In Luoyang.
Standing by the window, gazing down at the streets bathed in the light of the setting sun, Kang Ho could only shake his head in disbelief.
“The old demons… no,” he corrected himself, glancing nervously at Gong Liang, who was also in the room. “The former patriarchs of the Sixteen Imperial Families are given a chance to seize power once again.” Even with his extraordinary memory and brilliant mind, it was difficult to grasp the full scope of the plan all at once. He began to piece the puzzle together aloud, giving voice to the dizzying chain of events to bring order to them in his mind. “And by putting the former patriarchs forward, a dramatic agreement was reached between the Tang Clan of Sichuan and the Duan Clan of Dali.”
“Do not forget,” Gong Liang interjected, “there were many more deals involved with the Tang and Duan Clans.”
Kang Ho nodded. “Yes. There were separate deals to resolve their conflict over the Chongqing development project.”
Yeon So-hyeon had forced the Emei Sect to relinquish its interests, providing the opening for the two rival clans to proceed with both the Chongqing project and the Yangtze River waterway expansion. Furthermore, he had promised the Tang Clan a foothold for their entry into Luoyang.
“But, in the grand scheme of things—.”
“In its basic framework, your assessment is correct.”
“…And now, that deal connects all the way to His Majesty, the Emperor, in the Imperial Capital.”
Gong Liang smiled from his wheelchair. “As the Yangtze waterway project was the lifelong ambition of the late Emperor,” he said, “if the project proceeds under the current Emperor’s name, he will be able to secure a minimum of prestige through its success.”
Even after organizing it, even after summarizing it, the scale of it all was enough to make one’s head spin.
“…If someone had told me of this plan beforehand, I would have dismissed it as utter nonsense,” Kang Ho murmured.
Gong Liang chuckled and turned his head. “But is there not something even more shocking?”
“…There is.” Kang Ho’s gaze followed Gong Liang’s, settling on Yeon So-hyeon. “Throughout this entire process…” He swallowed dryly. “…the Grand Young Master has not taken a single step outside of Luoyang.”
The figure of Yeon So-hyeon, seated with his back to the sunset, his expression hidden in shadow, seemed, to Kang Ho, to be something profoundly inhuman.
“That part is certainly surprising, but is that what truly shocked you?”
“It… is?” Jarred from his thoughts, Kang Ho looked back at Gong Liang. “Is there something more that I have missed?”
Gong Liang laughed softly and held up a finger, pointing it at Yeon So-hyeon. “Do you not see? All of this was set in motion before the Emperor sent his edict requesting aid.”
“!”
Now that he mentioned it, it was true. The imperial edict had arrived after Yeon So-hyeon had ended his seclusion, but his machinations had begun long before that.
“…Huh? Wait? What?”
With that single statement, the carefully ordered thoughts in Kang Ho’s mind dissolved back into chaos. “Grand Young Master? What is the meaning of—?”
A polite knock on the door cut him off. “My lord. The Fourth Young Master has just returned.”
Yeon So-hyeon nodded, and the Fourth Young Master, Yeon Bi, entered. He first offered a respectful bow to Gong Liang. “Elder Gong Liang, it is an honor to meet you for the first time. I am Yeon Bi, the Fourth Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Clan.”
“I am Gong Liang.” The greeting between the two was brief, but their shared gaze was one of mutual trust and acknowledgment. The Fourth Young Master knew who Gong Liang was to Yeon So-hyeon, and Gong Liang knew who the Fourth Young Master was to Yeon So-hyeon. That was enough.
“Elder brother,” Yeon Bi said, turning to his brother to report. “The matter of our sisters’ businesses has been mostly settled. As there were no issues with their management prior to the political troubles, the liquidation was swift.”
Yeon So-hyeon gave a silent nod, and Yeon Bi took his seat.
“My lord.” It was Jeong-ah’s voice this time. The next to enter was Gong Dam-woong. “As you instructed, I have delivered the message to all the patriarchs.” The clans that sought to join Yeon So-hyeon’s cause had been given their chance to prove their loyalty.
