My Dad Is the Strongest Under Heaven
Chapter 13
Chapter 13
Chapter 13. Ten Thousand Taels of Gold
“…Just what are you?”
Bewilderment spread across Tang Guhwi’s eyes.
All because of what was unfolding before him.
Before he knew it, the hand holding his wine cup had frozen stiff.
While it was difficult to call the Black and White Twin Demons supreme masters on their own, the power of their combined assault was formidable enough that no one in the Murim could dare look down on them.
Though they were nowhere near a match for his father, Poison Rain Dang Jin-woo, Patriarch of the Sichuan Tang Clan, few in the martial world would ever consider facing the Twin Demons alone an easy feat.
Yet this man had toyed with them as if handling mere children, slaughtering them in the end without a single hair on his head harmed.
And by an unidentified man who, judging by his voice alone, seemed to be around his own age.
‘How does this make any sense?’
At first, he had assumed some deranged lunatic had simply gotten lucky and made it this far, but his assessment had now shifted entirely.
‘He is an exceptional master. Perhaps even at a level not far from Father’s.’
Watching the battle against the Twin Demons had already made it clear.
In a one-on-one fight, he had no chance of winning.
He hated conceding defeat so easily, but he despised the thought of dying a pointless, dog’s death over petty pride even more.
‘Where did such a bastard come from…?’
Though the man’s face was concealed, Tang Guhwi could tell from his gaze and presence alone.
This was undeniably the first time they had ever crossed paths.
Tang Guhwi had accumulated countless grudges over the years, but he had no recollection of ever making an enemy of a master of this caliber.
Which meant there was a high likelihood he had been hired by someone else.
Reaching that conclusion, Tang Guhwi spoke with measured calm.
“Who sent a master like you after me?”
“Hm?”
“Regardless, it does not matter. I will pay double the sum you were offered. What do you say? I will buy you.”
Ha.
Only then did Yeo Woonhwi realize what Tang Guhwi was getting at.
“Double?”
“Why, is that not enough? Then I will give you triple.”
“Do you even know how much I was paid?”
At Yeo Woonhwi’s words, Tang Guhwi smirked.
It seemed his guess had been right after all.
His tension easing slightly, Tang Guhwi tossed back the wine in his hand.
“Well. How could I know? But whatever the amount may be, I have more than enough power to pay the price I offered. After all, I am the Grand Young Master of the Sichuan Tang Clan, one of the Five Great Clans. Surely you came here knowing that much?”
“Oho.”
Yeo Woonhwi stared straight at Tang Guhwi and asked,
“Do you truly believe you can buy a life with money?”
“Of course. There is nothing in this world money cannot buy.”
An answer dripping with absolute certainty.
“Right. Very well.”
“I knew we could come to an understanding.”
Tang Guhwi’s eyes curved into a smile at Yeo Woonhwi’s response.
Yeo Woonhwi continued in an indifferent tone.
“If you match my price, I will gladly become your dog. As you can see, unlike these drifters, I will prove quite useful.”
“Splendid.”
Tang Guhwi was thoroughly pleased.
Though the business with the Black and White Twin Demons had fallen through, that was something he could carry out on his own later; it would merely be delayed a short while.
Sichuan was a land where anything was effortless for him anyway.
Conversely, taking a master under his wing who could casually suppress the Twin Demons—one who might even stand shoulder to shoulder with his father—was an undeniably enticing prospect.
Furthermore, if he spread the rumor that he had lured in and personally disposed of the Black and White Twin Demons, long known as a cancer upon the Zhongyuan Murim, Tang Guhwi stood to gain immensely.
It was an investment well worth a slight delay in his enterprise.
His mind was already racing, calculating how to wrap up the present situation to his advantage.
But there was something he needed to hear first.
“Now then, tell me. Who was the bastard that ordered my death? And just how much do you want?”
Believing he had already bent the situation to his will, Tang Guhwi looked upon Yeo Woonhwi with leisurely confidence.
“Gladly.”
Yeo Woonhwi looked back at Tang Guhwi and let out a dry smirk.
“I shall state my desired sum first.”
“Go ahead.”
“I want ten thousand taels of gold. What do you think? Can you match it?”
“…What?”
In an instant, the smirk on Tang Guhwi’s face fractured.
Ten thousand taels of gold.
He was indeed the Grand Young Master of the Sichuan Tang Clan, a man who controlled exorbitant fortunes.
Even so, ten thousand taels of gold was an amount even he could hardly fathom.
Tang Guhwi’s eyes turned incomparably cold.
“Ten thousand taels? Do you even understand what you are saying right now?”
“Of course. And furthermore…”
Yeo Woonhwi continued without the slightest hesitation.
Terribly, chillingly dry.
“The one who commissioned your death was me. The future me made the request.”
Setting down his wine cup, Tang Guhwi stared silently at Yeo Woonhwi.
A blazing fury had begun to burn within his eyes.
“…Are you mocking me?”
“The incompetent and foolish me, who did not even realize my wife was poisoned and dying in agony.”
Tang Guhwi’s brow furrowed.
“Unable to recognize the real bastard who deserved to be slaughtered, I only tore through the wrong places. But this time, I will not make the same mistake.”
Had he lost his mind?
He was babbling nothing but utter nonsense.
And then—
‘A wife poisoned and dying in agony?’
A name flashed through his mind entirely unbidden.
“Don’t tell me… Peng Seoyeon?”
