Namgoong the Sword Ghost - Chapter 42

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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 42. The Sword Demon’s Twin Bird Battle
Crash!
The Iron Sword Brigade, advancing with unstoppable momentum, came to an abrupt halt.
They had reached the Yeondanshil.
Before the Yeondanshil stood two hundred warriors arrayed in formation, their commander a gaunt middle-aged man whose face was set in an expression of stone-hard severity.
The scholarly-looking figure wore a black robe and held a pair of the Ja-mo Won-ang-wol—curved like two crescent moons overlaid—one in each hand.
“How dare you stir up chaos within my domain! Even if you are of the Nam-gung Clan, you shall not be forgiven for this!”
Baek Jong-woo, master of the Baek Yak Mountain Manor, his voice trembling with fury.
Ho Yeon let out a quiet, mocking laugh.
“The kidnapper dares open his mouth.”
“What, what did you—!”
“Look at you, a bean sprout pretending to be a pillar. Is your insides as hollow as I suspect? You flit from here to there without a shred of backbone, so I imagine boredom never touches you.”
“Y-you insolent—!”
Insulted by a boy who should have been respectfully beneath him, Baek Jong-woo’s pale face flushed crimson.
“The Nam-gung Clan must offer a full accounting of this matter! I, the master of this place, along with the Yo Ryeong Eight Provinces and above all the Mo-yong Clan will not turn a blind eye to this!”
Even as rage consumed him, Baek Jong-woo’s thoughts turned to the Baek Family Alliance martial experts crowding behind the Iron Sword Brigade.
‘If they join in, we’re finished! I must stop them somehow!’
The martial experts of the Baek Family Alliance lacked experience, true, but their fighting prowess was the equal of any elite battalion.
Baek Jong-woo sought to constrain their actions by reminding them of the potential suffering that might be visited upon them in the future.
“Squeaking like rats, are we.”
“You disrespectful old cur!”
“Better to have manners than an empty head like yours—and look, they’re arriving now.”
“What?”
Tap-tap! Tap-tap-tap!
At that moment, footsteps echoed from the rear path of the Yeondanshil, and two men appeared.
One was a wiry figure in a green martial robe with a prominent cheekbone, the other a robust young man draped in golden silk.
“Dang Se-gi of the Sacheon Tang Family! I’ve caught the rat that crept through the rat hole into the Yeondanshil!”
Crash!
Dang Se-gi, the young man in the green robe, hurled the figure he’d had slung over his shoulder—a man dressed in night clothes—to the ground and roared.
“Why is there an assassin in the grounds of the Baek Yak Mountain Manor? Did you plan to slaughter the children and hide behind the guise of a raid?”
“……!”
At Dang Se-gi’s accusation, Baek Jong-woo’s eyes widened in shock.
Then.
“The third young master of the Sang-gwan Clan, Sang-gwan Hae, witnessed it with his own eyes! The Baek Yak Mountain Manor is indeed the Child Abduction Ring! If it is not, I will empty the Sang-gwan coffers and compensate you a hundredfold!”
“You—!”
As Sang-gwan Hae’s testimony poured forth on top of it all, the gathering of martial experts began to murmur and seethe.
Ho Yeon alone might be dismissed, but now two more witnesses had stepped forward.
“Is it actually true?”
“Three of the great houses have confirmed it.”
“Heavens! Can the Baek Yak Mountain Manor really be—?”
Three men make a tiger.
Speak a lie enough times, and it becomes truth.
“Tch! For now, arrest every Nam-gung warrior who has caused this disturbance! The charges will be determined later!”
Baek Jong-woo decided he must minimize the incident to a mere dispute between the Nam-gung Clan and the Baek Yak Mountain Manor.
First, arrest them.
Then fabricate the rest.
“Transparent thinking, as always.”
Ho Yeon, having read Baek Jong-woo’s true intentions, smiled crookedly to himself.
“Commander of the Iron Sword Brigade.”
“Yes!”
“You said you trusted me. Is there something you wish of me?”
“Of course there is!”
At Ho Yeon’s question, Geuk Ji-ryang responded as though the answer were obvious.
“I wish that you restore glory to the Nam-gung Clan! Let the Azure Heaven still show its blue vastness!”
“…….”
Ho Yeon fell silent for a moment at Geuk Ji-ryang’s words, then nodded slowly in response.
“I will show them. But in turn, Commander Geuk, you must grant me what I ask. That is only fair.”
“Name it, whatever you wish!”
“Do not die.”
“……!”
“I don’t care for the word trust. This is an order.”
“Of course, sir!”
Fire blazed to life in Geuk Ji-ryang’s eyes.
“Iron Sword Brigade, Unbreakable Formation! Commence battle!”
Clang!
At Geuk Ji-ryang’s command, the Iron Sword Brigade fell into perfect formation.
They looked as solid as pebbles bracing themselves against an incoming wave.
The battle had begun.
* * *
Step, step, step.
