Chapter 116

The Eighteen Aphorisms of Shaolin.
The Southern Palace’s Heavenly Thunder Sword School.
The power of the Heavenly Comrade’s secret weapon, which the two had shared since the beginning, made the eyes of onlookers grow as big as candlesticks.
The golden pillars of the heavenly mountain filled the snow with splendor.
Blue thunderbolts roared, splitting the pillars and setting their hearts on fire.
The unmanned long for the unmanned.
And the children are at the end of their rope, the moment when dreams are nurtured.
It was a moment of reflection for the samurai, who were just trying to get through the day.
It seemed that I was not the only one who faced the gate, and the silent, consistent reaction for a long time after the gate was lowered consisted of recalling the battle that had just taken place.
Like a fog that has settled, it was not easy to clear away the aftermath, but one cannot dwell on it forever.
“Grand Duke of the Southern Palace, the Southern Palace Clan of the Thunder Sword Castle has been victorious.”
Someone wins,
and others lost.
“You are the winner. It is the fate of the winners to enjoy their victory, and the losers to realize their responsibility.”
When I joined the Kendo Club, I remember my uncle telling me these words. Eight years later, the words still echo in my head and haunt me.
“I’m glad that the match ended safely with no one injured, and I hope that the Southern Palace Class will go back to their seats and rest for the next round.”
As Huang Tianhou spoke, I turned and smiled at him, and I could sense his feelings. Seeing the look of gratitude on his face, thanking me for playing as well as he had feared and as well as he had hoped, I returned the favor.
And then I started walking. I heard a few sighs of disappointment, and after a light salute to the thousands of fellow students who filled the Fengyunji Temple.
One, two, two, two!
“Bei Mingshou Forest! Eighteen hundred and ninety-four, the best!”
“Chang Tian Namgung, Thunder Sword City, live forever!”
A thunderous roar,
a thunderous roar, a never-ending round of applause.
I realize once again.
The world of competition can’t end without discussing victory and defeat, and there can be no closure, so Huang Tianhou finally opened his mouth to tie up the loose ends.
But Huang Tianhou didn’t care about the thunderous roar, the applause that shook the heavens and earth, and called for the next man up.
He said.
“……Moyong Lu of the Mo Yong Clan, and Namgungal of the Namgung Clan, prepare to compete.”
* * *
“Thunderbolt Sword Castle, Thunderbolt Sword Castle.”
There was someone who didn’t hide his discomfort as he spoke a few words.
The woman standing before him was none other than Mo Yongyue, the third hostess of the Southern Palace Family.
As she looked at her, Mo Yongyeri’s eyes turned cold, and she spoke as if she were speaking to the enemy.
“You’re just like her, you can’t even get a hostess position because you’ve been pushed aside by that Tang family bitch, and you’re just looking on.”
Like chewing on a grain of sand.
Like chewing on an astringent persimmon.
It was none other than Mo Yongbi, Mo Yongxue’s housekeeper, who immediately expressed her feelings in front of Mo Yongliu.
“Do you think I sent you here to play with the boys?”
As he spoke, he looked at the Grand Duke of the Southern Palace, Confucius, and the young man who hung out with them, and spat. My heart sank as I saw them laughing at what was so good, like innocent, tame lambs.
“How many times have I told you to make that boy master of the South Palace, and if your hands are not strong enough, tell me.”
“I apologize …….”
For a long time, he refused to relinquish his position as head of the household, and lorded over Mo Yong.
In Mo Yongliu’s eyes, Mo Yongbi was still a man who had never given up his ambition to be the head of the Six Great Families, and even to be the best, so he remembered that he had a brother and a sister who were his brothers and sisters, and who were anxiously waiting for him to abdicate his position as head of the family.
“This is why I shouldn’t be in Mo Yong Family. Tsk.”
The corner of Mo Yongbi’s mouth curled into a stubborn line, and she turned away, her eyes never leaving the reflection in the corner of the Three Dukes’ eyes.
“You’ve lost all your poisonous qi, being born a boy and having no will of your own.”
Mo Yongbi clicked her tongue and looked at her grandson with disdain. Mo Yongliu clenched her fists until they bled.
She was no longer a person of the Mo Yong family. She was a nobody, and she was also a mother.
Especially since she had the Three Dukes of the Southern Palace at her side, and her own son, who was so strong and steadfast that it wouldn’t hurt to put him in her eyes, it was repulsive even to her.
Mo Yongbi, reading her mood, looked her in the eye, as if she was being ridiculous.
“Heh, Wenya, how dare you show such disrespect for my son’s words. You’ve changed since you left Liaoning and settled in Anhui.”
“May I just …… what you said?”
“Say what you will.”
“In your father’s opinion, please leave out the grindstone.”
“What?”
“Gali has finally decided on her own path, and as her mother, I don’t want to crush her dreams. It’s my role to support her.”
