The Youngest Son of the Nanyang Jin Family - Chapter 158

—————
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 Nakhyang Jin Family — Chapter 158

* * *

“Hmm?”
“Krraaaaaaagh!”
I observed the man shrieking in agony.
Ants crawled across his naked body, swarming upward without mercy.
Flesh was being torn away while still alive, and they burrowed through every opening into his interior.
Was that all?
Unable to find an entrance, the ants began gnawing through his flesh to create one.
What had started as merely a dozen or so ants was now doubling and redoubling in number with each passing moment.
“Chu Won and Yeom Ji-hak are outside?”
“Krraaaagh! Y-yes! Please, just kill me! Aaaaagh-!”
They were devouring not just his flesh but his organs as well. The pain, both internal and external, was so overwhelming that words spilled from his lips unbidden.
At least a painless death would be a mercy.
I smiled.
“And I should believe that?”
“It’s the truth! I swear I haven’t lied!”
The man spoke desperately, pleading with me.
Kill him, he begged. Swing that blade already.
Such fervent desperation was written plainly across his eyes and features.
These were men trained to endure even the most extreme torture, yet the terror of the swarming ants combined with pain from within and without was surely driving them to the very limits of body and mind.
I nodded and rose to my feet.
I had heard enough.
If Chu Won and Yeom Ji-hak were not here, there was only one thing I needed to concern myself with.
“No, kill me! Do it!”
“If you stay still, you’ll die on your own. Why bother?”
“…!”
I waved my hand lightly, dismissing his anguished cries.
In that moment, as I gazed into the man’s trembling eyes, the ants swarmed in a dark tide, slowly consuming them and extinguishing their light.
“Krraaaaaaaaaagh-!”
It appeared that Yeom Ji-hak and Chu Won had indeed joined forces.
Moreover, they seemed to have dispatched Shin Gak’s full strength to retrieve the Jade Orb, which was presumed to be hidden here.
Divided into ten separate teams and scattered throughout, they were desperately searching for the Jade Orb even now.
Their objective was surely more than merely finding the Jade Orb.
The method to dismantle the Formation of Truth.
It was reasonable to assume this infiltration was for that purpose.
If they could only deactivate it, Chu Won and Yeom Ji-hak could make their move, and they would achieve their desired goal far more swiftly.
“In any case, it’s certain that those bastards have come.”
Judging from the fact that the intruders’ purpose was to dismantle the Formation of Truth and locate the Jade Orb, I concluded that this place had the highest probability of being their target.
Did that mean they had already searched outside?
I stroked my chin while entertaining such thoughts.
Perhaps those bastards had infiltrated the Southern Savage Palace long ago to find the Jade Orb but ultimately failed, and now they had returned to succeed in their attempt.
Come to think of it, before Gu Gunbaek disappeared, I had received a letter from him, and the fierce glint in his eyes at that time still seemed to flicker before my eyes.
Did that mean Gu Gunbaek and those bastards shared some kind of connection?
While I was lost in thought for a moment, I had already reached the entrance of the cave.
“You’ve returned? What of the one you took with you…?”
Jang Chuchyeong greeted me warmly, then checked the appearance of the person I had taken away. But when he couldn’t find them no matter how hard he looked, he seemed to swallow briefly and deliberately erase it from his mind.
“Good.”
“Yes, it would be. But more than that, why don’t you take a look inside? There are more supplies than expected.”
Jang Chuchyeong pointed inside with a grinning smile.
I was drawn along and entered through the narrow passage, where I could confirm the supplies that Shin Gak’s People had brought.
There was quite a bit of water and plenty of food.
Seeing that there were even clothes to change into, it was clear they had come in well-prepared.
And there was a single sheet of paper.
The moment I unfolded it, a map of this place that those bastards had investigated was revealed.
Whether they had conducted research to dismantle the Formation of Truth, several circles were marked in various locations.
Those areas were likely marked as suspicious.
“Rest for a while, then we move.”
“Are you planning to visit all of these places?”
“Yes, and there are also several matters I need to resolve.”
At that moment, Jang Chuchyeong tilted his head in confusion.
He seemed not to understand what matters needed to be resolved.
Seeing that, I let out a small sigh.
“How long do you intend to live without even knowing the direction from which blades come flying?”
“But isn’t that because of the Formation of Truth or something? It doesn’t seem like there’s much we can do about it.”
“The beasts living in this place don’t seem to be affected at all. There must certainly be a way.”
We must survive in a place like hell descended upon this world. But we are overwhelmingly outnumbered, and our enemies are so strong that the Yeongsal Corps cannot even compare.
To gain the upper hand in this battle, I needed to possess something different from those bastards.
I intended to resolve this by recovering my twisted senses.
Then.
“Krrrraaaaaaagh!”
A mad, agonized scream echoed through the air.
It was not the voice of the one who had just been attacked by the ants.
Jang Chuchyeong and I exchanged glances and nodded simultaneously, then rushed out of the cave and began surveying the surroundings.
From which direction was it coming?
I had found the direction of the echoing sound, but since I couldn’t confirm whether it was truly from that direction, my frustration was immense.
But then.
A deep, rumbling growl echoed through the air—!
With that strange sound, I saw trees toppling in the distance.
Chu Hyeongi and I immediately confirmed our direction and moved forward.
We advanced in absolute silence, suppressing every trace of our presence.
As I recalled the map I had committed to memory, I finally understood what lay in that direction.
Undoubtedly, it was the location where we had left markers to dismantle the Formation of Truth.
The moment we approached cautiously and took in the sight before us—
“Gasp?!”
“…!”
Both Jang Chuchyeong and I were struck speechless with horror.
A massive serpent lay before us.
A creature of such proportions that it would be unimaginable in the Central Plains.
