Chapter 346
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 346
Chapter Title: You Do It
"Did you call for me?"
Yeo Hong-gi had come looking for Yeon Ja-kyeong.
He had dropped everything upon hearing the urgent summons.
His body was covered in stains from various medicines.
He hadn't even changed his clothes.
"I called a busy man, and here you are like this,"
Yeon Ja-kyeong remarked at his disheveled appearance, but Yeo Hong-gi merely bowed his head.
In truth, it wasn't because he was busy.
He was too excited.
Today, he had finally achieved his long-cherished wish and was thrilled when Yeon Ja-kyeong's summons arrived.
"Looks like good news."
"Pardon?"
Yeo Hong-gi reflexively asked back at Yeon Ja-kyeong's words.
"Your face looks brighter."
"Ah, we've made significant progress. I should be able to show you results soon."
As Yeo Hong-gi hurriedly bowed and spoke, a smile formed on Yeon Ja-kyeong's lips.
It was the news he had been waiting for.
He had guessed as much from Yeo Hong-gi's expression when he entered.
Just to confirm, he had asked, and it was indeed the case.
"Excellent. Good."
Yeon Ja-kyeong's smile deepened, revealing his pearly whites.
It was a face that mirrored his innermost feelings.
"However."
Yeon Ja-kyeong spoke again.
Yeo Hong-gi flinched at the abrupt shift.
Like a thief startled by his own footsteps.
"There's bad news."
Yeo Hong-gi inwardly sighed with relief at the follow-up.
"Something's happened in the Southern Frontier... Poison, it seems."
With that, Yeon Ja-kyeong handed over the report that had come to him.
Yeo Hong-gi's face stiffened as he carefully examined the contents.
Assuming everything in the document was true.
Even drawing on all his knowledge.
At the very least.
As far as he knew.
No such poison existed.
Impossible.
This level of toxicity.
And in the Southern Frontier, no less.
The Southern Frontier.
Yeo Hong-gi recalled the old tale his master had told him.
It was about his master's senior brother.
A man who had dared to covet the leadership of Heavenly Poison Valley, despite his lowly status.
He had lusted after it anyway.
And in the end, he was chased out.
Blinded and battered, he had fled to the Southern Frontier.
They had tried to kill him but failed—a secret from decades ago.
Why did that story come to mind now, with news of anomalies in the Southern Frontier...
An ominous feeling stirred within him.
Seeing Yeo Hong-gi's rigid expression, Yeon Ja-kyeong nodded slightly.
It was as he had expected.
Clearly no ordinary poison.
"I'd like Heavenly Poison Valley to investigate this in detail."
"Understood,"
Yeo Hong-gi replied, bowing deeply.
The heart of the Sichuan Tang Clan.
The patriarch's office.
Tang Mu-ryeong.
He stared gravely at the official document before him.
He had read it countless times already.
Yet he still couldn't believe it.
At least, as far as he knew.
No poison could do this.
No, wiping out an entire village with poison was possible.
However.
Leaving the poison's residue lingering in that village for so long afterward...
"Unless the land itself is poisoned...
But that would be utterly inefficient and pointless.
Unless it was a scorched-earth tactic in wartime."
"Did you call for me, Father?"
At that moment, his daughter's voice came from the office entrance.
"Come in."
The door opened.
Tang Ji-yeon entered and bowed her head.
The daughter whom the jianghu had dubbed the Heavenly Poison Fairy.
Tang Mu-ryeong's pride and joy.
"What urgent matter brings you to summon me?"
Tang Ji-yeon sat in the chair at his gesture and asked.
Tang Mu-ryeong rose from his desk and approached her, handing over a document.
Tang Ji-yeon's delicate brows furrowed as she quietly reviewed it.
"Is this possible? Well, it could be done, but why bother...
She shared the same thoughts as her father.
"Alliance Leader So has requested our investigation."
"Understood. I'll assemble an investigation team."
In those few words, she immediately grasped why her father had summoned her.
"It could be dangerous. Be careful."
"Yes."
The wind was refreshingly cool.
Part of it was the season stepping firmly into autumn, but the terrain here played a role too.
