Namgung Heavenly Demon - Chapter 19

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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 19

Before long, the pitch-black darkness receded, and dawn faintly spread over the rooftops of the Gold Money House.

However, Baekdwang had stayed awake with sleepless eyes all night.

His bloodshot eyes were directed toward the dim light outside the window.

‘They will come soon.’

Those unknown ones who had annihilated the Black Tiger Sect, Bisalpa, and Guangxie Sect.

He recalled the nightmare from Gangeo in the past.

Would he abandon everything and flee again like back then?

Or would it all end here?

After agonizing all night, he finally made his decision as dawn broke.

Baekdwang summoned all the key figures of the Gold Money House to the Steward’s Chamber.

A heavy silence filled the room at his unusually solemn appearance.

“You must have all heard.”

He parted his dry lips.

“Last night, the Black Tiger Sect, Bisalpa, and Guangxie Sect were all swept away. We’ll be next.”

Baekdwang looked over the faces of his subordinates one by one.

These were the ones who had trusted and followed him all this time.

“I’m staying here.”

He continued quietly.

“But I can’t drag you all into this. Anyone who wants to flee should leave now. I won’t resent you. Check the ledgers and take whatever you think is your fair share.”

As his words ended, the atmosphere in the room grew even heavier.

Everyone just watched each other nervously, but no one moved.

Baekdwang shouted as if frustrated.

“Why are you all standing there dumbfounded! Check the ledgers, grab anything valuable, and get going!”

“Um… Boss.”

“…Right, you go first. Don’t you have a family?”

“Well… we’d need to know how to read the ledgers to properly take anything, wouldn’t we?”

As soon as he finished speaking, the other gang members chimed in as if they had been waiting.

“That’s right! What if we grab the wrong thing and end up with debt papers!”

“Is this jar expensive, or is that scroll expensive! We don’t know!”

Baekdwang stared blankly at this absurd scene before his eyes.

Excuses.

They were pathetically clumsy, foolish excuses.

It was true they couldn’t read.

But there were valuable ornaments and silver scattered throughout the room.

‘They could just grab them and run.’

Yet these guys weren’t leaving.

Instead of embarrassing words about dying together or keeping loyalty, they were conveying their intention to stay by his side in the most characteristic way for them.

Baekdwang burst into a hollow laugh and nodded.

“These ignorant fools…”

But that ignorant and foolish sincerity warmed his heart.

“Fine, good. What would illiterate guys do out there anyway?”

He let go of everything.

And decided to accept it.

The fate that was coming.

That’s when it happened.

Thud!

A sound of something colliding came from downstairs.

This was followed by brief screams and commotion.

Baekdwang’s heart sank.

‘They’re here!’

Just as Baekdwang was about to jump up from his seat, the door to the Steward’s Chamber burst open.

But what entered wasn’t an enemy.

“B-Boss! Some guys are…!”

Suha’s report ended there.

A shadow that appeared behind him struck the back of his neck, and Suha lost consciousness and collapsed forward.

Thud.

A long shadow fell over Suha’s fallen body.

And two men appeared.

Baekdwang doubted his own eyes.

It was Namgung Cheon, the Third Young Master of the Namgung Clan, and Mujin of Jeokmeolgeom following behind him.

‘Could it be! Were these the ones who swept away those Black Tiger Sect bastards!’

While everyone in the room froze, Namgung Cheon slowly turned his head and swept his gaze across the room.

And his indifferent gaze finally turned toward Baekdwang.

At that moment, Baekdwang’s breath caught.

An overwhelming presence that made every hair on his body stand on end.

The pressure was on a completely different level from what he had imagined from rumors.

‘If I fight, I’ll definitely die!’

The option of fighting was erased from Baekdwang’s mind.

Only one choice remained.

Thud!

Baekdwang knelt without hesitation.

“Baekdwang, master of the Gold Money House, greets the Young Master of Namgung!”

Even Mujin was momentarily speechless and hesitated at his sudden action.

Perfect surrender without resistance or defiance.

‘I must save my subordinates!’

Baekdwang recalled that day in Gangeo.

The final moments of his comrades who were helplessly slaughtered.

‘Meaningless resistance will only bring more bloodshed.’

