why do you keep pushing me to take in these brats?”
Bang! Splinter!
The giant kicked the table with such fury that it finally exploded into fragments.
‘If you’re going to ask and answer your own questions, why bother asking me?’
Maeng Sam’s lips twitched, but he had the good sense not to voice his thoughts aloud.
Because the man before him, Du Taibao, was the master of Woho Stronghold in Hapsan and a martial master of the highest order.
He was even known by the alias Thunder Blade Axe Technique—a true virtuoso of the Axe Technique.
“I ought to split your skull open with that axe!”
“Ah-ah-agh!”
“That bastard! Just because he came from the main branch, he thinks he can waltz around here and give orders like he owns the place!”
Maeng Sam shrank his neck at Du Taibao’s furious growl.
The image rising in Du Taibao’s mind was of a thin-lipped swordsman—Mak Cheon-ak.
‘That punk Mak Cheon-ak, putting on airs because he’s a disciple of Chong Pyo-paja!’
A disciple of Chong Pyo-paja?
Word had it there were over a hundred of them.
Yet this nobody had been camped here at Woho Stronghold for months on orders from the main branch, interfering in everything—it was absurd.
“Should I just snap him in half?”
“No, no! That can’t happen, sir!”
“Why not?”
“If the Chingrok Order comes down on us, we’re finished!”
At Maeng Sam’s words, Du Taibao’s lips trembled faintly.
Woho Stronghold was one of the Seventy-Two Strongholds of Greenforest, bound to follow the absolute law of Greenforest—the Chingrok Code.
Among its internal rules was a strict prohibition against insubordination, and killing a disciple of Chong Pyo-paja would be a violation of that law.
“Goddamn it! This is a mess!”
“Master, sir!”
Tap-tap-tap!
Just as Du Taibao spat out a harsh curse, a small-framed man came rushing in, breathless.
“What is it?”
“Huff—huff—we have a visitor, sir!”
“Tell the junior stronghold masters to rob them a bit and send them on their way. If they resist, kill a few of them.”
“That’s just it—they’re carrying a Blue Flag!”
“…What?”
At the small man’s words, Du Taibao’s brow furrowed.
A Blue Flag.
It was a code word that had circulated among Greenforest Path bandits over the past year.
“Is it the Namgung Clan again?”
“Y-yes! It looks a bit different from a Protective Ticket, but it definitely says Namgung on it!”
“Damn it!”
Du Taibao ran his thick fingers roughly through his hair.
Ever since the Namgung Clan started their ridiculous business of issuing Protective Tickets,
the revenues of bandit strongholds across the realm had plummeted.
‘They may be in decline, but they’re still one of the Ten Great Families! If I move against them carelessly, I’ll stir up a hornet’s nest!’
The strongholds, including the main branch, fumed and vowed that someday they would teach them a lesson,
but not a single one dared to strike first against the Namgung Clan.
“Damn it… there’s no reason for us to be the first target. Just let them pass.”
“Wait, just a moment!”
“Hmm?”
“I have a good idea, sir!”
It was then that Maeng Sam raised his hand and continued speaking.
“He’s drawing in Chong Pyo-paja’s disciple!”
“What? Mak Cheon-ak?”
“Yes!”
Maeng Sam nodded and laid out his scheme.
“Mak Cheon-ak came all the way to Anhui to make a name for himself, didn’t he? Besides, he’s one of the main stronghold’s men!”
“Ah? In other words, set the Namgung Clan and the main stronghold at each other’s throats?”
“The truth is, it’s us at Woho Stronghold who’ve taken the worst beating because of those Protective Ticket people, haven’t we?”
“That’s true.”
Hapsan, where Woho Stronghold stood, was only a few days’ journey from Hapbi, where the Namgung Clan made their seat.
The stronghold’s main customers had always been merchants heading down to use the Yangtze.
But once those merchants hired the Protective Ticket operation, their revenues dropped by more than half.
“We were bound to clash with the Namgung eventually anyway. Now the perfect chance has arrived to drag in the main stronghold!”
“Heh heh, and we can eliminate Mak Cheon-ak as well. If someone takes a stray blade on the battlefield and dies, who’s to say otherwise?”
“That’s Sword-Path Killing!”
