A Baby Cat Who Commands the Dog Clan - Chapter 248

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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 248
“Elder Brother, open your eyes! Please, please….”
Tears streamed down Hong Seol’s face, no longer held back.
Nam Goong Baek, battered and broken, barely managed to lift his eyelids.
“…Did you, succeed….”
Nam Goong Baek’s condition after withstanding the force of the Dual Extreme Flame Wheel Palm was far more dire than I had anticipated.
Seeing this, Hong Seol lacked even the courage to speak, only nodding forcefully several times.
Only then did a faint smile flicker across Nam Goong Baek’s lips.
“I knew, you would, manage it….”
He seemed to struggle even to cling to life any longer.
Nam Goong Baek’s eyes slowly closed again.
‘Is this where my role ends….’
If so, there was something he needed to say.
Nam Goong Baek gathered his remaining strength and whispered into Hong Seol’s ear.
“…you must …do it, Seol Ah.”
Barely finishing his words, just as Nam Goong Baek’s consciousness was about to sink into darkness.
Suddenly, a clear and serene stream of energy flowed through his meridians.
His mind snapped awake.
“Seol Ah, what are you doing…? Why are you pouring your Innate True Qi!”
Innate True Qi.
The primordial life force that all humans possess.
Hong Seol was generously pouring that energy into him.
Nam Goong Baek himself was already a man destined to die soon.
Even with Innate True Qi flowing in, it could not change that fate.
‘Seol Ah must know this too, so why on earth….’
As if hearing Nam Goong Baek’s inner thoughts, Hong Seol answered through her tears.
“Elder Brother, you cannot leave yet.”
“What are you saying….”
“There are still things I haven’t told you. Things I absolutely must say.”
“What could that be…?”
“Elder Brother, you… skipped my birthday gift… so many times.”
Hong Seol wiped away her tears with the back of her hand, speaking brightly despite her sorrow.
“And you didn’t even come to my coming-of-age ceremony.”
“…I’m sorry.”
“So give me the gifts you owe me now.”
“A gift…?”
“Yes! Just one thing that I want. Promise me.”
It was a futile request.
But Nam Goong Baek wanted to make that promise.
That he would give her a gift.
Whatever Hong Seol desired, I would give it to her.
The Nam Goong Family Estate and my body and soul—there was nothing I could not offer.
I wanted to make that promise, even if I could not keep it.
“…Yes, I promise.”
“Really? You’ll give me anything I ask for?”
“…That’s what I said.”
“Then please marry me.”
“…What?”
Nam Goong Baek’s sluggish heartbeat nearly stopped at those words.
He shook his head, though he could barely steady himself.
“That won’t do. Marriage isn’t something you enter into like that….”
“Then how is it done?”
“With a man you truly love. Not out of pity for my death, as you….”
“What if the man I love is you, Elder Brother?”
“…What?”
“You keep asking ‘what’ over and over. Is it really so shocking?”
Hong Seol smiled, her eyes glistening as she gazed at Nam Goong Baek.
“Elder Brother is so handsome, so kind, so valiant…. How could any woman in this world stand beside you without cherishing you in her heart?”
“But Seol, you…. That hairpin from Dang Yi Woon….”
Nam Goong Baek’s gaze shifted to the peony hairpin adorning Hong Seol’s hair.
“Oh, this? It’s just a gift. Yi Woon Elder Brother has always remembered my birthday. Unlike some people.”
“But Dang Yi Woon said the two of you….”
“Yi Woon Elder Brother was just teasing on purpose.”
Hong Seol spoke clearly, her face flushed.
“I’ve already told you. There’s only room in my heart for Baek Elder Brother.”
“…!”
Nam Goong Baek could not speak.
As emotion flooded through his weary body, his chest swelled with overwhelming feeling.
His mind was spinning.
“If that weren’t the case, why would I have been so flustered in front of Yi Woon Elder Brother’s tent last night?”
“Then the awkwardness between you two was because you rejected that snake….”
Hong Seol nodded.
Then she poured out everything she wanted to say in a rush.
