Chaotic Blood Scatter
"Gaaaah!"
Foam spilled from Ham Eongye's mouth. The moment he showed such open agony, Gang Unso cried out in alarm.
"Commander Ham! What is wrong with you!"
Gang Unso shook him by the shoulders—and a searing, burn-like pain shot up through his own hands.
"Ah!?"
He jerked free at once. His palms had already turned black.
"What… is this?"
His face was draining of color. His head swam; his vision blurred; his body no longer answered him. A moment later he too collapsed in a heap.
"Young Master Unso!"
"It's poison!"
"Young Master Unso and Commander Ham have been poisoned!"
The hall, which had been humming with good cheer only moments before, plunged into chaos.
"Poison?"
"Who would have the gall to use poison here?"
"There's really only one place that deals in poison…"
At the word poison, every murmur swung toward the Tang Clan's seats.
"Surely not."
"Even the Tang Clan wouldn't try to poison someone inside Cheongang territory—least of all the youngest son Cheongmyeongsu treasures most."
"True enough. You'd have to be out of your mind to use poison here."
Suspicion, for all that, only thickened. The Tang Clan was famous for its Poison Use Technique; of everyone present, they alone could deliver a toxin in near-perfect secrecy.
"Anyone else, maybe—but that tyrant is another matter."
"Ah—right. The Tang Clan's eldest young master is here!"
"I heard he humiliated Young Master Unso the moment he set foot in Naksan."
"He might well have done this, counting on those Black Scale Guards at his back."
By then they had already settled on Tang Cheonwi as the culprit. His reputation was poor wherever he went.
In the middle of it all, Gang Goui—Cheongmyeongsu, lord of the Cheongang Clan—kicked off the ground and landed at his son's side. He poured a deep, heavy stream of inner energy into Gang Unso's body.
"How is he?"
"Is it truly poison?"
Dan Seung and Yu Miryeong had already drawn close. Cold sweat beaded on Gang Goui's brow. With every passing breath, Gang Unso and Ham Eongye's bodies flushed a hotter and hotter red.
"Aaaagh!"
Ham Eongye's scream tore at the air. Dan Seung stepped in at once.
"I will try to steady Commander Ham."
A deep, resonant hum rolled out. A majestic crimson force pressed down on Ham Eongye's agony—the hereditary heart method of the Danjuk Clan, the Sincere Iron Bamboo Formula. An art rooted in Buddhist practice, it seized malevolent qi with an upright mind and crushed it in a single stroke.
"Mm…"
Dan Seung let out a short groan.
"Do you know what the poison is?"
Yu Miryeong's question drew his answer.
"It is Chaotic Blood Scatter."
The words struck the hall like a blow.
"Isn't that a Tang Clan poison?"
Chaotic Blood Scatter. A toxin that reversed the flow of qi and blood until the whole body swelled crimson and burst. It was infamous for its cruelty—and only those of direct Tang blood, or of clan-lord rank and above, were permitted to use it.
"He said Chaotic Blood Scatter."
"Then it has to be the Tang Clan."
"That one is the culprit, no question."
"So he causes trouble even outside his own walls."
"I wonder how Cheongmyeongsu means to settle this…"
The accused was none other than the Tang Clan's eldest young master—and its legitimate heir. The Tang Clan held its primary heir in the highest regard; that was, some muttered, the only reason they still clung to such a troublesome heir at all.
"Even if it is the Tang Clan, wrong must be set right, no?"
"They may be the greatest clan under heaven, but this is plain tyranny. Am I wrong?"
"You are not! We are all witnesses—they will not dare lay a hand on us lightly."
"Let us join forces and punish this villain!"
The gathered warriors began to knit themselves into a single front. Watching them, Yu Miryeong curved a small smile and sent a sound transmission.
The three of them had come to the gathering with a plot already laid. Two bloodlines that carried the Tang Clan's legitimacy had attended; removing even one of them would shake the clan to its foundations.
They had ties to Tang Cheong, head of Yuhongak. Originally they had been asked only to arrange a secret scheme against Tang Yuhyeon; the head of Yuhongak had added one further request—kill the eldest young master as well. A fractured Tang Clan served their interests, so they had not refused.
The two of them bantered on through sound transmission, already savoring what they would gain once this was over.
On the Tang Clan's side, every face had gone hard—except for Tang Cheonwi, who alone was smiling.
Tang Ildo sent him a sound transmission.
Tang Ildo scratched the back of his head, half-embarrassed—then snapped back to the point.
At the Sichuan Gathering, a mass poisoning had once broken out. Yuhyeon, along with martial artists of the Cheongang, Cheongpung, and Danjuk Clans, had all fallen to Chaotic Blood Scatter. The gathering had turned into a living hell. The antidotes they had brought were useless. He remembered the panic of that day all too well—everyone but him poisoned, so that it looked for all the world as if he had arranged the whole thing.
