The next day, Baek Family Manor welcomed the guest it had been waiting for.
A man by the name of Yeo Hyeok had come to the manor claiming to be Rangrang’s father.
“Welcome, sir. Forgive my discourtesy, but do you have any way to prove that you are Miss Rang’s father?”
At Baek Muryang’s question, Yeo Hyeok took a jade plaque from inside his robe.
Anyone could see that it formed a pair with the plaque Rangrang possessed. When he infused true qi into it, the two even resonated and trembled.
“I believe this should suffice as proof.”
Everyone present nodded.
Yeo Unjeok—no, Yeo Hyeok—slowly turned toward Rangrang.
His gaze churned like a storm-tossed sea as he looked upon the daughter he was seeing again after decades.
“Arang... my daughter...”
Rangrang merely looked bewildered.
And no wonder. She could not even remember that she had a father.
But blood was blood, and the bond between parent and child ran deep.
Rangrang suddenly remembered something from nearly twenty years ago.
Yeo Hyeok’s face was identical to that of the man who had once given her the plaque before leaving.
“Fa... ther?”
As though frightened, Rangrang—no, Yeo Arang—clutched one of Gu Ak’s hands tightly and hesitantly stepped forward.
“Arang...”
Yeo Arang reached out and touched Yeo Hyeok’s cheek. His rough hand came up to cover hers.
At that moment, huge tears spilled from both of her eyes.
“Father! Father!”
Standing beside Baek Muryang, Yanghwi watched the moving reunion between father and daughter.
What a wonderful thing.
A short while later.
After regaining control of his emotions, Yeo Hyeok once again offered a formal fist-and-palm salute.
“Forgive me. I have behaved discourteously before such distinguished company.”
“We understand. Please do not concern yourself over it.”
“I am grateful to hear you say so. Then, since I have already imposed upon you this much, may I ask one more favor of you, Clan Head?”
“A favor...?”
“Before I explain, allow me to ask one thing. Is there anyone present who should not be allowed to hear an important secret?”
Baek Muryang swept his gaze around the room before settling it on Yeo Arang and Gu Ak.
One was the man’s own daughter, and the other was effectively his son-in-law, so there was hardly any way to single either of them out.
In the end, Baek Muryang simply nodded.
“Please speak.”
Yeo Hyeok rummaged through his belongings and handed Baek Muryang two books.
They were worn volumes that looked easily two hundred years old.
Baek Muryang read the first few pages, and his eyes widened.
“Could these possibly be...!”
They were profound martial arts containing extraordinarily advanced principles.
And more than that, they were rooted in the Baek Family’s own martial learning.
“Sir. I will need an explanation.”
“Then perhaps revealing my lineage will suffice. Have you ever heard of the Shadow Ghost Sect?”
An exclamation immediately escaped Baek Muryang.
“The Divine Thief lineage!”
Throughout the history of the martial world, figures known as Divine Thieves had appeared from time to time.
It was a martial lineage whose successors quite literally possessed thieving skills worthy of the gods.
The old man was a successor of the Divine Thief lineage?
As Yanghwi stared at him in surprise, Yeo Hyeok’s voice transmission reached him.
—The previous Divine Thief was also involved in the Bloody Incident of the Sword King’s Tomb.
—After I was branded an enemy of the martial world because of that incident, the only reason this old man has managed to evade pursuit and survive until now is because my master accepted me as his disciple and gave me a new identity.
That explained several things Yanghwi had never been able to understand.
Such as why a man known as Turning a Deer into a Horse possessed martial prowess of at least the Peak Realm.
“The two martial arts I have presented to you were collected by one of my sect’s forebears from a branch lineage that split away from the Baek Family’s martial tradition.”
Yeo Hyeok dropped to one knee, offering the deepest courtesy he could in that position.
“I know of the kindness the Clan Head has shown my daughter. In repayment, I return these two martial arts to the Baek Family.”
Baek Muryang trembled, overwhelmed by emotions he could not put into words.
Why had the Baek Family, once counted among the Five Great Clans, declined with each passing generation?
Because over the course of centuries, every martial art other than its foundations had been lost.
Now... the Baek Family has superior martial arts of its own!
This was no small matter.
It was as though the Baek Family had been given the chance to lay a new cornerstone and rebuild the very foundation of itself as a martial family.
Of course, Baek Muryang was only at the second-rate level. For him to personally master the martial arts and then pass them on to his children and retainers would take a painfully long time.
Baek Muryang’s gaze settled on Yanghwi.
A genius who would master both martial arts in a fraction of the time he himself would need.
And the son he had adopted, yet toward whom he always felt guilty because he had done so little for him while receiving so much in return.
