Chapter 325
“No way!”
Namgung Myeong launched the Emperor Sword Technique with all his might, creating an impressive defense with a sword curtain, but Jin So-cheong easily hopped right through it. It felt like she was about to be torn apart, yet she unfurled her three strikes and effortlessly deflected all of Namgung Myeong’s attacks.
Namgung Myeong, desperate, tried another Absolute Slash, but Jin So-cheong countered with her Soul Removal Technique, evening the odds once again. Spotting Namgung Myeong’s flustered state, her eyes flickered with a fierce light, like that of a tiger.
Ptooey!
“Kyaaaa!”
Exactly three seconds!
In a flash, she used her three strikes to deflect the Emperor’s Great Sky Dance and charged in, smashing her fist into Namgung Myeong’s face. The guards beside her were already knocked out from the punch.
Stumbling from the hit, blood streamed from Namgung Myeong’s nose, but Jin So-cheong grabbed him by the collar and hurled him into a pillar.
Thud!
“Ugh…”
As Namgung Myeong’s head smacked against the pillar and his lower half crumbled, Jin So-cheong approached with steady steps and slapped him hard across the face.
Smack!
“What’s wrong with the way you raised your child?”
“W-what…?”
“Not just a bad offspring, but dog-like father and son!”
Ptooey!
Jin So-cheong’s fist impacted Namgung Myeong’s stomach, making his eyes bulge.
“Huh!”
Ptooey!
“Kyaaaa!”
Namgung Myeong continued to cry out in desperation as he was mercilessly pummeled. The peak expert struggled to escape Jin So-cheong’s grip, deploying all sorts of tricks and martial arts, but she detected and countered every single one with ease. This was a beating that encapsulated the pinnacle of martial arts.
With Namgung Myeong bloodied and helpless, Jin So-cheong roared, her eyes glaring with raw fury.
“Why are you so cruel to the weak?”
Namgung Myeong mumbled weakly, “S-So-cheong… why are you doing this… your master and I are friends…”
“Friends? My master doesn’t hang around with scum, so don’t worry!”
“N-no…”
“Take your beating.”
Jin So-cheong raised her fist again and resumed her punches, focusing solely on her blows as if speaking had become a chore.
Smack!
A silent storm of punches ensued. As Namgung Myeong fainted from blood loss, Jin So-cheong revived him by saturating his bloodline with a mysterious energy before impassively continuing the beatdown, resembling an Asura from a nightmare.
Thud!
Thud!
Watching this brutal display, I awkwardly put my sword back into its sheath and surveyed the carnage around me. The only ones standing here besides Jin So-cheong were me — everyone else from the Namgung Clan lay scattered, unconscious with no one left to call for backup.
“…”
It was hard to believe this was actually happening, yet here we were.
Jin So-cheong had annihilated the Namgung Clan with her bare hands.
I hurriedly stepped in to stop Jin So-cheong’s assault.
“That’s enough. You’ll kill him.”
“Hmm. Sorry, got a bit too excited.”
Jin So-cheong tossed Namgung Myeong aside as effortlessly as throwing a piece of straw. The felled man looked completely out for the count, and I didn’t want to sit there pondering what to do, so I threw him into the wooden armor. Keeping the Namgung Clan leader as a captive would be handy in numerous ways.
I turned to Jin So-cheong.
“Let’s rescue the women.”
As we ventured deeper into the Namgung Clan’s inner sanctum, we encountered some guard warriors and women who looked astounded upon seeing us. Among them, a beautiful woman in her twenties pointed her sword at us, barking, “Who are you to invade our home?”
Jin So-cheong glanced at her and replied, “The Flower Beauty Sword Namgung Min.”
“Y-you’re Jin So-cheong?”
The woman named Namgung Min seemed shocked. After a moment, she explained, “My father and the elders went out to fend off outsiders. Could it be you…?”
“Yes, I have subdued them.”
“Ah!”
The Namgung Clan members surrounding us buzzed with confusion. The older women looked anxious, pacing back and forth, while those with weaker martial arts visibly trembled in fear. Jin So-cheong coldly eyed Namgung Min, declaring, “No one has died today. But if you assist those in wrongdoing, Jin So-cheong will not let it go unpunished!”
“Wrongdoing? What are you talking about? Our clan has always acted honorably!”
“You think so? Yet the evils of the Namgung Clan have reached a level that even Heaven can’t ignore.”
