Heaven-Defying Hero - Chapter 41
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#041
Escaping the Hwangbo Clan warriors hadn’t been difficult. He had slipped away before they could tighten their net.
But this time was different.
“To save your father, you need to come with me too. Can you do it?”
“Yes!”
“You can’t speak loudly. You can only whisper. Understand?”
The young girl stretched her neck and whispered in Ja-gang-cheon’s ear.
“Yes.”
“For things like that, just nodding is fine.”
The young girl pressed her lips together and nodded.
“Good. From now on, we’re going to risk our lives together to save your father. Got it?”
Nod!
“First, which direction is your home?”
The young girl pointed with her finger. She had quickly understood what needed to be done.
“Let’s go.”
Ja-gang-cheon held the young girl and entered into the net spread by the Hwangbo Clan warriors.
‘There’s nowhere safe to leave her.’
There were two reasons for taking the young girl with him.
There wasn’t enough time to find a safe place, and he didn’t know which direction her father had been taken.
“Gasp!”
The young girl curled up once more in Ja-gang-cheon’s arms.
She quickly felt dizzy because Ja-gang-cheon was leaping left and right, stepping on trees.
“Stay alert. We have to save your father.”
Though it was a harsh thing to say, it woke the young girl up. And shortly after, Ja-gang-cheon stopped moving.
“Is that your home over there?”
The young girl widened her eyes and nodded.
“You lived in a cave?”
She nodded once more.
‘They were deliberately hiding.’
It was clear this wasn’t an ordinary story.
“Which way was your father taken?”
The young girl urgently whispered.
“He went along the valley.”
Ja-gang-cheon realized he had misunderstood something.
“He wasn’t captured?”
“Father was running away and hid me, but I got caught.”
Only then did the proper picture become clear.
He had been wondering how the young girl had been fleeing alone among the warriors.
‘If he drew attention to save his daughter…’
He was probably already captured or in a dangerous situation.
Ja-gang-cheon immediately ran in the direction the young girl had pointed.
***
Splash! Splash!
Each time he lifted his feet from the gripping current, his balance wavered.
“Huff. Huff.”
Leaving behind the blood that gushed out with every movement, he took another step forward.
‘Just a little more.’
Moving even one more step was to get farther away from where he had hidden his daughter.
But even that had now reached its limit.
Roar!
The current grew faster and loud water sounds could be heard. It meant there was a cliff ahead. Hearing the loud waterfall sounds, the strength drained from his barely moving body.
‘Is this as far as I go?’
Thinking he could no longer avoid pursuit, the man turned around. He had sensed the presence chasing him from afar.
As many as ten black-armored pursuers were rapidly approaching him.
Thud.
He stood proudly and planted the spear he was holding into the ground.
At that moment, an energy so solid that it was hard to believe he was a fugitive burst forth.
But these weren’t trackers who would be intimidated by a wounded beast. Moreover, they knew all too well how to bring a beast to its knees.
“Aren’t you curious about your daughter’s fate?”
The man tried not to show any reaction.
‘It’s a deception.’
That’s what he judged. But his heart sank at the words that followed.
“The pit was too shallow to hide her breathing. The leaves covering it weren’t enough either.”
“You bastards!”
Unable to contain his rage, his spear split the air in front of him.
Instantly, tremendous energy waves and water spray burst forth.
The pursuers quickly retreated, but one was caught in the energy wave. The man whose flesh was completely torn apart spat blood and eventually died.
“You bastard! So you don’t care about your daughter’s life!”
Thud.
After pouring out his rage, the man fell to his knees. His spear, planted in the wet ground, was trembling like an aspen tree.
“Come along quietly. If you want to save your daughter at least.”
Just as the man was about to let go of his spear.
“Father!”
A voice squeezed out with all her might drew everyone’s attention.
The young girl’s voice approached at an unbelievable speed, then leaped over the pursuers.
“Father!”