“Sir!”
It was not that Baek Muryang had no questions about the situation.
He suspected there were other circumstances and secrets that Yeo Hyeok had chosen not to reveal.
But the moment these two martial arts were returned to the Baek Family, none of that mattered anymore.
Baek Muryang sprang to his feet, rushed over to Yeo Hyeok, and dropped to one knee as well. Taking Yeo Hyeok by the hands, he helped him stand.
“We merely did what anyone should have done, yet you have bestowed an immeasurable kindness upon the Baek Family. I hardly know how to repay you.”
“Compared to the great kindness you showed me, it is no more than a small gesture.”
“I do not see it that way. Please allow me some way to repay this debt.”
“If you truly insist... then might this old man be permitted to stay with my daughter as a guest retainer of the Baek Family?”
To take a successor of the Divine Thief lineage in as a guest retainer.
It was not something Baek Family Manor could exactly advertise to the world, but it was an extraordinary stroke of fortune.
They could hardly have asked for anything better.
“Of course. I will set aside an entire pavilion for you and Miss Yeo.”
Yeo Hyeok smiled in satisfaction, then naturally turned his gaze toward Yanghwi.
—I have given you one more of my secrets.
—As promised, I did not read a single word of the contents. But merely learning the truth behind them seemed like a considerable weakness for you to place in my hands.
The sole successor of the Divine Thief lineage.
That was indeed a substantial secret to receive in return.
Baek Muryang already knew that Yanghwi had been the one arranging everything behind the scenes.
That meant they needed a plausible explanation for the martial countermeasures, and Yeo Hyeok had just provided the perfect one.
Yanghwi raised the corners of his lips and sent Yeo Hyeok a voice transmission of his own.
—That was a masterstroke, sir.
Yeo Hyeok’s eyes widened.
—How are you using voice transmission?
—I practiced a little, and it just started working.
Voice transmission was fundamentally a branch of sound arts. It required both a certain level of skill and sufficient internal energy.
It was certainly not something a child who had been learning martial arts for less than a year should have been able to perform.
—Would you count this as me giving you one more secret as well?
“Ha ha ha ha!”
Yeo Unjeok burst into laughter, half dumbfounded and half delighted.
Watching this child grow would surely become the second greatest pleasure of his life at Baek Family Manor.
*****
The Baek Family had a tradition of discussing and resolving major family matters through meetings of its senior members.
In truth, such meetings had previously been held only once every three or four months at most.
There had simply been so little going on that few matters ever warranted serious discussion.
But now—
“These senior meetings have certainly become frequent of late. All thanks to Young Master Hwi.”
Steward Han Seogeon, one of those attending the meeting, sat beside Yanghwi with a deeply satisfied smile.
Baek Muryang then formally opened the meeting and raised the first agenda item.
“Over the past few months, the Baek Family has grown considerably, both internally and externally. Or more precisely, we have laid the foundation for that growth.”
The bloody struggle among the three factions had come to be called the Black Path struggle for supremacy by the people of Agan County.
At its conclusion, the Baek Family had obtained the business known as Ho Yeong Pavilion.
Naturally, every retainer in the family had been run ragged ever since.
“The martial learning we recently acquired is another part of that foundation. Hwi, how far have you progressed with the two martial arts?”
“I have reached the first stage in both. That is enough of a foundation for me to begin teaching them to others.”
“My word. Truly? It has only been seven days.”
“Yes.”
Baek Muryang was sincerely amazed.
“Excellent. Then beginning today, let us start passing them on to the retainers.”
“Yes!”
“Next. Master of White Wing Pavilion, how is the management of Ho Yeong Pavilion proceeding?”
Gu Ak had been overseeing Ho Yeong Pavilion together with his lover, Yeo Arang.
Apparently he had something he wanted to report, because he immediately spoke up.
“Lately, the Gyojin Gang has been causing minor trouble around the place. Seems they’ve got their eye on Ho Yeong Pavilion.”
Ho Yeong Pavilion had been the most profitable of all the businesses formerly managed by the Red Bridge Gang.
For Baek Family Manor, whose Clan Head was only at the second-rate level and which possessed barely fifteen retainers, it was undeniably a large prize for its current strength.
“Is it because Agan County’s balance of power is settling into a two-way rivalry between the Suho Association and the Gyojin Gang?”
“They’ve consolidated their position, so it looks like they’re getting greedy again.”
After listening to the others, Baek Muryang stroked his chin in thought.
“This is troublesome. We cannot afford any disturbances around the Baek Family for the time being.”
“Why is that, Clan Head?”
