Chapter 256
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 256
Chapter Title: Evidence, You Say?
"Ho... Ho... Ho-cheol... Ho-cheol has..."
Namgung Hyun-cheol's voice trembled violently.
A face that screamed how such a thing could possibly happen.
Soon, the shock rippled outward in waves.
"The... the Protector has..."
"In... in, in, one... one strike..."
They had seen it clearly with their own eyes.
It wasn't a movement too fast to follow with the naked eye.
The pitch-black sword had sliced through the sword aura... and Namgung Ho-cheol along with it.
As an elder of the Namgung Clan and a holder of the Protector position, for him to vanish so helplessly.
They had all witnessed the scene vividly.
The silence shattered.
Small commotions arose here and there.
It was...
Fear? No, terror.
Terror toward an unknown enemy who had displayed overwhelming power beyond measure.
The sword aura had been severed.
It was an unheard-of feat.
No one could have even imagined such a thing was possible.
Even reaching the realm where one could wield sword aura was a distant dream for most martial artists.
And yet that sword aura...
Had been cut.
By a sword swung so effortlessly.
Then what realm had this enemy reached?
An inexplicable terror began to slowly erode the Namgung Clan's warriors.
"You bastard!!! How dare you!!!"
A figure snapped out of it and roared, launching himself forward.
His white beard fluttered as his eyes blazed with fury.
"Who are you?"
Ha Mu-baek asked.
"I am Namgung Yeom, elder of the great Namgung Clan!"
From his use of an outsider's name, he appeared to be from a branch family.
It wasn't a strict clan rule, but direct descendants typically used names matching the ancestral surname, while branch families mainly used their given names.
Yet here was a branch family member who had risen to elder status.
He drew his sword and aimed it at Ha Mu-baek.
"You're next? As I said, you'll die."
Ha Mu-baek replied in a cold voice.
"The Namgung Clan is no pushover to yield to riffraff like you. Come, taste my sword!"
He unleashed the Celestial Bow Infinite Sword Technique.
A sword radiating brilliant sword aura.
One of the few high-ranking clan techniques assigned to branch families.
Thus, he executed the Celestial Bow Infinite Sword Technique at a masterful level.
But it meant nothing to Ha Mu-baek.
Ha Mu-baek's sword moved once more.
One strike.
Again, just one strike.
Namgung Yeom fell lifelessly.
The sword aura he displayed was in no way inferior to Namgung Ho-cheol's.
Yet even he couldn't withstand a single strike.
Once more, the sword aura was severed... and so was Namgung Yeom.
The same scene unfolded before another victim.
The terror deepened.
Now, no one dared move.
Who would rashly step forward against such overwhelming might?
Namgung Yeom's fiery temper had blinded him, drawing him into the flames like a moth.
And the result? Reduced to a handful of ashes in the blaze.
Namgung Hwa-hyeon and Namgung Hyun-cheol...
Both glared at Ha Mu-baek with eyes full of rage.
But they refrained from rash action.
They had realized this was a power no single person could face.
They knew he was a monster, but they never imagined he transcended all imagination.
Finally, Namgung Hwa-hyeon made his decision and spoke.
"Prepare the Imperial Celestial Bow Sword Formation!"
At his command, three of the Namgung Clan's military units sprang into action.
The Celestial Heaven Sword Squad, along with the Celestial Bow Sword Squad and Celestial Cloud Sword Squad.
It was the Namgung Clan's largest and strongest sword formation, formed by mobilizing three full units.
This formation was designed to combat hordes of enemies, not a single individual.
Yet now, they were deploying it against Ha Mu-baek alone.
Each squad numbered one hundred eighty.
Nearly two hundred warriors formed the formation, encircling Ha Mu-baek.
Gong Son Mu-oe and his group stood outside the formation's perimeter.
Ha Mu-baek swept his gaze over the surrounding formation and spoke.
"I told you, you'll die?"
His voice seemed almost languid.
At those words, faint anger flickered across the faces of the squad members forming the formation.
They knew he possessed terrifying skill.
But to react so casually against them...
This was disdain like no other.
"That's why. Listen to the story before you die."
Ha Mu-baek said as he sheathed his sword back into its scabbard.
The scabbard remained planted in the ground.
Then he casually extended one hand.
"Wha...? What?!"
An exclamation burst from an unexpected source.
