Chapter 68

"Huh? Why exactly?"

"That child's body is one that cannot cultivate inner strength."

Instantly, a silence as cold as ice descended.

Dang Mu Hansuo opened his mouth and then closed it violently. In the meantime, Dang Mu Tianqi quietly added,

"I couldn't bring myself to tell you. Forgive me for only speaking now."

It was not easy to explain that the result of his devoted efforts, which cost him his inner strength, was merely to barely bring up a child who could not cultivate inner strength.

"Why... Why can't he cultivate inner strength?"

Dang Mu Hansuo's voice was as soft as a whisper. At first, he was bewildered, then incredulous, and finally, his voice trembled with anger.

It wasn't because he regretted the inner strength he had spent on the child.

"Could there have been some problem with the Bone Marrow Cleansing?"

"It's not that. Don't even think such thoughts. If not for you, the child wouldn't have even opened his eyes. All the treatments were perfect."

Dang Mu Hansuo's fingertips trembled slightly.

"Really... Really, is that true?"

"Yes."

He couldn't stay in the family even with the loss of part of his inner strength. He felt it too clearly what he had thrown away.

But to find out from the beginning that the child could not cultivate inner strength...

"Does Lian, the young master, know about this?"

"Yes, he knows."

"Even knowing this, he still learned sword techniques, showed interest in Dao techniques, and spent a month in my class?"

"Yes."

Dang Mu Tianqi answered while carefully observing Dang Mu Hansuo.

Under normal circumstances, Dang Mu Hansuo would have immediately noticed his gaze, but not now.

And at the end of that silence, Dang Mu Hansuo, with a surprisingly clear face, said,

"But he is still Lian, the young master."

"What?"

"I believe that even if Lian, the young master, had no inner strength or even no limbs, he should still be the next family head."

Dang Mu Tianqi smiled wryly. It wasn't because he thought Dang Mu Hansuo was disloyal for mentioning the next family head.

"This is a martial arts family."

"I know."

"You, who are not a direct descendant and lack outstanding knowledge, became the First Seat of the Eighteen Elders only because there was no one else in the family who could match you and Xiancheng."

"I know."

"How can someone without inner strength govern the family and become the master of the Eighteen Elders in the future? You must be out of your mind."

"I would have thought the same before I met Lian, the young master."

"But after meeting Lian, your thoughts changed?"

Dang Mu Hansuo grumbled.

"Isn't the head of the family also thinking the same? People usually start to think differently when they talk too much..."

"You brat!"

Dang Mu Tianqi shouted in anger, but Dang Mu Hansuo didn't even blink.

Those with power don't need to raise their voices. They can solve things with power. They only shout when they have other desires.

If not, when Dang Mu Hansuo first brought up the topic of Dang Mu Lian, Dang Mu Tianqi would have immediately cut off the conversation and punished him.

It was unacceptable for the head of the family desired by the Grand Patriarch and the Eighteen Elders to be different.

That means...

"Xiancheng also mentioned the next family head but postponed it. What can you do with children who are not even ten years old?"

"I think that even if Lian, the young master, was five years old, he should still be the one. But the heads of the outer chambers might think differently."

"...Do you really see such... such talent in Lian?"

Dang Mu Hansuo recalled the day he achieved his accomplishments.

Though he grumbled to Dang Mu Tianqi, teaching Lian and Cheng was actually very enjoyable for him.

Teaching young disciples was something he hadn't done in a very long time. Even before leaving the family to wander, he had taught the swordsmen under the Eighteen Elders, but his famous weapon was the saber, not the sword.

It wasn't all enjoyable, though. The children, who did things in ways he hadn't thought of, surprised him.

And there was something Lian occasionally showed.

The direction and momentum of wielding the saber.

The flexible thinking, interpretation, and acceptance of techniques, and the saber techniques that unfolded at the end.

All of these were things he had done throughout his life, but everything Lian did seemed completely unfamiliar.

If the child had been so clumsy that he couldn't do anything properly, it would have been easier to dismiss him.

But Dang Mu Hansuo couldn't do that.

And in the midst of this struggle, he unexpectedly realized the profound meaning of the final technique of the saber form.

Looking back, everything the child did during his lessons contained the changes of that final technique.

He had never regretted the inner strength he poured into Lian's Bone Marrow Cleansing, but at that moment, he realized he had received more than he had given.

"I don't know... Do people say someone has talent when they see someone helping them climb an insurmountable wall? Don't they usually call it a heavenly gift or a Buddha?"

"Is this a temple or a monastery? Isn't it a secular family?"

"Exactly."

Dang Mu Tianqi couldn't hide his calm smile, even though he acted as if Dang Mu Hansuo was talking nonsense.

Lian must have seen such things. Hadn't he himself gained enlightenment from Lian's fingertips?

The child's movements were special. Even at such a young age, he showed the answers as if looking down from the sky.

How was that possible?

If it were someone else, they might have avoided the mystery, speculated about other causes, and mistaken their own enlightenment for the truth, but not Dang Mu Hansuo.

He could listen to a story and forget it, hearing it as new the next day, but he never doubted what he saw with his own eyes.

And he accepted what he couldn't understand as it was, knowing he couldn't understand everything in the world.

"Still, we must wait for the right time."

Dang Mu Tianqi said calmly.

Dang Mu Hansuo looked at Dang Mu Tianqi for a moment and nodded.

Some power slowly pulls down the sky and plows the earth.

No one knows until it's over, so it's appropriate to discuss the greater good afterward.

* * *

"I didn't know you could get along so well with the people of the Dang Mu family, Madam."

Jin Jige said quietly.

Song Yinglang, who had returned after confirming that Jin Zongxia, who had been reviewing today's duel until late at night, was sound asleep, gave Jin Jige a sidelong glance.

"If I don't get along with them, do you want to spend your whole life in Hangzhou in a state of war with them?"

"It's not a war, but..."

Even if it's not a war, it's probably half a real war. The struggle for dominance over a region can't be like a children's game.

"Then, in the end, we have to live together until we die, don't we?"

"How can that be?"

Jin Jige didn't seem to be asking out of ignorance but rather with some complexity in mind.

Song Yinglang was willing to answer.

"Since we have firmly established ourselves in Hangzhou, even if it's the Dang Mu family, it won't be easy for them to sweep us away. It will be a difficult task. But we can't completely drive out the Dang Mu family either."

It was something they couldn't achieve even when the Grand Patriarch was in seclusion and the eldest son was dead. It would certainly be even harder in the future.

The power of history and tradition is so terrifying. They had been lying low for so long, and when Dang Mu Tianqi stretched his limbs, the entire Zhejiang Province was in turmoil.

"That's true."

"Then what can we do? If we have to live together, why not get along well and enjoy it?"

Other minor factions wouldn't even dream of driving out a family of that size.

Even in Hangzhou, the Jin family had only managed to gain a foothold once.

"Will they recognize us like that?"

Song Yinglang smiled softly.

"Look at Madam Wei."

"Even if she is gentle, she is a powerless inner chamber head. The outer chamber heads hold all the real power."

"If the outer chamber heads can't control the inner chamber head, what does it matter?"

Jin Jige raised an eyebrow. Song Yinglang laughed.

"Being too beautiful, having a proud and cold personality, how many friends can she have around her? People envy and jealously, and those who do nothing feel inferior, or they try to worship or do something to impress her. That's all there is to it."

All her strengths were overshadowed by her beauty, and her weaknesses were exaggerated due to her appearance.

Song Yinglang could see very clearly the path she had taken through the family's upheavals.