Namgoong the Sword Ghost - Chapter 45

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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 45. Sword Demon’s Delusion
“Ugh…….”
Ho Yeon cradled the Heavenly Thunder Sword against his chest, his back pressed against the corner where two walls met.
His eyes remained closed as cold sweat dripped steadily from every part of his body.
―I knew you were pushing too hard. Tsk, tsk, tsk.
The Heavenly Thunder Sword clicked its tongue with both regret and admiration, but its voice could not reach Ho Yeon.
His consciousness had wandered three hundred years into the past, drifting through a dark alley.
* * *
People lived on the fringes of Chongqing City as well.
No one chose to live in this place where every crime and violence festered — they simply had no choice.
They were merely poor.
If poverty was a sin, then yes, they were guilty.
“I told you to stay home. Dan Wi Myeong and I can handle this alone.”
Night had deepened into the hour of the Pig.
An alley in Qiongmin District — a place where the poor scraped out their living.
Four children huddled together, speaking in hushed tones.
“B-but older brothers…… Cough! Cough!”
“Stop this now. It’s too dangerous.”
Two of the girls spoke with worry etched across their faces.
The one coughing appeared to be barely ten years old; the other looked at least five years her senior.
The older-seeming girl grabbed the collar of a gaunt boy and tried to hold him back.
“If something happens to you two…….”
“It’s already happened. In a world this rotten, we have to rot too if we want to survive.”
“……Jeong Won Pyeong.”
“Choo Ga Ye. We survive. No matter how filthy, how cowardly — we just have to live.”
At Jeong Won Pyeong’s words, tears welled in Choo Ga Ye’s eyes.
“You weren’t like this before.”
“…….”
“You wanted to become a hero of the Jianghu. You said you wanted to become one and help people in need.”
“……Not anymore.”
At Choo Ga Ye’s words, Jeong Won Pyeong shook his head.
“Those dreams mean nothing compared to you all. Ha Bin’s cough hasn’t stopped for days now. We need to call a physician.”
“Cough! I’m fine…….”
“You’ve all seen what happens. One moment she’s like this, the next…….”
“…….”
At Jeong Won Pyeong’s words, Choo Ga Ye bit her lip hard.
Her trembling hand stroked Ha Bin’s hair ribbons.
“It’s just borrowing. We’ll pay it back later. So you two should just go home and——”
“Shh!”
As Jeong Won Pyeong was trying to convince the two girls, a boy pressed flat against the wall, watching all directions, brought his index finger to his lips.
Thud, thud, thud.
Footsteps followed, and the four children held their breath in the darkness of the wall’s shadow.
Thud, thud, thud.
The footsteps were growing distant when——
“Cough! Gasp! Cough! Cough!”
“……!”
“……!”
“……!”
Ha Bin could not hold back and broke into a fit of coughing, and the retreating footsteps halted abruptly.
Then.
Rapid footsteps came racing back.
“Damn it!”
“Jeong Won Pyeong! Take the two of them and run now——!”
“This, this……”
The two boys scrambled to their feet at the sound of the approaching footsteps.
But the man in black emerged before them first.
A sword hung at his waist, and his eyes as they studied the children gleamed like a serpent eyeing prey.
“Two boys and two girls. Hard to say until they’re cleaned up, but two girls would be a decent haul…….”
“Cough! Cough!”
“Hmm. One’s sickly? Then the haul is down to one.”
“……You!”
As the man looked Choo Ga Ye over as though appraising merchandise, Jeong Won Pyeong stepped forward to shield her.
The man waved his hand dismissively and continued speaking.
“I have no interest in men. No profit in them.”
“You bastard! Are you one of Amun’s lackeys?”
“Heh heh, watch your tongue. Keep flapping it like that and you might end up on the flesh market for pocket change.”
“This……!”
Whoosh!
Jeong Won Pyeong drew a Small Blade from his robe, and the narrow-eyed man’s right hand moved toward a sword strike.
‘This can’t happen.’
Dan Wi Myeong clenched his teeth.
He knew well the chasm that lay between a martial artist trained in Sword Technique and an ordinary commoner.
He had witnessed it himself when a well-built youth picked a fight with a martial artist in the street and was torn to shreds.
‘If we resist, we all die! I can’t let that happen! Not after everything we’ve sacrificed for this house, for this family!’