Foul old memories. Even in the middle of that agony, Yuhyeon had worried for him first—told him not to concern himself, insisted his brother would never poison him, and soothed him instead by saying the Tang Clan had too many enemies. If not for Yuhyeon, I'd have ground them all down and drunk them. I'll hold out a little longer.
He had returned for revenge. As if he could not endure so short a wait. Tenfold repayment would barely be enough to settle his score.
At his muttered words, Tang Ildo shook his head.
Hwancheonjihwan was of much the same mind.
Tang Ildo, of course, could not hear that voice.
The corner of Tang Cheonwi's mouth curled upward—an ill omen. Whenever that smile appeared, things tended to spiral beyond all control.
"Hyungnim, I'll go give those people the antidote."
Tang Yuhyeon started to move. Tang Cheonwi stopped him.
"You stay put. I'll handle this."
Tang Yuhyeon turned to Jegal Rin for help.
"Rin-nui, please help me."
"Do you think Cheonwi-orabeoni used the poison too?"
"He never would!"
"Then trust him."
She soothed him gently.
"But the situation looks really bad."
Every warrior in the hall seemed to have turned hostile toward the Tang Clan. They pointed and cursed. At this rate, the real culprit would be sealed by consensus alone.
"If you can't weather even a trial like this, you won't survive in the Tang Clan to begin with."
Yuhyeon's restlessness was plain enough for Jegal Rin to feel.
"Calm your heart and watch. See how your brother resolves this. To tell you the truth, I'm curious myself."
While she was settling Tang Yuhyeon, Jegal Gyeong and Jegal Gwang were exchanging sound transmissions of their own.
The two of them agreed to watch and wait.
"Urgh…"
Gang Unso's eyes rolled back as he fainted.
"Have him take this. It is an antidote our clan obtained from the Tang Clan. I had set it aside for myself in case of emergency, but it seems your youngest son needs it more than I do."
In Yu Miryeong's hand was a Tang Clan antidote—the Clear Origin Pill.
"You have my thanks. I will repay this favor."
She, Dan Seung, and Gang Goui had already received antidotes in advance. Gang Goui played along as if he knew nothing of it, accepted the Clear Origin Pill from her, and fed it to Gang Unso. The same for Ham Eongye. The moment the antidote went down—
"Cough, cough!"
"Puh!"
—the two who had collapsed came to, vomiting blood.
"Unso, are you all right?"
"…Father…"
"You have taken the antidote. You will be fine now."
Gang Goui checked his son's pulse. Gang Unso fainted again.
"Take him to his quarters and lay him down."
Rage filled his voice. Cheongang martial artists carried Gang Unso and Ham Eongye away. Gang Goui turned and roared toward the Tang Clan.
"Azure Wave Guard—surround the Tang Clan at once!"
The Azure Wave Guard was the Cheongang Clan's elite force, stronger by far than Cheongryu Yeong. In a heartbeat they had ringed the Tang seats.
"To dare harm my son—I will not forgive this."
Gang Goui's eyes burned. He drew his sword and strode toward Tang Cheonwi.
"You're getting a little carried away. Do you have any proof the Tang Clan used that poison?"
"Do you take Chaotic Blood Scatter for some common toxin? Only the Tang Clan's direct bloodline or those of clan-lord rank and above may use it!"
Gang Goui bellowed. Tang Cheonwi answered with perfect calm.
"So—do you have proof? Not that it was Chaotic Blood Scatter. Proof that we used it."
"You mean to brazen it out? Even if you are the Tang Clan's eldest young master, do you think I cannot put you to the question?"
"One moment. Something about this conversation is strange."
"What is?"
"You are acting with far too much certainty—as if you are already convinced we used Chaotic Blood Scatter. Doesn't that strike you as odd?"
"As I said a moment ago, Chaotic Blood Scatter can only be used by Tang direct blood or those of clan-lord rank—"
"Then who here is of clan-lord rank? The only direct blood present are myself and Yuhyeon. We have Black Scale Guards with us, but he is the youngest of them, and Chaotic Blood Scatter is forbidden to him."
They had come with a truly spare escort—one might even call it bold. A single Black Scale Guard, and the youngest at that, was all they had been given to send into another clan's halls. It was not trust in the Cheongpung, Cheongang, or Danjuk Clans. It was confidence. Even one guard was enough to say: We stand above you.
"So you believe one of the two of us used Chaotic Blood Scatter?"
"I do."
"Not Yuhyeon, then—me."
"Confess cleanly. For the Tang Clan lord's sake, I will spare your life."
"And if I prove I am not the culprit—what then?"
"Ha?"
"The crime of insulting the Tang Clan's eldest young master is paid in a life. Will you put your own neck on the line?"