Chapter 54
Chapter 54
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: Submission
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Five masters stepped into the training ground.
"Are you Hwang Moo-young?"
These were experts with plenty of experience in the martial world—even their footsteps carried an extraordinary weight.
Their hands hovered at their waists, ready to strike at any moment, and the one gripping the great axe was already twitching with eagerness to charge.
"Why didn't the family head come?"
Se Yeong's question drew smirks from them.
"You'll meet him soon enough. Just your head, though."
Yi Dae-in had apparently decided to kill Se Yeong after all.
"You've come for my head, then."
The masters glanced at the squad members.
"No orders for your heads, but we'll take a few anyway."
It was a blatant threat: don't interfere.
Kekeke...
Paeng Se Gi burst into mischievous laughter the moment he heard it.
"Since when did freeloading guests start calling themselves the world's greatest masters?"
As a scion of a major martial house himself, he'd recognized their status as retainers at a glance.
But his words had a flaw.
"We're guests too, aren't we...?"
Hahu Yeon pointed it out, and faint smiles crept across the squad members' previously tense faces.
"We're different from those bastards! We're family!"
Paeng Se Gi yelled, his anger boiling over.
The watching masters, however, were utterly baffled.
What kind of situation was this, with not even a hint of tension?
"Insolent little shits like you need to die."
Se Yeong subtly stepped back at the venom in their voices.
"Kill them all."
The words had barely left Se Yeong's mouth when Paeng Se Gi shot forward like he'd been waiting for them.
At the same instant, stifled groans escaped the masters' lips.
Ugh...!
Paeng Se Gi's movements far exceeded their expectations.
The great axe slammed toward the head of the man clutching his guandao.
Thud...!
The master raised his guandao to block the axe.
In that moment, the squad members' weapons bore down on the masters.
Clang...! Clang...!
The clash of metal echoed through the manor.
Yet Yeong Gak stood there blankly, watching the squad's fierce battle.
With five masters, there was no room for him to join.
Or perhaps he was deliberately staying out.
'This slippery monk bastard.'
Se Yeong approached him and raised a fist right in front of his nose.
"You wanna die?"
Haha...
"Seems there's no place for a minor victory here."
Yeong Gak gave an awkward laugh and turned his head slightly.
"You should've gone in Sa Sa Un's place."
The squad members were holding their own against the masters just fine, but Sa Sa Un looked a bit precarious.
Sa Sa Un seemed to have gained some confidence after clashing with the Yi Family's scions at Gold Stream.
But these were masters on a whole different level from those young heirs.
"This little monk will assist Sa Sa Un from the side."
Yeong Gak wanted to avoid killing if possible.
But he also wanted to stick close to Se Yeong, so he endured.
"If Sa Sa Un gets seriously hurt, you'll die by my hand."
"Om mani padme hum."
After bullying Yeong Gak into helping Sa Sa Un, Se Yeong shouted toward Paeng Se Gi.
"Hurry up and cut his neck!"
The man swinging the guandao was a master, but no match for him.
"Got it, bro."
No sooner had Paeng Se Gi replied than a flash of blade light gleamed.
Slash.
Roll...
As the master's head tumbled to the ground, Se Yeong opened his mouth again.
"Put his head in the sack."
Paeng Se Gi fetched the sack without a word and stuffed the head inside.
Gurk...!
The moment he did, another master—his throat pierced by a dagger—let out a dying scream and collapsed.
Se Yeong picked up the sack and approached Division Head Kang.
"I'll go meet Yi Dae-in."
Kang didn't ask any questions.
"Come back safe."
"Still no word?"
Yi Dae-in had come all the way to the manor's main gate, peering out into the darkened exterior.
"Please wait inside, family head. The retainers haven't even been gone two hours yet."
The clansmen tried to calm their head.
But Yi Dae-in only raised his voice.
"You, hurry to the tile workshop and check!"
"The retainers will return soon."
The clansman who'd poked his head out unnecessarily grimaced at the unwanted task.
"What are you waiting for?!"
"Yes, sir."
After sending off the young clansman, Yi Dae-in headed to his room.
'It'll be fine. It has to be.'
He couldn't shake his anxiety, so he posed the question to himself and answered it too.
Creeak...
He entered the annex building, opened his room door, and scowled.
A faint metallic tang of blood tickled his nose.
Lifting his head, he saw something dark looming on the table, backlit by the dim candlelight.
'What the hell is that?'
As he approached the table, he froze in shock.
Gasp!
There on the table sat the severed head of a retainer, eyes bulging wide.
"Why so surprised?"
A stranger's voice from inside the room made his heart plummet.
He'd once walked the path of the warrior.
How could he not sense someone in the room?
Forcing his rigid neck to turn toward the voice, Yi Dae-in's eyes fell on Hwang Moo-young—leaning back against the wall, seated in a chair, a cold smile on his lips.
"Y-You...?"
As Yi Dae-in struggled to speak, he realized his life hung by a thread.
"Wh...?"
Swish...
He was just about to shout for the clansmen when a flash of sword light brought chilling killing intent to his throat.
Blood trickled from his neck, and terror shook his pupils.
"Go ahead and scream. You'll just die first, and your clansmen will follow right after."
Se Yeong withdrew the blade tip that had lightly pierced Yi Dae-in's neck.
Gulp...
Terrified, Yi Dae-in swallowed dryly and clung to his fading senses.
"What... do you want from me?"