The man gripping his spear recognized his daughter’s face.
“Ha-rang!”
The moment he called his daughter’s name,
-Relax.
A sharp telepathic message pierced his ears.
Instinctively entrusting his body, an approaching shadow grabbed his waist and lifted him up.
“Hold on tight.”
They disappeared into the waterfall.
***
‘Is this big brother a fish?’
Ha-rang had this thought.
It was amazing enough that he had escaped the current of that high waterfall in one go, but he moved as fast as a fish underwater.
And that was while holding both herself and her father in each arm.
“Puha!”
When they ran short of breath, he would briefly surface above water, then pull them back down below the surface.
How many times did they repeat this?
The fish big brother had now become a monkey big brother.
‘A squirrel? A bird?’
At first he climbed trees like a monkey, then leaped through the treetops like a squirrel. Once that became familiar, he now escaped the mountain as fast as if he were flying.
“Let’s rest here for a moment.”
Just when being dragged along was reaching its limit due to breathlessness, the movement stopped.
“We can’t rest for long. Recover as much as possible.”
At her brother’s words, the wounded father nodded and began to catch his breath.
“What’s your name, brother?”
“Ja-gang-cheon. Let’s talk about the details later. They’re probably still chasing us.”
Ja-gang-cheon took out a medicine bottle from his chest and applied it to the man’s wounds.
“I’m Ak-pung-jin.”
He revealed his name but didn’t offer thanks. He still didn’t know the other’s intentions. Nevertheless, he allowed the medicine to be applied because it was clear that the man intended to save him.
“Now. Let’s go again.”
After finishing the urgent treatment, Ja-gang-cheon took Ak Ha-rang in his arms again.
Ak-pung-jin felt uneasy about entrusting his daughter to a stranger, but he couldn’t refuse.
‘I can’t shake them off with my lightness skill.’
In contrast, Ja-gang-cheon demonstrated tremendous lightness skill while carrying two people.
“I’m ready.”
Now was the time to cooperate.
And so they crossed the forest once more.
The pursuit ended in Jeongyeong, Shandong Province.
It was a place where the poet Li Taibai had lived for 20 years, leaving countless traces.
“There’s a large lake this way. If we travel by boat, it should be safe.”
Fortunately, following Ak-pung-jin’s suggestion, they took a pleasure boat and went down the river, completely shaking off their pursuers.
“We’ll get off here.”
Spotting a small landing in the distance, Ja-gang-cheon spoke to the boatman.
Having finally arrived on safe ground, they left even the landing behind and only then brought up the conversation they had postponed in the forest.
Ja-gang-cheon started.
“What’s the reason you’re being chased by the Hwangbo Clan?”
Ak-pung-jin was bewildered.
“You don’t know who we are?”
“No. If I hadn’t heard Ha-rang’s scream here, I wouldn’t have intervened. I originally planned to just save the child and be done with it, but when I heard the Hwangbo Clan was involved, I ended up saving you too, sir.”
Though he could have simply called it a chivalrous act, Ja-gang-cheon deliberately added detailed reasons.
“Do you have a grudge against the Hwangbo Clan?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“May I ask the reason?”
“I can’t explain that much.”
“I apologize. I was being rude.”
“It’s fine. Rather than that, please tell me why the Hwangbo Clan is chasing you and Ha-rang.”
Ja-gang-cheon boldly demanded payment for saving their lives.
Normally Ak-pung-jin would have hidden it, but he wasn’t shameless enough to deceive someone after experiencing such events.
“I’m from Jangpungpyo Kingdom. One of the few survivors who remained alive.”
“Jangpungpyo Kingdom? Oh? The Shandong Ak Family?”
“Some people call us that. But we’re not a noble family – we just operated a caravan with blood relatives. Outsiders called it a noble family.”
Jangpungpyo Kingdom, or the Shandong Ak Family.
They were called this because of an extraordinary figure named Ak Bi.
