The Youngest Son of the Nanyang Jin Family - Chapter 304

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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 304

The location depicted in the painting.
I surveyed the surroundings, searching for any place where Bidong might be concealed.
Yet, hidden as thoroughly as it was, it refused to reveal itself, and despite the night growing late, I had not found it.
After catching my breath and resting briefly, I resumed my search when morning broke, but as the sun climbed to its zenith, they all sat down in unison and shook their heads.
“Are you certain it’s really here? We’ve dug everywhere and found nothing.”
“Perhaps this isn’t the right location after all.”
Jang Chuchyeong and Namgung Yeon exhaled sighs, their eyes reflecting doubt.
Then Cheongdam, who had been searching with us, sat down as if irritated and looked at me.
“Great Hero, is there truly something here? This feels like pointless suffering. Shouldn’t we give up?”
“If you believe there’s nothing, you’re welcome to return first.”
I smiled faintly as I spoke, and Cheongdam’s expression darkened.
Though returning would be preferable, the possibility of an unfortunate discovery upon our return—that it had been found—left him unable to leave despite his desire to do so.
He stared at me for a long while with reluctance, then sighed in resignation and turned his gaze away.
At that moment, Chaeseoha, who had been leisurely observing the surroundings, approached.
She shook her head as if thoroughly exhausted, sighing, and stopped before me, looking up at me intently.
“The others aren’t wrong. From what I can see, you’ve definitely chosen the wrong place this time. What do you say? Shouldn’t you admit it now?”
As if urging me to acknowledge failure.
I smiled at her words.
“Do you think I’ve made a mistake?”
“This time I’m certain. No matter how much we search, nothing appears.”
Indeed, we had found neither Bidong nor even a small cave.
It seemed clear that I should admit defeat, yet I was absolutely certain that Bidong existed somewhere in this location.
But how could we not find it despite searching so thoroughly?
I turned my gaze toward one particular spot.
“Let me reconsider from the beginning.”
“Eh? Where are you going?”
With those sudden words, I turned my back.
I headed toward where we had first been, to begin anew from that point.
What first captured my attention was a large, low-lying boulder.
Standing in a place where dozens of rocks, not just one, jutted upward like peaks, I gazed at the landscape.
“What are you trying to do?”
I pondered, ignoring even Chaeseoha’s question.
The image painted in my mind.
The same location, the same scenery, the same angle.
Yet the place where I now stood seemed somehow twisted.
Therefore, without hesitation, I leaped toward another boulder.
I continued to move, comparing the landscape that appeared before me, searching repeatedly for what felt discordant.
“Why are you doing this?”
“I can’t figure out what our Young Master is thinking either!”
Along with Cheongdam’s blunt voice, I heard Chu Hyeongi struggling to keep up behind him.
The moment their voices echoed and stretched out.
I stopped in my tracks and stood firm.
“This is it.”
“What’s here?”
At Chu Hyeongi’s words that followed, I nodded.
The moment it matched perfectly with the image drawn in my mind.
This place was exactly where everything fit into place.
I turned to look at Cheongdam.
“You already knew about this place, didn’t you?”
“Well, look. If the scenery matches the painting exactly, then this place is that place and that place is here. Why would I need to go out of my way to find the exact spot where it was painted?”
At his words, I offered a bitter smile.
If I had known properly from the start, I wouldn’t have gone through all this trouble.
I looked around and tapped on a rock.
Thoom—
A subtle resonance spread out.
A resonance that seemed both hollow and solid.
To a sensation that couldn’t be perceived without using inner energy, I smiled unknowingly and immediately leaped down beside the rock as if treading on empty air.
I examined the rock carefully and found a crevice.
An unnatural spot.
When I pushed the rock hard with inner energy flowing through my palm, the crevice opened as if it had been fitted together, revealing a narrow opening.
At the same time, a chilling energy burst forth from the darkness that was revealed.
Those who had descended from the rock covered their mouths with eyes full of shock.
I wore a small smile and looked at Chaeseoha.
“What do you want me to admit?”
“This doesn’t make sense! How did you find it?”
“Intuition.”
“If you’d used that intuition from the beginning, it would’ve been nice. This was so exhausting.”
Chaeseoha looked at me with a weary expression.
If I had confirmed this place from the start, we wouldn’t have gone through all that unnecessary hardship, and this was her small complaint about it.
But that wasn’t something she should say to me.
If Cheongdam had known the location precisely, that would have been enough.
“What do you think is inside?”
“We’ll have to go in and see.”
I peered inside while listening to Chaeseoha’s words.
The interior was complete darkness.
Since not a single ray of light entered, Chaeseoha hesitated with a furrowed brow, seemingly reluctant to enter.
It was Cheongdam who quietly pushed past her and went in.
I stared at the scene unfolding before me in disbelief, letting out a hollow laugh before furrowing my brow and releasing a long sigh.
“So there really is something here. Sigh.”
“Let’s go inside first. It seems quite spacious.”
At my words, Cheongdam and Chu Hyeongi nodded and quickly began fashioning torches.
While I could see reasonably well in the darkness, the sense of security a torch provided was not something to dismiss.
And so we cautiously began to venture inward.
The interior was dark and extremely humid.
Moreover, the wind blowing from within was so bitterly cold that I found myself wondering if we had somehow arrived at the Northern Sea.
The moment I took a step forward while sensing these things.
Boom—!
At the sudden sound, I turned to look behind us.
“Huh? What… did I touch something?”
Simultaneously, as Chu Hyeongi lowered his torch to his feet, I saw a thin thread had been severed.
