Namgung Heavenly Demon - Chapter 12

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

Chapter 12

Jeokmeolgeom Mujin.

The final opponent of his martial journey.

But his whereabouts were mysterious.

When a supreme master decides to hide himself, even his shadow becomes difficult to find through conventional methods.

Namgung Cheon fell into brief contemplation.

‘Should I use the family’s information network?’

He immediately shook his head.

He didn’t want to receive help from the family.

His proof had to be completed entirely through his own strength.

Then there was only one method left.

To deduce through information that only he, who had been Cheonma, knew.

Namgung Cheon searched through his memories from his previous life.

Makyō operated an independent intelligence organization to monitor the world.

Especially supreme masters like the Wandering King could become variables at any time, so their movements were top priority surveillance targets.

And from his last memories as Cheonma, information about the final dwelling where the Wandering King and his disciple Mujin had stayed came to mind.

‘It was definitely near the Bisu River in Hefei.’

If he moved along the Bisu River, he would be able to find them.

‘I will find him.’

Having reached his conclusion, Namgung Cheon left the inn as soon as dawn broke the next day.

“It’s the Sword Ghost.”

“The Sword Ghost is moving!”

People gradually began following behind Namgung Cheon.

Though they didn’t dare approach closely, they followed him while maintaining a certain distance.

A strange procession where one person’s footsteps made all of Hefei hold its breath.

Namgung Cheon paid no attention to those following behind and silently walked toward the Bisu River, his intended destination.

Upon reaching the Bisu River, he began traveling upstream along the main current.

Throughout the morning, he thoroughly searched several li of riverbank.

There were rapids with fierce currents and wide riverbanks where a few fishermen had set up, but there were no traces of Mujin anywhere.

Even as the sun rose to its zenith, blazing with heat and sweat flowed down his back, his footsteps did not stop.

Even when afternoon came, he did not stop.

Now he thoroughly searched even the secluded tributaries that branched off from the main river, where not a soul could be found.

How long had he walked?

Finally, when the city’s noise had completely faded away and the sun tilted westward, its red light scattering across the river surface.

His footsteps stopped before a quiet reed bed.

Whenever the wind blew, the golden-tinted reeds swayed like waves.

He knew instinctively.

‘This is the place.’

Namgung Cheon walked toward the riverside along a narrow path through the reeds.

At the end of the riverside stood an old pavilion, its paint peeling in places, unable to withstand the weight of time.

And on its railing sat a man with his back turned.

Dressed in plain hemp clothes, he held a long fishing rod cast into the river, silently watching the flow of the golden-tinted water surface.

The air around him was breathtakingly still, as if time had stopped.

The sound of reeds swaying in the wind, the sound of the gently flowing river.

Within his domain, everything seemed to lose all meaning and sink into silence.

This man was precisely Jeokmeolgeom Mujin.

Namgung Cheon stopped in front of the pavilion.

Even at his appearance, Mujin didn’t move a muscle.

Suffocating silence.

Eventually, it was Mujin who first broke the silence.

Still without turning around, he gazed at the flowing river and opened his mouth.

“Seeing that you’ve found this place, it doesn’t seem to be ordinary business. Who might you be?”

Namgung Cheon got straight to the point without hesitation.

“Namgung Cheon of the Namgung Clan. I’ve come to request a duel.”

When the name ‘Namgung Cheon’ was mentioned, Mujin’s shoulders flinched very slightly.

He slowly turned his head to look at Namgung Cheon.

For the first time, an interesting light appeared in his seemingly indifferent eyes.

“So you’re the Sword Ghost who’s been causing such a stir in Hefei recently.”

Mujin’s gaze turned toward the crowd behind Namgung Cheon, watching from afar while holding their breath, then returned to the quiet river.

“Many noisy guests have come to this peaceful riverside.”

His voice was calm, but it was clearly a question.

Whether he could handle the commotion he had brought.

Namgung Cheon grasped his intention and chuckled.