It was Namgung Hwa-woo.
He was yanked to Ha Mu-baek's side in an instant.
Astonishing energy manipulation technique.
To pull a person from that distance so swiftly and smoothly...
The situation had changed.
They could no longer attack recklessly.
Namgung Hwa-woo might get caught in the formation's assault.
These three squads had no idea what transpired inside the banquet hall.
Thus, they couldn't help but worry for the clan head's youngest brother.
As the clan head's brother, his status rivaled that of an elder.
In their eyes, Ha Mu-baek had taken Namgung Hwa-woo hostage.
"D-Dirty coward..."
Someone muttered with a furrowed brow.
Ha Mu-baek's gaze snapped toward him.
"Cowardly?"
Ha Mu-baek chuckled softly.
"I'm just giving you lot a chance to hear an interesting tale."
Ha Mu-baek's gaze shifted to Namgung Hwa-woo.
"The stage is set. Now spill everything you have to say."
Namgung Hwa-woo looked around.
He was right.
It looked as if the entire Namgung Clan had gathered.
The disturbance in the inner courtyard had drawn every warrior from the outer courtyard.
Everyone except the non-martial women and children had assembled.
It was only natural.
The banquet hall building in the inner courtyard had collapsed spectacularly.
This was an emergency.
"Ahem."
Namgung Hwa-woo cleared his throat as he surveyed the surroundings.
Soon, he infused his voice with internal energy and began to speak.
His clear, resonant voice pierced the ears of everyone present.
"At the banquet hall, I raised one question to my brother, the clan head."
All eyes turned to Namgung Hwa-woo.
The warriors in the formation did the same.
Namgung Hwa-hyeon gritted his teeth, on the verge of issuing the attack order.
Ha Mu-baek glanced at him casually.
A terrifying killing intent squeezed his entire body.
'Kuh.'
For a moment, his body froze.
He had missed the timing.
Namgung Hwa-woo's story had begun.
"Namgung Ji-hu. The reason you're not making that child the young clan head. The reason you're keeping the rightful eldest son as mere young master. When I asked why you were hiding it, the Grand Protector attacked me!"
Some gazes shifted to Namgung Hyun-cheol.
Interest piqued among the crowd.
Even with the great enemy before them who had demolished the banquet hall.
The topic Namgung Hwa-woo had broached was that shocking.
It was already a whispered rumor among the clan members.
"Over twenty years ago, brother went on a trip with his two wives and escorts. He said he hoped leaving the stifling clan might let a child be conceived. And nineteen years ago, he returned with just those two children. Of course, they were confirmed as Namgung blood."
Up to here, it was known to those in the know.
It happened nineteen years ago, so the younger generation was largely unaware.
"Yet brother, you refused to elevate Ji-hu to young clan head. No, you seemed determined to prevent it. What is the reason? Even if Ji-hu bears Namgung blood, isn't it because he's not your blood?!"
A thunderous shout.
Boom!
It struck the Namgung Clan members like a hammer to the head.
No one had dared utter such words to the clan head, yet his youngest brother had publicly declared it before the entire clan.
"What nonsense is this! Ji-hu is undoubtedly my son! What are the sword squads doing? Execute these rebels spreading such absurd lies and disrupting the clan right now!"
Namgung Hwa-hyeon bellowed in a frenzy.
Labeling his brother a rebel on the spot.
At that moment, Ha Mu-baek's hand moved again, and the two hat-wearers beside Gong Son Mu-oe and the Namgung siblings floated gently to the center.
Chudong trembled violently as he was pulled by Ha Mu-baek's energy manipulation.
Two hundred Namgung warriors forming a sword formation.
And he was heading straight to its heart.
And there, he knew what he had to do.
Tension gripped Chudong.
Sweat poured from his body.
Drip.
Drip.
Sweat trickled down his chin onto the back of his hand.
'Why am I sweating like this...'
Chudong wiped his face with one hand.
It came away drenched.
'Wait...'
Sweat. Drenched in sweat.
But looking at it now, this was...
'Water... too...'
A bolt of realization struck Chudong's mind.
The water radical detached from the tongue.
Could this be it?
His desperate will to live urged him to think so.
Chudong staked his life on that thought.
To change "tongue" to "alive."
The habitual loser at the gambling table had resolved to bet his life.
