Book 11: Chapter 25: Progress

the Elders' Hall of the Luoyang Sword Family.

The village of the elderly.

Grand Madame Ouyang of the Luoyang Sword Family, the mother of the Second Young Master, wore a displeased expression. "……"

Although she had brought carefully selected top-class bodyguards as befitting a visit to the Elders' Hall.

"C-Ahem."

Her bodyguards could not even make proper eye contact with the Special Task Force members dressed as ordinary guards.

But more than that.

What truly angered her lay elsewhere.

"The Lord of the Elders' Hall has rejected Madame's request. Go back."

A dismissal of guests.

An old man dressed as a shabby farmer said so while waving his hand casually.

The title used to call her, the colloquial low-polite style, and the annoyed attitude.

Every single one of them was an absolutely unacceptable attitude, but.

No matter how great Grand Madame Ouyang was, she could not treat the old man carelessly.

"…Elder of the Main Family. This request is not simply my, Grand Madame Ouyang's, personal business."

Because the shabby-looking old man, sunburned black, was one of the elders of the Great Luoyang Sword Family.

"For the Elders' Hall to directly intervene in the internal affairs of the Main Family, this is an act that ignores the strict family law of the Main Family."

"The family law talk again?"

The elder wore a bored expression.

"Did I not tell you that by the family law, it permits the intervention of the Elders' Hall in a crisis situation of the Main Family?"

"No, it does not."

Grand Madame Ouyang raised her voice, unleashing the unique dignity that usually made her surroundings tremble.

"That is nothing more than an act of interpreting the ambiguous clause of a 'crisis situation of the Main Family' to your own taste!"

She pushed forward in a strong tone.

"How can the Elders' Hall, which should be a model for the entire Main Family, interpret the legal text so craftily for its own convenience?"

In fact, the current action of the Elders' Hall.

In terms of being a convenient interpretation, no one, not even the Elders' Hall, would have anything to say.

Therefore, she clung to that point.

"Judging it as a crisis situation of the Main Family just because there is a suspicious movement in the Institution is, to the last—" the words of Grand Madame Ouyang, who seemed to be driving forward relentlessly, were cut off by the elder's words spat out while picking his ear.

"Enough."

"We, the Elders' Hall, do not agree with those words."

"Eeeek…!"

Dignity did not work at all.

It was an opponent with whom logic did not work either.

'This damn old man…!'

Grand Madame Ouyang immediately changed her approach.

"…This is no ordinary matter. The elders of the Main Family are also in an uproar."

The Elders' Hall was one of the main pillars of the Luoyang Sword Family.

the Elders' Hall could not help but receive their movements sensitively.

"An emergency meeting regarding this matter is also being prepared in the Elders' Hall. Before this matter becomes more serious right away—" the old man said so, pointing in the direction of downtown Luoyang over the mountain.

"But they are only preparing in words. The emergency meeting is not actually convening right now, is it?"

"N-No. At any moment—" ignoring her words as she momentarily stuttered, the elder chuckled.

"If an emergency meeting is held, shouldn't they discuss 'that' first?"

Boom—

Boom, boom, boom.

Faint, but it was definitely the sound of bombardment that could be clearly heard even over the mountain.

The old man spoke against the background of that faintly heard sound of bombardment.

"In the first place, was it not you, the Second Young Master's side, who was desperately blocking the emergency meeting from being held?"

At those words, Grand Madame Ouyang had no choice but to shut her mouth. "……"

Because if an emergency meeting was held, the elders would have no choice but to discuss the trouble happening in the Valley of Sin in one way or another.

An emergency meeting was never going to be held.

"No matter how much you and the Third Young Master's side, and even the Yeon family blood relatives, are putting pressure on the Elders' Hall, those elder bastards, tsk tsk."

The elder clicked his tongue as if looking at something he shouldn't see.

"Pirate bastards are bombarding the middle of Luoyang, yet they maintain silence and drag out time?"

The elder, who had not stepped a single foot out of the small village, was looking clearly into how the politics of the Luoyang Sword Family was running right now.

"Was the Eldest Young Master, who has not been out of seclusion for long, that terrifying? Or."

