Ancestral Switches Hurt a Little
Tang Hak was seething with rage.
Do they think I’m a joke?
What made him even angrier was that he couldn’t properly refute the insult.
He wasn’t an unknown nobody by any means, but his reputation had only spread a little within the Tang Family and the land of Sichuan. It was nothing compared to the Mount Hua Divine Dragon, whose name was shaking the entire world.
Who was the Mount Hua Divine Dragon?
Wasn’t he the absolute monster among the younger generation who had trampled the shining Five Dragons beneath his feet and stood alone as if the world belonged to him?
There were even rumors that, despite being a member of the younger generation, he had defeated Mu Jin of Wudang. Even if Tang Hak were shameless, it was still embarrassing to bring up his own name in front of such a man.
But to rub that in so blatantly?
Does he not even understand honor?
To openly speak of an opponent’s weakness and laugh at it was not the act of a gentleman. For a man of such renown to behave no differently from a common thug—
And yet he called himself a Daoist?
Besides…
How dare he put a woman up against me?
And what was this supposed to mean?
If that woman lost, it counted as his own defeat?
Grinding his teeth, Tang Hak clenched his fist so hard that his nails dug into his palm.
He had never once imagined that a woman could be his equal. To someone raised in the Tang Family, that was only natural. In the Tang Family, women were nothing more than half-finished beings who could never learn the family’s true arts.
And now a female swordsman of Mount Hua was pointing her blade at him.
“...Family Head!”
Tang Hak shouted.
“You’re actually accepting this?”
Tang Gun-ak did not answer. Instead, he looked in turn at Tang Hak, Yu I-seol, and Chung Myung.
After confirming the utterly indifferent look on Chung Myung’s face, he met Tang Hak’s eyes again without expression.
He must have his reasons.
That brat was indeed shameless enough to scrape at a man’s insides, uproot the pillars of another family, and drag them off if he felt like it—but still!
He’s not the type to take a fight he can’t win.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“If that woman loses, are you saying you’ll grant me the position of young lord?”
“...Are you claiming I’d go back on my word?”
At the coldness in Tang Gun-ak’s eyes, Tang Hak flinched.
At a loss, he fidgeted for a moment before slowly turning his head toward Tang Oe.
That idiot.
Tang Oe ground his teeth.
If Tang Hak looked at him in front of all these people, everyone would realize that Tang Oe was standing behind him.
Of course, few people would fail to suspect it—but there was a vast difference between suspicion and certainty.
What in the world are you thinking, you Mount Hua Divine Dragon brat?
Tang Oe shut his mouth tightly as he looked at Chung Myung.
There’s no way he has a stomachache.
Someone as great as the Mount Hua Divine Dragon would not get indigestion just because he overate a little. What kind of expert would he be if he did?
Then could he have sensed the presence of the Heaven Drunkenness?
That couldn’t be.
No. He doesn’t know about the poison. But maybe he sensed instinctively that something was wrong with his body. So sending out that girl was the right call.
If they couldn’t win anyway, then they should at least choose the most honorable kind of defeat.
If the girl came out and lost, Mount Hua would still be able to save some face.
We failed to kill the Mount Hua Divine Dragon here, but… there’s still a way. For now, the issue is how to smooth over the Heaven Drunkenness.
Of course the Family Head would be furious, but he would not be able to retract his own words. In that case, they only needed to bow a little and seize the practical gain.
Push it through.
Tang Oe gave a small nod.
After seeking his grandfather’s approval, Tang Hak glared at Yu I-seol with killing intent.
“I’ll make you pay for your insolence.”
Yu I-seol raised one finger and brought it to her lips.
“Mount Hua doesn’t fight with words.”
“...You stubborn fool.”
Tang Hak ground his teeth and shoved a hand into his sleeve.
“Be careful.”
His eyes darkened with murderous intent.
“I’m going to use poison in this duel.”
He wasn’t warning her out of kindness.
The Tang Family was required to warn its opponent whenever poison was used in a duel. That was one of the rules they had established in order to remain a righteous sect.
“Go ahead.”
But Yu I-seol simply accepted his words with calm indifference.
Their gazes clashed in the air, cold and sharp.
“...”
Dang Soso stared at the platform, her face trembling.
What is she thinking?
She couldn’t understand Yu I-seol.
Who was Tang Hak?
Among the Tang Family’s descendants, he was considered the finest talent of his generation. He wasn’t the young lord only because he wasn’t the Family Head’s son, but even Tang Pae, who had once held that position, was no match for him in martial prowess.
And yet Yu I-seol had stepped forward to face him.
“I-I have to stop this!”
“Noona!”
Tang Jan grabbed at the hem of Dang Soso’s clothes.
“Please calm down. If you step in now, you’ll only make a fool of yourself.”
“Do you think that person can really handle Brother Tang Hak? If she’s careless, she could lose her life!”
Dang Soso’s face was full of urgency.
Yu I-seol was the only person who had understood her situation and tried to help her. She didn’t want to see someone like that poisoned and collapse in a miserable heap.
“Do you think she climbed up there without knowing?”
