The Youngest Son of the Nanyang Jin Family - Chapter 362

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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 362

“What in the world is this…!”
Namgung Yeon, rushing in pursuit of Seol Ha-yeon’s trail, displayed his bewilderment with an expression of utter disbelief.
Though in that fleeting moment, had he not deflected the blow, he would surely have been cleaved in two—yet it was characteristic of her to worry for Seol Ha-yeon without fear of such a fate.
“She’s fallen into demonic obsession.”
“D-demonic obsession, you say? I’ve heard tales of it, but I never imagined it would be to this extent….”
“It means her thirst for vengeance runs that deep.”
I offered a bitter smile and shook my head.
What I had feared had finally come to pass.
I had hoped she would release her turmoil through the martial contest with Namgung Yeon, but like a princess raised confined within palace walls, she crumbled, revealing her mental fragility.
This was not good.
With Namgung Yeon mistaking her for Gang Cheonho, and I myself doing the same, should she encounter any people or villages, she would unleash a bloodbath.
This would prove fatal not only to the stabilizing Martial Arts Alliance, but to Seol Ha-yeon herself.
For blood can only be repaid with blood.
I furrowed my brow and surveyed the surroundings.
“Young Master… Look there…!”
Namgung Yeon, who had been running with his lightness technique deployed, could not suppress his shock upon observing the area.
Wild beasts lay scattered everywhere, drenched in blood.
Wolves, foxes, rabbits—she spared none.
As if everything living before her eyes was Gang Cheonho, something to be slain, her ruthless handiwork was laid bare for all to see.
“This is absurd.”
“She rarely showed her emotions, so I didn’t know. Had I realized, I would have offered some assistance.”
“Her elimination from the martial tournament was the decisive blow. At her level, she should have won without question.”
“…So that’s why you agreed to face her?”
“Yes, she likely sought to regain her confidence by defeating the champion.”
But it was impossible.
Just as Seol Ha-yeon had grown, so too had Namgung Yeon.
Since both possessed equal talent, they would continue to grow as long as neither laid down their sword.
Moreover, Namgung Yeon’s victory in the tournament granted him both confidence and invaluable experience, which manifested clearly in their martial contest.
“Young Master! That way!”
At that moment, Namgung Yeon’s urgent voice rang out.
I turned my gaze hastily and saw the trail continuing. The problem was that at the end of where Seol Ha-yeon was headed, there appeared to be a settlement of slash-and-burn farmers.
Smoke rose skyward, as if announcing that people dwelt there.
I accelerated further, launching myself forward.
Seol Ha-yeon’s blade must not be stained with the blood of the innocent.
Once that happened, there would be no turning back.
If necessary, I would act with overwhelming force.
“I shall handle it.”
“You?”
“Yes.”
Yet Namgung Yeon offered an unexpected proposal.
The face of one who had made a firm resolve.
Her eyes too burned with a strength of will unlike before.
As though she were determined to stop Seol Ha-yeon no matter what.
“You could be gravely injured.”
“I understand the Junior Prince’s heart better than anyone. So… I will bring him back, without fail!”
Namgung Yeon spoke with unwavering resolve, her fists clenching tight.
Either she knew what methods I might employ, or perhaps she understood my heart as one who had walked a similar path of vengeance.
Whichever it was, such thinking was certainly presumptuous, yet I did not regard it as a poor choice.
“Then move faster.”
“Yes!”
I spurred Namgung Yeon onward.
In that instant, she gathered all her strength and burst forward at a frenzied pace, while I slowed slightly and followed at a leisurely distance.
Her firm resolve, displayed despite knowing it would not be easily dissuaded.
Namgung Yeon had grown somewhat.
A faint smile played at my lips as I pressed harder to pursue the presence ahead.
Shiver—!
A chilling gaze felt from somewhere.
I spun around hastily, scrutinizing the surroundings thoroughly.
The sensation I had felt moments before vanished, and all my searching gaze caught were trees, grass, and stone.
Not a trace of human presence, nor even the faintest sign of any beast.
Without thinking, I furrowed my brow and steadied my breath.
“I wonder if some ghost has attached itself to me.”
I let out a hollow laugh and shook my head.
An absurd thought even crossed my mind—perhaps the ghost that clung to Yeon-un had latched onto me instead.
Of course, it was only a fleeting sensation, brief enough to dismiss as illusion, but I was not one who had lived so smoothly as to overlook such things.
My furrowed brow remained fixed as my expression hardened.
Ghost or human, this gaze felt deeply wrong.
In that time, the village suddenly came into view.
“P-please, save us!”
“Kyaaaah!”
Clang—!
What reached my ears were screams and cries of people.
Followed by the sound of clashing blades.
The flames blazing fiercely through the darkened village streets and the bitter cold that seemed to freeze all things—they laid bare the very emotions dwelling within Namgung Yeon and Seol Ha-yeon.
“Junior Prince!”
Namgung Yeon cried out sharply, blocking the onslaught.
Seol Ha-yeon, her eyes devoid of light, gave no response, instead intensifying her assault with the cold she radiated, pressing Namgung Yeon ever harder.
Her expression was equally remarkable.
It felt as though I were gazing upon a mortal enemy.
“Gang Cheonho-!”
Seol Ha-yeon spewed nothing but fury, her lips forming only that single name, and it seemed no words could possibly reach her ears.
This made Namgung Yeon all the more troubled.
A sharp slash—!
Her forearm was cut, and her face bore a wound.
The moment she retreated, the piercing blade tore through her collar, and a chilling cold seeped inward, threatening to freeze her entire body solid.
I observed the situation from a measured distance.
Fortunately, there were no corpses nearby.
Though the wounded were visible enough, the fact that none had fallen meant Namgung Yeon was fulfilling her duty.
