A Baby Cat Who Commands the Dog Clan - Chapter 250

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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 250
The next instant.
“Seol Ah!”
“Baek!”
“Yi Woon!”
Without hesitation, everyone remaining atop the cliff plunged downward.
*Gasp*
Dang Yi Mu checked his grandson first, his breath catching short.
He beheld the pitiful state of Dang Yi Woon—one eye and an arm gone.
His face had turned an ashen blue, so much so that one might question whether he still drew breath.
“Seol Ah!”
Nam Goong Ho called out to Hong Seol in a voice barely above a whisper.
“Grandfather…?”
Hong Seol alone retained clear consciousness among them all.
“Are you unharmed? How did this come to pass?”
“The Western White Dragon… he accepted my plea and shattered the Eternal Formless Formation. And then…”
Hong Seol spoke between ragged breaths.
“…he cradled us in his talons and brought us here.”
Along with Nam Goong Baek’s body, which lay collapsed in another stone chamber.
It was then.
“Mm…”
Dang Yi Woon stirred.
“Yi Woon!”
Dang Yi Mu embraced his grandson’s body, weeping softly.
“Yi Woon, you rascal… thank you. Thank you for surviving.”
The gazes of Hong Seol and Nam Goong Ho met as they watched.
Hong Seol lowered her head heavily.
Nam Goong Ho stood in a daze. He had already read the tragic truth in Hong Seol’s eyes.
“I am sorry, Grandfather.”
*Drip.*
*Plink.*
Crystal tears streamed down Hong Seol’s cheeks.
“I… I failed to protect my brother.”
Nam Goong Ho turned his body slowly.
And he walked unsteadily.
Toward his grandson, now reduced to tatters.
With each step, memories flashed through his mind like a lantern show of years.
The joy of holding his first grandson in his arms.
And the despair when that grandson fell victim to medicinal toxin.
The past efforts of searching for one who possessed the Yin-Yang Divine Art to obtain the Golden Dragon Jade Blood Pill.
Fragmented memories swirled together in my mind.
Nam Goong Ho gazed down at Nam Goong Baek’s face, lying as peacefully as if merely sleeping.
After a long silence, he finally managed to speak.
“Did Baek die as a true warrior of Nam Goong should?”
Hong Seol answered, swallowing back tears.
“Yes. Elder Brother was braver than anyone, and kinder than anyone. Until the very end.”
“That is enough.”
Yet Nam Goong Ho’s lips trembled visibly, belying his words.
His hand grasped Nam Goong Baek’s hand.
“Baek, Baek…”
Nam Goong Ho called his grandson’s name repeatedly, tracing his fingers over the veins that rose on that hand.
Perhaps if he did so, blood would flow through that body and the eyes would open.
Perhaps, as if merely sleeping, the boy would awaken at his call.
If only his grandson could rise again.
He would gladly surrender his own innate qi to make it so.
“Grandfather.”
Hong Seol whispered then, as though having made a decision.
“There is something I must tell you. It concerns Baek Elder Brother.”
* * *
A month had passed since the final confrontation with the Heavenly Demon.
The moment news of the Heavenly Demon’s death spread,
the Martial Alliance’s warrior contingent, which had been waiting in Kunlun, launched a unified assault on the Ten Thousand Great Mountains.
As a result, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was completely erased from the world.
This was thanks to Dok Ryung Ma Gun Dang Song Baek and all ten of the Demon Generals falling at Seo Gwang Ryun’s hand in the Changnyeong Mountain Valley.
Seo Gwang Ryun’s warriors all returned to their respective sects.
The Martial Alliance fell into brief chaos following General Commander Je Gal Hyeop’s death, but soon found stability.
This was because Martial Alliance Master Eon Soo Ryang remained steadfast.
Thus, the Martial Arts World seemed to have found peace.
Save for one place alone—the Nam Goong Family Estate.
“Thank you for all you have done.”
