Namgoong the Sword Ghost - Chapter 62

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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 62. Sword Ghost Penetrating Insight
“Just exhaustion.”
“Tsk, did he overexert himself?”
“What happened?”
“Nothing of consequence. We simply traveled rather hard.”
Ho Yeon scratched the back of his head as he answered the woman in mourning clothes.
Then Cheon Roe Geom’s voice cut through.
―You fool! Three days from Seo An to here, and you claim nothing happened!
‘In our pursuit days, it would’ve taken less than two.’
―Eight hours a day in the saddle, and when the horse gave out you bolted on Light Qinggong like some mindless brute! Where else would you find such madness?
‘Ahem. Here, it seems.’
Ho Yeon’s expression turned sheepish.
The journey had been grueling for him as well, but it must have been far worse for Mo Yong Yul.
Flushed with the fervor of executing a secret mission, Mo Yong Yul’s cheeks had grown progressively more pallid.
“Please give him plenty of water.”
“I will.”
“I’ll fetch something from the medicinal herb storage. We have only codonopsis, dong quai, ophiopogon, white atractylodes, prepared rehmannia, and ligusticum, but it should suffice.”
“I’m grateful. You welcomed a stranger into your home without hesitation.”
The woman in mourning clothes smiled sadly at Ho Yeon’s words.
“Think nothing of it. Instead, just light an incense stick for the ancestors’ altar once.”
“I shall.”
“And let Grandmother Yeon rest well. Don’t let her move about.”
“Mm. Very well.”
The woman in mourning clothes gave her instruction to the old woman lying prone on the floor, then left the room.
Trickle.
Ho Yeon dribbled water into the mouth of the sleeping Mo Yong Yul, who was breathing heavily, and asked the old woman a question.
“Did you injure your lower back?”
“Wrenched it.”
“How?”
“Mm. Got kicked by a Leopard Claw technique.”
“A Leopard Claw? Orthodox or heterodox school?”
“Can’t say. Got it from that wretched bastard Jeok Sa Hyun.”
“Jeok Sa Hyun?”
The old woman groaned and turned her head toward Ho Yeon, asking.
“Where are you from?”
“I’m from Hefei.”
“Quite a distance then. No wonder you don’t know Jeok Sa Hyun.”
“Is he skilled?”
“Him, I couldn’t say. But his father—his father is a master. Jeok Do Gwang, the Red Calamity Tyrant Blade, has no equal in these parts. A supreme master of the highest caliber.”
“Red Calamity Tyrant Blade? That’s quite a grandiose title.”
The old woman grimaced at Ho Yeon’s words.
“It’s earned from his viciousness—burning down even the cornerstones of rival sects. A truly wretched man.”
“An arsonist, then.”
“Since that Pae Wang Mun of his took control of the region, life has lost all flavor. I have few attachments to this life at my age, but Yeo An… what will become of her.”
The old woman sighed.
Yeo An—that was the name of the woman in mourning clothes.
Ho Yeon, unwilling to pry into deeper circumstances, changed the subject.
“But tell me—is it true that people have been vanishing in this area?”
“Hmm? Who told you that?”
“I heard rumors on the way. They warned me to be careful if I was heading to Banjihwa.”
At Ho Yeon’s leading question, the old woman tilted her head thoughtfully.
“I’m not sure why such rumors spread, but I haven’t heard of any recent disappearances.”
“Is that so?”
“Though this is mountain country, people don’t vanish silently except in cases of tiger attacks.”
“Hmph, I see.”
Ho Yeon clicked his tongue and nodded.
It seemed he would have to wait for Yul to wake before they could begin any proper investigation.
At that moment, the old woman spoke in a somber tone.
“If it’s not disappearance but accident, then they happen often enough.”
“Accident?”
“Most of the people here make their living mining iron.”
“There’s an iron mine?”
“There is. Richer and finer quality than anywhere else in the Central Plains.”
“Hmm?”
“Nearly everyone in Banjihwa is connected to the iron mines one way or another—miners, blacksmiths, smelters, metalcasters, and the like.”
The old woman continued, her voice heavy with sorrow.
“No one can say how many lives this cursed iron has consumed.”
“Well, it’s dangerous work, after all.”
Even a blacksmith could lose an arm in a moment’s carelessness.
A miner digging in a cave—if the roof collapsed, that was the end of him.
“But what can we do? We have to eat. Gong died trying to do the same.”
As the old woman spoke with that same sorrowful air, Ho Yeon asked, “Gong—was he the owner of this clinic? The one who passed away?”
“That’s right. Of all places, he went to work at the Smeltery. They paid better, you see.”
“The Smeltery?”
“The Smeltery on Gangang Mountain is the largest operation in these parts. Just as many people die there. That’s why they’re always hiring.”
