The Hwangbo Clan’s Beloved Live-In Son-in-Law - Chapter 105

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 105

Namgung Bin and Prince Zhou did not have a deep personal connection.

However, their families had deep ties.

The Jia Clan, which produced Yongbi (Jia Youlan), a beloved imperial consort who received the Emperor’s favor, was an old prestigious family in the Nanjing area, and the founder of the Jia Clan was from a branch family of the Namgung.

Therefore, it was famous unofficial history that the consort had followed the young Namgung Clan Head well when she was young, and there were once rumors that the consort had admired the Namgung Clan Head. However, these rumors disappeared after several people who spoke carelessly had their heads cut off.

In fact, it was true that the consort had briefly admired this much older brother figure, but since it was just a childhood matter that anyone could have, the Emperor also found it distasteful but did not express it directly.

​

Thus, Namgung Bin and Prince Zhou had only met four times in total as their entire connection.

Two of those times were when Prince Zhou was born and at his first birthday celebration, times he couldn’t even remember, and the other two times were relatively recent events.

However, because this accomplished and much older distant relative brother had completely won over young Prince Zhou’s heart, Prince Zhou would unexpectedly ask about Namgung Bin’s personal affairs.

It was largely due to this that Prince Zhou became interested in stories about martial artists of Gangho, whom the people of the Imperial Palace looked down upon.

​

“Young Household Head. Do masters in Gangho really leap over mountains and shatter rocks?”

“…People who leap over mountains are usually called immortals. However, those who shatter rocks can still be seen today.”

“Oh! Are you going to show me?”

“No. Your Highness’s guards are exactly those people. Your Highness. Please cherish the people around you. They are far more noble and loyal than mere martial artists like us.”

“Ah! Is that so? I say, Guard Qi. Is that really true? Can you really shatter rocks too?”

​

Namgung Bin did not treat Prince Zhou with particular interest.

Of course, such an attitude would never have shown in his demeanor.

Prince Zhou was a more important person than anyone else, and even without his father’s instructions, Namgung Bin would have done everything to win Prince Zhou’s favor.

If Prince Zhou had left even the slightest impression on Namgung Bin’s heart, it was because of that brief moment they met in the Imperial Palace around last year, before heading to Sichuan.

​

“Young Household Head. What is a younger brother to an older brother?”

​

It was a chance encounter.

Though where could there be chance in the Imperial Palace, at least for the Namgung Family it was an intended meeting, and for Prince Zhou it would have been like a pleasant surprise.

It happened while they were having various conversations with that joy.

With the eunuch and guards stepping back, Prince Zhou asked in a somewhat lowered voice.

It was a voice truly unlike a child’s.

​

“Family that must be protected.”

​

Namgung Bin spoke without the slightest hesitation or confusion.

Even though they had stepped back, it was still a distance where they couldn’t help but hear.

​

“Young Household Head, you are the eldest son of a prestigious family, aren’t you. Is it really only like that? Don’t you want to embrace everyone and lead them? Don’t you find some hateful, threatening, or feel jealous?”

“My full brother is a fellow called Namgung Seol, and we’re not that far apart in age. Sometimes I find him hateful, sometimes I feel jealous, but he’s still my precious younger brother. Isn’t that what family is?”

​

At that answer, Prince Zhou gazed intently at Namgung Bin.

Normally, that would have been enough. But Prince Zhou that day was a bit more persistent.

​

“You don’t have many younger brothers either. Half-brothers… must be hateful sometimes, right?”

​

Prince Zhou asked again with a serious face.

Normally, he would have steered to a different conversation, and Prince Zhou would have easily moved to another topic.

Yet that day was different.

Come to think of it, hadn’t the Crown Prince briefly stopped by the Imperial Palace?

Namgung Bin bowed his head again.

​

“Of course that’s so. They too are sometimes hateful, sometimes I’m jealous, sometimes I can’t bear it and get angry. However, they are still my family and my people whom I must lead. Those are the things I must protect as the next Household Head.”

​

It was a very orthodox statement. The eunuchs and court officials smiled broadly.

Hadn’t he both comforted young Prince Zhou’s heart, which had been intimidated by the Crown Prince’s sharp reaction, and conveyed the mindset he should have if he were to become the next emperor?

