Darkness of the Tang Family
When the Family Head was absent, authority over the Tang Family fell not to the Young Family Head, but to the Family Head's closest kin by blood.
If there was a brother, it fell to the brother; if parents lived, to the parents.
Thus, the man presently serving as Acting Head was the younger brother of Dang Heo-gun—a man who had long abandoned personal ambitions within the clan and renounced the contest for leadership.
His name was Dang Cheol-ryeong.
“I heard you brought the Iron Poison Token. So long as it does not cross the line, speak what you desire.”
“I wish to inspect the sacred relic. As you know, my Jongnam Sect closed its gates for an entire year, leaving us entirely in the dark regarding the state of the realm. Naturally, we must bolster our martial prowess to the utmost.”
Ryeong already knew what Jongnam's sacred relic was. Having already become part of the family, she had heard the story directly from Taecheong Jin'in.
If the Tang Family's relic, the Myriad Poison Ring, possessed a power rivaling absolute immunity to all toxins, then the relic of the Jongnam Sect, the Red Cloud Divine Sword, was a sacred treasure that supplied its wielder with inexhaustible internal energy.
Why leave a relic of such terrifying might unused, one might ask?
Precisely because it provided a literally limitless reservoir of internal power. Previous wielders, unable to withstand the overwhelming deluge, had succumbed and perished.
Consequently, the sect concluded that reaching the Profound Realm was an absolute prerequisite to mastering the Red Cloud Divine Sword. To avert further tragedy, the decision was made to entrust the relic to the safekeeping of the Tang Family.
Touching it for just an instant should be fine. In the first place, the internal energy brimming within the Red Cloud Divine Sword was not energy one could accumulate into the dantian anyway; her true objective was simply to establish contact with Hyeok. She intended to speak with him, learn the truth from start to finish, and decide on her next move. But just as those thoughts crossed her mind, an absurd response came back.
“That I cannot permit. Ask for something else.”
“Pardon? That is Jongnam's sacred relic. How can you refuse when someone of Jongnam asks to see it?”
“The relic was entrusted to us long ago by Jongnam's ancestors. Had your Sect Leader come in person, that might be another matter, but I cannot grant such a request from a mere disciple.”
“I have reached full mastery of the Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven! Even so, you refuse?”
Dang Cheol-ryeong's brow twitched at Ryeong's retort. A disciple who had mastered the Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven was either destined to become one of the Thirty-Six Swords or the Sect Leader himself.
In the distant past, when Jongnam had entrusted the relic to the Tang Family, the terms had been explicit: should either the Sect Leader or one counted among the Thirty-Six Swords request it, the relic had to be produced.
Dang Cheol-ryeong sank into contemplation. Under the current circumstances, he could not possibly reveal the relic, meaning he had to refuse no matter what. Yet doing so risked completely alienating the Jongnam Sect. Jongnam likely already harbored a grudge over having their mountain sealed for a year.
To make matters worse, the Family Head had even given her the Iron Poison Token—practically an order to accommodate her wishes within reason. As Acting Head, Dang Cheol-ryeong was merely a surrogate. Had the true Family Head been seated here, he would have displayed the relic without a word of complaint.
Yet the man bearing the mantle of leading the Tang Family at this very moment was Dang Cheol-ryeong. After deep deliberation, he voiced his refusal.
“Ask for something else. I cannot show you the relic.”
Veins pulsed at Ryeong's temples. She had never imagined he would adopt such an unyielding stance.
Yet pressing any harder was risky... this was the Tang Family. A single misstep could plunge their relations into outright hostility. Moreover, with the Demon Blood Divine Cult having already surfaced in Hu County, this was a time when infighting among allies had to be avoided at all costs.
She had to endure it for now. And since things had turned out this way, hadn't he just handed her justification to make an even more outrageous demand?
“Very well. Then I require two Dokcheon Elixirs.”
“...The Dokcheon Elixir is our clan's secret supreme medicine. Crafting even a single one demands twenty years of painstaking effort.”
“Then show me the sacred relic. Isn't that the far simpler option?”
Dang Cheol-ryeong gritted his teeth at Ryeong's counter. He had never dreamed she would turn the tables like this.
By any reasonable logic, producing the relic was the obvious choice. There was no earthly reason to hide it at the cost of surrendering Dokcheon Elixirs. The elixir was bait. If he refused even this, it would confirm beyond doubt that the Tang Family was up to something nefarious with the relic.
“I will deliver the Dokcheon Elixirs tomorrow. A maidservant will come for you, so go rest.”
“...! Understood.”
Ryeong barely concealed her astonishment. Her intention in bringing up the Dokcheon Elixirs had never been to actually receive them; she had aimed to use the impossibility of giving them away as leverage to force an audience with the relic.
Yet she had failed. Dang Cheol-ryeong had arbitrarily chosen to part with clan treasures rather than let her near the sword.
It's certain now. The Tang Family is scheming something with the Red Cloud Divine Sword.
She had only a single day to confirm the truth. Before receiving the Dokcheon Elixirs tomorrow, she had to witness with her own eyes whatever madness was unfolding within the Tang Family.
“Have you lost your mind?”
“Lost my mind? Not at all.”
