Chapter 176: v8c1 - Reverse Thinking
Volume 8 Chapter 1 – Reverse Thinking
Read it only at Nineheavens.org
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Kong Yo, the younger brother of the Patriarch of the Kong Family of Mount Beimang, looked back at the giant gate he had just exited.
It was one of the prestigious families of Luoyang.
At the discomfort felt from the old man’s displeased gaze, a vassal of the Kong Family cautiously asked.
“……As expected, do they say they will not move?”
“Yes.”
The elderly Kong Yo declined even the butler’s assistance and lightly climbed into the carriage.
Unlike the Patriarch Gong Ryang, who had physical discomforts, his younger brother Kong Yo was robust and healthy to a degree that did not suit his age.
As the carriage began to move, Kong Yo spoke to the vassal.
“……It seems the Second Young Master’s faction of the Sword Family busily made their rounds during the past night. They must have threatened them almost halfway.”
Kong Yo had been visiting the houses of high-ranking officials he knew as if doing a circuit, but there was still no one who would become an ally.
Not a single person.
“Everyone usually emphasized their friendship with the Kong Family and talked big, but in the end, they were frightened and cannot even think of moving, it seems.”
Things proceeded just as the Second Young Master intended.
“Rather than stepping forward hastily and getting caught in the middle of a power struggle, they can preserve themselves just by staying still, so they chose that.”
Kong Yo replied, stroking his long beard.
“……But it seems the elder’s expression is not that dark?”
“Is that so?”
Kong Yo smiled faintly.
“It is because things are flowing exactly as that Eldest Young Master anticipated.”
“What?!”
Kong Yo did not reply further and looked at the distant scenery through the carriage window.
‘I would also like to meet that Eldest Young Master in person.’
* * *
The Luoyang Sword Family.
Special Class Closed-door Training Ground.
The Third and Fourth Young Ladies, who arrived at the closed-door training ground as if flying while even utilizing lightfoot techniques, could not help but groan.
“Aigo……”
This was because, as soon as they entered the closed-door training ground, the sight of patients filling the corridors and receiving treatment from physicians filled their field of vision.
The patients were all warriors.
“……Seeing this, it seems they are all Second Sister’s sparring partners.”
“They were all smashed to pieces.”
“Looking at the wounds, it seems it was a live sword spar……?”
“Young Ladies……!”
The Training Hall Director, who spotted them, tried to block them but changed her mind.
“……Normally, there was a strict command from the Guard Pavilion Lord not to let anyone in. But please enter and stop the Second Young Lady, I would be grateful.”
At that moment, one of the personnel from the closed-door training ground ran over in a hurry.
“The last remaining sparring warrior has collapsed!”
“What about the Second Young Lady?”
“She has absolutely no intention of stopping the live sword spar! She demands that we fetch a new opponent immediately!”
“……”
Third Young Lady Yeon Da-eun and Fourth Young Lady Yeon Da-hye exchanged looks.
Did they perhaps come at the wrong time?
* * *
Fortunately, their worries ended as mere worries.
“Oh! Our cuties have come! How long has it been!”
Second Young Lady Yeon Seo-rin inserted the precious sword she was holding into its scabbard and welcomed them with a bright expression.
However, separately from that expression, as if proving how ferocious this place had been until just now, the personnel who would normally fill the area had all fled, leaving only her in the outdoor training ground.
“……Second Sister. What on earth is all this?”
At the lukewarm words of the Third Young Lady, Yeon Seo-rin laughed heartily.
“I had my own realization and tried to see progress, but they could not support it at all. Come, come this way.”
The Fourth Young Lady’s gaze directed toward Yeon Seo-rin’s wounds.
“Should you not receive treatment first?”
What kind of live sword sparring had she conducted, and to what extent, that Yeon Seo-rin not only had disheveled hair but was also bleeding thinly from the sword wounds she had received all over her body?
“It is fine, it is fine. This much will heal quickly if I apply golden sore ointment.”
Yeon Seo-rin guided them to an outdoor table prepared on one side.
“Right. Seeing you all, whose faces are hard to see, visiting like this, even a dull-witted person like me can guess the reason.”
With her unique intuition, she accurately pinpointed the questions of the Third and Fourth Young Ladies without any particular clues.
“You must have come because you were curious about So-hyeon’s intentions.”
At her words, the Third Young Lady swallowed dry saliva.
Her Second Sister was the owner of an intuition so developed that it felt bizarre whenever she saw her.
“……Yes. I heard that you met Eldest Brother not long ago.”
“Yes. I did.”
“By any chance, did you hear anything or is there anything you guess? What is Eldest Brother aiming for by causing this sudden storm?”
