Chapter 184: v8c9 - The Moment the Hand is Confirmed
Volume 8 Chapter 9 – The Moment the Hand is Confirmed
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At the time when the compulsory execution against the Lee Family was taking place.
An investigator serving a magistrate belonging to the Cheong Family was quietly hiding himself near a certain government office.
[There is still no movement from the target.]
A report came in via telepathic transmission from a subordinate who had blended into the inside of the government office.
[Input the next personnel. Rotate the visual surveillance.]
As for the main house where the Lee Family elders who had retired from public office resided, since it was obvious they would exercise their right of self-defense and resist with force, they would be beating them down by applying obstruction of execution.
However, the case was different for the active members of the Lee Family who were attending to their duties since it was daytime.
[The target has contacted a servant of the Lee Family. As a result of eavesdropping, it seems the target has heard of the Lee Family’s situation.]
[The target changed into civilian clothes and began to move in a hurry. Moving toward the back gate.]
The target, just like other criminal bastards, slipped out of the back door to avoid gazes.
The investigator, who was already waiting near the back gate, secretly shadowed behind him with his subordinates.
[Do we just continue tracking like this?]
[Of course. The opponent is an active official. We cannot arrest him without clear physical evidence. We only need to locate the target’s position and report it as ordered in the first place.]
[Understood.]
Although the target they were chasing was one, there were many members of the Lee Family who were active officials (even excluding low-ranking officials who were merely small fry).
For that reason, besides them, other groups were also tracking their respective designated targets in real-time.
* * *
The Patriarch of the Lee Family decided to flee the very moment he heard the mysterious roar (the sound of the main gate being destroyed).
By the time he heard the report that Yeon So-hyeon had personally come, he was already escaping through the underground secret passage known only to the Patriarch.
‘The fact that the Eldest Young Master bastard showed himself in person must mean that no matter what, he has properly prepared a way to attack.’
It was excellent agility and judgment worthy of the head of an influential family.
‘By the way, just how on earth could he finish preparing to attack our Lee Family so quickly?’
It was a point in time when less than a single shichen had passed since the family member, who had been the District Chief of Cheonghak District, was carried back after being paddled for obstructing the relocation of Walnut Village.
‘Had he prepared it in advance? But how could he target our Lee Family specifically? Does the bastard possess foresight or something?!’
He ground his teeth hard, dumbfounded by Yeon So-hyeon’s too swift and accurate movement.
‘A devilish bastard…!’
He ordered behind him without even looking back as soon as he passed the formation deployed in the secret passage.
“You two remain and guard this place.”
“Yes, Patriarch.”
Two of the family’s martial artists who had been following behind him immediately split off from the group and remained.
Those who followed him now were the most loyal martial artists in the Lee Family.
The two of them would defend their posts until the moment their breaths stopped.
Passing through the maze-like passage with rapid steps, the Patriarch of the Lee Family fumbled in his breast pocket to check.
‘Fortunately, I secured the secret ledger that was hidden for emergencies.’
The secret ledger was filled with records that must not go outside, especially those that the judiciary must not obtain.
Yet, he could not destroy the ledger.
In a situation where the family’s main house was endangered, the ledger in which all of his backroom transaction partners were recorded was practically his lifeline.
‘With this, I should be able to save my single life.’
Reaching the end of the secret passage, a ladder leading upward came into view.
It was a ladder connected to a certain building inside Luoyang’s old town.
Although the building located in a deserted alley was disguised as a warehouse, in fact, it was the Lee Family’s emergency escape route like this.
“Go up first and check the inside of the building.”
A martial artist climbed up the ladder without hesitation.
She opened the disguised exit and entered the building.
It was a spacious warehouse two stories high.
She inspected the interior and reported downward.
“No abnormalities inside.”
It was a report after checking all the devices installed such that traces would inevitably be left if someone had intruded.
“Good. Two more go up and check the situation outside.”
At his command, which was thorough until the end, two more martial artists went up to look outside through a hidden window and reported below.
“No abnormalities outside.”
