You've Crossed the Line
There is a certain kind of line.
Depending on whether someone crosses the boundary I’ve drawn or not, the way I treat them changes completely.
“You’ve crossed the line.”
I unleashed my cold fury.
The moment I stepped into the underground prison, the spreading stench of blood had felt ominous, and sure enough, the chief of the White Dragon Unit lay dead.
His head was completely gone.
I hurried over to the corpse and examined the severed neck.
The cut was impossibly clean.
The chief of the White Dragon Unit had died with a single sword strike, without even a chance to resist.
“Huh, would you look at this?”
Yak-seon, who had been inspecting the body beside me, let out a low whistle.
“We visited at the start of the Mi hour yesterday… This wound was made around the same time. Which means the culprit stormed in right after we left.”
“……”
The realization made my mood even worse.
It meant someone was treating the Ju family house like their own personal playground.
“Muyoung. Gather every warrior who stood guard here yesterday. Include the shift replacements. All of them.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
Muyoung immediately dashed out of the underground prison at my command.
I took my time examining the chief’s corpse once more.
Sa-an Gwi-gun. It has to be that bastard.
He was an opponent terrifying enough to make the White Dragon chief cower.
Sa-an Gwi-gun could further paralyze the minds of those he subdued, pushing their fear to uncontrollable extremes. It was a result of the martial art he practiced—one so dangerous it had once been classified as a forbidden text.
In other words, the chief had fallen for his schemes and been completely ensnared by his demonic arts.
Without even realizing it.
Damn it. I don’t even know what his face looks like.
That was the problem.
I didn’t know Sa-an Gwi-gun well. I had never killed him, and the only glimpse I’d ever caught was of those signature snake-like eyes from a great distance.
At this moment, he might be the most troublesome opponent I faced.
Just then—
“Young Master, all personnel who guarded the prison yesterday have assembled.”
“Send them in.”
The warriors filed in one by one before me.
I held no formal authority to command them, but when it came to internal family matters, even I had some voice. That was one of the privileges of being a direct descendant.
“Hup.”
“Heok.”
The warriors recoiled at the sight of the headless corpse.
Six men. They rotate shifts, so…
These weren’t patrolling guards. They were simply escorts posted at the prison entrance. That meant none of them had entered the prison between yesterday and today.
I hadn’t expected much, but I asked anyway.
“It was the beginning of the Mi hour—the time I left the prison. Has anyone come or gone since then?”
“No one during my watch.”
“There was no one!”
“No such person appeared!”
“Ah, there was one, actually…”
One warrior suddenly raised his hand.
“Who?”
“Well… Madam Namgung stopped by briefly.”
Damn it. Dead end.
Namgung I-hwa had already joined hands with the chief of the White Dragon Unit. The most likely reason for her visit was to check on his condition.
Back to square one.
In the end, would I have to tear the entire White Dragon Unit apart?
The future looked pitch black.
With no other choice, I left the underground prison.
Yak-seon must have pitied me; he silently patted my back.
Once I returned to my quarters, I calmly retraced my memories.
Sa-an Gwi-gun.
If I were him? If I had received the Heavenly Demon’s orders and was plotting something within the Ju family?
I need to figure out what he’s truly after.
What exactly was Sa-an Gwi-gun aiming for?
The Blood Hand Poison Emperor had tried to weaken the Ju family’s entire power by slowly poisoning Mother, Yu Ha-rin, until no trace remained.
Their final goal was obviously the family’s destruction, but the timing wasn’t right yet.
Less than five years left.
Five years until the Ju family’s annihilation.
But I had killed the Blood Hand Poison Emperor, a key figure in their plan. That might have bought us some extra time.
Wait… at this point in time…
Faint memories began to surface.
The events that had occurred in the family around this exact period.
Namgung I-hwa.
This was when she had run wild in her bid to seize real power over the Ju family.
“Hmph. You filthy insect. It’s disgusting, so don’t speak to me. Understood?”
The contempt in Namgung I-hwa’s eyes as she looked down at me had been thick enough to choke on.
During this time she became unstoppable. Even with Mother still alive, she began handling the warriors however she pleased and acting without restraint.
The fact that she had visited the underground prison kept nagging at me.
Which means the chief of the White Dragon Unit was still alive until then…
The whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth.
In situations like this, the best option was to see it with my own eyes.
I immediately headed for Namgung I-hwa’s residence.
The northern sector of the Ju family’s inner court.
This was where Namgung I-hwa’s residence stood.
She had once coveted the rear garden that belonged to Mother. It offered a full view of the family grounds and gave the impression of being protected and cherished.
The kind of place that should belong to the true matriarch of the family.
