The Youngest Son of the Nanyang Jin Family - Chapter 97

—————
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 Nakhyang Jin Family — Chapter 97

* * *

No one knew the names of those men.
They themselves called their organization nothing but Singyeo.
A place that upheld the teachings of the Divine.
A fanatical collective bound together solely for one man called the Divine—warriors of unwavering devotion.
They lurked in the deepest shadows, yet gathered only those capable of anything for their Divine, true warriors of unshakeable faith.
Hidden in darkness, scheming in secret to seize dominion over the Murim?
Such thoughts never crossed their minds.
The Murim itself was nothing more than a plaything to them.
What meaning could there be in grasping something so trivial?
Their purpose had always been simple.
For the Divine.
Whatever the Divine desired, they would do.
Just as they had torn the Nakhyang Jin Family apart to obtain the Gok Ok, they killed, recruited others, expanded their influence—all of it purely for the Divine.
For they believed that only by serving the Divine could one become a Seonin and achieve transcendence.
And the force that upheld Singyeo was none other than the Twelve Angles.
The Twelve Angles, where each member’s strength and abilities harmonized perfectly.
This was one of the absolute powers Singyeo possessed.
And now, before my eyes stood the leader of Snake Horn.
Yeom Ji-hak.
How could I ever forget that face?
The man who had thrown Jang Chuchyeong’s head before me in that final moment.
That man was Yeom Ji-hak.
I clenched my teeth, staring at him.
I swallowed my breath, suppressing the murderous intent that threatened to explode from within.
Not yet.
The power I possessed now was infinitely lacking compared to the past.
I had no preparation whatsoever, and with the Blood Demon Squad protecting him besides, rushing forward now would be nothing short of courting death.
Moreover, he could read his opponent’s emotions.
I had realized this after several clashes.
Whether it was the power of the Gok Ok or a martial technique he had mastered, I could not say. But if he could read emotions, there was a high chance he would see through my identity.
I had made preparations, but it was a one-in-ten-thousand risk.
I steadied my breathing and slowly released the tension from my body.
Just as Yeom Ji-hak was entering the Chohyeon Sega, I turned to leave, but in that instant—
“…!”
Our eyes met.
For just a moment.
Yeom Ji-hak’s gaze, which had been fixed on me, slowly vanished.
Then the wind stirred.
I felt a gust of wind sweep past me.
It happened in an extraordinarily brief instant, and simultaneously, I froze at the chilling sensation I felt from behind.
I could sense it.
The touch of a staff’s end against the nape of my neck.
“Hoh? Who might this be? Heh— I don’t know you, yet I sense a peculiar familiarity from you. How curious, indeed.”
Taking in that voice, I slowly rose to my feet. I felt the staff pressing against my neck move in tandem with my body.
If he so desired, that staff would undoubtedly pierce through my throat.
As expected.
Ching—!
The scene flashed past in an instant, and I moved even faster, rolling across the ground.
Boom—!
Simultaneously, the sound of the staff tearing through the air reached my ears.
The noise of air being rent asunder assaulted my senses.
Then, just as I was about to regain my stance.
Ching—!
Something else whistled past my head.
I launched my body upward and retreated in a single motion.
Crash—!
The roof where I had stood exploded, sending debris scattering into the air.
“Hoh? What is this… Heheheh, how entertaining. Your movements are as though you’ve glimpsed the future itself. And that mask… Hmm— could you be one of those who slew the Yeongsal Corps?”
To his question, I stared at Yeom Ji-hak in silence.
I could sense the presence of the Blood Demon Squad approaching.
Yet I had no capacity to concern myself with that.
A single moment of distraction meant death.
“Tell this old man. Do you know? If it proves useful to me, I may just spare your life.”
Yeom Ji-hak lifted his staff slightly, then brought it down against the ground once more.
Boom!
As though an earthquake had struck, a tremendous tremor erupted, and in an instant the roof shattered and collapsed.
It did not end there.
“Aaaaaahhh!”
“…What!?”
The entire building crumbled and caved in.
The people inside were buried beneath the wreckage, their screams piercing the air, yet Yeom Ji-hak merely chuckled with amusement as he watched me soar high into the sky.
Soon after, I hurled myself through the air and landed lightly upon the ground.
“Perhaps you were here to target the Blood Demon Squad? Or the Chohyeon Family? Then where are the others? If you answer before you die, you might just live.”
Yeom Ji-hak spoke with urgency and swung his staff.
A weighty force came hurtling toward me with razor-sharp intensity.
It was sword energy—taking on the distinct form of a blade.
Feeling a force that my sword energy could not possibly block, all I could do was evade.
Crash—crash—boom!
The torrential sword energy shattered something else, creating another disturbance.
Yeom Ji-hak was not merely displaying raw power.
He was pressing forward with remarkable skill and experience.
A smile played across his weathered lips.
“Hmm? Is it the mask? Your emotions don’t show through very well. Or perhaps… is this something I already know?”
“…”
I watched Yeom Ji-hak silently, remaining vigilant.
The power of the Jade Orb had saved my life countless times.
But I could not rely on it alone.
I had to find some way to escape this situation.
Then, I saw Yeom Ji-hak furrow his brow slightly.
“Indeed, your emotions are difficult to discern. As if you were prepared for me. Could it be… that Gwanbaek taught you this?”
Gwanbaek?
At the unfamiliar name, the emotions I had been controlling wavered for an instant.
He was not the type to miss such a thing.
“Hmm? Is that not it?”
Yeom Ji-hak tilted his head, reading my emotions.
Reading emotions did not happen instantaneously.
There was always a slight delay.
I seized that gap and quickly regained control of my feelings, causing him to begin doubting whether what he had sensed was real.
But soon he shook his head and sighed as if giving up.
“My, you hide your emotions quite well. Am I being deceived, or is there something I don’t know?”
As Yeom Ji-hak sensed my wavering emotions, his expression continued to crumple and smooth in succession.
He read the emotions of his opponent and judged truth from falsehood.
Moreover, in close combat, it was an ability more fearsome than any other.
However, if one could reach the state of no-mind or freely control one’s emotions, deceiving him would not be so difficult.
The reason I could deceive this opponent who read emotions so keenly was because I had trained countless times in the past to control my feelings in order to capture him.
Yet, it could not be called perfect.
If a small gap appeared, it would be read.
The moment it was read, everything could be exposed.
Being as careful as possible, I let out a soft chuckle.
He reacted to the elated emotion and looked at me.
He seemed unable to understand how one could laugh in such a situation.
Seeing this, I quietly drew my sword.
“Shall we try, old man?”
“Who the hell are you—!”
Then.
Yeom Ji-hak let out a hollow laugh at the absurdity of it all when Ma Hyeong-chu came rushing forward at tremendous speed.
Simultaneously, he caught sight of me and swung his sword.
Whoosh—!
Reading the blade’s trajectory, I stepped through the footwork without hesitation.
Confirming the sword passing dangerously close, I steadied my stance and thrust my blade forward.
Clang—!
Screech—!
Both Ma Hyeong-chu and I were driven back one step each.
But that was fine.
In fact, exactly what I wanted.
I threw myself backward with greater force, opening distance between myself and Yeom Ji-hak.
Ma Hyeong-chu wasn’t the immediate problem.
I had to escape Yeom Ji-hak’s grasp no matter what.
“So you’re thinking of running. Do you truly believe it’s possible?”
Ha—
At those words reaching my ears, I laughed loudly.
Of course I was thinking of running.
This situation was far too disadvantageous for me.
At the very least, I needed to separate one of them from the other to catch my breath.
I retreated backward once more with a powerful leap.
At that same instant, something flew toward me with the speed of light.
The force behind it was unmistakably a martial technique from Yeom Ji-hak.
Boom—!
There wasn’t even time to evade.
My body was sent flying by the force that materialized in an instant.
Then I saw Ma Hyeong-chu pursuing at a frenzied pace.

