Chapter 5: The Sword Ghost’s Confession
“How’s your body?”
“I’m fine.”
“That’s good to hear. I’ve been so busy with family work, I’m sorry I couldn’t visit often.”
“……It’s okay.”
Ho-yeon looked down, avoiding Namgung Baek’s warm smile.
‘Tsk, no pride at all. A family head shouldn’t say sorry so easily.’
In his past life as Dan Wi-myeong, his motto had been:
“If you can’t be a good victim, be a cruel attacker instead.”
In this harsh martial world…
If you just smile kindly, people ignore you.
A family head should be cold and ruthless, showing no mercy to enemies and making others fear the whole family.
That way, no one dares to challenge you.
But…
“Haha, still, I brought a gift for you. Cheer up.”
Even while moving busily, Namgung Baek was smiling happily.
There was no sign of a powerful family head at all.
‘Tsk, this is a mess. Is this really the Namgung family I know? Where are all the arrogant jerks I expected?’
As Ho-yeon clicked his tongue inwardly…
Namgung Baek placed a wooden box wrapped in a blue cloth on the desk.
“Here, open it.”
“Yes.”
Rustle. Click!
Ho-yeon unwrapped the cloth and opened the box.
A pleasant, refreshing scent filled the room.
“This is…?”
“Haha, it’s called Baekseon Gangche Bodan. I got it from a contact in the Baekseon Medical family.”
“……”
“It helps strengthen the body and improve health. It won’t help much with cultivation, but you’ll gain about five years of internal energy.”
“……”
“Come on, take it. I’ll help you circulate your energy.”
Ho-yeon looked at the dark pill inside the box and sighed.
Sigh…
Tap.
When he closed the box, Namgung Baek looked confused.
“Why? It’s not a divine medicine, but it’s quite famous.”
“How much did this cost?”
“Huh?”
“It looks like a high-quality pill. It can’t be cheap, right?”
When Ho-yeon asked, Namgung Baek coughed awkwardly.
“Ahem, I told you—I got it through a friend.”
“So, how much did you pay?”
“Umm…”
When Ho-yeon didn’t back down, Namgung Baek finally spoke.
“Ahem, it usually costs 600 nyang, but I got it for 500 nyang. A good deal.”
“In silver?”
“……In gold.”
“You’ve got to be ki—!”
Ho-yeon almost cursed out loud.
Gold? 500 nyang?!
That’s 10,000 nyang in silver!
Unless gold had become worthless over 300 years, that was a huge amount of money.
With that, you could buy a small estate in expensive Beijing.
“Life is priceless. Don’t worry about the cost—just take it.”
What?
Life is priceless?
Then why do mercenaries exist?
‘If you go to the slums, you can buy someone’s life with pocket change.’
Yet right now, a 500-gold pill was sitting in front of him.
Only a few could get something like this.
So Namgung Baek’s words didn’t make sense.
What he really meant was:
“Your life is priceless.”
“……No, thank you.”
“Ho-yeon?”
“I’m already better. If I take this, it’s a waste.”
“What? You faint five or six times a day! You want me to believe you’re fine?”
“That’s because…”
Ho-yeon hesitated.
Could he really say it?
He had thought about this a lot before coming here.
‘To get what I want, I have to show some of my cards. But still…’
“Monster!”
“Sword Ghost? He just got lucky!”
“Why did you get that kind of power?”
“Witchcraft!”
“Kill him!”
He remembered the harsh things people said to him in the past.
People don’t accept those who are different.
If you’re worse than others, they pity you.
But if you’re better?
They get angry seeing their own weakness.
‘Then they try to destroy you. Even the justice and evil factions joined forces just to take me down.’
Maybe…
Would these people do the same?
Would they take back all their kindness and treat him with hate?
‘Heh, well, it doesn’t matter. I’m used to it.’
Ho-yeon realized he was worrying for nothing.
Living in this soft Namgung family for a few weeks made him soft too.
‘Even if the world becomes my enemy, it’s okay. In the end, we’re born alone and die alone.’
He made up his mind and spoke.
“It’s because… I became a Yeongneungja.”
“……!”
Yeongneungja (靈能者).
Someone whose spiritual energy center has opened—able to use the power of the soul in strange ways.
In the past, they were seen as shamans or witches.
Some were even killed for being evil.
But after one man appeared, that all changed.
The Sword Ghost (검귀), Dan Wi-myeong (단위명).
The strongest warrior of his time. No one matched him for 300 years.
To stop him, all the factions joined forces in the Three-Path Alliance—but the result was mutual destruction.
Everyone feared him… but also admired him.
After that war, the martial world poured money into studying and training Yeongneungjas.
They found that…
The more you use your powers, even past your limits, the stronger they become.
‘So Ho-yeon’s been fainting all the time because he’s using his powers…?’
Namgung Baek was shocked by his son’s confession.
But what came next shocked him even more.
“My power is… I can feel and talk with the heart of swords.”
“Th-That’s Sword-Heart Connection! The same power as Namgung Cheon-gang, the Sword Master of Heaven!”
Crash!
Namgung Baek jumped up in shock.
