Chapter 25
Chapter 25
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: Crushing the Sparring Stage
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Yang Yeom charged forward at a speed incomparable to his younger brother Yang Hak, swinging his wooden sword.
But against Baek Yang-hui, it was the same for Yang Yeom—just a one-strike defeat.
Thud!
The referee approached the fallen Yang Yeom, checked his condition, and shouted.
"Baek Yang-hui's victory..."
A swell of pride and satisfaction filled Baek Heon-so's face below the sparring platform, while the face of Pavilion Master Yang Ga-ryung, seated in the place of honor, flushed red.
His two sons had both been defeated in a single exchange by the same opponent, so the prestige of Yang Pavilion had hit the dirt.
And yet.
Baek Yang-hui had no intention of stopping at just this.
This sparring tournament was a stage for displaying martial might, after all.
'Protection Assembly, I'm going to crush that arrogance of yours so thoroughly you won't even dream of meddling with the main family.'
"Is there no next opponent? If there's a young master willing to give me some pointers, please step up onto the sparring platform."
"......"
"......"
After a brief silence, the largest boy present climbed onto the platform.
"Iron Soldier Hou of Yuhang Escort Agency. I've come to test my skills against you."
His build was equivalent to that of an average adult male. At a glance, he looked fifteen—right on the age limit.
"Pleased to meet you."
The moment they closed the distance for greetings, Iron Soldier Hou whispered softly.
"A brat whose balls haven't even fully dropped yet, acting all bold. Time to teach you some manners."
What a filthy remark.
'A provocation tactic, huh.'
Desperate not to suffer utter humiliation in case of defeat, he was trying some petty trick.
Baek Yang-hui smirked and shot back immediately.
"Looks like you've finally figured out why your mother likes unripe fruit."
Iron Soldier Hou's face went blank for a moment before he realized what it meant.
"You little bastard!"
His face turning red then purple in an instant, Iron Soldier Hou lunged before the referee could even signal.
Bzzz!
With the sound of buzzing wings, he tumbled off the sparring platform.
"......Baek Yang-hui has subdued Iron Soldier Hou for fouling the rules. Baek Yang-hui wins."
Even the oldest participant among them defeated in one strike.
A silence now verging on ominous hung over the banquet hall.
Baek Yang-hui curled up the corner of his mouth.
'This should spread the word far and wide that the main family harbors a hidden dragon.'
He had stopped hiding his strength and ended every opponent in one strike purely to fuel the rumors.
Daring to try ripping away the main family's ties with the Zhuge Clan?
It was an attempt born of underestimating them. He intended to uproot that very gaze and mindset.
'While Uncle Zhuge is staying at the main family, I can act without worry for repercussions or aftermath. Now's the time.'
The Protection Assembly was a coalition of mid- and small-sized sects profiting from bodyguard services, escort agencies, martial academies, and the like.
If word of today's events spread?
Their clients would take notice of the Baek Clan.
The ability to reform Black Dao thugs into clan warriors and immediately deploy them for profit.
'That would give the main family a reputation on a whole new level, plus financial gains. Killing two birds with one stone.'
"It seems there are no more opponents. If someone surpasses my win count, I'll return to the platform."
With that, Baek Yang-hui descended from the sparring platform.
The initial excitement had long fizzled out, leaving only cold ashes.
The young participants had lost their spirit, and even the host and referee were at a loss.
At that moment.
"Hahaha!"
A booming laugh echoed through the banquet hall.
"Yang-hui! Splendid showing!"
The voice belonged to Zhuge Sun.
"To catch Uncle's eye—if you'd sullied it with some half-baked talent, I'd have been disappointed, but what a relief."
Baek Yang-hui offered a formal cupped-fist salute and continued.
"So, does that mean this unworthy nephew wins the bet?"
The bet between Baek Yang-hui and Zhuge Sun hinged on winning this sparring tournament.
To settle it clearly, Zhuge Sun rose from his seat.
"I ask all you fellow Daoists gathered here at the banquet. Having watched these children, it seems my nephew here is the most outstanding. Do you all acknowledge him as the victor?"
"......"
"......"
Not a single voice dissented.
Zhuge Sun nodded as if he'd expected as much.