“Anyway, you promised to give me what I wanted, so let’s get married!”
“…Seol Ah!”
He had neither the time nor the strength to stop Hong Seol.
She sprang to her feet and rushed over, rummaging through the Heavenly Demon’s clothes before seizing the Golden Cat Sect token.
Before Nam Goong Baek could say anything, she swiftly drew upon her power.
Crackle!
The brilliant golden token gleamed as both their names were engraved upon it side by side.
Myo Hong Seol.
And Nam Goong Baek.
The dazzling golden medallion bore their names in unmistakable clarity.
Once the Golden Cat Sect completed its task, it trembled while radiating prismatic light, and then all around fell silent.
Unnaturally silent.
How much time had passed?
Hong Seol called out quietly to Nam Goong Baek.
“Elder Brother.”
There was no answer.
Hong Seol spoke toward the empty air, her voice trembling with sorrow.
“I never thought I would be the one to propose marriage. I will never forgive myself.”
Holding the Golden Cat Sect medallion, Hong Seol turned to face where Nam Goong Baek lay.
His body had already grown cold.
Hong Seol approached him and slowly knelt.
Cradling his cheeks gently in her hands, she carefully bowed her head and kissed him.
“Sleep peacefully, my Elder Brother.”
Clear tears streamed ceaselessly from Hong Seol’s reddened eyes.
But Hong Seol had no time to grieve.
It was because of the request Nam Goong Baek had left behind.
‘You must save that snake, Seol Ah.’
Dang Yi Woon.
Even now, he would be enduring the pressure of the Eternal Void Formation alone.
Whoosh!
Hong Seol ran toward the stone cavern’s passage, still wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand.
* * *
After winding through countless passages, Hong Seol arrived at the entrance to a stone chamber.
A cold and suffocating silence pressed down upon that place.
‘The energy here is far from normal. This must be the center of the formation!’
Hong Seol drew a deep breath and stepped inside.
Even the air here felt heavy.
Three torches illuminated the chamber from a corner of the wall.
Beneath them, someone knelt on one knee with his head bowed.
Hong Seol called out his name with a trembling voice.
“Yi Woon Elder Brother!”
There was no answer.
Deep anxiety pressed down on Hong Seol’s heart.
‘Surely nothing has happened to him!’
Hong Seol rushed toward him.
“Yi Woon Elder Brother!”
“Seol… Ah?”
It was a sound barely squeezed from his throat.
Startled, Hong Seol crept forward to the Stone Altar. Only then did Dang Yi Woon ask.
“Where is Nam Goong Baek?”
At those words, Hong Seol hung her head low.
Over the shadow of her darkened face, crystal tears fell—plip, plip—one after another.
Seeing this, Dang Yi Woon bit his lip and spoke.
“…Yes, so it came to this in the end.”
Hong Seol, swallowing her sobs, reached toward Dang Yi Woon’s shoulder but hesitated.
“B-but more importantly, h-how did all this happen?”
Dang Yi Woon’s condition, seen up close, was grave beyond measure.
Dried blood clung to one of his eyes, and beneath the eyelid was hollow.
Hong Seol extended trembling fingers, then withdrew them.
“…Elder Brother?”
Dang Yi Woon smiled faintly, as if in difficulty.
“I can’t hear, you see.”
“W-what do you mean?”
“This formation ceaselessly attacks whoever stands upon the Stone Altar.”
“Then just come down from there!”
Hong Seol cried out in anguish. But Dang Yi Woon did not respond.
‘Right, Elder Brother said he can’t hear.’
– Elder Brother, come down from the Stone Altar quickly….
With a transmission of voice, Hong Seol grabbed and pulled at Dang Yi Woon’s arm.
But Dang Yi Woon quietly shook his head.
“I cannot, Seol Ah. If I step down, this formation will begin moving again.”
The ground collapses, flames erupt, and sharp blades fly from somewhere.
To annihilate all humans within the formation.
There is only one way to stop it—to place a ‘human sacrifice’ upon the Stone Altar.
After that, the formation will attack only one person, that sacrifice alone.