Others mocked them—just orphans pretending to play house together.
But because they existed, he had managed to endure all this time.
When the beggar gangs beat him senseless, when he scraped together discarded scraps to eat—they were always there.
‘I have to…… I have to find a way……!’
In his mounting desperation, Wi Myeong’s eyes caught a fist-sized stone lying on the ground.
In that instant, the Way of Survival flashed through his mind like instinct.
“If you wish to die so badly, I’ll oblige you.”
“Don’t come near! Don’t you dare……!”
Jeong Won Pyeong was still brandishing the Small Blade, holding the man at bay, when—
Wi Myeong picked up the stone and brought it down on the back of Won Pyeong’s head.
Crack!
“Kyaaah! No, Won Pyeong!”
“Cough! Cough! Wi Myeong…… brother?”
The two girls screamed at the shocking, incomprehensible act unfolding before them.
“You…… you……!”
Won Pyeong stared back with eyes full of betrayal, but Wi Myeong’s face remained impassive as his hand continued to move.
Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!
“Kyaaah! Stop, please stop!”
“Cough! Why, why are you doing this! Stop!”
Neither Choo Ga Ye’s nor Ha Bin’s pleas made Wi Myeong pause.
In the end, Won Pyeong lost consciousness, his eyes rolling back.
“Haah! Haah!”
“……What the—?”
Thud.
The man in black asked incredulously as Wi Myeong, sprawled on the ground, caught his breath and spoke with deference.
“First Stance of Haomun. I pay my respects to the elder of Amun.”
“Huh?”
“I wish to join Amun as well. This one here—despite her appearance—has fair looks. If you feed her well, you should fetch a good price for her.”
“You…… you……!”
Choo Ga Ye, who had been tending to the fallen Jeong Won Pyeong, widened her eyes in shock at Wi Myeong’s betrayal.
Wi Myeong, still prostrate, then spoke in a cold voice.
“This is the only way. Better we survive this cesspool than die pretending to be a family.”
“How could you! How could you do this to us!”
Choo Ga Ye wailed, but Wi Myeong’s blank gaze remained fixed on the man in black.
“Elder. Ha Bin is also quite presentable. Would it not be possible to take her as well?”
“……Hah! Hahahaha! Now this is an amusing one.”
The man in black laughed as he looked at Wi Myeong.
He was a martial artist of Amun, the faction within Haomun that specialized in human trafficking.
Though he had been in this business for over a decade, he had never encountered anyone like this.
“Hahahaha! A natural fit for Amun, I see! Very well. I’ll speak well of you to the section leader.”
“Thank you!”
“And let me offer you wisdom as a senior. Brothels don’t purchase children who are too young. Especially not the sickly ones.”
“……I see. I’m grateful for the guidance.”
Wi Myeong rose from the ground and grabbed Choo Ga Ye’s arm, dragging her along.
“Let’s go.”
“Let go! You bastard! Filthy wretch!”
“Heh, tie them up with this. If they hurt themselves, the merchandise loses value.”
As Dan Wi Myeong dragged the struggling Choo Ga Ye forward, the man in black fished a length of rope from his robes.
“Let go! I said let go!”
“Cough! Sister!”
Even as Choo Ga Ye thrashed and Ha Bin cried out, Dan Wi Myeong remained unmoved.
That cold composure pleased the man in black immensely.
“Well then, I’ll take good care of you myself——”
Whack!
In that instant, as Dan Wi Myeong reached out to take the rope, a small blade flashed from his sleeve.
It was Jeong Won Pyeong’s small blade—the one he’d hidden when he threw himself flat on the ground moments before.
Thunk!
“Ugh——!”
“Not deep enough!”
The man in black jerked back, feeling the blade slice across his ribs.
Dan Wi Myeong pursued desperately, driving the small blade forward once more.
“Damn brat!”
Whack!
The man drew his sword in a flash, sweeping it horizontally in a wide arc.
Dan Wi Myeong had no choice but to retreat, resetting his stance.
“I’ll hack you to pieces and hang you in the butcher’s window, you worthless whelp!”
“Hah——hah——hah——”
The man in black advanced with Killing Intent radiating from every pore, but Dan Wi Myeong kept his eyes cool and level, searching for an opening.
