Chapter 266
Chapter 266
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 266
Chapter Title: I'll Kill the Poison King for You
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The estate of the Sacheon Tang Clan was filled every day with a foul, acrid scent.
The servants bustled about, carrying medicinal herbs. Half of them wore leather gloves, and most had darkened, ashen faces.
It was a symptom of poisoning.
Tang Pae-gun watched the scene with his hands clasped behind his back.
With the Poison King glaring at them with his axe-like eyes, no one dared to run. Among those handling the highly toxic herbs were ordinary servants who hadn't learned martial arts.
"Gurk—."
"H-Hey!"
One servant collapsed, foaming at the mouth. His backpack contained an unidentified purple-leaved plant.
Though a comrade who had shared hardships with him had fallen, no one paid much attention.
"……."
They merely glanced at him with weary eyes before resuming their work.
The man who had been startled nearby fidgeted for a moment before returning to his duties.
The atmosphere in the Sacheon Tang Clan was one of sheer terror.
"Shouldn't we treat him?"
At that moment, Uncheon-geuk approached Tang Pae-gun.
Having entered the Sacheon Tang Clan estate, he pointed at the fallen man while covering his nose with his sleeve.
"If we leave him like that, he'll die."
"That's Jahwa Grass."
As he replied, Tang Pae-gun's gaze flicked toward Uncheon-geuk.
The two stared at each other for a moment. They had no particular connection, but for some odd reason, their temperaments clashed fiercely.
"Jahwa Grass induces anesthesia and hallucinations—it's not poison. The ones handling truly lethal toxins are the Tang clansmen."
"Is that so?"
Uncheon-geuk nodded, his response laced with a subtle smirk.
Tang Pae-gun took it as mockery directed at him. Among swordsmen, there were those who dismissed poison as cowardly.
But Uncheon-geuk's smile stemmed from a different reason.
'He won't die. He won't.'
He knew the fate of the man who had just collapsed.
'He'll just be crippled.'
As Tang Pae-gun had said, Jahwa Grass wasn't a deadly poison. However, prolonged exposure without treatment led to the loss of all senses and bodily functions.
Tang Pae-gun surely knew this fact as well.
Yet he left the poisoned man be.
There was likely one reason.
'He's unnecessary. A servant like that.'
Whether herbs or poisons, anyone who couldn't handle them had no place in the Sacheon Tang Clan.
Uncheon-geuk pinched his nose with his sleeve. The nauseating stench had been assaulting him for a while.
"The smell is horrendous."
As he spoke, Uncheon-geuk's gaze turned to Tang Pae-gun.
As if saying the stench came from him.
"The Castle Lord of Shinryeon Castle wouldn't understand. Why we're going to such lengths."
"I know. The opponent is the Dark Queen, after all."
"Dark Queen? Hah."
Tang Pae-gun snorted and asked,
"Do you think I'm afraid of her?"
"Isn't that the case?"
It was an answer as if it were the most obvious thing.
Not because Tang Pae-gun was weak. It was because the opponent was Kim Ye-ryeong.
The master of the Sacheon Tang Clan, known as the Sovereign of Poisons. But the one targeting him was once among the pinnacle of Players.
If this were a faction war requiring bets, Uncheon-geuk would wager his entire fortune on Kim Ye-ryeong.
"You might be right."
And Tang Pae-gun acknowledged that much.
Of course.
"If this weren't the Sacheon Tang Clan."
He took as much pride in this place as he did in his poisons and hidden weapons.
Thus, the battle here had to be flawless.
Victory was a given; he intended to demonstrate an overwhelming gap.
That was the source of the tension permeating the Sacheon Tang Clan.
At Tang Pae-gun's response, Uncheon-geuk surveyed the estate with narrowed eyes.
The Sacheon Tang Clan estate was vast, like a fortress. Above all, it was filled with the scents of unidentifiable herbs.
Poison King Tang Pae-gun.
To him, this Sacheon Tang Clan was no different from a fortress armed with thousands of weapons.
Moreover.
'They're still gathering more.'
The Tang Clan was amassing poisons.
In quantities so vast and potent that even their own clansmen struggled with them.
Upon hearing Kim Ye-ryeong was coming, he had prepared meticulously.
"Even if it's not the Dark Queen—if Lee Soo-hyuk were alive, he still wouldn't dare come here."
The Poison Medicine Sect was a small sect located in the western Kunlun Mountains of Sacheon.
A sect's name often embodied its soul. In that sense, it was natural for the name to reflect its nature.
But the Poison Medicine Sect stood out even among them for its overt attribute.
For over a millennium, it had dealt solely in poisons and medicines.
Such a Poison Medicine Sect was now abuzz with rare commotion.
"No!"
A young man, barely in his early teens, shouted. Before him, men in green changsam robes advanced menacingly, having smashed through the old gate.
"Absolutely not! Leave now!"
"Are you sure you'll be alright?"
"I said it's fine! The Poison Medicine Sect isn't a place that researches medicines to harm people!"
"This is the will of the Sacheon Tang Clan—of the Poison King himself. Surely you know that."
The young man flinched at the Tang clansman's words.
Poison King.
His name was known not just in Murim but across the entire Tower. How much more so in Sacheon, the world of the Poison King?
Even if Kunlun was somewhat distant from the Sacheon Tang Clan, it was undeniably within the Poison King's palm.
"We can't wait forever. Not just this time—we've waited far too long."
A one-sided declaration.
But the young man couldn't respond. Not because he had nothing to say, but because he couldn't.
