Sichuan Tang Clan (3)

I watched On Jeung’s expression for a moment before suddenly speaking.

“That is the same expression you wore back then.”

His face flinched and immediately stiffened.

I turned straight toward Tang Jeonghu and said,

“Clan Head, I believe you are mistaken about one thing.”

Tang Jeonghu asked with an intrigued expression,

“You believe I am mistaken?”

My earlier judgment had undoubtedly been correct.

As someone qualified to become the Tang Clan’s son-in-law, I could never defeat On Jeung.

However, when I thought about it carefully, I was not actually trying to become the Tang Clan’s true son-in-law, was I?

No, becoming their true son-in-law and being bound to the Tang Clan might instead prove even more troublesome.

Therefore, my task was not to become the Tang Clan’s son-in-law. I merely needed to prevent that bastard from becoming one.

Once I realized that, there was only one method I could choose.

I pointed at On Jeung and shouted,

“Even if that man becomes the Tang Clan’s resident son-in-law, he will never uphold his loyalty to the Tang Clan!”

That was right.

What I needed was a mudslinging battle.

A mudslinging battle that would leave neither of us able to marry her.

On Jeung bristled at my words and shouted,

“What nonsense are you spouting?! Clan Head, there is no need to listen to someone like him!”

However, I merely stared at him with a sneering smile, wearing a meaningful expression as though I knew something.

The reaction I had been waiting for soon came.

Tang Jeonghu asked me,

“You said your name was Young Master Seonu Jin, correct? It seems you already knew Young Master On.”

On Jeung flinched at the question and immediately shouted,

“N-No! I do not know him at all!”

However, Tang Jeonghu was not looking at him.

He stared only at me, as though telling me to continue.

I bowed slightly with a mocking smile and began my story.

“I saw him previously at the Righteous Chivalry Guild.”

Tang Jeonghu looked surprised by my words.

It seemed he had not known I was present at the Righteous Chivalry Guild.

On Jeung roughly interrupted and desperately shouted,

“That is a lie! That bastard is trying to frame me!”

It was probably an act of desperation, but from my perspective, I could only be grateful.

The more he behaved that way, the more credibility he lent to my words.

I looked at Tang Jeonghu and asked with a troubled expression,

“May I continue speaking?”

Tang Jeonghu frowned slightly, looked at On Jeung, and said,

“Young Master On, it appears you have forgotten where you are and before whom you stand. Listen first. I will hear everything and decide whether you are being framed.”

Although his tone was gentle, his expression was anything but.

In simpler terms, he was telling On Jeung to stop making a scene and shut his mouth. On Jeung’s face turned pale, and he had no choice but to fall silent.

After provoking him once more with a mocking look, I resumed my story.

“At the time, I was fighting the Masked Demon Lord Sa Won-yang together with my sworn elder brother, the Red-Rain Divine Sword Hwa Yeong-bin.”

Murmurs arose around us.

“He fought the Masked Demon Lord? At the Righteous Chivalry Guild?”

“That young hero is Hwa Yeong-bin’s sworn younger brother?”

“Ah, now that I think about it, the young hero who was with Hwa Yeong-bin back then was…!”

Those were the reactions I had intended, but I pretended not to hear them and continued.

“At that time, I barely survived thanks to the arrival of the warriors of the Sichuan Tang Clan and the Qingcheng Sect, and I was resting afterward. Then a subordinate of On Jeung came and threatened me, demanding that I hand over my sword. He said it was far too fine a sword for a lowly wanderer like me to possess. He then pointed toward On Jeung, who had been watching from behind, and said this: if I handed my sword over to his master, Young Master On Jeung, the Hongsa Sword Dragon, he would spare my life.”

The murmuring grew louder.

Most of them looked enraged by the claim that On Jeung, a member of the orthodox faction, had threatened a martial artist into surrendering his sword, the very life of a warrior.

However, that alone was not enough.

I continued.

“That was not all. Dumbfounded, I subdued the man, and then my sworn elder brother, Hwa Yeong-bin, arrived. The moment On Jeung saw my brother, he committed an act that no righteous martial artist—no martial artist at all—could possibly commit. He pretended not to see his own subordinate, abandoned him, and fled the scene!”

Having said that much, I pointed at On Jeung and shouted,

“You called such a man a divine dragon of the orthodox faction? Utter nonsense! Forget being a divine dragon—someone like him cannot even be called a righteous martial artist! And you would make such a man the Tang Clan’s resident son-in-law?! Do you truly believe he would uphold his loyalty to the Tang Clan?! I dare declare that doing so would be no different from inviting a serpent into your home!”

On Jeung’s face had now gone deathly pale.