“...What?”
“Of course she knew. And she still went up. Because she’s a martial artist!”
“...”
“Don’t insult her. Once she stepped onto that platform, there were no men or women anymore. Only a fight between martial artists. You can’t interfere in that!”
Dang Soso’s eyes trembled.
Then...
So that was the path being opened for her?
Her gaze locked onto Yu I-seol.
That expressionless face seared itself firmly into her mind.
Tang Hak sneered at Yu I-seol, who had settled into a stance and was breathing steadily, aiming her blade at him with complete seriousness.
“If you had known who I was, you wouldn’t have dared come here and say you’d face me—”
“You talk too much.”
Yu I-seol frowned.
She didn’t hate talkative people. After all, there was a particularly obnoxious chatterbox right beside her that no one else in the world could compare to.
But every single thing that man said was irritating.
“...If you want to die that badly, I’ll grant your wish.”
Tang Hak’s hand sank deeper into his sleeve. The slightly cut sleeve fluttered.
“Prepare yourself!”
His hand shot out of the sleeve like a streak of light.
At the same time, more than a dozen needles the size of a person’s palm flew toward Yu I-seol. Their faint black sheen made it clear they were coated in a vicious poison.
Yu I-seol’s sword moved slowly.
Unhurriedly.
Soft and graceful.
Rather than swordsmanship, it looked more like a dance.
Clank! Clank-clank!
Her blade swept the incoming needles aside.
“Swept” was a better word than “deflected.” The needles, which had come at her with fierce momentum, lost all force as though caught in a flood current and slammed into the dueling platform floor.
“Hm! So you do have some tricks!”
Tang Hak unleashed his second move without hesitation.
Whoosh!
A blue throwing blade burst from his sleeve, carrying an overwhelming force as it flew at Yu I-seol.
Yu I-seol’s sword tip pointed directly at the incoming blade.
The instant it was about to make contact, her sword twisted slightly. Then it clung to the side of the blade.
Spinning once with the force without breaking it, she sent the blade flying straight back toward Tang Hak.
“What the—?”
Tang Hak couldn’t hide his surprise; even he hadn’t expected this kind of move.
“How dare you!”
Humiliated that his own hidden weapon was being returned to him, Tang Hak’s face flushed dark red.
Channeling all the power of Ghost Poison Claw, his hand, dyed black as ink, grabbed the blade midair.
Grrrrk!
Metal scraped against metal, and the blade lost its momentum. Tang Hak took it back, grinding his teeth.
But even then, he didn’t act rashly as he had before.
She has some skill.
He didn’t want to admit it, but Yu I-seol was stronger than he had expected.
So Tang Jan had been humiliated by Jo Gul, and it seemed the disciples of Mount Hua were all of an unusually high caliber.
Still.
“If you hadn’t been a woman, you might have beaten me.”
“...”
“Blame yourself for not being born a man.”
Yu I-seol snorted.
“...What’s so funny?”
“Your thinking is old-fashioned.”
“What?”
“So why are you so weak? You’re a man, aren’t you?”
“Y-you—!”
“That’s not what matters. Not at all. What matters is...”
Yu I-seol’s sword pointed at Tang Hak’s throat.
“You’re just plain weak.”
Tang Hak no longer bothered getting angry. He merely glared at her with dreadful eyes.
“You seem to want to die.”
“Think whatever you want.”
“I’ll grant your wish.”
Tang Hak’s hand went into his sleeve again.
The difference was that this time, it went deeper than before.
Seeing that, Tang Gun-ak’s brow furrowed.
The Tang Family’s martial artists habitually stored the more reliable, more familiar hidden weapons deeper in their sleeves. But Tang Hak was a little different.
Should I stop him?
Tang Hak favored hidden weapons with a high lethality. At this rate, Yu I-seol could suffer serious harm regardless of the outcome.
But before Tang Gun-ak could move, Tang Hak’s hand shot out of his sleeve.
Shhhrrrkkk!
This time, the release sound was different from before.
The noise was sharp, yet nothing visible appeared to fly out.
And yet Yu I-seol seemed to see something, because her sword flashed repeatedly through the air. The afterimages of her blade completely swallowed the front of her body.
Clack-clack-clack-clack-clank!
Small sparks burst one after another from her sword.
“What is that?”
At that moment, Tang Family experts scattered throughout the audience suddenly rushed forward all at once. They spread their sleeves left and right, batting away something flying toward the stands.
“Th-that is...?”
Only after the object struck the floor could its identity be identified.
“Cowhair needles?”
The hidden weapon was called a cowhair needle because it was as thin and fine as a strand of ox hair. When launched at high speed, it was nearly impossible to track with the naked eye.
Yu I-seol had judged that blocking each one individually was impossible and had simply covered the front with her sword.
But even that couldn’t be perfect.
Lowering her sword, Yu I-seol bit lightly at her lip.
Her gaze moved to her left shoulder.
A fine needle so thin it was almost invisible had lodged there.
Only one.
Being stabbed by a single tiny needle hardly seemed like much trouble, but…
Yu I-seol plucked out the cowhair needle. Seeing the blackened tip, she tossed it to the floor.
