A Baby Cat Who Commands the Dog Clan - Chapter 178

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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 178
“…Please, put me down.”
Hong Seol, her feet now touching the ground, spread her fingers wide.
To calculate, she would need her toes as well as her fingers.
“Nam Goong Baek is eleven years old right now, so if I add twelve to that….”
Oh no.
That exceeded twenty.
The poison Nam Goong Baek had been infected with was called the Medicinal Spirit Poison.
It lay dormant in the body without any obvious symptoms, gradually consuming one’s vital energy, and when one reached twenty years of age, seizures would come and bring death.
“Grandfather…!”
Hong Seol called out to Nam Goong Ho, her voice trembling with emotion.
Overwhelmed by sorrow, I found myself bouncing anxiously on my feet.
‘So that’s why Grandfather didn’t ask me to learn the Yin-Yang Divine Art during my time in Nam Man!’
He had thought it would be pointless anyway.
“Does Elder Brother Baek know about this as well?”
Nam Goong Ho paused for a moment.
Then he continued in a low voice.
“Yes, he knows.”
It was when he had once discussed the Yin-Yang Divine Scripture and its annotations with Tian Tong Gai.
Nam Goong Ho had sensed a very faint presence from behind the door.
He didn’t need to see to know. That presence belonged to his eldest grandson.
‘I should have said something then. How foolish I was.’
He had regretted it repeatedly, but regret changed nothing.
After that day, Nam Goong Baek had never shown any sign of knowing the truth.
That made it all the more heartbreaking.
“So Elder Brother… knew all along….”
Hong Seol felt sorrow welling up from somewhere deep within my chest.
The image of Nam Goong Baek when I first met him came to mind.
A boy who possessed everything others envied, yet seemed to have turned his back on the entire world.
‘Is that why Elder Brother… said what he did?’
When I had said not long ago that I would return to the Myo Family Estate.
Nam Goong Baek had not exchanged a single word with me for half a month, even though he knew that claim was a lie.
‘That was practice for parting… wasn’t it?’
Because someday, parting would come.
He had been rehearsing for that day.
Abstaining from food and not lighting the lamp in his quarters.
The reason he had wept alone in that desolate room, hunched over….
‘Was because he already knew of the parting to come.’
Hong Seol swallowed the hot lump rising in my throat and opened my mouth quietly.
“Grandfather.”
Contrary to his usual demeanor, Nam Goong Ho hung his head, and Hong Seol gently placed her hand upon his arm.
“I won’t give up, Grandfather.”
Nam Goong Ho’s weathered eyes gazed into Hong Seol’s bright, luminous gaze.
Though tears brimmed at their edges, her eyes shone with an unmistakable glimmer of hope.
“You said it yourself, Grandfather—that I’m a genius! So….”
Hong Seol wrapped her arms tightly around Nam Goong Ho’s legs.
“So I promise I’ll master the Yin-Yang Divine Art before my brother turns twenty. I swear it….”
Her knuckles had turned white from gripping the hem of his robes so fiercely.
That alone spoke volumes about the depth of her resolve.
“Even if it’s grueling, I don’t mind. If necessary, I’ll undergo closed-door cultivation! I can’t lose my family like this….”
Hong Seol’s voice grew increasingly strained as tears welled up in her eyes.
Her desperation was too profound.
Her anguish too overwhelming.
Nam Goong Ho could not afford to speak words of weakness in the face of such determination.
He lowered himself to meet Hong Seol at eye level and spoke with solemn conviction.
“The training will be grueling. Do you understand?”
“Yes!”
Hong Seol’s tear-filled eyes sparkled with renewed brilliance.
* * *
“Haah, haah.”
Hong Seol, limp as overcooked water spinach, collapsed onto the bedchamber with a soft thud.
“If Mae Ran sees me like this, she’ll scold me again.”
After burying her face in the quilts for some time, Hong Seol finally managed to roll over.
As the intricately carved wooden ceiling came into view, her mind began to clear.
“The training is harder than I expected.”
Of course, to save Nam Goong Baek, I would endure even more arduous trials….
But I had no intention of staking everything solely on rapidly mastering the Yin-Yang Divine Art.
It was merely one of several possible approaches.
Long ago, Dok Bi Jo had taught me the Heavenly Rat Stealing Technique and said something I never forgot.
“I’ve already learned many martial arts from the Nam Goong Family Estate…. Isn’t that enough?”
“A clever cat, Hong Seol, always knows three places to hide.”
The more contingency plans one prepared, the better.
I resolved to put that wisdom into practice once more.
“Jjik Jjik! Early, Late! All of you, gather here!”
At my call, all the Young Rats in the vicinity of Chang Cheon Pavilion scurried over.
