Chapter 1431: You Will Have To Kill Me First. (1)

“Lean on me.”

“…I’m fine.”

“I’ll help you.”

A firm strength was felt in the hand that gripped his arm. A strange impulse to resist rose for a moment, but in the end Tang Wei could not pull the woman’s hand off his arm.

He knew that if he weakened and delayed, others would be endangered as well.

“Cough, cough.”

Tang Wei let out a small cough and gave a bitter smile.

‘Well, this is just fine.’

Since the previous Family Lord died… no, perhaps even before then, Tang Wei had been the de facto ruler who held real power in the Tang Family. And yet now he was being supported by a woman who had never trained in martial arts.

Would the situation have been different if his martial arts hadn’t been sealed?

Could he at least have prevented the absurd scene of the world’s Sichuan Tang Family fleeing from the Evil Sect bastards?

‘No, probably not.’

Tang Wei shook his head without realizing it.

This situation wasn’t something one person could stop. Even if he hadn’t lost his martial prowess, nothing would have changed.

‘Pathetic.’

He had believed that everything he did was for the Tang Family. He thought the current Family Lord—stern in appearance but weak at heart—would never be able to revive the Tang Family.

Yet in the end he fled, having lost the Tang Family’s foundations: poison and the workshop. Where had it all gone wrong?

“Cough! Cough!”

“Are you all right, Elder?”

“…I’m fine.”

Tang Wei weakly lowered the hand that had been covering his mouth. There were no clear traces of coughing up blood, but he could sense instinctively that his life wouldn’t last much longer.

What will happen to the Tang Family when he dies? In the coming wars that will sweep the land, can a family that has lost its roots survive?

Even if survival is somehow possible, could they ever regain their former glory? The Tang Family without poison and its secret arts?

It was suffocating. It felt as if a huge lump of iron pressed down on his chest.

Then the hand on his arm pulled him a little more strongly. Tang Wei couldn’t help but turn his gaze.

“Lean on me a little more.”

“…Alright.”

“I still have strength left. Don’t worry.”

For a moment Tang Wei was lost for words.

‘She still has strength?’

That couldn’t be.

Tang Wei had lost his martial arts and was left weak, but this woman, who had never trained in martial arts in her life, should be just as exhausted as him.

At least Tang Wei had endured pain while training; the Tang Family’s daughters hardly ever left the inner chambers.

Yet the woman calmly spoke these words.

‘She’s strong.’

Somehow a strange feeling seeped into Tang Wei’s chest.

“Thank you.”

“…Yes?”

A bewildered voice answered, but Tang Wei said nothing more and gently closed his eyes.

‘Elder.’

The image of Tang Jo-Pyeong came to his mind.

Tang Jo-Pyeong had said that what the Tang Family must protect is not poison or the workshop, but people themselves.

Honestly, Tang Wei still couldn’t fully agree with that. But he understood what Tang Jo-Pyeong meant: even with the world’s finest poisons or unrivaled secret arts, they’re useless without people to wield them.

Perhaps what had protected the Tang Family until now was the resilience of these nameless people.

“Whose daughter are you?”

“My father’s courtesy name is Go-Wei.”

“Tang Go-Wei…”

It sounded unfamiliar, so she must be from a branch line. Tang Jo-Pyeong glanced at the woman’s face.

Was she only about eighteen? Her features were ordinary, but her expression was unmistakably resolute.

But Tang Jo-Pyeong noticed an anxiety she couldn’t fully hide.

“Don’t worry.”

“What?”

“The Tang Family will rise again.”

Tang Wei forced strength into his voice and spoke. Perhaps this wasn’t to comfort the girl so much as to convince himself.

“Even if the clan burns, even if we lose our poisons and secret arts, the Tang Family is still the Tang Family.”

Tang Wei hesitated for a moment, then continued.

“The Family Lord is a fine man; he will surely restore the family.”

When he finished, he gave a laugh in his heart. He never expected he’d say such words while still alive.

‘Family Lord.’

Yet he had no regret about speaking those words aloud.

Now Tang Gunak would have to endure long suffering.

Thinking of the hardships he would face, even Tang Wei—who wasn’t particularly fond of Tang Gunak—couldn’t help but sigh.

“If you continue to trust and follow the Family Lord, one day the Tang Family will once again be the ruler of Sichuan.”

Even Tang Wei, who had spoken, didn’t think it was especially persuasive. But he believed such words were what the girls needed in this moment.

However… the reply he received was a little different from what he expected.

“The Tang Family… yes, the Tang Family will be alright.”

“That it should.”

“But… I won’t be able to help the Family Lord, Elder.”

A little taken aback, Tang Wei looked at the woman and asked.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Because there’s no way I can help. I’m of marriageable age now.”

Tang Wei’s face twisted oddly. She’s of marrying age. Saying that now meant she would become an outsider and the Tang Family would matter little to her?

Everyone looks after themselves first. But hearing this from a member of the Tang Family was quite a shock.

Tang Wei stared at her and said.

“Of course that is a woman’s life, but… shouldn’t the family come first now?”

“If I marry, I will not be a Tang Family person anymore.”

