Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1423

“All the hidden weapons needed for throwing are ready.”

“Grand Elder! I have finished checking the Illusionary Poison Maze Array installed at the main gate of the Tang Clan. It is operating normally without any issues!”

“The forbidden-grade hidden weapons have been distributed! The elders will be using them!”

Those who had rushed over urgently poured out reports to the Tang Clan from outside.

“All members of the branch families staying in Tangga have been summoned back into the clan. Except for those who have not received the message, everyone is gathering without exception!”

This was a total war. Perhaps the biggest war in the history of the Sichuan Tang Clan, a famous family in the Gangho (the world of martial arts). Not just the main family, but even branch families from Tangga were rushing back. Everyone was ready to fight and die for the clan.

Yes, this is what the Tang Clan should be. He didn’t know how great that Jang Il-So was, but at least they wouldn’t be defeated helplessly.

“Them?”

“There is still time before they arrive.”

“Hmm.”

The distance from Emei to here was four hundred li (a unit of distance). It was a distance that ordinary people would have to run for at least four days to reach.

So, no matter how strong the Demonic Faction was, they wouldn’t be able to arrive immediately just by making up their minds. At least there would be time until the sun set today.

“Check all situations one more time. And…” Tang-oe commanded firmly.

“Distribute poison and hidden weapons to the women of the family as well.”

“G-Grand Elder! That’s…” The elders were startled.

This was the Tang Clan. But not everyone here was a Tang.

Those who were Tang Clan members but did not receive the Tang surname. The women who married into the Tang Clan were respected members, but they could not handle hidden weapons and poison. This was a tradition to prevent secrets from leaking to other families.

For hundreds of years, they had not distributed hidden weapons and poison out of concern that they might leak the Tang Clan’s secrets to their families, and this was like a tradition.

It wasn’t even a rule that only applied to those who married in. Even girls born with the Tang surname could not handle the poison and hidden weapons that could be called ‘secrets’ in the Tang Clan. It was a rule that had been so thoroughly observed.

But now Tang-oe was telling them to break that rule. He, who had been the most stubborn and conservative in the Tang Clan.

“…Haa, but to outsiders…”

Tang-oe asked coldly, looking at the elder who was mumbling as if he couldn’t bear to hear that order. “Who is an outsider?”

Tang-oe glared at the elders and said, “Everyone here has stepped forward to protect the Tang Clan with their lives. Where are the outsiders among them? Are you saying that they are outsiders because they don’t use the Tang surname?”

At those words, the elders all closed their mouths.

Of course, Tang-oe’s inner thoughts might be different. It was difficult to change a way of thinking that he had adhered to for his entire life in an instant. But even so, he couldn’t refute those words in this situation.

“I will take the blame for breaking the rules. You are just following my orders. So hand them over. You can’t tell them to fight without giving them weapons to fight with.”

“Yes, Grand Elder. I understand what you’re saying.”

He would take responsibility. That was enough. As long as Tang-oe said he would take responsibility, Tang Gun-ak would not punish others.

“Hurry! It’s a matter of the family’s fate. Check everything again! If there’s anything you haven’t finished, finish it somehow! Time is of the essence!”

“Yes!”

Tang-oe, who was watching the elders hurrying away with stiff faces, staggered for a moment.

“Cough!”

He covered his mouth with his hand and coughed several times. His body heaved violently. His dry hand was trembling.

“This is…”

He didn’t have any particular illness. It was just that his body had become weaker than before. A martial artist whose dantian (the source of a martial artist’s power) had been destroyed, making him weak, could become so weakened that he was no match for ordinary people. And Tang-oe was too old to cope with that change.

To be honest, even standing here and holding on was not easy for him. But he forced his back straight.

If he had any martial arts left, he would fight the invading enemies without regret. But now he no longer had the inner strength to spread poison or the strength to throw hidden weapons.

Even so… he was still Tang Clan.

