The Cold Welcome
Tang Myung emerged from the entrance of Tang Family Town and found himself face to face with the experts of the Qingcheng Sect and the Amihwa Sect.
As if they had planned it, ten people from the five sects and families approached Tang Myung.
Among the Qingcheng Sect and Amihwa Sect members, two recognized him and gave him a small nod.
One was Jeong Myeong, whom he had once called his sworn brother in the past, and the other was Seonhwa, known as the top disciple of the Amihwa Sect.
Seeing Tang Myung, the members of both sects looked at him. Then, the two Qingcheng Sect experts stared blankly at him. At that moment, Tang Jin-su, the chief steward of the Tang Clan, opened his mouth.
“The family head, Tang Myung, is here.”
Tang Jin-su’s words brought a hint of confusion to the faces of the Qingcheng Sect and Amihwa Sect members.
Of course, they had heard about Tang Myung becoming the family head. It was only natural, since they were not the kind of sect that lacked information.
However, the fact that Tang Myung was staring at them was the real issue. It felt as if…
‘They want us to show respect first?’
‘They are telling us to greet him first?’
That was exactly it.
Just a short while ago, Tang Myung had been a junior like Jeong Myeong and Seonhwa. For him to demand respect from them, the juniors who used to greet him first… that was ridiculous.
“Hem!”
The Qingcheng Sect’s elder Mun Sun cleared his throat.
“Tang Myung, you…”
At Mun Sun’s words, Tang Myung furrowed his brows.
“Although I am a junior, I am the family head of the Sichuan Tang Clan. If I receive a junior’s greeting from Elder Mun Sun, it would be lowering the prestige of my family.”
Tang Myung’s resolute words brought confusion to the faces of the Qingcheng Sect and Amihwa Sect members.
They had never imagined that he would use the family name so firmly. To them, Tang Myung had always been the polite junior. He was not this arrogant young man.
At that moment, Jeong Myeong stepped forward hurriedly.
“Tang Myung, why are you being so stiff?”
Jeong Myeong used their friendship to step in. To Jeong Myeong, who had no memory of the past lives, Tang Myung was simply a close friend.
“Is there anything wrong with what I said? I am the family head of the Sichuan Tang Clan. And this place is where we should treat each other as sect to sect… I cannot possibly let my family receive a junior’s greeting just because I am young.”
“Th… that…”
Seeing Jeong Myeong hesitate, Mun Sun opened his mouth.
“Indeed, the words of the Tang Family Head are correct. Even if one is young or has low cultivation, the Tang Family Head is the head of a sect.”
Then Mun Sun bowed and greeted him.
“This is Mun Sun of the Qingcheng Sect. I greet the Tang Family Head.”
The heads of the Five Major Sects and the Nine Great Sects are acknowledged at the same cultivation level.
Therefore, as a first-generation disciple of the Qingcheng Sect, Mun Sun should show respect to Tang Myung as a junior.
After Mun Sun bowed, the Amihwa Sect female cultivators who had been hesitant for a moment also clasped their hands and lowered their heads.
Seeing them bow, Tang Myung bowed and lowered his head.
“This is Tang Myung, family head of the Sichuan Tang Clan. I greet all my seniors.”
It was a proper yet not arrogant greeting.
“Hem!”
“We have heard that the Tang Family Head has ascended to the position of family head. You have taken on a difficult position at a difficult time.”
Since the timing was the right time, Mun Sun did not offer congratulations.
“So I am working hard.”
Tang Myung answered briefly, then looked at Tang Family Town and continued.
“Currently, our family is rebuilding our territory and does not welcome outsiders.”
“Outsiders…”
Mun Sun looked at Tang Myung for a moment before speaking.
“Could it be that the family head is dissatisfied with our sect?”
“What reason would we have to be dissatisfied? Even if you think we might be dissatisfied, is there such a thing?”
At Tang Myung’s cold words, Mun Sun was silent for a moment before speaking.
“There seems to be some misunderstanding. It is natural that the family head feels dissatisfied because we only visited the family recently… During that time, the Qingcheng Sect and Amihwa Sect sent warriors to the Sichuan Tang Clan and the Demonic Cult’s border areas along with the Murim Alliance to prevent any unfortunate incidents from happening.”
