The World’s Strongest Is from a Third-Rate Martial Clan [Novel] Chapter 75

Yanghwi found himself dangling in midair, caught in Gu Ak’s grasp for the first time in a long while.

No, it wasn’t just a long while… this might actually have been the first time he had been dangling in a good way.

“Brother Gu. Sincerely, congratulations.”

“Ahahaha! Ahahaha!”

“Are you sure she’s pregnant?”

“Ahahaha! Ahahaha!”

“I suppose you do function properly after all.”

“Ahahaha! Ahahaha!”

It seemed Gu Ak couldn’t hear a single word right now.

Well, it was understandable.

Despite being in a position where he was most likely to inherit the Honggyo Gang, Gu Ak had thrown everything away to become a member of the Baek Family.

There was only one reason he had done so… his lover, Yeo A-rang.

Having finally achieved a union with the person he loved so much, how could he possibly be in his right mind?

‘With this, it seems our Baek Family is getting a youngest member.’

Not just Yanghwi, but everyone in the Baek Family offered Gu Ak their congratulations.

Gifts from people piled up every day at Baekik Pavilion, the residence of Gu Ak and the Yeo father-daughter duo.

“Thank you, everyone! Ahahaha! Ahahaha!”

Ever since Yeo A-rang’s belly began to swell, Gu Ak walked around with a constant smile.

It made one wonder if this was truly the same man who once bore the alias Blood Axe.

It got to the point where he earned the new nickname Sangsodaebu—meaning the father who always smiled.

‘A child, huh. Does becoming a father really change a person that much?’

A sudden curiosity welled up within him.

Throughout both his past and present lives, Yanghwi had never even been a husband to a woman, let alone a father to a child.

‘Well, this isn’t the time for me to be thinking about such things.’

Turning his head, he looked toward the training grounds.

He saw the Tang siblings warming up and preparing for their practice.

The Young Head Tang Gun, and his younger sister by a year, Tang Yeon.

It had already been a year since the Tang Family branch opened within the Baek Family estate.

Yanghwi had long since become close with not only Tang Gun but also Tang Yeon, treating them like older and younger siblings.

Since both families actively encouraged the children to train together and build friendships, Baek Heonso and Baek Yeonyeon had also grown quite close with the Tang siblings.

‘Even so, it’s not like we’re sharing each other’s secret martial arts.’

Secret arts. Peeking into another family’s secret martial arts was a taboo, but…

Yanghwi harbored a considerable amount of interest in the Tang Family’s inherited martial arts.

The reason was simple.

‘Hmm. Somehow, I need to find an opportunity to give them a clue on how to improve them.’

The Sichuan Tang Family. A martial clan created as a countermeasure against the Black Path bastards who used poison and hidden weapons through any means necessary.

Established with the backing of the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Noble Martial Families, the origins of the Tang Family’s inherited martial arts lay with those very factions.

What this meant was…

‘Both the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Noble Martial Families possess the methods to counter the Tang Family’s martial arts.’

By raising the Tang Family under the stratagem of ‘using poison to counter poison,’ they had essentially implanted restrictions to control the inherent dangers of wielding poison and hidden weapons.

To put it bluntly, it was like the fate of a dog tied to a leash.

Now that the Tang Family had become an ally of the Baek Family, he couldn’t just sit back and watch.

‘The problem is, there hasn’t been an opportunity.’

Moreover, aside from martial arts, there was another matter he needed to intervene in for the Tang Family’s sake.

Because they utilized sinister techniques like poison and hidden weapons as their representative martial arts, the Tang Family was despised and looked down upon wherever they went in the world.

One could say the people of the world held a prejudice, believing everyone from the Tang Family was inherently malicious and cruel.

For this reason, the members of the Tang Family obsessively pursued righteousness and chivalry to an almost fastidious degree, clinging tightly to propriety and manners.

‘Well, it was because they were that kind of family that I thought of making them our allies in the first place.’

“Brother Hwi. You’re here.”

“Yes, Brother Tang.”

Despite being at an age where he could be called a boy, Tang Gun always maintained a mature and upright demeanor.

Considering the difference in scale between the Tang and Baek Families, as well as the gap in their status and age, it wouldn’t have been strange for Tang Gun to treat him more casually.

Yet, Tang Gun always treated Yanghwi with the utmost courtesy.

‘With this much of a gap, it wouldn’t be weird for him to ignore and mistreat our family. Honestly, that would be the norm.’

