The Serpent That Devours Its Tail
Myeonghwa Palace — early afternoon, around one o'clock.
Ouyang Qiangang, with Akasha at his side, set about investigating everything there was to know about Myeonghwa Palace. Thanks to the special decree handed down by the Emperor himself, no one dared stand in his way. But he did not simply begin digging blindly — he started with logical deduction.
'Akasha, run a more detailed analysis of the toxic substance in Her Highness's body.'
"The analysis is already complete, Doctor. This poison has a property that makes it grow stronger when it reacts with yang qi or vital energy. It is as if it has been feeding and growing on your treatment energy."
'Then this poison must have been administered to Her Highness recently. Regularly, at that — and by a method that would never arouse suspicion.'
As he swept his gaze around the bedchamber, Ouyang Qiangang organized the possibilities in his head.
'There are four main routes for delivering a poison: food, bedding, cosmetics, and inhalation through incense or the very air. Of the four, the most suspicious is...'
His eyes came to a stop on the incense burner.
'The incense. It is replaced every day, and once burned it becomes smoke that drifts naturally into the body. Better still, the incense itself is supplied from outside — easy to tamper with.'
He spoke. 'Akasha, examine the incense.'
A moment later, Akasha's voice returned, carrying a note of faint excitement.
"Doctor, I've found it. I detected an anomalous substance in the burnt-out incense stick in the burner. It is colorless and odorless, yet it harbors potent toxicity. However, burning it alone will not cause poisoning."
'Just as I thought. You're saying the toxicity activates the moment it combines with the Pure Yang True Qi I infused?'
"Precisely. That is why Her Highness's condition worsened when you treated her."
'Hmm... then who placed this in the burner? A palace maid would be the most likely candidate, wouldn't she?'
"Most likely."
Ouyang Qiangang summoned every palace maid assigned to Myeonghwa Palace to a single hall. There were twelve of them in all, and Chief Seal-Holding Grand Eunuch Sang On stood watching from the side.
Ouyang Qiangang addressed them. "Is there anyone among you who has recently replaced Her Highness's incense?"
The maids exchanged glances and murmured among themselves.
"We... we take turns attending to it."
"Who was on duty last night?"
One of the maids raised her hand — a young woman with a sweet, pretty face who looked to be about twenty.
"I... I was on duty."
Ouyang Qiangang walked over to her. "What is your name?"
"C-Chae-ryeon, sir."
"Doctor, I am detecting a highly unusual brainwave pattern from this maid."
'What do you mean?'
"Her brain is producing a composite waveform — a grotesque fusion of alpha and theta waves. Moreover, the amplitude of that composite wave is being modulated to more than three times the strength of ordinary brain activity."
The color drained from Ouyang Qiangang's face.
"A pattern like this could never arise naturally. It is as though someone is artificially forcing a specific frequency into her brain from outside, manipulating her conscious and subconscious minds at the same time."
'Don't tell me... this is the Soul-Seizure Art?'
"I cannot say for certain, but this is no simple memory manipulation — the information-processing system of the brain itself has been physically altered. It would be impossible for anyone lacking extraordinarily advanced skill."
His eyes sinking deep, Ouyang Qiangang asked the maid, "Do you remember what you did last night?"
Chae-ryeon answered haltingly. "Yes... I changed Her Highness's bedding... tidied the room... and replaced the incense..."
As she spoke, her eyes grew hazy, the focus draining from them.
"And then... and then..."
A gleam of divine light, sharp as forked lightning, flashed from Ouyang Qiangang's eyes.
'Akasha, can you undo the Soul-Seizure Art?'
"It should be possible. Initiating memory restoration protocol."
Akasha dispatched a minuscule swarm of nanobots into Chae-ryeon's brain. At the same time, Ouyang Qiangang spoke to the maid in a low, steady voice.
"Chae-ryeon. Take your time and try to remember. You cannot recall what happened last night?"
"Ughhh..." Chae-ryeon groaned, clutching her head. Inside her brain, the nanobots were hunting down the frequency of the Soul-Seizure Art and transmitting a counter-signal.
