Chapter 21
Chapter 21
The Bitter Price of Sweetness (1)
Just like the day the Martial Alliance Leader had visited, the grand conference hall of the Sichuan Tang Family, Cheonwu Hall, was once again filled with people.
Not only the family head, Tang Mu-yeol, but also the leaders of the Five Halls—with the exception of Tang Ho-yeol, who had suddenly fallen ill and had been bedridden for days—were all in attendance.
This alone spoke volumes about the gravity and severity of the situation.
However, the atmosphere in the room was starkly different from when the Alliance Leader had visited.
Whoosh.
Unlike the heated arguments that had erupted over Se-woon back then, not a single person in the hall dared to speak now.
A chilling silence filled the air as Abbess Geumhwa and the two other members of the Emei Sect stood in the center of Cheonwu Hall like criminals.
Abbess Geumhwa, the undisputed hegemon of Sichuan, who carried herself with unshakable dignity wherever she went—
Today, her face was stiff, her shoulders slumped.
Feeling a cold sweat trickle down her back, she cautiously opened her mouth.
"F-Family Head Tang. You know me well. This... this is all just a misunderstanding."
"......"
In truth, Abbess Geumhwa and Tang Mu-yeol were not strangers.
Back when she had been a rising star among the younger generation—
She had once crossed paths with Tang Mu-yeol, then a young master of the Tang Family, and they had even traveled together through Sichuan, performing righteous deeds.
Even then, there had been a vast disparity in power between the Emei Sect and the Tang Family.
But impressed by Tang Mu-yeol's chivalrous spirit, she had disregarded such differences and formed a close friendship with him.
And so, with desperate hope in her eyes, she pleaded for him to understand her sincerity.
But—
"What part of this is a misunderstanding?"
Tang Mu-yeol's tone toward her today was as cold as the blizzards of the North Sea.
This was not the benevolent figure she had always known.
The gaze fixed upon her was not that of an old comrade with whom she had once shared memories—
But one filled with unmistakable hostility.
"Is it a misunderstanding that you infiltrated the Tang Family in secret, hiding your identities?"
"N-No, I mean—this is all just—"
"Or is it a misunderstanding that you doubted how the Tang Family could possibly treat so many patients?"
"F-Family Head Tang—"
"If not that—!"
Unable to contain his fury any longer, Tang Mu-yeol raised his voice before abruptly cutting himself off.
With superhuman patience, he forcibly suppressed his rage and finished his words with visible effort.
"Then was it also a misunderstanding when you, Sect Leader, refused to let go of your suspicions and struck my son with a lethal palm strike, leaving him severely injured?"
"......!"
Whoosh.
The moment Se-woon was mentioned, the air in the room froze colder than ever.
Abbess Geumhwa could not respond.
No matter what friendship they had shared in the past—what parent could simply overlook someone grievously harming their child?
"At this point, I can't help but suspect your true motives for visiting our family. Could it be that you came to finish what the Alliance failed to accomplish not long ago?"
"F-Family Head Tang! That's absurd!"
Abbess Geumhwa paled as she spoke.
The "unfinished business" the family head referred to was none other than the attempted assassination of Huryong Wiju Son Wu-gon in Geumcheon.
Meanwhile, Cheong Yeon, who had been watching the entire scene with her head bowed, had turned deathly pale.
'T-This is all my fault.'
Because of her reckless actions, her master was now suffering this humiliation. She was utterly at a loss.
In her desperation, she wanted to drop to her knees and beg Se-woon—the one most wronged—for forgiveness, to somehow resolve this disaster.
But unfortunately, Se-woon was nowhere to be seen in Cheonwu Hall.
—Are you alright, Young Master?!
—C-Come to your senses! Se-woon! Se-woon!
Perhaps he had barely managed to endure the force behind Abbess Geumhwa's palm strike—
Because the moment the Tang Family's warriors arrived, Se-woon collapsed on the spot, unconscious.
Tang Se-rin, the deputy head of the Medical Hall, immediately scooped him up and rushed him to the infirmary.
During this, Ha-yeong had tried to follow and assist in his treatment—
—L-Let me help—
—Take one more step, and I'll melt you into a puddle of blood.
—!
The "Poison Phoenix"—
No, now that she had stepped down from her position as the Four Phoenixes, she was known among martial artists as the "Venomous Rakshasa."
