Volume 6 Chapter 16 – The Most Terrifying Warrior (1)

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Translated by Rain

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Luoyang Sword Family.

The Second Young Master’s camp, the grand conference hall.

Elder Hahou stood completely still, not even thinking of lighting the fresh cigar clenched in his mouth.

‘There is no need to panic.’

Elder Son and the South of the River crowd had recently been dragged around by the Eldest Young Master to an absurd degree.

However, that was only a tiny fraction of the power possessed by the Second Young Master’s camp.

As a practical example, when the Second Young Master’s camp had exerted their full strength in the past, had the result not been entirely different?

Back then, they had clearly won.

‘We allowed the Eldest Young Master to be released from confinement. But…,’

Instead, did they not succeed in retrieving the ‘Patriarch’s Official Seal’, his most threatening asset?

‘This time is no different.’

This time, just like then, virtually the entire power of the Second Young Master’s camp was being deployed here.

All their power was being concentrated.

‘Yes. It is no different from back then.’

Currently, they had only seen the opponent’s first move, and the grand game was just beginning.

Their composure had merely been shaken for a moment by the opponent’s sudden play of the ‘Mount Beimang’ card.

At that moment, one of the tacticians spoke to him.

“Elder Hahou. All the elders have gathered.”

Elder Hahou conjured Samadhi True Fire to light his cigar and turned toward the gathered crowd.

‘As long as we respond calmly, we will win this time as well.’

His usual confident smile returned to the corners of his mouth.

* * *

Luoyang Sword Family.

Elders’ Hall, Grand Assembly Hall.

Although Elder Son sat alone with no one speaking to him, he was not dwelling on feelings of isolation or loneliness.

With his eyes closed, he merely summoned his concentration to review everything that had occurred so far.

‘Where did the problem start…?’

Clearly, the Eldest Young Master had been swept up by their schemes and ended up returning the Patriarch’s Official Seal, his most powerful weapon.

But from immediately after that, things were different.

In the process of conducting the joint venture with the Fourth Young Master, the Eldest Young Master evaded every single obstruction here and there.

He did not allow them to achieve a proper victory even once.

With his arms crossed, the finger that had been tapping his arm stopped.

‘…Could it be?’

What if the Eldest Young Master had caused them to lower their guard by returning the Patriarch’s Official Seal?

What if, through the seemingly inevitable return of the seal, he had actually deceived them instead?

What if he had done so to induce their side to project only a manageable amount of force during the early stages of the joint venture, which was their most vulnerable point?

The moment a drop of cold sweat trickled down his forehead.

“It is completely empty today!”

The loud voice of the Lord of the Elders’ Hall shattered the state of extreme concentration he had been maintaining.

“Now, now! Everyone, cheer up! I am the busiest and most tired person here!”

Along with the declaration of the opening of the meeting, the ‘ominous delusion’ regarding the Eldest Young Master was pushed out of Elder Son’s mind.

‘In the first place, it is an idea built on assumption after assumption. There is no need to consider it more seriously.’

Currently, he held all the power of attorney documents from the fellow elders of his faction.

Unlike usual, it was a situation where he could not consult with anyone.

It was time to focus entirely on the elders’ meeting.

* * *

A moment ago.

Luoyang, Mount Beimang.

The entrance to the super-luxurious mansion district, the checkpoint.

“Affiliation?”

The deputy manager nun of the Emei Sect quickly replied.

“A-Ah, the Emei Sect.”

“Identification?”

While the other’s sharp gaze swept the inside of the carriage, the deputy manager nun hurriedly searched her robes, pulled out her name plaque and Emei Sect identification, and handed them over.

The same was true for the other nuns inside the carriage.

“Hmm…”

The guard probably made the sound without any particular significance, but the deputy manager nun’s heart sank.

“O-Our identities will be verified by Sangwan Nan-hwa, riding in the carriage ahead. That is, Lady Sangwan.”