Especially the blood of subordinates who trusted and followed him.

So ending everything with his own life as the boss was the last duty he could perform for the subordinates who had trusted and followed him all this time.

He pressed his forehead to the floor and raised his voice.

“I know you’ve come to kill! But my subordinates are only guilty of following me, so please end it with just my one life!”

A loud voice that echoed throughout the Steward’s Chamber.

Yet Namgung Cheon gave no response.

After staring at Baekdwang for a moment, Namgung Cheon soon approached the ledger books scattered on the floor.

Rustle.

And then he began flipping through them indifferently.

“…”

Baekdwang swallowed dry saliva.

‘Why isn’t he saying anything!’

Cold sweat trickled down his spine.

In that moment when only the sound of turning pages filled the room.

Namgung Cheon opened his mouth.

“Your money-handling skills are quite good.”

It was an unexpected first remark.

At words that could be either praise or sarcasm, Baekdwang slowly raised his head in bewilderment.

Namgung Cheon continued.

“I didn’t come to kill you.”

“…What?”

A reflexive question escaped from Baekdwang’s mouth without him realizing it.

If he hadn’t come to kill him, then why on earth.

Namgung Cheon closed the ledger with a sharp thud.

He looked down at Baekdwang, who was still kneeling, and got to the main point.

“You will clean up the underworld of this Anhui.”

“…!”

Baekdwang doubted his own ears. To him, who had been prepared for his head to fly off just moments ago, these were words offering him dominion over Anhui’s Heterodox Faction.

And from the Third Young Master of Namgung, no less.

Not just anywhere else, but from Namgung, the absolute power of this Anhui.

It surely couldn’t be empty words.

If so.

‘…This is an opportunity.’

But aside from that, he had doubts.

“Why would you choose me…?”

At his trembling question, Namgung Cheon recalled the information he had obtained through the Haowen Clan.

‘Gold Money House Master Baekdwang.’

A man whose greed for money knew no bounds, but who never crossed lines that should never be crossed.

At least he was different from the beasts who sold children.

That wasn’t all.

―Baekdwang. Peak-level master. He recruited many skilled wandering warriors with money and systematically taught them martial arts to establish the foundation of his organization.

Namgung Cheon glanced at the gang members kneeling in one corner of the room.

Though they looked like a ragtag bunch on the surface, fairly solid internal energy was settled in their lower dantians.

They were qualitatively different from the bandits of the Black Tiger Sect.

Military force, financial power, and a minimum sense of boundaries.

This much was sufficient.

Having finished all his assessments, Namgung Cheon answered indifferently.

“You’re just the best of the bunch.”

With those words, Namgung Cheon turned around without any lingering attachment.

Baekdwang could only stare blankly at his departing figure while still kneeling.

Creak… thud.

After quite some time had passed.

Only after Namgung Cheon’s presence had completely disappeared did Baekdwang cautiously open his mouth.

“…Is, is he gone?”

When Baekdwang asked in a trembling voice, Naengcheolsan, who was standing beside him, quietly nodded.

That was the moment.

“Hehe… Hahahaha!”

As if he had never been prepared for death, Baekdwang suddenly sprang up from his spot and began bursting into maniacal laughter.

His subordinates all looked at him with bewildered expressions at his sudden behavior.

“I’m alive! I’m alive, you bastards!”

He ran around the room like a madman, shouting.

Then suddenly, he grabbed the shoulders of Naengcheolsan, who was still standing there in a daze.

“Cheolsan! Did you hear that! I! This Baekdwang will become the head of Anhui’s Heterodox Faction!”

“Master, please calm down. Your voice is too loud.”

Even at Naengcheolsan’s calm words, Baekdwang’s excitement didn’t subside.

“How can I calm down right now! Hey, Cheolgwi! Go right now and take down the Geumokru sign, and get a new one carved that says Great Money House! No, would Golden House sound better? Anyway, get the most expensive and flashy one!”

After laughing boisterously for a while, Baekdwang looked at Naengcheolsan, who was still quiet, and spoke triumphantly.

“Cheolsan! From now on, we’re not Gold Money House but Golden House! Hahaha!”

