The Poison Flower's Last Dance
Only half of Tang Cheong's blade remained.
"So your confidence was in this Poison Palm all along."
Tang Cheong glared at him with venomous eyes.
Every martial artist who could truly be called top-tier in the Tang Clan was a poison master. Poison masters could wield hidden weapons and sword arts, of course, and they could also use Poison Palms. Because so few could command a Poison Palm, their standing within the clan was considerable. Master the Poison Palm, and a high seat in the Tang Clan followed of its own accord.
"Feeling a little scared, are we?"
"Insolent brat."
She stretched her hand to the side, and a sword flew to her from within Yuhongak. At a glance it was a famous blade.
"Let's see if you can melt this one as well."
Black flowers bloomed along her sword. Poison flowers. The supreme sword art that only the direct bloodline could learn.
The highest sword art of the Tang direct line unfolds in her hands.
"The first form—Poison Fang Sealing Soul, is it?"
Tang Cheonwi gave a short, derisive laugh.
The first form was a thrust as sharp and stealthy as a bee's stinger. The instant it touched the opponent's body, poison qi drove deep into the soul itself.
Thud!
Tang Cheonwi took the thrust full-on.
"Hahahaha! I'll kill you in agony."
The moment she ripped the blade free, black blood sprayed from the wound. Her sword never stopped.
Second Form: Myriad Poisons Myriad Blooms
From the planted poison, countless poison vines surge forth to coil around the opponent's meridians.
Slash, slash!
She carved viciously into Tang Cheonwi's joints again and again.
"This is the end. Farewell."
Third Form: Soul-Destroying Fragrance
At last the poison flowers bloom from the vines. Named for the fragrance that shatters the soul the moment the flowers open.
A black haze moved in time with her sword dance. It joined the black blood Tang Cheonwi had sprayed, and several poison flowers blossomed upon it. When she cut those flowers with her blade, hundreds of petals scattered and shredded Tang Cheonwi's entire body.
Thud.
She halted the dance and sheathed her sword, certain of victory. Now she need only watch Tang Cheonwi die in torment.
"It will hurt so badly you'll want to take your own life."
She walked slowly toward him. Tang Cheonwi stood motionless, like a stone statue. Right in front of him, she touched his body with one finger—and he gave a faint shudder.
"Hahahaha! How dare the likes of you challenge my authority?"
"Anyone watching would think the entire Tang Clan belongs to the Head of Yuhongak."
"You!?"
Tang Cheong's eyes flew wide. He should not even have been able to speak through the pain—yet every word came out clear and measured. She stared in disbelief and asked again.
"How can you still speak!?"
"Is the Poison Flower Sword Dance supposed to be special? Hahk—ptooey!"
Tang Cheonwi spat onto the floor.
Sizzle—
It was poison. The very poison born from the Poison Flower Sword Dance she had just unleashed. His Tyrant Blood Poison Qi did not even bother to absorb anything so crude. As if it had seen something filthy, it shoved the toxin aside. That inferior poison exited again through Tang Cheonwi's mouth.
"Wouldn't it be better to use what you learned from those people instead?"
"Those people?"
"Doesn't the Head of Yuhongak possess that martial art she obtained from Guik—the dog of Guju... no, of those people—precisely so she could betray the Tang Clan?"
"Guju!? What are you talking about?"
Tang Cheonwi's brow furrowed.
Does Tang Cheong still not know Guju's true identity? It doesn't look like an act.
Her face truly seemed ignorant of the name.
[Tang Cheonwi! Do you know about Guju?]
Hwancheonjihwan was utterly startled. The ring spirit that no longer flinched at ordinary surprises reacted sharply to that single word.
[Hwancheon-ah, ask later. Master is thinking about something else right now.]
[You little brat! Anything about Guju is extremely important!]
[That's true, but... even if you ask now, Master probably won't answer.]
Bongsin was right. Tang Cheonwi was already turning over ways to expose Tang Cheong's true colors. One figure caught his eye—the unconscious Tang Jongui.
