What Tang Oh wanted from Dong Bongsu was not merely for him to become his disciple, but to become a member of the Tang Family altogether.
"Grandfather! To make such a momentous decision by yourself, without the consent of the elders..."
As the words she had expected finally poured from Tang Oh's mouth, Tang Hwa spoke in alarm.
Tang Oh turned to Tang Hwa, smiled faintly, and moved his lips.
At the same time, he also showed her the Dragon Phoenix Gold Needles.
The two of them, thinking Dong Bongsu could not hear their conversation, comfortably exchanged secrets using the Secret Sound Transmission technique.
However.
That was an act born of truly not knowing Dong Bongsu.
Just because a person cannot hear does not mean they cannot 'eavesdrop'.
There are people who can 'read' conversations with their eyes, even if they cannot hear.
The Lip Reading Art.
Dong Bongsu was reading everything they were talking about just from the shape of Tang Oh's lips.
Although he couldn't tell what Tang Hwa was saying because she wore a veil, Tang Oh was saying all the important things anyway.
Just by analyzing the shape of his lips, he could figure out what Tang Hwa was saying as well.
In the end, Dong Bongsu was able to figure out everything, from why Tang Oh wanted to embrace him to the point of giving him the Tang surname, to why he had brought out the Dragon Phoenix Gold Needles.
'So that's what it was.'
With his expression carefully masked, Dong Bongsu continued to analyze the conversation that passed between them.
From a certain point, he went even further, seeing through things that even Tang Oh did not know.
No, it would be more accurate to say that Tang Oh could not see them in the first place.
Half-Man, Half-Character.
Dong Bongsu was not a complete game character, but by being under the New Murim Online system, he came to possess a strange body that was neither human nor a game character.
The subtle changes in his body caused by this had fascinated Tang Oh, leading to the current situation.
Tang Oh was currently giving Tang Hwa various analyses of Dong Bongsu's constitution, but the conclusion was 'I don't know.' Without knowing, he was interpreting it however he pleased.
Dong Bongsu sneered inwardly as he formulated his next course of action.
It was a welcome thing if his opponent interpreted things on his own.
All he had to do was act accordingly, and his opponent would, in turn, play their part splendidly in the performance.
It was a chilling ability.
Tang Oh was caught in a double trap: the trap of thinking they were conversing through Secret Sound Transmission, and the trap of thinking Dong Bongsu was just a mute stablehand.
Caught in this double trap, he could never have imagined Dong Bongsu possessed such an ability.
A short while later.
The secret, yet not-so-secret, conversation between Tang Oh and Tang Hwa finally came to an end.
It was secret in their belief that it was a conversation only between the two of them, and not-so-secret in the sense that Dong Bongsu had read or reproduced their entire dialogue.
Of course, only Dong Bongsu knew this fact.
Tang Hwa had been persuaded by Tang Oh at the end of their talk, so she no longer had any reason to stop him.
She stepped back wordlessly without interfering further.
At that, Tang Oh smiled faintly and turned back to Dong Bongsu to ask.
"I will ask again. Do you have any intention of receiving the Tang Family's name?"
Dong Bongsu had no reason to refuse from the beginning.
Furthermore, now that he knew all of Tang Oh's inner schemes, why would he turn down such a good offer?
Dong Bongsu did not hesitate.
Showing a fabricated, resolute gaze, he nodded his head proudly.
Ignorant of the face hidden behind that false expression, Tang Oh's face filled with satisfaction.
"Good. However, you are not yet a full member of the Tang Family. You must go to the Tang Family and prove before the elders and the Family Head that you are worthy of bearing the Tang surname. You might even die in the process. Will you still do it?"
The wording had escalated from 'it may be painful enough to kill you' to 'you might die.'
'So what? Nothing's changed.'
He still had no intention of refusing.
He knew he wouldn't die.
If everything Tang Oh had told Tang Hwa through Secret Sound Transmission was true, no one in the Tang Family would reject him.
