Chapter 31
Chapter 31
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: Paying Respects
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Aaaagh! Aaaaagh!”
Crash! Clang! Smash!
After Namgung San-yeong returned from the White Hall, the Main Hall was filled with shrieks and the sounds of furniture shattering.
The stewards and servants outside trembled, exchanging nervous glances with one another.
Not a single one dared step forward to intervene.
Everyone knew better than anyone that becoming the target of Namgung San-yeong’s rage meant certain death.
“Tang Unhwi! Tang Unhiii!!”
The roars only grew louder as time passed.
For a brief moment, they fretted over what might happen if the guests visiting the branch family heard the noise.
“Shouldn’t... someone go in and check?”
“Who’s going to go in? You want to come out with your head split open?”
“W-Well, that’s true, but—”
“If you’re so eager, you go in yourself.”
“Damn it! That’s not what I meant! If we don’t deliver this letter, we’ll be in even bigger trouble later!”
The stewards and servants’ mouths went dry in real time.
They had heard that after meeting with Namgung San-yeong, Unhwi had suddenly headed straight to the Dark Harmony Hall where the Branch Leader was.
They didn’t know that Namgung San-yeong had joined hands with the Demonic Cult.
But serving at her side constantly had given them a keen sense for such things.
They knew she was hiding something, and if Unhwi found out and told Dang Hoseon, it would spell disaster.
If trouble erupted, they would all be executed one after another.
In the end, the head steward was half-pushed into entering the Main Hall to deliver the news.
Crash!
He emerged carried out, his head half-crushed by the inkstone Namgung San-yeong had flung in a fit of rage.
“Muyoung! Bring Muyoung from the Crimson Hall, right now!!”
* * *
Dang Hoseon happened to be in the middle of a meeting with Dang Gon.
『Huh? What brings the Young Master here?』
『Does a son need a reason to visit his father and pay respects?』
『Please spare me the nonsense. You never budge unless there’s something in it for you.』
『Fine, then from today, I’ll be a filial son.』
『A fire-attribute filial son, sure.』
『...I may be a retainer now, but isn’t your tone a bit much for the young master of the Nine Dragons Branch Family?』
『Hmph! If it bothers you, fire me.』
『Can’t do that. I need to squeeze you dry to the bone first.』
『That’s a bit scary, but anyway, what’s your business?』
『I’m here to make someone sweat.』
『???』
Dang Gon’s face filled with question marks.
Dang Hoseon quietly set down the documents he’d been holding.
A quick glance showed they were related to the Dark Venerable.
“What’s this about?”
“I came to pay my respects.”
“Cut the crap. Get to the point.”
Why did everyone—high or low—say the exact same things?
Was that what made a proper lord-retainer relationship?
“I want to revisit the deal we discussed last night.”
Dang Gon’s expression hardened instantly.
Dang Hoseon fixed me with a deep, sunken glare before speaking.
“Gon, clear the room.”
“As you command.”
Whoosh!
As Dang Gon vanished into thin air, all the presences filling the Dark Harmony Hall vanished with him.
“One word from you has halted every plan our branch family was preparing. You’d better have a damn good reason.”
Just as I thought.
The schemes centered on the Dark Venerable were in full swing even here at the Nine Dragons Branch Family.
Whatever they were, they wouldn’t be simple.
“That depends on how the Branch Leader takes this deal.”
I never called him ‘Father.’
“A deal requires something exchanged from both sides. What exactly can you offer me?”
Dang Hoseon cracked his knuckles and leaned back halfway against the chair’s headrest.
The aura he exuded was far from negligible.
「Looks like even after becoming Branch Leader, he hasn’t slacked on his training.」
「I’d love to crack open his skull and see what he’s plotting.」
I shrugged lightly at his stone-carved face.
“What can I offer when I don’t have anything right now?”
“If you’re just here to babble, get out—”
“But I can make a promise.”
“What?”
“I’ll protect Sister Gyujin.”
For a split second, a crack appeared on Dang Hoseon’s stone statue of a face.
Crack.
It almost sounded like it.