The Poison Medicine Sect lacked power.
Its knowledge of poisons and medicines was so superior that even the Sacheon Tang Clan coveted it, but its martial prowess was lacking.
It had never pursued strength in the first place, so it was only natural.
"Think it over."
The Tang clansman handed the young man a note and turned away.
"The deadline is tomorrow. One day. Come to us by then."
The Tang clansmen who had swarmed in left as abruptly as they came.
His mind was a whirlwind, with no answers in sight. Leaving the broken gate as it was, the young man returned to the sect grounds.
How much time passed?
"Excuse me!"
A cheerful voice called from outside.
"Could I get a glass of water?"
Gulp, gulp—.
Soo-hyuk drank the water provided by the Poison Medicine Sect.
It was refreshingly cool. Quite luxurious for hospitality in these mountains.
Thud—.
Setting down the empty bowl, Soo-hyuk expressed his gratitude to the young man.
"Thank you. You saved my life."
As if finally alive, Soo-hyuk sat on the porch and looked around the Poison Medicine Sect.
It was a rundown sect. The grounds were too modest to call an estate, and the poorly maintained buildings creaked here and there.
There was hardly any sign of life. The only person was an elderly man with a hunched back sweeping the courtyard behind the young man.
"Are you the owner here?"
"Owner?"
"Ah, no. Young hero. Sorry. I'm not used to your titles."
It was obvious from his attire. Soo-hyuk's clothes were far from Murim fashion.
One couldn't strictly enforce Murim etiquette on an outsider. The young man nodded and replied.
"Yes. I'm the sect leader of the Poison Medicine Sect, Choi Mu-gyeol."
"Poison Medicine Sect. The name sounds a bit scary."
Normally, one would introduce themselves in return upon hearing a name. But as heard earlier, Choi Mu-gyeol decided not to press Murim etiquette on the stranger.
More importantly, what piqued Choi Mu-gyeol's curiosity wasn't the man's name.
"What brings you to these remote mountains?"
Choi Mu-gyeol eyed Soo-hyuk suspiciously. Asking for just a glass of water out of nowhere—this was too harsh a place for that.
"The scenery was nice."
"Scenery?"
As expected, a baffling answer.
The terrain of Kunlun Mountain was treacherous. Moreover, the Poison Medicine Sect wasn't even at the foothills.
The path here couldn't have been easy.
No matter how he looked at it, claiming to have come just for the views didn't add up.
"Could you be from the Tang Clan, by any chance?"
The question dripped with deep wariness. It spoke volumes of how much they'd suffered under the Sacheon Tang Clan.
"No."
"Then perhaps……."
As if knowing what Choi Mu-gyeol was about to say, Soo-hyuk shook his head.
"The Murim Alliance won't help the Poison Medicine Sect."
Choi Mu-gyeol's eyes wavered.
The Poison Medicine Sect had contacted the Murim Alliance around the time the Tang Clan's pressure intensified.
The Sacheon Tang Clan's bullying had gone too far—please help. Wasn't the Murim Alliance supposed to uphold justice?
But Soo-hyuk's words shattered those hopes instantly.
"In Murim's hierarchy, below the Heavenly Demon comes the former Alliance Leader, then the Castle Lord of Shinryeon."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"The current Murim Alliance Leader is a figurehead. Never mind ability— in terms of power, he's outmatched by my father, the Namgung Clan Leader, and the Poison King needs no mention."
Whose was the Murim Alliance, truly?
A simplistic answer might say it belonged to the Alliance Leader. But Murim's power structure wasn't that straightforward.
The current Murim belonged to no one.
Not to the former leader Jin Do-ha, nor to the next, Uncheon-geuk. Let alone the current leader, Namgung Hwa-young.
Naturally, in such a state, the Murim Alliance wouldn't move.
No.
It couldn't move.
An alliance that couldn't fulfill its role as an alliance.
That was the Murim Alliance of the present era.
"Hah, but it's the Murim Alliance! They should be on the side of justice!"
"Side of justice…… Has there ever been such a thing?"
Soo-hyuk let a cold scoff escape unwittingly.
Of course, he didn't know what kind of person the current Alliance Leader Namgung Hwa-young was.
He had met her only once.
But right now, it wasn't about where her inclinations lay.
"In any case, even if the Murim Alliance Leader were righteous, the result would be the same. The Murim Alliance won't help the Poison Medicine Sect."
"No way……."
Choi Mu-gyeol's face fell in despair.
Amid the Tang Clan's pressure, the sole reason he could hold on was the hope that the Murim Alliance would eventually come to their aid.
Yet now, he learned they wouldn't. He wanted to scream that it couldn't be true, but he couldn't.
It made sense. Or perhaps, deep down, he already knew.
That the Murim Alliance was no longer of any help to Murim's peace.
With that, Soo-hyuk looked behind Choi Mu-gyeol.
"Did you hear that?"
In the distance, the broom of the old man sweeping the courtyard had stopped.
It was quite far. They hadn't spoken loudly, so eavesdropping shouldn't have been easy.
The broom resumed after a brief pause. It was a fleeting change, but Soo-hyuk didn't miss it.
"Decided to ignore it? Then how about this?"
Choi Mu-gyeol was no longer between them. As if he knew everything, Soo-hyuk stared past him at the distant old man.
"I'll kill the Poison King for you."
Then, the old man's sweeping halted abruptly.
Unlike the momentary pause before. This time, definitively.
Soon, the old man's voice rang out clearly from afar.
"What did you just say?"