The Youngest Son of the Nanyang Jin Family - Chapter 157

—————
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 218

* * *

Sang-haeng moved at a leisurely pace as we entered the village.
Though it was a small place, it was one that Sang-haeng and Pyeong-haeng frequented often, so the marketplace displayed quite a few inns scattered about.
We naturally set down the cargo cart, and except for the Imperial Guards left to watch over it, we dispersed once more just as we had before, heading toward our lodgings.
I too secured a room, washed away my fatigue, and only after taking a meal could I finally catch my breath.
Night had fallen before I knew it.
After finishing dinner, Chu Hyeongi followed me into the room and sat before me, his brow furrowed.
“Is it really true? That story from earlier?”
“You mean the bandits?”
“Yes, do you think they’ll really come after us?”
“If we’re speaking hypothetically, the odds are high. Wouldn’t you be angry in their position?”
I offered a bitter smile, thinking of Gu Gunbaek.
Under the guise of training his disciples, he had returned after striking down countless bandits as if erasing his own past.
No matter how much one revered Gu Gunbaek like a god, if one suffered such a grievous blow, anyone would gnash their teeth in rage.
Moreover, since he had simply handed over his position and left, the bandits had been locked in endless struggles for control.
Would this festering desire for vengeance be directed at Gu Gunbaek?
No.
I had no doubt it would be aimed at me, the easier target.
At my words, Chu Hyeongi pressed his lips firmly together.
Since he had done such things himself, he could naturally understand how those in the opposite position would feel.
Yet he still frowned, dissatisfied.
“It seems the elder makes the mess while we’re left to clean it up.”
I scratched my head with a bitter smile.
Looking at the situation purely on its surface, Gu Gunbaek’s fault was clear, but I could not deny that this had all come about because I went searching for him in the first place.
“And then there’s the Hyang-un Sega…”
“They started the trouble first. Besides, it was Sa Do-cheon who brought them down.”
“But I’m involved in every step of the process. That makes me the perfect target for their frustration.”
I smiled and shook my head.
I could not know what Hyang Do-un was thinking.
But if he truly intended to target us, he would choose the most certain method.
Having escaped the grasp of the Blood Sect’s Danju, I could not claim to possess nothing.
I could not say how much it amounted to, but I could not shake the thought that it would be enough to scheme something.
Men who had skimmed money through various means would find it child’s play to hide funds from Sa Do-cheon’s eyes.
If such a man were burning with vengeance against the Jin Family, what would be the first thing he must do?
Naturally, he would need to gather power.
He could not hope to match the Jin Family in direct confrontation, but the difference between having power and having none would be immense.
He possessed both skill and considerable wealth.
There would be no shortage of factions willing to accept him, but he was more likely to choose freedom over being manipulated under Sa Do-cheon’s command—particularly those hostile to the Jin Family.
Naturally, the Green Forest came to mind.
Right now, there was no place grinding its teeth against the Jin Family quite like that one.
If these two were to join hands?
“What would we do if that actually happened?”
“Nothing much. It would simply become troublesome.”
As I spoke with a smile, Chu Hyeongi’s expression turned bewildered.
We could potentially lose the Imperial Guards or the Sword Masters—a situation that could prove dire—yet I had spoken of it so casually.
Because of this, Chu Hyeongi scratched his head frantically.
“Well then, I’ll go take a look around. I’m too anxious to just sit here doing nothing.”
He sprang to his feet and quickly slipped out of the room. It seemed he felt some guilt and thought he ought to do something about it.
In the end, all he would manage was a patrol.
I smiled faintly and gazed out the window, but soon turned my head at a sudden presence I felt.
Footsteps that had been echoing from afar gradually drew closer, and then the door opened.
“Here, medicinal broth.”
“Leave it.”
The one who entered so naturally was none other than Chaeseoha.
She held the medicinal broth and carefully set it before me.
The dark liquid, carrying the pungent aroma of potent medicinal herbs, was so repulsive that I had no desire to touch it.
It would certainly be bitter.
Quite bitter indeed.
As I unconsciously frowned, Chaeseoha’s sharp voice reached my ears.
“Drink it now. You won’t die from drinking that.”
With a cutting remark, she lifted the bowl and held it out toward me. Her resolve to ensure I drank it was so firm that I found myself nodding and accepting it without thinking.
It was indeed bitter.
Quite bitter indeed.
As I set down the empty bowl with a furrowed brow, a piece of candy suddenly popped into my mouth.
Looking at her with a dazed expression, I caught sight of her smiling face.
“You drink this every day—you should be getting used to it by now. I want you to say it tastes good even without the candy.”
“I have no talent for making bitter things taste pleasant.”
“How many times must I tell you? Bitter things are good for your body. Anyway, are you alright? Chu Hyeongi’s expression didn’t look good.”
“I’m fine. Nothing has actually happened yet.”
The situation had not yet unfolded.
Everything from beginning to end was mere speculation, so there was no point in dwelling on it deeply.
However, I did need to keep it in mind.
And I had to prepare for contingencies.
I was now the leader guiding the merchant caravan.
Many lives depended on every small decision, so I needed to have plans ready for every possible situation.
“In times like these, an elder’s way of thinking is truly the best.”
“You mean Gu Gunbaek, sir?”
“That’s right. Once we’ve beaten them all down, it’s settled.”
“Ah-.”
In that moment, So-ha nodded as if she understood something.
Gu Gunbaek was the type who cared nothing for consequences or propriety—he simply crushed everything with overwhelming force and called it resolved. There was no need to overthink such an approach.
After entertaining that thought for a moment, I let out a hollow laugh and gazed out the window.
Though the inn was said to be substantial, this was still a small village. Moreover, the hour was late, and the streets were devoid of wanderers.
Occasionally, patrolling constables could be seen, but aside from them, the place was quiet enough that it should have been empty.
Yet something caught my eye.
Figures moving about in the darkness.
They all seemed to be surveying the inn, conversing with one another, before dispersing once more.
I watched them intently, resting my chin in my hand.
“As expected, they won’t simply let us leave, will they?”
“Who’s following us?”
“Whether they’re bandits or someone else, there are those conducting surveillance.”
The moment those words left my lips.
Whoosh—!
Suddenly, two figures hurled themselves toward the street.
Two people.
Namgung Yeon and Chu Hyeongi.
They must have sensed the presence of those watching and attempted to apprehend them, but it appeared too late—those figures had already fled.
Chu Hyeongi grumbled in complaint, blaming Namgung Yeon, while Namgung Yeon listened in silence, his gaze cold as if looking upon refuse.
I clicked my tongue lightly upon witnessing this.
“This seems more troublesome than I anticipated.”
I exhaled a sigh and finally withdrew my gaze.
There was no sense of a surging presence, so it didn’t appear they intended to launch an ambush this very night.
From that alone, I could discern their purpose was mere reconnaissance.
Who could they be?
I entertained that thought briefly before shaking my head, deeming it meaningless.
Whether bandits or Hyang Do-un’s faction—what did it matter?
I smiled and gazed aimlessly at the empty night streets, then slowly rose from my seat and stretched languidly.
Glancing to the side, I caught sight of So-ha’s expression—her eyes bright and gleaming, her countenance betraying a clear desire to continue our conversation.
I found myself smiling and spoke to her firmly.
“What are you doing? It’s late. Go to bed.”
“Yes, yes. I’m going now.”