“Ah. My sworn younger brother sent me a letter. He has business nearby and wishes to visit the Baek Family while he is in the area.”
“The Peerless Crouching Dragon is coming?”
Baek Muryang’s sworn younger brother was Jegal Seon, Young Clan Head of the Jegal Clan, known as the Peerless Crouching Dragon.
The Jegal Clan was renowned for its intellectual brilliance, yet Jegal Seon was an eccentric notorious for his almost fanatical obsession with martial arts.
It was a famous story in the surrounding region that such a man had been so taken with Peerless in Chivalry Baek Muryang’s devotion to the path of chivalry that he had sworn the Oath of the Peach Garden with him and willingly become his sworn younger brother.
Uncle never visited the family at this point in my previous life.
Come to think of it, at this time in his previous life, his father had been recuperating after suffering at Gu Ak’s hands.
That was probably why.
Wait. If that’s the case...
“Clan Head, is Uncle visiting alone?”
“He is the Young Clan Head of the Jegal Clan. There is no chance he would travel without guards. Ah, he also said his daughter is accompanying him.”
Hm? Uncle’s daughter?
His uncle, Jegal Seon, had an eldest son and a second daughter.
Or rather, he had.
His second daughter, Jegal Seolha, had died young after an unfortunate incident.
At this point, that hasn’t happened yet. Hold on. Could it be...?
Yanghwi set the thought aside for the moment.
He could see that everyone else was preoccupied with the immediate problem.
“If the issue is the Gyojin Gang provoking us, I have an idea.”
Everyone turned toward Yanghwi.
“An idea? What is it, Young Master Hwi?”
“We spread word that the Young Clan Head of the Jegal Clan will soon be visiting the Baek Family. That alone should ensure no Black Path faction dares touch us.”
“...If that is all, I am not sure it can be called an idea.”
He had a point.
What Yanghwi had proposed was not a solution. It was merely a temporary measure that postponed the immediate problem.
“Of course that isn’t all. While it buys us time, the Baek Family needs to increase its strength.”
The only reason the Gyojin Gang and other Black Path factions dared covet Baek Family property in the first place was because the Baek Family’s current power was so insignificant.
“The family now has a business that will provide a steady stream of income. Our partnership with the Hundred Books Merchant Guild will also soon become another source of funds. So I have a proposal, Clan Head. Why don’t we recruit a large number of new retainers?”
Baek Muryang stroked his chin.
“Hwi, you are right. Then what sort of people do you believe we should recruit?”
“Two kinds. Promising talents who can become pillars of the family in the future, and fighters we can put to use immediately.”
“So the rumor about the Jegal Clan is meant to buy us enough time to increase our strength.”
“Exactly, Clan Head.”
“Then how do you intend to attract these retainers?”
Naturally, if becoming a Baek Family retainer offered no advantages, they might still find promising young talents, but attracting proven fighters would be exceedingly difficult.
Of course, Yanghwi had already worked out a solution.
“Two things. The Hundred and Eight Heaven-Covering Swords, and a cause.”
“Hm? The Hundred and Eight Heaven-Covering Swords have only just become one of our ancestral martial arts. They are a supreme art capable of shaking the martial world. We cannot teach such a divine art to every retainer.”
It was a reasonable objection, but Yanghwi shook his head.
“From my analysis, the Hundred and Eight Heaven-Covering Swords are divided into eighteen opening moves, eighteen middle moves, and eighteen closing moves, for a total of fifty-four moves. The further one progresses, the deeper the principles they contain.”
In other words, the Hundred and Eight Heaven-Covering Swords as a whole were a peerless sword art, but if only the beginning was taught, they amounted to roughly a first-rate martial art.
In his previous life, Yanghwi had deliberately created the art this way so that a single sword art could be taught in layers—not only to direct descendants, but to a much broader body of retainers.
“I do not think we should use the Hundred and Eight Heaven-Covering Swords as bait. Too many people would simply run away the moment they learned the sword art.”
“So you intend to teach it only to promising talents and turn them into strength for the future. Is that right, Hwi?”
“Exactly. But if we want to recruit martial artists who can serve as immediate combat power, we will need another incentive. Something like a cause.”
“Tell us what you have in mind.”
“It’s simple. We bring in more people like Brother Gu—no, like the Master of White Wing Pavilion.”
In other words, Yanghwi was proposing that they accept Black Path fighters as Baek Family retainers.
As far as he was concerned, it was the best way to expand Baek Family Manor’s strength immediately.
Father and the other retainers are going to oppose it, though.
Sure enough, Baek Muryang and Steward Han were staring at Yanghwi with furrowed brows.