Chapter 258 Tang Miaoxing: You can't do math
Chapter 258 Tang Miaoxing: You can't do math
Inside the silent cave, Zhang Wang and Tang Qiushan stood together, looking at Tang Miaoxing in front of them, both very surprised by the decision made by the current sect leader.
"Tang Miaoxing, have you lost your mind? Our Tang Clan isn't some kind of saintly bunch. And now you actually want to attend the Lü family's birthday banquet?"
The hot-tempered Zhang Wang stepped forward, pointed at the invitation Tang Miaoxing had spread out in front of the three of them, and sneered, "Since when has the Tang Clan, who make a living by selling human lives, started celebrating someone's birthday? What, are you planning to collect heads at their birthday banquet?"
"If you've lost your mind, you should step down and hand over the reins to a more capable person, so you don't do anything foolish."
Tang Miaoxing stood with his hands behind his back in front of the two men. Facing Zhang Wang's questioning gaze and looking directly into his angry eyes, he calmly asked, "Tang Qiushan, what do you mean?"
"Calm down, everyone. Let's talk after we've calmed down."
Tang Qiushan, who was slightly overweight, stepped forward and stood between Zhang Wang and Tang Miaoxing, reaching out to block both sides and trying to smooth things over with his usual easygoing demeanor.
"snort!"
Zhang Wang glanced at the peacemaker, snorted and took two steps back, but sneered at himself, "Two guys surnamed Tang, the inner sect has quite the airs."
"Alright, Zhang Wang, let's hear what the sect leader has to say first. We're all Tang Sect disciples, why are you talking about inner and outer sects?"
Tang Qiushan turned to look at the silent Tang Miaoxing, a look of disapproval flashing in his eyes. He opened his mouth a few times, then asked hesitantly, "Sect Leader, our Tang Clan never gets involved in outside social interactions."
"This is an ironclad rule, a custom passed down from ancient times, so what exactly are your plans?"
The Tang Clan are assassins by profession, and what they pass down are all techniques of killing. They are in the business of taking lives.
Therefore, for the Tang Clan, secrecy, efficiency, and ruthlessness have always been their guiding principles and policies.
Throughout history, the Tang Clan has always operated in isolation, belonging neither entirely to the righteous path nor entirely to the evil faction, and avoiding entanglements with others or other forces.
Because of the entanglement, personal feelings will arise, and these feelings will affect the judgment of Tang Clan assassins, thereby affecting the reputation and public image of Tang Clan in doing business.
But this does not mean that the Tang Clan are a group of cold-blooded monsters. Although they are ruthless, they are also righteous.
During the war a century ago, the Japanese dispatched a group of extraordinary individuals led by Hiei Ninja. They broke through the combined blockade of various forces and, due to their bizarre methods, killed many skilled Chinese people. Lu Ren, the eldest son of the Lu family, also perished under the demonic blade.
A wealthy businessman surnamed Zhao once spent a fortune to hire the Tang Clan to hunt down the leader of the Bihe Ren.
Although this matter is in line with national righteousness, upon closer examination, it is not so simple and is more like a trap set against the Tang Clan.
Although Mr. Zhao is a wealthy businessman, he is just an ordinary person. Even if he has heard of the world of supernatural beings, the Tang Clan acts in secrecy. So how did Mr. Zhao manage to find this group of assassins so accurately?
The answer is simple: someone gave directions to Boss Zhao, the person who knocked on the door, but that person had ulterior motives.
At the time, everyone knew how formidable Bihe Ren was. This situation directly brought the Tang Clan assassins out of the shadows and forced them to confront Bihe Ren directly.
Therefore, Boss Zhao's business deal was, in the eyes of the Tang Clan, an invitation that concealed malicious intentions but presented itself as a righteous cause for the nation.
Faced with the invitation, Tang Bingwen, the former head of the Tang Clan, did not refuse but accepted it generously. He used Boss Zhao's ten gold bars to mobilize ten lives from the Tang Clan.
In the Battle of Mianshan, seven members of the Tang Clan died and three returned; in the Battle of Toutian Cave, they even brought their entire strength to fight against the Bihe Ren.
Though devoid of personal feelings, they possessed a strong sense of righteousness. When the war ended, the Tang Clan quietly retreated back to the shadows, once again becoming ruthless assassins, detached from worldly affairs.
Now, Tang Miaoxing, as the head of the Tang Clan, has actually suggested attending the Lu family's birthday banquet, which breaks the Tang Clan's rules for doing business.
Attending the birthday banquet means that the Tang Clan's assassins must step out of the shadows and stand before the world, attempting to establish connections with various parties.
