Namgoong the Sword Ghost - Chapter 220

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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 220. The Sword Demon Hears of Betrayal
Whoosh!
A bitter wind swept across the slopes of Hyeongmun Mountain.
“Huff! Huff! Huff!”
With each breath he drew, cool air filled his lungs and his consciousness sharpened.
The sky-blue eyes of Namgung Cheong Gang returned to their natural black.
‘……I’ve exhausted all my inner force.’
Cheong Gang shook his head, feeling the emptiness of his Qi Sea Point.
It was a reckless expenditure of inner force—something he would never have done under normal circumstances.
But there was no choice. Once he surrendered to Dae Yeon’s momentum, he had been swept up in an unstoppable current and could not have stopped himself.
‘So this is Overlord’s Way. I must use it with caution.’
As Cheong Gang was organizing his understanding of Overlord’s Way, a faint murmur reached his ears.
“This can’t be…… impossible…… my inner force…… shattered by mere…… basic strength…….”
Mo Yong Cheol lay sprawled in the snow, surrounded by a spreading bloom of crimson blood.
Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!
Cheong Gang approached him and spoke.
“Mere basic strength? Did you not shed blood and sweat to obtain it?”
“I…… I should have mastered Extreme Speed, and beyond it, Extreme Change…… So why…….”
“What is difficult to gain is truly precious. What comes easily is spent carelessly.”
Cheong Gang looked down at the fallen Mo Yong Cheol, his voice level and calm.
“Your final technique was threatening—the speed of Extreme Speed. It deserved its name, Swift Blade Formless. Had you shown such movement from the beginning, it would be I lying here.”
“…….”
“But you were swayed by your shallow grasp of Extreme Change and destroyed the advantage you possessed. That easily gained ability became your poison.”
Mo Yong Cheol’s eyes fixed on Cheong Gang.
Standing against the backdrop of falling snow, the man’s gaze displeased him.
What? Difficult gain is truly precious?
“Don’t make me laugh! Life is Endless Striving. To survive in the fierce battlefield of existence, one must use whatever is at hand! What does the difficulty or ease of strength matter? Strength is strength, nothing more and nothing less!”
Cheong Gang answered briefly to Mo Yong Cheol’s outburst.
“You are pitiful.”
“What?”
“As there is pain within victory, so too is there truth within defeat.”
Namgung Cheong Gang gazed down at Mo Yong Cheol with compassionate eyes and continued.
“The world remains even after war’s end. If you cling to victory and defeat and fail to see what comes after, you will achieve nothing.”
“Don’t…… presume to teach me!”
“I am not teaching. I am merely observing you—watching the fate of a man who honed himself ceaselessly until he consumed himself.”
“What…… did you say?”
“Do you know the difference between Refinement and Wear and Tear?”
“…….”
Mo Yong Cheol could not answer.
Cheong Gang continued.
“Refinement is to maintain one’s essence while honing only what is necessary. Wear and Tear is to sharpen excessively until the original sharpness and identity fade, leaving only uselessness.”
“…….”
“Endless Striving? Very well. Competition drives people forward. But when competition becomes the end in itself, you may forget what you are fighting for.”
Cheong Gang asked a question.
“What do you fight for?”
“I…… to become Student Council President…….”
“And after you become President?”
“To use the Baekmu Academy…… and reclaim the position of branch family head I lost…… to become head of the Moyong Clan…….”
“And then?”
“…….”
Mo Yong Cheol fell silent.
And then?
That was everything—what could come after?
He, who had lived only for the moment of becoming head of the Moyong Clan, could not answer.
“Hone your blade without dulling it. Grow stronger while preserving yourself. Fight, but never forget what you fight for.”
Cheong Gang spoke with finality.
“A true master is not divided into victor and vanquished. A true master is one who, regardless of victory or defeat, continuously upholds his convictions. That is what makes a master.”
Shing! Click!
Cheong Gang sheathed the Emperor’s Sword.
His bearing was so composed and dignified that Mo Yong Cheol felt shame wash over him in that moment.
He cried out, hatred flooding his voice.
“Don’t…… look down on me……! No one can disrespect Mo Yong Cheol……! Ugh?!”
In that instant, Mo Yong Cheol heard something shatter completely inside his mind—a sickening crack.
Crash!
“……Hick! Kee-hee-hee-hee!”
Mo Yong Cheol suddenly began to laugh.
His mouth twitched of its own accord, his cheeks trembled, and his eyes blinked wildly.
“Kyah-ha-ha-ha! Kee-ha-ha-ha!”
“……Has he gone mad.”
“He has reason to.”
As Namgung Cheong Gang furrowed his brow, watching the deranged Mo Yong Cheol, two figures approached from behind.