In that instant, a strange sound echoed through the darkness.
Slither—slither—!
An unpleasant sound coming from somewhere.
As the sound of something crawling across the ground reached our ears, those who sensed the danger began turning around one by one.
“Aaaah?! Snakes—!”
“There are so many of them!”
In that moment, Chu Hyeongi and Namgung Yeon’s voices rang out sharply. True to their words, an enormous swarm of venomous snakes was crawling toward us like a raging torrent.
As if they were cutting off our retreat and driving us deeper inside.
The instant I identified the snakes’ appearance, I stopped, furrowed my brow, and quickly scooped up Chaeseoha before shouting.
“Run!”
“What is this, what is this! Aaaaah!”
Cheongdam’s anguished cry followed, piercing our eardrums, but no one paid him any mind as we all bolted forward.
Even as I ran, I glanced back at the crawling snakes.
They were far faster than ordinary snakes.
“What… what kind of snake is that? I’ve never seen anything like it in my life!”
“Soul-Hook Snakes.”
Soul-Hook Snakes were grotesque creatures covered in blue-green scales.
Short, horn-like spines jutted from both sides of their triangular heads, and when they opened their mouths, curved fangs like hooks were revealed.
Their eyes burned a deep red with no whites visible, appearing instead like hollow voids, and gazing upon them created a strange, suffocating pressure as if one’s very soul was being sucked away.
The blue venom seeping through the gaps in their scales stained the ground with poison as they moved.
“If they bite you, there’s no hope. Run with all your strength.”
“Kyaaaah?!”
Along with Chu Hyeongi’s anguished cry, I too increased my speed further.
Yet my mind did not stop working.
Soul-Hook Snakes in a place like this?
Was this prepared as a defense against potential intruders?
Whoooosh—!
I paused my thoughts and quickly turned my gaze away.
In that instant, something pierced through the wall and flew toward us.
I swiftly shot it down with a Five Poison technique.
Crash!
With a violent sound, the pierced creature dangled against the wall—unmistakably a Guhonsa.
Sharpening my vision to examine the wall, I found small holes scattered across its surface.
This was undoubtedly their nest.
“Watch the walls!”
Whoosh!
Chu Hyeongi, sensing the danger, gritted his teeth and swung his fists. Several Guhonsa fell with their heads shattered, yet even as their breath ceased, their bodies writhed and continued spewing venom with malicious intent.
As a result, the poison gradually began to seize control of the chamber.
“Argh! No, no! What kind of cursed snakes are these…!”
“This is all your fault! You triggered the trap!”
“Stop complaining and help!”
Eek! Don’t fight now, just run! Hurry, hurry!”
That was the moment.
Boom!
Another bizarre sound echoed, and everyone gasped in horror.
Hearing the commotion around me, I increased my pace.
As my breathing grew ragged, a shadow on the wall caught my eye.
Cracks in the stone ran irregularly, and in the center lay a faint crevice.
As I drew closer, a cool current seeped from within.
“There! Follow me!”
I hurled myself through the stone crevice, cradling Chaeseoha in my arms.
The narrow gap barely allowed one person to squeeze through, and the sound of my garments tearing against the rock was deafening.
Chu Hyeongi shoved Namgung Yeon through next, and Cheongdam squealed as he contorted his body to slip inside.
Simultaneously, dozens of Guhonsa leaped with gaping maws, as if determined not to let us escape.
In that moment, Cheongdam’s final garment vanished through the crevice, and the Guhonsa that failed to strike crashed against the walls.
Thud, thud, thud!
Dark crimson venom dripped through the gap, and the floor bubbled and melted beneath it.
It was a matter of inches.
“Ahhhhh! Run! I said run! They’re right behind me!”
Cheongdam shrieked and stumbled forward, but fortunately the crevice’s structure prevented the Guhonsa from swarming through all at once.
I glanced at Chu Hyeongi.
The moment he caught my gaze, he drove his fist toward the opening.
Boom!
With a sound that shook the earth itself, falling stones sealed the crevice. Even the smallest snake would find it nearly impossible to cross.
“Huff, huff…! I thought I was dead.”
“That’s… that’s what I mean. I’ve never heard of such snakes existing on Mudang Mountain!”
Cheongdam gasped harshly, staring down at his torn garments.
Being at the very rear, I had borne the brunt of Guhonsa’s assault. The fabric touched by the venom dissolved instantly, leaving no trace behind—the thought of what would have happened had those fangs pierced my flesh was too horrifying to contemplate.
The creature trembled as it stared at me.
“What in the world is this place? Did Jang Munin truly create something like this?”
“Did I not say we cannot know whether Jang Munin sought this place out or created it?”
….
In that moment, Cheongdam furrowed his brow and clicked his tongue.
In this situation where everyone’s wits had abandoned them, the instant I spoke of Hoyeon’s creation, everything within would fall under the Martial Artist’s possession.
Though I had uttered those words with that very intention, he would not yield so easily.
I steadied my breathing and surveyed my surroundings.
I had feared there might be nothing but empty space, yet fortunately, a path forward seemed to exist.
“There is no time to rest. Even if we have blocked them, they will break through soon enough.”
Ugh!
At those words, everyone startled and scrambled to their feet in haste. The desire to never lay eyes upon Guhonsa again seemed to override even the exhaustion that weighed upon their bodies.
Then, Namgung Yeon, who had been surveying the surroundings, approached.
“…Where might this passage lead?”
“A trap or a destination.”
Considering Hoyeon’s sinister nature, the probability of this being a place with traps was high. Yet there was only one path, and we could not turn back—we had but a single choice before us.
“Stay alert. Anything could emerge without warning.”
Yes!
I narrowed my eyes with grim determination and moved toward the passage.
The destination drew ever closer.

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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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