“If you haven't lost your mind, how could you possibly think of ransacking the Tang Family? Do you have any idea what will happen if you're caught?!”
Having returned to the quarters provided by the Tang Family, Ryeong laid out her plan to Jinyeong, who had just been settling in for a comfortable rest. Naturally, Jinyeong opposed her scheme with every fiber of his being. Prowling through the Tang Family was an idea that could only be described as pure madness.
The Tang Family was the Tang Family. Security throughout their bastion was notoriously airtight; if she were discovered, there was no telling what grim fate awaited her. Even if Ryeong was an assassin who had reached the Transcendent Realm, maneuvering in a fortress without a clear retreat route invited catastrophic danger.
“Count me out. I'm not doing it.”
“Who said anything about taking you along? This is far too critical an operation. I'm doing it alone.”
Ryeong had good reason for her confidence. Back when she was the Heavenly Slaughterer, she had already infiltrated the depths of the Tang Family once before.
It had been solely because someone had annoyed her. Some nobody from the Tang Family had made a grand spectacle of swearing to capture the Heavenly Slaughterer. Irritated beyond endurance by the constant nuisance, she had lost her temper and broken straight into the clan's inner grounds.
During that escapade, she had scouted where their defenses were dense and where they were porous. If she moved for roughly four and a half shichen after sundown, she should easily pinpoint the whereabouts of the Red Cloud Divine Sword.
“Tonight, my only objective is to find where the Red Cloud Divine Sword is kept and what they're using it for.”
“And once you find out, what then?”
“What do you think? Tomorrow we formally leave the Tang Family, then I sneak back in to check on its condition.”
“...”
Jinyeong's jaw dropped at the preposterous plan. No matter how much he turned it over in his head, it was reckless beyond measure.
Although the Tang Family's greatest expert, Dang Heo-gun, was currently away, the number of Transcendent Realm masters within the compound still easily numbered in the double digits. He could not fathom a scenario where Ryeong could fight her way through all of them and escape. From Jinyeong's perspective, his worry was entirely warranted.
To him, Ryeong was merely the Heavenly Slaughterer's disciple and a fellow disciple of Jongnam. Even if she possessed more experience in the martial world than he did, her opponents were seasoned old masters. He simply could not comprehend how she seemed utterly oblivious to how catastrophic a problem that was.
“How about stirring up widespread havoc?”
“What kind of nonsense is that now?”
“I could disguise myself as a member of the Demon Blood Divine Cult. You already guessed that the Cult's goal is the sacred relic, right?”
“Are you out of your mind?! If something goes wrong, Jongnam could be wrongfully framed for it!”
“The sect that suffered the most devastating damage from the Demon Blood Divine Cult was Jongnam. If it comes to that, Jongnam can just cast me aside like a discarded hunting hound.”
Jinyeong flared with anger and almost lashed out, but barely swallowed his words. As had always been the case, once Ryeong made up her mind, she never rescinded her decision.
“I think about this from time to time... I truly cannot fathom what goes on in that head of yours. What is your goal?”
“I'm doing this precisely to figure out what my goal ought to be. I need that sacred relic.”
In setting a goal, the greatest hurdle was usually direction. Depending on where one aimed, the eventual destination differed wildly.
Still, Ryeong had at least determined her general direction. In the first place, the very reason she lived this life was to thwart the dark clouds gathering over the martial world. She had deduced that, nine times out of ten, that threat was an invasion by the Demon Blood Divine Cult. Yet she lacked concrete specifics.
There had to be a reason why a constraint forbidding her from killing anyone devoid of murderous intent had been imposed. There had to be a reason why she had been placed into the body of a woman. To resolve those lingering questions and confront the Demon Blood Divine Cult, speaking with Hyeok was an absolute necessity.
And to achieve that, she would not hesitate to resort to any underhanded method imaginable.
“If I get caught, you—”
“Don't say such things. In my experience, people who say that always end up botching the mission.”
“Heh. Your meddling truly ranks among the absolute peak masters. If anyone comes looking for me, just make up an excuse and say I went to wash my hands.”
As anyone knew, when a woman excused herself to 'wash her hands,' it euphemistically meant she had stepped out to the privy. No matter how urgent the visitor's business, it was a pretext that bought unavoidable time.
The issue was that if Jinyeong gave that excuse, Ryeong needed a way to become aware of the situation. Just as he was pondering what signal could possibly reach her—
“Swallow this.”
“What is it?”
“Tracking Incense.”
“Don't tell me...?”
“If someone comes looking for me, use your internal energy to vaporize the tracking incense completely. That way, I'll know instantly.”
“Do you think that's easy to do?”
“It's a specially modified variant. My master passed down the secret formulation.”
At the mention of the Heavenly Slaughterer's secret technique, Jinyeong nodded and swallowed the pellet of incense. As Ryeong swallowed hers as well, they were now able to pinpoint each other's location anywhere within the Tang Family Bastion. In essence, a tracking device.
“I move when the sun sets.”
Time slipped swiftly past, and as pitch-black night draped over the Tang Family Bastion—
Whooosh!
Concealed beneath night-black garments, Ryeong leaped into the embrace of the shadows.