"Sit."
At Se Yeong's single word, he planted his butt in the chair.
Once Yi Dae-in was seated, Se Yeong sat across from him, the table between them.
"You sent your clansmen and retainers to kill me, right? How are you going to make it up to me?"
"I-I'll give you the twenty thousand silver taels you wanted."
Yi Dae-in painfully realized he'd been utterly played.
Hwang Moo-young had been a monstrous expert from the start, and that business with the wild mountain gold vein was a lie too.
Now he even had to pay blood money for his clansmen.
Se Yeong sneered coldly.
"That was the deal before you sent the retainers."
"What... more do you want?"
Yi Dae-in wanted nothing more than to avoid facing Se Yeong.
"Hand over all the fields and paddies near my manor, plus another two hundred thousand silver taels."
"I-I can give you the land deeds right now, but two hundred thousand silver taels... that's not something I can gather on the spot."
Two hundred thousand silver taels weren't some kid's toy—how could he produce them immediately?
Se Yeong spoke in the same even tone.
"Extend your left hand and place it on the table."
"What... do you mean?"
Utterly confused, Yi Dae-in asked.
"Put it there. If you scream, I'll cut your head off—so brace yourself."
Under Se Yeong's urging, he reluctantly spread his left hand on the table.
At that instant, Se Yeong reached toward the wall.
Swish...
Yi Dae-in's sword, hanging on the wall, flew straight into Se Yeong's grasp.
Guh...!
Slash.
As Yi Dae-in jolted in alarm, sword light flashed.
Se Yeong sheathed the blade and set it on the table.
"Go on, scream for me."
Confused, Yi Dae-in stared blankly before looking down at his left hand.
The moment he did, blood spurted from the knuckle of his finger.
Gurk...!
Overwhelmed by the sudden pain, Yi Dae-in nearly screamed.
But Se Yeong's warning flashed in his mind, so he clenched his teeth and held it in.
"Tomorrow morning, come to my manor alone with the land deeds and silver. If you don't have the silver, bring jewels worth two hundred thousand instead."
"U-Understood. Nghhh..."
"One more thing. If you go blabbing about me, your clan is finished."
"N-Never... I swear to the heavens it won't happen."
With the promise secured, Se Yeong rose and left the room.
Nghhh...
Yi Dae-in remained seated, swallowing his pain.
He feared Hwang Moo-young might return any moment and sever his head.
"Bro, what about the bodies?"
Paeng Se Gi asked the moment they arrived back at the manor.
"Leave them. The clansmen will pick them up tomorrow morning. Everyone okay? No injuries?"
"Hahu Yeon took a cut on his arm, but it's not serious."
As Paeng Se Gi finished, Division Head Kang spoke up.
"Did everything go well?"
"Yi Dae-in will come tomorrow morning with the land deeds and jewels."
"So it ended that way."
Division Head Kang nodded, satisfied.
But the squad members thought otherwise.
"We can't just end it with land deeds and jewels."
"Agreed, Hero Han. This is a fight between clans."
Dang Ok Yi spoke first, and Hahu Yeon chimed in.
"Then how should we end it?"
Yi Cheon Yeong explained Se Yeong's question.
"Clashes between clans usually drag on for generations until one side admits defeat and the other is wiped out. If one side concedes, their family head must visit the victors, kneel, and bow his head in submission. Reparations come after."
"Is that right? Fine, we'll do it that way. Let's eat and hit the sack."
Se Yeong accepted their words nonchalantly.
Seated at the table, Se Yeong practiced the Heavenly Hand Sect's basic breathing technique.
This foundational art was originally called Immortal Pillar Technique.
But Se Yeong cultivated it as Heavenly Lord One Origin Technique instead.
He'd already forged his dantian through demonic arts.
"May I enter, Hero Han?"
"Come in."
Sa Sa Un opened the door, bowed politely.
Se Yeong gestured to the chair with his eyes.
"Sit."
As Sa Sa Un cautiously took a seat, Se Yeong handed him a sheet of paper with the breathing technique written out.
Examining it closely, his expression grew strangely contorted.
Se Yeong watched him intently, then let out a small sigh as the distortion deepened.
Haa...
'He didn't just teach them Heavenly Hand Sect's basic swordsmanship—he gave them the breathing technique too.'
A sudden tightness gripped Se Yeong's chest.
Handing over the breathing technique meant acknowledging the Yi Family head of Hangzhou as a Heavenly Hand Sect disciple.
'Ah... I'm screwed.'
If Grandfather found out, he'd surely scold him harshly.
"How... do you know our clan's breathing technique, Hero Han?"
Sa Sa Un's shock was only natural.
An outsider knowing their clan's secret art—what wild thoughts wouldn't race through his mind?
Se Yeong concealed his inner turmoil.
"Your clan's breathing technique and swordsmanship were originally my clan's."
What on earth am I hearing right now?
Reeling from the massive shock, Sa Sa Un stared wide-eyed at Se Yeong's face.
The Sa Family's Twenty-Four Swords weren't their clan's sword art?
Immortal Transformation Technique wasn't their clan's breathing method?
"I... can't believe it."
He denied reality outright.
"Father went out into the martial world about twenty years ago and got royally treated in Hangzhou. Looks like that's when he passed them on."
Sa Sa Un, lost in shock, snapped back to his senses at Se Yeong's words.
'Hold on. If that's true, then if I train hard in martial arts, I could get as strong as this guy.'