Chapter 1420: Even If It’s Meaningless. (5)

“…What did you just say?”

“I-I report again!”

The man bowing cried out with a deathly pale face.

“Currently Jang Ilso, leader of the Four Sects Alliance, has brought the Alliance’s full force and burned Qingcheng and Emei! Their next target seems to be the Tang Family!”

“Jang Ilso?”

The color drained from Tang Sang-Su’s face, the general of the Sichuan Tang Family.

“T-the Hegemony Lord—why would he suddenly appear in Sichuan?!”

No good answer came to that furious question. Everyone knew it wasn’t really a question.

“W-where are they now?”

“According to the information from the Beggars’ Union, they appear to be on Emei Mountain right now! We’ve sent scouts, so precise information will arrive soon!”

Tang Sang-Su suddenly felt his legs give out but forced himself to stand.

‘What should I do?’

He was the general of the Sichuan Tang Family. With the Lord and the Young lord absent, it was his duty to protect the retainers and the family’s assets left here.

But with things like this, the burden felt unbearably heavy.

The Four Sects Alliance, and Jang Ilso. They were not opponents a mere chief steward could dare face.

“Has there been no contact from the Lord? Didn’t the Beggars’ Union bring any words from him?”

“Th-there was nothing like that…”

The tips of Tang Sang-su’s fingers trembled.

The distance from Emei to here was by no means short. But if the opponent was the Four Sects Alliance, they could arrive in as little as half a day.

‘We must flee!’

The first thought that came to his mind was crystal clear.

There was no force here worth calling an army. Those responsible for the Tang Family’s military power had mostly been led away by the lord to the Yangtze river.

Of course, there were some who could fight among those left, but they alone could not stand against the Four Sects Alliance and defend the Tang Family.

How could those remaining here possibly deal with an Alliance that had reduced even the fully intact Qingcheng and Emei to ashes?

“Inform all the elders at once! Abandon the halls and flee—”

“General.”

At that moment, someone called Tang Sang-Su in a low voice.

Tang Sang-Su flinched as he turned toward the sound.

An elderly man with a cold gaze, who hadn’t been here moments before, had appeared and was staring straight at him.

Tang Sang-Su bowed his head.

“I pay my respects to the Elder.”

A cold sweat began to break out.

It wasn’t facing an enemy. How could the Tang Family’s Elders be called enemies? But neither were they on friendly terms.

‘The Elder Council…’

The Elders had been completely pushed out and lost power in the power struggle with the head. And yet one of those Elders had suddenly appeared now.

“I have heard the situation.”

“Yes? Ah… Yes! Elder. We must lead everyone away from the enemies right now! If we hesitate—”

“Calm down.”

“…Yes?”

Tang Sang-Su blinked in panic. Tang Byeok, an Elder of the Tang Family, clicked his tongue and looked at him.

“Can the general take responsibility?”

Tang Sang-Su stared blankly at Tang Byeok. Responsibility—was this the time to discuss responsibility?

“What do you mean…?”

“No matter how much the lord entrusted family affairs to the general, he would not have assumed a situation like this. Would he?”

“…Th-that may be so, but…”

It was not an incorrect statement.

If Tang Gunak had considered even the slightest possibility of this happening, he would never have entrusted all authority to the general Tang Sang-Su. At least Tang Pae, the Young lord, would have been left to prepare for such a situation.

Tang Byeok, with a chill in his eyes, spoke again.

“If you know, then hand that authority to someone suitable. The current situation is beyond the chief steward’s capability.”

Tang Sang-Su swallowed hard.

“I-I understand what you mean. I admit the current situation is too much for me. But Elder, someone suitable? Are you saying there is someone within the family capable of handling this now?”

“There is.”

“Who would that be…?”

Tang Byeok frowned.

“Such needless suspicion. Of course it is not me—I’m not fit. Who else besides the Elder Council Lord is there who can decide the family’s fate in this situation?”

