The Youngest Son of the Nanyang Jin Family - Chapter 333
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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 333
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Throughout the long history of the martial world, countless events had unfolded, yet none had ever stormed a city like the Luoyang Blood Killer, wielding their blade with such merciless abandon.
Typically, any martial artist with a target would focus solely on that objective, but this Luoyang Blood Killer was different—and that made it far more grave.
It was as though an invading force had descended upon the land.
They made no distinction between martial artists and ordinary civilians.
Like a monster driven by the will to annihilate everything in sight, they had reduced the entire surroundings to ruin, painting the ground crimson with blood.
Thus, the martial world of Jeongdo now trembled with palpable tension.
All recognized that the cascading events were far from ordinary.
At the epicenter of these calamities.
The Jin Family of Luoyang, too, was thrown into turmoil—though of a different sort.
Thud—!
“Oof!”
“Oof? Get up already, will you?!”
Loud voices had echoed through the courtyard since early morning.
Following the sounds toward the training grounds, I found Chu Hyeongi, dragged out since dawn, sprawled across the earth in a pitiful state.
“Argh!”
“Argh? Get up, I said?!”
Gu Gunbaek glared at his disciple with unbridled fury.
Unable to properly destroy even a single corpse and sustaining injuries in the process—how could his master not be enraged after so long an absence?
Chu Hyeongi likely believed he had done his best, yet he had failed to satisfy his teacher.
And the criticism struck home relentlessly.
“You fool! How have you been training all this time that your muscles haven’t grown at all? They’ve actually shrunk!”
“But sir, I have to clean and do laundry too… you don’t think I just train all day, do you?”
“Insane wretch! That’s why you keep getting beaten by corpses!”
Chu Hyeongi attempted to defend himself with an aggrieved expression, but his words fell on deaf ears as Gu Gunbaek’s fist struck once more.
As his body tumbled helplessly across the ground, kicking up dust, Gu Gunbaek’s assault only intensified, displeased even by that sight.
Thud—!
“Move faster! Beast-like footwork! Beast-like toughness! That’s the foundation of the Fierce Tiger Technique! Have you forgotten already?!”
“Cough!”
Though Chu Hyeongi struggled to resist and move, he was no match for Gu Gunbaek’s fists and kicks that came faster still.
As I watched quietly, shaking my head.
I sensed an unusual presence nearby and turned my gaze.
Unable to bear the commotion, Paeng Dohan and Eon Garyeo had arrived.
The two seemed startled by the sight of Chu Hyeongi being mercilessly pummeled, observing with trembling eyes before finally managing to speak.
“Is… is that actually alright? He looks like he’s about to die…”
“It’s the Namman training method, so it should be fine.”
“Namman… I had my suspicions, but surely that person isn’t…!”
“He is the Gung-ju of the Fierce Tiger Palace.”
Paeng Dohan and Eon Garyeo’s eyes widened as if possessed.
As if unable to believe it, they swallowed hard, and Eon Garyeo, whose eyes trembled, asked carefully.
“Surely… you said he was a military official serving in the countryside…?”
“If it’s Namman, isn’t that the countryside? Since he operates the Fierce Tiger Palace, it’s not entirely inaccurate.”
“Hmm…!”
As I answered with a small smile, the two of them stared at me with bewildered expressions.
However, I hadn’t spoken falsely.
“Then, Jang Howei is… the Junior Prince?”
“Gasp! Now that I hear Garyeo’s words, that impossible growth rate actually seems natural….”
The first time I saw Chu Hyeongi was when he eliminated the Black Ox Society.
Only a few years had passed, yet Chu Hyeongi’s strength had become incomparably different from then—so much so that I might have suspected he had learned some secret technique for rapid advancement rather than through normal cultivation.
However, if he were a disciple of the Fierce Tiger Emperor, one of the Ten Sovereigns, it would be understandable.
The two men nodded heavily.