Though not quite the legendary Imoogi said to have failed in its ascension to dragonhood, its overwhelming length and rough, scaled hide seemed impervious to any blade.
Crash—
As expected.
The sword of the man attacking it bounced off without even piercing its skin.
In his panic, as he stumbled backward, the serpent’s maw yawned open and struck with the speed of a hornet.
Crunch—!
In an instant, the Sect Member exploded in a spray of blood, his remains lodged between the serpent’s fangs before tumbling down mixed with gore.
But it did not end there.
The serpent lashed its tail with terrible freedom.
Boom, boom, boom—crash!
I gasped in horror as boulders and trees alike were shattered and sent flying.
Those struck were reduced to pulped masses, writhing as they lay sprawled, while the serpent casually crushed them beneath its coils and sought other prey.
“Retreat!”
At last, those who had gritted their teeth began to withdraw.
One could tell from the resentment burning in their eyes alone.
There were three locations marked on their map.
This was undoubtedly the strongest creature in this place.
Had it been a warning marker?
Crash—!
Then, several more bodies were hurled against the stone wall.
As I watched blood pour from their mouths and noses, their limp forms told me they were no longer among the living.
The serpent was cunning and supremely skilled.
As if determined to let none escape, it herded the fleeing ones like cattle, then in one fluid motion opened its maw wide and swallowed them whole.
The Shin Gak’s People who had been present vanished in an instant.
“This is extraordinary.”
“Young Master, we must leave. We’ll die here too!”
Jang Chuchyeong’s fists clenched as fear gripped him.
Despite having devoured and scattered a dozen Sect Masters in a single breath, enduring their fierce resistance and relentless assault, not a single significant wound marked the creature’s body.
But I paid no heed to Jang Chuchyeong’s words, focusing only on the snake’s movements.
The Singyeo followers, their senses twisted, couldn’t predict where the attacks were coming from at all.
Yet conversely, watching how that snake moved with precise awareness of its opponent’s attacks, it was undeniably clear that it possessed something fundamentally different from us.
“Hieek?!”
At that moment, the creature that had finished disposing of all its prey turned its head toward us.
Despite making no sound whatsoever, the fact that it turned naturally meant it had precisely located our position.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes!”
Jang Chuchyeong and I began running at a frenzied pace.
Though I could clearly sense the snake pursuing us from behind, knowing that we couldn’t afford to stop even for a moment, I didn’t look back.
The distance closed at a terrifying speed.
In an instant.
Zing—!
Catching a brief glimpse of something flashing past, I kicked Jang Chuchyeong beside me.
Crash—!
The giant snake’s tail whipped through the space between us.
We barely managed to evade by the thinnest of margins, but this was no time to let our guard down.
Zing—!
In that moment, as a vision of the future flashed before me again, I cried out without thinking.
“Jump!”
The instant my voice reached them, Jang Chuchyeong and I desperately kicked off the ground and leaped into the air.
Simultaneously, the snake’s tail that had been striking the earth swept through the surroundings in a flash.
Crash—!
Tremendous force and destructive power.
Even if I had drawn upon every ounce of my inner energy to block it, I could feel that nothing would have escaped unscathed—such was its overwhelming strength.
Yet I couldn’t afford to remain on the defensive like this.
Moreover, I didn’t have enough time to engage such a creature.
But the snake’s hide couldn’t be easily cut through.
Perhaps with luck I might inflict a wound, but that alone didn’t seem sufficient to escape from it.
Then there was only one way.
I gripped my sword.
Drawing upon the extreme depths of my inner force, I turned my head.
Feeling my eyes meet the snake’s gaze as it raised its head, I smiled and unleashed my blade.
Swish—!
A crescent-shaped sword aura flew forth at terrifying speed.
Crack—!
Shrieeeek!
As my sword aura, faster than the creature’s movements, sliced through one of its eyes, it began thrashing about in agony.
Boom-boom-boom-crash—!
With the giant snake rampaging, the surrounding area was instantly reduced to rubble.
“Run!”
I seized the moment and pushed myself faster, sprinting with renewed urgency.
The thrashing opponent receded into the distance, and the sounds that had seemed so close moments before grew faint and distant.
I didn’t stop—I kept running until the sounds vanished entirely, only then allowing myself to catch my breath.
“Huff, huff… huff… I nearly died.”
“Yes, thank goodness. If we’d fought any longer, we wouldn’t have made it.”
I shook my head, a bitter smile playing at my lips.
Had my strike at its eyes failed, there would have been precious few options left in that moment.
I would have been forced to draw upon my innate vital energy.
Without that, there was no way to pierce its hide.
I might have survived, but the cost of unleashing that power would have been severe.
Yet from this encounter, I had learned something crucial.
“You’re laughing in this situation?”
“Because I’ve gained something important.”
“Huh? What could you possibly have gained…?”
Watching Jang Chuchyeong’s bewildered expression, I smiled softly.
I could understand his confusion.
But I had obtained far more than enough—more than I’d dared hope for.
“Do you know what separates humans from beasts?”
“Appearance.”
“Yes, that’s certainly true. But that’s not what I mean.”
“Then what?”
“Senses. Beasts are born with senses far superior to humans.”
Yes, this was it.
It wasn’t simply that superior senses made them immune to the Formation of Truth.
They read the flow of air through their acute perception.
Without needing to see, they could discern their opponent through the trembling air, the wind, and the scents carried upon it.
Hunting provided the perfect example.
When hunters pursue animals downwind, the beasts catch the scent and flee—which is why hunters always move against the wind’s direction.
If I wanted to survive in this place, learning to read the air as they did was more urgent than learning to pierce their hides.
“It looks like I’ve lost some of my vital energy.”
I clicked my tongue and led Jang Chuchyeong forward.
A method had come to mind.

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