A Baby Cat Who Commands the Dog Clan - Chapter 106
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 106
It was an obsession of terrifying proportions.
“Take this!”
Dang Yi Woon, teeth gritted, unleashed a barrage of dark needles.
Ghost Soul Demon evaded with ease. As he’d said, the accuracy of the needles had deteriorated.
“Did I not warn you…!”
Ghost Soul Demon, who had been sneering while glancing toward Dang Yi Woon, suddenly let out a scream.
“Ugh…!”
Nam Goong Baek’s blade had struck precisely at his right shoulder.
Following the instincts of an assassin, he twisted his body desperately to avoid a fatal wound.
But fresh blood dripped steadily from the gash that ran down his arm.
“Wretched little rats, resorting to tricks!”
Ghost Soul Demon roared with a voice thick with phlegm.
Nam Goong Baek kept his eyes fixed on Ghost Soul Demon’s face as he whispered low.
“Watch out, he’s coming again!”
Dang Yi Woon, his expression taut, aimed another dark needle. His hands no longer trembled.
Moments before, he had deliberately feigned clumsiness to draw Ghost Soul Demon’s attention and create an opening for Nam Goong Baek’s attack.
But Ghost Soul Demon’s momentum showed no sign of breaking.
“You dare wound my body? Not a single one of you will leave this place alive!”
Hong Seol, tense with anxiety, licked her lips as she analyzed the situation.
‘My two older brothers’ coordination was quite good, but… that tactic won’t work anymore.’
Ghost Soul Demon had already seen through it.
Without dealing a fatal blow, they needed a different strategy.
“Haaah!”
Enraged, Ghost Soul Demon stepped back and wielded a short blade in his uninjured hand.
Nam Goong Baek evaded the silvery arc that came sweeping back by laying his body sideways.
Then, using that momentum, he spun his entire body in a full rotation while swinging his sword and scabbard in succession.
Whoosh!
It was the second form of the Cangqiong Great Flame Sword Technique.
But Ghost Soul Demon, focused with terrifying intensity, deflected the attack with ease.
Then he extended his hand and seized Nam Goong Baek’s wrist that gripped the sword.
Crack!
His grip was so powerful that each finger seemed to be crushing the wrist, digging in relentlessly.
“Ugh!”
Nam Goong Baek threw his head back in agony, biting his own lip.
‘No, if this continues, Baek older brother will—!’
It was at that moment Hong Seol stifled a silent scream within herself.
“Your opponent is me!”
Dang Yi Woon, teeth clenched, suddenly launched his body toward Ghost Soul Demon and Nam Goong Baek.
‘That’s—!’
Hong Seol’s eyes widened.
Dang Yi Woon’s fingertips had taken on a crimson hue identical to her own irises.
Seeing this, Ghost Soul Demon’s mouth split into a long, contemptuous grin.
“How foolish, child of the Dang Family!”
“Ugh!”
Boom!
Ghost Soul Demon kicked Nam Goong Baek’s chest, sending him flying, then instantly shifted into an offensive stance to face Dang Yi Woon.
Crack-crack-crack!
In mere moments, they exchanged over a dozen blows—or rather, Dang Yi Woon was being struck down unilaterally.
“Splurt!”
Blood finally erupted from Dang Yi Woon’s mouth. He had suffered internal injuries.
“So you were attempting to unleash the Poison Palm, were you? Unfortunate. If you cannot land even a single strike, it is utterly useless.”
Ghost Soul Demon laughed with satisfaction.
“Ugh…”
Dang Yi Woon staggered and fell to his knees on the ground.
“Haa… haa…”
Nearby, Nam Goong Baek, who had taken Ghost Soul Demon’s true strike directly to his chest, was barely managing to catch his breath.
“Most of the Dang Family’s martial arts are effective from a distance, after all, hehehehe.”
Ghost Soul Demon seemed to have regained his initial composure. The blood that had been flowing from his arm had already stopped.
“From the moment you drew near to me, your defeat was already sealed.”
Crimson energy swirled around his body.
“Still, your courage is commendable, so I shall show mercy and end both your lives in a single stroke, hehehehe.”
Thud, thud.
As he approached slowly, Nam Goong Baek and Dang Yi Woon could only manage to steady their breathing.
“Damn it, damn it…!”
While Dang Yi Woon struggled to clench his powerless fists.
Nam Goong Baek, with one cheek pressed against the cold ground, strained to lift his eyes. His blue eyes were hazy, likely from severe internal injuries.
“Where is Seol…?”
“Do you still have the leisure to look elsewhere? Hehehehe.”
The moment Ghost Soul Demon, his face twisted with menace, lifted his foot to stomp on Nam Goong Baek’s neck.
A small, swift shadow leaped from atop the bamboo, launching its body into the air with a sharp sound.
Crash!
Hong Seol, her face pale with tension, shoved Ghost Soul Demon’s shoulders with fierce force.
Crunch!
As a result, his foot came down on a stray stone instead, but that was all.
“How ticklish.”
Ghost Soul Demon scoffed and lifted his foot again.
Hong Seol immediately blocked his path and cried out.
“You cannot touch my older brothers!”
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!
Hong Seol unleashed a series of fierce punches in rapid succession.
Nam Goong Baek, recognizing the technique, cried out silently.
‘The Nine Cleaving Divine Fist!’
Or rather, the Five Cleaving Divine Fist.
Originally, it was a Nam Goong Family martial technique that struck the opponent’s lower abdomen nine times. But with Hong Seol’s strength, she could manage only five strikes.
