I Thought the Youngest Daughter of the Sichuan Tang Family Was Hated - Chapter 52

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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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Unlike the forest where something felt imminent, the journey to Yunnan was peaceful.
We kindled a campfire with Jabyeok Valley in sight.
It seemed they were deliberately not pushing themselves hard because of me.
“Have some more.”
While we camped, Dang Mu-seon kept fussing over me from beside the fire.
He insisted I eat more of the nameless bird he’d caught in the forest.
I was grateful to be spared from eating gruel, but…
‘I’m absolutely stuffed!’
Even after just one piece of breast meat, food filled my throat to the brim—how could he ask for more?
“I’m really going to throw up, Grandfather!”
Speaking through tears finally made Dang Mu-seon relent.
“Tsk! You’re so weak, honestly.”
Grumbling, Dang Mu-seon gnawed on the leg portion.
I took a breath and gazed at the campfire.
It was around the time night was passing peacefully.
“….”
Dang Mu-seon suddenly whipped his head toward something in the darkness.
He was staring intently at something specific.
Soon after, he hurled the bone in his hand into the campfire and rolled up one sleeve.
“What?!”
Thin snakes poured out in a cascade.
They coiled around me in a circle, spiraling endlessly.
“Don’t step outside the circle.”
With only those words, Dang Mu-seon vanished hastily into the darkness.
Dang Dam grew serious as well, rising to his feet and surveying the surroundings.
I huddled close to Gong Myo and peered into the forest where nothing was visible.
“What is it?”
When I asked Dang Dam, he shook his head.
“It seems the elder sensed only a very faint presence. But dimly, there appear to be multiple things….”
Multiple things?
So it wasn’t just one.
As tension gripped my entire body, Dang Mu-seon returned.
“Cough!”
Dragging a man whose side was soaked in blood.
“I’ve had a nagging feeling all along—sure enough, it was a Follower.”
Dang Mu-seon dropped the man on the ground like baggage and wiped the blood smeared on his cheek.
“Gasp!”
I gasped upon seeing the man’s face.
Dang Dam and I exchanged glances simultaneously.
“One of the Jinbeop Order?”
“What is it? Do you know him?”
Dang Mu-seon asked with obvious irritation.
“Yes! He’s from our Family Clan!”
At those words, Dang Mu-seon’s eyes narrowed.
“That makes it even more suspicious.”
True enough, it was.
There was no reason for this man to follow us.
If he had to, he would have informed Dang Mu-seon beforehand.
“Let’s hear it straight from the source. What in the world is going on?”
Dang Mu-seon spoke with force, driving his heel into the man’s solar plexus.
“Gaaaahhh!”
The man convulsed awake, folding nearly in half.
“S-sir!”
The man cried out without even catching his breath.
“There’s… there are assassins ahead!”
“What?”
At his words, we all looked around urgently.
‘Could it be a real faction targeting Yak-seon?’
It made sense.
Even if not the Dang Family, someone was trying to harm Yak-seon.
“How would you know that? You departed at the same time we did.”
Dang Mu-seon growled, seizing the man by the nape of his neck.
‘That’s right. Now that I think about it…’
There was no way this man could possess such information.
“…”
The gasping man clamped his mouth shut.
He seemed to sense the danger.
The air around us grew heavy and oppressive.
Then it happened.
Suddenly, Dang Mu-seon’s hand shot toward the man’s face.
As his hand carved beneath the chin, tearing downward…
“Kyaaaah!”
A scream burst from my lips unbidden.
I was so startled, thinking the flesh was being torn open.
Yet not a single drop of blood sprayed forth.
What I saw instead was a facial mask held in Dang Mu-seon’s hand.
“What?”
Beneath it was the remarkably youthful face of the agent.
‘He was definitely an older man a moment ago?’
Before me now stood only a youth in his early twenties.
A young man with a red ponytail.
‘A human skin mask!’
It was far too seamless to be merely human skin draped over a face—I hadn’t considered it until now.
Such exquisite craftsmanship.
In other words, this level of sophistication could serve as a signature of the faction capable of producing it.
‘…The only faction I know of with such skill is the Zhuge Clan.’
An ominous premonition crashed over me.
I couldn’t ignore it and shouted to Dang Dam.
“There’s something in his mouth. Dang Dam!”
I hadn’t actually seen anything.
But if my instinct was correct, there had to be something hidden inside.
Dang Dam seized the man’s jaw and forced his mouth open roughly.
Plop.
Something fell from his gaping mouth, limp and helpless.
A small creature that resembled a black bean.
It bore large, claw-like teeth.
I had seen this insect before.
‘When I was at the Medicine King Sect….’
This was a poison insect used for suicide.
Its purpose was clear.
When captured by malevolent forces and unable to move, forced to endure countless torments.
Kept in the mouth beforehand, it could be bitten and swallowed as a final escape.
‘The fact that a cultivated insect—bred only by the Medicine King Sect—is here….’
The moment that realization struck me, I saw the man’s face turning ashen.
Poisoning symptoms.
He had already bitten the insect.
