Surviving as the Heavenly Demon’s Concubine - Chapter 59
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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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Sangwan Baek looked quite uncomfortable about leaving Jegal Lin and Mujin alone together.
But while that might be understandable regarding Mujin, even Jegal Lin seemed to want him to step away, making it difficult for him to stay any longer.
“I’ll return in one gak.”
Sangwan Baek transmitted his voice to Jegal Lin with a worried expression.
[If anything untoward happens, scream.]
[Yes, Palace Master.]
‘Huh? Since when could that child use voice transmission?’
Sangwan Baek was surprised by Jegal Lin’s unknowingly grown martial prowess, while also feeling relieved.
If she knew how to use voice transmission, it wouldn’t be difficult for her to call for help while avoiding Mujin’s eyes and ears.
Click.
As Sangwan Baek left the reception room and the door closed, Jegal Lin cautiously opened her mouth.
“Actually…”
Jegal Lin liked doctrine lectures.
Rather than having extreme interest in the doctrine itself, it was because she preferred subjects where she could sit still and only use her head.
Among them, she particularly preferred the knowledge-focused “Demonic Path Ritual Practice” over “The End of Singyeo, The Beginning of the Demonic Sect,” which forced discussions. For Jegal Lin, who could memorize things after seeing them once, memorization subjects weren’t much different from break time.
In other words, “Demonic Path Ritual Practice” could be said to be one of Jegal Lin’s favorite lectures.
But today’s scheduled content was an exception. The class included a section on “Learning Ceremonial Sword Dances.”
Jegal Lin, who had grasped the class content in advance through the syllabus, fell into contemplation. She didn’t want to learn something like sword dancing at all.
‘I can skip up to ten times though.’
The problem was that it was unclear whether her perfect attendance promise with Riser was limited to morning training or applied to all subjects. If she asked about this directly, knowing Riser’s meticulous personality, she’d obviously get the answer ‘Of course it’s all subjects.’
Rather than creating unnecessary trouble, this was a moment that required appropriate compromise.
‘That’s it! That’s the answer!’
So Jegal Lin came up with a clever plan to nominally not be absent while actually not participating in class.
“Do I have to keep listening to this?”
“If, if you don’t want to listen, you could stop even now…”
“Then it would just be a waste of time. I’m telling you to hurry up and get to the point.”
Jegal Lin squirmed and caught her breath before getting to the main point.
The clever plan she came up with. It was, in a way, the most common ‘cutting class.’ However, the unique point was that the place Jegal Lin was hiding wasn’t outside the classroom, but inside a formation she had set up.
If she only showed her face during attendance and hid inside the formation throughout class, she could avoid sword dance practice—it was a perfect plan.
“You set up a formation inside the classroom?”
At Mujin’s incredulous expression, Jegal Lin’s face turned bright red.
While the plan was perfect, it was embarrassing to confidently tell an unrelated person about it.
“Hmm.”
Mujin stroked his chin and nodded.
If she had set up a formation in front of Swordmaster Yeon Soha, even a formation genius would have been caught.
But if she had been hiding inside the formation from the beginning, even a Swordmaster would have to overlook it unless they looked carefully.
“Fine. That aside. Didn’t she say anything about where they were going?”
“Umm.”
Jegal Lin remembered someone asking a question when Swordmaster Yeon Soha was leading the girls away.
“I don’t know who it was, but someone asked, ‘Swordmaster, where are we going?’ Then the Swordmaster answered ‘A good place.'”
“That’s all? There are too few clues.”
“Everyone thought so too. So Miss Peng asked again, ‘We’re going to Dosan Jiok, right?’ But she only answered ‘An even better place.’ She didn’t give any more detailed explanation.”
Mujin’s eyes sharpened.
‘She asked if it was Dosan Jiok, but answered “an even better place.”‘
In other words, Dosan Jiok was a ‘good place’ for achieving Swordmaster Yeon Soha’s purpose.
But what could Dosan Jiok, with sword hilts stuck upside down all over the mountainside making it hard to even walk properly, possibly be good for?
‘I’d need to know that to guess where the “even better place” might be.’
What purpose did Swordmaster Yeon Soha have for kidnapping the girls in the first place?
Sangwan Baek, who had been waiting outside, came back in and asked with a somewhat expectant voice.
“Did you find out anything?”
“It’s ambiguous.”
Mujin made a tsk sound and crossed his arms as he spoke.
“Hey, Palace Master. Why do you think the Swordmaster took the women?”
“I have some idea about that.”
Sangwan Baek recalled something Swordmaster Yeon Soha had directly requested not long ago.
“Actually, the Swordmaster once conducted a one-day swordsmanship special lecture at Cheonryeon Palace. It was a good opportunity to broaden the perspectives of the ladies who came from the Central Plains. It seems several ladies showed promise that day.”
Swordmaster Yeon Soha had selected several talented girls and taken them to Dosan Jiok for a few days of experiential learning.
Sangwan Baek didn’t know exactly what happened during the experiential learning, but afterward, the Swordmaster formally requested to transfer some of the girls to Mua-ak.
“Did you agree?”
“Of course I refused. All the ladies of Cheonryeon Palace are the Gyoju’s women. Even if she’s a Demon Lord, I couldn’t let her take them as she pleased.”
Sangwan Baek’s response was proper and reasonable.
However, whether Swordmaster Yeon Soha accepted that… could be sufficiently understood from the current situation.
“I roughly understand.”
Mujin nodded and organized his thoughts.
The fact that the Swordmaster wanted to take some of the girls to Mua-ak after the experiential learning explained a lot.
She probably confirmed the girls’ potential at Dosan Jiok.
She must have gained conviction that she should open a future for them as sword practitioners rather than concubines.
“Then wouldn’t it be enough to just take the few with talent? Why did she take all the ladies…”
“She probably wants to check them properly.”
The Swordmaster only conducted the special lecture at Cheonryeon Palace for one day.
Since she confirmed satisfactory results from the few who stood out, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect that other girls might also have hidden possibilities.
“She wouldn’t have headed to Mua-ak, would she?”
“That wouldn’t be it.”
Mua-ak, Swordmaster Yeon Soha’s stronghold, was a place filled with sword practitioners who only followed her words.
If the Cheonryeon Palace girls were dragged to Mua-ak, even Mujin wouldn’t be able to easily extract them. However.
‘A place even better than Dosan Jiok.’
Considering the meaning of those words, the Swordmaster’s destination probably wasn’t Mua-ak.
A place more suitable for training sword practitioners. More dangerous and more harsh, where surviving itself would prove one’s qualifications as a sword practitioner.
One place name flashed through Mujin’s mind.
“She’s going to Geomsu Jiok.”
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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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