* * *

Deep within the mountains of Shanxi, hidden from the world.
There, individuals of imposing stature and formidable build had gathered as one.
Unkempt beards and various weapons clutched in their hands.
The sinister aura they radiated—as if they might march to war at any moment—made it abundantly clear that the murderous intent they harbored toward someone transcended mere jest.
The men’s gazes converged upon the center.
There sat the wielder of a colossal axe, occupying the throne of the new Greenwood King.
He was Geuk Tae-cheon, the current Greenwood King who had claimed the position in place of Gu Gunbaek.
Geuk Tae-cheon surveyed each and every one gathered before him.
The majority of faction leaders among the Seventy-two Factions had been decimated in the bloody struggle for the throne.
So few remained that they could not maintain all the mountain strongholds of the Seventy-two Factions.
Yet what gnawed at him most was that the former king’s own disciple had attacked them and destroyed their strongholds.
Consequently, precious few survived.
Excluding the scattered strongholds struggling to survive across various regions, those defending the main headquarters numbered merely around a hundred.
These were the most formidable warriors currently guarding the Greenwood’s primary stronghold.
Yet Geuk Tae-cheon smiled nonetheless.
Because a reliable ally stood at his side.
When he turned his gaze, there was a man.
One who stood with a gentle smile.
Though he wore the robes of a scholar seemingly unconnected to the Greenwood, none dared to dismiss or disrespect him.
His name was Hyang Do-un.
Once a notable figure of the Hyang-un Sega, he had transcended mere merchant-class origins to reach the level of a Powerful Expert of extraordinary caliber.
Judging by how effortlessly he subdued even the subordinates present, one might suspect he had already reached the pinnacle of martial prowess.
The fierce, unpredictable war over the Greenwood King’s throne could only have ended so abruptly because Hyang Do-un had aided Geuk Tae-cheon.
Flap—!
Then.
A carrier pigeon descended from the sky with graceful wingbeats.
As the scholar beside him retrieved the message tied to its leg and presented it, he nodded while reading its contents.
“There is no doubt. He has entered Shanxi.”
“Damn bastards!”
Geuk Tae-cheon’s brow furrowed as he spat out a curse.
The former Greenwood King’s disciple and Jin Cheon-u.
The moment he recalled those two, his teeth ground so fiercely that blood surged backward through his veins.
One could perhaps accept that the former Greenwood King had stepped down from his position to follow Jin Cheon-u. But what transpired afterward was utterly unforgivable.
They attacked the Seventy-two Factions.
One could not even count how many strongholds were destroyed and obliterated.
Some were killed, others crippled beyond recovery.
As if declaring complete enmity with the Greenwood itself, they shattered the strongholds and mercilessly pummeled every Greenwood disciple within.
Naturally, the Greenwood’s prestige plummeted to the depths.
“Jin Cheon-u…! I shall repay you without fail.”
The central figure at the heart of all this turmoil.
That man is none other than Jin Cheon-u, the Young Master of the Jin Family of Luoyang.
Considering the long-standing relationship between the Jin Family of Luoyang and the Green Forest, this was something that should never have been done. Such an act could not occur without showing contempt for the Green Forest itself.
“We cannot simply let him pass, can we?”
“Exactly! Those who mock the Green Forest must pay the price!”
Geuk Tae-cheon struck the ground with the axe in his hand and laughed.
He was Geuk Tae-cheon, brimming with pride in the Great Green Forest.
Now that such a man had taken his position and sought to restore the Green Forest to its rightful place, those who had tarnished its name would surely face the consequences.
“What of the Hyang-un Sega’s vengeance?”
“Haha, if the Green Forest takes action, we shall also do our utmost to assist you.”
“Haha— that is most reassuring to hear.”
Geuk Tae-cheon burst into hearty laughter and turned his gaze.
Dozens of figures visible among the countless members of the Green Forest gathered here.
They were the retainers of Hyang Do-un and members of the fallen Hyang-un Sega.
Each possessed exceptional skill, and they would prove invaluable in this matter.
Satisfied, he rose from his seat with a contented smile.
“Come— let us go!”

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