Chapter 172
Chapter 172
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 172
Chapter Title: Rebellion
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“…What’s all this commotion?”
The pleasant reverie was shattered by the disturbance, a flicker of displeasure crossing Sookyoung’s face.
The vassals exchanged uneasy glances amid the patriarch’s rigid expression, while the noise from outside grew increasingly ominous.
-Clang! Chink! Claaang!
“This is…!?”
Though their duties varied, they were all martial artists.
There was no way they couldn’t recognize the sounds echoing from beyond.
“What in the world is going on!?”
At Sookyoung’s bellow, someone flung the door open as if to break it down and burst inside.
It was the aide to the Hall Master of the Finance Pavilion, who had been waiting outside the conference room.
The aide, pale as a ghost, stammered out the shocking news.
“P-Patriarch…! R-Rebellion! The eldest young master…!”
“…!?”
*
“...”
“What is the meaning of this!?”
A roar filled with fury.
I stared at the middle-aged man whose face was twisted like some malevolent spirit.
Until moments ago, the space before the Great Heaven Pavilion had been empty, but now ten figures stood there, led by him.
“Those are the patriarch’s personal guard, the Crouching Dragon Squad?”
“…Yes. It’s my first time seeing all of them together like this.”
Je-gal Geunyoung gravely nodded at his master’s question.
His gaze was fixed on the middle-aged man who had bellowed.
“And that man is the Crouching Dragon Squad Leader, Je-gal Seung.”
Hmm, so that’s him?
He certainly exudes a more refined aura compared to the other nine.
That presence closest to the office last time must have been his.
“How dare you! What is the meaning of this, eldest young master? Bringing weapons into the patriarch’s presence!”
The Crouching Dragon Squad Leader bellowed once more.
In response, Je-gal Geunyoung stepped forward.
“It’s exactly as you see. We’ve come to set things right.”
“What nonsense…!”
“Do you really not know what I’m talking about, Squad Leader?”
“…!”
At Je-gal Geunyoung’s icy question, he flinched, seemingly grasping the situation.
His face hardened further as he drew his sword.
-Sring.
“…It’s not too late even now. Turn back. We can’t let you sow discord when our great undertaking is within reach.”
“If we were going to turn back, do you think we’d have come this far?”
Je-gal Geunyoung drew his sword as well.
Seeing this, the Squad Leader squeezed his eyes shut, let out a sigh, then opened them and issued a low command.
“…Subdue them all.”
“Yes!”
The Crouching Dragon Squad responded in perfect unison and drew their swords.
At the same time, we drew ours.
“…You okay with this?”
I side-eyed Hwarun beside me, gripping a sword identical to mine, and asked.
Her confident reply came back.
“Don’t worry. I’ll show you that all our training hasn’t been for nothing.”
The moment Hwarun finished speaking, our group and the Crouching Dragon Squad charged at each other, swords clashing.
-Clang! Chink! Claaang!
Sharp metallic rings filled the area around the Great Heaven Pavilion.
Thus, the rebellion began.
*
At that moment.
Hyuk Rigwang and his followers had the Council of Elders surrounded.
“Ahh, what a shame. I wanted to cross swords with those Crouching Dragon bastards too.”
One of the retainers grumbled beside Hyuk Rigwang, who stood like a statue before the Council gates.
Hyuk Rigwang smirked silently.
“You think you could win?”
“Of course! Sure, Big Bro thrashed me good, but I’m not some pushover who gets beat everywhere I go!”
His cheeky response deepened the curve of Hyuk Rigwang’s lips.
Just as he was about to reply, the Council gates opened silently.
“Wh-what is the meaning of this? Why are you surrounding the Council, young master?”
Emerging between the open gates was an elderly man with disheveled white hair.
Unable to hide his bewilderment at the sudden encirclement, he hurried toward Hyuk Rigwang but was blocked by the other retainers.
“L-let go of me! How dare you, from within the Je-gal household…!”
“Get back inside.”
Hyuk Rigwang’s voice rang out cold and stern.
To him, the elders were the ones who had used that vile Blood Jade on his son.
Naturally, he harbored no goodwill toward them.
Sensing the menace in Hyuk Rigwang’s aura, the elder fell silent and retreated back into the Council.
Other elders who had been pacing before the gates approached him.
“Wh-what happened? Why is he acting like that?”
A timid-looking elder asked urgently, but the disheveled one just shook his head.
“…I don’t know. He just seemed to have ill feelings toward us.”
“Why would Hyuk Rigwang have ill feelings toward us?”
Having been dragged back inside without a proper conversation, he had no answers.
As the disheveled elder fell silent, another with a goatee spoke up.
“P-perhaps he knows something and that’s why?”
“No way. How could he?”
The elders fidgeted, unable to comprehend.
A ruddy-faced elder raised his voice.
“What are the great elders of the Je-gal family doing?! Trapped inside our own home by mere retainers—are we just going to stand here?!”
The hot-tempered elder, always quick to anger, strode toward the gates.
“No, what do you think you’re doing!?”