Tang Sang-Su’s face changed several times in a short moment.

The Elder Council Lord, Tang Wei.

No, the former Elder Council Lord Tang Wei. Although the Elder Council has been dissolved and he cannot use that title anymore, he once wielded influence within the family equal to—no, greater than—Tang Gunak.

Had he not been defeated by Chung Myung in their duel and completely lost power, he would still have been manipulating the family.

“B-but the Elder Council Lord had all his positions stripped…”

“Are you worrying about that in this situation?”

“…”

“So? Do you have the confidence to bear all the consequences that will follow your decision, general? Even if your wrong judgment plunges the Sichuan Tang Family into an irreparable abyss?”

Tang Sang-Su’s hands shook.

He could not bear it. The burden was too great for Tang Sang-Su, who kept his position as the general on the basis of lineage alone.

“What will you do?”

But handing decision-making back to Tang Wei was also impossible. After all, Tang Wei was the family’s criminal whose authority had been stripped and who was imprisoned on Tang Gunak’s orders. How could such a person be given that heavy authority again?

“General!”

“…”

“Whether the one who wields the sword is righteous is secondary. The important question is whether he has the strength to swing the sword. General, do you have the courage to wield the sword that is the fate of the Tang Family?”

Tang Sang-Su’s shoulders trembled.

“The courage you must show now is to recognize your own shortcomings and step back. Do not commit any more sins against the Tang Family!”

“…the Elder Council Lord…”

In the end, Tang Sang-Su’s head fell helplessly.

“I will go see the Elder Council Lord.”

Only then did Tang Byeok nod with a resolute face.

“That is right.”

Tang Sang-Su squeezed his eyes shut in despair, forcing himself to ignore his shaken heart, unable to do either.

‘For the Tang Family.’

Everything was, simply, for the Tang Family.

“Hm.”

And so, in the deep heart of the Tang Family.

The old man sitting on the bed in the room looked at those standing before him with a strange gaze.

Tang Sang-Su swallowed dryly.

It was strange when thought about; the man before him was just a powerless old man long stripped of martial arts skill. Someone who had diligently trained in martial arts had no reason to fear him.

Especially since the old man had committed crimes, been imprisoned, and only by the head’s mercy been permitted to live in the back room.

But Tang Sang-Su could not bring himself to meet the old man’s eyes.

The immense power and ability Tang Wei had once possessed, and the ruthless scheming he showed in seeking to control even Tang Gunak, still remained in memory and pressed down on Tang Sang-Su.

Tang Sang-Su glanced up briefly, then lowered his gaze again.

‘What kind of gaze is that…’

Generally, a martial artist who has lost his skill becomes a wreck or at least loses his former vigor.

But Tang Wei’s gaze did not seem weaker than in his prime; if anything, it shone even sharper.

“So…”

“Yes, Elder Council Lord.”

Tang Wei’s wrinkled face twitched for a moment.

“I am not the Elder Council Lord now, call me Grand Elder.”

“…Yes, Grand Elder. Right now, Jang Ilso of the Four Sects Alliance is about to attack the Tang Family with his subordinates. We must quickly lead the retainers and escape this place…”

“Tsk tsk.”

At that moment Tang Wei clicked his tongue softly. Tang Sang-Su, shrinking instinctively, could not continue.

“Abandon the family… Do you know what that means?”

“…Sorry?”

“The Tang Family does not abandon its land. We would rather accept annihilation than turn our backs.”

“B-but we cannot handle them with just us!”

“Why is it impossible?”

Tang Sang-Su snapped his head up.

Hearing such an absurd statement, he wondered if Tang Wei was being perverse out of resentment.

But Tang Wei’s eyes remained calm and sharp.

“Why? Do you think this old man has gone senile?”

“N-no, that’s not it…”

“General. Do you know why the Tang Family does not retreat?”

“Well… isn’t it because we are of the Tang Family?”

