The Ignored Granddaughter of a Murim Family - Chapter 72

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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 72
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Fortunately, the two of them never came to actual blows. Cheonsan Yeom-je had taken a step back and suggested they talk instead.
And that was what troubled me most.
‘That old man isn’t the type to yield to anyone.’
Had he been properly scolded by the Namgung Clan’s Family Head?
As I followed the tea that had been hastily brought out, there was nothing but suffocating silence. Part of me wanted to leave this place. The biggest problem was… I was exhausted.
It was already past midnight. On top of that, I’d come straight from intensive training at Changung Pavilion, had an emotional breakdown seeing my father, and then spent considerable time running around the Namgung Clan.
‘Gods, I’m so tired I could die.’
The drowning silence felt like a lullaby to me. Yet I couldn’t leave, worried about what the two of them might discuss.
My swaying head tilted to the side, resting against a shoulder—Yalyu’s shoulder. Just as I was about to drift off, Cheonsan Yeom-je spoke.
“Let me be direct about this.”
Cheonsan Yeom-je’s finger pointed toward me.
I froze mid-wipe of the drool that had begun to escape my lips.
“Give that child to me.”
No, looking more carefully, he was pointing at Yalyu beside me.
‘Oh, you startled me.’
I felt relief for a moment, then shock again. He wanted Yalyu?
My father asked in return.
“Could you explain what you mean by that?”
“I will take him as my disciple. Hand him over.”
What was this…?
Then Yalyu’s hand gripped mine tightly, as if covering it. The heat radiating from the back of his hand was scorching.
When I turned to look at Yalyu, our eyes met. Was it my imagination that he looked desperate?
The calmest person here was my father. His composure was something I wanted to emulate.
“A disciple of Cheonsan Yeom-je, one of the Top Eleven Masters of the World?”
My father lowered his eyes and pondered for a moment before continuing.
“It is certainly a remarkable position, but the proposal is rather sudden. What about the child has caught your eye?”
“There is no need to worry. I already know everything about that child.”
He meant he already knew about the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
Only then did my father’s composure crack. He glanced at Yalyu. The grip of Yalyu’s hand, which held mine, tightened further.
“How did he… No, it is my lack of virtue.”
Cheonsan Yeom-je looked at me and asked.
“Haven’t you told him yet?”
My father’s puzzled gaze turned toward me.
I spoke with a hint of grievance.
“…I was planning to tell him at the Residence Quarter.”
But I had unexpectedly encountered Cheonsan Yeom-je, and everything had gone awry. Cheonsan Yeom-je stroked his beard and spoke.
“There is no need to worry. I have not told anyone. You have raised a most filial daughter.”
“Pardon?”
My father, unable to comprehend the situation, narrowed his eyes and studied me. Yet the circumstances were far too dire to demand explanations.
My father turned his gaze back to Cheonsan Yeom-je.
“If you understand the situation, then it would be easier to explain. Yalyu, this child has learned demonic cultivation, and therefore cannot learn any other martial arts.”
Demonic cultivation was not called demonic cultivation for nothing. Unlike the orthodox sect’s internal methods, once one learned a demonic cultivation technique, one could never touch another internal method.
Not only did demonic cultivation reject other techniques, but attempting to forcibly learn another method was merely a shortcut to death through qi deviation. And among all demonic cultivation techniques, the Absorption Demon Art was counted among the most notorious.
Yet Cheonsan Yeom-je spoke as though it were nothing of consequence.
“Even if one has mastered the Absorption Demon Art, there is no problem in inheriting my martial knowledge. Rather, you should inherit the old man’s martial arts.”
What did he mean? Was he saying that Cheonsan Yeom-je’s martial arts could be learned regardless of demonic cultivation?
My father voiced my confusion as a question.
“Are you saying your martial arts can suppress demonic cultivation, Senior?”
“Indeed. If one masters my Nine Fires Crimson Flame Scripture.”
The Nine Fires Crimson Flame Scripture. The martial art that had made Cheonsan Yeom-je one of the Top Eleven Masters of the World. From this alone, one could gauge how extraordinary this technique was. No, the issue was not the martial art itself.
If Cheonsan Yeom-je, one of the Top Eleven Masters of the World, were to take a disciple, people would flock from across the Central Plains to learn from him.
‘But why Yalyu of all people?’
Though doubt lingered, if everything Cheonsan Yeom-je said was true and Yalyu could only learn the Nine Fires Crimson Flame Scripture….
This was a heaven-sent opportunity!
My father seemed to share my thoughts.
“It is an opportunity almost too miraculous to believe.”
