Namgung Heavenly Demon - Chapter 96

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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 96

Deep within the Murim Alliance Headquarters, the Alliance Master’s Office.

An elderly monk wearing red robes sat in meditation with his eyes closed.

One of the Twenty-Eight Stars of the World, and alongside Sword Emperor Namgung Mugang, considered a pillar of the Orthodox Faction.

The divine monk of Shaolin, Beopjeong.

Before him stood Jegal Hyeon with a stern expression.

On the table lay an unfolded letter sent by Namgung Cheon.

“…Kunlun coveted the Demonic Sect’s secret archives and massacred innocent people.”

Beopjeong’s eyes slowly opened.

“A hard story to believe. How could Kunlun, the pillar of the Taoist sects, commit such atrocities?”

“It may be hard to believe, but it is the truth.”

Jegal Hyeon answered with an unwavering voice.

“This letter was personally confirmed and sent by the third young master of the Namgung Family. Given that child’s wisdom and insight, he would never speak nonsense.”

“The third young master of Namgung…”

Beopjeong stroked his beard.

The name heard most frequently in Gangho recently.

The prodigy called the Azure Heaven Sword Hero.

Beopjeong too was well aware of the rumors about him.

“If it’s that child’s words, there would be merit to them. However, Military Advisor.”

Beopjeong’s gaze sharpened.

“You seem to be handling many matters through your authority lately, don’t you think?”

It was a weighty question.

Jegal Hyeon’s shoulders flinched.

It was true.

From the Taeju Trading Guild incident to this Kunlun matter.

Jegal Hyeon had been handling affairs unilaterally without the Alliance Master’s approval, or in the form of post-incident reports.

Though the position of Military Advisor carried great responsibility, this clearly had the potential for overstepping authority.

“I apologize.”

Jegal Hyeon bowed his head.

Silence followed.

Beopjeong could not fail to understand the meaning of that silence.

“There is a reason.”

Beopjeong stared intently at Jegal Hyeon before slowly continuing.

“Do you perhaps think there are eyes and ears within the Alliance… that we don’t know about?”

Jegal Hyeon paused for a moment before heavily nodding his head.

Beopjeong’s eyes narrowed.

“Military Advisor, didn’t you learn the Profound Origin Mind-Reading Divine Art?”

The Profound Origin Mind-Reading Divine Art.

A secret technique of the Jegal Clan permitted only to the family head.

By principle, Jegal Hyeon, being the young family head, could not learn this martial art, but it was an exceptional case where it was secretly transmitted due to the current family head’s excessive longevity.

For Beopjeong, who knew this fact, it could only be puzzling.

A divine art that reads the energy of all things and penetrates truth from falsehood.

Though not at the level of mastery of the current family head, Jegal Hyeon’s achievement was already approaching that level.

If he set his mind to it, just making one round through the Alliance would allow him to clearly see who harbored different intentions.

“For you to be unable to find spies… it’s hard to accept.”

Beopjeong’s point was accurate.

Jegal Hyeon too found this the most frustrating aspect.

“As the Alliance Master said, nothing appeared in my sight.”

Jegal Hyeon smiled bitterly.

“I operated the divine art and thoroughly swept through the Alliance interior. From the regional commanders and branch leaders to the lowest-ranking warriors. However… there was nothing. Everyone appeared to be loyal martial artists devoted to the Alliance.”

“Then there are no spies, are there?”

“No. There definitely are some.”

Jegal Hyeon’s eyes flashed with conviction.

He pointed at the letter on the table with his finger.

“Both the Taeju Trading Guild incident and this Kunlun matter. These would be impossible without cooperation from within the Orthodox Faction. And…”

Jegal Hyeon lowered his voice.

“Above all, my intuition is warning me. That there are spies within the Alliance.”

Beopjeong silently looked at Jegal Hyeon.

Jegal Hyeon’s intuition was more fearsome than his divine art.

Because his instincts, which had overcome countless crises as the Alliance’s brain for twenty years, had never been wrong.

Beopjeong’s expression became serious.

“Then… you’re saying there exists someone who can even deceive the divine art.”

A spy who could evade the Jegal Family’s eyes and even deceive the Alliance Master’s senses.

If such an existence were real, it would be terrifying just to imagine.

Because it would mean the Alliance’s heart had been pierced.

“I cannot be certain. However, I cannot rule out the possibility either.”

Jegal Hyeon said.

“That’s why I moved personally. If we followed official procedures, they would notice and hide. That’s also why I secretly mobilized the third young master of Namgung.”

Beopjeong fell into deep thought.

The situation was more serious than expected.

Kunlun’s corruption and an invisible internal enemy.

After being lost in thought for a while, Beopjeong soon made his decision.

“Deploy the Heavenly Justice Unit. They happen to be near Qinghai.”

Jegal Hyeon nodded.

The Heavenly Justice Unit.

Among the Murim Alliance’s eight military units called the Eight Heavens, the most secretive and covert organization.

Rather than combat, they were the Alliance Master’s direct shadow specialized in tracking, surveillance, and intelligence.