They had emerged from the Southern Frontier's dense jungles onto the highlands.
The border between the Southern Frontier and Yunnan Province.
A few more steps, and they would be in Yunnan.
Myo Gu-eung gazed at the vast mountain ranges of Yunnan with eyes brimming with emotion.
"To think I'd see the Central Plains again with these eyes...
His eyes reddened.
When he had been blinded by his junior brother, battered and fleeing in desperation,
how could he have imagined such a scene?
Yet what he could never have dreamed of had become reality, unfolding before Myo Gu-eung's eyes.
Some might argue Yunnan wasn't truly the Central Plains.
It didn't matter.
To Myo Gu-eung, Yunnan was the Central Plains.
"Central Plains! I, I have returned!"
A land of abundance.
He had yearned for it, but it had rejected him.
He had sought to establish roots in the prosperous Central Plains, bringing his clan from the remote Southern Frontier.
But all that returned was death.
Only he had barely escaped with his life to the Southern Frontier.
The place his family had dreamed of.
Yet where his family had met their end.
Myo Gu-eung's heart was a tangle of emotions as he beheld the Central Plains.
He had returned.
And he would have his revenge.
He would turn this land of plenty into one of death.
Now, he possessed such power.
"Kuhahahahaha!!"
His choked sobs turned into laughter.
Black energy billowed from his joyous body in thick waves.
All life around him vanished at a rapid pace.
Truly vicious poison qi.
Myo Gu-eung paid it no mind, as if it were nothing.
Dozens of villages had already vanished under his poison qi on the journey here.
"Sichuan Province is that way, then?"
Excited, leaking poison qi freely, he merely gauged the direction ahead.
"Heavenly Poison Valley. I wonder if it's still there after all these decades... Probably. Heh heh. Wait for me, junior brother. We'll meet again soon."
Thud. Thud.
Myo Gu-eung took a step forward.
The poison qi slowly receded back into his body.
The grand training grounds of the alliance.
The Fierce Dragon Corps was diligently engaged in group training as always.
Today featured sparring between cadets.
Matches between squads and squad versus squad.
The most standout group was undoubtedly Second-Year Squad Seven.
The other squads that had taken in two from the Twentieth Squad also drew eyes.
Thanks to the major roles played by Joo Woo-myung and Ha Seol-ran.
"What to do...
Ha Mu-baek watched the training with a troubled gaze.
Day by day, these kids' skills were improving.
At this rate.
He couldn't help thinking "perhaps."
"About what?"
Han Seol-bing approached and asked.
"Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest."
Ha Mu-baek replied curtly.
"You planning to take all of them there?"
Han Seol-bing's eyes widened as she grasped his intent and looked at him.
Last year.
Taking just seven kids had been fine.
But how many cadets were there now?
Nearly two hundred.
Entering the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest with that many required proper procedures.
It could interfere with the Demon-Sealing Corps' operations.
"Don't you need the alliance's permission?"
"That's why."
Han Seol-bing nodded at his response.
No wonder.
A man who never agonized over anything seemed lost in thought.
He was debating whether to inform the alliance or just go.
Not going wasn't even an option.
"My opinion is, we should still send an official document and get permission."
"Such a hassle...
Ha Mu-baek grimaced at her words.
"It'd be far less hassle than trekking to the North Sea."
True enough.
Sending a document for approval was much easier than journeying to the distant, harsh North Sea.
Of course.
They might refuse.
But there were ways around that.
"Nah, that wasn't a hassle. Better than this."
Ha Mu-baek replied nonchalantly.
Han Seol-bing subtly averted her gaze.
"Dealing with paperwork, procedures, permissions... That's a thousand times, no, ten thousand times more annoying. Dealing with those stuffy bureaucrats makes my blood boil. Might as well just head to the North Sea on my own whim."
At his follow-up explanation,
Han Seol-bing's gaze returned.
The cadets swung swords and shields with fervor.
Blissfully unaware of the future awaiting them, they focused solely on training.
The swords slicing through the air were quite sharp.
The shields blocking incoming strikes carried real weight.
