The Eldest Daughter of the Tang Clan of Sichuan Protects the Family

Chapter 273

Side Story, Chapter 1. Every Man for HimselfSunlight streamed in through the window, illuminating the room.

Clothes warmed by the sun began to cast shadows across the floor.

Garments strewn here and there hinted at what had transpired the night before.

The deeply slanted rays reached the eyes of the man lying on the bed.

As the pale light fell over his darkened face, Hamgu pulled the blanket up to cover himself.

In doing so, the woman's naked body was revealed.

When she flinched at the sudden chill, Hamgu fully woke from his sleep. That small movement had triggered his habitual alertness.

Outside, the chirping of birds seemed to urge travelers on their way.

'Damn it, is it already this late?'

Cursing inwardly, Hamgu dressed himself and left the room.

Unlike the night before, the lavish inn was quiet. Those who had been drinking boisterously were sunk in deep sleep, and the diligent ones had already departed at dawn.

"Oh my, Young warrior! You were sleeping so soundly, I was waiting—shall I bring you a meal even now?"

"That won't be necessary."

Replying vaguely, Hamgu exited the inn.

Before long, he entered a mountain path and stepped into a small hut. In truth, it was hardly fit to be called a house—rough planks had merely been set up to block the sides.

Creak.

As Hamgu pushed the door open, a hoarse voice sounded from the darkness.

"How did it go?"

"She'll come out at the hour of the Rat."

At Hamgu's reply, the Blood Sect members exclaimed in admiration.

"How is it that you never fail?"

"With that face, would luring a woman be difficult?"

The Blood Sect members who had been sitting casually on the floor praised Hamgu. Yet Hamgu did not sit with them.

"You say we have to wait until the hour of the Rat. There's still a long way to go. Why are you standing?"

When one Blood Sect member asked in puzzlement, Hamgu answered.

"You lot go to Guangdong on your own. I'm thinking of slipping off to Sichuan."

"Sichuan? Ah, did you fall for what that Tang Clan elder said?"

At the mocking voice, Hamgu wore a smile whose meaning was unclear.

Clicking his tongue, the Blood Sect member tried to dissuade him.

"Don't do it. That old man is famous among young wanderers. They say he takes them in as if he’s going to initiate them, only to steal their martial arts and kick them out. At worst, he treats them like dogs and exploits them. Given the situation, it’s up to you whether you leave the Sect or not, but lining up over there isn't the way."

"Lining up, my ass."

At Hamgu's scoff, the Blood Sect member frowned.

"Then where are you planning to go?"

Unable to contain his temper, Hamgu kicked an innocent plank.

"Do you guys have no pride? How long are you going to beg for scraps at the Blue Sea Pavilion? Those guys are slowly testing the waters to take over all the Guangdong brothels. We should grab a share of the loot, too."

"Loot?"

"How long do you think it takes to gather money by grabbing nameless women? We should be looking for a woman who can net us a fortune in one go."

"And who would that be?"

Hamgu tilted the corner of his mouth.

"Isn't the girl with the highest bounty in the Blood Sect right now the eldest daughter of the Tang Clan Head in Sichuan? Those loyal to the Sect are blinded by the desire for revenge, and those who want to escape the Sect are drooling to get an antidote. If we just get our hands on that girl, we can get more money at once than by handing over hundreds of other women."

A brief silence followed.

Still, it wasn't entirely absurd.

When the Blood Demon was alive, he prioritized acquiring good-looking people from the Central Plains. It seemed he intended to use them for something there.

And the Tang Clan Head's daughter had been one of the women the Blood Demon selected. However, it hadn't been Tang So-hwa, but the third daughter, Tang Yu-hwa.

Yet now Hamgu was speaking not of Tang Yu-hwa, but of Tang So-hwa.

A Blood Sect member, lips twitching, asked cautiously.

"Have you... lost your mind?"

"He was crazy from the start."

The one sitting beside him answered instead.

Hamgu let out a long sigh.

