Poison Master (8)
Everything ended in an instant.
The Tang Clan warriors lay subdued and sprawled across the floor, while the Poison Human had slumped to the ground. She merely looked around with a bewildered face. The man in servant's clothes glared at the clan head, axe in hand, and Tang Yeong-hwan stood behind him. Tang Yeong-ju could not understand Tang Yeong-hwan. He was not enraged that the Poison Human had escaped, nor that someone had intervened and created this mess.
He was far more enraged that Tang Yeong-hwan was involved at all.
"Brother, what in the world is this? Turning your back on your own family—what kind of wealth and glory are you trying to seize? The era of the Tang Clan is about to dawn, so why are you doing this?"
"...It must not be."
Tang Yeong-hwan was resolute. Hearing those words, Tang Yeong-ju grew even more defiant.
"'Must not be'? Look! It's the Poison Human! Our dream! The future of the Tang Clan we have longed for all this time! Why are you suddenly acting like this? Has greed consumed you? Did you covet the clan head's seat so much you schemed all this? Were you not satisfied with the position I granted you in the main house, and now you're trying to swallow the entire Tang Clan with this stunt?"
The Poison Human shrank even further as Tang Yeong-ju spoke of her like a piece of merchandise. She could not comprehend that she was the Tang Clan's future. Docheol wrapped an arm around her shoulder and whispered.
"It's alright. Everything is going to be alright."
The Poison Human pressed her body close, her head hung low, as she listened. Tang Yeong-hwan looked at the sight of Docheol and the Poison Human with a complicated expression, then spoke again, addressing Tang Yeong-ju.
"This was the best course."
"What do you mean? What in the world do you mean by that?!"
Tang Yeong-ju's scream echoed like a roar.
No reliable account of his final moments survived. Some said he burned black from poison, others that he was struck dead by an axe. The one fact everyone agreed on: Tang Yeong-hwan stared at Tang Yeong-ju's corpse for a long while, then staggered away like a man possessed by a ghost.
******
Docheol spread his arms wide. It was a signal that his account of the great incident at the Tang Clan had ended. He clearly exuded the pride of a man who had orchestrated the massacre as though it were some grand achievement.
"The Tang Clan's sect leader, Tang Yeong-ju, died just like that. He couldn't even understand the words Tang Yeong-hwan spat out. That is the truth of the Tang Clan's sealing declaration. I was the one pulling the strings behind the scenes, and Tang Yeong-hwan did exactly as I told him, slaughtering the entire Tang Clan family. The Poison Human simply massacred people as I commanded, and at the end, everything was finished by shutting the Tang Clan's gates."
The questioner stared blankly at Docheol. It was not a questioning gaze—it was filled with certainty. Even as two emotions—rage at the deceit and the conviction of witnessing something vile—intertwined in a piercing glare, Docheol merely sat there, composed and at ease.
"So, have all your questions been answered? I did it all. I proposed killing the Tang Clan family, and Tang Yeong-hwan was fooled by my silver tongue and stupidly killed everyone in the Tang Clan's main house. Down in the underground, I constantly brainwashed the Poison Human into believing she had to take revenge on the Tang Clan, and I succeeded in creating my own weapon. I've eliminated the Tang Clan—the greatest obstacle to chivalry—so now there is no one left to stop me."
"...Don't lie to me."
The questioner was resolute. No objection flew back at his firm tone. Instead, Docheol asked in return:
"Isn't this the story you came here to hear? Right after the sealing of the clan, you already considered me a threat, and that's why you made such a long journey in person—isn't that right?"
"There are too many holes in your story. That is not the truth. Tell it as it really is. What exactly happened at the Tang Clan that day? And was Tang Manyeong's disappearance also something you arranged?"
That day, many things happened over the course of a single night. Everyone in the Tang Clan's main house except Tang Yeong-hwan was killed, and the sealing of the clan was declared. The Tang Clan's eldest, Tang Manyeong, had gone missing before ever reaching Sichuan.
Upon hearing Tang Manyeong's name, Docheol shook his head with a puzzled expression.
"I'm sorry, but I had nothing to do with Tang Manyeong's disappearance. I was certain he would return to the main house and cause trouble, but strangely, he never did. However, the rest of the story is the truth you, great hero, wished to hear. That is the story you wanted, after all."
