A Taste of Your Own Medicine (2)
A terrifying explosion of poison qi erupted.
Throughout her life, Tang Seo-yeon had lost control of her energy and gone berserk several times.
Each time, the Shadow Flying Squad and the Family Head himself had stepped in to suppress it. But this time...
"G-Get back!"
"Everyone, retreat!"
The martial artists of the Shadow Flying Squad, who had calmed her rampages time and time again, scrambled backward in panic.
The moment they felt the erupting energy, they realized the truth.
This was not something they could hope to contain.
They lacked the specialized equipment normally used to subdue her, but even if they had it, the outcome would have been no different.
Sssssss...
The rapidly spreading poison withered the grass and trees at the slightest touch.
With her at the center, the entire area was transforming into a wasteland of death.
"What in the world is happening?"
The Family Head of the Tang Clan, Tang Myeong, arrived in a rush.
Tang Jin saw him and called out urgently.
"Father! Are you alright?"
"I am not what matters right now," Tang Myeong replied curtly.
The Family Head spoke with grim resolve.
Though he bore several injuries across his body, none of them appeared fatal.
Having dealt with the traitors of the Tang Family, he had rushed straight to this location.
"Has Seo-yeon lost control?"
"Yes, Father. We don't know why, but she suddenly..."
"Mmm..."
Tang Myeong bit his lip, staring ahead.
Normally, whenever Tang Seo-yeon went berserk, he would suppress the energy himself. But...
Can I do it in my current state?
The poison qi radiating from his daughter's body was stronger than ever before.
Moreover, he had already depleted eighty percent of his internal energy and hadn't even had time to circulate his qi to recover.
No, even if I were in peak condition...
It would be impossible to withstand that absurd poison qi. If there was any saving grace...
At least this area is sparsely populated.
Had Tang Seo-yeon unleashed this energy within the Tang Family estate, the majority of their clan would not have survived.
"First, we must seal off the perimeter. We will wait until Seo-yeon's energy subsides—"
It was then.
The rampaging poison qi surged forward as if possessed by a will of its own. Its target was...
"Huh?"
Tang Jin.
Caught completely off guard, Tang Jin froze.
It was a moment of life and death.
Fortunately, the Family Head was right beside him.
"Get out of the way!"
Tang Myeong shoved his son aside and thrust his hand toward the oncoming poison.
Boom!
Squeezing out every last drop of his remaining internal energy, the Family Head's palm strike barely managed to deflect the poison. But...
"Ugh..."
"Father!"
Tang Myeong coughed up blood and was thrown backward.
Tang Jin cried out at the sight.
His father roared back at him.
"Get a grip! It's not over yet!"
He was right.
The poison qi began to lash out indiscriminately at everything in its path.
"Aaargh!"
"Argh!"
Those caught in the expanding cloud of poison collapsed, screaming as blood poured from their eyes, nose, ears, and mouth.
From the lingering members of the Red Death Squad who hadn't fled in time, to the martial artists of the Sichuan Tang Family's Shadow Flying Squad.
Everyone present had become a target.
Tang Jin was no exception.
He instinctively prepared to throw himself out of the way of the incoming blast, but then he grit his teeth.
I can't dodge.
If he dodged, his father, who had exhausted his true qi, would take the hit. In that case...
"Hah!"
He summoned his true qi with grim resolve.
"*Cough...* What do you think you're doing? Move!"
His father's voice cracked with urgency, but Tang Jin did not budge.
Even if it meant his death, he would die before his father. That was the way of the Tang Clan—no, that was...
...simply what a son should do.
A lethal wave of poison qi surged toward him. Tang Jin brought both hands to his waist, preparing to unleash a double palm strike...
Boom!
But before he could thrust his hands forward, a man appeared, blowing away the poison with a strike so clean it felt like a breath of fresh air.
"Are you alright?"
It was Han Cheong-un.
Overwhelmed with relief at the sight of him, Tang Jin shouted without thinking.
"Leader Han!"
"Huh?"
