Chapter 407 : Reorganizing the Sect (1)

Chapter 407: Reorganizing the Sect (1)

At that moment, Yong Hwarin looked over at the injured and spoke.

“I’ve got something to take care of… Please watch over Cheollyeong for me.”

“Don’t worry.”

When Pang Giyok replied, Yong Hwarin gently patted Ha Cheollyeong on the head and walked away.

Watching his retreating figure, Namgung Yoo spoke up.

“We’re not just ordinary friends with your master. We’re people who’ve shared life and death together. So you’re not merely the disciple of a friend. From now on, you should call me the Most Beautiful Woman Under Heaven.”

As she spoke playfully, Pang Giyok burst out laughing.

“Wahahaha! I can’t believe you’re cracking jokes, Yoo. Seems like you’ve taken a liking to Cheollyeong.”

“That’s right. He reminds me exactly of what Hwarin must have been like as a child. Maybe that’s why he doesn’t feel like a stranger.”

Namgung Yoo reached out, intending to stroke Ha Cheollyeong’s head.

But just then, a tiny face popped up right in front of Ha Cheollyeong’s.

“Please don’t touch his head.”

It was Dang Duhwa, sticking her head in to stop Namgung Yoo from touching Ha Cheollyeong.

“Huh?”

Pang Giyok looked at her and asked,

“Little lady, who might you be?”

“I’m Dang Duhwa of the Tang Clan.”

“Oh! Are you related to that young master over there?”

“He’s my uncle.”

“Hooh!”

As the bright-eyed Dang Duhwa replied quickly, Pang Giyok chuckled.

“But why won’t you let us touch Cheollyeong?”

“If you pet him, he’ll get tamed.”

“Wahahaha! Cheollyeong isn’t a puppy. How could he possibly be tamed?”

“That’s not true. I’ve heard that it’s not good for a man to get used to a woman’s touch.”

Namgung Yoo looked at the adorable Dang Duhwa and asked,

“Are you Cheollyeong’s friend?”

To that, Dang Duhwa shook her head vigorously.

“No, I’m not.”

“Then?”

“I’m going to be Cheollyeong’s wife.”

“Wife?”

Hearing that, Pang Giyok burst into laughter.

“Wahahahaha! Such a bold little lady. As expected from someone of the Tang Clan.”

Honesty and boldness were signature traits of the Tang Clan.

“I don’t keep boys I like as just friends. I make them my husband.”

At such a forthright declaration, Ha Cheollyeong lowered his head and spoke.

“Please excuse her. Duhwa’s still a bit immature. She doesn’t really know what she’s saying—she’s like a wild little rascal. Please don’t scold her too harshly.”

When Ha Cheollyeong apologized, Dang Duhwa pouted.

“What, are you embarrassed of me? Hmph, even so, you can’t escape me.”

Ha Cheollyeong shook his head and stepped away from her.

As the two children bickered and walked off, Pang Giyok muttered,

“That boy’s not going to have an easy time with women either. Just like his master.”

“Indeed.”

Yet at that moment, Namgung Yoo found herself overwhelmed with envy of that young Dang Duhwa.

Despite her age, the fact that she could express her feelings so honestly was something Namgung Yoo deeply admired.

Yu Maelim was busy tending to the injured, unable to catch a moment’s rest.

But soon, under Yong Hwarin’s orders, the Heavenly Central Flying Dragon Unit joined in the treatment, and the battlefield was quickly stabilized.

Watching Yong Hwarin even treat enemies, Yu Maelim reevaluated him.

Even if his actions were hypocritical, there was a saying: “All virtue begins with hypocrisy.”

Not even performing hypocrisy was closer to evil, she believed.

Once the wounded were treated, they dug graves and buried the dead, fearing the corpses would become food for wild beasts.

As a result, quite a bit of time passed, and the sky began to dim into dusk.

Only then did Yong Hwarin speak.

“We return to the main house!”