​

Prince Zhou also smiled broadly at those words.

It was a truly lovely smile. Like a well-made mask.

Was that why?

​

“…An older brother cherishing a younger brother is like an upper leaf cherishing a lower leaf, burning one’s own body to create shade when the sun is strong, and feeding the young leaves first when nutrients rise from the earth. Even when bearing fruit and leaves fall, they drop down to become nourishment for each other – this is the way of heaven. Therefore, Your Highness need not worry.”

​

At Namgung Bin’s additional words, Prince Zhou showed his teeth and was delighted.

That smile remained in his memory for a very long time.

​

***

​

Tear apart the noble blood.

Kill Prince Zhou.

​

Killing intent.

Killing intent in the Imperial Court – it was an impossible thing.

Xie Baowei hardened his face and blocked Namgung Bin’s path.

Xie Baowei wasn’t the only one who reacted.

In an instant, eunuchs and Imperial Guards surrounded Prince Zhou’s side, and the soldiers who had stood like decorations in the banquet hall thrust forward their spears and swords.

​

“You bastard!”

​

The eunuch shouted with a hardened face.

He had seemed like an old man with only a soft impression and a constantly smiling face, but his bearing as he hid Prince Zhou behind him and roared was truly like a fierce beast.

However, Namgung Bin, who heard that roar, showed not the slightest wavering.

Xie Baowei bit his lips.

​

“…His mind has snapped.”

​

Those once-intelligent eyes had no light. The only thing gleaming was killing intent.

There was no point in shouting for him to come to his senses. He no longer had any sense to regain.

This was something not only Xie Baowei could tell, but anyone who had weapons pointed at him could understand.

At this, the eunuch commanded decisively.

​

“Execute him!”

​

Strike first to win.

As soon as the command fell, Xie Baowei and the soldiers surrounding Namgung Bin thrust their spears.

Each one of them was at a level not inferior to first-class masters of Gangho.

Thrusts without any excess aimed at every direction.

If there was anything unfair, it was that some of those spears were also aimed at Xie Baowei.

​

Damn it.

It was when Xie Baowei gritted his teeth and drew the minimal defensive path.

​

Thoom.

A sense of awe as if looking up at the sky.

A sense of crisis as if standing before a predator.

A sense of helplessness as if having given up one’s heart.

A coldness as if a blade were pressed against one’s throat.

In an instant, the fifty or so soldiers surrounding the area all came to a halt in unison.

The eunuchs who had surrounded Prince Zhou with their bodies widened their eyes and trembled with shaking hands.

The guests who had been hurriedly fleeing to the corners of the banquet hall clutched their heads, and the servants’ knees dropped to the ground.

Clatter clatter.

As the dishes and food they had been holding shattered.

​

Tap.

In a world where everything seemed to have stopped,

only then did Namgung Bin begin to move.

And.

If there were those who moved in response to him, there were only three.

Two were the guards who drew the swords they had been gripping while still beside Prince Zhou, who was surrounded by eunuchs, and the remaining one was Xie Baowei.

​

Tap tap tap.

Between Xie Baowei and Namgung Bin, over ten exchanges of fists and feet flashed by in an instant.

​

“At this rate, we’ll all die. You crazy bastard.”

​

Left hand and right hand, left foot and right foot, shoulders and knees, shins and elbows.

A rapid exchange where not a single part failed to collide.

The one being pushed back was, naturally,

Xie Baowei.

​

“Damn bastard.”

​

The only reason he could hold out was because Namgung Bin’s left arm was like a piece of wood, and he was currently pouring out overwhelming internal energy enough to control the space.

In other words, the fact that he was pushing back Xie Baowei even in such a state could truly be called monstrous.

It was only because he held a single wooden chopstick in his hand – if he had been given a sword, they would all be dead.

Xie Baowei thought as he felt his earlobe being sliced.

I’ll lose at this rate.

​

“That can’t happen.”

​

Hoo.

After catching his breath lightly in the midst of the fierce exchange, he stepped forward once more.

At a distance of one inch where they faced each other, he took some of the consecutive strikes that poured down as if they had been waiting, deflected some, stretched out his foot to block the rising shin, then tilted his head back to avoid the rising palm strike.

This was the moment he had been waiting for.

