Reincarnated Swordmaster

Chapter Title: Heavenly Realm

"No!"

Namgoong Myeong unleashed the Sovereign Emperor Swordsmanship to its utmost limit, instantly forming a sword curtain. But Jin So-cheong leaped lightly into that impenetrable defense. Though it felt like his body would be torn apart, Jin So-cheong advanced three more steps, deflecting all of Namgoong Myeong's attacks.

Namgoong Myeong lashed out with another ultimate technique in desperation, but Jin So-cheong countered with Annihilation Soul Step, matching his advance and retreat perfectly. Spotting Namgoong Myeong's futile swing, Jin So-cheong's eyes gleamed like a tiger's.

Thud!

"Argh!!"

Exactly three exchanges!

In just three moves, Jin So-cheong deflected the Sovereign Emperor Heaven-Shattering Dance, surged forward, and smashed his fist into Sword King Namgoong Myeong's face. The guards nearly had already been knocked out by Jin So-cheong's fist shadows.

Staggering from the blow, Namgoong Myeong bled from his nose, but Jin So-cheong grabbed his collar and hurled him against a pillar.

"Ugh..."

As Namgoong Myeong's head smashed into the pillar and his lower body collapsed, Jin So-cheong strode over and slapped his cheek once more.

Smack!

"Why did you raise such a bastard?"

"W-What..."

"Not even a tiger father begets a dog son. You're a dog father who begot a dog son."

Thud!

Jin So-cheong's fist slammed into Namgoong Myeong's gut, making his eyes bulge wide.

"Hngh."

Thud!

"Arghhh..."

Namgoong Myeong screamed miserably as Jin So-cheong continued beating him. As a peak expert, Namgoong Myeong desperately tried to escape with his movement arts and martial techniques—it was visible to the eye. But Jin So-cheong sensed and blocked every attack a beat faster in an instant. This beating encapsulated the pinnacle of martial prowess.

Jin So-cheong grabbed the bloodied, battered Namgoong Myeong by the collar and growled. Genuine rage made demonic energy flicker in his eyes.

"Why are you all so cruel to the weak?"

Namgoong Myeong muttered weakly.

"S-So-cheong... why are you doing this... Your master and I are friends..."

"Friends? My master doesn't befriend mongrels, so don't worry."

"N-No..."

"Take your beating."

Jin So-cheong raised his fist again and started pummeling Namgoong Myeong. Now, he focused solely on the beating, as if speaking was a bother.

Thwack!

The silent thrashing continued. When Namgoong Myeong vomited blood and fainted, Jin So-cheong blew true energy into his meridians to wake him, then resumed beating expressionlessly. He resembled a true asura.

Thud!

Thud!

Watching from behind, I awkwardly sheathed my sword. Then I surveyed the carnage around us. Of everyone present, only Jin So-cheong and I stood unharmed. The rest were all Namgoong Family warriors, every one knocked out. No reinforcements seemed to be coming.

"..."

It was unbelievable, but this was reality.

Jin So-cheong had annihilated the Namgoong Family barehanded, without even drawing his spear.

I hurriedly stopped Jin So-cheong's beating.

"Enough. You'll kill him."

"Hm. Sorry. I got too worked up."

Jin So-cheong tossed Namgoong Myeong aside. Flung like a straw doll, Namgoong Myeong was cut cold and wouldn't wake for a while. I smacked my lips, unsure what to do, then stuffed him into my portable dimensional pouch for now. Keeping the Namgoong Family head as a prisoner could prove useful.

I said to Jin So-cheong,

"Let's go rescue the women."

Jin So-cheong and I headed deeper into the Namgoong Family compound. There, we encountered some guards and womenfolk, who gasped in shock upon seeing us. Among them, a beautiful woman in her twenties pointed her sword at us and shouted sharply.

"Who are you, invading our household!"

Jin So-cheong glanced at her and said,

"Flower Beauty Sword Namgoong Min."

"J-Jin So-cheong?"

The woman called Namgoong Min seemed startled. After a moment, she said,

"Father and the elders went out to repel invaders. Surely not you..."

"That's right. I subdued them."

"Ah!"

