Chapter 121: War of Extermination (2)
Chapter 121: War of Extermination (2)
Hwa-yeong headed for Tianjin. Even if she entered under the name of the Jiangnan Heavenly Merchant Guild, as long as she carried the letter I personally wrote, no one in Tianjin would dare treat her poorly.
I immediately headed toward the Peng Family District with Zhuge Jeong-yeong. It was a two-day journey back to Shuntian Prefecture in Beijing.
Barely ten days had passed since the Jinzhou Eon Family had been officially designated as public enemies following the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering.
In the meantime, we had been racing to cut off the spies of the Blood Cult and the Jinzhou Eon Family, so Eon Do-cheon likely hadn't heard the news yet.
"Your third brother?"
"Yes."
Just before we crossed the walls of the Peng Family District, Zhuge Jeong-yeong offered me a piece of advice.
The Young Family Head, Peng Wi-cheon, was spending his time at the Mountain King Pavilion today as well.
Since the chaos in Tianjin and the disturbance in Beijing a few months ago, the Dragon Slaying Alliance had been enjoying a period of absolute peace.
After all, it was winter. The primary business of the Dragon Slaying Alliance was the inland water transport of the Grand Canal, and no matter how much the canal boasted of being a waterway that didn't freeze, merchant travel was bound to slow down during the winter months.
Since that was the case, the rascals of the Hebei Black Path sects usually gathered around warm floors in the winter to huddle together and guzzle booze.
Injuries sustained in the winter were twice as severe, even for the same incident.
The Black Path and Unorthodox factions were essentially gatherings of people who knew the value of their own lives, so they tended to avoid excessive outdoor activities during the winter.
Thus, the Mountain King Pavilion was peaceful.
"Come out here!! I'm rewriting the family tree today!"
"Fine by me! From this moment on, you are not my uncle! If you lose, you shall call me 'Uncle' starting today!"
"You—you—you brat, what on earth are you saying?!"
The elders of the Peng Family, who did not shy away from vigorous outdoor activities even in winter, were showing off their exuberant physical strength as they brandished their blades today as well.
Peng Wi-cheon watched the elders' playful social activities with a satisfied expression, then suddenly turned his head.
In the distance, a group of martial artists was galloping toward them, kicking up clouds of dust.
"What is it?"
"Young Family Head! The Fourth Young Master has returned!"
"Hwi? Ah, right. It is about time for the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering to end. If he returned in one piece, that's good enough. Tell him to rest since he's worked hard, and tell him I'll hear his report personally tomorrow."
"T-That is..."
The guard of the inner court managed to continue only after swallowing hard.
"He said he brought a letter from the Alliance, but..."
"Don't hesitate. Speak."
"He is coming this way with the head of the One-Star Fist Lord, Eon Se-jeong of the Jinzhou Eon Family."
"...Whose head?"
The One-Star Fist Lord, Eon Se-jeong? The heir of the Eon Family? Eon Do-cheon's eldest son?
The elders at the Mountain King Pavilion, who had been about to grab each other by the collar, froze in unison.
They glanced at one another, and after realizing that they hadn't developed hearing loss due to old age, they reacted.
"Bring my grandson here!!"
"No! Tell him to go rest! We'll go to him ourselves!"
"Purple Tiger Hall! Let's go to the Purple Tiger Hall!"
They began to sprint to see their most beloved youngest grandson.
Peng Wi-cheon took a deep breath and spoke to the guard.
"Go and fetch the Family Head. To the Purple Tiger Hall."
"Yes, Young Family Head!"
The guard ran toward the Family Head's hall. Peng Wi-cheon watched his retreating back before looking up at the sky with a face full of confusion.
It was snowing again.
*
Zhuge Jeong-yeong entered as a guest of the Outer Hall. As long as he didn't explicitly reveal he was a Zhuge, it wasn't difficult to guarantee his identity based on my authority alone.
As I was unpacking in the Purple Tiger Hall for the first time in a while, Nang-rang burst through the door in a flurry.
"Young Master! You should have sent word you were coming. I'll go light the floor heater immediately!"
"Hey, don't bother. This body is immune to heat and cold."
