A short while after Shi Fengsheng left, the deputy chief steward ca to visit.
"I heard you will be staying at our fortress for a while. I have prepared a separate building. Before that, the family head wishes to see you. I will escort you."
Following the deputy chief steward, he went to the main hall of 'Shi Fortress'.
"This way."
The deputy chief steward guided him to the guest hall behind the main hall.
In the seat of honor in the guest hall, a man in his late fifties, who looked exactly like Shi Fengsheng would when he got older, was sitting.
Shi Tal-in's gaze, as he looked at Baekji entering the main hall, was filled with anger.
"You've co? Sit."
His voice was also low and calm, so he could feel his hostility.
He was the brat who had broken the path of his son, who was praised as a talent produced by the Shi family after several generations.
The reaction of the family that received the pledge of submission was one of two things. Either they would send the pledge of submission, or they would wait for the successor candidate to co.
But Baekji had co himself. If he didn't want to submit, he should have just ignored it, but to co and make the successor candidate kneel.
But he couldn't argue about it either. Because it was the Shi family that had sent the pledge of submission.
"Are you... the child who ca to the So family?"
As he just nodded his head without a word, Shi Tal-in's face contorted.
"You are a brat with no sense of hierarchy."
His son, Shi Fengsheng, had pleaded with him as he left 'Shi Fortress'. Not to touch Baekji at all. Not to even associate with him...
Shi Tal-in could not accept it.
He had to know what kind of brat had made his son kneel.
"Did you call to argue about hierarchy? If so, you should have already heard the result."
Ppa-deu-deuk―.
The sound of Shi Tal-in grinding his teeth was heard.
"Fengsheng is not the only one in our family."
"It's sothing that started from the 'Great Successor War'. Surely you're not thinking of mobilizing masters?"
Although his arms were trembling at the very natural informal speech, he endured it.
Because there was a reason.
"Why our family of all places?"
"Ah, are you asking why I ca to the Shi family first? If so, don't worry. I will also go to the Hyuk-ryeon family and the Weizhi family."
Baekji said, waving the invitation in his hand.
It was what Shi Tal-in had wanted. If Baekji had said he had co because the Shi family was easy, he would have killed him first, no matter what.
Although he would be criticized for breaking the rules of the 'Great Successor War' and would have to wage war with the So family... since there was no Cult Leader anyway, it was worth a try.
Fortunately, since he was also going to the Weizhi family and the Hyuk-ryeon family, he was relieved. According to his son, he was an absolute master that even Hyuk-ryeonhu or Weizhi Shouchuan could not handle.
If that were the case, the three candidates who had co out as successor candidates would be equally broken by Baekji.
He beca curious again.
"...Why are you making the candidates kneel when you are not even participating in the 'Great Successor War'?"
As Baekji stared at him, his cold gaze sohow made him feel uneasy.
'What is this? How can a young brat have such a gaze?'
Shi Tal-in was flustered by the gaze that seed to be looking into an abyss.
"I cannot let the brats who dare to ask for a pledge of submission from the So family go."
"..."
Shi Tal-in was also the head of a family. He raised his internal energy and blocked Baekji's gaze, which was pressing on his own abyss, and then asked again, "What on earth are you thinking? Are you trying to break the rules of the 'Great Successor War'?"
"The rules of the 'Great Successor War'? I don't know what that is. I just received a pledge of submission, so I am just responding."
In the 'Great Successor War' that had been passed down for thousands of years, there had never been such a thing. To go around breaking candidates without even stepping forward as a successor candidate.
Shi Tal-in could not imagine what would happen if Baekji were to make even Hyuk-ryeonhu or Weizhi Shouchuan kneel.
As Baekji had said, it was not breaking the rules of the 'Great Successor War'. It was just that a blind spot in the thod of the 'Great Successor War' had been revealed.
"I hope you keep... that promise to also find the other candidate families."
Baekji stared at Shi Tal-in. Shi Tal-in, whose intention had been revealed, felt his face flush, but he let out a dry cough, brushed it off, and then changed the subject.
In fact, it was also a question he had really wanted to ask.
"Why did you send Fengsheng?"
To receive the pledges of submission of the twelve guardian families and to bring the successor. That was the sa as telling Shi Fengsheng to die.
