Volume 3 Chapter 10 – Descendant of the Hegemon

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Translated by Rain

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The Medicine King, who was entering the main gate of Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment, discovered the Fourth Young Master and his subordinates coming out along the forest path.

“Grandfather Medicine King!”

The Fourth Young Master ran with a smile and threw himself into his arms.

“Oops, this rascal. A fully grown rascal acting like a child. This grandfather’s back is going to break.”

Contrary to his words, the Medicine King, who was unbelievably healthy and fit, lifted the Fourth Young Master high and hugged him.

“But are you leaving already? Without playing more with this grandfather?”

The Fourth Young Master jumped and stepped down from the Medicine King’s arms.

The boy wore an innocent smile and said:

“I naturally want to do so too, but suddenly I have so much work to do, so I am sorry.”

The Medicine King stroked the Fourth Young Master’s head.

“Yes, yes. Then next time, come to see this grandfather, not that damn disciple. Understood?”

The Fourth Young Master laughed brightly.

“Haha, Grandfather Medicine King. That is a boring joke.”

“…No, it is not a joke.”

The Medicine King muttered, but the Fourth Young Master had already reached the main gate.

“Then, Grandfather Medicine King! See you again next time!”

The Medicine King chuckled and waved his hand.

He watched the Fourth Young Master’s subordinates, who politely offered greetings, all exit through the main gate.

“Dear me.”

He shook his head.

“That fellow So-hyeon must have blown wind into him, indeed.”

He rubbed the goosebumps that rose on his forearm.

“Since he is overflowing with motivation, even his killing intent is spilling over. As expected, blood does not lie.”

He began to walk through the forest path again with long strides.

“Then, I should also summon some more strength.”

* * *

The Fourth Young Master walked along the dark hallway.

Although the sun had set long ago, not a single common oil lamp could be found in that hallway.

No maids or servants could be found either.

It was a space where not a single trace of human presence could be found.

If not for the floor without a speck of dust and the luxurious interior decorations faintly revealing their shapes in the dark, it was enough to be mistaken for a ruin.

The Fourth Young Master reached the end of the hallway with polite steps.

“This youngster, Bi, greets you.”

There was not a single point of warmth, so when he opened his mouth, white breath leaked out.

“Mother.”

Then, a woman’s voice was heard from the other side of the paper door.

“Come in.”

It was a voice in which no warmth could be felt.

Normally, a maid would naturally open and close the door, but in this quarters of Grand Madame Tang, there were no maids or servants.

“Then this youngster will enter, Mother.”

Entering the room, the Fourth Young Master could feel a chill worse than the north wind blowing outside.

He did not step closer, and sat kneeling near the closed door.

“Vigor is circulating in your face. Did something good happen?”

What appeared as killing intent to the Medicine King seemed to appear as vigor to Grand Madame Tang.

“Yes, Mother. Eldest Brother finally made up his mind and decided to end his seclusion.”

There was no answer.

But the Fourth Young Master said all he had to say.

“So this youngster also intends to move in earnest.”

Again, there was no answer.

The Fourth Young Master remained prostrated with his hands gathered politely, waiting for his mother’s words.

After a long time had passed, Grand Madame Tang’s voice was heard from the dark.

“…That child, So-hyeon, made up his mind to become the Young Patriarch?”

Although faint, surprise and shock were contained in that voice.

The Fourth Young Master was also surprised by his mother’s voice.

However, the boy tried hard not to show it and answered calmly.

“Yes, that is correct. This youngster intends to do his best in the future to promote Eldest Brother as the Young Patriarch.”

Silence enveloped again.

The Fourth Young Master looked at the white breath leaking from his mouth, waiting for his mother’s words.

“…Can you assist that child well?”

The Fourth Young Master wore a bitter smile.

“Although this youngster, who is like a mere kingfisher, knows well that Eldest Brother is a person like a Great Peng…”

Grand Madame Tang’s words cut off his words.

“My words do not mean that, Bi’er.”

Bi’er was the Fourth Young Master’s childhood name.

The Fourth Young Master bowed his head deeply.

“This youngster will listen closely to Mother’s words.”

His mother asked him:

“Bi’er. Do you think that child’s temperament is soft and good, and have you made up your mind to become that child’s sword and poison?”

“You have seen correctly.”

“You have not seen correctly.”

The Fourth Young Master bowed his head.

“Please bestow teaching.”

Those who usually saw the Fourth Young Master’s cute appearance would say that this appearance of his was unfamiliar.

In a space filled only with coldness without a single point of light, exchanging conversation in a tone of voice that felt cold from a distance.

Yet this bizarre appearance was the way of communication unique to this mother and son.

“Bi’er. You have a heart overflowing with love for your brother, so there is something you cannot see instead.”

The Fourth Young Master quietly waited for his mother’s words to continue in the dark.

“So-hyeon…”

In the voice of Grand Madame Tang calling Yeon So-hyeon’s name, faint fragments of emotion were complexly tangled.

Because the Fourth Young Master’s life experience was short, he could not easily guess that emotion.

“That child’s life is a continuation of endless struggles, and that child’s life is like the Asura Path, so the path that child has walked already has corpses forming mountains, and the path that child will walk will have blood forming oceans.”

