Chapter 14
First Mission (3)
Upon arriving at the front gate of the Baegong Faction, Namgung Jun silently grasped the hilt of his sword.
No words were necessary.
A sword flashed in a horizontal arc, scattering blood through the air.
“Ghk!”
“Kaagh!”
The throats of the guards standing on either side of the gate were slit simultaneously.
The Baegong Faction martial artists collapsed with confusion still lingering in their eyes, but Namgung Jun did not spare them a glance.
Creak!
He casually pushed open the main gate himself.
There was a relaxed ease in his movements, as though he were entering his own home.
The eyes of the Baegong Faction martial artists, who had been drinking together in broad daylight, immediately turned toward him.
“Look at the gate.”
“Who’s that brat?”
At first, they only looked puzzled by the young man casually strolling inside.
But that lasted only a moment.
The black bamboo hat.
The cloud embroidery stitched onto his blue sleeve.
No martial artist—especially not someone from the unorthodox path—could fail to recognize that attire.
It was, after all, one of the things they most needed to fear.
The Baegong Faction members immediately threw aside their cups and grabbed the weapons scattered around chairs and across the floor.
“The Blue Heaven Association! It’s the Blue Heaven Association!”
“Report to the Faction Leader!”
The Baegong Faction moved with surprising organization.
Some rushed inside to notify the faction leader and others.
Most seized their weapons and surrounded Namgung Jun.
“What’s this? He’s just a kid.”
“Look at the cloud embroidery. Only one cloud.”
“A clueless brat. Looks like he underestimated us and came here alone.”
When Namgung Jun remained silent, the Baegong Faction martial artists burst into laughter.
They assumed he had frozen from nervousness after seeing himself surrounded.
Sweeping his gaze across them, Namgung Jun muttered quietly,
“This is all? Tell your faction leader to come out as well.”
A nearby martial artist heard him and raised his saber with a fierce expression.
“Someone like you isn’t worthy of bringing out our Faction Leader!”
Whoosh!
The curved blade shot forward in a sudden ambush.
The attack was executed with the practiced skill of someone who had performed such dirty tricks many times before.
To Namgung Jun, however, it was too crude to even be called a feint.
His hand rested on the hilt as his waist twisted slightly.
A blue streak cut diagonally through the air.
Splurt!
His draw-cut severed the attacker’s sword arm and throat in a single stroke.
As blood sprayed out and stained the edge of his bamboo hat, everyone's eyes instinctively dropped to the severed head and right arm lying on the ground.
Heavy silence descended.
Then Namgung Jun’s calm voice rippled through it.
“Look at me.”
Crackle!
A violent aura erupted from his body.
The lightning energy of the Heavenly Thunder True Yang Art crackled loudly around him.
At the same time, shouts exploded from every direction.
“Attack together!”
“There’s only one of him!”
“Don’t hold back the hidden weapons!”
Weapons surged toward him from all sides.
As befitted unorthodox martial artists, the assortment was bizarre and varied—serrated blades, harpoons, sickles, and countless unconventional weapons.
Crude.
Six weapons were visible to the eye.
Eight more could be sensed through his awareness.
Reading the trajectories of all fourteen weapons simultaneously, Namgung Jun changed his grip.
He loosened his ring finger and lightly raised his middle and index fingers, holding the upper portion of the hilt with a softer touch.
The Thirteen Lightning Sword Forms shifted into the Great Lotus Sword Art.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
A series of metallic explosions rang out in rapid succession.
Every weapon aimed at Namgung Jun was deflected away.
With a single strike, he shattered the encirclement surrounding him.
Boom!
Stepping forward with powerful footwork, he advanced.
Each movement of the Great Lotus Sword Art sent four or five enemies collapsing to the ground.
Not a single person could withstand his sword.
They were swept aside like straw dummies.
A serrated blade lunged for his thigh with monstrous teeth.
A poisoned throwing star curved through the air toward the back of his head.
A harpoon stabbed toward his flank.
Three swords thrust forward simultaneously from the front.
Countless weapons bared their killing intent.
Yet the sharpest light tearing through the air belonged to Namgung Jun’s sword alone.
The battlefield churned with countless weapons, but the most striking sight was naturally the blade wrapped in blue lightning.
Blue sword energies split into dozens of streaks and swept freely through the battlefield.
Each time they flashed, the ground grew darker with blood.
Namgung Jun never stopped moving.
The speed at which the Baegong Faction martial artists fell only increased.
What kind of monster is this?!
What’s going on? Weren’t one-cloud members supposed to be weak?!
Damn it!
Dozens died in the blink of an eye.
Their morale did not even have time to break.
Comrades were being cut down faster than they could comprehend.
The confidence that had filled the eyes of the charging Baegong Faction martial artists vanished instantly, replaced by pure terror.
“Spare me!”
“Damn it! When is the Faction Leader getting here?!”
Screams erupted from every direction, but Namgung Jun’s sword showed no sign of stopping.
There was not the slightest trace of mercy in the blade he used against his enemies.
He had already grasped the extent of the Baegong Faction’s atrocities from the documents provided by the Blue Heaven Association.
And he had seen them with his own eyes as well.
Namgung Jun had no intention of talking.
That was why his sword was so merciless.
So cold.
“Stop!”
A shout infused with considerable internal energy reverberated throughout the compound.
Even then, Namgung Jun’s sword was still piercing through the chest of another Baegong Faction martial artist.
“So you finally show yourself.”
Namgung Jun turned toward the middle-aged man slowly approaching from the rear.
The aura he emitted was sharp and oppressive.
