CLS-Chapter 509

Chapter 509:

“Are they really going?”

“Are they actually going?”

“They’re really going, the crazy bastards.”

The reaction of the crowd watching Wei Yan-ho’s group standing at the main gate of the Tang Family with their packed belongings was unanimous.

They had hoped against hope, but hope had failed to stop them and was now getting beaten to a pulp.

Tang Cheon-gun stared blankly at Wei Jeong-han and Wei Yan-ho shouldering their bundles.

‘What’s different about them?’

Right, what could be different?

It’s not like they have three eyes or four arms. They’re not three-headed, six-armed monsters.

Yet the reason these damn bastards didn’t seem like the same species lay in that absurd driving force of theirs.

That bizarre driving force that let them casually do things that ordinary people—no, even somewhat extraordinary people—would hesitate over.

‘Driving force is only driving force when it’s pointed in the right direction.’

What kind of driving force is that? It’s just madness.

While everyone was thinking similar thoughts, the Guangdong Wei Family members were greeting people with utterly bright faces. Watching that sight made his stomach turn over once more.

He wanted to stop them.

He really wanted to stop them.

But there was no justification.

When a father says he’s going to drag back his mentally deranged eldest son who joined the Demonic Cult, what justification could there be to stop him?

If such a thing had happened to him, Tang Cheon-gun would have grabbed his hand and foot guards and rushed out immediately.

The only problem was that the place this household’s eldest son had defected to wasn’t some common cult, but the Demonic Cult.

“Shouldn’t we stop them?”

Tang Cheon-gun turned his head with a dazed expression.

Zhuge Yeom was urging him with an anxious face.

‘He’s lost it.’

He swore this was the first time in his life he’d seen Zhuge Yeom looking so flustered.

The situation was strange enough to make Zhuge Yeom, head of the Zhuge Family and strategist of the Heavenly Alliance, wear such a vacant expression. Well, from Zhuge Yeom’s perspective, it would be nothing but incomprehensible events.

Being smart means being rational. Being rational means knowing how to calculate gains and losses in all undertakings.

To such a Zhuge Yeom, those people would seem like incomprehensible creatures. What could the Guangdong Wei Family bastards possibly gain by charging into the Demonic Cult now?

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

At best, they’d only hear mockery about being a father who accepted a dog’s death out of love for his child.

‘Even Wei San-ho probably doesn’t want that.’

Everyone wanted to stop them, but those two father and son were rampaging without listening to other people’s opinions even with their ear tips. If they were manageable people, he’d beat them up and lock them away, but his bones were too fragile to withstand Wei Yan-ho’s merciless punches.

If that bastard had even a speck of respect for elders and common sense, he could at least try shouting at him, but it was better in many ways to keep his mouth shut rather than risk getting his teeth knocked out while yelling.

“If you’re confident, you try stopping them.”

“N-no, we can’t send them off like this. My, my plan…”

Zhuge Yeom looked like he’d seen a ghost.

‘Of course he would.’

Zhuge Yeom had tried to unite the Sichuan martial world around Wei Yan-ho. It wasn’t a bad idea. The Heavenly Alliance, which had already gone to an irreversible point with the Righteous Martial Alliance, needed a new focal point.

Someone who could ease relations with the Righteous Martial Alliance while not particularly exercising power in Sichuan. Yet someone with fame and ability exceeding the current Cheok Su-gwang.

There was only Wei Yan-ho.

Moreover, unlike Cheok Su-gwang who was completely uncontrollable, Wei Yan-ho could be controlled through Wei Jeong-han. Individually, Wei Yan-ho was more hopeless than Cheok Su-gwang, but at least he had a leash on him.

Even if that leash was as thin as a thread, it was better than nothing. Besides, the leash didn’t need to be that sturdy. Given Wei Yan-ho’s disposition, it was obvious he wouldn’t get involved in the Heavenly Alliance’s operations any more than Cheok Su-gwang did.

He was the type who’d hole himself up and play if you just provided him with a good room and good food, so what was there to worry about?

Hang up Wei Yan-ho’s signboard and let Zhuge Yeom handle the actual operations. That was probably the plan, but…

‘He underestimated people.’

Those who see someone evaluated as uncontrollable fall into baseless confidence that they could control that person. He’d seen countless people go to ruin that way, yet they’re uniquely confident they won’t fall into such traps themselves.

This was the result.

Watching Zhuge Yeom, whose soul had departed, Tang Cheon-gun clicked his tongue.

He couldn’t easily imagine what Zhuge Yeom was thinking right now. No, maybe he wasn’t thinking anything at all. His head would be completely empty.

Wei Jeong-han, carrying his bundle, approached him.

“Head of the Tang Family, well then, we’ll be going. We’ve caused you much trouble.”

Much trouble indeed.

Tremendous trouble indeed.

Even now, thinking about the money needed to repair the shattered halls made Tang Cheon-gun’s eyes tear up a little. Just thinking about it made his stomach turn and his anger boil.

‘Still, what I gained is greater.’

Thanks to Wei Yan-ho, he had regained unshakeable power. The damage was great, but it was worth enduring for that one thing. If the damage increased just a little more, he’d have to calculate gains and losses, but for now! For now it was fine.

‘So please go, go!’

Tang Cheon-gun was fighting with Tang Cheon-gun.

The Tang Cheon-gun pursuing the cause of stopping them from going to the Demonic Cult and the Tang Cheon-gun pursuing personal interests who wished they’d disappear from his sight right now, whether to the Demonic Cult or hell, were fiercely throwing daggers at each other in his mind.

“Listen here, Head Wei. Are you really going?”

“Yes.”

It was an unwavering answer.

