Late at night, at Cheonyeong's command, the Tang Family's martial artists scattered throughout the southern streets of Dongting Lake.

It was to eliminate the ruffians.

Since the Beggar Gang had already investigated the people related to their bases, it wouldn't take long.

The Tang Family's martial artists, having fought numerous battles and constantly striving for improvement, weren't so weak as to be defeated by ruffians.

Meanwhile, Cheonyeong sat face to face with Gongsun Seung.

"May I ask what kind of book you're looking for?"

"Do you know anyone named Gongsun Yuan?"

"Gongsun Yuan... I've heard of him."

"You have?"

"Yes, I heard that he was the last family head to lead the Gongsun family as a martial family."

"The last?"

"Yes, I don't know the details about him either. It's just what I've heard. My grandfather told me stories about him when I was young."

Cheonyeong's ears perked up.

Grandfather's old stories.

Most were somewhat exaggerated, and sometimes fabricated, but if the protagonist was Gongsun Yuan, it was different.

A friend of the Samyang Divine Skill.

The last family head to lead the Gongsun family as a martial family.

That was enough.

"Could you tell me those old stories?"

"Yes."

Gongsun Seung nodded and began his story.

However, as he said, it wasn't detailed, and it wasn't particularly helpful information either.

For the Gongsun family, which had lost its name as a martial family and turned to commerce, it was merely a faded memory.

"Was there any story about him leaving something behind?"

"Leaving something?"

"Yes, that amber necklace you had before was something that belonged to someone named Gongsun Yuan."

"Ah! That's right."

Cheonyeong told him part of the content engraved on the amber necklace.

There was no need to hide it. Even though they didn't share blood, Gongsun Seung was already his family.

However, he didn't mention the name Samyang.

"I came here first and searched everywhere, but the book I'm looking for wasn't here."

"Is it an important book?"

"Yes, for me and for the future of the Tang Family."

"I see."

Gongsun Seung nodded with a serious expression and fell into deep thought.

"Have you checked the ancestral shrine?"

"Already."

Indeed, given the family head's nature, he wouldn't have searched carelessly.

But perhaps the book wasn't in the library or estate from the beginning.

"Ah!"

"Huh?"

Gongsun Seung exclaimed, and Cheonyeong tilted his head.

"There is! There is one more place!"

"What?"

"There's another place related to Gongsun Yuan."

"Really? Where?"

"His tomb."

"A tomb?"

"Yes."

The tomb would be somewhere in the ancestral burial ground. Since the Gongsun family had been established there for generations.

But why a tomb?

Cheonyeong just tilted his head while Gongsun Seung made an exasperated expression.

"Don't you understand?"

"What?"

"Sigh, sometimes I wonder if you're smart or foolish."

"What are you saying?"

This bastard was at it again.

Last time too, he had revealed his cleverness and looked down on people.

Cheonyeong wanted to bang his head, but since he seemed to have thought of something, he restrained himself.

Cheonyeong asked in a subtle tone.

"Tell me. What do you mean about the tomb?"

"What would be in a tomb?"

"Well... a corpse?"

"Right. And?"

"..."

Twenty questions?

This bastard... wait.

Suddenly Cheonyeong's eyes widened.

A tomb doesn't just contain a corpse.

Especially for prestigious families, there are things buried with the corpse.

"Burial goods?"

"Exactly."

Burial goods are objects buried with the deceased. Things they used in life or cherished items.

"If he left something and it's not in the library or estate, it must be in the tomb."

"..."

"Perhaps those characters that seemed faded in the amber might have contained such information."

Gongsun Seung spoke with eyes shining like a child discovering something new.

It was possible.

It was a sufficiently plausible guess.

But burial goods. To find them, they would need to excavate.

For Seung, it meant desecrating his ancestor's tomb.

That was a bit...

"Let's go."

"Huh?"

"I'll gather the servants."

"Wait, wait. Gather servants? What are you saying? Are you saying you're going to spread rumors throughout the neighborhood that you're desecrating your ancestor's tomb?"

Cheonyeong stared with widened eyes.

"What's wrong with that?"

Gongsun Yuan tilted his head with a matter-of-fact expression.

Was he crazy?

Didn't he know how grave a sin it was to disturb the peace of the dead?

Everyone in the world would point fingers at him.

"Hmm, I didn't know you cared about rumors."

"What?"

"Usually you don't care about others' opinions."

"Well... this is different!"

Cheonyeong shouted loudly, and Gongsun Seung sighed.

"Seung, wait a moment... No matter what, this doesn't seem right. Desecrating a tomb... let's think about it more."

"But you said it was important for the Tang Family?"

"That's true, but..."

"Then we should do it!"

"Huh?"

"Will outdated traditions feed us?"

"What I mean is..."

"You'll understand."

"..."

"If he left clues in the amber, and it said there was a book in the tomb, surely he hoped someone would excavate and find it."

That's the problem—it's just a guess.

In a way, Gongsun Yuan might have hidden the Samyang Divine Skill's secrets most carefully.

What crazy descendant would desecrate an ancestor's tomb?

Even Cheonyeong felt uncomfortable about it, so what about strangers?

It was the kind of thing where one might be cursed by ghosts for desecrating someone else's tomb...

"There's no choice. Since you're afraid of rumors, we'll have to do it just the two of us."

"Huh?"

"It will take some time, but what can we do? Wait here. I'll go get the tools quickly."

"Hey...!"