"Someone... someone came to me..."
Suddenly, a deep terror shadowed her eyes.
"I... I remember! Last night... someone came to see me!"
"Who was he?"
"A man in black... his face hidden behind a mask... he gave me this incense and told me I must place it in Her Highness's burner before dawn broke..."
Chae-ryeon abruptly began to tremble all over, like an aspen in the wind.
"I... I'm scared of him... His eyes... his eyes were red like a beast's..."
"Did he have any distinguishing features?"
"On his wrist... on his wrist..."
"What was there?"
"A small... a small serpent tattoo... it was biting its own tail..."
Thud. The maid's eyes rolled back until only the whites showed, and she crumpled to the floor as though her body had simply come apart.
"Doctor, the artificial true-qi wave that was suppressing the maid's brain has vanished. She is in a temporary state of shock from the backlash. Her life is not in danger."
The other maids, startled, hurried to support her, and Ouyang Qiangang sent them all away.
'A serpent devouring its own tail... Akasha, do you have any information on this emblem?'
"There is no matching record in this world's database. However, cross-referencing against Earth's ancient mythological data, it corresponds to the Ouroboros — a symbol of 'eternity,' 'destruction,' and 're-creation.'"
Only Chief Seal-Holding Grand Eunuch Sang On now remained in the room. Ouyang Qiangang turned to him.
"Grand Eunuch Sang On, I will now begin Her Highness's treatment in earnest. Until I call for you again, no one — no one at all — is to set foot inside this room."
Displeasure rose on Sang On's face. This man dared issue orders to him, the Emperor's most trusted confidant? But the moment his eyes met Ouyang Qiangang's intense, unfathomable gaze, he heard himself swallow drily.
"Please convey to His Majesty that once Her Highness's condition has been stabilized, I will present myself and report to him in person."
"...Very well."
Sang On left Myeonghwa Palace in silence, his expression frozen stiff.
The Emperor's study — late afternoon, around four o'clock.
Ouyang Qiangang sat alone with the Changsung Emperor, facing him across a table. Resting a hand on the half-burnt incense stick laid upon it, he opened his mouth.
"Your Majesty, the sudden worsening of Her Highness's condition was the work of this object."
"Is this not incense?"
"It appears to be perfectly ordinary incense. But it was permeated with a microscopic venom invisible to the naked eye."
A pained groan escaped the Changsung Emperor's lips. "Hmm..."
"This poison is a most peculiar one. Left alone, it is entirely harmless — but the instant it meets Pure Yang True Qi, the two combine and it transforms into a deadly toxin."
"Pure Yang True Qi, you say?"
"The internal energy I infuse in order to treat Her Highness. The poison is designed to activate upon contact with it. It was a trap — crafted so that my treatment would appear to be the very thing harming Her Highness."
The Changsung Emperor held his breath as the full picture dawned on him. The sheer meticulousness of the scheme seemed to raise gooseflesh on his skin.
"Then who could have... such a poison..."
"When I investigated the maids, I found that someone had used the Soul-Seizure Art to enslave a maid named Chae-ryeon, compelling her to place this poisoned incense in the burner of Her Highness's chamber."
The Changsung Emperor's brows twitched. "The Soul-Seizure Art, you say?"
"Yes. A memory-warping sorcery of the Serpent-Demon heterodox path. Chae-ryeon did not even know what she had done."
Every trace of expression drained from the Changsung Emperor's face. A terrible fury smoldered in his eyes.
"Then... all of this is the work of a conspiracy?"
"It is."
"Hoo..." Exhaling a long breath to quell his rage, the Emperor asked, "Have you removed the poison from her body completely?"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
After a moment of silence, the Changsung Emperor spoke in a voice cold as an ice sheet. "That serpent dared to pour poison beneath Our very throne. We shall drag its identity into the light — and exterminate it root and branch."
