Chapter 163

Chapter 163
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**Chapter 163: The Trap Closes**

Though curses suddenly assailed his ears and his features tightened in response, Namgung Cheon-hu remained outwardly calm and composed.

“You insolent cur! Are you speaking of me—your own Young Clan Leader—Baek Yang-hui?”

By sharp contrast, Yang-hui’s voice rose even higher as he levelled an accusing finger.

“Who else here could possibly fit that description?”

The insult cut far too deep for the Great Namgung Clan’s Young Clan Leader to bear—all the more so because it dragged the Clan Leader himself into disgrace.

The members of the Soaring Heaven Sword Squad seated around them radiated a sharp, lethal intent, each man resting a thumb upon his sword hilt. It was a silent warning: speak another word, and they would draw and strike.

Yang-hui paid them no heed. Instead, he met their killing intent with a fierce resolve of his own and drew his blade first, as if pure fury had surged to his head and stripped away every last shred of restraint.

“I have had enough of your schemes, Namgung Cheon-hu! You contemptible dog!”

*Ching! Ching! Ching! Ching! Ching!*

Ten blades flashed, yet Namgung Cheon-hu alone kept his sword sheathed. He took a quiet moment to survey his surroundings before asking a single, pointed question.

“Did you come alone?”

“Plotting murder and elimination now? That is entirely your style.”

Several members of the Soaring Heaven Sword Squad stepped forward toward Yang-hui, but Namgung Cheon-hu raised a hand to hold them back.

“You misunderstand. I merely wonder why the esteemed young master of the Baek Clan would seek us out deep in the dead of night—and entirely unaccompanied.”

“Hah!” Yang-hui let out a short, incredulous laugh before pressing on. “Do you think I am unaware that you have struck a bargain with the Hyeong Mountain Yin Blood?”

“I have no knowledge of what you speak. Are you now daring to slander your Young Clan Leader to his face?”

Yang-hui trembled from head to toe, his eyes blazing with rage, his voice cracking with the force of his emotion. “Today… hundreds of black faction thugs stormed our family stronghold. The damage we have suffered is beyond measure—and all of it is your doing!”

He gave no outward sign, but hearing that furious outburst filled Namgung Cheon-hu with profound satisfaction.

*If he has come all this way, then our plan has succeeded. I have struck them a heavy blow at last.*

It was only a partial victory, yet it was the very first fruit of his labours since arriving in Gangseo. He had steeled himself to bear shame and dishonour upon coming here, but every single one of his plans had faltered—until now.

*Baek Yang-hui… Baek Yang-hui.*

This was the man who had always carried himself with unshakable poise, as though victory were never in doubt. Now that same man was unravelling, swept away by the very tide of his own anger. So convinced was he of the Namgung Clan’s treachery that he had come here entirely alone, bereft of his usual composure.

*If I slay him here and now, I shall have removed a formidable threat to the future.*

Namgung Cheon-hu had sworn long ago that he would take Baek Yang-hui’s life, even if it meant staining his own name in perpetuity.

*But I must be certain. I need just a little more confirmation.*

Without an intelligence network of his own, he could not be certain of the Baek Clan’s true state of affairs. It seemed unlikely… yet with a man like this, there was always the possibility that this too was an act.

“You are clearly greatly agitated, so I shall overlook your disrespect, Baek Yang-hui. Pray explain what you mean when you claim the Baek Clan has suffered at my hands—at the hands of your Young Clan Leader.”

“Do not stand there and deny it!”

“Hmm… I remain entirely at a loss as to what you are talking about.”

“Namgung Cheon-huuu!”

A faint, deliberate sneer touched Namgung Cheon-hu’s lips. At the same time, he replayed every moment of Yang-hui’s behaviour from the instant he arrived.

*He hurls insults at me as though he is utterly convinced of my guilt.*

This was a man who had always shown outward deference to the Young Clan Leader of the Namgung Clan—whether sincere or calculated, he had never failed to show respect. For him to pour forth such scorn and abuse…

*—Namgung Seong-il. Send three men to scour the area and confirm there are no others nearby.*
*—Understood.*

Having issued the silent command, he spoke aloud.