"It really is you, Young Master. I'm cold, so I'll light the fire."
"Fine, then."
Nang-rang lit the brazier in the corner of the room with a refreshing attitude and began to organize my luggage, which I had tossed onto the floor.
As she was rummaging through the bags, she suddenly paused.
She looked up at me with an incredibly complex expression before slowly lifting her hand.
In her hand, she held up the heads of the duo, Se-jeong and Hyeong-shin.
"Please don't keep things like this in your travel bags... The family's prestige..."
"Ah, I was planning to send those to the Family Head's hall as a gift. Just leave them."
"Yes, Young Master. And what is this...?"
She pulled out a rolled-up piece of cotton cloth and unfurled it. It was a makeshift Peng Family banner.
On one side, the character 'Peng' (彭) was written in grand strokes, and on the other, the title 'Blade Earl' (刀伯) was clearly inscribed.
"Ah, I didn't want to show it off in a place like this."
"Pardon?"
"Look closely. And make sure to talk about it wherever you go."
Please, spread the rumors!
The fact that I am the 'Blade Earl.'
The truth that all the chivalrous heroes of the Orthodox Faction unanimously knelt before me and begged me to become the Blade Earl!
"Just what on earth happened at the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering...?"
At Nang-rang's words, I replied as I opened the door to the main room of the Purple Tiger Hall.
"Why are you trying to hear the best part all by yourself?"
In the inner courtyard of the Purple Tiger Hall, all the elders from the Mountain King Pavilion had gathered before I knew it, watching me.
Facing their gazes like this brought back old memories. It was something from nearly eight years ago. The day I first received the Peng Family blade. The memory of my Hegemonic Blade Style.
I stood up and walked toward them. The elders, standing in a circle around the inner court, looked down at me silently as I stood in the snowy training ground.
The space between them opened wide.
"I greet the Family Head."
My grandfather and father, my mother and my brothers—everyone who could directly involve themselves in the family's affairs had gathered.
Considering that my Purple Tiger Hall, my home, was no different from the Mountain King Pavilion or the Family Head's hall at this moment...
From now on, the youngest grandson's incredible pitch would begin.
*
Zhuge Jeong-yeong had been informed of my position and situation within the family. Now, he and I were a community of destiny.
Both of us were aiming for the position of Family Head and wished to reform our respective families.
Without borrowing the power of the greatest family of the Black Path, Zhuge Jeong-yeong had zero foundation to defeat his father on his own.
Especially since the Zhuge Family Head still dominated the Great Strategist Bureau of the Martial Alliance.
In such a situation, how could this fellow, who had left the Alliance, rebuild his family?
Reconstruction usually assumes a state after a collapse. To bring down that long-standing family, he would definitely need my help.
Therefore, above all other factors, he had to enthrone me as the Family Head of the Peng Family.
Then, by harnessing the power of the Hebei Dragon Slaying Alliance and leading its Great Strategist Hall, he would have to dismantle the Alliance's Great Strategist Bureau.
Thus, a community of destiny. There was no other way to describe it.
It was his job to pull out the most efficient strategy at the most precise moment.
"It's better to use your third brother."
"My third brother? Hyeon-cheon?"
"Yes. Didn't you say so yourself? That you would establish achievements outside while he builds a position within the family. That framework itself was definitely correct."
Hyeon-cheon was the tether I had left in the family before I departed for the Hao Clan.
That brother, who was full of an inferiority complex, was said to be active now as a fully matured martial artist of the Outer Hall.
I had occasionally heard news of him through the Hao Clan.
He was reportedly thriving in handling Outer Hall affairs, receiving assistance from both the White Flower Mountain Fortress of the Heavenly Thunder Alliance and the Beijing branch of the Hao Clan.
They said he was diligent, persistent, and showed no mercy, making him quite hegemonic.
I couldn't quite imagine it, but that was his reputation.
He was performing his role excellently—competing with the second brother within the Outer Hall.
That second brother was a cancer within the Peng Family planted by the Zhuge Family, and since the eldest son of the Zhuge Family was right here...
We could take the scheme one step further.
