Chapter 151
Chapter 151
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 151
Chapter Title: Already More Than Twenty Days Have Passed?
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The moon hung deep in the night sky.
Tang Hoseon lowered the eyeglasses perched on the bridge of his nose and lightly rubbed his eyes with his thumb and index finger.
After reviewing documents for nearly ten hours straight for days on end, his eyes were utterly fatigued.
‘Looks like… I’m getting on in years after all.’
Even upon reaching the Dengbong Realm, where one began to transcend human limits, could age truly be overcome?
Ten years ago, he could pull all-nighters for days without batting an eye, but time was merciless indeed.
Of course, that didn’t mean Tang Hoseon had any intention of putting off the duties assigned to him.
He was the type who, after swiftly clearing his workload, not only refused to rest but pulled in more tasks to tackle even further.
So as he reached for the documents again, someone smacked his hand away with a sharp tap.
“Hey, hey. I knew it’d be like this. Even on your honeymoon, you buried yourself in work and came back with your butt all scratched up, and now that you’re a widower, the workaholic bug’s bitten you even harder? You’ll keel over one of these days, I’m telling you.”
Tang Hoseon lifted his head with an expressionless face.
Beyond the mask of the Noble Strategist, a grinning face shook a gourd flask.
“Care for a drink?”
A rich, mellow aroma wafted out.
It was Crystal Jade.
Tsk!
Tang Hoseon clicked his tongue lightly.
“I have a mountain of work.”
“I’ve got even more piling up on my end?”
“Lately, the reports keep coming in about you slacking off downstairs and gallivanting around outside.”
“Whoa! That’s unfair! Gallivanting? Who else works as hard as me, fresh off the boat in this new land like some eager kid? Who is it? Who’s pinning this false charge on me!”
“So you can beat them up even more for slacking?”
“Hahaha. My lord, what do you take this Tang Jian for?”
“What else? A Tang Jian. The guy who’d sneak off to the tavern with Tang Gon every chance he got, just to give me grief.”
“Huh! What a tragedy. To think that’s all I amount to in my lord’s eyes.”
“That’s exactly what I see.”
Undeterred by Tang Hoseon’s curt words, the Noble Strategist shook the gourd even more vigorously.
“So you’re not drinking?”
“If I say no, you’ll really back off?”
“Heh heh heh. As if. You never had a choice with me to begin with, my lord!”
*This guy calling me ‘my lord’ left and right.*
Tang Hoseon instructed the steward to bring in a drinking tray, then shoved the documents aside to clear the desk.
“How’re you feeling?”
“About what?”
“The Little Branch Leader leaving the estate—it’s already been over twenty days, hasn’t it?”
“Has it been that long already?”
“Sigh! Knew you’d say that. Buried in work all day, you’ve lost all sense of time.”
Tang Hoseon tilted his head as he took the cup, prompting the Noble Strategist to exhale a frustrated sigh.
“Twenty days, huh. Then he should be arriving at the Tang Branch any day now.”
“That’s right.”
“The Tang Branch… it’ll be fine, won’t it?”
The Noble Strategist let out a hollow chuckle.
“You’re not worried about the Little Branch Leader, are you? Even if he is your son, someone of his caliber—”
“Who said I was worried about Unhwi?”
“Huh? Then?”
“I’m worried about the Tang Branch. You know what kind of place that is. Think they’ll just sit idle because he’s from the main family?”
The Noble Strategist paused, recalling the atmosphere at the Tang Branch.
He soon bowed his head deeply.
A moment of silence.
“A bunch of them will end up in the infirmaries.”
“If we don’t get hit with medical bills, I’d call that a win.”
The Noble Strategist nodded vigorously in agreement.
“Honestly, I’m bored to death these days.”
“No noisy pests around?”
“Pretty much.”
As the Noble Strategist took the cup Tang Hoseon poured for him, he continued.
“You don’t miss someone until they’re gone, but I never realized the Little Branch Leader had such a huge presence. Feels like he’ll burst through that door any second and lob another bombshell.”