The overwhelming pressure radiating from this senior master froze Ha-yeong in place like a statue.
In truth, Ha-yeong had always admired and aspired to be like Tang Se-rin, which made the shock even greater.
'...It's only natural, as her senior.'
She could only swallow her bitterness.
To Tang Se-rin, she was now the enemy who had harmed her younger brother.
Given what she had done, it was a miracle she hadn't been poisoned on the spot without a second thought.
'Haah... Please, let him be alright...'
Right now, she wasn't even thinking about the sect leader's wrath or the repercussions that would follow once news of this incident reached the Emei Sect.
As a member of the Orthodox Faction, how could she have committed such an unforgivable blunder?
She genuinely felt guilty and remorseful toward Se-woon, whom she had misunderstood so terribly.
There was no doubt—he had taken the full brunt of her master's strike.
As someone well-versed in the Golden Spirit Art's internal energy, she knew that without her intervention, he would need at least three days of intensive treatment and recovery.
And given that he had been born with a congenital disability affecting his dantian—
Though all three members of the Emei Sect were sincerely remorseful—
The atmosphere in the hall only grew more hostile.
Creeeak!
Just then—
When no one should have been entering, the doors of Cheonwu Hall suddenly swung open.
Instantly, all eyes turned toward the entrance—
"?!"
And without exception, every face twisted in shock.
"Young Master Tang Se-woon, here to pay respects to the Family Head."
Standing there, perfectly unharmed, was Se-woon—who should have been lying in a sickbed.
Step. Step.
Under the weight of everyone's stares, Se-woon walked to the center of Cheonwu Hall.
Contrary to their worries, he moved without assistance, showing no signs of injury whatsoever.
Thud!
After stopping beside the three Emei Sect members, he bowed respectfully to his father, Tang Mu-yeol.
"My apologies for causing you undue concern, Family Head."
"...Do not trouble yourself over it. But are you truly unharmed?"
"Yes. After resting briefly, I'm perfectly fine. Haa... I must have been excessively fatigued from immersing myself in treating patients lately."
"...?"
Fatigue?
What was he talking about?
For the first time, confusion flickered across Tang Mu-yeol's face at Se-woon's words.
"...Fatigue? You mean you weren't injured?"
"Huh? Injured?"
Se-woon tilted his head in genuine puzzlement.
His reaction was so baffling that murmurs began to ripple through the crowd.
The young master showed no signs of having been in a life-or-death struggle.
'...No internal injuries?'
'What's going on?'
But the three Emei Sect members who had been part of the fight could only blink in stunned silence.
As everyone remained bewildered—
Tang Se-rin, who had arrived late, quickly approached Se-woon and whispered the full details of the situation into his ear.
Se-woon let out a sigh.
"Ah, I see. So that's the misunderstanding."
He turned sharply to face the three Emei Sect members standing beside him.
Abbess Geumhwa and the others flinched in surprise—
Thud!
"My apologies, Sect Leader."
"...?!"
To everyone's shock, Se-woon suddenly clasped his fists and bowed deeply to Abbess Geumhwa.
The bizarre sight of the victim bowing to the perpetrator left everyone speechless.
Se-woon's face was filled with genuine embarrassment and regret.
Then, he began explaining something no one had expected.
"Sigh... When I last parted with the Divine Doctor, he mentioned he would teach me soon."
"?"
"But I never imagined his first lesson would involve sending his disciple—the Emei Sect Leader herself—to personally assess me."
"??"
"Haa... Sect Leader, you came to observe my medical skills and point out my shortcomings, yet I, like a fool, lost my temper and recklessly attacked you."
"???"
"Having only recently entered the martial world, my knowledge is still lacking, so I failed to recognize the Sect Leader's esteemed presence. I sincerely apologize for this blunder."
"Y-You, what in the world—?"
Unable to contain her confusion, Abbess Geumhwa opened her mouth—
[Sect Leader. Do not speak further. From now on, follow my lead.]
[—!!]
Se-woon's Sound Transmission struck her like lightning.
She swallowed hard and closed her mouth.
Meanwhile, the murmurs among the Tang Family members grew louder.
"So the Sect Leader came on the Divine Doctor's orders to personally assess the Young Master?"
