Namgoong the Sword Ghost - Chapter 56

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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 56. Sword Devil’s Display of Intent
Whoooosh!
Behind the silver mask, Dong Mu Wae’s eyes snapped wide open.
He couldn’t make sense of what was unfolding before him.
Would you believe that the blades scattered across the floor were rising of their own accord, their edges suddenly radiating a keen, murderous aura?
‘This—this can’t be—?!’
A name swept through Dong Mu Wae’s mind—one far too legendary, yet impossible to exist.
Ho Yeon smiled wickedly in response to his reaction.
“Tell them in hell that the Sword Devil sent you. Though with hundreds of wretches like you, even King Yama might grow weary.”
“……!”
Crack! Crack-crack-crack!
The blades descended from all directions at once.
Dong Mu Wae desperately unleashed the Yin-Transformation Great Yin Art at its maximum potency.
A frigid chill rose from his Dantian and swept through his limbs and torso.
Icy coldness began to emanate from his entire body.
“Hnngh!”
Clang! Clang! Clang-clang-clang!
Dong Mu Wae exhaled Yin-infused Psychic Force and unleashed the Cold Vein Unified Palm with devastating power.
A barrier of Yin energy wove itself through the void, and he had no doubt the blades would shatter completely.
But then—
Whoosh!
“……!”
The blades moved with the awareness of sentient beings, weaving through his barrier and raining down cuts and slashes from every conceivable angle.
Screech! Screech-screech!
Though Dong Mu Wae hurled himself through the air with desperate speed, several blade strikes still found their mark.
“Impossible!”
Dong Mu Wae’s eyes widened in shock as he felt the searing pain.
At this moment, he was shielding his entire body with Yin energy.
Any ordinary blade should have frozen and shattered the instant it touched him.
“What, you think these are just swords? I’ve coated them thick with compressed Psychic Force.”
“You—what in the—”
Whoosh!
Ho Yeon swept his hand through the air with fluid grace.
The blades then began to unfurl in unified formations.
Zing!
One blade erupted with brilliant light, deploying the fierce cuts of the Iron Sword Ten Forms.
Another moved with ponderous deliberation, mimicking the heavy blows of the Spear Palace Unobstructed Sword Art.
A third flashed like lightning, executing the rapid strikes of the Flash Lightning Thirteen Sword Thunder.
Yet another wove an endless chain of cuts, demonstrating the flowing combinations of the Celestial Wind Sword Art.
One more flipped and twisted through the air like a diving swallow, unveiling the transformative techniques of the Flying Swallow Sword Art.
And beyond these—the Great Flame Sword Art, the Blue Cloud Sword Art, the Flowing Water Sword Art, the Flying Dragon Sword Art, the Flowing Flower Sword Art, and more besides.
Through Sword Heart Resonance, every sword technique Ho Yeon had researched and mastered over the past year poured forth like a tidal wave, each carrying its own unique principle and pathway.
“Uuuugh!”
Crash! Crash-crash-crash-crash-crash!
Dong Mu Wae was overwhelmed by the Sword Sea.
He immediately pushed the Yin-Transformation Great Yin Art to its absolute limits, channeling all his Internal Power into both palms.
His protective barrier shattered, but his hands became encased in a pale, frost-white luminescence.
“Haaah!”
Dong Mu Wae unleashed the Yin Spirit Soul-Seizing Hand—his signature technique—to meet the Sword Sea head-on.
Clang! Clang-clang-clang!
The Soul-Luring Claw writhed with mesmerizing, dizzying motions as if seducing the very soul.
Crash! Crash-crash-crash!
The Soul-Snatching Claw raked with vicious speed, as if tearing at the corporeal form itself.
Tsh-tsh-tsh!
The Phantom Specter Palm erupted with sinister force, radiating waves of frigid cold.
Clang-clang-clang!
The Soul-Spirit Mirror Image scattered in multiple streams, creating a mirror of Yin energy itself.
“Graaaaaaah!”
Dong Mu Wae fought with every ounce of his being, carving a path through the Sword Sea.
He was like a small human thrown naked against the sublime force of nature itself.
“Me! Dong Mu Wae crumble here? This hardship? It’s nothing compared to my tempestuous life……!”
In that instant, as Dong Mu Wae exhaled psychic force and swept his hands like oars, trying to tear free from the Sword Sea.
