Dang Myeong came out to the entrance of Tang Clan Tower and saw the people of Qingcheng and the Emei Sect.
Dang Myeong approached the ten people, five from each sect, as though they had arranged it beforehand.
Among the people of Qingcheng and the Emei Sect, two whose faces he knew greeted him subtly with their eyes.
One was…… Jeongmyeong, who had been called one of the Two Bright Stars of Sichuan together with him, and the other was Seonhwa, known as the foremost rising star of the Emei Sect.
When Dang Myeong approached, the people of Qingcheng and the Emei Sect looked at him. At the sight of the people of the two sects merely staring blankly, Chief Administrator Dang Jinsu of the Tang Clan opened his mouth.
“This is Clan Lord Dang Myeong, Clan Lord of the main house.”
At Dang Jinsu’s words, slight bewilderment appeared on the faces of the people from Qingcheng and the Emei Sect.
Of course, they had also heard that Dang Myeong had become Clan Lord. Their sects were not so blind to information that they would not know that.
The problem was that Dang Myeong was staring blankly at them. This was as if…….
‘Is he telling us to show courtesy first?’
‘He wants us to greet him first?’
That was what it meant.
Until recently, Dang Myeong had been a rising star on the same level as Jeongmyeong and Seonhwa. To show courtesy to a junior who had always greeted them first when he saw them…….
“Ahem!”
Daoist Munsun of Qingcheng cleared his throat softly and opened his mouth.
“Dang Myeong, you…….”
At Daoist Munsun’s words, Dang Myeong narrowed his eyes.
“Though I am your junior, I am the Clan Lord of the Sichuan Tang Clan. If I am spoken down to by Daoist Munsun, that lowers the prestige of the main house.”
At Dang Myeong’s firm words, bewilderment appeared on the faces of the people from Qingcheng and the Emei Sect.
They had not expected him to assert his clan’s name so firmly. The Dang Myeong they knew was a courteous rising star, not such an arrogant young man.
At that, Jeongmyeong hurriedly stepped forward.
“Dang Myeong, why are you so on edge?”
Jeongmyeong stepped forward, leaning on their friendship. To Jeongmyeong, who knew nothing of what had happened in Dang Myeong’s previous life, Dang Myeong was simply his friend.
“Am I wrong? I am the Clan Lord of the Sichuan Tang Clan. Moreover, this is a place where sect faces sect…… Just because I am young, I cannot allow even my clan to be spoken down to, can I?”
“That…….”
Seeing Jeongmyeong hesitate, Daoist Munsun opened his mouth.
“Yes, Clan Lord Dang is right. Even if he is young and low in generation rank, Clan Lord Dang Myeong is the Clan Lord of a clan.”
Then Daoist Munsun gave Dang Myeong a Cupped-Fist Salute and bowed his head.
“Munsun of Qingcheng greets Clan Lord Dang.”
The Clan Lords of the Five Great Clans and the Sect Leaders of the Nine Sects and One Gang were recognized as being of the same generation rank.
In that case, Munsun, a first-generation disciple, had to show Dang Myeong courtesy as a junior.
Once Munsun showed courtesy, the Emei Sect nuns, who had hesitated for a moment, also brought their palms together and bowed their heads.
When they showed courtesy, Dang Myeong gave a Cupped-Fist Salute and bowed his head.
“Dang Myeong, Clan Lord of the Sichuan Tang Clan, greets the seniors.”
It was a greeting that was neither excessive nor rude.
“Ahem!”
“We have already heard that Clan Lord Dang Myeong has taken the position of Clan Lord. You have risen to a difficult position in a difficult time.”
Since the timing was what it was, Munsun did not offer congratulations.
“So I am working hard.”
Dang Myeong answered quietly, then looked at Tang Clan Tower and continued speaking.
“Currently, the main house is establishing a new foundation, so we are not allowing outsiders inside.”
“Outsiders…….”
Munsun looked at Dang Myeong for a moment, then opened his mouth.
“Does the Clan Lord perhaps resent our sect?”
“What could we possibly resent? Is there perhaps something you think we would resent?”