“Namu Amitabha.”
The middle-aged monk Yeonsa-tae clasped his hands and continued.
“The Qingcheng Sect and Amihwa Sect have done their best to prevent any incidents from happening again to the Tang Clan.”
At Yeonsa-tae’s words, Tang Myung spoke.
“There is no misunderstanding. However, it is simply difficult to welcome you due to the family’s current circumstances.”
At Tang Myung’s words, Yeonsa-tae sighed softly and shook his head slightly before speaking.
“Then let us explain why we have come.”
“Speak.”
“As you know, the Nine Great Sects and many other sects have dispatched experts to block the entry points of the Demonic Cult into the Central Plains. Therefore, the experts stationed in the encampment wish to receive antidotes and poisons from the Tang Clan.”
“Hah!”
Tang Myung could not help but laugh. At that sight, Mun Sun’s face hardened.
“Tang Family Head! That is too rude!”
At Mun Sun’s shout, the faces of the Tang Clan members hardened. But since they had no order from Tang Myung, they silently glared at Mun Sun.
However, Mun Sun did not back down and stared back at them.
“Speak. What is so funny that you are laughing?”
At Mun Sun’s words, Tang Myung shook his head.
“Even after seeing the current situation of our family, you are asking us to provide antidotes and poisons?”
“The Tang Clan’s situation is pitiful. This is something that all of the Central Plains Murim know and feel sorry about…”
At Mun Sun’s words, Tang Myung raised his hand to stop him. At that action, Mun Sun’s face twisted.
No matter how long one had lived in the capital as a Daoist, the core was a warrior. For a junior to… no matter how much of a family head he was, to interrupt his own words with a gesture!
Shivering.
Seeing Mun Sun tremble, Tang Myung spoke.
“First, as you think, our Tang Clan has no good feelings toward Amihwa and Qingcheng.”
“What?! What are you saying?!”
“How long do you think it would have taken for the family to become like this?”
“What?!”
“The time it took for our family to be attacked and turn into this wasteland was only two days. Where were the Qingcheng Sect and Amihwa Sect at that time?”
“That…”
Seeing that Tang Myung did not know what he was saying, Mun Sun was momentarily speechless. Then Yeonsa-tae spoke.
“Although the Tang Clan’s incident is regrettable, our sect and the Qingcheng Sect were also under siege by the Demonic Cult.”
“I know. There was the Black Wind Pavilion.”
“Th… then how…?”
“How many of them were there?”
“That is, the siege force…”
“The Black Wind Pavilion lord was at our family. How many warriors were left behind when the lord was at the family?”
“Ten? Fifteen?”
“That…”
Yeonsa-tae was at a loss for words. According to Tang Myung’s words, at that time the mountain gates of the Amihwa and Qingcheng Sects had only a few Demonic Cult experts.
“Both the Qingcheng Sect and Amihwa Sect will know the answer to that.”
“However… it is not that all that meets the eye. Although the siege force was small, when we opened the mountain gates, the Demonic Cult forces could have set up an ambush and attacked.”
“‘Could have attacked’…”
Tang Myung laughed.
“That is why our family became like this. Under the assumption that ‘could have attacked’.”
At Tang Myung’s words, Yeonsa-tae spat softly and cursed.
‘We took the wrong path. We took the wrong path.’
Among the Nine Great Sects and Five Major Sects, the Qingcheng Sect and Amihwa Sect had the closest relationship with the Sichuan Tang Clan.
Therefore, the two sects had sent people to ask for support because the Sichuan Tang Clan was in trouble. But now it seemed they had taken the wrong path.
Mun Sun said hurriedly.
“If that is the case, we also have something to say. We sent a request for rescue to the Qingcheng Sect and Amihwa Sect, but the Tang Clan did not respond with any reply and did not send any warriors.”
At Mun Sun’s words, Tang Myung laughed.
“Do you know if our family sent a letter to the Zhuge Clan residence?”
“…”
“We know.”
