The Tyrant's Homecoming
The Mandokchong incident struck the jianghu like a thunderbolt.
Thanks to the storytellers who lived to gossip, the rumors spread like wildfire.
"Those bastards! Using a fake tomb to bury fellow orthodox martial artists?"
"I never thought the Cheongang Clan would stoop so low. Everyone said they were generous to the people around them…"
"Don't be naive! That was just a front to hide their true colors."
The people cursed the Cheongang Clan without mercy.
But it did not stop there.
"And what about the Danjuk Clan? They claimed they wiped out the mountain bandits and won the hearts of the common folk—pure lies!"
"I heard the same. They were in cahoots with the bandits all along, only pretending to help the people."
"They even took tribute from the bandits."
"And used them to control the mountain roads, right?"
"The more you dig, the worse it gets."
Stories about the Danjuk Clan had no end.
The Cheongpung Clan fared no better.
"The rumors about the Cheongpung Clan Lord are even more grotesque. She kidnapped children from the surrounding villages and drained their pure blood, they say."
"So that's why the children kept vanishing…"
"For such a vicious woman to carry the title of Heroine—how arrogant must she have been?"
"Worse than the unorthodox sects or the Demonic Cult. If that isn't a true villain, what is?"
The names of the Cheongang, Danjuk, and Cheongpung Clans refused to leave people's mouths.
"The Sichuan Tang Clan must step forward and deliver justice!"
"Those three families lived under the Tang Clan's protection. Of course the Tang Clan has to deal with them."
"Exactly! It's time to restore the shattered ideals of the orthodox path."
As the atmosphere grew heated, a middle-aged man steered the conversation.
"I heard the one who resolved everything was the youngest prodigy, the Dark Dragon."
"You mean the Tang Clan's second young master—the one who hasn't even come of age yet?"
"That's right. He rescued the martial artists blinded by the fake treasure and led them all out safely."
"Hah, this is why you need to grow up in a prestigious clan."
"No wonder they call the Sichuan Tang Clan the greatest under heaven. Their bloodline cultivates proper character from the start."
In an instant the curses against the three clans turned into praise for Tang Yuhyeon.
With every passing hour, Tang Yuhyeon's renown only climbed higher.
In a quiet corner of the inn, a boy eating his meal flushed red to the ears.
"Hyung, if you're done eating, let's go."
It was Tang Cheonwi's party.
Their plain clothes and bamboo hats kept them from being recognized.
"Embarrassed by all the talk?"
"Of course. It feels like they're praising me right to my face."
The food was finished.
Tang Yuhyeon led Tang Cheonwi and Tang Ildo out of the inn.
The streets, too, were filled with talk of the fake Mandokchong.
Only after they left the village and reached a deserted stretch of road did Tang Yuhyeon finally let out a long breath.
"Haaaah."
"Why run off like that?"
"I didn't do anything, yet everyone's praising me. Hyung did all the hard work."
"All I did was bring out the Blood-Healing Needle."
Tang Ildo chimed in.
"And this sword, too."
It was the Azure Light Sword—the Cheongang Clan's treasure, seized from Gang Unje.
"True. I left the people behind and only walked out with one of the Ten Great Heavenly Weapons."
"Even so, if you hadn't told us the Mandokchong was about to collapse…"
"I only gave the warning. You led the martial artists out. That praise is yours by right."
"…Yes."
Tang Yuhyeon answered reluctantly, still uneasy.
"At this rate, isn't it just child-rearing?"
Hwancheonjihwan's grumpy voice cut in. Bongsin immediately corrected him.
"Watch your tongue toward Master, Hwancheon-ah. You have to be polite. And it's not child-rearing—it's an older brother carefully looking after his little brother."
"Same difference. Why use so many words?"
The two spirits bickered at every opportunity.
"That bastard Tang Cheonwi is clearly trying to make his brother the next clan lord. There's no other reason he'd hand every good thing over to the kid."
"Wow, our Master is so free of greed. Amazing!"
Hwancheonjihwan suspected. Bongsin simply marveled.
Their reactions could not have been more opposite.
Noisy brats.
Whether they squabbled or not, Tang Cheonwi paid them no mind and kept walking.
"We'll reach the clan soon. Pick up the pace."