“What are you gawking at? Get out of here!”
“Eek!”
At that moment, Gu Gunbaek’s rough voice rang out, having sensed our presence and gaze. Despite the lack of inner force behind it, the harsh tone alone made Paeng Dohan and Eon Garyeo scramble away hastily.
I watched their retreating forms for a moment, then clicked my tongue.
“Why are you so irritable?”
“Hmph! And you shouldn’t be? You don’t train properly, you go around getting beaten by corpses like an idiot. And what’s this about the Demon Face Fierce Beast? Bandits? A hundred of them?”
With each word that spilled out, Chu Hyeongi’s body flinched. It was a reputation he had built up, but Gu Gunbaek looked utterly exasperated.
“Your master is now making a fuss about being the Sword Emperor and whatnot, but what have you done? Huh?! At the very least, even if you can’t become a King, you should have earned a Star title!”
“But I can’t just attach a title to myself!”
“Then work at it! Keep going until you achieve it, you bastard!”
Clang—
At the intensely loud voice that felt like it would tear my eardrums, I unconsciously covered my ears. At the same time, I understood precisely why Gu Gunbaek was angry—it was because he disliked Chu Hyeongi’s epithet.
I chuckled and shook my head.
“Then I wish you well.”
“Young Master—! Young Master—!”
Deliberately ignoring the voice calling out, I turned away.
Moving slowly, I headed toward Chaeseoha’s medical chamber. The sound of people’s voices could be heard from quite a distance away, suggesting quite a gathering had assembled there.
As I opened the door and stepped inside, the medical chamber was indeed packed with people.
The severely injured were receiving treatment here, so the already cramped space was so full of people it seemed ready to burst.
Some lay on the ground groaning, while others, having barely found stability, leaned against the walls sleeping.
I gazed at the scene for a long while, then clicked my tongue.
“We’ll need to expand the medical chamber.”
“No—it’s sufficient. More importantly, what brings you here? I’m busy.”
“Yes, you certainly look busy.”
At Chaeseoha’s words, I smiled and turned my gaze away.
In one corner of the medical room, a man lay upon a cloth spread across the floor.
Yeon-un.
Judging by the severity of his wounds, bandages wrapped around various parts of his body.
“How is he doing over there?”
“Ah—well, he’s fine. It’s not as serious as it looks. Rather… the child beside him is suffering more.”
“A child….”
At Chaeseoha’s words, I shifted my gaze toward Yeon-un’s side.
Just as she said, a young girl who appeared to be barely past ten years old came into view.
The child, wrapped in bandages across nearly her entire body—head, arms, chest, and legs—breathed so heavily that even drawing breath seemed to cause her pain.
Though she looked as though she might collapse at any moment, as if determined to guard the sleeping Yeon-un, she clutched his sword tightly in both hands and refused to look away.
“Is she a Sword Boy?”
“A Sword Boy? What’s that?”
“A servant that bandits keep with them. They carry swords and baggage.”
“What? They make children do that?”
“In exchange… they’re fed. If fortune smiles, they can even learn martial arts.”
Children without parents, or children their parents had sold away.
Though carrying luggage would be arduous, at least they wouldn’t starve—a hundred times better than ending up in a beggar’s den.
“Martial artists truly have no limits when it comes to children!”
“You should be grateful they can at least eat and survive. Shouldn’t you?”
“That’s… true.”
Only then did Chaeseoha seem to recall memories from her past, wrinkling the bridge of her nose as she nodded. She was reminded anew of how much meaning it held to simply have food and survival.
I asked something else with a faint smile playing at my lips.
“Have you noticed anything unusual?”
“What do you mean? Anything suspicious?”
“Yes.”
“No. She speaks pleasantly and smiles, and she’s not clingy or anything….”
“What do you think?”
—I haven’t sensed anything particular. Should I keep watch?
At Chwiayeok’s words whispering into my ear, I shook my head.
