The Youngest Son of the Nanyang Jin Family - Chapter 129

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

The Youngest Son of the Jin Family of Luoyang – Chapter 190

Ma Un surveyed his surroundings with emotionless eyes.
He took in the countless corpses scattered before him, then naturally turned his gaze toward the Clan Leaders gathered in one place.
The moment his eyes fixed upon them.
Thump—
Everyone in the hall prostrated themselves, their foreheads pressed to the ground.
These were the very people who trembled at the mere mention of Muk-hwang’s name.
Now that the man himself had appeared, it was more than enough to plunge them into terror.
The sight of them all keeping their heads buried in the earth, unable to lift them, resembled a dog exposing its belly to its master.
Yet Ma Un said nothing.
He withdrew his gaze from those with their heads pressed down and turned to look upon the corpse of Nam Tae-cheon.
The body was torn apart so grotesquely that one could scarcely bear to look upon it with open eyes, yet Ma Un’s expression remained unmoved.
As though he felt neither concern nor even the slightest interest.
Observing that gaze, I became certain of one truth.
Ma Un had known.
What Nam Tae-cheon had been attempting to orchestrate.
But precisely because he was certain such schemes would pose no obstacle to his path forward, he paid them no mind whatsoever.
He may have even found it amusing.
In the past, such indifference had become a fatal mistake, costing him his life.
But now was different.
In a situation where no Powerful Expert of sufficient caliber existed to oppose Muk-hwang, even if Nam Tae-cheon’s plan had been executed, it would never have unfolded according to his wishes.
“How intriguing.”
At that moment, his gaze withdrew from the dead Nam Tae-cheon and turned toward me.
The indifference that had marked his eyes was gone. No—rather, his pupils now gleamed with genuine interest.
After all, I had accomplished something utterly absurd.
I bowed my head lightly.
“Follow me.”
With that, Muk-hwang turned and departed the hall.
He moved without hesitation, as though the sight of the Clan Leaders with their heads pressed down did not even register in his vision, or as though he harbored no interest in them whatsoever.
I paused briefly to confirm this, then followed in Muk-hwang’s wake.
As I advanced cautiously, I became aware of one fact.
No one was following behind me.
Not Gu Ma-hyeop, nor his subordinates—nor even Namgung Yeon and Jang Chuchyeong.
As though they had been stopped by someone.
He had spoken the words “follow me” while looking at me, not at the others, so Gu Ma-hyeop must have surely blocked the path of Jang Chuchyeong and Namgung Yeon.
As Ma Un and I walked for some time toward an unknown destination, at last Ma Un’s voice broke the prolonged silence.
“How did you discern Nam Tae-cheon’s plan?”
“Intuition.”
“That’s not something you can discern through mere intuition.”
Ma Un, who had stopped walking at some point, gazed at me with a subtle smile.
Then, as if confirming something, his eyes gleamed with certainty as he lifted the corners of his mouth.
“Geomcheon was the same. He read the heavenly secrets through divination—do you possess such ability as well?”
“No, I do not.”
An unexpected topic regarding Gwanbaek suddenly emerged.
Even as I denied it outright, Ma Un seemed to possess an even firmer conviction now, and instead he broke into laughter.
Well, anyone would think the same.
A complete outsider suddenly enters the Demonic Sect, from the Demonic Flame Pond to the Heavenly Demon Ridge.
And the ensuing battle with Nam Tae-cheon could appear as though I had come to prevent something about to unfold.
I scratched my head at this absurd situation.