“What are you—”
“You know, don’t you, Branch Leader? Where Mother joined hands.”
Dang Hoseon narrowed his eyes.
My skin prickled as if pricked by dozens of needles.
What if this became a wave?
I wondered if I could withstand being swept away right here.
“...Are you threatening me?”
“Of course not. I said we should make a deal.”
“Details.”
『If word of this gets out, Sister Gyujin and Yuchang will never be able to live with their heads held high in the martial world. Gyujin will have to seclude herself on Qingcheng Mountain, and Yuchang will be dragged to the Tang family main house, never to emerge again.』
The fear and hatred the Central Plains held for the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was beyond imagination.
The enmity between the Central Plains and the Cult had dragged on for ages, tangled in layers of complex grudges.
Even if the Sacheon Tang Clan offered them shade, would the arrows of blame spare Dang Gyujin and Dang Yuchang?
No.
『You’ll be fine, Branch Leader. You’re the victim, the hero standing against them. But those two? Who would welcome the spawn of Demonic Cult lackeys?』
『...』
『So I’ll save Sister Gyujin. It’d be a loss for her to rot away in the mountains forever, wouldn’t it? For the Tang family, and for the Qingcheng Sect.』
『I am Dang Hoseon. No one in this world can condemn my children—』
『Sure, they won’t say it outright. But discrimination? Or guilt?』
『...』
I didn’t like painting the Cult as pure villains here, but the Cult I knew was no longer in this world.
Besides, the object of my oath wasn’t precisely the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, but the Dark Demon Divine Transformation Sect.
Until I led the Sect’s faithful back to Heavenly Mountain and set everything right, I planned to ruthlessly exploit their weaknesses.
“Unlike you, Branch Leader, I have a way. Isn’t that enough for a deal?”
I switched back to speaking aloud.
Dang Hoseon furrowed his brow.
“So you’ll save only one of them as your condition?”
“I’m not noble enough to save even the one who tried to kill me. We each survive on our own.”
Dang Yuchang and Dang Gyujin were different.
At the very least, Gyujin had reached out to me—to ‘Dang Unhwi.’
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
Repay favors tenfold, grudges a hundredfold—that was the Sacheon Tang Clan’s creed, wasn’t it?
I was simply following it.
“There’s just one thing I want to ask of you, Branch Leader.”
“What?”
“Let me jump into the game you’re about to play.”
Dang Hoseon’s eyes widened slightly.
“How do you know what I’m planning?”
“You’re using the Patriarch as bait to uproot the ones behind Mother, right?”
His slightly widened eyes now bulged wide.
The look screamed how did you know?
But a little thought made it obvious.
What did Dang Hoseon gain immediately from assassinating the Dark Venerable?
If anything, he’d be criticized as a fool for endangering the Patriarch.
So the real play came after.
He hadn’t struck at the Black Bone Ghost Valley recklessly because he planned to draw out the masterminds.
Just as he’d once acted as a bulwark blocking the Cult’s advance into the Central Plains, this time he aimed to hunt them down.
And afterward?
His standing would soar beyond compare.
He might even eye the next Patriarch position of the Sacheon Tang Clan.
“By my reckoning, I have a small stake in that too, so I want in.”
“Do you have the chops for it?”
“Should I prove it?”
“How?”
“I’ll gift you the head of the White Bone Net Sect’s leader.”
“!!!”
* * *
As I left the Dark Harmony Hall, Dang Gon came rushing after me.
“What on earth did you discuss with the Lord for so long?”
“Just some father-son chit-chat.”
“...If you don’t want to say, just say so.”
I just smiled.
Right before leaving the Dark Harmony Hall, our final exchange flashed through my mind.
‘...Fine. Show me if you can. But I won’t help you.’
‘I’m not asking for that. But can I ask one thing?’
‘What?’
‘What do you ultimately want, Branch Leader?’
A roundabout way of asking what he aimed to gain from the Dark Venerable assassination plan.
Depending on whether he’d coordinated with the Dark Venerable or planned to use him, the ways to hunt the Cult’s lackeys would differ vastly.
‘What I’ve always wanted remains the same, even now.’