Jin So-cheong calmly responded, gesturing at me as she added, “Baek Woong. Let’s go. These people know nothing.”
“Hmm.”
I sighed inwardly. ‘It would be harder for them to pretend not to know about Namgung Hwan’s wrongdoings.’
Perhaps Jin So-cheong thought scolding those oblivious to the reality would be pointless. Those in high positions like the Namgung Clan leader or the Eight Swords of Namgung surely had the dirt, but the information might not trickle down to the others, making any argument pointless.
With Jin So-cheong, I entered the deepest sanctum of the Namgung Clan. There stood no fewer than seven halls owned by Namgung Hwan, the clan’s young master. Guided by the information we tortured from Namgung Hwan, we proceeded into the four-story pavilion at the core, triggering a mechanism to unlock a secret door.
Creaaak…
As we entered, a few startled guards rushed at us.
“Who are you?”
“Kill them!”
In an instant, swords were drawn, and they charged. Their martial arts bore the hallmark of the Namgung Clan. Upon seeing this, Jin So-cheong’s face hardened with rage. She unleashed a punch that landed with a satisfying crack against the jaws of three of them.
“Ugh…”
“Ugh…”
It was an act so cruel even by the standards of Jianghu, but Jin So-cheong showing any mercy by not killing them was grace, knowing they had likely treated the women shamefully.
Jin So-cheong grabbed one of the prone figures by the collar. She purposely left his teeth intact.
“Where are the women? Are they alright?”
“H-huh… um…”
“Namgung Hwan is in our hands. Your lives depend on what you tell me.”
“Eek!”
That cowardly man shivered as he stammered, “U-under… they are inside. We’ve kept monitoring them, ready to manage them for when the young master returns.”
“Twenty-five in total, right?”
“Th-that’s…”
“Speak.”
He gulped, saying, “The stubborn ones… we dealt with three of them…”
“Dealt with?”
“Um… that is…”
Crack!
Jin So-cheong crushed the fingers of his left hand with a quick motion, turning it into a pile of mush. Overwhelmed by pain, he couldn’t even scream out before fainting. Jin So-cheong ground her teeth.
“Baek Woong…”
“Got it. We won’t kill these guys for now.”
Simply executing them would be too easy. I decided to save these guys for future targets for our frustration. As Jin So-cheong and I ventured deeper into the mechanism’s interior, we uncovered a horrific scene where the women were imprisoned.
“……!!”
The women were stripped naked, treated like beasts instead of humans. In one corner of the storage area, various clothes were scattered, and tools for satisfying twisted desires were everywhere. The women lay there like dead fish, eyes blank, crammed into a pen like animals. The fact that perhaps the guards had taken turns degrading them left a foul stench wafting through the air.
What made my stomach turn was the incineration facility at the rear, where corpses had been burned. The scattered remains painted a picture of horror. Could a person truly do this?
My insides boiled with rage.
‘If Namgung Hwan had returned to the Namgung Clan alive, he would’ve been doing this kind of thing for decades.’
After all, it was Namgung Hwan who spilled the beans about Mo Yong-yeon possessing a Heavenly Yin Body. He confessed that Mo Yong-yeon, unlike women from smaller clans, carried herself with pride and refused to yield her body to him easily.
So the plan was to orchestrate a crisis and manipulate a situation that would force Mo Yong-yeon into his clutches. The forces within the clan that opposed Namgung Hwan had probably bribed the Sky Team to delay their response, leading to that near-death scenario.
It was too filthy. I finally understood what it meant to have a heart of a beast instead of a human.
Shaking my head to rid myself of the grim thoughts, Jin So-cheong looked up at the sky and spoke.
“Baek Woong. I have another favor to ask.”
“Guess what it is?”
As I replied, Jin So-cheong turned to face me. I shrugged casually, crossing my arms.
“If it’s to wipe out the Namgung Clan, I’ll happily oblige.”
Hearing my words, Jin So-cheong trembled with gratitude. “Thank you.”
No way could we let these guys get off scot-free.
Together with Jin So-cheong, we rescued the women one by one and exited, draping them with a pile of clothes I had prepared in advance. As we stepped out in front of the Namgung Clan, their members gasped in shock at the sight of us.
“N-no…”
“Who are those women?”
Feeling it was time, I pulled Namgung Hwan and Namgung Myeong from the wooden armor, both in a near-death state. The Namgung Clan members were horrified.
