“Hehe, thank you for coming all this way.”

“Mhm.”

“I brewed this myself. I recently brought in some top-grade Dragon Well. I’ve no idea how it tastes to you, though.”

The middle-aged man took a sip of his tea.

Mo Yonggun smiled faintly.

“How is it?”

“Not bad.”

Dragon Well was considered the finest of tea leaves. And top-grade Dragon Well was something even high ministers and nobles couldn’t easily obtain.

Yet after drinking such a tea, all he said was not bad. From the host’s standpoint, it was enough to make his shoulders sag.

But Mo Yonggun’s expression did not change in the slightest.

“That’s a relief. At least your palate isn’t ruined.”

Watching Mo Yonggun break into a hearty, rolling laugh, the man asked,

“You should come to Sichuan sometime. I’ll serve you something good.”

Mo Yonggun’s eyes flashed.

Come to Sichuan?

In other words, he was saying they should join hands.

“Have you made up your mind?”

The middle-aged man—Tang Gwan, head of the Tang Clan of Sichuan—spoke in a flat voice.

“I deliberate with care, and decide like a blade. That’s my creed.”

“Oh?”

“If I had no intention of joining hands, I wouldn’t have come here.”

“Hahaha!”

Mo Yonggun laughed big for the first time in a while.

“I knew it before, but you really are straightforward.”

“You and I are only joining hands for profit. It’s not like either of us expects anything particularly grand of the other, is it?”

“You’re not wrong. But you and I both are heads who steer entire clans. Even after making a decision, we can’t help but consider every possible branch of the future.”

“The strength of a clan comes from the clan lord’s confidence.”

From that one line, you could tell a lot about how the Tang Clan was run.

In the Tang Clan, the clan lord might as well be a king. Other martial families were not so different, but in the Tang Clan in particular, if the clan lord’s capabilities were lacking, the clan could not exert its power.

Like a dark-path sect, he thought.

The difference between the Tang Clan and a dark-path sect, however, lay in the martial arts and poisonous hearts of the forces under them.

“I’ll be in your care from here on.”

Tang Gwan nodded silently.

It was impossible to tell whether he was naturally a man of few words, or just uncomfortable with this meeting. Mo Yonggun was certain it was the latter.

“By the way, your daughter...”

“What do you think of Mo Yong-woo?”

He cut him off without hesitation, but Mo Yonggun took no offense at all.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean—does he have what it takes to be the head of an organization?”

Mo Yonggun smiled.

“You don’t honestly think I’d seat someone incompetent as the commander of the Demon-Sweeping Corps, do you?”

“I see.”

“I’m not saying this because he’s my younger brother. He’s a genius. His martial arts go without saying, and he’s one of those rare talents with both martial and business acumen.”

“Mhm.”

Tang Gwan’s eyes gleamed.

“He’s thirty now, I hear?”

“Yes.”

“I also heard he still doesn’t have a match.”

Mo Yonggun’s eyes gleamed in turn.

From the moment Tang Gwan brought up Mo Yong-woo, he’d had a feeling something was coming. His intuition had been right.

Feigning ignorance, Mo Yonggun said,

“He’s been so busy with work he hasn’t been able to marry. It pains me, so I’ve been looking around for a good woman, but I haven’t seen any promising match yet.”

“Is that so.”

“The eldest daughter of the Central Plains Trading Company wasn’t bad. Once I search a little more, if I don’t find a better match than her, I’m planning to send him off with her.”

Tang Gwan spoke bluntly.

“Instead of some Central Plains trader, how about tying a bond with the master of Sichuan?”

Mo Yonggun’s eyes lit up again.

“Are you saying...”

“My eldest daughter also has yet to marry. She’s a year younger than the commander of the Demon-Sweeping Corps.”

In this world, it was taken for granted that one married at the proper age. No matter how famed a woman of the martial world might be, if she was twenty-nine, it was hard to find a match.

With a slightly troubled face, Mo Yonggun said,

“I’ll be frank. I myself would be overjoyed to form a bond with the Tang Clan, but shouldn’t we at least hear my youngest brother’s thoughts?”