A trembling voice echoed through the Patriarch’s Residence of the Nam Goong Family Estate.
The speaker was Hong Seol.
Dressed in robes of azure silk, Hong Seol bowed and rose.
“The kindness you have shown me, I shall not forget even in the next life.”
Hong Seol’s bow was directed toward the elders of the Nam Goong Family Estate.
“Seol Ah. Rather, it is you who has shown kindness to Nam Goong.”
“Father speaks truly.”
Nam Goong On, nodding in agreement, spoke toward Hong Seol.
His face had grown noticeably gaunt in the past few days.
“We know how much effort you expended to keep Baek alive. That alone is a debt of immeasurable gratitude we owe you.”
“That’s not all, my child.”
Bing Yu Hua spoke with tears in her voice.
“You are my daughter. You cannot imagine how much comfort your existence has brought me.”
“Medicine Master!”
Hong Seol could not hold back and rushed into Bing Yu Hua’s embrace.
Though she had grown gaunt over the past few days, her arms remained warm, carrying the bittersweet scent of medicinal herbs.
Hong Seol buried her face against Bing Yu Hua’s shoulder.
“I will miss you.”
“And I will miss you, my child. Forever.”
How much time had passed like this?
Nam Goong On placed a trembling hand on Bing Yu Hua’s shoulder.
“My lady, we must let her go now.”
Bing Yu Hua, reluctant to part, touched Hong Seol’s face again and again.
“My lady.”
At his insistent touch, Bing Yu Hua finally turned away.
Once everyone had departed, only Hong Seol remained in the spacious Patriarch’s Residence.
Rising to her feet, I made my way toward the folding screen in the corner.
There lay a single, expansive coffin.
“…Brother.”
Nam Goong Baek, lying within, appeared as though merely sleeping.
It was thanks to the Deng Family Estate’s remarkable acupoint-sealing technique.
I rolled up my sleeve and gazed at the snowflake-shaped mark on my arm.
Two of them.
Marks prepared for Nam Goong Baek and myself.
“If I use the Heavenly Time Rebirth Technique, we can return to the past, can we not?”
I murmured, lowering my gaze.
“I am afraid, though.”
That was my honest heart speaking.
My greatest concern was not knowing to which point in time we would return.
I had questioned the Northern Sea Ice Palace Master repeatedly, but even he knew nothing.
Because Bing Xiao Yue, my mother, was the sole inheritor of the Heavenly Time Rebirth Technique.
One thing alone was certain.
“I will return to the past together with my brother.”
The Heavenly Time Rebirth Technique allows one to return with one’s bonded companion.
The Heavenly Demon had said so, so it could not be wrong.
“If possible, to a time long ago. Before my brother fell victim to the Medicinal Toxin Poison.”
Then Nam Goong Baek, possessing memories of his past life, would naturally avoid calamity this time.
Of course, I could also choose to return before Nam Goong Do burned the Golden Dragon Jade Blood Pill…
I shook my head gently.
‘No, returning before he succumbed to the Medicinal Toxin Poison is the better choice.’
Then I could significantly reduce the number of innocent victims sacrificed to the Demonic Cult’s hands.
Especially those pitiful children who became medicine for the Heavenly Demon.
‘And above all, I want to repay my grandfather’s kindness.’
Grandfather, who greets Lady Wi’s memorial tablet every single day even now.
If I can only prevent the calamity that befell the Nam Goong Family Estate, Lady Wi will continue to remain by Nam Goong Ho’s side.
‘Then the Patriarch and the Medicine Master will be happy together forever.’
That’s all that matters.
‘I’m going back, to before I was poisoned by the medicinal toxin.’
As I thought this, my body trembled slightly.
‘Then I’ll probably have to endure the Myo Family Estate’s abuse once more.’
Back to that childhood spent alone in the Storage Room where no light entered, hugging my knees.
My fingertips trembled without my realizing it.
But when I saw Nam Goong Baek’s pallid face, my turbulent heart settled.
