Chapter 18: Damn it, how could I not know this place!
There was a good reason why I knew so much about Namgung Sejin.
The Sword Clan bastards, along with the Peng Clan, were the most secular among the Orthodox Faction forces, which ans they were the ones who were most obsessed with money.
Therefore, they had clashed with the Black Lords along the Yangtze River on every single matter.
The degree of friction was so severe that the prideful Black Lords had decided to form an alliance with the Great Tiger Gang.
They, who had competed like oil and water over the Yangtze River for half a century, had joined forces against a common enemy called Namgung.
It was rare for a day to pass without the word ‘Namgung’ being ntioned in the reports that flew into the Great Murim Alliance every day.
The amount of alcohol I had drunk because of those Anhui Sword Clan bastards would easily exceed several thousand bottles.
Suddenly, the back of my neck ached again.
“Hoo….”
The fact that Namgung Sejin's attention was focused on was definitely not good news.
Moreover, I was not the Martial Emperor now, but just a mber of the new generation of the Orthodox Faction with nothing.
Above all, it was uncertain whether my Jaegal Clan would beco an eave to shelter from the rain that was Namgung.
They were, no matter what anyone said, the number one family under heaven of the current era.
It was the current Namgung that exerted the strongest influence on the Murim Alliance, along with Mount Hua.
Those bastards, who would advance south to devour Jiangxi without even glancing at the Sword Saint, would treat this Jaegal Clan at the sa eye level as one of the Five Great Clans?
Not a chance.
If things went wrong, sothing really shitty could happen.
“Brother… what are you thinking so hard about?”
“Agh, shit, you scared !”
That sinister little brother of mine was looking at my back again.
After ascending to the position of the Great Murim Alliance Leader, I had never once been caught from behind.
I should be getting used to my weak level of martial arts by now, but as expected, this was not a matter of adaptation.
“Little brother.”
“Yes, brother!”
“You are the younger brother, and I am the older brother.”
“Yes?”
“It ans you shouldn't rashly look at my back.”
“What does that….”
“It gives the creeps, is what I'm saying.”
“M-?”
Watching him take a step back as if in shock, I eventually lowered my head.
Right, this wasn't his problem, but mine.
I was the crazy one for expecting the senses of my pri with just a re One Origin Jade Flower.
“From now on, appear from the side or the front, not from behind.”
“Yes….”
“Have you eaten?”
“Not yet….”
I put my arm around his dejected shoulders and set off.
“Let's go. To eat.”
***
Inside the now bustling Pavilion of Floral Beauty.
Was the act of a single person eating really sothing that deserved this much attention?
Of course, I had heard of Jaegal Yeong's reputation as the Little Poisonous Seed of the Jaegal Clan.
But judging by the reactions of the blood relatives, it seed his reputation was even greater than I had thought.
But then sothing even more extraordinary happened.
“I also plan to take on the Nine Phoenix Gates with my brother!”
As soon as Jaegal Yeong's groundbreaking declaration fell, a dead silence descended.
Then, a familiar and aged voice bood like a thunderclap.
“Is that really true―!”
In the distance, I could see the Old Man of Heavenly Wisdom, who had shot up with tears in his eyes.
The seventy-year-old man was running energetically, like a bandit with an axe.
“Is that true! Do you really intend to take on the Nine Phoenix Gates as well, Yeong!”
Jaegal Yeong, nodding his head magnanimously.
“Yes, Grandfather! I do!”
“Euhheuk….”
The Old Man of Heavenly Wisdom, who was as moved as soone eting a lost child alive, grabbed Jaegal Yeong's hand.
“Well done! How lovely! Heaven has not abandoned our Martial Marquis family! Indeed! I knew it! No, this isn't the ti for this, I will throw a feast!”
“Didn't you say you were going to perform the Golden Basin Hand-Washing.”
“Ahem! What nonsense is that! I will protect this clan until I'm shitting on the wall!”
“…….”
I didn't know if that was really a good thing or a bad thing for the Jaegal Clan, but in any case, a warm breeze soon blew through the Pavilion of Floral Beauty.