The old man's voice grew low.

"Are they afraid of the wind of reform that the Eldest Young Master will bring."

"…That is!"

Grand Madame Ouyang tried to protest somehow, but.

"Enough. Go back now."

Without giving her any leeway, the elder turned and went back inside the village, and Grand Madame Ouyang shouted at him at the top of her lungs.

"the Elders' Hall must absolutely never take this matter lightly!"

As if blockadeing her shout, the main gate of the village shut tightly.

"Whatever."

Although he had treated Grand Madame Ouyang so lightly, his footsteps toward the village hall were not so light.

"Why is your face so dark?"

A mischievous voice reached him.

"Did you get hit by a young girl who has lost her mind from failing to play the mistress of the house?"

Looking at the one who had joked with him like that, the elder smiled bitterly.

"Village Chief…"

The old woman, who was the chief of this village and also the Lord of the Great Luoyang Sword Family's Elders' Hall, was there.

He looked at the old woman and spoke.

"Anymore, our military intervention this time will be difficult to pass over so slyly, like a snake crossing a wall."

His voice was mixed with a sigh.

"It seems everyone is sharpening their blades, planning to strictly hold us accountable for our actions later on."

"They are all people blinded by power. Have you ever seen such people fail to shift responsibility onto others?"

The old woman laughed it off.

"Village Chief, this is not something to just laugh off. It might even affect the survival of the Elders' Hall…!"

Though some exaggeration might have been mixed in, his heart worrying for the Elders' Hall was just that large.

"Let them do so if they wish."

"Village Chief…!"

The Lord of the Elders' Hall tapped her staff on the ground.

"Do not look only at what is immediately in front of your eyes, but look far."

"Look at what…?"

With a jingle, the ornaments hanging from the old woman's staff shook, making a clear sound.

"In downtown Luoyang, which could be called the front yard of our house, some pirate bastards are causing an uproar, and inside the house, thieves disguised as family members are making a fuss to devour the eldest son of the house."

The blind old woman pointed out the current situation precisely.

"…Indeed. Is that not why we stepped forward, even mobilizing a forced interpretation of the family law? To resolve this terrible situation of the family—" at the elder's words, the old woman wore a meaningful expression.

"Resolve the situation, you say."

"For nearly ten years. Was there ever a moment when that was possible?" "……!"

At her words, the elder's eyes grew round, and a smile hung on the old woman's face.

"Yes, it is the first time. The first time."

She raised her sightless eyes to look far outside.

"The Main Family is earning money to an extent unimaginable in the past, and its size and strength have grown, but it was rotting inside to that much greater extent."

The old woman, who had been active during the time of the Patriarch before the last one, asked the old man.

"Over the past ten years, did we ever have an opportunity to resolve this problem?"

The elder, who had likewise served the Patriarch before the last one, shook his head.

"…There was none."

"Indeed. Those who worry about the future of the Main Family have merely been preventing the Main Family from collapsing somehow during that time."

The days of holding up with bare hands to prevent the increasingly high tower of the Luoyang Sword Family from falling over.

"But today…!"

Now, having understood what she wanted to say, the elder nodded slowly.

"Yes. That is so."

As if gaining certainty, the elder shouted loudly.

"Because today is the first opportunity we have to resolve that long-standing problem!"

"Indeed."

The Lord of the Elders' Hall laughed pleasantly.

"The only trustworthy and most outstanding successor has returned. And he drew his sword against the problem we couldn't even touch."

Though nothing was reflected in her blind eyes.

It was as if she was clearly gazing at the appearance of the newly reborn Luoyang Sword Family in the not-too-distant future.

"Responsibility? Survival of the Elders' Hall? Such things are nothing. If necessary, I will even offer this old woman's neck."

She was laughing with an infinitely lightened heart.

"I feel so light-hearted at this very moment."

"Indeed."

Before he knew it, the elder's expression had also become much lighter, just like her face.

Toward him, the old woman asked like a joke.

"Do you know whom this old woman envies the most at this very moment?"

"Ha…!"

The elder chuckled and answered the joke.

"I think I understand. Now, even I am beginning to envy that fellow, Sword Venerable."

