Chapter 84 – Leave the Neck to Me

Chapter 84 – Leave the Neck to Me

While there were those who participated in the training supervised by San-ho, there were also those who focused on their individual cultivation. Representative among them was the Young Clan Leader, Tang Hae-soo.

The Small Training Ground inside the Inner Castle.

Standing alone in the center of the training ground where the morning dew had fallen, Tang Hae-soo regulated his breathing.

“Fuu…”

His deep exhalations contained the efforts of the past. Although his entire body was already drenched in sweat, he did not stop and continued his training.

The Small Training Ground, surrounded by a dense bamboo forest, was a place he liked. Although smaller in scale compared to the Great Training Ground, it was a comfortable place with a peaceful atmosphere. Whenever the wind blew, the rustling sound of bamboo leaves tickling his ears would soothe his mind.

Yet, as if he had forgotten even those memories, his gaze was fiercely glaring only at the target in front of him.

‘This is not enough.’

In the step he took forward lay the burden of carrying the future of the family on his shoulders.

He immersed himself in training, retracing the forms one by one.

The hand holding the hidden weapons was already torn to pieces.

His eyes, aiming at the target with three flying daggers, gleamed fiercely.

Swish! The sound of tearing through the air cleaved the quiet dawn air, filling the training ground, and the sharp flying daggers struck the exact center of the target one after another.

It was a skill without a single flaw, displaying strength regulated by internal energy and a precision that erased any sense of distance. Tang Hae-soo was indeed a genius of the clan.

But why was it?

An inexplicable anxiety held him back.

Even the same perfection as before could not satisfy him at all.

“……”

Staring at the target, Tang Hae-soo frowned slightly.

Without resting, he immediately threw hidden weapons. The wooden targets hung around were split by the continuously striking hidden weapons. With every cracking sound of wood splitting, one by one, his heart beat faster and faster.

‘More…’

He meticulously infused internal energy into the paper-thin Cow-Hair Needles.

At the very moment a leaf swaying in the wind snapped and fell from a branch, Tang Hae-soo shot a Cow-Hair Needle toward the fluttering leaf.

Spat!

The Cow-Hair Needle that shot straight forward pierced the leaf and embedded itself directly into the branch. The leaf, which was about to fall gently to the ground, returned to its original place.

A wondrous sight, as if reversing time.

Yet, even that did not seem to satisfy Tang Hae-soo. Roughly wiping away the streaming sweat, he reached into his sleeve again.

Something was lacking.

He kept feeling thirsty from an unquenchable thirst.

‘I have never been like this before.’

It would be a lie to say he had never wavered under the pressure of being the Young Clan Leader, but even so, he had never felt this way before. A feeling of suffocation from an unresolved impatience and pressure.

“……”

Gritting his teeth, Tang Hae-soo drew five Soul-Chasing Daggers again.

He had no time to feel such emotions.

For they were things not permitted to him, who had to lead the family someday.

“Ugh…”

Tang Hae-soo frowned at the unpleasant sensation. To think his hand would split open when this was not his first time training. It was the result of continuous anxiety.

His body was already growing exhausted from the relentless training without a moment to catch his breath for days. Sweat he had failed to wipe away got into his eyes, blurring his vision.

It was then.

A presence was felt near the trees, where the dawn was still faint.

“Who is there…?!”

The moment he felt the presence, Tang Hae-soo, who had been training so fiercely that he was about to lose his mind, threw a hidden weapon toward that direction. It was an instinctive movement. However, this was none other than inside the walls of the Tang Clan.

‘Ah…!’

By the time he suddenly realized that fact, the hidden weapon had already left his hand. He immediately clutched his hand, but only empty air slipped through his fingers.

He had made a mistake. What flew was a flying dagger infused with internal energy. If it could not be avoided…

It was a distance of only three zhang.

The blink of an eye felt as long as eternity.

Swiiish!

A sharp sound of tearing through the air cleaved the air.

“Oh dear.”

Behind it, an incredibly peaceful voice was heard.

“I knew this would happen someday. I knew brother would try to kill me at least once.”

“………”

Stepping out from behind the shadow was his one and only younger brother, San-ho. In the hand of San-ho, who wore a playful expression, was the flying dagger he had thrown.