“What benefit would the old man gain from such a lie?”
“….”
“Is this something to deliberate over? You should accept immediately!”
Cheonsan Yeom-je struck the table, his words a threat.
Yalyu, tense, had gripped my hand, and his grip grew progressively tighter.
I endured it, and then whispered softly.
“Yalyu.”
Only then did Yalyu startle and release his grip. As both Cheonsan Yeom-je and my father turned their gazes toward me, I continued calmly.
“Shouldn’t we ask Yalyu? Isn’t what Yalyu wants the most important thing?”
Honestly, I wondered who would pass up such an opportunity.
‘I’ll miss him a little.’
I had grown quite fond of him over time. I smiled at Yalyu as if to say he should speak freely.
Then the answer came from Cheonsan Yeom-je.
“There is no need to ask. The child has already refused.”
My father looked at Yalyu in shock. I was shocked as well.
My father, who had been watching Yalyu, opened his mouth.
“Did you truly refuse?”
“Yes.”
Without thinking, I interjected with a question.
“Why?”
Recalling how Yalyu had gripped my hand as though to shatter it, I added.
“This is an incomparable opportunity.”
Yalyu met my gaze and opened his mouth.
“I like it here.”
“….”
“….”
Silence draped itself over the Residence Quarter.
He likes it here.
It was a truly trivial answer to reject Cheonsan Yeom-je’s proposal. My father’s brow furrowed slightly as he regarded Yalyu. It was because he couldn’t comprehend it.
‘I can understand that much.’
I couldn’t understand it at all either.
Yet my father turned to Cheonsan Yeom-je with an unperturbed expression and replied.
“I hope this answer suffices for you, Senior.”
Cheonsan Yeom-je let out a hollow laugh and stroked his beard.
“Let me ask you one thing.”
“Please do.”
“Why do you care so much for that child? It’s only been a few months since you met. There’s nothing special about her, is there? If you hand her over to me, you’d be rid of the trouble and find peace.”
“The depth of a bond cannot be measured by the length of time one has known someone.”
“If I’ve discovered it, others will too. Does your biological father, Baek Li Pae-hyuk, know of this? What of him as the White Tiger Unit Master of the Martial Arts Alliance? If this truth comes to light, it will be difficult to escape discipline. How do you intend to hide that child for a lifetime?”
“I was prepared for that much from the beginning.”
“Is your willingness to lose your daughter included in that preparation? I heard that she was swept away in a landslide trying to save that child.”
“….”
My father’s expression, which had maintained its composure, changed most drastically. It was nearly contorted.
Cheonsan Yeom-je clicked his tongue and spoke.
“Simply hand her over to this old man. It would be better for that child, for you, and for your daughter.”
Given what was known of Cheonsan Yeom-je’s temperament, the fact that he was persuading so gently with words was itself remarkable.
My father drew a deep breath, closing and opening his eyes.
“I cannot force a child who refuses to go.”
Cheonsan Yeom-je exhaled as if exasperated, stroking his beard.
“Tsk, tsk. I recognized your character from the moment you tore your own palm to protect my servant. Like father, like daughter? How is such a fool still alive in this world? No, rather, this works out well!”
Despite clearly hearing a refusal, Cheonsan Yeom-je seemed pleased.
Cheonsan Yeom-je continued.
“Have you heard of the Extreme Yang Constitution?”
In my father’s silence, I answered instead.
“Isn’t that a rare… incurable disease?”
Among physicians, many didn’t even know such a condition existed. I knew of it because I had studied countless texts to cure my own body.
Originally, vital energy was divided into several types of harmony. Among them were yin and yang, and the Extreme Yang Constitution referred to a physiology where yang energy was developed to an extreme degree.
To be precise, it was not so much an incurable disease as a rare constitution. But there was reason to call it incurable.
“An incurable disease. You speak truly. The extreme yang energy from birth dries out the blood vessels throughout the entire body as one grows, and whether early at fifteen or late in the early twenties, one dies young in the agony of burning alive.”
Why was he bringing up that story so suddenly?
An ominous premonition gripped me.
Cheonsan Yeom-je’s finger pointed toward Yalyu.
“And that child right there is the Extreme Yang Constitution.”
I nearly cursed aloud without thinking. I recalled Yalyu’s meridians, which I had observed countless times.
‘The Extreme Yang Constitution?’
I had sensed something subtly off about him from our first meeting, but I had attributed it to the Absorption Demonic Art.
It was because of the Extreme Yang Constitution?
And that meant Yalyu would die before reaching fifteen at the earliest, or twenty at the latest!

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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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