CLS-Chapter 407

Chapter 407:

“This person is Tang Jin?”

“That’s right.”

“Hmm.”

Wei Jeong-han could only let out a groan.

What entered his sight was a man who had withered away like a dried tree. His sunken eye sockets showed eyes that had lost focus, and his emaciated wrists looked as if they would snap at any moment.

‘This fellow is the One-Hand Lone Soul Tang Jin?’

Anyone who lived with one foot in the martial world would have heard of the alias One-Hand Lone Soul. Every time that hand hidden within his sleeve moved stealthily, another wandering ghost would appear in the world. That very One-Hand Lone Soul was now lying here.

‘The situation is more serious than I thought.’

Wei Jeong-han finally understood why the Dark King had set aside everything to request help from the Righteous Martial Alliance.

This was no ordinary matter.

One-Hand Lone Soul was acknowledged by everyone in the martial world as a supreme master. For such a person to be reduced to this pitiful state.

“Please tell me the exact symptoms.”

“Just as I said.”

“Please tell me once more.”

At Wei Jeong-han’s firm attitude, Dark King sighed.

“I’m not hiding anything. This really is everything. One day, suddenly, those who were training began having seizures and started attacking their surroundings indiscriminately.”

Wei Jeong-han’s eyes lit up.

“They lost their reason?”

“That’s right.”

Dark King frowned as if the topic was unpleasant to mention.

“There must have been considerable damage.”

“This is the Tang Family.”

Wei Jeong-han understood the situation with that single statement from Dark King.

‘That’s true.’

This was the Tang Family.

The Tang Family’s martial arts didn’t aim to kill people outright. The essence of Tang Family martial arts was to inflict even small wounds and infiltrate poison through those wounds.

Conversely, this meant that if only the poison was removed, the wounds weren’t much to worry about. Fortunately, the Tang Family had an abundance of antidotes and medical skills that were second to none in the world.

‘But if someone like Tang Jin had a seizure outside the Tang Family, it would have been an enormous catastrophe.’

Wei Jeong-han looked at Tang Jin with a serious expression.

“How many people are like this?”

“…About twenty.”

“Twenty?”

Wei Jeong-han looked back at Dark King with bewildered eyes.

“Twenty people fell into qi deviation, and you haven’t discovered the cause?”

“That’s why I called you.”

Wei Jeong-han could only let out a deep sigh.

‘No matter how I think about it, this is strange.’

For martial artists, qi deviation was like an unavoidable fate. No matter how stable the martial arts one learned, there was always some possibility of it happening.

The problem was that this slim possibility had occurred simultaneously in multiple people.

‘He said there were no newly learned martial arts.’

Then the problem must have occurred in the martial arts they had been learning all along, but why would the Tang Family’s martial arts, which had been passed down for hundreds of years, suddenly cause this chain of qi deviations?

It was logically impossible.

Wei Jeong-han, who had carefully reached out to check Tang Jin’s pulse, frowned.

‘It’s definitely qi deviation, but…’

Though his body was too weak to detect the pulse clearly, that faint pulse was definitely seething.

“Hmm…”

Wei Jeong-han carefully lowered Tang Jin’s wrist and looked back at Dark King.

“Are you certain that this condition is definitely qi deviation?”

“…Why do you ask?”

“I feel something unsettling about it.”

“Unsettling?”

“Yes. Rather than unsettling, it’s more like…”

Wei Jeong-han trailed off.

How should he describe this sensation? It was different from unsettling…

‘Déjà vu?’

Wei Jeong-han clenched his fist.

It overlapped.

The scene he had witnessed overlapped with Tang Jin’s current appearance before his eyes.

“Since you put it that way, I should be honest too. I’m certain this condition is a type of qi deviation. But… it’s definitely different somehow from the qi deviation symptoms I’ve seen before. If you ask me exactly what part is different, it’s hard to explain, but…”

“Hmm…”

Wei Jeong-han nodded and turned his head to look at Jang-il.

“What do you think?”

“It reeks of something fishy.”

“Fishy?”

“Yes. Doesn’t it feel somewhat artificial? Living life, there are days when you break your bowl, but not every beggar who goes begging has their bowl broken. If such a thing happened, it means someone behind the scenes plotted to break those bowls.”

Jang-il said with a sly smile.

“Of course, the question remains of who would have the guts to plot something in the Sichuan Tang Family.”

Wei Jeong-han also nodded as if he agreed. Then he turned his gaze back to Dark King.

“For now, I’ve found the concerning part.”

“You found it?”

“Yes. However, I’m not certain yet…”

Dark King looked at Wei Jeong-han with a surprised expression.

‘Did he really find something?’

He had no particular expectations for anyone other than Wei Yan-ho. And he hadn’t called Wei Yan-ho to solve this incident either. He thought the job of those excluding Wei Yan-ho was simply to investigate the incident and report it to the Divine Strategist.

What he wanted to borrow was the Divine Strategist’s mind.

But he found something?

“What do you mean by ‘concerning part’?”

Wei Jeong-han shook his head.

“Since it’s such a sensitive matter, I hope you’ll understand that it’s difficult for me to tell you right now.”

“Sensitive?”

“Yes. If my thoughts are correct…”

Wei Jeong-han looked at Tang Jin with a dark expression.

“This might not be a matter concerning only the Sichuan Tang Family.”

Dark King’s face hardened.

Distinctly.

***

“…”

Such things are surprisingly common in the world.

Things that twist your insides.

For example, seeing your child rolling around lazily in the house after you personally told him to rest well today.