Tang Hae-soo's expression, which had relaxed for a moment, stiffened again.

The cold morning air brushed against his skin. The cool sensation of his damp skin drying made his mind even clearer. Once his startled heart settled, words of unknown origin lingered in his throat.

As he bit his lips hard to swallow his words, San-ho spoke to him.

“You haven't even visited the annex lately. I wondered why it was so hard to see your face, and it turns out you were training here alone?”

San-ho lightly tossed the flying dagger in his hand.

The flying dagger flew and collided precisely with the flying dagger Tang Hae-soo had just embedded. Clang! The metallic sound of the flying daggers clashing spread across the training ground.

“………”

It was not difficult to find the source of his emotions.

The sharp metallic sound suddenly awakened his mind.

“You…”

How did you become so strong?

Why could I not do so?

Upon realizing that heart, he became even more confused.

Had he not surely been delighted by San-ho's growth? Watching San-ho chase after him day after day, had he not felt a pleasure he had never experienced before?

‘Just since when…’

His head throbbed.

It felt as if a pathetic heart was sharply rearing its head.

A small voice whispered from deep within the abyss.

Do you still think you suit that position?

‘……!!’

An emotion he could not dare to name clung to him like mud. It was a damp, sticky, unpleasant, and shameful emotion.

‘No.’

He was ashamed lest that heart of his be found out.

Hastily erasing his petty thoughts, Tang Hae-soo clenched his fists tightly. He thought he had composed himself, but a cold voice leaked out regardless.

“What brings you here so suddenly?”

“I came because I thought of you, brother.”

Smiling broadly, San-ho tossed a small pouch.

“……?”

“A gift.”

Opening the pouch, a fresh scent of grass wafted out. The spirit medicine, wrapped in a gentle light like a haze, boasted its presence.

“A spirit medicine?”

“It was made by throwing in everything good. Of course, I didn't make it myself, though.”

San-ho shrugged and said.

The pill, about the size of a finger joint, harbored an extraordinary energy even to the naked eye.

Tang Hae-soo could easily guess the ingredients of the pill. He recalled how the elders had been appalled recently when San-ho swept clean all the storehouses of the Martial Alliance and the Waterway Forts.

Not only Ten-Thousand-Year He Shou Wu, White Snake Spirit Gallbladder, Snow Lotus Seeds, and Borneol, but even Stalactite Nectar, which is hard to lay eyes on even once in a lifetime.

Besides those, numerous spirit medicines and pills had headed to the Medical Hall. He could faintly hear the voice of the Leader of the Ten Thousand Poisons Hall, who had joked that the entire Tang Clan Village could live off selling just those for several years.

“Since it was refined several times, the yield is small compared to the ingredients put in… but instead, the efficacy contained in a single pill is immense. Even Shaolin's Great Return Pill probably won't match it.”

“………”

San-ho's words were likely true.

For just holding the pill made him feel a powerful energy.

Indeed, how could it not be?

Even just one of the ingredients used was a precious spirit medicine that martial artists of the Jianghu would run to with eyes lit up. How much more so for a pill refined by extracting only their efficacies; it was more than a priceless treasure.

A precious pill that anyone would covet.

Tang Hae-soo looked at San-ho, who had handed over such a treasure to him without hesitation.

“Why are you giving this to me?”

Is it because I look weak?

His twisted heart kept trying to bypass reason and burst out in words. Ah. Tang Hae-soo bit his lips once more.

“What do you mean why…?”

Perhaps it was an unexpected question, as San-ho tilted his head slightly.

A calm voice followed immediately.

“Why did you look for the Earth Dragon's inner core, brother?”

“That is…”

Lest you die.

Because he heard it was good for Severed Meridian Syndrome, because he heard it would make the dantian strong. The Earth Dragon's inner core possessed the efficacies San-ho needed, and so he had sought it. Because he wanted his only younger brother to be healthy.

San-ho smiled as if he knew his mind completely.

“It is the same for me. When I see something good, I think of you, brother.”