A headbutt that put force into that tilted head and struck down!

…which was.

D-dodged?

​

Before Xie Baowei could even feel confusion, he immediately gritted his teeth.

Namgung Bin’s shoulder struck his jaw, his elbow dug into his solar plexus, and his palm strike pierced his jaw once more.

A feeling as if his consciousness was drifting away.

There was no pain. The exhilaration of fierce battle held it at bay.

Grind.

Instead, he bit his lips until they bled to grasp the thread of consciousness that was about to disappear.

Namgung Bin was pushing his falling shoulder and rushing forward.

He’s probably not even paying attention to me anymore.

Xie Baowei’s hand grabbed Namgung Bin’s arm.

Those crazed eyes turned toward Xie Baowei again.

The killing intent that had been focused solely on one person was now divided to include Xie Baowei.

Welcoming that tingling killing intent, Xie Baowei opened his mouth.

​

“Now you’re finally looking at me properly, you unlucky bastard.”

​

He held on to the end as the arm tried to shake free, dodging the killing strikes aimed simultaneously at his brow, neck, and solar plexus by a hair’s breadth.

After blocking the extending front foot and the following spinning kick, what remained was his own hand.

He returned the close palm strike directly to the tip of Namgung Bin’s jaw.

​

“Kugh.”

​

….

Even so, the scream that burst out came from Xie Baowei’s mouth.

In that brief gap, he had shaken off the grabbed arm and driven a fist into Xie Baowei’s ribs.

Still….

Did it work?

​

Suddenly, the massive energy that had been pressing down on the space disappeared.

The guests and servants who had been struggling under the enormous pressure exhaled the breath they had been holding, and the soldiers gripped their spears and swords again.

​

“W-wait…?”

​

It was when Xie Baowei urgently called out.

Namgung Bin raised his head.

It was shallow!

He had tried to shake his jaw from outside consciousness to make him lose consciousness.

It was when Xie Baowei gritted his teeth to swallow the pain of his seemingly broken, throbbing ribs and rushed forward again.

​

“…Thank you.”

​

Brother.

After barely reading the shape of his mumbling lips, the look in Namgung Bin’s eyes at that moment was truly clear.

​

Whoosh.

Suddenly, blood spurted from Namgung Bin’s mouth.

It wasn’t just blood.

Centered on his body, a mass of heavy yet refreshing energy burst as if shattering.

It was so intense and pure that everyone who was hit by that energy wave could clearly feel the dense vital energy contained within it.

At the same time.

Thud, and Namgung Bin’s knees dropped to the floor.

​

“You… your danjon.”

​

Xie Baowei rushed forward and barely caught his collapsing body.

​

“…Ex, execute him!”

“Execute him!”

​

With the changing situation, the Imperial Guards escorts who had finally gained their freedom thrust the spears and swords they had been gripping,

and once again.

​

Kuwoong.

​

A crushing pressure that weighed down the space shook the soldiers.

It was different from the sharp energy of the Imperial Sword Formation.

It was an overwhelming feeling like facing a massive mountain range, a heaviness like carrying a thousand pounds on one’s back.

Energy that burst forth not from Namgung Bin, but from Xie Baowei.

​

It was the power that freed them from the pressure of the Imperial Sword Formation, and something he had gradually practiced after seeing the divine technique Namgung Bin had shown at Hwama the other day.

However, it was not something copied or stolen from the Imperial Sword Formation.

Originally, he too was called a king, but since he could not dare do so beside the Imperial Family, it was a martial art he himself called by a lower title.

Hwangbo Family’s greatest technique. Sumichwanwangshinggong

Commonly called Cheonhugong , it was a supreme internal energy technique.

​

“Huu… Wait, huu. Please just listen to what I have to say…”

​

Xie Baowei’s Cheonhugong stopped the soldiers’ spears.

He slowly turned around with Namgung Bin behind his back.

Even controlling just a radius of five steps was this difficult.

Just as Xie Baowei was cautiously opening his mouth while watching the soldiers and eunuchs,

​

Crack.

The high ceiling of the banquet hall shattered, and along with the cold moonlight, a sword colder than that light flew down like an arrow.

​

Ah. What is this now.

Xie Baowei bit his lips tightly.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————