No, they wouldn't be able to.
They might plot to endanger him later, but they wouldn't be able to stop him from entering the Tang Family, nor would they have a reason to.
The contents of Tang Oh's secret message were that extraordinary.
Dong Bongsu himself had not realized his own body held such a secret.
He once again felt the fun of this New Murim Online.
A 'game' tailored for Dong Bongsu, where he couldn't let his guard down for a single moment, nor miss a single thing.
This was New Murim Online.
A smile appeared on his lips for the first time in a long while.
From that simple smile, Tang Oh felt 'So-sam's' sincerity.
Although Dong Bongsu's true feelings and the 'sincerity' Tang Oh felt from 'So-sam' were different, sincerity was still sincerity.
The gazes of the cool-headed Tang Oh and the passionate Dong Bongsu intensely intertwined in the air.
A moment later.
As if he had finally made a firm decision, Tang Oh declared.
"You are no longer a stablehand of the Danri Family, but a man of the Sichuan's Number One Family, the Tang Family."
With that, Dong Bongsu shed the shell of a stablehand.
"I will now perform the Grand Art. Are you ready?"
When Dong Bongsu nodded his head once more, Tang Oh gave a signal with his eyes to Tang Hwa, who was standing behind Dong Bongsu.
It meant for her to stand guard.
Tang Hwa bowed her head in affirmation and left the room.
If someone were to intrude during the execution of the Grand Art, there was a risk of falling into Qi Deviation.
Thus, she would act as a guardian to prevent anyone from approaching.
Now that the two were alone, Tang Oh approached Dong Bongsu.
"I will now perform the Great Cauldron Reformation Art on you. This art will clear your mind and open your blocked speech. From now on, you must close your eyes and, no matter what happens, you must not move. Do you understand?"
Dong Bongsu knew from 'directly hearing' it from the man that what Tang Oh intended to perform was not just the Great Cauldron Reformation Art, but he didn't mind.
In the end, he was using Tang Oh, and Tang Oh was using him.
The only difference was that he already knew what Tang Oh was thinking and what he was about to do to him, while Tang Oh had no idea that he knew everything.
With that, the game between them was already over.
What if you know your opponent's hand in a poker game, and you have a perfect poker face?
The game is already over.
There will be no reversal.
The opponent, aiming for a non-existent reversal, can only entrust themselves to the thread-like hope of victory and continue the game.
However.
The game was Dong Bongsu's victory before it even began.
Tang Oh opened the case of the Dragon Phoenix Gold Needles.
Inside, befitting its name, were hundreds of golden needles, each intricately engraved with a dragon and a phoenix.
Their varying lengths and thicknesses seemed to indicate different uses for each needle.
Dong Bongsu glanced at the Dragon Phoenix Gold Needles once, then quietly closed his eyes.
Soon, he fell into meditation, gradually sinking into the familiar world of nothingness.
"Hoo-"
Tang Oh let out a deep sigh and slowly levitated the Dragon Phoenix Gold Needles into the air with the technique of Grasping Objects from a Distance.
In truth, Tang Oh was more nervous now than he had ever been in his life.
He had come out to the Jianghu for the first time in a while on the pretext of the Namgung Family's wedding, only to 'pick up' an unbelievable talent for free in Soaring Sun City.
The Chakravartin's Sacred Form, the Heavenly Yang Divine Martial Body, the Heavenly Meridian Body, the Ninth-Grade Sacred Bones, the Heavenly Martial Heart Meridian, the Purple Mist Void Spirit Body, the Cosmic Sacred Bones...
There were many terms in the world to describe bodies excellent for learning martial arts.
They all came with modifiers like 'one in a decade,' 'one in a century,' or 'one in a millennium.'
However, today, Tang Oh had met a talent whose body made such modifiers useless.
The stablehand named So-sam, sitting before him right now, was that very person.
Tang Oh focused his eyes and looked at So-sam again.
So-sam had his eyes closed, lost in a state of no-thought, no-mind.