Leaving the Iron Sword Brigade behind, Ho Yeon walked toward Baek Jong-woo.
“Reckless. Foolish. When you’ve found an opening, you’re supposed to know how to wait. You were too impatient. Hehehehe.”
Baek Jong-woo whispered low as Ho Yeon drew near, his words for Ho Yeon’s ears alone.
Ho Yeon answered with a slight smile.
“Spare me. You were planning to move the children today, before the Baek Family Alliance’s investigation team arrived.”
“…So there really is a rat somewhere. Where did the information leak from?”
“An actual rat told me.”
“You’re full of nonsense.”
“I’m serious.”
Snap!
Ho Yeon shrugged and stood face to face with Baek Jong-woo.
One zhang’s distance.
“I’ll grant you’re clever. But your fatal flaw is obvious—you’ve overestimated your own strength.”
Clang!
Baek Jong-woo struck his pair of Ja-mo Won-ang-wol together, a bitter smile twisting his face.
“At best, I’m a first-rate master. Underestimating this Moonlit Twin Birds, Baek Jong-woo, is pushing your luck.”
Boom-boom-boom!
Whoosh!
Internal Energy erupted from Baek Jong-woo, setting his black robes aflutter.
Crack-crack-crack!
From the Ja-mo Won-ang-wol poured forth silver Qi Flame. In the next instant it compressed, compressed further, until it transformed into something thin as silk thread.
Swish!
As the silver threads wrapped lightly around the pair of weapons, it created the perfect illusion of four crescent moons hanging in the sky.
‘Wol-sa technique. At minimum, Peak Extreme Mastery.’
Ho Yeon’s eyes brightened.
This was a master operating in an entirely different league than Gwi-tu Do-gwi or Mak Cheon-ak.
Even within Peak Extreme Mastery, there was a gulf between early stages and the extreme—as vast as the distance between earth and sky.
Comparing them would be like grouping a ten-year-old child and a nineteen-year-old youth together as both “teenagers” and calling it fair.
“…I’ll need to use it.”
Ho Yeon rummaged through his belongings and pulled out something dark, tossing it into his mouth.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
A refreshing fragrance spread across his palate.
It wasn’t as good as Dang Ho’s pills, but it was far from inedible.
“What are you doing? Swallowing poison to end it all?”
“Tsk, tsk. Former poison master, so your mind goes straight to toxins.”
Ho Yeon smacked his lips and gripped the hilt of the Cheonroe Sword firmly.
“That stuff’s expensive. You owe me five hundred silver pieces.”
Whoooosh!
Ho Yeon felt the changes rippling through his body and smiled involuntarily.
The Baekseon Ganghche Bodan was a semi-divine-grade elixir that boosted vitality and fortified the body.
‘The perfect elixir to protect my frail body and meridians.’
Thrum!
On top of that, Ho Yeon reinforced his joints, Eight Extraordinary Meridians, and Twelve Standard Meridians with Willpower-Energy.
Normally, the Baekseon Ganghche Bodan required cultivation and circulation after ingestion to fully absorb its potency.
But Ho Yeon abandoned the five years of Internal Energy the elixir would have granted him, extracting all its Medicinal Qi to deploy immediately instead.
‘This should do it.’
Crack-crack-crack!
Ho Yeon circulated the Changung Daeyeon Shen Gong, and instantly a fierce azure Qi Flame erupted from the Cheonroe Sword.
“Qi, Qi Flame?!”
Baek Jong-woo’s eyes widened at the sight.
Expelling Qi Flame at that age?
Peak Extreme Mastery?
Yet this was far from the end of Baek Jong-woo’s shock.
‘Qi Flame occurs when one cannot perfectly control Qi—the energy spills outward uncontained. But if you rein it in with powerful Willpower-Energy and compress it……!’
Shhhk!
Ho Yeon unleashed the Uigi Yeom-dong technique, compressing the disobedient Changung Qi, then compressed it again.
The bright blue Qi Flame gradually dimmed, and in its place, a thin ribbon of light wound around the blade’s edge.
“Good heavens! Geom-sa?! This should be impossible!”
Baek Jong-woo cried out as though he couldn’t believe his eyes.
Qi Flame alone was astounding—but Geom-sa on top of it?
Throughout all of history, no one that age had ever reached Peak Extreme Mastery.
―His versatility is truly remarkable.
‘Hmph, doesn’t matter. All roads lead to the capital.’
At the Cheonroe Sword’s words, Ho Yeon let out a snort.
The Geom-sa Ho Yeon had just unleashed was not achieved through orthodox means.
He had simply forced it into submission using the Uigi Yeom-dong technique—brute compression, nothing more.
It was one of the crude tricks he’d often employed back during his days as a sword demon.
“……I must kill him.”
Click.
Baek Jong-woo abandoned any thought of capturing his opponent alive.
That level of talent.
He dreaded what karmic retribution it might bring in the future.
“Die!”