Yeom Ji-hak, who had unleashed a martial technique he believed the opponent could never block, furrowed his brows in displeasure for reasons he couldn’t quite explain.
Following the frenzied pursuit of Ma Hyeong-chu, I traced the path of the figure who had soared away with casual grace.
Yet there was nothing to be seen.
Had the strike connected properly, the opponent should have been sprawled out with a gaping hole through their body—but the corpse was nowhere to be found.
This was why his frown refused to fade.
“Elder! They’ve vanished.”
“Hehehehe, so my eyes did not deceive me.”
“Did you… see something?”
“I did. Something rather absurd, at that.”
From this outcome, Yeom Ji-hak became certain that his eyes had not failed him.
His martial technique had undoubtedly struck the opponent.
The problem lay in how the opponent had taken the blow.
They had appeared as though deliberately accepting the strike, and the image of them using their feet to push off and launch backward remained vividly before my eyes.
By leaping and drawing force from the impact, then propelled further by the explosion of Yeom Ji-hak’s power, they had vanished from sight in an instant.
“No ordinary opponent, then.”
Yeom Ji-hak recalled the masked figure.
Though the face remained unknown, the opponent felt quite young.
The spiritual energy on display seemed unremarkable at first glance, yet this was merely because their true strength was concealed—perfectly so.
So perfectly that even Yeom Ji-hak himself had been deceived.
And look at the present situation.
One of the Twelve Elders—myself—and the Blood Demon Sect Leader.
Even a hundred Powerful Experts would have been inescapably trapped, yet this opponent had found a path through and disappeared.
The shock was greater than that of a predator watching its prey slip away.
“Hmm…”
Yeom Ji-hak stroked his chin, considering one more thing.
Something he had sensed from the moment he first saw them.
Movements as though reading the future itself.
Had they, like myself, obtained the Gok Ok?
To confirm this, I could not afford to let them escape.
“Find them. This is no opponent to be allowed to slip away.”
“Yes!”
It was not merely because they posed a threat.
If the opponent had claimed the Gok Ok, they would become a danger to Singyeo.
Either they must be killed, or brought to the Sect.
“An unexpected night’s entertainment, it seems. Hehehehe.”
Yeom Ji-hak laughed at whatever he found so amusing.
Cold moonlight illuminated the spot where the opponent had vanished.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————