Dong Bong-su recognized it immediately.
From the moment he opened the door and came out to see the confrontation between Do Heo-ok and Namgung In, he had already somewhat anticipated that Tang O would interfere in that fight.
Swish!
Tang O's form was flying toward Namgung In.
Though swift as the wind, Do Heo-ok's blade energy rushing to engulf Namgung In was quick as lightning. At this rate, it seemed Tang O would never be able to block Do Heo-ok's Thunder Clap Blade Energy.
Then, Tang O's hand stretched forward and dozens of thin hidden weapons shot out like arrows. The hidden weapons, with the momentum of flight plus the palm power shooting from his hand, were fired out truly like lightning.
'Dragon Phoenix Golden Needles.'
Though he had seen it once, Dong Bong-su remembered it precisely.
As he remembered, the hidden weapons Tang O threw were indeed the Dragon Phoenix Golden Needles, and originally their purpose wasn't as tools for performing the Crown Opening Great Method. They were a type of hidden weapon for deploying hidden weapon techniques just like now.
Crack!
Do Heo-ok's emerald-tinged Thunder Clap Energy and the brown dark cloud of the Dragon Phoenix Golden Needles tore through space and collided at a distance in front of Namgung In.
BOOM!
An enormous explosion occurred as the two energies collided. However, all the aftermath of that explosion extended toward Do Heo-ok's side. This was because Tang O had additionally poured out his energy just before the collision to block all the energies bouncing toward Namgung In's side.
Tang O, who had completely annihilated Do Heo-ok's powerful Thunder Clap Blade Energy, landed lightly in front of Namgung In.
"Th-thank... Uncle... Tang..."
Namgung In barely expressed his gratitude to Tang O before losing consciousness just like that.
Tang O lightly supported the falling Namgung In's body and laid him safely on the ground.
"My, my, the Martial World these days has really become heartless. A son-in-law beating his in-law elder's back of the head to death, no less."
Sand rose greatly from the lingering effects of their collision.
Though vision was obscured, Tang O's voice spread throughout the scene, penetrating through that thick sandy dust.
The sand soon settled, and only tension lingered in the front yard of the Eastern Heavenly Guest Hall.
Tang O and Do Heo-ok were glaring at each other, and people surrounded them in a circle from quite a distance, watching their standoff. The spectators consisted mainly of the Namgung Family's dependents and warriors, but there were also quite a few guests from the Heavenly Guest Hall who had rushed out hearing the explosion.
Though everyone was making curious expressions wondering what was happening, it was difficult to open their mouths easily in the suffocating energy Tang O and Do Heo-ok were emitting.
That said, this place wasn't entirely quiet. Bustling sounds continued as spectators gathered one after another, and above all, the explosions ringing from the Emperor King Hall's direction still hadn't stopped.
No, rather they were getting worse. Seeing that screams were faintly mixed in with those explosions, it was clear that this was no ordinary incident.
Tang O glanced once toward the north where the Emperor King Hall was located, then looked at Do Heo-ok again and spoke coldly.
"What is happening at the Emperor King Hall right now?"
"Well. How would I know that? Great Hero Tang."
Unlike Tang O, Do Heo-ok wasn't fixing his gaze in one direction but was looking around in all directions.
Though Dong Bong-su was quite far from him, he could easily guess what Do Heo-ok was thinking right now.
'He's planning to flee.'
Certainly, as he thought, Do Heo-ok was now thinking of escape. From Do Heo-ok's perspective, the plan had already gone very awry, but it wasn't yet at the stage to give up. After all, there was no way for the Namgung Family to know his exact identity, and through the brief conversation with Namgung In earlier, he could easily infer that they didn't know very precisely about him.
If so, the only factor causing problems in the plan now was just that fact—that the four shadows who had infiltrated yesterday had been caught by the Namgung Family.
It was definitely true that this fact greatly affected the First Stratagem.
However, the First Stratagem was a plan that would succeed anyway as long as Do Heo-ok himself could survive and eliminate everyone inside the Namgung Family. In the original First Stratagem, he would have saved Namgung Hye as well, but now that things had come to this, he couldn't let her live.
The plan was revised from this moment on.
Everyone here...
'Dies. No one must escape alive.'
To do that, first he himself had to somehow survive and escape from the Namgung Family.
After that, if he could just meet 'Gray Shadow' or 'Water Shadow,' the tide of battle could be reversed at any time. After all, combining the forces that Gray Shadow and Water Shadow had brought here would be sufficient to destroy the Namgung Family. The four shadows who entered yesterday were merely additional forces to succeed in the plan more safely.
Judging from the explosion sounds at the Emperor King Hall now, the Four Shadows' main objective of destroying the Three Emperors Nine Kings Formation's core had probably already been accomplished.
If so, though it was unfortunate to say to the Four Shadows, they were no longer necessary beings. It would be 'a bit' better if they were alive, but it was fine without them.
I just need to survive.
This was Do Heo-ok's current thought, or more precisely, his intention.
Of course, the immediate problem was...
Tang O, who was glaring at him from over there.
He would be the lead of this dramatic performance, but if he made a mistake here, that lead role might go to Tang O instead.
"This old man was never the type to be verbose by nature. It would be best to confess your identity and what's happening now while I'm speaking nicely."
Tang O's eyes shone coldly as he spread both hands wide to the sides and lifted them horizontally.
Was it because of that motion?