One day's journey from the Tang Clan.
Using lightness skill, they could have arrived in half a day, but they had stopped in the village specifically to check how well the rumors were spreading.
Tang Ildo's messenger birds seemed to be doing their job splendidly.
A day later.
When the sun hung high overhead, they finally reached the Sichuan Tang Clan.
"Waaah… That was a long journey."
"You go straight to Black Dragon Hall and pay your respects to Father."
"What about you, Hyung?"
"I'm heading to Poison Dragon Pavilion."
"You were away on external business—you should see Father first."
"Save the filial piety for yourself, little brother. I'm going to rest."
Tang Cheonwi waved him off and strode toward Poison Dragon Pavilion.
"Father's going to scold you…"
"The Young Master has always been free-spirited—no, free-willed. You should hurry and report, Young Master."
Tang Yuhyeon had no choice but to go meet their father alone.
Tang Ildo stared at Tang Cheonwi's back and muttered under his breath.
"Yuhongak is going to be turned upside down again. Even Poison Flower Rain won't be able to hold back this time. What happens now…"
Without realizing it, his feet carried him not after Tang Yuhyeon toward Black Dragon Hall, but after Tang Cheonwi.
In front of Yuhongak.
The newly repaired gate was smashed apart once more by Tang Cheonwi.
KWAANG!
It shattered into splinters that scattered in every direction.
"Which bastard dares—"
"It's me, you little shit."
The Yuhongak member who had been cursing shut his mouth the instant he saw Tang Cheonwi.
There was nothing to gain by provoking this madman.
"What brings you here today?"
"I'm here to see the Yuhongak Lord."
"She is not present at the moment. Please come back anoth—"
"Shut up and go tell her. If she shows up late like last time, there won't be any taking it back."
They all remembered what happened the last time the Yuhongak Lord delayed her appearance.
The place had been completely demolished.
Yuhongak's reputation had plummeted as far as it could go after that incident.
Scarred by the memory, the martial artist vanished inside at top speed.
Half a gak—about seven minutes—passed.
"Still as stiff as ever."
The Yuhongak Lord and youngest aunt, Tang Cheong, strode out.
The moment her eyes landed on him, one eyebrow twitched.
The look on her face clearly said, So you managed to come back alive.
"She has no idea her husband was captured."
Just as Hwancheonjihwan observed, the youngest aunt carried herself with lofty arrogance.
"If you were going to return, you should have paid respects to your father first. What business do you have—"
Kwang!
A body went flying past her side and slammed into the pavilion with a heavy crash.
Enraged by his attitude, the youngest aunt roared.
"I've looked the other way long enough, but now you have no eyes for anything!"
"Courtesy is only for family. You sent assassins after your own nephews the moment we left the clan. And not just any assassins—Yuhongak elites."
"You're framing an innocent person again."
"This makes the second time."
"I know nothing of it."
The youngest aunt feigned complete ignorance.
Her acting was flawless.
She truly looked as if she had no idea.
The more she denied it, the deeper the smile on Tang Cheonwi's lips grew.
"Look at the one I just threw. Then the things you claim not to know might start coming back to you."
The youngest aunt snapped an order at her subordinates, her temper flaring.
"Check who it is!"
The glare she fixed on him was venomous.
The moment the Yuhongak martial artists identified the fallen man—
"L-L-Lord!"
"You need to come see this yourself."
They stammered.
"Who is it that you're acting like that!"
The youngest aunt still kept her eyes locked on Tang Cheonwi.
"It… it appears to be the Yuhong… Great Leader."
"What did you say?!"
The youngest aunt moved with ghostly speed.
At the sight, laughter rose unbidden in Tang Cheonwi's throat.
She must have been on edge because she couldn't contact Tang Jongui.
Contact with Tang Sangrip had been cut off right along with the exposure of the Cheongang, Danjuk, and Cheongpung Clans' crimes.
How many wild thoughts must have raced through her head?
"H-Husband!"
"I figured the Yuhongak Lord would recognize him immediately."
"You did this to him?!"
"Out of family affection I only severed his dantian and every muscle and nerve. Don't worry—his life is in no danger at all."
What good was being alive?
He had already become a cripple.
Tang Jongui was no longer in his right mind.
Under Tang Cheonwi's torture he had lost his sanity completely.
