Namgoong the Sword Ghost - Chapter 26

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 26. The Sword Demon Arrives at the Moyong Gate
Liaoning Province could be divided into three major regions.
The northwestern territory, abundant in hills and highlands.
The vast central plains.
The mountainous areas in the northwest, formed by the Changbai and Tianshan ranges.
Among these, Shenyang, the provincial capital located in the central region, was an ancient city steeped in long history and tradition.
“Wow! That’s the Shenyang Imperial Palace! I heard they expanded the ancient palace from the Yen Dynasty era. It’s supposed to be the second largest after the Forbidden City!”
Jegal Ah-hyeon pointed out the carriage window toward Ho Yeon, her voice bright with excitement.
Ho Yeon glanced at the Shenyang Imperial Palace and murmured under his breath.
“……They repaired it?”
“Hm?”
“Never mind.”
“Hehe, how dull of you. The Shenyang Imperial Palace had its Great Hall and Clear Spirit Palace half-destroyed three hundred years ago because of an evil scoundrel called the Sword Demon.”
As Jegal Ah-hyeon chattered on, Ho Yeon gazed out the window.
The streets of Shenyang seemed little changed from before.
‘That building is in the Japanese style, and that one appears to be Russian architecture?’
Several structures bore exotic forms rarely seen in the Central Plains.
The reason was simple: Dalian Port, an ice-free harbor, lay at the southern tip of Liaoning Province, and various foreign peoples came for trade.
‘Speaking of Japan, that makes me think of those Yin-sha Sect bastards. I was running around all over the place dealing with those parasites.’
Though he’d done some damage to the historically rich Shenyang Imperial Palace in the process, what mattered was getting rid of the pests, didn’t it?
“Oh, oh wow! Ho Yeon! Look there! That—the blonde hair!”
“Probably of Russian descent. Or maybe mixed blood.”
“I’ve never seen hair like that before! Is this how people feel when they see me?”
Jegal Ah-hyeon was pressed against the window, her expression animated and flushed with wonder.
Over the past month, they’d grown quite close—comfortable enough to speak freely with each other.
In truth, Ho Yeon’s demeanor had remained unchanged; it was Jegal Ah-hyeon’s behavior that had shifted dramatically.
‘Come to think of it, she did say she was Jurchen, didn’t she?’
Watching Jegal Ah-hyeon gaze with such curiosity at the foreign person of Russian descent, Ho Yeon nodded slightly to himself.
‘It’s common enough for those of non-Han descent, especially from the borderlands, to face discrimination in the Central Plains.’
Though as the daughter of the Jegal Clan, Jegal Ah-hyeon likely hadn’t faced open prejudice, there would certainly have been cold stares.
‘Is that why she wanted to escape the Jegal Clan? Hmm, could it really be just that?’
Ho Yeon suspected there was some deeper reason.
But as long as she didn’t speak of it herself, pressing for details would be difficult.
‘Well, either way, she seems bright. A month ago she looked half-dead.’
Ho Yeon was smiling faintly at the sight of Jegal Ah-hyeon, her brown eyes sparkling as she took in the sights of Shenyang, when—
“Young master, we’ve arrived.”
“Have we?”
At Geuk Ji-ryang’s words, Ho Yeon craned his neck to peer outside.
A massive gate built in the ancient architectural style came into view, the kind he’d seen at the Shenyang Imperial Palace.
At the center of the gate, an elegant chrysanthemum carved in gold bloomed gracefully, and above it hung a plaque inscribed in bold, soaring brushstrokes.
[Moyong Clan]
“The Moyong Clan, then……”
The chrysanthemum was the symbol of the Moyong Clan.
Gazing at the massive gate, which seemed to flaunt the clan’s influence, Ho Yeon’s eyes narrowed.
“They say it’s the greatest clan under heaven in this age?”
“You could say so. After all, Lord Moyong Sang-cheon, the Sword Emperor and one of the Ten Extremes Ten Clans, serves as the Senior Patriarch.”
Jegal Ah-hyeon nodded at Ho Yeon’s murmur and continued her explanation.
“Thirty years ago, the current leader of the Baekga League—the Sword Emperor himself—convinced the Hundred Families to declare independence from the Martial Alliance. Since then, they’ve been called the greatest clan under heaven.”
As Ho Yeon listened to Jegal Ah-hyeon’s explanation, his mouth twisted slightly.
