Chapter 138
Chapter 138
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 138
Chapter Title: Crystal Frost Brew
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The Dark Venerable gathered once more with the Lion Blade King and Tang Hosan, tilting their cups just as they had before the battle erupted.
The only difference now was that they could share drinks with complete peace of mind.
“Crystal Frost Brew, eh. Haha!”
The Dark Venerable let out a light chuckle upon seeing the gourd flask Tang Hosan had brought.
The Lion Blade King, who had been salivating at the fragrant grain aroma, tilted his head in curiosity.
“Do you have fond memories of Crystal Frost Brew? You look positively delighted just gazing at it.”
“Memories... well, I suppose I do.”
“......”
The Dark Venerable grinned from ear to ear as he watched Tang Hosan fill the cups.
Tang Hosan said nothing.
‘There must be some story between these two.’
The Lion Blade King didn’t miss the Dark Venerable’s mischievous smile or the slight flush on Tang Hosan’s nose.
“Is it all right to share, Hosan?”
“...There’s nothing embarrassing about it, is there?”
“Hahaha! The man himself has given permission, so let’s hear it.”
The Dark Venerable twirled his now-full cup around.
Allowing the air to mingle with the liquor like this enhanced the deep grain fragrance.
It let him sink even deeper into those fragrant memories, much like the brew itself.
“Hosan wasn’t originally of the Tang Clan.”
“!?”
The Lion Blade King’s eyes widened at the bombshell revelation tossed out so casually, and he turned to stare at Tang Hosan.
Tang Hosan silently refilled his cup.
The Lion Blade King let out a low hum.
“...Come to think of it, I’ve heard that the former Gale Force Commander’s past was shrouded in absolute secrecy.”
“Heh heh! It had to be that way. Unlike the Evergreen Brigade, which had been with the clan for centuries, the Gale Force had popped up out of nowhere. I heard plenty of intelligence networks exhausted themselves digging into Hosan’s background.”
Pahaha.
The Dark Venerable burst into laughter before continuing.
“No matter how hard they dug, they found nothing, so eventually wild rumors started circulating—that he was my half-brother, or the bastard child of some criminal exiled from the clan.”
“That’s hardly surprising. Clan Lord, you kept the branch leader completely under wraps from the outside world back then.”
Though he was now known as the Nine Dragons Branch Leader, many questions still lingered about Tang Hosan.
A master who had suddenly appeared in the martial world and stirred up a storm.
A mysterious figure so taciturn he had no close friends or comrades.
Yet a righteous wanderer of his generation, always earnest in aiding the common folk and earning their praise.
That was everything known about the Gale Force Righteous Rogue, Tang Hosan.
“But if he was truly an outsider and not of the Tang Clan, it makes a certain sense. They were barking up the wrong tree from the start. Even so, for nothing to turn up at all—”
The Lion Blade King stroked his chin, then his eyes lit up.
“Could it be... he came from beyond the Great Wall?”
“......”
Drip!
Tang Hosan stopped pouring.
He pushed the cup toward the Lion Blade King.
“Crystal Frost Brew is best drunk ice-cold. It loses its flavor if the chill fades, so I recommend drinking it quickly.”
“So I was right. I was just guessing.”
“Hahaha! If the fools digging into Hosan’s past back then had even half your wits, all the mysteries would’ve been solved.”
The Dark Venerable downed his cup in one smooth motion as he spoke.
“Exactly. Hosan came from beyond the Great Wall, from the land we call the Verdant Hills in the northeast.”
The Lion Blade King let out a soft exclamation.
“That’s intriguing. I’ve heard the land of the Verdant Hills has always been wrapped in mystery, its people virtuous like scholars, compassionate and kind, while its leaders, like immortals, yearn for boundless freedom.”
“It’s just another place where people live, same as the Central Plains. It has its sages and its villains, its warriors and its scholars.”
That was all Tang Hosan said before clamping his lips shut.
As if there was no need to delve deeper.
“Hahaha. This fellow always clammed up about anything from the Verdant Hills. He wouldn’t even tell me.”
“There’s simply nothing worth telling, Clan Lord. I have no intention of deceiving you.”
“I know, I know. No need to get all serious over a little joke. You’re making me feel awkward now.”
“My apologies.”
“Argh, you’re only making it worse.”
The Dark Venerable shook his head and clicked his tongue lightly.
“How on earth did a stiff-as-a-board guy like him end up raising a thunderbolt rascal like Unhwi under him?”
For a split second, a furrow creased Tang Hosan’s brow.
The Dark Venerable slyly pretended not to notice.
It seemed Unhwi had gotten under Tang Hosan’s skin again somehow.
“Anyway, it was somewhere in Hebei or Shanxi where I first met this fellow—”
“Shanhaiguan in Hebei.”
Tang Hosan corrected him immediately.
The Dark Venerable gave a wry smile.
“Right, that’s it? Anyway, at the time, I was on my final martial world tour before becoming clan lord, and this guy was a fresh-faced newbie who’d just come of age and set foot on Central Plains soil for the first time.”
“The mighty Gale Force Righteous Rogue, a greenhorn? Sounds unbelievable.”
“Isn’t it? But even as a greenhorn, he wasn’t ordinary. His martial arts were already well-established. And above all, he had a great personality—perfectly suited to handle my eccentric temper.”
“So you hit it off right away?”
“Something like that. We clashed a lot at first since our views didn’t align, but after all sorts of twists and turns, we became sworn brothers.”
“......”
Sworn brothers.
At the words, Tang Hosan pressed his lips tight, while the Lion Blade King’s lips curled up instead.
“Like me and my brother Unhwi?”