"Eh?"
Both of them wore identical looks of confusion.
What did he just call me?
What did I just call him?
The two men stood bewildered. But...
"Look ahead, you fools!"
The situation was far too dire to indulge in idle curiosity. Snapped back to reality by the Family Head's roaring voice, Han Cheong-un looked forward.
What lay before him was...
"Tsk."
A towering wave of poison qi, rising higher than a man's height. Facing the malicious, terrifying onslaught, Han Cheong-un took his stance. And then...
Raging Flames
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
He thrust and thrust, striking without a single moment's rest.
He could not afford to stop his spear for even a fraction of a second.
Harnessing the pure Yang energy gathered at the tip of his spear, he incinerated the poison, pushing back the massive wave of toxic qi.
Amidst the continuous sonic booms, the deadly wave of poison gradually lost its strength and began to dissipate. Finally...
"Haaah!"
Crash!
Having cleared away the poison, Han Cheong-un stood with heaving shoulders, catching his ragged breath.
That was rough.
His arms felt as if they were about to fall off.
He had depleted a massive amount of his internal energy and physical stamina.
Yet, even with that desperate attack, he had barely managed to clear away ten percent of the massive toxic cloud.
To make matters worse, the dissipated poison qi was already swirling back together, restoring itself to its original size.
Still, he had succeeded in buying them a brief moment of breathing room. Han Cheong-un turned to Tang Jin and Tang Myeong.
"Are you two alright?"
"Thanks to you. But..."
The Family Head spoke as he watched the poison qi creep forward once more.
"It seems we are in grave danger."
"I agree."
Han Cheong-un nodded.
The poison qi began to shift in one direction.
It wasn't heading toward them.
But that was far from good news. If the poison qi continued along its current trajectory...
"Chengdu?"
Han Cheong-un's face turned pale.
If Tang Seo-yeon reached Chengdu in this state, it would trigger a massacre far more horrific than the Tang Family Bloodbath of his past life.
The Family Head, realizing this as well, forced himself to his feet.
"Step aside. I will handle this."
"What do you plan to do?"
"..."
The Family Head remained silent.
But Han Cheong-un knew instinctively what the man intended to do.
"Are you going to kill Lady Tang?"
"That... is the duty I must bear as her father."
"..."
He knew.
He knew better than anyone.
Because in his past life, the one who had to carry out that terrible task was none other than Tang Jin, his right-hand man and her own brother.
"I'm sorry, Seo-yeon. Please, never forgive this foolish brother of yours."
Tang Jin had pierced his sister's heart with a single flash of his blade. He had buried her with his own hands.
And before the grave he had dug, he had wept bitterly, begging for her forgiveness over and over again.
I came back to this life to prevent that tragedy. Am I going to let it repeat itself?
Han Cheong-un grabbed the Family Head's shoulder, stopping him.
"You cannot do this, Family Head."
"Step aside. There is no other way."
"And what makes you think you can even do it?"
"What?"
"You are so exhausted you can't even shake off my hand. Do you really think you can stop Lady Tang?"
Tang Myeong bit his lip.
Han Cheong-un's words hit the mark.
Even if he resolved to drag his daughter to the grave with him, it was highly doubtful his broken body could manage it. But...
"Move. Even if I fail to stop her, perhaps taking my life will appease her rage."
"What did you say?"
"If my life can soothe her anger, I will gladly give it. So..."
"Family Head. Lady Tang is currently under the control of a soul-controlling art."
"What?"
The Family Head stared at Han Cheong-un in shock. Han Cheong-un let out a sigh and explained.
"Just before her poison went out of control, I heard the sound of a bell—one designed to subjugate a person's mind."
"..."
"This is the work of a bastard named Gwiryeongdosa. He controls people's minds and turns them into his puppets."
Tang Myeong stared blankly at Han Cheong-un.
A soul-controlling art? Was such a thing truly possible?
As a seasoned veteran of the Jianghu, it was harder for him to accept a reality that defied his common sense. But more than that...
"How on earth do you know this?"
"That..."
He couldn't tell him.
Who would believe him if he claimed he had lived a past life and regressed?
It sounded even more absurd than soul-controlling arts.
Honestly, if Han Cheong-un were in the Family Head's shoes, he wouldn't believe himself either. But then...
"Father, let us trust Young Hero Han."
"Jin?"
"I heard the bell too. The moment it rang, both I and the members of the Shadow Flying Squad felt a splitting headache."
"Is that true?"
"Yes. And so far, Young Hero Han has never deceived or used us. We should..."
Tang Jin looked Han Cheong-un straight in the eye.
"...trust him."
At his son's words, the Family Head closed his eyes in deep thought. After a long sigh, he turned to Han Cheong-un.
"What do you need us to do?"
He decided to trust his son's judgment over his own.
Unlike himself, who had been blinded and manipulated by the Elders' Council, his son had never abandoned his humanity, even when rebelling against the family.
The path leading to Chengdu.
Standing in the middle of the road, Han Cheong-un steeled his resolve as he watched the massive cloud of poison slowly approach from the distance.
"I have no choice but to try."
Han Cheong-un had come to Sichuan to prevent the Tang Family Bloodbath and save his former vice-leader, Tang Jin, from his tragic fate.
Originally, he had assumed the rampage was triggered by Tang Seo-yeon's personal resentment over her suffering from the Myriad Poisons Body.
But he was wrong.
She was not someone who harbored enough malice to slaughter her own kin.
Suspecting an external factor, he had marked her with tracking incense and monitored the situation.
Sure enough, his suspicions were correct.
He discovered the Poison Hand Sect's involvement and believed he had finally uncovered the cause of the Tang Family Bloodbath. But...
That was also my mistake.
The true mastermind behind this was Gwiryeongdosa.
That horrific monster.
Throughout the two Great Wars between the Orthodox and Unorthodox factions, that freak had remained at the very top of the Wulin Alliance's assassination list for the longest time.
Even Han Cheong-un, who had led the Annihilation Squad and fought on the front lines, did not know Gwiryeongdosa's true identity.
He didn't know his name, his age, or even his gender.
All he knew was that the man was a strategist who pulled the strings of the Sado-palmun from the shadows, a Taoist master of the dark arts. And one of his specialties was a soul-controlling art triggered by the sound of a bell.
Once his thoughts reached that point, all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.
Why the Tang Family Bloodbath had occurred.
Why Tang Seo-yeon had later become a calamity, wandering the land and slaughtering countless innocent civilians.
Every single question was answered.
"I never knew this until the day I died in my past life. At least I've learned the truth now."
Han Cheong-un let out a sigh. Tang Jin approached and stood beside him.
"Young Hero Han, I brought it."
Tang Jin held out the Tang Family's secret elixir.
The Tears of the Immortal.
It was the Tang Family's greatest elixir, capable of drastically boosting one's internal energy and strengthening the internal organs upon consumption.
However, the Tears of the Immortal had an alternative use.
If one consumed it but chose not to absorb its energy into their dantian, letting it circulate freely through the body instead, they would temporarily gain a near-absolute immunity to all poisons.
It meant sacrificing a permanent boost to one's cultivation for a temporary, near-invulnerable resistance to poison.
Naturally, throughout the long history of the Tang Family, those who had used the Tears of the Immortal in such a manner could be counted on one hand.
Who would waste such a precious elixir? But...
"How long does the effect last?"
"According to our records, about seven minutes. But it varies from person to person, so it could be shorter."
"Understood."
Han Cheong-un was about to commit that very waste.
Because it was the only way to save Tang Seo-yeon.
Seven minutes...
He had to settle this within that time.
Han Cheong-un took the elixir, steeled for the challenge.
Tang Jin clasped his hands and bowed deeply to him.
"Young Hero Han, please... I entrust my sister to you."
"Leave it to me."
Han Cheong-un stared at the slowly encroaching poison qi, readying himself for what was to come.