The Youngest Prince of the Zhou Family - Chapter 5

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Youngest Master of the Zhu Family (5)

Internal Problems

Scorching heat swirled around.

The martial arts of the Zhu Family take the form of Yang Strength Energy, possessing destructive and somewhat straightforward combat forms.

Seung-kyung’s appearance was exactly like that.

Beyond her breathing, the identity of the shimmering heat.

‘The mastery of Zhu Wall Divine Art.’

I realized at once that Elder Sister had raised her energy to its peak.

The energy Elder Sister spread was considerable, enough to make even the surrounding air grow hot.

‘But it’s immature.’

It was certainly a remarkable achievement.

Even compared to her peers, there would be no worthy opponents except for Eldest Brother.

But that couldn’t really be a threat to me with my memories from my previous life.

Swish! Slash!

Sharp sword strikes quickly slipping through gaps and coming in.

A fierce blow was writhing alive within that single flow.

‘However, the movements are too large.’

Based on Zhu Wall Divine Art, I immediately recognized the swordsmanship Elder Sister was displaying.

‘Flying Heaven Responding Flame Sword Technique.’

One of the Zhu Family’s basic sword arts, it could actually be called the foundation of the Zhu Family’s other advanced martial arts.

It was swordsmanship close to perfection, but Elder Sister wasn’t properly drawing out the sword technique’s power.

Pat!

I lightly twisted my body to escape the position where the sword strike was thrusting in.

Half a step, faster.

The moment Elder Sister retrieved her sword, I immediately tapped her wrist lightly.

“…!”

Elder Sister’s flustered expression came into view.

But right now we were strictly in the middle of sparring.

Seung-kyung, who had immediately readjusted her grip on the sword, slashed upward from below.

It was remarkable quick thinking, but.

‘Ascending Heaven Slash.’

But I had read it all.

I twisted my upper body to deflect the sword strike, and pushed one more step into Elder Sister’s embrace.

“Th, this…!”

Flustered breathing and rough respiration.

Facing the unreachable distance, Elder Sister’s flustered expression came fully into my view.

‘Sorry.’

After lightly apologizing in my heart, I immediately rammed Elder Sister’s entire body with my back.

Thud!

I didn’t put any internal power into it.

But Seung-kyung flew much farther away than expected.

“….”

She stared at me blankly with a dejected expression.

“What the hell are you? Does this make any sense?”

It makes sense, of course.

I had survived until past the age of forty in my previous life.

Running away disgracefully, and while doing so, traveling all over the world to catch the Heavenly Demon and learning various secret techniques.

Even without using internal power, I could dodge all of the Zhu Family’s basic sword arts with my eyes closed.

“I know better than anyone that Elder Sister has devoted herself earnestly to training.”

“….”

“If you want to beat me, try training harder.”

I know Elder Sister’s personality well.

If I rashly tried to comfort Elder Sister here, it would have the opposite effect.

Right now it was better to provoke Elder Sister’s simple personality and hot-tempered nature.

I left Elder Sister standing there in a daze and escaped from that place.

Given Elder Sister’s personality with her stronger competitive spirit than anyone, she wouldn’t easily accept losing to me and would push herself harder.

‘You’re getting stronger one by one. More than before, more than now.’

That way she would meet a different fate than in the previous life.

In the fate that would soon change, Elder Sister was only just the beginning.

​

* * *

​

Three days had passed.

During that time, I devoted myself to slowly bringing my physical condition to optimal state.

Just having high internal power doesn’t make you strong.​

Mind, energy, body.

Only when these three absolute conditions achieve proper harmony can one truly become a master.

What I lacked here was, naturally, the body.

Since it was a body that had neglected martial arts and been obsessed with women.

I had to work my body harshly to regain at least half of my previous level.

Anyway, regarding that lacking physical strength, I had no choice but to work hard moving my body.

For the past three days, I focused on building my body by continuously running around the training ground and practicing body techniques without rest.

“Young Master.”

It was when I was taking a brief rest.

Mu Ying approached me.

“What is it?”

“There is something to report.”

Mu Ying, as I had told him, did not report to his superiors.

The incident in the back garden remained a secret between just Mu Ying and me.

“Speak.”

“As you instructed, I watched the separate residence’s movements for three full days, but there were no particular unusual points.”

“Is that so?”

