CLS-Chapter 409

Chapter 409:

What kind of existence is a master?

There would be countless answers to this question. Those who have experienced masters would each have their own answer.

Of course, Tang Yong-min also had his answer to that.

To him, masters were simply ‘beings one should not get entangled with.’

Why?

Those with a low understanding of masters would tilt their heads in confusion. To martial artists, masters are always objects of admiration.

But Tang Yong-min’s thoughts were completely different.

‘They think that way because they haven’t experienced it.’

Of course, he understood admiring masters. But becoming that master and staying around that master are worlds apart.

As someone from the Sichuan Tang Family who had seen countless masters with his own eyes and experienced them with his own body, Tang Yong-min could confidently say: Every single one of those universally acknowledged masters is not normal.

They have to be that way.

While there are geniuses who fall from heaven, most masters are those who achieved their martial prowess through lifelong effort.

Isn’t that a good thing?

Not at all!

How many people are there in the Central Plains? If you gathered all the martial artists and threw them into the Yangtze River, the Yangtze would not just overflow but get completely blocked.

Don’t all those many martial artists make efforts?

Most of them do.

The desire to become strong is something everyone has. Though there may be some differences depending on the family they were born into or the martial arts they learned, the reason why those who started from similar starting lines show differences?

It’s because those who obtained the position of master practiced to the point of losing their minds.

Take the Dark King for example.

Now that gentleman has some status and has to handle various matters, so he lives somewhat like a human being, but before becoming the family head, the Dark King devoted himself to training without sleeping even one full period a day.

Since he spent eleven and a half months out of twelve doing closed-door training, eventually even the previous family matriarch couldn’t recognize the Dark King’s face. Even though he was her own child.

That’s what masters are.

Even the Dark King, who was born into the Sichuan Tang Family, one of the world’s prestigious families, had to spend three hundred and fifty days out of three hundred and sixty-five days in closed-door training, pushing himself to the extreme to reach the position of ‘master under heaven.’

Shouldn’t this be something to emulate?

Of course it should. Of course, but…

The problem is that their extreme training inevitably produces side effects.

What would be the mental state of a human who spends three hundred and fifty days out of a year in closed-door training in an underground room where no light enters? And not just for one or two years, but living that way for decades.

The current masters of the martial world were born by abandoning all the social skills and awareness that humans should learn while living with other humans, clinging only to strength.

The biggest mistake those who know the martial world only superficially make is the belief that masters would naturally have high virtue and be perfect in character.

‘As if that would be the case.’

What kind of character could humans have who threw needles without knowing their parents’ birthdays, and scattered poison without caring whether their children lived or died? Character is formed through learning and experience. What learning could there be in an underground training ground, what experience?

Therefore, Tang Yong-min could confidently say:

The most terrible beings in the martial world were the masters, and the ones to be most careful of in the martial world were the masters.

If possible, it’s better not to get entangled with them for a peaceful life.

But…

‘Why does this bastard have to get entangled with me?’

Tang Yong-min wanted to cry.

In front of him, a young man who looked quite irritatingly neurotic was glaring at him with his belly stuck out.

Wei Yan-ho.

The second son of the Guangdong Wei Family and the eye of the typhoon that was currently turning the martial world upside down.

Wei Yan-ho was both the most perfect example and counterexample of Tang Yong-min’s ‘master avoidance theory.’

Wei Yan-ho was standing shoulder to shoulder with the world’s masters at a very young age. According to Tang Yong-min’s theory, Wei Yan-ho should be different from other masters. He hadn’t done as much training as other masters yet. He should not suffer from the antisocial personality disorders that masters who devoted their entire lives to training reach in their later years – that would be normal.

But Wei Yan-ho was strengthening Tang Yong-min’s theory in a different way.

This bastard had already reached that place without going through that terrible training. Moreover, he was pioneering new realms that other masters couldn’t even climb to.

Hadn’t even the Dark King of the world suffered greatly thanks to Wei Yan-ho?

Watching the masters who had been causing trouble throughout the world suffer after meeting this hopeless bastard Wei Yan-ho was truly like sesame salt flavor. Getting back exactly what they had been doing was truly poetic justice.

That was really good. Really, truly good, but…

The problem was that this bastard’s troublemaking didn’t stay limited to just masters.

“Why aren’t you answering?”

“……”

Tang Yong-min’s face trembled. Wei Yan-ho was glaring at Tang Yong-min with an extremely annoying expression.

‘Anyway, this bastard’s mouth.’

He knew very well the ordinary truth that all troubles in the world come from the mouth, so why did he badmouth Wei Jeong-han in front of Wei Yan-ho?

Wei Yan-ho cracked his neck left and right as he approached Tang Yong-min.

“Mister, didn’t you hear what I said?”

“Ah, mister?”

“Yes, mister.”

Right, mister.

If you look at me, I’m a mister, not a bachelor. Heh heh heh heh…

Cold sweat began to flow down Tang Yong-min’s forehead.

Seeing that, Wei Yan-ho pursed his lips.

“I don’t have a hobby of oppressing elderly people either. If I did that, Father would get angry… .”

Wei Yan-ho glanced back at Wei Jeong-han and tilted his head.

“Would he?”

An expression of hopeful expectation appeared on Wei Jeong-han’s face.

“Keu-heu-heum, you’re not a child anymore, and if you want to do something, a father can’t stop you.”

