An old tree.
That was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the old man.
Inside the dark pavilion, partitioned off by cloth on all four sides, he stood alone with his back to us. He looked like an ancient tree that had lost every trace of life.
If he hadn’t slowly turned around the next moment, I might have thought he had already taken root in the floor.
“I see…”
Green light swirled in his eyes.
The old man—Tang Sadok, the Myriad-Poison Asura1—continued in a voice that hissed like a snake.
“You brought a letter?”
The middle-aged man answered.
“Yes, Uncle. Great Hero Mae Jonghak sent—”
“Did I ask you?”
“……!”
“This is no place for you. Leave.”
Realizing his mistake, the middle-aged man bowed silently and left the pavilion.
After coldly dismissing his own nephew with a few words, Tang Sadok leaned back in a leather chair.
Would you look at the presence on this old man.
The problem was, it was a villain’s presence.
From my first impression alone, I could have believed he belonged to the Demonic Cult rather than the orthodox faction.
I stepped forward beneath Tang Sadok’s gaze.
“I am Jin Taekyung of the Jin Family of Taiyuan. It is an honor to meet you, Great Hero Tang Sadok.”
Tang Sadok answered with an unreadable expression.
“I have heard that Senior Jeok took a Disciple in his later years. I also know of his ties to the Jin Family of Taiyuan.”
“Oh, really?”
That was a good sign.
Tang Sadok stroked his chin in thought, then abruptly spoke.
“His name was… Yes, the Blade of Flowers, Jin Baekyang. Now I remember.”
Good sign, my ass. That name pops up every time I’m about to forget it.
The Head Elder really must have been something in his day.
Then again, it made sense. He had been a Peak master who distinguished himself during the Great Faction War. It was hardly strange that he had formed friendships with other masters during that time.
He even said he’d met the Fire King once or twice.
Thanks to that, when I first met Jeok Cheongang, I got nailed with a Flame Divine Palm before I could explain the situation.
Tang Sadok stared at me and asked,
“How has Jin Baekyang been?”
“Well, you see…”
Before answering, I glanced around, ready to dodge in case a poisonous snake suddenly sprang out or a hidden weapon came flying at me.
“He passed away.”
“What?”
Yeah, I knew this was coming.
Tang Sadok’s eyes flew open, and I hurried to continue.
“It was an unfortunate accident. There were circumstances, of course. If you give me a little time, I can explain everything and clear up any misunderstandings—”
“No need.”
“Excuse me?”
“He was an obnoxious bastard. Every time people fawned over him and called him a Great Hero or a chivalrous knight, it soured my mood.”
“……”
“No martial artist dies without a reason. Once he is dead, that is the end of it.”
I was relieved that this had gone more smoothly than expected, but the old man’s personality was practically toxic.
Wasn’t he basically saying he was glad the obnoxious bastard was dead?
His personality is practically on Dark Heaven’s level.
Whether or not he sensed the suspicion taking root in my mind, Tang Sadok waved a hand irritably.
“Enough about the dead. Let us get to the point. Great Hero Mae Jonghak sent this old man a letter?”
“Yes. It’ll be faster if you read it yourself.”
I pretended to rummage through my robes and summoned the Sword Saint’s handwritten letter from my Inventory.
Tang Sadok took the letter and read it. The furrows between his brows deepened until a furious roar finally burst from his throat.
“Those goddamn bastards!”
Whoooom!
The pavilion shuddered beneath the force of his profound internal energy.
His green robes billowed as his fury erupted, and he ground out each word as though chewing it up and spitting it out.
“Is everything written here true?”
“Yes. It happened exactly as the letter says.”
The Sword Saint’s letter clearly summarized the events in Henan and asked Tang Sadok to provide every possible assistance in finding the Divine Physician to treat Jeok Cheongang.
“To think Senior Jeok’s condition is so grave…”
“Actually, there’s something I’d like to ask before we begin searching for the Divine Physician.”
The Sichuan Tang Clan was renowned throughout the martial world for its poisons and hidden weapons, but every member of the family was also a skilled physician.
And one among them stood at the very pinnacle.
I looked straight at Tang Sadok and asked,
“Could I meet the Grand Family Head?”
Poison King Tang Taesang.
A Supreme Peak master who had been called the greatest under heaven when it came to poisons and hidden weapons, even before the Great Faction War.
After dominating an entire era, he had passed the position of Family Head of the Sichuan Tang Clan to his only child twenty years ago and disappeared from public view.
That child was the old man standing before me now—Tang Sadok.
“We have no idea how many days it might take to find the Divine Physician. If the Poison King could examine my Master before then…”
“Enough.”
Tang Sadok cut me off, his face rigid.
“Impossible. That is this old man’s answer.”
“……!”
My heart sank at the unexpected response.
Poison King Tang Taesang might not have appeared in public for many years, but Tang Sadok clearly knew where he was.
Impossible. Tang Sadok knew, yet he was still refusing to help.
My voice trembled despite myself.
“W-Why?”
“I cannot say.”
“You cannot say?”
“Instead, I will assign several people to guide you. If you go to Qingcheng and Emei, they will gladly help you.”
What did I just hear?
This shock was several times greater than the first.
Tang Sadok’s words meant the Sichuan Tang Clan would not help us with this matter.
Well, it wasn’t as though they were offering no help whatsoever.
A few guides to take us to the Qingcheng Sect and Emei Sect.