The Namgoong Family retainers gathered around buzzed in alarm. Elderly women stomped anxiously, and the weaker martial artists paled in fear. Jin So-cheong eyed Namgoong Min coldly and said,

"No one has died yet today. But if you aid in unrighteous deeds, I, Jin So-cheong, will not let it stand!"

"Unrighteous? What do you mean? Our family has never done anything shameful in the martial world."

"Is that what you think? You simply don't know—the Namgoong Family's evils have already reached heaven-defying levels."

Jin So-cheong answered calmly, then signaled me with his eyes.

"Baek Woong. Let's go. These people know nothing."

"Hm."

I let out a groan.

'Indeed, pretending not to know Namgoong Hwan's deeds would be harder.'

Jin So-cheong probably thought yelling at the ignorant retainers was pointless. The family head, the Eight Namgoong Swords—high-ranking figures like them likely all knew, but the info wouldn't reach the lower ranks. Arguing would be futile.

Jin So-cheong and I entered the innermost annex of the Namgoong Family. There, Young House Lord Namgoong Hwan's pavilions and halls numbered seven in total. Following the intel from torturing Namgoong Hwan, we entered the innermost four-story pavilion and activated the mechanism to open the hidden door.

Rumble...

As we entered the mechanism's interior, several men charged at us in surprise.

"Who are you?"

"Kill them!"

The attackers drew swords instantly, their arts clearly Namgoong Family techniques. Seeing this, Jin So-cheong's anger surged, his face hardening. He unleashed fist shadows, smashing them into the men's mouths. With thudding sounds, their front teeth shattered completely.

"Ugh..."

"Hngh..."

It was brutally cruel even by martial world standards, but sparing their lives was mercy on Jin So-cheong's part. As Namgoong Hwan's cronies, they'd surely abused and toyed with the women endlessly.

Jin So-cheong grabbed one sprawled, bleeding man by the collar. He'd deliberately left this one's teeth intact.

"Where are the women? Are they all safe?"

"Hk... Ugh... That..."

"Namgoong Hwan is in our hands. Your lives depend on me."

"Eek."

Terrified by Jin So-cheong's killing intent, the man trembled and spoke.

"I-Inside. They were kept ready for the Young House Lord's return."

"Twenty-five in total, correct?"

"T-That..."

"Speak."

The man swallowed hard and said,

"One didn't obey, so three were... disposed of..."

"Disposed?"

"U-Um..."

Crack!

Jin So-cheong seized four of his fingers and crushed bone and flesh in one go. His left hand became a lump of meat instantly. Overwhelmed by agony, the man fainted without screaming. Jin So-cheong ground his teeth.

"Baek Woong..."

"Got it. We'll keep these too, alive."

Killing them outright would be too easy. I decided with Jin So-cheong to use them later to vent our rage. As we ventured deeper into the mechanism, the horrific scene of the imprisoned women unfolded.

"...!!!"

The women were kept naked, without undergarments, "maintained" like beasts. One corner had a storeroom of varied clothes to suit tastes, and perverse tools for twisted lusts scattered about. The women lay listlessly in cages like penned animals, eyes dead as fish. The stench of white semen and rot suggested the underlings had violated them whenever bored.

What twisted my expression further was the "disposal" site. A secluded rear alcove had an incinerator for burning corpses, with bone fragments scattered everywhere. It was utterly horrifying. Could humans do this?

Rage boiled inside me.

'If Namgoong Hwan had returned alive to the Namgoong Family, this would have gone on for decades.'

He'd even leaked info on Heavenly Yin Body Moyong Yeon initially. Per his confession, unlike women from lesser families, Moyong Yeon had too much pride to yield easily.

So he'd staged a fake elopement and crisis to claim her body and heart. But family factions hating Namgoong Hwan bribed the Heavenly Canopy Division to delay them, nearly getting him killed for real.

So filthy. Now I understood what beast in human skin meant.

Shaking my head at the foulness, Jin So-cheong looked to the sky and said,

"Baek Woong. Grant me one more unreasonable request."

"Shall I guess what it is?"

I replied, and Jin So-cheong looked at me. I crossed my arms calmly and said,

"If it's to exterminate the Namgoong Family, I'll gladly accept."

At my words, Jin So-cheong trembled with gratitude.

"Thank you."

Such scum could never be forgiven.

