The Traitor Shattered
Clang!
Clang-clang-clang-clang!
Tang Yuhyeon’s sword and Yang Chung’s scythe collided at blinding speed.
“You little bastard!”
Yang Chung’s eyes were bloodshot. A snot-nosed brat had drawn a blade against him. He had expected to cut the boy down in a single stroke… yet somehow he was the one being pushed back.
What kind of humiliation is this?!
His subordinates were watching. The unorthodox path was a world of pure survival of the fittest. Show weakness and a sword would be buried in your back without hesitation. The longer this dragged on, the more dangerous it became for him. He had to end it in one decisive blow.
“Fine. Try blocking this as well.”
Yang Chung’s scythe whipped forward with explosive speed, coiling and writhing like a living serpent for good measure.
A white serpent and a hawk descending as one—the ultimate technique of Baeksabang, the very art that had made the name of the Eunsa Squad famous throughout the jianghu.
Boom!
A far greater shockwave erupted than before. Tang Ildo, watching from the rear, wore a troubled expression.
“We’re finished. It looks like the Second Young Master took a hit.”
It had not been a killing blow, so he had stayed put.
“Hahahaha! How does the White Snake Hawk Strike taste?”
Yang Chung reeled his scythe back with a laugh. Blood dripped steadily from the blade. He was certain it was Tang Yuhyeon’s.
The dust settled. Tang Yuhyeon’s figure came into view.
“That brat… doesn’t have a single wound on him?”
Yang Chung stared in disbelief. Tang Yuhyeon stood perfectly unharmed—not so much as a scratch.
“Then whose blood is on the scythe?”
“Boss! G-Gwagi is dead!”
Yang Chung spun around. One of his men lay cut cleanly in half at the waist.
“……Traces of the White Snake Hawk Strike? How in the—ugh!”
Clang!
Tang Yuhyeon’s sword flashed past, shearing through Yang Chung’s hair.
“You should stay focused.”
At first Yang Chung failed to grasp the boy’s meaning.
“A mere brat dares lecture me, Yang Chung?!”
He swung his scythe even faster—so fast the eye could barely follow. Yet with every passing moment the weapon’s speed dwindled. Soon it was clearly visible.
The Eunsa Squad members watching tilted their heads.
“Is the boss getting tired?”
“Against a kid?”
“The Sub-Dragon isn’t exactly just a kid.”
“Still, the boss is a Peak-level master.”
Whether he heard them or not, Yang Chung ground his teeth.
It’s not that my internal energy is exhausted. This is poison—I’ve been poisoned by that little bastard’s sword.
The sword arts of the Sichuan Tang Clan. Specifically the Illusory Poison Sword, practiced only by the direct bloodline. Once a certain level was reached, the blade itself was said to exude poison qi.
At this rate I’m finished.
Once poisoned, he had no way to defeat Tang Yuhyeon. Escape offered the only real chance of survival. He swung the scythe with all his strength to drive the boy back, but—
“I can read your thoughts.”
Tang Yuhyeon pressed in even closer.
“I—I surrender!”
Yang Chung threw both hands high. In the same instant Tang Yuhyeon’s sword rested against his throat.
“I’ve heard the orthodox sects don’t kill those who yield.”
“Are you truly surrendering?”
“If I throw down my weapon, will you believe me?”
Yang Chung cast his scythe aside.
“Order your men to drop their weapons as well.”
“You heard him, boys! Surrender!”
One by one the Eunsa Squad laid down their arms. Only then did Tang Yuhyeon withdraw his sword.
“I accept your surrender.”
He turned to head toward the civilians—exactly when Yang Chung struck.
“Just a brat strong in martial arts after all!”
A knife-hand thrust aimed straight at Tang Yuhyeon’s back.
“Coward!”
“Hahaha! There’s no such thing as cowardice in the jianghu!”
Tang Ildo saw it. He was already moving, yet Tang Yuhyeon and Yang Chung stood far too close. Absolute bodyguard or not, at that range protection without injury was nearly impossible.
“Damn it! The Eldest Young Master is going to kill me.”
Cold sweat pouring, Tang Ildo’s sword flashed toward Yang Chung—
“Kyiiing.”
The Yin Spirit Ice Fox leapt from Tang Yuhyeon’s robes and clamped its jaws around Yang Chung’s arm.
“Argh!”
A single scream, and the arm began to freeze. The cold surged outward in an instant, ice racing across Yang Chung’s entire body.
