Chapter 660
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 660
Chapter Title: You Cannot Leave Tomorrow
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Yeon Ha-min was completely oblivious to the changes happening in her own body.
She was simply pouring everything she had into demonstrating the sword her father had passed down to her in front of her mother.
At some point, she felt a refreshing coolness and clarity wash over her entire body.
But it was a sensation she occasionally experienced during sword practice, so she simply closed her eyes and focused solely on her sword.
Thus, she had no idea that a transformation was occurring in the sword threads that had naturally manifested at some point.
"Sword... Gang..."
Yeon Gong-hu muttered in disbelief, fumbling over the words.
Considering when Yeon Ha-min had first begun learning martial arts and the sword, even manifesting sword threads was unbelievable—let alone sword gang.
An utterly inconceivable sight was unfolding right before his eyes.
"Sword gang?"
Jin Na-yeon asked in shock.
Though she didn't practice martial arts herself, she knew what sword gang was.
Sword gang—the hallmark of a peak master.
And now, her own daughter had manifested it.
The child who had known nothing of martial arts when she fled the Yeon Clan like she was escaping for her life.
"Ha-min..."
Jin Na-yeon murmured her daughter's name amid a whirlwind of complex emotions.
As if that had been the signal.
Yeon Ha-min abruptly halted her sword.
The Myriad Blossoms Moonlit Sword Dance had come to an end.
Before, it had felt like it needed to continue endlessly.
But now, for some reason, she felt it was finished—and so she stopped.
Then she tilted her head.
It was the expressions on her mother and brother's faces as they stared at her.
"What's wrong?"
Yeon Ha-min asked cautiously.
"Incredible..."
Yeon Gong-hu could say nothing more.
"Ha-min..."
Her mother could only call her name.
Yet that voice brimmed with overwhelming emotion.
Yeon Ha-min couldn't fathom what was behind their dramatic reactions.
"Y-Yeon sis! That was sword gang, right? Sword gang!"
Gong Hae-jun, who had been playing in a corner of the rear garden a bit farther away, came rushing over in excitement.
One must not peep on a martial artist's training.
That was the lesson he'd received from Ha Mu-baek's disciple on the cart heading to the Western Tomb.
The Gong siblings hadn't intentionally spied; they'd simply been playing where Yeon Ha-min's sword practice came into view.
And captivated by its breathtaking beauty, they'd watched in a daze—only to be startled when sword gang erupted.
But they hadn't made a sound.
They'd also been taught not to disturb a martial artist's training.
"H-Hae-jun..."
Gong Hae-bin, arriving late and flustered, scolded her brother.
Then she awkwardly clasped her hands in greeting and bowed.
"Miss Yeon, forgive us. We didn't mean to spy..."
The sight of young Gong Hae-bin acting with such proper etiquette, like a true denizen of the jianghu, was utterly adorable.
Jin Na-yeon and Yeon Gong-hu couldn't help but smile.
It layered fresh wonder atop the awe and shock of Yeon Ha-min's sword gang.
The direction from which the children had run was a spot they often played at since arriving at the Yeon Clan.
The vast Yeon Clan estate had few places around the annex suitable for children.
Since the children had been playing there already, and she and her mother had come to practice swordsmanship...
It was puzzling that she hadn't noticed their presence upon arrival.
They must have been there first.
Regardless of the circumstances.
"It's fine. You two can come watch anytime."
Yeon Ha-min said with a gentle smile.
"But never watch others training. Even if you see it by chance like this, leave the area immediately—especially here in the Yeon Clan."
She didn't even need to warn them.
Gong Hae-bin's precocious manners had brought smiles, momentarily distracting from Gong Hae-jun's outburst upon arrival.
Only after speaking did she recall it.
Yeon Ha-min suddenly startled and asked Gong Hae-jun.
"Sword gang?"
Gong Hae-jun nodded vigorously at her question.
"Yes! Pink sword gang! It was incredibly beautiful!"
The mention of pink meant he'd properly seen the energy radiating.
Her own sword threads had been pinkish.
And she'd definitely released them in exhilaration.
"It was sword threads, not sword gang."
As Yeon Ha-min corrected the mistake, Gong Hae-jun shook his head fiercely.
"No, it was sword gang! Master showed it to us clearly!"
This too was a lesson from the cart to the Western Tomb.
Yeon Ha-min was shocked—the children had seen sword gang before?
She knew they were sharp; if they'd seen it, they wouldn't mistake it.
Sword threads and sword gang looked distinctly different.
The startled Yeon Ha-min turned to Yeon Gong-hu.
He nodded and said,
"Congratulations on your achievement. It was definitely sword gang. The way the threads merged into gang was truly beautiful."
Yeon Ha-min shuddered at his words.
Sword gang.
She had manifested sword gang.
A realm she'd thought distant.
Yet she'd reached it in one leap.
Her heart demon.
The corps leader—no, the instructor—had been right.
She'd been trapped by her heart demon, and meeting her mother had released it.
Thus, even after just a few days since first picking up the sword again, she'd ascended to this realm.
"Hic... sob."
Tears flowed unbidden.
She had demonstrated her father's sword before her mother and achieved sword gang.
The thought alone brought tears streaming down.
"Let's go together."
At that moment.
Jin Na-yeon voiced her resolve.
Yeon Ha-min's tear-filled eyes widened.
She'd hoped for it but hadn't dared say it aloud—and now it came from her mother's lips.
"It's time to leave now. Staying here might burden you instead. Let's go together tomorrow."
Jin Na-yeon spoke with a kind smile.
"Mom—!!!"
Yeon Ha-min threw herself into Jin Na-yeon's arms and wept freely.
