It wasn’t just Tang Seon Yeong who was shocked by Baek Woo Jin’s bizarre behavior.
The Tang clan guards who were firmly guarding the gate were equally taken aback.
Guarding the gate was a task assigned to the lower-ranking martial artists of the Tang clan. They had spent countless hours in this post over the past several years, but not once had they encountered a situation like this.
“What is the meaning of this!”
They quickly grew furious.
Did this person even understand where he was?
This was the main gate of the Sichuan Tang clan, one of the Five Great Clans that led the righteous martial arts world alongside the Nine Great Sects.
Even vicious demons of the Demonic Cult would pass quietly by this entrance and barely dare to breathe. None of them had imagined anyone would dare to raise their voice here.
They wanted to hold a blade to his throat and demand an explanation immediately, but the person beside him kept them from acting.
“Young lady, who is this man exactly?”
It was because Tang Seon Yeong, the beloved daughter of the Tang clan head, had arrived with this brazen stranger.
She pressed her fingers against her temples as if nursing a headache.
I thought he might cause a scene…
She had assumed he would wait until they’d at least passed through the gate before making a fuss, but it seemed she had vastly underestimated him.
With a small sigh, she turned toward the guards who were still glaring at Baek Woo Jin with furious expressions.
“He’s my guest…”
Her words only made the guards’ expressions grow more perplexed.
“A guest of yours, Young Lady, is behaving like that…?”
They only needed to stop briefly, verify their identities, and enter. There was absolutely no reason for him to ignore them and start shouting like that, so why had he done it?
While she pondered this growing question, Tang Seon Yeong continued speaking.
“Sorry for causing a scene, but let’s just let it go for now…”
“What’s all this commotion!”
Just as she was trying to smooth things over with them, urging them to look the other way, a booming voice rang out as someone burst through the main gate.
The man who appeared was in his mid-thirties with a thick beard on his chin.
“Wh-White Captain!”
The Tang clan was divided into the outer halls, where lower-ranking warriors and those from more distant branches lived, and the inner halls, where the Tang clan’s main bloodline and high-ranking branches resided.
Both the outer and inner hall had warrior squads dedicated to their protection. The White Squadron and the Black Squadron.
The man who appeared in a fiery rage was Tang Ho Geun, the captain of the First Division of the White Squadron who was in charge of guarding the outer halls.
It was pure coincidence that he had just passed by the gate when Baek Woo Jin had shouted. Outraged that this madman dared to shout in front of the Tang clan grounds and that the guards couldn’t stop him, he had come to reprimand them all at once.
“Who in their right mind dares to raise their voice in front of the Tang clan!”
With eyes blazing, he glared at the man and woman standing in front of the thoroughly intimidated guards.
A young man with handsome features that could make anyone feel defeated at a glance….and the woman standing beside him was…
“Ah, young lady?”
His mind started to whirl with confusion.
Judging by the situation, that man seemed to be the culprit who had yelled at the Tang clan’s gate, but why on earth was Tang Seon Yeong who was supposed to be at the academy here beside him?
Tang Ho Geun’s gaze turned to the two guards who were shifting nervously.
“What on earth is going on here?”
“Well, that is…”
They too couldn’t make sense of the situation but explained exactly what had happened as they’d experienced it.
“Ha… what nonsense.”
The expression on Tang Ho Geun’s face when he heard their explanation was hardly different from theirs.
It was a ridiculous scene. The very one who caused the commotion was smiling calmly as though nothing had happened, while everyone else watching wore grim expressions.
“Now then, why did you feel the need to shout?”
He asked after deciding that this situation was beyond his understanding.
“If you’re Miss Tang’s guest, all you had to do was verify your identity to pass.”
Baek Woo Jin’s answer to this, however, was beyond absurd.
“I didn’t come as a guest.”
“What…what does that mean?”
Tang Seon Yeong herself had called him a guest, and yet the man himself claimed he wasn’t. What kind of absurdity was this?
“There’s a saying that a son-in-law is a thief.”
Baek Woo Jin was nodding to himself as though in complete agreement with his own words.
“Since he steals away a daughter who’s been raised with utmost love and care, he deserves to be called that, doesn’t he?”
In a voice loud and brimming with confidence, he continued.
“I’ve come here to take the young lady of the Tang clan away with me. With permission from the head of the Tang clan himself.”
“Yo-You…!?”
“Wh-What?”
Tang Seon Yeong’s face flushed bright red, while the two guards and Tang Ho Geun stared at him with expressions that seemed to ask where on earth such a madman had come from.
“So, you see, I am no guest—I am a thief!”
His voice rang out once more. It was loud and thunderous.
In Tang Ho Geun’s mind, the man named Baek Woo Jin could be summed up in a single word.
Madman.
“Young lady… just who is this man, exactly?”
Now that things had escalated to this point, he couldn’t help but feel curious about the man’s identity. She was hiding her flushed face in both hands as she replied in a small, almost inaudible voice.
