Volume 6 Chapter 23 – Sixteen Imperial Capital Families (3)

===================

Translated by Rain

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

===================

“Wow, with lords of such resounding prestige sitting before me, it is truly to the point of being dazzling.”

Yeon So-hyeon’s light banter.

Among those sitting on the opposite side of the long table, the former patriarch of the Situ family wore a faint smile.

“You, Eldest Young Master, who speak thus, are indeed exceptionally imposing now that I face you in person like this. But…”

Another patriarch intercepted the words.

“Yet you look as if you knew beforehand that we would come, Eldest Young Master?”

Yeon So-hyeon’s smile deepened.

“It was not a very difficult thing to guess.”

Before yet another patriarch could open his mouth, Yeon So-hyeon pointed behind them first.

“I saw the brilliant and massive banner of the Second Guards Brigade moving over the high wall of this Gongsun family’s estate far away.”

“So?”

“With just that, since it was in the middle of Lord Gongsun threatening to kick me out, I merely let it go, but…”

Yeon So-hyeon smiled faintly.

“Since from a certain moment no one could be seen walking anywhere in this massive mansion, I had no choice but to notice.”

Because if rumors spread that they all moved at once because of Yeon So-hyeon alone, it would tarnish their face.

The Second Guards Brigade blocked the view of the Eldest Young Master’s procession staying on the main road, and taking advantage of the gap, the former patriarchs moved.

Suspending the outdoor activities of everyone inside the Gongsun family estate was in the same context.

“Hmm.”

The former patriarch of the Lu family nodded.

“It seems the person himself is indeed correct.”

They too had wanted to confirm the actual existence of the person they had exchanged letters with.

“It is gradually getting tiresome. Why don’t everyone stop the testing about now?”

Yeon So-hyeon waved his hand.

“After all, as we converse further, you will naturally come to know.”

The patriarch of the Chunyu family smiled.

“Then I will get straight to the point.”

At those words, Yeon So-hyeon sighed in an exaggerated manner.

“Is it stories about the price for crossing the threshold as I pleased again? That is also a bit tiresome.”

“The Eldest Young Master having come all the way here must be because there is something to trade. But for a trade to be conducted normally, shouldn’t a settlement be made first?”

And then they began to lay out their respective demands.

“First, our Situ family demands a share of the mining rights for the copper mine discovered at the northern end of Henan Province this time.”

“The Yuan family wants the vessel usage fees of Hwangho to be waived for one year.”

“The Puyang family…”

“And also…”

Everyone demanded a grand compensation fitting for the power held by their family.

Yeon So-hyeon scoffed inwardly as he listened to their clamoring.

How is it that the appearances of those who lust after power and covet authority are so identical anytime and anywhere?

Those who hide their own, covet others’, and constantly immerse themselves in filling a bottomless storehouse.

‘If you come out like this…’

Yeon So-hyeon smiled while pretending to listen intently to their words.

‘Are you not too easy to handle?’

What did it mean that they were easy to handle?

Sitting before the former patriarchs of the Sixteen Families—and seven old devils at that—Yeon So-hyeon thought thus.

While Yeon So-hyeon was thinking other thoughts, their seemingly endless demands finally came to an end.

“It would be good to stop about here.”

“Indeed. No matter how outstanding the Eldest Young Master’s ability is, would it not be a burden beyond this?”

The former patriarch of the Situ family smiled as he met Yeon So-hyeon’s gaze.

“At this level, considering our friendship with the Eldest Young Master, we have been very lenient.”

And a resonant laughter burst out of Yeon So-hyeon’s mouth.

That sound was so loud that the former patriarchs were even embarrassed.

“Eldest Young Master, what is so funny…?”

“If you do not explain properly…!”

Yeon So-hyeon waved his hand and cut off the words decisively.

For it was obvious that if one opened his mouth, another would open his mouth again, and if left alone, they would take turns endlessly to pressure him.

“You lords are also just like Lord Gongsun.”

“Have you even forgotten what it is you truly need now? Have your senses dulled to this extent?”

Although blue-glaring gazes seemed to fly in mercilessly like blades, Yeon So-hyeon ignored them cleanly.

“To think you would run and swoop in in a rush, making excuses about the order of visits and whatnot, just busy chasing immediate gains?”

Yeon So-hyeon leaned forward and showed his teeth.

“Was it not simply that you were burning with anxiety over the fact that the later your turn got, the fewer parts you could strip and devour immediately?”

Yeon So-hyeon giggled and laughed.

“That is why, unable to even wait, you all swarmed in gathered together like street ruffians.”

Someone stood up abruptly from their seat, the sound of teeth grinding rang out, angry shouts flew in, and Yeon So-hyeon cleanly ignored all those reactions just like a moment ago.

“Since you only amount to that much now, there is no reason for this Yeon So-hyeon to pay a price for crossing this threshold as I pleased.”

Yeon So-hyeon explicitly sent them a sneer.

“Do you not understand? It means you lords no longer hold that much value.”

Yeon So-hyeon slowly shook his head.

“That you have been very lenient on my side…”

Yeon So-hyeon slowly crossed his arms.

“It seems the side that is being lenient is my side, however…”

His gaze sank coldly.

“Even just the fact that I sought you out, rather than the families currently rising to power in the State of Zhongyuan…”

Yeon So-hyeon showed his teeth.

“You must know that this Yeon So-hyeon is being very lenient on your circumstances because of past connections.”

Instantly, the gazes of the former patriarchs trembled briefly.

