A Baby Cat Who Commands the Dog Clan - Chapter 171

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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 171
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On the journey back from Nam Man to Anhui.
Hong Seol’s party decided to spend a night at an inn in Wuhan.
They had accumulated considerable fatigue from sleeping in ship cabins or carriages throughout the journey.
Yang Do Jin, exhausted from his training, collapsed into sleep the moment he arrived at the inn.
Nam Goong Baek, claiming exhaustion, had also shut himself away in his assigned sleeping quarters.
Nam Goong Ho, whose expression had been grim throughout the return journey, rose to rest immediately after satisfying his hunger at the inn.
Only Tian Tong Gai and Hong Seol had energetically sought out a famous restaurant in Wuhan and enjoyed a lavish meal.
“Master Tian Tong Gai, if I may ask…”
Hong Seol quickly caught up to Tian Tong Gai as they walked through the bustling streets.
Tian Tong Gai was in excellent spirits, thanks to the duck neck dish he had enjoyed at the restaurant just moments before.
The fact that it had been purchased with the Nam Goong Family’s money made him even more delighted.
“What is it, little one?”
“Would it be possible for you to teach me the Striking Staff Technique?”
“What?”
The Striking Staff Technique was a signature martial art of the Beggar Sect.
Under normal circumstances, he would have scolded her with a sharp rebuke, but the meal had been far too satisfying for that.
Thus, Tian Tong Gai asked generously instead.
“Why do you wish to learn the Striking Staff Technique?”
At those words, Hong Seol clenched her small fists tightly.
“I believe I will soon have to fight a certain ‘dog.'”
“What do you mean by that?”
Hong Seol explained carefully to the puzzled Tian Tong Gai.
How Nam Goong Do from the Branch Family Residence had tormented her brother Nam Goong Baek in the past, and the cruel things he had said.
Of course, she did not mention that Nam Goong Baek had played a trick on Nam Goong Do and gotten him severely scolded by the elders.
Though her conscience pricked her slightly for the omission.
“But I heard from grandfather recently that there are rumors of remarkable achievements from Young Master Nam Goong Do these days.”
Though he was currently banned from entering the main estate.
It was not impossible that Nam Goong Baek might encounter Nam Goong Do on the streets of An Hui Province or at gatherings of martial artists.
If left unchecked, the increasingly arrogant Nam Goong Do might torment her brother again at any moment.
Strike first, victory is assured.
To strike first is to guarantee victory.
It was something Hong Seol had learned while training with Dok Bi Jo in the past.
Somewhere along the way, Hong Seol found herself unconsciously repeating those words.
“So, I…”
Hong Seol trailed off, her head hanging low.
The idea of attacking Nam Goong Do at the first opportunity to show him her strength seemed to contradict the chivalrous spirit the Beggar Sect pursued.
Though she had not finished speaking, her intentions were sufficiently clear.
Yet Tian Tong Gai remained silent for a long while.
“…Tian Tong Gai, sir?”
Was he about to scold me until tears fell from my eyes?
Hong Seol lifted her gaze, tension written across her features.
But to her surprise.
Tian Tong Gai’s ruddy, bulbous nose had flushed a deep crimson, far more vivid than usual.
“You wished to punish Nam Goong Do?”
“Yes? Yes, I did.”
Hong Seol waited for his response, a glimmer of hope kindling within her.
After a prolonged silence, Tian Tong Gai finally spoke.
“The Dog-Beating Stick Technique cannot be taught to just anyone. It is the exclusive martial art of the Beggar Sect.”
Hong Seol’s face fell.
The Dog-Beating Stick Technique—a martial art literally meaning “to strike a dog.” Against Nam Goong Do, a canine-type beast human, she had thought no method more perfect than this.
Yet it was a technique passed down exclusively through generations of Beggar Sect leaders, and no amount of pleading would change that.
Meanwhile, Tian Tong Gai harbored entirely different thoughts.
‘Nam Goong Do… Yes, that wretch who once mercilessly beat young beggars for no reason within An Hui Province.’
Beggars being struck while soliciting alms was commonplace, but Nam Goong Do’s case was different.
He had beaten an older beggar brother who was out begging to support his sickly younger sibling.
The elder beggar had been on his way to purchase millet porridge for his ailing brother with the coins he’d gathered all day.
“How dare you beggars walk the main roads so brazenly?”
Nam Goong Do had thrashed those children mercilessly, even shattering their alms bowl.
But that was not all. He had cast the coins from within into a passing stranger’s dung cart.
The elder beggar had wept as he dug through the excrement-laden cart with his bare hands.
Both his hands became blackened with filth. The sickly boy eventually succumbed to illness not long after.
