I Thought the Youngest Daughter of the Sichuan Tang Family Was Hated - Chapter 68
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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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“Ugh….”
Geum Rin Moon Master pulled himself up from the rubble of the collapsed building.
Staggering, he spat out blood-tinged saliva, then clenched his teeth and muttered.
“I never imagined… those ghost-like bastards were in Changdok Valley…!”
It had happened in an instant.
My plan was to first eliminate the newly constructed small Ui Gak branch as the opening move and example for pacifying Changdok Valley.
“I never thought such ghost-like bastards existed there….”
All those who launched the surprise attack were defeated, and the reinforcements I sent afterward suffered the same fate—utterly crushed without landing a blow.
Then those dressed as physicians came back for a counterattack, and….
“This isn’t cowardice.”
“You struck first!”
Repeating those words, they completely annihilated the Geumrin Sect.
“But I survived…!”
He clenched his fist, steeling his resolve.
As long as the Sect Master lived, it wasn’t over.
If I regrouped and rebuilt my strength, then plotted my comeback, Changdok Valley would eventually become mine.
“Sect Master! Sect Master!”
A sect member came rushing toward him in a panic.
“A m-message from those Ui Gak b-bastards has arrived!”
With his front teeth missing, the sect member’s speech was slurred and difficult to understand.
“What? A message from those Ui Gak dogs?”
The Sect Master understood perfectly and snatched the crumpled paper.
“Those bastards should have disappeared!”
Indeed, Ui Gak had vanished immediately after toppling the Geumrin Sect.
Because of this, revenge became impossible, and my fury burned—yet they brazenly sent this message.
“Let me see what they have to say!”
The Sect Master’s eyes blazed with rage.
When my plan fell apart, the emissary from the Namgoong Clan had merely scoffed and left without a word.
As if to say, “You dare speak of pacification with such pathetic results?”
That humiliation was not easily forgotten.
“This is….”
The Sect Master’s hands trembled as he read through the message quickly.
“You vicious…!”
The contents were as follows:
【Geum Rin Moon Master. Have you treated your wounds well? I am one of the Ui Gak headquarters that defeated you. You might call me the leader.】
【Since we have won, you are now my servants. As proof of your loyalty, obtain the Namman Hybrid Beast and present it to me.】
【Otherwise, you all die!】
The Sect Master’s face paled at the brief message.
“Obtain the Namman Hybrid Beast? For us to do!?”
The Namman Hybrid Beast—an extremely venomous creature that inhabits Namman.
Half centipede, half scorpion—a venomous creature bearing both forms, infamous as one of the Ten Deadly Poisons due to its terrifying venom.
Assigning such a task to the decimated Poison Sect was tantamount to telling them to abandon all hope of reorganization.
“What do you think, Master?”
As a sect member fidgeted anxiously with the question, the sect leader crumpled the letter and shouted.
“What else can we do? We have to retrieve it!”
He ground his teeth audibly.
The battle with them had made one thing abundantly clear.
The stark disparity in power between us and them.
Despite being capable of slaughtering the sect leader and every remaining member, they had spared us—I thought this time would end as merely a warning, but…
“Is this why you let us live? To use us as errand boys!”
Seething with resentment, I screamed toward the heavens.
But what choice did I have?
I had to survive first.
The handwriting in the crumpled letter was crude and jagged, devoid of any refinement whatsoever.
Moreover, the mere fact that it demanded I retrieve one of the Ten Deadly Poisons gave me a strong instinct that I had fallen into the hands of madmen.
‘Especially whoever sent this letter…!’
I was certain that person was the cruelest and most terrifying among them all.
***
“Oops!”
A medicinal herb slipped from my arms.
Moving materials was quite taxing for a small body like mine.
My short arms meant I had to make multiple trips, and my short legs meant I had to walk even more.
“Well, at least I’ve gathered everything.”
With my hands on my hips, I surveyed the ingredients I was about to add to the bubbling cauldron.
I couldn’t begin to count how much I had suffered throughout the summer, trimming and drying everything.
Chirp-chirp. Chirp-chirp.
Leaving behind the monotonous drone of cicadas, I began adding ingredients to the cauldron one by one.
Sweat dripped steadily down my forehead.
I wiped the perspiration away with my sleeve endlessly, pouring my full concentration into the medicine preparation.