Tang-oe stared blankly at the Tang Clan’s buildings. After staring at them for a long time, a mumbling voice leaked from his mouth.

“How funny…”

At one time, he thought these buildings were terrible.

Things that could have been his, but never became his. His life had been a journey to bring these cursed things back into his arms for the rest of his life.

His life had been full of pain. He was denied by his father, lived in the shadow of his younger brother, and was now even punished by his nephew. It was none other than this Tang Clan that had given him that life full of pain.

Even so, Tang-oe was trying to protect this place until the end. Even though it might have been terrible, that was his life. Because everything about him was tied to this place.

He might have been a failure. But if so, at least he would remain a failure of the Tang Clan. If the Tang Clan disappeared, wouldn’t he become a nobody from then on?

‘It’s all the same.’

Everyone here has meaning because the Tang Clan exists. If the Tang Clan disappears, not only will they disappear, but so will the blood and sweat of everyone who made the name Sichuan Tang Clan famous throughout the world.

So!

‘I will protect it. Even if I have to give everything.’

Tang-oe bit his lip tightly and shouted in a clear voice.

“Bring more hidden weapons! There’s no need to save them!”

“Yes, Grand Elder!”

“Tang-byeok!”

“Yes!”

“If you go to the head of the family’s office, there’s a vault behind it! Bring the poisons stored inside!”

“G-Grand Elder, but you can’t open it without the key that the head of the family has…”

“Break it!”

“…Are you serious?”

Tang-byeok asked with a pale face, and Tang-oe glared at him with a blue face.

“Do I look like I’m joking right now?”

“…”

“If you don’t go, I’ll go.”

“Ah, no, Grand Elder. I’ll do as you say!”

Tang-byeok bit his lip tightly. There was no way that Tang-oe, who had lost his martial arts, could really break that vault. So if he had to do it, Tang-byeok was the one who should do it.

The Grand Elder didn’t seem to have any intention of looking back. No, maybe he didn’t even intend to survive until the end of this battle.

If the Grand Elder had made such a big resolution, he couldn’t back out either.

“Use everything possible. If we can only leave the poison vault and the furnace, we can definitely revive the family, no matter what damage we take. Keep that in mind! We must protect the poison vault and the furnace at all costs!”

“Yes!”

It was at that very moment that Tang-oe was instilling a firm determination in everyone once again.

“F-Fire, fire!”

A scream-like voice erupted from behind. Tang-oe quickly turned his gaze and quickly looked around.

Fire!

‘H-Have they already?’

Was he saying that the Demonic Faction had already infiltrated the Tang Clan? That shouldn’t be possible?

“Is it the enemy?”

“I-I don’t know! Suddenly, flames…”

Now Tang-oe could see it clearly too. The flames that had been faintly visible above the building had instantly soared into a huge blaze.

That could never be a natural fire.

“Check if it’s an enemy attack! Quickly!”

“Yes!”

A few elders, terrified, hurriedly ran to check the formation. Soon, news that would put Tang-oe’s anxious heart at ease was delivered.

“I-It doesn’t seem to be an enemy attack! There are no signs of intrusion.”

“Ah…”

Tang-oe, who almost lost his legs for a moment, barely straightened his body.

Then it seemed that the fire had started in the process of discharging the fire. It was a rare occurrence, but it wasn’t something that couldn’t happen. Of course, it would have been better if the accident hadn’t happened, but it wasn’t something that was difficult to deal with.

“Tsk. At a time like this.”

Tang-oe, who clicked his tongue unpleasantly, shouted.

“Put out the fire quickly!”

“Yes, Grand Elder.”

Tang-oe, who was about to turn his head because it wasn’t the time to pay attention to trivial matters, stopped for a moment.

‘Wait a minute…’

That fire is…

“W-Where is it?”

“Yes?”

“The fire! Where is the fire burning!”

Tang-oe suddenly shouted as if screaming. The faces of the elders, who had been blinking at those words, turned white in an instant.

“Ah, Yanggak… Yanggak is!”