Seeing that face, Tang Cheon-gun gave up on persuading Wei Jeong-han.

‘What a refreshed face.’

It was a face he hadn’t seen on Wei Jeong-han recently.

But it was a face in his memory.

Long ago.

Back when he wasn’t the head of the Guangdong Wei Family but the Righteous Hero Sword of Guangdong, Wei Jeong-han had worn such a face. A face that said he wouldn’t leave behind a single regret even if he died today.

‘Right, that’s a warrior’s face.’

One side of Tang Cheon-gun’s chest ached.

Not because Wei Jeong-han’s appearance was dazzling. Because his own appearance was shabby. For many years, he had strived and strived again. He had seized the position of Tang Family head that he’d aimed for, and once again held the Tang Family’s power in his hands.

But what was this feeling?

Seeing the Righteous Hero Sword with such a refreshed face as if none of that mattered, he felt like he’d lost something. And long ago, at that.

“Listen here, Jeong-han.”

“Yes, Head of the Tang Family.”

“I know words like this are useless, but I still have to say them. Don’t take it badly and listen.”

“Yes, please speak.”

Tang Cheon-gun hesitated slightly before opening his mouth.

“I understand your feelings about going to the Demonic Cult. But… aren’t you a family head? And a father. If you and Yan-ho die going to the Demonic Cult, what happens to those left behind? Don’t you think about their position?”

These weren’t words from the head of the Tang Family to the head of the Wei Family. They were words from Tang Cheon-gun as a senior in Jianghu to his junior Wei Jeong-han. Understanding that meaning well, Wei Jeong-han bowed lightly.

“I’m grateful for your concern. However…”

Wei Jeong-han smiled gently.

“My wife has such a strong personality that if I knew San-ho’s whereabouts but didn’t chase after that boy, she’d try to devour me. To get even leftover rice, I need to move right now.”

“…Well, she is your wife and that boy’s mother, so she wouldn’t be an ordinary person.”

Tang Cheon-gun ended up shaking his head.

If he couldn’t dissuade them, he had to send them off.

“Go then. Go ahead. Right, I’m curious too. What on earth will happen when you and that rascal run wild in the Demonic Cult? We’ll have to handle the aftermath. You two go and have a free run around.”

“Thank you. We leave having gained much at the Tang Family.”

“Heh heh.”

Tang Cheon-gun ended up laughing.

They were truly high-maintenance people who burned others’ insides. Yet strangely, he couldn’t hate them.

Watching the two who left him to exchange final greetings with Cheok Su-gwang and others, Tang Cheon-gun eventually ended up smiling.

‘How truly ridiculous.’

Looking at the situation alone, it should be nothing but serious. In the end, the Demonic Cult had risen, and that Demonic Cult had joined hands with White Sword Castle. Though Jianghu had overcome countless crises, situations more serious than this were rare.

Moreover, wasn’t Sichuan a place that always suffered severe damage whenever the Demonic Cult rose? Looking at the situation alone, it should be like a house of mourning.

But somehow.

Watching Wei Jeong-han and Wei Yan-ho exchanging greetings with pleasant faces, he felt no sense of seriousness at all.

‘They’re truly strange people.’

War had always brought them pain.

Even now, Tang Cheon-gun’s hands trembled whenever he thought of war with the Demonic Cult. How could he forget that hellish battlefield where blood and death crossed? How could he express in words the fear of walking into that hell once more?

But if those people were there?

‘It might be a little different.’

Tang Cheon-gun looked at the two with somewhat warmer eyes.

They always rotted people’s insides, but they were two people he couldn’t hate.

“Well then, we’ll be going now.”

Standing at the main gate of the Tang Family, Wei Jeong-han and Wei Yan-ho bowed deeply. Normally they would clasp their fists, but there must be a reason they deliberately bowed.

They express gratitude not as peers in Jianghu, but as human to human.

“May you be safe!”

“Since you’re going anyway, go break all the Demonic Cult bastards’ noses!”

“We were grateful.”

Greetings burst forth from here and there.

That’s when it happened.

“Catch.”

In Tang Cheon-gun’s view, he saw something flying from the roof toward Wei Yan-ho.

“Hm?”

Wei Yan-ho caught what had flown to him.

“Ah, that’s right!”

White Sword.

His beloved weapon, completely white down to the scabbard, was in his hands. Wei Yan-ho turned his head toward where the sword had flown from, but couldn’t see who had thrown it.

“How bashful.”

It seemed to have been completed just in time. He felt like drawing the sword to examine it right now, but this was time for farewells. Wei Yan-ho stuffed the sword into his bundle.

“Well, we’re going.”

As Wei Yan-ho bid farewell, everyone waved their hands to see him off. As the two people with bundles on their backs slowly left the Tang Family, deep sighs and relief mixed in complex ways to create a strange atmosphere.

“Will it be alright?”

At Zhuge Yeom’s words, Tang Cheon-gun ended up laughing.

When on earth had this person started asking him such things? All those involved with the Guangdong Wei Family became a little strange, every one of them.

“They’re people too big for us to predict. How could ordinary people dare enter Xinjiang? But with those people, who knows.”

“Hmm…”

“Ordinary people have ordinary business. Don’t think about relying on them and let’s do what we must do.”

“We should.”

“Join forces with me.”

“Pardon?”

“The current alliance leader cannot lead the Heavenly Alliance. His pride is too strong. I’ll step forward. If we must bow our heads to the Righteous Martial Alliance, I’ll bow. We must create a path somehow.”

“Head of the Tang Family…”

Tang Cheon-gun’s gaze turned toward the two who were now distant and the few following behind them.

‘Be safe, you people.’

That was Tang Cheon-gun’s sincere wish for them.