“Baek Yang-hui, answer me this first. What evidence do you claim to have that I have been in league with the black factions?”

“Hah! I could give you a dozen reasons!”

As Yang-hui spoke, Namgung Cheon-hu grasped one essential truth with absolute certainty: every accusation was founded on suspicion and inference alone. There was not a single shred of concrete proof to substantiate the charge. The unsubstantiated claims of a rising clansman from the Baek Clan could never hope to prevail against the Namgung Clan’s lofty standing. And the Baek Yang-hui he knew was not the sort to make such reckless charges without conclusive evidence. All of which suggested that he had simply lost control, carried away by his own anger.

“Very well—let us suppose what you say is true. In that case, you have walked straight into the clutches of the very enemy you accuse me of serving. Are you not afraid that I might have you killed and your existence erased?”

“Heh… senile and foolish as ever. Go on then—kill me if you dare.”

“Oh? You believe your Young Clan Leader lacks the courage?”

“I told my clansmen exactly where I was going and who I intended to meet, Namgung Cheon-hu.”

A sudden thrill of excitement shot through Namgung Cheon-hu. Surely not… could it truly be? Had he been so careless as to leave such a safeguard behind?

“You, Namgung Cheon-hu, would never speak openly of your true designs. Murder and disappearance? Go ahead and try.”

To Namgung Cheon-hu, Baek Yang-hui appeared to stand before him with unshakeable confidence, certain that no harm would come to him.

*His manner… it has not changed at all.*

He carried himself with the same uncanny ability to read and exploit those around him, with boundless, arrogant self-assurance. The only difference was that his confidence was misplaced.

*—Young Clan Leader. The area is clear for ten li in every direction.*
*—I see. Good work.*

He had not arranged for witnesses. Whether this was a calculated oversight or a blunder mattered no longer.

*Is it truly this simple? Has the chance to rid myself of him fallen straight into my hands?*

Over the months he had spent in Gangseo, he had come to recognise that the Baek Clan’s strength rested almost entirely upon Baek Yang-hui. Slay him, and every setback the clan had suffered would vanish like foam upon the water.

*No… one more test.*

The humiliations he had endured at Yang-hui’s hands kept his guard raised. He examined Yang-hui’s every word and gesture once more, from the moment they met until now, and then he was certain.

*Slaying him here today carries no risk whatsoever.*

Unless a renowned master of equal standing to the Namgung Clan—one who had attained the peak of cultivation, and the skill to deceive the eyes of the most accomplished experts—should appear out of nowhere…

*—Yes. Kill him. There will be no consequences.*

He told his people he was coming? Very well—Baek Yang-hui met his end at the hands of black faction assailants on his journey here. That would be the account given to the world.

*—Kill him. Claim what is rightfully yours. Sweep aside all who would stand above you!*

In that moment, the face of his younger brother Namgung Cheon-yeong rose before his eyes.

*Kill.*
*I will kill.*

Everything he had learned from birth was for the sake of securing what belonged to him. Why should he hesitate to put it to use?

*I will kill.*

Darkness welled up within Namgung Cheon-hu’s spirit—a darkness he did not realise had come from outside himself. He lifted his gaze to look upon Baek Yang-hui, seeing in him the face of his brother Namgung Cheon-yeong.

*Father bade me set aside all scruple for the good of the clan. Those who keep company with ink become stained—let none lay blame at the Clan Leader’s feet.*

*I will kill.*

The members of the Soaring Heaven Sword Squad, acting upon his silent command, spread out to form an unbroken ring. Only then did Namgung Cheon-hu smile at Baek Yang-hui—who now betrayed flickers of genuine alarm. His next words needed no subtlety. A future leader of the Namgung Clan should speak plainly, after all.

“Very well. You have guessed everything. So die.”

The ten members of the Soaring Heaven Sword Squad unleashed their sword qi as one.