“Grandfather! Poison! It’s poison!”
Even as I cried out urgently, Dang Mu-seon was already taking action.
With blackened fingertips, he pressed the man’s vital points while speaking.
“A temporary measure. I’ve only stopped the poison from spreading throughout his body.”
The man gasped for breath.
“Hah, cough….”
His eyes turned toward Gong Myo, then his pupils rolled back.
The man lost consciousness.
“We must move quickly. We need to wake him and extract more information.”
Dang Mu-seon spoke as he extinguished the campfire.
“Ah.”
He quickly scooped me into his side and hoisted the man onto his back.
“Head to Yak-seon’s Village and wait there.”
Dang Dam and Gong Myo nodded in acknowledgment.
My body felt suddenly weightless, and before I knew it, we were engulfed in darkness.
Wind and leaves scraped across my cheeks as we rushed through the night.
Dang Mu-seon shielded my face with green cloth, but it couldn’t block the biting wind entirely.
“We’re almost there. Just hold on a bit longer.”
The sound of water grew steadily closer.
The dark forest path ended, and bathed in moonlight, Dang Mu-seon came to an abrupt halt.
We stood atop a cliff. I peered cautiously over the edge.
Below lay only a waterfall, a river, and dense forest.
‘He said we were almost there, so surely…’
Dang Mu-seon began moving again.
That is to say, he leaped off the cliff.
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
Dang Mu-seon clamped his hand over my screaming mouth.
“Shh. They’ll hear us.”
With the most serene expression imaginable, he drove his feet into the cliff face.
Crack, crack, crack, crack!
Using the footholds he’d carved, Dang Mu-seon hurled us toward the waterfall.
“Whoosh!”
Instead of crashing into stone, we plummeted into a deep cave.
“Hhhhh…”
My teeth chattered violently.
My entire body was drenched in ice-cold water.
“Little one. You’re safe now. Rest.”
Dang Mu-seon set me down gently, his voice soothing.
A soft whoosh.
Fire bloomed in the darkness of the cave.
It was flame born from Dang Mu-seon’s fingertips.
As he carefully passed his hand across my face, the moisture evaporated swiftly.
“Mm.”
Once my shivering subsided, Dang Mu-seon lifted me into his arms again.
We ventured deeper into the cave.
Water dripped steadily as the passage descended further and further.
At the end of the long tunnel, we reached an exit leading outside.
“Here we are.”
But Dang Mu-seon did not exit there.
Instead, he pushed aside the thick brush beside the opening.
A small chamber lay hidden within.
A tiny cave within the cave, with not a single window.
Dang Mu-seon lit a lamp with practiced ease and lowered the male accomplice to the ground.
Soaked through and through, the male accomplice no longer resembled a human being.
Dang Mu-seon clicked his tongue as he examined the man’s body.
“The poison is exquisitely crafted. Tailored to match this fellow’s internal energy.”
Precisely. It had been mixed to suit the drinker’s cultivation, ensuring no ordinary person could save him.
Saving someone who had consumed such poison was difficult. Especially for a culprit like me.
“You can’t save him?”
I asked carefully, and Dang Mu-seon fixed his gaze on the man with a smirk.
“I’ll save him. I’m just having fun with it.”
With those words, Dang Mu-seon rummaged through the drawers as if they were his own.
After mixing medicine and feeding it to the man, he placed his hand on the man’s arm.
He must be channeling his internal energy into him.
Before long, the man’s complexion returned to normal.
“Phew.”
The tension dissolved in an instant.
‘Thank goodness. I almost lost the perpetrator right before my eyes.’
I gazed down at the man’s face quietly.
This man waking up is also a problem.
‘How do I make him confess?’
I had learned that even truth serum could be resisted with extreme willpower.
And if he dies like the Nanny did again?
Was there truly no way to turn him to our side while he was in his right mind?
I was lost in thought when—
“…Gasp, huff.”
Dang Dam burst in, drenched and soaking wet, cradling Gong Myo in his arms.
“Ho, you caught up quickly.”
Contrary to what Dang Mu-seon said, I hadn’t expected Dang Dam to catch up with us this fast.
He set Gong Myo down and muttered in a daze.
“I simply couldn’t bring myself to let go of the young lady….”
He caught his breath after saying that much.
“Ah, ah… I thought I was… dying….”
Gong Myo’s legs gave out too, and she collapsed to the floor.
Seeing Gong Myo’s pallid face, a brilliant idea suddenly struck me.
“Myo.”
I approached her and knelt down.
Leveling my gaze with hers, I placed my hand over her trembling one.
“…Tell me honestly.”
She blinked, clearly confused by my words.
“Do you know this man? He seemed to recognize you.”
“Huh?!”
Gong Myo jumped up and shook her head vigorously.
“N-No, I’ve never seen this person before. Today!”
Gong Myo cried out with an expression of such profound injustice that it didn’t seem like she was lying.
I’m not particularly skilled at reading people, but…
For now, I decided to trust her.
This seemed like the best option at the moment.
“Then, can you follow my instructions?”

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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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