The Youngest Son of the Nanyang Jin Family - Chapter 38

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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 Nakhyang Jin Family – Chapter 99

A heavy voice reached my ears.
Despite releasing no aura whatsoever, my instincts screamed at me to flee—a warning I couldn’t ignore.
Yeom Ji-hak’s presence was that threatening.
He advanced leisurely, closing the distance with unhurried confidence.
His gaze swept across the scattered corpses, cataloging each one, before he suddenly halted and fixed me with a penetrating stare.
“A swordsmanship I’ve never encountered before. Is this something Gwanbaek recently devised?”
Despite examining the wounds carved into the bodies, he couldn’t discern the technique’s nature—so instead, he turned his inquiry toward me.
It wasn’t a question demanding an answer.
Clearly, he was simply intrigued by this unfamiliar swordsmanship.
I said nothing.
I needed to maintain distance and remain vigilant, prepared for anything.
Yeom Ji-hak’s gaze then shifted to Ma Hyeong-chu, bisected before us. Staring at the corpse, he clicked his tongue in apparent displeasure.
“That’s why I hurried here, yet even that was too late.”
Yeom Ji-hak sighed after clicking his tongue.
From that reaction alone, he seemed to have already grasped the considerable gap between Ma Hyeong-chu and myself.
I spoke with measured composure.
“You said you’d cut him down quickly, and it seems you timed it perfectly.”
“Heh heh heh, that’s life for you. Things rarely unfold as planned. But you seem quite unsettled at the moment.”
I nodded at Yeom Ji-hak’s perceptive observation.
The situation had deviated significantly from my expectations.
I’d intended to eliminate Ma Hyeong-chu swiftly and escape. Given Yeom Ji-hak’s leisurely nature, I’d calculated he wouldn’t move quickly in such circumstances.
Yet here he stood before me.
I couldn’t help but feel unsettled in his presence.
“Aren’t you equally unsettled?”
“Hmm? Me? Heh heh heh! Well, you’re not entirely wrong. I never imagined I’d lose the Blood Demon Squad Commander in a place like this.”
“It seems neither of us anticipated this.”
Yeom Ji-hak nodded readily at my words.
His gaze, which had been fixed on the corpses, naturally shifted toward me.
“So, someone like you being here… you’re targeting the Chohyeon Family, then? But why are you alone? I heard there were quite a few of you in Nakhyang.”
The moment I heard Yeom Ji-hak’s words, I grasped a crucial truth.
The reason the Blood Demon Squad and Yeom Ji-hak were here.
They’d felt the crisis when the Shadow Assassins were annihilated in Nakhyang, and they were protecting the Chohyeon Family—their sphere of influence and branch—as a precaution against unforeseen circumstances.
Against whom?
It was undoubtedly against ‘me,’ but there was one name that kept surfacing.
Gwanbaek.
According to Ma Hyeong-chu, the absolute ruler of the Religious Cult.
The elder brother of the one called the Divine.
If Gwanbaek believed the Shadow Assassins’ work was the doing of a survivor, then it made perfect sense that this name kept surfacing in our conversation.
Perhaps by speaking that name aloud, I could convince Gwanbaek of its truth, but I deliberately held my tongue.
The moment those words left my lips, he would read my emotions.
For now, letting doubt accumulate while avoiding certainty was the wisest course of action.
I stopped my thoughts there.
This was no time for deep contemplation.
Yeom Ji-hak, the vice-leader of the Snake’s Horn, stood before me.
An opponent who allowed not even a moment’s carelessness—I couldn’t afford to lose myself in other thoughts.
“Hmm….”
As expected, he glanced at me briefly before lifting his staff with a subtle motion.
He swung it lightly.
In an instant, a dozen sword energies erupted toward me.
Crash, crash, crash—boom!
I threw myself aside desperately, narrowly escaping by the thinnest margin.
Considering the considerable distance between us, those attacks had traveled at an extraordinary speed.
I furrowed my brow, glaring at Yeom Ji-hak.
But then….
Whoosh!
“Ugh!”
A violent impact struck without warning.
His staff burrowed into my ribs, delivering excruciating pain as it sent my body flying.
Crash, bang, bang!
“Don’t think you can escape again using my own energy. Once bitten, twice shy, as they say.”
I gasped roughly, scrambling to my feet.
In that instant, his staff whistled through the air before my eyes.
Descending at a right angle, it carried enough force that had I been even slightly slower, my skull would have shattered without question.
Boom!
As expected, the ground cracked open, forming a massive crater.
I retreated hastily, attempting to steady my breathing, but Yeom Ji-hak gave me no such opportunity.
I felt his energy surge.
This was undoubtedly one of his techniques.
Clang!
I swung my blade to block.
The moment I deflected it, an overwhelming force crashed into me, sending my body sliding backward uncontrollably until I lost my balance entirely and tumbled across the ground.
Gasping for breath, I scrambled to my feet once more.
Yeom Ji-hak observed my movements with a peculiar expression.
“Curious. You moved as though seeing the future, yet now you seem to know my techniques intimately. I can’t quite tell which is true.”
A short hum escaped his lips.
Hearing that, I could confirm one thing with certainty.
He was conducting an experiment.
He stood before me like an ant he could crush at any moment, conducting various experiments to satisfy his curiosity about how I would react.
That was the extent of the overwhelming difference between us.
I let out a hollow laugh and gripped my sword once more.
“Are you anxious? Or perhaps impatient? You already know it, don’t you—that you cannot survive standing before me.”
A sneer played at the corners of Yeom Ji-hak’s lips.
His demeanor, radiating such ease as he toyed with his opponent, could only emerge from someone who knew the gap between them was absolutely overwhelming.