I pressed my cheek against his and closed my eyes.
“Even if that happens, I won’t regret it, Elder Brother.”
Now I know.
That I am a being worthy of love.
As long as I have the memories from the Nam Goong Family Estate, I have the confidence to endure that darkness once more.
Now there is only one thing that weighs on my heart.
I murmured without thinking.
“…The Nam Goong Family will completely forget about me.”
In my regressed life, there may be chances to meet them again, but that’s all.
The memories of how they cherished and loved the little cat will no longer exist in their minds.
Forever.
‘I alone will carry those memories for the rest of my life.’
Even now, thinking of that makes my heart sink heavily.
No matter how many times I thought of it, I could never grow accustomed to it.
“Well, it’s fine. That’s why I spent a whole month saying goodbye to everyone.”
From Servant Mae Ran to Changcheon Master Nam Goong Ui Gyeol, Elder Judge Nam Goong Mu Young. Even down to each of the Young Rats in the Cheongseo Pavilion.
I met the eyes of everyone and exchanged final farewells with them all.
“Now, it’s time to leave.”
I gently closed my eyes.
And I began to recite the essential formula of the Heavenly Time Rebirth Great Method, now fully restored to memory.
“When the moon sets beyond the mountain, the river waters also fall asleep.”
It was a lullaby I had heard long ago.
‘A song I sang while dying in my first life, yearning for my mother.’
“Following the wind’s breath, seeking mother’s embrace, come home.”
That was none other than the essential formula of the Heavenly Time Rebirth Great Method.
“When the first snow melts, flowers bloom again, and the path you walk is always my embrace….”
In that moment, heat beginning from the snowflake-shaped mark on my eyes spread swiftly throughout my entire body.
That warmth did not stop there.
It gently enveloped Nam Goong Baek’s entire body as he lay before Hong Seol’s eyes.
* * *
The entire world was filled with auspicious five-colored clouds.
“Is this… a dream?”
Hong Seol was walking along a narrow path winding through them.
‘I don’t know why, but I feel compelled to continue walking this path.’
With each step Hong Seol took, flowers and grass bloomed as though spring itself were arriving.
How long had I been walking?
Hong Seol discovered a massive mountain gate in the distance.
Before it, a woman was quarreling with Wi Sa, who stood guarding the gate.
“I’m telling you, you must leave now, madam!”
“I cannot leave!”
“How many years has it been that you’ve been so stubborn about this?”
Wi Sa’s expression grew troubled.
Yet the woman’s attitude remained utterly resolute.
“I have a clear reason why I cannot leave this place yet!”
“Sigh.”
Wi Sa, seemingly exasperated, released a long breath.
But still, the woman refused to yield, waving her fists in the air as she insisted.
“My child will come someday! I cannot abandon this post until that day arrives.”
“But you’ve already met your child once before!”
Wi Sa spoke as though wronged, yet his words seemed to fall on deaf ears.
“There are still two more times to come. Or perhaps just one more, but…”
The woman, who had seemed lost in thought for a moment, suddenly brightened her eyes again.
“In any case, my child might come soon, so I will continue to stay here.”
With those words, the woman turned her body toward where Hong Seol stood.
The moment I caught a glimpse of her profile.
My chest tightened with an inexplicable ache.
Thump.
Hong Seol’s hurried footsteps came to a halt.
Had she sensed a presence?
The woman’s voice, which had been arguing with Wi Sa, suddenly fell silent.
The woman slowly turned her gaze toward Hong Seol.
At the same moment, her eyes widened.
The woman asked in a trembling voice.
“…Are you Hong Seol?”
In the next instant, Hong Seol was running.
And I threw myself into the woman’s embrace.
“Mother, mother, mother!”
That voice she had yearned for her entire life.
“This is how your mother shows you, Hong Seol, that she loves you.”
The owner of that voice, heard only in dreams, stood right before her eyes.

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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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