Chapter 156
Chapter 156
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 156
Chapter Title: Their Respective Choices
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“Ah, has the young master had the same trouble? I couldn’t sleep a wink last night myself. Quite unintentionally.”
*It’s because you tried to pull that stunt using your daughter.*
I swallowed the unspoken retort and shrugged my shoulders.
“…Is that so? My apologies, then. I thought I had paid special attention to such a distinguished guest, but it seems it wasn’t enough.”
“On the contrary, it felt a bit too much attention, which might have been burdensome.”
A barbed remark flew from the Zhuge patriarch, whose eye twitched briefly, and I shot back immediately.
A brief silence followed.
I glanced sidelong at the Zhuge patriarch, who had clamped his mouth shut, gauging his demeanor.
No particular emotion showed on his face or in his tone.
But a clear displeasure seeped from the subtle pressure emanating from his entire body.
He was feigning calm while pressing me with his aura.
Jeonggal Seo-hee, exposed to that aura as well, had gone pale and couldn’t utter a single word.
Seeing her on the verge of fainting, I sighed inwardly and expanded my qi-sensing field.
“Ah….”
As my qi-sensing field blocked the aura right in front of the Zhuge patriarch’s nose, Jeonggal Seo-hee let out a small gasp of relief.
Her complexion recovered, and she wore a puzzled expression.
Then, catching my eye, her face flushed bright red as if recalling last night, and she bowed her head deeply.
*-Young master, please come here. Tonight, I will attend to you.*
To think that this woman had delivered such a line last night.
Even now, the sheer disconnect was staggering.
Moreover, imagining what kind of pressure must have been behind it made Jeonggal Seo-hee seem almost pitiable.
If I left the Zhuge Clan as is, someone else would surely face the same ordeal later.
Indeed, it was best to topple them once and for all.
With my resolve hardened once more, I turned my gaze back to the Zhuge patriarch.
He kept his mouth shut, merely radiating his aura.
From my position of blocking it, his futile efforts were merely laughable.
But I couldn’t just sit there twiddling my thumbs indefinitely.
Sighing inwardly, I turned to the Zhuge patriarch and spoke.
“No need to beat around the bush. I heard you wished to see me—what’s the reason? May I ask?”
“…May you ask the reason? Are you truly asking because you don’t know?”
“No. I know. But I’m not sure if that’s reason enough to summon me this early in the morning.”
“…Hmmm.”
The Zhuge patriarch let out a small grunt at my unflinching response.
Seeing no sign of me buckling under his aura, he abandoned the pressure and posed a direct, sensitive question.
“You didn’t take Seo-hee into your arms last night, I hear?”
“…Is that really why you summoned me like this?”
His eyes twitched at my nonchalant reply.
“…Merely? That’s a bit grating to hear. You rejected my goodwill. You trampled upon the respect I expressed for the astonishing martial arts you displayed at last night’s banquet.”
“Goodwill and respect… is that it?”
*More like greed and avarice.*
The Zhuge patriarch’s act of prettily packaging his desire to acquire my martial arts by selling off his daughter was beyond laughable—it was repulsive.
Hiding my contempt, I said,
“If you wished to show me goodwill, there were other fine ways, as you already know.”
The Zhuge patriarch, who couldn’t possibly be ignorant of the fine way I meant, narrowed his eyes.
“…Unexpected. I didn’t think you’d be so proactive about an alliance.”
“Why is it unexpected?”
“Simple. Unlike your three companions, you have no motive to oppose the Tyrant Heaven Fortress, do you?”
Motive.
The trigger for some action or deed.
In other words, I had no reason to oppose the Tyrant Heaven Fortress.
“You’re mistaken. I have the same motive as my companions—in fact, an even greater one.”
“Ho? And what might that be?”
In response to the Zhuge patriarch’s question, I recounted what the Dark Heaven Corps had done at my clan’s manor.
Of course, I omitted and embellished key details to avoid revealing my origins.
“They slaughtered my family simply because I had learned martial arts from my master. Do you still think I lack motive?”
“Heavens….”
Having heard my tale, the Zhuge patriarch let out a short sigh, while Jeonggal Seo-hee across from him covered her mouth in shock.
And through the words coming from my own mouth, I newly realized my own emotions.
The scene from that night still vividly resurfaced.
A dark night.
Urgent cries, screams, and sobs.
The sight, upon kicking down the gate, of people gone cold and lifeless.
After holding funerals for those four, I thought I had shaken off the grief.
Since I had killed every last one of my enemies, the Dark Heaven Corps, I believed no resentment remained.
But apparently not.
Recalling those memories in my conversation with Lady Cho earlier, and now voicing them directly before the Zhuge patriarch, I felt something boiling within me.
