A Baby Cat Who Commands the Dog Clan - Chapter 53

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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 53
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“You wretched little brats!”
The Tea Room of Chang Cheon Pavilion resonated with Nam Goong Ho’s thunderous voice. Hong Seol and Jeok, having shed their disguises and returned to their true forms, clung to each other with cheeks pressed together, trembling uncontrollably.
“W-we’re sorry, Grandfather!”
“W-we’ll never do it again, I swear….”
“Do you have any idea how terrified I was!”
Nam Goong Ho’s face had turned crimson with rage.
“As punishment, the two of you will clean every inch of the Training Ground and storage facilities in the Oe Dang that the Changcheon Division uses. And you will do it without assistance from anyone!”
“Y-yes, sir!”
Hong Seol and Jeok nodded frantically. If the punishment ended there, it would be relatively light compared to the chaos they had caused.
Nam Goong Ho continued with an austere expression.
“Furthermore, each of you will hand-copy the entire Jeongma Daejeonsa from beginning to end!”
“G-grandfather….”
At those words, Jeok’s face went pale as if struck by lightning.
To hand-copy the Jeongma Daejeonsa from start to finish would require him to remain glued to his desk for a solid week.
Hong Seol, unaware of how grueling such a task truly was, merely blinked in confusion.
“Ahem, Father.”
Nam Goong On interjected with a clearing of his throat. Yet he had only received Nam Goong Ho’s thunderous rebuke.
“It matters not if you are the family head! Do not even think of trying to lighten this punishment.”
“Y-yes, Father.”
This time, Bing Yu Hua stepped forward.
“Ah, yes, Yu Hua. You alone understand how deeply my heart has been wounded, don’t you?”
Nam Goong Ho’s voice had become warm as a spring breeze—a strikingly different tone from the one he had used with his son, the family head.
“Of course, Father. However, there is one matter I wish to bring to your attention.”
Yu Hua gestured kindly toward Hong Seol, who was trembling pitifully.
“Hong Seol, show him that.”
“Oh!”
As if suddenly remembering, Hong Seol rummaged through her robes and produced a small wooden box.
“What is this?”
Click.
Inside the box lay a golden mouse, resting serenely.
Yu Hua smiled.
“This year’s championship trophy from the An Hui Province competition.”
“What? Our Seol won the championship?”
Nam Goong Ho sprang to his feet. It had been a long time since the Nam Goong Family had claimed victory in the An Hui Province competition.
For three years, ever since the tragedy, Nam Goong Baek had not participated in the An Hui Province competition.
“Since Hong Seol competed under Jeok’s appearance and brought honor to the Nam Goong Family name, wouldn’t it be appropriate to exempt her from punishment?”
Hmm.
Nam Goong Ho’s face clouded with deliberation. Then, suddenly, he spoke with hearty magnanimity.
“Excellent! I shall spare you the punishment of copying the 【Jeong Ma Great War Records】!”
Hearing this from beside him, the family head Nam Goong On sighed quietly to himself.
‘Father is always too lenient, too soft.’
Nam Goong Ho spoke with emphasis toward Hong Seol and Jeok, who bowed respectfully.
“Listen well! There must be no such incidents next time. Do you both understand?”
“Yes, sir!”
The two young children, hands clasped respectfully, bobbed their heads without pause.
“Go at once and clean the Training Ground and the storage room. Quickly now!”
“Yes, sir!”
The children’s clear voices rang out toward the heavens.
* * *
Cough, cough.
Hong Seol swept the Training Ground alone with a broom taller than herself.
Nam Goong Jeok was organizing the storage room where the 【Elementary Reverse Cultivation】 manual and the Donpi Face Mask had been stolen.
‘What on earth happened here?’
The Training Ground was unusually disheveled today. Scattered poles and peacock feathers filled every corner.
“Miss Hong Seol?”
A familiar voice suddenly reached her ears, and Hong Seol’s attention perked up.
“Hmm?”
Footsteps, steady footsteps.
A well-built man emerged from the afternoon sunlight.
It was the face of Nam Goong Ui Gyeol, the Changcheon Master, whom I hadn’t seen in quite some time.
“Changcheon Master!”
Hong Seol ran toward him with delight and clung to his leg like a cicada.
His face was deeply tanned, as if he had been traveling outside.
“Why has it been so difficult to see you?”