Sword-Heart Connection (劍心感應).
It was written in the secret family records that Namgung Cheon-gang used it to learn and master all the family’s martial arts.
“Then that means…!”
Whoosh!
Namgung Baek turned his head.
On the wall was an old sword in a plain sheath.
The Thunder Sword (천뢰검).
‘So that’s why Ho-yeon collapsed in his room! And why there was strange lightning energy inside him…!’
Namgung Baek asked with a serious face.
“Did you… learn the Thunder Emperor Art from the Thunder Sword?”
“Yes.”
“……!”
Namgung Baek’s eyes widened. He slowly walked toward his son.
His eyes turned red, and his face twisted.
‘Just like I thought.’
Ho-yeon saw the strong reaction and felt bitter.
He smiles kindly, but he’s a warrior too.
He must be jealous that I brought back a lost technique.
‘But that’s fine. This is a deal. As long as I have the Thunder Emperor Art, I have value.’
People are judged by their usefulness.
And with this lost family technique in his hands…
‘They can’t throw me away. I’m like a priceless treasure.’
‘We’ll trade. They get their lost skill, I get a safe place here in the Namgung family.’
As Ho-yeon calculated the value of the deal—
Grab!
Namgung Baek held his shoulders and shouted.
“You idiot! What if something bad happened to you?!”
“……!”
Ho-yeon’s eyes widened.
That’s not what he expected.
He thought he’d be asked to recite the technique.
What…?
“Why did you do that?! Why something so dangerous?!”
“Um, because… I thought you’d be… happy…”
“That technique means nothing! But if something happened to you, what would me and your mother do?!”
Hug!
Namgung Baek hugged Ho-yeon tightly.
“…….”
Ho-yeon stared blankly at the ceiling in his father’s arms.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
He heard a heartbeat.
Was it his?
No… it couldn’t be…
“Haah… Sorry for yelling. But don’t ever do something that dangerous again.”
“……Okay.”
After a while, Namgung Baek scolded him calmly, and Ho-yeon nodded.
Then Namgung Baek gently patted his head.
“So that was it… Sword-Heart Connection. That’s why you kept fainting.”
“…….”
“You were talking with your sword and trying hard to remember lost memories.”
“…….”
“Don’t do that anymore. You are the son of the Namgung family, and the son of Namgung Baek.”
“…….”
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Ho-yeon listened to his heartbeat.
And for the first time in a long while…
He felt like he wasn’t in a battlefield anymore.
“Hehehe, Sword Heart Resonance. You’re telling me my son has awakened Sword Heart Resonance?”
Some time later.
Namgung Baek and Hoyeon were once again seated across from each other at the desk.
Namgung Baek couldn’t suppress the laughter that kept slipping out.
“Well then, this sword is yours.”
Clack!
Namgung Baek took the Heavenly Thunder Sword from where it had been hanging on the wall and handed it to Hoyeon.
“……”
Hoyeon silently accepted the Heavenly Thunder Sword.
‘…That was my goal from the start, but I didn’t expect to get it this easily.’
To learn how to control Heavenly Thunder Energy (천뢰기), the Heavenly Thunder Sword was essential.
However, the Heavenly Thunder Sword was a famed blade forged from meteoric iron—and a sacred treasure of the Namgung family.
It was not something to be handed over lightly.
‘I was planning to offer the incantation of the Heavenly Thunder Emperor Divine Art (천뢰제왕신공) in exchange, but I didn’t think I’d get it so easily…’
As Hoyeon took the sword with a somewhat uncomfortable expression, he glanced sideways at Namgung Baek.
“Hehehe.”
Namgung Baek was beaming, clearly overjoyed.
Unable to endure that gaze any longer, Hoyeon opened his mouth.
“Um, Father. There’s something I’d like to ask.”
“Daddy.”
“…Excuse me?”
“Call me Daddy, and I’ll tell you whatever you want. I’ve been feeling a bit neglected lately—not hearing that word.”
Seriously, this guy…
How old do you think I am?
“D-D-D… Daddy.”
“Hehehe, good. What is it my cute youngest wants to know?”
As Hoyeon murmured with a face full of shame, Namgung Baek smiled in satisfaction and nodded.
Then Hoyeon let out a sigh and spoke.
“Phew… When I was in the training hall, I watched Senior Cheonggang’s Skybound Freeform Sword Technique, and… something seemed off.”
“Off?”
“It felt… unnatural.”
“…Did you perhaps use Sword Heart Resonance?”
At Namgung Baek’s question, Hoyeon nodded and said,
“Yes. I asked the oldest sword in the training hall, and it said the sword technique had been altered.”
‘Though the real reason is because I know that old man Namgung Cheongang’s sword…’
Mixing some truth with a lie, Hoyeon spoke. Namgung Baek’s face grew serious as he stroked his chin, deep in thought.
“Hmm…”
“I was curious why…”
“Sigh… So it was true.”
Was what true?
When Namgung Baek murmured like someone who had already suspected something, Hoyeon perked up his ears.
Then he heard something unexpected.
“It’s all because of the Sword Demon. That wicked bastard.”
…Excuse me?
