Under One Person: Please Call Me Golden Flash

Chapter 407 The Future of the Tang Clan

“Take its form, but change its meaning.”

Zhao Zhen interrupted him, her gaze deep.

"Poison can kill or save lives; the key lies in its preparation and use."

How many people in the world can match the Tang Clan's understanding of pharmacology?

The art of mechanisms is used for protection, early warning, and trapping the enemy. But to use its ingenuity for legitimate self-defense and the protection of important facilities would be a waste of its potential.
As for the stealth, tracking, intelligence gathering, and precision required for assassination, wouldn't those be the most sought-after capabilities in top-tier security, crisis management, and special reconnaissance fields in the future?

Zhao Zhen's words were like a pebble thrown into a deep pool, creating ripples in Yang Lie's heart.

Taking its form and changing its meaning, these six characters echoed for a long time in the quiet reception room, carrying a sense of clarity that seemed to break through the clouds and reveal the sun.

Yang Lie's tightly furrowed brows did not completely relax, but the sharpness in his eyes subsided, turning into deep contemplation.

He was not an inflexible person; otherwise, he would not have been able to take on the mantle of the Tang Clan after Tang Bingwen.

The direction Zhao Zhen pointed out vaguely aligned with his deep-seated anxieties about the future of the Tang Clan, but the path to this transformation was fraught with difficulties and obstacles.

“Brother Zhao’s words…are indeed reasonable.”

Yang Lie spoke slowly, his voice much lower and more solemn, lacking the previous sharpness.

"However, it is easier said than done."

The core of the Tang Clan's thousand-year heritage is the word 'killing,' which has long been ingrained in their very bones and integrated into the very breath and exhalation of every skill.

Sharpening a blade into a plowshare is no easy task.

The disciples in the sect receive this kind of training from a young age, and their concepts and skills are already ingrained.

A sudden shift in strategy is unlikely to be achieved overnight and could even provoke internal backlash, damaging the very foundation of the business.

He picked up his cup of tea, which had long since gone cold, and unconsciously ran his fingertips along the inside of the cup, as if touching the heavy and cold history of the Tang Clan.

Zhao Zhen took in Yang Lie's struggles, but her expression remained calm.

"Brother Yang, with the stability of the country and the gradual improvement of the law, the business of murder will definitely be gradually eliminated in the future."

If the Tang Clan does not consider transformation, it will inevitably be eliminated by society in the future.

In my opinion, besides your skills in killing, the Tang Clan also possesses many other skills that can help you establish a firm foothold in the future, and even grow stronger.

After saying that, Zhao Zhen leaned forward slightly, his eyes flashing with insight.

"Firstly, its toxicology is so sophisticated that it far surpasses that of ordinary medicine."

If the Tang Clan could detach itself from purely lethality and focus on pharmacological research and the solution of intractable diseases.

The value of developing drugs for anesthesia, stimulating potential, or suppressing supernatural abilities for special medical scenarios is immeasurable.
This is the path of "healing the sick and helping the world," which, though unconventional, allows one to accumulate merit and do good deeds, and also grants access to irreplaceable resources.

Secondly, the Tang Clan's mechanical arts are so exquisite that the phrase "exquisite and unparalleled" is the most fitting description.

If it could be used to protect important figures and core secret locations, and to set up an early warning and defense system that is difficult for ordinary people to detect, how could it be compared to ordinary security?
This is the 'impregnable' path, designed specifically for the most demanding 'needs'.

Zhao Zhen paused, watching the light gradually brighten in Yang Lie's eyes, and continued:
"The key lies in positioning. The Tang Clan doesn't need to be everyone, it just needs to be the 'only one' in a certain irreplaceable field."

This requires everyone in the sect to work together, re-examine the skill system, strip away the purely killing aspects, and extract its core principles and application scenarios.

To achieve this, a leader with vision and courage is needed to guide the Tang Clan members out of their comfort zones and explore new rules of survival.

This process will inevitably be accompanied by growing pains, but it's better than stagnating in the tide of the times, ultimately becoming marginalized, or even gradually suppressed by the company under the pretext of "safety hazards," until it declines.

"Labor pains..."

Yang Lie murmured the word repeatedly, his gaze becoming profound. He recalled the old sect leader Tang Bingwen holding his hand tightly before his death, his eyes filled with worry for the future—how similar this was to what Zhao Zhen was saying now.

At this moment, Yang Lie seemed to see two paths before him: one was to guard the family business and gradually wither away under pressure and alienation.

The other path is to forge ahead through thorns and brambles, striving for a chance to rise from the ashes in the unknown.

The risks are enormous, but opportunities also lie within them.

Just then, a very faint sound of footsteps, almost blending into the air, came from afar, as light as a leaf falling to the ground.

The newcomer had clearly concealed his aura; if Zhao Zhen hadn't reached the pinnacle of cultivation and possessed perception far exceeding that of ordinary people, he would have been almost impossible to detect.

The door to the reception room was silently pushed open a crack.

A faint yet uniquely delicate fragrance quietly spread out.

This fragrance is unlike ordinary floral and fruity scents; it carries a faint, bitter herbal note, mixed with an indescribable, chilling aura that seems to have been tempered a thousand times, like a poisonous poppy quietly blooming in the dark night—dangerous and alluring.

A figure appeared at the door.

The person who came was dressed in a neatly tailored coarse cloth outfit, which outlined his thin body.

Time has left its mark on her face; fine lines have appeared at the corners of her eyes. Her eyes, once lively and cunning, now hold a more complex and profound look, and they are fixed intently on Zhao Zhen.

Her hair was tied up with a simple wooden hairpin, with a few stray strands falling beside her cheeks, adding to her mature charm.

The visitor was none other than Lu Huizhong, an old friend whom Zhao Zhen hadn't seen for many years.

"It seems I've arrived at the wrong time?" Lu Huizhong said with a smile.

"No, you came just in time."

Zhao Zhen laughed heartily, and seeing his old friend after so long made him very happy.

"Manager, what are you talking about with Chairman Zhao?"

Lu Huizhong walked into the reception room and, without any ceremony, sat down on an empty chair.

"Let's talk about the future of the Tang Clan."

Yang Lie answered frankly.

"The future of the Tang Clan? What future can the Tang Clan possibly have?"
It's just like now, living in training and dying in missions. Isn't that fine?

"Sister Lu, times have changed..."

A bitter smile appeared on Yang Lie's lips.

"Putting aside everything else, just take the incident a while ago when the company sent people to forcibly demand that we gradually dismantle the internal mechanisms of the Tang Clan."

The times are vastly different now than they were back then.

"Hmm, it does seem to have changed quite a bit..."

As she said this, Lu Huizhong's eyes were fixed on Zhao Zhen.

Zhao Zhen could only silently continue drinking his tea.

At this point, even if Yang Lie were slow to realize, he should have understood that his presence here was probably in the way.

Thinking of this, Yang Lie also stood up and clasped his hands in a fist salute to Zhao Zhen.

"Brother Zhao, your words today are a great kindness, like being given a second chance. On behalf of the entire Tang Clan, Yang Lie thanks you very much..."

(End of this chapter)