‘Good—he’s favoring his Right Hand Blade. The wound on his right ribs means he can’t put his full strength into it. If I take one blow head-on, I won’t be able to pull free. That’s when I go for the throat.’
Dan Wi Myeong’s eyes flashed as his calculation crystallized.
“Die!”
Tap-tap!
The man in black rushed forward, thrusting his blade toward Dan Wi Myeong’s heart.
Dan Wi Myeong twisted his torso; the sword pierced through his left shoulder instead.
Thunk!
“Gah——!”
Burning pain lanced through him, but Dan Wi Myeong gritted his teeth and drove forward with his next move.
“Aaaah!”
“This—this damn brat——!”
Dan Wi Myeong surged ahead; the stunned man tried to yank his blade free.
But the sword was embedded too deep to pull out quickly, and in that crucial gap, Dan Wi Myeong drove his small blade into the man’s throat.
Squelch!
“Krrgh——!”
“Die! Die! Die!”
Squelch! Squelch! Squelch! Squelch! Squelch! Squelch!
Even so, Dan Wi Myeong did not relent, stabbing again and again into the man’s body.
His vision swam with white stars; blood sprayed across his entire frame; a high-pitched ringing screamed in his ears.
“Gasp——gasp——gasp——”
Drenched in blood, Dan Wi Myeong slowly rose from the corpse of the man in black, now riddled with wounds like a honeycomb.
‘I…… did it……’
His body felt impossibly heavy, and his left shoulder burned as if it might fall away.
But he had succeeded in protecting his family, just as planned.
That was enough.
“Children…… are you——”
As Dan Wi Myeong turned his head, he saw something that stopped his heart.
“We have to go! Quickly!”
“……Ga Ye?”
Choo Ga Ye was half-dragging the unconscious Jeong Won Pyeong while urging Ha Bin forward.
They had already reached the mouth of the alley—when had they started running?
“Why……?”
“Don’t come near us! Monster!”
“——”
Choo Ga Ye stared at Dan Wi Myeong, drenched in blood, and screamed in fear.
“Killer! You can’t have Won Pyeong!”
“I——”
“So you’ve finally shown your true colors! You were planning to kill Won Pyeong and sell me and Ha Bin, weren’t you? You’ve been waiting for your chance all along, and when you saw that man as competition, you killed him!”
“That’s…… not…….”
“I took you in thinking you’d be useful, but it was a mistake! Get out of here! I don’t need a monster like you!”
“……!”
Choo Ga Ye’s sharp words carved into Dan Wi Myeong’s chest.
The pain was so profound that the ache in his shoulder had ceased to register at all.
Tap-tap-tap!
Choo Ga Ye seized Ha Bin’s hand and bolted without a backward glance, leaving Dan Wi Myeong standing alone in a daze.
Plink. Plink. Plink.
Rain began to fall from the sky, one drop at a time.
Whoosh!
In no time, a downpour descended upon the heads of Qiongmin District’s poor.
How much time had passed like that?
Footsteps echoed.
Splash! Splash! Splash!
“Boss, that bastard Han Sam is just lying here sleeping?”
“Did he make his quota before napping? Huh? Boss, this son of a bitch isn’t sleeping—he’s dead!”
“Hahaha! What a wreck! Looks like he got the short end of the stick from that kid over there. Look at that sword in his shoulder—that’s Han Sam’s blade.”
Four men in black entered the alley and discovered the corpse and Dan Wi Myeong.
But Dan Wi Myeong remained motionless, his gaze fixed on the alley’s end where his companions had vanished.
“Hey, kid. Did you kill Han Sam?”
A burly man addressed Dan Wi Myeong then.
Dan Wi Myeong said nothing.
“You little punk, don’t you dare ignore your elders when they’re talking to you!”
“Boss, maybe he’s mute or deaf?”
“What, is he an idiot? Tsk.”
Bang!
The burly man kicked Dan Wi Myeong, and his back slammed hard against the wall, forcing blood from his lips.
“Cough! Hack!”
“Heh, so you can make sounds. Then answer my question—one cough for yes, two for no. You got it?”
“…….”
“You’re not answering?”
Smack!
“Cough!”
“So, that’s a yes? How in the hell did a tiny thing like you kill Han Sam?”