A moment later—
Crack!
Tang Ildo’s sword slammed into the frozen figure.
“B-Boss!”
“What… is that?”
“The boss is in pieces!”
Shards of frozen corpse littered the ground. A gruesome death. Tang Ildo paid it no mind as he wiped the sweat from his brow.
“Haaah. Thank the heavens. If the Second Young Master had been hurt, the Eldest Young Master would have poisoned me to death.”
“It was my mistake. Elder Brother warned me that the murim is full of underhanded tricks, yet I completely forgot.”
Tang Yuhyeon looked genuinely apologetic.
“But your left arm—the one the scythe struck—are you truly unharmed?”
Tang Ildo had seen it clearly. Yang Chung’s scythe had smashed into Tang Yuhyeon’s arm and rebounded. Dust had hidden the moment from everyone else, but not from his eyes.
“It only stings a little. I’m fine.”
“Allow me to check.”
He examined the arm carefully. It was flawless—not a single scratch. The skin was merely a little red.
“Second Young Master… have you achieved an Indestructible Diamond Body?”
The Indestructible Diamond Body—a physique attainable only by those who had pushed external arts to the absolute limit. No blade could pierce it.
“What? I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
“That… doesn’t make sense…”
Tang Ildo looked lost in thought.
“Kyiiing!”
At the Yin Spirit Ice Fox’s cry, Tang Yuhyeon brightened and stroked its head.
“Thank you. You saved me.”
“Kyiiing-kyiiing!”
The little beast lifted its chin proudly, as if to say it alone was all the protection he needed.
“Ah—right! We have to get everyone out of here at once.”
Tang Yuhyeon’s voice turned urgent.
“Everyone, stop fighting and leave this place immediately!”
His shout changed nothing. People only eyed one another; no one moved first.
“This Tomb of Ten Thousand Poisons is a fake! It’s a trap the Demonic Cult set to bury the orthodox factions!”
At his plea, a member of the Eunsa Squad spoke up.
“Isn’t the Tang Clan just trying to swallow the Black Dragon Pill and the Five Poison Heart Method for itself?!”
“The Black Dragon Pill and the Five Poison Heart Method are fakes.”
“Then why enter a tomb full of fakes in the first place?”
With their boss dead, the Eunsa Squad watched Tang Ildo carefully. The man looked like a bodyguard, yet they judged him the strongest present. Unorthodox factions survived by reading the room; misjudge your opponent and you ended up like Yang Chung. That was why they used half-respectful speech even toward the young Tang Yuhyeon.
“Gamnak is part of Sichuan—Tang Clan territory. Whatever happens here is our family’s responsibility.”
Tang Yuhyeon spoke with firm authority. No one present thought of him as a mere thirteen-year-old. His words carried the weight of a direct descendant of the Tang Clan.
“Still hard to believe.”
“Black Scale Guard!”
Tang Yuhyeon called to Tang Ildo.
A murmur swept the crowd.
“Black Scale Guard? You mean the Black Scale Guard that protects the Black Dragon Emperor?”
“Isn’t a Black Scale Guard a bit much for this place?”
“It has to be them… the formation that young man used was definitely the Scale Formation the Black Scale Guard is famous for.”
“R-Really?”
“So the Tyrant of the Tang Clan and the Sub-Dragon really did come here—with the Black Scale Guard in tow.”
Ignoring the whispers, Tang Yuhyeon issued his order.
“Bring me the Black Dragon Pill and the Five Poison Heart Method.”
“As you command!”
Tang Ildo vanished into the ground.
Thud!
In a single breath he knocked out the Eunsa Squad members holding the two treasures and recovered them. The entire action took less than a heartbeat.
“Orders carried out.”
Tang Ildo handed both items to Tang Yuhyeon. Before every watching eye, Tang Yuhyeon crushed the Black Dragon Pill in his fist.
“Hah!”
“That precious thing…”
“So it really was fake?”
“That’s why he can act like that.”
He went further, melting the remains with his internal energy until not a trace remained. The Five Poison Heart Method received the same treatment.
Riiip!
He tore the manual to shreds, then pulled a vial from his robes and poured its contents over the pages. With a soft hiss the entire book dissolved.
“Will you believe me now? These were forgeries the Demonic Cult created to deceive us.”
Only then did people begin to accept the truth, one by one.
“If a bloodbath breaks out in Gamnak, the Tang Clan will bear the responsibility…”
“He has a point.”
