The Third Son of the Zhuge Clan is a Returned Martial God - Chapter 03

========== CHAPTER 3 ==========

========== CHAPTER 3: THE NAME JEGAL ==========

Inside Uijeongdang.

A thick silence hung within the vast space.

The atmosphere was chilling; the hall was holding its breath, pulled taut, constricting the surroundings.

On the black beams supporting the ceiling, the crane emblem symbolizing the Jegal Clan was deeply carved.

At the end of the hall, on the dais.

An indescribable energy flowed from the man sitting in the Clan Head’s seat.

Jegal Sang.

The current Clan Head of the Jegal Clan and Chief Military Strategist of the Murim Alliance.

If one were to discuss the Iron-Blooded Strategist, his name was the answer.

A cold gaze, devoid of emotion, turned toward below the dais.

A child stood there.

The physique was small and the face still retained youthfulness, but the two feet did not waver in the slightest.

“What is your name?”

As the low voice was heard, the gazes of the elders and retainers lined up on both sides naturally gathered at one point.

The oppressive atmosphere peculiar to a Great Clan flowed.

“I am Mu-yeon.”

As the name was spoken, blatant gazes reached him.

The child lowered his head as if to let that weight flow past.

It must have been etiquette he had never specifically learned, yet perhaps his body reacted first.

He did not lift his head.

It might have been a habit already ingrained in his body.

“Lift your head.”

“Yes.”

As he lifted his head, black hair and snow-white skin were revealed.

It was a face that, though young, was imbued with a noble air. In a few more years, that dignified figure would be fully revealed.

However, the Clan Head’s brow furrowed slightly.

‘There is no vitality.’

The eyes are empty.

Not containing even a shred of emotion.

How could this be the gaze of a child only ten years old?

“Do you know why you have come here?”

“Yes. I heard I was summoned by the Clan Head-nim.”

The short and concise answer had no fat on it.

Then, as if waiting for it, murmurs spread inside the Uijeongdang.

-Is he truly the youngest of the Jin Clan?

-Even though he is a boy, his beauty reminds me of the Jin Clan Head’s days as the eldest young master.

-However, how many times have we been mistaken over the past seven years? How can we easily believe it?

At that moment, the heavy voice of an old man with graying whiskers rang out.

Great Elder, Jegal Hyeondo.

“Quiet, everyone. The Clan Head is still speaking.”

Silence descended.

A perfect silence, so deep that not even the sound of breathing could be heard.

It was a moment where the authority of the Clan Head was clearly revealed.

Jegal Sang looked down at the boy.

In those eyes, neither pity nor curiosity, nor any emotion at all, could be felt.

However, old memories were contained within them.

“You resemble him.”

The annihilated Jin Clan.

The only child whose body was never found.

The shadow of ‘him’, whom he could not forget even if he tried, overlapped with the boy before his eyes.

“Do you remember your father’s name?”

“I do not remember. However…”

The child, after pausing, continued.

“I sometimes remember someone calling him Sun-ho.”

As that name dropped, Jegal Sang’s eyebrows, which had been like a stone statue, twitched.

A man who was kind to everyone.

The face of a friend lost long ago flashed by.

At that time, a middle-aged man stepped forward.

It was the Manager of the Jegal Clan, Heo Gyeong-mun.

“In the past, the eldest young master of the Jin Clan was often called the ‘Kind Tiger’.”

A nickname that would be hard to know unless one was a closest confidant.

Jegal Sang regained his composure. Judging by the gleam in his eyes, this was the main point from now on.

“I heard you were part of the Sajeokmun.”

“Yes. Thanks to the Sect Leader taking me in after I was abandoned, I was able to live as a member of the household.”

However, perhaps because they were hearing this fact for the first time, murmurs arose again among the elders and retainers.

Where was the Sajeokmun?

A Black Path sect that would not refuse anything if it meant money.

It meant that the boy had been raised in such a wicked place all this time.

“And you survived alone even there.”

Although they had suffered an extermination at the hands of an unidentified group just a short while ago, no one in the Murim world found it suspicious. They just thought that what was bound to happen, happened.

The hilt of the sword was passed.

“I was lucky.”

It was too calm for the words of someone who had already survived twice in places where bloody massacres had run rampant.

That boldness actually caught people’s attention.

Could they really have been that calm if they were at that age?

At that moment, a middle-aged woman with an anxious expression stepped forward.

Black hair and black eyes.

She, who still retained her beauty intact, was Jegal Sang’s second wife and another survivor of the Jin Clan.

“Could you tell me in detail?”

“In the middle of the night, men in black clothes broke in, and the martial artists of the sect…”

As the story of that day continued, the atmosphere in the hall slowly changed.

Surprise, doubt, and tension were clearly revealed on their faces.

“Thus, the government soldiers who came out from the government office found me collapsed in the forest.”

The story was neat, with nothing to add or subtract.

Even after hearing the whole story, Jegal Sang’s expression did not change.

“In the meantime, one of the government soldiers compared me with the Missing Persons List. And not long after, I was sent here to the Jegal Clan.”

Seven years ago, a single portrait that had been scattered across the Murim world to find the lost child.

Even though it was a notice where not even the contours of the face were fully captured, that picture eventually led a child here.

Manager Heo lifted the portrait.

“This is the portrait from that Missing Persons List.”

Although the age was different, the features were similar enough that no one could deny it.

Perhaps the portrait wasn’t even necessary. There was already another survivor of the Jin Clan here.

“You… are indeed Mu-yeon.”