“Tranquility exists to be broken.”

The moment Namgung Cheon’s answer ended.

Crack―!

The wooden floor he was standing on spontaneously cracked and split.

Simultaneously, Mujin’s fishing rod in the river bent like a bow.

The fishing line trembled taut as if about to snap, as though struggling against some invisible giant force.

An invisible collision of qi.

The two men were already crossing swords.

Eventually, Mujin quietly reeled in his fishing rod.

The taut fishing line had somehow regained its calm.

And nothing was caught on the fishing hook.

Seeing this, Namgung Cheon made a remark.

“It seems you were thinking of catching something other than fish.”

Mujin turned around and raised the corner of his mouth.

“I was waiting for a fairly large stone that could create ripples in this river.”

With those words, Mujin chuckled lightly and removed the bamboo hat he was wearing, tossing it aside.

With the burning red twilight at their backs.

Two shadows stretched long.

Sword Ghost Namgung Cheon’s martial journey.

This was its final chapter.

* * *

In the middle of the reed bed, two people facing each other with twilight at their backs.

Shing―!

As if by agreement, both men drew their swords simultaneously.

What Namgung Cheon drew was Changcheon.

Blue sword qi that burst from the blade wrapped around the sword edge like flames, heating the surrounding air.

Just from that momentum, the moisture by the riverside seemed to evaporate.

Facing him was Mujin.

From his sword rose hollow gray sword qi that seemed to erase all light and color, wrapping around the blade like a mirage.

Interest flickered in Namgung Cheon’s eyes.

‘So that is the Jeokmeol Sword Technique.’

A sword that contained neither splendor nor fierce strength, but only the solitude of a wanderer walking alone and the passage of time.

It was a sword of emptiness that didn’t clash and shatter, but slowly made things fade like weathering in time.

The opposing sword qi they emanated collided with each other, making the surrounding atmosphere ripple.

The faces of the crowd watching from afar turned pale with shock.

“Wh-what in the world!”

“Just drawing his sword creates this kind of presence…”

Murmuring sounds erupted from atop the river embankment.

Even their murmurs were crushed by the tense atmosphere between the two men and scattered without spreading far.

A breathtaking silence flowed between Namgung Cheon and Mujin.

All around became quiet.

And then.

Bang—!

The first to move was Namgung Cheon.

The moment he kicked off the ground, the earth beneath his feet cracked.

He shot straight toward Mujin in a direct line.

Mujin also did not dodge.

Instead, he stepped half a pace forward and met Namgung Cheon’s sword with his own blade wrapped in gray sword energy.

Two sword blades wrapped in sword energy collided head-on.

Kwaaaaang—!

With an eardrum-splitting roar, a massive shockwave spread out centered on the two men.

The sand by the riverside was deeply gouged out, and the surrounding reeds were uprooted and shot up into midair.

The recoil from the first collision pushed both men’s bodies backward.

One exchange.

“Not bad.”

Mujin calmly offered his impression of the first exchange.

His voice was calm, but the hand gripping his sword trembled slightly with excitement.

A smile formed at the corner of Namgung Cheon’s mouth.

“You as well.”

At the same time, both men’s bodies kicked off the ground again.

Kwagwang—! Kwadeuk—!

The sound of sword clashing against sword continuously shook the riverside without pause.

The entire riverside vibrated subtly in rhythm with their fierce clashes.

Namgung Cheon’s sword was domineering.

With heavy and fierce strength that seemed intent on destroying everything in a single attack, he pressed Mujin hard.

Each time his sword cut through midair, blue sword energy swept over Mujin’s entire body.

In contrast, Mujin’s sword was strange.

While receiving Namgung Cheon’s overwhelming power head-on, he embraced that fierce strength and extinguished it.

“Is that… is that truly human martial arts?”

Someone watching from atop the river embankment muttered.

They saw it.

A massive boulder silently splitting into several pieces from Namgung Cheon’s sword energy.