On the other hand, I couldn't get used to the fact that sothing like this had beco a joyous occasion for the clan.
For , a feast was sothing to be held only when I had eliminated a heinous enemy or seized a territory.
“To hold a feast with my brother on the verge of entering the gates is out of the question. If you must hold a celebratory banquet, please do so after Brother Hwi has safely co out.”
“I-indeed! Look at my mind! As expected of our Yeong! Yes! That's right! On the day Hwi safely exits the gates, let us all hold a celebratory banquet together!”
Gradually, the blood relatives of the Jaegal Clan began to look at with pleased expressions.
Moreover, among them was the middle-aged Jaegal from another faction who had pointed out my special privilege.
Even while checking and competing, now that their wills were united, they had brought their hearts together as one.
But I was not a mber of the new generation who would be puffed up by the clan's expectations, but the Martial Emperor.
Rather, I was feeling a chilling fear in my chest.
Because I knew well that this kind of strong solidarity was the frightening aspect of the Orthodox Faction.
‘A clan…….’
A family.
A clan.
They might have their own sense of loyalty and romance, but it was sothing that did not exist in the Underworld, which was bound together by resentnt, fear, and perhaps profit.
They might share cups of wine and talk about brotherhood, but it could not compare to the solidity of a real family that shared blood.
Finally, I.
I had no choice but to admit that I too now had such a solid family.
At that mont, the steward, Yi Sabaek, approached with a heavy face.
“Grand Clan Head. The preparations for the Third Young Master's entrance to the gates are complete.”
“What? Already?”
“Since it was already prepared in advance, there wasn't much to prepare.”
In an instant, Jaegal Yeong shot up.
“I will enter the gates as well!”
Now it was the Old Man of Heavenly Wisdom who was flustered.
“Yeong-ah! Don't you know you cannot enter the gates before the age of majority?”
“Is it a clan law?”
“It is not a clan law, but….”
“If it is a custom and not a clan law, then there is no reason for not to enter the gates. Please grant permission.”
The reason this Jaegal Clan prevented entry to the gates before the age of majority was obvious.
To reduce the number of sacrifices as much as possible.
When people were dying even after their bodies and minds had matured, it was impossible for that young boy to challenge it recklessly.
“Little brother.”
“Yes, brother!”
“A boy has a boy's path.”
“……Brother?”
“First, that way of speaking.”
I ssed up his hair haphazardly.
“I hope that when I co out, you are no longer pretending to be an adult.”
“No, I….”
“If you insist on getting a beating, you may continue to do so.”
“Yes?”
“If you're so curious, go ask the First Brother about .”
I looked at the boy who had clamped his mouth shut, then smiled slyly at the Old Man of Heavenly Wisdom.
“If this boy talks about entering the gates again, please let know. I'll separate his bones from his flesh.”
“I-I will do so.”
Suddenly, the blood relatives of the Jaegal Clan approached my side one by one.
“You must survive!”
“Co back without dying!”
“Don't act rashly, be slow! Approach the Nine Gates with more caution than ever before!”
The children of the Crouching Dragon Hall, who had been hesitating from afar, seed to have made up their minds and ca running.
“You can do it, Young Master!”
“That's right! You're definitely soone who will beco a True Blood!”
“Please co back and teach us again!”
Moyong Baek, fidgeting among the children.
“……I will be waiting while I train.”
“You too, with that way of speaking.”
Damn it.
Is there so kind of disease that makes you beco old-fashioned the more you read?
My chest is fluttering.
An unknown turbulence, an emotion I've never experienced in my life, surges up, and my nose tingles.
Now I think I know.
Why the Orthodox Faction guys were so sincere about protecting their clans.
While my heart fluttered, a subtle irritation also rose.
“Steward, let's go quickly.”
As I urged the steward and started on my way, the Old Man of Heavenly Wisdom urgently grabbed my hand.
“You rascal! Hwi-ah!”
I stopped without looking back.
“You must succeed…!”
Damn it!
Don't you dare have your funeral rites while I'm gone, Old Man of Heavenly Wisdom!