“Heh.”
He had resolved to make the Nangung Clan the greatest clan under heaven once more.
Which meant he would have to bring down the current greatest clan.
‘The Sword Emperor? The Emperor of Swords, is it?’
Ho Yeon smiled meaningfully to himself as he mused inwardly.
‘Heh, if they’re the Emperor, then I’m the Ghost. Come, let the ghost receive you.’
It was the moment the Sword Demon entered through the gate of the Moyong Clan.
* * *
“Hah! Strike!”
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
In the Martial Training Grounds, a man was executing a Blade Technique.
The movement was swift yet precise, fluid yet fierce.
The Moyong Clan’s signature technique—fast enough to pursue the very soul of one’s opponent.
The Pursuing Soul Swift Blade.
Whoosh!
As the man unfolded his Blade Technique, white Qi Flame suddenly erupted from his blade.
“Hah!”
Crack!
His form vanished in an instant, only to reappear beyond the stone platform in a lightning-swift strike.
The Phantom Flash.
Splurt!
Blood sprayed from the blow.
The object cleaved in two was a sparrow perched on a branch above.
Flutter-flutter-flutter!
The other sparrows, startled by their companion’s death, scattered in panicked flight.
“How dare a mere creature look down upon me. Insolence has its limits.”
Splurt!
The man watching this display wiped the blood from his blade and smiled with arrogant contempt.
Though his features were sharp and handsome, the cruel curl of his lips gave him an ominous air.
He was Moyong Chul, the second son of the Moyong Clan.
Together with the eldest son Moyong Hu, he stood nearest to the position of Clan Successor.
Click!
Behind Moyong Chul as he sheathed his blade, a man in black martial garb dropped from the air and fell to one knee.
“The Jegal Clan and the Nangung Clan have arrived.”
“Nangung, you say? Who came?”
“Ho Yeon of the Nangung Clan. The youngest son.”
“Hmm? Not Nangung Cheong-gang?”
“That is correct.”
At the man’s words, Moyong Chul furrowed his brow.
“What game is this? Does the Baekga Sword Tournament look easy to them?”
This Baekga Sword Tournament was special.
It was the first sword gathering held by Moyong, the greatest clan under heaven.
More than that, it was an arena to determine the next Clan Successor of Moyong itself.
Endless Contention.
The stage where Sword Emperor Moyong Sang-cheon’s philosophy of endless competition and advancement could be displayed was none other than this Baekga Sword Tournament.
Yet they send not Nangung Cheong-gang, the Nangung Clan’s finest rising prospect, but his younger brother?
“This leaves a foul taste. Are they hiding Nangung Cheong-gang’s martial prowess to prepare for the Dragon-Phoenix Assembly? Has the Nangung Clan fallen so low as to resort to such petty tricks?”
“That does not appear to be the case, sir.”
“What?”
At the man’s rebuttal, Moyong Chul’s eyebrows shot upward.
The man quickly continued his report.
“According to the latest intelligence, Ho Yeon is said to be the greatest genius of all ages.”
“Ha! What? The greatest of all ages?”
Moyong Chul laughed as if he’d heard an amusing joke, and the man pressed on with his report.
“En route here, he defeated Mak Cheon-ak, a disciple of Gal San-ho, the Crescent Moon Tyrant. Mak Cheon-ak has recently been assessed to have reached the Peak Realm.”
“He cut down the Crescent Moon Tyrant’s disciple?”
At the mention of one of the Twelve Kings, Moyong Chul’s expression grew serious.
“This Ho Yeon. How old is he?”
“Sixteen.”
“Sixteen and at the Peak Realm? You expect me to believe that?”
“There has been no report of him releasing Qi Flame. At best, he may be a first-rate master swordsman.”
“That makes even less sense. A first-rate swordsman defeated a Peak Realm master? Is he some sort of Extreme Superior Killer, a Sword Demon?”
……
At Moyong Chul’s mockery, the kneeling man fell silent.
Moyong Chul clicked his tongue and muttered.
“Tsk. In any case, there’s one more person to watch. Since he’s still young, gentle probing will reveal his true nature. What of the Jegal Clan?”
“Jegal Ah-hyeon came in person. Her beauty lives up to the rumors—truly worthy of being called a phoenix.”
As the man spoke admiringly, Moyong Chul smirked and shook his head.
