Chapter 240 : Chapter 240
Chapter 240. The Sichuan Tang Clan (2)
After teasing the embarrassed Dang Sopyeong for a moment, Yeo Yun’s playful face grew worried.
“I feel the same way as you, Young Master. But there is something we must do before that.”
Something a man and a woman who love each other must do before their wedding ceremony.
Dang Sopyeong’s face turned red, his mind filled with strange thoughts.
But his flushed face turned dark at Yeo Yun’s next words.
“A wedding is not something we can hold as we please, is it? So, should we not at least get your father’s permission?”
“Ah… your father’s permission, you say.”
“…Surely you were not planning to run away and get married without his permission?”
“O-of course not! Ha, hahaha.”
It was a reaction that could arouse suspicion where none existed.
As Yeo Yun gazed at him intently, Dang Sopyeong suddenly shot to his feet.
“They say to strike while the iron is hot. Since the topic has come up, I will go see your father right now!”
It was not difficult to find Great Jade Yeo.
He was in the middle of working at the forge located near the main hall.
Dang Sopyeong spoke cautiously, watching his expression.
“Elder, I have something urgent to discuss with you.”
Great Jade Yeo, who was swinging a hammer, turned his head.
He looked back and forth between Dang Sopyeong and Yeo Yun, then sighed as if he had sensed something.
“This does not seem to be a conversation for this place, so let us move.”
After they entered the hall where Great Jade Yeo resided.
THUD.
Dang Sopyeong immediately dropped to his knees and exclaimed.
“I-I wish to form a matrimonial bond with Lady Yeo and spend my l-life with her. Father! P-please, I beg for your permission!”
Dang Sopyeong steeled his resolve.
He was prepared to endure it, even if Great Jade Yeo threw something at him.
He kept his head bowed and his eyes tightly shut for a moment.
For some reason, he felt no pain.
‘D-don’t tell me I died without even feeling the pain?’
But he could feel sensations in his body.
Dang Sopyeong warily peeked his eyes open.
He saw Great Jade Yeo turning his head.
He asked his daughter.
“Yun, do you truly feel the same way?”
“Yes, Father. I wish to marry him.”
“Hah.”
Great Jade Yeo let out a deep sigh.
Then he turned his head again to look at Dang Sopyeong.
A thought occurred to Dang Sopyeong.
He had always been wary of Great Jade Yeo, Yeo Yun’s father.
But now, for some reason, he felt he should not look away.
They locked eyes for a moment, as if in a staring contest or an examination.
Great Jade Yeo nodded and spoke.
“I will permit the marriage.”
“Thank you, Father!!”
“But!! There is a condition.”
“…”
Momentarily disappointed, Dang Sopyeong quickly composed his expression and asked.
“M-may I know what that condition is?”
“Before that, I have a question. If you marry, do you plan to live here? Or will you go elsewhere?”
“…I plan to go somewhere else to live.”
As he answered, a possibility popped into Dang Sopyeong’s head.
And Great Jade Yeo gave the very answer Dang Sopyeong had anticipated.
“Then I will go with you. That is my condition.”
“…”
He barely managed to stop the word ‘doting father’ from escaping his throat.
He would have to live with his father-in-law from the moment he married.
As Dang Sopyeong remained silent, a vein bulged on Great Jade Yeo’s forehead.
“Why? Are you planning to do something you cannot show your father-in-law? You are not thinking of doing anything terrible to Yun, are you?”
Dang Sopyeong, startled, replied.
“N-no, Father! That will never happen.”
“Then what is the problem?”
“Th-that is…”
“Hah, do you know this? Yun is my only child. Are you telling me to be separated from my one and only daughter for life?”
“…”
A thought occurred to Dang Sopyeong.
He wondered if his father-in-law was indirectly refusing the marriage.
But his thoughts changed at Great Jade Yeo’s next words.
“And I have to see my grandchild, do I not?”