Ouyang Qiangang answered with his head bowed. "I have not yet identified them with certainty, but the odds are high that they belong to the same faction as those who struck down the Crown Prince."
"Hmm..."
"They are a vast organization with roots buried deep within the imperial house. We must proceed with greater caution than ever before."
Killing intent kindled in the Changsung Emperor's eyes. That a hidden power had toyed with his son and daughter for decades — and that it had all unfolded right under his nose — set his blood boiling.
At that very moment, the study door swung open and Sang On came scurrying in at a frantic trot, his face bloodless.
"Your Majesty! Grave news!"
"What matter could cause such an uproar?"
"The maid Chae-ryeon... Chae-ryeon... she is dead, Your Majesty."
The Changsung Emperor's eyes widened. "What did you say?"
Drawing breath, Sang On hurried on. "She was found dead in her quarters, looking for all the world as though she had simply fallen asleep."
Ouyang Qiangang's face turned to stone.
"How did she die?" the Emperor demanded.
"That is..." Sang On's voice shook harder still. "The door of her room was bolted fast from within. Every window was locked as well, and there was no trace of intrusion whatsoever. It is a death as though she were claimed by a ghost."
The Changsung Emperor and Ouyang Qiangang looked at one another.
"You say there were no wounds either?"
"None at all, Your Majesty, they say. Only... her face was contorted in the extremity of terror, and there were marks where she had raked her own throat with her fingernails."
The Changsung Emperor's fist clenched tight as he muttered in a voice thick with fury. "...These bastards."
When he next spoke, giving his orders to Sang On, his voice brimmed over with rage and killing intent. "Grand Eunuch. See to it that the maid's death is investigated without the slightest omission. The culprit must be taken, whatever it costs."
"As you command, Your Majesty."
Once Sang On had backed out of the room, Ouyang Qiangang spoke. "Your Majesty, you must exercise still greater caution from this point on. Their abilities may prove far more dangerous than anything you can imagine."
The Changsung Emperor's gaze hardened like forged steel. "Devote yourself to Myeonghwa's treatment. As for Us — We will uncover exactly who these wretches are, that they dare trample the imperial house within Our own palace."
A secret chamber beneath a certain manor in the Imperial Capital.
In a darkness lit only by the flicker of a single candle, a man in a black mask knelt on the floor. Across from him, a figure in a grotesque ghost mask — the Lord — sat in a chair, looking down upon him.
"Failure..."
The Lord's voice, breaking the long silence, was laced with bewilderment. In all his decades, he had never once tasted failure.
The masked man's shoulders trembled almost imperceptibly.
"Hahu Gang's abilities exceeded my... my expectations."
"He even unraveled the Soul-Seizure Art I had cast upon the maid Chae-ryeon. I never imagined he would possess the power to undo it through the art of medicine."
"You dealt with the maid, I trust?"
"Yes — every trace of evidence has been destroyed. But the Changsung Emperor's fury burns too hot, and the Dongchang secret police and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, acting on his orders, have launched a full-scale investigation. For the time being, it would be prudent not to move..."
The Lord's voice turned to ice as he cut him off. "For decades, we have never failed. Not once. And now, at this late hour, you propose we cower before a single physician?"
"Forgive me, my Lord."
"If Princess Myeonghwa lives and the Crown Prince's illness comes to light, our grand design is doomed to fail. And if that day comes..."
Fear pooled darkly beneath his words. Should they fail, he knew full well that his own death would be all but certain.
The masked man spoke. "Hahu Gang must die."
"Naturally. But if Hahu Gang is murdered, the Emperor will surely order a high-intensity investigation, and our tails could be caught in the net. Our own forces must not be deployed."
"The Master of the Blood Sea Gate has arrived in the Imperial Capital."
"Him?"
"Yes. The information we have says he drifted here in the course of hunting someone down — though the object of his pursuit has yet to be identified."
"That is no concern of ours."
The Lord went on, his voice stripped of all warmth. "Commission the Blood Sea Heaven Killer to take Hahu Gang's life."
The masked man bowed his head. "By your command!"