But the Tang Family never did such a thing.

That was why he chose them, and he intended to give them a fate different from his past life.

‘Thinking about the future, it’s better in many ways to push the Tang Family to the forefront anyway.’

As their family grew, the surrounding factions would inevitably start trying to keep them in check.

Especially the Namgung Family in Anhui. It was best to delay catching those bastards’ eyes for as long as possible.

So for the next few years, until the Baek Family acquired the power and influence to confidently step into the spotlight, it would be best to appear as if they were borrowing the prestige of the Tang Family.

‘Raise the Tang Family. And in doing so, our family grows alongside them.’

To achieve that, the most urgent task was to overhaul the public’s perception of the Tang Family.

Fortunately, he had a perfect method in mind.

“Brother Tang. I will be skipping training today.”

“Hmm? For you to skip training is unexpected. I think this is the first time.”

“Something urgent came up.”

Returning to his quarters, Yanghwi sat before a blank book for the first time in a while and gripped his brush.

A method that would simultaneously aid the Tang Family and reap benefits for the Baek Family.

‘To change perception, it needs to be the talk of the town among as many people as possible.’

As it happened, Yanghwi possessed an excellent tool for just that.

Namely, a novel by Ilpilhwiseo.

‘The Baekseo Merchant Guild has been pestering me to release a new novel anyway. And the more money, the better.’

With a sly chuckle, Yanghwi’s brush began to dance across the paper.

‘The story should embellish the Tang Family as much as possible.’

Among the novels written by Ilpilhwiseo, there was one titled The Tale of the Paeng Family.

To summarize, it was about a young man from the Paeng Family who, after obtaining a serendipitous encounter, roamed the martial world, built various connections, and ultimately established the greatest family under the heavens.

Because the journey was so thrilling and entertaining, it was famous enough to rank among Ilpilhwiseo’s top three works.

‘All I have to do is change the Paeng Family to the Tang Family.’

Fundamentally, The Tale of the Paeng Family was a novel Ilpilhwiseo had written to seduce the madam of the Paeng Family.

He ultimately succeeded in his seduction, got caught, and ended up having his limbs torn apart by the Paeng Family Head.

Anyway.

Because of this, the story gilded the Paeng Family in every conceivable way.

Simply swapping the Paeng Family for the Tang Family made it the absolute perfect tool to elevate their reputation.

‘While preserving the fun of the original as much as possible, I need to make sure it hypes up the Tang Family. It’d be even better if I could weave in aspects of the actual Tang Family.’

As he wrote, there were more parts to change than he expected, so it took him several days to complete the manuscript.

Still, the final product was so good he felt certain its entertainment value matched the original.

“If things go exactly as expected… this is going to be incredibly fun.”

Grinning, he set down his brush and looked at the cover of what used to be a blank book.

[The Tale of the Tang Sect]

[Tang Mujin, a young physician of the Sichuan Tang Family’s clinic, had a bizarre dream.]

[A dream of becoming the first Divine Smith, Ou Yezi.]

The identity of the Tang Family was twofold.

First, they were masters of poison and hidden weapons, nurtured by the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Noble Martial Families to counter poison with poison.

At the same time, they were a family that originated from the livelihoods of a smithy and a clinic—meaning blacksmiths and physicians.

Why blacksmiths and physicians, of all things?

The reason was simple.

[The number of blacksmiths threatened by martial artists seeking divine weapons is as numerous as grains of sand,]

[And how could one ever count the physicians who became victims of revenge simply for treating an irreconcilable enemy?]

Civilians who were most frequently swept up in the affairs of the martial world, suffering harm and losing their lives, fell into these two categories: blacksmiths and physicians.

“…Ah.”

Having read The Tale of the Tang Sect in its entirety, Tang Gun stared up at the sky, tears streaming down his face.

Beside him stood Tang Yeon, her eyes similarly red and teary.

“How could such a novel exist in this world?”

The Tale of the Tang Sect was a novel that plucked at the heartstrings of everyone in the Tang Family.

It was a story that soothed all the sorrow, pain, and humiliation they had endured.

A novel that was truly like sweet rain during a drought…!

“Truly… Did you truly write this, Brother Hwi?”

“Yes, well, you must keep it a secret.”

Under his contract with the Baekseo Merchant Guild, Yanghwi kept his identity as Ilpilhwiseo completely hidden from the outside world.