“What else? I’m going out there to tear them apart!”
Tear apart who? Hyuk Rigwang?
This fool’s lost his mind in a fit of rage!
“Stop him! Have you forgotten who Meng Ho-do is?!”
“Let go!”
The other elders clung to the irate one, trying to restrain him.
Amid the scuffle, a new voice came from behind.
“Enough. There’s no need for that.”
A voice cracked and withered like a twisted old tree.
The doors of the hall opened, revealing the owner: the Vice Chairman of the Council of Elders.
The hot-tempered elder shoved off the others clinging to him and demanded of the gaunt Vice Chairman, who looked ready to collapse.
“No need? What do you mean by that?”
“Exactly what I said.”
With a brief reply, his lips twisted into a wide grin.
The Vice Chairman’s eerie expression brimmed with ecstasy.
And following him out was a single figure.
-Thud!
Each step overflowed with power, his overwhelming aura pressing down on all around, sending chills down spines.
“Ahh…!”
Joy lit up the elders’ faces as the young man finally emerged.
The retainers surrounding the Council outside, including Hyuk Rigwang, felt it too.
-Shiver.
“B-Big Bro? Wh-what’s going on?”
The cheeky retainer’s voice trembled involuntarily, but Hyuk Rigwang said nothing, his hand moving to the hilt of his glaive.
His animalistic senses, sharper than the others’, made the aura emanating from within even more threatening.
And there was an inexplicable, ominous dread besides.
That dread soon took form before him.
-Kwaaaang!
The Council gates exploded without warning.
As the dust cloud obscured vision, Hyuk Rigwang drew his glaive.
The other retainers gathered around the gates followed suit, weapons in hand, wary of the swirling dust.
-Gulp.
In the deathly silence broken only by someone swallowing hard, the dust settled, revealing the one who had shattered the gates.
Hyuk Rigwang’s eyes widened upon identifying the figure.
“You…!”
The man stepping out was utterly alien.
Veins bulged prominently on his smooth face.
Snow-white hair clashed with his youthful features.
Between them, wild red eyes gleamed.
His half-transcended-human appearance silenced everyone.
Hyuk Rigwang murmured a name low under his breath.
“…Cheonsang?”
“B-Big Bro? What are you…?”
The startled retainers examined the man’s face again, their expressions turning to shock.
They recognized familiarity in the utterly unfamiliar visage.
“………”
Stunned into silence, a small laugh broke the quiet.
“Heh… heh heh.”
The laughter spilled from the white-haired man—Je-gal Cheonsang.
It grew from a chuckle into roaring laughter.
“Puhahaha—! Father, uncles too. Why the hell do you all look like that?! Kuhuhuhu…!”
He reacted as if it were the funniest thing ever.
But Hyuk Rigwang and the retainers couldn’t join in.
The transformed Je-gal Cheonsang’s appearance was far too sinister and horrifying.
‘…They were performing the Grand Ritual in the Council.’
And it seemed to have just concluded.
It was the worst imaginable scenario, one he didn’t even want to contemplate.
His son had appeared in this unexpected, grotesque form.
Could his boy ever return to normal?
For now, Hyuk Rigwang knew one thing alone.
He had to stop his son.
“…Hoo.”
Hyuk Rigwang let out a quiet sigh.
Oblivious to it, Je-gal Cheonsang chattered innocently.
“But what are you all doing? Drawing weapons and gathering like this?”
Instead of answering his son’s question, Hyuk Rigwang stepped forward.
“Everyone, fall back.”
“Big Bro!”
“If anything happens to me, all of you withdraw to the Great Heaven Pavilion. Got it?”
It was the first time they’d heard tension in Hyuk Rigwang’s voice.
As the retainers held their breath, Je-gal Cheonsang tilted his head in confusion.
“Father? What’s wrong?”
“…Cheonsang. Did you take the Blood Jade?”
Caught off guard by the direct question, Je-gal Cheonsang inhaled sharply, then grinned smugly, unashamed.
“Hahaha… You already knew. Yes, I’ve obtained the ultimate power.”
His red eyes sparkled brightly.
Like a child proud of a good deed, seeking praise.
But Hyuk Rigwang could neither praise nor smile at his son.
He merely gripped his glaive firmly and assumed a battle stance.
“…Father? Why are you doing this?”
Only then realizing something was amiss, Je-gal Cheonsang asked again, but what came was Hyuk Rigwang charging like a fierce tiger.
“Father!?”
-Kagang!
Je-gal Cheonsang instinctively drew his sword to block, unable to comprehend.
His father… attacking him? Why?
Flailing for a reason, he soon latched onto one.
“Ah, ahaha…! Is this about Meng Ho-hyeon? No, it’s just… the patriarch begged me so earnestly…!”
“………”
Hyuk Rigwang pressed the assault wordlessly at the absurd excuse.
Their sword and glaive clashed several more times, Je-gal Cheonsang’s veined face gradually stiffening.
“Father? I get that you’re angry, but isn’t this too much?”