“In the end, we missed Sanbi and So Yonghwa.”

Seomun Yuwon, eyes fixed on Yong Hwarin, spoke, and Dang Cheolgi responded.

“Even if we’d caught them, we would’ve struggled with how to handle them. It wasn’t that we couldn’t catch them—we chose not to.”

Seomun Yuwon grumbled,

“Still, I should’ve captured and killed the ones who humiliated me.”

Dang Cheolgi flinched in surprise.

For someone who was the Young Master of the Seomun Clan to think so simplistically…

He was simple himself, but at least he understood the state of affairs.

Dang Cheolgi wondered if Seomun Yuwon had even considered what would happen after killing the heirs of the Three Demonic Heavens.

“You shouldn’t take it so lightly.”

“Hmph, maybe Young Master Yong was just too scared to kill them.”

“Hohoho…”

Dang Cheolgi laughed in disbelief, and beside him, Jaegal Yohye scolded him.

“Seomun Gongja, are you serious about that? If so, that’s disappointing. Killing Sanbi and So Yonghwa isn’t difficult. But if they die, the Three Demonic Heavens will gain justification to wage full-scale war against the Orthodox Murim, and the Demonic Path will unite as one. Do you understand what that means? Suppose you, Seomun Gongja of the Seomun Clan, were to be killed by the descendants of the Three Demonic Heavens—what do you think would happen?”

“The Clan Head would lead our entire clan’s forces into war with the Three Demonic Heavens…”

“That’s exactly it. That’s why we let them go. We scared them thoroughly, and we warned them—we’ll kill them next time if they dare come again.”

Seomun Yuwon mumbled, feeling like a fool after hearing that.

“Hmph, it’s not that I didn’t understand. I just said it out of anger.”

Jaegal Yohye worried whether anything could be accomplished with someone like him.

‘If most of the heirs of the Twelve Clans are like this, then even if the Grand Martial Coalition is formed, I doubt it’ll function properly.’

She truly couldn’t help but be concerned.

Naturally, such doubts made her compare them to Yong Hwarin.

She finally understood what it meant to say "a phoenix and a sparrow."

On Ha Cheollyeong’s shoulder sat Baekmyo, like a fur scarf.

As the weather grew colder, Baekmyo served as Cheollyeong’s muffler.

Jaegal Yohye approached Ha Cheollyeong and said,

“Ha Gongja, from now on, you are no longer a stranger to the Jaegal Clan.”

Ha Cheollyeong looked at her with a puzzled expression.

“What do you mean?”

“Your master, Yong Daehyeop, has long had close ties with our Jaegal Clan. He was even engaged to someone from our main family.”

“I heard the story. I also heard that the Jaegal Clan abandoned my master.”

“Excuse me? Abandoned?”

“I heard the engagement was called off because you thought he wasn’t a particularly outstanding martial artist when he hadn’t yet revealed his true abilities.”

“Ah, no! That’s a huge misunderstanding! Who told you such a thing?!”

Ha Cheollyeong turned his head toward Dang Duhwa.

Jaegal Yohye awkwardly laughed and said,

“I’m sure Miss Dang misunderstood something. That’s absolutely not the case. You should ask your master about it.”

There was a reason why Jaegal Yohye was trying so hard to clear up Ha Cheollyeong’s misunderstanding.

Originally, Yong Hwarin was meant to marry Jaegal Cheongyeong of the Jaegal Clan.

But things fell through, and they ended up missing out on an exceptional talent like Yong Hwarin.

So Jaegal Yohye was now planning to match his disciple with one of her younger relatives.

In her eyes, Ha Cheollyeong was just as talented as Yong Hwarin and carried the aura of a true chivalrous warrior.

If someone like him could be brought into the Jaegal Clan, its future would be on a smooth path.

“Ha Gongja.”

As Jaegal Yohye reached out to place a hand on his shoulder, Baekmyo raised its head, bared its teeth, and growled.