“Send them to investigate Kunlun. And…”

Beopjeong’s eyes gleamed coldly.

“In that process, if there is anyone suspected of being a spy, report to me immediately regardless of their position.”

“Understood.”

Jegal Hyeon bowed deeply.

As if gaining strength from the Alliance Master’s decision, his expression became much lighter.

“Then, I shall withdraw and write the orders to send to the Heavenly Justice Unit.”

As Jegal Hyeon was about to leave the office, Beopjeong quietly added a word.

“Military Advisor.”

“Yes, Alliance Master.”

“That child from Namgung…”

Beopjeong’s gaze turned toward the distant sky outside the window.

“Keep watch. Whether the wind that child stirs up… will be beneficial or poisonous to the Alliance.”

Jegal Hyeon paused for a moment, then smiled and answered.

“That child is not wind, Alliance Master.”

“…Then what?”

“A storm. One that will sweep away everything rotten.”

“…”

At Beopjeong’s silence, Jegal Hyeon bowed and withdrew.

“Then, I shall take my leave.”

With those words, Jegal Hyeon quietly closed the door and left.

Left alone, Beopjeong silently gazed out the window.

Then he quietly murmured.

“A storm…”

Yes, that would be better.

“To overturn stagnant water…”

Such a disaster would have to come.

* * *

Kunlun Mountains.

A faint dawn was breaking over the peaks of eternal snow that seemed to reach the sky.

The morning after the blizzard that had raged all night as if to devour the entire mountain had subsided like a lie.

Dozens of ash-colored shadows slid silently down the quiet ridges of the snow mountain.

It was the Cheonridaee, the secret unit directly under the Murim Alliance Leader.

Yeonho, the leader of Cheonridaee, held his breath and raised his hand to stop his men.

His eyes sharply scanned the front.

‘There it is.’

The place that Military Strategist Jegal Hyeon had pointed out.

Yeonho swallowed dry saliva.

He gripped his sword hilt with nervous hands.

“…We’re going in.”

With Yeonho’s hand signal, the Cheonridaee members moved in perfect unison.

They descended the slope and entered the cave entrance below the cliff in question, behind Xueqiang Village.

And at that moment.

“…!”

The lead member who entered first gasped and stopped.

Yeonho hurried over.

“What’s wrong…”

At the same time, Yeonho’s eyes wavered.

More than ten corpses spread before his eyes.

And some grotesque weapons held in the corpses’ hands and faintly remaining evil energy.

‘The fact that evil energy remains even though they seem to have been dead for quite a while means they were that skilled…’

Yet all such people had been slaughtered.

But what truly shocked Yeonho was the scene beyond that.

“Those people are…”

Past the collapsed cave entrance, far away.

A group wearing white martial robes was kneeling.

The cloud pattern symbolizing Kunlun was clear on their chests.

Moreover, the old man sitting collapsed in their center with a dazed expression was a face he knew well.

‘Baekheun?’

Yeonho doubted his own eyes.

The sect leader of Kunlun under heaven was looking at the ground, covered in blood with his right arm severed.

The sight of a leader of the Nine Sects kneeling in miserable defeat.

It was a shocking scene that had never occurred in martial arts history.

‘Why on earth…’

Yeonho’s confused gaze turned to the opposite side of Baekheun.

Three people were there.

Those sitting leisurely at a table amidst countless corpses and the stench of blood.

One was a young man in wanderer’s clothing sitting on an old bundle and yawning widely, another was an old man standing like Mount Tai with his arms crossed.

And a young man in black martial robes standing silently beside that old man.

The moment Yeonho’s gaze reached the old man.

Chill.

A cold energy flowed down his spine.

“…Wandering King.”

Why was he, one of the Twenty-Eight Stars of the World, here in the heart of Kunlun Mountains?

That’s when it happened.

“You’re finally here.”

The Wandering King spoke quietly without even turning his head.

Slowly.

The Wandering King slowly turned his head to look at Yeonho.

Eyes of unfathomable depth.

Just that gaze alone made Yeonho feel suffocating pressure.

Yeonho tried to calm his trembling hands and walked up to the Wandering King.

“…I am Yeonho, leader of the Murim Alliance’s Cheonridaee.”

Yeonho cupped his fists and spoke respectfully.

“I came here on the Alliance Leader’s orders to check the situation… and clean up.”

“So slow.”

The Wandering King clicked his tongue and laughed.

“Your skill at being late is the same as ever.”

It was clear mockery, but Yeonho couldn’t refute it.

The situation was already over, and they were merely spectators.

The Wandering King gestured with his chin toward the Kunlun group.

“Take them away.”

“…Pardon?”

Yeonho asked back in confusion.

“Isn’t that why you came?”

“…”

Yeonho stared blankly at the Wandering King for a moment.

He was handing over these major figures, the main culprits of this tremendous incident, without any conditions?

A wanderer without receiving any compensation?

“Really… you’re entrusting them to us?”

“Are you going to make me say it twice?”

