episode_0027

The impression I got from my first meeting with the Tang Clan Head was, “Manageable?”

He is certainly strong.

As someone leading a force, he possesses both martial prowess and distinct charisma. But I judged that his level of martial power wasn’t enough to beat me.

‘Stats are…’

『Solitary Exalted』Tang Seol-pung

Level: 1

Strength: 290

Agility: 332

Mana: 275

Technique: 402

Endurance: 265

‘Around 300 on average, huh.’

Similar to the Sword King.

However, considering there’s a technique called Blood Awakening, it’s best not to think of these stats as the whole story. It seems that using Blood Awakening changes stats, just like the White Lotus’s Beast Transformation. Of course, even without Blood Awakening or Beast Transformation, in the case of Old Madam Hwang, her Technique stat went up a little when she revealed her true colors, which makes me wonder if there are techniques to temporarily raise stats, or perhaps techniques to hide them.

If that’s the case, then it’s somewhat understandable that the stats of elders and sect leaders are only about 100 different from those of late-stage masters.

‘…Of course, an average of 100 isn’t a small number, but…’

Well, in conclusion, if you add about 100 to that average stat, that would be his true skill.

‘But I still think I can win.’

I’ve calculated everything. Now all that’s left is to figure out how to be known for talking a good game against a Clan Head who seems to have gone through all sorts of hardships….

“Are you the benefactor who saved the Young Clan Head and my daughter’s lives?”

“Yeah.”

His eyebrows furrowed slightly, perhaps displeased with the curtness of my reply.

At the same time, Tang Seol-ryun, who was standing next to him, flinched and looked at me.

What, why, so what?

But the Clan Head didn’t say anything else. I don’t know if it’s because he doesn’t want to bother talking, or if he doesn’t want to waste time, but looking at the pile of documents stacked on his desk, I strongly feel it’s the latter.

As evidence, Clan Head Tang Seol-pung lowered his gaze to the documents and tapped the desk with his fingers.

As if hearing that small sound, the door we came in through opened again, and two men stood before me holding black wooden boxes.

“?”

“Open them.”

Tang Seol-pung said, still looking at the pile of documents.

I don’t know what those documents are, but at least if someone comes, you should make proper eye contact and talk.

Seol-ryun quickly ordered the men to open the black boxes, seeing my displeasure.

With a click, the black boxes opened, revealing a large amount of gold coins inside.

“…What is this?”

“Gold coins.”

“You know I’m not asking because I don’t know what they are.”

“Take them. They are yours.”

…Looking closely, they’re all gold.

With this, I could not only trade in Yeom, but also sell the gold coins themselves to raise money even if I returned to the Central Plains.

There are as many as two boxes of those. Moreover, the boxes aren’t small, but quite large, and the gold coins are packed so tightly inside that there’s no gap. Anyone who sees this is bound to be blinded by money.

But what pisses me off is that they’re basically saying they’ll settle the debt for saving the Young Clan Head and Seol-rin with this.

Are these guys trying to die, do they see me as some penniless beggar?

“….”

“What’s wrong? Young master.”

Well. I do look like a beggar.

I admit it.

I should have bought some new clothes and dressed neatly before coming here.

But that’s that, and this is this.

I have plenty of money anyway. I got it through cheats, but I have a lot.

“Is this supposed to be ‘take this and get lost’ or something?”

“N, no. Hero Il-ryong! It’s not like that at all…”

“It is.”

“C, Clan Head!”

Tang Seol-ryun looked at Tang Seol-pung in dismay.

Judging from Seol-ryun’s reaction, it seems the pre-arranged story was different from this, but… who cares.

“What if I don’t want to?”

“Then what do you want? There’s enough money there for a vagrant like you to never see in your entire life.”

“Clan Head! This person isn’t a vagrant, but from the Yeom Clan!…”

“It doesn’t matter if he’s a soldier of Yeom or whatever. This is Sichuan. Sichuan, which is ruled by the Tang Clan. Unless he’s an emperor, there’s no one higher than me here.”

