Chapter 424 : Mother's Clan

Chapter 424: Mother's Clan

Yong Hwarin, along with the leadership of the Heavenly Central Sect, had finished coordinating the defense and offense strategies, and came out to inspect whether the formation had been properly installed.

Jong Munhye and Nan Myeonggwak had erected the formation using jiangshi, then meticulously examined it for any gaps.

“This formation might be the most groundbreaking one yet.”

Nan Myeonggwak spoke with confidence.

He believed that the illusion formation using jiangshi would be most effective once the battle broke out.

“You two have done a great deal.”

At those words, the two responded simultaneously.

“How could we possibly neglect something done for our main house?”

Now, it had become second nature for the two to refer to the Heavenly Central Sect as their “main house.”

After their brief response, the two returned to diligently inspecting the formation to ensure there were no problems.

Formations could shift with the position of a single rock or tree, so they checked and reinforced it whenever possible.

Just as Yong Hwarin turned around, feeling reassured, he sensed someone watching him from afar.

And that gaze was fixed directly on him.

‘Who is it? A spy monitoring the main house? But I haven’t received any reports of spies getting this close.’

Yong Hwarin extended his sensory field to one hundred jang, probing to see who might be watching him.

But just as he tried to sense the presence, his qi perception was cut off each time.

It meant the person was a master whose level didn’t fall short of his own.

‘It feels like… they’re calling out to me, doesn’t it?’

In a flash, Yong Hwarin leapt toward the direction where the observer was.

When he closed the distance to ten jang, the observer turned and used movement arts to flee.

It looked as if they were beckoning him to follow, so Yong Hwarin cautiously pursued them.

It could have been a trap.

But the one ahead of him moved with such composure that it was hard to believe they meant harm.

Soon, they reached a forest, where the person came to a stop.

The figure had a mask on, making it impossible to recognize their face.

But upon seeing their eyes, Yong Hwarin remembered what the Demonic Master had once said, and one particular person came to mind.

“You certainly have a nasty hobby, Branch Leader.”

At Yong Hwarin’s words, the masked person removed their mask.

“I’m curious how you recognized me at a glance.”

“How could I possibly forget the eyes of the person who once overwhelmed me?”

Myeong Gujeong gave a small smile.

“Isn’t it the other way around now?”

Rather than answer, Yong Hwarin expressed his gratitude.

“Thank you for helping my junior and our people the other day.”

He respectfully greeted him with a clasped-hands salute, and Myeong Gujeong returned the gesture reluctantly.

“May I ask why you were at that place?”

Myeong Gujeong answered without hesitation.

“In truth, we had also moved because we received information that Miss Hong’s younger sibling was there. Since she’s in the Heavenly Central Sect, we thought her sibling might become a hostage.”

“Was it… to help me?”

Myeong Gujeong nodded.

“Why else would we?”

“You keep saying ‘we’—are you referring to the one who resembles my mother?”

“You knew, then.”

“I once followed her long ago.”

“I heard the story.”

Back then, the woman who resembled Yong Hwarin’s mother had come to retrieve the Azure Dragon Three Marbles, found Hong Ayul, and happened to encounter Yong Hwarin.

As he conversed with Myeong Gujeong, Yong Hwarin sensed something else.

In that moment, he realized Myeong Gujeong had not come alone.

“Did you… come here with her?”

Myeong Gujeong nodded again.

“Who is she?”

Myeong Gujeong opened his mouth to speak.

“You should ask her yourself. She’s also come here. Are you willing to meet her?”

He had longed to meet her and hear the reason behind everything—there was no reason to refuse.

“I’d like to meet her.”

“Then wait here.”

Myeong Gujeong vanished again, and after two hours (일다경) had passed, a woman emerged from the forest.

The moment he saw her face, Yong Hwarin felt like the air had been knocked out of his lungs. It felt like being exposed to the sun in the middle of a desert.

He had seen her before, but facing her properly now—this woman looked so much like his mother.

“Wh-Who are you…?”

A sudden thought struck him—could this woman be his biological mother? His heart pounded as though it would burst.

But the woman simply looked at him with slightly emotional eyes.

When she didn’t say anything, Yong Hwarin asked,

“Are you… my mother?”

He thought he had spoken calmly, but his voice trembled violently.

At those words, the woman slowly shook her head from side to side.

Seeing that, Yong Hwarin felt a wave of both disappointment and sorrow.

I secretly hoped that the woman standing before me now was my mother.

“You resemble the mother I remember a great deal.”

At those words, the woman finally opened her mouth.

“I am your mother’s younger sister.”

Though it was my first time meeting her and she spoke down to me, it didn’t feel strange at all.

“Then, what happened to my mother…?”

My father had said she was dead, but he had never once burned incense in her memory.

So since I was ten years old, I had suspected that my mother might not have died.

“Your mother passed away ten years ago.”

“Ah…”

It was the news I had so desperately longed for, and yet, the news that finally found me… was of her death.

“Why have you come to see me?”

Now that I knew of my mother’s fate, I felt the turbulent emotions within me settle as I looked at the woman before me.

It was because all hope had shattered.