Jangpungpyo Kingdom was the only place that inherited the Ak Family Spear Technique created by him, who made his name as both a military man and scholar.
With the addition of their unique Eagle Claw Hand technique, they came to possess exclusive martial arts like a noble family.
“Ten years ago, the Hwangbo Clan trapped our caravan. Only a few people survived that incident and scattered in all directions. I was one of them.”
“But why were you in Shandong Province? You could have gone much farther.”
“I kept fighting. Over the past ten years, I probably killed fifty people. If I didn’t do at least this much, I felt like I’d go mad.”
It was a perfectly understandable reason. However, Ha-rang was concerning.
“This child is innocent though.”
“No! I’ll inherit Father’s work. Someday I’ll destroy the Hwangbo Clan and establish Jangpungpyo Kingdom in their place.”
Even Ak-pung-jin smiled bitterly at that sight.
“The day the Hwangbo Clan climbed over Jangpungpyo Kingdom’s walls was the tenth day after Ha-rang was born. I had to abandon my wife to save this child.”
How could the child not know that bone-deep resentment? However, it was pitiful to live a life in resentment she couldn’t even remember.
“Ha-rang. Do you want to come with me?”
“What? What about Father?”
“Father can’t come. I have many people to protect too.”
It wasn’t like he was immediately going to wage all-out war with the Hwangbo Clan, but he couldn’t bring him to the manor.
“Ha-rang will stay with me.”
Ak-pung-jin quietly took Ha-rang’s hand. He was reacting to Ja-gang-cheon’s words about taking Ha-rang with him.
“I’m grateful that you saved my daughter’s life. Though I have nothing, if there’s anything I can give for my benefactor, I will give it. However, please let me repay my daughter’s debt of gratitude.”
It was both a request and a warning not to touch his daughter.
“Fine. I’ll accept that as payment for saving you. There’s something I really need among what you have.”
“Please tell me.”
“Give me information that could be the Hwangbo Clan’s weakness.”
If he had died anyway, it would have been information buried in the ground.
“I’ll tell you. However, it seems like it will be a long story.”
“Do you have that much to say?”
“It’s not just one or two cases. They committed countless evil acts in the process of monopolizing Shandong Province. If I tell you everything, tonight won’t be enough.”
Ja-gang-cheon frowned.
“It’s a family that has long reigned as the hegemon of Shandong Province. The blood spilled to maintain that position is by no means small.”
“I understand. Then I’ll go buy some simple food first.”
Ja-gang-cheon moved because he heard Ha-rang’s stomach growling.
An hour later, Ja-gang-cheon reappeared with food, and from then on, the long story began.
Because the night was long, he could hear not only the Hwangbo Clan’s story but also Ak-pung-jin’s life story.
When morning came,
Ja-gang-cheon learned that Ak-pung-jin had been the lord of Jangpungpyo Kingdom. That’s why he couldn’t leave Shandong Province.
“There’s Deungmyeong Manor in Jiao-nan. Since I’m there, investigate me from time to time.”
Telling him to investigate himself.
Ak-pung-jin found those words refreshingly novel.
‘Does he mean he has not even a bit of shame?’
While he was deep in thought, Ja-gang-cheon’s intention was simple.
“Investigate me, and when the moment comes to cooperate, let’s meet again.”
As Ja-gang-cheon showed goodwill until the last moment, Ak-pung-jin said what he had been holding back.
“If there’s ever anything you need from me, please place a white cloth on the broken pagoda of the abandoned temple south of Jenam. Then I’ll let you know a place where you can meet me.”
“I understand.”
Ja-gang-cheon answered that way and then made eye contact with Ak Ha-rang.
“You’re the one who saved your father. You know that, right?”
“Brother saved him.”
“We did it together.”
Ak Ha-rang’s lips trembled as if she was getting emotional for some reason.
“You did well. Let’s stay strong until we meet again. Got it?”
The young girl nodded her head vigorously.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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