The Return of the Namgoong Clan's Granddaughter-Chapter 53

They had already been walking for a full shichen.

Cheongun asked Seolhwa, who was silently moving forward.

Using lightfoot techniques, the two had slipped out of Hefei and were now deep in the mountains south of the Yangtze River, in the heart of Huangshan.

At this point, Cheongun could no longer stay silent.

“Where exactly are we going?”

“To find something to replace the Great Return Pill.”

“That’s what I mean. Just where around here is there something that could possibly replace the Great Return Pill?”

The Great Return Pill was one of Shaolin’s treasures, a sacred item.

Even Shaolin itself didn’t have many of them.

“If they were holding something that valuable, Shaolin and Mount Hua should’ve taken better care of it.”

“That’s true.”

If it was such a precious item, they should’ve managed it properly.

“So then, there’s no need to bring back a replacement...”

“It wouldn’t matter much. But in that case, it’d be hard to secure the upper hand, wouldn’t it?”

“The upper hand...?”

Seolhwa nodded.

“The ones who lost it are at fault, but the one who snuck it away and swallowed it is a problem too. Mount Hua will definitely make a fuss about it.”

“But what can be done? It’s already gone.”

Seolhwa turned to look at Cheongun, as if surprised by his words.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You’re surprisingly shameless for a young master of Namgoong.”

“Ahem... I’ve worked at the security bureau for quite some time...”

Whether he took “shameless” as an insult or not, Namgoong Cheongun’s neck flushed red.

But Seolhwa had meant it as a compliment.

‘He’s not as stiff as I thought.’

He looked like someone who would only stick to the proper path, but surprisingly, Cheongun showed flexibility.

“You can’t exactly hand over something that’s already gone. I could even say I wasn’t the one who took it in the first place. But if I go that route, relations with Mount Hua would be over, wouldn’t they?”

“That’s true.”

They’d never really had any connection with Mount Hua to begin with, nor had they made any effort to.

“Mount Hua coming to Namgoong is an opportunity. We can’t afford to lose it.”

To confront the Blood Demon Cult, the factions of the martial world needed to unite.

That was why Seolhwa had deliberately drawn Mount Hua to Namgoong.

‘I need to use this chance to establish a connection with Mount Hua.’

Cheongun, on the other hand, thought Seolhwa was simply calculating the benefits to the clan.

Just like everyone else in the family, he believed she wanted to raise Namgoong’s prestige through ties with Mount Hua.

‘I knew Seolhwa was deeply devoted to the clan, but...’

“I didn’t know you were thinking about these things too.”

“...?”

Seolhwa, filled only with thoughts of uniting strength before the war against the Blood Demon Cult, tilted her head slightly at Cheongun’s suddenly serious tone.

Cheongun asked, “So then, you’re saying there’s something around here that can match the value of the Great Return Pill?”

It would have to be the inner core of a spiritual beast or a ten-thousand-year-old fleeceflower root, at minimum.

“Have you heard of the Celestial Bow Turtle Head?”

“Of course I have.”

The Celestial Bow Turtle Head — a legendary rumor that had spread around Anhui Province.

“Isn’t that the one where they say, ‘Whoever finds the Celestial Bow Turtle Head will rule the world’?”

“That’s right.”

No one actually knew what the Celestial Bow Turtle Head was. They only said that whoever found it would gain dominion over the world.

What stirred the martial world, however, was the revelation that the treasure was hidden by the one known as the Divine Thief, Ten-Thousand-Mile Phantom, said to be the greatest thief in history.

“But that’s just a ridiculous myth. Plenty have tried to find it, but no one has even found a trace.”

Once the rumor started spreading in secret, factions all across Zhongyuan — including Namgoong — sent out their elites in search of it.

Namgoong’s own elite sword unit, the Gale Sword Guard, directly under Namgoong Mucheon, had also moved out. But they found nothing.

“At the time, they even gave him another nickname — the Subtle Phantom Thief — because they said he could steal even people’s hearts.”

The name implied he could go beyond ten thousand miles — to places no one could even begin to grasp.

Seolhwa nodded.

“That’s right. But also wrong.”

“Wrong? Don’t tell me... you mean the Celestial Bow Turtle Head actually exists?”

“Yes.”

People tend to dismiss anything they can’t obtain as nonexistent.

Whether it’s Namgoong or some other sect, they must’ve known that the Divine Thief’s rumor wasn’t a lie.

But the reason they all agreed to call it a hoax was simple.

‘If I can’t have it, then no one else should either.’

They pushed the narrative that it didn’t exist because they were afraid someone might actually find it.

“‘Celestial Bow’ — it means a bow in the sky. Do you know what that refers to?”

“A rainbow.”

“Then what about ‘Turtle Head’?”

“Literally, the head of a turtle, I suppose.”

A turtle’s head under a rainbow.

