A Thousand Taels of Silence
Gu-yang Baek's expression stiffened.
"Hmm… The revenue from the Evil-Repelling Divine Pill and the Yang and Yin Dragon Pills is more than enough to fund the clan's restoration, and producing and selling the Evil-Repelling Divine Pill has raised the main family's name as well. And you are telling me that is still not enough?"
"Yes. We have yet to secure sufficient martial strength."
Ouyang Qiangang nodded and went on.
"Father, if we drive them out now, then knowing Grandfather's temper, there is a very good chance he will take it as a declaration of war."
"…I suppose he would."
"Right now, even the returned Master Zhu and the Du Clan's men combined fall hopelessly short of what it would take to repel a full-scale assault from Gold Pagoda Mountain Manor. A reputation that is nothing but a shell is worthless in the face of overwhelming force."
At his son's coldly precise assessment, Gu-yang Baek let out a stifled sigh.
"Haaah…"
Ouyang Qiangang continued with a gentle smile.
"Please don't let it weigh on you, Father. Three years will be enough."
"Three years?"
"Yes. In the meantime, Master Zhu will be training elite warriors at the Du Clan Manor."
"Hmm…"
"You, Father, should use the wealth and renown earned from the Yang and Yin Dragon Pills and the Evil-Repelling Divine Pill to draw the talents of the jianghu to us — though of course, it would be best to arrange matters so that they come of their own accord."
Gu-yang Baek's eyes flashed.
"If talent walks through our gates of its own will, even my father-in-law will be unable to stop it."
"Exactly. If we raise people both inside and outside the family in that manner, we will be fully free of Grandfather's influence within three years at the latest."
Gu-yang Baek fell silent in thought for a moment, then asked with a worried look.
"Is there no chance he will interfere with my gathering of talent and cut the Du Clan Manor down at the root?"
A cold, self-assured smile spread across Ouyang Qiangang's lips.
"You needn't worry about that."
His eyes deepened as he continued.
"Even if he is suspicious of us, for the time being Grandfather will have no strength to spare for the main family or the fief lands. I intend to turn his gaze very far away — somewhere else entirely."
At that overflowing confidence in his son, Gu-yang Baek asked nothing further. He had already accepted that Ouyang Qiangang was beyond him to manage, and he had even reached the point where he would believe the boy if he pointed at a deer and called it a horse. So all that remained for Gu-yang Baek to do was trust his son absolutely.
Another month or so slipped by.
The Black Death had been wiped out completely, and production of the Evil-Repelling Divine Pill had been halted as well. The reserves they had stockpiled were more than sufficient, so Ouyang Qiangang switched the Heavenly Mechanism Alchemy Furnace's automated production system back to making the Yang and Yin Dragon Pills.
There was also the trifling(?) tidbit that the incompetent officials of the plague-stricken regions, the Lord of Nanchang foremost among them, had drawn the Emperor's wrath and been sent into exile in a neat line.
Amid the peace that had returned to the Ouyang Clan Manor, Ouyang Qiangang entrusted Du Jin-seong with a certain mission, then secluded himself in the annex and devoted himself to nothing but his martial training.
His battle with the Blood Spirit Human Demon, lord of the Thousand Seas Gang, whom he had faced on Blood Isle, had handed him victory along with a painfully clear look at his own limits. He had won, yes — but much had been left wanting, and his own shortcomings had pressed upon him with desperate urgency.
'The Gale Cyclone Chain Palms carry tremendous speed, but even after stacking the Seventy-Two Palms several times over, their power never reached the Blood Spirit Human Demon's palm force. How do I add destructive power without giving up speed?'
As I explained before, Doctor: destructive force is mass multiplied by acceleration.
Akasha's lucid analysis unfurled through his mind.
If your speed has already reached its limit, then it is mass you must raise.
'Raise the mass of my true qi? How would I even— …Ah. Compression!'
An insight flashed through Ouyang Qiangang's mind like a bolt of lightning.
Precisely. You compress more energy particles into the same space to raise the density. If that density could be raised to that of a liquid — and in time, a solid — the resulting power would defy imagination. That, Doctor, is very likely the true essence of what the warriors of this world call Gangqi, the Hard Qi.
Building on Akasha's theory, Ouyang Qiangang set about compressing the true qi in his dantian.
How many days had passed?