Mo Yongye looked at Mo Yongbi as if she was filled with energy.
“Yes, you’re talking to me like that.”
Mo Yongbi’s face turned red and her emotions became increasingly wild. Mo Yongbi was not usually one to show much emotion, but in one area, he was not hiding his agitation.
The cause of the Mo Yong family, and the seat of the Sixth Dynasty, which he had yet to claim.
In the eyes of the world, in the mouths of the great and the good, the Mo Yong family has yet to defeat the Southern Palace.
Her ancestor may have been a worthy successor, but Mo Yongbi was not, and her unbreakable spirit had led her to devote even her own daughter to the service of the Southern Palace.
Now, her daughter was fulfilling her long-held desire and grand dream.
Mo Yongbi’s heart was as stubborn as a steel tower and as tough as a steel cord, and Mo Yongyue realized that her stubbornness and strength were long gone.
“Don’t try to fulfill your father’s desire through us. I’m his mother, and I’m on his side.”
The emotions that had been dried up by the fierce competition for the next head of the family, and the cornerstone of the family’s future, rested on her shoulders. When his own son was just 10 years old.
For a moment, she thought it was right. Mo Yongliu’s gaze flicked past Mo Yongbi to Namgungal, who was smiling brightly with his brothers.
It didn’t matter if it was right or wrong, only that it was the direction I thought I would be happy in if I could take the position of Sojourner, and by extension, the position of Gaju of the Southern Palace.
But Namgunggal was not happy. They were showing it.
As a family, as a family.
When it rains under the shade, they avoid the rain.
When it snows under a canopy, they avoid the snow.
and sometimes avoiding the scorching sunlight.
It shows that such a family can be created. Even if it’s not the right place to be.
And it was thanks to the steps taken by the Grand Duke of the Southern Palace, who himself was a man of honor.
“It doesn’t matter what’s more right or wrong, if you’re a family, you embrace the people of your family, and if you’re a family, you embrace the people you call family. When they do something that is not right, you should be able to scold them for not being right, and when they follow the right path, you should praise them.”
This was Namgunggal’s answer to the Grand Duke, who had been talking with him for a long time, and had been frustrated by his inability to get through to him.
It’s a no-brainer. Everyone knows it, but not everyone acts accordingly. However, it was Namgunggal, the third prince, and his only son, who demonstrated how following the obvious reason changed his life.
Mo Yongbi is probably the oldest member of the six generations of the family.
When she reflected on the life she had lived, she realized that she could not understand this obvious reasoning, so she chose to stand up to Mo Yongbi.
As a mother of one.
Faced with Mo Yongye’s determined gaze, Mo Yongbi laughed in vain, and then burst into a fit of laughter.
“Yes, Onya, if you are truly going down that path, I won’t stop you. However, I’ll have to scold that child as a grandfather so that my intuition will be released.”
Scold him?
Mo Yonglei looked at Mo Yongbi with a wary expression.
“That Mo Yongru up there is also my grandson. Let’s see who’s the best. Let’s see who is more outstanding.”
With those words, Mo Yongye looked up and saw the young man named Mo Yongru, who was facing Namgungal. He looked familiar. She searched her memory, and the answer came quickly.
“My brother’s son, I can’t believe he’s already grown up.”
“You are a very perceptive son who has realized my long-standing desires. You’re not the kind of child who can’t tell the difference between jade and gold.”
There was none of the warmth of his grandfather’s eyes as he gazed at Namgungal, and Mo Yongliu shuddered at the dry, dull gaze that seemed to think of him as nothing more than a passing stone.
“You know how lowly and vain what you say is. And how the Great Mo Yong Family is moving forward.”
The corners of Mo Yongfei’s mouth curled into a smile as if he had already won a victory.
* * *
I couldn’t help but strain my senses, and when I focused my hearing and deduced from the sounds I heard, I came to a conclusion.
“It’s the Beanpowder House.”
I looked at the Mo Yong family patriarchs, Mo Yongbi and Mo Yongyeli, with astonishment. I could see why Mo Yongli was so eager to stir-fry the namgungal.
And how Mo Yongliu had come to be in a marriage contract with the Southern Palace.
Furthermore, I could understand why her life in her previous life had been so difficult. Where her desire and greed for the next family head came from.
“The family is sick, the family is sick. It’s irreparably damaged, and there’s nothing I can do on my own anymore. Please, please come back and save the family.”
I could see where the words of the former Grand Duke, Brother Nan Gongban, had come from. It must have been difficult for him to cope with the demonic forces coming from all directions.
“……Mo Yongru of the Mo Yong Clan, and Nam Gungal of the Nam Gung Clan, prepare to compete.”
At Huang Tianhu’s call, the three dukes tensed up and started to climb up.
“Go.”
That’s all he said,
“Don’t get hurt.”
I added another word, because that was all I needed.
Namgungal’s face, stiff with tension, softened at my words.
“Goodbye, brother.”