They were steadily honing their skills.
"You do it."
Ha Mu-baek tossed out the words as he watched.
"Pardon?"
Han Seol-bing asked back.
"You handle it. Draft the document."
"Ah...
She had offered her opinion, only to get saddled with the annoying task.
Drafting documents wasn't exactly fun for her either.
Thirty members of the Sichuan Tang Clan entered the Southern Frontier's jungles.
Specialists in poison arts.
Leading them from the center was Tang Ji-yeon.
They had swiftly crossed the pleasant climate of Yunnan, making good time so far.
But now came the real challenge.
The dense jungle teemed with venomous insects, snakes, and beasts.
Not to mention the sweltering, humid weather.
Yet they pressed on quickly.
A guide led the way at the front.
Dan Yeong, a native of the Southern Frontier who had joined the Tang Clan.
He moved with familiarity.
Thanks to him, they made decent speed even in the Southern Frontier.
"We just need to pass through that forest."
Dan Yeong said after checking the map.
A rough map based on the document from the Righteous Heaven Alliance.
It marked the approximate locations of villages wiped out by poison.
The nearest one was now within reach.
However, the western sky was turning red.
"We'll camp here tonight and investigate tomorrow."
At Tang Ji-yeon's command, the thirty prepared to spend the night.
They scattered various powders around from their pouches.
Powders to repel insects.
The most annoying part of the Southern Frontier.
Not just venomous bugs—even regular mosquitoes and flies were blocked.
There were powders to drive off wild animals too.
Thus, they passed the night in the jungle.
The next day.
They headed to the marked location.
True to its rough make, the village came into view a bit farther than expected.
It was silent.
No, deathly still.
The village shape was visible, but nothing stirred.
As they approached cautiously,
Tang Ji-yeon, at the forefront, squinted and raised her hand.
The group halted at her signal.
"Put the poison-repelling pills in your mouths first."
At her words, everyone pulled black pills from their pouches and placed them in their mouths.
A Tang Clan secret pill mimicking the legendary Poison-Blood Pearl.
It could neutralize about a hundred common poisons.
Even for those it couldn't fully block, it weakened the toxicity to some degree.
One hour until the pill fully dissolved.
It had a time limit, but it was still remarkable.
Even from this distance,
Tang Ji-yeon sensed poison qi in the air.
For it to reach this far...
Reading the report and experiencing it firsthand were worlds apart.
With the pill in her mouth, Tang Ji-yeon advanced carefully.
"Mm."
Faint groans escaped the Tang Clan warriors following behind.
They too had sensed the poison qi.
Entering the village, Tang Ji-yeon grimaced and covered her nose and mouth with a cloth mask.
This too was specially treated to reduce poison qi.
The village was frozen in time.
No signs of life whatsoever.
Nothing destroyed.
As if someone had simply created a ghost town.
It just... was.
A light layer of dust had accumulated in places.
Judging by the amount, it hadn't been long since this happened.
It would vary deeper in the Southern Frontier.
But this was likely the most recent affected village.
The closest to Tang Clan territory.
"H-Here!"
The pronunciation was slightly off with the pill in his mouth, but intelligible.
The others hurriedly gathered.
On the wooden floor of a house, a dark stain spread in the exact shape of a fallen body.
Tang Ji-yeon crouched and drew a small dagger,
scraping the floor and collecting samples in a glass vial.
No one spoke,
but they all seemed to grasp the implication.
The Tang Clan warriors collected poison samples from various spots.
Gathering ambient dust, roadside soil.
About an hour after entering the village,
"We're leaving the village."
The pill nearly dissolved, her speech clear now.
Time was short.
The poison qi was growing thicker; she could feel it.
Due to the shrinking pill.
At Tang Ji-yeon's order, the Tang Clan warriors swiftly evacuated the village.
They found a nearby river.
Men and women separated to draw water and wash.
The clothes worn into the village were burned.
Readying themselves anew, they set off for the Tang Clan.
They needed to analyze the samples here.
Similar operations were underway at two other villages.
By members of Heavenly Poison Valley and Poison Wild Cave.