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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: Ghost Sword Manor (1)
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The Heavenly Demon closed his eyes at that moment, reminiscing about the past.
Even now, whenever he shut his eyes, the kind face of the Loyal Ghost Sword Yang U-ryang came vividly to mind.
"U-ryang."
"Yes, Heavenly Demon. What is your command?"
"If I fail to conquer the Central Plains, or if I suffer a fatal injury in the process, what would you do?"
Yang U-ryang smiled broadly and replied without the slightest hesitation.
"My dream is to stand by your side forever, Heavenly Demon."
Though it would never happen, if some unforeseen accident were to injure or claim you... I would wait for you at any time in my hometown in the lands of Yonyeong, in the Yang family village, so you could always find me.
The Heavenly Demon laughed heartily, deeply satisfied by those words.
"Hahaha! As expected of the Loyal Ghost Sword!"
The memory of their meeting, that conversation, still echoed faintly in his ears.
Swoosh!
The Heavenly Demon opened his eyes again.
When he did, Yang U-ryang was gone, and only he remained.
The Heavenly Demon wondered what had become of his right-hand man, the Loyal Ghost Sword Yang U-ryang.
He was the kind of man who, if he said he would wait, would do so even if it cost him his life.
'I should have looked into your whereabouts the moment I revived.'
The Heavenly Demon regretted it.
Of course, he'd learned from Sogang that much time had passed and Yang U-ryang had likely died, leaving descendants behind. But he'd been too busy with everything from the North Sword Sect to the North Sea Ice Palace to look into it.
"I'll tell you. After Great Hero Yang learned that the First Heavenly Demon had been... sealed away, he fell into deep despair. He abandoned even his ambitions of conquering the Central Plains and returned to the lands of Yonyeong as you mentioned."
Seol Tae-chong finally spoke up with difficulty.
In truth, that outcome was as good as the worst for Yang U-ryang personally.
He would have waited day after day, yearning for the Heavenly Demon's revival, with no promise of when it might happen.
"What?!"
Meanwhile, the First Heavenly Demon was greatly shocked to hear that Yang U-ryang hadn't followed through to the end of the Central Plains conquest and had retired instead.
'He must have suffered all this time, waiting for me when I never returned.'
The hardest thing was waiting for someone with no idea when they might arrive.
Unlike his usual majestic, confident self, the Heavenly Demon fell silent for a long time, feeling a deep guilt toward Yang U-ryang in his heart.
How much time passed?
The Heavenly Demon forced a smile and nodded.
"Well, he never wanted to conquer the Central Plains in the first place. He only followed because I insisted."
Originally, Yang U-ryang wasn't from the Demonic Cult or even the unorthodox sects.
He'd been defeated by the Heavenly Demon and, impressed, became his right-hand man and joined the cause.
"In any case, since Great Hero Yang retired and suddenly left, not only the existing Central Plains martial artists but even the Demonic Cult followers harbored grudges against him. To the Central Plains folk, he was a villain, and to the Cultists, a traitor. But no one dared touch him."
"Of course not."
At those words, the Heavenly Demon grinned brightly, as if he'd never been down.
"Yang U-ryang was the third strongest expert of that era. With me sealed and the White Dragon Sword God Baek Un-hwi gone, no one could match him. Besides, no one but me could persuade him."
The Heavenly Demon was right.
From a certain perspective, the Loyal Ghost Sword Yang U-ryang was an incredibly unlucky man.
His innate martial talent and skill would have made him the world's greatest in an ordinary era, but he was born in a time when two monsters who surpassed him existed in the same generation.
Those two were, naturally, the First Heavenly Demon and the White Dragon Sword God Baek Un-hwi.
Setting aside the First Heavenly Demon, who transcended the world's greatest to become the greatest of all time, Baek Un-hwi was comparable to the Dharma Patriarch or Zhang Sanfeng True Person. It was a rare case where three once-in-a-generation geniuses were born at the same time.
'I was sealed, and Baek Un-hwi, that damn bastard, used up his innate true qi to deploy the Demon Sealing Sword Array and died.'
At that point, the world's greatest should have been the Loyal Ghost Sword Yang U-ryang.
"Exactly. With the Heavenly Demon sealed and Great Hero Baek, whom he resented, also passing away, Great Hero Yang lost all will and washed his hands of the martial world."
To "wash one's hands in a golden basin" meant literally washing one's face in a golden basin—a declaration by a martial artist of the strong world to forget all past favors and grudges, officially retiring forever.
It was an unwritten rule in the Central Plains not to touch those who had washed their hands.
"After that, Great Hero Yang settled far from the Central Plains in the lands of Yonyeong, building a manor on the famous Dome Green Mountain where the Yang family village stood, and spent his remaining years there, carrying on his line. People call that manor Ghost Sword Manor, taking its name from his old title."
"Perfect. Then we'll head to Ghost Sword Manor."
The Heavenly Demon said.
Though Yang U-ryang was surely dead by now, he was thrilled to hear that his descendants still remained at Ghost Sword Manor, honoring him.
The Heavenly Demon felt he owed Yang U-ryang a debt and wanted to repay it, even if just a little, to his descendants.
"However..."
Yonyeong Province lay to the left of North Sea Star City, so Seol Tae-chong, who knew the region well, trailed off awkwardly.
"What? Speak freely."
Sensing something ominous as he hesitated, the Heavenly Demon pressed him.