* * *

The headquarters of the Institution.

'The sword is light…!'

Standing in this place under the name of Sword Venerable rather than the Chairman of the Supreme Executive Council, he smiled without realizing it.

'How long has it been since the sword felt this light?'

Though the secret sword technique of the Sword Family poured out by the commander warrior was formidable.

The Sword Venerable's sword was easily dismantling the opponent's sword style to a degree that surprised even himself.

'The body is light!'

Despite dealing with all those Institution warriors and subsequently battling the experts known as commander warriors.

'It is as if I have returned to my youth.'

The Sword Venerable's body was dodging the opponent's sword path so lightly that it was strange even to himself.

And he was slowly realizing the reason for this strange situation.

'This is surely because my heart is light…!'

The Sword Venerable's toes stepped on the corpse of the Institution warrior and moved as if dancing.

The Sword Venerable's sword tip slashed long across the arm of the commander warrior that was not holding the sword.

"Keuhek…!"

The body of the commander warrior, whose head was struck by Yeon So-hyeon's Shaolin Five Fists, momentarily shook.

[Sword Venerable.] the Sword Venerable's sword responded to Yeon So-hyeon's short call.

Sword Family Secret, Flying Shadow Sword.

The sword, light as the Sword Venerable's mind, cut through the wall of air, leaving not even a shadow.

"Keok?!"

The commander warrior Yeon So-hyeon was dealing with lost his arm to that blow, but.

"Hup!"

The commander warrior the Sword Venerable was dealing with did not miss the Sword Venerable's opening.

However, the Sword Venerable did not pay any attention to that sword.

[Eldest Young Master] and just like that trust.

"Kugh…!"

That commander warrior's sword blow did not even reach the Sword Venerable.

Yeon So-hyeon, who left the commander warrior he was dealing with to the Sword Venerable, rushed in straight away and deflected his sword.

"It is a good fist technique!"

At the exclamation that slipped from his mouth without him realizing it, Yeon So-hyeon chuckled and replied.

"You are the one with superb swordsmanship."

Blocking the opponent's continuous strikes with smooth footwork, Yeon So-hyeon continued.

"Seeing you fly around vigorously, it seems claiming it was hard was just making a fuss."

"Now that you mention it, it seems so."

The Sword Venerable roared with laughter at those words.

"…Eeeek!"

At the sight of them even leisurely exchanging chats, the commander warrior ground his teeth.

"Are you looking down on us?!"

How could they look down on them, no matter how great the Sword Venerable and Yeon So-hyeon were, with three commander warriors who were experts who had crossed the wall?

It was not that they were looking down on them.

But rather that his heart was so light, that was the reason.

Though there was also the reliability of Yeon So-hyeon as a trustworthy ally.

More than that.

"It is simply that I am no longer in pain."

The commander warrior frowned at the Sword Venerable's answer.

"What nonsense are you…?!"

Paying no attention to the commander warrior's words, the Sword Venerable smiled.

'If the Eldest Young Master had not ended his seclusion…'

So what would it have been like if the Eldest Young Master were not in this place right now?

Could he have properly accepted the current situation where a warrior carefully nurtured by the Sword Family withered away by his own hands?

'That would have been too terrifying.'

To somehow hold onto the Sword Family so it wouldn't collapse, while simultaneously having to recover the lost strength.

'That would have been too heavy a task.'

It was a terrible thing for his already heavy karma to keep adding up.

'I was struggling all this time, crushed under all that karma…!'

A fresh realization.

However, it was also a yoke he could never have escaped if not for Yeon So-hyeon.

'The days of merely holding onto what was collapsing and blocking it desperately are now over!'

It was not so now.

'Right now, together with the Eldest Young Master.'

The Sword Venerable and Yeon So-hyeon, who received his gaze, moved simultaneously.

In the Sword Venerable's sword rushing toward the opponent, there was not a shred of hesitation.

Nor was there a shred of fear.

'We are making the Sword Family be reborn…!'

At this very moment.

He, the old man called Sword Venerable.

For the first time in over ten years.

Was moving forward.

Undoubtedly.

The Sword Family was advancing.