Tang Hoseon nodded quietly.
Indeed, the branch had been too quiet lately—a real problem.
It felt like this was the normal vibe before.
But in just a few months, that one slippery eel had muddied the waters thoroughly.
*Loud, rowdy, chaotic. No day ever quiet—wished for some peace, and now that it’s here, it feels off.*
Tsk.
Tang Hoseon clicked his tongue inwardly, but the Noble Strategist’s gaze turned peculiar.
“See? Talking about the Little Branch Leader’s got you smiling.”
“Smiling? Who?”
“You, my lord.”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“No way.”
“It’s true, though?”
Tang Hoseon brought a hand to his mouth.
It… was.
The Noble Strategist’s grin widened.
“Didn’t realize, huh? Lately, whenever the Little Branch Leader comes up, you do that smile.”
Tang Hoseon’s eyes widened slightly.
He hadn’t known that himself.
“Ahh, our Little Branch Leader’s incredible. To sway even a stone like you. Long live the world—we’ve gotta stick around to see more.”
A strange feeling stirred in Tang Hoseon.
He recalled the Lion Sword King’s words.
‘Unhwi’s doing splendidly. And it’s not just him—the Branch Leader’s daughter, Lady Gyujin, is the same. They’ve already made their marks in their fields, haven’t they? Even I, who pays no mind to the martial world, have heard the names. You’ve succeeded brilliantly in raising your children.’
‘…….’
‘So you should feel deep pride in that, but you worry too much instead. It’s not the bold, wild Windstorm Wanderer I knew.’
A nudge to trust his children more.
He’d resolved to change from then on, and it seemed the shifts were happening bit by bit.
“Long live… the world, indeed.”
“Right? Heh heh heh!”
The Noble Strategist laughed as he refilled Tang Hoseon’s now-empty cup.
Tang Hoseon clicked his tongue inwardly.
*This guy’s latched onto something.*
His eyes gleamed with mischief, clearly itching to tease.
Tang Hoseon swiftly changed the subject.
“More importantly, how’s the Kongtong Mountain situation?”
“Eh!? Dodging like that? I’ve got a mountain of things to say!”
“Then let’s call it.”
As Tang Hoseon reached for the stacked documents he’d set aside, the Noble Strategist’s grin crumpled.
“No! I was saying let’s chat and unwind, and now it’s back to work?”
“What good’s your idle chatter to a man?”
“Do I have to prove its use to listen? So stingy.”
“Obvious you’d just tease me or brag about some woman you charmed.”
“What’s left in men’s talk without that?”
“That’s why I don’t wanna hear it.”
“Tch.”
The Noble Strategist shook his head at his lord, stubborn as a scholar, and spoke.
“It’s more or less wrapped up.”
“More or less?”
“We’ve got them on the retreat.”
Though Tang Hoseon had ribbed the Noble Strategist about slacking earlier, in truth, he’d been the busiest in the Nine Dragons Branch Family.
Handling estate duties while personally visiting Kongtong Mountain with a small team.
“Details.”
“The factions inside Kongtong Sect trying to ally with the South Palace side suddenly slowed down.”
Even after crushing the Demonic Cult’s vanguard, the Noble Strategist and the Windflower Pavilion had been waging shadow wars nonstop.
A war against the South Palace Clan’s intelligence arm, the Dark Thunder Division.
As the Tang Clan rapidly allied with sects in the western Central Plains, the Dark Thunder Division had moved swiftly to sabotage.
Of course, they couldn’t act openly.
The Tang Clan held material proof of the secret alliance between South Palace and the Demonic Cult.
But covert operations were fair game.
And their chosen target was Kongtong Sect.
Not widely known, but Kongtong Sect was deeply split into pro-Tang and anti-Tang factions, locked in conflict.
The clashes were still minor disputes for now.
But if the Dark Thunder Division pushed harder, who knew how it might escalate.
“The Little Branch Leader heading straight to the Tang Branch hit them hard. And leaking word of Elder Tang Chuyong on top? They were thrilled to bits.”
