The Heir's Homecoming

As the short journey to the Ouyang Clan Manor drew to a close, dusk had quietly slipped in. The western sky began to burn like crimson silk, and long black shadows lay draped across the mountain path.

As they rounded the final bend, Yeom Pung pulled hard on his reins and brought the party to a halt. Following his gaze, Ouyang Qiangang looked out at the familiar scene nestled in the valley far below — old tiled roofs glowing serenely in the light of the setting sun. His home. The Ouyang Clan Manor.

Seeing his ancestral home again after so long gladdened his heart, and yet the sight also laid bare the reality of a family in decline, leaving a faint melancholy he could not quite name.

Ouyang Qiangang turned to Yeom Pung.

"Is something the matter, that you've stopped us?"

Yeom Pung answered.

"Young Master, we'll be arriving at the manor before long... If our identities were exposed, it could bring grave calamity down upon the Ouyang Clan. Before we arrive, I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠think it best that this old man and Wan'er change our appearances."

It was no unreasonable concern, so Ouyang Qiangang nodded.

"Do as you see fit. Though I confess I'm curious — just how do you intend to change your appearance?"

Yeom Pung at once drew from his robes two exquisitely crafted human-skin masks, thin as paper and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠faintly translucent. They were the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠work of a master craftsman of the murim; once one settled upon the face, even the sharpest-eyed observer would find it all but impossible to see through the disguise.

The moment Yeom Pung and the woman donned the masks, their faces transformed completely — into a thoroughly unremarkable middle-aged merchant, and a pale, sickly young woman in the flower of her youth.

An hour later, the party arrived at the Ouyang Clan Manor. Unlike the flourishing Bamboo Forest Manor, what greeted them was an old gate worn plain by the passage of years.

At the news of their arrival, Gu-yang Baek, Dong Yeon-hwa, Gu-yang Cheon-gi, and Gu-yang Cheong-cheong all came rushing out to the gate.

"Big Brother!"

The first to come running was the youngest, Gu-yang Cheong-cheong. The girl threw her arms around the right leg of a big brother who had grown broad and strong in the mere months since she had last seen him.

"Haha. Our little one — you've only gone and gotten prettier while I was away."

Ouyang Qiangang broke into a wide smile and ruffled the girl's hair.

"Elder Brother! You're safe!"

Gu-yang Cheon-gi, who came running close behind, stared wide-eyed at his brother, who looked healthier than he could ever remember him being.

Gu-yang Baek and Dong Yeon-hwa, too, could not entirely conceal their astonishment at the son's remarkable transformation. But unlike the children, they forced those feelings down. Every servant and guard watching them was, to a man, a plant from Gold Pagoda Mountain Manor.

Gu-yang Baek kept his face stoic, yet inwardly he breathed a long sigh of relief as he clapped his son soundly on the shoulder. The roughness of that touch — its strength left untempered — carried the full weight of everything he felt.

Their eyes then turned toward the two strangers: Yeom Pung and Sangguan Wan'er.

Ouyang Qiangang spoke in an even, unhurried tone.

"Father, these are a merchant I happened to meet on the road, and his daughter. Unfortunately they fell in with bandits and were badly hurt, so I have brought them here to recuperate at our manor for a time. Would you grant them leave to rest here in comfort?"

Gu-yang Baek quietly swept his gaze over his son and the strangers he had brought with him. This boy would not have brought them into the household without good reason. In his son's eyes he read a depth and a confidence that had never been there before.

"Honored guests whom my own son saved? Of course they must stay."

Gu-yang Baek addressed Yeom Pung.

"Recuperate as comfortably as if this were your own home, and go when you are well."

"Thank you. I must ask your understanding — my daughter has not yet regained her senses, so she is unable to greet you properly."

Just as Gu-yang Baek granted the merchant and his daughter leave to stay, and the heavy air at the gate eased a little—

—the great round eyes of Gu-yang Cheong-cheong, who had been clinging to Ouyang Qiangang's sleeve the entire time, drifted up toward his shoulder. There, perched like a ball of cotton, its whole body wrapped in golden fur, sat a strange and adorable creature she had never seen before, looking down at her with jewel-like red eyes that gleamed.

"Um... Big Brother!"

Cheong-cheong pointed a tiny finger at Geum Wang.

"On your shoulder... what is that?"

At her words, every gaze in the courtyard swung to Ouyang Qiangang's shoulder — and Cheong-cheong's eyes began to sparkle like stars.

"Kyaaaaah! He's so cute!"

Shrieking with delight, the child began clinging to Ouyang Qiangang and begging.

"Big Brother, can't I please pet him just once? Huh? Just once!"

In that instant, a whole storm of expressions flashed across Geum Wang's face as he sat in haughty state upon Ouyang Qiangang's shoulder — bewilderment, outrage, and a flicker of fury that seemed to say, How dare she!

At the sight of the child bouncing and waving her hands at him, the creature let out a shriek of pure disgust.

Kkiek!

Then, quick as a flash of lightning, he kicked off Ouyang Qiangang's shoulder and fled.

"Ah! Wait!"

Cheong-cheong refused to give up and tore off after him. And so a fine commotion erupted across the wide front courtyard of the Ouyang Clan Manor. Geum Wang swarmed up the pillars as nimbly as a flying squirrel, strutted boldly across the rooftops, and shrieked down at Cheong-cheong as if deliberately egging her on.

Kkik-kik!

"Play with me!"

Cheong-cheong hopped and bounced after the creature without a moment's rest. At the spectacle, faint smiles stole unbidden onto the lips of Gu-yang Baek and Dong Yeon-hwa, who had been holding their faces carefully blank. For the first time in a very long while, a child's lively laughter rang out through a manor that had been mired in silence.