As he circulated the Transcendent Formlessness Divine Art, every one of his meridians cried out again and again, unable to bear the colossal pressure bearing down on them like Mount Tai itself.
Then, at some moment, the massive pressure of the compressed qi — with nowhere left to go — ran wild and surged like a tidal wave toward the fourth major acupoint of his Nine Yin Severed Meridians.
KWAAAAAAM!
With the sound of a great wall collapsing, a new path tore open.
Doctor, I have confirmed the opening of the fourth severed meridian. Congratulations!
Excitement brimmed in Akasha's voice.
With this, the fourth stage of my system is now active. The maximum sustained duration of Maximum Combat Mode has been extended to twenty minutes, and wide-area environmental data analysis has been enabled.
In truth, this was only the natural outcome.
Ouyang Qiangang had already climbed to the Peak realm in his battle with the lord of the Thousand Seas Gang. From there, advancing to the Transcendent realm required attaining what martial artists called 'enlightenment' — and that enlightenment was tied directly to the question of how to increase the density of one's qi in order to create Gangqi.
By breaking through the fourth major acupoint of his Nine Yin Severed Meridians, Ouyang Qiangang had finally grasped the principle behind Gangqi, however dimly.
It meant he had crossed the threshold of the Transcendent realm — a threshold that had once seemed impossibly far away.
The world still lingered at the tail end of winter, but within his body, a new spring had already begun.
It was a great leap that no one in the world but he and Akasha would ever know of.
Gold Pagoda Mountain Manor. Dong Hyeon-do's inner chamber.
Like black stones set upon a go board, the air of the room had sunk heavy and cold.
Cai Wencheng, head of the intelligence organization Spider Blood, knelt with his report still unfinished.
"…And so the plague has been brought fully under control by the Evil-Repelling Divine Pill produced by the Ouyang Clan, and the name of the Life-and-Death Divine Doctor is shaking the jianghu to its core. His renown has already spread beyond Jiangxi Province and across the whole of the Central Plains."
Without a word, Dong Hyeon-do lifted his teacup and took a sip. Not a flicker of emotion crossed his face, and the pressure of that silence bore down on Cai Wencheng until he could scarcely breathe.
"And the movements of the Imperial House?"
"That is what worries me most, Manor Lord."
Cai Wencheng swallowed drily and went on.
"The Imperial House has begun to take an extraordinary interest in the Life-and-Death Divine Doctor, and rumor has it that an imperial envoy will soon be dispatched to verify his identity and bestow commendations for his deeds."
"The Emperor takes an interest in the Life-and-Death Divine Doctor… So it is because of the Crown Prince's illness."
"This humble one also believes that to be the most likely cause."
"Ouyang Qiangang must not be allowed to meet the Crown Prince."
Clack.
Dong Hyeon-do set down his teacup, and his eyes gleamed colder than they ever had.
'The Imperial House… I must cut him down at the root before that boy binds himself directly to the palace.'
A bitter smile rose to his lips.
'What a precious child. A loss beyond all measure. Had that talent been made to bloom in my hands, I could have dared to covet all the world itself… But what I cannot have, I must, in the end, take the head of.'
A chilling light shimmered at the corners of his eyes.
"I will permit no further variables. Kill Ouyang Qiangang."
Cai Wencheng flinched and asked with the greatest care.
"Did you say… now, my lord? Even setting aside the fact that his identity as Ouyang Qiangang has never come to light, the Eldest Young Master is the Life-and-Death Divine Doctor, a man who carries the hearts of the world upon his back. If we move against him, Gold Pagoda Mountain Manor could make itself the enemy of the entire jianghu."
"A fight without a just cause is not our way."
Dong Hyeon-do continued, half sneering.
"But the finest band of assassins under heaven has no need of just causes. All they require is money."
"You mean to set the Blood Sea in motion?"
"That child is worth a price of that size."
Dong Hyeon-do's voice was cold as ice.
"Commission the elimination of Ouyang Qiangang. The plague has been eradicated, so nothing will be lost with that boy gone. As for the payment — let the head of the Blood Sea name whatever he desires, and pay it."
"Understood. However, if the Eldest Young Master dies, we will have no means of obtaining the secret formula for the Evil-Repelling Divine Pill."