That was it.
That was all the help we could expect from the Sichuan Tang Clan.
The back of my head tingled as though someone had clubbed me with an iron rod. Something hot surged up from deep within my chest.
“Is that all?”
“What more did you expect?”
“We need to find the Divine Physician!”
“That is your problem, not mine or our family’s. The fact that you brought a letter from Great Hero Mae Jonghak changes nothing. It was a request, and this old man refused it. That is all.”
The words lodged in my throat.
Everything Tang Sadok said was true. To him and the Sichuan Tang Clan, helping us was a choice, not an obligation.
Right. Of course it was.
Once I finally accepted the truth I had kept desperately denying, bitter disappointment and anger welled up inside me.
As I stood there at a loss for words, someone stepped forward with the sweet scent of snacks.
“I am Cheongpung of Huashan. It is an honor to meet you.”
So he had this side to him too.
Wearing an expression I had never seen before and speaking in an unfamiliar tone, Cheongpung offered a clasped-fist salute2 and continued.
“I do not know why you are refusing, Family Head, but if you help us, I will never forget this kindness.”
“I know you are Great Hero Mae Jonghak’s Disciple. One must be cautious when forming ties of gratitude and grudges3 in the martial world. Stop meddling in matters that do not concern you and step back.”
“I’m not meddling.”
“Then what are you doing?”
Cheongpung answered with a clear, unwavering gaze.
“My grandfather called it human compassion.”
“……!”
Tang Sadok regarded Cheongpung with a complicated expression, then shook his head.
“Even if Great Hero Mae Jonghak came here and asked me himself, this old man’s answer would remain the same.”
“But…”
Cheongpung, Gung Gibang, and Hyuk Mujin all started to speak at once, but I cut in first.
“What’s the reason?”
“The reason?”
“Even a stray mutt passing by knows how powerful the Sichuan Tang Clan is. So why the hell are you refusing?”
“And what will you do if I do not wish to tell you?”
“What will I do?”
I stared into Tang Sadok’s green eyes and answered,
“Then the ties of gratitude and grudges3 you mentioned will form between me and the Sichuan Tang Clan. And I should warn you—they won’t be the pleasant kind.”
“Hah. What a fearless brat.”
“Normally, I check where I’m lying before I stretch out my legs, but in this case, I’m in a bit—well, a lot—of a hurry.”
Jeok Cheongang had half a year left at most.
Even the greatest martial sects under heaven and the Imperial Court had failed to find the Divine Physician.
If Jeok Cheongang died because he could not receive treatment in time… If he died because the Sichuan Tang Clan had refused to help…
“Then I don’t know what I might do.”
When I finished speaking, suffocating silence descended upon the pavilion.
Tang Sadok studied me for a long time, his gaze deep and unfathomable. At last, his lips parted.
“I regret what happened to Senior Jeok.”
“If you’re sorry, why not help us?”
“This old man would like to. But what can I do? Our family does not have the strength to spare right now.”
No strength to spare?
The moment I heard those words, the scenes I had witnessed on the way here flashed through my mind.
An atmosphere so tense it bordered on murderous. Artisans working without rest. Weapons constantly being carried from one place to another.
“What the hell is going on?”
“Going on?”
Step.
Tang Sadok took a step toward me.
Perhaps it was due to the poison arts he had cultivated, but his green eyes gleamed more eerily than ever. Within them burned anger and grief.
“It has already happened. All that remains now is for our family to marshal its full strength and slaughter every last culprit involved.”
That was it.
That was why the Sichuan Tang Clan could not help us now.
That was why Tang Sadok had been so reluctant to explain himself, even after a green brat like me challenged him to his face.
That was why this took priority over finding the Divine Physician and saving the Fire King’s life—and why he had flatly refused to let me meet Poison King Tang Taesang.
“Don’t tell me…”
Perhaps he saw the realization on my face.
Tang Sadok met my wide-eyed stare and spoke in a voice thick with killing intent.
“By the time we received the news, it was already too late. Not one of his limbs had been left intact.”
Those words turned my suspicion into certainty.
Poison King Tang Taesang was dead.
“Hmm.”
The middle-aged man was of average height, with a round face and the sort of ordinary appearance one might see anywhere.
Leaning against the wall of a pitch-black cave, he carefully examined his forearm and muttered.
“This won’t do. The poison is vicious.”
He clicked his tongue softly.
He had done everything he could, but the best he had managed was to force all the poison into one arm.
“Poison King… He was fierce. More than I expected.”
Poison King Tang Taesang.
The expression on his face when he finally breathed his last was still vivid in the middle-aged man’s mind.
But the result left the middle-aged man in a difficult position.
He had succeeded in eliminating the Supreme Peak master known as the Poison King, yet failed to accomplish the more important task.
Not that I ever expected it to be easy.
With that thought, the middle-aged man abruptly brought the edge of his hand down on his left forearm.
A dazzling flash burst forth, and the severed forearm fell to the ground.
Schhk! Ssssss!
Poison-laden blood splattered across the cave, melting everything it touched. Acrid toxic smoke billowed into the air.
The small creatures watching the middle-aged man from hidden crevices died the instant the smoke reached them, never knowing what had happened.
Eek… Eeeek…
Listening to the bats’ dying shrieks, the middle-aged man walked out of the cave and grinned up at the blazing sunlight.
It was impossible to believe that smile belonged to a man who had just cut off his own arm.
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