Well, my identity as a soldier of Yeom is a false one, so it doesn’t matter what they say…

Still, it pisses me off to hear such words so openly.

“What did you say you wanted?”

“Yes. As you can see, I’m busy. More than you can possibly imagine. So speak quickly and disappear.”

“This place.”

“….?”

As if he had misheard, Tang Seol-pung, who had been looking at the documents without moving, raised his head and looked at me.

“H, Hero Il-ryong!! What on earth are you saying! You want this place! That means….”

“Yeah, hand over the entire Tang Clan. Then I’ll accept it.”

“…Do you know what those words mean?”

“Why? Isn’t saving your daughter and the next Clan Head the same as protecting the future of the Tang Clan? So I’m just asking for the current Tang Clan.”

I tilted my head on purpose.

I said it, but I’m satisfied because it’s such a gangster-like statement.

Seol-ryun was greatly flustered and shouted loudly.

“H, Hero Il-ryong! No matter how much of a hero you are, those words cannot be simply overlooked! That is insulting the Tang Clan…”

“Young Clan Head, be quiet.”

“Ugh….”

Tang Seol-pung, who silenced Seol-ryun, stared at me silently for a moment.

Then, glaring at me, he said.

“Just because you have a mouth doesn’t mean you can say whatever you want. This is the Tang Clan. You have turned everyone here…, no, everyone in Sichuan beyond here, into your enemy. Can you handle that?”

“If I couldn’t handle it, I wouldn’t have even brought it up. More than anything, even if everyone here, including you, jumped me, you wouldn’t be able to beat me. What’s there to be afraid of?”

“M, Miss Baek-ryeon! Please stop Hero Il-ryong! What on earth is happening…”

“I will simply do as Master wishes.”

Seol-ryun, who had turned pale, spoke to Baek-ryeon, who was obediently listening to me beside him, but grabbed the back of his neck at Baek-ryeon’s answer and looked at me.

What are you looking at? Don’t look, you’ll get attached.

“…Insolent.”

“Why is the Clan Head of the great Tang Clan so talkative? If you don’t like it, then fight.”

Titles next to the stat window indicate how the world refers to that person.

For example, in the case of the Sword King, the title “Sword King” appears before his name, while Tang Seol-rin, Seol-ryun, and Seol-ran have no titles by which they are known in the world, so nothing is displayed in their stat windows. However, the Tang Clan Head, Tang Seol-pung, doesn’t have “Tang Clan Head” but the words “Solitary Exalted” written there.

In other words, he is skilled enough to be called Solitary Exalted.

‘Honestly, I blurted it out because I was pissed off, but it turned out well.’

If the Demonic Sect and its forces are preparing for war, I can’t stop that war alone.

Even if I can kill the Demonic Sect Leader himself and his executives, it’s hard to deal with every single one of his subordinates.

….No, when I think about it, it’s not impossible.

Anyway, I need to receive support from this place at that time.

In other words, I need to receive support from Yeom to draw out troops and control them so that the aftermath of the war doesn’t become too great.

‘But the current state of Yeom is very bad.’

The Yeom Clan, which needs to gather the forces scattered throughout Yeom, lacks the power and influence to unite them,

and each sect and family is frantically trying to increase their own power.

There is only one way to take a larger share of a pie with a fixed size than others.

That’s to take someone else’s pie.

So, first, I’ll check the strength of each force.

Then, I’ll scout forces with strong voices and increase the unity of the entire Yeom.

I’ll take the Tang Clan as the first target.

“Can I assume that your words are the judgment of the entire Yeom Clan?”

“Think so if you want to.”

“…It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such an arrogant bastard. Good.”

“H, Hero Il-ryong. You weren’t originally this kind of person, were you!…”

He stood up from his seat.

Seeing that, Seol-ryun turned pale and looked back and forth between me and Tang Seol-pung.