Because of the Mo Ryeong-san matter, Chaeseoha could fall into danger at any moment. There was no need to divert Chwiayeok’s attention to unnecessary concerns.
Just then, the girl who had been quietly observing me tilted her head with a puzzled expression.
“Can you talk to her? She wouldn’t answer no matter what I said…. Oh! But she’s quite good at running errands.”
“Then that’s enough.”
I let out a soft laugh at the sudden remark and turned away.
As I carefully approached Yeon-un, avoiding those lying down, the Sword Boy who had been gazing at him in sleep fixed me with a piercing stare.
Shing—!
She even drew her sword, as if warning me not to come closer.
“It’s alright, Haryeon. He’s someone I know. Haha.”
Then Yeon-un’s voice emerged, his eyes still closed, and he raised his upper body to look at me.
“Young Master, I apologize. Last time I disappeared without a word… but thinking of this child who has no one else, I couldn’t stay away….”
Yeon-un scratched the back of his head in silence, as though troubled by something, and lowered his gaze. The gesture seemed to touch a tender spot, for his expression twisted in discomfort.
I observed him quietly before asking.
“When did you arrive in Luoyang?”
“Ah—haha, did I not mention it? A wandering spirit, as I said. Drifting about in search of life’s meaning, so this place is no different. I simply arrived while walking.”
“Yet you became entangled in this affair?”
“Precisely! They were terrifyingly fierce fellows. Phew….”
Yeon-un sighed deeply, as though recalling those events.
His appearance bore the marks of considerable struggle, so there was nothing particularly suspicious about it.
Then was this merely a misunderstanding?
Even as I wondered whether I was being deceived by meaningless foreboding, I could not easily dismiss my suspicions—for it was not the first or second time that overlooking such small omens had returned as great tempests.
Yeon-un, who had been staring directly into my eyes, seemed to sense something and carefully opened his mouth.
“Perhaps… am I suspicious to you?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Haha, well, it’s nothing, but people who suspect things always seem to look at me in that exact way.”
“It seems to happen often, then.”
“Haha, yes, they look at me and speak of ill omens, of sinister intentions, and such.”
Yeon-un shrugged his shoulders as though accustomed to it, then glanced around before leaning in close to whisper.
“You see, a Taoist priest once told me that the vengeful spirit of my grandmother has attached itself to me.”
“…A vengeful spirit is a vengeful spirit—why specifically your grandmother?”
“Perhaps she dislikes my wandering ways? Or perhaps she watches over me? Hahaha! How could I possibly know the heart of the dead?”
At Yeon-un’s casual words, I too found myself smiling.
Though I could not be certain whether such a thing truly clung to him, there was some comfort in knowing that the sense of foreboding was not mine alone.
Yet that does not mean I cease my suspicion.
I keep it lodged in my mind, verifying and reverifying it continuously.
“By the way, is the child beside you Sword Boy?”
“Yes, a mute child whose parents abandoned him in the mountains, or so I found him nearly dead from a wolf. Now he has become indispensable to me. Haryeon, bow and greet him. This is the youngest son of the Jin Family of Luoyang.”
Bow—
The child called Haryeon looked toward me and lowered his head. The very fact that the hostility gleaming in his eyes had vanished so cleanly showed how profoundly Yeon-un’s words moved the boy’s heart.
“It is good to meet you. I hear you were gravely wounded, so receive proper treatment until you are fully healed. The same applies to you, Yeon-un.”
“Not merely food and lodging, but treatment as well… truly, the Jin Family of Luoyang! I thank you on Haryeon’s behalf! And I too… am grateful.”
“It is only what should be done.”
Toward Yeon-un, who bowed deeply once more, I waved my hand dismissively and turned to leave.
It was then, as I attempted to exit the medical chamber.
A gaze that lingered still.
From Yeon-un and Haryeon, an uncanny chill seized my entire body.
Without thinking, my brow furrowed.
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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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