Namgoong the Sword Ghost - Chapter 219

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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 219. Sword-Devouring Brother’s Might
“Call them out, then.”
“Call out who?”
“You didn’t come alone. Have them all rush at me at once. You Namgung rabble!”
Crash!
White Qi waves tangled with the falling snow, swelling larger with each gust.
The Moyong Clan’s heart method—the Stellar Radiance Divine Art, known for its brutal directness—began to circulate.
Yet Namgung Cheong Gang merely raised the Emperor Sword upright, his expression unmoved.
Click.
“There’s no need.”
“…What?”
“From Ho Yeon, I felt a presence vast as the ocean and magnificent as Changgung itself. You carry no such bearing.”
“……”
“Whatever wall you’ve broken through, it remains within arm’s reach.”
Whoosh—!
The Changgung Daeyon Divine Art expanded swiftly from Cheong Gang’s lower dantian, and brilliant blue Changgung Qi erupted outward like a halo.
Mo Yong Cheol, witnessing this, trembled violently and laughed in breathless gasps.
“Khihi! How arrogant you Namgung are—both of you alike. Very well, I’ll strip flesh from bone!”
Boom!
Mo Yong Cheol stepped into the Pursuing Life Flash Step.
White light streaked forward, plunging toward Cheong Gang.
“Huh.”
Cheong Gang steadied his breath.
‘My opponent is a Realm-Breaker. Clumsy though he may seem, one moment of carelessness and the thread of life is severed.’
Crisis awareness flooded his mind.
Yet his expression grew only colder.
The countless battles endured in Qingyang had gifted him an unshakeable composure.
Whoosh—!
Dozens of Silken Qi Threads burst outward from Cheong Gang, scattering in all directions.
They spread like a vast net cast to trap the sky itself.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
The moment Mo Yong Cheol stepped into the blue realm, his brow furrowed.
A strange pressure and fierce oppression seized the surrounding space.
His entire body grew heavy, as if submerged in deep water, and Namgung Cheong Gang loomed before him like a towering mountain.
‘This is the Emperor Sword Form! Truly, the art of a peerless swordsman!’
Though his movements were constrained, a bleak smile crossed Mo Yong Cheol’s lips.
“Khehe! Unable to rely on speed alone, so you bind your opponent’s motion instead? That admits your martial skill is utterly worthless!”
Whoosh! Whoosh!
White Stellar Rain began to fall from Mo Yong Cheol’s dantian.
In the same moment, Stellar Radiance Qi surged violently, and through the Immaek and Dokmaek, the gathered force converged into his blade, forming a constellation.
Crack!
“Fool! Such tricks mean nothing against a Realm-Breaker!”
Drawing forth his Inner Force, Mo Yong Cheol unveiled the blade technique that had earned him renown as Swift Blade Unformed—the Pursuing Soul Swift Blade.
Shred! Rrrip-shred!
The chaotic strikes of the Swift Blade Tangled Hemp severed the tangled Silken Qi Threads as if cutting through matted hemp.
The oppressive pressure weakened, and Mo Yong Cheol materialized before Cheong Gang through the Flash Pursuit Leap, driving his blade downward.
Clash! Screech—!
“You blocked that?!”
“Mmm……”
Clang! Clang!
Mo Yong Cheol gasped.
What stopped his white blade radiance was no Qi formation, no protective rampart—merely a single sword.
A blade of dull, dark luster, and through its center ran a faint crimson aura, standing upright in the shape of a vertical line.
“A treasure!”
“Haaaah!”
Whoooosh!
As Cheong Gang released a fierce shout, the Silken Qi Threads surged forward, encircling Mo Yong Cheol.
In the slowed world, only Cheong Gang moved at full speed, thrusting the Emperor Sword forward.
Shwack!
“Tsk!”
The acupuncture strike aimed precisely at the space between his brows sent heat flaring through Mo Yong Cheol’s brow point.
Crack! Snap!
His neck folded in a direction that should have been anatomically impossible, allowing him to slip past Cheong Gang’s blade.
Whistle! Thud!
Mo Yong Cheol unfolded his leg technique next, using Cheong Gang’s sword as a platform to launch himself free from the Emperor Sword Form’s radius and land on solid ground.
“Heh, so you had a trick up your sleeve. A so-called martial master relying on nothing but inner force?”
“You’re hardly one to talk. Did you master some celestial secret art? If not—”
Cheong Gang’s eyes fixed on Mo Yong Cheol’s forehead.
The way snowflakes melted the instant they touched him made it unmistakable.
“Spiritual Ability.”
“Khrkhrkhr! The Flexible Folding Body—the power to bend and stretch as one wills. With it, I have now grasped not only the limit of speed, but also the limit of transformation!”
Whoom!
Mo Yong Cheol tore out his Stellar Radiance Divine Art qi with savage precision, his voice cutting through the night.
“Through the Flexible Folding Body, I have perfected the Transformed Swift Blade—a technique no one in the Moyong Clan has ever cultivated. Now taste the price of brandishing a single sword with such arrogance!”