More than a few people had watched the scene from afar.
After Ha Mu-baek entered the Yeon Clan, they had been secretly monitoring Jin Na-yeon's annex.
Most were under Yeon Baek-pung's orders, with a few from Dongju Mountain's subordinates acting on Yeon Ja-kyeong's command.
The events in the rear garden quickly reached Yeon Baek-pung's ears.
"Sword gang? That wench?"
Yeon Baek-pung muttered in disbelief.
It was only natural.
Sword gang—what realm was peak mastery?
He himself had only stepped into it at forty.
Yet Yeon Ha-min, barely past twenty and with less than three years of training, had entered it?
"Gong-hu is one thing... but that girl isn't even Father's bloodline..."
In the Yeon Clan's long history, there had been those who reached peak mastery before thirty.
His second brother, Yeon Baek-un, had done so before twenty.
A source of deep inferiority for his brothers.
His brother, Yeon Baek-un.
Yeon Gong-hu, who bore his blood, resembled his father and had already reached peak mastery.
But Yeon Ha-min?
Originally Im Ha-min.
Lowly blood.
And she had such talent?
Grind.
Yeon Baek-pung gnashed his teeth.
His own son, Yeon In-hu, had yet to touch peak mastery.
Inferiority welled up anew.
Moreover.
"Getting all bustling like they're preparing to leave..."
They'd come with outsiders, so leaving was natural.
With the clan head's orders preventing punishment.
But what bothered Yeon Baek-pung was the entire annex in commotion.
If it were just the outsiders departing, there'd be no need for such fuss.
"No way?"
A thought flashed through his mind.
Then a maid urgently sought him out.
Planted by him in Jin Na-yeon's annex, she passed the signal guards' checks and reached him swiftly.
"What is it?"
"The lady says she'll leave the Yeon Clan tomorrow with the young miss."
At the urgent report.
Yeon Baek-pung's face twisted savagely.
Absolutely not.
He hadn't claimed her yet, and now she was leaving?
He had to stop it.
Yeon Baek-pung rose hastily and stormed toward the annex with heavy strides.
It was already deep into the night, shadows thick.
Even as acting clan head, barging in unannounced like this was improper.
But Yeon Baek-pung gave no thought to such things.
"Hey!"
His excited shout before the annex.
At Yeon Baek-pung's roar, people emerged from the annex, led by Jin Na-yeon.
"What brings you here, Young Clan Head?"
Jin Na-yeon replied calmly.
"Leaving the Yeon Clan tomorrow?"
Yeon Baek-pung cut straight to it.
"Yes."
Jin Na-yeon didn't deny it.
"Who gave you permission?!"
Yeon Baek-pung grew agitated.
"It's my affair, so I decided on my own."
"Your will or not, you can't decide unilaterally!"
Yeon Baek-pung shouted again.
Meanwhile, people were gathering at the annex.
Midnight.
Drawn by word of Yeon Baek-pung's sudden actions.
Yeon In-hu was among them.
He hurried to his father's side and said,
"Father, calm yourself. We must handle this by clan law, not with rash excitement."
A murderous glare turned toward Yeon In-hu.
Even a son knew when to step forward and when to yield.
This was the latter.
Yet Yeon In-hu didn't avert his eyes.
Ha Mu-baek watched the scene from inside the annex with interest.
'As expected of that one... Are they all Yeon Ja-kyeong's descendants? Each so cunning, delighting in the hidden.'
Yeon Gong-hu was like that, and so was Yeon In-hu.
"You brat...!"
As Yeon Baek-pung was about to roar at Yeon In-hu.
Knowing it improper, Yeon In-hu urgently called to Jin Na-yeon.
"Aunt, presumptuous as it is, you cannot leave tomorrow."
Yeon Baek-pung's mouth stopped at those words.
His son had said what he'd meant to.
The boy who'd invoked clan law—let's see what followed.
He decided to watch.
"And why is that?"
His nephew Yeon In-hu.
Unlike other Yeon Clan members, he at least upheld propriety.
Even now, addressing Jin Na-yeon as "Aunt" with proper respect.
So he asked the reason.
"Because you are our aunt. Even after Uncle passed, you chose to remain in the clan and follow its laws as one of us."
Yeon In-hu's words slowly quelled Yeon Baek-pung's swirling rage.
He too was recalling clan law.
A clan with the history and tradition of the Yeon family had many such laws.
Layered over long years.
The clan law codex was thick indeed.
No one knew it all.
But Yeon In-hu did.
He'd studied it as diligently as a martial arts manual, knowing that even mischief must align with it to avoid issues.
"If you leave the clan, it means you have no intention of returning, correct?"
"Yes."
Jin Na-yeon affirmed Yeon In-hu's question.
"Then it constitutes branching off."
Branching off.
Splitting from the clan.
"As a member of the Yeon Clan, branching off requires the clan head's permission."
A calm explanation, rooted purely in fact, devoid of emotion.
Jin Na-yeon furrowed her brow.
Unlike Yeon Baek-pung's words.
Irrefutably logical, she couldn't counter.
"You could abandon the Yeon name, but that applies only to Ha-min, and still requires the clan head's approval. As Uncle's widow, having chosen to remain, you are forever a Yeon Clan member."
Yeon In-hu calmly addressed every potential counter she might raise.
"Or you could remarry into another clan, but that too needs the clan head's permission."
In short, Jin Na-yeon could only leave the Yeon Clan with the clan head's approval.
Shadows fell over Jin Na-yeon and Yeon Ha-min's faces.
Conversely, a smug smile crept onto Yeon Baek-pung's lips.