My Dad Is the Strongest Under Heaven
Chapter 20
Chapter 20
Chapter 20. What Is This Tiny, Adorable Creature?
“Mind your tongues so no idle chatter leaks out, and stay at your posts. Above all, do not cause any trouble today—if you value keeping your limbs intact.”
“Understood!”
The Hebei Peng Clan was in a state of sheer emergency.
Just what could have happened within the Hebei Peng Clan, one of the Five Great Clans under heaven?
“Good grief! What on earth is all this commotion?”
A martial artist assigned to gatekeeper duty at the Hebei Peng Clan stepped into position as he traded shifts.
The guard standing beside him spoke up.
“Haha. Haven’t you heard?”
“Heard what?”
“They say Lady Seoyeon has returned.”
“Huh? Who?”
The man tilted his head in confusion.
His fellow guard clicked his tongue and elaborated.
“Lady Seoyeon. Lady Peng Seoyeon—the Patriarch’s daughter.”
“Ehh? That Lady Seoyeon?”
“I’m telling you.”
Instantly, the memory of a graceful yet spirited young woman surfaced in his mind.
He let out a disbelieving chuckle.
“How long has it been since she ran off with some scholar, and now she just up and returns out of nowhere? What kind of nerve does she have? She knows what our Patriarch’s temper is like.”
“Shh, keep your voice down! What if someone hears you?”
Startled by the volume, the fellow guard jerked his head around to check their surroundings.
Getting caught speaking of such matters would mean endless trouble.
If their luck was particularly sour, they might end up going hungry for quite some time.
The Peng Clan generally treated its rank-and-file warriors with generosity.
Yet on one matter, they were extraordinarily strict.
No idle gossip regarding the Patriarch or his direct lineage was tolerated.
Whether speaking of the truth or rumors, they had to tread with utmost caution.
Phew.
Fortunately, no one seemed to be nearby.
Only then did the guard relax, lowering his voice.
“Anyway, that’s why everyone is keeping their heads down and holding their breath, watching the Patriarch’s mood. You know how sensitive he is whenever Lady Seoyeon is mentioned, right?”
“Ah, of course I do. Who in the Peng Clan wouldn’t? That’s practically our Patriarch’s sole reverse scale.”
“Exactly. Sigh… I was hoping to grab a drink after our shift today, but that’s out the window now. Tsk.”
“One wrong move on a day like this and you’re bound for disaster. Watch yourself, brother. I’d like to keep seeing you around for a long time.”
Seeing elders of the Peng Clan passing down the path, the gatekeepers snapped their mouths shut.
Silence descended once more.
‘Hah. So that’s what all this fuss is about.’
The guard nodded to himself, finally grasping the gravity of the situation.
‘What kind of storm is about to break?’
His gaze drifted toward the guest hall pavilion.
Knowing the Patriarch’s fiery temper, he couldn’t help imagining the man’s fury, shuddering from head to toe.
He was terrifying enough on a normal day… Goodness, seeing him enraged was something one wouldn’t wish to witness even in a nightmare.
He made a mental note to lie as low as possible today.
A wave of deep exhaustion washed over him already.
“…Father.”
The warm atmosphere that had briefly filled the room vanished without a trace, replaced by a suffocating, heavy tension.
It was the sheer oppressive presence radiating from Peng Mugang, the Master of the Peng Clan, who had just entered the room.
From his imposing appearance to his overwhelming aura, he resembled a great tiger straight out of legend.
Patriarch Peng Mugang’s gaze was fixed on his daughter, Peng Seoyeon.
The very daughter who had stormed out of the Hebei Peng Clan on her own two feet so long ago, declaring she hated it.
Though much time had passed, her face was not so different from back then.
Yet looking closer, Peng Seoyeon’s hands and face were rough and chapped here and there.
And how could they not be?
How could her life now compare to the days when she had been showered with love and cherished within the Peng Clan?
Moreover, the fine silk garments she had once worn with pride were replaced by coarse clothes typical of a countryside woman.
Tsk.
As Peng Mugang looked his daughter up and down, his brow furrowed deeper and deeper.
The more he looked, the hotter the fury boiled within him.
Once, she was a lovely daughter he considered sharper than anyone else.
There had been a time when she was hailed as one of the Four Phoenixes, counted among the foremost prodigies in all the Murim.
That such a daughter had made the most foolish, stubborn choice imaginable—and to see what that choice had reduced her to—infuriated Peng Mugang beyond measure.
With eyes growing increasingly fierce, he opened his mouth.
“What a sight you are to behold.”
Those first words from Peng Mugang froze Peng Seoyeon in place.
She hadn’t harbored the slightest hope of receiving warm words. And yet…
“F-Father.”
“Silence yourself.”
“…Yes, Father.”
At Peng Mugang’s sharp rebuke, Peng Seojin was forced to step back.
Intervening now might only fan the flames of his wrath.
Thus, he could only watch the unfolding confrontation with a heavy, troubled heart.
Peng Mugang clicked his tongue and continued.
“Pathetic. You cast aside everything you enjoyed without lacking a single thing, running off as you pleased—and this is how you’ve been living?”
