Tang Mujin looked toward Jeok Wigang, then asked Tang Pae,
“Is that true?”
“W-well....”
Judging by Tang Pae’s reaction, it seemed to be.
“Hah....”
The mighty Tang Family had been toyed with by a man who looked barely past twenty?
This was not something he could simply overlook.
“Who are you?”
“I am the Merchant Master of the True Martial Merchant Company.”
“The True Martial Merchant Company?”
Tang Mujin looked at Tang Pae.
“It is the merchant company with which we had a dispute.”
“You pathetic fool.”
Tang Mujin gestured at their ruined surroundings.
“What do you intend to do about this? Do you think you can reduce the Tang Family to this state and leave unharmed?”
“You have that backward.”
“What?”
“It isn’t that I’m leaving unharmed. It’s that the Tang Family survived unharmed. Because I showed mercy.”
“Mercy? You damned bastard!”
Thick killing intent rolled from the hot-tempered Tang Mujin.
He looked ready to attack at any moment.
“Father!”
“Grandfather!”
“You fools! Get out of my way!”
“We can’t!”
“He’s right! We cannot move, even if only to protect the Tang Family!”
“Fine! Then I’ll remove the two of you first.”
A fiery wave of force crashed over Tang Pae and Tang Un.
“HNGH! F-Father! Calm down!”
“Grandfather!”
“Move before you suffer worse!”
“We can’t!”
Tang Mujin scowled and finally exerted his strength.
WHUMP-WHUMP-WHUMP—
CRASH, THUD, RATTLE—
Tang Pae and Tang Un were hurled away by Tang Mujin’s overwhelming force.
It pained him to see his son and grandson thrown to the ground, but it could not be helped.
“You did that to my son and grandson! I will not let you escape!”
Tang Mujin had sent them flying himself, yet directed all his resentment toward Jeok Wigang.
Something glittering erupted from Tang Mujin’s entire body and spread through the air like a silver curtain.
It was no curtain.
It was an incalculable number of silver needles.
“Die! Heaven-Filling Flower Rain!”
Heaven-Filling Flower Rain—the Tang Family’s strongest martial art and the technique that had earned Tang Mujin his place among the One Emperor and Eight Kings—unfolded toward Jeok Wigang.
Countless silver needles poured down like rain.
Jeok Wigang chuckled as he watched them fly toward him.
The old man truly was impatient.
He had unleashed his strongest martial art upon someone he had only just met.
Jeok Wigang punched toward the incoming needles.
KWOOOOOO—
PFFFT—!
A mighty fist wind exploded outward, scattering the silver needles that had been hurtling toward him with terrifying momentum.
Tang Mujin’s eyes widened until they seemed ready to burst.
“I-impossible.”
This was Heaven-Filling Flower Rain, not some ordinary technique.
Every silver needle contained Tang Mujin’s energy. Most martial arts could not even deflect them, much less block them.
Yet that man had blown every last needle away with a single punch.
Tang Mujin had already known Jeok Wigang could not be taken lightly. After all, he had survived after reducing the Tang Family to this state.
The reality, however, surpassed anything he had imagined.
He stood dazed for only a moment before Jeok Wigang’s voice sounded from close by.
“Take a short nap.”
“What?”
WHUMP—
“URK!”
A heavy impact struck his abdomen and spread through his entire body.
His consciousness began to fade.
Tang Mujin struggled to remain awake, but it was useless.
With an expression of disbelief still frozen on his face, he collapsed where he stood.
“Father!”
“Grandfather!”
Tang Pae and Tang Un rushed over in alarm and checked Tang Mujin’s pulse.
“Whew. He’s only unconscious.”
“Thank goodness.”
Tang Pae and Tang Un sighed with relief before looking at Jeok Wigang.
“He seemed likely to keep attacking if I left him alone.”
“Thank you for subduing him.”
Tang Pae was astonished.
Subduing someone was more difficult than killing them, yet Jeok Wigang had incapacitated one of the One Emperor and Eight Kings with a single blow.
And that was after scattering Heaven-Filling Flower Rain with his bare fist.
