Chapter 25: Blood Debt (7)
Namgung Pa stood on the platform and shouted.
“The Namgung Clan and all the hero compatriots gathered here have all raised their swords for the belief of freedom and equality.”
His momentum was like a roaring tiger, and the internal energy echoing around the platform was reminiscent of the echo of thunder and lightning.
“Now we are on a test of whether that community, or indeed any organization conceived and dedicated in this spirit and belief, can endure for long. In the north, the Heterodox path is committing atrocities; in the west, the Demonic path is rampant; in the east, the barbarians are running wild; and the power of the Martial Alliance in the south is weakening day by day. All of us in this place must consecrate ourselves to protect the justice and balance that our ancestors have guarded for generations. That is the reason I, Namgung, invited you all today!”
Just then, Namgung Yul walked up beside where Namgung Pa was making his speech.
Even the handmaidens of the Namgung Clan, said to be so beautiful, degenerated into mere leaves beside a flower once they stood next to Namgung Yul.
The audience could not help but admire Namgung Yul’s beauty, which seemed almost non-human, rather than Namgung Pa’s solemn speech.
“So that’s why her alias is Sword Flower. It indeed lives up to its reputation.”
“The runner escorting the sacred sword for the blood oath ceremony today was Lady Namgung.”
“They say she is the genius who entered the Ascending Heaven Academy as the top student, right?”
“To perfectly combine literary and martial arts with talent and beauty like that, I wonder if she is even the same human.”
Eventually, Namgung Yul walked through the audience toward the direction where the altar was located.
She was dressed in a white dance robe with sleeves fluttering gently, and in both hands, she held the ‘Fish Gut Sword’, the heirloom and sacred sword of the Namgung Clan.
…Tight!
Namgung Yul clutched the sword to her chest.
This Fish Gut Sword was a holy sword directly bestowed upon the Namgung Clan by the Emperor in the past, a treasure among treasures with a legend that it was once hidden inside a fish’s body to help carry out a great undertaking.
Namgung Yul gripped the Fish Gut Sword even tighter, receiving the numerous gazes pouring down on her.
Suddenly, her father’s joke came to mind.
‘…The sword. You mustn’t let anyone steal it?’
At that time, she had simply laughed it off, questioning who could touch the heirloom of the Namgung Clan… but now that she stood in this place, the joke did not feel like just a joke.
Envy, admiration, jealousy, greed… various gazes pierced toward the Fish Gut Sword held at her chest.
They were emotions far too massive for a girl who was not yet twenty to receive.
However, she was a wise woman who knew how to sublimate pressure into a sense of duty.
Namgung Yul headed toward the altar with a majestic stride, fully enjoying the gazes.
And apart from this, she was continuing step by step with a pleasure unknown even to herself, feeling a thrilling sensation swirling through her entire body.
Eventually, Namgung Yul stood in front of the high altar.
This stage was constructed solely for this ritual, and was the highest structure even within the vast estate of the Namgung Clan.
Namgung Yul slowly climbed the stairs.
Step— step— step—
A total of one hundred and eight steps came to lie beneath her feet.
Eventually, she stood tall and alone in a high position where she could look down on everyone, including the family leader, Namgung Pa.
…Whoosh!
The sacred fire that had been escorted over caught onto the four corners of the altar.
Boom— boom— boom— boom—
At the sound of drums beaten by the musicians below, the flames leaped violently.
Shring—
Namgung Yul drew the Fish Gut Sword.
The cold blade light scattered, and the blue sharp energy fell all the way below the altar.
“…”
Following Namgung Yul’s gaze, the gazes of ten thousand people were moving.
Eventually, she walked toward the sacrifice hanging in a corner of the altar.
The wolf with its four feet tied to a towering black staff.
This wolf, as large as an average tiger, was dead with its head pointing downward and its tongue hanging out long.
Beneath the wolf hanging upside down, a large copper tray was visible.
Namgung Yul’s mission was now rushing toward its climax.
Slowly…
She raised the sacred sword, Fish Gut, high.
Soon, Namgung Yul would swing her sword and cut the wolf’s neck.
Then, the wolf’s blood, which had not yet gone cold, would pour out like a fountain and fill the copper tray, and afterward, the overlords of Anhui Province would ascend the altar one by one, share and drink it, and make the oath of alliance.
If that happened, the blood oath ceremony of this grand banquet would end splendidly and successfully.
Flutter—
The hem of Namgung Yul’s dance robe fluttered in the wind.