The Wandering King’s brow furrowed slightly.

Yeonho quickly bowed his head.

“No! I understand. We will arrest them.”

Only then did the Wandering King’s expression relax.

Then the Wandering King turned around as if without regret.

“Let’s go.”

“Oh my, we’re finally leaving? I thought my butt was going to cramp up.”

The young man sitting nearby, Mujin, groaned and got up from his seat.

He hastily gathered his bundle and grinned at Yeonho.

“Good work. We need to go get some food now.”

Talking about food at the scene of a bloody massacre.

But no one could criticize their attitude.

Step. Step.

The two people began walking down the mountain, crossing the snow field.

And following behind them, the last remaining person.

The young man in black martial robes slowly moved his steps.

Yeonho’s gaze naturally lingered on that young man.

The Wandering King and Mujin, who was the Wandering King’s disciple, were familiar faces, but that young man was unfamiliar.

‘Who is he?’

Neatly tied hair, handsome yet cold impression.

And black and white sword sheaths hanging at his waist.

The moment he saw this, a name flashed through Yeonho’s mind.

‘The third son of the Namgung Clan… Namgung Cheon?’

Why was he here, and together with the Wandering King at that.

Yeonho’s eyes wavered, not understanding the situation.

But Namgung Cheon didn’t spare Yeonho a single glance and indifferently followed behind the Wandering King.

The Cheonridaee stood rooted to the spot until all three figures completely disappeared from view.

“…Whew.”

As soon as they disappeared, Yeonho exhaled all the breath he had been holding.

“Are you alright?”

Budan-ju approached and asked.

Yeonho silently nodded and looked around the scene once more.

Even looking again, it was an unbelievable scene of carnage.

‘Those three alone did all of this?’

No, more precisely, it was likely the Wandering King alone who did it.

Baekheun, the sect leader of Kunlun, was at the Mugeuk realm.

There were few in the world who could subdue him and cut off his arm.

However.

‘This is strange.’

Yeonho’s gaze lingered on a corpse lying face-down in the distance.

Approaching to examine the face, Yeonho’s eyes widened.

‘Grand Elder Baekheung!’

Yeonho immediately examined the wounds.

“…!”

Yeonho’s eyes shook.

‘This isn’t the Wandering King’s sword.’

The wounds left by the Wandering King’s Jeokmeolgeom technique were definitely rough.

Because destructive traces remained where the cut areas were crushed or burst open.

But the wound on Baekheung’s chest was different.

Extremely precise and eerily sharp.

The trace of a swift sword that pierced the heart without any unnecessary flourish.

‘Not the Wandering King. Not his disciple Mujin either.’

Because Mujin also inherited the Wandering King’s Jeokmeolgeom.

Then.

‘Namgung Cheon?’

Yeonho’s gaze turned toward the bottom of the mountain where the Wandering King’s group had disappeared.

‘He defeated Kunlun’s Grand Elder at the young age of twenty?’

It was something that didn’t make sense by common standards.

But the corpse before his eyes was showing it.

That Namgung Cheon had cut him down.

“Take a look at this!”

Just then, a member searching inside the cave urgently shouted.

Yeonho shook off his thoughts and headed toward the cave.

“What is it?”

“The inside is… completely empty. There are traces that something was there, but it’s all gone. And…”

The member pointed to the floor.

There lay a corpse dried and withered like a mummy.

Yeonho’s face hardened.

The worst-case scenario that Military Strategist Jegal Hyeon had worried about.

It was evidence that the Demonic Sect’s secret archive had been opened and some unknown evil within had been released.

His head became complicated.

But what he had to do was clear.

‘First report this situation and investigate Kunlun.’

Yeonho turned and approached Baekheun.

Baekheun was still staring at the ground with a dazed expression.

The cross-section of his severed arm had been cauterized, but his blood-soaked robes were utterly miserable.

“Kunlun Sect Leader, True Master Baekheun.”

Yeonho called to him heavily.

Baekheun’s unfocused eyes slowly turned toward Yeonho.

“By order of the Murim Alliance, I will… escort you and Kunlun’s disciples.”

“…”

Baekheun said nothing.

He seemed to have neither the will to resist nor the strength to make excuses.

He simply hung his head powerlessly.

It was the moment when one corner of the Nine Sects that had dominated Junghwon’s martial world for hundreds of years crumbled.

“Restrain them.”

Yeonho’s order fell.

The Cheonridaee members bound Kunlun’s elders and disciples with ropes.

No one resisted.

Clank.

Only the sound of chains echoed through the quiet snow mountain.

Yeonho watched this scene while composing a message.

A message containing the terrible situation he had witnessed and the capture of Kunlun’s sect leader.

And he paused his brush for a moment before adding one thing below.

Next to the name Namgung Cheon, the most unbelievable fact he had witnessed.

— Namgung Cheon Slays Baekheung.

‘These six characters are enough.’

More clearly than any flowery rhetoric.

It meant that Namgung Cheon would be elevated to a major figure in the martial world.

—————
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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