Poison.
Her shoulder throbbed.
The problem was that the pain was steadily intensifying and spreading farther. At this rate, her left arm would soon become unusable.
“You should’ve known how frightening the Tang Family was.”
Tang Hak sneered.
“One missed shot out of countless hidden weapons, and it’s over. The Tang Family’s true power comes from combining poison with hidden weapons. If you beg for forgiveness now, I might spare your life.”
“...Poisoned?”
“Yes. You’re not stupid enough to be unaware of your own body condition, are you?”
Yu I-seol murmured with an expressionless face.
“The stupid one is you.”
“What?”
“Do you really think I’d just stand here until the poison spread?”
With those words, Yu I-seol charged at Tang Hak!
“Stupid woman! Did you think I wouldn’t have considered something that obvious?”
Tang Hak swept both arms wide.
From his sleeves, a pale, dustlike substance erupted and obscured his entire front.
“Severing Soul Sand!”
Poison-laced sand blocked Yu I-seol’s path of attack.
His intention was to buy time so the poison would worsen, then retreat for the moment!
But Tang Hak made a fatal mistake in that instant.
He forgot that Mount Hua—at least the Mount Hua disciples who had trained with Chung Myung—did not know how to retreat.
The tip of Yu I-seol’s sword began to tremble softly.
And then it bloomed.
Her plum blossoms.
More than a dozen delicate plum blossoms erupted alongside a fierce wind, sweeping away the cloud of dust created by the Severing Soul Sand.
“Wha—!”
Tang Hak was startled to see the very dust cloud he had released being driven back toward him.
He wasn’t in danger of being poisoned by the Severing Soul Sand, but the problem was that his vision had been blocked. Unable to find a place to evade, he kicked off the floor and launched himself into the air.
But at that very moment—
Tang Hak saw it.
A plum blossom sword rising suddenly from the center of the advancing dust cloud!
His eyes went wide to the point of tearing.
Why there?
How could she be in the middle of the Severing Soul Sand?
But he didn’t even have time to think.
CRACK-THWACK!
The rising sword struck Tang Hak squarely in the face with its flat side, right where he was completely exposed.
“Kyaaaaaah!”
Tang Hak tumbled to the ground like a frog kicked in the belly.
“Guh... ngh.”
Shaking violently, Tang Hak lifted his head.
Yu I-seol stood where the dust cloud had cleared. A distinct blackish aura could be seen on her face.
“Y-you... crazy...”
She hadn’t pushed forward to avoid the Severing Soul Sand.
She had hidden inside it and slipped past Tang Hak’s line of sight. She had done it while knowingly accepting the poison.
“You’re not in your right mind...”
“I told you.”
Yu I-seol snapped coldly.
“You were weak.”
“...”
“Whether something is strong or not doesn’t matter if you’ve never even fought for real.”
No matter how strong he might be, he was still just a flower in a greenhouse.
He was no match for Yu I-seol.
“T-this! I—!”
Thud!
As Tang Hak tried to rise, Yu I-seol struck his head again with the flat of her blade, knocking him sprawling once more.
She began repeatedly smashing his head with the sword’s flat side.
Watching it, Baek Cheon murmured without realizing it, “His head... His head. Head. Head. Head...”
Yoon Jong shuddered as if the sight alone were unbearable.
“No. Why would anyone learn something like that?”
Though they felt a certain sorrow watching the scene, how could that compare to Tang Hak’s pain?
Thud.
At last, Tang Hak’s head, swollen to twice its size, collapsed onto the floor. Seeing his legs twitching pitifully, even strangers felt tears welling up.
“You...”
And then—
“Come here, Sago.”
Chung Myung, who had somehow made his way onto the platform, grabbed Yu I-seol’s arm and pulled her down.
“...”
“The sooner poison is treated, the better.”
Yu I-seol gave a slight nod and followed Chung Myung off the dueling platform.
Her gaze drifted back toward Tang Hak, who lay collapsed behind her.
Chatterbox.
Then she turned to Chung Myung in front of her again.
Different.
He was a chatterbox too, of course.
Chung Myung led Yu I-seol straight to Tang Gun-ak and held out his hand.
“Hurry up and give it to me. The antidote.”
Tang Gun-ak, without a word of protest, quickly handed over the antidote they had prepared.
“This should do.”
“Tsk.”
Chung Myung frowned as he placed the antidote in Yu I-seol’s hand.
“Why did you fight so damn recklessly?”
“I didn’t want to breathe the same air as him.”
“...Ah.”
Good thing Tang Hak didn’t hear that.
Nodding, Chung Myung spun on his heel.
“Poison gets worse if you treat it carelessly, so deal with it properly now. Jo Gul, keep watch over her.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Me?”
Chung Myung grinned.
“I’ve got a present to deliver.”
His gaze shifted to Tang Oe, who was trembling on the raised platform.
“Or should I say I’m going to go deliver a little gift?”
Chung Myung tapped the hilt of the Plum Blossom Sword.
Better brace yourself.
Ancestral switches hurt a little.