The Land of Poison and the Blood Land (1)
Dang Muk was stunned. How is this possible?!
The Galhaeng Jeoneum was a secret sound transmission technique unique to the Sichuan Tang Family, different in its fundamental principles from the transmission arts used by other martial artists of the Jianghu.
The reason such a technique had been created lay in the Tang Family’s extreme insularity.
It was no empty boast that they controlled poison and hidden weapons. Since the Tang Family’s founding, no other sect had produced martial arts so systematic and arcane.
The secrecy was calculated so perfectly that no one could even conceive a method to break it. The Galhaeng Jeoneum was a secret art of the Tang Family that no one short of a supreme expert from the Heavenly Realm could eavesdrop upon.
Yet that very secret art had been pierced through in a single instant, even though the one who did it was the head of the Tang clan. Impossible!
The Galhaeng Jeoneum itself was a study that could not be learned without the patriarch’s permission. That was why restrictions had been placed on teaching the secret poison arts and hidden weapon techniques, and in truth, not many members of the Tang Family had ever mastered it.
Indeed. Not many. At least until ten years ago.
But after Nakwonso was established, the warriors trained in the shadows had learned not only the Galhaeng Jeoneum but the Tang Family’s poison arts and hidden weapon skills with ruthless thoroughness.
Noksu Jurui was no exception. The majority of those who worked there were Tang Family members, and every one of them had been recruited by Dang Ho.
And they had learned only the Galhaeng Jeoneum. Perhaps for that reason, their proficiency surpassed even most direct bloodline members.
What mattered was that the secrecy of the Galhaeng Jeoneum made no distinction between outsiders and members of the Tang Family.
Even an absolute expert who had shattered the wall of martial limits could not eavesdrop on more than five parts out of ten. In other words, unless Dang Gwan had broken into the Peerless Realm, it should have been impossible for him to overhear an eighty-percent mastery of the technique.
How can this be? Don’t tell me the patriarch has already…?!
At that moment, Dang Gwan spoke.
The elders swallowed dryly.
Dang Gwan’s expression grew languid.
"Surely you didn’t believe the position of patriarch of the Tang clan was something that could be claimed simply by being a little stronger in martial arts?"
The elders swallowed again, harder this time.
"To become the head of the Tang clan, one must possess the martial strength to subdue every direct blood relative within thirty-three moves."
"…?!"
"You wouldn’t know. That proof is carried out through the previous generation’s rigorous test, and even that is merely one of several trials required to become patriarch."
"……"
"It is not a question of whose martial arts is stronger or weaker. The patriarch of the Tang clan is the one who holds the life-threads of everyone in the family in one hand and shakes them at will. It is not a seat that can be ascended without power equal to that responsibility."
Even if one’s martial realm was superior, could they face all those direct-line experts at once?
Impossible. Not even a supreme expert of the Heavenly Realm could do such a thing.
And because it turned the impossible into reality, the position of Tang Family patriarch was not one just anyone could claim.
A person capable of killing an equal expert with a single unconventional poison art or one stealthy hidden weapon strike.
The incarnation of poison and shadow who could seize control of his subordinate poison users’ inner energy with a wave of his hand and deflect a downpour of hidden weapons with a single shout.
That was the Tang Family Head.
He might be at a disadvantage against the leaders of other clans, but he possessed the capacity to snort in derision even when his own family members swarmed him in droves. He was, quite literally, the king of Sichuan who represented the Tang name.
"Do you know why I am telling you all this?"
Dang Gwan filled his empty cup once more.
"Because I am going to kill you anyway."
"F-Family Head?!"
"If you thought I would be merciful enough to spare traitors, that too is a misunderstanding. I have no intention of letting a single person involved in this rebellion live. However…"
Dang Gwan raised his cup.
The fragrance wafting right beneath his nose was fiercely potent.
"The only difference is whether I grant you a comfortable death or one so painful you will beg for it."
The elders’ faces turned deathly pale.
When Dang Gwan emptied his cup in one clean motion, Dang Muk spoke.
"There appears to be a misunderstanding, Family Head."
"Misunderstanding."
"We came to serve you, Family Head. Why would you commit such an outrageous act?!"
"Those words alone are already an act of insolence toward me."
Dang Gwan gave a chilling smile.
"To dare question the actions of the Tang Family Head?"
"……!!"
"Did Ho-ah tempt you? Did he say he would change the family’s traditions? That he would create a flexible, moral clan instead of one that is harsh and uncompromising?"
"Family Head!"
"You worthless vermin!"
BANG!
Dang Gwan’s fist slammed into the table.
"You couldn’t even restrain that half-baked brat’s insane ambition, and instead you old fools let yourselves get swept up in it. Not only have you tarnished the name of a family that has stood for hundreds of years, you even brought troops to capture your own patriarch?! Have you all lost your minds?!"
The elders’ faces flushed crimson.
Not from excitement. Dang Gwan’s fierce rebuke, laced with terrifying inner energy, was shaking their dantians as if they were caught in a storm.
Dang Muk could not hide his shock. How is this possible?!
He knew Dang Gwan’s level of skill better than anyone.
Poison arts? Hidden weapon techniques? He had no idea about those. But he could swear that Dang Gwan’s inner energy had never been this powerful. At best, it had been only two stages above the head of the elders’ council.
But now? When in the world did he accumulate such vast inner energy?
It felt as if he had consumed the inner core of a poison spirit beast. His power was at least twice as strong as before.
It wasn’t merely the quantity of energy. It felt as though his martial arts itself had evolved. Within the vicious, merciless energy, one could sense the dignity of a true sovereign. A new poison art.
Dang Gwan slowly drained his cup. Even as he drank, his eyes never left the three elders.