Then, a desperate cry tore from Namgung Yeon’s throat.
“I understand your desire for vengeance! But surely you realize this method cannot continue!”
“Kugh!?”
A resonant clash—!
Namgung Yeon’s blade, imbued with imperial might, pierced through the frigid aura. Seol Ha-yeon staggered backward as the strike caught her chest, yet she regained her balance in an instant, and before a blink could pass, another razor-sharp blade came hurtling forth.
The sword grazed Namgung Yeon’s cheek once more.
Blood trickled down and froze in place, the cold seeping deep into her body, her facial muscles stiffening, her expression hardening, and even her eyes seemed affected.
This was why Namgung Yeon’s movements differed from usual.
I quietly gripped my sword.
Ready to intervene at any moment.
“Do not surrender to helplessness! In such moments, you must grasp your heart all the more firmly!”
As Namgung Yeon cried out once more with force, Seol Ha-yeon’s brows narrowed—as if to say, what could someone like her possibly understand?
It was unmistakably a reaction.
Because of it, Namgung Yeon raised her voice even louder.
“I too once felt as you do, Junior Prince. There was one I wished to kill, yet it was impossible by my own strength. But I did not collapse!”
Another series of sharp slashes—!
Unilateral attacks rained down once more.
Though the technique targeted only fatal pressure points, Namgung Yeon forced her body to move, evading by the thickness of a single sheet of paper.
“Until I witnessed their downfall! I had to strive endlessly.”
Namgung Yeon cried out as though spitting blood.
To move her heart even slightly.
Drawing forth emotions she had never before revealed, memories of her past.
Even when facing the great figure Moryeong Hyeok, she had grasped even a small shovel to topple the immovable mountain that was the Moyong Family—such was her courage.
In the end, she surpassed Moryeong Hyeok and witnessed the Family’s collapse with her own eyes, and her vengeance reached its perfect conclusion when that clan bowed their heads to the ground in apology.
“If the Junior Prince falls to this state—! Who will exact vengeance for Binggung!?”
The moment her desperate cry pierced the air.
I saw Seol Ha-yeon’s pupils tremble.
The motion to strike halted, and her body felt a subtle quiver.
A tear fell—
A single tear fell, wetting the ground.
As if speaking for her emotions.
Yet her heart remained guarded, the light in her eyes refusing to return, and just as she prepared to move again with renewed hostility.
Kwaaah—!
Namgung Yeon rushed forward with the force of a tempest.
The Imperial Sword Form.
It overwhelmed all things.
His blade pierced through the smallest opening without hesitation, swallowing Seol Ha-yeon’s aura—laden with ten thousand years of frigid cold—in a single breath.
Kwaaang—!
The earth trembled with a deafening roar that threatened to split eardrums, a massive crater carved into the ground as debris erupted in all directions.
“Magnificent.”
The small figure suspended high in the air swayed like a bare twig in the depths of winter.
As she plummeted toward the ground.
I threw myself forward and caught Seol Ha-yeon.
“Y-Young Master… hah, hah…”
Namgung Yeon approached with ragged breaths, blood trickling from his wounds. His eyes and expression seemed rather poor, clearly exhausted from the exertion.
I gazed at him for a moment, then smiled.
“Well done.”
“Has her… consciousness returned?”
“Hard to say without seeing her eyes open, but it seems she’s broken free to some degree.”
I felt Seol Ha-yeon’s body trembling in my arms.
Her momentum had faded and her expression remained obscured, yet the eyes I glimpsed in that final moment before she closed them had undoubtedly regained their light.
Imperfect, but her heart had found its composure.
To fully escape the influence of the Heart Demon, Seol Ha-yeon would now require her own relentless effort.
I gently checked her pulse and infused her with my energy.
Hoping this would provide some measure of aid.
“Young Master!?”
“What in the world is all this!?”
Then, a commotion erupted from somewhere.
Turning my head slightly, I saw Chaeseoha, Yeon-un, and Haryeon rushing toward us.
Realizing the situation was grave, they had pursued us urgently, their haggard appearance bearing the marks of having pushed through dense undergrowth.
“What on earth happened—!”
“She fell into the Heart Demon. I saved her from it.”
“The Heart Demon? I’ve only heard tales of it…”
Chaeseoha, being no martial artist, could not fathom how terrifying the Heart Demon truly was, and gazed at Seol Ha-yeon with an expression of regret.
As if she wished she could have witnessed it with her own eyes.
I regarded her with an exasperated look and clicked my tongue.
“Tend to her. It seems your aid is needed here more than mine.”
“…Of course.”
Only then did Chaeseoha survey the surroundings and nod, her eyes trembling. Not only was Seol Ha-yeon’s condition dire, but Namgung Yeon’s state appeared equally grave, and the wounded villagers scattered about were far too numerous to count.
I hastily set Seol Ha-yeon down, and only then did Namgung Yeon check her pulse, exhaling with what seemed like relief before drawing out a needle.
Chaeseoha carefully inserted the needle and regulated Seol Ha-yeon’s vital points, then glanced sideways at me.
“By the way.”
“What is it?”
Perhaps sensing something odd about the situation, Chaeseoha’s eyes grew distant. Though she continued inserting needles, she turned her gaze toward Namgung Yeon, then checked on Seol Ha-yeon once more.
That was when the sigh escaped.
“Holding a bare woman without hesitation and staring at her like that… isn’t that a bit much?”
The moment Chaeseoha’s words reached my ears, Namgung Yeon’s face flushed crimson as he covered his chest, and I turned my eyes toward Seol Ha-yeon before rising from my seat.
“Stop with the unnecessary talk and focus on treatment.”
“Yes, yes, but did you enjoy it?”
“….”
“Tsk….”
The sharp click of Chaeseoha’s tongue struck my ears forcefully.

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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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