"Yang-hui. I declare you the champion of the Yuhang Assembly Sparring Tournament!"
Though Zhuge Sun was merely a guest, neither host nor member of the Protection Assembly, no one objected.
Everyone knew his presence here was like a top scholar who passed the imperial exams mingling with village schoolboys to recite poetry—absurd on its face.
The gulf between the world-commanding Great Zhuge Clan and the sects huddled in little Ak-an County was that vast and deep.
Zhuge Sun wouldn't have set foot here at all without Baek Mu-ryang.
* * *
Returning to Baek Clan Manor with his nephews and sons, Baek Mu-ryang bellowed heartily.
"Prepare a feast for my brother-in-law!"
The main hall's banquet room was piled high with food and drink as Baek Mu-ryang sat down with Zhuge Sun.
Naturally, with their respective sons present as well.
"Brother, you gave me quite the shock today. With your son showing such prowess, the Baek Clan's future shines bright as the full moon."
"It'd have to go some to match the Zhuge Clan, brother-in-law. Word is your eldest has peerless talent the likes of which the world has never seen."
It was true. Zhuge Sun's eldest, elder brother to Zhuge Seol-ha, Zhuge Mun-hwa, was a prodigy hailed as the next generation's top talent.
"Hoho, the rumors have reached even here."
Zhuge Sun soon turned to Baek Yang-hui.
"You won the tournament as promised, so the bet is yours. I'll grant what you asked before. But first, indulge this uncle and resolve one doubt."
"I could answer ten, Uncle."
Zhuge Sun's question was simple.
"Why did you do it? Today, you flaunted genius the likes of which could invite disaster upon the Baek Clan—pardon me for saying so in front of your father, but it was that brilliant a display of martial talent."
He knew. And he'd done it anyway.
The reason was simple.
It was what he'd mulled over ceaselessly since time turned back, so Baek Yang-hui answered without hesitation.
"Once before, Father told me your dream was for the main family to reclaim its sect status."
"Did I?"
Baek Mu-ryang looked baffled.
It was from his previous life, so no wonder he didn't remember, but Baek Yang-hui pressed on shamelessly.
"Yes. You said it while having a drink with me sitting there. And from that moment, this son's dream became the main family ascending to sect ranks. That's all."
A simple answer, but sufficient for Zhuge Sun.
"Hah! You're even more than I thought. Talent and depth of mind to match!"
Exceptional talent is like a top scholar in a crowd or a awl in a sack—it always stands out.
Better to reveal it fully and become the crane among chickens—no, the dragon among them.
Like a flame drawing moths, he'd attract envy and attention, becoming the center that gathers people.
That was Baek Yang-hui's ambition.
"A true sect takes in countless retainers and governs them by clan law. You mean to make yourself the foundation of such a sect."
Baek Yang-hui bowed his head in a cupped-fist salute.
"Just a child's shallow thinking. Please correct any flaws, Uncle."
"No flaws. But I'm concerned. The path you've chosen often leads to breaking before reaching the end."
Those who shine draw many enemies.
It's no wonder time is said to be the greatest foe of heroes.
But Baek Yang-hui smiled with utter confidence.
"If it breaks, then it was fated to break before the end."
All for making the Baek Clan the world's greatest sect.
To lay even the foundation in his lifetime, he had to take risks.
"......Well said. Nephew, you're right! Now, we must discuss the reward I'll bestow."
Zhuge Sun's face lit up with delight.
When Baek Yang-hui had stated his request before, Zhuge Sun had burst into laughter.
Because the boy, unaware of his own goals, had suddenly asked to join him on his journey ahead.
The reason that plea delighted Zhuge Sun was simple.
"Tell me. Have you figured out this uncle's purpose?"
"Merely a guess from shallow thinking."
Zhuge Sun gazed at his nephew-in-law, who kept astonishing him since they met, eyes brimming with fascination.
"Then guess it right. Speak."
After a brief moment of thought, Baek Yang-hui opened his mouth.
"Uncle said you visited the main family on business. Bringing Seol-ha along."
"You surmised there was a reason for that."
What Zhuge Sun sought was surely something needed for Zhuge Seol-ha.