“I nearly died over worthless junk.”
At that moment—
Rumble!
The tremors that had stopped began again.
“I told you the Tomb of Ten Thousand Poisons is collapsing! If you want to live, follow me!”
Tang Yuhyeon drew the Yin Spirit Ice Fox from his robes.
“Seoleum, I need your help. Can you find the exit?”
“Kyiiing!”
The fox gave a single cry and shot forward. Tang Yuhyeon led everyone after it.
Thud.
“Wh-Why us…?”
Dan Seung, who had fled first, was covered in blood. Black blood gushed from his lips. Everyone was dead—slaughtered by a single person. No, by a single boy.
“……You said you would spare us……!”
“When did I ever say that?”
The boy was Tang Cheonwi. Having already annihilated the Cheongang Clan, he was now erasing the Danjuk Clan as well. Not a single survivor. He treated them exactly as he would lifelong enemies from a previous life. Every man wearing Danjuk Clan robes had his heart pierced through.
“Did the words ‘I’ll spare you’ ever leave my mouth?”
“……Khuh… you monster…”
“You’re the one who jumped at Gang Goui’s offer of betrayal. That resentful look is really starting to annoy me.”
Thud.
He stomped on Dan Seung’s chest and looked down, lips curling.
“Father left you alone because you were a vassal clan of the Tang. I’m not him. A dog that bites its master never gets to live.”
“Guhhh……”
“Don’t feel too sorry for yourself. Every last member of the Cheongang Clan who was here died by my hand. The Cheongpung Clan will follow soon enough.”
“……Spare……”
Crunch!
Tang Cheonwi crushed Dan Seung’s heart outright.
“The Danjuk Clan is finished. Next is Cheongpung?”
The fleeing remnants of the Cheongpung Clan. Their energy signatures were close.
Whoosh!
He launched into light-footwork and raced straight toward them.
Yeah. This is more like the bastard I know.
Hwancheonjihwan’s remark immediately drew Bongsin’s protest.
Hwancheon-ah, how can you call Master ‘that bastard’? You need to speak more politely.
Aigoo, this Bongsin-ah…
It’s not Bongsin-ah, it’s Bongsin-i. That sounds like you’re cursing me.
Bongsin remained completely unfazed—like reading scripture into a cow’s ear. If anyone was getting irritated, it was Hwancheonjihwan.
This Bongsin brat sticks to Tang Cheonwi like glue and does nothing but scrape at my nerves.
But Hwancheon-ah, why is Master’s realm like this?
You don’t get it either, right?
Yeah. He looks like he’s only super first-class now, but his enlightenment has already far surpassed Transcendence.
You’re only noticing that now?
You already knew, Hwancheon-i?
Looking purely at enlightenment, he’s close to Transformation. Yet his internal energy is still trying to climb from super first-class into Peak.
The gap between the two is way too big. It’s like he’s a man who returned to youth.
The two artifacts found it baffling. And that was not all.
If Tyrant Blood Poison Qi has reached five stars, he should at least be at the wall of Transcendence—yet he isn’t. It’s enough to drive me insane.
The sheer quantity of internal energy was equally confusing. He had absorbed the Black Deep Abyss, the yin energy of the Yin Spirit Ice Fox, the poison of the Jade Fire Poison Epidemic, the Nether Soul Azure Poison, and more. That alone should have made sixty years of internal energy a trivial amount. In reality, however, he still fell just short of that sixty-year mark.
This Ten Thousand Poison Ghost Body of his is just… different somehow.
Hmm… Bongsin thinks so too. Master’s body seems special. If it were the Clear Mirror, it would recognize Master’s physique right away.
To think I’d actually end up looking for that one.
The Soul-Heaven Clear Mirror—the last of the Three Great Treasures. An artifact that could pierce soul and fate itself, said to drench the world in blood the moment it appeared. A demonic treasure.
I’d like to see the Clear Mirror too… but if we wake it, the whole world will turn upside down, right?
Isn’t that obvious? That thing is a demonic treasure.
Hiiing.
Just as Bongsin’s face fell into a pout, Tang Cheonwi’s figure halted. He had caught up to the fleeing Cheongpung Clan. And among them stood a familiar face.
“It’s been a while, Tang Jongui.”
Husband of his youngest aunt—his uncle by marriage. Though past forty, the clean line of his jaw remained sharp, and those deep-set eyes had not changed at all.