The Ignored Granddaughter of a Murim Family - Chapter 254

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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 254
* * *
My companions and I hurried out of the Underground Storage Facility, making our way toward where Namgung Wan was.
The ladies here called this place the Western Courtyard, and it was distinguished by its expansive garden.
Upon arrival, the first thing that caught my eye was a cluster of elegant and radiant women huddled together almost as one mass.
Seeing them in person like this was far more shocking than merely hearing the numbers. It was enough to turn my stomach.
The women bore unmistakable signs of exhaustion, likely from the lateness of the hour. Some had even fallen asleep leaning against one another’s shoulders.
Namgung Wan stood beside a large brazier that illuminated the garden.
He held a book in his hands, flipping through it rapidly, while stacks of what appeared to be volumes brought from the Mountain Manor lay scattered carelessly at his feet.
Namgung Wan lifted his head at the sound of our approach and spoke.
“You’ve arrived faster than I expected. Did you find it….”
He trailed off, regarding me with an expression of disbelief.
“…Baek Li-yeon?”
“Uncle, it’s been so long!”
If I counted the actual days, it hadn’t been that long, but emotionally?
“What are you doing here!”
“I’ll explain later.”
Namgung Ryu-cheong spoke in a subdued voice.
“Father, we must leave this place immediately.”
At Namgung Ryu-cheong’s grave expression, Namgung Wan’s face grew equally serious. Like father and son, they wore virtually identical expressions.
Namgung Wan spoke.
“Explain yourself.”
Namgung Ryu-cheong replied.
“We discovered a space beneath the Wi Alliance Leader’s Residence Quarter that was originally used as a storage area. However, it appeared to have been emptied long ago, with only oil jars and gunpowder stacked inside.”
“Oil and gunpowder?”
“Yes. And Yeon reported witnessing pursuers following us as we came here.”
Namgung Wan furrowed his brow deeply and looked at me with concern.
“Pursuers?”
“They were masked martial artists from the Jianghu. I heard them say that no one was to leave this place before they entered the formation.”
I glanced around the surroundings.
“And I don’t see them anywhere now.”
My gaze fell upon the ladies.
The women at a distance, unable to hear our conversation, merely cast curious glances in our direction.
I spoke again.
“I understand it must be burdensome to lead such a large group into the formation, but if we remain here any longer, who knows when they might….”
Boom!
A deafening sound erupted mid-sentence, shaking the very earth beneath us.
“Yelp!”
“What’s happening!”
I had a sinking feeling this was far from good news. A voice cried out in the distance.
“Fire! There’s a fire!”
A Namgung Warrior who had been on patrol rushed over and shouted in panic.
“So Ga-ju! Fire is erupting from the Eastern Ridge!”
Namgung Wan spoke with a hardened expression.
“Was this their target from the beginning? If it comes to this….”
I watched as Namgung Wan’s gaze turned toward the women.
For women who had not trained in martial arts to escape through these treacherous mountains in the dead of night was impossible. Especially with fire spreading.
The only fortune was that the fire had started far from here. The misfortune was that the wind was blowing in our direction.
Crash! Boom!
Another explosion followed. I could tell that there were multiple locations constructed like the underground chamber beneath Wi Ji-baek’s Residence Quarter.
“So Ga-ju, the fire is spreading rapidly. We must escape this place at once.”
The Namgung Warrior spoke as though urging Namgung Wan to issue orders immediately.
“….”
As Namgung Wan fell silent, one of the women rose and spoke. She was a middle-aged woman in her late thirties who stood at the front.
“You cannot take all of us with you, can you?”
“….”
Her voice trembled slightly, yet her expression remained quite composed. There was fear present, but beneath that frightened tone lay something serene and detached.
The woman continued.
“You warriors can escape, can you not?”
Namgung Wan spoke with anguished features.
“We can.”
The woman lowered her eyes for a moment, then opened her mouth.
“Then it would be possible to escape with only a few people, would it not?”
Several of the Namgung Warriors lowered their heads with troubled expressions.
“…Perhaps.”
“Then I ask of you. Please escape with at least a few who can serve as witnesses.”
It was a method we had not considered. Yet it was the only way. If we could not save everyone, we had to save some.
The woman spoke with a forced smile, as though it were no matter.
“We cannot all burn to death together here, after all.”
As if they had already coordinated among themselves, she selected three.
