Chapter 262: Myoseodongcheo (猫鼠同處) (1)
Chapter 261 – Cat and Mouse Together (1)
Namgung Cheon blinked his eyes for a long time before barely opening his mouth.
“What kind of nonsense are you talking about right now? Geez, you suddenly threw hidden weapons at a guest, and now it’s a marriage proposal? I tell you again, the Corps Leader is not my type.”
As Namgung Cheon shook his head and walked away, Tang Ye-seol quickly stretched out her hand and snatched Namgung Cheon’s wrist.
However, Namgung Cheon, who quickly spun around and slipped his wrist out, took two steps back and frowned.
“Uh-huh, why are you being like this?”
Although it was for a very brief moment, Tang Ye-seol was surprised once again.
‘Indeed… he is no ordinary fellow.’
Because of clashing palms a moment ago, her right arm still throbbed. Yet Namgung Cheon was moving his arm freely as if he had suffered no damage at all.
Tang Ye-seol stared intently at Namgung Cheon with a stiffened expression and asked.
“Do I look like I am joking right now?”
Ah, why on earth is this woman suddenly being like this?
Anyway, you can’t tell what is inside people these days.
Namgung Cheon shook his head in his mind, then shook his head outwardly.
“It seems the shock of defeat was so great that something went wrong with the Corps Leader’s head. Do not care too much about what has passed. Isn’t there a saying that victory and defeat are common occurrences in war?”
“Of course. I do not care about such things. No, even if I care, my action right now is separate from that. You are fully qualified to be a son-in-law taken into the Tang family.”
“No, what son-in-law? I said I don’t want to!”
“Perhaps because you are still young, you do not understand.”
“I think you are the one who does not understand.”
“A son-in-law taken into the Tang family. It is a position that anyone in the Jianghu aims for. But I am choosing you over those ten thousand people. I can even make you the Patriarch. Rather than the Namgung Clan which is already completely ruined, leading our clan wouldn’t be a bad proposal for you either, would it?”
“Ha! I have no interest in the Tang Clan. If you like being the Patriarch that much, why don’t you do it yourself?”
Tang Ye-seol drew a bitter smile.
“Because a woman has never been the Patriarch in our family until now.”
“Shouldn’t you be prepared to break such a custom?”
“That is why I am trying to use you to break it.”
“Now you are openly saying you will use me.”
“It is also true that I like you. As I said, you are fully qualified to be a son-in-law taken into the family……”
“That damn son-in-law talk. I am sorry, but I am not interested.”
“Instead of just remaining as a son-in-law, I can break the custom and make you the Patriarch……!”
“Breaking the custom in that way doesn’t suit my personality. Well then, excuse me.”
When Namgung Cheon turned around without regret, Tang Ye-seol, who felt subtly angry, shouted.
“My words are not finished yet. Wait.”
“I have nothing to say. I mean, speak sense.”
As Namgung Cheon grumbled and walked away, Tang Ye-seol clenched her teeth.
‘Here and there… do I look that easy to mock?’
Ta!
At the same instant Tang Ye-seol kicked off the ground, she pulled ten flying daggers from her sleeve and threw them.
Swish!
The flying daggers flew, chaoticly dividing the air.
Some flew in a straight line, while some drew a gentle curve.
It was the Ten Fingers Flying Dagger Art that Tang Ye-seol had created by applying her family’s secret techniques.
Namgung Cheon deflected the straight-flying daggers that flew in first one after another.
Clang clang!
At the same time, spinning his body like a whirlwind, he deflected the daggers flying in curves from all directions one by one.
Clang clang clang!
The Ten Fingers Flying Daggers were as gorgeous as Tang Ye-seol’s appearance.
Some were straight, some drew gentle curves, and some even flew fluttering like butterflies by applying the Soul-Chasing Flying Butterfly.
It was a flying dagger art so dazzling that any ordinary martial artist’s soul would be sucked out.
‘As expected of one who rose to the position of the Red Wave Corps Leader.’
While reflexively brandishing the Emerald Silk Sword, Namgung Cheon could not help but admire her in his mind. At the same time, a faint memory seemed to come to mind.
Because Namgung Seon was the first and last person to make him feel this way while facing a young female expert.
However…….
‘Seon-ah, this child is not as good as you either.’
Namgung Cheon drew a bitter smile, flipped the Emerald Silk Sword, and drew infinite curves.
Clang clang clang clang clang!
Tang Ye-seol, who saw that scene as she charged into Namgung Cheon’s chest, opened her eyes wide and could not hide her shock.
‘He deflected all of that?’
Realizing that Namgung Cheon’s martial arts had improved much more than before, she did not hold back in her hand. She unfolded the Ten Fingers Flying Daggers to the extent that one would think he could really die.
Yet, far from dying, he could not even inflict a single scratch, could he?