"Use that thick skull of yours and try thinking for once. We don't have merchant caravans or minor sects like others, nor did we learn some incredible martial art from the sect. Are you planning to die someday doing nothing but dirty work like this? I'm not. With the Murim Alliance bastards going berserk for revenge like that, I'm not going to end up beheaded after being forced into slave work."

Though his words were blunt, Hamgu's voice was unexpectedly calm.

"If you want out, get out. I won't stop you."

Yet no one readily replied.

Since the Alliance Leader's death, it was true that the Murim Alliance's momentum had changed.

No—rather, the mood of the entire Central Plains had shifted.

Unsatisfied with the Blood Demon's death, the Murim Alliance hunted down the remaining Blood Sect members for retribution.

Their ferocity was such that it seemed they were fighting an unseen enemy in another Blood Demon War. This was also why the Blood Sect's collapse had accelerated.

Hamgu and his companions had never been particularly loyal to the Blood Sect, so if they could, they wanted to discard their past.

Seen that way, Hamgu's idea didn't seem so bad.

It was extremely dangerous, but for people like them to get their hands on money, such chaotic times were ideal.

Just selling Tang So-hwa alone would be enough to live comfortably for the rest of their lives.

There was only one sticking point.

A Blood Sect member who had been quiet spoke up carefully.

"I understand your confidence. With a face like that, you've seduced countless women, so of course you'd say you'd enter the Tang Clan. But the Tang Clan Head's eldest daughter won't be like the women you've known. For the sake of our past ties, I'm trying to stop a friend from walking into a death trap—think it over again."

"The Tang Clan Head's eldest daughter is still a woman. And I know women dozens of times better than you do, so don't offer half-baked advice."

"This damn—! I'm telling you to think again!"

The flustered Blood Sect member explained.

"Didn't even Namgung Jin fail to conquer her, and end up having his interest stolen by a sorcerer? That sorcerer was instead bewitched by Tang So-hwa and betrayed the Blood Demon. Now he's hiding, fleeing the Blood Sect. Do you think Tang So-hwa yearns for him? She's already shacking up with another man—anyway, that Tang Clan Head's eldest daughter is notorious for her many affairs!"

"If she's a woman who likes men, then the job gets even easier. And I'm not like the Namgung brothers, so there's nothing to worry about."

"Heh, do you really think you're better than the Namgung brothers?"

"Of course."

"Hm? The Heavenly Palace Sword is renowned throughout the Central Plains, but you are—"

"If my surname were Namgung, my name would carry even greater weight."

At Hamgu's confidence, the Blood Sect members fell silent and exchanged looks. They had never seen the Heavenly Palace Sword in person, but judging by the rumors, he would surely be a greater beauty than Hamgu.

'Hamgu does look manly enough, but can he really be better than the Namgung brothers?'

At that moment, a Blood Sect member who had only been listening quietly voiced his opinion for the first time.

"Didn't that Tang Clan Head's eldest daughter join hands with the Main Blood Hall? There were rumors that she went to the Great Desert herself to rescue the Main Blood Hall Lord. She might be quite deeply involved with him, which makes me uneasy."

"Deeply involved, my foot. The Hall Lord used her."

Hamgu let out a laugh.

"You've heard the rumors about the Hall Lord, too, haven't you? They say that no matter how hard the Blood Demon tried, he never obtained the Main Blood Hall Lord's vessel. Now, would he really have any sort of relationship with a woman? He just used her to get the antidote. And since the Main Blood Hall has already removed all the Gu poison, that eldest daughter has served her purpose."

Hamgu added confidently.

"I heard at the inn yesterday that the Platinum Pavilion has closed its doors. They say they're either shutting it down for good or looking for a merchant group to take it over. What do you think that means? The Hall Lord is probably preparing to move to the Solar Palace."

"I heard rumors that the Deputy Leader settled in the Great Desert. So, the Hall Lord is heading over, too?"

"Haha, if you were the Hall Lord and had become the master of the Solar Palace, piled high with gold, would you still bother with the Central Plains?"

The Blood Sect members stared at one another, mouths agape.