That displeased me somewhat.
I found myself chuckling without thinking.
Was it because of that sound and the emotion I felt?
Yeom Ji-hak’s brow furrowed.
“Hmm? Is that not it either? It seems you have something worth believing in. Or perhaps… you have a hidden move? Let me see it then.”
Yeom Ji-hak raised his staff once more and struck the ground.
Crack-crack-crack-boom!
The earth before my eyes split into several fissures, and power surged forth.
If caught in it, there would be no tomorrow.
Such was the magnitude of his strength.
I watched and dashed after one of the fissures.
“…!”
I met the oncoming force head-on and deflected it.
Screech!
But the power was so immense that as I redirected it, I felt a sharp pain and my shoulder blade being sliced open.
Yet pain was of no consequence.
Rather, this moment was my opportunity.
I swung my sword.
Swift and precise.
A perfect move exploiting the gap.
Surprise flickered in Yeom Ji-hak’s eyes, which had remained composed throughout.
He had not anticipated that I would meet the force head-on and deflect it before charging forward.
Clang!
Yet his staff, raised with a slight lift, blocked it far too easily.
“Interesting. But a meaningless move nonetheless.”
Boom!
Yeom Ji-hak applied force to his staff with ease.
In that instant, intense power surged through my entire body as if to send me flying.
I did not miss that moment.
I pushed off the ground and twisted my body.
I deflected the surging power by a hair’s breadth and simultaneously swung my sword toward his chest.
Clang!
Yet again it was blocked, and I retreated half a step.
Yeom Ji-hak followed, closing the distance by a step forward, then moved his staff subtly as if drawing me inward.
That technique of his—the Golden Water Method.
I had been waiting for this.
I shifted the flow and channeled the rapids into my blade.
I swallowed the pulling force in an instant and twisted his flow apart.
“…!”
Yeom Ji-hak realized something was amiss and tried to retreat hastily, but once caught in a violent current, escape is never simple.
I saw his opening.
Whoooosh—!
“Ugh?!”
Yeom Ji-hak stumbled back in alarm as my blade suddenly swept toward him.
The edge grazed past the tip of his chin.
Literally a hair’s breadth away.
Had it gone any deeper, his face would have been split in two without question.
Feeling that, Yeom Ji-hak let out a hollow laugh as if bewildered, then touched his chin.
Then he glanced back at me.
His eyes were filled with astonishment.
Considering the gap in our levels, this situation shouldn’t have been possible.
An ant that should have been crushed beneath overwhelming force had instead bitten back through a gap.
And quite lethally at that.
“Did you read it, or did you already know?”
“Who can say?”
Yeom Ji-hak stared at me intently.
He seemed to be making an effort to read my emotions, but it appeared difficult to draw a conclusion from what he was sensing now.
After a moment of thought, he let out a scoff and shook his head.
As if there was no need to think further, he drew up his energy.
Wind surged forth.
A fierce wind like a tempest engulfed the surroundings, and simultaneously, a strange energy began to manifest, eventually converging toward his staff.
“I had intended to bring you back alive, but you’re not one to allow that. A corpse will suffice.”
Whooom—!
The moment his words ended, something extraordinary occurred.
Shhhhring—!
As Yeom Ji-hak slowly raised his staff, a blade was drawn.
A sword he had never unsheathed until now.
The very act of drawing it was a clear declaration of intent—he would waste no more time and would kill me.
I smiled bitterly and steadied my breathing.
Crackle, crackle—
The power I felt was overwhelming.
I was certain that if caught in that maelstrom, not even a trace would remain.
The distance was too close to escape.
Moreover, I couldn’t believe I could evade it.
In the end, there was only one thing I had to do to survive.
I tightened my grip on the sword and drew my energy upward.
*Scoff*
In that instant, I heard Yeom Ji-hak’s mocking laughter.
From his perspective, this must have seemed like striking a rock with an egg.
But there was no complete absence of openings.
If I could land just one move—precisely one move—correctly, a golden opportunity would emerge to turn this situation around entirely.
Steeling my resolve, I drew even more energy upward.
Then.
The howling tempest vanished in an instant.
What arrived suddenly was silence and stillness.
And his figure was nowhere to be seen.
The moment I realized this, a scene painted itself in my mind.
But I didn’t dwell on that image—instead, I hurled my body forward.
In that instant, Yeom Ji-hak, who had been invisible, appeared before my eyes.
The moment I swung my sword without hesitation, its edge gleaming with killing intent, my body was engulfed in a tempest that threatened to burst apart.
My clothes were shredded and torn away by the blade-like gale.
Simultaneously, the skin on my hand gripping the sword began to tear, and that force eventually consumed my entire body, releasing an even more violent power.
My whole body was being torn to shreds.
If I did nothing, it was clear I would be ripped apart so thoroughly that no trace would remain.
Though I felt pain that pierced to my very marrow, I endured it through sheer will and began searching for the flow.
Even this violent force must have a current running through it.
Then I saw it.
The weakest point, barely perceptible.
I clenched my teeth and thrust my sword toward that spot.
*Shhhhk—!*
Drawing upon every ounce of inner energy I possessed, my blade cut through Yeom Ji-hak’s seemingly unbreakable tempest in a single moment.
A brief gap appeared, and I saw shock written across his face.
I didn’t miss that moment.
*Crunch—!*

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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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