While Tang Ye-seol rushed toward Namgung Cheon’s heart, Namgung Cheon was deflecting the last flying dagger.
Clang!
Ping!
The deflected flying dagger coincidentally flew toward Tang Ye-seol’s face.
Coincidentally? No.
It was highly intentional.
“Gasp!”
When Tang Ye-seol quickly twisted her waist and bent her body back, the deflected flying dagger lightly grazed her lower abdomen and flew to be embedded in the pillar of the pavilion.
Crack!
Pabat!
At the same instant Tang Ye-seol lightly kicked the ground, she spun her body dazzlingly and flew up as if bouncing.
However, this time Namgung Cheon did not show mercy.
“Ah!”
While she let out a short scream, did Namgung Cheon, who flew right before her, not stretch out his hand and twist and grab Tang Ye-seol’s wrist?
She quickly tried to defend using the Art of Grafting Flowers and Wood, but as if he had already read even that, Namgung Cheon unfolded a dazzling Grappling Art and pushed forward.
“Ah!”
Ultimately, Tang Ye-seol, whose arm was twisted, was pushed back and crashed into the wall of the pavilion.
“Ugh……”
Tang Ye-seol, who was pushed as if pressed against the wall, gasped for breath.
“Isn’t the way you handle a woman a bit rough?”
Namgung Cheon’s left hand twisted and grabbed Tang Ye-seol’s wrist, and his right hand held and pressed the back of her neck.
When Namgung Cheon twisted her left hand in the opposite direction again, Tang Ye-seol reflexively spun around and stood with her back against the wall. Soon after, Namgung Cheon suddenly approached Tang Ye-seol and muttered with a cold expression.
“Since the way you handle a guest is rough, it naturally becomes like this.”
At that moment, Tang Ye-seol got goosebumps all over her body for some reason.
‘What? this kind of energy is…….’
Was it just a trick of the mind?
At this moment, Namgung Cheon did not look like a brat who hadn’t even reached twenty, but a Jianghu expert who had gone through all kinds of hardships.
As Tang Ye-seol’s eyes shook, Namgung Cheon continued.
“If you want to break custom, do it properly. Don’t use this clumsy method. Standing someone else forward because you cannot do it? That is not breaking it, but ultimately succumbing to custom. Can you survive in the Jianghu with that kind of spirit?”
As Namgung Cheon turned around and walked away, Tang Ye-seol clutched her chest while looking at his back.
“Namgung Cheon… you are the first to treat me like this.”
A deep flush deepened on Tang Ye-seol’s cheeks.
‘Indeed, a very interesting fellow.’
* * *
From the next day, the Sichuan Tang Clan spurred the manufacturing of the Demonic God Pill.
As on any other day, Namgung Cheon diligently trained and made his body capable of digesting the Demonic God Pill.
He did qi meditation in the morning and trained in forms in the afternoon, strengthening his body.
Sometimes, when no one was around, he did not neglect practicing to embrace other martial arts using the Azure Emerald Skill.
When several days had passed like that, Tang Wu-gi, the Young Patriarch of the Sichuan Tang Clan, returned. Since it was an unscheduled visit, the most flustered person was Tang Ye-seol.
For her, who had always received discriminatory treatment in the family, facing Tang Wu-gi, who had received only love and attention, was not pleasant.
“What brings you here when you should be at the Academy?”
Her words were not gentle from the beginning.
However, Tang Wu-gi twisted his lips and raised his chin.
“Why is Sister staying here then? The Red Wave Corps Leader who should be at her busiest? Ah, are you waiting for the Alliance Leader’s command? Indeed. The Alliance Leader must also have a headache. In this important period, it is hard to immediately call back a defeated Corps Leader and entrust her with a heavy duty, and yet it would be hard to hand down a severe punishment in this situation.”
At the highly provocative statement, Tang Ye-seol glared fiercely.
“Your words are not cautious.”
“Sister. This is not the Alliance.”
“So?”
“I am the Young Patriarch in this clan. Strictly speaking, I am above Sister here. So I hope you show courtesy.”
“You dare……”
“Dare? Did you just say ‘dare’ to the Young Patriarch? I heard that if a hen crows, the household goes to ruin……”
“Shut up! How insolent of you to be like this just because you receive the Patriarch’s attention. According to your words, you should show all courtesy to me, who holds a key post in the Alliance, as the Young Patriarch.”
“Mmh. Is that so? I understand. I admit my mistake. Then what brings the defeated Red Wave Corps Leader to our clan?”
“You……”
Tang Wu-gi glanced at Tang Ye-seol and chuckled.
“Well, since they say the defeated has no words, I should go to meet Father now. Would you move aside? Red Wave Corps Leader?”
Tang Ye-seol glared at Tang Wu-gi with sharp eyes, then chuckled.
