The Return of the Namgoong Clan's Granddaughter-Chapter 1: Prologue: The Lost Child of the Namgoong Clan

Thud—

A sword, shrouded in an ominous black aura, °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° pierced straight through Ilhwa’s heart.

Caught completely off guard, she had no time to react. Thick, crimson blood trickled from her lips, staining her robes as it dripped onto the cold ground.

“Wh... why...?”

Her dazed gaze slowly lifted to the one who had struck her down—the very person who had raised her since childhood and taught her everything she knew about martial arts.

The Supreme Leader of the Blood Demon Cult.

The infamous Blood Demon.

The sword that had run her through was his.

“My disciple,” he murmured. “Do you remember what I wished to achieve through you?”

She had heard those words countless times since she was a child—so often that they had been hammered into her very soul.

"Destroy the Namgoong Clan. You must break their sword with your own hands!"

She never understood why her master harbored such hatred for the Namgoong Clan. But that was irrelevant. For twenty-five years, Ilhwa had lived for one purpose alone—to bring about their downfall.

She trained relentlessly, dedicating herself to the single-minded pursuit of defeating the Namgoong Clan’s swordsmanship. Because of this, within the Blood Demon Cult, she had earned the infamous title Heaven’s Bane Sword.

And today, at long last, that goal had been realized.

The Namgoong Clan had been completely annihilated. By her hand.

Ilhwa’s gaze lowered to the last of the Namgoong swordsmen lying lifeless before her—Namgoong Cheongun.

“...I have fulfilled your will, Master.”

“Yes. At last, it has come to pass.”

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“But... why...?”

The moment Namgoong Cheongun drew his final breath, Blood Demon’s sword had plunged into her heart.

In the very instant she believed her long battle had ended in victory, her master betrayed her.

“Why...?” she whispered.

“You are the last Namgoong left in this world.” His voice was devoid of emotion. “Only when your life ends will my goal be truly complete. What choice do I have?”

Ilhwa’s body tensed.

Her master smirked. “Ah, I see it in your eyes—‘What madness is this old fool spouting?’”

A dry chuckle rumbled from his throat. Even now, he could read her every thought with unnerving ease, as though peering straight into her mind.

“Do you know who lies at your feet?” he asked, his voice thick with amusement.

Ilhwa’s eyes drifted back to Namgoong Cheongun’s corpse. The deep gash in his throat—she had inflicted that wound herself.

“He was your father.”

“...!”

“A pathetic fool who abandoned his position as the Namgoong Clan’s patriarch to wander the world in search of you.”

Her mind reeled.

She had always known her master to be cruel and ruthless, a man who killed without hesitation and drained the life force of others to strengthen his own cultivation. He was not a man to be trusted.

And yet...

Looking back, it was strange, wasn’t it?

A man who regarded human lives as nothing more than insects had taken her in, raised her as his disciple, and never once abandoned her. Even when warriors far stronger than her had sworn fealty to him, he had remained steadfast in his belief that she alone must be the one to destroy the Namgoong Clan.

Why?

A sharp cough racked her body, and a fresh wave of blood spilled from her lips. Though she had been using her inner energy to slow the wound’s spread, she was reaching her limit.

“Hahaha! How does it feel?” Blood Demon’s laughter rang in her ears. “To have slain your own father with your own hands?”

“...!”

Ilhwa’s thoughts flashed back to Namgoong Cheongun’s final moments.

Just before his death, his eyes—those sorrowful, desperate eyes—had been fixed on her.

And now, she finally understood.

He hadn’t been fighting to kill her.

He had been holding back.

At the end of the grueling battle, Namgoong Cheongun gathered his remaining strength, channeling all his inner energy into a final strike.

Ilhwa immediately knew—she had lost.

But just as he was about to unleash his attack, Namgoong Cheongun suddenly froze.

His eyes flickered with confusion as he looked at Ilhwa.

She didn’t waste that moment. In a single motion, she slashed his throat.

Namgoong Cheongun collapsed to his knees, blood spilling from the deep gash in his neck. Yet even in his final moments, his gaze never wavered from her.

"Seol... Hwa..."

The last words he ever spoke.

A single tear slipped down Ilhwa’s cheek.

She didn’t know why.

Her emotions had long been shattered—destroyed by years of ruthless bloodshed and the relentless cultivation of her killing intent.

And yet, she cried.

“Keuk-keuk, don’t look so pitiful. You enjoyed it too, didn’t you?”

Her vision blurred as she stared down at Namgoong Cheongun’s lifeless body.

Blood Demon let out a low hum, and the sword impaling her heart trembled, resonating with the force of his growing inner energy.

“For this very day, I raised you with my own hands,” he declared, voice brimming with triumphant glee. “The arrogant Namgoong Clan—wiped from existence by their own bloodline! Hahahaha!”

His laughter shook the heavens, the very air trembling under the weight of his delight.

Ilhwa let go of the energy keeping her wounds in check.

Cough—

A fresh wave of crimson spilled from her lips.

Her body grew limp, her limbs too heavy to lift. The last fragile remnants of life within her began to slip away.

“...Stop,” she rasped. “It’s... no longer amusing.”

Blood Demon’s laughter cut off abruptly.

His dispassionate gaze settled on her, the eerie crimson aura around him flickering like dying embers.

“Hmph. I was growing bored of this anyway.”

A deadly aura surged around his sword.

In the next instant, his blade sliced clean through her body—tearing from her heart through her shoulder before he wrenched it free.

Ilhwa collapsed, blood gushing from the fatal wound.

“It was entertaining, my disciple.”

And with you gone, the Namgoong Clan has finally vanished from this world.

His voice echoed faintly as he turned and walked away, his steps light and unburdened.

“Cough...”

As she watched him disappear, dark red tears streamed down her pale cheeks.

"How foolish."

What an utterly foolish life.

She had followed him blindly, never realizing she was nothing more than a pawn.

How could she have been so naive?

Why had she placed her trust in a man who knew nothing but bloodshed?

For her entire life, she had lived for him. For the sole purpose of destroying the Namgoong Clan.

And in the end, all she had received in return was his laughter.

All she had left... was death.

And blood.

The scent of fresh blood filled the air, thick and suffocating, clinging to her like the lingering ghosts of the fallen.

The blood of the Namgoong Clan—spilled by her own hands—swirled around her, suffused with the weight of countless grudges.

And soon, her own blood would join it.

Thud.

Her body finally gave out.

Ilhwa, known as Heaven’s Bane Sword—the Blood Demon Cult’s prized disciple, the very tool used to destroy the Namgoong Clan—

Died.

Nothing more than a discarded puppet.