Under that murderous gaze, the elders could only swallow nervously.
The atmosphere was overwhelming.
Not one of the supreme experts among them even considered fleeing. They could not even think of striking first or blinking.
Dang Gwan set his cup down.
"……"
"But very well."
The sound of the empty cup touching the table rang like thunder.
"Though I would love to lecture you for three full days and nights, it would be a waste of time to spend it on the likes of you."
"……"
"Given the circumstances, I will grant you one chance."
"……?"
A chance? What was he saying?
"I will spare only one of you three. That one will be sent as a messenger to Dang Ho. If you return in time, I will strip you of the Tang surname and exile you from Sichuan."
"……!"
"The other two will not be spared. Until dawn, you will pour sweat and filth from every pore of your bodies and die in agony."
A faint green glow flickered in Dang Gwan’s eyes.
In that instant, all three men felt goosebumps erupt across their skin.
Sssssss.
Translucent green smoke began to rise from Dang Gwan’s body.
The anger he had kept tightly controlled was slowly leaking out in the form of killing intent. Even that slight poisonous vapor made the air in the room so thick it was difficult to breathe.
"The first to kneel and admit his wrongdoing will be used as the messenger."
Srrrk.
Dang Gwan shifted his posture. He planted his left hand on the floor and raised his right leg. As the bottle in his right hand tilted, the empty cup slowly filled once more.
"If no one confesses within half a ke, none of you will be able to live or die properly. You will be recorded in the family’s history as traitors."
Dang Gwan emptied the cup in one smooth motion.
Even with the elders right in front of him, he seemed certain they would not dare attack. Such defenselessness was absolute.
That very attitude was proof of his total confidence. It was as if he was certain that even if all three elders launched a surprise attack together, he would not suffer the slightest injury.
……
A strange silence settled.
Within that silence, only the sound of the cup being filled and emptied could be heard.
How much time had passed?
Wooooong.
A faint dark-green sphere rose from the tip of Dang Gwan’s right hand.
It was then.
"Family Head!"
The elder on the right, Dang San, dropped to his knees.
"Please forgive me! Blinded by worthless greed, I have tarnished the name of our family!"
Dang Muk and the remaining elder, Dang Hu, stared at him in shock.
"Fourth Elder!!"
"Having acted with senile greed in my old age, this is a crime deserving a thousand deaths! If you could forgive this pitiful old man just once, I swear I will devote my loyalty so that such a thing never happens again!"
Dang Muk’s face twisted in fury.
"You insane bastard!"
His hand moved like lightning. He meant to crush Dang San’s neck.
It was then.
Crack!
The hand technique he had twisted his upper body to deliver stopped dead in mid-air.
Dang Muk’s fingertips halted half an inch from Dang San’s throat. His shoulder had been dislocated, grotesquely jutting outward.
Dang Muk’s face turned ashen.
Dang Gwan raised his cup and spoke.
"That was close. But since you seized the thread of opportunity, I will spare your life."
"Damn it all!"
Dang Hu sprang to his feet and swung both palms toward Dang Gwan.
"Die!"
Whoosh!
The poison palm roared forward in a swirling vortex.
But…
……!!
The poison palm that should have struck Dang Gwan’s body dispersed like smoke the instant it was released.
Shock flooded Dang Hu’s face. He could not believe his own palm force had scattered the moment it left his hands.
At that moment, a groan-like voice escaped Dang Muk.
The legendary neutralizing poison of the Tang Family, capable of dissolving almost any toxin.
"Oh ho."
Dang Gwan chuckled.
"Being one rank higher, you at least know something useful."
Hwagong Sinsan was a neutralizing poison that could dissolve most of the Tang Family’s toxins.
The problem was that not just anyone could wield it. Aside from the previous patriarch, there was no one who could perfectly calculate the exact dosage, timing, and degree of dispersion.
Moreover, Dang Hu’s poison palm had not been external poison but one born from inner energy.
To render even that useless, even the poison of a poison user who had broken through the wall of martial limits, just how complex a poison formula would need to be calculated?
Oh no!
Only then did Dang Muk realize the truth. Dang Gwan had already laid down the ultimate formation of Hwagong poison throughout the entire tavern before they had even arrived.
He had infused it with his own inner energy, creating his personal battlefield where he held absolute dominance within this domain.
This… this is…
Dang Muk swallowed hard.
This is the true power of the patriarch…!
Heavenly poison arts that could perfectly decompose and control ultra-high-grade substances no one else could even touch.
The greatest tactician of Sichuan, who claimed victory even before the enemy arrived and only then began the fight.
The highest authority in Tang clan martial arts, capable of suppressing every subordinate with nothing more than a handful of poison or a handful of hidden weapons.
"A promise,"
Dang Gwan’s pupils, already dyed dark green, gradually turned pitch black.
"must be kept, yes?"
Thud!
Dang Hu’s head snapped back violently and he collapsed where he stood.
Tremble, tremble, tremble.
His body convulsed wildly.
There was no scream, no groan. His eyes had rolled back to show only the whites. Black blood flowed from his nose, and foam gathered at the corners of his mouth.
He had been poisoned in an instant and plunged into unbearable agony. The same fate now claimed Dang Muk.
Watching the two men collapse to the floor and shake uncontrollably, Dang San swallowed nervously.
"Tell Dang Ho this."
Dang Gwan picked up the empty cup again.
"His older brother is waiting for him here. If he does not come quickly, he will be locked inside the deepest dungeon for the rest of his life and die in endless torment."
"Y-yes!"
"The poison I have placed in your heart will begin to act in half a shichen."
Dang Gwan waved the empty cup as if annoyed.
"Now go."