“Sword-Path? What? Yes! We should absolutely employ the Bandit-Taming Staff!”
“Excellent, Stronghold Master! How erudite you are!”
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Du Taibao grinned widely and shouted, while the small-framed man who’d come to report clapped his hands in enthusiastic agreement.
Maeng Sam, watching this unfold, muttered to himself.
‘It’s Sword-Path Killing, not Bandit-Taming Staff. The Bandit-Taming Staff is a cudgel for subduing brigands—what kind of outlaw talks like that? Honestly, these illiterates….’
A self-proclaimed enlightened member of the Greenforest Path.
The Awakened Brigand Maeng Sam’s eyes gleamed as he mused inwardly.
‘Heh heh, that’s why I like these idiots. Perfect! I’ll use these fools to grab wealth and glory for myself.’
* * *
Clatter! Clatter! Clatter!
Rumble-rumble-rumble!
A group was making its way over a mountain as dusk deepened.
A white carriage sat at the center—the same one Jegal Ahyeon had ridden in from the Jegal Clan.
But unlike the journey there, the return journey had two people inside it.
One was naturally Jegal Ahyeon, and the other was Ho Yeon.
“…….”
“…….”
Silence hung heavy inside the carriage.
More than two days had passed since they’d left the Namgung Clan, and the two had barely spoken.
―Hey, you! Say something, will you? I can’t stand how awkward this is!
‘Why is the old master finding it awkward?’
―You two had a fight!
‘I did? That never happened.’
Ho Yeon spoke through the Sword Heart Resonance, and Cheon Noe Geom replied as if he found it absurd.
―From the very first meeting, you spoke harshly to her. You fool. Isn’t she possibly going to be your future wife? How could you treat her so roughly?
‘Roughly? I did no such thing. I simply treated her like I treat anyone else.’
―That’s exactly what treating her roughly means! Shouldn’t you be treating her better?
Ho Yeon scratched his ear against Cheon Noe Geom’s incessant muttering and replied.
‘Listen, old master. I’ve resolved to make the Namgung Clan the greatest family under heaven once more. For that, a marriage of convenience isn’t a bad choice.’
―Then……!
‘I said it wasn’t bad—I didn’t say it was good. I have confidence in my own abilities.’
―Don’t you know that more of everything is better?
‘Doesn’t the old master know that excess becomes deficiency? The excess becomes no different from the insufficient. Especially Jegal Ahyeon—that woman is too much. Excessively beautiful.’
At Ho Yeon’s words, Cheon Noe Geom spoke as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
―You’re turning down such a beauty? Are you not a man?
‘Old master, beauty is wealth itself. A woman of her caliber is rare, and that’s precisely what gives her value.’
Ho Yeon, conversing with Cheon Noe Geom, gazed with an expressionless face at Jegal Ahyeon, who was looking out the window.
An aquiline nose, thick brows, three-stranded hair, deep chestnut eyes.
Even if one searched the entire Central Plains, few beauties possessed such distinctive loveliness as the woman before him.
Which made her dangerous.
The old saying in the martial world wasn’t idle: beware of women, elders, and children.
‘And judging from the energy I sense, she’s already stepped into first-rate mastery. At her age, she’s a genius even greater than Brother Chinggang.’
―……So?
‘Think about it. Would the Jegal Clan carelessly use such a talented woman? They’d certainly sell her at a high price to whoever offered the greatest reward. And that wouldn’t be the Namgung.’
This was certainty.
The Jegal Clan he knew were calculators—they weighed everything in the world on a scale.
If the weight tipped even a fraction in anyone’s favor but their own, they wouldn’t deal at all.
‘True, she suffers from Spirit Energy Dysfunction, but her Upper Dantian is already opened—this woman’s value must be far higher than what the old master imagined.’
For this reason, Ho Yeon harbored no expectations of her whatsoever.
She was leaving anyway.
‘Yes, I’ll grant I spoke roughly. But that’s her own doing—she raised false hopes in her mother and father.’
Hope and disappointment are two sides of the same coin.
That’s why Ho Yeon despised people who spoke pretty lies and carelessly kindled hope in others.
‘Now do you understand? I simply don’t cling to fleeting connections, that’s all.’
