Youngest Daughter of the Ultimate Martial Master Namgung Family

Chapter 1

On the front line of the war between the Blood Church and the Martial Alliance, a man and a woman dressed in red were clashing fiercely with swinging swords. Warriors from both sides watched on from the front lines in a daze, not daring to step forward.

The woman launched another attack and the man leaped away at the last second, leaving behind a dust cloud that was promptly slashed in two.

Those who were watching the battle swallowed hard. It was overwhelming—the martial prowess of these experts was on a different level. The legendary saying that one blow could cut down a mountain and split the earth was playing out before their eyes.

“T-they’re monsters.”

The combatants were each exerting so much force that it was like they were personifying natural disasters. If either of them decided to turn their sword on the crowd, the bodies of all the onlookers would simply fall where they stood. When the soldiers realized that fact, their eyes filled with anxiety and apprehension.

Countless gazes turned toward the pair still fighting—their flashing blades were at the forefront of the battlefield.

Their swords clashed dozens of times. There were some close calls and dangerous moments, but the battle was fueled by high-momentum swordplay, and neither side fell behind the other.

But it only looked that way on the surface.

After clashing blades with the Blood Church Successor over and over, all without a single moment of rest, Heeran Namgung knew the truth.

I’m falling behind.

Perhaps it was because he was the successor of the Blood Church, but more likely, it was because he was of a different class from the warriors she had dealt with before.

If we keep fighting like this, I’ll lose.

Heeran’s eyes widened as she calmly assessed the situation.

That can’t happen. I went through too much to get to this point.

If her methods weren’t working, she’d push forward until they did. She had fought fiercely while defying death all the time. She had stood at the crossroads of life and death dozens—no, hundreds—of times, and only by overcoming all of that had Heeran made it this far.

Even if I don’t triumph here, that doesn’t mean this bastard gets to win.

She put more force into the hand that was holding the sword.

I have to find his weak spot.

In order to defeat a stronger opponent, a warrior needed to know their weaknesses. This would help to create a decisive moment that would determine victory or defeat. By following this law of victory, Heeran Namgung, a mere vagabond, had turned into a war god—the Sword Ghost.

What is your weakness?

Even as she continued to ponder and calculate, Heeran’s body instinctively avoided her opponent’s attack, and she swung her sword to find the gaps.

While hundreds of meaningless attacks passed by, her long patience finally bore fruit.

Found it.

When the Blood Church Successor judged that he could definitely inflict a fatal wound, his movements became bolder.

And right after that, his swordplay slows down for a moment.

The corners of Heeran’s lips rose. She could finally see the path.

After that realization, the movement of Heeran’s sword changed dramatically. While she had originally mixed offense and defense evenly, she now began to focus on defense.

When the warriors of the Martial Alliance saw this, their faces darkened.

“Doesn’t that mean... that the Sword Ghost is getting pushed back?”

And it didn’t end there. It seemed like she was gradually backing off as well.

Seeing this, the man fighting against Heeran came to the same conclusion as Heeran’s warriors.

“Is this battle becoming too much for you?”

Heeran didn’t answer. She dodged the Blood Church Successor’s sword.

He ended up cutting off just the ends of her hair. Since he kept narrowly missing her every time, the Blood Church Successor finally lost his temper and shouted, “You worm!”

“Such a spiteful tongue, Successor.”

“Silence! I’ll kill you and lay your corpse on an altar as my sacrifice!”

When she saw how unruly he was becoming, Heeran’s lips started twitching. “Give it your best shot, but I think you’ll find that difficult with your skills. Right, you worm?”

“I’ll cut your throat!” At her provocation, killing intent flowed from the Blood Church Successor’s sword. After several clashes, his sword cut Heeran deeply.

Even though she felt the sword digging deeper into her chest, Namgung did not stop it. She relaxed her body.

And at that moment, she saw it.

The very small gap appeared right after he made the bold move to fatally injure her.

Heeran did not let go of that opportunity. She once again put more force into the hand that was holding the sword.

She lashed out with her blade so quickly that it was practically invisible to the human eye. It bit deep into the man’s right shoulder.