Dozens of Dragon Phoenix Golden Needles that had fallen to the ground after blocking Do Heo-ok's Thunder Clap Blade Energy earlier began to float into the air. Tang O's unique divine art of Remote Object Manipulation, the Flying Butterfly Energy Art, was being applied to the Dragon Phoenix Golden Needles.
Woong woong woong—
The way each Dragon Phoenix Golden Needle was trembling strangely was quite ominous.
"Haha. This is unfortunate but..."
Though Do Heo-ok actually wanted to fight Tang O one-on-one right here and now, he knew better than anyone that now wasn't the time to fight.
If he carelessly engaged in combat here and more Namgung Family warriors came running, he would have to bury his bones here today. That in itself would already mean the failure of the First Stratagem.
He had to somehow tie Tang O down here and escape.
He kept Tang O's gaze captured while steadily scanning the surrounding situation with sidelong glances.
He saw Sosam standing at one corner of the Eastern Heavenly Guest Hall over there, but he wasn't confident enough with just that. No matter that they had formed something like a teacher-disciple relationship, Tang O didn't seem likely to step forward to save someone who had been just a groom until recently.
Then.
Do Heo-ok's eyes captured one being approaching behind Sosam who would properly bind Tang O's feet.
'Perfect.'
With that, the need to take the risk of having to fight Tang O certainly disappeared now.
A wicked smile never seen before formed on his cold face. Since there was no need to be cautious now, his true nature was revealing itself.
"I was never the type to be verbose by nature either. Great Hero."
.
.
.
Dong Bong-su had been steadily watching Do Heo-ok's eyes from earlier. Naturally, he was well aware that Do Heo-ok was looking this way with sidelong glances.
But when Do Heo-ok first looked this way, there was no particular change in his expression, but at some moment it suddenly changed. Following that, he even witnessed his extremely faint smile spreading across his entire face.
'What is this?'
Right in front, Tang O was emitting tremendous energy, so he shouldn't have leisure to attack this way, right? Right at that moment when Dong Bong-su thought that.
"Huh? Why is Grandfather there?"
From behind came some woman's voice mixed with bewilderment.
"...!"
It was Tang Hwa, and she had just now come here from the Western Heavenly Guest Hall after hearing the explosion.
Dong Bong-su could finally understand why Do Heo-ok had smiled wickedly while looking this way at her appearance. What Do Heo-ok glanced at wasn't him but Tang Hwa who was approaching behind him.
If so, his faint smile was obviously—
Whoosh!
—Killing intent.
Without even pondering how Do Heo-ok would dodge Tang O's attack and attack this way, Dong Bong-su immediately turned around, embraced Tang Hwa, and threw his body sideways.
"Uh!?"
Tang Hwa only let out a short exclamation at Dong Bong-su's unexpected embrace and couldn't think of resisting at all.
Because!
Baaang!
She was witnessing head-on Do Heo-ok's Thunder Clap Blade imbued with terrifying energy flying toward the Eastern Heavenly Guest Hall side, especially toward where she stood.
Do Heo-ok, who had been confronting Tang O, had suddenly thrown the Thunder Clap Blade toward her. As if he had given up fighting Tang O.
"Have I ever seen such a crazy bastard!"
Tang O couldn't anticipate Do Heo-ok's action in advance. Who in the world could think to throw their life-bound weapon elsewhere in a situation of one-on-one confrontation?
However,
Such a thing had just happened. And Tang Sam was over there.
At that, Tang O hastily scattered all the Dragon Phoenix Golden Needles he had floated with Flying Butterfly Energy Art toward Do Heo-ok. Tang O's life-bound ultimate technique, Soul Chasing Butterfly, was unfolding.
Flip flip!
With a sound like the noise of butterfly wings colliding with each other inflated tens of thousands of times, the Dragon Phoenix Golden Needles flew toward Do Heo-ok all at once.
After that, Tang O threw his body toward where Dong Bong-su and Tang Hwa stood at the maximum speed he could muster, but the situation was already too late.
The Thunder Clap Blade that left Do Heo-ok's hand was already passing over the Cloud Bridge connecting the Eastern Heavenly Guest Hall and the shore.
What was fortunate for him was the fact that somehow noticing it, Tang Sam was embracing Tang Hwa and throwing his body toward Chaohu Lake's side.
Screeeeeech—!
The Thunder Clap Blade filled with Thunder Energy was the very incarnation of lightning. Even if they dodged that Thunder Clap Blade, it was self-evident that the explosion would be tremendous.
Bzzzt, click-click!
How fast and destructive it was—the sound of the Thunder Clap Blade flying and crushing the air was quite similar to the sound of firing hundreds of beans simultaneously.
After throwing his body, Dong Bong-su cleverly twisted his body sideways in midair. That appearance was so extremely natural that no one felt it was something Dong Bong-su intended. Well, there was already no one here who could pay attention to that anyway.
Just as the two entangled in midair were about to submerge in Chaohu Lake, the Thunder Clap Blade finally arrived and embedded itself where they had been standing.
Splash!
Boom! Rrrrumble!
"Aaargh!"
"Urg-!"
"Ah!"
As the Thunder Energy exploded, everything within a radius of fifteen meters from where the Thunder Clap Blade embedded was completely devastated, and the Eastern Heavenly Guest Hall swept up in that aftermath completely collapsed.
As a result, Danri Jiang-hae, now the only remaining bloodline of the Danri Family in the world, died a miserable death.
His death was as futile as his father Danri Cheon-u's or his younger sister Danri Hui's. However, since he at least died knowing he was dying, perhaps it was a slightly less futile death among the three.