The Youngest Son of the Nanyang Jin Family - Chapter 217
—————
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 217
* * *
As time passed, the Changryong Dan was gradually stabilizing.
However, the psychological toll from what the Demon Flower Sect had inflicted seemed to weigh heavily, and it was difficult to find anyone who smiled easily.
Some had been torn apart alive before their eyes, and many others had witnessed their comrades dying in gruesome fashion.
It would have been strange not to be traumatized.
It seemed unlikely that the Changryong Dan would resume activities anytime soon.
They might even disband entirely because of this incident.
After two days of tending to the members’ conditions and providing treatment, we were finally able to depart from the encampment.
It was thanks to the Blue Heaven Sect’s arrival.
They had been dispatched urgently, assessed the situation, and led the dispirited Changryong Dan back to the Martial Arts Alliance.
As I led the procession toward Shanxi at the very front, Jang Chuchyeong, who had somehow attached himself to my side, furrowed his brow with a displeased expression.
“If it were me, I wouldn’t have slept a wink from the rage.”
“Most would feel the same. Moryeong Hyeok won’t find it easy to escape responsibility for this.”
“Is that so?”
“There are quite a few dead and injured. The eldest son of the Hwangbo Family even had his arm torn off. Even the Eight Great Families, as tightly bound as they are, will have difficulty overlooking this.”
My casual remark drew everyone’s attention.
They all seemed curious about what would unfold in the Alliance.
Not just the Eight Great Families, but the young heirs of the prestigious clans comprising the Alliance had been torn apart and killed.
All because of Moryeong Hyeok’s selfishness.
It couldn’t be dismissed as merely his problem—the numerous families that had supported the Moyong Family would certainly reconsider their positions.
The Sword Emperor’s position would remain secure, but the eyes watching him would no longer be the same, and above all, the Number One Sword Sect’s standing would be shaken.
Moryeong Hyeok and Mo Yong-cheon would each sink deeper into an inescapable quagmire.
I intended to shake things up a bit more.
To make them flounder helplessly in that mire.
It would be the Namgung Family that would bury that deep swamp with earth.
As I smiled faintly, Cheon Yul, who had drawn near, wore a peculiar expression.
“If you didn’t like him, why not just kill him? Why keep him alive?”
Cheon Yul’s expression showed clear confusion.
His words were accurate—my displeasure was undeniable.
The memories of what happened because he had seized my ankle were still vivid before my eyes.
My heart desired to wring his neck a hundred times over, yet there was reason I refrained from doing so immediately.
“He’s already walking into the hellfire of his own making. Why sever his breath prematurely?”
“Aha! So that was your thinking. I hadn’t realized.”
The arrogant offspring of the Moyong Family.
Compared to our first meeting, it was no exaggeration to say he was already greatly broken. However, he needed to ripen a bit more before the harvest.
Only when body and mind had completely crumbled, when everything in his grasp had scattered like dust, and he sat collapsed on the ground staring at empty hands—only then would the time be right.
Simply cutting off one’s breath is far too easy, isn’t it?
During the Black Ox Society incident, in that moment when I tried to break his neck.
I wanted to express infinite gratitude to Paeng Dohan for standing in my way.
“But the Number One Sword Sect collapsing… I can hardly imagine it.”
“Hasn’t it already happened once? Don’t think too much of it.”
At those words, Cheon Yul glanced at Namgung Baek and Namgung Yeon. He seemed quite startled when he heard the name Namgung Family, but in reality, it probably didn’t resonate deeply with him.
The current Number One Sword Sect is the Moyong Family, and by the time he was born, the Namgung Family had already fallen.
For him, it was only natural that the Namgung Family name meant nothing.
In that instant, Cheon Yul’s brow furrowed.
I could sense what that meant.
“It’s too late to cut out the roots now.”
“Haha— is there nothing we can do even now?”
“Would you like to be cut down first?”
“Ugh….”
Cheon Yul let out a groan while crossing his arms.
Just from looking at his complicated expression, one could tell his wariness toward Namgung Yeon was far more intense than toward Moryeong Hyeok.
If he were to grow any larger, he would surely come to see him as an obstacle in Sa Do-cheon’s path.
“Ah, forget it. I’ll leave such worries to my future self when the headaches come.”
“A wise decision.”
I smiled and casually turned my head away.
Cheon Yul was making every effort to shake off thoughts of Namgung Yeon, but it seemed far from easy, as he continued to sigh repeatedly.
In times like these, it’s best to redirect one’s attention elsewhere.
I posed a casual question.
“More importantly, we’ll be entering Shanxi soon. Are you prepared to return?”
“Ah, I keep telling you I’m not going, yet you keep trying to send me off.”
“What reason do you have for insisting on staying?”
“A reason to stay… isn’t it obvious? Being beside you makes me feel like I could grow stronger?”
Cheon Yul’s lips curled upward in a grin.
He had already experienced battle once before.
There was no way he didn’t understand that the fighting there was ‘real,’ so it was only natural he attributed the difference between us to that.
The difference between one who swings a sword on a martial platform and one who always faces life and death while wielding a blade was bound to exist.
He had come to realize just how comfortable an environment he had grown up in.
To grow stronger and to become someone capable of leading Sa Do-cheon forward, he could not settle for mediocrity.
Moreover, with Heavenly Emperor Cheon Gong-hak as his grandfather, any slight mistake would inevitably lead to constant comparison with his grandfather.
So that’s why he was building up his strength and experience?