But there was no need to refute him.
If he created excuses on his own, I didn’t need to scheme.
As I finished my thoughts and looked at him once more, a voice tinged with curiosity reached my ears.
“But it’s quite fascinating. With your skill, I didn’t think you could defeat Nam Tae-cheon.”
“Is that why you were observing?”
“Haha, I had no intention of intervening.”
That statement would be sincere.
Had I been overwhelmed in the battle with Nam Tae-cheon, Ma Un would never have stepped in and would have merely watched.
Since I had initiated this situation of my own judgment rather than at his request, I would have thought I must resolve it myself.
I smiled and nodded.
“I don’t fight battles I cannot win.”
“So you believed from the start that you could win.”
Nam Tae-cheon is undoubtedly formidable, but he devoted himself more to the Overwhelming Palm technique than to the Heavenly Demon Scripture.
The problem was that these two martial arts didn’t align with each other.
The sense of discord I felt from his energy was precisely this.
Whether he knew this or not, I suspected that the widening gap between Ma Un, who was called his equal rival, and Nam Tae-cheon stemmed from this very reason.
But he could never have corrected it.
The Overwhelming Palm technique was the Way of Tyranny.
Literally, overwhelming destructive force.
With power that could shatter anything, it would have been enough to captivate the mind.
What if it had been otherwise?
I pondered briefly, but the result remained singular.
From the beginning, I never harbored thoughts of defeat when facing those creatures.
At that very moment, satisfaction appeared on Ma Un’s expression as he gazed intently at me.
“A rather decent preliminary engagement. But it wasn’t done without ulterior motive. Unlike the Chai Family’s debt, is there something you desire from me?”
“I wish to have a sword forged. By Chung-mu directly.”
“Haha— To the one who crafts swords for the Heavenly Demon? That’s quite a fearless request.”
Ma Un regarded me with an expression of slight bewilderment.
He would not be ignorant of the skill of Chung-mu, the master of the Heavenly Demon Forging Hall, nor unaware that he was an existence who crafted weapons solely for the Heavenly Demon.
Thus, this matter falls outside the regulations of the Demonic Sect.
I could discern it simply from Ma Un’s tone of voice.
In all of Tianshan Demonic Sect’s history, such a thing had never once occurred.
Yet Ma Un nodded his head.
“Thank you. And there is one more thing… if I may.”
“You truly have no fear. Have you forgotten who I am?”
Forgotten? How could I?
Muk-hwang, one of the Ten Sovereigns of the Realm.
And now, the sole being destined to ascend to the position of Heavenly Demon.
I was not so thoughtless as to forget such things, yet compared to what Muk-hwang had gained, my request was nothing but trivial in the extreme.
Considering the elevated status he would soon attain because of the deeds I had set in motion, it was a bargain at any price.
I smiled softly.
“Please grant me access to investigate Nam Tae-cheon’s residence.”
“That place?”
“Yes, though there is one other matter as well…”
“Ha, what else could there be?”
“It is a minor matter, so I shall speak of it later.”
At my words, Nam Tae-cheon smiled faintly and nodded.
It was indeed a minor thing.
For now, I prioritize other matters.
Nam Tae-cheon is connected to those wretches.
Given that he had cultivated martial techniques of equal standing for so long, he must have certainly built connections with them over a considerable span of time.
Perhaps I might uncover some small clue regarding them.
I had no intention of letting that opportunity slip away.
Above all, that was the greatest reward.