If he had become the master of the Solar Palace, was there any reason to care about the Central Plains? Even if he still coveted the wealth of the Anguk Merchant Group, he could simply move it all over under the pretext of trade.

Everyone fell silent. It truly seemed that the Main Blood Hall Lord was crossing over to the Solar Palace.

Frowning, Hamgu pressed for a decision.

"So what will you do? Are you backing out here?"

The Blood Sect members quickly shook their heads.

Everyone was seizing their share amid the chaos.

With lives that could end at any moment, an opportunity like this might never come again.

As if he had expected this, Hamgu smirked.

"Then, when the inn girl comes out at the hour of the Rat, you take her to Guangdong. I'll head straight to Sichuan and seduce the Tang Clan Head's eldest daughter."

The most taciturn Blood Sect member asked one last time.

"But... are you really confident?"

Hamgu opened the door, then turned back and curled his lips.

"Just watch."

* * *

It appeared as though rain had fallen upon the Great Desert.

The sand was as dark as if it were soaked in water.

However, as the wind blew, the ash and corpses were completely swallowed by the golden sands, leaving no trace behind.

Though it had been a scene of a great massacre where the Main Blood Hall Lord had moved personally for a full hour, the desert devoured everything as if nothing had ever happened.

Min Doyu, watching from within the palace, pulled the cloth to cover the window as a sandstorm began to blow in.

With a wide grin, he hummed a tune while polishing the glass lamps placed throughout the room.

Saaaa.

Flames flickered to life in every lamp, even though he hadn't touched them.

Precious and expensive glass lamps were scattered throughout the palace like common stones.

As soon as the Solar Palace was captured, the first thing the Palace Lord did was bring the Great Desert master craftsman to the palace.

That, at least, was a conventional move. When a fortress fell, its new master typically tended first to the armory. To repel enemies who might try to reclaim it, or rebels who refused to acknowledge the new ruler, weapons were essential.

However, Haerak, acting like the madman he was, brought a very peculiar kind of craftsman to the palace. The Palace Lord brought in an artisan with the rare skill of glassmaking and had him create crafts all day long.

Min Doyu let his gaze wander across the luxurious room.

‘Well, it does look nice, but...’

He wondered if this was really okay. In truth, he had been harboring dissatisfaction for a long time regarding the Palace Lord’s complacent attitude. However, after a sect from the Great Desert that came charging in for gold was hollowly annihilated in just one hour, he had nothing left to say.

Min Doyu soon regained the spark in his dull eyes.

‘First, let’s get to work.’

Min Doyu organized the documents that required approval now that the Palace Lord had returned.

The Solar Palace was located far from the cities of the Great Desert.

This was less about preventing the leak of martial arts and more about the fear of fire spreading by mistake. Due to the unique heat of the Fiery Yang Art, it was not ideal to have anything nearby.

Even so, the Solar Palace maintained interaction with surrounding cities and villages.

Being isolated from commercial districts, they often needed to obtain supplies from the cities, and frequently had to bring in labor or gather information.

Thus, before its fall, the Solar Palace had maintained a symbiotic relationship, protecting villages and cities from bandits or eccentric outsiders in exchange for resources.

Although interaction had ceased after the Blood Sect occupied the Solar Palace, Min Doyu had worked diligently for several months to restore the traditions of the ancestors.

First, he rescued children from the vessel farms and sent them to the city to learn various trades.

He also cleaned up the surrounding areas by wiping out the bandits who periodically raided the villages.

Since he had secretly envied the great orthodox sects of the Central Plains, he felt a thrill while restoring the humanitarian system of the Solar Palace.

As a result, he sometimes went a bit overboard. He moved food supplies from the Anguk Merchant Group and distributed them to drought-stricken regions, and even planned to receive members of the Han Clan from the North Sea Ice Palace to open irrigation channels in the villages.

'At this point, isn't this practically the work of an official? This is a great act of chivalry that will go down in history!’

Min Doyu felt proud as he used his newly acquired power to improve the reputation of the Solar Palace.

"Why are you grinning like an idiot?"

At that moment, the Lord of the Solar Palace entered, having finished his bath.