He was already trying to conceal the Baek Family’s growth and power as much as possible by sticking to the Tang Family and borrowing their prestige, so there was no need to draw unnecessary attention.

However.

He had to tell the Tang Family.

He had gone through all the trouble… well, it only took a few days, but anyway.

He had gone through the trouble of writing The Tale of the Tang Sect, so it would be a loss not to receive the credit for it.

“Thank you, Brother Hwi!”

Tang Gun grabbed both of Yanghwi’s hands and shook them vigorously.

Beside him, Tang Yeon also added her hands to the grasp.

“Thank you, Brother Hwi! Truly!”

“I don’t know how I can ever repay this debt of gratitude.”

“Enough, both of you. It’s funny to talk about debts of gratitude over something like this between the Tang and Baek Families.”

Tang Gun’s eyes turned deeply sincere.

“No. You have resolved the deep-seated grievances of everyone in the Tang Family, Brother Hwi. I will absolutely repay this favor.”

A year had passed since he wrote The Tale of the Tang Sect and sent it to the Baekseo Merchant Guild.

Just like the two novels he had released previously, The Tale of the Tang Sect became an unprecedented, massive sensation.

The result.

At the very least, within Jiangxi Province, the people who viewed the Tang Family as malicious or believed they should be shunned for wielding poison and hidden weapons disappeared.

“To think I’d experience the people of the world greeting me as I walked through the market wearing our family’s martial uniform.”

“I went out for a stroll yesterday too, and instead of being afraid, people were practically falling over each other to talk to me.”

The Tang Family depicted in The Tale of the Tang Sect was a faction of the Orthodox Path that lived for righteousness and died for chivalry—truly picture-perfect.

They said a three-inch tongue could defeat a three-foot sword.

The soaring popularity of The Tale of the Tang Sect was more than enough to completely overhaul the public’s perception of the Tang Family.

“Not at all. Isn’t the actual Tang Family just like that? I’ve never seen anyone who adheres to benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom as strictly as you, Brother Tang.”

When Yanghwi spoke with modesty, Tang Gun shook his head.

“No. The number of customers at the smithy and clinic run by our branch has increased fivefold. This, too, is entirely thanks to you, Brother Hwi.”

The Tang Family’s blacksmithing and medical arts were flawless enough to be considered peerless.

Once the preconceived notions and prejudices vanished, customers captivated by their skills lined up endlessly, and seeing massive crowds had now become an everyday sight.

“I will submit a formal proposal to the main family regarding this matter to ensure you are properly and handsomely rewarded. Also, I swear this right here and now.”

Tang Gun continued solemnly.

“I speak as the Young Head. Our Tang Family will consider the Baek Family a true ally and partner.”

Hearing the exact words he wanted, Yanghwi grinned.

“The Baek Family feels the same way.”

With this, he had achieved the primary goal behind writing The Tale of the Tang Sect.

Namely, being acknowledged by the Tang Family as an equal and peer.

Even though their family was still lacking in many ways, he had managed to draw out their affection and goodwill, making this alone a massive profit.

‘Not to mention I’m making a fortune on top of it.’

It had been four years since Ilpilhwiseo published his first novel.

Slowly but surely, the legendary name of the scholar Ilpilhwiseo was shaking the entirety of Jiangxi Province.

Just as he had discussed with the Baekseo Merchant Guild in the beginning, Ilpilhwiseo’s books were starting to be recognized as cherished collectibles worthy of being kept.

As a result, an amount of money incomparable to before was pouring in.

“Young Master Hwi! Please, climb onto this old man’s shoulders! From today onward, I, Han Seok-eon, am your favored steed!”

It was no surprise that Chief Manager Han was making a huge fuss, trying to give Yanghwi a piggyback ride.

When the Tang Family sent five hundred taels of gold as a reward for The Tale of the Tang Sect, the man even tried to force him onto his back.

‘Seriously, Chief Manager. It really feels like his vitality is directly proportional to our financial state.’

Chuckling softly, Yanghwi lightly leaped up onto the roof and looked down over the Baek Family estate.

‘Has it already been three years since I regressed?’

They said a quarter of an hour felt like three autumns, but these three years had truly flown by like an arrow.

In that time, the Baek Family had changed so drastically that its past self was barely recognizable.

And moving forward, it was going to change even faster.

‘I’ll make absolutely sure of it.’

And just like that.

Another quarter of an hour—another three years—passed.