I Kidnapped the Youngest Daughter of the Sichuan Tang Clan Chapter 65

Just as I was beginning to grasp the essence of Ghost Shadow Step, the people sent by the Tang Clan to escort us back arrived.

“Has the leader of the Dark Soul Unit co in person?”

“Well, we’ve t once before, haven’t we? The Clan Lord thought it would be better to send soone familiar, so he sent .”

I had previously traveled with Tang Cheolyeong, the Dark Soul Unit leader, on our way to Guangdong Province.

Though we hadn’t spoken much, I knew him to be a highly skilled and loyal mber of the Tang Clan.

As I nodded in acknowledgnt, Tang Cheolyeong let out a hearty laugh and turned to Tang Sowol, who was fidgeting behind .

“My lady, I hope you aren’t displeased that I arrived too late. I ca as soon as I received word, so I ask for your understanding.”

“A-Ah! No! I wasn’t upset with you at all, Dark Soul Unit Leader! It’s just that, um… I suddenly rembered what I said before we left, and it made a little embarrassed…”

Tang Sowol trailed off, slipping further behind .

Curious, I tilted my head.

At that mont, Tang Cheolyeong widened his eyes and exclaid,

“Ah! You an what you said before departing from the Tang Clan? Yes, I can see why that would be embarrassing. But in this case, it was inevitable. There’s no need to dwell on it too much.”

“…What exactly are you talking about? I feel a little left out, being the only one unaware.”

“Haha! It’s nothing much. As you know, Young Master, I’ve been assisting the young lady with her hidden weapon techniques lately.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“At that ti, she told —and likely many others—that not only had she made significant progress in her poison arts, but she had also far surpassed her previous level in hidden weapon techniques. She was so confident that she declared she wouldn’t return before completing at least a full month of training outside the clan.”

“…How long have we been away from the Tang Clan?”

“About twenty days. If we depart from Zhongnan Mountain today and travel diligently, we should reach the Tang Clan in four days.”

“So, she’s still short of a full month. She was so certain when she said it—I doubt she ever expected it would turn out like this.”

I smirked and turned around.

There, I saw Tang Sowol peeking out from behind the Blood Venom Unit leader, using him as a shield.

“…Why are you hiding?”

“I’ve known Young Master Cheon for quite so ti now. I can tell what you’re thinking. You were planning to tease , weren’t you?”

“Tease you? That’s a misunderstanding. I was simply curious about sothing.”

“And what might that be?”

“Well, if we stay here for about another seven days, you’ll complete a full month. Were you considering delaying our departure until then?”

“If only Dark Soul Unit Leader here kept his mouth shut, no one would know the difference. What do you think? Interested?”

“Eek! No! Absolutely not! Even if I forced it to be a full month, nothing would change! In the end, I’d still be the fool who set out on a grand second journey into Murim, only to return after failing to even explore half of Shaanxi Province!”

For soone like —an aimless wanderer of the unorthodox world in my past life—traveling through Murim was nothing extraordinary.

But for young martial artists raised in prestigious orthodox sects, journeys into Murim often held a certain allure.

Especially for the young elites, the post-qi blossoming stage disciples, who often saw their experiences during such journeys as accomplishnts worth boasting about.

Clearing out bandits who oppressed commoners, defeating ruthless warriors from unorthodox sects, dueling and triumphing over famous martial artists—To them, these were grand tales.

For soone constantly roaming Murim with a sword at their side, such encounters were commonplace,

but for those experiencing it all for the first ti, it was nothing short of exciting.

Yet, Tang Sowol had failed to have such an experience—not once, but twice.

And this ti, despite bringing a personal guard for extra security.

Of course, both tis, there had been unavoidable circumstances.

“Hm. I understand that breaking your own declaration so quickly must be embarrassing.

But honestly, as Dark Soul Unit Leader ntioned, wasn’t this situation out of your control?”

She survived an encounter against five Soul Reapers and nearly twenty elite assassins.

Even with the help of Ghost Shadow Thief and the Blood Venom Unit Leader,any ordinary post-qi blossoming stage martial artist would have been severely wounded or even killed.

Hearing the full story, no one would bla her for returning early.

“…Still, when the next Yongbong Gathering cos around, I’ll et familiar faces. What am I supposed to say then…?”

“What do you an? Just brag about your capable fiancé.”

I shrugged and reached out my hand toward Tang Sowol, who was still hiding.

“Co on, let’s go. We should at least say goodbye to the sect leader before we leave.”

Tang Sowol stared at for a mont before placing her hand in mine.

Then, with a satisfied smile, she nodded.

“Hmph. Well, when you put it that way, I suppose I do have sothing to boast about.”

“Dark Soul Unit Leader, what about you?”

“I’ve already bid farewell to the Flowing Cloud Sword Immortal. I also have a letter from the Clan Lord, so I visited him first.”

“Understood. Then we’ll go on our own. Please prepare for our departure with the Blood Venom Unit.”

“Take your ti.”

After exchanging nods with Tang Cheolyeong, Tang Sowol and I made our way to the sect leader’s quarters.

When we arrived, Flowing Cloud Sword Immortal didn’t look any different from before.

He seed busy. He seed weary.

Yet, there was an odd sense of calm about him—

as if he knew that at any mont, everything could change.

“Senior Flowing Cloud Sword Immortal.”

“So, did you co here because you were curious about the contents of the letter I received from the Tang Clan Lord?”

“No, I simply felt that I should pay my respects before leaving.”

“Well, there wasn’t much in the letter. Half of it was the usual formalities, thanking for protecting you two. Another half was an empty promise to share a drink together like in the old days. And the last half was him worrying that, although his son-in-law may be a bit ruthless, at least he isn’t Thousand Kill Star.”

