The Tang Clan's War Council
When Dang Nan-a mentioned that Cheong would be joining the strategy meeting, the first scene that came to mind was this: a beautifully crafted model of the Tang estate, a complex blackboard covered in systematic operational plans detailing the first, second, and third lines of defense along with rotation schedules, and papers plastered everywhere. A grave, weighty atmosphere, capped off with a stirring speech to raise morale.
Reality, however, was a complete mess. The Tang elders were all gathered around a crudely drawn map, massaging their limbs and chatting idly. What the hell? Wasn't this supposed to be a strategy meeting? Cheong tilted her head in confusion.
One of the elders looked at Dang Nan-a with undisguised affection, his eyes practically dripping honey. "Aah, did you not sleep well? Hehe. I suppose you stayed up all night talking with your friend."
Dang Nan-a awkwardly averted her gaze, the tips of her ears flushing red.
"Haha, what's there to be embarrassed about? To truly befriend someone, one must naturally lie in the same bed and talk endlessly through the night, no?"
The elder seemed to have interpreted it differently.
"This old man also spent many nights lying with friends in my youth. When we lay together gazing at the stars and talking, the hardships of sleeping under the open sky felt like nothing. Looking back, those days were truly beautiful."
"So you too should laugh, cry, argue, and lie down to talk with friends in your youth. Just as Hand Baek-bu and Ju Gong-geun did."
"Just as the three Yu brothers did."
"You wouldn't leave out Baek-a and Jong Ja-gi, would you?"
"Gwan Jung and Po Suk also shared a single bed."
"No Yo and Ma Ryeok as well."
"Hey now, weren't No Yo and Ma Ryeok fictional characters?"
"Who knows? Perhaps their names were different and the story was passed down that way."
The elders' chatter continued in a friendly, bickering manner. Cheong took the opportunity to confirm something that had been bothering her.
"So, friends are supposed to share a bed…?"
"Of course. It's the first gateway to welcoming a true friend. Naturally…"
Dang Nan-a hadn't lied, but she had deceived. Her real reason was the mischievous desire to share a bed with a friend at least once, though one could make allowances for that. In truth, sharing a bed and blanket meant enduring hard times together. When a household was poor, everyone slept under one blanket on a single bed. Bonds forged by overcoming hardship together were usually unbreakable. Friends who were well-off from the start rarely had reason to share space, even among siblings.
The Tang elders had been well-off even in their youth, so their words carried a different meaning. They were poetically referring to sharing the earth as their bed and the sky as their blanket while traveling the martial world together. Since the elders were unaware of Dang Nan-a's wicked scheme, their sincere words carried genuine warmth. There was that particular air elders had when delighted to answer a young person's questions.
Thus, Cheong completely set aside her suspicions. Instead, she reflected. Jang Myeong must have been so disappointed. Should I sleep with her when I return? But she's a minor… The national law is strict. How could I share a bed with a minor? That might even trigger a world crisis, an act of defying heaven.
"By the way, what about the strategy meeting?"
"Hehe. The strategy was already devised and completed long ago. Preparing for danger in advance and maintaining constant vigilance is the proper way. If we only started scrambling to make plans now, we'd deserve to fall."
They already had established plans for major threats, so there was little need for adjustment. It was the strength of a clan that had prospered for a long time.
"Then why are you all gathered here?"
"If the clan elders laze about like idlers, the children will grow unruly and lose their discipline. We must be serious first so those below may follow our example."
"Ah…"
"However, since your friend is no outsider to the Tang Clan, she should know the plan."
"After all, she's a friend who shares a bed with Aah."
"If she's Aah's friend, we have no choice."
"Our Aah finally has a friend…"
"No, what are you even saying?!"
Dang Nan-a's face turned bright red. Watching this, Cheong realized at least one thing. This girl really has no friends. Should she count befriending a friendless child as accumulating good deeds? No wonder the clan elders watched her with eyes full of paternal affection.
"Ahem, ahem. That's enough, elders." Dang Tu-juk lightly wrapped up the situation.
"First, the Tang estate is essentially a death trap. Without preparation, one cannot enter and leave alive. Didn't Aah warn you not to step into the flower beds?"
"Yes. She said they planted all kinds of traps…"
The Tang estate had an absurd number of flower beds. Not only along the walls, but in every available space, they had encircled areas with large stones to create flower beds. In peacetime, they grew poisonous plants or raised venomous creatures. In wartime, they immediately scattered caltrops to hinder enemies.
"I have already conveyed the defense plan to the other guests staying in the guest quarters. However, you are a legitimate member of the orthodox martial world, and moreover, you are my daughter's friend, so you cannot be considered an outsider. Will you stand with our clan to face the enemy?"
"Yes. That's why I stayed."