It was only natural, as his disgrace had been exposed in the very household he believed would become his wife’s family.

However, I still could not relax.

Tang Jeonghu’s expression, the one that truly mattered, had not changed much even after hearing the story.

If anything, he looked somewhat disappointed by my words.

Tang Jeonghu asked me,

“Can you prove what you said is true?”

I answered confidently.

“The man I subdued at the time was named No Jiwang. If you summon and question him separately, you will be able to verify the truth. My sworn elder brother Hwa Yeong-bin was also present. And….”

I looked directly at Tang Jeonghu and continued.

“I believe the wise Clan Head has already determined that my words are true.”

He stared silently at me for a moment.

He was undoubtedly convinced that I was telling the truth.

Nevertheless, his lackluster reaction meant that the matter probably held little significance to him.

After all, what he needed was the Hongsa Sword Sect, not On Jeung himself.

He needed hands and feet willing to perform dirty work in place of the Sichuan Tang Clan, not a proud and chivalrous son-in-law of the orthodox faction.

Therefore, the flaw I had just exposed must have been a minor matter that he could simply ignore.

In the end, I had failed to persuade him.

His indifferent expression made that abundantly clear.

However, inwardly, I smiled in satisfaction.

After all, I had never intended to persuade Tang Jeonghu in the first place.

I suddenly looked around.

The members of the Tang Clan standing in formation around us were seething.

“To think he would do such a thing! He is no Hongsa Sword Dragon—he is merely a serpent!”

“To accept such a man as the Tang Clan’s son-in-law! That must never happen!”

“Indeed! I will never permit it!”

The Tang Clan’s people might be somewhat insidious, but they were still members of the orthodox faction.

Members of the orthodox faction regarded justification as their very lives and revered chivalry and righteousness.

Clan Head Tang Jeonghu might have cared not about justification but about the family’s practical interests, yet there could not have been many within the clan capable of seeing matters from the same perspective.

Ultimately, they could not agree to accept someone like On Jeung as a member of their family.

Having served as the Head of the Seonu Clan in my previous life, I knew that no matter how powerful a Clan Head was, ignoring the opinions of the clan members and forcing through one’s own decision was an extremely burdensome task.

Outwardly, I glared at On Jeung with fury, but inwardly, I smiled.

‘Good! This is exactly the picture I wanted!’

When I discreetly glanced at Tang Jeonghu, he was watching the clan members condemn On Jeung with an expressionless face.

Although nothing showed on the surface, I would have confidently wagered one nyang of gold that he was feeling quite troubled inside.

At that moment, Tang Jeonghu’s expression briefly became strange.

He looked as though he were listening to something.

Then he addressed me.

“However, judging by the rumors I have heard, it seems there may also be some problems with you becoming our clan’s resident son-in-law.”

The surroundings fell silent.

He smiled faintly and said to me,

“I heard that Seonu Jin, the third son of the Seonu Clan, is the disgrace of the Seonu Clan and a child cast away by his family. What do you say about that rumor?”

Damn it, of all things.

I thought inwardly,

‘I would say that puts me in a difficult position.’

As expected of the Sichuan Tang Clan.

When Tang Jeonghu had appeared to be listening to something, I had suspected it, but it seemed he truly had obtained information about me in that brief interval.

The members of the Sichuan Tang Clan were unnecessarily competent.

Tang Jeonghu had probably decided that rather than elevating On Jeung to reverse public opinion, it would be easier to drag me down instead.

On Jeung might be undesirable, but his rival was even worse.

It was quite a sound choice.

‘Because it is true. I really was cast away by the Seonu Clan.’

However, I could not admit that aloud.

If I acknowledged it, the balance I had barely established would collapse again.

There was no need to ask which was preferable: a son-in-law who lacked righteousness but was heir to a faction, or one treated as a disgrace even by his own clan.

Therefore, I instead smiled calmly and answered,

“Yes. That was the rumor we deliberately spread.”

I could not retreat here.

To avoid being overwhelmed, I would have to lie if necessary.

Tang Jeonghu narrowed his eyes and asked,

“You deliberately spread such a rumor?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

“For what reason?”

After taking a deep breath inwardly, I began to speak.

“Because my father, the Clan Head, wished to establish me as his heir.”

Inwardly, I apologized to my father, who was back at the Seonu Clan.

‘I am sorry, Father.’

Tang Jeonghu asked again,

“He wished to make you his heir, so he deliberately spread a rumor that you were a castaway? What in the world does that mean?”

I took another deep breath and began.

It was the most blatant lie I had ever told in my life.