* * *

Inside the Tang Clan’s training hall.

Among the many martial artists of the Tang Clan diligently training, there is one woman who boasts a particularly beautiful appearance.

The Tang Clan’s martial artists were also approaching her with considerable caution.

But as if dissatisfied with that, Seol-rin frowned, stopped training, and took a break.

“Seol-rin unni~”

“…Seol-ran?”

Another pure girl in this training hall.

Seol-ran came to visit.

Seol-ran approached Seol-rin with an affectionate smile.

“What are you doing here?”

“You can see, can’t you? I’m training.”

“Seol-ryun oraboni is looking for you. He said to come to Father’s room.”

“…I don’t need to go, I know what he’s going to talk about anyway.”

He’s just trying to make me spend more time with that Jang Cheon-woo guy who came just now.

From the moment I told Seol-ryun that he seemed to have reached the realm of Mind Sword, Seol-ryun’s attitude towards Jang Cheon-woo changed.

“Hmm…, then should I meet him? Seol-rin unni?”

“….What?”

“I saw him briefly passing by earlier. He seemed like a really nice person~ Seol-rin unni? What do you think? Didn’t you say you were acting together with him until you came here?”

“Hmm…, how should I describe him….”

Seol-rin’s honest feeling is that she wants to say, “I don’t really know.”

“He doesn’t do any particularly noticeable training. His routine is just walking, eating, and sleeping. He doesn’t talk much, so Seol-ryun oraboni has to force a conversation to barely get him to talk.”

“Hee~ is that so? I like him more and more~”

“…In what part?”

“The part about not talking much and…, the part about not doing anything~!”

What part of that do you like?

As always, Seol-rin couldn’t understand Seol-ran.

“Well~ anyway, aren’t we destined to marry the children of influential figures or outstanding martial artists for the sake of the family? If so, wouldn’t it be better to marry someone who doesn’t do anything and won’t interfere with me at all?”

Is that… so?

But no matter how much he doesn’t interfere, I don’t want to marry a man I don’t like.

That’s why I’m building up my strength….

‘I couldn’t even beat one Poison Toad!…’

Seol-rin was so frustrated by that.

That’s why the first thing she did when she returned to the Tang Clan was to train, but the Tang Clan’s martial artists treat her as the Clan Head’s daughter and don’t properly spar with her.

‘At this rate, I can’t train at all!…’

As she was thinking about whether she should run away again, one side of the training hall became noisy.

“C, Clan Head!”

“We greet the Clan Head!…”

“…Huh?”

“Oh, Father came with a guest.”

Father and Jang Cheon-woo were entering the training hall together.

* * *

The preparation for the duel was prepared faster than expected.

With just the Clan Head’s one word, “Prepare for the duel.”

“Young master. Are you alright?”

“Of course.”

“Is that so…, if young master says so, then that’s how it is. I will trust young master.”

I grabbed my sword and went up onto the duel platform.

Tang Seol-pung was already there.

“You’re late. Did you need time to prepare your mind?”

“I was a little late because I was worrying about how to win so that you wouldn’t be too embarrassed.”

“Your mouth is the best in the world.”

“I am the best in the world, so don’t worry.”

I drew my sword and took a stance.

The opponent also took out a few hidden weapons in his hand.

“I’ll give you three moves.”

“….”

“Come at me.”

Giving up moves.

In other words, treating the opponent as inferior to oneself.

“That arrogance. I hope it doesn’t change.”

“You talk too much.”

“Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers”

Hidden weapons were fired from Tang Seol-pung’s fingertips.

Even though it was the same technique that Tang Seol-rin used, there was a huge difference in the completion and power of the technique.

Pa pa pa pa pa bat!!!

【Intuition】+【Counterattack】

Ting! Ka ka ka ka ka ka ka ka kang!!!

I knew that Tang Seol-rin enhanced the power by infusing qi into the hidden weapons, but I had never seen anyone infuse the same amount of qi into all the hidden weapons used in a hidden weapon technique. Tang Seol-rin didn’t infuse qi into the entire hidden weapon technique and throw the hidden weapons.

