Chapter 1425: Is This The Sichuan Tang Family? (5)

Jeok Ho, who had been looking around the Four Seas Merchant Guild, turned his head forward again and fixed his gaze on the back of Jang Ilso, on a back he couldn’t even begin to guess the thoughts of.

“Alliance lord.”

“Hm?”

“Might I ask the reason you left them be?”

The Jang Ilso whom Jeok Ho knew was not afraid to see blood. Actually, it might be better to say he was less reluctant to see blood than anyone else in the world.

That such a man didn’t touch commoners wasn’t due to some great principle; it was simply because there was no gain to be had from doing so.

If there was something to be gained, whether from commoners or royals, Jang Ilso would trample it without hesitation.

So it was puzzling.

Just burning that Four Seas Merchant Guild could inflict pain on Mount Hua’s disciples. It may not be a great suffering, but slaughtering them wouldn’t be much trouble either.

“If it’s because you don’t want to waste time, I’ll go quickly and check.”

“A reason…”

Jeok Ho spoke cautiously, but Jang Ilso muttered to himself as if he hadn’t heard. A strange smile spread across his lips.

“Do I really need a reason?”

“…Yes?”

“Then let’s say it’s simply a whim.”

A complicated expression crossed Jeok Ho’s face. He couldn’t readily understand that answer. Still, he didn’t ask further.

Jang Ilso asked, as if surprised.

“You won’t ask again? You look like you didn’t understand.”

“I’ve already heard the answer.”

To demand an answer from the Alliance lord that would satisfy him would be impious. If he heard an answer, that was enough. Jeok Ho considered that his duty.

Jang Ilso glanced at Jeok Ho and twisted his red lips.

“I know you dislike Ga-Myung.”

Jeok Ho’s face stiffened slightly. It felt out of the blue. What reason was there for such a remark now?

“This is why I keep Ga-Myung close. If Ga-Myung had been here, he would have stopped me from toying with them. He would have kept them intact without touching a hair on their heads.”

“…Why is that?”

Jeok Ho had no question about Jang Ilso, but it was different if the other was Ho Ga-Myung. Jeok Ho’s face tightened with displeasure.

Seeing that, Jang Ilso laughed as if amused.

“If someone were your mother’s enemy, what would you do?”

“I’d tear them to pieces. By any means necessary.”

“Such filial devotion. Tsk, how dull.”

Jang Ilso shook his head and continued.

“Alright. Then what if someone held your mother hostage?”

Jeok Ho couldn’t answer for a moment.

One must kill an enemy of one’s mother. But how does one deal with someone who has taken your mother hostage?

The more you value your mother, the less you can do. At least, it’s hard to act rashly.

“That’s why Ga-Myung would have left them alive.”

“…”

“Especially with people like Mount Hua, it’s meaningful. As long as that merchant guild is in our hands, they won’t move recklessly. Understand? Clinging to hatred is petty. What matters is whether someone is useful.”

Jeok Ho pressed his lips together. It was surely true.

Qingcheng and Emei had already fallen. Now the Tang Family and Dian-cang would be dealt with. That meant the entire Sichuan would fall into the Four Sects Alliance’s grip.

Everything in Sichuan would belong to the Four Sects Alliance. Rather than killing them off, it’s better to use them as playable cards.

He saw the present, but Ho Ga-Myung would have seen the future.

That observation cut Jeok Ho to the bone.

“…Then wouldn’t it be better to send some forces now so they can’t escape?”

“Leave them be.”

Jeok Ho could only look at Jang Ilso with questioning eyes again.

“Tsk tsk. You don’t understand people. I merely said that Ga-Myung would have done so.”

“Then… Alliance lord, you?”

“I said it. It’s simply a whim.”

“…”

“I just wanted to. Is that not allowed?”

Jeok Ho let out a hollow laugh for a moment. Now he understood what mistake he’d been making.

Jang Ilso was simply Jang Ilso; one should never dare try to understand his thoughts and actions. From the start, this man couldn’t be interpreted by ordinary minds.

Jang Ilso smiled gently.

“That’s not what’s important right now.”

“Indeed, you are right.”

What mattered to them now was, of course, the Sichuan Tang Family.

A chilling look tinted Jang Ilso’s eyes.

“If you want to see a sight, you can see it at the Tang Family.”

At least, there would be none of those things there.

No whim, no luxury called mercy.

❀ ❀ ❀

A huge gate stood before him.

Sichuan Tang Family.

The calligraphy on the grand signboard was truly bold and fierce. Jang Ilso, who had been staring at that gate for a long while, slowly shifted his gaze to the side.

A pattern both unfamiliar and oddly familiar was engraved on the gate.

‘Is that a Plum Blossom?’

A Plum Blossom on the Sichuan Tang Family’s gate, how terribly out of place.