“This is an embarrassing internal matter of my clan, but compared to the maternal families of my brothers, I possess no particular backing. However, my father wished to pass the position of Seonu Clan Head to me. Thus, as a desperate measure to protect me, he treated me as though I had been cast away. He deliberately spread such rumors as well.”

Tang Jeonghu stared at me for a moment before asking again,

“Those are merely your words. How are we supposed to believe them?”

Of course they were merely my words.

Because it was a lie.

However, I did not lose my relaxed composure until the very end.

I answered with a confident expression.

“My father spread the following rumor: that Seonu Jin, the third son of the Seonu Clan, was nothing but a pig whose martial arts did not even reach the second-rate level. If you investigate, you will quickly discover that such rumors are circulating. However, as you can see….”

As I spoke, I looked over my body and shrugged.

My current lean physique and the martial prowess with which I had effortlessly defeated the Hongsa Sword Dragon, On Jeung, proved that the rumor was false, did they not?

That was what the gesture meant.

However, it seemed even that was not enough to completely deceive Tang Jeonghu.

His eyes still held suspicion.

Therefore, I decided to add one more thing.

A powerful final blow that no martial artist could resist.

I asked him,

“Clan Head, have you ever heard of my clan’s sword art, the Seonu Thirteen Swords?”

He nodded.

“Of course I have. I have heard that it is an excellent phantom sword art counted among the finest in the entire martial world. After seeing you earlier, I confirmed that those rumors were true. But why do you ask?”

I grinned and answered.

“The public does not know this, but the Seonu Thirteen Swords possesses a fourteenth form. It is a form that only the Heads of the Seonu Clan may learn. May I show it to you, Clan Head?”

As I asked, I looked at him provocatively.

It was a gaze asking whether he could withstand my sword technique.

Tang Jeonghu laughed as though the idea were absurd and answered,

“I do not know what meaning that would hold, but you may do as you wish.”

It worked!

I had expected him to answer that way.

As someone beyond the Supreme Realm, I must have appeared utterly insignificant to him.

He was probably confident that no matter what I did, he could simply crush me.

However….

I respectfully clasped my hands and slowly drew my sword.

“Then this junior will dare commit an offense against the Clan Head of the great Sichuan Tang Clan.”

I exhaled deeply and concentrated my internal energy.

Hummmmm!

Clear, pale-violet sword aura began boiling fiercely over my blade.

Dense sword aura that could only be created by Pinnacle Realm martial artists who had surpassed the barrier of seventy years of internal energy appeared, drawing exclamations from every direction.

At that instant, I released a battle cry and swung my sword like a bolt of lightning.

“Haaaaah!”

A gigantic pale-violet phoenix spread its wings from Black Wolf and soared upward with powerful beats of its wings.

Screeeeeech!

It was the Fourteenth Form of the Seonu Thirteen Swords, Vermilion Bird Manifest.

The phoenix seemed to hover briefly, beating its wings, before rushing toward Tang Jeonghu at a terrifying speed.

Surprise appeared in his eyes.

I grinned at his startled expression.

Vermilion Bird Manifest was a powerful ultimate technique that even the Masked Demon Lord Sa Won-yang had been unable to block easily.

My martial arts had advanced even further since then, so there was no need to mention how much stronger it had become.

‘Evading it would be wiser than meeting it head-on, but can he really do that with so many clan members watching?’

“Hah!”

With a short shout, Tang Jeonghu’s clawed hand seized the head of the pale-violet phoenix rushing toward him.

It seemed he intended to receive it directly and extinguish it.

However, even the Masked Demon Lord, whose specialty was claw techniques, had found that difficult. There was no way Tang Jeonghu, whose specialty was hidden weapons, could accomplish it easily.

Screeeeeech!

“Urgh?!”

After confronting the pale-violet phoenix head-on, Tang Jeonghu failed to endure the force of Vermilion Bird Manifest and was forced one step backward.

He gritted his teeth and brought both hands together.

“Haaaaaah!”

Booooom!

In the next instant, after concentrating his full strength, he managed to extinguish the phoenix.

However, everyone had already witnessed it.

They had seen him fail to hold his ground and retreat one step.

They had also seen him use his full strength to counter my attack.

An attack from someone who was still merely an obscure member of the younger generation.

Someone muttered in a suppressed voice,

“How… could that be?”

Those words could have represented the shared thoughts of everyone who had witnessed the scene.

It was exactly the result I had wanted.

Having achieved my objective, I lowered my sword, grinned, and respectfully clasped my hands toward him.

“In my desire to prove that I am the true heir of the Seonu Clan, I dared commit an offense against the Clan Head of the great Sichuan Tang Clan. Please forgive this junior’s rudeness.”

However, no one responded.

Everyone within the Great Hall merely stared at me with eyes filled with astonishment.