The Red Dragon Martial Emperor - Chapter 18

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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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Red Dragon Warlord, Chapter 18

Chapter 18 — The Blade King’s Inheritor

The Peng Family warriors closed in from all sides around Moo Ok and Cheong Po In. They could have easily retreated, but Moo Ok did not. Instead, he studied each face methodically, one by one.
‘……He isn’t here!’
Lee Hwan was not among them.
Cheong Po In released an Echo Sound Transmission.
[He is nowhere to be seen!]
‘Is this his scheme?’
A bitter smile curved Moo Ok’s lips. The sensation of being played was unmistakable.
He fixed his gaze on Peng Mu Wei and spoke.
“Is this your design, Commander?”
“What gibberish comes from your mouth! If you wish to live, reveal yourself at once, you wretch!”
Moo Ok paid no attention and fixed his stare on Song Hui instead, asking the same question.
“Is this your design, Commander?”
“Identify yourselves first.”
Song Hui remained unruffled.
Moo Ok turned his gaze outward. His demeanor suggested that Peng Mu Wei and the rest stood beneath his notice entirely.
The bitter smile returned to his lips.
“How absurdly the pieces have fallen into place.”

* * *

‘So he holds the Peng Family warriors of no account? Then I have no choice but to see if his strength backs such arrogance.’
Five strands of Energy rose from Lee Hwan’s fingertips.
Unlike before, they carried no color whatsoever. The five strands flew silently and struck the Great Sword held by one of the Peng warriors.
Clang!
“Hah!”
In that coiled tension, the impact served as an unmistakable signal to attack.
Peng Mu Wei surged forward. Even as the reeds towered above his neck, his movement was remarkably swift.
But Moo Ok’s response was faster still. His blade was already drawn, and he swept it to meet the incoming Great Sword with a vicious arc.
Boom!
Crack-crack-crack!
Severed reeds and rain scattered in all directions from the collision.
Cheong Po In called out.
“Shall we engage?”
“Avoid killing them if you can.”
“Understood.”
“Forward!”
The Peng Family warriors rushed in as one.
That was when it happened.
[Fall back.]
Lee Hwan’s Voice Transmission flowed into Song Hui’s ear. Song Hui was reluctant, but because it was Lee Hwan’s order, he had no choice but to withdraw quietly to the rear.
Clash-clash-clang!
Crack-crack-crack!
Song Hui’s eyes widened with surprise.
Against Peng Mu Wei and the Peng Family warriors, Moo Ok and Cheong Po In fought with extraordinary ease.
‘Where did such masters come from……’

* * *

‘Truly, he is no ordinary man.’
Lee Hwan could not tear his gaze from Moo Ok’s movements. With minimal motion, he was deflecting Peng Mu Wei’s attacks while steadily closing the distance.
What struck Lee Hwan as strange was that Moo Ok’s blade carried no Murderous Intent whatsoever. Cheong Po In was the same.
‘Killing is easier than not killing. But now I grow only more curious about your true identity.’
That was when it came.
[Are you there?]
“……!”
A thread of voice transmission pierced into Lee Hwan’s ears.
‘Echo Sound Transmission!’
Echo Sound Transmission was an advanced martial technique that only masters of the highest caliber could master—one that allowed voice transmission to be sent across a remarkably wide radius without needing to pinpoint the opponent’s exact location.
‘So he hasn’t been giving his all.’
It was astonishing.
That he could hold his own so effortlessly against Peng Mu Wei and the Peng Family’s martial artists without exerting himself fully. And while deploying Echo Sound Transmission, no less.
It was a realm not easily fathomed.
Lee Hwan’s gaze grew sharper.
Then he sent his own voice transmission toward the man.
[Why are you pursuing Tal Hun Gi?]
[There are people I need to find.]
[Are you referring to the Sword King’s inheritors?]
[I heard you’re also searching for the Sword King’s inheritors. So tell me—why?]
Crash!
Clang!
Even as their conversation continued, Peng Mu Wei’s relentless assault was blocked by the man’s blade each time. When other Peng Family martial artists joined in to attack him, it made no difference.
[Why don’t you reveal your identity first?]
[That’s not for me to say.]
[And if I insist?]
[Then I’ll have no choice but to kill everyone here. Including your captain.]
[Do as you please.]
[……!]

