The Youngest Son of the Nanyang Jin Family - Chapter 174

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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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The Youngest Son of the Jin Family of Luoyang – Chapter 235

A space where ten thousand years of ice jade lay imprisoned.
The magnificent and elegant landscape possessed a beauty so breathtaking that once glimpsed, it could never be forgotten.
Unlike the howling northern winds and snow of the Northern Sea, yet unmistakably carrying the bitter chill that proclaimed its location within those waters.
Though no breeze stirred the air, it felt as though the very soul was seized and shaken.
Gang Cheonho and I occupied such a place.
Facing each other across a table, a bottle of wine beside each of us.
With our mortal enemy before our eyes, we drank with unhurried ease, displaying our composure.
Neither of us entertained thoughts of a sudden attack. Nor did we harbor such petty notions as poisoning the wine.
We simply drank, facing one another.
As though raising cups with an old and trusted friend.
“Kahahaha— I suspected someone would come, but to think it was actually you! I must say, that Auk fellow is truly formidable. But what possessed you to show yourself? Do you wish to die?”
“No matter what schemes I employed, you wouldn’t believe them anyway.”
“Kahahaha! This is magnificent, truly!”
Gang Cheonho burst into raucous laughter, raising his wine bottle like a trumpet. Since he had personally come forward, concealment held no meaning whatsoever.
He would employ one absolute method.
From my position, struggling to survive, desperate resistance was necessary, and thus I had no choice but to reveal my true nature.
Therefore, I made no attempt to hide it.
Then, his curious voice cut through all context and fell like a stone.
“The Shadow Assassins?”
“As you know, I killed them all. They were attempting to assault the Jin Family.”
“Kh— they were quite useful to command. Is there nothing else?”
“I’m uncertain whether there is or not.”
I offered a subtle smile and attempted to deflect, but one cannot deceive a beast’s instincts. He bared his fangs in a grin and seemed to confirm something.
“The Four Great Families of the East?”
“Thanks to them, I ate well.”
“Hehehehe— then perhaps you were also present when Jichak died?”
“I was, but I did not kill him.”
“I know, I know. It would be impossible with your strength. Gwanbaek… that one, yes?”
I did not bother to respond.
Yet silence is merely affirmation.
Gang Cheonho smacked his lips and took another draught of wine.
His pupils wavered slightly as he recalled Gwanbaek. It was evident that he too harbored fear of that man.
I observed as he swiftly composed himself.
Until now, I had answered his questions. Now the roles reversed.
“About the Gok Ok that Auk intended to give to the Sword Emperor. Was it truly destroyed?”
“Kyakakaka—! Yes, that’s right! It’s intact. I don’t know what happened, but it returned in perfect condition. Now it simply awaits its true master.”
“As expected….”
“The fool who gets deceived bears the blame. Wouldn’t you agree?”
I nodded readily at Gang Cheonho’s words.
In the martial world, the one who falls for deception is at fault.
I couldn’t discern what method Auk had employed, but it was certain that he had thoroughly destroyed everything before Mo Yong-cheon’s eyes, driving him to madness.
Yet considering the concealed abilities he possessed, I wondered if he could deceive everyone present through some means.
Gok Ok possessed such extraordinary power, after all.
In any case, what happened then was indeed my loss.
My brow furrowed, but I soon let it go with composure.
Then I posed my next question.
“Why does Gwanbaek oppose you?”
“Khahaha! Well, it’s nothing much. He fled with something belonging to the Divine. I never thought he’d survive, though.”
From Gang Cheonho’s words, I grasped the situation readily enough.
Undoubtedly, he had escaped with Gok Ok.
And it belonged to the man called the Divine.
From his tone, it was clear as day that the Divine himself had taken action, and as a result, Gwanbaek must have come to the brink of death.
Recalling Gwanbaek’s appearance from before, his survival was nothing short of a miracle. So it was hardly strange for the Divine’s followers to harbor such doubts.
I added one more question to that.
“Who is the Divine?”
“…Do you wish to die?”
“Is it something I shouldn’t ask about?”
