Chapter 72
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 72
Chapter Title: I'm Pretty Scary Myself
"Gong-hu. Bring that bastard here. Right now!"
Yeon Baek-ryang spoke in a voice thick with rage, his hand trembling violently.
In his shaking grasp was an urgent report sent by Dong Ju-san via carrier pigeon.
Its contents had driven Yeon Baek-ryang into such fury.
A moment later, Yeon Gong-hu was dragged in like a prisoner.
He must have stubbornly refused to come at first.
Yeon Baek-ryang's icy glare seemed ready to tear Yeon Gong-hu to a thousand pieces.
"Did you hide Min-ah in the Dragon Training Pavilion?"
His voice was frigid.
Yeon Gong-hu offered no reply, his face calm and impassive.
"And you hid her in the Fierce Dragon Corps, no less."
Yeon Gong-hu showed no reaction whatsoever, but Yeon Baek-ryang pressed on regardless.
"Yet why didn't you hide her name? She was right there in plain sight, and those idiots still couldn't find her—though I suppose they are fools."
At that question, Yeon Gong-hu's expression flickered ever so slightly.
'I told her to use a false name. With the Fierce Dragon Corps' lax entry procedures, it should've been easy...'
Yeon Gong-hu knew exactly why Yeon Ha-min had used her real name. That knowledge only made it all the more heartbreaking.
"I told you to send her to the Fierce Dragon Corps because their entry process is so sloppy. But you know full well what kind of place it is. What in the world were you thinking? Did you just find her a nice spot to die?"
His tone brimmed with anger.
Yeon Gong-hu remained utterly unresponsive.
"That girl is heading to the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest right now!"
"What?"
That finally got a reaction from Yeon Gong-hu.
This was nothing like the plan he had devised.
Heading to the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest was supposed to happen after completing two full years of training.
Yeon Gong-hu's plan had been for her to leave the pavilion after finishing the first-year second-semester training.
By then, she would have been tempered enough to survive in the jianghu on her own.
She could hide and live anywhere by her own strength.
He had laid out every detail of the plan for her.
So how could she be heading to the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest in the middle of her first year?
"Hmph. Looks like this is outside your calculations. You thought your brilliant mind made everyone else an idiot, and now you've sent your own sister to her death."
"What happened?"
He knew nothing of the Dragon Training Pavilion's affairs.
Not even the greater jianghu's news reached him properly.
Yeon Baek-ryang had sealed off all his eyes and ears to the outside world.
As much as he hated to ask, he had no choice but to inquire.
About the things he didn't know.
"Ha Mu-baek. That madman's doing."
Yeon Baek-ryang hurled the letter Dong Ju-san had sent straight at Yeon Gong-hu.
Yeon Gong-hu caught the missive as it struck his face and scanned its contents swiftly.
"This..."
Yeon Gong-hu trailed off, unable to continue.
His shock was plain to see, but Yeon Baek-ryang continued glaring at him with eyes blazing in fury.
'Ha Mu-baek...'
It was a name he'd heard so often it made his ears ring.
No—a name etched into a corner of his mind.
Because of his late father.
He had praised the man endlessly as a true warrior, a true great hero. An unforgettable figure.
'Father called him a true warrior, a true great hero... but if this report is accurate, he's no such simple man.'
Yeon Gong-hu could read the intent behind sending them to the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest under the pretext of field training.
Of course, he didn't let it show.
His uncle was too blinded by rage over Yeon Ha-min's peril to see beneath the surface.
No—ever since he'd been consumed by his desires and lust, sound judgment had been impossible.
'But his intentions change depending on how much he knows about Ha-min's situation.'
Yeon Gong-hu considered two possibilities.
All he knew of Ha Mu-baek came from his father's stories.
He was unaware even of the recent great clash with the Pang Clan.
He'd only overheard the household servants whispering that the Pang Clan had suffered heavy losses in a duel against some mysterious master.
The full details were known only to the clan's leadership, and Yeon Baek-ryang had kept them from Yeon Gong-hu.
'If he knows everything about Ha-min's circumstances, this is a trap. A trap to lure in Uncle.'
One piece of information from his father stood out: the man's temperament.
He cherished those who entered his fold above all else.
That was the basis for his judgment.
"You think we can link that bastard with the Hubei Yeon Clan? Elder Lee?"
Her voice dripped with lingering resentment.
It was the head of the Chang'an branch of the Hao Clan.
Hao Clan Leader Ye Chuo-a.
"Yes, Clan Leader. Dong Ju-san from the Yeon Clan has entered Wuchang."
"Dong Ju-san... He's definitely one of Young Clan Leader Yeon Baek-ryang's right-hand men, isn't he? I hear he often buys information from our main branch."
"That's correct."
"Isn't he caught up in something else right now? Even if he came to Wuchang, it'd be for that."
The Hao Clan had long known of Yeon Baek-ryang's lustful obsessions.
As an intelligence network rivaling the Beggar Clan, they wouldn't miss such crucial information.
"That's where it gets interesting—it's all tangled up."
Elder Lee spoke with an expression that said things were turning out delightfully.
"The girl they're looking for was under his watch as a disciple."
Ye Chuo-a's eyes gleamed.
"You only just found that out? Surely tracking her whereabouts was a commission too."
The question carried a note of reprimand.
"Since it was about finding her, we prioritized the most likely spots first, so we overlooked the Dragon Training Pavilion. Investigating inside is difficult anyway."
It was an excuse for an excuse, but Ye Chuo-a nodded readily.