Even the great Mo Yonggun could not help but tread carefully. He could easily give the impression that he found the daughter too old and was hesitant for that reason.

Of course, that wasn’t the only reason.

“Besides, when someone marries a daughter of the Tang Clan, doesn’t he traditionally enter as a son-in-law into her clan? I’m not sure whether Woo would accept that...”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Mhm?”

Tang Gwan gazed lazily out the window.

“I have no intention of taking him in as a son-in-law, so if he has the will, let’s push the marriage through.”

On the face of the man called the most venomous under heaven, there was a faint weariness.

He must have circumstances he couldn’t speak of. Mo Yonggun didn’t press that part.

“In that case, I’ll try persuading Woo. No later than midnight tomorrow, I’ll give you an answer.”

“Very well.”

Mo Yonggun compared the Tang Clan and the Central Plains Trading Company in his head.

If you considered sheer influence cast over the martial world, of course he should choose the Tang Clan. They were feared more than they were respected, but that too was a kind of power that couldn’t be ignored.

However, the Capital strength of the Central Plains Trading Company also couldn’t be lightly dismissed. Among trading companies, it boasted the deepest history. Even the martial world couldn’t keep house without the foundation of money.

A tough choice.

At least he understood one thing.

Tang Gwan was clearly overextending himself right now. Tang Gwan would use the Mo Yong Clan, but he was also fully aware that the Mo Yong Clan would use the Tang Clan.

And if he’s even willing to throw away the tradition of taking sons-in-law...

What kind of change had taken place in the heart of the proud lord of the Tang Clan?

“How are things on the other side?” 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

“Hm?”

As if to change the subject, Tang Gwan asked,

“I mean the Evil-Smiting Corps. No particular unusual movements?”

Mo Yonggun furrowed his brows.

“Unfortunately, there are.”

“...?”

“It hasn’t been fully confirmed yet, but it looks like the Je Gal Clan and the Paeng Clan are going to back the Evil-Smiting Corps.”

Tang Gwan let out a cold, derisive chuckle.

“Half-baked scribblers and meatheaded idiots?”

It was a terrifying remark. Even as the head of the Tang Clan, he was taking his fellow Six Great Clans far too lightly.

Mo Yonggun let out a soft laugh.

“You can’t dismiss them completely. The head of those scribblers is the Alliance of the Martial World’s military advisor, and the head of those idiots is called the hegemon of Hebei.”

“Even so, they don’t have enough power to sway the overall situation.”

“You’re not wrong. But the two of them are now serving as the wings of a single clan.”

Tang Gwan’s eyes flared with a savage light.

“You mean the Yeon Clan?”

“Correct.”

Mo Yonggun knew Tang Gwan’s eldest son had taken a brutal beating from Yeon Hojeong.

Of course, this wasn’t the kind of thing you brought up in a meeting like this.

“In my entire life, only two people have ever shocked me that much. One of them is the Yeon Clan’s eldest son, Yeon Hojeong.”

“Is that brat really so remarkable?”

“To put it simply, he’s a genius—and if I speak honestly, he’s a monster.”

Tang Gwan’s brows drew together.

He acknowledged Mo Yonggun’s martial arts. More than that, he acknowledged his resourcefulness.

A man worthy of being called both ferocious hero and crafty overlord was calling someone a monster.

Just what kind of creature was this Yeon Hojeong?

“Is he strong?”

“He’s strong. This past winter, I traded blows with him once. Shockingly, his martial arts surpass the level of elders of the Nine Sects and One Union, Six Great Clans. He looked superior even to the One Dragon Three Phoenixes.”

“To that degree?”

“More astonishing is that he’s only just come of age. At that age, with that level of martial arts—if he keeps growing like this, I guarantee he’ll become an uncontrollable monster and shake the Central Plains.”

It was no exaggeration.

Tang Gwan read Mo Yonggun’s eyes. From the pure astonishment, the anger, and other emotions in that gaze, he could tell Mo Yonggun was genuinely in awe of Yeon Hojeong.

A monster to that degree... Then it’s no wonder Yangseon ended up like that.

