Namgung Heavenly Demon - Chapter 120

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 120

Right after Jang Gwang’s blade severed the Black-Robed Assailant’s neck.

“Kill them! Kill them all!”

Someone’s roar erupted.

Using that sound as a signal, Black-Robed Assailants and black bandits poured out from all directions at once.

“Heh, must be because they’re landlubbers. Seems they don’t know the fierce taste of our Surochai.”

Jang Gwang wore a mocking smile as he lightly tilted his head.

“Did you think I came alone?”

Waaaah―!

At his light gesture, nearly a hundred water bandits burst forth from seven fast boats moored at the riverbank, shouting in unison.

Thus began the battle.

Slash! Thud!

Their movements were distinctly different from ordinary martial artists.

The footwork trained by maintaining balance on rough currents was viciously irregular.

The hooks and chains they wielded persistently targeted the blind spots of the black bandits.

As the chaotic battle began, Jang Gwang glanced back at Namgung Cheon with a grin.

“Young Master, rest for a moment. I’ll clear out all this trash first and then come back with a bottle of liquor.”

He added.

“Ah, I’ll also explain how I came to be here then.”

Thump!

Jang Gwang’s massive frame landed in the middle of the enemy formation.

The slaughter began simultaneously.

Namgung Cheon quietly watched the scene with Mukhon hanging at his side.

‘Not bad.’

Jang Gwang’s blade was even sharper than during the Yeongang Martial Arts Assembly.

Each time his curved sword cut through the air, dark red blade energy whirled like a storm, crushing the enemies.

Paesupalshik (Eight Forms of Conquering Waters).

The sword principles containing the mighty flow and power of river water displayed their full even on land.

When his blade drew a circle once, three heads flew, and when he stepped forward, surrounding enemies lost their balance and tumbled.

The Surochai martial artists were equally brutal.

They showed no hesitation in definitively ending the lives of fallen enemies.

Hooking enemies’ ankles with grappling hooks to drag them, or wrapping chains around necks to break vertebrae were movements as natural as daily routine.

“Aaaaah!”

“Save me… Gack!”

Screams and sounds of tearing flesh mixed together, filling the riverbank.

After about an hour had passed.

The terrible commotion subsided and silence returned to the riverbank once more.

On the ground lay over a hundred corpses piled in layers, and the gravel was sticky with dark red blood.

The water bandits began searching the bodies of the dead and recovering useful weapons as if accustomed to it.

When the fight ended, Jang Gwang approached, stepping on blood-soaked gravel.

“Did you rest well?”

“Thanks to you.”

At Namgung Cheon’s words, Jang Gwang shook the crude liquor bottle in one hand.

“I wanted to buy something grand, but this is all I have for now.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Jang Gwang plopped down beside Namgung Cheon and uncorked the bottle.

The sharp scent of grain liquor penetrated through the smell of blood.

“Still, liquor drunk while smelling blood is always the sweetest. Here, take it.”

Namgung Cheon silently took the bottle and drank deeply.

The hot energy flowing down his throat stimulated his blood vessels throughout his body, washing away his terrible fatigue.

“…I feel alive again.”

“Haha! Wasn’t I right?”

After Jang Gwang drank his share of liquor, he spoke again.

“By the way, Young Master. I heard those Sable Alliance bastards caused some trouble.”

Namgung Cheon nodded.

“So I was on my way to repay them.”

“…”

Jang Gwang looked at Namgung Cheon with an expression of disbelief.

“Are you in your right mind? So you were planning to go from here all the way to Honam like this? No, wait. You were planning to attack the Sable Alliance alone?”

At Jang Gwang’s question, Namgung Cheon looked at the river silently for a moment before answering.

“Not alone. I have someone to meet in Honam.”

“Don’t tell me… that person you’re meeting isn’t your father, is it?”

“…”

When Namgung Cheon gave no answer, Jang Gwang’s eyes widened.

“Good grief… heh heh.”

Jang Gwang let out a hollow laugh.