“Hmm?”
At Third Young Lady Yeon Da-eun’s words, Yeon Seo-rin tilted her head as if she did not know what she was talking about.
“Do you not know just by looking?”
“I thought that you two would have fully noticed that much,” she muttered as she replied.
“Naturally, So-hyeon is trying to become the Young Patriarch.”
At her words, even the Fourth Young Lady, who always had a calm expression, opened her eyes wide.
“Eldest Brother as the Young Patriarch……”
What she was about to say was buried by the scream-like words of Third Young Lady Yeon Da-eun.
“That is striking a rock with an egg!”
Was not Yeon So-hyeon aiming to make his name known among the prominent successors, and then open a branch family later on?
That was what they had thought.
“To try to become the Young Patriarch now after keeping silent for ten years, how great is the difference that has opened up until now……?!”
The Second Young Lady scratched her head.
“True, that is so. Well, that cannot help but be the judgment within the bounds of common sense. Generally speaking.”
She smiled as if it were interesting.
“Come to think of it, how many people in this world right now are certain that So-hyeon can become the Young Patriarch?”
The Third Young Lady jumped up from her seat.
“There is no need to count! That goes beyond what is general and common sense, it is in the realm of impossibility!”
The Second Young Lady, who had been counting something while folding her fingers, picked her ear at the sight of her shouting back.
“……Is that so? If smart you think that way, then I guess it is so.”
“Right now, the situation itself is turning unfavorable!”
At her reaction, the Third Young Lady trembled.
“No matter how much Eldest Brother shocked everyone by visiting Mount Beimang as his first outing, since the Second Young Master went to the Imperial Capital himself, the power of the old devils of Mount Beimang is as good as blocked!”
Fourth Young Lady Yeon Da-hye agreed.
“Because none of the high-ranking officials whom the old devils would influence will want to get caught in the power struggle between the Sixteen Families and the Luoyang Sword Family.”
“Really?”
At those words, Yeon Seo-rin wore a meaningful smile.
“That is different from what I ‘see’ though?”
“Pardon?”
At that meaningful smile, the twin sisters opened their eyes wide and looked at Yeon Seo-rin.
“Why do you think the second fellow blocked So-hyeon?”
“Naturally, because things are turning out that way……”
“No.”
At those words, Third Young Lady Yeon Da-eun, who had stood up and was even shaking her fists, lowered her hands without realizing it.
“This is So-hyeon blocking the second fellow.”
“……?”
While the Third Young Lady tilted her head for a moment and chewed on those words, the Fourth Young Lady opened her mouth.
“……Indeed, I see.”
Fourth Young Lady Yeon Da-hye stood up from her seat without realizing it.
“Normally, in the confrontation between the Second Young Master and the Eldest Young Master, ten out of ten would have predicted the Second Young Master’s victory.”
“Ah……!”
As soon as she heard those words, the Third Young Lady also noticed.
“If so, the neutral powerholders of Luoyang would have stood on the Second Young Master’s side without hesitation and bitten the Eldest Young Master!”
“But since Eldest Brother made Mount Beimang his first move, the Second Young Master had to satisfy himself with merely preventing the neutral powerholders from intervening in this game.”
It was so.
It was just as they said.
Now, the Second Young Master could only move those who were originally under his influence, or those who threw a gamble on the side that looked advantageous, like a portion of the support from the business investment delegation.
“Yes, correct.”
The Second Young Lady laughed heartily.
“That is why I said, ‘It is not that the second fellow blocked So-hyeon, but So-hyeon blocked the second fellow.’”
That was the Second Young Lady’s unique intuitive insight, which could pierce through the core without being bound by chronological order or cause and effect.
“So-hyeon made the opponent, who was armed with divine weapons and extraordinary armor, climb onto the sparring stage with a bare body.”
It was another hidden aim of Yeon So-hyeon.
Yeon Seo-rin, who had spoken up to that point, looked at the Third and Fourth Young Ladies and smiled.
“Even if you are usually different, seeing you like that makes me think you are indeed twins.”
The twin sisters, who had jumped up in the exact same posture and were holding up their fists, blushed and quietly sat back down.
The Third Young Lady cleared her throat for no reason and spoke.
“……But even so, the difference in size compared to the opponent is basically too large.”
“It is like the difference between a giant and a child.”
“Even excluding the neutral powerholders, those whom the Second Young Master can mobilize will be more than overflowing.”
“That is true.”
Yeon Seo-rin readily admitted.
“There are plenty of people who will be smashed by So-hyeon in the future.”
“Pardon?”
“Hmm?”
Both the business support director who protected and raised them, and their Second Sister in front of them.