As Gong Dam-woong finished his report, Gong Liang, who had been studying his grandson’s face, nodded. “Your expression has changed.”
Gong Dam-woong touched his own face. “Has it…?”
“Yes. It seems you have finally shed the skin of the reckless fool who was ruled by his temper.”
A calm smile touched Gong Dam-woong’s lips. “I have merely realized that there are things I can do from my position, things more effective than just rampaging with my fists.”
At that, Gong Liang let out a pleased chuckle. I tried to fix him for over a decade with no success, but in the hands of the Grand Young Master, it was done in an instant. His troublesome grandson was finally beginning to adopt the mindset of a worthy heir.
“You’ve come at a good time.” Gong Liang gestured to a chair. “The Grand Young Master is about to give you all a great lesson. Listen well.”
Though it was a seat in the corner, Gong Dam-woong took it without a word of complaint. In the past, he would have made any excuse to escape a complicated discussion… Gong Liang nodded, satisfied, and turned his gaze back to the room. “Grand Young Master.”
At his prompting, the eyes of Kang Ho, the Fourth Young Master, and Gong Dam-woong all focused on Yeon So-hyeon.
“The meaning behind your actions, moving even before the Emperor’s request arrived… Please, bestow that lesson upon these children.”
“…A lesson,” Yeon So-hyeon murmured. He had already resolved to pass on everything he knew to these three. Yeon Bi, the Fourth Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Clan. Gong Dam-woong, the next heir of the Gong Clan of the Sixteen Imperial Families. And Kang Ho, the next heir of the prestigious Kang Clan of the Imperial Capital.
In my absence… A memory of the day he had been unconscious, locked in a battle with the Scripture that Commands the Dark and Quakes the Heavens, surfaced in his mind. …these three must take my place, each in their own field.
Yeon So-hyeon gave a single nod and began. “There is a saying that a true king does not predict the future, but creates the future he desires.”
The Fourth Young Master and Kang Ho nodded immediately.
“I have certainly heard that saying in Yunnan.”
“I believe it is a saying passed down in the Duan Clan of Dali, the former royal family of the Dali Kingdom.”
“That is correct. In a way, it is a simple statement,” Yeon So-hyeon said, meeting their focused gazes. “But the vast majority of people—no, almost all people—may grasp its meaning, but they cannot put it into practice.”
Gong Dam-woong shrugged. “Isn’t it always said that knowing is easier than doing?”
THWACK. Gong Liang slapped the arm of his wheelchair. “You fool! This is not such a simple matter!” As Gong Dam-woong flinched and fell silent, Gong Liang continued in Yeon So-hyeon’s stead. “The vast majority of people spend their lives simply reacting to the waves of the world that crash upon them.”
“And that is why,” Yeon So-hyeon picked up, “if someone can merely predict the changes of this complex and difficult world and prepare a response, they are lauded as a genius.”
It was Kang Ho who spoke first. “…Like how you prepared for all of this before the Emperor’s request, Grand Young Master?”
“No.” Yeon So-hyeon shook his head. “I was not ‘preparing a response’.”
“…Then?”
“I did not anticipate the Emperor’s request and move accordingly. The future that I created in the past is what moved the Emperor.”
“!”
A fire blazed in Yeon So-hyeon’s eyes. Even Gong Dam-woong, whose courage was second to none, flinched at the sheer force of his presence.
“The Elder just said it,” Yeon So-hyeon continued, glancing at Gong Liang. “Ordinary men endure the waves of the world. Exceptional men predict the waves and prepare for them.” He turned his gaze back to the three who would one day be responsible for the future of the Central Plains.
“The future I create is their future.” It was a statement that bordered on the divine. “I am the raging storm that they must endure and prepare for.”
The listeners held their breath, their eyes fixed on him.
“And that,” Yeon So-hyeon said, his voice solemn, “is the perspective and the mindset not of one who lives in the world, but of one who moves it.”
“…”
“…”
While Kang Ho and Gong Dam-woong remained silent, it was, surprisingly, the youngest of them, the Fourth Young Master, who nodded first.
