My Father Is the Number One Under Heaven - Chapter 18

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 18. There Is No Revenge
A middle-aged man’s eyes gleamed with a cold, jade-green light as he gazed down at something in silence.
It was his own son, broken and shattered, unable to move a muscle.
“So the eldest one orchestrated all of this? Together with the Black-White Twin Demons?”
“Yes, Father.”
Dang Mujun, standing to the side, answered the man’s question.
“Hmph. I’ve truly raised my son poorly—far more poorly than I ever imagined.”
Dang Jinwu.
The current Patriarch of the Sacheon Dang Family, he had entered closed-door training some years prior for reasons unknown, but had emerged early, unable to meet his promised deadline.
It was because of his eldest son.
And the report he’d received was utterly unbelievable.
“So he brought those despicable vermin to Sacheon and tried to run a business with them? Hmph.”
“Father…”
Dang Mujun found himself at a loss for words.
“Who reduced Guhui to this state?”
“We lost him.”
Dang Mujun lowered his head, his expression somewhat heavy.
Shame weighed on him.
But Dang Jinwu did not see it that way.
“A man capable of cutting through so many warriors alone, tearing the Black-White Twin Demons to shreds, and reducing Guhui to this—you were alone against him. It was beyond your capacity. You need not bow your head.”
“However, I have set trackers upon him. We have not yet found leads, but soon—”
“Enough.”
“Sir?”
Dang Jinwu shook his head at his second son’s words.
“A master of that caliber would be difficult to find unless we employed the Ten-Thousand-Li Soul-Chasing Fragrance.”
“You will not seek revenge?”
“Revenge?”
At the second son’s words, Dang Jinwu let out a hollow laugh.
“For what purpose?”
Dang Jinwu had been informed of every single deed his eldest son had committed, without exception.
If the man had not been his own son, Dang Jinwu would have wanted to take his life with his own hands—such were the horrors of his crimes.
And how could he speak of revenge from his own lips?
When his son was the one who had sown all those grievances.
In the end, everything was karma.
“The Sacheon Dang Family never forgets a debt, whether it be a favor or a vendetta.”
A tale far too famous—one that revealed what the Sacheon Dang Family truly was.
Those words now fell from Dang Jinwu’s lips.
“But it seems the Sacheon Dang Family must learn shame above all else, Mujun.”
A deep sigh escaped Dang Jinwu’s mouth.
“A man who goes to such lengths must carry terrible grievances of his own. Is that not so?”
……
Watching Dang Jinwu’s hollow expression, Dang Mujun could say nothing.
“So there will be no revenge.”
“Understood.”
“A worthless son. Truly, I am ashamed. So ashamed. Hmph.”
The Patriarch of the Sacheon Dang Family left the room, shaking his head.
As though he would never return to this place again.
Dang Mujun followed in his wake.
Soon, only Dang Guhui, now a cripple, remained alone in the room.
But no one knew.
That his clenched fist trembled faintly, though his body lay rigid upon the bed, unable to move.
***
“…Did you hear about that?”
“Hear what?”
“They say the Haibei Peng Family’s power has grown formidable lately. That they’re the mightiest among the current Five Major Families?”
Haibei Province.
In a corner of a bustling inn, martial artists dining together were chattering away.
“Well, isn’t that natural? With the Haibei Sabre as Patriarch, a man once even named as a candidate for the position of Martial Alliance Lord?”
“Moreover, though he hasn’t yet claimed a seat among the Twelve Inner Sovereigns, there’s widespread talk that such a position would be his the moment one becomes vacant.”
“Come now. The Namgung clan’s Imperial Sword still stands. How can you say that seat belongs to the Haibei Sabre?”
“Still here, are we, clinging to the belief that the Imperial Sword is superior to the Haibei Tyrant? How foolish.”
“What? Foolish?”
“Now, now, let’s have an end to this. How are we to know which of the two is stronger or greater? We all remember how they traded blows back and forth in their youth—constantly shifting the balance. Until we see them truly contend once more, no one can say for certain. There’s no point in us bickering among ourselves.”
“Hmm, I suppose you’re right.”
“In any case, it’s true that the Haibei Peng Family’s influence has grown formidable of late. There’s even talk that the Martial Alliance itself watches them with caution.”
“Ah, surely not—that can’t be the case.”
“And another thing, you see….”
The men, as though they hadn’t been quarreling moments before, swiftly moved to another subject and began chattering away with renewed vigor.
Why should they alone be different?
The inn, as always, bloomed with gossip—not one or two patrons spinning tales of the Martial World.
***
The Haibei Peng Family.
The tyrant of Haibei, known as the Roaring Tiger.
In the Patriarch’s hall, a meeting was underway.
“…I believe we need not honor this request from the Martial Alliance.”