"Too many eyes are already focused on you. The achievements you gained from this trip cannot be ignored. If your second brother feels a sufficient sense of crisis, and if he is clever enough, he will definitely try to join hands with the imprisoned first brother."
It was the same as how I had first tried to strike down our eldest.
The nail that sticks out gets hammered down. If Peng Hyeon-jeong's anxiety exceeded a certain level, the possibility that he would join hands with our eldest brother, Hyeon-ryang, could not be ruled out.
The two were close to being arch-enemies, but they were brothers who had watched each other the longest.
Unlike me, who had a large age gap with them, they were in constant competition. One could say they hated each other but acknowledged each other at the same time.
Therefore...
—Let's take this opportunity to remove the youngest, who has the Family Head's favor, and then the two of us can start competing again.
It was hard to say such a scenario was impossible. I would have done the same. In fact, that was exactly the proposal I had made to my third brother.
So, a lightning rod was needed here. Someone who would take all the credit for the massive achievement of the Jinzhou Eon Family's extermination and endure all the checks from the brothers on my behalf while I was away from the family.
That was the third brother, Peng Hyeon-cheon.
"Request it from the Family Head yourself. Say you want to stand at the vanguard with him. You have the right to do so, and he won't refuse such an opportunity either. Just like that, step back while letting him accumulate achievements, and provide the foundation for him to officially challenge the succession battle."
Zhuge Jeong-yeong spoke with a devious smile.
"Emperor Gaozu bowed and fled from the Feast at Hong Gate to lessen the Hegemon-King's vigilance, and Emperor Zhaolie crouched under the tea table during the discussion of heroes to escape Cao Mengde's suspicion. The right path is already laid out in the ancient classics, so why not follow it?"
Peng Hyeon-cheon would now begin to clash with the second brother in the full-scale succession competition within the family.
If Hyeon-jeong fought tooth and nail with Hyeon-cheon, his gaze naturally wouldn't fall on me.
Then, half a year later, when Hyeon-ryang emerged from seclusion, our eldest brother would find no forces left to keep me in check.
By then, he would have no elders of the Inner Hall or executives of the Dragon Slaying Alliance left.
In that way, we would push aside the most threatening individuals from their respective positions. Yes, I'd like to call it the Rebellion of the Youngest.
"The martial units of the Peng Family for this War of Extermination..."
"Those who aren't under the influence of the third brother. Yes, it would be good to gather and select those whom Hyeon-jeong tried to force into a mutual destruction with the Divine Spear Yang Family."
"If they support your third brother, making the factions equal in power won't be difficult."
Exterminating a family of the level of the Five Great Clans was a massive undertaking. In terms of a modern Korean conglomerate, this was like spearheading the development project for the next flagship smartphone. If successful, it would be an achievement that none of the other siblings could match.
I would give all of that to my third brother. No matter how long Hyeon-ryang and Hyeon-jeong had spent handling affairs in the Inner and Outer Halls, that period was merely the past, soaked in peace.
In this age of chaos, the feats to be achieved from now on would undoubtedly be incomparably higher than those of the past.
I would give all the achievements of the Outer Hall to Hyeon-cheon.
And I...
"Obtain the name of the Peng Family's direct descendant with the highest chivalry, spanning both the Orthodox and Unorthodox paths."
That would be the straightest path to becoming the Hebei Peng Family that stands between the Orthodox and the Demonic.
A true gentleman always walks the great path.
I smiled as I took Zhuge Jeong-yeong's hand.
"You are my Zhang Liang."
"Don't say such creepy things."
*
The bloody incident the Jinzhou Eon Family committed in Qinghe County was already well-known among the elders.
The fact that the Jongri Family was involved wasn't particularly surprising either.
That was just the kind of thing the Jongri Family did.
No child gets angry at the Tooth Fairy for stealing teeth.
However...
"The reason the Five Poisons Sect caused a riot in Beijing was because of that...?"
If they had tried to encroach on the interests of Beijing, the story was different. It was a perilous moment where the Imperial Court could have become hostile toward the entire martial world if things went wrong, and if that had happened, the Hebei Peng Family, located in Shuntian Prefecture, Beijing, would have suffered immense damage.