“Yes. Just like you two. A bond of friendship transcending age and rank.”
“Hahaha!”
The Lion Blade King roared with laughter before turning to Tang Hosan.
“Didn’t you once worry about ranks getting tangled? Do as I say, not as I do, something like that?”
Tang Hosan shot the Dark Venerable a glance laced with faint reproach.
“When we swore brotherhood back then, wasn’t it honestly your stubborn insistence, Clan Lord? I kept saying I couldn’t hold my liquor, but you forced it down my throat—”
“Hmph! How else was I supposed to hammer some sense into those rock-hard ears of yours?”
“......”
“And even with your tongue all twisted, calling me ‘大哥,大哥’—it was kinda cute, actua—”
“...Speak any longer, and I’ll clear the table.”
“Look at this guy. He’s gotten bold now, this former subordinate who used to be so deferential, trying to lord over his sworn brother and clan lord?”
The Dark Venerable grumbled to the Lion Blade King like a tattletale.
“You watch yourself too. Unhwi’s no ordinary fellow either. He might come lunging for your head one day.”
“Ha ha ha! My brother’s not the type, so no need for the Branch Leader to worry.”
The Dark Venerable muttered to himself, *This foolhardy wanderer’s got hearts in his eyes and can’t see straight. He’ll wise up once that rascal wipes him clean.*
Then he said aloud,
“Fine. If you’re fine getting fleeced, who am I to complain? Anyway, do you know what liquor Hosan and I shared back then?”
The Lion Blade King smiled faintly, savoring the grain aroma dancing between his fingers.
“Crystal Frost Brew, I’d wager.”
“The inn happened to have it. He picked it out to let me taste a flavor from home.”
“Ho!”
“Ever since, Crystal Frost Brew has followed Hosan and me everywhere. It was what we drank when I asked if he’d take the Tang name upon my ascension to clan lord.”
“......”
“It was Crystal Frost Brew when Hosan first pledged his fealty to me.”
“......”
“It was Crystal Frost Brew when he said he didn’t want to just eat rice at Tang headquarters and expressed his wish to form his own unit.”
“......”
As the Dark Venerable briskly recounted the past, he looked utterly delighted.
“And it kept going after that. When Hosan formed the Gale Force and held their first send-off, I personally handed out a cup of Crystal Frost Brew to every single member. It was spring, with plum blossoms in full, riotous bloom.”
Somehow, the Lion Blade King could picture the scene in his mind.
A warm spring day. Beneath plum trees ablaze in vivid red and pink, over a hundred tense recruits must have stood.
Even brimming with confidence in their skills and prowess after grueling training, facing real battle right around the corner was bound to rattle them.
Especially with the clan lord—until then a distant, almost mythical figure—descending in person to bestow the cups. Their stomachs must have knotted up tight.
Mouths parched dry, some fidgeting needlessly toward the outhouse from phantom urges.
Then the Dark Venerable appearing, tossing a playful jest, clapping shoulders one by one with words of encouragement and cheer... The Crystal Frost Brew they received and drank must have felt like the most priceless treasure.
Even though it wasn’t his own memory, the Lion Blade King felt a warm glow.
“What was the outcome of that campaign? A great victory, I assume?”
“Victory? We got crushed. Utterly.”
“...Huh?”
“The Gale Force is undefeated? Total nonsense. You have no idea the effort we went to hiding that.”
“...Ahem! First battles always fill the belly too fast. And with you, Clan Lord, watching in person, the recruits’ tension spiked—they couldn’t show their full potential.”
Tang Hosan hurried to explain, but it fell on deaf ears with the Dark Venerable.
“Look at you, making excuses even for that.”
“...If it came across that way, my apologies. But the next campaign—”
“We won. Big time.”
The Dark Venerable slapped his knee and grinned.
“They were so pissed off, they might as well have been vipers. The Gale Force should’ve been called the Viper Force.”
“No plans to rename.”
Tang Hosan let out a light sigh.
The Lion Blade King felt envious of the close camaraderie between the pair.
He wondered if he and Unhwi could forge something like that over the years ahead.
“The brew they drank after that first victory was Crystal Frost Brew, wasn’t it?”
“Fitting.”
“Second send-off, when nearly half the unit was wiped out, when I had my first child, and even when the grandkids came along... The Gale Force raised Crystal Frost Brew each time. I was there often too.”
“......”
“And... when the Gale Force disbanded, it was Crystal Frost Brew they raised.”
“......”
“I hear after that, this fellow, Jeongpung Pavilion, Wind Flower Hall—every soul in the Nine Dragons Branch Family—shunned Crystal Frost Brew.”
A heavy silence fell for a brief moment. The air grew thick.
The Lion Blade King gazed down at his own cup, now bereft of its chill.
The flavor might have faded a bit, but the aroma remained deep and rich.
“But today, you’ve opened Crystal Frost Brew once more.”
“Exactly. And—”
The Dark Venerable nodded and turned his gaze toward the window.
The Lion Blade King followed suit. So did Tang Hosan.
Beyond the window.
The white banner came into view.
Surrounding it were warriors in crisp uniforms, kneeling on one knee in prostration.
Each held a cup in hand.
No need to ask what liquor filled them.
“That Crystal Frost Brew is now passing to Unhwi.”
The sight burned fiercely into the Lion Blade King’s corneas, his mind, his very soul.
The Dark Venerable smiled faintly and drained his final cup to the brim.
Kuh!
“Delicious as ever. You too, drink up.”
“Yes. Of course.”
The Lion Blade King tossed back his cup, using the view outside as an appetizer.
Clack!
The cup slamming the table rang out unusually bright and crisp.