‘The attempt was admirable, but without inner energy infused into the fist, it’s ineffective!’
An assassin with inner energy comparable to Ghost Soul Demon would find such punches nothing more than a tickle.
He barely managed to squeeze every ounce of strength from his body and shouted.
“Run, Seol Ah!”
But something was wrong.
Ghost Soul Demon’s face flushed crimson.
“Ugh.”
Thud!
He finally dropped to one knee on the ground.
Nam Goong Baek and Dang Yi Woon, recognizing that posture, exchanged glances with visible bewilderment.
‘She… she actually hit him, didn’t she?’
‘Apparently so.’
When executing the Five Cleaving Divine Fist, one should have struck the lower abdomen.
But Hong Seol, being so diminutive in stature, had instead driven her fists directly into Ghost Soul Demon’s groin instead of his abdomen.
Five times, no less.
No matter how much protective inner energy he had channeled, a vital point remained a vital point.
‘That must hurt.’
‘Yes, he must wish for death.’
Thanks to this, Nam Goong Baek and Dang Yi Woon managed to steal a precious moment to recover their composure.
In that brief window, Hong Seol hurried over to check on them.
“Are you alright, older brothers?”
“Thanks to you, somewhat.”
Dang Yi Woon retrieved a medicinal pill from his pouch, broke it in half, and offered one piece to Nam Goong Baek.
“Here, brother. It’s an internal injury remedy.”
Nam Goong Baek gazed down at the pill with reluctance.
‘I was always told never to carelessly consume any medicine given by the Sa Cheon Dang Family.’
Noticing his hesitation, Dang Yi Woon popped the remaining half into his own mouth and chewed it thoroughly before swallowing.
Only then did Nam Goong Baek swallow the other half.
“Use this opportunity to circulate your energy, even if only briefly. Your internal injuries won’t heal, but you should be able to move.”
At Dang Yi Woon’s words, Nam Goong Baek let out a groan.
Even with the aid of the internal injury remedy and circulating his energy, victory against Ghost Soul Demon seemed impossible.
‘To save Seol… I need to escape now.’
He glanced toward the pavilion.
There, Dang Ji Gang and Dang In Gang remained bound and unconscious.
‘If I pin down Ghost Soul Demon’s feet, Dang Yi Woon can retrieve the firecrackers from those girls’ possession and set them off, while Seol flees in the opposite direction…’
Nam Goong Baek gazed down at his right hand, which barely responded to his will.
Dark bruises marked his wrist where Ghost Soul Demon had gripped him.
‘I can’t hold a sword with this hand anyway. So if I’m prepared to sacrifice this arm…!’
I might be able to restrain Ghost Soul Demon for a while.
With luck, the adults would arrive in the meantime.
Nam Goong Baek’s blue eyes, which had wavered for some time, gradually grew still and composed.
He parted his lips softly.
“Seol Ah, when I give the signal….”
But Hong Seol was deeply absorbed in thought.
Her gaze had caught on the stone lantern beside the bamboo she had climbed moments before.
‘That’s strange?’
One of the stone lanterns, which had all been dark, now burned with a single flame.
Just like the day she had visited the Dang Family Main Hall.
‘Could that be… a mechanism?’
A small stone, dislodged as she climbed the bamboo, rolled beside the lantern.
That stone had clearly struck the lantern.
The moment she realized this, a plan to defeat Ghost Soul Demon crystallized in Hong Seol’s mind.
“Dang Yi Woon older brother!”
At her call to Dang Yi Woon instead of herself, Nam Goong Baek’s expression twisted.
But Dang Yi Woon seemed to grasp Hong Seol’s intent immediately.
“Ah! Your thinking is right, Seol!”
The two exchanged nods, then whispered at length in tones only they could hear.
“How dare a mere morsel of prey like you…!”
In the meantime, Ghost Soul Demon regained his senses and gnashed his teeth.
His finger pointed directly at Hong Seol.
“Today I shall grind you to dust and consume you!”
Crimson malevolence erupted from Ghost Soul Demon’s form, burning with nearly visible intensity.
He seemed consumed entirely by rage.
Yet Hong Seol, trembling as she was, met him with composure.
“Wouldn’t you first need to catch me for that to be possible?”
With those words, Hong Seol suddenly launched herself into the air.
Whoosh!
“Where do you think you’re running!”
Ghost Soul Demon, his eyes wild with vengeance, gave chase.
Dang Yi Woon, watching from the sidelines, suddenly drew a small shuriken from his sleeve.
‘Soul-Severing Shuriken?’
It was the sharp throwing weapon favored by the Dang Family.
Nam Goong Baek frowned upon recognizing the weapon’s nature.
‘Against an assassin like Ghost Soul Demon, it would be better to target vital points with inconspicuous poison needles.’
Subduing a killer of Ghost Soul Demon’s caliber with such a conspicuous weapon would not be easy.
Moreover, it became even more problematic as positions continued shifting like this.
Most importantly, there was a significant danger that Hong Seol, who was hopping about and fleeing using the Heavenly Wind Divine Method in front of him, would be caught in the crossfire and injured.
“Stop…!”
Before Nam Goong Baek could even finish shouting.
Whoosh!
Dang Yi Woon scattered throwing stars with a hardened expression.
Those throwing stars were not aimed at Ghost Soul Demon, but at the stone lanterns.
And the moment all the stone lanterns surrounding them ignited with a snap!
Nam Goong Baek clearly saw it.
Rumble.
The stones on the ground surrounding the stone lanterns trembled slightly as if the ground beneath them had collapsed.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————