“…”

“That’s how I was taught. When you marry, you must forget the Tang Family entirely. Even the smallest memories from here must be wiped away.”

Tang Wei was momentarily at a loss for words.

“Well…“

What she spoke of was the Tang Family’s rites. It was their effort to preserve the Tang vision, and the one who most revered and upheld those rites since the ancestors was Tang Wei.

But the very words he had repeated so often were now coming back to him.

“…Of course, but aren’t you still a member of the Tang Family?”

“But… ah.”

The woman who had been about to continue looked at Tang Wei with a little start, then lowered her head slightly.

“I’m sorry. I…”

It seemed awkward to reveal her feelings before Tang Wei. The usual Tang Wei would have clicked his tongue in displeasure and turned away.

But for some reason Tang Wei wanted to hear the words she held back. Perhaps because he had little time left, or because she still supported him steadfastly.

“My child.”

“…Yes?”

“Can you tell me what you were about to say?”

“I…”

“Please.”

The woman, seeming to ponder, sighed and opened her mouth.

“Elder, you may not know, but when things get hard, girls like us are quickly given matches. They reduce the useless mouths to feed.”

Tang Wei frowned slightly. But hearing it, it wasn’t entirely wrong.

Women in the Tang Family are of little practical help, so it’s hard to lead them to revive the clan. Usually they’d marry them off even to houses they’d normally not consider, in return extracting support for the Tang Family.

“And even if that doesn’t happen, girls like us are of no use.”

“Of no use?”

“All we can do is cook and wash clothes, at best.”

“…”

“Women married in from great houses could at least swing a sword or throw a punch in a crisis. We can’t even do that.”

At a loss for words, Tang Wei looked at her and barely managed to ask.

“…Do you resent us?”

She shook her head at that.

“No. I’m not saying this out of resentment. We also want to help the Family Lord. But there really is no way we can help.”

Tang Wei felt a weight in his chest. He wanted to say that even small tasks were help, but he couldn’t—he knew better than anyone that such tasks wouldn’t really help Tang Gunak.

Household dependents—an unsuitable term for a prestigious family, but in this situation the Tang Family daughters were merely dependents.

It was the Tang Family itself—and Tang Wei—that had made them that way.

“So… are you planning to look for a match right away?”

The woman smiled brightly at Tang Wei’s question, though the smile looked forced.

“That could be an option, but who would willingly take in a branch-line daughter from a struggling Tang Family?”

Tang Wei’s throat tickled and he was about to cough dryly.

“So… once we reach Shaanxi, I’m thinking of leaving the family.”

“Leave the family? What do you mean?”

“I plan to go to Mount Hua.”

“…What?”

For a moment Tang Wei forgot to cough and his eyes widened.

What did she mean? Mount Hua?

“Other places won’t take us, but Mount Hua might. Sister Soso is already there, too.”

“You mean to entrust yourselves to Mount Hua?”

“No. I… want to learn the sword at Mount Hua.”

“A sword…?”

At that, the woman nodded. Her eyes sparkled.

“You wanted to learn the sword?”

“Not exactly…“

The woman hesitated a bit before speaking.

“Still, if I join Mount Hua and learn the sword, I could do something with my own strength. If needed, I could protect myself. Sister Soso has already shown that.”

“…”

“If sister Soso had stayed in the Tang Family, by now she would have married into a powerful family in Sichuan. She would have lived a completely different life. Everyone thought of her as strange, yet secretly envied her.”

Her calm words left an impression on Tang Wei’s mind.

“Could we live like that if we went to Mount Hua? Could there be a day we’re called by our own names, not just ‘daughter of the Tang Family’? Until now I lacked the courage. We’re not like sister Soso.”

“So…“

“Yes. This time I’ll try to be brave. I know Mount Hua is strict and training is hard, but there I think I could try something. The Family Lord wouldn’t stop us if we said we were going to Mount Hua.”

With the free arm not holding Tang Wei, the woman made a motion as if swinging a sword.

“You never know. I might have a talent for the sword and become a famous heroine!”

As she spoke, her face was lit with bright hope. Then she glanced back at Tang Wei, flinched, and fell silent again.

“I’m sorry. I’ve talked too much, haven’t I?”

“…Were there many?”

“What?”

“Are there many children in the clan who think like you?”

“Well…“

“Don’t be afraid; speak. What could you fear from an old man who has lost his strength and authority?”

The woman scratched her forehead with a finger and said.

“Not that many, but not so few either. The direct-line sisters can still find other paths, but for us there’s no other way now.”

Suddenly Tang Wei looked up at the sky in silence.

It was truly crystal clear. The vast blue sky felt especially bleak today.

“What is your name?”

“Me…? I…”

“I’m not going to punish you. I just want to know.”

Reassured, the woman nodded.

“I’m Sobo like the little treasure. But my mother calls me Sobo like the baby steps.”

“Sobo… A small step.”

Tang Wei’s mouth twitched slightly. After a long silence he was about to say something.

“Great Elder!”

A frantic shout came from behind. Startled, Tang Wei turned around hastily.

“Rear! The Ten Thousand People Clan is at the rear! They’re coming!”

All color drained from his wrinkled face.