Hearing the explanation, Hong Seol finally understood how great a sacrifice Dang Yi Woon had made for her.
But that was not the end.
Whoosh!
In that instant, a wind blew from somewhere, and the sleeve of Dang Yi Woon’s green robe fluttered.
There was nothing inside it.
“Elder Brother!”
Hong Seol’s eyes widened to the size of fists.
A martial artist of the Sichuan Tang Family who wielded hidden projectiles—missing an arm!
That was the moment.
“Ugh!”
Dang Yi Woon’s waist bent sharply.
Hong Seol’s heart dropped with a thud.
‘It’s an attack from the formation.’
The invisible assault of the Eternal Void Formation continued relentlessly.
First, it took my hearing.
Then one of my eyes.
Then one of my arms.
Next could be my legs or vital organs.
If that happened, then perhaps Yi Woon would….
“I won’t allow any more sacrifice!”
Hong Seol clenched both fists tightly.
Saving Dang Yi Woon was the final request Baek Elder Brother had entrusted to me.
But Dang Yi Woon had already reached a cold, rational conclusion.
“Go, Seol Ah.”
“What are you saying…!”
“I told you—no one knows how to break the Eternal Void Formation.”
“But, Elder Brother!”
With his remaining hand, he gently pushed Hong Seol’s body away.
It was a gesture urging her to leave at once.
“I was wrong. While I hold out here, you must find a way to escape alone.”
Ugh!
At that moment, Dang Yi Woon finally collapsed onto his remaining knee.
He spoke sharply toward Hong Seol.
“I won’t last much longer! Go, now!”
But Hong Seol remained rooted to the ground, unmoved.
“I will never leave alone!”
Hong Seol cried out, regardless of whether Dang Yi Woon could hear her.
It was a vow she was making to the dead Nam Goong Baek.
And Hong Seol always had one final trump card.
“Ugh!”
Dang Yi Woon braced himself against the floor with his remaining arm.
The cold Stone Altar held no warmth whatsoever.
‘Is this where I die?’
With his remaining eye, he took in Hong Seol’s face.
Perhaps it was the blood loss.
The image before him grew increasingly blurred with each passing moment.
Whoooosh—.
Suddenly, a vibration resembling rain emanated from somewhere.
‘An illusion?’
The bewildered Dang Yi Woon surveyed his surroundings with his one eye.
The Stone Chamber remained as dark and dim as before.
A Stone Cavern that had existed deep underground for ages, now layered with phantoms.
Yet the vibrations coursing through my body grew increasingly violent.
As if it were real.
‘Why would the formation deliberately subject me to such a hallucination?’
In that moment.
—Come down here, Yi Woon Elder Brother.
Hong Seol sent a telepathic message.
Her voice carried unmistakable authority.
In the same instant, Hong Seol seized Dang Yi Woon’s wrist and hauled him to his feet.
Then she dragged him down from the altar in one swift motion.
Thud.
Dang Yi Woon found himself drawn downward, his body moving of its own accord.
He had exhausted every ounce of strength enduring the formation’s assault alone.
Yet the moment his feet touched solid ground, dread surged through him.
“Seol Ah! If you do this, you’ll be caught in the formation’s attack too….”
At that very instant.
Dang Yi Woon saw it.
Hong Seol’s raven-black hair began to dance as if caught by an invisible wind.
And then her eyes clamped shut.
It was as though she were drawing upon her inner energy to sense something beyond sight.
In that moment, Dang Yi Woon felt an enormous surge of power beneath his feet.
‘The Eternal Void Formation has begun moving again!’
“Seol Ah!”
He cried out her name in desperation.
But the small cat remained perfectly still, her eyes closed.
‘Damn it, is she trying to get us all killed?’
There was only one way to stop this catastrophe.
To become the formation’s sacrifice once more.
The moment Dang Yi Woon stepped onto the Stone Altar.
Someone grabbed the collar of his green robe from behind.
It was Hong Seol, her eyes suddenly wide open.
Her dark eyes blazed with anticipation.
—Finally, finally it’s here!

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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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