Perhaps there was yet another reason for my decision to be with Hwa-ryeon.
“I see. My apologies. I spoke out of turn without knowing the full story.”
“…No, it’s fine.”
Emotions I hadn’t even realized myself had easily shown on my face.
But thanks to that, my story rang all the truer, and the Zhuge patriarch promptly offered an apology.
“In any case, I understand your point well.”
“Then, you’ll consider the alliance positively?”
Composing my emotions, I feigned a subtle impatience.
As if I were truly desperate for the Zhuge Clan’s cooperation.
Seeing this, a glint flashed in the Zhuge patriarch’s eyes, and with a small cough, he began.
“Ahem. If it were up to me, I’d agree on the spot, but this is a grave matter that could reshape our clan’s future. How could I decide alone?”
“…Of course. My apologies. I got ahead of myself….”
Waving off my words, which seemed to hide disappointment,
“Not at all. I know this proposal is for our clan and the future of the martial world. I’ll advocate for it strongly at the family meeting.”
“Thank you.”
As I offered a deep bow of gratitude, the nodding Zhuge patriarch abruptly changed the subject.
“By the way, you said you learned your martial arts from the Thunder Flash Sword Hero?”
“Yes.”
At my reply, the Zhuge patriarch wore an odd expression and tilted his head.
“Hm. I once witnessed Lady Yeo’s martial arts in the past. But the techniques you displayed at yesterday’s banquet were utterly different from what I saw then?”
“Correct. What I learned from my master was merely foundational martial arts; everything else, I created myself.”
“…What?”
Hearing my answer, the Zhuge patriarch looked as if he doubted his own ears.
“What did you just say? Created anew? You invented martial arts?”
“Yes.”
At my curt reply, not only the Zhuge patriarch but even Jeonggal Seo-hee looked incredulous.
So I followed up immediately to drive the point home.
“You’ve never even seen anything remotely like my martial arts before, have you? Why do you think that is?”
“…….”
That one line was enough.
The office fell silent once more, with irrefutable evidence that brooked no easy rebuttal.
*
‘…Does that even make sense?’
Sukyung, patriarch of the Zhuge Clan, couldn’t hide his astonishment at Ja-seong’s claim of having created his own martial arts.
A young man just entering his thirties had invented martial arts?
Were martial arts something one could whip up so easily?
The answer was, of course, no.
If it were possible, the Zhuge Clan wouldn’t have amassed so many techniques over the years.
Typically, martial arts evolved and improved across generations over long spans of time.
That was why the Five Great Clans and Nine Great Sects dominated smaller factions—thanks to their long histories.
*Even if that history was once severed.*
Like Geunyoung and Yonghwi, Sukyung had read the forbidden scrolls and knew of the old martial world’s downfall.
In this era, only names like Dharma or Jang Sam-bong—the progenitors of the Central Plains martial world—remained, while their peerless divine arts had all vanished.
And now, a young man appeared before him, claiming to have created new martial arts himself.
*Frankly, it’s hard to believe easily.*
Ja-seong had cited his martial arts’ divergence from existing ones as proof, but it flew so against common sense that it wasn’t enough to convince him outright.
But what if it were true?
Then the man sitting before him wasn’t merely a young expert with astonishing martial arts.
*Grandmaster.*
Long ago,
Grandmaster Dharma had been the first to create martial arts, becoming the origin and progenitor of the old martial world.
And this young man before him was the same.
A bringer of new winds to the fallen present martial world.
The grandmaster of the future was sitting right in front of him.
*This is fate.*
Just last night, the Blood Jade he had received from Yonghwi had finally been completed.
*By now, that child is surely prepared to receive the grand ritual as well.*
If Ja-seong’s martial arts were added to Jeonggal Cheon-sang, who would receive the Blood Jade’s power through the grand ritual in two days?
*The Zhuge Clan would truly birth the supreme under heaven…!*
A torrent of irrepressible ecstasy began swirling in Sukyung’s usually cool head.
How could it not?
The Blood Jade, perfected after long research; the vessel that was Jeonggal Cheon-sang; Ja-seong’s astonishing martial arts.
Everything fit together so perfectly!
His lips twitched as he gazed at Ja-seong, but his eyes shifted to his daughter Seo-hee, turning ice-cold.
*Useless thing.*
She couldn’t even capture one man, forcing him to step in himself.
He wanted to remove her from sight immediately, but Sukyung endured.
Seo-hee was currently his finest card to play.
He had no other alternatives to discard her just yet.
“Hm, I see. You’re far more remarkable than I thought.”
“You flatter me.”
Ja-seong responded modestly and evenly.
Leaning forward slightly, Sukyung asked in a low voice.
“But… I still haven’t heard why you rejected Seo-hee, have I?”