“Boss! There are other signs here. Looks like multiple people ganged up on him!”
A smaller man in black scanned the alley carefully, then pointed.
His finger aimed precisely at the alley where Choo Ga Ye had fled.
“There are tracks leading that way. If the rain gets worse, pursuit will be harder—should we chase them now?”
“Yeah, bring them all back. Even a useless one is still an underling. Han Sam deserves his revenge.”
The burly man nodded and issued the order.
“Don’t…… do…… it.”
Dan Wi Myeong fixed the burly man with vacant, hollow eyes, his lips moving faintly.
“Huh? What. So you’re not mute after all.”
“Don’t…… do it…….”
“Don’t do what? Chase them?”
Grin!
The burly man’s lips curled upward, and he laughed.
“Hahaha! Now that’s funny! Look at you—a disposable meat shield trying to play the loyal friend? Come on, wake up. You’ve been used.”
“…….”
“Want me to get revenge for you instead? If it’s a woman, I’ll sell her to a brothel. If it’s a man, I’ll send him to the saltworks with sulfuric acid—have him mine salt for the rest of his life. How’s that sound? Interested?”
As the burly man spoke with a sickening grin, blood trickled from Dan Wi Myeong’s nose.
“Tsk, what? Is he about to die anyway? I was hoping for some fun, but never mind. Just go kill them all and come back.”
The man, who had been planning to play with the abandoned one and the fugitive, lost interest and gave the execution order.
His subordinates moved toward the alley where Choo Ga Ye had disappeared, and watching them go, Ho Yeon thought:
‘I…… want to kill them all……!’
Buzz! Buzz!
The space between his brows had been tingling uncontrollably.
His head throbbed as though it might split open, and the heat within him would not cool even in the falling rain.
His vision flooded crimson, and from the depths of his being rose a thick, suffocating Killing Intent.
“I’m…… going to kill them…….”
“What? Some brat with that much killing intent…….”
“Die!”
Flash!
The moment red Ghost Energy erupted from Dan Wi Myeong’s eyes, silver gleamed from the man’s waist, and his body separated from his head.
Screeeech!
“What, what is this!”
“The group leader has fallen!”
“Who is this bastard!”
As the burly man collapsed, the black-clad men who had been moving froze in terror, reaching for the blades at their waists.
But their attempt failed.
Because there were no blades in their scabbards.
“My sword!”
“What is this…….”
“Gasp! That, that thing……!”
The three black-clad men leaned against the wall, staring at the boy who was slowly rising to his feet.
“I told you not to…… do this……!”
Whooom!
Four blades stood vertically beside the boy like an honor guard.
“Shriek! A, a demon!”
“What sorcery is this?”
“A monster!”
Clatter-clatter! Clatter-clatter-clatter!
Confronted with this impossible feat, the black-clad men began to scatter in panic.
Whoosh.
Watching their retreating forms, Dan Wi Myeong reached out his hand, filling it with Killing Intent.
Three blades shot forward at his will, piercing the men’s hearts.
Splurt-splurt-splurt!
Thud! Thud! Thud!
In the blink of an eye, three more corpses lay in the alley.
“Heh, heheheh.”
Dan Wi Myeong staunched the blood from the blade lodged in his shoulder and slowly slipped out of the alley.
Hum! Hum! Hum! Hum!
Four blades trailed behind him like an honor guard, their blades singing in the air.
“I’ll…… kill…… every last…… one of…… them……”
Shatter!
As Dan Wi Myeong spilled forth waves of murderous intent, permanent crimson threads appeared in his black eyes—veins that would never fade for the rest of his life.
It was the moment when the absolute master of the Central Martial World, who would later be called the Sword Demon, awakened to Spirit Sword Resonance.
He was barely thirteen years old.
The age at which he, alone and orphaned, began his war against Amun.
And two years later, when he turned fifteen, Amun no longer existed in the Jianghu.
Yet even then, the world did not truly comprehend the emergence of the Sword Demon.
It understood even less why he harbored killing intent toward everything in this world.
* * *
Ho Yeon opened his eyes.
Morning sunlight filtered through the rice paper door, casting soft shadows.
Staring at the sight for a moment, Ho Yeon let out a low laugh and muttered to himself.
“Damn it, what a fucked-up dream.”

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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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