Dang Tu-juk's eyes grew moist. "To think Aah has made such a good friend…"
It was the unpredictable sentimentality of middle age.
"The Tang estate is an impregnable fortress. That is, if not for cannons. So if we can only eliminate the artillery positions, we can easily handle an army of ten thousand."
The Tang estate, fortified with both poisons and formations, was arguably the most dangerous place in the Central Plains. Furthermore, the terror of Tang poisons had not been properly demonstrated since Mucheon-daeje. The main reason the Tang Clan had focused on medicine was the judgment that further development of poisons had become difficult.
The problem was cannons. Only after entering the Tang estate could one be stabbed with poison, made to drink it, or otherwise poisoned. If cannons blasted from afar and reduced the estate to ruins, there would be no opportunity to use formations or poisons at all.
"Therefore, if we can only remove the cannons, we win. So until we identify their positions, we must endure without clashing as much as possible."
Thus, the battle would begin with a war of words. The Sichuan Tang Clan was part of the orthodox martial world. They also provided free medical treatment and were one of the few groups developing and improving pesticides. The increase in grain and fruit production from pesticides was comparable to the agricultural turning point before nitrogen fertilizers. In truth, the Tang Clan's high accumulation of good deeds stemmed from this—though no one knew it.
However, since they offered free medicine and affordable pesticides, earning considerable public favor, attacking the Tang Clan outright was quite difficult even for the imperial court. If mishandled, not only might the orthodox martial world rise up like a swarm of bees, but if commoners joined in, there was no guarantee that Tang rebels wouldn't appear after the Yellow Turban and Red Turban rebels.
The greatest reason was that the current government only took without giving, losing the people's hearts. Therefore, the inspector would try to find every possible fault before attacking, aiming to pin a clear charge of treason on them.
"So for the time being, what we must do is… hmm." Dang Tu-juk coughed awkwardly.
"What is it?"
"…Endure without giving them any pretext."
They would maintain the standoff as long as possible, identify the positions of the deployed cannons, then eliminate the artillery positions the moment battle began and lure the enemy in for annihilation. However, the process of enduring would involve considerable humiliation. They could not make the first move against those who had come deliberately looking for a fight. Otherwise, they would be charged with treason as the price of their actions.
As in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, for people of the Central Plains, justification was face, and face was as precious as life itself. If one drew their sword at the first sign of wanting to crush someone, they would soon be treated as a public enemy of the martial world. Even though the martial world was essentially a gathering of thugs, this was the only safety mechanism that allowed history to continue without major conflicts.
Of course, there were those who attacked without justification. The Demonic Cult was like that when they invaded at the appointed time. Still, the Demonic Cult at least had some pretext—the ancestral revenge that had always been a compelling justification since ancient times.
The Blood Sect was far more vicious. A gathering of madmen, deviants, drug addicts, and cannibals—all the world's scum—they simply wanted to drown the world in blood, and whenever they rose, utter chaos ensued.
But the government could not operate that way. Another word for justification was legitimacy, and the government's weakness had always been legitimacy. There was the history of the Eight Princes' chaos and the Sixteen Kingdoms period when the continent was divided after attempts to overthrow the imperial dynasty.
After hearing the situation, Cheong thought, Ah. So the martial world isn't just about charging in and fighting to the death without reason. It's surprisingly complicated.
---
Cheong's good deed score had now exceeded three thousand points. The first major contributor to this remarkable increase was the thousand points awarded as a reward for overcoming the first crisis. The mission window had gone into a frenzy, with text about the Path of Harmony and hidden grand achievements pouring out. Perhaps overcoming the crisis had been worthwhile after all.
Now there were three martial arts available. Cheong once again took time to seriously deliberate. With an uncertain decisive battle approaching, she could not afford to be stingy with good deed exchanges.
First, the Muscle Tendon Change Classic—wasn't it a bit ambiguous? It was a martial art highly effective at strengthening bones and muscles while fortifying the dantian and blood vessels. However, her physical abilities already transcended human limits, and her dantian and blood vessels were not merely sturdy but invincible, remaining unharmed no matter what internal energy flowed through them. Learning it would only give her one more thing to brag about to her master.
Was there really a need to learn a martial art with little effect… Wait, there was! Her master would like it. Why wouldn't she learn it? There were three martial arts available for exchange, so she could consider one as filial piety.
Fearing she might regret it later, Cheong immediately made the exchange. A sensation of her brain flipping over made her automatically let out a deranged, wordless groan. The Daoist faction within her dantian erupted in cheers once more. Daejeong Seongong extended a welcoming Buddha-hand gesture, and the Muscle Tendon Change Classic raised an identical hand to clap against it.
"Uwee…"
Cheong simply lay there with her mind blank for a long while.