"Because of Gi Yu-chan. He's the one who controls all information on the Dragon Training Pavilion."
Gi Yu-chan oversaw every scrap of intelligence on the Dragon Training Pavilion.
Every time the Hao Clan tried planting someone there, he blocked them.
Even the Beggar Clan couldn't embed agents inside because of him—they could only beg nearby.
"I can't fathom why a guy like that sticks to some mere Dragon Training Pavilion."
Elder Lee shook his head.
"The search for her was focused on pleasure houses, right?"
"Yes. The Yeon Clan specifically requested we prioritize those places from the start."
"No wonder even we missed it. Though the Beggar Clan might've found her—but if they had, we'd know about it."
"Those self-righteous beggars wouldn't take a request from scum like that. With their White Dao Alliance stance, they'd pretend to search but do nothing."
Ye Chuo-a nodded at Elder Lee's words.
He was right.
Those vagabonds would never aid such vile purposes.
"But they found her somehow."
"You can't hide a needle in a sack forever. And no concealing that beauty of hers."
"When did they find her?"
"Well..."
Elder Lee hesitated.
Ye Chuo-a regarded him calmly.
"When we returned from that incident, the report was waiting..."
"......"
Ye Chuo-a fell silent for a moment.
The nightmare of that time resurfaced. It hadn't been that long ago.
"Even after confirming her location, we didn't inform the Yeon Clan because..."
"We weren't in any state of mind for it. Nor the situation. Plus, I thought we might save it for the right moment."
Ye Chuo-a nodded at Elder Lee's subdued tone.
"And that moment is now."
Her eyes flashed with cold menace.
"Yes. We'll pit the Yeon Clan against him."
Ye Chuo-a frowned slightly at Elder Lee's words.
"That alone won't be enough."
"Then we'll escalate things ourselves. He'll whisk her away to the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest."
"It's a trap."
Ye Chuo-a instantly saw through Ha Mu-baek's scheme.
It was obvious: draw in Yeon Baek-ryang, eliminate him, and resolve the Yeon Ha-min issue.
The power of their information.
"If things go his way, yes—but if we alter the flow midway, he might fall into the trap instead."
Ye Chuo-a's eyes sparkled.
It was the most promising thing she'd heard lately.
"His weakness went with her. That could be our opening."
They already knew what it was: his sister.
It could be his reverse scale.
Wasn't that how the Pang Clan had suffered? They'd gotten caught up in it too.
Well, precisely, they'd tried to exploit it and gotten burned instead—but Ye Chuo-a and Elder Lee viewed it only from their perspective, chalking it up to rotten luck.
"Good. Time to paint the full picture. For Hye-a and Great Elder Lee's sake, if nothing else."
The Hao Clan's Great Elder position sat vacant.
Elder Lee was the natural successor, but he'd refused until their enemy's blood was spilled.
The Hao Clan was now scheming to interfere with Ha Mu-baek's plans.
It was deep into the night.
The dead of night when all were asleep.
Of the group, only one remained awake: Yeon Ha-min.
They were camping, and it was her watch.
With Ha Mu-baek and Han Seol-bing together, a watch wasn't truly needed.
Moreover—unknown to the group—a reliable ally shadowed them in secret.
Still, they kept the watch as training.
It was field training, after all.
Everything had to be done meticulously.
Yeon Ha-min stared blankly at the crackling campfire.
Her vacant gaze hid her thoughts, but her mind was a whirlwind of complexity.
Suddenly leaving the Dragon Training Pavilion for the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest?
What could the instructor be thinking?
She trusted him, but without knowing his intent, her head spun in confusion.
Believe in me.
Those words from the instructor.
Recalling them, Yeon Ha-min steadied her heart.
"Feeling anxious?"
Ha Mu-baek's sudden voice startled her.
"I trust you."
Yeon Ha-min replied softly.
"Trust and anxiety aren't quite the same thing."
Ha Mu-baek sat beside her as he spoke.
Yeon Ha-min cautiously glanced around.
Everyone was deep in slumber.
"Don't worry. No one will hear us."
Ha Mu-baek had already sealed sound with his qi barriers.
"From the moment your cousin arrived at the Dragon Training Pavilion, your location was as good as exposed to the Yeon Clan. And to escape them for good, we have to deal with the root of the problem."
Yeon Ha-min pressed her lips tight.
"You've grown strong enough that there's no more time to waste slipping out from under that beast's shadow."
Ha Mu-baek's words were cold and matter-of-fact.
It was time to lay out the reality plainly.
"The Dragon Training Pavilion wasn't suitable for that."
He gazed into the dancing flames as he continued.
"We need to settle it decisively somewhere secluded with no escape. That's why we left. The excuse was to dodge your cousin and the Yeon Clan's eyes, but..."
"So I'm the bait."
Yeon Ha-min spoke calmly.
"Sorry for not telling you sooner and pushing ahead on my own."
"No. I trust you. Just like you said, there's no time left."
Yeon Ha-min faced reality squarely.
"But... that man is terrifying."
Her voice quivered faintly with fear of Yeon Baek-ryang.
A fear branded deep into her mind like a burn.
"I'm pretty scary myself."
Ha Mu-baek replied as if it were nothing.
"Heh."
A chuckle escaped Yeon Ha-min at the unexpected words.
"That's better. Even a laugh like that does you good."
Yeon Ha-min bowed her head at his words.
"It's almost over. Soon, you'll be able to smile freely."
With that, Ha Mu-baek returned to his spot.