Chapter 284
Chapter 284
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 287
Chapter Title: Defending Every Corner
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Under a sky dyed black as if splashed with ink, the scenery of Hefei lay shrouded.
Hefei, which would normally be ablaze with lights through the night, was now enveloped in an eerie silence.
It was a perfect quiet, devoid of even the chirp of crickets or the cry of night birds.
In Hefei, swallowed by pitch-black darkness, only the Namgung Clan stood alone.
Warriors had gathered in the outer courtyard of the Namgung Clan.
Namgung Jangcheon gazed at the assembled warriors with heavy, sunken eyes.
The warriors, clad in blue uniforms to distinguish friend from foe.
A grim resolve rose on their faces.
Their numbers surpassed a thousand.
They were the full force of the Namgung Clan, mobilized completely.
But compared to the reported number of enemies, it was woefully insufficient.
‘Ugh!’
Namgung Jangcheon’s gaze swept over the warriors.
The assembled group was a diverse array.
Not only the Namgung Clan’s own warriors, but also branch family members and those from mid- and small-sized sects affiliated with Hefei were united as one.
Namgung Jangcheon clenched his jaw and slowly opened his mouth.
“A band of unorthodox scum is advancing on Hefei, crossing Mount Huangshan and the Yangtze without warning.”
His voice was low, but laced with his majestic inner energy, it rang as clear as a whisper in the ear.
A low murmur rippled through the crowd.
“Those gathered here each have their own reasons. Whatever they may be, I sincerely thank you all for lending your strength to stand with the main family against the enemy.”
“…….”
“And I am sorry as well. Knowing the blood that will be shed and the rage to come, I feel deep remorse toward those who have come to aid the main family.”
Namgung Jangcheon paused briefly and looked at the warriors.
“But no matter the reason, no matter the intent for gathering, one thing is certain. No, I believe we all share the same mind.”
“…….”
“I won’t speak of great righteousness or chivalry. Protecting Hefei, the land where we must live, from those scoundrels! I believe that is why everyone stands here today.”
Namgung Jangcheon’s voice grew louder, resounding through the courtyard.
The attention of everyone assembled in the outer courtyard focused entirely on him.
Namgung Jangcheon slowly swept his gaze over the gathered warriors, putting strength into his voice.
“Crisis is but opportunity. We shall be recorded as victors atop this bloody battlefield and make our name echo throughout the world!”
“……!”
“The main family will lead the charge. My kin and I will fight at the forefront! Let us fight to defend Hefei and Anhui Province!”
The wavering expressions of the people hardened.
Namgung Jangcheon, the Namgung Clan, would fight at the very front.
Those words instilled confidence and an overwhelming sense of something profound in everyone gathered.
Namgung Jangcheon’s momentum and presence dominated the courtyard.
Over a thousand warriors aligned with his voice, assimilated into his resolve.
With intense eyes, he commanded the Namgung Clan warriors at the forefront.
“We will now meet the enemy. Hold your positions as trained!”
“Yes, Family Head!”
“The Emperor Sword Platoon will follow me to defend Hefei. Keep the main gate open!”
“Yes!”
With resounding voices, the assembled people scattered in perfect order in all directions.
The firmly shut main gate opened, revealing Hefei’s grand avenue.
Namgung Jangcheon slowly drew his sword and stared at the pitch-black entrance, like the maw of a beast.
The heavy air choked his breath.
Not fear of the enemy, but the immense burden as Family Head.
A difficult, no, a harsh situation where he had to grasp at the faintest hope.
Reports stated the enemies flooding into Hefei numbered over three thousand.
Not ragtag unorthodox rabble, but gangs claiming dominion in their regions.
Even rabble numbering three thousand could not be ignored, and now experts were pouring in steadily.
A force that could crush an average sect in half a shichen.
When had the Namgung Clan last faced such a formidable foe?
‘There are no guarantees. It is merely doing one’s best in that moment.’
Namgung Jangcheon steadied his breathing.
At the end of his gaze stood Namgung Hyeok, blankly positioned before the Thunder Dragon Squad.
Namgung Hyeok stood in his usual slouched posture, his insolent eyes directed at him.
“What?”
Namgung Hyeok remained consistently off-kilter somewhere.
Even in this dire moment of life and death, his unchanged demeanor caused Namgung Jangcheon’s eyes to flicker lightly.
