Chapter 8

Chapter 8.

 

As Dang Myeong stared at the message with a hardened expression, Dang Jang looked at Dang Pung.

“What should we do?”

At Dang Jang’s question, Dang Pung clicked his tongue softly.

“Have you forgotten what the Clan Lord said? He said the Young Lord has full authority over this matter.”

At Dang Pung’s words, Dang Jang swallowed dryly and looked at Dang Myeong.

“I know that you are the one who must decide. But you can still listen to our opinions.”

“That is true.”

Dang Myeong steadied his breathing and looked at the three of them. After a brief silence, Dang Pung sighed and said,

“We must return to the main house.”

“Would the main house not have told us to go to Qingcheng because the encirclement is too thick for us to return?”

“Most likely. But… if the Demonic Cult is truly determined, then with us gone, the main house will not be able to hold out for long.”

Dang Pung looked at Dang Myeong.

“And Qingcheng and Emei will not move.”

Perhaps because Dang Pung had so much experience, he understood the ways of the martial world with perfect clarity.

“I think the same.”

“We must return to the Tang Clan.”

Dang Pung continued as he looked at Dang Myeong.

“But the decision is yours until the very end. What will you do?”

At Dang Pung’s question, Dang Myeong looked at Dang Jang and Dang Miryeong. Under his gaze, the two of them nodded.

After thinking for a moment, Dang Myeong opened his mouth.

“Are there any members of the Secret Shadow Unit here?”

“…….”

There was no answer. But Dang Myeong spoke again.

“The main house is now in absolute danger. I have no authority to give orders to the Secret Shadow Unit, but the Clan Lord has given me the authority to take responsibility for the current situation. So… please step forward.”

At Dang Myeong’s words, two people revealed themselves from the silent forest.

Looking at the two members of the Secret Shadow Unit, both dressed in black night clothes and wearing masks, Dang Myeong asked,

“Is there no passage that allows us to enter the main house in secret?”

After a brief silence, the man in black nodded.

“There are three underground passages.”

“Three? Where are they located?”

At Dang Myeong’s question, the two members of the Secret Shadow Unit looked at each other for a moment. Apparently, even within the Secret Shadow Unit, this was classified information.

“I know it is a secret. But right now, the main house is in danger.”

“We understand. What concerns us is something else.”

“What is it?”

“The Clan Lord and the Unit Commander know about the underground passages. Yet there was no order telling us to return to the main house through them. That means they must have judged that the underground passages cannot be used.”

At the Secret Shadow Unit member’s words, Dang Pung nodded.

“That makes sense.”

At Dang Pung’s words, Dang Myeong looked at the members of the Secret Shadow Unit.

“Is there no other way in?”

“There is not.”

At the Secret Shadow Unit member’s answer, Dang Myeong looked up at the sky for a moment.

‘So sending out the Secret Serpent Unit and the Flat Bat Unit to repel the enemy was not the answer.’

Defeating the Black Wind Unit and the Blood Death Unit with the Secret Serpent Unit and the Flat Bat Unit had not been the answer.

Dang Myeong’s goal had been to keep those two units inside the Tang Clan… but now they could not get back in.

‘Then should we have struck the Demonic Cultists surrounding the main house first, rather than those two units? No… There are more Demonic Cultists surrounding the main house now than there were in those two units.’

With his thoughts in turmoil, Dang Myeong opened his mouth.

“We are going to the main house.”

“That is the right choice.”

“You have thought this through well, Young Lord.”

“Even if we die, we die together with our family.”

At the three people’s words, Dang Myeong steadied his breath and said,

“We are not going there to die. We are going to save the main house and survive together.”

Then Dang Myeong looked at the two members of the Secret Shadow Unit.

“How many members of the Secret Shadow Unit are outside the Tang Clan?”

“Currently, eight.”

“Contact them and confirm a route that will allow us to enter. We also need a path that will keep us from being discovered by the enemy on our way to the Tang Clan.”

“As you command!”

One member of the Secret Shadow Unit vanished on the spot. After a moment, the remaining member of the Secret Shadow Unit removed his mask.

SLIDE.

“Dang Song?”

“Dang Song, you were a member of the Secret Shadow Unit?”

