The Ignored Granddaughter of a Murim Family - Chapter 224

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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 224
I had placed a pouch of silver coins on the inn table to settle the bill, and unfortunately, the token my father had given me was inside it as well. The guard seemed to have lost track of me during the chase and was nowhere to be found.
“What on earth are you doing? You won’t even answer, and this won’t do. Come with me! We’ll sort this out at the security office!”
“….”
How was I supposed to handle this?
It was the moment I was pondering this dilemma.
“Wait, please hold on just a moment!”
A young man pushed through the onlookers and stepped forward before us.
“My name is Jang Cheol.”
I furrowed my brow.
‘Jang Cheol… Jang Cheol… I feel like I’ve heard that name somewhere before…?’
Unlike me, the Murim Alliance officer’s expression suggested he had never heard such a name.
As I searched my memory, Jang Cheol produced a small token from his sleeve and held it out.
The officer examined it and furrowed his brow, scrutinizing Jang Cheol from head to toe.
“I recognize the status of Young Master Jang. But why are you interfering in this matter?”
“This young lady is someone I know.”
“And what does that have to do with anything….”
At that moment, Jang Cheol pressed a small pouch into the officer’s hand.
“Out of respect for my face, let’s settle it at this. If there’s any household that suffers damages, this should be sufficient compensation.”
“Ahem.”
The officer cleared his throat and turned to look at me.
“Consider yourself fortunate! Don’t go leaping across rooftops anymore. If I catch you one more time, I won’t be so lenient!”
The security officer withdrew, and only then did the gathered spectators gradually disperse.
It was around that time that I remembered who he was.
“Ah! You’re Jang Cheol from the Jang Ga-jang in Yangzhou?”
The leader of that gang of ruffians who had accosted me when I went out to buy dumplings during my stay at the Namgung Clan!
“What, did you finally remember?”
There was a reason I hadn’t recognized him immediately.
For one, he had been quite young when we parted ways, and the grown Jang Cheol’s appearance was quite different from my memory of him.
Setting aside my thoughts, I asked.
“Did you know who I was and help me because of that?”
Jang Cheol lowered his voice.
“You’re Baek Li-yeon from the Baek Li Family, aren’t you?”
I asked suspiciously.
“…How did you recognize me?”
“I was originally eating at that place over there….”
My gaze fell upon the three-story building across the way that resembled an inn.
“Some crazy… ahem, I saw someone leaping across the rooftops and… well, you looked like you were in trouble, so I just stepped in for a moment.”
“Uh… um… thank you. I owe you one.”
After parting ways with Jang Cheol, I had heard stories about him several times since then.
After hearing a few words from me, Lady Jang, who had been sickly, sent me a letter of gratitude, saying that Jang Cheol had become quite well-behaved. She also expressed her hope that if I ever had the chance to visit Yangzhou, I would meet with Jang Cheol again.
However, I never had the opportunity to meet Jang Cheol.
As if to demonstrate that one’s true nature cannot be changed, he soon reverted to his tyrannical ways and gradually became more twisted, or so I heard.
In the end, the last news I heard about Jang Cheol was that Lady Jang had passed away from the illness she had been suffering from.
‘But why did he help me?’
Let’s say he recognized me as Baek Li-yeon at first glance.
Even so, I remembered that we were not the kind of people who would help each other.
‘Hmm… Is he trying to become friendly with me now?’
I had seen far too many people like this.
At the Academy, those who had ignored me out of deference to Baek Li-myeong and Baek Li-ri suddenly became so kind the moment Baek Li-myeong fell into demonic cultivation and lost his position as heir.
Suddenly, my close friends numbered around twenty, and invitations to banquets and requests for visits came pouring in from other clans and sects.
“How much was in that pouch earlier? I’ll repay you.”
“Never mind.”
“No.”
I reached into my sleeve but then stopped blankly.
‘Oh, right. I left the money pouch behind.’
Jang Cheol looked at me as if asking what I was doing and spoke.
“What’s a little money? Forget it. Consider it repayment for what happened before.”
Was he sincere?
Jang Cheol spoke.
