The Youngest Son of the Nanyang Jin Family - Chapter 190

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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 190

Ma Un surveyed his surroundings with emotionless eyes.
Taking in the countless corpses scattered before him, he naturally turned his gaze toward the clan leaders gathered in one corner.
The moment his eyes fixed upon them.
Thud—
Every person in the hall prostrated themselves, their foreheads pressed to the ground.
These were the very ones who trembled at the mere mention of the name Muk-hwang.
Now that the man himself had appeared, their terror was entirely justified.
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 remained silent.
Withdrawing his gaze from those with bowed heads, he turned to regard 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 accomplish.
Yet because he was certain that even such schemes would not hinder his path forward, he paid them no mind whatsoever.
Perhaps he had even found it amusing.
In the past, such indifference had become his fatal mistake, leading to his death.
But now things were different.
In a situation where no powerful expert existed who could stand against Muk-hwang, even if Nam Tae-cheon’s plan had been executed, it would not 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 apathy that had lingered was gone. No—rather, his eyes now gleamed with genuine interest.
For I had committed something utterly absurd.
I bowed my head lightly.
“Follow me.”
With that, Muk-hwang turned and exited the hall.
As though the sight of the clan leaders with their heads buried meant nothing to him, or as though he harbored no interest in them whatsoever, he moved forward without hesitation.
I paused briefly to confirm this, then followed in Muk-hwang’s wake.
As I proceeded 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.
Though Muk-hwang had spoken the command to follow to me, he had not directed it at the others, so Gu Ma-hyeop must have certainly blocked the path of Jang Chuchyeong and Namgung Yeon.
As Muk-hwang and I walked onward for some time, at last his 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, glanced at me with a subtle gaze.
Then, as if confirming something, his eyes gleamed with certainty and the corners of his mouth lifted into a smile.
“Geomcheon was the same. He read the celestial secrets through divination—do you do the same?”
“No, I don’t.”
An unexpected topic about Gwanbaek suddenly emerged.
Even as I denied it outright, Ma Un simply laughed, as if he had already arrived at an unshakeable conviction.
Well, anyone would think the same.
A complete outsider suddenly enters the Demonic Sect, from the Demon Abyss to the Heavenly Demon Peak.
And the subsequent battle with Nam Tae-cheon could easily appear as if I had come to prevent something about to unfold.
I scratched my head at this absurd situation.
But there was no need to argue against it.
If he was creating excuses on his own, there was no reason for me to overthink things.
As I finished my thoughts and looked at him again, a voice tinged with curiosity reached my ears.
“But it’s quite fascinating. With your skill level, I didn’t think you could defeat Nam Tae-cheon.”
“Is that why you were watching?”
“Ha, I had no intention of intervening.”
That statement would be sincere.
If I had been pushed back during my fight with Nam Tae-cheon, Ma Un would have remained a mere spectator without stepping in.
Since I had initiated this situation of my own judgment rather than at his behest, he would have believed I should resolve it myself.
I smiled and nodded.
“I don’t fight battles I can’t win.”
“So you believed from the start that you could win.”
Nam Tae-cheon is undoubtedly powerful, but he devoted himself more to the Balanced Martial Arts than to the Heavenly Demon Scripture.
The problem was that these two martial arts didn’t align with each other.
That sense of discord I felt in 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 exactly this.
But he couldn’t have corrected it.
The Balanced Martial Arts were the Tyrant’s Way.
Overwhelming destructive force, quite literally.
With power that could shatter anything, it would have been more than enough to captivate his heart.
What if it had been otherwise?
I pondered briefly, but the result remained the same.
From the beginning, I never entertained the thought of losing against those bastards.
At that very moment, satisfaction appeared on Ma Un’s face as he gazed intently at me.
“That was quite a decent preliminary engagement. But you didn’t do this without ulterior motive. Unlike the Chai Family’s debt, is there something you wish from me?”
“I wish to have a sword forged. By Chung-mu himself.”
“Ha ha ha—to the one who forges swords for the Heavenly Demon? That’s quite a bold request.”
Ma Un regarded me with an expression of slight bewilderment.
He would not be ignorant of Chung-mu’s skill, the Master of the Heavenly Demon Forging Chamber, nor would he be unaware that Chung-mu existed solely to craft weapons for the Heavenly Demon.
Thus, this matter falls outside the Demonic Cult’s regulations.
I could sense it from Ma Un’s tone alone.
In all of Tianshan Demonic Cult history, such a thing had never occurred even once.
Yet Ma Un nodded in acknowledgment.
“Thank you. And there is one more thing… if I may.”
“You truly have no fear. Have you forgotten who I am?”
Forget? 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 more than a trifling matter.
Because of the deeds I had committed, considering the exalted status that would soon be elevated, it was merely a pittance.
I smiled softly.
“Please allow me to investigate Nam Tae-cheon’s residence.”
“That place?”
“Yes, though there is one other matter as well…”
“Haha, what else could there be?”
“It is trivial, so I shall speak of it later.”
At my words, Nam Tae-cheon smiled faintly and nodded.
It was indeed a minor matter.
For now, I prioritize something else.
Nam Tae-cheon is connected to those people.
Having cultivated martial arts of equal standing for so long, he must have built connections over a considerable span of time.
Perhaps I could obtain a small clue about them.
I had no intention of letting that slip away.
Above all, that was the greatest reward.