“Then how did our family know about the Zhuge Clan’s attack and send the letter?”
“That is…”
Seeing Mun Sun look puzzled, Tang Myung said.
“Because we captured a Demonic Cult spy who was monitoring our family.”
“A spy?”
“From him, we learned that the Demonic Cult is targeting both our family and the Zhuge Clan. Therefore, we alerted the Zhuge Clan and prepared defenses for our family. Is that wrong? We also knew that the warriors surrounding our family to attack it would gather.”
“Evidence…”
“If you call it evidence, there is plenty of it.”
Tang Myung pointed behind him with a hardened face.
“This is the evidence.”
“Ugh!”
Seeing that Mun Sun could not find words, he hesitated. Then Tang Myung spoke.
“And there is one more thing I am disappointed about regarding the Qingcheng Sect and Amihwa Sect.”
“…”
“Do you have something else to say?”
“While we were away, thieves entered our family’s warehouses and tried to steal them. The two sects who claim to be so close to our family simply watched without doing anything. Are you saying that the two sects did not know about it?”
“…”
Tang Myung looked at Mun Sun.
“You mean to say that it was to protect the area close to the Demonic Cult?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Does the Qingcheng Sect not have enough people?”
“What?!”
At Mun Sun’s face hardening, Tang Myung laughed and looked at Jeong Myeong.
“Let Jeong Myeong speak. We only have the Geumcheongmun, Tae-eulmun, and Gudammun sects. Even one first-generation disciple or second-generation disciple from the Qingcheng Sect saying one word to stop it would have been enough. If a Qingcheng Sect disciple spoke, would they have dared to disobey?”
Tang Myung looked at Jeong Myeong with a cold face.
“Are you saying that we did not have the time to send even one person from the Qingcheng Sect, which is only a three-day journey by horseback?”
At Tang Myung’s words, Jeong Myeong’s face turned pale and hardened.
“Th… that…”
Jeong Myeong could not continue and only muttered “that” as his face suddenly turned red.
And…
“Uek!”
Jeong Myeong suddenly vomited blood.
“Uek!”
At Tang Myung’s words, he felt ashamed and the initial symptoms of jealousy-induced madness appeared.
“Uek!”
Seeing Jeong Myeong vomit blood again, Tang Myung’s body flinched.
‘You… how ashamed and sorry you are for me.’
Seeing Jeong Myeong feel sorry and ashamed toward him, Tang Myung bit his lip.
It pained him to wound his close friend, but… he could not forgive the Qingcheng Sect and Amihwa Sect.
“Jeong Myeong.”
Quickly pressing on Jeong Myeong’s blood vessels, Mun Sun took a pill from his pocket and put it in his mouth.
Then Mun Sun looked at Tang Myung.
“What happened today… will happen again in the future.”
“Do as you please.”
“Ugh! Let’s go!”
Mun Sun hugged Jeong Myeong and kicked the ground, causing the Qingcheng Sect disciples to hurriedly follow behind.
And the Amihwa Sect experts briefly looked at Tang Myung, sighed, and followed the Qingcheng Sect experts.
“Namu Amitabha.”
The Amihwa Sect experts who clasped their hands and cursed also flew after the Qingcheng Sect experts.
Seeing the Qingcheng Sect and Amihwa Sect experts disappear, Tang Myung turned his body.
Behind him, many Tang Clan retainers were watching Tang Myung. Looking at those retainers, Tang Myung said.
“The kindness will be repaid tenfold…”
At Tang Myung’s words, the retainers shouted in unison.
“The grudge will be repaid a hundredfold!”
At the retainers’ words, Tang Myung nodded.
“The Murim world… did not help our family. And they demanded our family’s antidotes and poisons. As if it was natural!”
At Tang Myung’s words, the retainers bit their lips.
“We will never forget what happened today with the Qingcheng Sect and Amihwa Sect. However!”
Tang Myung looked at each of the retainers’ eyes and said.
“Our family will also never forget today.”
“We will never forget!”
“We will never forget.”
At the retainers’ words, Tang Myung nodded and walked back inside Tang Family Town.