I need to provoke her.
He finished the thought and curled the corner of his mouth.
"If you refuse to speak, I'll force the words out of you."
He vanished and reappeared in front of the unconscious Tang Jongui. Hauling the man roughly upright, he spoke.
"Who stands behind you?"
He wanted the confession from her own lips—to secure a justification. He could not simply kill for revenge without cause. Tang Cheong was his father's youngest sister. Kill her rashly and he would invite his father's wrath.
"Let go of my husband this instant!"
"I already gave you a chance."
An ominous premonition crawled over her. Tang Cheonwi was about to do something unspeakable. And sure enough—
Crunch!
Tang Cheonwi's hand crushed her husband's shoulder.
"Nooo!"
"Do you understand if I say Soul-Sealing Extreme Poison?"
"Tang Cheonwi! Do you think you'll walk free after committing such an unfilial atrocity!"
"You just wasted the final chance as well. Then I have no choice but to kill this man."
His hand clamped hard around Tang Jongui's skull.
"Don't you dare! Just try it—I'll grind you up and drink you!"
"Then answer my question. Who gave you the Soul-Sealing Extreme Poison?"
Her eyes wavered. At last she clenched her teeth and spat the words.
"The Poison Demon Sect. They gave it! Now let my husband go."
"You really do seem to love this man."
The moment Tang Cheonwi smiled and showed his white teeth—
Thud—
He smashed Tang Jongui's head like a ripe melon.
"Kyaaaaah!"
Tang Cheong screamed. Her mind shattered. The scream turned into tears.
"Sob... husband!"
Blood soon streaked those tears.
"I'll tear your limbs off with my own hands."
Explosive energy erupted from her body—power utterly unlike anything before. An alien force, completely foreign to the Tang Clan's qi: dark, sinister, and thick. Her nails lengthened to unnatural claws. Her black hair turned pure white in an instant.
The Demonic Cult's forbidden art that overclocks innate qi into the Ghost Transformation state. A demonic technique that grows stronger by grinding away the user's own life. Guik, Guju's dog, employed it often.
"Ghost Transformation Art... so Guik was behind this after all."
"This way I finally have a clean justification to kill you."
"Tang Cheonwiiii!"
Tang Cheong charged, pouring out that ominous energy. Tang Cheonwi surged forward to meet her. No—just as he was about to—
"Stop!"
An uninvited guest appeared.
"My lord!"
Tang Ildo, who had been hiding and watching the entire scene, hurriedly bowed. The Black Scale Guards who had arrived with Tang Baek immediately ringed Yuhongak.
"You've been committing reckless acts."
Faint anger colored the voice. Tang Ildo trembled. Yeon Jagang, leader of the Black Scale Guard, barked at him.
"Report to the lord at once!"
Tang Ildo recounted everything he had witnessed—from Tang Jongui's attempt to assassinate Tang Cheonwi and Tang Yuhyeon—leaving out nothing.
"So that brat killed Tang Jongui? And that is why Cheong became like this?"
"Yes... that's right."
Yeon Jagang scolded him.
"You merely watched while it happened!"
"I thought I should not intervene rashly..."
"Then you should have reported before the incident occurred!"
"I'm sorry... I truly did not know things would grow this large."
He had brought Tang Jongui back alive, so he had expected a clash with the Head of Yuhongak. But who could have imagined the man would be killed right in front of her? By the time anyone might have stopped it, it was already far too late.
"Enough."
At Tang Baek's voice both Yeon Jagang and Tang Ildo fell silent. He walked to where Tang Cheonwi and Tang Cheong stood.
"What kind of nonsense are you two doing inside the family?"
His internal-energy-laden hand moved, and Tang Cheong's Ghost Transformation Art unraveled at once.
"Ugh!"
The explosive power vanished. Feeling the sudden emptiness, Tang Cheong sobbed.
"Older brother! Tang Cheonwi committed an unfilial atrocity! That bastard killed my husband!"
Even under her bitter outcry Tang Baek's expression did not change. Instead he rebuked his younger sister.
"Wasn't it a fight you started first? Do you think sniveling after you lose will somehow fix it?"
"Older brother!"
"Blood feuds among kin are an everyday affair in the Tang Clan. That is precisely why I overlooked your attempts to kill Cheonwi and Yuhyeon."
"Are you abandoning me!"
"If I were abandoning you, I would already have killed you with my own hands for betraying the Tang Clan."
She had displayed a demonic art in the very heart of the Tang Clan. Everyone present had witnessed it. Learning martial arts outside the Tang Clan was a grave crime. Worse still, she had joined hands with an external force. That alone was enough for beheading.
"Since I also bear some fault for what you have become, I will spare your life."
"How can you do this to me, older brother!"
"..."
"Father will never forgive this."
Tang Baek spoke in a flat, toneless voice.
"Did you use Soul-Sealing Extreme Poison on the father you trust so much?"
He raised a thin barrier of qi so that only Tang Cheong could hear—the last consideration he would show his youngest sister.
"What are you talking about! It wasn't me who did that to Father. What I used was—"
She stopped mid-sentence and could no longer meet Tang Baek's eyes.
"That is fortunate."
From her words Tang Baek confirmed one fact: Tang Cheong had used the Soul-Sealing Extreme Poison only on him.
"Do you know who used the poison on Father?"
"I—I really didn't know. Did Father fall to that poison?"
"So you were merely used as well."
The true hand behind everything had once more slipped beneath the surface. How deeply those people had already infiltrated the Tang Clan remained unknown.
That Cheonwi brat seems to know something...
Yet he would almost certainly say nothing of it.
What a headache.
Tang Baek's brow furrowed. At the same moment Tang Cheong's voice rose again.
"Please answer my question, older brother!"
"Since you lost the power struggle of blood, it would be best if you simply stepped down."
Tang Baek flicked a finger.
Thud!
Tang Cheong heard the sound of a vessel shattering inside her ears.
"Aah!"
He had destroyed her dantian.
"Lay Cheong down in the Poison Medical Hall."
"As you command!"
The Black Scale Guards carried the writhing Tang Cheong away. Tang Baek turned his head and looked at Tang Cheonwi.
"Disappointed?"
"If Father had not appeared, I would have taken her life."
"Still so full of yourself. Do you believe you know everything?"
"I know what Father is worried about. You left your youngest sister to run wild like that so you could find the mastermind, didn't you?"
"I also know you completely ruined that plan."
"If they hide beneath the surface, I will keep stimulating them until they surface again."
"Your youngest aunt is not even the snake's tail."
"I know that as well."
Tang Cheonwi's face remained unconcerned—an expression that said he would catch and kill every last bastard who got in his way. Anger simmered beneath it.
"I am curious why you have suddenly become like this."
"Are you asking about the change in my heart?"
"Yes."
"Because they touched something precious to me."
"Is that the Tang Clan?"
"I don't know about that."
"But your younger brother seems precious. That is why you plastered him with every elixir you could find."
A faint smile touched Tang Baek's previously expressionless face—only for an instant, then it vanished.
"Can you clear every dark cloud hanging over the Tang Clan?"
"It depends on Father's choice, does it not?"
"What do I need to do for you?"
"Please collapse once, later. Only then will the ones under the surface come up."
"Is such a bother necessary?"
"Blame your strong father and grandfather."
The current number one under heaven. The man whose tremendous internal energy had simply blocked the Soul-Sealing Extreme Poison. Guju's dogs feared Father and Grandfather most of all. As long as those two still lived, Guju's dogs would move carefully no matter how much time it cost them.
"It would be even better if the grandfathers collapsed as well."
"That is not my concern. Go to Poison Forest Valley yourself and tell them."
"What?"
"You also disrupted the family's order, so you must be punished as well, no? Being stuck in Poison Forest Valley for a few months would not be a bad punishment."
At Tang Baek's words, Tang Cheonwi's face crumpled fiercely.