“Your Honor! Young Master!”
“You scoundrels…!!”
I paid their outrage no mind, thundering, “Shut up! These two are the very trash who’ve forgotten their humanity! And the evidence stands right here with these abused women!”
“W-What are you saying?”
Fumbling, Namgung Min responded, “What do you mean?” as I shoved Namgung Hwan forward.
“This man, Namgung Hwan, kidnapped the women from other small clans to satisfy his own greed. He imprisoned them in a subpar lodge and violated them for years. All these women stand as witnesses, and even the vile underlings who guarded the lodge back me up!”
“Ahhh…!!”
As I tossed the underlings onto the ground, several gasped in disbelief. They seemed to recognize some of the individuals since they were part of the same clan. As they began to murmur among themselves, I spoke even louder.
“No matter what, can you expect Namgung Hwan to do this alone? Surely the clan leader, Sword King Namgung Myeong, and the Eight Swords of Namgung must have been aware, right?”
“……”
People who had rushed to aid the now-wounded Eight Swords of Namgung wore stiff expressions. Though they seemed to have regained consciousness, they were unable to fight back. An elderly white-bearded elder cried out passionately, “I don’t know anything! We have no idea about such women! Don’t pin this on the young master!”
“What?”
“We’re innocent! We know nothing! The clan leader, us, and the young master never committed such atrocious acts! You dare come here and try to tarnish our honor?!”
“……”
The women behind me turned furious upon hearing those words. One of the beautiful women shouted in anguish, “Don’t make me laugh! You and your clan are the ones who’ve degraded us! You’ve done all sorts of disgusting things, yet you’re so brazen, huh!?”
Clearly, the Eight Swords of Namgung and Namgung Myeong had been involved in this disgrace.
“Ugh, I’ll behead that hussy!”
Ptooey!
As the elder scolded, Jin So-cheong swiftly withdrew a dagger from her sleeve and hurled it with unbelievable speed, sinking it into his forehead. With one fall, another peak expert lost his life, freezing the previously swarming crowd into silence.
“Everyone makes mistakes,” Jin So-cheong stated as she surveyed the audience. “But you failed to acknowledge your wrongdoing and instead insulted the victims. Had we not arrived, this truth would’ve remained hidden, allowing endless torment and humiliation to prevail. Such acts are unforgivable to any martial artist, let alone a human being.”
Taking a deep breath, Jin So-cheong suddenly brandished her spear. It was the first time she drew it since storming the Namgung Clan.
Whoosh!
Like a flash, Jin So-cheong leaped into the air, unleashing an overwhelming spear attack upon the ground. The overwhelming qi sliced through the earth like tofu, creating a massive crater as wide as twenty paces. Suspended in the air, she traced her final arc before landing gracefully.
Thud!
I recognized the symbols she carved without deliberately looking. “Non-human.”
Indicating that the Namgung Clan had lost their claim to humanity. A few peak experts, backed by martial arts, finally understood what Jin So-cheong had done, yet found themselves powerless to act as her presence meant everyone here was at risk of death.
“You don’t even qualify to be called human!”
“W-what do you mean…?”
“From this day forth, if anyone from the Namgung Clan dares to roam the Jianghu or still carries the Namgung name… I will hunt them all down!”
“Don’t be ridiculous! That’s impossible!!”
The peak experts of Namgung Clan clamored, but at that moment, I had grown irritated and bellowed, “I’ll start counting! Anyone still standing here by the time I finish will be beaten to death!”
“Ugh!”
“Ten… nine… eight…!!”
In a panic, people fled through the doors. They were caught off guard, but my killing intent was all too real, pushing them to escape for their lives. I confirmed that, by the time I finished counting, no one was left standing in the hall. I turned to Jin So-cheong.
“Jin So-cheong, I can’t promise I’ll always help you out like this.”
This had effectively dealt a significant blow to the Namgung Clan. While a bit more effort would completely annihilate them, that was irrelevant to my current goal. When battling colossal entities like gods or old rulers, I couldn’t afford to punish everyone for their wrongdoings.
Seeming to understand my intent, Jin So-cheong sighed as she gazed at the sky. “I know. I simply wanted to collect my thoughts.”
“Are you sorted now?”
“Yes. I will assist you without hesitation from now on. No matter what lies at the end of this path, I won’t stop!”
I felt a quiet pride swelling within me.
“Got it.”
I was convinced. Jin So-cheong would never betray me now.