Crack!
His body suddenly ceased to obey him.
Flash! Shriek!
As a result, lightning fell like a thunderbolt from the Flash Lightning Thirteen Sword Thunder technique, and his left arm was severed.
“What……!”
Dong Mu Wae stared at Ho Yeon.
A low hum resonated.
His right hand still gripped the sword hilt, but his left hand was shaped like a claw, cradling something as gently as if protecting a flower bud.
It resembled the talons of a hawk gripping a branch.
Squeeze! Squeeze! Squeeze!
Dong Mu Wae realized that with each clench and release of that left hand, the pressure bearing down on his body doubled.
‘It’s not the sword! I have to strike at him directly!’
With that thought, Dong Mu Wae immediately deployed the Yin Shadow Ghost Step.
Slip!
His form glided like a phantom, beginning to move toward Ho Yeon.
“Gaaaahhhhh! Die, die, dieeeeee!”
Crash!
Dong Mu Wae scraped together every last shred of Internal Power he possessed and concentrated it into the index finger of his right hand.
The very tip of that finger gleamed with searing white frost, radiating an icy chill.
This was the Frozen Blood Finger, a variant of the Pressure Point Art that pierced an opponent’s blood vessels to freeze the blood itself.
A single strike would inflict internal injuries that could persist for years—a technique of the most vicious and sinister school.
Wheeeek!
Moreover, Dong Mu Wae’s target was the Umbilicus Gate Acupoint.
A Mortal Point situated between the liver and the navel.
“Look at that hand technique. Deadlier than a viper.”
But Ho Yeon made no move to evade.
From the moment he activated the Uigi Yeondong, he had not shifted an inch.
Whoosh! Crack-snap!
Immediately after, two streaks of light flashed from Ho Yeon’s waist as he leaned against the Black Night Great Sword.
Thwak! Thwack!
“Cough!”
The drawn Flowing Love Sword and Celestial Thunder Sword pierced Dong Mu Wae’s chest, crossing in an X shape within his body.
Thud!
As Ho Yeon moved his fingers, Dong Mu Wae—now like a fish on a skewer—flew through the air and landed before Ho Yeon.
Snap! Crackle-crack!
Ho Yeon flicked his fingers, and Dong Mu Wae’s silver mask shattered and scattered into the air.
“Ah…… ah…….”
With the mask removed, what lay beneath was the smooth face of a man who appeared to be in his fifties.
He had no beard, and on his flour-pale face, eyes gleaming with malice fixed on Ho Yeon.
“The Uigi……Yeondong…….”
“Surprising. Three hundred years have passed, yet someone still remembers.”
“Heh…… hehehe…… How could I not know…… The scars the Sword Devil left on an age……were hardly so small…….”
Sensing his imminent end, Dong Mu Wae twisted his lips and muttered.
“In Namgung…… a monster…… was growing…….”
“Answer me a few things. You want to die quickly anyway. You seem to conduct secret salt trades with the Baekun Trading Company. What are you?”
“Heh…… The Baekun Trading Company…… So those wretches brought the monster…….”
Dong Mu Wae nodded in resignation and continued.
“We are…….”
At that moment.
Dong Mu Wae’s tongue rolled up into a sphere.
A silver needle flashed within it.
He had hidden one final move within his mouth.
But.
Crack! Thwak!
Before Dong Mu Wae could fire his saliva, a short blade from the pommel of the crimson jade sword pierced deep through his temple.
Shlick!
The drawn blade, even as it shook off blood of its own accord, displayed a ruddy crimson blade as faint and luminous as a red moon’s shadow.
The Moonlight Crimson, which had slipped free from Ho Yeon’s garments, had severed Dong Mu Wae’s last breath.
“A fish merchant with a foul stench to him.”
Ho Yeon stared down at Dong Mu Wae’s lifeless face and swept his sword fingers through the air.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
The Flowing Love Sword and Celestial Thunder Sword embedded in his body wrenched free, and every blade on the battlefield began spinning, casting off blood.
Whick! Clang!
Ho Yeon sheathed his three swords and pointed to the yellow cloth draped over the carriage.
Slash!
Whoosh!
The swords of the cotton merchants flew all at once toward the cloth, wrapping it around themselves and binding it into a single bundle.
Thump.
Ho Yeon slung the bundle over his right shoulder and gazed up at the sky.
