Chapter 60
Chapter 60
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: Part 10: Heir of the Hegemon
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Entering the grand gates of Won-gak Pavilion, the Medicine King spotted the Fourth Young Master and his retainers emerging along the forest path.
"Medicine King Grandpa!"
The Fourth Young Master ran up with a grin and threw his arms around him.
"Whoa there, you rascal. Acting like a kid when you're all grown up. You'll snap this old man's back."
Contrary to his words, the Medicine King—remarkably hale and hearty—hoisted the Fourth Young Master up effortlessly into a hug.
"But you're leaving already? Not gonna hang out with this old man some more?"
The Fourth Young Master hopped down from his arms.
The boy flashed an innocent smile.
"I'd love to, of course, but I've suddenly got a ton of stuff to handle. Sorry about that."
The Medicine King patted his head.
"Yeah, yeah. Next time, come see this old man instead of that damn disciple of mine, got it?"
The Fourth Young Master beamed brightly.
"Haha, Medicine King Grandpa. That's a lame joke."
"...It's not a joke."
The Medicine King muttered, but the Fourth Young Master had already reached the gate.
"See you later, Medicine King Grandpa!"
The Medicine King chuckled heartily and waved goodbye.
He watched as the Fourth Young Master's retainers, who had bowed politely, all filed out through the gate.
"Heavens."
He shook his head.
"That So-hyeon punk must've put ideas in his head, no doubt about it."
He rubbed the goosebumps rising on his forearms.
"Full of drive, practically oozing killing intent. Blood will tell, after all."
He ambled back down the forest path.
"Guess I better step up my game too."
* * *
The Fourth Young Master walked down a pitch-black corridor.
The sun had long set, yet not a single oil lamp lit the hallway.
No maids or servants in sight.
The space held no trace of human presence.
Were it not for the spotless floor devoid of even a speck of dust and the ornate interior decorations faintly visible in the gloom, one might mistake it for ruins.
The Fourth Young Master reached the end of the corridor with proper decorum.
"This lowly one, Yeon Bi, has come."
Not a shred of warmth in his voice—white breath escaped as he spoke.
"Mother."
A woman's voice came from beyond the door curtain.
"Come in."
Her voice carried no warmth either.
Normally, a maid would open and close the door, but in the chambers of the Tang Clan's Supreme Matriarch, there were no maids or servants.
"Then this lowly one shall enter, Mother."
Stepping inside, the Fourth Young Master felt a chill deeper than the wintry winds outside.
He knelt near the closed door without approaching further.
"There's life in your face. Something good happen?"
What had seemed like killing intent to the Medicine King appeared as vitality to the Tang Supreme Matriarch.
"Yes, Mother. Eldest Brother has finally pulled himself together and decided to end his seclusion."
No reply came.
But the Fourth Young Master had said his piece.
"So this lowly one plans to move in earnest as well."
Again, silence.
The Fourth Young Master waited humbly, hands clasped and forehead to the floor, for his mother's words.
After a long while, her voice emerged from the darkness.
"...That child, So-hyeon, has decided to become Acting Family Head?"
Faint traces of surprise and shock laced her tone.
Her son was startled by it too.
But the boy kept his composure and answered steadily.
"Yes, that is so. This lowly one will devote himself fully from here on to support Eldest Brother as Acting Family Head."
Silence reigned once more.
The Fourth Young Master watched his own white breath form, awaiting her words.
"...Can you support that child properly?"
The Fourth Young Master gave a wry smile.
"I know full well that Eldest Brother is like the Great Peng, while a mere hummingbird like this lowly one..."
The Tang Supreme Matriarch cut him off.
"That's not what I mean, Yeon Bi-er."
Yeon Bi-er was the Fourth Young Master's childhood name.
He bowed his head deeply.
"This lowly one will listen attentively to Mother's words."
His mother asked him.
"Yeon Bi-er. You believe that child has a nature too soft and kind, so you've resolved to be his blade and his poison, correct?"
"You see truly, Mother."
"You see wrongly."
The Fourth Young Master lowered his head.
"Please instruct me."
Those who knew the Fourth Young Master's usual playful demeanor would find this side of him unfamiliar.
Exchanging words in a lightless space filled only with chill, from a distance, in tones as cold and detached as could be.
Yet this bizarre exchange was simply the way this mother and son communicated.
"Yeon Bi-er. Your love for your brother overflows so much that you're blind to certain things."
The Fourth Young Master waited quietly in the dark for his mother's words to continue.
"So-hyeon..."
Complex flickers of emotion tangled in the Tang Supreme Matriarch's voice as she uttered Yeon So-hyeon's name.
With his short life experience, the Fourth Young Master couldn't easily guess at them.
"That child's life is an endless chain of strife, akin to the Asura Path. 'The path he has walked is already piled with corpses into mountains,' and the path ahead will drown in seas of blood."