“How pathetic. To think you boast as the Young Patriarch when your skills were so lacking that you couldn’t even join the cadets.”
“What? A person who returned after being completely beaten by the Black Mist Coalition even while backing the Mount Hua Sect and the Jongnam Sect dares to mock me……”
Slap!
In an instant, Tang Wu-gi, whose back of the head was hit, opened his eyes wide and spun around.
“Damn it! What? You dog……”
“You kid, look. What kind of language is that to your sister? You make the Sichuan Tang Clan look like a broken family because of you.”
Namgung Cheon, who had approached at some point behind Tang Wu-gi and crossed his arms, was glaring with his eyes wide open.
Tang Wu-gi shouted with a flushed face.
“You, you bastard… Namgung Cheon!”
“Yes, I am the Divine Dragon of the Jianghu, Namgung Cheon.”
“Why are you cutting in? You bastard! Are you interfering even in other people’s family matters now?”
“Well, I had no intention of interfering, but looking at it, you were too ill-mannered, so I did.”
“Fine, you crazy bastard. Now you have gone mad and entered someone else’s house to commit violence against the Young Patriarch. Last time, I was caught off guard and defeated by you, but this time, such luck won’t work. How dare you here……”
Clang!
Tang Wu-gi pulled four flying daggers from his chest, dividing them into both hands.
The will to strike if necessary could be read in his two eyes.
When the Young Patriarch and the guest suddenly came to clash in the inner courtyard, the Tang Clan martial artists began to gather, murmuring.
Namgung Cheon narrowed his eyes and spoke.
“But you don’t even seem curious.”
“About what, you bastard?”
“Why I am here at your house. Because you act as if you knew I would be here even upon seeing me.”
At Namgung Cheon’s point, Tang Wu-gi looked flustered for a moment, but it was only for a split second.
Tang Wu-gi chuckled and muttered.
“What other reason would there be for the ruined Namgung Clan to visit our clan? You must have come to ask for some help.”
“Mmh. Since it is true that we came to ask for help, it is not wrong, but… your words are still insolent.”
“So?”
“You have to be beaten up, what else.”
“Crazy bastard. Why don’t you try then?”
Gwoooo.
Fighting spirit surged from Tang Wu-gi’s entire body.
Namgung Cheon narrowed his eyes and glared at Tang Wu-gi.
‘It seems you have struggled in the meantime.’
Whether he consumed good spiritual pills and trained diligently in internal energy, the quality of the energy surging from his dantian felt different from before.
It was just when the internal energy running along his meridians finally reached both hands holding the flying daggers.
“What is this disturbance?”
Suddenly, along with a heavy voice at the entrance of the Patriarch’s Pavilion, Tang Go-ryun walked over.
“Ah, Father.”
Tang Wu-gi quickly withdrew his internal energy, turned around, and cupped his hands.
“This son greets Father.”
“Yes, you have come. But why do you cause trouble as soon as you return home?”
“Father, it is not that, but that fellow……!”
“Silence! Young Patriarch Namgung Cheon is a guest of our clan. Do not speak carelessly.”
“……Yes.”
Faced with Tang Go-ryun’s fierce eyes, Tang Wu-gi finally replied, tucking his tail.
Namgung Cheon chuckled, approached, and patted Tang Wu-gi’s back.
“Right, learn how to treat a guest from your father. How can anyone stay as a guest at this rate? Everyone in this house is anxious because they cannot eat the guest alive.”
“Young Hero Namgung. You also stop provoking U-gi. I will advise him well.”
“I understand. Please guide and instruct this fellow well although he is infinitely lacking and deficient.”
“Ugh. U-gi, follow me inside.”
“Yes, Father.”
When Tang Go-ryun turned around, Tang Wu-gi turned his head and glared at Namgung Cheon.
“Uh-uh? Glaring at a guest now…… mup……”
When Tang Wu-gi quickly covered Namgung Cheon’s mouth, Tang Go-ryun frowned and looked back.
“What are you doing?”
“Ah, it is nothing. I was apologizing.”
“Apologizing, my foot… mup mup……”
“Haha. Namgung Cheon, because I was glad to see you after a long time, it seems I committed a discourtesy. I am sorry.”
Only after Tang Go-ryun shook his head and completely disappeared into the Patriarch’s Pavilion did Tang Wu-gi let go of Namgung Cheon.
“Namgung Cheon. Since you came as a guest of our clan, I won’t touch you anymore. So you also do not provoke me.”
“I never provoked you in the first place?”
Tang Wu-gi tried to say something, but let out a deep sigh and turned around.
“Forget it. Let’s stop that talk.”
After Tang Wu-gi entered the Patriarch’s Pavilion, Tang Ye-seol bit her lip hard.
‘Father…… indeed, I am not even visible in front of U-gi, am I?’