Chapter 1114
“…Ugh. There’s not a single part of my body that doesn’t hurt.”
Tang Zhan massaged his sore chin. The spot where that damn Jo-Gol had punched still throbbed.
“That damn bastard…”
He could still vividly recall Jo-Gol’s eyes, brimming with murderous intent. That punch had definitely been filled with every bit of emotion.
Tang Zhan, who was gritting his teeth, screamed and grabbed his chin. As he gritted his teeth, his jaw started to hurt more.
“Next time, I swear I’ll kill that bastard!”
Tang Zhan, showing his raw animosity, shook his fist. The fact that he had once felt a sense of camaraderie with Jo-Gol, just because they were from the same region, now seemed utterly foolish.
“Hyung-nim. Those Mount Hua son of a beast is too much… Hyung-nim?”
Tang Zhan, who was casually talking to Tang Pae, tilted his head. He was sitting on the bed, contemplating something with a serious expression on his face.
“Hyung-nim. Are you okay?”
“Hmm.”
A deep sigh escaped the mouth of the troubled Tang Pae.
“Are you in a lot of pain?”
“….”
“That person is really tough, isn’t she?”
At those words, Tang Pae unconsciously rubbed his eyelids. The eyes where Yoo Iseol’s punch had landed turned black and blue.
“Noona Soso was following her calling her Sago this and Sago that, so I wondered what kind of person she is… She was indeed not an ordinary person. So please don’t look so down. Getting hit a bit is just part of life.”
“That’s not it.”
“….Yes?”
Tang Pae’s distorted his expression.
Tang Zhan thought his brother was upset about being beaten up by a woman. Of course, since Sichuan Tang Family is basically a place where they don’t teach martial arts to the women of the family, it’s not common for them to get beaten by women. So depend on one’s perspective, it could indeed be a shocking experience.
But that wasn’t the reason why Tang Pae’s defeat had become so serious now.
“Zhan.”
“Yes, Hyung-nim.”
“…Are you okay?”
“Me? I’m fine. My teeth feel a bit loose, but it’s nothing serious…”
“No, that’s not what I meant.”
Tang Pae shook his head.
“Didn’t we lose again?”
“Oh, that.”
Tang Zhan scratched his head.
“No. Well… we did lose, but technically, it wasn’t a real loss, was it? If we’d used real poison and hidden weapons, we definitely would have won.”
“Do you really think so?”
Tang Zhan, who was about to say affirmatively as if a matter of course, saw the expression of Tang Pae and kept his mouth shut. It was because the expression on his face was more serious than he expected.
“Of course, if we had used extreme poison and practical hidden weapons without worrying about the opponent’s damage, the situation might have been different. But isn’t that the same for Mount Hua Sect?”
“What does Hyung-nim mean…?”
“In a sparring match, your jaw hurts and my eyes are bruised. But in a real fight, your neck would be cut, and my eye would be gouged out.”
Only then did Tang Zhan’s face grow just as serious. Tang Pae sighed deeply and spoke.
“They are sword warriors. In particular, isn’t Mount Hua Sect swordsmanship reputed to be more vicious than Evil Sets? Do you think they would swing their swords twice at a single person in a real fight?”
“….”
“Their swords I saw at Plum Blossom Island were simpler and more brutal than the swords of any other sect. If that sword had been swung at us… They wouldn’t have had to waste time taking us down. The moment we entered their sword range, our lives would have been forfeit.”
Tang Zhan could not refute these words.
If the sparring that took place today had been a real fight, all he would have seen was not Jo-Gol’s face as he turned his chin with a glare, but only Jo-Gol’s cold back who cut his neck and passed by.
Thinking about it this way sent chills down his spine.
“Of course, if it was a real battle, they wouldn’t have come out unscathed either. But… no matter how I think about it, I don’t think the result would have changed.”
“…Hyung-nim.”
“There is nothing more foolish than trying to deny the undeniable. The important thing is not to deny the facts but to solve the problem. What do you think is the problem with Tang Family?”
Tang Zhan was troubled by Tang Pae’s question. When he tried to pinpoint the problems, there were more than one.
“There are so many things that come to mind… but I think there’s one thing that’s decisive.”
“What is it?”
“Practical experience.”
Tang Pae nodded vigorously.
“I think the same.”
There was a reason why they shared the same thought. After going through this sparring session, they realized that Sichuan Tang Family had never properly fought against specific other sects.
“…There wasn’t this problem at Plum Blossom Island…”
“You’re mistaken.”
Tang Pae spoke in a bitter tone in response to Tang Zhan’s grumbling.
“At that time, we were happy that we had shown the majesty of Tang Family to the world, but… looking back, it’s not that Tang Family did well, but it is that Mount Hua was great. Didn’t they block all the attacks that would come to Tang Family and even pave the path?”
“They even dealt with the pirates targeting us from the water.”
“Right. But we thought that was Tang Family’s strength. It was like an archer bragging about their accomplishments as they comfortably fired arrows while the comrades risked their lives and raised shields to protect them.”
Tang Zhan bit his lip slightly at that harsh evaluation.
It was an overly cold assessment, but he couldn’t bear to refute it. He knew that the one feeling the bitterness more than him was Tang Pae.
“You can’t find a problem unless you actually experience it. It was only after going through this sparring that I could see the problems Tang Family had.”
Tang Zhan nodded. Upon reflection, many things made sense.
It is no exaggeration to say that Tang Family is the best sect in the world when fighting from a distance, but once the distance gets close, they can’t even display half of their true power.
The problem is that the battle they will have to face from now on will likely be a melee with enemies coming from all sides. If they were exposed to the enemy without protection in such a situation, isn’t it easy to imagine what would happen?
Tang Zhan, who had been lost in thought with a stern face, suddenly raised his head and looked at Tang Pae.
