Chronicles of the Reincarnated Demon God - Chapter 10
Chapter 10 – Tang Yu-chang
Tang Yu-chang was highly displeased by the events that unfolded after the completion of his seclusion training.
“He still isn’t showing any reaction?” he asked.
“Yes, sir…”
Yu-chang glared at the woman standing in front of him. “He’s not throwing away his medicine, is he?”
The woman, the maid who delivered the medicine to Woon-hwi daily, bowed down while trembling in fear.
“I-I would never lie, sir!
“Hmm…”
“I only speak the truth! You can ask the other maids!”
After staring down the maid for a while, he dismissed her. “Understood. You may excuse yourself.”
“Thank you, sir…” The woman exited the room, still shaking and trembling.
It was a wonder that she managed to leave without tripping over herself.
“Mu-yeong,” said Yu-chang.
“You called, sir?” a voice responded from the ceiling.
“Dispose of her.”
“Should I make it look like an accident?”
“Making it look like she ran away will suffice. I heard her family is a mess.”
“Yes, sir.”
Fshwip!
The presence in the ceiling promptly disappeared.
After a few days of not showing up for work, the woman would simply be reported missing to the local authorities.
And with that, he would be rid of someone who knew about the toxic cinnabar.
It was a simple case of cutting the tail.
“How strange…”
Tap, tap.
Tang Yu-chang became lost in thought while tapping his desk with his fingers.
Woon-hwi had been drinking the toxic cinnabar for 10 days.
It was strange that he still exhibited no symptoms.
This could only be possible if he was somehow detoxing the poison.
“His backer must be more impressive than we originally anticipated.”
Their plan to brainwash him and puppet him to their liking had gone awry.
They needed to go back to the drawing board and formulate a new plan. They needed to reassess the backer as a more formidable opponent.
But Woon-hwi wasn’t the only problem.
“He’s also become quite close with Tang Gon.”
Tang Gon, a figure they had planted, seemed to be quite comfortable being a martial instructor at the White Pavilion.
“And Big Sister claims that I must be kinder to that lowly bastard.”
Yu-chang clicked his tongue, recollecting his mother and sister’s recent argument.
Since their argument, the mother and daughter had been at odds with each other.
“How troublesome. All the traps we laid out are starting to fall out of line.”
He couldn’t tell whether Woon-hwi was just lucky or if his backer was simply that skilled.
Regardless, none of this was to his liking.
“At times like this, Big Sister should be taking charge… yet she is acting so immature. Is it because she was holed up in the mountains for the last five years? How can she not understand that this is just how the world works?”
Originally, Tang Gyu-jin had been meant to inherit the Nine Dragons Branch Family when she turned 30.
However, Yu-chang had deemed that she did not have what it took for such a position.
Though her martial skills were rivaled by few in her generation, leading a family required more than just martial skills.
There was no way she could lead such a large family while being so naive. Especially when that family was the Nine Dragons Branch Family, a family destined to shed its status as a branch family and become the clan’s main family.
“In the end, I guess there is no one more worthy to succeed the Dark Sovereign than I,” Tang Yu-chang said, a smile on his face.
He was confident that he alone could continue to lead the golden age of the Sichuan Tang Clan.
He would show them soon enough. Using that illegitimate bastard as a stepping stone, he would become the Dark Sovereign’s disciple. Eventually, even his older sister would work under him!
With support from his mother’s family, the Namgung Noble Clan, he thought his plan was definitely possible.
“Young Master, someone is here from the White Pavilion,” came the voice of Yu-chang’s steward, interrupting his scheming.
“From the White Pavilion?”
That meant Woon-hwi had sent someone, but Yu-chang couldn’t imagine that imbecile doing anything on his own. Could perhaps his mysterious backer finally be showing themself?
“What do they want?”
“They sent a letter.”
“A letter? Bring it to me.”
Yu-chang scowled when he saw what was written on the envelope.
Let’s throw hands, fucker.
Everything about that sentence annoyed Yu-chang.
“How uncouth…”
While scowling, Yu-chang carefully opened and investigated the letter and envelope.
He was weary that it might be laced with some toxin, but there appeared to be no such traps.
The letter itself was more ordinary than he had expected.
It said something along the lines of how they weren’t that close despite being brothers, so they should reforge this awkward relationship. If they had any pent-up bad blood, they should shake it off with a duel like real martial artists.