“Heeeh?”

“Keu-heu-heum.”

Wei Yan-ho grinned at Wei Jeong-han and turned his head toward Tang Yong-min.

“That’s what he says.”

“Now look here, Young Master Wei.”

“Yes?”

Tang Yong-min quickly looked around. After confirming that there were no eyes watching this way, Tang Yong-min smiled awkwardly and said:

“I’ll admit that I made a slip of the tongue. And I apologize. Who in the world today would dare disrespect the Guangdong Wei Family and the Righteous Hero Sword?”

“But mister, you disrespected them.”

“…When people live, don’t they sometimes want to show off? Especially when they need to coordinate opinions on something, they might say nonsensical things as if they were natural.”

“Hmm.”

Wei Yan-ho scratched his chin.

“Is your neck okay?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“No, it’s just that you’re being so stiff toward us, so I was imagining how high-handed you must be toward other sects. It looks dangerous because you’re putting too much strain on your neck.”

Tang Yong-min became like a mute who had eaten honey. If he could find words to refute here, his name wouldn’t be Tang Yong-min but Jo Hyeon-il.

“My master said that flowers don’t bloom for ten days, and fame and ability don’t last a lifetime. So if you don’t lose your manners when you’re doing well, the mockery you receive after you fall will be reduced.”

“…Is, is that so?”

“Of course, that gentleman never followed that himself.”

When asked why then master didn’t know modesty, Baek Mu-han said very confidently:

“I am a flower that never falls, and my abilities keep increasing. So why should I pretend to be modest like other inferior beings?”

“…What am I supposed to learn from this?”

“Hm?”

“Nothing. Anyway!”

Wei Yan-ho waved his hand and said:

“Father says it has to be sent in utmost secrecy. That means there’s something that shouldn’t be shown to the Tang Family. So we can’t accept any inspections.”

“But we also have our position…”

“If you were going to look for your position, you shouldn’t have called us. Anyway, our position is like that, so if you have complaints, take them up with the Tang Family Head. We’ve been given full authority over this investigation. Right, Father?”

“I never received such…”

“Yes?”

“Ah, no, thinking about it, that seems to be the case.”

Wei Jeong-han diligently licked his lips.

‘That fraud-like bastard.’

Come to think of it, it might be fortunate that that bastard was lazy. A bastard who was disgustingly strong and had fraudulent tendencies too – if he had been diligent, he would have become a tremendous headache for the martial world.

No. He was already quite a headache as it was.

“Then that settles it?”

“Keu, keu-heum.”

Tang Yong-min couldn’t bring himself to speak and stepped back hesitantly.

If he followed logic and principles, there would be much to say, but such things were useless in this situation. He knew better than anyone that the martial world was a place where fists came before logic and principles.

“Then we’ll be going.”

When Wei Yan-ho walked away casually, Wei Jeong-han grinned and followed behind Wei Yan-ho.

Tang Yong-min’s face was completely distorted as he watched the two father and son figures moving away.

“Wasn’t that too much?”

“Hm?”

“It seems like it could have been resolved amicably?”

“What for?”

Wei Yan-ho waved his hand dismissively.

“Everyone in the world knows how much the Sichuan Tang Family disrespects and intimidates other sects, so there’s no need for us to treat them nicely. They need to experience it themselves to understand.”

“That’s true, but.”

Wei Jeong-han smiled to himself.

It was a fact known throughout the world how oppressive the Sichuan Tang Family was toward other sects. Unlikfe other aristocratic families or prestigious great sects that tried to maintain some dignity, the Sichuan Tang Family was a sect that knew how to utilize their bad reputation.

They showed courtesy to sects of similar level, but they were famous for ruthlessly intimidating places they thought they could suppress with force.

‘Even so, to actually intimidate them back.’

Wei Jeong-han looked at Wei Yan-ho with fresh eyes.

The image of Wei Yan-ho when he was young remained too strongly with him. No matter how much a child grows, isn’t it natural for a father to find them unreliable and worrying?

The world was already holding Wei Yan-ho up high. Only he couldn’t accept that fact.

Just like a moment ago.

Tang Yong-min, who had sneered at him and the Guangdong Wei Family name, immediately tucked his tail between his legs as soon as Wei Yan-ho stepped forward. This was clear evidence that Wei Yan-ho’s fame had surpassed Wei Jeong-han and the entire Guangdong Wei Family.

‘I should acknowledge it and step aside now.’

Now the representative of the Guangdong Wei Family was not Wei Jeong-han but Wei Yan-ho. It was time to acknowledge that fact.

Just as Wei Jeong-han was about to open his mouth with complex emotions mixing satisfaction and regret, Wei Yan-ho struck first.

“But, Father.”

“Mm?”

“How long does it take to go and come back with that report?”

“Since we brought a hawk, it should take three days at the fastest.”

At that moment, Wei Yan-ho’s face contorted.

“Only three days?”

“……”

“What kind of damn hawk is that fast? How far is it from here to Luoyang?”

“……”

“Uu-eum.”

As Wei Yan-ho seemed to be seriously contemplating something, Wei Jeong-han shook his head.

“I’ll absolutely send it from somewhere you don’t know, so don’t even think about catching the hawk.”

“What? You’re psychic.”

“……Kkeu-eung.”

Wei Jeong-han seriously wondered if he could really trust this bastard with the family.