Perfect.
The moment he had told him not to think, So-sam had already completely cleared his mind.
A smile once again appeared on Tang Oh's lips.
A talent that appears once in ten years? A hundred years? A thousand years? What were all those?
That boy possessed a body born for the first time since the Murim began its history.
It wasn't as conspicuous as the known body types, but it was undoubtedly one of the greatest constitutions.
The Acupointless Body.
So-sam lacked the Acupoints and Meridians that any human should have.
The first time he saw So-sam, he hadn't noticed it.
He had simply regarded him as having an ordinary body that had not learned martial arts.
But when he looked again, he realized that was not the case.
So-sam's body was too 'still.'
No matter how much a person hasn't learned martial arts, there is a minimal amount of Qi in their body that naturally flows along the meridians.
But in So-sam's body, there was no such flow at all.
Nothingness.
There was simply nothing.
As if he wasn't human.
If he hadn't been a master of the Tang Family, he wouldn't have noticed it with just one look.
This was because all these characteristics appear in a Jiangshi.
The only Murim Sects that can create Jiangshi are the Tang Family and the Blood Pavilion of the Heavenly Demon Castle.
However, even if one were a master from the Tang Family or the Blood Pavilion, they wouldn't be able to recognize So-sam's characteristics unless they had created a Jiangshi themselves.
Tang Oh had dabbled, at least a little, in all the martial arts and miscellaneous arts passed down in the Tang Family.
The Jiangshi Art was naturally one of them.
The basis of creating a Jiangshi is to artificially block all the meridians of a corpse.
Because of this, the flow of Qi is completely cut off.
This is to block the flow of life energy and connect the flow of death energy.
But unlike this, So-sam's meridians weren't blocked or obstructed; he was born without Acupoints and Meridians from the very beginning.
Having no paths meant that any path made would become the way.
It also meant one could go wherever one pleased.
Whether it be True Qi or anything else.
Even Tang Hwa had readily backed down after hearing this story from him.
In her eyes, too, the Acupointless Body was an incredible constitution that might never be seen again.
There were probably few, if any, in the current Murim who possessed a constitution that could match it.
Then again, one never knew.
There might be another talent born under the Heavenly Slaughter Star or the Divine Majesty Star.
Those born with such fates are destined to endanger or save the Murim, regardless of their innate qualities.
Perhaps this So-sam was born under the Heavenly Slaughter Star or the Divine Majesty Star.
Verifying that was a matter he could not handle.
Although he could read the essence and intelligence hidden deep in Dong Bongsu's eyes, he couldn't be certain.
The proof and verification of things beyond his constitution would be handled by the elders on his behalf once they returned to the family.
For now, all that mattered was to embrace this commodity named So-sam into the Tang Family and claim him first.
Even if this child was born under the Heavenly Slaughter Star, the Tang Family could deal with him.
It wasn't a big problem.
If that happened, the Tang Family would gain the fame of having dealt with the Heavenly Slaughter Star before it could fully manifest.
And if he was born under the Divine Majesty Star, the Tang Family would gain great fame in its own right and become the center of the Orthodox Faction's Murim.
If he was neither, and just the owner of the Acupointless Body, that was also good.
With that constitution alone, they could restore the Sky-Filling Flower Rain, of which only the form had been passed down for the last few hundred years.
If the Sky-Filling Flower Rain were to reappear in the Jianghu after hundreds of years, the Heroes of the Murim would bow their heads before the name of the Tang Family.
In a word, if So-sam was born under the Heavenly Slaughter Star, they would gain fame; if under the Divine Majesty Star, glory for the family; and if neither, the Tang Family's revival was already guaranteed by So-sam's Acupointless Body alone.
The ancestors of the Tang Family must have sent me to Soaring Sun City to open the path for the family's revival.
'Kukuku. The future of the Tang Family rests at my fingertips!'
As he thought this, Tang Oh grew even more tense.
With a rapid flurry of motion, Tang Oh's tense hand finally began to move.