Docheol pointed a finger at the questioner—the man who had come all the way from Hubei Province after the Tang Clan's sealing incident to desperately uncover the truth. The man who had already settled on a certain answer and was now investigating to fit that answer.
"Was the story too much for the Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander?"
Docheol grinned slyly as he threw the question back at the Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander, Je Gang. Je Gang's face flushed crimson. Docheol's words had struck true. After hearing the rumor that the Tang Clan had collapsed entirely from family infighting, he had suspected Docheol, who had visited Sichuan.
He had sought out the surviving servants and interrogated them. He secured testimony that a martial artist wielding an axe had been involved in the incident, and then sought a private audience with Docheol. Docheol readily accepted, and now, in this very place, he was spinning lies without the slightest hesitation.
Half of what Docheol had just said was false. Though he had no concrete evidence, Je Gang was convinced of it. The story about brainwashing the Poison Human to commit a massacre, and the story about Tang Yeong-hwan being played by Docheol's silver tongue and deciding to kill his entire family—all lies.
Docheol was hiding something from Je Gang.
"What exactly happened there? Tell me the truth."
"If I tell you, will you let me live? Haven't you already determined that I am a threat and come here personally to kill me? Does the great hero Yeong-yu know about this situation?"
"The great hero Yeong-yu does not know."
Je Gang answered curtly. He was plainly uncomfortable at the mere mention of Zhuge Yeong-yu's name. Docheol found this side of Je Gang amusing.
"A disloyal subordinate, I see. The great hero Yeong-yu exhausts himself body and soul for the imperial household, yet the man called Commander goes behind his back to suspect and kill innocents."
"You have crossed the line. I should have killed you when you were conspiring with the Hao Sect."
"My heart has always been nothing but loyal to the imperial household. It is truly disheartening that the Commander fails to recognize me properly."
Je Gang did not rise to Docheol's provocations any further. Looking at his round eyes and that tilting head, Je Gang felt Docheol might swing his weapon without even realizing it. Je Gang barely managed to steady his breathing and questioned him again.
"What exactly happened that day? Tell me in detail what transpired between you and the Tang Clan."
"If you want a different story, then I shall tell it. But it will not be as entertaining."
Docheol leaned back in his chair. His calm demeanor, as if daring him to attack, grated on Je Gang's nerves. Perhaps not in the past, but now Docheol was a master who had reached the peak realm. A clumsy attack could even invite a counterattack.
With a frown, Docheol stared into empty space and rubbed his chin, looking exactly like a street-corner merchant trying to figure out the next part of a story.
"First of all, your premise was wrong."
Je Gang furrowed his brow.
"What was wrong?"
"It was not me who proposed slaughtering the Tang Clan's main family. My position was to first extract the Poison Human and then respond according to the circumstances. No matter how disillusioned Tang Yeong-hwan was with the Tang Clan, he would obviously refuse if I suggested killing all of his family. The real issue, in truth, was figuring out how to get the Poison Human out and escape safely."
Docheol frowned, staring into the empty air.
"But then, one day while we were preparing the plan, Tang Yeong-hwan sent me an urgent letter, saying we needed to talk immediately."
It was two weeks before the great incident at the Tang Clan occurred.
******
"If we go this way, we will be spotted by the guards, and it will be difficult to evade pursuit. Let's either hide out near the slums and move from there, or find a merchant guild departing at a similar time and slip out hidden among them."
"I am against going through the slums. Too many people there have ties to the Tang Clan; it is easy to get caught."
Docheol was pondering how to extract the Poison Human without a trace, and together with the Hao Sect Leader, he was sketching out the cityscape of Chengdu to devise the fastest way out. In the midst of this, a single letter that arrived at Docheol's quarters changed everything.
- Let us speak. It is an urgent matter.
The sentence, hastily scrawled in Tang Yeong-hwan's handwriting, brought a sense of unease even to Docheol. He ended his conversation with the Hao Sect Leader and set out to find Tang Yeong-hwan. There was a designated place where they met in secret.
That day, Tang Yeong-hwan appeared even more agitated and anxious, looking around nervously, his face etched with stark terror. The terror of having seen something that should not exist. The moment their eyes met, he shut the door of the inn room and spoke in a low voice.
"These bastards must be erased from this world."
To Docheol, it was a most welcome sound midway through his own planning, but at the same time, it was completely unexpected.