This was a fatal injury.

“Aaargh!”

Heeran laughed at his scream. Now he would never be able to hold a sword with his right hand again. That was what Heeran had wanted to achieve, even at the cost of her own life.

“Ugh! You damned b*tch!”

As she watched the man squirm with rage, Heeran’s body tilted. She coughed. Red flowed from her mouth. Even though she had a feeling that death was imminent, she smiled brightly.

With this, I’ve paid off my debt.

After leaving behind the burning Namgung Residence that night, her heart had been weighed down with the burden of having been the only survivor. That burden had now been lifted.

Right? You all think that too, don’t you?

Familiar faces passed by as her eyes gradually blurred.

She saw her eldest brother, who had always considered family affairs to be the most important and had been indifferent to everything else.

She saw her older sister, who had been busy ensuring internal stability and who’d had no contact with Heeran at all.

She saw her second oldest brother, who’d always criticized her.

And finally, she saw her youngest older brother, who’d had a fiery personality and had bullied her viciously.

Unlike Heeran, who had been called Namgung’s shame, her siblings had been Namgung’s pride. In the same way, the Namgung Family was also their pride and they’d loved it fiercely.

At least... that was what she had believed.

However, the moment came when they’d actually had to choose between the Namgung Family and herself... and they had all chosen her.

This posed a question that would never be answered, no matter how long Heeran Namgung lived.

Why did you all save me that night?

As the light in Heeran’s eyes dulled, the memories from back then unfolded before her.

***

On a dark night, when heavy clouds obscured even the moon, Gangwoo and Heeran Namgung had fled the Namgung Residence. Heeran’s eyes were wild, and Gangwoo held her wrist tightly as they ran.

Even though she was a direct descendant of the Namgung Family, she was so worthless that she couldn’t even fully master their martial arts style. Heeran’s beauty was the only worthwhile thing about her, but her wicked brutality had made her Namgung’s shame.

These were all things that Heeran Namgung had been described as, and that was why she couldn’t understand this current situation.

The Namgung Residence, which she’d thought would always stand firm as Anhui’s center of power, was burning behind her. The smell of smoke and blood stung her nose. In the distance, she could faintly hear the sound of weapons clashing and warriors shouting. And in front of her was the back of a man running and dragging her by the hand.

“Sh*t! When did the Steel Blood Alliance join hands with the bastards of the evil path?! Damned sons of b*tches! You acknowledged our alliance as the righteous path, yet you would stab us in the back like this?!”

As he spat out those words, Gangwoo did not let go of Heeran’s hand. He was holding it so tightly that her fingertips had turned white. Heeran’s gaze wavered.

Why did it turn out like this?

She had heard the explanation, but she couldn’t understand anything.

The beautiful flower garden she had grown up in was now engulfed in fire. The Namgung Residence was covered in blood and screams. Even the faces of warriors she had been sick of seeing were now corpses.

But what she really couldn’t understand were her siblings’ actions.

Why aren’t they abandoning me, even though it’s gotten to this point?

This could all easily end if they just handed her over to the Steel Blood Alliance. She couldn’t understand why something so simple had ended up like this.

Today, Heeran had been dragged from the room where she’d been locked up for a long time. The leader of the Steel Blood Alliance had a beloved daughter who’d collapsed from poisoning. And who had been accused of committing such an evil act? Why, the one who’d been drinking tea with her—Namgung’s shame, Heeran Namgung.

The news soon spread throughout the entire martial world.

Heeran hadn’t been allowed to leave the room after the incident, and today, she had been forcibly dragged out by the warriors. Their treatment of her had been rough, as if she were nothing more than a criminal.

With every step she’d taken, she’d been hit by whispers. Comments mixed with contempt had poured out—they’d said she was the shame of the Namgung Family and a person who only knew how to act wickedly. And now, she had crossed the line by harming the person most important to the leader of the Steel Blood Alliance.

“But isn’t it a relief? If that one person—our biggest shame—is handed over to the Steel Blood Alliance, they won’t demand a huge compensation or anything else.”

“Shh. Be quiet.”