But instead of a straight answer, Dang Hoseon scoffed lightly, as if asking why state the obvious.
‘The prosperity of the Tang Clan.’
Chewing on those words revealed the rough picture he was drawing.
“Lord or Young Master, every last Tang has some crafty fox in their head or—”
Ignoring Dang Gon’s grumbling, I returned to the White Hall.
As expected, Namgung San-yeong was waiting for me.
With dark circles sunken under her eyes.
「While the Young Cult Leader was in the Dark Harmony Hall, her insides must’ve dried up like the Gobi Desert. Her skin’s cracking all over.」
「How much did she gnaw her nails? Not a single one left.」
Dang Gon startled at the sight of Namgung San-yeong.
『Why is the Lady in such a state... What on earth has she done now?』
Look at this guy. Anyone hearing him would think I was the one always causing trouble.
It was true, though. Heh heh heh!
『Just watch quietly.』
As Dang Gon’s expression turned dubious, I smiled brightly.
“You’re back, Mother?”
“You little—”
“Thanks to you, Mother, I got to see the Branch Leader after so long. It felt like our estranged father-son bond was mending. I should visit more often.”
Namgung San-yeong’s grip tightened on the incense burner she held.
I wondered.
Would she throw it, or not?
「Looking at that smug face of the Young Cult Leader’s, even a high monk of Shaolin with a mountain of cultivation couldn’t help but seethe inside—」
「Monk? I bet even immortals in the heavenly realm wouldn’t be spared.」
Regrettably(?), Namgung San-yeong released the burner, took a long breath, and asked,
“...You didn’t say anything unnecessary to the Branch Leader, did you?”
“That depends on your attitude, Mother, doesn’t it?”
“!!!”
Namgung San-yeong bristled again, raising her fist to hurl something at me.
Thud!
I caught it leisurely.
A wooden box made of rather precious material.
With a hunch, I cracked open the lid, and a clear fragrance burst forth.
My head cleared instantly.
It was the Pure Green Divine Pill.
「Whoa! She got it already?」
「Even a sluggish caterpillar can roll when it has to. Guess she’s not entirely without talent. Did she ask the South Palace Clan directly?」
『That’s the Pure Green Divine Pill!? The one you said would make someone sweat was the Lady? No, how in the world did you—』
Dang Gon’s eyes wavered, brimming with questions.
Thud!
I closed the lid and smiled.
A genuine smile.
“See? When you do it, it works. I believed in you, Mother.”
The furrow between Namgung San-yeong’s brows deepened sharply.
“...Then now—”
“Yes. A promise is a promise, so I’ll let the matter of your backers slide.”
“What nonsense is this? You’re going back on your word! You said if I gave you that, you’d withdraw from the succession struggle—”
“You have to keep your words straight. This is just payment to keep my mouth shut. The succession stuff? That’s a separate account.”
Tremble tremble tremble!
Namgung San-yeong shook like an aspen leaf.
「Sucker.」
「She got suckered.」
「That’s as good as being driven straight to rock bottom in life.」
「This is why once you fall out of favor with the Young Cult Leader, you suffer for life... no, even in death—」
『...I see. So the Lady’s neck is in the Young Master’s grasp too—』
Dang Gon, you’re not chatting with the lingering spirits too, are you? How are your reactions so synced?
“You’ve already given me something so hard to bear just to shut me up—what priceless treasure will you bestow next? This son is at a loss with your sky-high grace, Mother.”
“!!!”
This was how I cashed in her blank check of granting any request.
“What’s next...? Ah! I heard when you married into the Nine Dragons Branch Family, you brought heaps of Heavenly Silkworm Cotton Cloth as dowry. Could I see some?”
Heavenly Silkworm Cotton Cloth was woven from threads spun by the exceedingly rare spirit silkworm called the Heavenly Silkworm. It was said to be so tough that no blade could cut it.
Protective garments tailored from it were not only impervious to swords but also to water and fire, making it a treasure as precious as the Pure Green Divine Pill.
Demanding that pushed Namgung San-yeong’s face from flushed to on the verge of exploding.