The Eldest Daughter of the Sichuan Tang Clan Protects Her Family

Namgung Hyun examined the interior with a cautious face. It was full of traces of battle, but not a single corpse was in sight.
Only the bloodstains on the floor caught his eye. Those traces led down to the basement.
Descending underground, Namgung Hyun found a long corridor and knit his brows. Most of the doors were closed, but one was open. Entering there, he looked over the floor.
There was a clean area where dust had not accumulated. It looked as though a stack of crates had been moved out whole.
'Did they attack targeting the Bigo?'
Thinking this was a setback, Namgung Hyun furrowed his brow.
It seemed the Red Blood Hall Lord had been away from Baekgeumgak for quite some time. Seeing that the Red Blood Hall—which should have been in Guangdong—had attacked the Red Blood Hall Lord’s own base.
Realizing the Red Blood Hall Lord’s absence, Namgung Hyun rubbed his temples with his hand. “...Where in the world did he go?”
“Ugh.”
Just then, a groan came from somewhere.
Namgung Hyun moved toward the sound. It was another Bigo whose door was shut tight. Seeing the bloodstains end in front of it, it seemed someone was inside.
Perhaps sensing his presence, a voice came from within. “Who’s there?”
It was a precarious voice, as if the speaker’s breath might break at any moment.
Namgung Hyun could not answer. He could not tell whether those trapped inside belonged to the Red Blood Hall or to the Red Blood Hall’s enemies.
While he was debating what attitude to take, a voice came again from inside. “Whoever you are, if you intend to help, there is an office on the third floor. There is a small wooden box on the desk—bring that to me. Whoever you are, I will surely repay the favor.”
Without a word, Namgung Hyun went upstairs. But unlike the wreckage on the first floor and in the basement, the upper floors were clean. There were no signs of intrusion.
It seemed the Red Blood Hall had come targeting only the Bigo.
Namgung Hyun took the small wooden box in a corner of the desk.
Those inside were likely Red Blood Hall cultists. They knew the location of the office well, and, seeing that they had not stolen the item and fled.
Having set his stance, Namgung Hyun went back down and opened the Bigo door at once. “Are you alright?”
With a worried face, he approached the man bound inside.
The man, his eyes smeared with blood, half-opened them and stared at Namgung Hyun’s hand. Seeing that the box Namgung Hyun had brought was indeed what he had requested, the man let out a breath of relief. “I will surely reward you.”
“It’s fine.”
Shaking his head, Namgung Hyun undid the man’s bonds.
The others wore identical clothes, but this man wore a silk robe. There was no way the Red Blood Hall Lord would be in such a state, so this was not the Anguk Merchant Group’s young lord.
If someone now held a high position at Baekgeumgak with the Red Blood Hall Lord absent, it would likely be the Vice Hall Lord. He was someone it would not hurt to win the trust of.
“You may speak down to me. I also belong to the Moohyeon Unit.”
But the man showed no particular surprise. “I thought as much.”
“How did you know?”
Startled, Namgung Hyun asked back. The Vice Hall Lord, freeing a pill, let out a chuckle. “Even seeing this state, you didn’t say you would report it to the magistrate, nor did you say you would seek help from the Hubei Branch, which is close with the Anguk Merchant Group, or from the Zhuge Clan. You are no ordinary person.”
The Vice Hall Lord immediately put the pill in his mouth and sat cross-legged. “Those who attacked will be back soon. Not all of them, but a few will come to pick up something they dropped. Buy me a little time.”

Namgung Hyun asked urgently, “Where is the Hall Lord now? I will bring him.”
He spoke as if to help the Vice Hall Lord, but in truth the Red Blood Hall Lord was the reason Namgung Hyun had come.
But the Vice Hall Lord silently began circulating his qi. It seemed he intended to absorb the medicine and recover before the enemy returned.
Namgung Hyun was put in a bind. He seemed so certain the Red Blood Hall cultists would come back, but running into the Red Blood Hall cultists in front of the Red Blood Hall Lord would be a problem.
At first, Namgung Hyun tried to leave, but someone called to him. “Uuurgh... please untie this.”
Those bound to the pillars begged him. Having just said with his own mouth that he was a Moohyeon Unit cultist, he could not flee leaving them behind. Swallowing his irritation, Namgung Hyun approached the Red Blood Hall cultists and loosened their bonds.
Having quickly freed the Red Blood Hall cultists, Namgung Hyun hurriedly offered an excuse. “A Blue Blood Hall cultist who infiltrated Martial Alliance headquarters has been exposed. Headquarters shut the gates, saying they were going to root out the Blood Cult, but I don’t know more than that. It seems I should go back and find out the situation again. I’ll inform you as soon as I learn anything new.”
“Thank you.”
Fortunately, the Red Blood Hall cultists did not suspect him.
Namgung Hyun was about to leave Baekgeumgak at once.
It was the moment he stepped out of the Bigo.