Terror and dread had reduced him to a mindless idiot of his own making.
"You little—! I will never forgive you!"
The youngest aunt stamped the ground.
She shot forward with explosive speed.
"You should have left us alone from the start."
Tyrant Blood Poison Qi gathered in his palm.
The same martial art that had turned an entire Yuhongak squad into chunks of meat in a single stroke.
The palm technique of the Dark Blood True Scripture.
He drove the Poison Blood Heaven Palm straight into her.
The forbidden palm of the Dark Blood True Scripture erupts, flooding the air with lethal poison qi.
KWAANG!
An explosive boom shook the air and a cloud of dust billowed upward.
Meanwhile.
In Black Dragon Hall, Tang Yuhyeon was meeting his father, Tang Baek.
"Where is your older brother?"
"Well, Father… Hyung caught a cold and…"
Tang Yuhyeon tried to make an excuse, but Tang Baek did not believe a word of it.
"I can already picture it. He skipped the greetings and went straight to his own residence."
"He really does have a cold…"
"I heard the news. You saved lives without distinguishing between orthodox and unorthodox, is that right?"
"It wasn't me who—"
"Well done. Your actions raised the Tang Clan's standing in the eyes of the world."
Every protest died on Tang Yuhyeon's tongue, and his face crumpled into a miserable expression.
"Why that look?"
"I only did what Hyung told me to. If he hadn't warned me, I never would have thought to save those people."
"Your older brother?"
"Discovering the Cheongang Clan's conspiracy—everything was Hyung."
"Hmm…"
Tang Baek turned his head, as if searching for someone.
"Tang Ildo did not come with you?"
"I thought he followed us…"
Tang Baek looked at Yeon Jagang.
The leader of the Black Scale Guard bowed his head.
"Once I find him, I will thoroughly correct his manners, my lord."
"Ever since he started keeping company with the eldest, Tang Ildo has been strange as well. Has the boy been corrupted?"
"Most likely…"
"Are you insulting my son?"
"Weren't you the one who started it, my lord?"
"I'm allowed to."
"Um…"
Tang Yuhyeon carefully interrupted their exchange.
He placed a wooden box on the table.
"What is this?"
"Hyung recovered it from the fake Mandokchong."
Inside the box lay several long needles.
Tang Baek recognized them at a glance.
"The Blood-Healing Needle? You're saying these were inside an artificially created Mandokchong?"
"Hyung brought them out, so I don't know the details."
Beside him, Yeon Jagang spoke in excitement.
"The Blood-Healing Needle is one of the Tang Clan's treasures. It is a Heavenly Weapon that houses a weapon spirit!"
Tang Baek asked Tang Yuhyeon,
"You could have hidden a Heavenly Weapon. Why hand it over to me?"
"Anything obtained by a clan member belongs to Father."
"So I must grant permission for its use?"
"Yes."
"And if this father decides to keep it for himself?"
"Then there would be nothing I could do."
"You feel no greed for a Heavenly Weapon?"
"I can grow strong even without the help of a Heavenly Weapon."
That answer seemed to please him; a faint smile flickered across Tang Baek's lips and vanished.
"Cheonwi gave this to you, his younger brother. Therefore the Blood-Healing Needle is yours."
"Pardon?"
"If word reached your brother's ears that I took what belongs to you, he would try to devour this father of his."
"Hyung is no unfilial son!"
Tang Yuhyeon shook his head violently.
In a great clan, filial impiety was an absolute taboo—something that must never be done.
"It was a joke."
Tang Baek delivered the line with a face as cold as ice, and Yeon Jagang frowned.
"My lord, jokes are supposed to be said with a smile."
"Isn't this how one does it?"
"No."
"My mistake, then."
The blood-chilling joke left Tang Yuhyeon unable to collect himself.
He was about to rise and return to his quarters for rest when—
KWAAAAANG!
A deafening explosion that shook the very earth rang out.
The doors of Black Dragon Hall flew open and a Black Scale Guard reported,
"There is a disturbance coming from the direction of Yuhongak."
"Why there?"
Yeon Jagang asked, and the guard answered.
"The moment the Young Master returned, the first place he visited was Yuhongak."
Tang Baek, whose expression almost never changed, furrowed his brow.