Only then did the Patriarch of the Lee Family nod.
“I will go first.”
Leaving the martial artists guarding the rear behind, the Patriarch climbed the ladder.
While a martial artist grabbed his hand that had come up high enough to touch and pulled him up in a single stroke, the remaining martial artists waiting inside the building moved agilely to secure the exit.
“Time is pressing. Let us go quickly.”
As the Patriarch brushed dust off his clothes and moved, the martial artists who had secured the exit went out first into the deserted back alley.
Those who had been guarding the rear below agilely came up.
And the very moment the Patriarch stepped out into the intricately tangled back alley.
The martial artists who had gone ahead to secure the corner were pinned to the walls all at once.
“……?!”
What pierced the heads and chests of the martial artists were iron arrows.
The iron arrows shot from the rooftop far away had not only killed them instantly but pinned them straight to the wall.
“An enemy raid—!”
That was merely the beginning.
Along with the tearing sounds of the air, a succession of iron arrows flew, avoiding the Patriarch and targeting the martial artists.
“Kh!”
Worthy of the elites of an influential family, they drew their swords with amazing reflexes and began to deflect the iron arrows.
“It is repeating crossbow fire!”
“Protect the Patriarch!”
Several members joined the human wall that was already surrounding the Patriarch in all directions.
“First, evacuate the Patriarch into the passage…!”
While someone was shouting, the rear windows shattered all at once, and the secret weapons of the Sichuan Tang Family poured out.
“Argh…!”
“Secret weapons from the rear!”
They hurriedly guarded the rear, but several had already collapsed after being hit by the secret weapons, and many had been wounded.
And that was not the end.
A grating sound of chains echoed once, and then the roof of the warehouse shattered, and a figure fell and landed soundlessly.
In his hands was held a pair of sickles, and the heads of those who were separated from the Patriarch soared into the air, splattering blood.
It was a perfect surprise attack with no way to even respond.
“An, an expert…!”
The sound of chains resounded once more.
Since it was an attack from the front this time, most of them could prevent their heads from being harvested.
“Krrrgh…”
However, the torsos of the martial artists, who had already been wounded by the iron arrows and secret weapons and whose reactions were sluggish, lost their heads and collapsed. “……!”
From the double sickles held in the hands of Tang Baek—the middle-aged man of bleak expression, the tea horse road’s head collector—the enemies’ blood poured down in streams.
Standing to block the entryway opened on the floor leading to the secret passage, he watched the enemies without a word. “…….”
Before they knew it, all attacks ceased, and the only ones remaining were the martial artists who were surrounding and protecting the Patriarch with their bodies.
From among them, the Patriarch asked.
“…Are you the Eldest Young Master’s subordinates?”
No sooner had that question ended than the personnel who had been hiding in each complex alley revealed themselves.
The one at the very front was a woman of striking beauty holding a sword.
The Patriarch spoke as if lamenting.
“Just how on earth did the Eldest Young Master know of the existence of this passage…?”
Unusually, her eyes were shining with golden light.
The Patriarch did not know, but before her eyes, which were called the Dragon Eyes, any secret passage was practically useless.
* * *
At that time, the Lee Family’s main house.
Yet another.
An elder who had managed to hide was dragged out and thrown into the garden.
The important documents he had possessed and the gold, silver, and treasures he had packed had already been confiscated. “…….”
The elder raised his head, which had disheveled hair.
Like the other elders around him, he stared blankly up at the sky.
The spring day was warm, and the sky was terribly blue.
Though the bruises of the old men were different, the thoughts they had were identical.
‘…Just where on earth did it start going wrong?’
* * *
‘Everything had been wrong from the beginning.’
From among the few remaining martial artists surrounding him, the Patriarch of the Lee Family let out a bitter smile.
From the beginning, there had been no place to flee to, nor any method.
‘The moment the Eldest Young Master revealed his hand, and I could confirm the bastard’s hand…’
At that moment, it was already as good as over.
With a despondent expression, he slowly raised his two hands above his head.
And his lips twitched.
“…Strike!”