“You speak like a child. That’s wrong.”

“Yes?”

Tang Wei said calmly.

“The reason the Tang Family does not retreat is because if we retreat, everything literally ends.”

“…”

“Other sects, if their people survive and their martial knowledge is preserved, can somehow rebuild their foundations. Over time they might even surpass their former glory. But not us. Do you know why?”

Tang Sang-Su was about to answer that he didn’t know, but he could not.

The reason flashed through his mind the moment he heard the question.

“W-white Furnace…”

“That’s right.”

Cold sweat ran down his spine.

The Tang Family’s one and only furnace is the White Furnace. That furnace contains all the techniques the Tang Family has accumulated for centuries.

That means once the White Furnace is destroyed, no matter what is done, it cannot be recreated.

“Do you understand what losing the White Furnace means?”

“…”

And without the White Furnace, the creation of the Tang Family’s finest secret weapons, built by consolidating all their techniques, becomes impossible.

“It’s not just the White Furnace. Even creating a new Blue Furnace is not easy.”

Tang Wei paused and shook his head.

“And compared to what really matters, the White Furnace is a small part. If we abandon this place, the Tang Family’s poison vault will burn. We will lose every poison accumulated and crafted since the founder’s time, and the rare toxins the family unearthed through sweat and blood will all become ashes. Do you understand what that means?”

He could not stand.

If people survive, the name Sichuan Tang Family may remain. But that Tang Family could never be the Tang Family of old.

How can a Tang Family that has lost its poisons and secret manuals still be the Tang Family?

Everyone who can fight survives? What meaning does that have if there are no secret weapons to throw and no poisons to scatter?

Who would fear a Tang martial artist who cannot use poisons or secret weapons?

Martial knowledge does not vanish from a person’s body. If the formulae remain in their heads, they can always be rewritten into secret manuals.

But burned poisons cannot be recovered, and the rare toxins painstakingly gathered from across the land cannot be simply obtained again through effort.

To recreate the Tang Family’s poisons as they are now might take hundreds of years.

Or perhaps they may never again reach the same level.

Seeing Tang Sang-Su’s dismayed expression, Tang Wei clicked his tongue.

“Do you finally understand? Why we cannot retreat. Why our ancestors did not retreat and instead protected this land even unto death.”

“B-but Grand Elder. In the past we clearly avoided the Heavenly Demon…”

“The Demonic Cult had no interest in mere halls. It was odd that they burned Mount Hua. But do you think the Hegemony Lord would leave a Tang Family emptied of people as ★ ★ it is?”

…Of course not. If it’s Jang Ilso, he would utterly destroy this place, so the Tang Family would never again strike fear across the land.

“Do you understand? Our ancestors knew this, so they made the Sichuan Tang Family a fortress of the world—digging traps, setting absolute defenses so outsiders could not dare touch it! They did all this because they knew that the moment we retreated, the Tang Family would be finished.”

Tang Sang-Su bit his lip.

“So you’d end the Tang Family’s name here just to save a few lives? Is that something someone bearing the Tang surname could say?”

A cold blue killing intent poured from Tang Wei’s eyes as he glared at Tang Sang-Su.

Faced with that reproachful gaze, all Tang Sang-Su could do was fall silent.

“Gather the elders.”

“Grand Elder…”

“Gather every person bearing the Tang surname, without exception. Whoever the enemy may be, the Tang Family will not retreat. We will fight to the end—until the last person falls, until the last tile burns. Of course…”

Tang Wei rose from his seat.

“I, too, will do the same.”

Those words were like a wedge to Tang Sang-su. Even the old man who had lost martial skill was prepared to risk his life; on what face could he speak of retreat?

Tang Sang-Su clenched his fist and finally nodded.

“I will gather the elders.”

“Hurry.”

“Yes.”

Tang Sang-Su bit his lip hard.

Yes, this is all for the Tang Family. Therefore it cannot possibly be wrong.

…Never.