Naengcheolsan, who had been silently organizing the scattered ledgers, pressed his finger firmly on one spot in the ledger and spoke without even lifting his head.

“Understood. The cost of the new signboard will be deducted from your next month’s salary, Master.”

“…What?”

“Since this is a personal order from you, Master, shouldn’t it naturally be processed as a personal expense?”

Instantly, Baekdwang’s boisterous laughter stopped dead.

His face, which had seemed to possess the whole world, instantly contorted.

Soon, Baekdwang cleared his throat, trying to act nonchalant.

“…Ahem! Come to think of it, Golden House sounds too materialistic.”

Naengcheolsan let out a hollow laugh as he looked at him.

“Gold Money House. Yes, our current name is perfect. It’s heartwarming and down-to-earth. Don’t you think so, Cheolsan?”

Baekdwang’s shoulders were drooping as he said this.

* * *

The top floor of Chwisonru, the most splendid and massive tavern in Hefei.

In the center of the room, a middle-aged man dressed in pitch-black robes was drinking tea alone.

One of the ten military divisions possessed by the Sable Alliance.

It was Akmugyeol, the Black Ghost Blade and leader of the Black Wind Division.

In front of him, one of his subordinates was kneeling with a scroll containing investigation details spread out.

A lengthy report had just finished.

“…Withdraw.”

At Akmugyeol’s words, the subordinate carefully placed the scroll on the table and left the room.

Akmugyeol, now alone in the room.

He silently lifted his teacup.

‘Namgung Cheon….’

The report his subordinate had just given echoed vividly in his ears.

‘The martial competition right after the sword ceremony. Bieliong Gate Master Gwak San, Blood Demon Sword Galmuseong… and finally Jeokmeolgeom Mujin.’

Every single name written in the report was no ordinary opponent.

And what about Jeokmeolgeom Mujin?

The Wandering King’s only disciple, and a transcendent master whose victory even he couldn’t guarantee.

‘He defeated all such opponents within just over ten days.’

Akmugyeol’s brow furrowed deeply.

‘Moreover, he annihilated three sects in less than two days.’

He simply couldn’t believe that all of this was accomplished by a mere youth who had just passed his coming of age.

Even with the Heaven Martial Divine Body, called a heaven-sent talent, reaching the transcendent realm at the age of twenty was nearly impossible.

A realm that could only be reached through decades of blood-drying training combined with life-and-death opportunities.

Yet Namgung Cheon had achieved that realm.

Like a dragon that had been sleeping for ages awakening and roaring.

‘This cannot be explained by mere opportunities or talent.’

It didn’t make sense. It was beyond common understanding.

Akmugyeol fell into thought for a moment.

‘The death of those who were paying tribute isn’t the problem.’

Money could be collected from other places in abundance.

‘However….’

Namgung Cheon.

For what purpose had that man revealed his existence while destroying common sense to this extent?

“The only place that survived was Gold Money House, wasn’t it?”

At his muttering, the vice-leader standing like a shadow behind him quietly answered.

“Yes. Strangely, only Gold Money House was left untouched.”

“Visit Gold Money House tomorrow morning. We must find out Namgung Cheon’s intentions by any means necessary.”

“I receive your command!”

Just as the vice-leader answered and was about to withdraw.

Whoosh.

A desolate wind blew in through the window crack, violently shaking the oil lamp on the table.

The shadows in the room all stretched out long at once, then rippled as they found their original positions.

That was all.

But Akmugyeol’s eyes narrowed.

Next to his own shadow cast on the wall, another shadow was overlapping.

If the oil lamp hadn’t shaken, he would never have noticed it.

Akmugyeol quietly opened his mouth.

“How long have you been there.”

At his words, Budan-ju turned around in shock.

The hands of the Black Wind Division members all moved toward the sword hilts at their waists.

Then a voice flowed out from within the shadows.

“Quite a while.”

Along with the voice, one person slowly walked out from the shadows.

The protagonist of the report who carried two swords.

It was Namgung Cheon.

He calmly walked over to the seat across from Akmugyeol and sat down.

“I heard you were looking for me.”

Namgung Cheon stared directly at Akmugyeol and raised the corner of his mouth.

“How convenient. I also had something to discuss.”

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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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