Yu-chang was so baffled, he couldn’t help but laugh.
“He’s clearly desperate to find a way to survive. I guess he’s not so stupid that he isn’t aware of his fate.”
This confirmed it for Yu-chang.
It was all luck that Woon-hwi had managed to evade the traps laid out against him so far. But also, the traps were slowly beginning to constrict him.
Woon-hwi must have realized that, which was why he was pleading in desperation.
Either he wanted to beg in person… or maybe his backer was goading him into it.
“Tell him that we have received his letter. That I’m grateful for his suggestion. But that I reject his duel.”
Yu-chang kicked out the servant from the White Pavillion without even a written response.
But within an hour, he received another letter.
Scared?
“…Do not allow any more messengers from the White Pavillion to enter!” Yu-chang ordered.
He tried his best to cool the anger of being taunted by a lowly illegitimate bastard.
But when he was done with his duties for the day and left his pavilion…
Scared?
He flipped out upon seeing the massive writing on the wall.
“Relay this to him! Tomorrow at noon. The second training ground! I shall gladly shove his head into an outhouse!!”
Tang Yu-chang’s acceptance of the duel was immediately relayed to the White Pavilion.
“What an idiot. Why did he bother playing hard to get if he was going to say yes in the end?”
Seeing me cackle, the ghosts collectively shook their heads.
「He’s a fool indeed. The junior lord’s demonic taunting is even capable of angering the staunchest Shaolin monk.」
「He’s a brat still far from adulthood. No matter how mature he acts, he can’t help but be played like a fiddle.」
「All that awaits him is a beating and public humiliation.」
The ghosts all spoke as if to say, “I also fell for this before…”
「Surprisingly, he was easier to taunt than expected.」
“Of course. The Tang Clan are famous for being some of the most prideful in all of Jianghu.”
Using poisons and sneaky weapons in Jianghu, which liked to speak of justness and fairness, was a good way to be mocked for being “underhanded” (though in reality, Jianghu was far from being actually fair and just).
So until the Sichuan Tang Clan reached their current status, they were looked down upon and brushed off by much of Jianghu.
This had caused the people of the Tang Clan to become even more tight-knit, eventually becoming the group they are today: secluded with ferocious internal competition.
In the end, pride and perseverance had become of utmost importance to the Tang Clan.
And that was what I had taken advantage of.
There had never been a chance that Yu-chang could hold himself back while being repeatedly called a chicken.
“And by taking down Tang Yu-chang, my place within the branch family will change. It’ll also become easier to approach the Wild Wind Squad.”
The grand matron had already sent a letter of recommendation to the Dark Sovereign on my behalf.
It would soon be too late to cancel the letter of recommendation, which would only further infuriate Namgung San-yeong.
「How did you come up with all this, sir?」
“This is pretty similar to when I had just become Master’s disciple. The junior master of the Black Bone Ghost Valley formed a group and kept taunting me. They even went as far as to harass the female members of my guard.”
The Black Bone Ghost Valley: an organization with enough influence to be counted among the “Seventy-Two Evil Clans.”
That was why they had always acted like they were an impressive bunch at the Demon Initiation Palace, a place meant for promising new cultists.
「Is the incident you’re speaking of…?」
“Oh, so you know about it?”
「The Calamity at the Demon Initiation Palace… That was your doing, Junior Lord?」
“Do you know what the lesson here is?”
「What is it, sir…?」
“When taking aim, you need to go straight for the jugular. Got it?”
「Words cannot express the greatness of your wisdom and insights, sir. We are nothing but specks of dust in comparison to your greatness!」
「Please continue to lead us, as unworthy as we may be!」
The “Calamity at the Demon Initiation Palace” referred to the incident where the junior master of the Black Bone Ghost Valley was found tied at the gates, beaten to a pulp with all their teeth ripped out.
「I heard that four secret elixir storages of the Black Bone Ghost Valley were robbed at the same time—」
「They say that the master of the Black Bone Ghost Valley spent years trying to find the culprit, to no avail. To think it was your doing, Junior Lord—」
「The junior master, the only one who would have known the culprit, had lost all their mental faculties and was useless.」
「From what I know, their junior master was exiled not long after, and the Black Bone Ghost Valley has yet to fully recover from that incident…」
The ghosts couldn’t help but gossip, having learned the truth about one of the seven great mysteries of the cult.