Urged by the Heavenly Demon, Seol Tae-chong shared what he knew.
"It seems Ghost Sword Manor is currently facing a great crisis."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Dome Green Mountain in Yonyeong Province—a famous and spiritual mountain.
There stood Ghost Sword Manor, built by the renowned Loyal Ghost Sword Yang U-ryang by merging it with the Yang family village.
While Yang U-ryang lived, and even into the next generation, Ghost Sword Manor was a place no one from the strong world or Demonic Cult dared touch lightly.
The manor's heirs had inherited his martial arts, blood, and talent. Though few in number, they were elite with exceptional skill.
However, Dome Green Mountain in Yonyeong wasn't ideal for expanding influence, and with only the Yang clan remaining, decline across generations was inevitable.
Moreover, with many harboring grudges against the Loyal Ghost Sword Yang U-ryang, persecution began the moment he died and the manor weakened.
"Father, it's time to abandon the manor and leave."
Yang Yeon-hwa, Yang U-ryang's daughter and a young expert of Ghost Sword Manor, urged her father.
"That again? Have you forgotten the First Lord's decree?!"
Yang Dae-un, lord of Ghost Sword Manor and the Shadowless Sword, shouted in anger.
The First Lord was, of course, the Loyal Ghost Sword Yang U-ryang, and one family precept had been passed down from him:
I promised to meet the First Heavenly Demon here.
No one knows when the First Heavenly Demon will return, so the Yang clan of this manor must guard this place and prepare to receive him.
From Yang U-ryang to Yang Dae-un, and now to the current generation's Yang Yeon-hwa, his words transcended time and space.
But nothing lasts forever. While Yang Dae-un upheld the precept like scripture, the younger generation felt differently.
"Father! Please face reality! Because of what the First Lord did with the First Heavenly Demon, I've faced threats from enemies I don't even know since birth. And that's not all!"
Yang Yeon-hwa had plenty pent up.
This was the moment it all burst out.
"That damn First Heavenly Demon! When is he coming? Just for following him, our Yang clan suffers at our enemies' hands, weakening day by day. We're on the brink of extermination, bullied by the Fine Sword Sect that's newly settled near Dome Green Mountain. When?!"
Once unleashed, her feelings poured out like a flood.
Yang Yeon-hwa wasn't a fragile woman prone to tears, but her injustice welled up, moistening her eyes.
This wasn't just her view—it represented the young generation of Ghost Sword Manor's Yang clan.
"Do you really believe the First Heavenly Demon will come back alive?"
"..."
Yang Dae-un fell silent at Yang Yeon-hwa's resentful reproach.
"Do you believe Big Brother will come back too?"
The biggest reason Ghost Sword Manor had repeatedly declined recently.
It was the sudden disappearance of Yang Hui-gun, the Ghost Shadow Sword—Yang Dae-un's son and the next lord candidate.
The Ghost Shadow Sword Yang Hui-gun was Ghost Sword Manor's long-awaited prodigy, famed for inheriting the Loyal Ghost Sword Yang U-ryang's blood most purely. One day, determined to revive the declining manor, he resolved:
There must be blood kin or subordinates who followed the First Heavenly Demon like us in the past.
Let me shamelessly seek their aid.
The Ghost Shadow Sword Yang Hui-gun, who had lived his whole life in Yonyeong.
He'd left for the Central Plains' heart to save Ghost Sword Manor.
Unfortunately, over a year had passed with no word, his whereabouts unknown.
"Big Brother must have fallen to those who hate the Heavenly Demon. It's as good as that Heavenly Demon causing his disappearance!"
"Yang Yeon-hwa!"
At Yang Yeon-hwa's unprecedented slander against the Heavenly Demon, Yang Dae-un flared up unusually, glaring fiercely.
It was unlike the kind, gentle father he always was to his daughter.
"Hoo... Fine. I won't talk about the Heavenly Demon anymore. Let's discuss reality."
Calming her agitated heart at her father's sharp reaction, Yang Yeon-hwa stepped back slightly.
Truth be told, she too remembered loving the legends of the First Heavenly Demon and First Lord as a child.
No—even into her growth years, she'd admired the First Heavenly Demon more than the First Lord himself.
"Yeon-hwa..."
Seeing Yang Yeon-hwa, who once couldn't get enough of those tales, drift from the family precept broke Yang Dae-un's heart.
"As I said, the Fine Sword Sect has been acting suspicious lately. This isn't like their usual poking around up to the manor. They could strike anytime. We must choose now."
This was why Yang Yeon-hwa pressed so hard today.
While Yang Dae-un clung to tradition and precepts, she focused on reality and survival.
Thus, she'd watched the Fine Sword Sect's every move—their greatest threat—and learned they'd gathered unusual forces.
"Either flee now for the future... or uphold the precept and face total annihilation."
Whoosh!
Leaving those words, Yang Yeon-hwa turned coldly and left.
She knew it would drive a nail into her father's heart, but she had no choice.
"Yeon-hwa!"
Yang Dae-un tried to persuade his now-only daughter, but she left anyway.
"Aaaah!"
Utterly dejected, Yang Dae-un stared blankly at the spot she'd left.
'First Heavenly Demon, First Lord. Please look upon Ghost Sword Manor with mercy. I beg you.'
The darkest hour is just before dawn.
Unaware that the First Heavenly Demon was on his way in response to their desperate generational wait, Yang Dae-un prayed.