Chapter 31
Chapter 31
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: What is Revenge
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Namgung Hyeon-u, Namgung Jun, Namgung Seol, Namgung Chi-hyeok, and Namgung U. These five led the way, swaggering toward the Black Bones Inn.
The warriors of the Black Bones Inn, who had been fighting their heavy eyelids, were startled by the sudden appearance of fifty people.
“Hey, look over there.”
Rubbing his stiff neck, the man laboriously turned his heavy gaze in the direction his comrade pointed.
“What… what the hell is that!”
Weren’t they all heading straight for the Black Bones Inn, swords in hand?
The sun would be rising soon. At this hour, such a large group couldn't possibly be here for… women. That seemed out of the question.
Wasn't there a woman among those in the lead?
Even from a distance, she looked quite attractive.
So, their purpose was definitely not to seek out women.
The aura they projected from afar suggested as much.
“Shit. Go wake up all the brothers.”
“R-right.”
The man rushed frantically into the inn.
A moment later, members of the Black Bones Gang began to pour out from inside the inn.
The distance between them shrank.
Namgung Urin had told the members of the Azure Sky Sword Brigade:
those who had utterly ruined a person's life did not deserve to live. He had ordered them to kill every last member of the Black Bones Gang.
The swaggering members of the Azure Sky Sword Brigade drew their swords as they approached the Black Bones Inn.
“Strike first! Let’s go!”
At Namgung Hyeon-u's shout, the five members of the Azure Sky Sword Brigade charged the Black Bones Inn with incredible speed.
The members of the Black Bones Gang, thinking their opponents had lost their minds, drew their swords.
“They're crazy. Kill them all!”
But they didn't know.
They didn't know that the five leading those madmen were born and raised in the Namgung Family.
Then again.
How could they?
In any case, the swords drawn by the Black Bones Gang were as good as useless.
*Swish.*
The Black Bones Gang members guarding the front of the inn couldn't even properly swing their swords before they were left crawling on the ground, bleeding profusely.
Without slowing down, the Azure Sky Sword Brigade members charged straight into the inn.
The Black Serpent Gang followed close behind.
Startled by the sudden fight, the few patrons drinking on the first floor fled without paying their tabs. They watched the scene from a safe distance, holding their breath.
*Thud, thud, CRASH!*
Ferocious sounds shook the inside of the Black Bones Inn. The commotion made it feel as if the entire building was trembling.
Just then.
*CRASH!*
A third-floor window shattered as a man leaped out. He was trying to escape the sword of an Azure Sky Sword Brigade member, which meant he possessed considerable skill.
But Namgung Urin was standing guard in front of the inn.
“Trying to run?”
The man was bleeding, his aura fierce.
“Damn it.”
He never dreamed something like this would happen. Not when they had the Hyeoncheon Sect backing them.
How… how could this be happening?
Even when his underlings had screamed that they were in big trouble, he hadn't thought it was a big deal.
He'd assumed it was just some ignorant fools, desperate for money. Only after seeing their swordsmanship with his own eyes did he realize this was no ordinary matter.
That was why he had attempted to escape.
But there was one guy blocking his path, wasn't there?
Usually, someone in this position would be their leader. But the one before him was far too young. Still, he didn't let his guard down.
He simply intended to use the boy's youth against him to escape this crisis.
Exuding an aura of someone who would never die so futilely, the man gritted his teeth and asked Namgung Urin.
“What were you thinking, starting something like this? Do you even know who backs us….”
“I do. The Hyeoncheon Sect.”
“You knew… and you still did this? Aren't you afraid of the consequences?”
“Consequences? You won't get the chance to retaliate.”
“Even if I don't, the Hyeoncheon Sect will!”
“Is that so? Then let me ask you. How do you think the Hyeoncheon Sect will take revenge for this?”
“They will kill everyone associated with you. Then they will kill your relatives, and even your entire family. Finally, you will die. That's how the Hyeoncheon Sect operates.”
The leader of the Black Bones Gang felt a chill run down his spine. The boy didn't even flinch at the mention of his entire family being killed; in fact, he looked completely calm.
Namgung Urin, who had sent shivers down the gang leader's spine, spoke again.
“My family has done nothing wrong, though. And you'd still kill them? That's too much. What about you? If you survive this, would you do the same?”
The man, angered at being intimidated by the young man's gaze, spat out maliciously.
“That's right!”
“I see. But don't you think that's a bit pathetic?”
“You're insane.”
“I hear that often. Still, it's strange. If you get caught doing something wrong, you should reflect on it. What's this talk of revenge? Anyone who can think, unless they're a senile old man, would consider that natural. Am I wrong?”
The man suddenly burst into crazed laughter.
“You speak of dreams.”
If… if this world truly operated that way, the man's life would have been very different from what it was now.
Namgung Urin nodded, agreeing with the man.
“You're right. It is like a dream. I lived in that dream for a while.”
His grandfather, father, and mother had taught him that way. But not anymore. Even his mother, who had taught him such things, no longer spoke those words.
Didn't she now live with desperate revenge on her lips?
“If you're just going to spout such nonsense, then just let me go.”
“You're the one talking about dreams now.”
“Because anyone can dream, anytime, anywhere.”
The man facing Namgung Urin let out a hollow laugh. He found his own words absurd.
He wondered what his dream had ever been.
Namgung Urin said.
“You must know that dreams and reality are always different, right?”
The man hesitated for a moment.
Then, a regretful smile, not a fierce expression, spread across his face.
“...I never knew. ...I.”
Having never had a dream, how could he have known?
No, he never had time to dream. So there was no way for him to know.
The difference between dreams and reality.
He had only ever chased reality. The reality right in front of him.