The bodies of the elite martial artists who had trained for this situation in advance burst out at explosive speed like projectiles before the command could even finish.
Three toward Tang Baek.
One toward Maid Chief Jeong-ah.
And he himself threw his body toward the entrance of the secret passage, practically carried by the last remaining martial artists.
Along with a cool snicker from the woman, the martial artist who had launched a surprise attack on Jeong-ah was cut in two pieces as he was.
A perfect taking initiative by striking later.
The most powerful counter-technique in the history of the Luoyang Sword Family.
There was no way a mere martial artist of the Lee Family could block the completed Flashing Shadow Instant.
The situation was the same on Tang Baek’s side, but he did not even let out a snicker. “…….”
The martial artists, who already showed clear signs of exhaustion, could not hold out for even a single exchange and all turned into corpses, tumbling down.
The final resistance was meaningless.
“Urgh!”
As the last martial artist who was leaping along with him lost his head and collapsed, the Patriarch’s body bounced on the floor several times due to the inertia carrying him.
The old man had ended up in an unsightly shape, unbecoming of the Patriarch of an influential family.
“…Well, this is.”
He spat out a mutter mixed with coughing once and stood up, staggering from the spot.
“Now there is no way left.”
It was surrender.
“I lost. Guide me to the Eldest Young Master.”
He spoke in as resolute a voice as possible to the woman approaching with calm steps, Maid Chief Jeong-ah.
“I will give whatever testimony is needed. I will spare no cooperation of mine—”
The Patriarch’s two eyes widened.
He raised his trembling hand and grabbed the sword pierced through his neck.
“Krrrrgh…”
He seemed to try to say something, but only blood foam gushed from his mouth.
The last bit of strength drained from the old man’s wretched body, and he hung limp, using the sword as an axis.
Jeong-ah’s sword, which bore the weight of the corpse, did not show even a slight movement.
Jeong-ah, who did not take her eyes off the corpse that had ceased breathing with a resentful and incomprehensible expression, recovered her sword.
Then, she caught and held the falling corpse more gently than anything in the world.
It was as if she were embracing the corpse of a lover. “…….”
In the breast pocket of the corpse, there were the precious items her master desired.
Fearing that the items might be damaged, her hand rummaging through the pocket moved cautiously but accurately.
Blood flowing from the neck of the corpse, which was tilted backward, was dripping onto the floor.
“Recovery of the Lee Family’s Patriarch’s official seal and secret ledger completed.”
Once she released her hand after recovering the targeted items, the corpse tumbled straight to the floor.
The agents of the Crescent Moon Pavilion waiting behind her moved.
“Thank you for your hard work. We will take over from here.”
They moved in perfect order according to their respective fields of expertise.
Tasks such as moving the corpses, ruining the traces, recovering the secret weapons, and blocking the secret passage were executed.
The sight of the maids of the Maid Division carrying repeating crossbows on their shoulders and withdrawing from the distant rooftops came into Jeong-ah’s view.
They were repeating crossbows that had been detached and installed from the armored carriage.
Having finished confirming up to that point, she put the items in her breast pocket and took her steps out of the warehouse.
Tang Baek had already vanished.
The afternoon sun was dazzling.
* * *
Someone approached the investigator who was shadowing the active official of the Lee Family. […….]
Once the person who delivered the business via close-range telepathic transmission hid himself in the crowd, the investigator sent a telepathic transmission to his subordinates.
[Mission completed. We withdraw now.]
Not only them, but all groups that had been tracking the Lee Family’s officials across Luoyang were beginning to withdraw.
He added briefly.
[From here, we leave it in the hands of the Kong Family.]
The remnants of the Lee Family.
In order to subdue the active officials before they could play any tricks, illegal intervention beyond shortcuts was necessary.
And a family possessing powerful authority, which could turn even that illegality into legality, was cooperating with Yeon So-hyeon.
The Kong Family, which proudly registered its name as one of the Sixteen Imperial Capital Families.
It was the moment Yeon So-hyeon’s next hand was presented.