The middle-aged man called Dang Song performed a cupped-fist salute and said,

“If I remain beside the Young Lord in the uniform of the Secret Shadow Unit, information may be exposed. From this moment on, I will serve you as a member of the main house.”

Dang Song took off his black night clothes, turned them inside out, and put them back on. They became the ordinary attire of the Tang Clan.

“I will guide you along a safe route.”

Dang Song kicked off the ground, and the martial artists of the Tang Clan followed after him.

***

Dang Myeong’s group had taken position in the mountains, where the Sichuan Tang Clan could be seen in the distance.

“Where was an army of that size hiding?”

“This makes no sense. To think no one in Sichuan Province knew until the Demonic Cult mobilized that many people.”

Dang Pung looked at Dang Song of the Secret Shadow Unit. Under that gaze, Dang Song sighed and lowered his head.

“They did not appear in the intelligence networks of the Secret Shadow Unit or the Beggars’ Gang.”

At Dang Song’s words, Dang Pung let out a sigh.

“This is not because our intelligence network was lacking. We should assume the Demonic Cult prepared this with meticulous thoroughness.”

Dang Pung gave a low groan as he looked down at the scene below the mountain, then turned to Dang Myeong.

“Write a message. Waiting at Cheoncho Mountain. Requesting orders.”

At Dang Pung’s words, Dang Myeong wrote on a small slip of paper and tied it to the poison hawk’s leg.

Then, when Dang Myeong gestured in one direction, the poison hawk tilted its head for a moment before flying toward the place he had indicated.

If the poison hawk soared straight up, the Demonic Cultists might spot it. That was why he had sent it far around behind the mountain before returning to the Tang Clan.

When Dang Myeong looked up at the sky for a moment, he could see the poison hawk high above the Tang Clan in the distance. It still looked like a black dot, but after a short while, it began descending toward the Tang Clan.

Watching it, Dang Myeong gazed steadily at Tang Clan Tower.

Ordinarily, that was where people should have been bustling with life.

Tang Clan Tower, the village where people who depended on the Tang Clan lived….

But right now, Tang Clan Tower was engulfed in flames. Even so, there were no screams to be heard.

In preparation for an attack by the Demonic Cult, the people of Tang Clan Tower had already been evacuated.

The traps of the Tang Clan had been activated throughout Tang Clan Tower, which surrounded the Tang Clan Fortress, and rather than dismantle them, the Demonic Cult was burning them away.

‘It was the same back then.’

Before Dang Myeong died, the Demonic Cult experts had shot flaming arrows and set fire to every corner of Tang Clan Tower. They burned everything in front of the Tang Clan Fortress for an entire day, eliminated the traps, and then began their attack.

As they watched the burning Tang Clan Tower, Dang Jang opened his mouth.

“The Demonic Cult will not enter until Tang Clan Tower has completely burned down.”

“Most likely… All that smoke could be poison smoke, after all.”

At Dang Pung’s words, Dang Jang looked at Tang Clan Tower for a moment and said,

“How long can the main house hold out once the flames go out?”

At Dang Jang’s anxious murmur, Dang Myeong opened his mouth.

“About one day.”

“One day? Are you not assuming too little?”

“The main house is large and wide. Even if traps made with poison and hidden weapons have been laid throughout it, the experts currently inside cannot defend everything.”

Dang Myeong looked at the Tang Clan Fortress. Then, like an illusion, the memories of that day rose before his eyes.

Demonic Cult experts had poured in from every direction. With two units gone, the remaining three combat units could not cover so many places.

When the outer compound fell, Dang Myeong had broken through a bloody path with the Flying Heaven Unit in order to request support.

Watching the illusion of that day, Dang Myeong shook his head. Then he thought for a moment and looked at the others.

“We will make traps.”

“Traps?”

“They set fire to Tang Clan Tower because they were wary of the poison and traps there. Then we will install the traps they fear in scattered places.”

Dang Myeong drew the Sichuan Tang Clan and the surrounding terrain on the ground. Then he drew several circles into the terrain.

“We will create traps outside and lure them in. We will make a battlefield advantageous to us, the way the main house does.”

“But if we are going to face that many Demonic Cult experts, the traps will need to be large in scale… Can we do that with the poison and hidden weapons we have now?”