“Is it ready?”
Bubbles rose and frothed from the medicinal herbs in the cauldron.
I needed the right color—a deep green or brown shade.
“Oh…!”
But in an instant, the bubbles burst and the medicine turned purple.
As I let out a sigh of disappointment, I heard Dang Dam’s voice from outside.
“Are you hurt, Miss?”
“No, I’m fine!”
After I answered loudly, reassured, Dang Dam’s shadow retreated a step through the crack in the door.
‘Everyone worries so much.’
It was understandable, given that I was handling medicinal materials alone.
This medicinal herb storage was located at the entrance of the Chilryeong Mountains, and it was mine alone.
Dang Mu-seon had prepared this place for me after learning of my interest in medicine.
Though it technically belonged to the Poison Hall by location, the interior of the Poison Hall was thick with toxic miasma, so it seemed they had given me this storage at the periphery instead.
Moreover, it was close to Dang Mu-seon’s quarters.
Of course, Father had objected vehemently, but I managed to persuade him by promising I would use it safely.
Dang Mu-seon’s passionate advocacy also played a part.
“If I don’t secure a place like this in the Chilryeong Mountains, how am I supposed to see Yeon-ah?”
“I have to descend an entire mountain just to see Yeon-ah. Are you trying to torment this old man?”
In essence, his argument was that he wanted to keep me nearby and see me more often.
‘Either way, it benefits me.’
I loved every aspect of this medicinal herb storage.
It was a space where I could handle medicine freely, and being near the mountain made it refreshingly cool.
“Hmm. Now then….”
Had this medicine failed?
Peering into the cauldron, golden granules floated about.
I had also added a scale that fell when Heuk Young Sa shed its skin.
Ah, these golden granules were mushrooms I had secretly brought from Yak-seon’s Village.
He only said not to use the Killing Flower—he said nothing about this.
Besides, I had a feeling that using this would create an excellent medicine.
‘A medicine good not just for demons, but for us as well.’
Something like a medicine that could stabilize raging qi.
If such a thing existed, even an ordinary person like me could treat the wounded who had suffered internal injuries.
And fewer people would end up with ruined bodies from poison like I had.
But I had no sense of whether this had the properties I desired.
“Ah, I can’t even taste it!”
I was certain that if I consumed something like this carelessly, I would simply drop dead.
As I hung my head in despair, Baek-i suddenly burst out from my collar.
Then it bounded toward the ladle resting on the cauldron and licked up the purple, dangerous broth with its tongue.
“No! Stop!”
I was startled when Baek-i swallowed what might have been poison.
I hurriedly scooped the creature into my arms.
“Hey! Why are you suddenly doing this!”
The creature that had been so docile suddenly acting this way left me flustered.
I had to make it spit it out somehow….
“Burp!”
…and there was Baek-i, belching quite contentedly as if it had already been digested.
But then.
“Huh?”
The creature’s body was gradually darkening.
I thought a shadow had fallen over it, but it was Baek-i’s scale color that had changed.
“Could it be that its color changed from eating that?”
I asked, drenched in bewilderment, and Baek-i calmly lifted its head.
“Meow.”
It sounded like an affirmative meow.
“But your body is fine, right?”
“Meow.”
Another affirmative meow this time.
“Phew. Thank goodness.”
I exhaled a deep breath of relief, but the creature suddenly bounded off somewhere else.
“Hey, hey! You!”
It scrambled up the medicinal herbs hanging on the wall, climbed to the warehouse’s support pillar, and stared at something.
Its already large eyes grew even wider, and its tail stood on end.
“Huh?”
There was nothing in the direction Baek-i was looking.
Only piles of twigs and straw gathered for boiling medicine lay scattered on the ground.
Yet Baek-i dashed toward that spot and came to a halt.
Its gaze was directed upward.
“Is there something up there?”
From where I stood, I couldn’t see clearly.
Whatever might be there, it would only be the warehouse’s support beams or dust-covered boxes—so why was Baek-i acting like this?
As I drew closer, the creature climbed up my ankle and onto my shoulder.
I glanced around and lifted my head.
“There’s nothing… wait?”
There was something after all.
An apricot-colored, elongated shape came into view.
“Ah.”
A human hand.
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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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