Chapter 49. Common Sense Shattered
"Hm, so you mean to send uncontrollable forces outside, eliminate unseen enemies, and even request reinforcements while you're at it?"
"Yes. I don't know what his true intentions are, but he is neither our ally nor on the enemy's side—yet the fact that he is a supreme expert is undeniable. Naturally, if he is placed in danger of his own accord, he will reveal his true nature and slaughter the enemies."
"But tell me this. Do you really think the congratulatory guests will leave the family so easily like this? Once they realize that a heavenly net is spread around the family, no one will even attempt to escape."
"Family head, isn't this place—where the Namgung Family resides—not connected solely by land routes? If we provide ships, they will compete to leave the family."
"That may be so, but the enemies may have already laid siege even on the Chaohu side."
"Of course they would. However, it won't be as thick as one might think. Chaohu itself is as vast as the sea, and beyond it lies the Yangtze River. For their heavenly net to extend across the entire Chaohu and even reach the Yangtze is something neither feasible nor imaginable. Moreover, the waterways of the Yangtze are under the absolute influence of the Yangtze Eighteen Water Fortresses, and most of the control over Chaohu lies with our Namgung Family. That means that no matter how many ships they mobilize on Chaohu, they cannot outnumber us, nor will they be warships. In other words, it is highly likely that the enemy has only sealed off the land routes along the shores of Chaohu. If the Namgung Family's ships all escape at once through the south water gate, the enemy will have no choice but to concentrate their warriors at the entrance of Chao Bay."
Chao Bay.
One of the tributaries of the Yangtze River that must be passed through to cross from Chaohu to the Yangtze. If the Namgung Family were to travel by ship to the Yangtze, this river—Chao Bay—was an unavoidable passage.
What Namgung Bang was saying now was that the enemy could not possibly handle the vast Chaohu in its entirety, and would inevitably concentrate their troops and ships there.
Namgung Byeok, listening to Namgung Bang's words, felt that it did indeed sound like a decent idea. If done this way, even in a situation where hands and feet were bound and vision was obstructed, at least one's legs might be freed. For a moment, such a thought crossed his mind.
But.
"Hearing you out, it does seem plausible. However, if we do that, most of the congratulatory guests will die. The enemy waiting outside is Heavenly Demon Castle. This is not some minor local sect."
It was an efficient method, but it would inevitably result in enormous sacrifices. And not the blood of Namgung Family warriors, but the blood of countless others flowing into the Yangtze.
Namgung Bang, with a hardened expression, asserted himself strongly once more toward Namgung Byeok.
"That cannot be helped. Most of those guests came here either to freeload something or after having already freeloaded their fill. Rather than staying here and continuing to be a hindrance, I believe it is far more right for them to help the Namgung Family in this way."
"...…."
It was cruelly cold, yet precisely because of that, extremely realistic. Leaving the guests here would not help their combat power at all. On the contrary, having to keep watch over them would only result in losses.
Above all, there was no visible way for the Namgung Family itself to survive as things stood. From that perspective, the method Namgung Bang proposed seemed to be the best option available.
If things went well and the congratulatory guests managed to break through just the entrance of Chao Bay, they could cross into the Yangtze and receive help from the Yangtze Eighteen Water Fortresses, which had an agreement with the Namgung Family. Moreover, by using this method, they could finally expel the "guest who was not a guest," who had been continuously grating on Namgung Byeok's nerves, from the family grounds.
Moon full, emperor finished.
To erase those words from his mind, Namgung Byeok had no choice but to accept Namgung Bang's opinion. He thought a bit longer, but no other solution came to mind.
Having hardened his resolve, he finally issued the execution order while looking at Namgung Bang.
"Go out immediately, deploy every ship that can be used, and gather all the congratulatory guests, the family's hired workers, and servants at the south water gate."
"Yes, family head!"
Namgung Bang answered powerfully and left Imperial King Hall without the slightest hesitation.
Namgung Byeok waited until Namgung Bang had completely departed, then slowly rose from his seat.
He lifted his head once more and gazed at the sky. Through the open ceiling, a sky dyed with crimson sunset could be seen.
If it looked as though blood had spilled across water and spread in all directions, was that merely an illusion?
Not long after, Namgung Byeok lowered his head again and left Imperial King Hall.
The place his steps were headed toward was none other than.
The medicine hall.
---
As much as the medicinal scent flowing through the medicine hall, a subtle fragrance of tea filled the inner chamber.
Hurrrrk.
The sound of swallowing tea quietly broke the stillness of the room.
On the round table placed to one side of the inner chamber sat four teacups, but the one drinking was mostly a single person, while the remaining three merely listened silently to his story.
That man, Namgung Byeok, continued speaking while taking sips of tea from time to time. By the time the bottom of the teacup was nearly visible, he had finished everything he intended to say.
After hearing it all, Tang Wu drained the now completely cold tea in one gulp and spoke coldly.
"When do we leave?"
Chorrrk.
As Namgung Byeok refilled Tang Wu's empty cup, he replied.
"You should leave today."
At the words "today," Tang Hua, another member present, raised her eyes in surprise and looked at him.
She seemed to have something she wanted to say, but said nothing and lowered her head again. She knew well that her opinion did not matter.
On the other hand, Dong Bong-su maintained a calm posture even as shocking words continued to pour from Namgung Byeok's mouth. Most of what Namgung Byeok was saying was something he had already anticipated.
The only things Dong Bong-su had not known were that the force surrounding the Namgung Family was Heavenly Demon Castle, and the plan proposed by Namgung Bang.