Ssshhh!
Mo Yong Cheol’s form scattered into shadow like fragments dissolving into darkness.
His movements were so impossibly fast that afterimages clung to the air like phantoms—the first step of the Phantom Ghost Scatter.
‘A sword that can withstand inner force—impressive. But still, he hasn’t crossed the wall. He has no Protective Body Strong Qi.’
Circling rapidly around Cheong Gang, Mo Yong Cheol twisted his mouth into a cruel smile.
Just once.
If he could land a single blow while evading the sword, victory would be his.
“Hhhh…”
Cheong Gang’s eyes moved with keen vitality, trying to track Mo Yong Cheol’s movements.
At the same time, he considered how to trap him.
‘The Changgung Unobstructed Sword Technique uses a heavier blade. It can counter his swift strikes, but his transformed blade is tricky. Then—!’
Click!
Cheong Gang released his stable middle stance and raised his sword high while dropping its point downward.
‘The Glow Posture?’
Seeing this, Mo Yong Cheol’s brow twitched.
It was a stance named for the character “glow”—a sword held draped downward in that elegant form.
Despite its beautiful name, it lacked practical application and appeared only in sword dance performances.
For that reason, martial masters who pursued real combat disdained it, calling it the “Flaw Posture” instead.
‘Still mocking me to the end! Very well—I’ll kill you!’
Bang!
Fire flashing in his eyes, Mo Yong Cheol surged forward rapidly from outside Cheong Gang’s angle of vision.
Then Cheong Gang’s mouth opened.
“The Emperor Sword Form’s power lies not merely in constraining the opponent’s movement. Its widely-spread Qi threads can detect even a single snowflake within its range—the pinnacle of Sensation Tracking Art.”
Whistle!
Cheong Gang pivoted toward the direction of Mo Yong Cheol’s charge, announcing the beginning of the Fanyi Daeyon Sword Technique.
‘Changgung Daeyon is the foundation of Namgung. The Fanyi Daeyon is no inferior to the Changgung Unobstructed—a supreme art of the main house!’
Swoosh!
The sword that had been raised in the glow posture descended swiftly downward.
Like a single dewdrop rolling from a leaf, the motion was light yet precise.
The Heavenly Dew Beginning Drop.
Ching!
Crack-snap!
After a brief collision, Mo Yong Cheol’s upper and lower arms bent at an impossible angle.
‘The Pursuing Soul Turning Wrist!’
This was a unique technique Mo Yong Cheol had created after awakening the Flexible Folding Body.
The transformed swift blade, bent in a direction it should never bend, whipped toward Cheong Gang’s carotid artery.
Whoosh!
Immediately, Cheong Gang gathered the Silken Qi Threads with his Emperor Sword, drawing them into a continuous veil.
A curtain of blue rain formed, shielding him as if blocking out the sun.
Rain Curtain Obscuring Light.
Crash!
‘The Ghost Cry Pursuing Soul!’
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Mo Yong Cheol then brandished his blade in an erratic pattern, and white blade strikes poured in from multiple directions accompanied by a ghostly wail.
Metal-clang!
Against this onslaught, Cheong Gang straightened his sword and gathered the Silken Qi Threads together, unleashing a rapid volley of piercing strikes.
Crack-snap-crack!
The ferocity of rain piercing through pearls—the singular technique of Torrential Rain Continuous Pearls.
Zing! Zing! Zing!
“Hmm?!”
Mo Yong Cheol’s brow furrowed as he received Cheong Gang’s onslaught.
The shock reverberating through his wrists only intensified with each exchange.
“The Fanyi Daeyon is a Tyrannical Sword. As time passes, its savage force compounds, until at last it becomes a torrential wave that will seize and swallow you whole.”
Cheong Gang spoke with certainty.
True to its name—Fanyi, meaning overflow and deluge—this sword method expanded upon itself endlessly, much like the Changgung Unobstructed Sword Technique.
But where the Changgung Unobstructed was modeled after the boundless azure sky, the Fanyi Daeyon drew its inspiration from the raging torrents of a flooded river.
‘The natural law lies within this technique: tiny drops of rain gather into streams, streams converge into rivers, and at last the overflowing waters sweep away everything in their path.’
Yet this was not truly an interpretation by Namgung Beom So, the founder of the Fanyi Daeyon.
It was merely what Ho Yeon had noted when reconstructing the long-lost Fanyi Daeyon—conjecture, nothing more.
But Cheong Gang had trusted his brother, and so he had relentlessly refined the Fanyi Daeyon that Ho Yeon had recreated.
[The Fanyi Daeyon, like the Changgung Unobstructed Sword Technique, manipulates space. Yet unlike the Changgung Unobstructed, the Fanyi Daeyon is classified not as a Neutral Sword but as a Tyrannical Sword. Why?]
The annotations left by Ho Yeon—read and memorized until worn smooth—echoed in Cheong Gang’s mind.