* * *

The night grew deeper still.
Muk-hwang, whom I had confronted, had vanished without a trace, and I retraced my steps toward Nam Tae-cheon’s quarters.
Though only a brief span of time had passed, it seemed many hands had been mobilized—the corpses that had littered the pavilion’s interior were nowhere to be found.
Moreover, not a single presence stirred within.
It was as though no one existed in this place at all.
The living servants had vanished without trace, and the Clan Leaders who had sought to join hands with Nam Tae-cheon were equally absent.
Had they gone to Muk-hwang? Or had they fled?
Either way, I could not have asked for more convenient circumstances to investigate.
I advanced without hesitation toward that place.
As I entered the hollow interior with light footsteps, the thick stench of blood still lingered in the air.
The reason was simple.
Blood stains still remained scattered throughout the courtyard.
I stepped inside slowly, surveying my surroundings.
Thud, thud—
The sound of my footsteps echoed unusually loud.
“One might think a ghost would emerge at any moment.”
After passing through countless rooms, I came to a halt before one, and upon opening its door, I found myself in a space lavish enough to suggest it belonged to a Clan Leader.
Yet nothing remarkable caught my eye.
I moved about, examining the interior and checking for hidden chambers, but found nothing—as though no such thing existed in this place.
That made no sense.
They must have exchanged communications with their allies, and there had to be a location where such methods were employed.
Something possible within this confined space of Cheon Mountain.
Stifling a groan, I began searching the other rooms as well.
Searching through countless rooms one by one was hardly an easy task, yet I took care to overlook nothing.
“At this point, it would be better to assume it doesn’t exist.”
I smiled bitterly and released a hollow sigh.
It was hidden so thoroughly that such thoughts were inevitable.
Yet I was certain it existed.
I held that conviction firmly.
I had already searched the interior completely.
If I still could not find it, then it must have been constructed outside.
I wandered through the pavilion once more, searching for traces.
As I furrowed my brow, contemplating locations that remained stubbornly hidden—
Thunk—!
The moment my foot touched down, a peculiar sound rang out.
I stopped in my tracks and glanced about instinctively.
This was the training ground.
Standing there, I stamped down once more on the spot where my foot had fallen.
Tong—!
As the sound of an empty space beneath reached my ears, I laughed incredulously and grasped my sword.
“So tormenting people is your hobby.”
Crash—!
As the blade flashed, a terrible sound erupted, and through the severed surface, a massive opening came into view.
A remarkably spacious chamber.
Large enough that thirty adults could enter comfortably with room to spare, and I suspected the reason for excavating such a vast cavity lay precisely here.
Turning my head to survey the space, countless marks became visible on the walls.
All of them were traces left by someone cultivating martial arts.
Examining the marks etched into the stone, I could discern without deep contemplation that these were the techniques of Tiger Claw.
“He dug into it like a madman.”
Every direction bore the imprint of Tiger Claw techniques.
From the oldest marks to the most recent.
I could sense how profoundly absorbed he had been in his martial cultivation.
From this alone, I could understand how little he regarded his foundational cultivation.
Of course, Tiger Claw ranked among the most formidable of the Twelve Claws.
Moreover, as the technique symbolizing the Tiger, its martial arts were vicious, rough, and savage.
It was a technique embodying the ferocity of the mountain lord, and it could never be learned alongside other martial arts.
Tigers, after all, do not form packs.
Undoubtedly, the more he cultivated it, the more his qi and body were being consumed, yet Nam Tae-cheon failed to recognize this properly.
He likely believed only that his destructive power was growing, that he himself was becoming progressively stronger.
I withdrew my gaze from the walls and surveyed the surroundings.
The opposite of where the cultivation traces lay.
A space created with meticulous care, bearing no traces whatsoever.
Scattered throughout were numerous sheets of paper.
What caught my eye was a birdcage constructed to house carrier pigeons, yet no pigeon was visible anywhere—it appeared they had been sent long ago.
There were no traces of food, let alone water.
I approached cautiously and examined the scattered papers.
Strange symbols and numerous dots.
Peculiar patterns whose meaning I could not decipher.
The symbols appeared hastily written, breaking off midway.
Clearly, someone had arrived while he was writing, preventing him from completing it before leaving.
Otherwise, it would not have remained here.
I examined the contents carefully.
Nothing that seemed particularly significant.
It contained a desperate sentiment—with the coronation ceremony approaching soon, seeking help as quickly as possible.
I set the letter down gently and turned my attention to other objects.
After all, a letter with such trivial content held no meaning.
I examined each item present one by one, striving tirelessly to find another clue, yet nothing emerged.
Then, suddenly, I sensed a presence.
Certainly, someone approaching this forbidden place rapidly.
As if they knew of this location, their footsteps were remarkably unrestrained.
I erased my presence and melted into the darkness.
My gaze remained fixed on a single point, unwavering.

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