* * *

‘Damn it!’
Peng Mu Wei’s face flushed crimson.
He couldn’t believe the reality before his eyes. It felt like swinging his sword against an immovable mountain that wouldn’t budge an inch.
This helplessness was something he’d never experienced since beginning his life as a martial artist.
“Huh?”
In that moment, Peng Mu Wei realized something. The man’s eyes, visible above his mask, were occasionally directed not at him, but elsewhere.
Whoosh!
Heat blazed across his entire body. His shame ignited into uncontrollable fury.
For a martial artist, this was a humiliation and insult worse than death itself.
“Look at me! You bastard!”
Shrieeek!
Boom!
“Ugh!”
A strangled cry tore from Peng Mu Wei’s throat. His furious strike was blocked without fail, and the impact that shook through his body was fiercer than before.
That was when it happened.
Whoosh!
The man vanished.
The moment Peng Mu Wei’s eyes widened, the man descended beside Song Hui.
[You’d do well to decide quickly, wouldn’t you? Or I’ll kill your captain first.]
Song Hui thought the man was hesitating, not attacking. He wanted to rush forward immediately, but Lee Hwan’s command hadn’t come.
[Are you truly prepared to let this man die?]
[Let me ask you one thing.]
[Will you continue like this to the bitter end?]
Shiiing!
Blue energy blazed like flames at the tip of the man’s blade—an energy he’d never displayed even when fighting Peng Mu Wei.
As Song Hui’s face paled from the reflected glow of that energy, Lee Hwan’s voice transmission shook the man’s eyes profoundly.
[Are you Cheol Moo Gwang’s descendant?]
Tremor…….

* * *

Tremor…….
Lee Hwan’s eyes trembled greatly as he beheld the energy the man’s blade had summoned.
Energy that evoked blue flames.
It was a distinctive hallmark of the Blade Energy that Cheol Moo Gwang, the Blade King and one of the Three Kings, unleashed.
There was no doubt.
He could never mistake the traces of the Blade King, who had been like his own shadow.
[Who are you?]
The man’s voice transmission trembled thinly.
Lee Hwan smiled faintly.
[If you are the inheritor of Moo Gwang, come find me at the Military Camp.]

* * *

The man pressed down the trembling in his chest.
‘How could I possibly know that name…….’
The Three Kings of Dae Ya Seong were called only by their epithets—Sword King, Blade King, and Poison King—and not a soul in the world knew their true names.
In this present age, with all records of Dae Ya Seong erased from the martial realm, there were even those who did not know the epithets of the Three Kings.
Therefore, only the inheritors who carried on their bloodline knew the names of the Three Kings.
Yet Lee Hwan knew that name.
The man turned to look at Cheong Po In.
[We’re leaving.]
[From here?]
[Follow me in silence.]
“…….”

* * *

Crash!
Scrape!
Peng Mu Wei brought down his Great Sword and dropped his head in dejection. The warriors of the Peng Family stood in a daze, their eyes fixed on the darkness where the man and Cheong Po In had vanished.
“Argh!”
Peng Mu Wei screamed toward the sky.
Song Hui drew a deep breath and surveyed his surroundings. But Lee Hwan was nowhere to be found.
‘It feels as though I’ve been bewitched by a ghost.’
Click!
Song Hui sheathed his sword and approached Peng Mu Wei. His face flushed crimson, Peng Mu Wei trembled violently as humiliation seized his entire body.
“What shall we do?”
“Kgh…….”
Blood dripped steadily from Peng Mu Wei’s lip, where his teeth had bitten down.
They had raised too great a commotion right at the threshold of Cho Dynasty’s territory. There was no telling when the martial artists of Cho Dynasty might come pouring in.
Peng Mu Wei had no choice but to make a decision after a moment of deliberation.
“……We withdraw!”

