Chapter 61
Chapter 61: Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven
To everyone’s misfortune, the Gyojin Gang leader had managed to evade a full-blown qi deviation.
Judging by the crimson spray he had coughed up, his vital energy and circulation had certainly reversed, yet his coloring indicated nothing worse than a manageable internal wound.
‘Should I needle him just a bit more?’
“Leader of the Gyojin Gang! Did the Master of our house not inquire whether you yield? Why stand there struck dumb, as if your mouth were sealed with honey?”
“…….”
Offering no reply, the chieftain hoisted his limp, senseless son onto his back and began to step away.
Behind his heels trailed the dispirited, crestfallen ruffians of the Gyojin Gang.
Surveying their departing backs, Yanghwi could not resist casting one last barbed shout into the wind.
“Remember your word! You were the one who swore the defeated party would clear out of Ak’an County!”
Though a fair stretch of ground now separated them, Yanghwi had focused his inner reserves to hone his sight, catching the sight with crystal clarity.
The faint, unmistakable shudder running through the Gyojin Gang leader’s shoulders.
Letting out a quiet chuckle, Yanghwi ran across to Baek Muryang.
“Father! My sincerest congratulations on this splendid triumph!”
Taking their cue from the young master’s call, the retainers raised their clasped hands in a coordinated salute.
“We congratulate the Lord on this glorious victory!”
Baek Muryang took in the sight of his loyal followers with an affectionate, radiant expression before his eyes settled gently upon Yanghwi.
“Hwi. Bringing you into my home as my son has truly proved to be our family’s greatest fortune.”
Baek Muryang brushed a broad hand over his head. Awash in cherished childhood warmth, Yanghwi quietly relished the familiar reassurance of that touch.
“Let us head home. It has been far too long since we last held a proper banquet.”
From this day forth, the Baek Estate had established itself as the undisputed master of Ak’an County, in name and substance alike.
With the Suho Alliance fractured into utter disarray and the Gyojin Gang banished by treaty, not a single power remained capable of challenging the Baek Estate.
It was an accomplishment more than deserving of overflowing wine cups.
“Attend my words, everyone. We march back to the main estate. Gwak Mun, take a detachment ahead and see that the feast is prepared.”
“At once, My Lord!”
Under Baek Muryang’s command, the ranks began their orderly withdrawal.
Gwak Mun channeled his lightfoot technique, darting ahead across the terrain with his chosen runners.
Watching them vanish into the distance, Yanghwi strolled toward Gu Ak.
“Brother Gu.”
“What is on your mind, Little Brother?”
“Did you not ask me to serve as your martial scholar, just as I did for my father?”
“Indeed I did. Wait, do not tell me you mean to dissect my techniques this very second?”
“Hardly that.”
“What then?”
“My legs are throbbing. Carry me on your back, would you?”
“…….”
Gu Ak went still, casting an uneasy glance across the area.
Over half of the crowd still lingered, shouting their throats raw in praise of the Dual Peerless Chivalrous Sword and the Baek Estate.
“Right in front of everyone?”
“Precisely.”
“Is that truly necessary?”
“Refuse if it displeases you.”
The moment Yanghwi made to turn his head away in mock indifference, Gu Ak caught hold of him like an anxious hound desperate to find relief.
“I-It isn’t that I refuse. Only…….”
Gu Ak was a man of steadfast pride. An individual who lived for his dignity and would readily perish for his honor.
“With so many sets of eyes watching us…… Could I not hoist you up once we have put some distance behind us?”
“If it is humiliation you fear, I shall resolve it for you.”
Yanghwi reeled dramatically on his feet, crying out loud enough for all ears to catch.
“Ah, the crushing exhaustion of witnessing such a lethal duel!”
“Easy now, steady! Little Brother! Your elder brother will carry you!”
Sliding smoothly onto Gu Ak’s broad back, Yanghwi leaned close to whisper in his ear.
“Nothing left to be ashamed of now, is there?”
“My thanks. But still…… you remain committed to guiding my martial studies, do you not?”
Yanghwi was on the verge of retorting that it depended on his behavior, but settled for a quiet nod instead.
‘After all, he did render meaningful service today.’
Were Gu Ak to grow in prowess, the estate’s collective martial strength would surge alongside him.
Regardless.
Yanghwi had harbored an entirely separate motive for requesting this ride.
He desired an undisturbed space to submerge himself in deep, uninterrupted thought.
‘With this move, the pacification of Ak’an County has reached its conclusion.’
From the Honggyo Gang, the Cheongsa Gang, and the Gyojin Gang, all the way to the Suho Alliance that had persistently schemed against them despite claiming alignment with the righteous path.
All four major factions had been shattered or forced to their knees, paving the way for the Baek family to stand alone as the foremost martial clan of Ak’an County.