Only now did the reality truly sink in.
I should have listened to Tang Un from the beginning.
Tang Pae could only regret his decision.
*****
“Ugh.”
Tang Mujin regained consciousness and sat up, clutching his head.
“What a horrible nightmare.”
He grimaced and shook his head as though he never wished to think of it again.
“Father!”
“Grandfather!”
He turned toward the voices calling him.
Tang Pae and Tang Un were sitting nearby, their faces filled with concern.
“Why are you two sitting there with such expressions? I am fine. I merely had a brief nightmare.”
“A nightmare?”
“Yes. Even thinking about it is absurd. No matter how strange a dream may be, this one made no sense at all.”
“What sort of dream was it?”
“Well, the Tang Family had been devastated by some peculiar bastard, and the two of you were cowering before him. I became furious and used Heaven-Filling Flower Rain. But then the bastard blew it away with one punch. And as though that weren’t ridiculous enough, he knocked me unconscious with a single punch as well. Even for a dream, how could anything so absurd happen?”
Tang Mujin laughed incredulously and shook his head.
“Father....”
“Yes?”
“That wasn’t a dream.”
“What?”
“I said it wasn’t a dream.”
“Not a dream? If something that absurd was not a dream, are you saying it actually happened?”
The shock must have been severe.
Anyone could see that he was trying to escape reality.
“Everything you described truly happened to you.”
Tang Mujin stared blankly at Tang Pae, his expression stricken.
Then he stammered,
“Wh-what are you saying? You mean that impossible nonsense was real?”
“Yes, Father. You were knocked unconscious, and you have only just awakened.”
“Nonsense!”
Tang Mujin refused to accept it.
At that moment, the door opened and Jeok Wigang entered.
“You! Y-you....”
Tang Mujin recoiled and pointed at Jeok Wigang.
“You seem quite energetic for someone who just woke up. I suppose there were no lasting problems.”
“What? Problems? I was caught off guard! Fight me again!”
It appeared that unless Jeok Wigang won his acknowledgment beyond all doubt, the old man would continue throwing tantrums.
“As many times as you like. Shall we go outside?”
“Fine!”
Tang Mujin sprang to his feet in a fury and marched out ahead of him.
Tang Pae and Tang Un knew his personality too well to stop him. They could only watch anxiously.
Tang Pae approached Jeok Wigang and pleaded,
“Please go easy on him.”
Jeok Wigang grinned.
“Don’t worry. I still respect my elders.”
Tang Pae was dumbfounded.
Could a man who respected his elders really knock an old man unconscious with one punch?
Then again, this particular old man was hardly ordinary.
Perhaps that truly had been the gentlest option.
“Then I will trust you, Merchant Master Jeok.”
“Of course.”
*****
A man who looked like a torn rag stood gasping for breath.
It was Tang Mujin, Supreme Family Head of the Tang Family.
“Are you... truly human?”
“Come now. Isn’t it terribly rude to ask a person whether he’s human?”
“I am the Myriad Poison King, one of the One Emperor and Eight Kings.”
“I know.”
“My specialty is poison. They call me the Myriad Poison King because I can freely wield ten thousand poisons.”
“I know that too.”
A vein bulged on Tang Mujin’s forehead.
“Then why does none of my poison work on you? Why?!”
It was enough to drive him insane.
Jeok Wigang had clearly inhaled every poison Tang Mujin had released, yet he remained perfectly fine.
“Maybe your poison was weak.”
Tang Mujin staggered at Jeok Wigang’s response.
Weak?
That was impossible.
The poisons he used were not the ordinary varieties found throughout the world.
They were poisons he had created exclusively for himself through endless research.
Naturally, only he possessed the antidotes.
Yet none of them affected Jeok Wigang.
Tang Mujin had emptied his entire stock into the bastard, and Jeok Wigang was still fine.
How could such a thing be possible?
“Don’t tell me you’re immune to all poisons.”
“I’m not sure. Now that I think about it, I don’t recall ever being poisoned after consuming one.”
“You lunatic!”