Boom!
Baek Jong-woo charged forward with four silver crescent moons gleaming in his hands.
Ho Yeon quickly analyzed his opponent.
‘The Ja-mo Won-ang-wol. He wields an Exotic Weapon.’
Two Wol-a blades fused together, each blade roughly forty-eight centimeters long, these weapons were called Wol despite being no true axe.
Rather, they were a type of ring weapon—typically worn on both hands by martial artists skilled in Ring Weapon Technique to extend their striking range and power.
‘Slashing, thrusting, and even wringing—I must guard against all three.’
The Ja-mo Won-ang-wol gave its wielder far more than simple striking—it could slash, pierce, and twist, offering multiple options in combat.
It was difficult to master, but in skilled hands, it became a truly troublesome weapon.
‘He’s extended his striking range, but it’s still shorter than a sword. So then!’
Click.
Ho Yeon shifted the Cheonroe Sword into Middle Guard. That single, simple movement radiating a weighty, commanding presence from his small frame.
It was the Cheonroe Sword’s Middle Guard stance—Stillness Within Movement, Movement Within Stillness.
The foundational position of the Changung Muae Sword Method.
Clash-clash-clash!
Baek Jong-woo raised the Ja-mo Won-ang-wol vertically and drove a series of rapid, piercing attacks forward.
His assault came like the sudden charge of a four-horned rhino—ferocious and lightning-quick.
Whoosh!
In response, the Cheonroe Sword swept through the entire space, moving slowly and deliberately.
Zing—!
“Ugh!”
Baek Jong-woo gritted his teeth against the numbing shock reverberating through his wrists, then moved the Ja-mo Won-ang-wol again.
Slash-slash-slash!
This time, gripping both weapons, he began wielding them in wild, sweeping arcs.
The silver Wol-sa blades danced, and their movement resembled two birds spinning gracefully beneath the moonlight.
Slash-hack!
Yet Ho Yeon remained unswayed by the endless silver glint, executing the Unjeong Cheon-gyun technique—delivering over a thousand catties of force in a single, vertical cleave.
Crash!
A deafening explosion.
Dust clouds.
Whoosh! Click!
Baek Jong-woo somersaulted through the air and landed, his eyes fixed on Ho Yeon.
Throughout the entire exchange, Ho Yeon had not moved a single step.
He stood as immobile as a tortoise fiercely guarding its own domain.
‘I must pierce through in one strike!’
Baek Jong-woo realized that breaking through Ho Yeon’s defense required a far more devastating blow.
He stacked the Ja-mo Won-ang-wol blades together.
As he did, the Wol-sa technique overlapped as well.
The flow of energy intensified like a crescent moon waxing to fullness.
“Hah!”
Crash!
A eerie silver flash drove through empty space, aiming for Ho Yeon’s chest.
Thud!
Ho Yeon sensed that this attack differed from the previous ones, and he planted his foot with precision.
Following the subtleties of the Cheongeun Chu, the step he traced sent the recoil reverberating from the earth through his legs and waist to his upper body, finally bursting forth through both arms and his sword.
Boom!
With a thunderous roar greater than any before, Ho Yeon was driven back a step.
Though he had reinforced his body with the Baekseon Ganghche Bodan and the Uigi Yeom-dong, it was an inevitable disadvantage in raw strength born of the difference in build.
“Hehehehe!”
The moment the gate that seemed unbreakable finally cracked open, Baek Jong-woo seized the opportunity without hesitation.
Slash, slash, slash, slash!
Thrust, thrust, thrust!
From his left hand came cutting strikes; from his right, piercing thrusts—pouring down like feathers from a bird’s wing.
Clang, clang, clang, clang!
Ho Yeon began to give ground beneath the relentless barrage of linked attacks.
Thud! Crack!
Baek Jong-woo deployed even the Gak-beop footwork to press his advantage, and at last he had created the opening he sought.
Slice!
‘Now!’
Toward the Cheonroe Sword extended in a parrying block, Baek Jong-woo thrust the Ja-mo Won-ang-wol.
Crack!
The blade of the Cheonroe Sword caught between the twin crescent hooks, and Baek Jong-woo twisted the Ja-mo Won-ang-wol with brutal force, wrenching it free.
Ring!
Under that powerful twist, the Cheonroe Sword slipped from Ho Yeon’s grip and spun away into empty air.
“It’s over!”
Slash!
The curved beak of the disarmed Ho Yeon’s throat was seconds away from being pierced through.
Hiss!
Ho Yeon smiled and opened his mouth.
“That’s exactly the distance I needed.”
“What—!”
Crackle!
As Baek Jong-woo uttered his confused cry, white-hot lightning erupted from Ho Yeon’s palm, tearing through the dry air with terrible beauty.
Cheonroe Gyeok.
Boom!
Like striking the Noe-go drum with a mallet fashioned from the bone of the Thunder Beast, a solemn peal of thunder rolled across heaven and earth.

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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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