Furthermore, Tang Wu desired precisely this kind of calm demeanor, which was another reason Dong Bong-su maintained it.
If Tang Wu's image of "Tang Sam, the once-in-a-millennium genius with a Bloodless Body" were accurate, then wouldn't he remain unshaken no matter what crisis arrived?
Yes, yes. Life was half acting to begin with.
In that sense, nothing was easier for Dong Bong-su than putting on such an act. And since that demeanor was not much different from his true self, there was no sense of incongruity at all.
Creeeak.
Tang Wu stood up from his seat.
Dong Bong-su knew that he was about to leave immediately.
Then came another unpleasant creaking sound. Dong Bong-su also rose, following Tang Wu.
Looking up at them, Namgung Byeok took a sip of tea and spoke.
"Please take Hye-a with you as well."
Tang Wu paused as he turned toward the door, then turned back toward Namgung Byeok.
"Why?"
"I don't want to show her the sight of me fighting that guy."
Both Tang Wu and Dong Bong-su knew exactly who "that guy" referred to.
"Is that all?"
"I'm afraid that the Namgung Family might not last even ten days."
If this succeeded, the time it would take Tang Wu to bring reinforcements—those ten days Namgung Byeok spoke of—meant ten days and nights.
"You lunatic. Do you think I'd let that happen? After dying, how much scolding do you think I'd get from elder brother? The nephew's uncle is Soul-Chasing Poisoned Hand, and yet you're spouting such curses, telling me to die first and suffer that fate? Tsk, tsk, tsk."
Tang Wu spat out words unbefitting of a martial hero and left the inner chamber of the medicine hall just like that. Tang Hua followed after him and exited the hall as well.
Namgung Byeok glanced once at their backs, then smiled bitterly and drank his tea.
From Namgung Byeok's uncertain appearance, Dong Bong-su could feel that the situation was far more serious and urgent than expected.
Tap, tap.
Walking toward the door, Dong Bong-su organized and analyzed what Namgung Byeok had said moments earlier. Though not much time passed, he discovered several major flaws in Namgung Byeok's plan.
First, Namgung Byeok was gravely mistaken about the "intruder" who had left behind the Three Sacred Lights and blood script. He had said he intended to use the intruder.
Intruder, intruder, intruder...…..
The fact that Namgung Byeok mentioned the intruder repeatedly showed just how much attention he was paying to the matter. But what truly mattered was that the intruder was not strong enough to be used in such a plan.
The intruder was.
Dong Bong-su—himself.
The Three Sacred Lights had nothing to do with his cultivation power; they were merely a conditioned reflex resulting from leveling up. Yet Namgung Byeok had hastily guessed the level of the "intruder's" martial arts based on that alone.
"Namgung Byeok's first mistake is overestimating me, and then."
Another troubling point was this.
Could it really be that Do Heo-ok and the force standing behind him—whether it was Heavenly Demon Castle as Namgung Byeok claimed or not—had failed to foresee such a simple method as the one Namgung Byeok had just proposed?
If Dong Bong-su were to assume things to the extreme, the Namgung Family could even abandon the family altogether, mobilize all ships within the grounds, and head toward Chaohu. In that case, for Heavenly Demon Castle, which could not easily mobilize ships, even if they seized the Namgung Family's territory, chasing after the fleeing family members would not be easy.
Do Heo-ok would likely have included such a scenario within the realm of possibility.
If so, then the scope of the siege being deployed now would naturally be far wider and stronger. It would never be confined solely to the entrance of Chao Bay as Namgung Bang and Namgung Byeok had predicted.
Of course, Namgung Bang's prediction had some logic within the bounds of common sense. But from the moment Heavenly Demon Castle attacked the Namgung Family out of nowhere, common sense had already been shattered.
Common sense shattered, common sense shattered, common sense shattered...
Dong Bong-su repeated the words over and over. He believed that the enemy had surely used a method that shattered common sense even in sealing off the waterways.
There were many ways common sense could be broken here, but wasn't the most effective method just one?
Dong Bong-su came up with and hypothesized a single, extremely efficient method by which the enemy could cover both Chao Bay and the entirety of Chaohu. If that hypothesis was correct, Namgung Byeok's plan could never succeed.
A probability of zero, and one that exists even at 0.000...0001.
Something that exists, and something that does not.
The two were absolutely different. The plan Namgung Byeok proposed now was one that could have emerged even if Do Heo-ok's plan had proceeded normally, and thus had nothing to do with any deviation caused by the enemy's original plan failing.
"The second mistake is underestimating Do Heo-ok and the enemy force."
In short, Namgung Byeok's plan was fundamentally flawed from its very premise.
A plan built on two incorrect premises could hardly be expected to function properly. That was how Dong Bong-su saw it.
Rattle.
Having finished his thoughts, Dong Bong-su finally arrived at the entrance of the medicine hall, opened the door, and stepped outside.
There was no way to overturn Namgung Byeok's plan. To change it, he would have to do something insane—reveal to Namgung Byeok that he himself was the "intruder."
In that case, as he had decided earlier, he had no choice but to rely on "improvisation" to survive this crisis.
Click.
As he stepped outside and closed the door, Dong Bong-su thought again.
"Still, the probability of survival exists."
His very existence had already caused ripples in the probability of zero created by the enemy. Once already—though very small—it had created a fissure in their plan. With that, the probability of zero had already disappeared.
Now, would he live? Or die?
It was a fifty-fifty gamble.
Hurrrrk.
Namgung Byeok continued to drink tea alone for quite some time after Dong Bong-su had disappeared. By the time he left the inner chamber of the medicine hall, a moon close to full was already high in the sky.
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