“What are you doing! Go quickly! Put out the fire! Quickly!”

“Yes!”

Yanggak. It was a name that felt more than gentle, but in reality, it wasn’t a very warm place.

It was a place where the Tang Clan’s secret poisons were manufactured based on countless poisons and toxic substances in the world. Therefore, the laboratory where all the poisons and toxic substances that the Tang Clan had collected so far were gathered was in Yanggak. It was literally the heart of the Tang Clan.

It was in such a place that the fire had broken out.

“This…”

Tang-oe, who couldn’t just leave it to his subordinates, ran with all his might. Even though it was already difficult to even run, he couldn’t just stand by and watch if the fire was in Yanggak.

‘If I put out the fire, that’s it. The fire is…’

He tried to calm his mind and ran, but the sight that Tang-oe encountered when he arrived at Yanggak was more miserable than he had expected.

The elders of the Tang Clan were running around trying to put out the fire, but it didn’t seem to be catching at all.

“G-Grand Elder! The fire won’t go out!”

“Wh-What?”

Tang-oe’s face turned blue. And at that very moment.

“It’s fire! F-Fire in the workshop!”

“There’s a fire in Cheondokgo! Please call someone quickly! It’s no ordinary fire!”

Red flames erupted from all over the Tang Clan.

Yanggak, where the Tang Clan’s secret chamber for researching poison was located, the workshop where Baekro, which the Tang Clan had to protect at the risk of their lives, was located, and even the poison vault where the Tang Clan’s secrets created by those two were stored.

Fires were breaking out simultaneously in places that could be said to be the Sichuan Tang Clan itself. The stakes were clear: the heart of the Tang Clan’s power and secrets were at risk.

“P-Put it out.”

In that truly terrible situation, even Tang-oe was stunned and half lost his mind.

“Put out the fire! Put out that fire at all costs! Quickly!”

A shrill voice erupted.

His Sichuan Tang Clan, the Sichuan Tang Clan that he had tried to protect at the risk of his life, was burning at this moment. Even though that Demonic Faction’s sword hadn’t even touched it yet.

“I-It won’t go out! Damn it! This fire won’t go out!”

“We have to tear down the building right now!”

“Are you out of your mind? If you tear down the poison vault, all the poisons will die! You crazy human!”

“Then what are we going to do? The fire won’t go out! Are you going to burn it all down like this?”

The elders of the Tang Clan, who had lived as martial artists of the Tang Clan, maintaining their dignity and living clearly, lost their minds at this moment. Harsh words came and went. Their fear and panic were evident in their voices.

“The fire… won’t go out?”

A dazed voice flowed from Tang-oe’s mouth.

Even though trained martial artists had stepped forward, the fire wouldn’t go out. This meant that it wasn’t an ordinary fire.

Tang-oe knew.

There was only one substance in the world that could create such a fire.

“Baek… Ro Blood.”

The fire of Baekro must not be extinguished. Even if it has served its purpose, the embers must be protected.

The white furnace that never goes out. That was the symbol of the Tang Clan, its soul.

That’s why the ancestors of the Tang Clan searched the world and created an oil that could create a fire that never goes out.

As long as the fire of Baekro does not go out, the Tang Clan will not disappear either. That’s why they named it Baekro Blood. That oil is the blood of Baekro, the blood of the Tang Clan. The amount is so small that it cannot even be used as a hidden weapon, and only the best craftsman of the Tang Clan is allowed to hold it in his hand.

“Why…”

The furnace that was burning the Tang Clan was instantly dyed white. A desperate shout erupted from Tang-oe’s mouth as he saw the sight.

“Why! Whhyyy! Whhyyyyyyyyyyy!”

An old man with a hammer walked out slowly from one side of the burning flames.

Godly Hands, Tang Jo-Pyeong.

His always blurry eyes were now filled with a blue light, shining coldly, unlike usual. A small detail earlier in the chapter that makes us wonder about Tang Jo-Pyeong.