“………”

“Are you some ordinary person, brother? You are the next Family Head who will lead the Tang Clan. I am just thinking that if I get on your good side in advance from now on, won't my future be smooth sailing? By the way, once you become Family Head, can I just play and eat?”

“What?”

“No? This is a bribe, you know.”

My dream is to be an idler. A joke added in a small voice.

Tang Hae-soo let out a chuckle without realizing it.

Although his still uncomposed heart surged, he knew it would soon settle down. Looking at San-ho's clear face, Tang Hae-soo decided to rather confront the question that kept lingering in his ears.

Straightening his mouth, he asked in a low voice.

“Do you have no greed for the position of Young Clan Leader? Now that you have escaped that dreadful Heavenly Punishment, you could afford to be greedy for once.”

“Pardon?”

Before he could even finish his words, San-ho asked back with wide eyes.

“Could you entrust the family to me, brother? For real?”

“Umm…”

“I don't think so. You should think about it carefully again, shouldn't you?”

“………”

Giggling, San-ho faced Tang Hae-soo directly and spoke firmly.

“I am not that kind of talented person. And of course, I have no intention of doing so either.”

“Why?”

“Because brother and I are different. You, who wakes up at a set time, repeats the same training, and builds up the same time day in and day out, are suited for that position.”

“Do you think you do not suit it?”

“I… was just lucky.”

'I was lucky.' To think he would say such words with his own mouth. Thinking so, San-ho smiled faintly.

Repeating the same thing every day was not an easy task.

The same went for training. If there were days when it went well, there were bound to be days when it did not.

Yet, Tang Hae-soo was consistent.

He opened his eyes at the same time every day, and upon waking up, he immediately tidied his bed and circulated his qi. After finishing the qi circulation, he adjusted his posture and immediately visited the ancestral shrine and his father to pay his respects, and after coming out, he began his dawn training.

Once training was over, he had a light breakfast. In the morning, he trained together with the warriors of the Tang Clan at the Great Training Ground and watched over their training. After mingling with them and having lunch, he drank tea at the annex.

In the afternoon, he trained with San-ho at the Small Training Ground attached to the annex. After San-ho left for his journey in the Jianghu, he continued training alone. He repeated without exception even the forms that were already evaluated as perfect.

Doing so, before he knew it, it was evening.

Having meals with the elders of the family and discussing the affairs of the clan, it was soon the Hour of the Boar. At the time when people were falling asleep one by one, he read books to learn the virtue of a gentleman.

Without missing a single day. With all his heart.

It was by no means an easy task.

He was a perfect figure fitting for the Young Clan Leader.

There was no need for even a shred of doubt regarding that fact.

Lost in thought for a moment, Tang Hae-soo asked.

“Then, you are saying there is nothing you are greedy for?”

“There is one thing.”

San-ho said with sparkling eyes.

“Please win this Dragon and Phoenix Assembly.”

Tang Hae-soo blinked at the unexpected words. Then, his eyes crinkled softly, and he smiled comfortably. In the place where anxiety had vanished, a firm trust remained. The San-ho before him was neither the fragile younger brother nor the competitor who made him anxious. He was family, walking forward together while looking at the same thing.

“Umm. Since I received a precious gift, I suppose I must do so.”

It seemed to be what San-ho wished for as well.

He hoped this happiness would last for a long time.

‘I will protect your neck, brother!’

Behind the back of San-ho, who was making a firm determination, the morning sun rose.

Time flowed like the rising and setting of the sun.

The promised ten days also passed in an instant.

The new training proceeded smoothly, and by the tenth day, the two captains of the Martial Alliance trembled with dread. Looking at the hidden weapons embedded all over the thin armor they had worn in advance, Min Eun-gyeol made a crying face.

Once the temporary instructor and prey returned, the Tang Clan's time flowed even faster.

After consuming the spirit medicine, Tang Hae-soo revealed an unprecedentedly powerful energy. The elders of the clan could not hide their excitement, saying that a winner would surely emerge from the Tang Clan this time.

To make it into the fifteen who could participate in the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly, the rising stars immersed themselves in training day and night.

San-ho was equally busy.

Around the time when the talk that the Young Master had shut himself in the annex again had just died down.

The opening date of the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly approached rapidly.