Chapter 46 - A Clan's Hollow Demise

Still, Namgung In gave the silent Do Heo-ok a moment to offer an explanation. He, too, had no proof yet that Do Heo-ok had thoroughly deceived the Namgung Clan.

But Do Heo-ok remained silent. At last, Namgung In delivered the decisive blow.

"You have nothing to say because you discovered nothing, I take it. I'm sorry, but you will have to accompany us to the King's Hall for a while."

"... Are you suggesting that I have done something wrong?"

"I don't know that myself, do I? All these doubts will naturally be cleared up once you accompany us to the King's Hall."

Do Heo-ok's expression hardened further. So did his resolve—to eliminate them all. If he set his mind to it, a mere thirty members of the Muae Sword Unit would be easy to dispose of. Even with their leader, Namgung In, among them, they were no match for him.

CRACK. CRACK.

Do Heo-ok clenched and unclenched his fists a couple of times, gauging when to attack Namgung In and the Muae Sword Unit.

Sensing something strangely amiss in his movements, Namgung In slowly reached for the sword at his hip. Just then—

An explosion rang out far away, in the direction of the King's Hall, and a column of flame shot upward. The sudden blast drew the eyes of Namgung In and his warriors for the briefest of moments.

At that very instant, Do Heo-ok's hand moved.

He drew the Thunder Saber slung diagonally across his back, and a thunderbolt struck the broad courtyard before the East Heaven Guest Hall—more precisely, the spot where Namgung In and the Muae warriors stood.

It was Thunder Advance, the first of the Thunder Blade Art's final four forms.

CRACKLE! BZZT!

Thunder qi from Do Heo-ok's saber split the ground as it swept over Namgung In and his warriors. With their attention momentarily elsewhere, they failed to respond properly and took the full force of his lightning-swift attack.

BOOM!

A blast no less deafening than the one from the King's Hall sent Namgung In and the Muae warriors flying in every direction.

"Aaargh!"

"Graaagh!"

A single stroke. With one swing of Do Heo-ok's saber, half the Muae warriors who had come to arrest him lost their lives. Those among the dead who managed to scream were the fortunate ones: at least their bodies remained intact. The other half, struck directly by the thunder qi, turned to ash without so much as a cry and scattered into the air.

But the survivors had no reason to feel relieved. Most of the Muae warriors who had instinctively drawn their swords in that moment of danger and blocked some of the thunder qi had still been overwhelmed by its aftermath, leaving them unable to fight. Namgung In was no exception.

Dark blood trickled from his mouth.

Caught unawares by the attack, he too had suffered internal injuries. The black blood at his lips and his paper-white face made their severity plain. Had he not already been reaching for his sword in that fleeting instant, he would probably have stopped breathing by now.

"Wh-what in the world?!"

"What's going on?"

"Isn't that Young Master Do? But why?"

By now, the earlier explosion had drawn many of the East Heaven Guest Hall's guests outside to witness the scene. They had no way of knowing what was happening.

Yet every face bore the same expression: bewilderment. Indeed, it would have been stranger if they could make sense of a bridegroom suddenly slaughtering his future in-laws' warriors and killing his elders.

Among the guests were, of course, Dong Bongsu and Tang Wu, as well as Danri Ganghae, who had become an outside-surname disciple of the Namgung Clan the previous day.

"Urgh!"

At last, Namgung In vomited a mouthful of blood onto the ground. His face suggested he had much he wanted to say, but he was already in no condition to get any words out. All he could do was look up at Do Heo-ok with bloodshot eyes.

Do Heo-ok, meanwhile, raised the Thunder Saber over his head once more, his face wearing its usual upright, open expression. A little ash from the Muae Sword Unit warriors reduced to dust by Thunder Advance drifted past his face. His exhalation scattered it emptily through the air, while some was swept away by the morning breeze and fell forlornly onto the surface of Soho Lake.

Had that been the signal? Do Heo-ok brought the Thunder Saber down again. With a brilliant blue flash, thunder qi surged toward Namgung In and the Muae warriors once more like a raging wave. With no strength left to block it, they could only stare blankly at the lightning qi bearing down on them.

BZZZT! CRACK!

In another moment, the Muae Sword Unit that had come to arrest Do Heo-ok would instead be annihilated by him. At that critical instant, a brown-clad figure rushed onto the scene like the wind.

'Tang Wu.'

Dong Bongsu knew it was him. Ever since opening his door and seeing Do Heo-ok facing Namgung In, he had more or less expected Tang Wu to intervene.