‘……A wildcard.’
Was there a better term for Namgung Hyeok, who could bolt anywhere?
A vague thought crossed his mind: perhaps Namgung Hyeok could turn this bleak situation around.
Everything Namgung Hyeok had done so far had been astonishing and ingenious.
He had accomplished feats others could scarcely dream of with ease.
“The Thunder Dragon Squad will now operate independently as a detached force.”
Namgung Jangcheon’s words startled the people.
“As a detached force……?”
“Family Head! That’s dangerous! Operating as a detached force requires ample experience! No matter how strong the Thunder Dragon Squad is, they lack experience!”
“It would be better to utilize the Thunder Dragon Squad as main force!”
“Indeed. It would be wiser to deploy the Heavenly Wind Platoon as the detached force!”
A detached force was a double-edged sword.
The powerful Thunder Dragon Squad could double in effectiveness or be halved.
In the worst case, they could be annihilated from the outset or rendered combat-ineffective.
Losing control carried that much risk.
They believed it better for the leadership to command the Thunder Dragon Squad stably.
Though it was improper to contradict the Family Head in wartime, the decision was that unprecedented.
The leadership murmured as Namgung Jangcheon remained unmoved.
“Then who will command the Thunder Dragon Squad as a detached force? The eldest young master? Or the Thunder Dragon Squad Leader?”
Namgung Jangcheon’s gaze fixed on Namgung Hyeok.
“From now on, you, Hyeok, will command the Thunder Dragon Squad.”
“The second young master?!”
“Ugh!”
The people’s eyes shook greatly.
The leadership’s gazes pierced Namgung Hyeok.
Namgung Hyeok commanding the Thunder Dragon Squad as a detached force?
In the past, it would have been unimaginable.
They should feel anxious and flustered, as if unleashing a mad dog.
Yet strangely, in this dire situation, the idea of setting Namgung Hyeok loose sparked expectation that this mad dragon might achieve something.
Namgung Hyeok already had the record of truly becoming a mad dragon and sweeping the Black Dragon Sect.
Gulp.
Someone swallowed dryly.
Namgung Hyeok silently endured the gazes, then straightened his slouched posture.
Namgung Hyeok’s eyes took on a strange glint.
He roughly understood Namgung Jangcheon’s intentions.
He lifted the demonic sword at his waist, still in its sheath, and formed a fist salute.
“I accept the Family Head’s command.”
The people’s flustered expressions changed at Namgung Hyeok’s clear, resonant voice.
Everyone was shocked by Namgung Hyeok, stripped of all playfulness.
They wondered if he even had such a side.
Namgung Hyeok, once the lightest man in the world, now felt heavier than a mountain.
The leadership’s anxious eyes began to fill with expectation, trust, and something more.
Namgung Hyeok raised his head and turned to the Thunder Dragon Squad.
“From now on, the Thunder Dragon Squad moves with me. Follow!”
At Namgung Hyeok’s clear voice, the Thunder Dragon Squad felt something stir deeply in their chests.
Geon Cheon-hwi shouted.
“We move with the second young master!”
“Yes!”
“We accept the command!”
The Thunder Dragon Squad roared their response and followed the turning Namgung Hyeok.
Namgung Jangcheon’s gaze chased the backs of Namgung Ryong and Namgung Hyeok exiting through the main gate, then withdrew.
He turned his head.
“The Emperor Sword Platoon heads to Hefei’s south gate with me!”
Hearing Namgung Jangcheon’s voice booming from behind, Namgung Hyeok glanced back and met Namgung Ryong’s eyes.
“…….”
Fervent eyes.
Infinite trust in Namgung Hyeok, coupled with unwavering will.
Geon Cheon-hwi approached and asked.
“What do we do now?”
The pressure of commanding a detached force brought subtle tension.
Several strategies flashed in his mind.
Disrupting the enemy rear, cutting off intelligence and supplies, or supporting Namgung Clan warriors via ambushes.
None would be easy, but Geon Cheon-hwi was prepared.
He had resolved himself multiple times while preparing for war.
The others felt the same.
And they were curious.
What strategy would Namgung Hyeok employ to lead the detached force?
Doubts and worries tangled together.
Namgung Hyeok gazed indifferently into the darkness and spoke.
Others would see that darkness as the mouth of a monster.