Namgung Hwa-woo removed Chudong's hat.
At that moment, Chudong squeezed his eyes shut.
He understood.
The bow without water... had become "alive."
The divination of the tongue character pointed to now.
His life and death would now be decided by his own tongue.
As Chudong hesitated, Namgung Hwa-woo spoke first.
"Brother, do you not know this man? No, Amyeong! Surely you know this one? You've hounded him relentlessly to kill him all these years?"
Namgung Hwa-jin, hidden among the clan warriors, flinched.
It was true.
The fortune-teller he had pursued for over a decade on the clan head's orders.
But why was he here?
"What insolence!"
"A sorcerer from the Mosan Sect, Chudong. He claims he met you countless times back then and informed you that you could never father a child."
Namgung Hwa-woo's rebuttal.
At those words, the Namgung Clan fell silent.
Because of what Namgung Hwa-woo had said.
A Mosan Sect sorcerer had deemed Namgung Hwa-hyeon infertile.
The shock of that statement.
The Namgung Clan did not dismiss sorcery as heresy.
They used it to verify bloodlines, after all.
Thus, the sorcerer's judgment carried weight.
"N-Nonsense!!! I've never seen him before!!"
"Clan Head Namgung. How can you say that? This humble one has met you since twenty-three years ago. You were young clan head then."
Steel ing his resolve, Chudong cried out desperately.
He had to survive.
"Shut your mouth! How dare a wandering charlatan spout such drivel!!"
Namgung Hwa-hyeon roared.
"How do you know he's a wandering charlatan, brother? I clearly said he's a Mosan Sect sorcerer!"
Namgung Hwa-woo's immediate counter.
Namgung Hwa-hyeon was momentarily speechless.
The clan members' gazes toward him shifted.
"Nonsense! Anyone can see it."
A lame excuse.
He was dressed neatly to pass as Gong Son Mu-oe's attendant.
He didn't look like any wandering charlatan.
"He knows the full truth of that day! Let's hear him out!"
Namgung Hwa-woo declared.
"What are you waiting for! Execute these traitors now!"
Namgung Hwa-hyeon screamed in fury.
His fierce glare made some squads flinch and prepare to move.
"The story isn't over. Move, and you die."
Ha Mu-baek said calmly.
With those words, the sword in its scabbard unsheathed itself with a soft ring.
"Th-The... flying sword..."
An impossible realm.
That single display halted the squads dead.
They didn't want to die... and they were curious about the story's continuation.
The clan head's orders went unheeded.
Chudong spoke of that day until his throat was raw.
Desperately.
To survive.
He revealed everything he knew.
How Madam Baek became pregnant, how the child was deemed a girl and Madam Joo was impregnated instead.
And how he had fled.
Even his thoughts on what became of the two madams and escorts afterward.
As the tale unfolded, the clan members' expressions changed.
Simultaneously, those around Namgung Hwa-hyeon began to edge away.
They didn't want to believe their revered clan head had committed such a beastly act.
But their bodies reacted instinctively.
Only the elder council Protectors remained at Namgung Hwa-hyeon's side.
"Th-This is absurd fabrication! Slander! Namgung Hwa-woo cooked this up out of ambition to dethrone me and take the clan head position!"
Namgung Hwa-hyeon glared at Namgung Hwa-woo with rage-filled eyes and shouted.
"Where's the proof for that fool's ravings! How can you believe the word of such a wretch!!"
"Then why haven't you made Ji-hu young clan head!"
"He's simply not ready yet!"
"The other children are even less ready! Didn't you witness Ji-rin's Emperor Sword Form yourself?!"
Namgung Hwa-woo's rebuttal.
Those who had seen Namgung Ji-hu and Namgung Ji-rin's spar at the banquet nodded faintly.
By any measure, among the younger generation, Namgung Ji-hu was the most fitting young clan head.
"Shut up! That's for me, the clan head, to decide! Without evidence or witnesses, how can you believe that one-eyed freak?!"
Namgung Hwa-hyeon had lost half his reason to the sudden turn.
Thus, he overlooked the other hat-wearer.
The shock of Chudong's revelations had rattled him.
"Evidence, you say?"
Namgung Hwa-woo looked at Namgung Hwa-hyeon and asked.
Then he turned to the one-armed hat-wearer beside Chudong.
The man, receiving his gaze, slowly removed his hat.