"Gu-yang Baek will know the formula as well. Once the Ouyang Clan Manor has been taken over completely in due time, we need only seize it from him then."
He appended one last warning.
"And the fact that we of Gold Pagoda Mountain Manor stand behind this commission must never, under any circumstances, reach the ears of those Blood Sea curs. Am I understood?"
"…I shall carry out your command, Manor Lord."
Cai Wencheng bowed his head deep.
A welcome visitor came to the quarters where Ouyang Qiangang had buried himself in training.
It was Du Jin-seong — the man he had given a mission to and sent to the Imperial Capital before entering seclusion for his martial training.
"Eldest Young Master, Lady Sangguan is driving preparations for the new enterprise at full tilt and says she will be able to launch it before spring is gone. She also asked that you visit the Imperial Capital whenever it should please you."
"You have my thanks for your trouble, Brother Du."
Ouyang Qiangang nodded.
"Think nothing of it."
Ouyang Qiangang turned his gaze to the window. The garden, slowly washing over with young green, filled his eyes.
'Fortunately, everything is unfolding exactly as planned… Which means it is time for me to start moving as well.'
Rising from his seat, Ouyang Qiangang went to find Gu-yang Baek in the training hall.
"I'm afraid I will have to leave the estate for a while."
"…Leaving again?"
Worry shadowed Gu-yang Baek's voice as he continued.
"This time it involves my father-in-law, does it not?"
"It does."
"Can you not, even now, tell this old father what plan you hold that could put him in a difficult position?"
Ouyang Qiangang smiled faintly.
"If, a few months from now, rumors that a great calamity has struck Gold Pagoda Mountain Manor spread like wildfire through the jianghu — that will be my answer. When that day comes, Father, you need only believe that my plan is proceeding smoothly."
Gu-yang Baek sighed inwardly.
'A son who is too capable is its own kind of trouble…'
And yet his worry as a father could not be brushed away.
"Heh heh… what on earth is this enormous undertaking you are scheming? Very well. I shall not ask. Only — you must come through this one unscathed as well. If harm befalls you, what use would any of the rest of it be?"
"Set your mind at ease."
"Good. And when do you leave?"
"Today I mean to spend the day with Cheon-gi and little Cheong-cheong for the first time in far too long, and depart early tomorrow morning."
That even while fighting a colossal enemy for the safety of his family, his son still kept his little siblings close — the warmth of it tightened Gu-yang Baek's throat.
"Go, then."
Once out of the study, Ouyang Qiangang spent that one afternoon forgetting every plan he had, and simply passed the time with his younger siblings.
A dark night, in eastern Nanchang, along the great avenue where respectable houses stood shoulder to shoulder.
Behind a modest home tucked deep within an alley lay a hidden chamber.
With not a single candle burning, two men were speaking in the dark.
A voice utterly devoid of feeling opened the conversation.
"Seven. Kill Ouyang Qiangang before tonight is out."
The one giving the order was the Ten Shadow Lord, Blood Sea's man in charge of Nanchang.
A voice cold as a serpent answered without a moment's delay.
"Understood, my lord."
The man called Seven was one of the most capable assassins in all of Blood Sea.
"My lord — might I ask one question?"
"Speak."
"One thousand taels of silver in advance, alone, for the neck of a sickly whelp who could drop dead any day from his Nine Yin Severed Meridians. I cannot begin to fathom what the client is thinking. This comes close to an insult to the name of Blood Sea."
Woven through his words was the pride of a man who felt that a job this easy was beneath him.
A faint sneer played at the corner of the lord's mouth.
"You have grown talkative, Seven. That is not like you. Change the way you think."
He gave a small flick of his finger in the dark.
"The client did not stake a thousand taels on that whelp's life. He priced the political shockwave that the whelp's death will send through the realm — and the delicacy of disguising that death as a perfectly natural passing."
"…!"
"The client wants Ouyang Qiangang to die quietly, his chronic affliction — the Nine Yin Severed Meridians — finally erupting after all these years. No traces. No rumors."
The lord's following words wrapped the hidden chamber in a chill.
"The thousand taels is the fee for that flawless performance. Do you understand now?"
Seven spoke in a voice cold as a slab of ice.
"Ouyang Qiangang will quietly close his eyes tonight, carried off by his chronic illness."
"Go."
Seven's figure melted soundlessly into the darkness.