“Do not speak of that one with irreverent lips. It makes me want to tear you apart.”
The atmosphere shifted in an instant.
The expression of the man who had been laughing hardened, and his eyes gleamed with lethal intent.
Zzzt—
Merely watching the fierce aura of a predator swell without restraint around my body, I could tell that one more word would bring a fist crashing down upon me.
I wisely abandoned that line of questioning.
Then I posed my final remaining question.
“Then, what exactly is Gok Ok? I understand it possesses special power, but is it something worth killing so many people to obtain?”
“Khahaha! That is not something insignificant beings like us need to know. Only the Divine understands such things.”
Gang Cheonho burst into hearty laughter and shook his head.
It wasn’t that he refused to answer.
It was evident that he himself knew nothing of Gok Ok. He simply accepted it as a power bestowed by the Divine, using it naturally.
I had no choice but to nod and raise the wine bottle to my lips.
Gang Cheonho, too, drained the remaining wine in one gulp, then rose from his seat and pointed toward a location.
“What you seek lies there.”
“You desire it as well, don’t you?”
“Khihi! That hardly matters. Only the living will carry anything away from here.”
I turned my gaze to look at the place he indicated.
A single massive tree.
A tree adorned with glittering frost flowers, adding beauty to the space, caught my eye. The grandeur it emanated suggested it had stood sentinel in this place for a very long time.
I gazed at it with half-lidded eyes to confirm—a single transparent Gok Ok embedded in the tree trunk.
Observing that which seemed to symbolize the Northern Ice Palace itself, I slowly drew my sword.
Gang Cheonho’s eyes gleamed as he watched.
“Are you confident?”
“Hard to say, but considering I’ve survived this long, I’ll find a way through.”
“Hehehehe— I look forward to it, young one.”
“Come at me, beast.”
Flash—!
In that instant, Gang Cheonho’s gaze and momentum transformed.
Swelling outward.
A savage aura expanding beyond all restraint.
The moment I felt it and tightened my grip on the sword.
Crash—!
His fist and my blade collided, creating a violent shockwave.
The surroundings were instantly devastated.
The beautiful landscape was torn asunder, a massive crater gouged into the earth, and debris scattered in all directions on the raging winds.
Whoosh—!
Simultaneously, my body was driven backward.
The difference in strength between us became unmistakably clear as I continued retreating. Even as I slashed my sword again, it met only empty air, cutting through nothing.
He was fast.
“Kahahaha! Too slow!”
He had inherited the Mountain Lord’s power completely.
Moving with agility that transcended normal limits, he closed the distance in an instant, his claws raking toward me.
I deflected it away.
Clang—!
“…!?”
I redirected his greatest force toward his weakest point.
Surprise flickered in Gang Cheonho’s eyes—a technique he hadn’t anticipated.
As if I were reading his entire martial art.
Clang— Clang clang— Clang— Clang clang—!
Successive sword strikes erupted in sparks, and his movements grew even more vicious. With relentless fists and claws raining down, his entire body a weapon, I concentrated with every ounce of focus.
“Insufficient—!”
A rough voice followed.
As if to say this level was nowhere near enough.
Whoosh—!
Simultaneously, his claw raked across my chest.
Fast and sharp.
It was barely a graze, yet I felt my skin split clearly, and his fist followed immediately after, striking my face.
Boom—!
With tremendous impact, my body was hurled backward.
The moment I barely regained my balance and turned my gaze away.
A sharp whistle cut through the air—!
A single image flashed in my mind, sending a chill down my spine.
I threw my body upward into the empty sky.
“Damn! So that was it?!”
A tremendous crash—!
The fist that had come at me suddenly struck the ground, carving out a massive crater, but Gang Cheonho paid it no mind and fixed his gaze upon me as I rose into the air.
Then he charged forward.
He leaped high, closing the distance between us in the sky with a single bound.
His menacing fist carried a fierce momentum as it swung toward me.
A deafening boom—!
The crushing force felt as though it would pulverize my entire body.
I drew upon my protective inner energy to its limit, yet the pressure bearing down on me was extraordinary.