'In my previous life, Zhuge Seol-ha died young. Uncle secluded himself in grief for long years after.'
Baek Yang-hui looked at Zhuge Seol-ha. More precisely, he heightened his qi sense, focusing his mind on the strange aura emanating from her.
At once, Zhuge Seol-ha turned her head toward him.
Separated by a single veil, the two children's gazes met.
'As expected, the qi Zhuge Seol-ha harbors isn't something an ordinary constitution could hold.'
Baek Yang-hui spoke.
"Seol-ha was born with a special constitution or sacred body, and my guess is she needs something particular for it."
All things stem from primal chaos, composed of the two qi—yin and yang.
This connects to the three talents of heaven, earth, and man, so humans, standing between heaven and earth, are often born with special qualities and abilities from natural qi.
In other words, constitutions or sacred bodies.
Commonly known ones include Nine Yin Severed Meridians, Heavenly Martial Body, Heavenly Demon Body, and such.
'What constitution is it? The aura feels yin and cold, so... Nine Yin Severed Meridians? No, not quite.'
Nine Yin Severed Meridians are characterized by extreme yin coldness, but the aura from Zhuge Seol-ha was yin without the chill.
'Not cold, but rather...'
At that moment, the silent Zhuge Sun regarded Baek Yang-hui with deeper eyes.
"Yang-hui. I can't hide my admiration for your genius. You got it all right. This uncle came to Baek Clan Manor... in search of the Yin Queen."
"Yin Queen? Brother-in-law, you don't mean the Heaven-Wave Sound Sovereign?!"
Baek Mu-ryang shot to his feet in shock, and Zhuge Sun nodded firmly.
"That's right, brother."
Heaven-Wave Sound Sovereign, one of the Ten Revered of the World.
Always named among the ten absolute strongest when counting the realm's mightiest. A master of sonic arts and famed possessor of the world's top lightness skill—an absolute powerhouse.
"According to investigations from the main family's intel division, Crouching Dragon Pavilion, the Yin Queen's last traces were near Gokyeol Mountain, around Ak-an County."
Zhuge Sun tightly embraced his precious daughter.
"Our Seol-ha... To overcome the heavenly affliction she's born with, she must become the Yin Queen's disciple."
In that instant.
With the final clue of the Heaven-Wave Sound Sovereign, Baek Yang-hui realized the truth.
A deeply shocking truth.
'Could Zhuge Seol-ha have been the Soul-Capturing Demon Queen?'
Some dozen years from now, a fiend called the Soul-Capturing Demon Queen would appear in Hubei, where the Zhuge Clan was based.
She enthralled and manipulated countless martial artists with supreme soul-capturing arts, sparking a bloodbath calamity.
'Rumor had it the Soul-Capturing Demon Queen could do such things thanks to her Peach Blossom Body.'
Peach Blossom Body. A constitution said to house peach blossom qi in the upper dantian, bewitching and seducing the mind unwillingly.
In severe cases, merely seeing her face or hearing her voice could boil one's desires.
'Her upper dantian open due to the peach blossom qi allowed her to sense me trying to read her. At least, it's certain Zhuge Seol-ha has a Peach Blossom Body.'
The ever-present veil, never once opening her mouth to speak.
A yin yet feverish quality that set the body aflame.
It all fit the Peach Blossom Body.
Seeking the sonic master Heaven-Wave Sound Sovereign was surely to control the peach blossom qi in her voice.
'Then, unlike the tales of her early death in my previous life, Zhuge Seol-ha survived, and Uncle's seclusion for his daughter's death was actually for another reason.'
They probably never found the Yin Queen then.
And given Zhuge Sun's personality, he'd do anything to ease his daughter's heavenly affliction.
If he'd turned to demonic soul arts as a solution and disaster struck...
'Just speculation, but highly plausible.'
Then, beyond merely traveling with the Zhuge father and daughter, there might be more he could do.
'Something even my previous life never attempted, but if my guess is right...'
Baek Yang-hui recalled the incantation of the Harmonious Heaven Principle Origin Art.
The supreme method he'd devised after mastering countless inner arts and even suffering qi deviation, encompassing all qi under heaven.
'It might just be possible.'