I learned only later, from the surviving younger beggar, that Nam Goong Do bore responsibility for this tragedy.
Tian Tong Gai’s eyes narrowed to slits.
‘I’ve been waiting for an opportunity anyway. How fortunate that this little one shares the same intention.’
A proud wolf-type beast human from the Nam Goong Family would lose even more face if humbled by a lowly feline-type.
Tian Tong Gai’s eyes gleamed with a sly smile. He spoke to the downcast Hong Seol.
“Instead of the Dog-Beating Stick Technique, I shall teach you something far superior.”
Hong Seol’s head snapped up with interest.
“What is it?”
“A martial art of my own creation. A technique the Nam Goong Family has never encountered.”
Tian Tong Gai spoke with absolute confidence.
“Those rigid disciples of the Orthodox Sects, bound to their fixed paths, will crumble before such unpredictable techniques.”
Hong Seol clapped her hands together.
“Wow!”
To receive direct instruction in a martial art created by none other than the Beggar Sect leader himself.
No martial artist could help but be thrilled.
Hong Seol’s eyes sparkled like stars embedded in her gaze.
Tian Tong Gai averted his eyes from her fervent stare and spoke casually.
“However, there is one problem.”
“…A problem?”
I soon discovered what it was.
“Hiccup.”
An impromptu training ground had unfolded in the courtyard of the Inn that Nam Goong Ho’s party had rented.
I stood before Tian Tong Gai, swaying unsteadily. My eyes spun wildly as I experienced the intoxication coursing through my entire body for the first time.
“M-Mr. Tian Tong Gai…. Is, is this right…? Hiccup.”
Snap!
Watching me walk in a zigzag pattern, Tian Tong Gai snapped his fingers.
“Excellent! That’s it, that’s it! You’re mimicking the footwork of a drunkard perfectly!”
Delighted, Tian Tong Gai even opened the gourd flask hanging at his waist and took a sip of liquor.
At that moment, a startled cry came from Nam Goong Ho looking down from the second floor of the Inn.
“What in the world are you doing to our Seol Ah!”
Whoosh!
He leaped down from the second floor with wide eyes and immediately thrust his angry face toward Tian Tong Gai.
Tian Tong Gai rubbed his flushed nose and made excuses.
“No, I was conducting training at the little one’s request. This martial art is my own creation—modeled after the gestures of the Eight Immortals in their drunken state….”
“W-What?”
“Hehe.”
Spotting Nam Goong Ho from afar, I staggered toward him. Worry immediately filled his face.
“You’ll fall over, Seol Ah!”
“It’s fine because Grandfather is here…. Hiccup.”
Cling.
Without hesitation, I clung tightly to one of Nam Goong Ho’s legs.
Nam Goong Ho lifted me gently into his arms and sniffed.
“Grandfather….”
Each time I rubbed my cheek against him without restraint, the scent of well-aged liquor wafted from my breath.
Thick veins bulged prominently on Nam Goong Ho’s forehead.
“You wretch, Tian Tong Gai!”
He looked ready to seize Tian Tong Gai by the collar and throw him down immediately.
“No matter how uneducated a beggar you are, how dare you give liquor to someone else’s precious child?”
Faced with his friend’s fury that seemed ready to crack his own skull, Tian Tong Gai hastily made excuses.
“I-I didn’t give him liquor! I only gave him cakes that contained alcohol!”
“Cakes or whatever, you’re doing terrible things, you beggar bastard!”
That day, Nam Goong Ho’s rampage prevented me from eating any more alcohol cakes.
But this way, I couldn’t learn the “Drunken Eight Immortals Fist” that Tian Tong Gai had created.
After much deliberation, I devised a scheme.
* * *
I suddenly snapped back to attention while reminiscing about the past.
I opened the silk pouch hanging at my waist.
“Po, poison?”
Nam Goong Do’s face drained of all color.
She was a girl who had just returned from Sichuan, after all. What if she had brought back something from those vicious dogs of the Sa Cheon Dang Family?
Terrified, Nam Goong Do unfolded his movement technique and retreated five paces in an instant.
“…?”
But what Hong Seol pulled out was not poison.
It was a peach—lusciously ripe, almost too ripe, as if it might ferment into wine at any moment.
“Oh, I bruised this one running over here.”
Hong Seol carefully avoided the bruised spot and took a large bite of the peach.
Splash!
Sweet juice dribbled from the corners of her mouth.
And moments later.
“Hic.”
Nam Goong Do felt his skin crawl.
The cat girl’s eyes had gone half-lidded, and she was actually beckoning him with her finger.
“Come here, you big oaf!”

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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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