He didn't even pretend to listen.

And eventually, Cheonyeong headed to the cemetery with Gongsun Seung.

Being mindful of others' eyes, they went only after the night had grown deep.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Gongsun Seung began digging with a pickaxe without hesitation.

What a reckless descendant.

From Cheonyeong's perspective watching, he couldn't help but click his tongue.

Sometimes, this bastard was far more radical than he was.

His ancestor's tomb...

But at this rate, even if he kept digging until dawn, he wouldn't finish.

"Sigh, really."

There was no choice.

How could he stand idle while the boy, who hadn't learned a single line of martial arts, was sweating profusely?

"Seung, move aside."

As Cheonyeong moved beside Gongsun Seung and began digging with internal energy added, the hole deepened rapidly.

"If we dig one more length, it should be enough. Since I heard they used a stone coffin... it should come out soon."

At his tireless effort, Cheonyeong shook his head.

The moon was waning.

And then.

Clang!

Something hard caught on the shovel.

"Huh?"

Cheonyeong stopped moving.

Not stone?

"Did you find it?"

"Probably... yes."

It wasn't the stone coffin Gongsun Seung had mentioned.

When the shovel touched it, a faint spark was created, and the sensation was definitely metal.

"Wait..."

Cheonyeong put down the shovel and swept away the dirt with his hands.

What was revealed before his eyes was a rusted iron box.

And there was no trace of a buried corpse.

In other words, this tomb was never meant to bury a corpse, but to hide the iron box.

His heart raced. He could already anticipate what was contained in that box.

"Family Head."

"Mm."

At Gongsun Seung's urging, Cheonyeong opened the lid of the iron box.

Click.

Even though it had a lock, it had enough power to open it, but what strength could a rusted iron box have?

The box opened wide, and inside was only one worn book.

"Samyang... Divine Skill?"

"Mm."

"Was it a secret manual?"

"Yes."

Cheonyeong nodded to Gongsun Seung, who read the characters written on the book's cover.

But before taking it out, Cheonyeong first asked Gongsun Seung's permission.

The Samyang Divine Immortal had distributed it to their eight friends, but wasn't it practically the Gongsun family's property?

"May I look at it?"

"Of course."

"Thank you."

With permission granted, Cheonyeong took out the secret manual and opened it.

Samyang Divine Skill, Volume One.

It was identical to the one volume he had obtained in the past, without a single discrepancy.

Even down to the phrase "continued in this volume" written on the last page.

But even after finding the secret manual, Cheonyeong's expression wasn't bright, so Gongsun Seung carefully asked.

"Why? Isn't this the book you were looking for?"

"No, it is."

"Then why does your expression look troubled?"

"Well..."

Cheonyeong gave a bitter smile.

If it was this volume, that would be one thing, but he had long since memorized the contents of volume one.

The reason he wanted to find the secret manual left by Gongsun Yuan was to destroy it.

So the Jingagu wouldn't obtain it.

Also, what he had hoped for was the whereabouts of the other eight immortals, but neither the book nor the box contained any information about them.

"Tsk, if it's like this, I'll have to wait for the other volumes."

Cheonyeong gave a bitter smile.

What remained was destruction.

But Gongsun Seung, who had been quietly watching from the side, asked.

"Family Head."

"Huh?"

"May I ask what kind of martial art this is?"

"Hmm, it's like a divine skill of the highest level."

"Then if I learn this, can I become stronger too?"

"Huh?"

Cheonyeong turned his head to look at him, surprised by the unexpected words.

Gongsun Seung's expression was quite serious, and his eyes were shining.

Greed for martial arts?

That couldn't be.

What was reflected in Gongsun Seung's eyes wasn't such a base emotion.

"You, do you want to learn martial arts?"

"...Yes."

"Why?"

"Because of what happened before..."

"Ah!"

Cheonyeong nodded at Gongsun Seung's words.

It made sense.

Gongsun Seung, who had overcome the crisis of death from Jingaru's attack.

"I was too helpless."

"..."

"If you hadn't saved me then, I would have been dead, wouldn't I?"

"Yes."

"And if it had been someone else instead of you who came to save me, that person would have died too."

"That would have been the case."

"I realized then. That I need to become stronger."

A mysterious heat was rising in Gongsun Seung's eyes.

It was filled with considerable sincerity.

Cheonyeong looked at the Samyang Divine Skill's secret manual in his hand.

Seung learning Samyang...

The deliberation wasn't long.

At first, he had thought only he should learn the Samyang Divine Skill. But...

"Alright."

"Huh?"

Cheonyeong nodded with a bright smile, and Gongsun Seung's eyes widened in surprise.

"You learn it too."

"F-Family Head."

"But it will be hard."

"..."

"Fifteen is not a young age. You'll have to train much harder than others."

"Yes!"

Perhaps the will that the Samyang Divine Immortal left behind is now being continued.

He had said he hoped that if the eight friends' descendants qualified, they would learn the Samyang Divine Skill.

Also, the Samyang secret manual in his hand was never his to begin with—it belonged to the Gongsun family. If its descendant wanted to learn it, what authority did he have to stop them?

And thinking about it, was there really a need to destroy it?

Rather, let it become the Tang Family's family martial art.

It was what he had decided from the beginning anyway.

Non-human, non-transmission. Non-vessel, non-transmission.

Those without proper character would not receive it, and those who couldn't bear the burden would not receive it either.

Then it was fine.

(End of Chapter)