Peng Mugang felt that he had never understood his daughter back then, did not understand her now, and never would.
“Yet you show your face here without a shred of shame? Looking like that?”
“…What is wrong with how I look?”
“What?”
“I asked what is wrong with how I look.”
Lifting her head, Peng Seoyeon looked straight into Peng Mugang’s eyes.
Her father was as terrifying as ever.
Yet hearing him speak as if completely invalidating everything she had cherished and protected, Peng Seoyeon could no longer remain silent.
And so, she stepped forward.
The woman who had trembled in fear before meeting Peng Mugang was nowhere to be seen.
Though she stood here in the humble attire of a rustic woman, she was still Peng Seoyeon—once counted among the Six Dragons and Four Phoenixes, the daughter acknowledged as resembling Peng Mugang more than anyone else.
“I left this place and started everything anew where no one knew who I was. Though there were many hardships and trials, I was truly happy through every single moment. For the first time, I felt like I was living my own life instead of one forced upon me by others.”
“Seoyeon.”
The air turned lethal.
Dan Heeyoung called her name with an anxious face, watching Peng Seoyeon suddenly defy her father.
“And yet, Father, you judge my entire life solely by the clothes on my back and my appearance right now?”
“How dare you act as though you’ve done nothing wrong—!”
“Dear.”
Dan Heeyoung tried to intervene and stop her husband this time.
It was to no avail.
“Do you have any idea how much of a laughingstock our Peng Clan became because of you?! Do you realize how many people suffered just for your petty, foolish romance?!”
Once the harsh words tore from Peng Mugang’s lips, they continued to plunge like daggers into Peng Seoyeon’s heart.
“Fine, then let me ask you. You smeared mud on the clan’s name and vanished without a backward glance, so why return now? What shameless nerve brings you back?!”
“Dear, please stop! You’re far too agitated right now.”
“Stay out of this! Speak! What reason do you have for returning?! Is it money?! Fine, if that’s what you want, I’ll give it to you! But once you take it, never again appear before my—”
Just as the situation was about to spiral to an irreversible extreme—
“DEEEEEEEEAR!”
A shout so loud it left their ears ringing.
Startled by the sheer force of it, Peng Mugang, who had been spewing all sorts of venomous words in his fury, whipped his head toward his wife in shock.
“Wh-What is it?”
Peng Mugang looked thoroughly flustered.
For Dan Heeyoung, who never lost her gentle smile, was glaring at him with blazing eyes.
“Dear! Why are you spewing such venomous words that you don’t even mean at our child?!”
“Who says I don’t mean them…”
“Stop it!”
Dan Heeyoung slapped Peng Mugang’s log-thick forearm with a sharp smack.
“Will you not stop this instant?”
“…No, but still…”
“Tsk.”
“……”
“Shall I speak the unvarnished truth? After our Yeon-ie vanished, you couldn’t even sleep properly for half a year! You kept sneaking into Yeon-ie’s room, standing there in a daze, letting tears stream down your—”
“Ahem! Kh-khm!”
Peng Mugang cleared his throat furiously, his face flushing crimson.
“What on earth are you saying?! When did I ever do such a thing?! You must have seen things! Hallucinations!”
“Seen things, my foot!”
“Haha. …Please, both of you, that is enough.”
Unable to watch any longer, Grand Young Master Peng Seojin stepped in awkwardly to mediate.
‘…Because it’s embarrassing,’ he muttered softly under his breath.
Indeed.
It was an open secret known to everyone in the Hebei Peng Clan.
The supreme ruler of Hebei, the Crouching Tiger of Hebei possessed of boundless majesty, was in truth an unrivaled doting husband.
As a martial artist, he possessed a chilling, overwhelmingly oppressive presence, yet in front of Dan Heeyoung, he was reduced to a meek lamb.
In the end, thoroughly scolded by his wife, Peng Mugang clamped his mouth shut and ceased his barrage.
Still, that did not mean the bitterly tense atmosphere would dissipate so easily.
Neither Peng Mugang nor Peng Seoyeon spoke another word.
An awkward silence lingered in the air.
Unable to bear it any longer, Dan Heeyoung stepped forward once more.
“Dear, rather than glaring like that, why don’t you hold your granddaughter?”
“…Mmm? What are you talking about? Granddaughter?”
Peng Mugang looked at his wife with a baffled expression.
Just then—
“Yul-ah! It’s Grandfather. Grandfather.”
Before anyone realized, Peng Seojin had scooped up Yul-i and held her out right in front of Peng Mugang’s face.
Yul-i tilted her head, gazing with curious wonder at Peng Mugang’s enormous face.
“Ung? Gwandfathur?”
A thunderous jolt struck his chest.
Instantly, Peng Mugang’s eyes widened to their absolute limits.
He stared at Yul-i with a completely stunned expression.
And in that moment, a single thought crossed his mind.
‘What is this tiny, adorable creature?’
A supreme powerhouse striding across the realm, the Tyrant Blade of Hebei, Peng Mugang—a man whose sheer presence felt like a ferocious, colossal tiger taking human form.
This was the very moment he was utterly transformed into a hopeless, doting grandfather.