She babbled on, volunteering information without being asked.

“Lady Sangwan is the daughter of the Chengdu Governor, and her identity is certain—”

“That is enough.”

The other cut her off and returned the identification cards.

“Thank you for cooperating with the inspection.”

Although the identification cards were returned almost as if thrown, the deputy manager nun did not dare to dream of protesting.

Because…

‘The-The Imperial Army!’

Indeed.

The other was a soldier belonging to the imperial court.

Armor made of flood dragon scales that flashed with a silvery light even without the morning sun.

The thick tassel of the helmet fluttering with a blend of gold and purple threads.

Along with a sword symbolizing his family, even a sword hung on his waist belt that was clearly bestowed by the Imperial Court.

Through such characteristics, the deputy manager nun deduced their identity from her memory.

‘…The Second Imperial Guard Brigade directly under the Central Plains Imperial Court.’

The sight of the soldiers belonging to the Imperial Guard Brigade gathering with disciplined movements after completing the inspection of each carriage was enough on its own to intimidate anyone.

The last to finish the inspection was the brigade commander who had climbed onto Yeon So-hyeon’s ironclad fortress.

“Thank you for your cooperation!”

Stepping down from the ironclad fortress, he clasped his hands to show respect to Yeon So-hyeon.

“Open the main gate!”

Upon his command, the barrier of the checkpoint blocking the main road moved to create a path.

It was actually shaped more like the entrance to a fortress rather than a checkpoint.

“Pass through!”

As he shouted and gave a hand signal, the procession carrying the Eldest Young Master Yeon So-hyeon began to move again.

In that manner, they entered the Mount Beimang area, which was surrounded by stone walls as high as city walls.

“…J-Just where is this place, that it is guarded by the Imperial Army, rather than Luoyang’s guards or the government troops?”

When one of the martial monks asked in a trembling voice, the administrative nun rubbed away the cold sweat filling her hands and replied.

“Have you not heard of it? This is that very Mount Beimang.”

The mouth of the martial monk who had asked the question fell wide open.

“M-Mount Beimang? That Mount Beimang where the villas of the Sixteen Families of the Imperial Capital are located?”

When the phrase ‘Sixteen Families of the Imperial Capital’ was brought up, everyone fell silent under its weight.

“…Yes.”

The deputy manager nun looked out the window and opened her mouth.

“The Meritorious Imperial Families who have protected the imperial throne from the closest distance for generations.”

Each wall of the mansions visible outside the window was no different from a small city wall, and their ends could not even be seen from inside the carriage.

“It is said that the retired powerful officials of those sixteen families spend the remainder of their lives here in Mount Beimang, which has the best feng shui in the Central Plains, and when their natural lifespans end, they are enshrined in the ritual halls of the Mount Beimang mansions alongside their ancestors.”

One of the administrative nuns recited the most famous saying about the Sixteen Families of the Imperial Capital.

“…They do not own a single merchant group, yet the wealth of the continent flows to them; they do not have a single private soldier guarding them, yet the authority of the Imperial Court protects them.”

The procession was moving.

However, the high wall of the first mansion they encountered had not even revealed its entrance yet.

“If he is the Eldest Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Family, does he usually associate with such people?”

The deputy manager nun shook her head at the martial monk’s question.

“No way. Unless one is the Patriarch of the Sword Family, that is an impossible story.”

No matter how much the Luoyang Sword Family was the world’s number one family, they were the ultimate politically powerful families assisting the Emperor from the closest proximity.

“They are not people you can meet simply by visiting this place… No. In that case…?”

Her voice trailed off.

“…There was a prior appointment?”

* * *

Luoyang Sword Family.

The Second Young Master’s camp, the grand conference hall.

There was no way the elders of the Second Young Master’s faction could not make the same deduction that the deputy manager nun had.

“Here! It is right here!”

One of the elders pulled out a scroll from a pile of documents.