WHOOSH!

Tang Wu sped toward Namgung In as swiftly as the wind, but Do Heo-ok's saber qi descended on him as fast as lightning. At this rate, Tang Wu appeared to have no chance of stopping that thunderous saber qi.

Then Tang Wu thrust his hand forward, launching dozens of slender throwing needles. Propelled by the momentum of his flight and the palm force pouring from his hand, the needles shot forth like flashes of lightning.

'Dragon-Phoenix Golden Needles!'

Dong Bongsu had seen them only once, but remembered them perfectly.

Just as he recalled, the hidden weapons Tang Wu had thrown were the Dragon-Phoenix Golden Needles. Their original purpose was not to serve as tools for the Great Reformation Ritual. They were hidden weapons used to perform secret arts, just as they were now.

CRAAACK!

Do Heo-ok's blue-green thunder qi and the dark brown cloud of the Dragon-Phoenix Golden Needles tore through the air and collided one jang in front of Namgung In.

The collision produced an enormous explosion. Yet its entire force swept toward Do Heo-ok. Just before impact, Tang Wu had poured out additional qi, blocking everything that would have burst toward Namgung In.

Having extinguished every trace of Do Heo-ok's powerful thunder saber qi, Tang Wu landed lightly in front of Namgung In.

"Th-thank... you... Uncle Tang..."

Namgung In barely managed to express his gratitude before passing out. Tang Wu gently caught his collapsing body and laid him safely on the ground.

"Well, now. Murim has grown coldhearted these days. A son-in-law blindsiding an elder of his wife's family and beating him half to death."

The aftermath of their clash had raised a great cloud of sand that obscured everyone's sight, but Tang Wu's voice carried through the thick dust.

The sand soon settled, leaving only tension hanging over the East Heaven Guest Hall's courtyard. Tang Wu and Do Heo-ok glared at one another. A ring of people watched their confrontation from a considerable distance. Most were members of the Namgung household or its warriors, but quite a few guests from the Heaven Guest Hall had also rushed out at the sound of the blasts.

They all looked curious, wondering what had happened, but the suffocating qi emanating from Tang Wu and Do Heo-ok made it difficult to speak.

That did not mean the place was silent. A constant bustle arose as more spectators gathered, and above all, the explosions from the King's Hall had yet to stop. In fact, they were growing steadily more intense. With faint screams mingling among the blasts, something far from ordinary had clearly happened.

Tang Wu glanced north toward the King's Hall, then looked back at Do Heo-ok and spoke coldly.

"What is happening at the King's Hall right now?"

"Who knows? How would I know that, Great Hero Tang?"

Unlike Tang Wu, Do Heo-ok did not keep his gaze fixed in one direction, instead surveying his surroundings.

Though Dong Bongsu stood quite far away, he could easily guess what Do Heo-ok was thinking.

'He's thinking of running.'

Just as he suspected, Do Heo-ok was indeed considering escape. In his view, the plan had already gone badly awry, but it was not yet time to abandon it. The Namgung Clan had no way of knowing his precise identity, and his brief conversation with Namgung In had made it easy to deduce that they knew little about him with any certainty. That meant there was only one factor disrupting the plan: the four Shadows who had infiltrated the estate yesterday had been discovered by the Namgung Clan.

This would undoubtedly have a major impact on the First Stratagem. But ultimately, the plan would succeed as long as Do Heo-ok himself survived and everyone within the Namgung estate could be eliminated. The original First Stratagem had called for sparing Namgung Hye as well, but now that things had come to this, he could no longer let her live.

From this moment on, the plan was revised.

Kill everyone here. No one could be allowed to leave alive.

To accomplish that, he first had to get out of the Namgung estate alive, whatever it took. Afterward, if he could just meet up with Ash Shadow or Water Shadow, he could turn the tide at any time. The combined forces those two had brought here were sufficient to destroy the Namgung Clan. The four Shadows who had entered yesterday were merely additional strength, intended to ensure the plan's success more safely.

Judging by the explosions at the King's Hall, the infiltrating Four Shadows had probably already accomplished their primary objective: destroying the core of the Three Emperors Nine Kings Formation. If so, he was sorry to say it, but they were no longer necessary. It would be 'a little' better if they were alive, but he could do without them.

As long as I survive. That was what Do Heo-ok was thinking now.

There stood Tang Wu, glaring at him. Do Heo-ok was supposed to be the star of this unfolding drama, but one wrong move here could give Tang Wu the leading role instead.