“He’s the Jade-Faced Divine Dragon…”
Tang Ho Geun’s expression grew even stranger. If this man was indeed the Jade-Faced Divine Dragon, he was known as the champion of the Dragon and Phoenix Martial Arts Tournament. A man who had defeated Myeong Jin who was one of the most gifted talents. He was also known to have a very handsome appearance and even more outstanding skills.
“That… that man is truly the Jade-Faced Divine Dragon?”
“Yes…”
He recalled the enthusiasts who had been exhilarated at the sight of Baek Woo Jin, marveling at the promising future of the righteous martial arts world as he reached peak master level at such a young age.
This is serious.
To him, the future of the righteous martial arts world felt anything but bright.
***
The commotion at the front gate spread rapidly, like ripples on water.
The one most responsible for spreading the word was none other than Baek Woo Jin, with his booming shouts.
The shout declaring he was no guest but a thief was so loud and powerful that nearly everyone within the outer hall heard it.
Though he persistently called himself a thief, the Tang clan couldn’t help but receive the man who had arrived with Tang Seon Yeong as a guest.
When the main character of the commotion entered the Tang clan, the news spread quickly among the lower-ranking guards, thanks to one of the guards stationed at the gate.
“Clan head.”
“What is it?”
Even in the deepest part of the inner halls of the Sichuan Tang Clan, in the chamber of the clan head, the news reached even there.
Tang Yon Shin, the clan leader of the Tang clan, was sitting at a desk with an expression of utter boredom. He was propping his chin on his hand when the chief steward approached and whispered something in his ear.
“The young lady has arrived.”
“…You’re speaking of Seon Yeong?”
“Yes.”
Amid his tired expression, a hint of surprise emerged.
“I was informed during the last report that she was in the Academy.”
“It seems there has been a breakdown in the reporting system. We haven’t received any contact since the last report, which was about a month ago.”
Reports did not come in daily, but if she left the Academy or if any unusual events occurred in her vicinity, they would typically send a detailed account to the clan.
The fact that they hadn’t known she arrived until she was at the gate suggested that something had happened to prevent Tang Je Woo, who consistently submitted reports, from sending one this time.
“In any case, she’s returned to the clan, so there’s no real issue, is there?”
The purpose of assigning her a watch was simply to make sure she didn’t disappear or run off somewhere. It was troubling not to have received a report, but if her destination was the clan itself, there was no reason for serious concern.
“Well… she didn’t come alone.”
“Did she perhaps bring along her fellow disciples?”
The chief steward shook his head.
He hesitated with a troubled expression before finally opening his mouth.
“Well, she came with a man.”
“A man…?”
His drooping eyebrows lifted slightly.
“Yes. She arrived with Baek Woo Jin who won the Dragon and Phoenix Martial Arts Tournament last year and earned the title of Jade-Faced Dragon.”
“Baek Woo Jin…”
This was the same man mentioned once before in Tang Je Woo’s report.
Tang Seon Yeong had apparently helped him with a team mission without any compensation, and in response, he had subtly told her never to help that man again.
“So… she came back to the clan with him?”
Raising his voice slightly at the end was one of Tang Yeon Shin’s habits when he was annoyed.
Noticing this, the chief steward lowered his head even further.
“Th-There’s a bit more to report…”
And he still had to relay an even more shocking piece of news.
“There was a brief commotion at the gate with the Jade-Faced Dragon. And the reason was…”
The chief steward relayed the report from the outer hall to Tang Yeon Shin word for word, without omitting a single detail.
As he listened quietly, Tang Yeon Shin’s dark brows rose sharply.
“Heeh.”
A hollow laugh echoed through the wide room. The steward’s complexion grew even paler; this was also one of the signs of Tang Yeon Shin’s foul mood.
“A thief…”
Did that man really dare to shout at the Tang Clan’s front gate and declare that he had come to take his daughter?
“Well, he certainly must have guts.”
Tang Yeon Shin rose to his feet.
Since a thief had entered the clan, he figured he might as well see his face.
The chief steward led the way, with Tang Yeon Shin following behind.
The steward guided him to the guest hall, an area in the inner hall prepared specifically to receive guests. Judging by the man’s conduct, he certainly belonged in the outer hall, but as he was technically a guest of the clan leader’s daughter, there was no choice but to bring him into the inner hall.
As they drew closer, they could hear the faint sound of a man and woman conversing beyond the sliding paper door. Though the conversation was muffled, likely due to a sound barrier technique, it seemed that the woman was scolding the man while he was profusely apologizing.
“Open the door.”
“Yes.”
The chief steward took a step forward, cleared his throat, and then slid the door open.
Inside, Baek Woo Jin and Tang Seon Yeong were seated across from each other and quietly sipping tea.
“F-Father…!”
Startled by her father’s sudden appearance, Tang Seon Yeong quickly rose and bowed her head.
Baek Woo Jin also stood up, though he did so with a far more relaxed demeanor. Rising slowly, he clasped his hands in respect and bowed to Tang Yeon Shin.
“Greetings to my father-in-law!”
Tang Yeon Shin’s brow furrowed.
It seemed that, rather than a thief, he had let a mad dog into his home.
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