Chapter 1447: I Cannot Do It Alone. (2)

Those who had frozen in silence like slabs of ice hurriedly looked at one another. Seeing the horror reflected in each other’s eyes, they shuddered.

Teach martial arts to women.

In some places it might not be a big deal. But at least within the Tang Family it is not.

What would happen if Shaolin brought bhikkhunis into their precincts? What chaos would ensue if female-only sects like Emei or Putuo took male disciples?

What Tang Gunak just said was not much different. It meant tearing down every one of the Tang Family’s codes, those that ancestors had guarded like iron for centuries to found the family’s framework.

“Fa—Family Lord!”

While everyone remained frozen, Tang Sang-Su urgently broke the silence with a raised voice.

“Do you mean to teach internal cultivation techniques and fist-and-strike methods to the women of the family?”

“Ah…”

Sighs escaped here and there at Tang Sang-Su’s words.

If one examined it, the Tang Family’s martial arts were not limited solely to lethal poisons or clandestine assassination techniques. The family certainly had basic internal cultivation methods and striking techniques.

Of course, the old Tang Family strictly limited teaching the striking methods to a select few. But in a situation like this, couldn’t those restrictions be relaxed?

For some, a great relief washed over their minds; others tried to hide their disappointment.

But then Tang Gunak spoke firmly.

“No. I will teach everything of the Tang Family.”

His gaze fell upon the Tang Family’s women.

“If the parties themselves desire it.”

A heavy silence descended. It felt as if a colossal lightning bolt had struck. A shock even greater than when Tang Gunak first declared it swept through the Tang people.

“Fa—Family Lord…”

“Impossible!”

Someone shouted vehemently.

It was Tang Pyo, one of the surviving elders, who had kept his mouth shut until now because of past sins.

“This cannot be, Family Lord! Not imparting poisons and assassination methods to women is one of the Tang Family’s long-standing codes!”

With a distorted face, Tang Pyo looked around. His glare was filled with anger, as if he would not forgive anyone who agreed with that outrageous suggestion.

Under normal circumstances, even as an elder, Tang Pyo would never have dared to openly contradict Tang Gunak.

But those who met Tang Pyo’s gaze now could not face him and lowered their heads.

The words Tang Pyo carried on his back—ancestors and family law—were that strong and solid.

It was enough that even the Tang Family’s women, who had briefly dared to kindle hope in their eyes, were forced to look away.

But only one person, Tang Gunak, met Tang Pyo’s eyes directly.

“Why cannot it be changed?”

“Family Lord!”

“Answer me, Elder. Why is it impossible?”

“Are you asking because you truly don’t know?”

Tang Pyo cried out as if in fury.

“The Tang Family’s poisons become useless once their antidotes are known. Countless Tang members have risked their lives to keep those poison secrets!”

“…”

“The family’s assassination techniques are the same! Unlike a sword, an assassination method, once handed over, cannot be steered back; once the style is known, its force is inevitably reduced. Moreover, the Tang assassination methods are used together with poison! How could you teach such martial arts to women?”

His voice trembled with agitation. Unable to calm his excitement, Tang Pyo continued to shout.

“If any of this is an attempt by the Family Lord to usurp authority during the absence of Elder Tang Wee and the others, I will risk my life to stop it!”

In a way it was a direct challenge to the Family Head’s authority. But Tang Gunak, instead of getting angry, calmly retorted.

“Answer my question first, Elder Tang Pyo.”

“…What do you mean?”

“I’m merely discussing the weaknesses of the Tang Family’s martial arts; and that is not a reason why they cannot learn them.”

For a moment Tang Pyo looked dazed as if struck on the back of the head. He wondered if Tang Gunak had gone mad from the shock of the Poison Vault burning and the workshop collapsing.

“Family Lord. They are women.”

“I know.”

“Hear me out to the end, Family Lord. It’s not about ignoring the family’s women. It is about the fact that these women will someday leave the family!”

“…”

“Who can guarantee that those who join other families will preserve my secrets for a lifetime? Women? You said women? Since when are the Tang Family’s laws aimed only at women? The same applies to men! You know that anyone who learns the Tang Family’s secrets cannot abandon the Tang surname while alive!”

They cannot abandon the Tang surname.

It sounds obvious, but within the Tang Family it means something else. If someone who learned the family’s secrets opposes the family or refuses affiliation, the Tang Family mobilizes all its power to execute them. That’s how the family has preserved its doctrines for centuries.

Tang Gunak took a deep breath and continued.

“Of course I know preserving the vision is vital. But if the method has become outdated and meaningless, finding a new method is also the duty of descendants.”

“…What do you mean by that?”

“I will give them the opportunity to learn the martial arts—whether poison or anything else!”

“Family Lord…”

“But!”

Tang Gunak fixed Tang Pyo with a resolute look and nailed his point.

“The Tang Family’s laws will apply equally to women who learn the family’s martial arts. They cannot leave the family; they must become the spirits of Tang.”

“Th-that’s absurd… Are you saying you’ll keep them in the Tang Family for life?”

“There’s no reason it can’t be done.”

Tang Gunak shrugged his shoulders.

“There are already many female sects in the murim world who spend their lives mastering martial arts. There’s no reason Tang women cannot choose the path those sects chose. I’m not forcing the life—I’m opening the path for those who wish to walk it.”

Tang Pyo’s face flushed red.

No matter how quickly he thought, a solid rebuttal did not come to mind. The reason the Tang Family didn’t teach its arts to women was to prevent leaks, but if they lived their whole lives within the family alongside Tang men, wouldn’t the risk of leaks vanish?

“But that is not the method the ancestors set!”

