Part 1

Chapter 20. Namgung (2)

Namgung Jin, who had been silent for a moment, twisted his lips and spoke.

“We cannot stay here any longer. So we cannot wait for the Tang Clan’s interrogation.”

“There’s no need for you to stay. We’ll extract the information in the Sichuan branch’s way and transparently share it with all the alliance members.”

Transparently.

The smile disappeared from Namgung Jin’s face. As his eyelids blinked slowly, the dim, sunken pupils appeared and disappeared repeatedly. As if he were deep in thought.

“That will be difficult.”

“Why is that?”

“It’s not that I don’t trust the Sichuan branch…”

“You don’t trust us.”

Tang So-hwa cut him off.

“Then why don’t you trust the Sichuan branch? It sounds like there’s a reason.”

She casually added her true thoughts.

“Ah, or is it that you don’t trust the Tang Clan, not the Sichuan branch?”

Could the silence of the Young Lord of Namgung be some kind of signal? In that moment, like a wave crashing, a strong breeze swept through the surroundings. Namgung’s followers secretly imbued their blades with internal energy.

Sensing the unusual atmosphere, the martial artists of the Tang Clan also infused their weapons with internal energy.

Ignoring the storm-like surge of energy, Tang So-hwa calmly looked straight at Namgung Jin.

But the Young Lord of Namgung gave no response.

The silence grew to the point that even the sound of breathing felt burdensome.

Then, it happened.

“Get those insolent eyes out of here, brat. I’m too tired to bother poking them out anymore.”

Soaked in blood, Tang Min stepped between the two and suddenly raised his head. Looking up at the Young Lord of Namgung, who was a head taller, he spoke in a gruff voice.

“… You’ve grown again?”

Namgung Jin drew a smile and offered a fist salute.

“Have you been well?”

“You from Namgung always offer formalities you don’t mean.”

Tang Min clicked his tongue but lifted the corners of his mouth.

“Right. You’ve been talking to the kindest heart in our entire Tang Clan, so whatever you heard, that’s the last of our mercy.”

Watching Tang Min lie without changing his expression, Tang Hak couldn’t hide his discomfort.

“I shouldn’t be saying this, but sometimes I wonder if she was picked up from Namgung—she’s that in sync with you Namgung people. So, of course, you must’ve liked what she said.”

So-hwa’s gaze slid over to Tang Min. Her eyes were full of curses.

Namgung Jin held back a laugh at the sight.

At his laughter, the Namgung martial artists withdrew their internal energy. Either way, they had no choice but to step back now.

Black Sky Demon, Tang Min.

With his appearance, there was no chance of winning if a fight broke out. Even if they somehow held out, this was Sichuan. If reinforcements came from the Tang Clan, the worst outcome would be total annihilation.

But…

Namgung Jin’s gaze stayed on the girl standing among the massive men.

She seemed quite different from the rumors.

“Thought I told you to watch your damn eyes. Good grief, Young Lord, your hearing’s as bad as Namgung’s future.”

Namgung Jin’s gaze turned back to Tang Min. He squinted his eyes and nodded.

“Yes. Then we’ll only take the Blood Sect members with us.”

“What? Take the Blood Sect members? What the hell are you talking about?”

Tang Min shouted in disbelief, almost in a fit.

“According to the young lady’s consideration, the Blood Sect members will be interrogated at the Anhui branch, and we plan to request that the Yeonju Group be left with the Sichuan branch.”

“What? You agreed to that?”

Caught off guard, Tang Min glared at her. But So-hwa smiled brightly, her eyes curving.

“Yes. I’m a kind-hearted girl who resonates with Namgung, so I made a merciful suggestion.”

Tang Min opened and closed his mouth in disbelief.

“This… You dare… You came into Sichuan—no, damn it! I mean, what are you even..!”

He couldn’t take back what he had said now.

He couldn’t understand why his cunning great-granddaughter, always twisting things to her advantage, had suddenly pulled a move like this. If he had known, he would’ve just cracked open those Namgung bastards’ skulls first and dragged off the Blood Sect bastards.

Fuming and unable to contain his rage, Tang Min looked around for the remaining Blood Sect members. But Namgung’s swordsmen, moving swiftly, were already preparing to carry the restrained cultists away one by one.

“You… you!”

While Tang Min trembled with fury, So-hwa approached Yeon-ah and the old physician.

“Once the treatment is complete, you’ll have to come with us.”

Having seen everything unfold, the old man couldn’t refuse. He simply looked at the restrained martial artists with sorrowful eyes.

“The Anhui branch is under Namgung’s jurisdiction. For them, too, it’s better to go to Namgung than be chased by the Blood Sect. Namgung’s force is one of the strongest in the Central Plains.”