“Surpassing the renown of Heavenly Emperor Cheon Gong-hak won’t be easy. You might even die before then.”
“Haha— it won’t be easy, right? I think the same way too… but when I look at you, I keep getting this feeling that I should do it.”
Cheon Yul gazed at me intently, his eyes gleaming.
Eyes as if looking upon a rival.
What dwelled within them was the determination to catch up to me no matter what.
If that were possible, it seemed he held a firm conviction that he could even surpass his grandfather.
I shrugged lightly.
“That’s impossible.”
“Ugh, you’re burning with ambition yet crushing my spirit like this.”
Cheon Yul grumbled and turned his head with a disgruntled expression.
I couldn’t help but smile at his reaction.
“Ah—I can see it now.”
Just then.
Namgung Baek, who had been leading the way ahead, spotted a distant ridge. He then slowly surveyed the surroundings to assess if anything was amiss before turning back to me.
“Once we cross that ridge, we’ll be entering Sa Do-cheon’s territory.”
“We’ve fallen behind schedule more than expected.”
“Haha, but at this pace, it seems we’ll arrive soon enough.”
“Yes, assuming nothing unexpected happens.”
Sa Do-cheon’s territory was renowned for being more treacherous than other regions.
It wasn’t simply a matter of poor roads.
Those called the heterodox sects who walked these paths were mostly unrestrained and bellicose in nature.
A place where drawing swords erupts merely from making eye contact while traveling.
Such people could be called the heterodox practitioners, and Shanxi, being where Sa Do-cheon resided, harbored the most foul-tempered among them.
After all, wasn’t Heavenly Emperor Cheon Gong-hak himself the same?
I recalled that time and turned my head.
“Is there anything we should be cautious about in Shanxi?”
“Things to be cautious about….”
Cheon Yul swallowed a groan and pondered various matters.
Though he seemed to be searching his thoughts, the problem was that I had asked the wrong person entirely.
Cheon Yul was Soocheonchu of Sa Do-cheon.
No one would dare threaten him, so he seemed to regard Shanxi itself as a safe place where nothing would occur.
I subtly turned my head.
My attention was on none other than Namgung Baek.
Given that a large-scale merchant caravan was moving, the Jin Family would have certainly used their intelligence network to scout Shanxi thoroughly.
“Ah, yes! Since our relations with Sa Do-cheon have been favorable recently, there’s nothing particularly to worry about, but there is one thing that concerns me.”
“What is it?”
“It’s said that the surviving members of the Hyang-un Family have gone into hiding somewhere.”
At those words, I nodded.
The Hyang-un Family was a clan that had fallen due to Sa Do-cheon.
However, they would believe the root cause lies with me, so if they sought revenge, they couldn’t find a better opportunity than this.
They couldn’t draw their blades against the Jin Family of Luoyang directly, but a merchant caravan would be perfectly vulnerable to ambush and attack from hiding.
Then, as if remembering just then, Cheon Yul clapped his hands.
“Ah—that’s right. Was it Hyang Do-un? That Family Head’s younger brother.”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Namgung Baek nodded in agreement.
That alone made it clear he had dug quite deeply into the matter. I could see that Namgung Baek’s meticulous nature was precisely what had kept him alive until now.
“Who was chasing him?”
I directed the question at Cheon Yul.
Caught off guard by the unexpected question, Cheon Yul’s eyes widened, and he stifled another groan as he struggled to dredge up memories from his mind.
The anguished sounds escaping him sounded truly pitiful.
“Ah, that’s right! The Blood Robes Gang! They were the ones chasing him.”
The Blood Robes Gang—one of the many organizations that existed in Sadomcheon.
They were renowned for possessing considerable skill, and their gang leader, a man named Ma Chofung, held both power and reputation, yet possessed one critical weakness.
He was enslaved by money and carnal desires.
No matter how exceptional a figure like Hyang Do-un might be, he should never have escaped the Blood Robes Gang’s grasp, yet he did—which pointed to only one conclusion.
He must have paid them off.
He likely handed over a substantial sum to survive.
Would the higher-ups not know of such a thing?
They knew but turned a blind eye.
After all, the collapse of the Hyang-un Sega was an undeniable fact, and most of their interests had already passed into Sadomcheon’s hands.
Letting a few people live would hardly cause any significant problems, or so their reasoning must have gone.
I shook my head and sighed, looking at Jang Chuchyeong and Namgung Yeon.
“Keep it in mind, but don’t dwell on it too much.”
“Yes.”
“Understood.”
Regardless of how formidable Hyang Do-un’s skills might be, or even if he burned with vengeance against the Jin Family, it hardly seemed pressing.
Even if the fallen Hyang-un Sega still possessed some strength, it would be negligible at best, and such a force could never inflict real damage upon my position.
If there were an exception… it would only be if he gained backing.
I frowned as I contemplated the exception that came to mind—a single possibility.
If that were to happen, it would become quite a troublesome situation.
“What troubles you so?”
“A mess your master created.”
“Huh? There’s something like that?”
“There is. And quite a spectacular one at that.”
Jang Chuchyeong tilted his head, clearly bewildered.
He seemed to have no recollection of it whatsoever.
However, his complexion soon began to pale visibly, and it was clear to anyone watching that he had grasped the meaning behind my words on his own.
“I can only hope that the Green Forest you destroyed and this Hyang Do-un or whoever he is don’t join hands.”
“Gulp!”
I smiled thinly as I heard Jang Chuchyeong’s sharp intake of breath.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————