“Well, my business here is done, so I’ll be going.”
Without hesitation, he turned and left.
I watched Jang Gongja disappear into the distance before calling out.
“Jang Gongja!”
I approached him as he turned around.
“You’re not trying to settle what happened before with just this, are you?”
“What? Just this?”
I nodded.
“I suffered many wounds back then.”
“What? I was the one who got beaten!”
“That’s because you deserved it.”
Jang Cheol’s jaw dropped in disbelief.
“My request is simple.”
“Ha, what request?”
“Do you know where the Cheonha Inn is?”
Ha, I had been running through alleys and flying across rooftops without looking back, so I had no idea where I was now or what this place was.
Jang Cheol’s expression darkened considerably as he spoke.
“Cheonha Inn? Ah, that place with disgustingly bad food? Why there!”
I blinked. After hesitating, I asked.
“The food there… is bad?”
“Huh?”
“No, it just so happened that seat was the only one available!”
“What? You ate there?”
Jang Cheol clicked his tongue and looked at me with a pitying expression.
“Besides, my guards were dining there at the time….”
* * *
At that very moment, at the Murim Alliance.
In the General’s Secret Chamber.
The Murim Alliance Leader and the Alliance’s Chief Commander, along with representatives of the Nine Great Sects and other families capable of becoming elders of the Murim Alliance, had all gathered.
Among them were several individuals whose presence here remained secret—figures whose revelation would shake the world.
The Murim Alliance Leader Wi Ji-baek gazed to one side with an expression as though he’d bitten into something bitter.
He’d heard the arm was irreparably damaged, yet the man wielded a sword with a perfectly sound limb, and rumors even spoke of an enlightenment gained from that crisis, resulting in a breakthrough in cultivation.
Though Wi Ji-baek himself thought he concealed it well, everyone seated here possessed keen perception. They inwardly clicked their tongues at the Alliance Leader’s inability to hide his hostility.
Gongsun Maeng, the Chief Commander, exhaled a silent sigh.
Observing the Alliance Leader’s behavior, which aligned precisely with his expectations, proper proceedings seemed impossible.
Gongsun Bang, the Chief Commander, stepped forward.
“Thank you all for making time for this precious gathering.”
Gongsun Bang performed a fist salute and surveyed those assembled.
“Now, allow me to present the prize for this martial arts tournament. I entrust this to you, Taego Jinperson.”
Taego Jinperson.
An elderly man whose hair, eyebrows, beard, and clothing were all snowy white. His deeply wrinkled face revealed only his advanced age; his exact years were impossible to discern. He was the Sect Master of the Kunlun Sect and one of the Ten Strongest Under Heaven.
Moreover, Taego Jinperson had not visited the Murim Alliance in nearly thirty years.
“The prize for this Murim Alliance-sponsored martial arts tournament.”
Taego Jinperson produced a box slightly larger than his palm.
The black box bore several talismans drawn in red cinnabar, and the faded appearance of these talismans revealed the box’s considerable age.
Taego Jinperson opened the box.
Inside lay a roll of deep black leather, bound tightly with cord. Unlike the ancient-looking box and the cord that appeared ready to crumble at the slightest touch, the leather’s condition appeared remarkably well-preserved.
Someone spoke.
“The Heavenly Demon Scripture.”
No expressions of surprise appeared. This had been decided and known beforehand. Instead, what manifested in their expressions and eyes was curiosity.
“That is….”
“It doesn’t look particularly special….”
“Hmm.”
The Heavenly Demon Scripture was among the most prized sacred treasures of the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect. It was also a spoil of victory obtained by the Murim Alliance after their triumph in the great blood battle that occurred during the Demonic Cult’s rampage and the Alliance’s founding era.
Of course, offering the Heavenly Demon Scripture as a prize did not mean actually surrendering it. Even if one won it, they could not truly possess the Heavenly Demon Scripture.
It merely granted the opportunity to view it—to observe it as freely as one wished.
According to legendary records passed down through the ages, the Heavenly Demon Scripture contained the divine techniques and secret methods of the Heavenly Demon, as well as his will and intent. The story was so renowned that explanation was unnecessary.