[The difference lies in the presence or absence of a center. While the Changgung Unobstructed radiates outward from a solid core, the Fanyi Daeyon possesses none.]
Ho Yeon had likened the Changgung Unobstructed to a spinning top.
A top had a central axis of rotation at its heart.
But the Fanyi Daeyon had no such axis.
[There is no fixed current to the Fanyi Daeyon. And why should there be? A rapids cares not for order—it simply obliterates all that stands before it.]
In essence:
Where the Changgung Unobstructed commands space,
the Fanyi Daeyon destroys it.
[Never forget this: a Tyrannical Sword reveals its true power only when you unleash the savage fury that dwells within human nature. Do not restrain. Let the blade lead, and let your body follow. That is the righteous path.]
‘Release control. Let it run free!’
Crack-crack-crack-crack!
Cheong Gang’s momentum grew increasingly ferocious.
The Silken Qi Threads, unshackled from restraint, danced with wild abandon.
Like torrents shattering through space, like a deluge run amok.
‘Rapid Current Shattering Stone!’
Cheong Gang channeled that raw force into his blade and thrust forward.
Mo Yong Cheol barely managed to deflect the strike—fierce as rapids grinding stone to dust.
Screech!
“Gaah! What—what is this—?!”
Mo Yong Cheol’s eyes flew wide.
He was being pushed back?
A Seung Byeok Ja, pushed back?
“Aaaaah! Death!”
Crack-crack! Pop-pop!
Swoosh-swoosh-swoosh-swoosh!
Mo Yong Cheol’s joints twisted at grotesque angles even as his blade underwent a bizarre metamorphosis.
Erratic sword strikes, seeking gaps in Cheong Gang’s guard, erupted from all quarters.
The Wandering Seeking Heart.
“Whoosh! Hah!”
To deflect every transformed blade at once, Cheong Gang detonated his Silken Qi Threads.
Blue filaments exploded outward in cascading waves, like a flood engulfing a thousand fields.
Flooding Thousand Fields.
Crack-crack-crack!
Screech-screech-screech!
“Ughh!”
No matter how shifting his blade paths, they availed nothing.
The entire space had become Namgung Cheong Gang’s killing zone.
As autumn leaves scatter before a single gust, Mo Yong Cheol’s Transformed Swift Blade could not withstand the Tyrannical Overwhelming Sword.
“N-no… no…!”
Mo Yong Cheol glared at Cheong Gang.
But Cheong Gang’s eyes saw him not.
Cheong Gang murmured as though possessed.
“What, then, is Daeyon? The character for Daeyon means water flowing onward—great waters overflowing. By submitting to their current rather than resisting, one achieves unity with the flow of Heaven and Earth.”
Lost in the State of No-Self, Cheong Gang had forgotten who he was and what he was doing.
He had become nothing more than a natural instrument, merging completely with the surging river current and wielding his blade according to the principles of the Fanyi Daeyon Sword Technique.
“Ridiculous…! Mara!”
Clash!
Confronted by that noble bearing, Mo Yong Cheol felt as though his seal point shattered, and he pulled his inner force up explosively.
“Look at me! I am Mo Yong Cheol! I am not inferior to anyone!”
Life is the Endless Competing Peak.
An endless cycle of struggle and competition.
Victory after victory, and only by standing tall could any of it mean anything at all.
I will survive to the end and become the last one standing.
“Uaaaaaaah!”
Whoooosh!
Stellar Radiance Strong Qi surged upward, forming a white pillar.
Mo Yong Cheol unconsciously deployed his most confident technique.
Pursuing Soul Swift Blade, First Form.
Phantom One Flash.
Shriek!
Against that extreme swift strike descending like a single severing blow, Namgung Cheong Gang gathered all his Silken Qi Thread into the Emperor Sword.
Whishhh!
Hummmmm!
Qi threads finer than a hair formed a lattice work densely and thickly, stretching taut and straight.
Namgung Cheong Gang, who had woven the Emperor Deceptive Qi Rampart—made from the blue silk of the supreme ruler—into his blade, murmured:
“I don’t understand. What exactly are those gaps?”
In Namgung Cheong Gang’s blue eyes, heightened in awakened state, it appeared with perfect clarity.
The sparse intervals existing between the white strong qi.
He would never construct it that way. The weaknesses were far too obvious.
Shriek!
Namgung Cheong Gang swept the Emperor Deceptive Qi Rampart horizontally.
The strike of Thousand Currents Union—a thousand streams merging into one, sweeping away all in their path.
Strong qi versus qi rampart.
By ordinary logic, strong qi should have prevailed, but the result was the opposite.
Crash-shatter-shatter!
The Stellar Radiance Strong Qi shattered like glass.
As white qi fragments scattered into the falling snow, Mo Yong Cheol tilted his head in confusion.
“…What?”
Rip!
Splurch!
His chest was split open in a single line, and crimson blood sprayed forth.
Yet Mo Yong Cheol’s vacant gaze remained fixed on the shattered qi, unable to move.

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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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