“A woman cast out by her own clan and sold off? She’s not worth a second glance. What matters is the Jegal Clan’s support. Has the strategist sent any message?”
“Not yet, sir.”
“Hehehe. I wonder why Divine Calculation Ghost Strategy acts this way. Could he possibly think I’m inferior to my brother?”
Crack!
Moyong Chul’s jaw tightened as if his pride had been wounded, his grip on the scabbard turning white-knuckled.
“If you want to be paid fairly, you’ll need to decide quickly. Send word to Jegal Ah-hyeon. Tell her to join us at tomorrow’s first gathering.”
“Understood.”
“What about the third?”
“Moyong Hak is currently at Yeon-un Hall.”
“Heh, pass the word to that bat of a creature too. Tell him if he’s slow to choose, he’ll fall headfirst while tightrope-walking.”
“Yes.”
“And kill that beast the fourth one’s so fond of. I want him showing up tomorrow looking pathetically puffy-eyed.”
“Understood.”
Thud.
The man in black robes vanished, and Moyong Chul lowered his gaze to the sparrow split in half before him.
“This Baekga Sword Tournament is my showcase, Moyong Chul’s showcase. I’ll prove I’m far better suited to be Clan Successor than my bumbling older brother!”
Crunch.
Moyong Chul’s eyes burned with ambition and killing intent as he trampled the sparrow’s corpse into pulp beneath his heel.
Chirp-chirp-chirp!
Its mate, now alone, watched from nearby and cried out in mournful song.
* * *
Tap, tap, tap.
Ho Yeon had slipped out of Yeon-un Hall, the guesthouse, and was wandering through the Moyong Clan compound.
“Pups playing at being adults already. The world’s truly gone to ruin. Tsk, tsk, tsk.”
There was a reason Ho Yeon had left Yeon-un Hall.
Factions had already begun forming within the hall—petty power plays and recruitment competitions breaking out at every turn.
“Just what you’d expect from children who haven’t even dried the blood from birth.”
―Now do you understand my heart? That’s exactly what you do.
“What nonsense is that? There are few scholars as refined as I.”
―Huh? So you’re a scholar?
“…Old man, you’ve got no talent for jest. Why don’t you stick to rattling off Confucian this and Mencius that?”
Ho Yeon continued his banter with the Cheon-roe Sword while glancing about.
Well-tended hedges combined with buildings constructed in the ancient Yan dynasty style created an atmosphere of serene quietude.
‘The Moyong have always taken tremendous pride in their descent from the Yan royal line. They match the Nangung for shamelessness.’
It was said that if the Nangung dominated the south, the Moyong held equal sway in the north—two legendary great clans forever measured against each other.
Once, the Nangung had always held a slight edge in reputation over the Moyong, but three hundred years after the Sword Demon Blood Massacre, the balance gradually shifted.
With the emergence of the Sword Emperor and the establishment of the Baekga League as an independent power, the hierarchy had completely inverted.
“These creatures. They buried their heads like turtles when we were erasing the Yin-sha Sect.”
In his time as the Sword Demon, Ho Yeon had visited Liaoning Province only twice, including that occasion.
Being such a remote frontier region, he’d rarely had reason to venture there.
Consequently, the Moyong Clan had been one of the families that suffered the least from the Sword Demon Blood Massacre.
‘Pity. If I’d known then what I know now, I’d have crushed them flat.’
Ho Yeon clicked his tongue with regret, murmuring meaningfully as he gazed at the beautiful pavilions.
“Should I just go ahead and ‘greet’ them?”
―Don’t you dare!
“I was only jesting. Can’t the old man even tell the difference between jest and earnest?”
―You absolutely were! I know you too well, you troublemaker!
“A baseless accusation. Perhaps after three hundred years of talking to yourself, the old man’s lost his ear for conversation?”
―What? Have you finished your sermon?
Tap, tap, tap.
As Ho Yeon continued walking while bantering with the Cheon-roe Sword—
“Hm?”
An odd scene caught his eye.
“Ugh…u-ugh……”
A small child sat crouched, trembling as if gripped by terror.
His hair hung low, concealing his entire forehead and eyes, giving him a disheveled appearance overall.
The boy clutched a gray cat in his arms, his teeth gritted as though he’d made some terrible resolution.
“Uuuugh!”
Whish!
The boy raised the short blade he was holding high toward the heavens.
Ho Yeon’s eyes narrowed.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————