The morning sun, risen without his notice, beat down pleasantly.
After a deep breath, a fresh smile lingered at the corners of Ho Yeon’s mouth.
“Ahh, whew. A fine morning.”
* * *
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
In the courtyard, Mo Yong Yul was swinging his sword.
His lips were pressed into a thin line as he delivered each strike with precision.
“Come on, Yul. Enough. You’ll injure yourself.”
Ho Yeon, watching from the veranda, yawned and spoke.
But Mo Yong Yul only flinched slightly.
He did not answer, and resumed swinging his sword.
“Tsk.”
Seeing this, Ho Yeon clicked his tongue and mused.
‘He’s pouting because I left him behind, isn’t he?’
Last night, after detecting the Baekun Trading Company’s suspicious movements through Yul’s psychic sense, he had moved into action.
Yul had said he would go as well, but that was impossible.
‘I don’t know what dangers await, and more than anything, I cannot reveal the Uigi Yeondong.’
Alone, he had full confidence in his ability to slip away, but this was no simple matter to handle carelessly.
Especially since he harbored the intention to annihilate them all with the Uigi Yeondong if necessary, he could not bring Yul along.
‘Well, there’s nothing for it. His anger will fade with time, won’t it?’
Swish.
Just as Ho Yeon thought this and brushed his disheveled hair back with his left hand—
The tip of Mo Yong Yul’s nose twitched.
Sniff!
Mo Yong Yul gritted his teeth and muttered inwardly.
‘The scent of blood and medicine for wounds……’
His hyung thought he had hidden it well enough, but the Red Fox’s nose could not be deceived.
The scent of blood drifting from morning weighed heavy on Mo Yong Yul’s chest.
‘If I were stronger, would he have taken me with him?’
Mo Yong Yul was not angry at Ho Yeon.
He was angry at his own powerlessness.
He despised himself for having to wait through the dawn, his heart in knots.
He resented his martial skill for being too weak to reproach Ho Yeon when he returned wounded—to demand why he had left him behind.
“When you see Ho Yeon next, I’ll pray that you’re beside him.”
At the memory of Jegal Ahyeon’s whisper, Mo Yong Yul clenched his teeth.
‘No! No! No!!’
Whoosh! Swish! Swish!
Mo Yong Yul swung his sword with even greater force to drive away the intrusive thoughts.
Ho Yeon, who had been watching intently, rose to his feet and approached him.
“Stop. You’re losing your composure.”
“…….”
“Come on, I said stop.”
“…….”
“What? Won’t you listen to your older brother?”
“…….”
“You brat.”
Tap!
Ho Yeon flicked a finger strike to the head of Mo Yong Yul, who was completely ignoring him.
“Ow! What are you doing!”
“Punishment.”
“I beg your pardon?”
Snap!
“P-please stop!”
“No. Not until you start listening to me.”
Snap! Snap! Snap!
Mo Yong Yul twisted and writhed, but even with his Infinite Protection deployed, he couldn’t evade Ho Yeon’s flicks coming at him in succession.
“Ow! Ah, yes! I’ll listen!”
“Rest is training too.”
“Uuugh…….”
“Let’s wrap up and grab something to eat.”
“Yes, sir.”
At Ho Yeon’s words, Mo Yong Yul clutched his forehead and held back tears.
Just then, someone in the distance came rushing toward them.
Patter-patter! Patter-patter-patter!
“Huff! Huff! Young master!”
He was a robust, middle-aged man dressed in a sky-blue robe, and the moment he caught sight of Ho Yeon, his entire face lit up with delight.
“The Manager of Revenue?”
His identity was Namgung Sang Bo, Manager of Revenue.
Ever since Ho Yeon had demonstrated the miracle of the Western Stone, he was one of those people whose eyes practically dripped honey whenever he saw him.
“Ha-ha-ha! What wonders has our young master wrought this time?”
“Hmm?”
As Namgung Sang Bo burst into hearty laughter and posed his question, Ho Yeon tilted his head in confusion.
He had indeed dealt with the fish merchant and his catch last night.
But he couldn’t recall doing anything that would warrant being called a miracle.
“A merchant named Man Hong Gi has come calling! He says he’s brought the Ruyi Pearl!”
“Mm?”
At Namgung Sang Bo’s exclamation, Ho Yeon tilted his head again.
‘Who in the world is that?’

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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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