Namgung Cheon spoke up.

“But why did a water bandit drag boats all the way up to this remote upstream area?”

At that question, Jang Gwang’s eyes narrowed.

He put down the liquor bottle and looked at the flowing river.

“Those Sable Alliance bastards have been acting suspicious lately. They were trying to mess with our Surochai’s rice bowl, so I came out to scout.”

He continued with a bitter sneer.

“Then I heard an interesting rumor from the branch leader responsible for this Yuanjiang area. The Sable Alliance put an enormous bounty on your head to all the heterodox factions and black bandits in Gwiju. It was easy to find you. They said corpses were scattered along the Yuanjiang.”

“So, did you come to capture me?”

At Namgung Cheon’s indifferent question, Jang Gwang looked dumbfounded.

“Young Master, your jokes are too much. Do you think my head is just decoration?”

“…”

“Let’s say I kill you and receive a reward from the Sable Alliance. Then what happens next? Would Geomhwang, who’s coming to Honam, just say ‘Heh heh, my son was unlucky’ and let it slide?”

Jang Gwang let out a hollow laugh.

“I don’t want to die yet.”

“Then what do you want?”

At Namgung Cheon’s question, the corners of Jang Gwang’s mouth rose.

“You’re quite perceptive.”

Jang Gwang grinned as he met Namgung Cheon’s eyes.

“Think simply. I just made a choice.”

“A choice?”

“The Sable Alliance rotting under Samu Ryun’s grip, or the monster-like Young Master I saw at the Yeongang Martial Arts Assembly. I decided to bet on the latter. Well, our Surochai wasn’t even part of the Sable Alliance to begin with.”

Namgung Cheon silently emptied the liquor bottle.

‘In other words, he wants to get on the good side of both Geomhwang and me.’

Jang Gwang’s words were extremely realistic.

He was a water bandit who would eventually lead a massive force, and a member of the heterodox faction who calculated profit.

Therefore, it was a perfectly understandable reason.

Setting aside himself for the moment, getting on Geomhwang’s good side was never a bad thing in the martial world.

Jang Gwang stood up and stretched.

The sound of joints cracking rang out loudly.

“So please put in a good word for me with Geomhwang later. Our Janggang Surochai wants to do business for a long, long time. It would be troublesome if Geomhwang accidentally touched our boats when he sweeps through Honam, wouldn’t it?”

“As long as Surochai doesn’t block my path, there should be no problem.”

A faint smile crossed Namgung Cheon’s lips.

“Hahaha! That’s enough for me!”

Jang Gwang pointed to a boat moored at the riverbank.

“Board it. I’ll personally escort you all the way to Honam.”

His voice was filled with confidence.

“It would take more than half a month to reach Jangsa by land. But with my boat, it’s a different story. Five days. Five days will be enough.”

Jang Gwang extended his rough hand.

Namgung Cheon stared at that hand for a moment, then firmly grasped his calloused hand.

Clap.

Both men’s grips tightened with strength.

As Namgung Cheon rose from his seat, Jang Gwang continued speaking.

“During those five days, rest as if you were dead. But from the moment we reach Jangsa…”

Jang Gwang trailed off while looking at Namgung Cheon.

Namgung Cheon nodded his head.

He could understand the rest without it being said.

Namgung Cheon exhaled lightly, his eyes growing coldly calm.

‘I will erase them all without leaving a trace.’

Samu Ryun.

All those who block the path to cutting down that bastard.

Even if that means the entire Sable Alliance.

* * *

In the dense forest.

Akmugyeol continuously scoured the ground with a stern expression.

‘I must find traces.’

Before he had left his post for the mission, Soryeonju had said he would head to the Sable Alliance headquarters.

If so, then this path he was currently racing along, the mountain road from Gangeo to Honam, was a route that Hyeok Muhwi must have passed through.

It was then.

“Commander!”

Budan-ju, who had been searching the surroundings, urgently called out to Akmugyeol.