In the end, the ghosts all collectively came to the same conclusion about Tang Yu-chang.
「…What a pity. He’s about to get shaken down for all he’s worth.」
They empathized with his fate.
* * *
Since returning to the manor yesterday, Tang Gyu-jin had been nervous and anxious.
‘I need to do something!’
It was because of the matters between her mother and Woon-hwi.
When she had first been called back to the manor for the Dark Sovereign’s visit, she’d been elated.
It had been five years since she’d left the Nine Dragons Branch Family, so she’d been curious how much things might have changed.
But upon returning to the manor, she’d been met with devastating news.
Woon-hwi’s treatment had not improved one bit since her departure.
She had long felt guilt over Woon-hwi. She wanted to rescue him from the torment of her mother and brother, but she essentially abandoned him by leaving for Mount Qingcheng.
She had prayed that he would be well, but clearly that was not the case. And upon hearing about the latest incidents related to Woon-hwi, she felt nothing but despair.
Gyu-jin went to her mother to complain, but she ended up being scolded in return.
“Stop doing something as pointless as taking care of a lowly illegitimate child like him! Especially when we’ll never have to see him again after the Clan Head’s visit.”
“…What do you mean by that, Mother?”
“What else would I mean?” Namgung San-yeong was wound up, as if merely talking about Woon-hwi was unpleasant. “I will be exiling him from the clan after this event.”
Namgung San-yeong purposely withheld the fact that she was scheming to bring him to ruin, worried how her daughter might react.
‘She’s always been far too kind-hearted… but this is too much! That damn Qingcheng sect. This is all their fault, brainwashing her with useless ideals!’
With expectations that Tang Gyu-jin could become the next family head—nay, the next clan head, Namgung San-yeong had had zero intention of sending her daughter to the lowly Qingcheng Sect.
Though the Qingcheng Sect had once been a famous institution, they could no longer hold a candle to the reputation of the Tang Clan!
That was why, when Tang Ho-san had suddenly announced that their daughter would be joining the Qingcheng Sect, Namgung San-yeong had opposed it, even starting a hunger strike.
Yet the protest had proven futile, and Gyu-jin had been sent to Mount Qingcheng.
Ever since then, what remaining affection they’d once had as a couple had fizzled out completely, and Namgung San-yeong had begun obsessing even more over her two children.
“…Fine! I understand. If that’s your decision, Mother, I guess I have no choice,” said Gyu-jin.
Did her daughter finally understand her feelings?
Namgung San-yeong looked at her kin with anticipation, but Gyu-jin instead glared back even more sharply.
Namgung San-yeong felt a chill go down her spine.
“I shall reveal the ‘truth,’ ” Gyu-jin declared.
“What? You don’t mean—”
“It’s exactly what you’re thinking, Mother.”
“Gyu-jin!!”
“No matter what you say, I will not change my mind. I had hoped that things would be different here… but it seems it was all a false hope. I will be relaying it all to Woon-hwi.”
Tang Gyu-jin had zero intentions of bending her will.
“How can you call yourself my own flesh and blood, my kin that I birthed!”
“And Woon-hwi lost his mother, his kin, thanks to you and I.”
“So you insist—”
Namgung San-yeong smacked her own chest.
She couldn’t breathe or finish her sentence.
Why had she been so harsh on Woon-hwi all along? To someone who was no threat to her son or daughter?
It was to hide a secret. Who knew how Woon-hwi might react if he learned the truth?
Her own daughter should know that better than anyone, yet she claimed she’d do what…?!
“Did you know, Mother? The reason I could be treated for that illness and join the Qingcheng Sect, it was all thanks to Woon-hwi. To me, he is the savior of my life. That is why you should not have done this.”
“!!”
“I will pretend I didn’t hear what you told me today, hoping you will correct yourself before the Dark Sovereign’s visit,” Gyu-jin said harshly as she stormed out of the pavilion.
Flop.
Namgung San-yeong’s knees buckled and she fell to the ground.
During her first reunion with her daughter in five years, instead of getting to even enjoy a moment of it, her own daughter had left her with an ultimatum.
“…No. Exile isn’t enough.”
Having made her resolve, Namgung San-yeong bit her lips as she grabbed her coat and called for a carriage.
‘Now’s my chance!’ The captain spider that had been spying all along latched himself to her carriage.
Clop, clop, clop.
And so Namgung San-yeon’s carriage departed…