The Ignored Granddaughter of a Murim Family - Chapter 210

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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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Chapter 210
Baek Geom Danju laughed heartily as he spoke.
“Kkhaha, Family Head, did you hear what Yeon was saying?”
Baek Li Pae-hyuk sighed and shook his head.
Baek Geom Danju spoke with amusement in his voice.
“Yeon, I’ll be able to see it before I die, won’t I?”
“Of course.”
“Hehe, yes, yes. I look forward to it.”
Baek Li Pae-hyuk rubbed his head, then waved his hand dismissively.
“Stop spouting nonsense and be on your way now.”
After Baek Geom Danju left the hall, I sat across from my grandfather and recounted everything from beginning to end.
I couldn’t speak of regression, heavenly secrets, or fate.
Cheon-ma hadn’t intended to kill Namgung Wan—he had only targeted my arm. Moreover, while he had originally come to steal the golden eye ability I possessed, he had suddenly changed his mind.
I also told him that my father’s poisoning was orchestrated by Cheon-ma.
When I spoke of my father’s poisoning, my grandfather’s eyes grew cold and sharp.
“What could that creature’s true purpose be…”
I waited for my grandfather to gather his thoughts. When I felt enough time had passed, I took a deep breath and spoke.
“Grandfather, has there been any new word from Ak-yang?”
This was the question I had most wanted to ask the moment I entered this chamber.
I clenched my fists tightly, suppressing my anxious heart.
“Yes.”
My eyes flew open.
My grandfather gazed at me, fell silent for a moment, then opened his mouth.
“Two days after you left Ak-yang, several corpses were discovered in the lake—warriors who were expected to remain with Yalyu and Namgung Ryu-cheong until the end.”
“…”
I stared blankly before speaking.
“What about Ryu-cheong and Yalyu? Were they found together?”
“No, there were no bodies of those two.”
Without realizing it, I had held my breath waiting for my grandfather’s answer.
I exhaled deeply and spoke.
“Ah, then it’s fine.”
My grandfather hesitated, then looked at me with pitying eyes and spoke.
“…Yes. They must be alive. Don’t worry too much.”
My grandfather’s tone was as if he were urging me to hold onto hope.
I bristled and was about to retort that it wasn’t that—that they truly were alive—but I bit my lip instead.
If heaven or something truly existed, Yalyu and Namgung Ryu-cheong could not have died here.
My grandfather, who had been watching me, opened his mouth again.
“There is something I must tell you.”
“…What other news is there?”
My grandfather spoke to me, whose heart was trembling with anxiety.
“Your aunt has disappeared.”
“…What? How is that possible?”
My aunt had her dantian sealed and was confined to the family shrine at the rural estate.
Father had carried out this task himself. There was no way he would have been careless about it.
“Now that I think about it, when I arrived, the family seemed unusually chaotic. Was that because of this?”
Grandfather nodded.
“We still haven’t found her.”
Even if my aunt had become a cripple unable to use martial arts ever again, she still remembered all the Baek Li Family’s martial techniques, sword methods, and everything else.
Naturally, the surveillance and guards around the shrine where my aunt was confined were extraordinarily strict. Yet she had managed to escape from there?
It would have been impossible without a powerful accomplice.
But Grandmother had remained bedridden ever since my aunt was dragged away to the shrine. If that was the case…
“Is this the work of the Demonic Cult?”
“I don’t know. In the worst case, it could be.”
Grandfather gripped his teacup tightly.
The moment I saw that, I watched anxiously, worried the cup might shatter.
Grandfather spoke.
“In any case, we were late in noticing the Demonic Cult’s movements while searching for Baek Li-ui-ran.”
So that was it.
Now I could understand why our response had been delayed to the Demonic Cult’s movements in Ak-yang, which was practically right before our eyes.
But that wasn’t the end of it.
Grandfather handed me a letter.
“Read it.”
I unfolded the wrinkled letter, which bore clear traces of someone struggling to contain their anger.
As I read through it, after just a few lines, I let out a sharp cry.
“Our family conspired with the Demonic Cult?!”
* * *
The Murim Alliance had accused the Baek Li Family of colluding with the Demonic Cult and assisting in the attack on the Murim Alliance Headquarters.
It was an absurd accusation. But when combined with Grandfather and Father’s cancellation of attendance at the Alliance meeting, and my aunt’s use of the Demonic Cult’s poison, it became a strangely plausible narrative.
‘And on top of that, my aunt disappeared at just the right time.’
It was perfect fodder for gossip.
And… Yalyu had learned the Absorption Demonic Art, and Father’s concealment of this fact was also revealed.
The Murim Alliance had tried to detain Father for this, but Father resisted and escaped, they said.
Many families of the Orthodox Faction criticized the Murim Alliance’s actions as hasty. But rumors spread strangely. As if Father had panicked and fled when his collusion was discovered.