Akmugyeol immediately rushed toward the direction Budan-ju was pointing.

As he pushed through the dense undergrowth, what eventually unfolded before his eyes was an unbelievable sight.

A forest spanning three jang had been completely burned.

As if flames had swept through once, everything had turned to ash and crumbled away.

Akmugyeol’s pupils shook violently.

Evil energy faintly lingered over the burned earth.

‘Hyeolyeom-do Technique…’

Akmugyeol’s heart began to pound.

A secret martial art that only the Sable Alliance Leader and his direct subordinate Soryeonju could deploy.

This trace was definitive evidence that Hyeok Muhwi had fiercely battled someone here and that he had been alive at least until then.

Then droplets of blood caught his eye.

Darkly discolored blood droplets continued eastward in a line.

“Eastward!”

At Akmugyeol’s command, the Black Wind Division turned direction in unison.

The sound of hoofbeats shook the mountains and valleys as they galloped fiercely.

How long had they ridden?

The Black Wind Division’s charge through the bamboo forest suddenly stopped.

It was because Akmugyeol at the front had roughly pulled the reins.

Whoosh.

An alien smell pierced his nostrils through the wind passing through the bamboo forest.

‘The scent of blood!’

Akmugyeol dismounted and slowly examined the ground.

“…This is.”

Though it looked like ordinary dirt at first glance, upon closer inspection the soil’s color was subtly different from the surroundings.

Traces of someone meticulously covering up evidence.

“Dig it up.”

The Black Wind Corps members immediately dismounted and began digging up the earth.

Rustle. Rustle.

Before long, corpses were revealed from within the pile of dirt.

And seeing the clothing of the corpses, Budan-ju’s eyes wavered.

“It’s the Hyeolrangdae…”

Akmugyeol’s brow furrowed.

Why would they, who should be moving for the Alliance…

Akmugyeol dismounted and walked among the corpses.

Several of them were burned black.

These were traces of being struck by the Hyeolyeom-do Technique.

But aside from those.

“…Clean work.”

Between the brows, heart, throat.

Corpses with vital points precisely pierced.

What was more surprising was that no evil energy could be felt from those wounds.

‘This wasn’t Soryeonju’s doing.’

Nor was it infighting among the Hyeolrangdae.

Third party intervention.

Someone had helped Hyeok Muhwi.

‘And they even buried the corpses.’

This wasn’t something a pursuer would do.

Then these were allies, not enemies.

It meant there had been an accomplice who saved Hyeok Muhwi and erased the traces.

Akmugyeol’s eyes flashed.

‘He’s definitely alive!’

He was convinced that Hyeok Muhwi hadn’t fallen fighting alone, but had escaped this deadly situation with someone’s help.

Akmugyeol immediately examined the ground.

Beyond the dirt mound where the corpses were buried, he could see faint footprints and blood droplets continuing.

The traces were heading northeast across the forest.

“Northeast…”

Akmugyeol drew a map in his mind.

In that direction, a mountain range with few people continued, eventually meeting with one massive lake.

Dongjeongho.

A place where all the waterways of the realm converged and countless people came and went.

“Ah!”

An exclamation burst from Akmugyeol’s lips.

If they hid in the mountains while injured, they would be discovered and killed by additional Hyeolrangdae forces.

But Dongjeongho was a different story.

By blending into those countless crowds, it would be easy to shake off pursuit, and if necessary, they could cause a commotion to announce their survival to the world.

Most importantly, that place was lined with the finest physicians and medicine shops.

The destination had become clear.

Akmugyeol mounted his horse and gave the order.

“Everyone, ride at full speed to Dongjeongho!”

“Yes, sir!”

Over a hundred horses began galloping in unison.

At the front, Akmugyeol’s eyes blazed with intensity.

‘He’s alive.’

The future of Lian was still alive.

‘Please hold on just a little longer. And those bastards who dared lay hands on Soryeonju…’

I will definitely tear them all to shreds.

His eyes flashed with murderous intent.

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