Tang Hoseon smirked.
The resurgence of the Poison Smoke Half-Evil, mortal enemy of the South Palace Clan.
Word that he’d lead not just the old Windstorm Brigade but the new one too? That set off alarms.
Plus, Tang Chuyong’s return—the pinnacle of Tang Clan explosive weaponry—would be like a thunderbolt.
“They won’t want to end up like the North Sea Sect.”
“We do owe the Little Branch Leader for that part. But—”
Tang Hoseon’s eyes sharpened.
He’d caught the crux.
“We might have a bigger mess on our hands sooner than we thought.”
“Bigger than the Dark Thunder Division?”
The Noble Strategist hesitated, scratched the back of his head, then spoke.
“Yes. There’s a bizarre rumor circulating around Kongtong Mountain.”
“Rumor?”
“Yes. That the Divine Sword Heavenly Demon is alive… and haunting the area—”
“!!”
“Of course, it’s just street gossip from the markets for now.”
The Noble Strategist, parched, poured more Crystal Jade and continued.
“We sent agents to secretly scour Kongtong Mountain, but found nothing.”
“…But a rumor like that at a time like this—”
“Can’t just brush it off. Something’s afoot.”
“Any moves from Kongtong Sect?”
“Are you kidding? They’re flipping out like we scalded them with boiling water—taking over every mountain, combing everywhere… Whew! Nearly got us spotted too.”
“You weren’t.”
“Come on, who do you think I am?”
Fair enough—if caught, the Noble Strategist would be in Kongtong Sect’s underground prison instead.
The anti-Tang faction would’ve gained pretext to spy on them, escalating everything.
“…….”
Tang Hoseon crossed his arms, deep in thought.
*The Clan Head will hear this soon enough.*
He was one of the few who knew the ties between the Dark Lord and the Divine Sword Heavenly Demon.
So he knew how heartbroken the Dark Lord had been at news of the Heavenly Demon’s ousting.
And now, the Divine Sword Heavenly Demon reappeared after years—in Gansu, right next door to Sichuan?
Hard to predict the reaction.
Even the Demonic Cult, duty-bound to hunt him, would respond somehow.
Everything was uncertain.
“Chance the Dark Thunder Division’s tied to the rumor?”
“We’re checking angles: them starting it, reacting to it, or leaking it to deceive the Cult or main family—all possibilities.”
“Most likely?”
“Too early for firm calls, info trail’s incomplete—”
“Still.”
“Focusing on them getting the intel first and starting ops in Kongtong Sect.”
“We need to nail down exactly what the Dark Thunder Division’s after.”
“Yes. Securing the Divine Sword Heavenly Demon’s person *and* Kongtong Sect? That’d scramble the board too much.”
“Focus there for now. Don’t dig too deep. Maintain status quo until the Clan Head orders otherwise.”
“Understood.”
As the Noble Strategist rose, something occurred to him; he paused midway out the door.
“Oh, right—I’ll compile this and send it to the Little Branch Leader too.”
“…He’s busy heading to the Tang Branch. You’ve been reporting to him daily?”
“Of course. He loves it.”
“Making work for yourself. Weren’t you singing about being a grasshopper, not an ant?”
“You know that’s BS, right? If anything, I’m more ant than the Clan Head—couldn’t be otherwise. Clearly, he loves the work.”
The Noble Strategist casually dropped a misunderstanding that would’ve sent Unhwi into a rage if overheard.
Tang Hoseon felt a flicker of doubt—*Really?*—but figured the Noble Strategist knew best and nodded.
Sipping the now-cooled Crystal Jade, he pondered.
His children were just starting to find their footing, yet the era wouldn’t wait—it churned ahead.
What faces would they show at the end of it all?
A grandmotherly worry tugged at him, but recalling the Lion Sword King’s words, he resolved once more to trust firmly.
Unhwi, Dang Gyujin—they were his children.
And Dang Yuchang, who should’ve reached Anhui by now.
They’d all manage.
This martial world was theirs now.