That evening, after dinner, Ouyang Qiangang sat alone with Gu-yang Baek in the patriarch's study. Before beginning, he closed his eyes for a moment and spread his qi-sense to its fullest extent. A full sixty-year cycle's worth of internal energy had honed his senses to a keenness beyond anything he had ever known.

Someone's hiding in a tree in the garden, fifty feet out.

Having confirmed the presence of the watcher surveilling the study, he issued a command to Akasha.

Akasha, see to it that rat can't eavesdrop on our conversation.

Akasha's voice echoed through his mind.

With Akasha's report received, Ouyang Qiangang spoke.

"Father, before I returned from Nanchang, I made an agreement with Uncle Heo."

"An agreement, you say?"

Ouyang Qiangang first explained how he had developed the Yang Dragon Elixir, then continued.

"An agreement for the mass production and distribution of the Yang Dragon Elixir. Uncle Heo will provide the capital and the distribution network, and I will provide the techniques; we will divide the profits between us. If it succeeds, the clan's finances will be secured."

"You have truly rendered this family a magnificent service."

Gu-yang Baek spoke with his joy held in check — and then, out of lifelong habit before an important conversation, he cocked an ear toward the study's surroundings, listening for movement outside. But with his abilities, he could not detect the faint presence of the one hiding fifty feet away.

Sensing his father's tension, Ouyang Qiangang offered a faint smile.

"Father, set your mind at ease. No one in this ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠world can overhear what is said in this room."

Startled that his son had seen straight through him, Gu-yang Baek asked back in disbelief.

"...How could you know of that? Don't tell me you've already taken measures?"

Ouyang Qiangang chose his words for a moment before speaking.

"While I was on Dayangsan Island, I came upon a fortuitous opportunity, and I opened two of the nine great meridian points of the Nine Yin Severed Meridians that had bound my body."

"Wh-what did you say!"

Gu-yang Baek's eyes went wide.

Crash—

The teacup in his hand slipped from his fingers and shattered on the floor, but he paid it no mind whatsoever.

"Is that... is that the truth! Your meridians — let me see your meridians at once!"

With trembling hands he seized his son's wrist in urgent haste. Through his fingertips flowed a strong, steady current of internal energy that had never been there before. Meridians that should have lain cold and blocked as ice were pulsing with vigorous, warmth-laden life.

"Heaven has not abandoned our Ouyang Clan after all..."

Gu-yang Baek shut his eyes tight. For a long while he could not open them, for the tears were close to spilling. The sorrow of never being able to show his joy at his son's astonishing transformation with the spies' eyes upon them, and the despair that had pressed on him his whole life — all of it seemed to melt away like mist.

Watching his father, Ouyang Qiangang went on.

"Thanks to it, I was able to learn martial arts — and to take measures that keep the watchers from listening in."

"Ah..."

"And..."

"There is still more left to astonish me?"

"Yes. I had confirmed the Yang Dragon Elixir's success, but the problem was sustained mass production. I have found the way to solve it."

"Good heavens..."

Gu-yang Baek could only gape, words failing him entirely. Ouyang Qiangang continued.

"I intend to build that production facility here, at the main estate."

"And how do you mean to escape the watchers' eyes?"

"That is precisely why there is one thing I must ask of you, Father."

Ouyang Qiangang looked his father square in the eye.

"There is only one place in this house that is both the safest and has all comings and goings controlled: your training chamber. I would like to convert it into a new alchemy chamber."

It was a bold proposal — one that, from a son to his father, might well have bordered on insolence. But Gu-yang Baek, without a moment's hesitation, nodded his head vigorously, looking if anything delighted.

"My training chamber! Good — very good!"

He gripped his son's shoulder with all his strength.

"What does that paltry room matter? If it can raise this withering family back to its feet, I would hand over my very bedroom. From this day on, that place is yours. If there is anything you need, tell me — anything at all. I will support you with everything I have, even if it costs me all I possess."

A faint smile touched Ouyang Qiangang's lips.

"Father, that is not all I have to tell you."

Gu-yang Baek's eyes flew wide open.

"Still more? I haven't the strength left in me to be surprised anymore."

"There is more."

Ouyang Qiangang nodded and continued.

"This time, I have also unraveled the secret of the Nine Dragons Full Mountain Diagram — the enigma that has haunted our family for generations."

Gu-yang Baek froze where he sat, unable to move so much as a muscle. A feat that he and his ancestors had poured their entire lives into and never achieved — and his son, the boy born sickly and frail, was telling him he had accomplished it.

Ouyang Qiangang drew three secret manuals from his robes — transcribed and organized in his own hand — and presented them respectfully before his father. The Star Array Grand Sword Art, the Explosive Thunder Flame King Hammer, and the Nine Palaces Lost-Trace Footwork.

With trembling hands, Gu-yang Baek received the manuals that held the longing of his lifetime. The hot tears he could no longer hold back fell drop by drop, darkening the covers of the books.

Ouyang Qiangang saw the last of their discussion through — the purchase of a separate residence outside the manor, the covert supply of medicinal herbs, and the other matters already settled with Heo Il-bi — and then left the study.

Moments later, in the shadow of the tree across from the study, a figure stirred furtively and then vanished without a sound. And when perhaps three heartbeats had passed, on the rooftop overlooking the tree where the figure had hidden, a slightly hunchbacked old man rose slowly to his feet. He stared for a moment at the shadows beneath the tree — then, like a ghost snuffing out, his form vanished from sight.

It was Hwang Nodae.