“Grrrowl!”

The moment Baekmyo looked ready to bite, Jaegal Yohye quickly withdrew her hand.

Baekmyo had not forgotten that Jaegal Yohye once swung a sword at her on Mount Wudang.

Moreover, she remembered that Jaegal Yohye had once tormented Ha Cheollyeong.

That’s why, in Baekmyo’s eyes, Jaegal Yohye was a bad person, and just approaching Cheollyeong triggered her growl.

As Jaegal Yohye lowered her hand in dismay, Dang Cheolgi approached her.

“It’s because you calculate everything too much that people avoid you, Miss Jaegal. Between people, it’s not calculations but affection that matters.”

“Ha!”

Jaegal Yohye never imagined she’d hear something like that from none other than Dang Cheolgi.

When it came to calculating people, the Tang Clan was second to none.

Hearing that from them made her feel like she was truly a terrible person.

The Dang Cheolgi she knew wasn’t someone capable of such advice.

He had always been selfish and thoughtless—an infamous reputation.

There had even been rumors that the Tang Clan would collapse under Dang Cheolgi’s generation.

But that evaluation had completely changed.

Dang Cheolgi had become a Daehyeop, a great chivalrous hero, said to appear only once in a hundred years in the Tang Clan.

It was an unexpected reversal.

When she realized this change came after he met Yong Hwarin, she was filled with admiration for him.

‘To turn a delinquent into a chivalrous warrior…’

Even the other successors of the rising generation who once shunned Dang Cheolgi now tried to get close to him and maintain friendly ties.

Because they had seen how Yong Hwarin and Dang Cheolgi treated each other like sworn brothers.

“Brother Yong!”

Even now, Dang Cheolgi called out to Yong Hwarin loudly, as if for everyone to hear.

As Yong Hwarin welcomed him with a warm smile, the other successors could only look at Dang Cheolgi with envy.

The Heavenly Central Sect originally had only five pavilions.

Since the number of disciples was always relatively stable, there was no need for more than that.

Up until now, the Heavenly Central Sect had a good reputation in the surrounding area, so the local merchants never betrayed them. That meant they hadn’t faced any major financial difficulties.

But as the Dabie Sect’s influence grew, the Heavenly Central Sect lost much of its regional economic territory, and both its disciples and resources began to dwindle.

However, with the arrival of Yong Hwarin, the situation completely reversed.

Due to the economic struggles brought on by the Dabie Sect’s rise, even five pavilions once felt excessive—but now, the Heavenly Central Sect had gained three additional pavilions.

On top of that, two more were under construction. It was only a matter of time before they became a grand sect with ten pavilions.

Moreover, the number of disciples had increased so dramatically that it was nothing like the quiet sect it had once been.

Yong Hwarin stood before the main gate for a long time, filled with emotion as he looked upon the Heavenly Central Sect.

Even the members of the Jaegal Clan were dumbfounded by the transformed state of the sect.

Though they had visited occasionally, they were stunned by how quickly the sect had developed.

‘Incredible. He didn’t just gain fame—he elevated the sect’s entire status.’

Jaegal Yohye looked at the Heavenly Central Sect with envious eyes.

People like Seomun Yuwon or Namgung Soomyung came from clans with over twenty pavilions, so the sight itself didn’t impress them.

What did catch their attention was the expression on the faces of the people within the Heavenly Central Sect.

Everyone smiled as they talked, laughing out loud—it was easy to tell how happy they were.

From the errand boys to the laborers and martial artists, not a single person looked unhappy.

That was no easy feat. After all, the Heavenly Central Sect was still a Murim sect.

Martial sects in the Murim often had strict and cold atmospheres.

So most people living in such environments rarely wore bright expressions.

Creating an environment where people could smile comfortably was almost impossible.

And yet, the people of the Heavenly Central Sect looked far removed from such harsh realities.

Pang Giyok and Namgung Yoo both thought to themselves that they would love to live in a place like this.