“Why should we? If it weren’t for Namgung’s shame, the family would never have been in such a humiliating situation in the first place!”

“That’s true.”

“Hasn’t the Namgung Family been driven into a corner because of what Namgung’s Shame did?! What’s the problem? She’s only paying the price for what she did!”

The soldiers who had been dragging Heeran pushed her into the meeting room of the Namgung Residence. She was forced to sit on a chair across from the leading members of the Steel Blood Alliance and the elders of the Namgung Family.

After looking at Heeran’s shabby appearance, one man spoke leisurely. “Isn’t it fortunate, my lady?”

“I do not know what you’re talking about, Second Elder.” Heeran glared at Second Elder Sa-goeng Namgung. She had never been in the Second Elder’s good graces, so it felt ominous to see him smiling so contentedly.

“The Steel Blood Alliance has promised that if we hand you over to them, they will overlook everything.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“You wench! You dare to deny it?! Because of the poisoned cookies that you brought, the alliance leader’s daughter coughed up blood and hasn’t been able to wake up for three days! And yet, you’re shameless enough to deny your sins?!”

The violent shout of the Steel Blood Alliance’s Protector revealed his killing intent. Its force so overwhelmed Heeran that it was hard for her to breathe. She went pale.

Second Elder Sa-goeng backed up the Protector’s claim. “Regarding the poisoning of young Lady Na, the Steel Blood Alliance leader’s daughter, all evidence and witnesses have been verified. There’s no need to deny it, my lady.”

At Second Elder Sa-goeng’s words, Heeran’s eyes narrowed. The warriors who had treated her harshly as if she were a criminal, the whispering, and now this situation—it wasn’t difficult to understand what was going on.

Both the Steel Blood Alliance and the Namgung Family had decided that she was the culprit.

I knew this was going to happen.

No one in the Steel Blood Alliance or even members of the Namgung Family would listen to her.

“Since you did a terrible thing, you must take responsibility, my lady.”

It was a death sentence. Heeran closed her eyes.

It was all over.

The love that the Steel Blood Alliance’s leader had for his daughter, Seolyeong, was well-known. Since she had vomited blood and lost consciousness, it was obvious what he was going to do to her.

It wouldn’t be a painless death.

After the one who was to be handed over, Heeran, arrived at the meeting room, things progressed at lightning speed. The Steel Blood Alliance affirmed that they would not demand massive compensation in exchange for Heeran being handed over to them—they even wrote it on an official document.

The elders of Namgung, who had been inwardly anxious about just being given their word, felt assured and relieved. The old statesmen of the senate weren’t entirely pleased, but they agreed to the Steel Blood Alliance’s proposal even so.

Finally, all agreements were reached.

Just as Heeran stumbled to get up from her seat to fulfill her end of the deal, somebody pressed down on her shoulder.

When Heeran raised her head in surprise, she saw the patriarch, Hwi Namgung. He must’ve only just arrived at the meeting.

“The matter was taken care of, Patriarch,” said the First Elder, who looked relieved that the headache had been resolved.

Hwi’s eyes, which were as cold as ice, turned toward him.

“It’s been agreed that Miss Heeran will be handed over to the Steel Blood Alliance,” the First Elder explained.

“Handed over...?” asked Hwi.

“The Steel Blood Alliance only requested that Miss Heeran be handed over to them. They said that they do not need any other compensation. Isn’t this an infinitely light treatment compared to the sin that was committed? It’s a good deal for the Namgung Family, Patriarch.”

Hwi turned his head, as if he had no need to hear more. His gaze turned toward the Steel Blood Alliance’s Protector.

“Is this the Steel Blood Alliance’s will?”

“Yes. This is a generous gesture that was made in consideration of the relationship we’ve had with the Namgung Family for a long time, Patriarch.”

Hwi’s eyes turned icy as he heard those words. “A generous gesture, you say?”

“Namgung Patriarch?” the Protector asked back. He sensed something strange.

In a chilly tone, Hwi declared, “Namgung does not give up a child of Namgung.”

No one had expected to hear those words. Heeran quickly turned her head.