“But no matter how many rainbow-filled places we searched, there was never a turtle. And even when we found something shaped like a turtle’s head, there was no rainbow.”

Sometimes the two overlapped, but that was all.

Nothing truly special was ever found.

“When the two things just happen to coincide by chance, it’s meaningless. The Celestial Bow Turtle Head — it has to be a place that only those four characters can describe. That’s where the power the Divine Thief spoke of must lie.”

“And you’re saying... you know where that place is?”

As they spoke, the two had unknowingly reached deep into the heart of Mount Huang.

The forest had thickened to the point where more of the sky was covered by leaves than open air. Though it was broad daylight, very little sunlight reached the forest floor.

Sheer cliffs appeared without warning across the rugged terrain, and strange sounds echoed from all around them.

Seolhwa turned to Cheongun with a bright, clear smile.

Then, all of a sudden — shrring — she drew her sword.

“Do you like monkey brain stew?”

“...Huh?”

“I don’t really like it. Why eat a beast’s brain when there are so many tastier things in the world?”

“...What are you even talking about all of a sudden?”

It was then.

Screeech—! Screeech! Screech, screech!

“...!”

A sound rang out, like metal being dragged across stone. It was somewhere between the scream of a slaughtered pig and a person shrieking in agony.

That chilling noise was rapidly approaching the two of them.

Namgoong Cheongun instinctively dropped into a stance and grabbed the hilt of his sword.

Danger!

“Seolhwa! We have to move—!”

But instead, Seolhwa calmly stepped toward the direction the sound was coming from.

She raised her sword toward the darkness.

“Seolhwa!”

“They say monkey brain stew has to be eaten while the monkey is still alive. That’s why they tie bells or chimes to the monkey’s hands and feet. So people can tell whether the dish is still fresh while they eat.”

Screeech! Screeeech!

The cries that had echoed from afar now surged in around them. In an instant, they were surrounded.

“Isn’t humanity just vile? ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) Incredibly cruel, relentlessly inhumane.”

As the sounds came from all directions, Cheongun spun in place, ready to strike.

“That cruelty breeds resentment. And that resentment builds up and creates things that should never exist in this world.”

“It’s dangerous! Stay behind me—!”

At that moment—

Screeeeeech!

Something lunged straight at them.

Cheongun drew his sword, but Seolhwa was already faster—her blade slashed forward.

Shraaak—

Two lumps hit the ground.

They were monkey heads, severed cleanly.

Screeech! Screeeeech! Screech! Skree! Squeeeal!

At the death of just one, the countless monkeys lurking around them howled in unison.

The deep forest of Mount Huang was suddenly filled with the cries of enraged beasts.

“When wishful desires (願) accumulate, they give birth to spiritual creatures. But when bitter resentment (怨) piles up... do you know what is born then?”

Namgoong Cheongun’s face was full of tension.

His eyes were locked onto the corpse of the monkey Seolhwa had struck down.

“...Demonic beasts.”

It looked like a monkey, but it wasn’t one.

Its head had been cleaved in two as if struck by an axe. Its claws and nails were grotesquely long, sharp, and hardened like bound daggers. Its body was easily two to three times larger than a normal monkey.

Most of all, its eyes were blood-red.

As if they were filled to the brim with resentment (怨).

Resentment toward cruel humans. Toward a savage, unjust world.

A creature twisted and corrupted by that hatred—no longer monkey, nor anything else.

Screeech! Screeeech! Screeeeech!

“Just because something is small and lowly doesn’t mean it lacks value, or fear, or the capacity for grudge.”

Humans are cruel.

They capture monkeys, tie bells to their limbs, and crack open their skulls to eat their brains.

A monkey that barely escapes watches its mother, its child, its friend die—and wails.

And in the sound of that wailing, humans feast. They indulge.

“Seolhwa...”

Cheongun swallowed hard and tightened his grip on his sword.

“I don’t like monkey brain stew either. But why... why do we have to bear the weight of this grudge...?”

Huh...? Why us...?

“Because what we want lies beyond this. Think of it as a battle between desire (願) and resentment (怨).”

“You mean... the Celestial Bow Turtle Head...?”

That lies beyond this?

“Yes.”

“...Couldn’t we just give up on Mount Hua?”

“No. That’s an even greater wish. I can’t give it up.”

With a resigned breath, Cheongun released his spiritual sense to estimate the number of monkeys swarming around them.

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It looked to be in the hundreds.

“Can the two of us really defeat them?”

“Who knows.”

Screeech!

A monkey lunged at them, and Seolhwa swung her sword—but this time, Cheongun’s blade moved just a little faster.

Shraaak— Blood burst from the demonic creature.

A sharp, vivid sword aura burst out around Namgoong Cheongun, blue energy rippling through the air like waves.

“Grudge or desire... in the end, maybe the one who wants it more will be the one who wins.”