And all within a mere ten months.
A feat brought to fruition in under a single year since his reincarnation.
‘When I first set this course, I anticipated needing three full years at the very least.’
Gu Ak, Yeo Hyeok, and a succession of unforeseen developments.
Elements entirely absent from the memories of his former life had woven together, steering circumstances immensely in the Baek house’s favor.
‘We are swiftly augmenting our fighting ranks by reforming these dark-path scoundrels, and we are laying future foundations with sacred elixirs. From this point forward, our sphere of control can widen at an even greater pace.’
Still, it remained grossly insufficient. Not even remotely enough.
Though they had crowned themselves masters of Ak’an County, it was ultimately nothing more than a single modest county.
Yanghwi’s sights were set on a far grander horizon.
‘To earn recognition among the revered noble houses in the eyes of warriors across the realm, a clan must make its name resound across an entire province.’
Beyond Ak’an County lay Muju, and beyond Muju stretched more than ten other territories of equal vastness, all of which had to be subdued before one could reign supreme over Jiangxi Province.
Given that such a milestone was merely a stepping stone, their present standing had not achieved even a fraction of that ultimate summit.
‘To start, we must seize dominion over Jiangxi Province — or at minimum establish ourselves among its top five great powers. Only with that standing can we execute the Ten-Year Grand Plan alongside the Tang Clan.‘
To link hands with the Tang Clan and methodically wrest control of Hunan — currently overrun by unorthodox sects and dark-path dens — via a pincer movement from east and west.
To stand as an equal beside the Tang Clan, an entrenched noble house, the Baek house needed to ascend into the ranks of the nobility within the next decade.
‘To see that realized, the preparations required are…….’
They needed to mold fresh, capable fledglings into elite vanguards for the estate.
They had to deepen their alliance with the Baekseo Merchant Guild, expanding commerce and trade networks to amass staggering wealth.
Concurrently, they had to pile up righteous, renowned deeds until the entirety of Jiangxi Province could not help but bow to the Baek Estate’s prestige.
‘The path ahead is truly unending.’
Even so, not an ounce of dread or exhaustion touched his heart.
In this second life, he possessed absolute certainty that he could claim every prize he set his eyes upon.
“Little Brother. We have arrived at the family estate.”
“Hm?”
Before he realized it, the grand gates of the Baek manor had risen into view.
Carved in the era of the founding ancestor and preserved across generations, the ancestral gate stood proud.
The weathered emblem of spreading hawk wings caught his gaze with exceptional clarity today.
‘I shall restore the Baek house to the ranks of the noble houses without fail. No, beyond that, I will carve the title of Greatest Under Heaven right above our name.’
The heavy timber gates parted wide. Standing within to receive the victors were Lady Jeong Inhwa, Baek Heonso, and Baek Yeonyeon.
“Father!”
“Father!”
“My husband.”
Wearing a radiant grin, Baek Muryang strode forward with open arms.
He gathered his wife and both children into a single, sweeping embrace.
“Hahaha! I behold your faces with every waking day, yet why do you appear so remarkably dear to my eyes at this moment?”
“My lord. You bear bloodstains. Could you be injured……?”
“A mere surface scratch, nothing to fret over. The death duel concluded with our absolute triumph.”
“Ah! My warmest congratulations, my lord! I never doubted you would prevail.”
“My love, I believe my blade found its mark solely because your faith supported me.”
Jeong Inhwa’s face flushed with radiant, pure delight.
Baek Muryang held her gaze, a deep tenderness softening his features.
“Now, the hour has finally come where I may personally purge the illness from your body.”
For years, Baek Muryang had carried a secret, aching sorrow over his inability to heal his wife with his own hands, held back only by his failure to attain the apex realm.
Because of that long regret, the promise he now offered her carried the weight of unmeasured emotion.
“I have always trusted you, my lord.”
Jeong Inhwa gazed up into his face, her smile brilliant and warm.
As the two stood lost in their shared affection, Yanghwi observed them from a modest distance away.
‘I carry urgent matters to disclose, but stepping between them now would ruin the moment.’
Besides, there was a tally he needed to finalize before raising serious affairs.
Namely, the exact martial capacity the Baek house could assemble on a moment’s notice.
‘One master of the apex realm, two of the first-rate, eight second-rate, and thirty-three third-rate warriors, is it?’
That ought to be more than plenty.
Furthermore, following the recent underworld clashes, their faction held an overwhelming strategic advantage.
“Steward Han.”
Yanghwi drew near and spoke in a hushed murmur, prompting the old steward to look back in mild confusion.
“What troubles you, Young Master Hwi?”
Yanghwi’s lips curled into a cunning grin.
“I have something to convey. I suspect we ought to halt the banquet preparations for just a short while.”