“But it’s said the other great families have already given their assent. Are you suggesting we alone refuse?”
“Yet there is no reason we must be swayed by the decisions of others, is there?”
“Such stubbornness is not a luxury we can afford at this moment.”
“Stubbornness? Did you truly call it stubbornness?”
A low murmur of contention rippled through the hall.
The Haibei Peng Family was embroiled in headache over a single matter.
A man seated among them, listening quietly as the elders debated the merits of their respective positions, opened his mouth.
“Enough.”
The figure now speaking sat at the head of the assembly.
At his word, all fell silent.
The clamorous hall stilled in an instant.
A man of towering frame, his eyes fierce and piercing, radiating an overwhelming presence.
This was Peng Wuqiang, the current Patriarch of the Haibei Peng Family, known as the Crouching Tiger of Haibei.
“Shujan.”
“Yes, Father.”
A handsome young man answered.
“What do you make of this?”
At Peng Wuqiang’s question, the youth smiled faintly.
He glanced once around the elders seated nearby, then turned to meet Peng Wuqiang’s gaze and spoke.
“I believe our Peng Family should honor the Martial Alliance’s request faster than anyone else.”
“And why is that?”
“The Martial Alliance asks for nothing extraordinary. It is the containment of an external power that has invaded the Martial World before. Moreover, they ask only that we commit auxiliary forces while keeping our main strength in reserve. The request is entirely reasonable.”
The young man paused briefly, observing Peng Wuqiang’s expression as he listened in silence, then continued.
“Defending Zhongyuan against foreign threats is a natural duty for anyone with roots here. And this commitment is temporary in nature. It hardly merits hesitation.”
“But once we begin honoring the Martial Alliance’s requests, they will grow ever more unreasonable in their demands.”
One of the elders raised an objection.
The young man answered without pause.
“That is precisely the point.”
“Pardon?”
“In the face of truly reasonable requests, we must demonstrate our willingness to comply. If we begin drawing lines over matters such as this, they will seize upon our reluctance as cause for genuine grievance.”
“I see.”
The objecting elder retreated a step.
And bent his ear to the young man’s words.
The others in the hall did likewise.
“We must not allow people to perceive the Peng Family as one that simply refuses the Martial Alliance’s requests without thought. Rather, we must establish ourselves as a family that considers each matter carefully and responds accordingly. Then people will wonder: what could be the reason behind the Peng Family’s refusals? And those reasons, in time, will become the justification that shields us.”
The young man continued, his eyes fixed on Patriarch Peng Wuqiang.
“Therefore, in requests such as these, we must respond swiftly and decisively. This is a contest of who can marshal the more compelling pretense and justification.”
“Hmm, pretense and justification….”
Peng Wuqiang stroked his jaw, lost in thought for a moment.
The man smiled and added a word more.
“For ultimately, in the Way, those are what matter most.”
“Excellent. So you’ve already learned to see through such stratagems.”
“Not at all. I have merely elaborated on what many of the honored elders assembled here already understand.”
Peng Wuqiang gazed at his son, who had answered with such humility, and a satisfied smile crossed his face.
All those present in the hall marveled inwardly.
The First Prince, Peng Shujin.
He possessed a discernment and composure that belied his years.
Truly, he lived up to his reputation as one of the Six Dragons Three Peaks destined to lead the Martial World in the future.
There had once been a woman in the Peng household who walked alongside Peng Shujin, counted among the Six Dragons Four Peaks.
Now she was spoken of only as one of the Three Peaks, no longer as one of the Four.
And there was no one bold enough to breathe a word of her before the Family Patriarch.
That subject was a reverse scale for Peng Wuqiang — one that could never be touched.
But then,
“Your… Your Majesty! I come with urgent news!”
The courtyard erupted into commotion, and the most seasoned of the Peng household’s gate keepers rushed into the patriarch’s hall.
“What is the matter?”
“Yes, well, that is… that is…”
The warrior stammered.
Peng Wuqiang knew this man well — he was not one to fuss or panic without cause. Confusion flickered across the patriarch’s face.
In that same moment, a dozen possibilities crossed his mind.
Had someone attacked? In broad daylight?
Impossible. Then was it the Martial Alliance? Or something else entirely?
The First Prince Peng Shujin stepped forward and spoke.
“Report properly — what has happened?”
“She has… she has…”
“Make sense! Speak clearly!”
“Miss Peng Shuyan has returned!”
At those words, every eye in the patriarch’s hall widened beyond measure.
Thump.
An immense force filled the hall.
In that instant, everyone present felt a suffocating weight press down upon them.
Then Peng Wuqiang opened his mouth slowly.
“Say it again. Who did you say has returned?”
His face had gone utterly rigid.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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