“That's a real shame.”
Namgung Urin drew his sword.
“No. I wonder what would happen if I put all the dreams I've never had into this sword.”
The man raised his sword with both hands.
“The first and last dream you'll ever have…. Your dream is nothing but a fantasy.”
Because his opponent was Namgung Urin himself.
The man paid him no mind and swung the sword he had raised, pouring everything he had into the strike.
But.
*Flash.*
The man's heart was pierced.
“Kuh… how… so….”
He wanted to ask how such a fast sword could exist, but the leader of the Black Bones Gang never managed to get the last words out, bidding farewell to the world along with his final dream.
Namgung Urin stared blankly at the mountains in the distance, where the dawn was breaking.
“A dream….”
And.
“Revenge….”
Come to think of it, Namgung Urin himself had never desperately wanted to become or do something when he was young. There were things he wanted to do on a whim, but that was all.
He had never been the type to constantly strive and research for something.
Then his grandfather and father died at the hands of the Demonic Cult, and the Namgung Family fell. After that, Namgung Urin began to dream of revenge.
But now, he wondered if that revenge was his true dream.
Could revenge truly be a dream?
But Namgung Urin soon brushed aside these stray thoughts with a bitter smile.
Wasn't what he wanted right now what he was dreaming of right now?
Mastering the Primordial Chaos Art.
Bringing down the Baekri and Murong Families.
These were the things Namgung Urin wanted to do and achieve the most right now.
They were also the most interesting.
Just then, the members of the Azure Sky Sword Brigade and the Black Serpent Gang, covered in blood after finishing their work, approached Namgung Urin.
“Young Lord. We've cleaned up everything.”
“Any injured?”
“None with injuries that would hinder their movement.”
“The women?”
“We have them waiting on the first floor for now.”
“Divide all the Black Bones Gang's money among them and tell them to go their separate ways. We leave for Geumchae-hyeon immediately.”
“Understood.”
***
By the time Namgung Urin's group had finished in Geumchae-hyeon and moved on, the Hyeoncheon Sect Leader was belatedly receiving a report from the leader of the Hyeoncheon Sword Brigade.
“What?! The Black Bones Gang was attacked?”
“That is the report. They were all killed.”
“What about the women?”
“They reportedly divided all the money from the Black Bones Gang among them and sent them on their way.”
“Those crazy bastards! So who are they?”
“We are investigating from all angles.”
“Brigade Leader.”
“Yes, Sect Leader.”
“Capture them and make them kneel before me. Understood?”
“Understood.”
“Do not, under any circumstances, kill them.”
“I will keep that in mind.”
But the next day, news reached the Hyeoncheon Sect Leader that the Golden Faction in Geumchae-hyeon had also been attacked.
“Damn it all. Who the hell are these people? Have you found out anything?”
Hearing that two of their affiliates had been hit made the Hyeoncheon Sect Leader's heart sink. If it had only been the Black Bones Gang, the impact would have been minimal, but two was a different story. It meant he would have to take from the Hyeoncheon Sect's profits to cover the losses for the Baekri Family.
However, the Hyeoncheon Sect Leader did not get agitated. He knew that getting worked up wouldn't solve the problem.
The Hyeoncheon Sword Brigade Leader spoke.
“We have. But the information is… hard to believe.”
“It's fine. Tell me.”
“According to our investigation, they are the Black Serpent Gang. The same ones who were thought to be dead.”
“What? The Black Serpent Gang…. No, how could they…?”
Weren't they the ones who vanished without a trace six months ago, along with the vice-leader of the Hyeoncheon Sword Brigade?
“Then…, doesn't that mean they have a backer? That incident six months ago, too.”
This wasn't something a measly underworld gang could pull off.
“I share your thoughts.”
The Hyeoncheon Sect Leader turned his head to look at his chief administrator.
“What are your thoughts?”
“It is clear that the Black Serpent Gang could not have done this alone.”
“Heh. Brigade Leader.”
“Yes, Sect Leader.”
“Can you determine their route of travel?”
“My apologies. Only they know whether they will head north or south from Geumchae-hyeon.”
“This is a problem. We need to find out exactly who they are. Put in a request with the Lower Five Gates.”
“Understood.”
***
“Mistress! Mistress!”
The chief administrator of the Bright Moon Pavilion burst into the mistress's office, flustered and excited.
“What is it? What's all the fuss about?”
She was the mistress of the Bright Moon Pavilion and the Anhui branch chief of the Lower Five Gates. Though in her mid-thirties, she appeared to be in her mid-twenties thanks to her mastery of the Maiden's Secret Arts. She possessed a strange, captivating beauty.
The Maiden's Secret Arts was a modified version of the long-infamous evil art known as the Yin-Plundering, Yang-Nourishing Technique.
The Yin-Plundering, Yang-Nourishing Technique was an evil art that allowed a woman to maintain her youth and even increase her internal energy by absorbing a man's essence—that is, his internal energy—during intercourse.
Naturally, practitioners of such an art were branded as public enemies of the martial world and ultimately could not escape death.
So, it was modified.
Instead of absorbing a man's internal energy, it absorbed his innate qi.
Of course, if too much innate qi was absorbed from a man, he would also die, but the Maiden's Secret Arts had evolved to absorb only a minuscule amount, so the man would feel nothing.
In the end, the man's life force would diminish, and he would die upon reaching a certain age, but by then, no one would be able to determine the cause of his death.
The chief administrator of the Bright Moon Pavilion—that is, the Anhui deputy branch chief—who knew that the mistress practiced this art, spoke with great joy.
“We've finally got a face for him. Hah! He's a killer. Take a look at this.”
The chief administrator confidently held out a drawing of a man's face.