“But, Hyung-nim.”
“Hm?”
“Then… Did Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword anticipate all of this and create this situation?”
“Perhaps.”
Tang Pae smiled bitterly.
“It must have been to let us experience and understand it firsthand. Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword is second to none when it comes to actual combat, so he would have clearly seen the problems Tang Family has.”
“Even Gaju-nim might not have known… No, Gaju-nim may have known… But Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword is the first to point out that aspect?”
“Don’t misunderstand.”
At that moment, Tang Pae’s voice subsided slightly.
“Gaju-nim may be a stronger master than Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword, but that and his experience in actual combat are separate issues.”
“….”
“While other sects were exposed to life-and-death battles, Tang Family has always stepped back. Even during the Great Incident of the Yangtze River, where even Ten Great Sects had to risk their lives, and the recent Hangzhou Magyo incident, Tang Family didn’t participate, did they?”
“…That’s true.”
“In the past ten years, the only real battle we’ve had is at Plum Blossom Island. However, Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword has been fighting against enemies that threaten his life for several years now. The main sect was attacked by Myriad Man Manor, and he fought against Magyo in the North Sea. He fought Jang Ilso in the middle of the Black Dragon Water Fortress, and what about this time?”
Tang Zhan was momentarily left speechless by the dizzy feeling in his head.
“It is true that we have been friendly with Mount Hua, but perhaps that familiarity has made us think too easily of Mount Hua Sect and the martial artist that is Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword. They are far greater than we’ve thought.”
Tang Zhan let out a deep sigh.
“They could have just told us with words.”
“Would you have understood?”
“….”
“You might have pretended to understand. But you wouldn’t have deeply internalized it. People always take things lightly unless they experience them firsthand.”
Tang Pae touched his aching eye area.
“If it’s the price of learning such a lesson… A wound of this magnitude is something was a cheap price to pay.”
Tang Zhan stared blankly at Tang Pae for a moment. Tang Pae asked with a puzzled look on his face.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Tang Zhan shook his head without answering.
At times like this, he realized once again. Why Tang Pae is given the position of Sogaju of Sichuan Tang Family while he was merely the son of Tang Gun-ak? It is difficult to attribute this simply to age. The vessels are different, and the perspective of acceptance is different.
At one point, he had dreamed that Tang Pae might lose his position and he could become Sogaju, but now it just seemed laughable.
“Hyun-nim. What should we do now?”
“We have to go through it.”
A look of determination flashed across the face of Tang Pae.
“Didn’t Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword go through the trouble of setting this stage for us? Didn’t he spare no effort in giving us his most cherished disciples so that we could make up for our lack of practical skills? Shouldn’t we be grateful and use them?”
“I understand.”
“But.”
“Yes?”
Tang Pae smiled. novelbuddy.cσ๓
“That doesn’t mean we can just keep getting beaten up like this. Gather the kids.”
“What are you planning to do…?”
“What Gaju-nim or Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword wants us to do is not just to clash and break things. They want us to desperately think, improve, and find a way to stand against Mount Hua Sect on an equal footing.”
“….”
“That’s not something you and I can solve on our own. It’s an issue that requires listening to more people and having more people think about it.”
“But Hyung-nim…. If you do that, wouldn’t that undermine your authority…?”
“You’re talking nonsense. The authority of Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword is stronger than anyone else’s within Mount Hua Sect. Does that mean that Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword is shouting at the disciples to just turn a deaf ear and follow what he says?”
“It seems like he does, though?”
“….”
The speechless Tang Pae made a dumbfounded expression for a moment.
“That… uh… no… ye… yes, that’s true, but… kuhum!”
Tang Pae quickly cleared his throat to brighten the mood.
“Anyway, from what I see, what we need to do is not to assert authority. Perhaps Mount Hua’s strength comes from distributing power from top to bottom and communicating openly without barriers. With such an excellent example right in front of us, it would be foolish to stick to our old ways while closing our eyes and ears.”
Tang Pae smiled.
“Let’s open up a bit more. The reason Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword is doing this to us now is probably because he wants to come closer to us and open up his heart a little more. If someone as accomplished as him is willing to open up, why should we stubbornly cling to our ways?”
At those words, Tang Zhan shook his head.
“To be honest, I don’t fully understand what you’re saying, hyung-nim. Mount Hua is just an emerging sect, and isn’t our Tang Family a sect that has already proven our skills as the ruler of Sichuan for hundreds of years? There will certainly be resistance.”
“…That could be true.”
“But….”
Tang Zhan looked at Tang Pae with determined eyes.
“I will follow your orders, Hyung-nim. However, I hope you understand that it is not because Mount Hua looks so great to me, but because it is you who is giving the order.”
Tang Pae, who seemed speechless for a moment, lowered his head and spoke in a small voice.
“Thank you.”
“Then I will go.”
“Yes.”
After Tang Zhan hurriedly left the room, Tang Pae let out a deep sigh.
‘I guess I thought it too easy.’
He thought everything would go smoothly if everyone shared the same will. But as soon as different people gathered in one place, what became apparent were their differences and his own shortcomings.
“Even so, I can’t ignore it.”
Tang Pae lightly clenched his fist.
Even if Mount Hua leads Heavenly Comrade Alliance, he has no intention of remaining by their side in a supporting role. Tang Family will never become someone who just supports Mount Hua. Sometimes, they lead Mount Hua, and at a time, they should become a sect that Mount Hua can lean on.
That was the pride of Tang Family and the pride of Tang Family’s Sogaju.
“Before that, first of all… we need to let those Mount Hua Sect devils know what defeat is. Let them feel what we felt.”
Tang Pae gritted his teeth.
Unfortunately, he didn’t know that his expression was starting to resemble that of Mount Hua’s devils.