‘Though I said it with my own mouth…’

Of course, it was Wei Jeong-han who told Wei Yan-ho that he should just rest comfortably. But Wei Jeong-han was able to realize one very obvious fact today.

Humans are never rational beings.

The pressure of wandering around the Sichuan Tang Family as someone from the Righteous Martial Alliance, and the burden of possibly being involved in an unimaginably huge incident.

In the midst of all that, the blade-like gazes piercing their backs.

All those heart-clenching events that he had endured and finally returned to their lodgings, but the one remaining at the lodgings was…

Purrrrrrrrrr.

Wei Yan-ho’s mouth trembled.

What was happening?

No, he was just snoring.

Watching Wei Yan-ho lying sprawled in the living room instead of using his own room and snoring heavily, Wei Jeong-han felt murderous intent rising.

“Please calm down.”

“Huh?”

“Put down your sword first…”

Jang-il subtly grabbed Wei Jeong-han’s arm. Wei Jeong-han unconsciously let go of his beloved sword and let out a deep sigh.

“Whew…”

Well, it wasn’t really that infuriating.

Just annoying.

So annoying that he wanted to splash a bucket of cold water on that carefree face.

“Mmmmph.”

Wei Jeong-han thought he would have a hard time becoming a patriarch. How could he manage if he couldn’t even keep the words that came from his own mouth?

“Let’s have a meal first.”

Jang-il said with a knowing smile, as if he understood Wei Jeong-han’s feelings completely.

“…Let’s do that.”

Moisture gathered in Wei Jeong-han’s eyes.

Look at Jang-il.

How mature he was.

‘It’s not just Jang-il.’

The other family children who came with him this time were all outstanding talents.

Jang-il had the problem of lacking composure usually, but more than that, he was a clever and smart fellow. Peng Dao-ji had been timid before, but recently he was regaining confidence and becoming a fine young man by anyone’s standards.

What was there to say about the great Mu-san, raised under Shaolin’s strict discipline?

In contrast to them…

“Kuuuuul.”

“…”

But he’s my child!

They say even a hedgehog finds its own child adorable!

Why couldn’t he be as happy as a hedgehog?

Wei Jeong-han suppressed the chill rising in his chest and quietly spoke.

“Wake up.”

“Mmmmph.”

“…Yan-ho.”

Wei Jeong-han said while rubbing his face.

“Even though you left home for a while, I’ve been watching you for more than a year or two. I know better than anyone that you wouldn’t be sleeping in this situation.”

At that moment, Wei Yan-ho slyly opened his eyes slightly.

His slightly opened eyes quickly scanned here and there, then slowly began to close again…

“I said wake up, you bastard!”

Wei Jeong-han finally exploded and grabbed Wei Yan-ho to throw him.

“Whoa!”

Wei Yan-ho spun in the air, landed gracefully, opened his eyes wide and asked.

“Why are you throwing a sleeping person around?”

“Sleep? You were sleeping?”

Wei Jeong-han said as if his insides were burning.

“I’m your father, you bastard! You’re invincible when it comes to laziness, but I also know you’re surprisingly sensitive. You must have woken up the moment we entered!”

“…You’re like a ghost.”

“And in the meantime, you were pretending to sleep because you were afraid we might give you work to do! Oh, heaven is so heartless. How did I end up giving birth to such a thing?”

Wei Yan-ho grinned.

“Actually, it’s true that there’s no child like me.”

“Right, there isn’t. There isn’t! Where in the world would there be a child like you? There isn’t! None!”

Though the meaning seemed slightly different, it was a moment when father and son agreed for the first time in a while.

“From tomorrow, you’ll follow me too.”

“Me?”

“Yes!”

“Wait a moment, Father.”

Wei Yan-ho spoke with a serious expression.

“Of course I understand why you’re saying this, but I don’t think this is a very good choice.”

Wei Jeong-han’s face trembled.

‘Alright, let me hear the reason.’

He must have his own thoughts, so it wouldn’t be good to force his will unilaterally. Actually, Wei Yan-ho was an adult now, wasn’t he? He couldn’t drag him around forever.

“Fine. Why?”

“Ah, why are you asking when you already know?”

Wei Yan-ho answered with a bright smile.

“There’s no way I’d be helpful. Obviously, if you take me around, you’ll get angry, and when you get angry, people can’t look at cases objectively. In the end, I’d be a hindrance to the investigation. I’m not saying this because I absolutely don’t want to go or because it’s troublesome. Absolutely not.”

“…”

“People should know their place. I think it would be better for the family, the investigation team, and the Righteous Martial Alliance if I just stayed here. Don’t you think so too, Fath—”

Shing.

“Father?”

Wei Jeong-han drew his sword and tilted his head.

“What did you say?”

“…”

“Come on, say it one more time, my beloved son.”

“Um, the meaning of ‘beloved’ seems a bit strange.”

“Originally, you give an extra rice cake to the one you dislike, and give an extra beating to the one you like.”

Sword energy began to emanate from Wei Jeong-han’s blade.

“In that sense, I really have a good son. Even if I beat you to death, you won’t die. You probably won’t even get hurt.”

“I’ll die if you cut me with a sword, Father! I’ll die!”

“That’s why I’m going to test it now! Come here, you damn bastard!”

When Wei Jeong-han charged forward, sword energy streaming, Wei Yan-ho began running away, screaming “Squawk squawk!”

“Come here! Won’t you come here? Kaaaah!”

Watching Wei Jeong-han chase after Wei Yan-ho, Jang-il smiled warmly.

What a close father and son.

Really close.