The rising flickers of light looked savage, like a beast opening its eyes.
Fragments of past memories surfaced, from the time he was called the Venom Overlord.
To him, that pitch-black something was more familiar than anything.
“Little Beggar.”
Little Beggar, with five or six carrier pigeons on his shoulder and his begging bowl piled high with messages, snapped his head up.
“From now on, the Beggar Clan moves with the First Line Society. The First Line Society will spread across Hefei, serving as the eyes of the Thunder Dragon Squad.”
“……When did you arrange that?”
He meant replacing the Beggar Clan’s deficient intelligence network with the First Line Society.
No matter how small Hefei was, it couldn’t be done in a day or two.
But now Little Beggar knew Namgung Hyeok never spoke idly.
“You will relay all enemy information to me from now on.”
“……Yes!”
Namgung Hyeok turned his head.
“The Thunder Dragon Squad will now move and advance according to the information Little Beggar relays.”
“…….”
“One goal.”
Namgung Hyeok spoke calmly, in a thus even fiercer and more terrifying unfamiliar visage.
“We defend all of Hefei.”
“……The entire city?”
“Why?”
“No matter how small Hefei is, blocking every fight breaking out across the whole city with us…….”
“I went to Sichuan and back in a week—traversing Hefei’s east, west, south, and north is hard?”
The people couldn’t help chuckling at Namgung Hyeok’s absurd response.
Right.
That’s how it was.
Even amid mounting tension, Namgung Hyeok’s words brimmed with confidence, making it seem like anything was possible.
“We’re outnumbered. But Jianghu isn’t a place where the weak always lose. The weaker you are, the fiercer you fight, like a demon.”
“…….”
“Anyone who thinks they can’t—leave now. You’ll just get in the way.”
Namgung Hyeok’s eyes gleamed as he scanned the people.
They bit their lips and clenched their fists.
Namgung Hyeok’s lips curved up.
Yes, now those expressions pleased him.
“No need to overthink. What a detached force does is obvious, right? Ambushes, rear disruptions, supply cuts.”
“…….”
“We’ll hit them one by one and link up with the main force. And then the result will come.”
Namgung Hyeok paused briefly before continuing.
“Annihilation.”
“……!”
“We’ll show them Hefei is hell. We’ll etch into their minds whose territory Hefei is, who it belongs to.”
Without regard for means or methods, imprint what hell truly is.
I, Namgung Hyeok, will show these unorthodox bastards that I am more vicious and cruel than they are.
He would imprint on this generation what the Demonic Blood Tribulation was like, how he navigated that hell.
Once the sword is drawn, a neck must be taken.
He would do as he did then.
That was his mindset toward enemies who crossed his fence.
It had been so in the past, and it would be in the future.
Enemies were merely enemies.
Today, Namgung Hyeok would show the junior experts before him, the Thunder Dragon Squad, and the enemies alike.
The one difference from then was singular.
Protecting those inside the fence.
And Namgung Hyeok knew that alone would yield entirely different results.
Namgung Hyeok steadied his breath and spoke lowly.
The people drew deep breaths, seeing Namgung Hyeok’s eyes sunk deeper than the lake’s surface, deeper than the darkness over Hefei.
They realized the Namgung Hyeok they knew was starkly different from this one.
“Today, we will remain as terror in their hearts.”
“…….”
“We sweep them all away.”
Without remainder.
Namgung Hyeok didn’t voice those last words.
But everyone present could guess what he had swallowed.
Namgung Hyeok turned his head.
Whoosh! Blaze!
In the direction he turned, flames rose as monsters opened their eyes.
Blaze! Blazing!
Lights flared from all sides.
Thud thud thud thud thud!
The ground trembled as frantic footsteps echoed from everywhere.
The First Line Society members, dashing about, shouted.
“Harmony Inn! They’ve passed Harmony Inn!”
“Dozens coming from the east!”
“Enemies! Enemies! They’ve passed the south gate!”
Namgung Hyeok turned back, flashing a smile laced with killing intent.
“Let’s go—wipe them out.”
With those words, Namgung Hyeok dashed toward the flashing lights.
In an instant, Namgung Ryong drew level with his shoulder, Geon Cheon-hwi close behind.
The Thunder Dragon Squad followed in a thundering rush.
Flames of fury blazed over Namgung Hyeok’s fierce gaze.