Their conviction in their eldest brother’s ability felt almost excessive.
Did they perhaps see something different in their eldest brother that was different from themselves?
“……”
“Fourth Young Lady.”
It was the Training Hall Director.
“Someone from the Main Family’s information department has arrived.”
The Fourth Young Lady was originally the information secretary to the director of the Luoyang Sword Family’s business support division.
Although the director was absent, it was natural for information from the information department to come to her.
After confirming that the Training Hall Director and the person from the information department withdrew, the Fourth Young Lady returned to her seat and opened the note.
“This is……?!”
“What is it?”
The Third Young Lady, who snatched the note from the side, also could not help but freeze upon seeing the contents.
“……Migration of the poor in Walnut Village has begun. It is grasped that the Eldest Young Master has been continuing the project of Walnut Village on his own?”
Hearing the Third Young Lady’s words, Yeon Seo-rin burst into a broad laugh.
“As expected of So-hyeon! To knock down an opponent larger than yourself, you must shake their center of gravity relentlessly!”
With this, the Second Young Master’s side’s response had no choice but to be dispersed once again.
‘If it is to this extent. Could it be……?’
The Third Young Lady, who momentarily had the thought that maybe their eldest brother might snatch victory against the Second Young Master’s side, shook her head.
“……This is not enough.”
“It is still merely the beginning for both.”
The Second Young Lady, who managed to understand what she meant, smiled with an expression that showed things were getting interesting.
“……At first.”
“Yes?”
The Fourth Young Lady spoke.
“At first, Sister said that. You asked if we came because we were curious about Eldest Brother’s intentions.”
Yet when the twin sisters questioned Yeon So-hyeon’s purpose of action, the Second Young Lady was the one who was flustered instead.
“What was that intention Sister spoke of?”
The Third Young Lady also nodded in agreement.
“Ah, that is what you mean.”
The Second Young Lady scratched the back of her head.
“What is it, I thought you all came because you were curious about So-hyeon’s next move……”
“Sister knows Eldest Brother’s next move?!”
“What is it?!”
At the sight of the twins jumping up from their seats at the same time, the Second Young Lady smiled.
“What? You were indeed curious.”
As she muttered to herself, “Haha, even if my brain is a bit lacking, my quick wits are second to none,” the twin sisters’ anxious gazes poured upon her.
“There is also a little bit I heard from So-hyeon beforehand……”
“Sister!”
Yeon Seo-rin opened her mouth as if she could not resist.
“Probably, hereafter, So-hyeon will seek to expand his power for the time being, neutralizing the opponent’s pressure just like now.”
* * *
The headquarters of the Fairy Cult.
The lowest hall.
“Eldest Young Master. I received news from a Crescent Moon Pavilion agent.”
A smile hung on the lips of Yeon So-hyeon, who unfolded the note passed to him through Jeong-ah.
“They say that several high-ranking official families who want to meet me in secret are contacting us through the Crescent Moon Pavilion.”
At those words, Jeong-ah expressed doubt.
“Were they not all having their hands and feet tied by the Second Young Master?”
She knew that those whose hands and feet were not tied last night would only be the families who had shaken hands with the Second Young Master’s faction from the beginning.
“Of course that is so.”
Yeon So-hyeon tossed the note into the brazier.
“However, there is no way everyone would obediently cooperate with that Second Young Master fellow.”
Any faction is bound to have enemies, and it was the same for the Second Young Master’s faction.
Those who had a feud with the Second Young Master or had deep dissatisfaction wished to secretly add their strength to Yeon So-hyeon, who had ended up in a clash with him.
“Come to think of it, I heard that yesterday’s events became rumors and spread throughout Luoyang.”
“Yes. Having heard the rumors, they collected information and judged that I would not easily collapse to the Second Young Master.”
As Yeon So-hyeon successfully opposes the Second Young Master in the future, those who want to shake hands with him will increase.
“It is the perfect time to expand power.”
At that moment, one of the personnel from the House of Benevolence and Love cautiously approached and bowed to Yeon So-hyeon.
“Eldest Young Master. A man and a woman who wish to see the Eldest Young Master have arrived outside.”
“Few should know that Master is here, so who are they?”
At Jeong-ah’s question, the person from the House of Benevolence and Love showed a slightly embarrassed expression.
“They only said that if I say ‘Spring (Chun),’ the Eldest Young Master will know……”
The smile playing on Yeon So-hyeon’s lips deepened.
Since Yeon So-hyeon clashed with the Second Young Master, who exerted influence over the Luoyang underworld, they had no choice but to seek him out.
‘Spring of Luoyang,’ which had never contacted Yeon So-hyeon directly until now, had come to find him.