But something was different from before.
“Squeak—you called, my lord!”
Instead of scurrying along the rafters while nervously watching the servants, they now walked boldly through the door.
“Wow, you all look wonderful!”
Thanks to their role in exposing Je Gal Seon’s conspiracy, no one at the Nam Goong Family Estate dared lay a hand on the Young Rats.
That was far from all.
The Young Rats, now bearing the designation of the Blue Mouse Squad, received a monthly stipend of one measure of millet as their official salary.
They were each granted a fine blue uniform crafted by the seamstresses of the Nam Goong Family Estate’s Bedchamber, though they agreed to wear it only during New Year ceremonies.
The reason was simple—the garments restricted their movements and hindered their mission performance.
Instead, they each wore a blue cord that I had bestowed upon them, tied around their foreheads during their daily duties.
Had Nam Goong Baek seen them, he would have fallen backward at the sight—he still hadn’t obtained a blue cord of his own.
“Squeak, my lord—what is your command?”
At Jjik Jjik’s inquiry, I answered with a grave expression.
“There is a task I need you all to undertake. Time is of the essence.”
“Squeak—please speak freely, my lord. What is this task?”
“I need you to find something.”
“Squeak—find something?”
“Yes. An object that vanished in Nam Man roughly ten years ago. It is called the Golden Cat Medallion.”
The Golden Cat Medallion.
A treasure passed down through the direct lineage of the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace.
It was said that merely possessing it would grant immunity to all poisons.
‘If that is true, then surely it could halt my elder brother’s poisoning as well.’
With the Golden Cat Medallion in hand, I could arrest the progression of the poison, and meanwhile, I would perfect the Yin-Yang Divine Art.
That was my plan.
“Squeak—understood, my lord!”
Late into the night, dozens of Young Rats burst through the doors of Chang Cheon Pavilion and scattered into the darkness.
* * *
The sky above Xinjiang gleamed with crystalline blue.
Beneath it stretched a landscape both magnificent and desolate beyond measure.
Jagged peaks of rock, crowned with white snow, extended endlessly in every direction.
The Ten Thousand Great Mountains.
Even the slightest misstep upon these treacherous paths threatened to plunge one into a thousand-foot abyss.
Yet a mounted party pressed forward through the narrow cliff road.
Clatter and rumble.
A stone dislodged by a horse’s hoof tumbled downward.
Down, and further down.
Thud!
Only after an eternity did the sound of impact reach the bottom, and Je Gal Seon felt cold sweat drenching her spine.
At that very moment, Myo Ga Ryung, who had been sleeping atop her horse, opened her eyes.
“Mother, have we arrived?”
Je Gal Seon did not answer, instead observing those who rode ahead.
The Demonic Cult members in their black robes were utterly inscrutable.
Though they had utilized the escape route these enigmatic figures had arranged, bringing us all the way to distant Xinjiang.
Even I could not foresee when this long journey would end.
“Be patient, little one. Let us ride a bit further yet.”
“I want to go home.”
Young Myo Ga Ryung whimpered.
It was understandable—she had fled in the dead of night without understanding anything, and had been riding horses for days on end.
“My back hurts. My throat is so dry.”
The moment Je Gal Seon reached for the leather water pouch hanging from the saddle, the horse ridden by the Demonic Cult member at the front came to an abrupt halt.
The sheer cliff face that had towered before them suddenly ended.
Jagged rock pillars rose menacingly on both sides.
“We were just on the cliff edge a moment ago…?”
Ahead lay a vast, flat plain that had appeared out of nowhere.
We had undoubtedly crossed through an illusory formation.
Before us, roughly a hundred men sat mounted on horseback, waiting.
Though their clothing was all of fine quality, there emanated from them an unmistakably sinister aura.
The man leading them opened his mouth.
“Welcome, Je Gal Lady. Or should I call you the Thousand-Slayer Witch now?”
The Thousand-Slayer Witch.
A witch who had slain a thousand.
Je Gal Seon had spent nearly a decade at the Myo Family Estate under the name Ga Mo.
It was a fitting epithet for one who had mercilessly annihilated the household, including its patriarch—her own husband.
“Tell me, were you satisfied with the efficacy of the Stupor Powder I created?”
At the mention of Stupor Powder, Je Gal Seon finally recognized her opponent.
A man with hair half-bound and pinned with a wooden hairpin, his face obscured by a peculiar wooden frame that made him appear foolish.
“Dang Song Baek, Master of the Poison Chamber of the Sichuan Tang Family…!”
“Heh, this body has been reborn through the grace of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. That name no longer suits me here.”
Dang Song Baek’s eyes grew cold and sharp.

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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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