The rumors spread with an oddly rapid pace. I wondered if this too was the Demonic Cult’s doing, but… when we traced the source of the rumors, it was the Byeok Family. They were spreading money around to fuel the gossip.
At the tail end of summer, when the heat had broken, Father returned home. He came with the Baek Li Family warriors who had accompanied him.
Having heard the news in advance, Father, who saw me standing before the Baek Family Main Gate, leaped down from his horse.
I ran straight to him and embraced him. I had heard he was safe and well, but I hadn’t been able to sleep properly from worry all this time.
After entering the residence quarter, Father washed himself and went straight to Grandfather.
“You boasted so confidently that it would be fine, so what on earth happened?”
Father lowered his head.
“I have caused you great concern.”
“What on earth has happened? Are you aware of the rumors spreading that you’ve lost your martial prowess?”
“Yes.”
Father’s condition had flared up precisely when he was withdrawing from the Murim Alliance.
Fortunately, with the help of the Baek Ho Dan members and the Baek Li Family warriors present at the time, he managed to escape without sustaining injuries—but there was no undoing what so many had already witnessed.
“More importantly, I heard something at an inn on the way back. Apparently there was a great battle between the Demonic Cult and others in Ak-yang.”
Father lowered his gaze for a moment before continuing.
“Namgung Ryu-cheong and Yalyu have gone missing, they say.”
Without thinking, I gripped Father’s arm tightly.
Baek Li Pae-hyuk spoke.
“We found Namgung Ryu-cheong. He was discovered in a small port village about ten days’ journey from here.”
“Ah, what a relief.”
Father’s expression eased before his brow furrowed again almost immediately.
“But if Namgung Ryu-cheong was found, then…?”
“Indeed. We have yet to locate the Tianshan Flame Emperor’s disciple.”
Yalyu was nowhere to be found at the location where Namgung Ryu-cheong had been discovered.
Namgung Ryu-cheong had returned directly to the Namgung Clan, and Namgung Wan had gone with him. And naturally, I, who remained at the Baek Li Estate, could not meet Namgung Ryu-cheong upon his swift return to the Namgung Clan.
Father spoke, his fists clenched tight.
“We must go search for him. That child…”
Baek Li Pae-hyuk struck the table.
“Nonsense! You would venture out again in your condition?”
Only a few hours had passed since he’d returned home, and already he spoke of leaving again.
For once, I agreed entirely with Baek Li Pae-hyuk’s anger. And I hated myself for it.
Baek Li Pae-hyuk continued.
“We’ve already received intelligence that Madu and several heterodox sects who bear you ill will have begun to move!”
“…”
“And we are already doing everything in our power to search.”
Both the Namgung Clan and the Baek Li Family were doing everything they could to search. Which meant… they were doing the best they could with the resources currently available to them.
The escalating confrontation with the Murim Alliance. The Demonic Cult beginning to stir.
In such circumstances, they could not spare many hands for Yalyu’s search.
That everyone prioritized their own family and clan first was… only natural.
Yet it felt unbearably bitter. It was heartbreaking.
If I were to disappear, Father would cast everything aside and search for me without hesitation. And so would Baek Li Pae-hyuk.
Yes. I had Father and Baek Li Pae-hyuk. Namgung Ryu-cheong had both parents and a grandfather. But…
But Yalyu had no one.
‘Is that why he clung to me so desperately?’
Yalyu did have a clan, if one could even call it that.
The Byeok Family’s conduct made my blood boil. They had spread the rumor that Yalyu was a Demonic Cult member with more fervor than anyone else.
Day by day, the conflict between the Murim Alliance and our family deepened, and the Orthodox Faction, who should have stood united even before the Demonic Cult, eventually split into pro-Alliance and anti-Alliance factions and began to fight among themselves.
Not long after, Cheon-ma announced that he had killed the Tianshan Flame Emperor. Thus, the Top Eleven Masters of the World became the Top Ten Masters.
With that, the balance between the Orthodox Path and the Black Gangs began to crumble rapidly. Tianshan Flame Emperor was treated as one who walked between both sides—a figure of the Orthodox Sect and the Demonic Cult alike.
Yet if forced to choose between Orthodox or Black, he leaned toward the Orthodox Path. It was only natural. He was sworn brothers with the Namgung Family Head.
Counting Tianshan Flame Emperor among them, the Orthodox Path held a clear advantage in the number of masters listed among the Top Eleven Masters of the World.
The Top Eleven Masters of the World was not merely a ranking of the strongest. It was also a measure of which faction—Orthodox or Demonic, righteous or black—held dominion over the regions where these masters dwelled.
The Demonic Cult’s assault on the Murim Alliance.
The death of one among the Top Eleven Masters of the World.
Internal strife within the Murim Alliance.
Each successive event only weakened the Orthodox Path’s forces. And it was precisely then that the Black Gangs began to run rampant.
Thus began an era of chaos in the Martial World.

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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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