But doing this is uprooting the very foundation, uprooting the foundation that the Tang Clan has inherited for generations!
When assassins are no longer ruthless, who will believe them? Thus, they can no longer be assassins, and the Tang Clan's lineage will naturally be broken.
This is also why Zhang Wang and Tang Qiushan, the two old members of the Tang Clan, objected, because they were genuinely afraid that the Tang Clan would be destroyed.
Tang Miaoxing looked at his two junior brothers, scrutinizing their aged faces, and through their pupils, he saw his own white-haired appearance.
"My two junior brothers, we are getting old. The Tang Clan is old enough now. The times don't need the old Tang Clan anymore."
After saying that, he didn't give the two a chance to refute him. He lowered his head, picked up the invitation in front of him, and turned to lead the two deeper into the cave.
"Come with me."
"Hmph, you old fool, I'd like to see what kind of nonsense you can come up with."
Zhang Wang was very unhappy with Tang Miaoxing's suspenseful behavior, but he could only follow along. Tang Qiushan also followed the two into the cave.
This place is called Tang Tomb, which is the ancestral hall of the Tang Clan and also the place where Tang Clan assassins cultivate in seclusion. The road is full of traps and outsiders are not allowed to enter.
Tang Miaoxing led the two to the deepest part of the space, which was a huge stone chamber with openwork walls. Many Tang Clan disciples dressed in white robes were sitting inside cultivating.
When Zhang Wang and Tang Qiushan followed Tang Miaoxing to the stone chamber, they stared wide-eyed at the faces of the Tang Clan disciples. Zhang Wang, who had been suppressing his anger, shouted angrily.
"Tang Miaoxing, what are you trying to do by gathering so many outstanding disciples at Tang Tomb?"
As the leaders of the inner and outer sects of the Tang Clan, the two knew every Tang Clan disciple well. Over the years, they had lost contact with many outstanding disciples, which naturally raised their doubts. However, the sect leader, Tang Miaoxing, gave the reason that the disciples had been sent on missions.
But now, seeing these disciples sitting listlessly in the Tang Tomb as if they had severed all desires, the two were naturally both surprised and angry at Tang Miaoxing's actions.
"What for? For the glory of the Tang Sect, Dan Shi!"
With his back to the two men, Tang Miaoxing walked without stopping until he reached a disheveled old man in the center of the stone chamber.
"Alright, we can talk about these disciples later. Now, let's answer your earlier question about why you went to the Lü family's birthday banquet."
He stood before the old man, pointed at him with his palm outstretched, then turned to the other two and said, "Naturally, it's for him, Xu Xin, the Tang Clan's traitor, one of the Thirty-Six Thieves!"
"I will use the power of the Lü family and the reputation of that young Lü Zu to bring Xu Xin back to life and let Dan Shi live again before the world."
His words were somewhat incoherent. The disheveled old man looked up at Tang Miaoxing with a puzzled expression. The other two men's pupils trembled for a moment, and then, as if they had figured out the key point, they pointed at Tang Miaoxing with trembling hands.
"Are you crazy! Putting aside the cost of the Tang Clan's involvement in worldly affairs, just considering Xu Xin's status as one of the Thirty-Six Thieves, what reason does the Lü family have to help us?"
"reason?"
Tang Miaoxing pointed to the invitation in his hand and said to Lü Ci's handwriting, "Naturally, it is his Lü family that owes our Tang Clan a favor."
Zhang Wang and Tang Qiushan were still somewhat confused by what he heard, but Xu Xin, who was disheveled, frowned and spoke in a hoarse voice.
"Tang Miaoxing, what kind of wild dreams are you having? In the battle of the Heavenly Cave back then, if we're really going to talk about it, it was the Tang Clan that borrowed the power of the Lü family. Without Lü Ci connecting the four families, where would we have gotten such great help?"
"Besides, that battle was fought for the greater good of the nation, so how can there be any question of owing or not owing anything? Wait, what you mean is..."
Before he could finish speaking, Xu Xin frowned, turned his head to look at Tang Miaoxing, and said with a hint of disdain, "Are you crazy? How dare you ask a dead man for a debt!"
"Hmph, so you can't do accounting, you're not fit to be sect leaders."
Tang Miaoxing looked at the disdain in Xu Xin's eyes, snorted coldly and said, "Back then, Lü Ci forced his way into the Tang Clan, wanting to use the struggle between the Tang Clan and the Bihe Ren to avenge Young Master Lü. Our Tang Clan broke the rules for him, allowing this outsider to join the ten-person battle."
"Lu Ci has naturally repaid his share, but what about Young Master Lu's share?"
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Chapter Two!
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