“You must resent your mother. She left the Heavenly Central Sect and never contacted you again. But your mother died not long after leaving the sect. Now I will tell you the will she left behind, and the reason she had to flee from the Heavenly Central Sect.”

“I will listen carefully.”

The woman’s story continued for quite some time.

Her voice became emotional—at times rising in volume, and at other times fading into sorrow.

After a full shikjeong (one meal’s time), the woman stopped speaking.

At the same time, I opened my mouth.

“My mother’s clan were descendants of Gun Cheonbo, the Lord of Mama Castle?”

Mama Castle was the embodiment of demonic forces that had emerged during the Muyang Era.

In short, it could be called the origin of today’s demonic path, formed by those who practiced demonic arts.

And the one who stood at its pinnacle was Gun Cheonbo, wielder of the Phantom Star Sword.

As I spoke in disbelief, the woman nodded.

“My father never said a word.”

“That’s because your father didn’t know. Your mother never told him.”

“Why didn’t she tell him?”

“Because our main house was in danger at the time.”

“What do you mean, ‘in danger’?”

“Our Gun Family had long been pursued by a certain group. Even after your mother married your father, it didn’t take long before those chasing the Gun Family discovered her identity. That’s why she had no choice but to leave the Heavenly Central Sect.”

Even after hearing the explanation, I still looked confused.

It didn’t make sense to me that she married while on the run.

“They relentlessly pursued us to obtain what the Gun Family possessed. Your mother married your father to prevent it from being stolen. She knew she didn’t have much time left and made that decision as her final choice. But in the end, her identity was exposed, and she lived with regret for having deceived your father until her death.”

One thing became clear to me through her story.

“The thing those pursuing the Gun Family wanted was the dragon’s energy that my mother passed on to me, wasn’t it?”

The woman flinched, her body trembling at my words—she hadn’t expected me to know.

“How did you know? Don’t tell me… you’ve already built up qi to the level of the Fifth Jiazi?”

“That’s not important. Are you saying my mother married a man she didn’t love just to leave behind the dragon’s energy to her descendant?”

“She had no choice. Only descendants of the Azure Dragon King could receive the dragon’s energy. But unfortunately, your father didn’t possess such a constitution. So your mother, knowing it would shorten her lifespan, chose to have a child. If your father had been someone who could receive the dragon’s energy, none of this would’ve been so complicated.”

Now I understood why my mother had been able to leave my father so easily… and why my father had quickly put her behind him and remarried.

My father had erased from his heart the woman who left him and their son without a word.

“Your mother gave birth to you and passed away ten years later. If she hadn’t given birth to you, she might still be alive.”

“Was that truly necessary? Was the dragon’s energy that important? Isn’t it just a relic of the past anyway?!”

I spoke with a voice filled with turbulent emotion.

“It’s not that simple. If it falls into the hands of those chasing us, countless lives will be lost. That’s why we must protect it. This is the fate the Gun Family has upheld.”

“Then who are the ones chasing you?”

I finally asked the core question.

My mother had left the Heavenly Central Sect as if fleeing because her movements had been discovered by those pursuing the Gun Family—and that could’ve led to the sect’s total annihilation.

She bore the shame of being a heartless mother and wife as she departed.

I felt fury rise within me toward the true culprits—those who had made my father and me live in loneliness and had once thrown my life into confusion.

It was the fury of someone who, in his past life, had been forced to live as he did because of them.

“They were one of the Four Vassal Families of Mama Castle. The ones who tried to steal sacred relics from other clans in order to dominate the Murim...”

Upon hearing that, I recalled the missing one among Mama Castle’s Four Vassal Families.

“The Eung Family, owners of the Twin Swords of the White Tiger, then.”

The woman smiled at my insight.

She could see why people in the Jianghu called me the greatest of all prodigies.

To maintain composure in such a situation was no easy feat for someone of my age.

One needed spiritual discipline beyond one’s years to manage it.

The woman nodded.

“Later, the other three families banded together and punished the White Tiger King, but fearing another like him might arise, they swapped and kept the Four Sacred Items among themselves. The Eung Family, consumed by resentment, waited for revenge. After the four families sealed their powers, the descendants of the White Tiger King bided their time, gathering strength. And now, they’ve begun pressuring the Gun Family—to claim the dragon’s energy.”

“So the Branch Leader was a retainer of the Gun Family, and he infiltrated a key position in the Heavenly Demon Sect because the White Tiger King’s descendants are pulling the strings behind it.”

“That’s right. Once we realized that, we began our investigation. They always revealed the tail but never the head. We wanted to catch the body behind the curtain.”

“Were you able to uncover their true identity? Surely they couldn’t control the Heavenly Demon Sect from the shadows if they were just a small group.”

The woman shook her head.

“No. They never revealed their core identity. But this time, we’ve found a clue. We received intel that among those attacking Sangmubo, there’s a descendant of the White Tiger King.”

“Is that so…”

Truthfully, the news didn’t stir much emotion in me.

That was because the scale of resentment I felt toward the White Tiger King differed greatly from what she felt.

Still, I knew how important this was.