Yeon So-hyeon did not miss that moment and raised his voice.

“What is the reason you have become back-room old men like this now? There cannot be anyone here who does not know that!”

Although where in the world would there be back-room old men who possessed power as strong as theirs, it did not matter.

‘Because they themselves would be considering themselves that way.’

Yeon So-hyeon’s voice echoed even louder.

To the point where one would worry lest someone hear, even in this mansion with perfect soundproofing.

“You eventually waged the Northern War, which I had said was impossible, and ultimately lost!”

Flinch, the shoulders of several former patriarchs shook slightly.

They raised their voices even more and bulged the veins in their necks to say something, but Yeon So-hyeon’s voice was not defeated by them.

“Thanks to His Majesty’s mercy and the fact that you were elderly in the first place, your retirement from politics took place over several years, looking natural to the outside! But what is the reality? Are you not sitting here in Mount Beimang like this, just waiting for the day to die?!”

Yeon So-hyeon raising his momentum, Yeon So-hyeon pushed them even further.

“Though everyone is old and sick, and this and that, it seems you have energy to spare right now!”

Yeon So-hyeon laughed heartily.

“Good! Do you wish to cure this young kid’s bad manners?”

He showed his hands spread open.

“Then, how about we properly compete to see who is superior right now? This Eldest Young Master has plenty of confidence to take on all of you!”

His eyes glowed like the sun, and his spirit was heavy like a great mountain.

“While facing all of you, do you really think I will fail to become the Young Patriarch of the Luoyang Sword Family? And fail to become the Patriarch?”

A thunderous shout burst out of Yeon So-hyeon’s mouth.

“I will erase all of Mount Beimang’s residences, not leaving a single foundation stone!”

Yeon So-hyeon looked down upon the former patriarchs.

“And I will fill this Mount Beimang with a new Sixteen Families.”

When Yeon So-hyeon’s declaration ended, there was no sound in the garden.

It was because the former patriarchs, who had been bulging the veins in their necks, coloring their faces red-hot, pointing fingers, and spluttering spit, had all shut their mouths at some point.

Yeon So-hyeon faced the faces of the former patriarchs one by one.

On their faces, only faint fragments of emotion remained, and proper expressions were not even visible.

But Yeon So-hyeon knew.

‘Finally, their true faces have been revealed.’

Why had he not even listened to their stories from the start?

Why had he ignored it even while they acted as if they would decide life or death right away?

It was because that reaction was merely something they had expressed out of necessity.

‘Monsters who only decorate emotions to fit the situation to their advantage, press the opponent with it, and constantly calculate the gains and losses in their heads…’

It did not mean they were existences without emotions.

They were merely shrewd people, to the extent that they buried even their own emotions in the deepest place and could move calculating only the utility and gains and losses.

Although they were pushed back now.

Having reigned at the absolute peak of the State of Zhongyuan’s political power for that long period of time, the assets derived from their experience were still vividly alive like this.

Even Gongsun Na-gang, whom Yeon So-hyeon had faced first, had he not changed his expression in an instant to match the situation to a bizarre degree?

‘Truly, they are demons among men. Is the nickname old devil not so fitting for them?’

That was why Yeon So-hyeon shook them and shook them again, in order to move the emotions in their depths.

And ultimately, he had reached the point of making them stop decorating their emotions anymore.

Yeon So-hyeon, with his arms crossed, now closed his eyes completely.

And he waited.

Giving the old devils time to compare themselves with their past heyday, and time to reflect again on their own situations of being pushed out of power within their families.

And giving them time to feel once again how great a help the ‘letters’ Yeon So-hyeon had sent in the midst of numerous past experiences had been.

Could they possibly not know Yeon So-hyeon’s ability to stimulate and move a person’s psychology without killing a single person, creating the flow of work as desired?

How could old devils like them not know that Yeon So-hyeon was shaking them in that manner right now?

But Yeon So-hyeon waited.

* * *

The former patriarch, who was calculating what kind of danger could follow him if he joined hands with Yeon So-hyeon, wore a bitter smile.

‘At first, I had only planned to rip away thick compensation.’

Sometime along the way, he found himself thinking that considering joining hands with this ‘young monster’ once was not bad.

‘I am being swayed.’

He knew it.

That it was also that child’s method.

That the provocations he made were also nothing more than that method.

Yet, that boldness shown without hesitation by that spirited young monster somehow touched the emotions he had suppressed in his depths.

Emotions suppressed by force because his circumstances were what they were.

And the moment he realized that emotion.

Once the cold calculation that seemed to run coolheadedly met that infinite will to power, it ended its long hibernation and began to spit out squirming desires.

Then, the young monster named Yeon So-hyeon, an existence of whom one would hesitate to dare use the word young.

Began to look like an attractive ‘opportunity’ now.

* * *

The first to open his mouth was Gongsun Na-gang.

Having shaken him before the others joined had an effect.

Thanks to that, the floodgates of the conversation Yeon So-hyeon was waiting for opened.

“Then, what is it that we will obtain from the trade the Eldest Young Master presents?”

Although there was no particular consultation, no one expressed doubt or blocked that question.

The talk regarding petty compensations had vanished without a trace now.

Meaning that to them, such a thing was no longer important.

Uncrossing his arms, Yeon So-hyeon spoke again in a polite tone.

“Of course, it is the opportunity for you former patriarchs here to regain the seat of patriarch and stand by the side of His Majesty the Emperor once again.”

Yeon So-hyeon thought, wearing a manufactured smile.

‘This is why they are easy to handle.’