“Knowing that something like this might happen, I had conducted an investigation beforehand.”

With a slightly triumphant expression, he unrolled the scroll.

“This is the list of everyone who sent congratulatory letters to Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment after his confinement ended.”

It was an investigation made possible because those who visited to deliver the letters had loudly announced their families and the authors of the letters at the entrance of Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment.

“Now, grab that end and unroll it!”

The expressions of those who had initially wondered what kind of scroll it was turned dumbfounded.

The list was so long that it could only be organized in the form of a scroll.

“Everyone! Hurry and search for the family among the Sixteen Families who sent a letter to the Eldest Young Master!”

Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the list that stretched beyond a person’s height.

“Here!”

A tactician skilled in speed reading pointed to a spot on the list.

“The Kong Family! It is the family that produced Grand Chancellors for three consecutive generations!”

Teacher of Ten Thousand Generations, This Culture Resides Here, Virtue Aligning with and Covering All, Sage of Great Completion, Unprecedented since the birth of mankind.

The Kong Family was the direct descendant family of Confucius, the great teacher referred to by such brilliant modifiers.

“Hmm…”

The elder who had compiled the list of congratulatory letters stroked his long beard, recalling his memories.

“A person in the Kong Family who has a connection to the Eldest Young Master…”

An elder belonging to the Outer Courtyard clapped his hands.

“I remember! I once heard a rumor that the former Patriarch, who retired a long time ago, occasionally went around talking about his connection with the Eldest Young Master!”

“Of all people, the former Patriarch…!”

While everyone was swallowing their groans, Elder Hahou raised his head and looked toward the entrance of the grand conference hall.

“Is there still no news from the field?! We must confirm if the family the Eldest Young Master visited is indeed the Kong Family!”

In the rapidly changing situation, the tactician waiting at the entrance broke into a cold sweat and shouted.

“N-Not yet!”

Other nearby elders shook their heads.

“It is only about time for Elder Kang to have left the Main Family.”

At those words, Elder Hahou bit down on his cigar.

In the first place, finding an informant on Mount Beimang was as difficult as plucking stars from the sky, and it was an area where it was impossible for an intelligence agent to enter directly to gather information.

Therefore, they had no choice but to send one of the elders directly to the site.

“…For now, under the assumption that the Eldest Young Master’s scheduled destination is indeed the Kong Family, we have no choice but to create expected scenarios.”

At one of the elders’ murmurs, Elder Hahou raised his head and shouted toward the tacticians.

“You all heard that! Start immediately!”

Even before he shouted, the alert tacticians were already moving first.

“No matter if it is one of those Sixteen Families, as long as we grasp the situation clearly, it is entirely possible for our side to intervene!”

* * *

Luoyang Sword Family, Supreme Executive Council.

“The Kong Family?!”

The Executive Committee members clamored.

The Executive Committee members, who were tracking the Eldest Young Master’s movements in real time through the intelligence department, obtained faster and more accurate information than anyone else within the Luoyang Sword Family.

“…There was definitely information that the Eldest Young Master had a close relationship with the former Patriarch of the Kong Family. I recall it.”

Hearing the words of the new female Executive Committee member, the new male Executive Committee member muttered.

“Did he request a meeting through the members of the Kong Family who visited after his confinement ended…?”

“Indeed, the Eldest Young Master’s network is bound to draw admiration. To have built such connections at his age, without any maternal background, and while living in confinement…”

One of the Executive Committee members who was listening to their conversation spoke.

“The Eldest Young Master requested a meeting. Is that really the case?”

At his words, the two new Executive Committee members expressed their doubt.

“What does that mean…?”

“Then are you saying that the Eldest Young Master went to visit relying solely on his relationship without even requesting it?”

Another Executive Committee member smiled and said.

“Why do you not consider that the Kong Family might have first sent an invitation to the Eldest Young Master along with a congratulatory letter?”