Ho Yeon pressed further. “But if he was a physician—skilled labor—why would he go to a smeltery?”
At his question, the old woman’s voice cracked with rage.
“Those wretched Pae Wang Mun bastards! Jeok Sa Hyun threatened to have nothing to do with Gong if he kept treating people—yes, treated people! And the coward gave in!”
“Easy now. Your health won’t bear this anger.”
“How can I not be angry! That beast Jeok Sa Hyun has ruined dozens of women! Three of them hanged themselves from the rafters!”
“A truly contemptible man.”
“Contemptible doesn’t even begin to cover it! This worthless wretch! Gong died because of him—didn’t even leave a body—and still the creature dared set his sights on Gong’s daughter? Ah, what cruelty!”
“Quite.”
Whoosh!
Ho Yeon flicked a Finger Wind at one of the old woman’s pressure points, and her rage dissolved into slumber.
Watching her settle, Ho Yeon draped a blanket over Mo Yong Yul’s shoulders and rose from his seat.
“Died in the smelting vats with no body left behind? That’s not death—that’s disappearance.”
A thin smile played at the corners of Ho Yeon’s mouth.
* * *
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Hiss-crack!
The sound of iron hammers clanged from all directions, steam rising in thick plumes.
This was Danchheol Road, in the western quarters of Banjihwa.
A street where blacksmith forges and iron shops clustered together.
“Welcome in—hm?”
Do Sam, the attendant at Myeongwol Sword Shop, frowned the moment he saw the customer who had just entered.
The man’s clothes were filthy as if he’d rolled through a dust heap, and he wore three swords at his belt.
‘Tsk, tsk, tsk—a common drifter, no doubt.’
A true master would never carry so many weapons.
A skilled cultivator could channel Qi through his blade, keeping it from breaking.
‘Let him buy any sword that suits him and be on his way.’
Do Sam did not offer proper service but watched the man carefully instead.
He was keeping an eye out for theft.
Meanwhile, the stranger began handling the swords one by one.
‘This is tiresome. If he soils them, what then? Ought I to say something sharp?’
But Do Sam thought better of it, mindful of the crude temperament common to sword-swinging drifters, and held his tongue.
“These are all inferior, aren’t they.”
Yet when the stranger muttered these words, Do Sam could bear it no longer.
“These are perfectly serviceable blades, sir. Mind your tongue.”
“This? One flick and it’d snap.”
“Then flick away! If it breaks, I’ll be your brother!”
“I don’t need a brother like you. But why not.”
Ho Yeon examined the grain of the Iron Sword, then tapped a hairline flaw with his fingernail.
Crack! Clang!
“Gah!”
Do Sam’s jaw fell open as the Iron Sword shattered like rotten wood.
Ho Yeon chuckled softly and spoke. “Tell me, friend—where do you keep your better blades?”
“Th-this way, please, sir.”

Do Sam sprang to his feet and ushered Ho Yeon about with meticulous courtesy.
That single move had revealed to him that his guest was a master swordsman.
“From here to here are middle grade, and from here to here are superior grade. Heh heh heh.”
As Do Sam rubbed his palms together with his explanation, Ho Yeon nodded and began lifting the swords one by one to examine them.
“Ah, that’s a work by Master Pil of the Single Forge!”
……
“That one’s a masterpiece by the old craftsman Jang of the Iron Forge!”
……
“And that’s from the New Moon Iron Forge……!”
Ho Yeon ignored Do Sam’s chatter beside him, lifting and setting down blades dozens of times.
Thunk.
“Hmm?”
Weight distribution, forging method, the shape of the blood groove, even the hilt ornament—he’d found the sword he wanted.
“Ah, that one’s mass-produced, actually. Wouldn’t it be a touch insufficient for a master of your caliber?”
“But why is it only middle grade?”
“Heh heh, because the iron is exceptional. We use premium-grade iron drawn from the Gangang Iron Smelter. They operate their own forges directly, so prices are quite fair.”
“Ho?”
Ho Yeon smiled at Do Sam’s words.
‘The same as the swords the masked men used. And that name. A second appearance.’
Gangang Iron Smelter.
* * *
Thud! Whoosh! Thud! Whoosh!
“Hack! Hack! Cough!”
A masked man shoveling salt from the salt pan with a long-handled spade coughed violently.
Blood stench filled the interior of his mask, yet the man pushed his trembling arms forward to scoop more salt.
‘I must survive…… I must return…… for Yeo An’s sake……!’
The man, Gong Ja Cheong, gritted his teeth and moved his creaking body.
He had long heard tell of the Gangang Iron Smelter’s ill repute.
But this was the only place that would take him on, so he had no choice but to accept.
‘But to think such a secret lay hidden here……!’
The Gangang Iron Smelter was merely a façade for illicit salt production.