Namgung Jun instantly recognized him as the leader of the Baegong Faction.
“I can guess why you invaded this place. It’s because of the civilians we captured, isn’t it?”
“You seem well aware.”
“To throw yourself into certain death for commoners whose faces you don’t even know. A true hero indeed.”
The Baegong Faction Leader smiled unpleasantly as he looked Namgung Jun up and down before drawing the sword at his waist.
“I have already sent men to the underground prison. Before long, every captive down there will be dragged out.”
When Namgung Jun gave no response, the faction leader continued regardless.
“For every one of my men you killed, one of those captives will die. I’ll make you understand just how foolish your actions have been.”
The faction leader sought to restrain Namgung Jun by holding innocent lives hostage.
For the first time, a faint smile curved Namgung Jun’s expressionless lips.
“What’s so amusing?”
“You haven’t deviated from my expectations even slightly.”
“What?”
Namgung Jun stepped forward.
“The situation you desire will never come to pass.”
The blood-dripping blade rose and pointed directly at the faction leader.
“Are you prepared to take responsibility?”
At the entrance to the underground prison stood Heo Il.
Around him lay the corpses of more than a dozen Baegong Faction martial artists.
“Good. I wasn’t too late.”
These were the men sent by the faction leader to bring out civilians for a hostage situation.
“So he chose the safety of the civilians over personal merit.”
As Namgung Jun attracted everyone’s attention at the front gate, Heo Il had quietly scaled the rear wall and located the underground prison.
***
“I heard that, besides swordsmanship, you excel at tracking techniques, Senior Heo.”
“Nothing special. Just one of the minor skills I picked up.”
“Then while I draw their attention, please find the civilians imprisoned inside and protect them. That is my request.”
“Doing so will reduce the merit you receive from this mission, Young Hero.”
“For me, saving every civilian is the greatest merit of all.”
***
Prioritizing the safety of civilians.
That was one of the fundamental principles of the Blue Heaven Association.
Yet newcomers embarking on their first mission often became obsessed with earning merit and overlooked that principle.
Namgung Jun had not.
On the contrary, his eyes remained fixed firmly upon the people he was meant to protect.
Recalling their conversation before entering the Baegong Faction, a smile appeared on Heo Il’s lips.
“He’s quite an interesting junior.”
Gifted with dazzling talent and fully aware of it.
At his age, a certain degree of pride was natural.
Yet Namgung Jun never overestimated himself, nor did he hesitate to ask for assistance.
“And it’s not as though he lacks pride or ambition, either.”
Even so, it was obvious what he valued most.
And that pleased Heo Il greatly.
No matter how strict the admission examinations of the Sword Fragrance Division were, they could never perfectly judge every candidate.
Furthermore, Namgung Jun had entered largely through a Hall Master’s recommendation and had only undergone tests related to martial ability.
Heo Il had secretly been concerned.
Now those concerns had vanished entirely.
In their place, he found himself genuinely liking the young swordsman.
Turning around, Heo Il looked toward the civilians imprisoned within the underground cells.
“Please endure a little longer. Once everything is finished, I will release you. For now, staying inside is safer.”
And so Heo Il remained at the prison entrance without leaving his post.
He merely tapped the gourd flask at his waist with his fingertips.
Despite knowing that Namgung Jun was facing the entire Baegong Faction alone above ground, he showed no sign of worry.
He trusted his new junior.
Just as that junior had trusted him with the safety of the civilians.
Clang!
A sharp metallic explosion rang out as the Baegong Faction Leader was forced backward.
What kind of swordsmanship is this from a mere child?!
Young.
Only a One Cloud member.
The faction leader had been certain he could subdue Namgung Jun.
Several subordinates still survived, and he himself had already stepped into the realm of a first-rate swordsman.
But the moment their swords met, that confidence burst like a bubble.
Namgung Jun’s internal energy was not especially impressive, aside from its lightning attribute.
In fact, considering his age, his internal cultivation was still lacking by a considerable margin.
Yet the swordsmanship he displayed was far beyond ordinary.
It was as if a veteran swordsman who had trained solely with the sword for decades inhabited the body of a young boy.
Every one of his shortcomings was compensated for through pure skill alone.
“Haaah!”
The faction leader roared and thrust his sword forward.
Namgung Jun responded with an identical thrust.
The tips of their swords met perfectly.
Then, in that fleeting instant, Namgung Jun twisted his wrist.
Clang!
A light metallic ring echoed out.
The faction leader’s sword path was diverted.
At the same time, Namgung Jun’s blade borrowed the rebounding force and unfolded three consecutive variations, shooting toward his shoulder.
“Urgh!”
A burning pain spread through the faction leader’s shoulder.
At that moment, he sensed danger.
Something is wrong with this brat.
He had intended to toy with him briefly before making an example of him in the busy streets.
Yet now, rather than making an example of Namgung Jun, it felt as though he himself was being devoured.
Retreating again and again, the faction leader hurriedly opened his mouth.
“Young Hero. Wait a moment—”
Namgung Jun completely ignored him.
His upper body rotated left.
The sword slash that followed pierced straight through the faction leader’s heart.
A swordsman who had stepped into the first-rate realm lost his life in only eight exchanges.
The faction leader could not even scream.
All he could do was glare resentfully with bloodshot eyes.
Namgung Jun paid him no attention.
Calmly, he drove the sword even deeper.
Shhk!
Just as he was about to withdraw the blade from the faction leader’s body—
A new presence suddenly erupted behind him.
A sinister palm force instantly filled the area and crashed toward his back.
Whoosh!
Namgung Jun’s eyes flashed with blue light.
He had not missed it.