The second wife, Jin Seoyeon’s eyes turned red.

She approached as if staggering, bent her knees, and hugged the child. Warmth enveloped his whole body. However, no emotion was reflected in the boy’s eyes.

Not the joy of meeting a long-lost family member.

Nor the embarrassment of facing a stranger.

Because it was a face he already knew…

“Who are you?”

Jin Seoyeon opened her mouth cautiously while keeping a distance for a moment.

“Your father was my older brother.”

It meant this woman was his aunt. Only then did he understand her feelings.

The day the Jin Clan suffered extermination.

She must have believed she lost all her blood relatives overnight. She must have spent hellish days after that.

“You are my aunt.”

“Yes. I am your aunt.”

It was a moment of deep emotion. A woman with sharp eyes who had been quiet opened her mouth.

The first wife, Moyong Ryeon.

“However, one cannot conclude that the child is of the Jin Clan’s bloodline based on just one portrait.”

Manager Heo nodded in agreement.

“You are right. Since it is a portrait from his infancy, one cannot judge solely by appearance.”

As he finished speaking, he gauged Jegal Sang’s intentions. The Clan Head nodded as if it were natural.

“Therefore, it is necessary to go through a verification process.”

It was a logical statement. However, Jin Seoyeon shouted with a face soaked in tears.

“How can you say this child is not of the Jin Clan’s bloodline! Anyone can see it is my brother’s face when he was young. Don’t you all remember!”

“I understand your feelings, Madam. Therefore, a verification process-.”

Before the words could finish, Jin Seoyeon pulled a dagger from her bosom. The atmosphere in the hall tightened instantly at her bloodshot gaze.

“What are you doing now!?”

“How can you do this in the Uijeongdang… Put that dagger away immediately!?”

“What are you doing! Seize that thing in the Madam’s hand immediately!”

The elders’ roars erupted, and the guards standing far away stepped forward. Even so, Jin Seoyeon’s voice did not waver.

“The Jin Clan has a secret that is not known to the world.”

The cold blade of the dagger touched the inside of the boy’s arm.

“To confirm the bloodline, we carve a seal on the inside of the arm immediately after birth.”

“Could it be the Blood Pattern Mark!”

Blood Pattern Mark.

A mark of the bloodline carved somewhere on the body.

It was not a rare occurrence in prestigious clans. Especially in families where heirs were rare.

The Jegal Clan also left marks inside the body using internal energy. In the end, Heuk-myeong must have chosen the youngest, Jin Mu-yeon, for this very moment.

The blade of the dagger grazed the inside of his arm.

Even so, the boy did not show the slightest sign of pain.

As blood welled up, Jin Seoyeon pressed the red powder she had prepared in advance onto the wound, infusing it with internal energy. Then, the powder scattered and spread, and a pattern slowly revealed itself.

A roaring Great Tiger.

The symbol of the Jin Clan, which was a prestigious major sect in the past.

-That is not the Jin Clan’s emblem!

-How can this be.

-Is he really the child of the Jin Clan!?

Jin Seoyeon said firmly.

“This is the Blood Pattern Mark that only reveals itself when touched by the pure internal energy cultivated through the Jin Clan’s mental cultivation method. Will you still say this child is not of the Jin Clan’s bloodline!”

The murmurs ceased, and silence descended.

A face that looked exactly the same, the Blood Pattern Mark.

With this, they could not help but acknowledge it.

The youngest of the Jin Clan was alive. This meant many things.

Jegal Sang’s heavy mouth finally opened.

“Madam, return to your seat.”

“But Clan Head, this child is of the Jin Clan’s bloodline-.”

Her words stopped. She was overwhelmed by Jegal Sang’s unique aura.

“I understand…”

As Jin Seoyeon stepped back, Jegal Sang opened his mouth again.

“Do you know why people are so surprised?”

“I heard on the way here. That I might be a survivor of a family that was exterminated in the past.”

“Yes. What do you think? Do you consider yourself to be of the Jin Clan’s bloodline?”

It was a somewhat absurd question.

Since he had called him to verify it, only to ask him back.

Murim Alliance Chief Military Strategist. Before that heartless gaze, I looked down at the wound on my arm for a moment. Blood flowed from the thinly cut wound and ran down my thin arm.

A drop of blood formed at the tip of my finger fell, causing the ground to tremble.

And I nodded.

“Yes, I think I am a member of the Jin Clan.”

“I see.”

A blue light shimmered in the eyes of Jegal Sang, who was nodding.

He could have asked again, but certainty could be felt from him.

“This Clan Head declares that that child is of the Jin Clan’s bloodline.”

Sighs and surprise erupted, mixed together in the hall. Jin Seoyeon slumped into her seat as if her strength had drained away.

But that was not the end.

“And from this day forth, this child will use the name Jegal.”

“!!!!”

The Uijeongdang was in an uproar.

-Clan Head!

-How can you give the Jin Clan’s child the Jegal…

-It ends up like this after all.

Do they have an inkling of why?

The reactions were different, but the feeling of surprise was the same.

In the midst of that, no one could say ‘no’. That was how great and heavy Jegal Sang’s prestige was.

Manager Heo and the Great Elder just nodded silently.

“Madam, will you take that child in?”

“…Of course, Clan Head. I have waited only for this day my whole life.”

Tears flowed down Jin Seoyeon’s cheeks.

That day, a new direct descendant was born into the prestigious Jegal Clan.

I became the third child of the Jegal Clan.

In the body of a child named Mu-yeon.