But the peculiar gleam in Jang Ilso’s eyes wasn’t because of the pattern’s incongruity.

“Is this… the Sichuan Tang Family? This quiet place?”

A hollow laugh slipped from Jang Ilso’s mouth.

It was so quiet it bordered on silence.

Of course, the Sichuan Tang Family was always quiet. Those greeting Jang Ilso wouldn’t have shouted their hostility; even if full of fighting spirit, they’d hold their breath and watch him.

But this silence didn’t come from solemn resolve. It was the desolation that comes when no people remain.

And moreover…

“Lo, Alliance lord. Smoke…”

Jang Ilso gave a hollow chuckle.

Beyond the great gate, black smoke billowed from all over the Sichuan Tang Family, as if a firestorm had already swept through.

Another enemy? That couldn’t be.

On the way here, they hadn’t encountered a single enemy since leaving the Tang Family outpost. From that alone, they could guess what had happened here.

Jang Ilso’s expression twisted slightly.

‘Sichuan Tang Family…’

He had thought members of the Tang Family couldn’t leave their domain, so had his judgment been wrong?

“In any case, we should check.”

Jang Ilso nodded toward the front.

“Open it.”

“Yes!”

Kraang!

The ancient gate that had guarded the Sichuan Tang Family for ages shattered to pieces.

At the sight revealed, everyone couldn’t help but show stunned expressions.

Inside the Tang Family compound not a single ant remained. The halls that should have gleamed were half-burned and collapsing, soon to be mere ashes.

“…This is…”

If one only saw this scene, one could never believe this was the Sichuan Tang Family famed throughout the Central Plains.

“Hrm.”

While everyone struggled for words, Jang Ilso shook his head as if incredulous.

“Did they get hit once and run? Surely those great Tang Family folks wouldn’t just take to their heels.”

“…”

“And they even set their own house on fire. This makes me feel pointless.”

Jang Ilso chuckled as if amused. The others, however, couldn’t bring themselves to laugh.

Who could have imagined the Tang Family would do such a thing?

“This is absurd…”

Jeok Ho bit his lip.

Other sects might do that, but not the Tang Family. Given their nature, could the Tang Family abandon their family and flee?

“Search!”

A sharp voice burst from Jeok Ho.

“It might be a ruse. They wouldn’t abandon their poisons and forges and run. Find where they set fires, check if anyone’s hiding! Now!”

“Yes!”

Except for the Red Dogs escorting Jang Ilso, all others dispersed in every direction.

“Tsk.”

Jang Ilso clicked his tongue briefly.

‘Strange.’

Of course he was no god, so his prediction being off wasn’t especially surprising.

But this situation felt different. A strange sense of discord twisted inside Jang Ilso.

‘I don’t understand.’

The Sichuan Tang Family burning their house and fleeing was a situation that could occur.

What bothered Jang Ilso was that the scene before him showed a sense of urgency.

If they’d truly decided to abandon this place, they would have burned it more thoroughly. They wouldn’t have wanted to leave anything for the Four Sects Alliance.

Then what was the confusion left throughout the halls?

Didn’t it look like the traces left by people pushed to leave despite not wanting to?

“Uh, there’s nothing!”

“All of what appeared to be their poison storerooms are burned! All manner of toxic substances inside have burned to death!”

“Th-the weapons in the armory are all scorched and unusable. It seems they truly set the warehouses on fire themselves.”

Panicked voices rang from all around.

Jeok Ho’s face contorted. Jang Ilso, however, simply smiled, just as he was about to order them to stop the pointless work.

“A-Alliance lord, here…!”

Jang Ilso’s eyes narrowed.

“Th-there are people!”

The face of the one who ran to report looked bewildered, as if at a loss how to explain the situation. Jang Ilso took a step forward.

“Let’s go see.”

Kang!

It wasn’t a loud sound.

Kang!

But the sound spread widely across the silent workshops, feeble as if about to fade, yet steady and far-reaching.

Kang!

In the half-ash workshop, about to collapse, an old man was swinging a hammer in the center, working over a tiny furnace like his own body.

The hammer that had risen into the air came down in one blow, striking the heated iron on the anvil.

Kang!

The old man, holding the iron with tongs, inspected it closely near his face with eyes that seemed both clouded and clear, both shallow and deep.

Kang!

The old man brought the hammer down again.

As if drawn by the sound, members of the Ten Thousand People Clan gathered around him one by one, but the old man continued hammering as if only he and the furnace existed, not even turning his head.

It was strange.

Even though they weren’t the strongest, the elite of the Ten Thousand People Clan were known as vicious; yet they didn’t lay a hand on the old man standing before them.

They, too, seemed unsure how to handle the situation and merely kept their distance, watching the old man’s hammering.

Then Jang Ilso looked at the old man, Tang Jo-Pyeong, and spoke.

“What… what is he doing now?”

His face twisted as if cracked.