It was Namgung Ho Yeon and Jegal Ahyeon.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
Looking down at the maddened Mo Yong Cheol, Namgung Ho Yeon tossed a piece of chewing sweet candy into his mouth.
“Mmm, it’s a Spirit Ability Runaway State. His Spirit Energy lost control and escaped the Yintang Point, infiltrating all the way to the Baihui Point.”
Namgung Ho Yeon had been observing Mo Yong Cheol’s Upper Dantian through the Uigi Yeondong technique.
The Yintang Point, ragged and gaping open, was a vessel too small to contain Spirit Energy.
Its stability was severely compromised, and as a result, Spirit Energy had leaked out, damaging the Baihui.
‘Forcing the Upper Dantian to bloom must have meant endless headaches every day. Add to that his work falling apart, weakening his control over Spirit Energy, and eventually his reason itself crumbled.’
Spirit Energy was the power of the spirit.
When mental fortitude weakens, it suffers the consequences.
Namgung Ho Yeon clicked his tongue and spoke.
“Tch-tch. I said he was making reckless moves. So he was never in his right mind from the start?”
“This is awkward. If Mo Yong Cheol has lost his mind, securing his testimony will be difficult.”
At Jegal Ahyeon’s words, Namgung Ho Yeon turned to her and asked.
“Testimony? About what?”
“About a traitor collaborating with the society. Though, given that we’ve hardened our suspicions through this incident, confirmation was more than we needed anyway.”
“Now that I think about it, you said Small Bait Large Catch, didn’t you? If she’s the bait, then who’s the fish you’re trying to catch?”
At Namgung Ho Yeon’s question, Namgung Cheong Gang also looked at Jegal Ahyeon with curiosity.
“The identity of the fish is…….”
Jegal Ahyeon smiled coldly, recalling the day she caught the traitor’s tail.
It was after the Yongbong Conference ended, when she met Jegal Shin San at the Crouching Dragon Pavilion.
“Heavy Head Light Feet. The head is heavy, the feet are light. You should have sent only the Phoenixes and remained here yourself.”
Jegal Shin San rebuked the foolishness of facing the Cruel Poet Sword.
Then his emotions began to surge wildly at the thought of using Namgung Ho Yeon, who had killed Chu Eum with a single strike.
Jegal Ahyeon’s face hardened as she watched Jegal Shin San.
‘What is this?’
Jegal Shin San’s emotions held nothing unusual. He was always like this.
But the new emotion caught by Simseogamhwa was different.
A figure wrapped in pitch-black malice was slowly drawing near.
“Commander. It is Jegal Gwan Wol.”
‘Jegal Gwan Wol…… Uncle?’
Jegal Gwan Wol.
The uncle who had always been kind to her as a child, and who had taken good care of her mother.
So much so that when he left the clan to become vice-commander of the Baekga Maeng, the young Jegal Ahyeon had wept bitterly out of affection for him.
And now—who was this person he regarded with such dark malice?
“Miss Jegal Ahyeon. It has been a long time.”
The moment Jegal Gwan Wol greeted her with a smile, Jegal Ahyeon understood the answer.
‘……It was me?’
In the old days, she would have been deeply wounded by such pretense from someone she trusted.
But Jegal Ahyeon was no longer the little girl who yearned to be loved by everyone.
Now she needed only one person’s affection—the rest of the world could become her enemy and she would not care.
“Yes indeed, Uncle.”
Jegal Ahyeon smiled back, returning his greeting.
Two-Faced Deception, Silent Blade Path, Concealed Sword Strategy—these are no longer your exclusive domain.
I am of the Jegal Clan as well.
“Ha, uncle? That is too generous a title for a subordinate like me.”
“Not at all. An uncle is an uncle, after all.”
“Then I shall see you next time.”
“Yes, Miss.”
Thanks to that, Jegal Gwan Wol never noticed.
The cool, sharp glint that had begun to shine in Ahyeon’s eyes as they brushed past each other.
After a brief moment of recollection, Ahyeon turned to face Namgung Ho Yeon and Namgung Cheong Gang with a gentle smile and answered.
“Jegal Gwan Wol. The deputy commander of the Baekga Maeng has swallowed the bait.”
“……!”
“……!”
* * *
Bang!
“Damn it!”
Jegal Gwan Wol brought his fist down upon the table as he received a carrier pigeon from his informant in Uichang.
“He failed? This incompetent fool Mo Yong Cheol!”
Rip! Rip!
Jegal Gwan Wol tore the letter to shreds and held it to the lamplight.
Crackle-crackle!