“I’ve been quite busy these days. I’ve been surveying the area around Hefei on the orders of the Grand Patriarch, and today I also conducted the selection of warriors for the Oe Dang.”
“Why the area around Hefei?”
“Well, there was intelligence that one of the leaders of the Heterodox Sects had come to Hefei recently.”
A leader of the Heterodox Sects?
All Hong Seol had learned so far was about the Orthodox Sects and the Demonic Cult.
Seeing Hong Seol blinking blankly, Nam Goong Ui Gyeol smiled with his eyes narrowed.
“Shall I give you a brief lesson about the Martial Arts World after all this time?”
“Yes, please!”
Nam Goong Ui Gyeol sat down beside Hong Seol in a corner of the Training Ground and began his explanation.
“The Heterodox Sects, in other words, are also called the Dark Path. It means groups that walk an unjust way.”
“Are there famous places among the Heterodox Sects too? Like the Five Great Families or the Nine Sects and One Clan of the Orthodox Sects?”
“Well… if there are any, perhaps the bandits of Nok Rim, the water bandits of the Jang Gang Water Bandits, the assassin organization Sal Mak, and also the information organization Ha O Gate, which is also called a Heterodox Sect.”
Ha O Gate?
Hong Seol’s ears perked up at a name she felt she had heard somewhere before.
Ah, that must be the place that came up in my recent conversation with Elder Nam Goong Mu Young.
It’s composed of inn staff like Jeom So Yi and courtesans from pleasure houses, making them excellent at gathering and manipulating rumors.
“But if we’re talking about the most influential heterodox faction recently, wouldn’t it be the Black Eagle Gang?”
“The Black Eagle Gang?”
A flock of black eagles.
Hearing the unfamiliar name, Hong Seol curiously traced the characters on her palm.
Ever since learning to write, it had become Hong Seol’s habit to draw the strokes with her fingers whenever she heard a new word.
“Yes, they’re famous for tattooing black feathers on the bodies of their members.”
He lowered his voice.
“In fact, my investigation of the Changcheon Estate and its surroundings was also related to the Black Eagle Gang.”
A look of tension crossed Hong Seol’s face.
If the Changcheon Master himself had moved, it was certainly no trivial matter.
“The leader of the Black Eagle Gang is Dok Bi Jo. She’s said to be over one hundred and twenty years old.”
How much older than me would that make her?
Even counting all ten fingers and ten toes, I couldn’t calculate it properly.
After struggling briefly, Hong Seol gave up counting altogether and asked Nam Goong Ui Gyeol.
“Someone like that is still….”
Hong Seol swallowed the words “alive” that had been on the tip of her tongue.
Even for a heterodox practitioner, it seemed far too impolite to say aloud.
“Yes, through some means, she remains in excellent condition. We received intelligence that this woman has hidden herself in Hefei.”
Hefei was entirely within the Nam Goong Family’s domain.
Because of this, most heterodox groups wouldn’t dare set foot there.
Hong Seol asked with concern.
“Is the Black Eagle Gang trying to expand into Hefei?”
“That’s possible. Or she might have been hired for something.”
“Hired?”
“Things like kidnapping important figures or taking lives. Dok Bi Jo is notorious for her ghostly claw technique and terrifying sound energy cultivation.”
“Sound energy cultivation…?”
“It’s channeling inner energy through music to inflict internal injuries on an opponent. Claw technique, as you know, is a skill using the fingernails.”
Hong Seol imagined an old woman with sharpened nails grasping an opponent’s heart.
The sensation made her legs tingle slightly.
“After surveying the area, I found nothing unusual…. But we can’t know who she might be targeting or when. So please be careful as well.”
Nam Goong Ui Gyeol added seriously.
“Above all, Dok Bi Jo is an exceptionally vicious and dangerous old woman.”
* * *
A young woman was waiting idly for food on the second floor of an inn.
At first glance, she appeared to be around twenty years old.
The woman had her black hair tied back tightly and possessed an eagle-like, lithe frame.
Even while resting at the inn, she carried something wrapped in cloth across her back.
The rounded shape that tapered toward the end looked unmistakably like the musical instrument known as a pipa.
The woman ran her tongue across her crimson lips.
“I wonder if this place truly lives up to its reputation.”
The Red Flower Inn where she stood was a rather renowned establishment—part inn, part restaurant—within the city of Hefei.
While its beauty owed something to the interior adorned with scarlet blossoms, there was, in truth, another reason for its fame.

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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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