“Ah…”
Dang Sopyeong, who had let out a soft exclamation, quickly composed himself.
“Thank you, Father! I-I will definitely do my best to ensure you can see a grandchild.”
“What kind of effort are you planning to make with my daughter?”
“N-no. Th-that is not what I meant. I-I meant I would make Lady Yun h-happy.”
“That sounds even stranger now, does it not?”
“Th-that is…”
Dang Sopyeong was flustered every time Great Jade Yeo spoke.
Yeo Yun watched them with a faint smile.
It was not that she enjoyed seeing Dang Sopyeong suffer.
‘…They say a daughter finds a man who resembles her father.’
The way Great Jade Yeo treated Dang Sopyeong was very similar.
It was just like how Dang Sopyeong usually treated Jin Yuseong.
The way he would grumble first, even though he would eventually accept it.
Just then, Great Jade Yeo, who had been grumbling at Dang Sopyeong, asked.
“So, where are you thinking of going?”
“Pardon?”
“Did you not say it yourself? That you plan to set up a home somewhere other than here.”
“Ah…”
Belatedly coming to his senses, Dang Sopyeong spoke calmly.
He had already decided on the way to the Murim Alliance.
Where he would go.
“I am thinking of settling in Sichuan.”
He had considered various options, but in the end, only Sichuan came to mind.
It was a place filled with memories of his mother from his childhood.
After his mother passed away, it held nothing but bad memories, but he still had to go.
Although he had cut ties, he felt a sense of responsibility to clean up the mess his father had made.
Jang Muryong, the head of the Sichuan Sword Clan and his adoptive father.
There was the matter of him killing people in the name of learning demonic arts.
***
The next day, Dang Sopyeong, Yeo Yun, and Great Jade Yeo left the Seomoon Clan.
After several days of travel, they arrived at Seongdo in Sichuan.
They bought a manor.
Most of the money came from Great Jade Yeo.
While he worked for the Seomoon Clan, the clan leader had consistently provided him with money.
To that accumulated money, he added the money he had saved from long ago.
It was a manor bought by emptying out his entire fortune.
Of course, that did not mean he was overflowing with money, so the manor was not very large.
It was also located in a secluded area, a little away from where people lived, not in the center of Seongdo.
But even so, the fact that he had bought them a house did not change.
“Th-thank you, Father.”
“Hmph. I only bought it as a place for my daughter to live. It was not for you, so do not mind it.”
After saying that, Great Jade Yeo strode over and chose the smallest and most secluded room in the manor.
“I am alone anyway, so this is enough for me. Instead, I will decorate that hall over there as a forge to be used with Yun.”
With those words, Great Jade Yeo turned his hand and pointed to another hall.
“Use that place to store medicinal herbs or care for patients.”
His words were brusque, but his choice was ultimately considerate of Dang Sopyeong.
Now, as Dang Sopyeong was getting used to Great Jade Yeo’s way of speaking, he smiled again and bowed his head.
“Thank you so much, Father!”
“I told you, it was not for you.”
And so, their life in Sichuan began.
The manor was a forge, a clinic, and a martial arts family home.
Dang Sopyeong would wake up at dawn and go to the nearby mountains to dig for medicinal and poisonous herbs.
He would also visit the marketplace to buy herbs that did not grow in the vicinity.
As he came and went from the marketplace, if he encountered anyone who was sick, he would gladly treat them.
“If you feel unwell again, please follow that road straight ahead to the manor.”
In the process, word of mouth slowly spread.
His medical skills were among the best in the Central Plains to begin with.
Everyone he treated was surprised by his skill, and word naturally spread.
At first, almost no one came, but as the days went by, the number of visitors increased.
Occasionally, he would get entangled with underworld groups.
The Sichuan Sword Clan, which had dominated Sichuan, was gone.
It was a foregone conclusion that underworld thugs would start popping up one by one in the ownerless land of Sichuan.