Tang Guhwi stared at the man before him.
And the moment he met that gaze, he knew.
His suspicion was correct.
“Are you… Peng Seoyeon’s husband?”
“Indeed.”
“B-But that wench’s husband was supposed to be a mere scholar…”
“As you can see, circumstances were complicated.”
“Then… the subordinates I sent—”
“I slaughtered them. With my own hands. And then I came here. To meet you.”
With a smirk, Yeo Woonhwi pointed a finger toward the floor.
Tang Guhwi found the reality of the situation nearly impossible to accept.
He was supposed to be a pathetic scholar who knew nothing of martial arts.
A nobody—a mere ant he could crush under his thumb whenever he pleased.
That was why he had never paid him any mind.
He had completely forgotten such a man even existed.
Yet this insignificant creature had brought about all this carnage?
“Ha, haha, hahaha……”
An empty laugh escaped Tang Guhwi’s lips.
It felt too unreal to be happening before his very eyes.
Right at that moment—
Clatter, stomp, stomp!
“Hurry! Move!”
The warriors of the Sichuan Tang Clan rushed into the room.
Yeo Woonhwi had shattered every staircase leading up to this floor on his way up, which was why they had only managed to arrive just now.
The Tang Clan warriors swiftly surrounded Yeo Woonhwi.
Yet Yeo Woonhwi remained utterly composed.
Tang Guhwi knew as well.
These men alone could never stop him.
“How dare you cause trouble here! Do you take the Sichuan Tang Clan for a joke?!”
Unaware of the battle with the Twin Demons, the Tang Clan warriors recklessly barked their fury at Yeo Woonhwi.
‘There is no other way.’
Having resolved his mind, Tang Guhwi drew two pills from his inner pocket.
He quickly tossed one into his mouth and swallowed it whole, then hurled the slightly larger one down onto the floor.
Instantly—
Boom! Psshhhh.
“Urk? W-What is this…?”
A massive plume of smoke began to billow from the floor, creeping outward and filling the entire space.
Soon, the Tang Clan warriors and the guards protecting the brothel began to writhe in agony.
“Ku-aaaargh!”
“W-Why… Grand Young Master… Aaargh!”
“Guh, hack, wheeze……”
As the thick toxic mist engulfed them, blood poured from their eyes, ears, noses, and mouths.
At this rate, every last person inside the pleasure house would lose their life.
Amidst the living hell, a triumphant smile crossed Tang Guhwi’s lips.
It was done. No matter how great a master this man was, he could never overcome this poison.
The lives of the Tang Clan warriors and the people in the brothel meant nothing to him.
Above all else, his own life came first.
Just then—
Wuuuuum.
Amid the dense poisonous fog, Yeo Woonhwi’s eyes began to glow with a brilliant golden light.
The Heavenly Martial Divine Art had revealed itself.
As Yeo Woonhwi swept his hand across the air—
KABOOM!
A massive hole blew open in the wall toward the brothel’s windows.
Whoosh, swish!
FWHROOOOOM!
Yeo Woonhwi spun his hands in a circular motion, gesturing as if to push the toxic mist toward the shattered opening. The poison fog swirled into a vortex, condensing into a single mass before being violently propelled out the window.
The sheer force of that single motion was so overwhelming that the air inside the brothel momentarily turned into a complete vacuum.
“Kuh-urk!”
Tang Guhwi, the only one aside from Yeo Woonhwi still standing on his feet, clutched his throat as his breath was suddenly ripped away.
But it lasted only a heartbeat.
Soon, fresh air flooded the room once more.
“Gasp, pant, gasp… What in the world…”
It was nothing short of a miracle.
Never in his life had he seen or heard of such a thing being possible.
Fortunately, the agonizing groans of those writhing on the floor began to subside.
Though they remained poisoned, their condition was undeniably better than before.
Step, step.
Tang Guhwi had never felt such terror at the sound of approaching footsteps.
Yeo Woonhwi, having closed the distance in the blink of an eye, looked down at Tang Guhwi with eyes as cold as glacial ice.
“S-Spare me.”
“You are trash. Trash not even worth letting live.”
Tap.
In a flash, Yeo Woonhwi struck Tang Guhwi’s acupoints.
“Gah-ack!”
Crack, snap, snap!
Immediately, his bones and muscles began to twist and tear.
“Aaargh… T-This is……”
“Surely you have heard of it. The Bone-Fracturing Tendon-Tearing technique.”
A faint smile touched Yeo Woonhwi’s eyes.
As a wave of unimaginable agony washed over him, Tang Guhwi’s eyes rolled back and a bloodcurdling scream tore from his throat.
“Aaagh, AAAARGH!”
…Cheonghwaru was filled with the agonizing shrieks of a single man.
How much time had passed?
“Urrrggh……”
Thud.
Unable to endure the overwhelming torment any longer, Tang Guhwi finally lost consciousness.
Yeo Woonhwi reached his hand toward the fallen Tang Guhwi once more.
At that exact moment—
Swoosh-swoosh-swoosh!
Th-th-th-thump!
Dozens of throwing daggers flew rapidly toward Yeo Woonhwi.
Yeo Woonhwi lightly leapt backward.
“Let us stop there. Unpleasant as he may seem, he is still the eldest son of our family.”
Behind the fallen warriors stood a man with narrow, gentle eyes.
It was the entrance of Dang Mu-jun, the unrivaled prodigy boasted by the Sichuan Tang Clan.