“From left to right in order: San-san, Yeo-a, and Yang So-ok. These three.”
As the woman spoke, her voice grew progressively calmer.
“San-san is the youngest, Yeo-a arrived most recently, and Yang So-ok has stayed here the longest and knows the most. Should we reduce the number further?”
Ok-a, who had guided Namgung Ryu-cheong to the Residence Quarter, was also absent.
“….”
Everyone looked toward Namgung Wan. Their eyes pleaded for him to make the decision.
At that moment, I noticed something strange behind Namgung Wan and moved toward it. In this place that had been quiet save for distant sounds and the roar of flames in the distance, my movement stood out distinctly.
“Where are you going?”
I did not stop and continued moving as I spoke.
“Was this perhaps an escape route originally?”
“Yes.”
The escape route was plainly visible. A massive stone gate large enough for three people to pass through simultaneously.
“When I examined the gate, it appeared to require a special key or access token of some kind. Naturally, none were to be found here.”
Namgung Wan continued speaking.
“I considered destroying the gate, but the stone is remarkably thick. If we broke through it, the passage itself might collapse. And there’s no way to know what might happen if we applied force from within.”
I ceased responding to his words and stood transfixed before the stone gate, as though under a spell.
At the center of the gate lay a distinctively shaped, deeply carved groove. I could discern that an access token belonged there.
I reached out and covered the groove with my hand.
Just as everyone began to wonder what I was doing.
Click, thud, click, click. Boom.
The sound of multiple mechanisms turning, followed by a sudden dull rumble.
Rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble—boom!
And the steadfast stone gate began to open slowly forward with a heavy grinding sound.
Beyond lay a vast open field, and a pitch-black cavern of unknowable depth.
I turned to look back. Everyone wore expressions of shock.
“Everyone, let’s go inside.”
Acrid smoke and gray ash swept through on the hot wind. The night sky burned crimson like a sunset, illuminated by flames that licked upward like a serpent’s tongue.
* * *
Boom.
The sound of the stone gate closing. The acrid smoke that had been pouring in abruptly cut off as the gate sealed shut.
The sound of several people collapsing as tension drained from their bodies.
Though the space was somewhat spacious, it had been arduous fitting all eighty women inside.
By the time everyone had entered, the flames were already spreading to within arm’s reach.
“Opening it again will be simple. We just use the same method.”
“That is a tremendous relief.”
If this proved not to be an escape route, or if we couldn’t use it, we could always return once the fire died down.
Though… the question of how to descend the mountain with these women afterward would require starting from scratch.
“Let’s move.”
Namgung Wan naturally took the lead.
The smoke filling the cavern drifted slowly in one direction. Air was flowing through. It was the direction we were heading.
Before long, the artificial passage abruptly ended and a natural cavern appeared. It seemed they had converted an existing cave into an escape route.
Drip, drip, drip.
Water droplets condensed on the ceiling occasionally fell to the floor.
After descending further, Namgung Wan spoke in a tone free of doubt.
“There appear to be no additional mechanisms within this passage.”
Namgung Wan gestured to the Namgung Clan warriors.
The Namgung Clan warriors bowed with precision before advancing swiftly deeper into the cavern.
Only after sending them to scout did Namgung Wan speak again.
“Does your father know you’re here?”
“I sent word through Jeon Seo-gu on the way.”
At best, I would have only just barely arrived by now, given the time constraints.
Uncle Namgung Wan exhaled a long sigh, his expression suggesting he was restraining himself from saying something, before continuing with his question.
“How did you open that stone door?”
“….”
Unlike before, I remained silent for a moment, then slowly opened my mouth.
“I already knew the mechanism of that stone door.”
“You already knew?”
“Yes. When you align an access token with the stone door, vital energy flows in a specific pattern, causing the door to open.”
“An intriguing method indeed. But you didn’t have an access token, did you?”
“I mimicked that specific pattern.”
Uncle Namgung Wan stared at me with astonished eyes.
“Mimicked? That’s actually possible….”
The reason I could immediately recognize a mechanism that even Uncle Namgung Wan had never heard of.
It was because Man Shin-ui’s secret hideout, where I had once been trapped, had a door constructed in exactly this manner.
Back then, with unfamiliar eyes, I had struggled for months trying to open it.
‘How could this be?’
How could Man Shin-ui’s dwelling and this place employ the same mechanism?

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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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