I searched my clothes and examined the personnel registry that Mu Ying had first written for me.

It was a personnel registry containing the personal information of the servants, including Mother’s close guards.

“So nothing has changed here?”

“Yes. And… are you certain that you felt poison qi? Foster Mother’s physical condition seems to have improved compared to before….”

“I’m certain.”

I stood up from my seat.

“Anyway, if no other suspicious person has been coming and going… then they’re ultimately inside, right?”

“….”

At my words, Mu Ying’s expression hardened stiffly.

Depending on how one interpreted the statement, it could sound quite dangerous.

Everything was flowing as expected after all.

Sending Mu Ying to the back garden was just to confirm whether my prediction was really certain.

I was already convinced that there would be a traitor inside the Zhu Family.

“What do you plan to do?”

“We have to catch them.”

I couldn’t leave things as they were.

I had to find out what kind of bastard was trying to kill Mother.

“Follow me, Mu Ying.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

I left the Training Ground as it was and headed toward the western Insu Hall of the estate.

​

* * *

​

The Zhu Family Estate is largely divided into the Outer Compound and Inner Compound.

The Outer Compound is where the Outer Compound Warriors who guard the estate’s boundaries, escort the merchant groups, and assist with trade reside.

The Inner Compound is where the direct lineage, branch families, and Inner Compound Warriors reside, and the family’s truly important items and means of production are concentrated in the Inner Compound.

Among these, Insu Hall was located in the western part of the Inner Compound and served as a kind of Medicine Room where medicine and acupuncture were administered.

Indeed, as soon as I crossed the threshold of Insu Hall, the scent of medicinal herbs pierced my nose.

“Hm? Isn’t that the Youngest Master?”

Someone recognized me from afar and came running over.

It was Heo Su-kyung, the Hall Master of Insu Hall.

“….”

Of course, I didn’t remember her right away, so I stared at her intently for a while.

“Wh-what brings you h-here?”

Heo Su-kyung asked cautiously while reading my expression.

I’m a notorious troublemaker.

I used to pick fights with anyone nearby and cause all sorts of mischief.

Perhaps because of that, Heo Su-kyung also showed signs of subtle trembling and anxiety.

Although she held a position at the Hall Master level, she couldn’t challenge the authority of the direct lineage.

Especially if she was the Hall Master of Insu Hall.

“It’s been a while, Hall Master.”

“…!”

At my greeting, Heo Su-kyung’s eyes widened greatly.

She visibly panicked and bowed her head.

“Y-yes, yes. What brings you here….”

“Is there medicine to be delivered to Mother today?”

“Ah, did you come because of Foster Mother’s medicine? Of course, it’s already prepared.”

At Heo Su-kyung’s words, I nodded.

“Could you bring it to me?”

“To you, Young Master? Ah, you’re going to deliver it personally?”

Heo Su-kyung finally smiled gently and hurried into the inner part of the hall with quick steps.

And after a moment, she came out carrying a Medicine Bundle.

“This is for one day. After breakfast, brew one dose and give it to her. For lunch, this one, and for dinner, brew it like this before she goes to sleep.”

Heo Su-kyung was quite a meticulous person.

She said she personally inspected Mother’s Medicinal Herbs by hand and examined each one individually.

“Let me ask you one thing.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

“Would it be alright if I opened just one of these here and now?”

“The medicine? There’s no problem with that, but why do you ask?”

Heo Su-kyung asked back with round eyes.

I ignored her words and took out one Medicine Bundle, tearing it open with my hands.

Naturally, the contents spilled out completely, and the scent of dried Medicinal Herbs wafted up sharply.

I sorted through the herbs that looked different from each other one by one and laid them out in front of Heo Su-kyung.

“Do you know what all these Medicinal Herbs are?”

“Of-of course I do.”

Heo Su-kyung nodded with a completely stiff expression.

She had realized that the atmosphere was not ordinary.

I gestured toward the herbs with my head as if asking for an explanation.

She quickly sat down in front of me and explained while pointing to each of the laid-out Medicinal Herbs one by one.

“That’s Angelica Root. Whenever the pain gets severe, I adjust the amount by increasing or decreasing it….”

“This is Cnidium… That’s called Cinnamon Bark….”

She finished explaining all the Medicinal Herbs like that.

I quietly touched the Medicinal Herbs.

‘As expected, I don’t feel any Poison Qi.’