The old physician seemed to agree with So-hwa’s words, abandoning his hesitation and rising to his feet.

“Thank you.”

At his gratitude, Tang So-hwa shook her head.

“No, there’s nothing to thank me for. I did it because I needed to. I still have something to ask of you, physician.”

Her gaze slid toward the Black Tiger Unit.

“Let’s head to the Yeonju Group. As soon as the treatment ends, we’ll return to the Tang Clan’s estate.”

At her words, the Black Tiger Unit quickly carried their fallen comrades on their backs.

“What the hell is this now?”

Still kicking up a fuss, Tang Min looked at the empty wooden case on the ground and grabbed the back of his neck. Tang Hak instinctively grabbed Tang Min by the waist.

“Grand Elder! P-please, let’s just go back to the Yeonju Group first! The troops are dying!”

“You all go ahead! No—let go! Those crazy Namgung bastards stole all my Yeonju pills!”

“Th-that’s not what happened…”

Tang So-hwa quickly signaled to the deputy leader. Pretending not to hear anything, he swiftly picked up the old physician and soared up to the Yeonju Group with qinggong. So-hwa also hurriedly chased after him as if fleeing.

The cries of the Black Sky Demon echoed loudly across Emei Mountain, but as if prearranged, everyone ignored him and ran their own way.

***

A dim twilight hung over Emei Mountain.

The martial artists of Namgung, descending the mountain, were silent.

No one dared to speak rashly. The Young Lord at the head of the group wore a grim expression.

He seemed deep in thought, his gaze subdued as he maintained his silence. His uncle cautiously increased his pace to walk alongside Namgung Jin. But Namgung Jin didn’t spare him so much as a glance.

“It seems different from the rumors.”

“It does.”

Namgung Jin replied quickly. He had been thinking the same thing all along.

The rumors about the Tang Clan were wrong.

Tang So-hwa.

She had never appeared at the Alliance of Noble Clans, and even during the times he visited the Tang Clan estate, he had never seen her.

But as the Clan Head’s direct descendant and eldest daughter, there had been plenty of rumors about her.

A direct daughter of the Tang Clan born of a servant mother.

There was a commotion once when the Young Lord insisted on taking a servant as his wife. He had even threatened to give up his position as Young Lord. But less than a year after that uproar, the servant died in a fire.

Everyone tacitly believed the Clan Head at that time had a hand in it. It was because he acknowledged the child left behind by the servant as the Young Lord’s child.

It was hard to understand unless it was out of guilt.

Even after the Young Lord became the Clan Head, his daughter never appeared publicly, and so the rumors multiplied.

That she was direct in name only and not treated as family, that the Elder Council had her exiled to a far-off place, that she had been scarred in the fire with her mother, and was hideously ugly.

There were many rumors, but they all implied one thing.

Tang So-hwa had no power.

Namgung Jin’s head tilted ever so slightly.

He recalled how that timid Tang Hak had bared his eyes and rushed at him, and how the martial force had been ready to lay down their lives to protect her.

– The kindest heart in our entire Tang Clan…

Even the image of her exchanging stiff glances with the Black Sky Demon came back to him, and he let out a quiet chuckle.

Wasn’t that a treasured jewel?

How odd. Why had such rumors spread?

Had the ones delivering news from the Tang Clan deliberately spread falsehoods?

Or had someone on Namgung’s end distorted the information?

Either way, it meant someone was trying to block their eyes and ears.

“We need to replace our people.”

As if reading his thoughts, his uncle spoke softly. Namgung Jin nodded in agreement.

Whether the Tang Clan had spread the false rumors themselves to hide Tang So-hwa, or someone within Namgung had obscured the truth, both were problems.

They had tried to deceive him.

And he had been deceived.

Naturally, his thoughts circled back to Tang So-hwa.

He was now curious about why the eldest daughter of the Tang Clan had been kept hidden.

Namgung Jin fell silent again, lost in thought. Then, as if remembering something, he suddenly issued a command.

“Tell Hyeon-I to descend immediately as well.”

“Yes. Just about an hour ago, we received a messenger bird. He found the formation’s entrance, but the Emei Sect had already entered, and all the remaining Blood Sect members were slaughtered.”

His uncle hesitated before adding,

“But… they say the Emei Sect’s mood was very sour. It seems a formal complaint will be coming soon through the Sichuan branch…”

Namgung Jin let out a breath, halfway between a laugh and a sigh.

It seemed there would be plenty of work ahead.

Gauging what lay ahead, he quickened his pace toward Anhui.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep