You're Dead (1)
Tang Seo-yeon's daily life flowed in quiet solitude.
There was no one else in the manor where she stayed.
The maid who brought her meals would leave the manor immediately after finishing her duties, leaving her to live almost entirely abandoned in the vast estate.
Within those walls, Tang Seo-yeon did nothing.
Aside from eating at set times, she spent her days in absolute, empty silence.
Like someone preparing for the end of her life. But then...
"..."
Tang Seo-yeon, who had been trying to sleep, opened her eyes.
Rising from her bed, she threw on an outer robe and a veil before stepping outside.
The manor was as silent and empty as ever. And yet...
"For what business have you come to find me?"
Tang Seo-yeon spoke calmly.
Her voice drifted through the dark night air.
And after a brief silence.
"Impressive."
A masked man emerged from the darkness.
Or rather, men.
They began appearing from all directions, one by one, their numbers steadily growing until they exceeded a hundred.
One of them stepped forward and spoke.
"A daughter of the Tang Family is still a daughter of the Tang Family, I see. And here I thought we had completely concealed our presence."
Tang Seo-yeon gazed calmly at the masked men.
As he said, she was indeed a daughter of the Tang Family, no matter how fallen.
And once, she had dedicated herself to martial arts more passionately than anyone.
She had held onto the hope that if she mastered poison arts and could completely suppress her toxic energy, she might live a normal life like everyone else.
Though that hope had proven futile, the martial prowess she had accumulated over the years had not vanished.
There was no way she would fail to notice the approach of over a hundred intruders.
"For what purpose have you come to find me?"
Tang Seo-yeon calmly asked for their business.
Her voice was so serene it sounded as if she were welcoming guests to her home.
"You ask the obvious. Did you think we came here to share a cup of tea?"
"..."
"Our target is you. Tang Seo-yeon of the Myriad Poisons Body."
The intruder boldly declared that she, the possessor of the Myriad Poisons Body, was their target. With those words, Tang Seo-yeon could guess their identity.
There were only about two sects that would covet a toxic entity as lethal as the Myriad Poisons Body.
The Orthodox faction's Sichuan Tang Family, and...
"You are from the Doksu Sect."
The Doksu Sect, one of the Sado-palmun.
They were the leaders of the Unorthodox faction who specialized in poisons, much like the Sichuan Tang Family.
"Quick-witted, aren't you?"
"..."
"I will give you a choice. Will you come quietly? Or will you be dragged away by force?"
As the masked leader raised his hand, the surrounding intruders drew their weapons.
Amidst them, Tang Seo-yeon let out a soft sigh.
"I must decline both. No matter how I look at it, it does not seem you intend to take me for any good purpose..."
"Very well. Then we shall take you by force."
Tang Seo-yeon let out a soft chuckle.
"And how do you plan to do that?"
The leader raised his hand to signal. At that exact moment...
Clang-clang-clang!
Iron chains adorned with Poison-Avoiding Beads flew in from all directions.
They wrapped tightly around Tang Seo-yeon in an instant.
Soon, dozens of chains bound her without leaving a single gap, and the masked leader spoke triumphantly.
"We already know how to suppress you. We have used twice as many Poison-Avoiding Beads as the Tang Family does..."
Crack.
But then...
Cracks began to spiderweb across the Poison-Avoiding Beads binding Tang Seo-yeon.
One, two, three...
Unable to withstand the strain, the beads shattered.
The chains binding her also succumbed to the corrosive poison and fell to the ground.
As Tang Seo-yeon was slowly revealed, a thick, dark green toxic fog began to seep from her body.
"You wench..."
Tang Seo-yeon brushed the remnants of the rusted chains off her shoulders.
"The only reason my family was able to restrain me was because I cooperated."
"..."
"I have no obligation to do the same for you."
"..."
"Let me ask you once more."
"..."
"How exactly do you plan to take me?"
The moment she finished speaking, toxic energy erupted from her body like an explosion.
Aside from the recent time she had lost her temper, this was the first time in her life she had unleashed her poison of her own free will.
Faced with such overwhelming power, the experts of the Doksu Sect took a step back without realizing it.
Their leader frowned and muttered.
"She's a monster."
Yet, that only made her an even more desirable prize.
"Go! Capture her, even if it costs you your lives!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Understood!"
The Doksu Sect experts lunged at Tang Seo-yeon from all sides.
They rushed forward in perfect, disciplined unison, holding Poison-Avoiding Beads in their mouths and brandishing poison-coated blades. However...
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Against the essence of poison erupting like an active volcano, they were nothing but moths to a flame.
"Aaargh!"
"Gaaah!"
Those who charged fell to the ground screaming in agony before they could even touch her.
Though they held Poison-Avoiding Beads in their mouths, it was useless.
The poison Tang Seo-yeon unleashed with full intent was simply too overwhelming.
Seeing this, a man approached the masked leader.
"This is bad. What are you going to do?"
"What do you mean?"
"We cannot afford for this operation to fail! Do you understand that?"
He did not seem to belong to the Doksu Sect.
The Doksu Sect leader sneered.
"Why? Are you getting scared now?"
"If I die, I'm not dying alone."
"Hmph, I'm sure."
The Doksu Sect leader glanced at the battlefield.
It was indeed a spectacular sight.
No living thing could approach within a certain distance of Tang Seo-yeon.
That distance was...
"About thirty feet."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Shut up and watch."
He then barked a new order to his subordinates.
"I don't care if you have to cut off her limbs! Just keep her alive and capture her!"
The subordinates nodded and changed their tactics. Instead of approaching Tang Seo-yeon directly, they circled her and began throwing weapons.
Swish! Whoosh!