CRASH! BANG! CRACK! ROAR!
Within the compound serving as the Gyojin Gang’s fortress, the pavilion housing the chief’s private chambers was being pulverized from the inside.
SMASH!
Heavy wooden fragments blasted through the shredded paper lattices, raining hard into the open courtyard.
From the shattered framing, it looked to have once been an ornate bedstead.
“GRAAAAH! I will butcher them! Every last dog among them will bleed!”
Even though he had yielded the duel that decided his organization’s fate without crossing blades himself, the Gyojin Gang leader was a first-rate master who had mastered mind-directed qi and the harmony of intent and qi.
The wild fury and raw bloodlust bleeding from his frame rolled across the courtyard like a suffocating wave, raising goosebumps along the skin of the assembled ruffians.
RUMBLE!
With a final groan, a primary support pillar sheared in two.
Beginning from its western wing, the entire pavilion collapsed into a fractured heap of timber and tile.
As wood dust billowed into the air, the figure of the Gyojin Gang leader emerged through the haze.
“…….”
Every thug present dropped their chin in silence.
Though gathered in their entirety, their ranks had been hollowed out to barely half of yesterday’s numbers.
True to the nature of dark-path scoundrels, a great many had packed their belongings and fled the moment their expulsion became public knowledge.
“Hahaha! As recently as yesterday, I believed Ak’an County was ours for the taking. To think more than a hundred seasoned men have dwindled to this pathetic scrap.”
To compound the agony, the son he had pampered for his sharp wit and uncommon talent now lay crippled.
Furthermore, the Blood Night Wanderer, hired through vast sums borrowed from their shadow patron, had met a humiliating, miserable end.
“Kwahaha! My Gyojin Gang — I, Yi Hoyang — forced to scurry out of Ak’an County like a stray dog?”
The gang leader threw back his head, bellowing with unbridled fury.
Right then, a middle-aged figure stepped out from the formation.
“Leader. Permit me a word.”
It was Dong Hall Leader Yi Cheolyang, the gang’s lead tactician and the chieftain’s own cousin.
“Speak.”
Yi Cheolyang locked eyes with the enraged leader for a fleeting breath.
He understood precisely what script he needed to recite.
‘Just as expected. The Leader has not the slightest intention of skulking away in defeat.’
Had they been men to honor solemn oaths, the world would never have branded them scoundrels of the dark path.
The road walked by the Gyojin Gang belonged wholly to the shadows.
A path where both shortcomings and promises were buried six feet under.
“I humbly address the Gang Leader. Though we have suffered unexpected tolls, allow me to congratulate you on the brilliant fruition of your scheme.”
The Gyojin Gang leader’s eyes narrowed, demanding clarification.
Yi Cheolyang pressed onward without hesitation.
“A month ago, you entrusted me with a profound design, Gang Leader. You proposed issuing a death match to the Baek Estate precisely to lull them into fatal complacency! That vision has now ripened!”
The death duel, originally devised to slip free from the scrutiny and constraints imposed by the Zhuge family and the Tang Clan, was now spun into the pretext for an audacious ambush.
“Even as we speak, the Baek Estate will have abandoned all vigilance, indulging in a lavish banquet to toast their victory. I submit that the time has come to unleash the final stroke of your master plan.”
Yi Cheolyang bowed low.
Having handed his master the indispensable pretense of honor, he had only to abide by the resulting command.
“……Squadron Leader Dong speaks the truth. While the young master sustained grievous wounds, the larger game unfolds exactly as envisioned.”
The Gyojin Gang leader continued, his countenance warped with virulent malice.
“We have purged the disloyal rats from our ranks and coaxed our quarry into a state of drunken negligence. Nothing remains now but to paint the night in blood.”
SWOOSH!
Leaping through the air in a single bound, the chieftain landed heavily before the courtyard gates.
“We shall descend upon the Baek Estate with our own hands and seize the mantle of Ak’an County’s ruler.”
The threat of vengeance from the Zhuge family, whose leaders shared sworn brotherhood with the Baek line?
The lurking dread of the Tang Clan, whose ties with the Baek house appeared to have deepened?
None of it mattered in the face of survival.
“Arm yourselves and follow me. We march upon the Baek Estate this instant!”
“Understood!”
Better to strike with bared fangs than be looked down upon.
Better to usurp another’s sanctuary than wander the wilderness without a home.
Such was the unyielding iron code of the dark path.
Marshalling their remaining strength, the operatives of the Gyojin Gang surged forward into the night, bound directly for the Baek Estate.
Comments for chapter "Chapter 61"
MANGA DISCUSSION
Madara Info
Madara stands as a beacon for those desiring to craft a captivating online comic and manga reading platform on WordPress
For custom work request, please send email to wpstylish(at)gmail(dot)com