* * *

Lee Hwan’s Military Camp.
Song Cheon Mu and Cha Jung Gyeong spotted the man and Cheong Po In suddenly entering and hurriedly drew their blades.
Clang!
Cha Jung Gyeong, who recognized them, felt his heart plummet.
“How did you two get in here…….”
Then it happened.
Lee Hwan’s voice flowed from inside the room.
“They’re guests.”
Cha Jung Gyeong cried out.
“Commander! It’s them!”
“They’re guests, I said.”
“……!”
“We’ll talk about it later.”
The man and Cheong Po In fixed Cha Jung Gyeong with a chilling glare, then opened the door to Lee Hwan’s room.
Their eyes met and locked.
Lee Hwan was composed, but the man’s eyes remained thick with confusion. Yet the voice that escaped his lips was cold as winter frost.
“Reveal yourself, or you will die.”
“I seem to recall you haven’t answered my question yet.”
“Reveal yourself first.”
“Even if I do, you won’t believe me.”
“I’ll judge for myself. Stop playing word games.”
An aura of barely restrained violence radiated from the man’s entire body.
Watching him, Lee Hwan let out a short laugh. It was the memory of the Blade King that stirred it—a man of volatile temperament who rarely listened to others and simply plowed ahead.
‘If it were him, he’d already have drawn his blade and swung it about.’
Lee Hwan wiped the smile from his face and delivered the answer he’d prepared.
“I am of the lineage of the Lord of Dae Ya Seong.”
Shing!
The man unsheathed his sword. A dense murderous intent flooded the room in its wake.
“He left no inheritor!”
“There exist histories unknown to you. So compose yourself. Lower that blade.”
“……!”
At Lee Hwan’s unshakable composure, confusion flickered once more in the man’s eyes.
“Prove it.”
Lee Hwan narrowed his brow slightly.
“Why does the inheritor of the Blade King wield a sword?”
“Prove it first.”
“Well, we can take that up later.”
Lee Hwan took a sip of cold water, then fixed the man with his gaze and continued.
He began to lay bare secrets that only a true descendant of the Blade King could know—truths among them that this man had never heard.
As the account unfolded, the man’s eyes grew wider and wider with each revelation. Cheong Po In’s voice caught, his eyes reddening at the rims.
“The sacred object symbolizing the Lord—I must find it too. I’ve somehow lost it.”
With these words, Lee Hwan’s account came to an end. The questions began immediately after.
“Do you possess the Three Kings Plaque?”
“Speak the inscription carved upon the Three Kings Plaque.”
His voice remained cold, yet the man’s eyes had already grown moist.
‘I carved it myself. The names of the three.’
Lee Hwan recited the inscription he had personally engraved. Then he spoke the names of the Three Kings in turn. When the name Cheol Moo Gwang fell from his lips, the man crumpled to his knees.
Thud!
“Moo Ok bows before his lord!”
“We bow before our lord!”

* * *

Thud!
“Moo Ok bows before his lord!”
At those words pouring from the room, Song Cheon Mu and Cha Jung Gyeong exchanged glances, their eyes widening in disbelief.
“Out of nowhere?”
“My lord?”
Cha Jung Gyeong especially came near to wrenching the door open, bewildered by this turn of events.
‘What on earth? Why are those men calling the General “my lord”?’
He felt as though possessed by a ghost.
Then Lee Hwan’s voice drifted out beyond the threshold.
“Prepare tea.”
“Yes!”
Just as Song Cheon Mu moved to rush outside, the door opened and Song Hui stepped in.
Creak!
“You’ve returned?”
“Yes. But right now…….”
“Are you wounded!”
“It’s not that…….”
“Why are these fools dragging their feet!”
“No, it’s just that…….”
“Come inside if you’re here.”
At Lee Hwan’s voice, Song Hui pushed the two men aside and entered the room.

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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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