At Dang Myeong’s cold words, Munsun paused for a moment, then said, “It seems there is some misunderstanding. It appears you resent our sect for coming to the Tang Clan too late…… but during that time, our sect and the Emei Sect were dispatching martial artists to the border region between Sichuan Province and the Demonic Cult to prevent another unfortunate incident like what happened to the Tang Clan, and we were preparing together with the Martial Alliance.”
“Homage to Amitabha Buddha.”
Middle-aged Abbess Gyeono brought her palms together and continued speaking.
“The Emei Sect and Qingcheng were doing their utmost to ensure that what happened to the Tang Clan would not happen again.”
At Abbess Gyeono’s words, Dang Myeong opened his mouth.
“I misunderstand nothing. It is simply that the main house’s circumstances are as you see, so it is difficult for us to welcome guests.”
At Dang Myeong’s words, Abbess Gyeono let out a small sigh. Then she shook her head slightly and opened her mouth.
“Then we will tell you why we have come.”
“Please speak.”
“As you may have heard, experts from the Nine Sects and One Gang and many other sects have currently been dispatched to block the entry routes from the Demonic Cult into the Central Plains. Thus, we would like to receive support from the Tang Clan in the form of antidotes and poisons for the experts stationed there.”
“Ha!”
Dang Myeong laughed without realizing it. At that sight, Daoist Munsun’s face hardened.
“Clan Lord Dang! Is that not too rude?”
At Daoist Munsun’s shout, the faces of the Tang Clan people hardened. But because Dang Myeong had given no order, they silently glared at Daoist Munsun.
However, Daoist Munsun did not back down at all and met their gazes.
“Tell me. What is so amusing that you laugh like that?”
At Daoist Munsun’s words, Dang Myeong shook his head.
“Even after seeing the main house’s circumstances, you are asking us to provide antidotes and poisons?”
“The Tang Clan’s situation is pitiful. All of the Central Plains martial world knows this and grieves over…….”
Dang Myeong raised his hand and stopped Munsun from speaking. At that gesture, Daoist Munsun’s face twisted.
Even if he was a Daoist who had cultivated the Way his entire life, at his core, he was a martial artist. For someone younger than him and lower in generation rank…… even if that person was the Tang Clan Lord, to cut off his words with a hand gesture!
TREMBLE, TREMBLE!
Looking at Daoist Munsun as he trembled, Dang Myeong opened his mouth.
“First, as you thought, our Tang Clan does not have good feelings toward Emei and Qingcheng.”
“What? What do you mean by that?”
“How many days do you think it took for the main house to become like this?”
“What?”
“The time it took for the main house to be attacked and reduced to that devastation was two days. Where were Qingcheng and Emei then?”
“That…….”
When Daoist Munsun, realizing what Dang Myeong was saying, suddenly failed to continue, Abbess Gyeono opened her mouth.
“What happened to the Tang Clan is regrettable, but my sect and the Qingcheng Sect were also surrounded by the Demonic Cult.”
“I know. It was the Black Wind Unit.”
“H-How do you know that?”
“How many of them were there?”
“Well, they were surrounding us…….”
“The Commander of the Black Wind Unit was at the main house. If the commander was at the main house, how many martial artists could they have left behind? Ten? Fifteen?”
“That…….”
Abbess Gyeono faltered. As Dang Myeong had said, at that time, there had only been a few Demonic Cult experts at the mountain gates of the Emei Sect and Qingcheng Sect.
“Both Qingcheng and Emei should know the answer to that.”
“But…… what is visible is not everything. Even if the force surrounding us was small, the moment we left the mountain gates, Demonic Cult forces could have been lying in ambush and attacked us.”
“‘Could have been’…….”
Dang Myeong laughed.
“And so the main house became like this. Because of an assumption that something ‘could have been.’”
At Dang Myeong’s words, Abbess Gyeono let out a quiet groan and recited a Buddhist invocation.
‘We came where we should not have come. We came where we should not have come.’
Among the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Clans, the ones closest to the Sichuan Tang Clan were Emei and Qingcheng.
That was why people from the two sects had come forward to ask support from the Sichuan Tang Clan, whose circumstances were difficult. But seeing things now, this was a path they should never have taken.
Daoist Munsun hurriedly said,
“If you put it that way, then we have something to say as well. Qingcheng and Emei sent messages requesting rescue, but the Tang Clan gave no reply and sent no martial artists.”