"W-Was it really just a misunderstanding?"
"Hmm... If the Sect Leader had truly gone all out, there's no way the Young Master would be standing here unharmed..."
"But the Divine Doctor agreed to teach the Young Master medicine? If this is true—!"
"Wait, the Divine Doctor is famously known for never taking disciples outside the Emei Sect Leader..."
The hostility in the Tang Family members' eyes gradually faded as they looked at the Emei Sect trio.
The shocking news that their family's heir would receive teachings from the Divine Doctor made them forget the earlier incident.
Just then, Se-woon received a Sound Transmission.
[Se-woon, if you're enduring this for the sake of the family, you don't have to.]
It was from his father, Tang Mu-yeol.
He had instantly seen through his son's lies.
And yet—
[That's not it at all, Father.]
[No, I can see you forcing yourself to bear the pain...]
[I'm truly fine. I was only pretending to be hurt.]
[...What?]
As Tang Mu-yeol had guessed, everything Se-woon had said so far was a blatant lie.
But this wasn't about enduring humiliation for the sake of their declining family—
Nor was it purely about selflessly sacrificing himself to help the Emei Sect members clear their misunderstanding.
[Father, I beg you—just this once, please follow my plan.]
Because he knew—
This was the path that would bring him the greatest profit.
Abbess Geumhwa.
Though her sense of chivalry rivaled her master's, she had a fatal flaw—a hot temper that occasionally clouded her judgment.
'I knew who you were the moment I saw you.'
Se-woon watched as she froze momentarily upon hearing his Sound Transmission, lost in thought.
There was a reason he knew the Emei Sect's members so intimately.
—...To corrupt such a pure child into a demon.
—I will definitely kill you.
In his past life—
He had shared a bitter fate with one of them.
'I had a feeling we'd meet again someday...'
And so, when he first encountered her, though he had been deeply unsettled—
He suppressed his emotions and focused on deducing their true purpose for infiltrating the Tang Family in secret.
While treating a child, he had secretly activated his Golden Eye Technique, spreading trace amounts of innate energy throughout his meridians.
The moment his heightened senses picked up the faint hostility radiating from them—
He effortlessly pieced together their motive.
'They must have thought I was running some kind of medical scam.'
And the instant he realized this, he devised the most effective way to exploit their mistake.
After all, he held the moral high ground.
They had trespassed into another family's territory without permission—
Simply exposing this fact would give him a significant advantage in future negotiations with the Martial Alliance regarding compensation.
But of course—
'Honestly, this could've been settled with a reasonable price.'
Se-woon had no intention of letting things end so simply.
Like a snowball rolling uncontrollably down a mountainside, he had deliberately escalated the situation.
Despite knowing the full truth, he had provoked them by throwing a dagger at Ha-yeong.
And when the fight broke out, he manipulated the circumstances to ensure Abbess Geumhwa would intervene—forcing her to make a fatal mistake.
Fortune and cunning intertwined to produce the perfect outcome.
He had taken a direct strike infused with Abbess Geumhwa's energy.
In reality, he hadn't been injured at all—but after secretly biting his cheek to draw blood, he feigned unconsciousness from internal injuries.
Now, he had the leader of one of the martial world's most powerful factions—the Nine Great Sects—deeply indebted to him.
[W-What exactly are you planning?]
The panic in Abbess Geumhwa's Sound Transmission was palpable.
'Heh. She's taken the bait.'
The table was now perfectly set.
Se-woon ignored her question and subtly glanced elsewhere.
His eyes met Tang Mu-yeol's in silent communication.
Having already explained his intentions, he was now simply waiting for the family head's approval.
And then—
A nod.
Finally, Tang Mu-yeol gave the slightest of nods—one only Se-woon would notice.
Was it his imagination?
That gesture seemed to say—
'Go ahead. Take everything you can.'
Though his father had always emphasized chivalry and honesty—
His declaration of war had been made the moment someone dared to raise a hand against his child.
'Well, I do feel a little bad for them...'
Se-woon's gaze naturally shifted back to Abbess Geumhwa.
Then, like a cunning wolf eyeing an innocent lamb, he smiled.
Grin.
'But you reap what you sow, don't you?'
Now then—how should he "cook" the Emei Sect to perfection?
The Hegemon of Sichuan was already savoring the feast to come.