***
Right now, I can't see anything.
It's not a figure of speech; it's literally pitch black, and I can't see a thing.
It's because the steward put a cloth bag over my head.
I foad at the mouth and argued against the steward's over-the-top action, but surprisingly, this was the rule.
Still, I'm the third young master of the Jaegal Clan, aren't I?
To my words, the steward bluntly replied that the First Young Master had also worn a cloth bag.
Shit, where the hell are they taking ?
Clank.
Creeak, creeak.
The sound of tal scraping against tal was heard.
It seed so chanism had been activated, and as soone who had been through thick and thin, I couldn't help but flinch.
“Steward, isn't this too much? What kind of person enters an unknown chanism with a cloth bag over their head.”
“Please lower your voice.”
“Hmm?”
“This interior is designed so that traps are activated if sound or impact is amplified beyond a certain level.”
“Sh-shit, what? Is this the Secret Cave That Repels Demons?”
“……How do you know of that place?”
Damn it, how could I not know about the Demon Subjugation Secret Cave, old man.
How many of my subordinates died there.
Even now, just thinking about it makes my head spin, and you're telling you brought to such a place?
Wait?
So the ones who designed the chanism of the Secret Cave That Repels Demons must be the Jaegal Clan.
“How could the Third Young Master know the greatest secret of the Alliance….”
I couldn't very well say I had personally experienced that petty trap, so this was tricky.
But I decided to push even harder.
“Then, after getting out of here, the Heavenly Terrace Pass will be waiting, I suppose.”
“Hup!”
“Even if I get past the Heavenly Terrace Pass, a choice between the Heat Prison and the Ice Stream will be waiting. Even if I endure all that, I will face the Sword Forest.”
“Y-young Master?”
“Steward, does this blindfold still seem aningful?”
The steward, who had been silent for a mont, untied the blindfold and mask that were covering my head.
He was looking at with wondrous eyes.
“I too have heard that the Third Young Master is a prodigy of heavenly talent, but… this is truly surprising. The design schematics of the Secret Cave That Repels Demons should not be in any of our clan's books… Don't tell you combined the Ten chanisms Design Diagram and the High Order Formulae? Or did you co up with a new interpretation of the Floating Rapid asurent Theory?”
I was startled and took another look at the steward, Yi Sabaek.
An ordinary steward would usually have an exceptional talent for managent, but this Yi Sabaek's insight into chanisms was also extraordinary.
Was this the Jaegal Clan after all?
Even the steward was no ordinary steward.
Indeed, this place was the sha and the greatest secret of the Jaegal Clan.
There was no way a person who ca and went from such an important place could be a simple steward.
I suppressed my wariness and laughed heartily.
“Haha! Well, isn't it the privilege of a genius?”
“But even so, the fact that you even know the na Secret Cave That Repels Demons is….”
“Shh, shouldn't we be more careful from here on out?”
As expected, the interior of this massive iron coffin was so familiar that it made shudder.
The black iron chests rising up here and there.
Those luminous pearls of a damp hue.
Even the musty sll that pierced my nose.
Until just a mont ago, I had been overwheld with the affection of the clan, but seeing my blood rush so fiercely like this, I was an undeniable mber of the Underworld.
The grudges of the subordinates who had died in this hellish chanism were still stuck all over my body.
“Lead the way. I'll follow.”
What this Jaegal Clan was trying to protect, even by putting a bag over my head, was the way to break the chanism, that is, the Qi Step.
I absolutely had to find that out.
A person's fate is sothing where you can't see an inch ahead.
There was no guarantee that I wouldn't be caught by the Secret Cave That Repels Demons again.
Soon, I began to watch the steward's steps with fire in my eyes.
The order of those steps was the very Qi Step I ntioned.
The solution to this Secret Cave That Repels Demons.
“Then please follow slowly while observing my steps.”
“The Qi Step is obvious, but I should still watch carefully, right?”
“Of course. Because the price of a mistake within the chanism is death.”
The steward walked on without any suspicion of my natural acting.
I twisted my lips and followed him.
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