Jin So-cheong and I rescued the women one by one and brought them out. We dressed them in the ample clothes I'd prepared in my pouch and walked to the Namgoong Family's front courtyard. The retainers gasped and buzzed at the sight.

"No way..."

"Who are those women?"

Feeling the moment had come, I pulled Namgoong Hwan and Namgoong Myeong from my pouch one after another. Sprawled half-dead, they shocked the Namgoong people.

"Family Head! Young House Lord!"

"You bastards...!"

Ignoring their fury, I bellowed,

"Shut up! These are the trash who forgot human decency! Proof stands before you—these abused women."

"W-What do you mean..."

As Namgoong Min stammered, I grabbed Namgoong Hwan's nape and thrust him forward.

"This Namgoong Hwan kidnapped women from lesser families to sate his lust, imprisoning them in a secret underground chamber for years of violation. These women are witnesses, and we've secured testimony from his vile benchmen guards."

"Ahh...!!!"

I dumped the henchmen from my pouch onto the ground, eliciting cries of shock. They recognized them as fellow family members. As the murmurs grew, I pressed harder.

"Even as Young House Lord, could Namgoong Hwan do this alone? Naturally, Family Head Sword King Namgoong Myeong and the Eight Namgoong Swords knew too!"

"..."

The Eight Namgoong Swords elders, propped up by others, froze stiffly. Unable to fight but conscious, the white-bearded eldest elder raved,

"We know nothing! We knew nothing of those women! Don't frame the Young House Lord with strange whores!"

"What?"

"We know nothing! Neither the Family Head, us, nor the Young House Lord ever did such vile things! Invading our home, causing chaos, now stealing our honor—you villains!"

"..."

At that, the women behind me bristled with rage. One beautiful woman cried bitterly,

"Don't make me laugh! You Namgoong father and son are in it together! You defiled us with every filthy act, and now you brazenly deny it!"

So the Eight Namgoong Swords and Namgoong Myeong had visited the underground chamber too.

"Ugh, who'll cut that whore's throat..."

Thud!

As an Eight Namgoong Sword elder ranted, Jin So-cheong drew a dagger from his bosom and hurled it. It flew impossibly fast, embedding in the elder's forehead. A peak expert died instantly, chilling the heated crowd to silence.

"Everyone makes mistakes."

Jin So-cheong addressed the assembly.

"But you deny your wrongs and insult the victims instead. Had we not come, this truth would never surface, and endless abuse would continue. That's unforgivable for a martial artist—nay, for any human."

Jin So-cheong took a deep breath, then drew his spear for the first time since invading the Namgoong Family.

Swoosh!

Leaping skyward like a flash, he soon hurled a massive spear annihilation at the ground. The energy slashed earth like tofu, carving a twenty-zhang destruction mark. Lingering in the air, Jin So-cheong unleashed boundless spear annihilations, finishing with a final stroke upon landing.

Boom!

No need to check midair—I knew what it said.

Non-Human.

The Namgoong Family were not human.

Some experts, backed by their skills, realized what Jin So-cheong had done, faces hardening helplessly. If he willed it, everyone here would die.

"You have no right to be called human (Non-Human)!"

"W-What..."

"From this day, if any Namgoong Family acts or any bearing the Namgoong name struts the martial world... I will slaughter them all. Discard your name and leave this land!"

"Don't make me laugh! We can't do that!!"

Namgoong experts raved, but I snapped irritably,

"I'll count to ten! Any still before me then get beaten to death!"

"Gasp!"

"Ten... nine... eight...!"

Clatter!

People fled chaotically out the gates. Struck by lightning from a clear sky, but my killing intent was real—they ran to save their skins. Confirming none remained after ten, I told Jin So-cheong,

"Jin So-cheong. No guarantee I'll do this next time."

This halved the Namgoong Family's destruction. A bit more pressure, and they'd collapse fully—but irrelevant to my goals. Fighting gods and ancient rulers left no room for punishing every vice. Understanding, Jin So-cheong sighed skyward.

"I know. I just wanted to steady my heart."

"Settled now?"

"Yes. From now, I'll aid you without hesitation, advancing onward. Whatever lies at this path's end, I won't stop!"

Pride swelled in me.

"Got it."

I was certain.

Jin So-cheong would never betray me now.

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