She only mixed and threw a few of the thrown hidden weapons.

But the Clan Head of the Tang Clan is different, the entire hidden weapon technique is infused with qi.

What’s more, the qi infused into each hidden weapon is different, so when striking each one, some are infused with strong qi to be blocked with strong force, and some are infused with weak qi to make the opponent’s movements awkward by striking the hidden weapon with excessive force.

Such detailed qi control in that short preparation time.

“But I blocked it.”

“Yes, if you couldn’t even block that, I wouldn’t have killed you so easily. Soul-Chasing Flying Daggers.”

Swaaaaaaaak!!!

This time, perhaps it’s more about quality than quantity, a single hidden weapon flew.

However, a dangerous sound was heard that made me doubt whether that was the sound of a hidden weapon.

Jjeooooooong!!!

I deflected it so that it slightly grazed the surface of the sword.

However, a considerable amount of force was required in my arm even though I deflected it.

“One more left.”

“Myriad Blossoms Shower”

Pit

“?!”

Something brushed past me.

When I looked at the opponent in response to the hidden weapon that flew without any pause this time, the opponent was looking at me with his arms crossed.

What? Myriad Blossoms Shower is….

No, wait a minute.

‘Which direction did that hidden weapon just…, fly from?’

Was it the front?

No, not the front, but….

“Above!!”

Swaaaaaaaaaak!! Pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa bat!!!

Ting! Ka ka ka ka ka ka ka ka ka ka ka ka kang!!!

A rain of flowers filling the sky.

True to its name, flowers in the name of hidden weapons rained down to fill the sky.

I don’t know when, where, or how he carried so many hidden weapons on his body and launched them.

That must be the family’s secret technique.

When the rain of hidden weapons, which felt like an hour, stopped, the floor of the training hall was completely embedded with hidden weapons, making it look like a mountain of thorns.

“….Then now, it’s my turn to attack?”

“Heu…heueuheuhahat!! So the story that you have reached the realm of Mind Sword wasn’t a lie! Truly interesting!!”

Blood Awakening 『Imoogi』

Scales sprouted on his face and his pupils changed to those of a snake.

At the same time, I felt a completely different power than before.

“I’m coming!”

“Come!”

Green qi gathered in Tang Seol-pung’s hands and formed the shape of sharp claws.

Kang!!!

“I thought the Tang Clan was famous for hidden weapons and poison! Is it close combat!!”

“Of course, our Tang Clan is skilled in hidden weapons and poison. But don’t think that’s all. If you run out of hidden weapons, you fight with your own strength.”

“It seems like the other martial artists can’t do that…!!”

Kang! Chaeng!!!

It’s like colliding with a sword.

That means the density of the qi contained in those claws is considerable.

“The qi emitted by the Tang Clan’s martial artists is no different from poison itself. If you want to live, you must avoid it at all costs.”

“Your expression shows that you hope I don’t avoid it.”

“Haha! Was I found out!! It’s been so long since I’ve moved my body like this, I’m excited!!”

Kwang!! Kwaang!!! Ka de de de de de de deuk!!!

“Are you trying to create distance against a Tang Clan martial artist!!”

Swaaaaaak!! Pa pa pa bat!!

“Tsk!”

Ting!! Ka ka ka kang!!

If I create distance, he launches hidden weapons.

If I close the distance, he attacks with claws containing poison.

I already have bad compatibility with poison, and he covers both close and long range, so the pressure is no joke.

He’s not called Solitary Exalted for nothing.

“Then I too will respond to that expectation and launch something big.”

“Come.”

【Sword King Secret Technique】

“Earth Divide”

“Green Lotus Divine Palm”

The green qi-wrapped palm technique and the perfectly straight vertical slash collided with each other.

Jjieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeng!!!

“────.”

“…What did you say?….”

Kwaaaang!!!