A Small Spark Ignites Fire. (1)

It did not take the Tang family’s elders very long to arrive.

They had likely used their lightness skill the moment they heard the news.

The warehouse door sounded like it was being smashed to pieces.

Four middle-aged men and three elderly men—seven in all—had appeared.

Each radiated an extraordinary presence. Clad in robes, they were almost certainly the Tang family’s top warriors.

“You brats! What on earth do you think you’re doing!”

The old man sitting in the center—family lord Tang So-gun—shouted in fury.

His voice boomed so loudly that birds within three hundred feet took to the air in alarm.

The reason for his rage was clear: a little girl stood with one foot on his sprawled son’s back.

The son lay unconscious, his face swollen from so many blows there wasn’t an unmarked spot.

Two other children from collateral branches lay motionless; it was impossible to tell whether they were alive.

At that moment, refusing to lose the power play, Yu Seol shouted back at Tang So-gun.

“I’m here to collect the payment!”

Yu Seol put on the dignified expression her grandfather had taught her.

She pursed her lips and fixed a steely look in her eyes exactly as she had practiced.

A short distance away, Yu Jinsan sat in his chair watching.

• Good. Yin Monster of the world should carry that kind of gravitas. Chin up.

Receiving his whispered message, Yu Seol held her chin high, clasped her hands behind her back, and continued to glare at Tang So-gun.

Her expression conveyed dignity, weight, and even a hint of anger.

Perhaps because Yu Seol had taken such an imposing stance, Tang So-gun calmed first and steadied his breathing.

“This old man also knows that the children of our family in the Murim Alliance were involved in the arson incident.”

By now his voice had deepened.

Yu Seol’s brow furrowed further; the thought of their home burning still made her blood boil.

“We had no house, so yesterday we slept in the forest like monkeys!”

“If there’s a misunderstanding, we can sort it out between us. Why act so recklessly like this?”

“She called us beggars first and then hit us with a whip.”

Everyone from the Tang family wore expressions of bewilderment.

Why had their kin insulted the Yin Yang Twin Monster? And whipped them? It was utterly incomprehensible.

“Tang Sa-hu!”

At his shout, a burly boy with a missing front tooth stepped forward and clasped his hands together.

He was the collateral-branch youth who had brought the news.

“Yes, family lord…”

“Tell me exactly what happened. Leave nothing out.”

Tang Sa-hu stammered, flustered; his words rambled and his gaze wandered.

Tang So-gun was not a man who couldn’t see through lies.

“You cur! How dare you lie just to save yourself? Can’t you speak the truth!”

Tang Sa-hu trembled, choked up, and began to confess.

“Th-that person’s words are all true. We saw them eating noodles at Ah-so uncle’s stall while we were wandering the market, and we called them beggar-brats. And then…”

He confessed everything: the insults in the market, how they dragged the children here—even the part about the whip.

Clan head Tang So-gun’s face hardened more and more.

“These crazy brats actually…”

“S-sorry, family lord.”

Tang So-gun felt devastated, but resolving the immediate situation took priority.

Still, he couldn’t untangle such a mess easily.

They had mocked none other than the Yin Yang Twin Monster. To hear they had struck them with a whip sent chills down his spine.

It seemed the Yin Yang Twin Monster had deliberately taken the blows. The possible reason chilled him further.

‘Could it be they took the beating on purpose to create an excuse to lure me? How wicked, the Yin Yang Twin Monster…’

Tang So-gun had few choices now.

Either he tried to induce reconciliation with the Yin Yang Twin Monster, or he fought, knowing it might mean death. Neither option was easy.

And there was another complication: he sent a whispered message to the man on his right.

• How long until the third brother arrives?

• He’s likely training at Zhonghua Peak, so it will take an hour.

• It can’t be helped. Aide, from what you see, what do you think my chances are if I fight them?

• From gathered rumors, with the Yang Monster you have a chance. But until he arrives, you must never fight the Yin Monster.

The Tang family of Sichuan was one of the most famous houses in the central plains.

Yet even among them, the legendary Tang So-cheon was not present.

That absence weighed heavily on family lord Tang So-gun’s mind.

“They’ve crippled my son; perhaps it’s time to let go of anger here.”

At that moment Yu Jinsan, who had been watching, finally rose from his chair and sent a whispered message to his granddaughter.

• Well done. Now step back.

When he stepped forward, Yu Seol naturally stepped back.

Taking her place, Yu Jinsan stomped down on the limp young master with one foot.

Watching this, Tang So-gun’s face tightened. His patience was near its limit.

For someone with such overwhelming power, martial skill, and wealth, it was unusual that he had endured so long.

If the opponents had not been the Yin Yang Twin Monster, and if Tang So-cheon had been at his side, he wouldn’t have hesitated.