That white sleeve would soon be soaked moist with the red and dangerous blood of the wolf, and the crowd would be drunk on a strange anticipation, excitement, and elevation.
And knowing this well, Namgung Yul did not immediately lay the blade on the wolf’s body but circled lightly around, playing with the crowd’s souls with the waving of the hem of her dance robe.
– A night when yellow wax candles melt silently on the empty platform.
– The sleeves are long, so the sky is wide.
– Two drops about to bead on cheeks fair as peach blossoms.
– Though harassed by worldly affairs, vexations are like starlight.
Every time the hem of the dance robe repeated covering the sky and sweeping the ground, the crowd grew drunk on Namgung Yul’s sword dance.
Eventually.
The dance movements reached their climax.
The firewood flaring from below the altar cast a strange flush on Namgung Yul’s face, and every time she panted heavily and shed bead-like sweat drops, cold dew formed on the foreheads of the audience too.
Finally, Namgung Yul stood in front of the wolf holding the Fish Gut Sword.
When the flames soared the highest and the incense spread the thickest, Namgung Yul laid the blade of the Fish Gut Sword on the wolf’s neck.
Boom— boom— boom— boom—
The sound of the leather drums became even more noisy.
Vibrations that made even the skin shake echoed throughout the entire atmosphere.
Now, blood would pour.
The time of the oath would arrive.
It would be as red as blood and as sharp as a sword.
All the crowd was swallowing dry saliva, waiting for it.
…However.
What happened next was something that completely betrayed everyone’s common sense and expectations.
…Twitch!
The wolf’s body moved.
Even though the blade of the Fish Gut Sword had not even touched it, it trembled as if alive and moved toward Namgung Yul.
Gush—
The belly skin of the wolf hanging upside down suddenly seemed to bulge, but then it immediately split vertically, and something popped out from within.
“…”
Thrust out before Namgung Yul could even react was a single palm stained with blood.
…Grab!
Eventually, a bloody man popped out from the wolf’s belly.
He was shirtless and wearing only trousers, but his entire body was soaked in blood, making it impossible to distinguish at a glance whether he was clothed or naked.
The only unusual thing was the head skin of a wolf cub covering his face.
“…”
They say when a person is too shocked, even a scream does not come out.
Namgung Yul retreated backward with the reflexes of a top talent of the martial world.
However.
Swish—
The assailant’s grip was venomous and persistent like the mouth of a venomous snake.
The blood-soaked hand changed its trajectory in mid-air and fell straight toward the nape of Namgung Yul’s neck.
“Eeek!?”
She tried to swing the Fish Gut Sword in her hand, but the distance was too close, so the sword could not be swung properly.
Crunch!
Like a hawk snatching a chick, the man opened his bright red grip and seized Namgung Yul’s white neck.
…Creeak!
Grabbed by the grip tightening with terrifying grip strength, Namgung Yul was forced to exhale her remaining breath.
“Ke-hehk!?”
To think that the touch of a man she experienced for the first time in her life would be so merciless and violent.
For Namgung Yul, it was a situation she had never imagined once since she was born.
?
?
?
At this situation that occurred in the blink of an eye, the reactions of the audience below the altar were also that they did not understand what had happened.
As mentioned earlier, when a person witnessed an overly unrealistic situation before their eyes, they were bound to freeze blankly.
And the assailant who wore the wolf skin appropriately used that gap to instantly drop the initiative of the situation into his own hands.
…Thud! …Thud! …Clatter!
The scabbard of the Fish Gut Sword bounced a few times on the altar floor and fell onto the dirt ground below.
Only then did Namgung Pa snap out of it.
“Wh-who are you?!”
The warriors of the Namgung Clan drew their swords and rushed below the altar, but no one could go up.
And for good reason, as the Fish Gut Sword, which had somehow crossed into the assailant’s hand, was laid as if about to slice Namgung Yul’s Adam’s apple.
Squeeze…
At the blue sharp qi pressing against her white flesh, Namgung Yul tightly closed her eyes.
The back of her neck grabbed by the man felt as if firmly bitten by the teeth of a beast.
The tightly packed muscles, the reek of blood fiercely wafting, and the stiff texture of the wolf fur.
All of these were overwhelming Namgung Yul.
It was brutally crushing her so that she would not dare entertain even the slightest other thought, and so that the mind to resist could not even sprout.
Receiving the gazes of everyone gathered within the Namgung Clan on himself, the wolf’s mouth eventually opened.
“…Listen, you sons of bitches of the Namgung Clan.”
It was an utterance that made everyone’s jaws drop.
Unrivaled Spear Ghost