*However gifted he may be, he is still only a sapling—a mighty sapling that has reached the absolute realm, yet a sapling nonetheless, and easily crushed.*

“Namgung Cheon-hu! Do not do this—you will regret it!”

“Hahaha! Regret?”

He would commit no such folly. His hands were already stained; what was one more deed?

*I shall savour this moment… for as long as I may.*

“Make an end of him quickly.”

He would take no chances with so dangerous a foe. Namgung Cheon-hu moved against Baek Yang-hui with unwavering caution. A short while passed in this way.

“Remarkable. To hold out so long entirely alone, and when already exhausted.”

“Hah… hah…”

“Why not call forth your latent power? Ah—of course. You have already used it once today. You cannot muster it a second time.”

Even with his unusually swift innate true qi recovery, such a feat was beyond anyone’s strength.

“Then I shall strike you down myself. Die, Baek Yang-hui.”

Namgung Cheon-hu raised his sword high. The Namgung Clan’s supreme technique—the sword qi of Soaring Palace Without Obstacles—blazed along the blade. The instant he brought it down, a sudden, cold dread seized him.

Baek Yang-hui had tilted his head back, and a faint, knowing glint shone in his eyes. At that same moment, Namgung Cheon-hu became aware that someone had stepped between them.

“Amitabha. Amitabha.”

A middle-aged monk stood before them, eyes closed, intoning the Buddha’s name with sorrow. Namgung Cheon-hu recognised him instantly—this was no ordinary monk. He was the personal disciple of the Shaolin Abbot, and an elder of Shaolin’s Benevolent Guardians, entrusted with external affairs: Righteous Mind Arhat Beop-gak.

*Heavens… have you truly turned your face from me?*

Namgung Cheon-hu closed his eyes. Of all moments—why now? Why should a Shaolin elder appear here of all places?

*Baek Yang-hui… this was your doing.*

Yet even so—fortune had spoken. It favoured not him, but his enemy.

*I see. You possess not only great talent, but heaven’s favour itself.*

The darkness within him deepened.

◇ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◇ ◇

The difficulty of confronting Namgung Cheon-hu had always been the same: lack of proof.

*He is in league with the Hyeong Mountain Yin Blood—of this I am certain.* Chui-dal had caught a glimpse of the letter; that much was confirmed. Yet it remained nothing more than suspicion and circumstantial evidence. *The warning letter was the closest thing to definitive proof we had—yet without establishing that it came from Namgung Cheon-hu’s own quarters, it carries no weight at all.*

It was enough to drive one to despair. He knew the collusion was real, yet he could not expose it. To make a public accusation without solid evidence would only invite retaliation, shielded as Namgung Cheon-hu was behind the Namgung Clan’s immense prestige.

And so Yang-hui had resolved to play a different game.

*If no witness exists… then I shall bring one into being. Someone the Namgung Clan cannot silence—someone whose standing is beyond all question.*

*I had hoped to call upon Uncle Yi-suk.*

Upon learning of the planned raid three days earlier, he had dispatched a messenger bird to the Jeonmyeong Clan. Jeonmyeong Seol-ha was likely on her way to meet Jeonmyeong Seon, who would be hastening here as fast as he could travel—but they would not arrive in time. No word had yet come.

Then Beop-gak had appeared.

*He is perfect—far more impartial than Uncle Jeonmyeong could ever be.*

A faint, satisfied smile touched Yang-hui’s lips as he looked upon Namgung Cheon-hu.

“At last… it is finished.”

“It was a long path, Namgung Cheon-hu.”

A profound sense of relief washed over him, as though he had drunk deep of cool, clear water after days of parching thirst. As he savoured the moment, Beop-gak’s voice resonated directly in the mind of every person present.

**Transmission**
“Amitabha. I am Beop-gak of Shaolin. The Namgung Clan has committed deeds that ought never be done. As one who walks the path of righteousness, I could not stand idly by—and so I intervened. Is it true that the Namgung Clan has allied itself with those who walk in darkness, to persecute the righteous way? And having done so, did you then seek to silence this young man by murder?”