At Ho Yeon’s logical explanation,
Cheon Noe Geom, who had been listening quietly, let out a derisive snort.
—Bah! Pathetic fool.
‘What? Didn’t you follow me?’
—I followed you fine, you idiot! I understood that you’re a coward!
‘……Has this old geezer finally lost his mind?’
Ho Yeon’s brow twitched at the sudden insult.
Cheon Noe Geom’s rebuke exploded forth.
—If a woman has that much value, you grab her by any means necessary! Whining about a shortfall in the bride price?
‘It’s not about the bride price—I’m saying I don’t need her in the first place!’
—You spineless coward! Worthless worm! Gutless wretch!
‘What the hell? You done?’
At that moment, twin flames ignited in Ho Yeon’s eyes.
A voice came from ahead.
“……Is something the matter?”
“Hmm?”
“You’ve been staring at me this whole time.”
“Ah…….”
At Jegal Ahyeon’s words, Ho Yeon withdrew his gaze and scratched the back of his head.
“My apologies. I was caught in an unpleasant train of thought.”
“What were you thinking about?”
Jegal Ahyeon asked with apparent curiosity, and Ho Yeon gave a rough improvisation.
“Oh, nothing much—just thinking about the voyage.”
“Do you dislike ships?”
“Can’t say I’m fond of them. I get seasick.”
‘I never had it during the Sword Devil period, but I wonder about now.’
As Ho Yeon spoke, the corners of Jegal Ahyeon’s lips rose faintly.
“That’s troublesome. You’ll be spending most of the next month on a ship.”
“Liaoning, then. Tsk. Quite the journey.”
“This Baekga Swordmaster Tournament falls to the Moyong Clan’s turn, after all.”
At Jegal Ahyeon’s words, Ho Yeon asked with interest.
“This Baekga Swordmaster Tournament—what exactly does it entail?”
“You don’t know about the Baekga Swordmaster Tournament?”
“It’s not some children’s Fame Deed, is it?”
“Fame Deed…… Pffft. Well, you’re not entirely wrong.”
Jegal Ahyeon covered her mouth and laughed at Ho Yeon’s words, then continued.
“The Baekga Swordmaster Tournament is a sort of competitive mission.”
“A competitive mission?”
“The organizer—in this case, the Moyong Clan—designates a task, and the Later Generation Members solve it on their own.”
“Mm-hmm?”
“Mostly involving the search and elimination of Lustful Demons, Demonic Brigands, Demonic Persons, and other evil brigands.”
Jegal Ahyeon explained the Baekga Swordmaster Tournament patiently.
“Groups are formed, and the core of the tournament lies in which group completes the mission first.”
“Then I’d better hope for a good group match.”
“Hmm…….”
Ho Yeon nodded in understanding, and Jegal Ahyeon hesitated a moment before continuing.
“This is only my conjecture, but I think this Baekga Swordmaster Tournament will be rather special.”
“Special? Why?”
“It’s supposed to be a major indicator for selecting the Moyong Clan’s next Young Master.”
“What?”
At this unexpected news, Ho Yeon tilted his head, and Jegal Ahyeon continued.
“The Moyong Clan pursues Endless Competition. An unrelenting struggle for supremacy.”
“…….”
“There are four candidates for Young Master. They’ll likely be the team leaders at the Baekga Swordmaster Tournament.”
Ho Yeon clicked his tongue as he listened to Jegal Ahyeon’s explanation.
“Tsk, tsk. So on top of children’s games, I have to concern myself with other families’ affairs?”
“……Which team were you thinking of joining, Young Master of Namgung?”
Jegal Ahyeon asked, her voice tense.
She was scheduled to join the team of the second son, Moyong Cheol.
‘I don’t understand why, but whenever I’m near the Young Master of Namgung, the Heart Sorrow Influence is blocked.’
Thanks to that, she’d felt no headaches at all over the past two days.
‘I wish we could be on the same team…….’
Jegal Ahyeon waited for his answer, and just as Ho Yeon, lost in thought, opened his mouth—
“I would…….”
“Kra-ha-ha-ha! This territory belongs to the Woho Stronghold! Hand over everything you’ve got! We might just let you live!”
A crude voice rang out from beyond the door.

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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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