Tang Pyo’s cry made Tang Gunak’s face harden.

“Tang people! Those who bear the Tang name sacrifice themselves to protect the Tang Family! Who are you, Family Lord, that you would reject and change the measures our ancestors labored over for so long?”

“…”

“Are you saying you are greater than every previous Family Lord and superior to all Tang ancestors? That is arrogance and wickedness!”

At that moment Tang Gunak glared at Tang Pyo with the coldest of eyes.

“Did you not hear me?”

“Family Lord!”

“I already said it. What value is there in fame and prosperity gained by sacrificing their lives?”

“Now you, Family Lord…”

“Ancestors were merely people too; they are not infallible!”

“W-what are you saying now…”

Tang Pyo, horrified, could not even finish his sentence. Tang Gunak spoke with unwavering voice.

“If denying them is necessary to change the family, I will do so. If I must become the greatest Family Lord to change the family, then so be it!”

“Family Lord!”

“Listen till the end!”

Tang Gunak shouted. Though uncharacteristically agitated, each of his words seemed to pierce everyone to the core.

“I cannot give up the family’s glory. That is why I became the Family Lord.”

“…”

“But the Family Lord must be the parent of all household members. I will not accept the sacrifices of the household as something to be taken for granted.”

Tang Gunak looked at each person as if engraving them in his eyes.

“Not only women. Those who make poison, those who craft assassination techniques, those affiliated with the Tang Family who are scorned for not bearing the Tang surname, and even outsiders who are undeniably a pillar of the family yet must live as if they don’t exist!”

“…”

“At present, it is impossible to embrace them all and reclaim the family’s glory. No one but me can do it—impossible. Then there is only one remaining method!”

Tang Gunak, having bitten his lip, declared.

“The Tang Family must change.”

Tang Pyo echoed as if in a trance.

“Do you have the ability to do that, Family Lor?”

“…”

“Answer me. Do you have the capacity to embrace all that and make the Tang Family a better place? To do what no previous Family Head could?”

Facing Tang Pyo, Tang Gunak finally shook his head.

“No. I do not have that ability.”

“See—!”

“But there will be such ability within the Tang Family. That’s why I’ve gathered everyone. If I cannot do it alone, then we will do it together.”

“…”

“Everyone is the same.”

Tang Gunak shouted decisively.

“It is pointless to only argue grievances against one another. Trying to gain a little more power within a rigid frame only eats away at your own flesh. The thing you must truly fight is not each other but the rigid codes of the Tang Family!”

The Tang people stared at Tang Gunak with stunned faces. Countless thoughts flashed across their faces and faded. Intuitively, they understood: perhaps at this moment they were experiencing something greater than the burning of the family manor.

“Think. Consider and present. How can you accomplish the things you wanted to do? What must be changed? And what must I change?”

“…”

“If it’s only my will, it’s overreach. But if it is the thought of everyone—!”

Now everyone looked at Tang Gunak as if spellbound.

“That will be the Tang Family’s will.”

The household members bit their lips. An indescribable passion surged in a corner of their hearts.

Tang Pyo could tell from their expressions that the tide could no longer be turned. He let out a pained sound and, in a restrained voice, uttered his last words.

“…You must remember, Family Lord.”

Tang Gunak looked back at Tang Pyo with cold eyes.

“The world is not so easy. Everything has a reason. There must be reasons the ancestors formed the Tang codes. If what you intend fails, you will be remembered as the one who severed the Tang Family’s history with my hands.”

It was a curse wrapped in concern. Yet Tang Gunak, the recipient of that curse, instead gave a faint smile.

“Elder, you do not know what a Family Lord is.”

“…Yes?”

The green cloak that wrapped Tang Gunak billowed in the breeze.

“Those without that level of resolve cannot become the Tang Family’s Family Lord.”

Tang Pyo, who opened his mouth several times as if to speak, finally bowed his head deeply. Watching that, Tang Gunak looked around at everyone and said.

“Speak.”

“…”

“Nothing will change if you do not speak! Say it aloud!”

Tang Gunak’s gaze turned to Tang Pae.

“Young lord!”

“Yes.”

“Speak!”

Tang Pae looked at Tang Gunak with sunken eyes, then spoke cautiously.

“Family Lord. Even if we gather our thoughts together, can we surpass the wisdom of our predecessors?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“You’re asking the obvious. Doesn’t your question already contain the answer?”

“…Sorry?”

Tang Gunak smiled faintly.

“What made us what we are now is none other than the predecessors’ teachings and their efforts.”

“…”

“The decisions we make cannot be wrong; the predecessors surely taught us to overcome such crises. In every worry and thought of ours, their will is contained. Ultimately, our will is the predecessors’ will.”

Chung Myung, who had been listening from afar, suddenly clenched his fist. His mouth opened on its own.

“To carry on is…”

“To carry on is exactly that! Do not doubt yourself!”

Tang Gunak completed what he had said.

Chung Myung closed his eyes.

Hyung. Even so, I remain a Tang Family member.

The words he had said with a smile seemed to echo in Chung Myung’s ears now.

Those emboldened by Tang Gunak’s words began to speak one by one.

Chung Myung, watching the rapidly growing commotion, glanced at a teary-eyed Tang Soso and shrugged his shoulders.

“Now, shall we make some rice?”

“…sahyung?”

“It’s going to be a long one.”

Chung Myung glanced at Tang Gunak, surrounded by everyone, and smiled.

“That’s what moving forward is like.”

As Chung Myung said, the gathering that began like that did not end for a long time.

When Tang Gunak finally rose after the long discussion and faced Hyun Jong, the morning sun that had once risen was already hanging beyond the western hills again.