“…I see.” The boy, whose only perceived flaw had been his youth and inexperience, spoke. “It was all a matter of perspective and mindset.” Understanding it would not instantly make him like Yeon So-hyeon, but it was a world away from simply marveling at his brother’s actions, scrambling to interpret them after the fact. “…The fog in my mind feels a little lighter now.”
Kang Ho and Gong Dam-woong had also felt something, but they had not achieved the same sudden enlightenment. Yet, as Gong Liang watched them, lost in deep, fiercely intense thought, he smiled. The future of the Central Plains is growing brighter. At this very moment, once again, the Grand Young Master has created the future.
After a long moment, Kang Ho, who had been staring out into the sunset, finally spoke. “Grand Young Master.” As Yeon So-hyeon turned to him, he posed his question. “In that case, the second great difficulty of the Yangtze River waterway project… What do you intend to do about the Heavenly Wicked Hegemons, who control the river’s lower reaches?”
At the question, the Fourth Young Master’s eyes lit up. “I am also curious about that, little brother.”
Gong Dam-woong nodded. “Indeed. If what you say is true, Great Hero Yeon, then you must have already intervened in that matter as well.”
Far away, in the Imperial Palace, Kang Sang had said the same thing to the Emperor. “That problem, too, is one that the Grand Young Master of the Sword Clan has already begun to resolve.”
A slight smile touched Yeon So-hyeon’s lips. “Of course.”
Gong Liang stroked his long beard. “Hmm. This old man is also curious. What have you done to secure the approval of the Heavenly Wicked Hegemons?”
Yeon So-hyeon smiled at him. “You already know the answer, do you not?”
“Hmm?” Gong Liang’s long eyebrows twitched. “I do?”
Instead of answering, Yeon So-hyeon looked toward the door. “The operation should be starting around now. A report should be coming in soon…”
As if on cue, a knock came from the door. “My lord.” It was Jeong-ah. “The Mistress of the Crescent Moon Pavilion has come to see you.” A hint of warmth was in her voice. It was only natural. The Mistress of the Crescent Moon Pavilion was her own older sister, Se-ah, the head of Yeon So-hyeon’s external intelligence network.
“Let her enter.”
The Mistress of the Crescent Moon Pavilion, Se-ah, appeared. Though clearly exhausted, a relaxed smile played on her lips.
Yeon So-hyeon chuckled. “To come all this way to report in person. It seems life has gotten easier now that the Great Immortal Merchant Guild has withdrawn.”
Se-ah shook her head. “If it had been just a little longer, the Crescent Moon Pavilion would have been wiped out.” It was a miracle they had held out for so long against an organization so much larger and more powerful than their own.
“I see. So, has it begun?”
Se-ah nodded. “Yes. The Central Inspectorate and the Inner Court have just commenced their operation against the Great Immortal Merchant Guild.”
At that moment, Gong Liang shouted, forgetting himself. “Of course! That’s it!”
All eyes turned to him.
“So that was it!” This time it was the Fourth Young Master. He leaped to his feet. “I couldn’t understand why you so readily permitted the Inner Court’s intervention, elder brother!” The boy was practically bouncing with excitement. “And you said that the raid on the Great Immortal Merchant Guild would succeed, but the investigation would fail!”
“The one ultimately responsible for the Great Immortal Merchant Guild is the Second Young Master’s mother, the Grand Matron Ouyang,” Gong Liang added with a booming laugh. “And the Grand Matron Ouyang of the Sword Clan is the daughter of the Alliance Leader of the Heavenly Wicked Hegemons!” His gaze snapped to Yeon So-hyeon. “Grand Young Master! From the very beginning, you intended to trade the life of the Grand Matron Ouyang for the rights to the lower Yangtze River!”
“And that’s why you said the investigation would fail!” the Fourth Young Master shouted even louder. “Because the Main Clan’s Supreme Operations Council would naturally choose to ensure the success of the Emperor’s great project over punishing the Grand Matron Ouyang!”