I had only come here just in case.

I already knew that Heo Su-kyung wasn’t the type of person who would inject Poison Qi into Mother.

If something happened to Mother, the person who would actually be most suspected would be Heo Su-kyung, the Hall Master of Insu Hall.

Would the timid Heo Su-kyung commit such a bold act?

It was impossible.

But even so, there’s always that one-in-a-million chance.

I intended to thoroughly test even stone bridges before crossing them.

I was lost in such thoughts when it happened.

“Y-Young Master?”

Heo Su-kyung trembled and carefully opened her mouth.

“Wh-why are you doing this… C-could you tell me the r-reason?”

“….”

When I remained silent, Heo Su-kyung was completely paralyzed with fear.

‘Well.’

I had come without a word and turned Mother’s Medicinal Herbs upside down.

On top of that, I was just frowning without saying anything, so she must have been deeply anxious.

“…I just came to check.”

I stood up from my spot.

Mu Ying quickly gathered up the Medicinal Herbs.

“Hall Master.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

At my call, Heo Su-kyung bowed her head.

She too seemed to sense that my mood was unusual and bowed deeply.

“You must erase from your memory that I came here today.”

“….”

Heo Su-kyung wondered what I meant and glanced up at me.

But she soon realized this was no joke and bowed her head again.

“Of course, the Youngest Master never came to Insu Hall today.”

“Good.”

I finally smiled slightly and left that place.

Mu Ying followed closely behind me, carrying the Medicinal Herbs.

“Is the Hall Master of Insu Hall the culprit?”

“…I don’t know.”

“Pardon?”

“I said I don’t know yet.”

There’s no Poison Qi in the Medicinal Herbs.

That’s certain.

Of course, there are some poisonous herbs mixed in, but in fact, in pharmacology, poisonous herbs sometimes become even better medicinal ingredients when mixed with medicinal herbs under certain conditions.

They weren’t dangerous poisonous herbs that would emit detectable Poison Qi to begin with.

“Then what should we do now?”

At those words, I smiled grimly.

“What I felt was definitely Poison Qi. But Mother is under the perfect protection of Guard Warriors.”

“….”

“No one from outside who could inject Poison Arts has been coming and going, right? It’s actually natural. The Zhu Family isn’t some ragtag group.”

The Zhu Family is the First Family of Jiangxi Province.

Compared to the Jiangbei Martial World, which is called a relatively righteous world, this place is a kind of battlefield and border that divides the boundary with the Dark Path.

Naturally, they had no choice but to maintain an overwhelmingly vigilant state compared to other families or sects.

Injecting poison arts naively in such a place?

‘Not a chance. This was just a move to confirm something.’

It would have been something I wouldn’t have known in my previous life.

But in my previous life, I had considered every means and method to catch the Heavenly Demon.

That process naturally included knowledge about poisons as well.

“Let’s go to Mother.”

I had to be more certain.

It was when I arrived at the back garden like that.

“…?”

Something felt strange about the atmosphere.

Servants were running around inside the back garden, and guards who weren’t usually seen had appeared at the separate residence, blocking the door.

“Please return, Youngest Master.”

As soon as the guard saw me, he blocked my way and shouted.

When Mu Ying tried to step forward, I raised my hand to stop him.

“What’s going on?”

“You cannot see Foster Mother right now.”

“Why?”

“The seizure symptoms that usually occur have manifested. For Foster Mother’s stability and treatment, please wait for another time….”

A seizure? Suddenly?

Right after I returned from Insu Hall?

“….”

“….”

My and Mu Ying’s complicated gazes intertwined in the air.

For a moment, it seemed like we read each other’s minds.

“Move aside.”

I spoke quietly but sharply.

Honestly, I felt a bit of anger boiling up.

She’s my mother.

When I want to see my own mother, how dare a mere guard….

“I cannot move aside.”

The guard at the separate residence curled up the corners of his mouth and boldly blocked the way.

He was even showing subtle internal energy, intimidating me.

“….”

I let the killing intent directed at me flow away and quietly drew up my internal energy.

That’s when it happened.

In an instant, Mu Ying’s form shot up like lightning and grabbed the guard’s throat.

“Now even mere guards dare to disrespect Young Master. Do you want to die?”

“…!”

Overwhelming even the guard’s internal energy, Mu Ying growled fiercely.

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