Inside, Tang Gwan ground his teeth.

The target of that anger was not Yeon Hojeong, but his own son, Tang Yangseon.

I warned him—never to let his guard down against an opponent, even if the man had never trained a day in his life and was just some wastrel.

He did not think his son’s arrogance itself was a problem.

The boy would one day be the master of the Tang Clan. The master of the Tang Clan was the master of Sichuan. At that level, a bit of arrogance was acceptable.

But arrogance and complacency were different matters.

The Tang Clan’s strength did not come from poison or hidden weapons. It came from their ruthless resolve and stubborn grit to kill their enemies no matter what.

And for that ruthlessness and grit to bite, you could never afford complacency.

His son had overlooked that. He had grown careless despite all his warnings.

Father.

Wrinkles formed on Tang Gwan’s brow.

You should have kept your eye on the boy who will lead the main family too.

Tang Gwan’s father, the previous head of the Tang Clan, was a legend even in the current martial world.

The Dark King, Tang Hyeong.

One of the ten Immortal Sovereign Kings, the greatest genius in the Tang Clan’s history, ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) who had reached the ultimate realm in both poison and hidden weapons.

Like most Immortal Sovereign Kings, Tang Hyeong had stepped back from the front lines and devoted himself to cultivating. But because he doted on his grandchildren so much, he would occasionally pass down teachings.

And the grandchild he cherished most was Tang Gwan’s eldest daughter, Tang Sang-a.

Tang Gwan recalled his father’s regretful voice.

“It’s a pity. If Sang-a had been born a man, she would have inscribed her name in history as the greatest clan lord we ever had.”

Somehow those words had leaked. One by one, voices began to say they should assign major responsibilities to Tang Sang-a, citing the previous clan lord.

That wasn’t all. Beyond her martial talent, Tang Sang-a had outstanding beauty and a strong, decisive character, making her the object of longing for the young warriors of Sichuan. Within the Tang Clan itself, the number of blood relatives who followed her steadily increased.

As clan lord, Tang Gwan could not pretend not to see that.

As a father, it was painful enough to make him shed blood tears, but as clan lord, he had to protect the clan’s line and tradition.

“If he’s such an exceptional man, then we have to rip out the sprout as soon as possible.”

Mo Yonggun smirked.

“We tried. But he wasn’t easy prey.”

“What do you mean?”

“The truly frightening thing about that brat Yeon Hojeong isn’t his martial arts, it’s his mind.”

“His mind?”

“Yes. It’s embarrassing to admit, but I was taken by him myself.”

That was not a statement he could let pass lightly.

Truthfully, Tang Gwan was not overly fond of Mo Yonggun, but he acknowledged his martial arts and his mind.

And yet that same Mo Yonggun was saying he’d been hit by a boy barely come of age.

“In that case...”

BUBBLE, BUBBLE.

The tea in the cup he had not touched began to boil. It was a display of enormous internal energy.

“Then we have to pull him out even more quickly.”

Mo Yonggun smiled.

“I think so too.”

“Are you planning to wait for the right moment? Or launch an active offensive?”

Mo Yonggun smiled again.

“I had planned to wait slowly for the right time, but it seems your thoughts differ from mine.”

CRACK!

Tang Gwan snapped off the edge of the table. He had easily torn away the solid wooden corner of the table with nothing but his index finger and thumb.

“Do you know much about poisonous weeds?”

“How could I presume to discuss poison in front of the lord of the Tang Clan?”

VMMMMMM.

The splinter of wood in Tang Gwan’s palm slowly rose into the air.

“Among poisonous weeds, some die so easily it’s laughable, while others are monsters that sprout up tall in the time it takes to drink a single cup of tea.”

Mo Yonggun’s eyes gleamed.

“You’re saying Yeon Hojeong is that kind?”

“I wouldn’t know. But if you speak of him like that, he’s clearly no ordinary weed.”

“Mhm.”

Tang Gwan clenched his fist.

FSSSSSH!

The piece of wood floating in midair turned to vapor on the spot.

“My temperament is far too impatient to just sit and watch this childish proxy war. Let’s rip his roots out quickly.”