A Baby Cat Who Commands the Dog Clan - Chapter 156

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 156
I gazed around in disbelief at what I had just experienced.
‘How strange. Just moments ago, I couldn’t understand the monkey’s words.’
Yet I had clearly heard the buffalo’s speech with perfect clarity.
‘Have I truly mastered the Twelve Beast Martial Art?’
I couldn’t muster any certainty about it.
But with everyone who could have explained the Twelve Beast Martial Art now gone, I had no choice but to puzzle through it alone.
Like swimming through a deep, dark ocean in the dead of night, I felt utterly adrift.
Then, a trembling cry reached my ears.
“Seol Ah!”
Nam Goong Ho had arrived, having finally heard the news.
“Grandfather!”
At the sight of that familiar silhouette, my heart crumbled.
In that instant, overwhelmed with emotion, I ran forward and threw myself into Nam Goong Ho’s embrace.
Then I lifted my head, meeting his eyes as I spoke.
“Grandfather! I could hear the buffalo’s words. But… I couldn’t hear the monkey’s words.”
I asked, my face clouded with doubt.
“Have I truly mastered the Twelve Beast Martial Art?”
Nam Goong Ho held me close and spoke.
“Of course, Seol Ah! How else could you understand the buffalo’s speech without mastering the Twelve Beast Martial Art?”
“Then… I am…?”
“Yes, Seol Ah. You are indeed a child of the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace!”
So the parents who abandoned me at the Myo Family Estate were not my true parents after all.
At his conviction-filled words, my eyes grew misty.
‘How much suffering has this child endured all this time?’
Nam Goong Ho wanted to speak gently to me.
‘No true mother could ever abandon a child as precious as you.’
Never…
But Nam Goong Ho’s throat too grew tight, and he couldn’t bring himself to speak those words.
He could only hold my small body closer.
“Sniff… Grandfather…”
I whimpered and nuzzled my face against Nam Goong Ho’s chest.
His embrace carried a familiar scent.
The clean, sun-dried fragrance of linen robes.
The refined aroma of incense burned daily before his wife’s memorial tablet, now so deeply woven into his very being.
And the earthy scent of the rich wine he had drunk the night before—all these mingled together into an achingly familiar warmth.
Though I still couldn’t immediately understand how I came to be raised at the Myo Family Estate…
‘Breathing in Grandfather’s scent, everything feels right somehow.’
I have a grandfather who cherishes me beyond measure.
“Sniff…”
Hong Seol found herself overwhelmed by emotions she couldn’t quite name, and tears began to stream down her face.
Nam Goong Ho’s large hand patted her trembling shoulders for a long while.
Wrapped as she was in the folds of his robes, Hong Seol didn’t notice, but his expression at that moment was nothing short of terrifying.
‘The Myo Family Estate… those wretches I’d gladly chew to pieces.’
Putting a child who wasn’t even their own blood through such suffering?
Once I return to Anhui, I’ll destroy them by any means necessary.
Nam Goong Baek, standing beside Nam Goong Ho, wore an expression equally as frightening as his grandfather’s.
‘I must settle accounts with the Myo Family Estate.’
The thought of the blue cord he hadn’t received had long since vanished from his mind.
“Aren’t you feeling a bit chilly?”
“A-achoo!”
Their cold fury was so intense.
It was as if frost had fallen on the sweltering Nam Man lands; everyone trembled uncontrollably in the inexplicable chill that descended upon them.
* * *
Rustle, rustle.
Hong Seol’s vision swayed back and forth through the undergrowth.
The worried voice of Nam Goong Ho came from behind.
“Seol Ah, is everything alright?”
“Yes, Grandfather!”
Hong Seol craned her neck and called out loudly.
The group was heading toward the Nam Man Beast Palace Ruins.
It was because of Hong Seol’s earnest plea to see the remnants of the Nam Man Beast Palace at least once.
At the front of the procession, the warrior Ya Pae rode alongside Maeng Woo Hee, their horses’ heads level.
Maeng Woo Hee had volunteered to guide them, saying that only someone from Nam Man truly knew the Nam Man roads.
“Shouldn’t the Valley Master remain at O Dok Valley?” Hong Seol asked with concern.
Maeng Woo Hee answered cheerfully.
“Not at all! Ever since I captured the Human-Faced Spider and returned, I’ve had the Council of Elders firmly in my grasp!”
True to her words, Maeng Woo Hee’s current power base was quite solid.
The rumor that Maeng Woo Hee had obtained the inner core of the mother Human-Faced Spider played a significant role in this.