The letter burned in an instant, and the Taotie lurking in Jegal Gwan Wol’s shadow let out a roar that reeked of fury.
“I set everything up perfectly, and he gets outwitted by some milk-scented wench? This is why you can never rely on another man’s blade!”
The Borrowing a Knife to Kill strategy had failed.
Jegal Ahyeon was still alive.
“Tch, that two-faced bitch has more lives than a cat!”
Jegal Gwan Wol ground his teeth together.
Born as a branch-line member of the Jegal Clan, how many trials and tribulations had he endured to reach his position as deputy commander of the Baekga Maeng?
He’d bent low, waited for his superiors to stumble, and dragged them down. He’d crushed every upstart sapling beneath his heel as he climbed his way to this seat.
And now what?
The Wise Phoenix Hui Bong?
The next supreme commander?
“Ridiculous! That position is mine! I am the true successor of Master Kongming!”
Bang!
As Jegal Gwan Wol struck the table again, the ink in the inkstone scattered in all directions.
“I’ve come so far……!”
Jegal Gwan Wol’s eyes raked across the scattered letters on the table.
Though they were now blackened with ink and illegible, it hardly mattered.
They had been written in cipher from the start, and he had memorized every word.
Crackle! Crackle-crackle!
As Jegal Gwan Wol burned the letters in the lamp, he murmured to himself.
“There will be another opportunity to deal with that woman later. For now, the Four Heavens Destruction Situation takes precedence.”
He pulled out fresh paper, his mind already working.
‘Pae Cheon is pressuring Yunnan, and Nokseon is on the move……’
A smile curled across his lips.
His sharp mind had finished the calculation.
Jegal Gwan Wol’s voice dropped to a murmur.
“Rumors are already beginning to spread through Gansu and its surrounding regions. It won’t be long before the shock waves ripple across all of Zhongyuan.”
Scritch! Scritch! Scritch!
Jegal Gwan Wol’s brush moved rapidly as he began drafting orders.
“One cannot handle two, two cannot stand against three, and three cannot withstand four.”
The smile at the corners of Jegal Gwan Wol’s mouth grew colder and colder.
“Send Baeknyak Jang and the Geumcheon World Family to Gansu, and dispatch the Guryong Sa Mun and the Mogri Dan Family to Yunnan—and the task becomes simple.”
Once he had finished drafting all the orders, Jegal Gwan Wol retrieved a jade seal from his robes.
He pressed the seal, which he had coated with cinnabar, onto the paper, and in an instant the orders transformed into those of Supreme Commander Jegal Shin San.
“Go.”
Whoosh!
Jegal Gwan Wol placed the orders into the tube attached to the carrier pigeon’s leg and released it.
“Coo-coo-coo!”
The carrier pigeon beat its wings powerfully and soared away from the Baekga Maeng.
At that moment, a golden hawk that had been waiting for its chance dove down from the sky like a blade and seized the carrier pigeon.
Screech! Thwack!
“Caw!”
The carrier pigeon, realizing it had been caught by the hawk, shed a few tears at the thought that its brief bird-life had amounted to nothing but work.
Flutter!
“Oh my! We can’t have it getting wounded. Someone might grow suspicious.”
“Screech! Screech!”
“A pigeon?”
Jeon Seo Gu felt the grip of fingers closing around him and carefully opened his eyes.
There, a middle-aged man in a crimson martial robe was holding him and drawing a letter from a tube at his leg.
“Baeknyak Jang and Geumcheon World Family are to verify whether the rumors from Gansu are true, and Guryong Sa Mun and Mogri Dan Family are asked to provide reinforcements to Yunnan.”
“Kee-ik! Keek!”
“Goo goo?”
Jeon Seo Gu tilted his head.
A human speaking polite Korean to a bird?
It was the first such sight since his head feathers had sprouted.
“Yu. Please convey this to the lady: I, Yang Deok Jo, Hawk Master of the Dovecote, am watching Jegal Gwan Wol without a single gap. Tell her to have peace of mind.”
“Kee-ik!”
At the man’s words, the hawk kestrel nodded as if in understanding.
Jeon Seo Gu listened to this conversation between man and bird, his beak falling slightly open.
What in the world was happening?
“Go now.”
The middle-aged man then placed the letter back into its tube and released Jeon Seo Gu.
“Goo? Goo goo good!”
Coming fully to his senses, Jeon Seo Gu flapped his wings rapidly and fled the spot.
They said that even if captured by a hawk, one could live if one kept one’s wits—and now he was proof of it.
Jeon Seo Gu, who had just gained a lifetime’s worth of bragging rights for his friends in the Pigeon Roost, let out a relieved coo.
“Goo-ooo-oot!”

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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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