“…That seems to add up to more than one letter’s worth.”

“Who’s keeping count? Since we’re both addressing each other as Clan Lord and Sect Leader out of formality, the letter naturally beca one and a half in length. And I wasn’t sharing it because I thought you were curious—I simply needed a light topic to open the conversation.”

With that, Flowing Cloud Sword Immortal let out a long sigh and tucked the letter away.

Then, finally turning to face , he gave a faint smile.

“First, let ask—was your stay here comfortable?”

“It was fine.”

“I had no complaints either.”

As Tang Sowol and I answered almost simultaneously, Flowing Cloud Sword Immortal nodded in satisfaction.

“That’s good to hear. I was worried that you might have felt uncomfortable after thoroughly thrashing my disciples in the sparring matches.”

“…I thought it was all within the boundaries of fair competition.”

“I was only joking. However, I did hear that you paid special attention to a disciple nad Jin Baek. May I ask why?”

“There’s no particular reason. It just reminded of the past.”

As Flowing Cloud Sword Immortal intended, the sparring matches between Tang Sowol, myself, and the Wudang disciples must have been a valuable experience for them.

They got to witness hidden weapon techniques—sothing rarely encountered outside of special circumstances.

They also had the chance to face a killing sword rather than the Daoist school of swordsmanship they were accustod to.

It was a rare and controlled opportunity to experience such a thing.

However, due to Tang Sowol’s background in the Tang Clan and her reliance on hidden weapons,

she occasionally lost to so of the older second-generation disciples during spars.

In contrast, I—young in appearance, undefeated in every match except against the Third Elder, and exuding a lethal aura with my sword—had, well…

Let’s just say so of the disciples were wary of .

After facing once, they rarely challenged again.

Among them, Jin Baek stood out.

Even after multiple defeats, he would continue to smile and ask for another match.

If he didn’t understand sothing, he would politely ask to explain it.

Winning or losing, pressure during battle—none of it seed to matter to him. He only cared about the sword.

The sa unwavering spirit I had seen before my regression,

though slightly altered by the Wudang Sect’s destruction in my past life,

must have been sothing ingrained in him from birth.

“Heh. Reminded you of the past, you say? You’re still young, yet you speak like an old man.”

“Oh! Young Master Cheon does have a habit of doing that.”

Tang Sowol eagerly nodded in agreent, as if she had been waiting for the chance to say so.

I stared at her, exasperated.

Instead of backing down, she simply tilted her chin up, as if daring to disagree.

Looking up from below usually makes a person look unflattering—so why does Tang Sowol look beautiful?

No, more importantly, how would she even look unflattering?

No matter how I tried to imagine an unappealing version of her in my head, all I could think of was how stunning she remained.

After all, even when half her face had lted away in my past life, I had still found her beautiful.

As I nodded to myself, Flowing Cloud Sword Immortal let out a chuckle and spoke.

“I once thought that Jin Cheon must have arranged this marriage because he cherishes his daughter, and because you’re a talent he wanted to keep tied to the Tang Clan…But now, I see that isn’t the only reason.”

“…Ah.”

Only then did Tang Sowol realize where my gaze had been lingering.

Her face flushed red.

Flowing Cloud Sword Immortal’s laughter grew even louder.

“I’ve never regretted not having children. But now, I do feel a little envious of my old friend.”

He then turned to with a thoughtful look.

“But tell , Young Master Cheon—since you’re about to leave Zhongnan Mountain soon…Did you find what you were looking for?”

“…What I was looking for?”

On the first day, Flowing Cloud Sword Immortal had told —that if there was anything I wished to take from Wudang, I was free to do so.

And now, though I hadn’t learned Wudang’s martial arts,

I felt like I had gained an understanding of what they sought to achieve through their techniques.

Not their philosophy, their Dao—but how they tried to reach it through martial arts.

The key lay in unbroken flow.

Even when a strike missed or a stance faltered, it was all accepted as part of the technique.

Not a sword that severed an opponent’s flow to take their head—but a sword that created its own continuous rhythm.

It was certainly a deeper martial art than mine, but it was too different from what I pursued for to adopt it completely.

That said, it wasn’t without aning.

A sword that transitions into the next technique from any stance.

Rather than just the nurous intricate forms and subtle movents, the most important aspect was the distribution of weight.

Even if the body swayed or the sword was knocked aside, as long as the center of balance remained intact, one could continue stepping, continue attacking.

I didn’t know how Wudang solved this problem in their techniques, but by incorporating the principles of Thousand-Jin Pendulum or the concept of weight, I could likely mimic their approach.

How I would integrate this into my own swordsmanship was sothing I would need to research and train for—but I had already gained aningful insights.

I respectfully clasped my hands and bowed.

“I have taken more than enough.”

“Haha. That’s good to hear.”

For a brief mont, Flowing Cloud Sword Immortal’s weary face softened, taking on the gentle air of a true Daoist.

Beneath his kind expression, however, was a gaze that seed to pierce through everything—

laced with a hint of relief.

I wasn’t sure what his true intentions were,

but it seed that he had been hoping for sothing.

Not that it mattered.

Whatever it was, it wasn’t a threat to .

With a small nod, Flowing Cloud Sword Immortal clasped his hands together in farewell.

“Even if not for another disaster like this, you are always welco here.

I would never turn away the daughter of an old friend or her fiancé.”

“I am grateful for your kind words.”

“I’ll make sure to tell Father not to just send letters next ti, but to visit in person!”

With that, we left the Sect Leader’s chambers.

And as we walked down the corridor, I locked eyes with Ghost Shadow Thief, who had been waiting for us from a short distance away.