Chapter 26. Bloodless
What Tang Wu wanted from Dong Bong-su was not merely for him to become his disciple, but for him to become a full-fledged member of the Tang Family itself.
"Grandfather! How can you make such a crucial decision without the elders' consent...?"
As the words Tang Wu had anticipated finally spilled from Tang Hua's mouth, she spoke in panic.
Tang Wu turned to look at her and smiled faintly, his lips gently moving. At the same time, he raised the Dragon-Phoenix Golden Needles.
The two believed that Dong Bong-su could not hear their conversation and comfortably exchanged secrets through voice communication.
But the thing was—
That was truly an action born of not knowing Dong Bong-su. Just because a person cannot hear does not mean they cannot "eavesdrop." Even without hearing, there are people who can "read" conversations with their eyes.
Lip-reading.
Dong Bong-su was reading everything the two were saying purely from the shape of Tang Wu's lips. Tang Hua was wearing a veil, so he could not tell what she was saying, but all the important words were spoken by Tang Wu anyway. Just by analyzing the shape of that man's lips, he could infer what Tang Hua was saying as well.
In the end, Dong Bong-su understood everything—why Tang Wu wanted to embrace him so completely that he was willing to grant him the Tang surname, and even why he had taken out the Dragon-Phoenix Golden Needles.
"So that's what it was?"
Dong Bong-su placed a thin protective layer over his eyes and continued analyzing the exchange between the two.
At some point, he went further, piercing even things Tang Wu himself did not know. No—rather, it would be more accurate to say Tang Wu simply could not see them.
Half human, half character.
Dong Bong-su was not a complete game character, but by existing under the system of 'New Murim Online', he had become something strange—neither human nor game character. As a result, his body structure was truly different from that of ordinary people.
The subtle changes born from this unusual body were what had captivated Tang Wu and led to the current situation.
Tang Wu was explaining various analyses of Dong Bong-su's constitution to Tang Hua, but the conclusion was simply, "I don't know." He did not know, yet he was interpreting everything however he pleased.
Dong Bong-su sneered inwardly while already constructing his next behavioral pattern. If the other side was going to interpret things however they liked, that was something to be grateful for. He would simply act accordingly, and the other party would naturally perform splendidly as an actor within that play.
A chilling ability.
The trap of believing they were speaking via voice communication, and the trap of believing Dong Bong-su was merely a mute Horse Stable Hireling. Caught in this double trap, they never imagined that Dong Bong-su possessed such an ability.
A little later.
The private—but not truly private—conversation between Tang Wu and Tang Hua finally came to an end.
"Private" was merely their shared belief that it was a conversation between the two of them alone, while "not private" meant that Dong Bong-su had read or reconstructed every word of it. Of course, only Dong Bong-su knew that fact.
Having been persuaded by Tang Wu by the end of the discussion, Tang Hua had no further reason to stop him. She silently stepped back without intervening further.
Tang Wu then formed a faint smile and asked Dong Bong-su once more.
"I will ask again. Are you willing to receive the Tang Family surname?"
Dong Bong-su had never had a reason to refuse.
Moreover, now that he already knew every scheme hidden in Tang Wu's heart, why would he reject such a good offer?
Dong Bong-su did not hesitate. With a resolute, fabricated gaze, he nodded confidently.
Tang Wu, unaware of the face hidden behind that false expression, smiled with complete satisfaction.
"Good. However, you are not yet a true member of the Tang Family. You must go to the Tang Family estate and prove, before the elders and the Head of the family, that you are worthy of bearing the Tang surname. You may even die in that process. Even so, will you proceed?"
It had gone one step further—from "it may be painful enough to kill you" to "you may die."
"So what? Nothing changes."
He still had no intention of refusing. Because he knew he would not die.
If everything Tang Wu had said to Tang Hua via voice communication was true, then no one in the Tang Family would reject him. No—they could not. They might later devise schemes to place him in danger, but they would not stop him from entering the Tang Family, nor did they have a reason to.
That was how extraordinary the contents of Tang Wu's voice communication had been.
Even Dong Bong-su himself had not realized there was such a secret hidden within his body.
He felt interest in 'New Murim Online' once more.
A game where he could not relax for even a single moment, nor miss a single detail—a game tailored precisely to Dong Bong-su. That was 'New Murim Online'.
A rare smile formed at the corner of his lips.
From that plain smile, Tang Wu sensed the sincerity of "Sosam."
Though Dong Bong-su's sincerity and the sincerity Tang Wu perceived from "Sosam" were different, sincerity was sincerity nonetheless.
The cold eyes of Tang Wu and the passionate gaze of Dong Bong-su intertwined fiercely in the empty air.
Moments later.
Tang Wu finally declared, as if having made up his mind completely.
"You are no longer the Horse Stable Hireling of the Danri Family, but a member of the Tang Sect, the foremost family of Sichuan."
With that, Dong Bong-su shed the shell called Horse Stable Hireling.
"I will now carry out the great method. Are you ready?"
As Dong Bong-su nodded once more, Tang Wu signaled with his eyes to Tang Hua, who stood behind him—telling her to stand guard.
Tang Hua lowered her head in affirmation and left the room.
If someone were to intrude during the execution of the great method, one could fall into deviation and become endangered. Thus, she was to block others' approach as a protector.
Now that only the two remained, Tang Wu approached Dong Bong-su.
"I will now perform the Head-Opening Great Method on you. This method will clear your mind and unblock your sealed speech. From now on, close your eyes, and no matter what happens, you must not move. Do you understand?"