My skin tore open.
Gritting my teeth against the sensation, I swung my sword.
The blade caught his force, and I rose even higher into the air.
“This is impossible!”
Surprise flashed across Gang Cheonho’s face as he struggled to comprehend the situation, and seeing that, I unleashed a shimmering sword energy like heat waves.
“…!?”
Shock erupted in Gang Cheonho’s eyes.
A torrential cascade of strikes—!
Explosive impacts thundered—!
Brilliant sword energy poured down relentlessly.
Dozens of strikes battered his body mercilessly while reducing the surrounding area to rubble.
“Hah! That was close.”
Yet Gang Cheonho remained unscathed.
Having inherited everything from the Mountain Lord, his body was exceptionally resilient, and with his protective inner energy layered upon it, my incomplete sword energy could not easily pierce through.
I furrowed my brow and steadied my mind.
A heavy impact—!
In that instant, his fist suddenly arrived and struck my abdomen.
The blow was so powerful that all the breath in my lungs was expelled, and the shock reverberated through my head, causing my vision to blur violently.
“Die!”
Then his hand moved.
The sharp sensation was unmistakably terrifying. If I took that strike, I would be torn into four pieces.
I desperately extended my arm.
“…!”
Three needles shot forth in rapid succession—!
They flew toward Gang Cheonho in an instant. The distance was too close to evade easily, and blocking them would prove difficult.
However.
“You think you can fool me!”
Pap-pap-pap!
His reflexes transcended the realm of the ordinary.
In this cramped distance, he extended his hand to deflect all the poison needles, then swept his arm in a wide arc.
The Mountain Lord’s claws came slashing down.
A sound so piercingly sharp it sent chills down my spine, and my body was on the verge of being torn asunder.
Shhhhaaaack!
A biting cold sensation swept between me and Gang Cheonho from nowhere, intercepting the Mountain Lord’s claws.
Boom!
Though the force was meager, its effect was undeniable.
Moreover, I could see that the hand which had taken the blow was now frozen solid.
Was that the reason?
Gang Cheonho furrowed his brow and retreated sharply, gazing at his own hand before turning his gaze toward the woman, his eyes narrowing.
“What is this? I didn’t invite her.”
“Haa, haa, haa….”
Standing there was a woman.
The Junior Princess of the Northern Ice Palace.
The woman whose name I did not even know glared at Gang Cheonho with eyes burning with fury, drawing upon all her strength as she unleashed waves of frigid energy.
“I will kill you…!”
Her voice dripped with seething rage, her gaze sharp as a blade.
There was an old saying that when a woman harbors resentment, frost falls even in summer—and this moment was its perfect embodiment.
I offered a bitter smile as I regarded her.
Then I adjusted my grip on my sword and drew a slow, measured breath.
“Shall we coordinate our attack?”
“….”
She said nothing.
Yet as if she had instinctively realized she could not overcome him alone, she nodded and fixed her gaze solely upon Gang Cheonho.
The unwavering resolve to cut him down.
Alongside the keenly honed sword energy, a bone-chilling cold that would freeze all things erupted forth.
I felt it too and steeled my resolve.
Yet grateful as I was for the woman’s appearance, even if Cheon Yul, Jang Chuchyeong, and Namgung Yeon were all gathered here, we could not defeat him.
The gap between us and Gang Cheonho was of such magnitude.
Having inherited everything from the Mountain Lord, he surpassed us not only in agility but in all five senses, in raw power, and most critically in the very realm upon which he stood.
But could I retreat?
Impossible.
I could not flee with this beast before my eyes.
For it is the nature of beasts to pursue fleeing prey.
I steadied my breathing once more.
My senses remained locked upon Gang Cheonho as I shifted my gaze to survey my surroundings.
Then my eyes fell upon the Gok Ok embedded within the strange tree.
A way to break through this impasse.
Though I could not discern what power he possessed, considering the countless abilities I had witnessed thus far, it seemed far more likely to prove beneficial than to hinder me.
I narrowed my eyes and formed a faint smile at the corners of my mouth.
Now the true test begins.

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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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