The revelation that Hong Seol was a direct descendant of the Nam Man Beast Palace also had an impact.
The closer the two became, the higher the likelihood that Maeng Woo Hee could command the Human-Faced Spider using applications of the Twelve Beast Martial Art.
“Is all well at the rear!”
“Yes, Valley Master!”
A loud response echoed back.
The procession had grown quite long thanks to the warriors escorting the Valley Master.
Positioned in the middle of the column, Hong Seol rode atop a water buffalo rather than a horse, passing through the lush jungle.
Hong Seol leaned forward and whispered into the buffalo’s ear.
“I really don’t mind if you don’t carry me…”
Moooooo.
The buffalo let out a long, aggrieved sound in response.
Despite Hong Seol’s repeated refusals, the water buffalo turned its back to her, insisting on repaying the favor.
Apparently, the calves could be left with the herd for a day or two without issue.
Thanks to this, both Hong Seol and Nam Goong Baek were experiencing the rare privilege of riding on a water buffalo’s back.
He sat in an awkward, half-committed posture—unable to bring himself to grasp Hong Seol’s waist in front of him, yet unable to distance himself entirely.
His face had turned pale as parchment, and he seemed to be suffering from mild motion sickness.
“Ugh, again…”
Whenever one of Nam Man’s colossal insects fluttered into the air, he flinched so visibly that even Hong Seol could feel it.
“Just a moment, hold on!”
Each time, the kitten-like Hong Seol would stretch out her hand, gently catch the insect, and set it down softly on the roadside.
“Huff, huff!”
Meanwhile, Beggar Yang Do Jin, as always, was running behind them as a form of training.
In front of Hong Seol, Il Jjik Yi and Yi Jjik Yi clung to the water buffalo’s fur with iron grips.
“They look just like the Young Rats from the old tales.”
Maeng Woo Hee, who had slowed her pace to walk alongside Hong Seol, remarked upon seeing them.
“Old tales?”
Hong Seol’s eyes brightened.
Having been a solitary child, I knew few folktales.
On sleepless nights, Mae Ran would occasionally stroke my round forehead and tell me stories, but it was rare.
“What story is that, Valley Master?”
“The tale of how the order of the Twelve Beasts was determined.”
Hong Seol listened with sparkling eyes as Maeng Woo Hee unfolded the tale.
Long ago, the Heavenly Emperor held a race to determine the order of the Twelve Beasts.
The favorite to win was the diligent and honest water buffalo.
The Young Rats, meanwhile, were thought by everyone to finish last because of their small bodies.
“But the Young Rats were wiser than anyone. Thanks to their cunning, they grasped the water buffalo’s fur and reached the Finish Line with ease.”
“Just like Il Jjik Yi and Yi Jjik Yi are doing now?”
“Exactly.”
The Young Rats leaped down from the water buffalo’s back and crossed the Finish Line one step ahead of it.
“And so the Young Rats became first in the order of the Twelve Beasts. After that came the water buffalo, the tiger, the cat, the dragon, the serpent, the horse, the goat, the monkey, the rooster, the dog, and the pig…”
“Wait, just a moment, Valley Master!”
“Ah, are you surprised that it’s a cat instead of a rabbit? In Nam Man, they place the cat in the Twelve Beasts instead of the rabbit.”
“No, that’s not it. It’s about the order. You said the Young Rats were first and the water buffalo was second, right?”
When Maeng Woo Hee nodded in confusion, Hong Seol turned around with sparkling eyes.
Nam Goong Baek, meeting her gaze, slowly opened his mouth.
“So there was an order to the Twelve Beast Martial Art.”
Hong Seol nodded with a radiant expression.
“I’ve heard that such martial techniques exist. The realm one can reach differs depending on the internal energy one has accumulated.”
That was why I couldn’t communicate with the monkey, but could understand the water buffalo.
‘So I really am a direct descendant of the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace!’
It felt as though a thorn lodged in my throat had finally slipped down.
In the meantime, Ya Pae, who had been leading the way, called out loudly.
“Well, we’ve arrived!”
“Already?”
I hadn’t even caught a glimpse of a building’s shadow from nearby.
Hong Seol’s eyes widened as she craned her neck to look ahead.
Before Hong Seol’s eyes stretched an endless expanse of desolate stone and earth.
“Is this… the Nam Man Beast Palace Ruins?”
This is nothing but ruins.
Hong Seol stood there in stunned silence.
It was a truly desolate sight.
Once, this must have been a sprawling estate.
Not a single stone lay stacked upon another, and not a blade of grass or flower grew anywhere.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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