Which family would obediently hand over their successor?
That was why he had gone to the family's master who was in seclusion in the rear garden, had begged him, and had sent him along.
The 'Fist Demon', the 'Ten Demonic People' produced by the Shi family.
Since he had gone as a guard, Shi Fengsheng would not return dead.
However, Baekji was curious about the reason why he had sent Shi Fengsheng into a deadly situation. And if he could, he wanted to make him withdraw.
"It was troubleso to go around and make even the small fry kneel. My son's martial arts were usable."
"...Because it was troubleso?"
He was, 'ul-keok', at the words that he had sent his son into a deadly situation because it was troubleso.
"You shouldn't have confronted the So family in the first place."
Baekji stood up and went out as if he had said all he had to say. Shi Tal-in just stared at his back and could not catch him.
Since Shi Fengsheng had knelt in a proper duel, he had to follow the order, whether he died or lived.
"The So family... is it really a wall that cannot be overco?"
Shi Tal-in muttered powerlessly.
.
.
.
Baekji, who had spent a night at 'Shi Fortress', left for the Weizhi family early in the morning. The Weizhi family was in a strategic location east of the Heavenly Mountains.
"..."
As he was crossing a sloping mountain path, a person was standing at the top of the pass.
It was a handso young man dressed in white.
Since there was a person on a deserted road, Oh-ryong stopped on its own before Baekji even stopped.
Baekji looked at the young man and asked, "Did you co out to et ?"
Weizhi Shouchuan looked at Baekji, who was sitting on his horse and looking down at him, and said, "You are younger than I thought. I thought you were a monster with three heads and six arms, since you made Shi Fengsheng kneel."
"Have you ever fought with Shi Fengsheng?"
"Rather than fighting... I saw him once, and I was not confident that I could handle him."
Weizhi Shouchuan's answer was unexpected. Baekji, as if he were interested, looked at Weizhi Shouchuan and said, "I heard you are the top master among the later generation in the sect... are you being humble?"
"It's an empty na. I have benefited from my family."
"So... you have co to kneel on your own."
Weizhi Shouchuan smiled.
"If I lose, shouldn't I naturally kneel? When I thought about it, I didn't want to show the miserable sight of kneeling in a place with many people."
Although he said that, Weizhi Shouchuan's face was calm.
Baekji laughed.
"Shi Fengsheng's scream was quite unique... your personality is truly strange. No, are you shaless?"
"I am on the quick side when it cos to judging the situation."
Weizhi Shouchuan drew the sword on his back.
"I intend to see the outco with one sword."
Baekji got off his horse, drew the sword that was stuck on the horse's back, and then stood three 'zhang' away from Weizhi Shouchuan.
Weizhi Shouchuan raised his sword.
The mont the tip of the sword was aid at the sky.
Pa-a-ang―!
The sound of sharp energy exploding was heard from behind. At the sa ti, swords ca cutting in from both sides.
It was a sword where speed and illusion had reached their peak.
Although Baekji ignored the empty move that was flying in from the left and tried to block the sword on the right, a sword suddenly flew in at the top of his head.
It was as if a sword were falling from the sky.
Kka-gang!
Although Weizhi Shouchuan's sword was clearly one, with the sound of a sword and a sword clashing on the right, the sword that had fallen from the sky was also caught in Baekji's left hand.
Pa-ak―!
As Baekji put strength into his left hand, the sword of sharp energy broke.
When the attack failed, Weizhi Shouchuan took a step back.
Although a look of bewildernt flashed across his handso face, he soon beca calm.
An empty move, a real move, and a flying sword made of sharp energy!
The 'Revolving Heaven Flying Wing', a secret move he had learned for the 'Great Successor War'.
Weizhi Shouchuan, who was known as the most outstanding among the later generation of the Demonic Cult, had been most wary of Shi Fengsheng.
That was why he had learned the 'Revolving Heaven Flying Wing' as a secret weapon, but it had been broken beautifully.
Weizhi Shouchuan realized that his opponent was an absolute master that he could not handle.
"..."
Baekji sheathed his sword and said, "It was okay."
"..."