The Fourth Young Master couldn't comprehend a word of it.
Was the Eldest Brother she described truly the same one he knew?
"Yeon Bi-er. That child needs neither blade nor poison. He himself is already the sharpest sword, the deadliest venom."
Still, he committed her words to memory with all his might.
That was his filial piety, his trust in his mother.
"What that child needs is a sturdy pillar to support his breaking, scattering heart."
When her words ended, he bowed deeply in response.
"...This lowly one will engrave Mother's words deeply and never forget them."
"Good. That is enough."
It meant his allotted time was over.
"Then this lowly one shall take his leave, Mother."
"Yes. This mother has pressing matters the Medicine King requested as well."
Facing the direction of her voice, the Fourth Young Master bowed with utmost sincerity.
"Yeon Bi-er."
As her son crossed the threshold, his mother spoke.
"You know well that to accomplish great things, you must first set your own house in order?"
It was the worry of a mother who had failed in her own role.
A clear smile curved the Fourth Young Master's lips.
"Worry not, Mother. This lowly one has already begun the cleaning."
The Tang Supreme Matriarch's voice came again.
"Remember. The blood you inherited."
The Fourth Young Master bowed deeply once more and withdrew.
As her son's footsteps faded, all that remained for the mother was silence and cold.
In the empty space, the Tang Supreme Matriarch's soliloquy scattered lonesomely.
"...The promise with Lady Soyu, my sister, that I couldn't keep. And the promise with him."
The woman's shadow gazed up into the void.
"May you at least be able to keep those promises..."
* * *
Somewhere in the Luoyang Sword Clan's underground chambers.
Perched on a chair, kicking his legs, the Fourth Young Master asked.
"How was it meeting Eldest Brother in person?"
His head maid bowed her head in reply.
"I realized that everything I'd learned and studied about him was meaningless."
"Right?"
The boy grinned happily and spread his arms wide.
"Now that Eldest Brother has ended his seclusion, the Acting Family Head position is as good as his."
He climbed onto the chair and clapped his hands.
"That means our task is clear."
The gazes of his gathered retainers turned to him.
The boy bared his teeth, looking down at them.
"On the day Eldest Brother ascends to Acting Family Head, we will stand at his closest side!"
All clasped their hands and shouted.
"Loyalty!"
No dissent, no defiance.
Their voices echoed through the underground chamber.
Of course, some couldn't clasp their hands or respond.
The boy hopped lightly from the chair and approached one of them.
"...What do you think?"
There sat a maid with her face covered.
Bound to the chair, she writhed and cried out, but the gag in her mouth muffled her words.
"Yeah, yeah. You agree with me too."
The Fourth Young Master personally removed the cloth covering her face.
Revealed was the plump maid who had attended him all day.
Tears and snot smeared her face as she pleaded with him.
"Hm? What?"
He removed the gag from her mouth.
"Master! Master! It wasn't me! I'm innocent! How could I ever betray you...!"
The Fourth Young Master's dainty finger pressed her lips.
"It's fine. I know. No need to worry."
His lips covered her plump ones.
Bewildered, she responded with all her might.
Tongues tangled, saliva mixed.
When he pulled away, a silver thread gleamed between their lips.
"Hee hee, so cute."
The Fourth Young Master stroked her adorable face.
"Master, I...!"
Her eyes bulged wide.
Veins protruded, then burst with pops, spilling bloody tears.
"Cough...?!"
She hacked, blood gushing from nose and mouth, splattering the boy's face.
But he didn't flinch, merely caressing her soft cheek.
Her body shuddered uncontrollably, convulsing.
Veins bulged blue across her skin, which darkened to a deep purple.
Soon, her flesh emitted yellowish smoke as it melted, skin bubbling and boiling, exposing blackened bones beneath.
Her voluptuous body collapsed into a puddle of strangely colored blood.
Inhaling the acrid stench, the boy commanded his retainers.
"Execute all the spies."
"Loyalty!"
Before the echo faded, the heads of those bound to chairs rolled, blood spurting high.
Among them were servants, maids, stewards, and warriors.
Surveying the blood-soaked chamber, the boy smiled broadly.
"Now that we're stepping out in earnest, we can't leave rats alive."
They had been spared until now to avoid provoking the Second and Third Young Masters unnecessarily.
He climbed onto the chair where the maid had sat and declared.
"This is a warning to all who have underestimated me until now."
As his mother had urged, he remembered the blood flowing in his veins.
"I am the heir of the most ruthless clan that once ruled Sichuan through terror, the direct descendant of the most renowned house under the Great Central Kingdom's imperial family."
It was an awakening, a rite.
"Now, this Sword Clan can no longer ignore our existence!"
A thunderous roar of madness and killing intent followed.