Immune to all poisons at his age?
No, more importantly, was complete immunity to poison actually possible?
Even more absurdly, poison was not Jeok Wigang’s only strength.
That ridiculous body of his—
It was practically cheating.
When Jeok Wigang first said he would go easy on him, Tang Mujin had been so enraged that he nearly lost his mind.
He had attacked with all his strength and every martial art at his disposal, intending to sever Jeok Wigang’s limbs.
Jeok Wigang had remained unharmed.
His limbs were perfectly intact, while Tang Mujin’s sword had broken instead.
“You don’t have an indestructible body too, do you?”
“I’m not sure. Come to think of it... I don’t believe I’ve ever been injured.”
Immunity to all poisons and an indestructible body?
Tang Mujin resented the heavens.
Why had they sent such a monster into the world?
Un....
The greatest martial talent in the Tang Family’s history had finally been born.
Tang Mujin had believed the Tang Family would at last produce the greatest expert beneath heaven.
But someone impossibly far beyond them already stood in the way.
Was Jeok Wigang at least physically weak?
Not in the slightest.
Those monstrous fists—
They were the greatest absurdity of all.
Every punch struck with enough force to make Tang Mujin’s consciousness flicker.
Even more infuriating was that Jeok Wigang was clearly not using his full strength.
Tang Mujin felt as though he might stop breathing at any moment, yet Jeok Wigang’s breathing had not changed in the slightest.
Now he understood.
He understood why Tang Pae and Tang Un had tried so desperately to stop him.
Tang Mujin asked Jeok Wigang,
“Are you... an enemy of the Tang Family?”
Jeok Wigang chuckled.
“I nearly was. But we negotiated and settled the matter, and I’ve also become friendly with Tang Un. So I suppose I’m not your enemy. Of course... that could change if you insist upon treating me as one.”
Jeok Wigang’s entire demeanor changed.
Tang Mujin hurriedly waved his hands before that freezing pressure.
“N-no. My temper may be foul, but I am not foolish enough to make you my enemy.”
“That’s a relief.”
Tang Mujin sighed in relief.
A chill passed through him at the thought that he had nearly ruined the agreement Tang Pae and Tang Un had worked so hard to secure.
That monster truly possessed the power to destroy the Tang Family.
“Now that you seem to understand me, shall we return? Your family must be worried.”
“Yes. Understood. Let’s go.”
*****
After returning to the residence, Tang Mujin was informed of the terms negotiated with Jeok Wigang.
“Ugh.”
A groan escaped him as he heard the details.
Everything concerning Hae Jeon had been Tang Mujin’s doing.
People said the price of one’s crimes would eventually come due.
The most terrifying being imaginable had arrived to collect that price.
Under ordinary circumstances, Tang Mujin would never have admitted his wrongdoing.
But his opponent was Jeok Wigang.
He had no choice.
Before they issued a formal public apology, however, there was one more matter to handle.
The government authorities.
The Tang Family had worked with the authorities to persecute Hae Jeon, which made them accomplices.
The problem was that if the Tang Family revealed the entire truth without consulting them, the authorities would be placed in a difficult position.
Damaging the Tang Family’s relationship with the government would do the family no good either.
It was a troubling situation.
Then Jeok Wigang stepped forward.
“I’ll handle the authorities.”
Tang Mujin laughed.
“You fool. The government is not something you can interfere with carelessly. One mistake could destroy the principle of noninterference between officials and the martial world.”
“You needn’t worry about that. I’m a government official too.”
“W-wait! You are both the Merchant Master of the True Martial Merchant Company and a government official? How is that possible?”
“It is for me.”
“How?”
“The Emperor permitted it.”
“Th-the Emperor?”
That meant Jeok Wigang had a connection to the Emperor himself.
But merely being a government official would not resolve everything.
The other party was none other than the provincial governor who ruled Sichuan Province.
The Governor of Sichuan was a senior second-rank official.
To confront someone of that rank, Jeok Wigang would need to hold at least a senior first-rank position.
And the only senior first-rank offices were the military governors of the Five Armies Command.