The Fourth Young Master could not understand a single thing of his mother’s words.

Was the Eldest Brother he knew and the person his mother spoke of even the same person?

“Bi’er. That child does not need a sword, nor does he need poison. He himself is already the sharpest sword, and he himself is already the most lethal poison.”

However, he tried his best to remember his mother’s words.

That was his filial piety, and his trust in his mother.

“What that child needs is a solid support to sustain his collapsing and scattering heart.”

Once his mother’s words finished, he bowed his head deeply and answered:

“…This youngster will engrave Mother’s words deeply and make sure to never forget them.”

“Yes. That is enough.”

That meant all the time allowed to him was coming to an end.

“Then, this youngster will return.”

“Yes. This mother is also busy with the work requested by the Medicine King.”

The Fourth Young Master bowed with all his heart toward the direction his mother’s voice had been heard.

“Bi’er.”

His mother said toward her son who was crossing the threshold.

“If you are to do great things, you know well that you must first govern your household correctly, do you not?”

It was the anxiety of someone who could not perform her role properly as a mother.

A distinct smile hung on the Fourth Young Master’s lips.

“Do not worry. This youngster has already begun the cleaning.”

Grand Madame Tang’s voice was heard again.

“Remember. What blood you have inherited.”

The Fourth Young Master bowed his waist deeply to reply, and stepped back.

As her son’s steps grew distant, what remained for the mother was only silence and coldness.

In that space where no one was, Grand Madame Tang’s monologue scattered lonely.

“…The promise with Sister So-yu, which I could not keep. And the promise with him.”

The woman’s shadow looked up at the empty space.

“I hope you at least can keep those promises…”

* * *

A subterranean space somewhere in the Luoyang Sword Family.

Sitting in a chair and tapping his foot, the Fourth Young Master asked:

“How was it to see Eldest Brother in person?”

His head maid bowed her head and answered:

“I felt that what I learned and studied about him was meaningless.”

“Right?”

The boy wore a pleasant smile and spread both hands wide.

“Since Eldest Brother decided to end his seclusion, the position of the Young Patriarch of the Main Family is practically Eldest Brother’s.”

He stood up on the chair and clapped his hands.

“Then, what we must do is decided.”

The gazes of the subordinates gathered there focused on him.

The boy showed his teeth and looked down at them.

“The day Eldest Brother ascends to the position of the Young Patriarch. The ones who will stand closest to him will be none other than us!”

Everyone gathered their hands and shouted:

“Loyalty!”

There was no disagreement, nor insubordination.

Their voices echoed as a resonance in the subterranean space.

Of course, there were also those who could not gather their hands and could not answer.

The boy leaped lightly from the chair and approached one of them.

“…What do you think?”

There was a maid whose face was covered.

Seated in a chair with her entire body bound, she twisted her body and shouted something, but because of the gag stuffed in her mouth, its meaning could not be known.

“Yes, yes. You also agree with my words.”

The Fourth Young Master personally pulled off the hood covering her face.

Then, the one who revealed her face was the plump maid who had assisted him all day today.

With a face mixed with tears and snot, she appealed something to him.

“Hmm? What did you say?”

He untied the gag blocking her mouth.

“Master! Master! It is not me! I am innocent! How could I dare to you, Master…!”

The Fourth Young Master’s cute finger pressed her lips.

“It is fine. Because I know. There is nothing for you to worry about.”

The Fourth Young Master’s lips covered her thick lips.

Although she did not know the reason, she responded to him with all her might.

Tongues tangled and saliva mixed.

When the Fourth Young Master pulled his lips away, a silver thread connecting their lips shone.

“Heh, you are cute.”

The Fourth Young Master stroked her cute face.

“Master. I…!”

Her two eyes grew large as if they would burst.

The capillaries stood out, and then burst with a popping sound, pouring out as tears of blood.

“Cough…?!”

When she coughed, blood poured from her nose and mouth, staining the boy’s face.

But the boy did not bat an eye, only stroking her soft cheek.

Her body trembled uncontrollably and went into convulsions.

Capillaries all over her body stood up blue, and her skin stained dark purple.

Soon, her skin melted away, emitting yellow smoke, and her hide boiled and bubbled, revealing the skeleton turning black underneath.

Like that, her plump flesh collapsed, leaving only a puddle of blood of bizarre color.

Smelling the terrible odor that pierced the nose, the boy commanded his subordinates:

“Execute all the spies.”

“Loyalty!”

Before that echo could even end, the heads of those bound to chairs fell, and blood shot up.

Among them were servants, maids, stewards, and warriors.

Looking around the room that had become a sea of blood, the boy smiled brightly.

“Since we decided to step forward in earnest, we cannot leave the rats alive.”

Until now, they were people left as they were to avoid unnecessarily stimulating the Second Young Master and the Third Young Master.

Standing on the chair where the maid had sat, the boy declared:

“This is a warning to those who have looked down on me so far.”

As his mother requested, he remembered the blood flowing inside him.

“I am the descendant of the most cruel family that once ruled Sichuan with terror, and the direct descendant of the most renowned family under the grand Imperial Family of the Central Plains.”

It was an awakening, and a ritual.

“Now this Sword Family will not be able to ignore our existence!”

A loud shout mixed with madness and killing intent followed behind.