* * *

The night grew even deeper.
Muk-hwang, whom I had faced, had vanished without a trace, and I retraced my steps back toward Nam Tae-cheon’s quarters.
Though only a brief time had passed, it seemed many hands had been mobilized—the corpses scattered throughout the hall had disappeared without a trace.
Moreover, I sensed no presence of living people within.
It was as though no one existed in this place at all.
The household members who had been alive were nowhere to be found, 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, there could be no better opportunity to investigate.
I advanced toward that place without hesitation.
As I stepped into the empty interior with light footfalls, the thick stench of blood still lingered in the air.
There was only one reason.
Blood stains still remained scattered throughout the courtyard.
I entered slowly, surveying my surroundings.
Thud, thud—
The sound of my footsteps echoed unusually loud.
“One might think a ghost would emerge.”
After passing through countless rooms, I came to a stop at one particular location. Upon opening the door and stepping inside, my eyes were drawn to a space ornate enough to suggest it was indeed the quarters of a Clan Leader.
Yet nothing remarkable caught my eye.
I moved about, searching the interior and checking for hidden spaces, but I could find nothing—as if no such thing existed in this place.
That made no sense.
They must have exchanged communications with those people, and there had to be a location where such methods were employed.
Something possible within this confined space called Tianshan.
Suppressing a groan, I began searching the other rooms as well.
Searching through countless rooms one by one was far from easy, yet I made every effort not to overlook anything.
“At this point, it seems better to assume it doesn’t exist.”
I offered a bitter smile and exhaled a hollow sigh.
It was hidden so thoroughly as to inspire such thoughts.
But it definitely exists.
I held that conviction.
I had already searched the interior completely.
The fact that I still could not find it meant, ultimately, that it was constructed outside.
Once again, I wandered through the hall searching for traces.
As I furrowed my brow, contemplating a location that still refused to reveal itself—
Thunk—!
The moment my foot came down, I heard a peculiar sound.
I stopped in my tracks and looked around without thinking.
This was the training grounds.
Standing there, I stomped on the spot where my foot had landed once more.
Thong—!
As the sound that revealed the presence of a hollow space seized my ears, I let out a laugh of disbelief and grasped my sword.
“So tormenting people is your hobby.”
Crash—!
As the blade flashed, a terrible sound erupted, and through the severed cross-section, a massive opening revealed itself.
A rather spacious chamber.
It was large enough to accommodate thirty adults with room to spare, and I suspected the reason for excavating such a cavernous opening lay precisely here.
Turning my gaze, I observed countless marks etched across the walls.
Each one bore the unmistakable traces of martial cultivation.
As I examined the marks carved into the stone, I needed no deep contemplation to recognize these as the techniques of Tiger Form.
“He carved into this place like a madman.”
Every direction bore the imprints of Tiger Form.
From the oldest to the most recent.
I could sense how deeply absorbed he had been in his martial training.
From this alone, I could discern how utterly he had neglected his foundational cultivation.
Of course, Tiger Form ranked among the most formidable of the Twelve Forms.
Moreover, as it symbolized the Tiger, the martial technique was vicious, rough, and savage.
It was a technique embodying the Mountain Lord’s ferocity, and it could never be cultivated alongside other martial arts.
Tigers, after all, do not form packs.
Undoubtedly, the more he cultivated it, the more his vital energy and body were being consumed, yet Nam Tae-cheon failed to recognize this.
He likely believed only that his destructive power was growing, that he himself was becoming stronger.
I withdrew my gaze from the walls and surveyed the surroundings.
The opposite of where the training marks lay.
A space created with meticulous care, bearing no traces whatsoever.
Scattered throughout were numerous sheets of paper.
What caught my eye was a cage constructed to house a carrier pigeon, yet no pigeon was visible anywhere—it appeared to have been sent long ago.
There were no traces of food, not even water.
I approached cautiously and examined the scattered papers.
Strange symbols and countless dots.
An incomprehensible pattern whose meaning eluded me.
The symbols appeared hastily written, broken off mid-composition.
Clearly, he had left without completing the contents, interrupted by someone’s arrival.
Otherwise, these would not have remained.
I carefully studied the contents.
Nothing particularly remarkable about what was written.
It contained a desperate plea for aid, hoping to seek help as quickly as possible before the coronation ceremony commenced.
I set the letter down gently and turned my attention to other objects.
A letter with such trivial contents held no real significance anyway.
I examined each item methodically, searching diligently for another clue, yet nothing emerged.
Then, suddenly, I sensed a presence.
Undoubtedly, someone approaching this forbidden place rapidly.
The footsteps were remarkably unguarded, as if they knew of this location.
I erased my presence and melted into the darkness.
My gaze remained fixed in one direction, unwavering.

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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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