Jeok Myeong Lake, where the smelter stood, was a salt lake, and they were producing evaporated salt from its waters and trafficking it illegally.
‘How…… how can I survive this?’
Gong Ja Cheong instinctively knew that escape from this place was impossible.
Salt trafficking meant death by law. These men would never allow their secret to leak.
‘But I will survive! I cannot die like this, leaving Yeo An alone……!’
Gong Ja Cheong clenched his fists, rallying the last embers of his will to live.
Then.
Flutter!
A small bird flew down from the ceiling and began circling above the salt pan.
“Chirp! Chirp!”
Gong Ja Cheong watched the bird’s wings beat in a daze.
How he wished he had wings too.
‘Yeo An is giving me strength.’
Gong Ja Cheong chose to believe that the bird which had suddenly appeared was sent by his daughter.
Without reason to live constructed in this way, he could not endure.
Flutter!
The bird descended to the ground and folded its wings.
Then it touched its small beak to the water bucket and pecked once.
* * *
“Ptooey!”
Mo Yong Yul wrinkled his brow and spat.
“Ugh, it’s salty.”
“So it was a salt lake after all.”
Ho Yeon nodded at Mo Yong Yul’s words.
Salt divides into two main kinds.
Rock salt mined from salt mines, and evaporated salt made by boiling water from the sea or salt lakes.
The salt distributed by those salt traders was evaporated salt, uniform in size and color.
“How did you know? We’ve only been here half a day.”
Mo Yong Yul, with one eye closed, gazed at Ho Yeon with admiration gleaming in the other.
“It was pure speculation. An iron forge would need cooling water as a matter of necessity.”
“Indeed. To hide a tree, one uses a forest—is that the saying?”
“The steam produced while making salt wouldn’t seem out of place in a forge, either.”
“That’s brilliant!”
Mo Yong Yul marveled at Ho Yeon’s flawless reasoning.
―Oh, you bastard. Showing off without using Sword Ghost Penetrating Insight—does that make you feel clever?
Ho Yeon ignored the Cheon Roe Geom’s caustic jab and turned to Mo Yong Yul. “What’s the situation inside?”
“How does it look in there?”
“……It’s heavily guarded. The administrators wear iron masks, and I see people in copper masks now and then.”
“So copper masks rank below silver ones.”
As Ho Yeon fell into thought, Mo Yong Yul asked, his expression hardening. “You’re not thinking of infiltrating, are you?”
“You’re not actually planning to sneak in, are you?”
“It wouldn’t be a terrible approach, I’ll admit.”
“No! Absolutely not!”
Through the bird’s eyes, Mo Yong Yul had glimpsed the salt workers’ ghastly state, and now he spread both arms wide, blocking Ho Yeon’s path. “We can’t do this.”
“I said it wouldn’t be terrible—not that it was good. Besides, going in alone limits what I could accomplish.”
“Thank goodness you’re thinking clearly. Now we hand this over to the authorities. This should be evidence enough.”
“That was my intention, but……”
Ho Yeon, who had been turning something over in his mind, opened his mouth as though troubled by a nagging thought.
“Something doesn’t add up.”
“Sir?”
“Salt and iron. Coincidentally, both are items the government strictly controls. One alone might pass unnoticed, but both? They dared touch both?”
Ho Yeon’s eyes narrowed.
“Would the authorities truly remain ignorant of this?”
“What are you suggesting?”
“Perhaps the provincial governor is backing them.”
“……!”
At Ho Yeon’s words, Mo Yong Yul’s eyes widened in shock.
“A great tiger was lurking in the shadows, then.”
“Merciful heavens! If that’s true, we must abandon this at once!”
A provincial governor wielded power second only to the king within a single city.
For the two of them to clash with such a force would be like striking stone with an egg.
“Peace. Such a great tiger grows fat and sluggish—it cannot move with speed.”
“Whether a great tiger or a small one, the danger is the same! We can see hundreds of troops from here alone—what can the two of us possibly do?!”
Mo Yong Yul shook his head as if to say it was absolutely impossible.
Ho Yeon smiled softly and spoke. “Tigers don’t die because they’re weak. They die because they’ve met a hunter.”
“Sir?”
“And who said we’ll be fighting alone? We’ll have allies, naturally.”
“Truly? Have you sent word to the Dang Clan?”
“No.”
“If not the Dang Clan……will the Emei Sect help? Or the Qingcheng Sect? Surely the Murim Alliance would lend us their strength?”
“None of them.”
“Then who on earth——”
Mo Yong Yul tilted his head in confusion, and Ho Yeon smiled faintly before answering.
“The Pae Wang Mun. Those spirited heterodox swordsmen have their uses.”
“The, the heterodox sect? They’ll help us?”
“No.”
“What?”
“We’ll recruit them ourselves from now on.”
Ho Yeon smiled and left the rest unsaid.
‘By force.’

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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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