At Daoist Munsun’s words, Dang Myeong laughed.
“Do you know that the main house sent a messenger pigeon to the Jegal Clan?”
“……I know.”
“Then how did the main house know of the attack on the Jegal Clan and send a message?”
“That is…….”
When Daoist Munsun looked at him as though puzzled, Dang Myeong said, “Because we captured a Demonic Cult spy monitoring the main house.”
“A spy?”
“From him, we learned that the Demonic Cult was targeting two places: the main house and the Jegal Clan. So we informed the Jegal Clan, and the main house prepared. Was that wrong? In addition, we also knew that the martial artists surrounding Qingcheng and Emei would gather to attack the main house.”
“Evidence…….”
“If you want evidence, it is everywhere.”
With a hardened face, Dang Myeong pointed behind himself.
“That is the evidence.”
“Ugh!”
When Daoist Munsun hesitated, unable to say anything, Dang Myeong opened his mouth.
“And there is one more thing about Qingcheng and Emei that disappointed us.”
“……You still have more to say?”
“While we were absent, thieves came in aiming for the main house’s warehouses. The two sects that supposedly think so closely of the main house simply watched it happen. Surely you will not say that the two sects did not know?”
“…….”
Dang Myeong looked at Daoist Munsun.
“Will you say it was because you were protecting the region near the Demonic Cult?”
“That is r-right.”
“Does the Qingcheng Sect have so few people?”
“What?”
When Daoist Munsun’s face hardened, Dang Myeong smiled and looked at Jeongmyeong.
“Jeongmyeong, you tell me. It was merely the Heungcheong Sect, Taeul Sect, and Nine Swords Sect. If even one first-generation disciple of Qingcheng—no, any one second-generation disciple—had come and told them not to, would that not have been enough? If a disciple of Qingcheng spoke, would they dare defy those words?”
Dang Myeong looked at Jeongmyeong with a cold face.
“Do you intend to say that Qingcheng, which can be reached in six hours by horse, had no room to send even one person?”
At Dang Myeong’s words, Jeongmyeong’s face turned pale.
“Th-That…….”
Jeongmyeong, unable to continue and repeating only “that,” suddenly flushed red.
And then…….
“HURK!”
Jeongmyeong suddenly sprayed blood.
“HURK!”
Feeling ashamed at Dang Myeong’s words, the initial symptoms of qi deviation had erupted in an instant.
“HURK!”
Seeing Jeongmyeong vomit blood once more, Dang Myeong’s body flinched.
‘Are you…… that ashamed and that sorry?’
As he watched Jeongmyeong feeling sorry and ashamed toward him, Dang Myeong bit his lip.
It hurt his heart to wound his friend…… but he could not forgive Qingcheng and Emei.
“Jeongmyeong!”
Daoist Munsun hurriedly pressed Jeongmyeong’s acupoints, took a medicinal pill from his robe, and placed it in his mouth.
Then Daoist Munsun looked at Dang Myeong.
“Today’s matter…… someday…… there will come a day when we speak of it again.”
“Then do so.”
“GNASH! Let’s go!”
Daoist Munsun took Jeongmyeong into his arms and kicked off the ground, and the Qingcheng Sect disciples hurriedly followed after him.
The Emei Sect experts looked at Dang Myeong for a moment, then sighed.
“Homage to Amitabha Buddha.”
The Emei Sect experts, who had brought their palms together and recited the Buddhist invocation, also launched themselves after the Qingcheng Sect experts.
Watching the Qingcheng and Emei Sect experts disappear, Dang Myeong turned around.
Behind him were many Tang Clan family members looking at him. Looking at those family members, Dang Myeong said,
“A favor tenfold…….”
At Dang Myeong’s words, the family members shouted in unison.
“A grudge a hundredfold!”
At the family members’ words, Dang Myeong nodded.
“The martial world…… did not help the main house. And it demanded the main house’s antidotes and poisons. As if that were only natural!”
At Dang Myeong’s words, the family members bit their lips.
“Qingcheng and Emei will not forget what happened today. However!”
Dang Myeong met each of the family members’ eyes one by one as he spoke.
“The main house will not forget what happened today either.”
“We will never forget!”
“We will not forget.”
At the family members’ words, Dang Myeong nodded and moved into Tang Clan Tower.