Creak.
Footsteps came from the landing.
Soon a shadow stretched across the wall, and the owner of those footsteps appeared. Startled to see Namgung Hyun, the fellow flinched. “What—how did the bindings get undone?”
Mistaking Namgung Hyun for a Baekgeumgak employee, the cultist sighed. “No, there’s no time for this. Instead of poking at Red Blood Hall scraps, I should grab one more thing.”
He brushed past Namgung Hyun. Having apparently already checked the Bigo, he went straight to the innermost Bigo.
Boom.
Ripping the door open roughly, the cultist snickered as he stepped inside. “Hee-hee, there you are.”
With a happy face, he patted his now-heavier pouch and came out ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) of the Bigo.
Clicking his tongue when he saw Namgung Hyun, he said, “Ah, this is awkward. We were told not to kill Red Blood Hall dogs, since the Red Blood Hall Lord will make a fuss, but we can’t have a witness...”
Approaching Namgung Hyun, the cultist suddenly grinned crookedly. “You died of fright all on your own. Got it?”
Swallowing a sigh, Namgung Hyun raised his sword. He did not want to fight, but he had no choice.
Kang.
The cultist rushed in fast, but by a hair’s breadth, Namgung Hyun blocked with his guard.
The cultist did not look surprised. Rather, he smiled and curled his fingers. It was a light motion, as if grasping a baby’s finger, yet a crack ran through Namgung Hyun’s sword.
Scrraape.
Namgung Hyun recovered his sword again. But as if determined not to let go, the cultist reached to seize the blade.
Kang. Kaang.
Without using his full strength, the cultist teased him, slipping his hand in and out of the line of the blade as if to taunt him.
“Tsk, so slow, so slow.”
Namgung Hyun did his utmost to ward off the man’s hand. He had to. If he missed even once, a storm of attacks would shear off great chunks of flesh.
But the cultist, as if at play, merely flicked his hand here and there and did not do his best. Though he felt the difference in level, Namgung Hyun was not afraid.
Differences in level were familiar.
Because he had felt them as a matter of course since childhood, Namgung Hyun calmly focused on what he could do.
That peaceful face grated on the cultist’s nerves.
Crunch.
Suddenly twisting his hand, the cultist seized Namgung Hyun’s shoulder. “Ha, to be looked down on by a bottom-tier punk... The end of days, the end of days.”
Sharp nails tore through the dark-blue long robe and flesh.
Screeech.
But Namgung Hyun made no sound. On the contrary, he turned his sword and tried to cut the cultist’s hand that had come close. Namgung Hyun’s gaze flicked to the Bigo door. 'When in the world will the Vice Hall Lord recover?'
He tried to buy time, but soon hit his limit. From the beginning, this was not an opponent he could match. He was enduring by sheer grit.
“Youngster, your patience is something. How do you not let out even a single scream?”
Even as flesh was flayed, Namgung Hyun let out only a few groans; he neither screamed nor retreated.
Unlike the cultist, who chattered noisily, he could not say anything—he was using all his strength.
Clicking his tongue as if bored, the cultist said, “There shouldn’t be any strength left in your arms, yet your blade still doesn’t waver. Impressive, kid. You have the makings of a swordmaster.”
Boom.
No sooner had he praised than Namgung Hyun’s sword slammed into the cultist’s nails and shook uncontrollably.
“Heh-heh, no matter how swordmasters prattle that the sword and they are one body, they can never truly be one body.”
Boom.
When the cultist swung his hardened hand like a whip, the sword flew to the floor.
“When the body reaches its limit, it casts aside its weapon in place of its hand.”
Stepping on Namgung Hyun’s sword as he approached, the cultist reached out to him.
Grasping Namgung Hyun’s jaw, he placed his index finger on his cheek. As the sharp nail grazed him, a thin red line appeared on the white skin.
Namgung Jin stared at the tightly shut Bigo door. But from the door, there was not even a sound, not even a hint of presence.
Damn...
The Red Blood Hall dogs were holding out, using him as a sacrifice.
Just as Namgung Hyun had come in intending to use the Red Blood Hall, they, too, used him.
If he revealed his identity now, it would be hard to lure the Red Blood Hall—but Namgung Hyun hesitated. If he died this emptily, everything would be meaningless.
It was the moment he was about to confess to the cultist as a last resort that he was a sorcerer.
Boom.
With a sound like thunder, the world was washed in blinding white.
“Uegh!”
By reflex, the cultist threw Namgung Hyun aside and pressed himself to the wall. Bracing himself against it, he flailed. “What is this? I can’t see!”
Because light had suddenly poured into the dim basement, the cultist’s vision blurred. Widening his eyes to regain his sight, he tilted his head.
“Huh?”
The brat who had been a wreck was standing there whole.
No—it was not that brat. Looking closely, the lines were a little thicker.
Soon he leveled his sword and slowly opened his mouth. “Hyun-ah, are you alright?”