"The Ghost Gate, the Blood Cult, and even the Ten Thousand Swords Hall?"
The attempted assassination by the peak master of the Ten Thousand Swords Hall at the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering.
The ambush on me by the Ghost Gate and Eon Do-cheon.
And the appearance of the Blood Cult's blood-man who turned the Martial Alliance into a shambles.
"The Chongqing Ten Thousand Ghosts Alliance dared..."
They dared to antagonize the Dragon Slaying Alliance and betrayed the banner of the Black Path Demonic Alliance.
"And the Alliance has declared they will overlook the extermination of the Jinzhou Eon Family."
The only ones in Hebei who had raised a flag of rebellion against the Dragon Slaying Alliance. If there was a pledge that the Orthodox sects would give up the only breakwater they had extended toward Hebei and retreat their sphere of influence to Shandong and Henan...
"Then no one will be able to object even if the Dragon Slaying Alliance takes all the interests of Hebei into its hands."
It wouldn't have been necessary for Peng Hyeon-hwi to explain this. Everyone here was capable of thinking that much.
The pacification of Hebei.
Something that was attempted when the Hebei Peng Family, devastated after the Righteous-Demonic War, rose again and was forged into one under the hand of the Bloodhound Asura, Peng Ik-jin.
That was now about to be achieved as a pacification in the truest sense of the word in this era.
"Therefore, your grandson dares to request."
Exterminate the Jinzhou Eon Family and take Hebei into your hands.
At this time when all the fortunes of the world are smiling upon the Family Head.
"Issue the Black Order."
This did not mean a Righteous-Demonic War. There was no need to even call the Chongqing Ten Thousand Ghosts Alliance. By gathering the Hebei Dragon Slaying Alliance and using only their power, it would carry the meaning that only the Dragon Slaying Alliance was the true Demonic Alliance.
Summon all the Black Path sects in the Hebei region and achieve the pacification of Hebei.
Peng Hyeon-hwi's words stopped. Now, all the family members turned their gazes toward the Family Head.
Deep wrinkles formed around the Family Head's mouth.
A smile permeated with the scent of blood appeared.
"Peng Ik-cheon."
"Yes, brother."
"You go and take the head of Eon Do-cheon."
Saying so, the Family Head walked forward. The number one man of the Black Path stood before his youngest grandson. His hand wrapped around Peng Hyeon-hwi's shoulder.
"Recite our family motto."
"Only follow the family (唯家是從)."
"Yes. Only follow the family. Our only law is the family law, and our loyalty must be directed only toward the family."
After a light pat...
"Well done. You have done well."
He took the Peng Family banner held in the boy's hand and slammed it into the training ground.
Thump! With a short resonance, the heads of Eon Se-jeong and Eon Hyeong-shin hanging from the pole shook violently.
*
Five days later.
At the far edge of the official road visible from Jinzhou Castle, a military banner appeared, fluttering over the horizon.
The guard on the battlements saw this and reported in shock.
"The Peng Family's flag is coming."
By the time the word reached the District Magistrate and he hurried to the castle tower...
In every direction the eye could see, flags were fluttering like an incoming tide.
The Great Hebei Peng Family.
The Hebei Dragon Slaying Alliance.
The Black Path Demonic Alliance.
The Heavenly Thunder Alliance.
The Thousand Autumns Assassination Pavilion.
And beneath them, the flags of countless small and medium sects from each region.
They surged like a single mass, each of them radiating the momentum of a martial artist.
"Shouldn't we warn them about treason?"
"...Pretend you didn't see anything."
"Pardon? B-But they aren't the military officers of the government!"
"Did you not hear me? We haven't seen anything right now!"
The Magistrate and the officials pulled back the troops stationed on the official road.
The commoners withdrew on their own from the skin-piercing killing intent, and neither the soldiers nor the martial artists dared to cast their eyes upon the approaching crowd.
Flutter!
As the banner of the Hebei Dragon Slaying Alliance passed before them...
They simply waited in silence, hoping only for the calamity to end.
The procession stretched long, all the way to the gatehouse of the Jinzhou Eon Family.
The Hebei Peng Family had arrived. Within Hebei, they were truly to be feared and revered.