Sharp blades and throwing weapons rained down on Tang Seo-yeon from all directions. She dodged and deflected the attacks, unleashing poison-infused palm strikes in return.
Bang! Boom!
Her poison-laden strikes were lethal enough to kill instantly upon contact. However...
"Mmh..."
She could barely hit her targets.
Before her hands could even move, the enemies anticipated her gaze and dodged. Tang Seo-yeon's strikes hit nothing but empty air.
On the other hand...
Thuck!
"Ugh..."
A flying dagger embedded itself in her thigh.
She was no stranger to pain, but the problem was that her leg was now injured.
Without a solid stance, the power of one's martial arts is halved. Though her palm strikes remained powerful, they slowed down drastically, leaving gaping openings.
"Heh, she fights like someone who has only ever faced straw dummies."
Watching her struggle, the masked leader sneered.
Her level of cultivation was decent.
Even putting aside the trait of the Myriad Poisons Body, it was impressive for someone her age.
But that was only in terms of raw achievement.
Even someone who could perform at a hundred percent in practice would struggle to show the same level of skill in a real battle.
If it was their very first real fight, they would be lucky to display even twenty or thirty percent of their ability.
"She focused her martial arts entirely on controlling toxic energy. Am I right?"
"You are correct. There is no one in the Tang Family who would spar with her..."
"Yes, it shows."
No matter how high their cultivation, an inexperienced martial artist was nothing but a strong novice.
To the Unorthodox faction, an inexperienced young expert of the Orthodox faction was merely a mouth-watering prey.
As more and more weapons lodged themselves in her body, Tang Seo-yeon realized.
I can't go on like this.
Though this was her first real battle, she knew she was at a disadvantage.
At this rate, she would exhaust her strength and be captured. She didn't know what they wanted, but they certainly wouldn't use the Myriad Poisons Body for anything good. In that case...
I'll take down as many of them as I can.
Perhaps blood really did tell.
Though she had spent her entire life suppressing herself to avoid harming others, she was still of the Tang bloodline.
With the fierce determination to not die alone, she began to condense her internal energy into her dantian.
Hummmmm.
The moment the masked leader saw this, he shouted in panic.
"Fall back, everyone!"
But it was already too late.
Having compressed her toxic energy to its absolute limit, Tang Seo-yeon unleashed it. For the first time in her life, she had intentionally driven her poison into a frenzy.
Whoosh!
A dense, dark green toxic fog instantly blanketed the entire manor.
"Cough... Ack..."
"Aaargh!"
Those who failed to escape couldn't even take two breaths before vomiting blood and dying. And...
"Huff... Huff..."
Tang Seo-yeon pressed both hands to the ground, panting heavily.
Why?
She couldn't understand.
She had unleashed her poison with the clear intention of dying.
Yet, at the very last second, she had held back a fraction of her power instead of detonating it all.
Because of that, many of the masked enemies survived, but so did she.
Why did I do that?
She couldn't comprehend her own actions.
The masked leader approached her.
"Incredible. You are a monster beyond my imagination."
"..."
"With you, we might actually fulfill the long-cherished wish of our Doksu Sect."
"I won't... Ugh!"
Tang Seo-yeon tried to stand and fight again, but a thin flying needle struck her, sealing her acupoints.
"Sleep quietly."
With that, Tang Seo-yeon collapsed. The masked intruders wrapped her tightly in chains adorned with Poison-Avoiding Beads and carried her away.
The abduction of Tang Seo-yeon.
This was discovered the following morning by the maid who went to deliver her meal.
Upon arriving at the manor, she found it littered with corpses that had vomited blood, and Tang Seo-yeon herself was gone.
The maid immediately reported this to the family, and Tang Myeong, the Head of the Tang Family, instantly mobilized his secret agents.
"Find my daughter. Turn all of Sichuan upside down if you must, but find her!"
"Yes, sir!"
"And Tang Chan!"
"Yes, Family Head."
"Contact the Emei and Qingcheng sects immediately to request their cooperation. Show them Seo-yeon's portrait and ask for their help directly in my name."
"Understood."
Tang Myeong ordered a full-scale search, but his face was filled with deep anxiety.
Will we be able to find her?
The culprits possessed enough strength to infiltrate Sichuan and abduct a daughter of the Tang Family.
Would such people easily leave a trail?
By nature, searching was far more difficult than hiding.
Even more so when the life or death of his daughter was completely unknown.
I must find her as quickly as possible...
His heart burning with anxiety, Tang Myeong squeezed his eyes shut.
The worst-case scenarios kept swirling in his mind, making it impossible for him to sit still. But just then...
"Family Head. Someone is requesting an audience."
At the servant's words, Tang Myeong snapped irritably.
"I do not wish to see anyone right now. Turn them away unless it is of the utmost importance."
The servant bowed and withdrew.
However, he returned a moment later.
"Family Head. Young Master Han Cheong-un, a guest of the Tang Family, requests an audience. He says he has a way to find the young lady."
"What?!"
In that instant, Tang Myeong rushed outside.
Instead of summoning Han Cheong-un inside, he went out to meet him personally. And then...
"Is that true?"
He didn't bother asking for explanations.
Right now, the only thing that mattered was whether his daughter could be found.
To this, Han Cheong-un replied...
"Yes. It is possible."
"What do you need? I will provide whatever assistance you require."
He wouldn't care even if Han demanded a fortune.
Finding his daughter was the absolute priority. To the desperate father, Han Cheong-un said...
"I need Young Master Tang Jin."
"Why him?"
"Young Master Tang Jin is the one who created the tracking scent marked on Lady Tang Seo-yeon. Without him, it will be difficult to track her."
"Huh? What?"
The Head of the Sichuan Tang Family wore a completely blank expression.
It seemed this was something he had not anticipated in the slightest.