“Are those ruffians causing trouble at the marketplace again?”
Whenever he heard the news from his patients, Dang Sopyeong would gladly seek out the underworld thugs and teach them a lesson.
‘Tsk, if it weren’t for my promise with that fellow Jin.’
He would curse Jin Yuseong again for no reason.
He would have punished the underworld thugs even without Jin Yuseong, but Dang Sopyeong just wanted to curse Jin Yuseong’s heartlessness.
While Dang Sopyeong was caring for patients and punishing underworld thugs.
Great Jade Yeo and Yeo Yun also spent their time busily.
They crafted various items, from weapons for martial artists to farming tools for the farmers of Seongdo.
Their blacksmithing skills were also renowned throughout the Central Plains.
Naturally, word spread, and before long, people were lining up to buy their goods.
The manor where the three lived was soon bustling with people.
Patients waiting for Dang Sopyeong’s treatment, letting out groans.
“Oh, doctor. P-please, save me!”
People who came to buy Great Jade Yeo and Yeo Yun’s goods.
“No, no matter how you look at it, one silver ingot for a single sword is a bit much.”
“If you do not have the eyes to recognize the value of this sword, you are not cut out to be a swordsman. Just go back.”
And occasionally, people who came to ask for help when underworld ruffians or bandits appeared.
And so, the name of the Sichuan Tang Clan began to be known throughout Seongdo, Sichuan.
But there was something even more joyous.
After another busy day, Dang Sopyeong was checking Yeo Yun’s pulse with a worried expression.
His wife had not been well for the past few days.
Could there be something wrong?
As Dang Sopyeong was checking her pulse with such worries, his eyes widened.
“Young Master? Is something wrong?”
At her question, Dang Sopyeong answered in a trembling voice.
“W-we are going to have a ch-child.”
“Pardon?”
“There is a child in my wife’s belly!”
Yeo Yun stared blankly for a moment.
Without either of them making the first move, they embraced.
Was it just his imagination?
He felt as if warmth was flowing from Yeo Yun’s belly through their touching stomachs.
Dang Sopyeong thought.
Could there be any greater joy in the world?
***
About half a year ago.
“B-be careful on your way, Sopyeong!”
After bidding farewell to Dang Sopyeong, Choyeon and Nam Geon set off for the Murim Alliance.
Adamant Sword and Cold Flower.
Since both were quite famous in Murim, the guards at the entrance of the Murim Alliance recognized them.
Thanks to that, it was not too difficult to enter the Murim Alliance manor.
The Murim Alliance had just begun.
There were not many halls.
Instead, additional halls were being built in various places.
Workers were constructing the halls.
Beggars from the Beggars’ Sect, and others who looked like martial artists, could be seen hurriedly moving about inside the Murim Alliance.
Only Nam Geon and Choyeon seemed somewhat detached from the lively atmosphere.
After asking the rushing people for the location of the Leader’s Hall, they headed there.
Sama Hyeon, who was examining the piles of paper and bamboo slips on the table, greeted them.
“Great Hero Adamant Sword! Lady Cold Flower! I am truly glad you have come.”
Then, Sama Hyeon carefully asked a question.
“But what brings the two of you here?”
Jin Yuseong and the rest of their companions were nowhere to be seen.
Choyeon briefly explained the situation.
What Jin Yuseong had told them, and as a result, they had scattered.
“What should I call this… It seems like a choice truly befitting of Great Hero Ghost Sword.”
Sama Hyeon, who had spoken with a bitter smile, turned his head to look at Choyeon.
Sama Hyeon had roughly grasped the situation.
The true meaning behind Jin Yuseong’s words.
And furthermore, why Choyeon had come here.
“I will bring Lady Choryeong here right away.”
The unfortunate sisters who were once abducted by an assassin group.
Sisters who had been unable to be together for various reasons even after that.
Now, it was time to help those sisters be together.