Dong Bong-su knew—having "heard directly"—that what Tang Wu intended to perform was not merely the Head-Opening Great Method, but he did not particularly care. In the end, he was using Tang Wu, and Tang Wu was using him.
The difference was that Dong Bong-su already knew what Tang Wu was thinking and what he was about to do, while Tang Wu did not know that Dong Bong-su knew everything.
With that, the game between the two was already over.
If, in a poker game, you know your opponent's hand and possess a perfect poker face—
The game is already over. There is no reversal.
The opponent merely continues the game, clinging to a faint hope of victory by betting on a reversal that does not exist.
But—
The game had been Dong Bong-su's victory even before it began.
---
Tang Wu opened the case of the Dragon-Phoenix Golden Needles. Inside were hundreds of golden needles, each intricately engraved with dragons and phoenixes befitting their name. Their lengths and thicknesses differed, as though each needle had its own purpose.
Dong Bong-su glanced at the Dragon-Phoenix Golden Needles once, then quietly closed his eyes. Soon, he entered meditation, gradually sinking into the familiar world of nothingness.
"Hoo—."
Tang Wu let out a long breath and slowly lifted the Dragon-Phoenix Golden Needles into the air using remote object manipulation.
In truth, Tang Wu was currently more tense than he had ever been in his life.
Using the marriage alliance of the Namgung Family as an excuse, he had come out into the martial world after a long time—and in Bongyang, he had "picked up" an unbelievable talent for free.
Wheel-Turning Sacred Emperor Aspect, Heavenly Yang Divine Martial Body, Heavenly Meridian Body, Ninth-Grade Sacred Bones, Heavenly Martial Heart Meridian, Purple Radiance Void Spirit Body, Cosmic Sacred Bones...
There were countless terms in the world used to describe bodies suited for cultivating martial arts. All of them came with modifiers like "once in ten years," "once in a hundred years," or "once in a thousand years."
However, today, Tang Wu had encountered a body for which such modifiers were meaningless.
The Horse Stable Hireling named Sosam, sitting before him right now, was that very individual.
Tang Wu focused his gaze and looked at Sosam once more. Sosam sat with eyes closed, immersed in a state of no thoughts and no self. Perfect. The moment Tang Wu had told him not to think, Sosam had already erased all thoughts from his mind.
A smile once again appeared on Tang Wu's lips.
Ten years? A hundred years? A thousand years?
What were those worth?
That boy possessed a body never before born since the beginning of Murim's history. It was not flashy compared to known physiques, but it was undeniably among the finest materials.
The bloodless body.
Sosam lacked the acupoints and pathways that every human should possess. When Tang Wu first saw him, he had not noticed it, thinking him merely a normal body that had not learned martial arts. But upon looking again, he realized that was not the case.
Sosam's body was far too "quiet."
No matter how untrained a person was, there would always be at least a minimal amount of Qi flowing naturally through the meridians.
Yet in Sosam's body, there was no such flow at all.
Nothingness.
There was simply nothing—almost as if he were not human.
If Tang Wu had not been a master of the Tang Sect, he would not have noticed it at a glance. Such traits usually appeared only in corpses.
The only martial sects capable of creating corpses were the Tang Sect and the Blood Pavilion of Heavenly Demon Castle. Even so, unless one had personally created a corpse, even a master of those factions would not notice Sosam's traits.
Tang Wu had dipped his toes into every martial art and miscellaneous technique passed down within the Tang Sect. Corpse arts were naturally among them.
The foundation of corpse creation was artificially sealing all meridians of a corpse, cutting off the flow of Qi—blocking vitality and sustaining sinister energy.
But Sosam was different. His meridians were not sealed or blocked; he had been born without acupoints and pathways in the first place.
If there is no path, any path can be made. It means one can go wherever one wishes—whether that be true energy or anything else.
After hearing this explanation, Tang Hua had easily stepped back. Even to her, the bloodless body was an unprecedentedly exceptional material. In the current martial world, there were likely only a handful—if any—who could match it.
Perhaps there existed another talent born under the fate of the Heavenly Slaughter Star or the Divine Star. Those born with such destinies were fated to either endanger or save Murim, regardless of their innate talent.
Perhaps Sosam himself bore such a star. That was not something Tang Wu could verify. Though he could read the vitality and sharpness hidden deep within Dong Bong-su's eyes, he could not be certain.
Verification beyond mere material quality would be left to the elders once they returned to the family estate.
For now, it was enough to pull this item called Sosam into the Tang Family and claim him first.
If the boy bore the Heavenly Slaughter Star, the Tang Family could deal with it. That would only add to their reputation—having eliminated it before it fully manifested.
If he bore the Divine Star, then simply by that fact alone, the Tang Family would gain immense prestige and become the center of the orthodox path.
And even if he were neither—if he were merely the owner of the bloodless body—that alone would suffice. With that material, the Tang Family could restore the Rain of Myriad Flowers, which had remained only in form for centuries.
If the Rain of Myriad Flowers were to descend upon the martial world once more after hundreds of years, all martial heroes would bow their heads before the name of the Tang Family.
In short, if Sosam bore the Heavenly Slaughter Star, it meant fame; if the Divine Star, glory for the family; and even if neither, the bloodless body alone guaranteed the Tang Family's revival.
The Tang ancestors must have sent me to Bongyang to open the path of the family's revival.
"Heh heh heh. The future of the Tang Family rests at my fingertips!"
Thinking that, Tang Wu grew even more tense.
Pa-pa-pak!
Tang Wu's tightly drawn hand finally began to move.