An opportunity to obtain the Demonic Cult’s divine techniques. Should the true nature of this secret prize become known, it would surely cause tremendous upheaval.
At that moment, Namgung Wan opened his mouth.
“I have a question I would like to ask Taego Jinperson.”
Taego Jinperson nodded with a benevolent smile.
“Ask away.”
“I’ve heard that the Heavenly Demon Scripture is a sacred relic of the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect, and that only through it can one become a true Heavenly Demon.”
“Such tales do circulate.”
“Why haven’t you destroyed it all this time?”
Someone let out an uncomfortable cough at Namgung Wan’s question.
“Ahem.”
Then a massive middle-aged man with a burly frame slammed his thigh with a hand the size of a cauldron lid and bellowed.
“Preposterous! It’s a trophy of victory for the Murim Alliance. Why would we destroy the symbol of our triumph!”
It was the Peng Family Head from Hebei.
Peng Family Head shouted with arrogant conviction.
“Let anyone try to seize it if they dare!”
“It is a sacred relic of the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect. We cannot know what secrets it harbors, and destroying it carelessly would be far too reckless a decision, would it not?”
“I believe Namgung Minor Family Head speaks wisely. Keeping something so sinister is itself a choice that will invite chaos upon the world.”
Taego Jinperson stroked his beard and chuckled softly as various opinions were exchanged.
“How keenly I feel the turning of generations.”
“What do you mean, sir? You are still in your prime.”
At Gongsun Bang’s words, Taego Jinperson shook his head and picked up the Heavenly Demon Scripture.
The moment everyone wondered what he was doing, blue flames erupted from Taego Jinperson’s palm.
Samadhi True Fire. The deep inner energy infused the flames with an azure hue—there was no more fitting flame to burn away evil.
Everyone gasped and half-rose to their feet, but something even more shocking happened next.
Though intense heat filled the secret chamber, the Heavenly Demon Scripture remained completely unscathed.
The blue flames that had illuminated the chamber faded, and Taego Jinperson deliberately set the Heavenly Demon Scripture back down.
“….”
“How is this possible…!”
“Hmph.”
Then came a cough followed by a low laugh.
“Since it cannot be deciphered and cannot be destroyed, preserving it is simply the best course of action.”
Everyone turned their gaze toward the source of the cough.
The youngest Family Head in this secret chamber had spoken.
“They never believed until I showed them directly like this. Haha.”
His tone carried both wistfulness and exasperation.
Peng Family Head asked in surprise.
“What? Even the Jegal Clan couldn’t decipher it?”
Jegal Family Head nodded.
If that were the case, even if the victor received it as a prize, they would have no way to decipher it. It was a remarkable prize, but its value was questionable.
Of course, most people in the world were unaware of this fact, and even if told, they would not believe it.
Gongsun Bang spoke again.
“After all, we wagered this as a prize not to grant the Demonic Cult’s divine techniques.”
Taego Jinperson nodded slowly.
A sacred relic of the Demonic Cult was being wagered as the prize for the martial tournament. In essence, this was trampling upon the Demonic Cult’s honor. It was, quite literally, a slap across the face.
“We’ve ascertained the movements of the Demonic Cult. It appears information has indeed been leaked.”
“Hmm….”
“Thanks to that, we managed to catch a few rats, but we cannot determine how many remain at large.”
Gongsun Bang surveyed the people within the secret chamber.
“Everyone, exercise caution. And now, let us observe how the Demonic Cult responds.”
If the Demonic Cult could not endure and rushed out from their headquarters, it would be a victory for the Murim Alliance.
Even if they endured and showed no reaction, it would still be a victory for the Murim Alliance.
Who would fear one who could bear a slap to the face and remain silent? The factions that had fallen under the Demonic Cult’s sway could be reclaimed by the Murim Alliance.
Moreover, the world would come to know.
That the Murim Alliance stood ready at any moment to face Cheon-ma and the Demonic Cult.
And that the Demonic Cult and Cheon-ma were nothing but cowardly zealots who shrank back from such provocation.

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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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