And also the entire reed field being cut away where Mujin’s sword wind swept through.

The more intense their exchange became, the more uncontrollably wide the radius swept by their swords grew.

Kwagwang—! Swoooosh.

Wherever they passed, the nearby river water erupted like explosions.

Dozens of exchanges continued.

Then a subtle change appeared in Namgung Cheon’s expression.

‘At this rate, there will be no end.’

The sensation of his attacks being neutralized.

It was a different feeling from Wudang’s Yugeom, which had reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship through defense.

Yugeom deflected attacks, but Jeokmeolgeom received the force head-on and extinguished it as if digesting it.

Tadak—.

Namgung Cheon momentarily created distance from Mujin.

Then he adjusted his grip on his sword and took a deep breath.

His gaze became incomparably more serious than before.

“Let’s end the probing here.”

The blue sword energy emanating from Namgung Cheon’s sword grew even denser.

Kung—!

Namgung Cheon’s form shot forward.

An overwhelming charge that seemed to rush forward with the momentum to tear open the heavens.

Cheonggung Mueae Swordplay

First Form

Jungsankaecheon.

The blue-glowing sword drew a straight trajectory as it struck down toward Mujin.

Mujin’s expression grew heavy for the first time.

He did not dodge, but planted both feet firmly in the ground like roots and thrust his sword forward.

A movement to receive the enormous force with his entire body.

The blue power that could split mountains and the gray abyss that devoured everything collided head-on.

Kwaaaaaa—!

A primordial sound of destruction incomparable to before shook all directions.

Jurureuk.

The recoil from the collision pushed both men’s bodies back several zhang.

Namgung Cheon twisted his body in midair and landed lightly, while Mujin slid backward and left two deep scars beneath his feet.

Namgung Cheon frowned.

The moment his strike filled with tremendous internal energy touched Mujin’s sword, it gradually lost its power.

Though it penetrated much deeper than his previous attacks, it was ultimately blocked by that gray energy and could not completely pierce through.

‘He’s not blocking it. He’s erasing my power.’

In that case.

‘I just need to give him no time to erase it.’

Namgung Cheon’s sword momentum completely changed.

As his sword brilliantly cut through midair, hundreds of blue sword energies poured forth.

Swaaek—!

Cheonggung Mueae Swordplay

Second Form

Swaedanryu.

Hundreds of sword energies flying toward Mujin.

Each one contained power equal to the strikes he had wielded before.

Mujin looked at this and employed footwork.

His sword drew the most efficient trajectory with minimal movement, either striking down or deflecting the pouring blue sword energies.

However.

Kwagwagwang—!

There were far too many of them.

Kakang! Swik—!

Several sword energies broke through his defense, tearing his collar and leaving shallow scratches on his forearm.

A troubled expression crossed his face for the first time.

A smile finally appeared at the corner of Namgung Cheon’s mouth.

He had been waiting for this moment.

The very moment when his opponent was focused on blocking his attacks.

Swaedanryu had never been an attack meant to finish things from the start.

It was merely a strategic move to create just one opportunity.

Tap—.

With light footsteps, Namgung Cheon’s form vanished.

Passing through the hundreds of sword energies embroidering midair, Namgung Cheon appeared behind Mujin’s back.

And then.

Swish—!

A chilling sword tip pierced toward Mujin’s neck without a single error.

Mujin’s eyes wavered.

‘…When did he!’

A moment of absolute crisis where he could neither dodge nor block.

Every sense in his body was screaming.

He had to choose.

Would he take this attack and suffer a fatal wound, or would he stake everything on a counterattack.

For the first time, an eerie killing intent bloomed in his eyes.

And with a sensation as if the air itself was rippling.

Swish!

Without even turning around, Mujin’s sword, gripped in reverse, shot precisely toward Namgung Cheon’s heart behind his back.

It was fired precisely toward Namgung Cheon’s heart.

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