At Dang Miryeong’s words, Dang Myeong nodded.

“What we are aiming for is to show them that the Tang Clan has traps around the Tang Clan Fortress. So we do not need large traps. It will be fine even if we inflict only small damage with simple poison and hidden weapons. If that happens, the Demonic Cult experts fighting us will have to keep the main house’s poison and traps in mind.”

“Oh!”

Dang Pung looked at Dang Myeong.

“A shadow cast by candlelight always appears larger.”

“That is right. Merely making small traps look large and forcing them to guard their surroundings will help the main house.”

“A good idea. Then where should the traps be placed?”

“I believe it would be better for you to decide that, Elder.”

It would be better for Dang Pung, who had more experience than he did, to choose the locations.

At Dang Myeong’s words, Dang Pung nodded, stood up, and slowly looked around.

“We will arrange the Four Symbols around the main house, and place the Nine Palaces within the Four Symbols.”

“Would that not require too much?”

“Small traps are more useful than large ones. We will win through quantity.”

Dang Pung looked at Dang Myeong.

“As for personnel deployment, you will take the Secret Serpent Unit, I will take the Flat Bat Unit, and….”

Dang Pung’s face stiffened slightly as he looked at the elders who had come out with him and the Tang Clan experts behind them.

It was not as though the Tang Clan experts had suffered no losses on the way here.

The Secret Serpent Unit and the Flat Bat Unit had both taken casualties, and some of the elders who had been lying in ambush had died as well.

As a result, the remaining number was only a little more than half of the force that had left the main house.

Of course, in exchange for those sacrifices, they had annihilated two combat units of the Demonic Cult. It was a great victory. But… many of their family members had died.

That was why no one felt happy or victorious.

Seeing Dang Pung’s expression, the Tang Clan experts looked at one another, grief and pain appearing on their faces.

Family members who had been laughing together and asking after one another’s well-being only earlier that day were now gone.

Looking at those Tang Clan experts, Dang Myeong opened his mouth.

“Today, we lost many brothers and elders.”

At Dang Myeong’s words, the experts looked at him. Even the youngest person there was at least ten years older than Dang Myeong.

Being part of a Tang Clan combat unit meant they were martial artists who had already reached completion within the clan, so most of them were elders of a generation above Dang Myeong.

“And now, we must move so we do not lose any more brothers or family members. To keep our other brothers and families from feeling this grief and pain that we feel now… we must move.”

“Whew!”

“Grind! Yes, we must move.”

At Dang Myeong’s words, the experts let out heavy sighs or clenched their teeth hard.

They wanted to keep their other family members from feeling this pain and grief.

“We go.”

SWOOSH!

When Dang Myeong kicked off the ground, the experts followed after him.

***

Dang Myeong was standing atop a tree, surveying the area.

Around him, the Tang Clan experts were secretly making traps.

The traps were very simple. They were made so that hidden weapons would fire or poison would be scattered if someone touched the installed strings.

Some were arranged so that poison would spray into the air when the underbrush was disturbed.

They were the kind of traps that could be made as simply and quickly as possible.

When a Tang Clan expert who had finished making a trap gave the signal, Dang Myeong and the others soon left the spot.

As they moved through the forest making traps that way, a small cry reached Dang Myeong’s ears.

Screech!

At the cry of the poison hawk, Dang Myeong realized his mistake.

“Damn it. The poison hawk is coming to us.”

No matter how intelligent a spiritual creature the poison hawk was, it was still a hawk. The poison hawk was flying toward the scent in Dang Myeong’s sachet.

And the Demonic Cultists would see the poison hawk too.

At that, Dang Myeong looked at Dang Jang.

“Please continue making the traps. I will take the poison hawk and move far away.”

SWOOSH!

Without even waiting for an answer, Dang Myeong hurriedly launched himself away.

SWOOSH!

“Screech!”

As Dang Myeong moved, the poison hawk’s cry sounded closer from the sky.

Seeing that, Dang Jang bit his lip and said,

“They will arrive soon. Leave this place.”

At Dang Jang’s command, the Tang Clan experts looked toward the direction Dang Myeong had gone, then hurriedly withdrew.