But what could he do? He had no choice.

“You would even protect such beasts as your children?”

“A foolish child is still a child. What else can I do when the only son left is that late-born brat?”

The mention of a late-born son momentarily shook Yu Jinsan; he saw a resemblance to himself.

But that was all. He could not stop—there was something he had to do.

“How peculiar. How did it come to pass that only such a ruffian remained?”

Tang So-gun cried out as if venting his grief.

“Didn’t you take my eldest son’s life from him!”

No matter how he racked his memory, he had no recollection of killing a Tang family heir.

“What do you mean by that?”

“He was killed at Geumyang Temple. If you hadn’t been absent from that place, my son Tang Mu-hyeok wouldn’t have died.”

Geumyang Temple had once been where the top warriors of the Justice Faction gathered to strike Ho County.

There had been an incident when the Evil faction’s absolute warriors, led by the Yin Yang Twin Monster and a renegade monk, launched a preemptive attack and massacred them.

One of the Justice Faction members killed there was Tang Mu-hyeok, the great young master of the Sichuan Tang family.

“So that is what happened. Since mutual grievances remain, wouldn’t it be best to settle this cleanly here—family lord versus family lord?”

Tang So-gun’s gaze settled calmly.

He did not know the Yin Yang Twin Monster came from the Yu family, but he sensed the Yang Monster was also a head of some household.

If the Yang Monster might fight him, how could he let such an opportunity pass?

“Are you saying the two of us should duel?”

“Isn’t that the way of the martial world? But why didn’t that Tang So-cheon come with you?”

Yu Jinsan had noticed from the start that the Tang family’s greatest warrior was not present.

Of the Tang family warriors who had rushed here, Tang So-gun was by far the strongest at a glance.

Beating the family lord alone wouldn’t be enough; they would have to bring down Tang So-cheon, too, to truly force the Tang family to submit.

“The third brother is away on an outing.”

It was a somewhat disappointing reply, but it didn’t change matters.

Once he defeated the family lord, the other would come on his own.

“I see. I’ll ask once more: do you have the courage to fight me and take that beast back?”

Yu Jinsan provoked Tang So-gun by calling his son a beast, deliberately goading him into fighting in earnest.

As expected, Tang So-gun took the bait—he had likely never been so insulted.

“How dare you…”

In that instant Tang So-gun’s momentum shifted.

A whirlwind of qi swirled around him, swelling the hems of his robe.

“Please calm yourself, family lord.”

“Let’s wait until your third brother arrives.”

Those who had come with him tried to restrain him, but Tang So-gun did not seem to hear.

“Everyone, stand down.”

Before being a family lord he was a martial warrior—aside from Tang So-cheon, the strongest absolute warrior.

What reason was there to fear fighting the Yang Monster?

As the hall chilled, those nearby stepped back to give space.

Then Yu Jinsan kicked the sprawled young master in the side with the top of his foot, as if brushing aside an annoyance.

Thwack!

The young master flew up into the air like a scrap of paper—Yu Seol stood ready.

She merely flicked her hand.

Using qi, she snatched him from midair and flung him into a corner as if he were a toy.

“Yap!”

Seeing that, Tang So-gun finally exploded with rage.

Not only had they beaten his precious son, now they treated him like luggage.

“You fiends! Do you think you’ll get away with this!”

“Then why didn’t you raise your child properly? If you’d kept the household in order, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Yu Jinsan’s face remained composed, but inside he was not at ease.

How could he be? His opponent was Tang So-gun, head of the Sichuan Tang family—among the top tier of the Five Great Sects.

A man so strong that in the old days no one would dare meet his gaze.

Moreover, he had little experience fighting masters of covert arts.

Yet Yu Jinsan’s fighting spirit burned like a volcano.

‘Good. This feeling.’

It felt as if he had returned to the vigor of his youth.

Until now he had merely been overshadowed by his granddaughter.

He was no longer the same old Yu Jinsan.

Now was the time to test the results of the brutal training he had endured.

As he readied himself, Tang So-gun spoke softly.

“Come.”

What more needed to be said?

Yu Jinsan gripped the Dragon Slaying Spear and lowered his stance little by little, like a lion closing in on prey.

Then his granddaughter’s whispered message reached his ear.

• Be careful, Grandpa. He’s hiding a bunch of things in the folds of his robe.

• All right. From now on Grandpa will handle this, so you stay back.

Yu Jinsan had suspected as much already.

Although Tang So-gun’s hands were bare, many hidden weapons were surely concealed within his robe.

There was only one way, after all.

‘Close the distance in one breath and strike decisively.’

Having steeled himself, Yu Jinsan took a final deep breath.

The distance to his target was about five feet.

At last, Yu Jinsan’s feet left the ground.