Weizhi Shouchuan raised his sword and then went to cut his own neck. From the beginning, he had no intention of kneeling. That was why he had waited on a deserted road, had asked for a duel, and had co with the intention of dying if he lost.
But.
Weizhi Shouchuan could not cut his own neck.
Pa-ak!
The sword in his hand shattered, and he was only slightly grazed by the fragnts.
Baekji's face ca close to his.
"Your life is mine. You can't die carelessly."
At the sa ti, an energy like Mount Tai pressed down on both his shoulders. Although Weizhi Shouchuan tried to endure, he imdiately tried to cut his 'heart vein', but Baekji flicked his finger.
A stream of energy shot out and hit his 'lower dantian', and his strength drained.
Weizhi Shouchuan knelt.
"If you keep trying to die, you might be beaten until you die."
Baekji made a strange threat.
Weizhi Shouchuan said in a calm tone, as if he had given up on everything, "What do you want?"
"Go... and get the pledges of submission of the other families. Catch the successors of those families and go to 'Shi Fortress' and wait."
"Why should I do that?"
Weizhi Shouchuan's gaze was futile. The life he had lived for a long ti, only for the 'Great Successor War', had beco nothing.
Peo-eok!
Baekji struck the back of Weizhi Shouchuan's head.
"You brat! You lost. You have to clean up the ss you made and then die."
Weizhi Shouchuan's face turned red with humiliation. He had grown up without even being hit by his father. Who on earth could hit the back of his head?
"I-ik!"
As he tried to bite his tongue and die, Baekji, as if he were a ghost, grabbed his chin.
"This won't do. You have to be hit to co to your senses."
He spat out and then struck Weizhi Shouchuan's chin.
Thwack!
Peo-peo-peok!
"Kkeu-eu-eu-euk!"
A scream finally erupted from Weizhi Shouchuan's clenched mouth.
* * *
"Older sister!"
Bi Jun-hua ran in.
Bi Yun-seol, who was combing Bi Jun-ye's hair, frowned.
As ti passed, Bi Yun-seol's original temperant, which had been left in her spirit and seven ethereal souls, gradually seeped in, and she gradually beca more demure.
"The Young Lord... no, So Baek-cheon went to the Shi family, broke Shi Fengsheng, and made Weizhi Shouchuan kneel."
"Why did brother Baek-cheon? He didn't even go out for the 'Great Successor War'."
Only the head of the Bi family and Bi Jun-hua knew Baekji's identity. Bi Jun-ye knew him as the grandson of the Young Lord, So Baek-cheon. Bi Yun-seol also thought that a descendant of a branch family who had left the Bi family a long ti ago had returned.
Bi Jun-ye, saying that Bi Yun-seol resembled her great-aunt who had died a long ti ago, was very attached to her.
"That's why it's strange."
Bi Jun-hua looked at Bi Yun-seol as if to ask if she knew anything. Bi Yun-seol, as if she were not interested, just combed Bi Jun-ye's hair.
"The 'Great Successor War' is becoming a ss. If the successor candidates are broken by So Baek-cheon... who will recognize them as the Young Lord?"
"I can't either. Right?"
Bi Jun-ye chattered.
At that mont, a warrior ran in and reported, "Young lady. The family head is looking for you urgently."
"Why?"
"That's... Weizhi Shouchuan has co."
"Weizhi Shouchuan?"
Bi Jun-hua tilted her head. Since he had knelt to Baekji, she had thought he would be cooped up in his family and would be restraining himself... why did he co to the Bi family?
"The atmosphere is unusual. He is demanding our family's pledge of submission. And he says he must make the successor kneel and take him."
"What? Ha. Isn't he crazy? We would have sent it on our own when the ti ca..."
The Bi family had already decided to send a pledge of submission to Weizhi Shouchuan. They had intended to send it on the day before the 'Great Successor War' duel, but he had co to receive it, unable to wait for a day.
"Isn't he ashad of being broken by So Baek-cheon? To co to receive a pledge of submission."
Bi Jun-hua, indignant stood up and went to the main hall in a hurry.
The head of the Bi family was sitting in the seat of honor in the main hall, and below him, Weizhi Shouchuan was standing...
His eyes were bruised.
(End of Chapter)
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