That was exactly what the rear garden represented.
One year after Mother’s death, Namgung I-hwa claimed it for herself.
She gets whatever she wants… Quite the impressive woman.
Regardless, I arrived in front of her residence.
What was interesting was the complete absence of servants around her quarters.
“Where did they go?”
The thought had barely formed when I sensed a presence inside.
I raised my hand to knock.
That was when I heard it.
“…understood.”
“I see. I’ll arrange it that way.”
Namgung I-hwa was speaking with someone.
I quickly concealed my presence and hid myself.
Who is it?
The presence was faint.
Even with senses sharp enough to detect the killing intent of the Seungryongdae, I couldn’t pinpoint the other person inside her residence.
How long did I remain hidden?
Finally the door opened and Namgung I-hwa stepped out.
That was it.
No one else left the room.
She immediately set off somewhere.
I hesitated—should I search her quarters or follow her? In the end I chose the latter.
There had been something unsettling in her eyes.
The place Namgung I-hwa headed to was Ju Sang-jin’s residence.
She threw the door open without announcement and walked straight in.
That was when it hit me.
Ugh.
I nearly gagged.
The instant the door to Sang-jin’s room opened, an indescribable stench rolled out.
What the hell?
Then, just as suddenly, the stench vanished.
As if I had imagined the whole thing.
But the intense impression of that smell remained burned into my mind.
It was no illusion.
It isn’t a real smell. This is… the scent of energy.
Had my five senses not been sharpened to an extreme degree, I would never have noticed it.
Moments later, I heard the voices of Ju Sang-jin and Namgung I-hwa inside the room.
Sang-jin was refusing something, while Namgung I-hwa was trying to force him to consume it.
Spiritual medicine?
From the fragments I caught, the word “spiritual medicine” was unmistakable.
“Damn it. So she really was just feeding him elixirs.”
A mother bringing tonics to her son.
It wasn’t strange at all.
Namgung I-hwa was wealthy in her own right; buying spiritual medicine for her child was perfectly normal.
“What a waste of time.”
Realizing I had failed, I turned to leave.
I should have just searched her quarters.
But as I began to walk away—
Wait a moment.
Spiritual medicine?
That made even less sense.
I turned back toward Ju Sang-jin’s room.
That smell.
It absolutely wasn’t the scent of any spiritual medicine.
It was a heavy, damp, rotten odor—like something long forgotten and left to decay.
Soon after, Namgung I-hwa left the room.
I threw open the door to Ju Sang-jin’s quarters.
“Ugh.”
The stench hit me again, even stronger.
And at its center was Ju Sang-jin.
“Who the hell are you?”
His eyes were bloodshot.
His aura felt unstable.
“What did you just eat?”
“You? You dare call your elder brother ‘you’?”
Ju Sang-jin rose from his seat and strode aggressively toward me.
The oppressive aura rolling off him was noticeably different from his usual self.
I ignored him and scanned the room.
The source of the stench wasn’t Sang-jin.
It was the small wooden boxes piled in one corner.
That foul odor was pouring from them.
“Don’t touch those. I’ll really kill you.”
Ju Sang-jin drew his sword, radiating killing intent.
Bang!
I took one step and shot forward until I stood right in front of him.
Then I slammed a fist infused with inner energy into his stomach.
“Keok! Kkuk!”
Ju Sang-jin doubled over and vomited everything inside him.
While he writhed in pain, I opened the wooden boxes in the corner.
Inside were smooth, round medicinal pills.
“M-Mother gave those to me. D-Don’t you dare touch—”
“You call this spiritual medicine?”
At my question, Ju Sang-jin wiped his mouth with his sleeve and gave a crooked smile.
“Why? Jealous? If you’re jealous, maybe you should—”
“Jealous? Hardly. Anyone with eyes can see these aren’t spiritual medicine.”
“……”
Ju Sang-jin’s mouth snapped shut.
“You already knew, didn’t you?”
He flinched and avoided my gaze.
It was clear Ju Sang-jin knew these pills weren’t spiritual medicine. Otherwise he wouldn’t have shoved them into a corner like that.
“Did this wife give you all of them?”
“You bastard! This wife? You will address Mother with proper respect—”
“Did either of you show proper respect to Mother?”
“……”
His mouth clamped shut again.
I walked over and pressed down hard on his shoulder.
“Stop pretending to have pride. I’m only returning the same treatment you’ve given others.”
“You… son of a bitch…”
“Answer before I hit you again. Where did these come from?”
Ju Sang-jin resisted for a long time, but eventually took a few more blows before breaking.
Why did these people never listen the first time?
“Last chance. Where did you get these?”
“I don’t know, you bastard! She just said she got them from some famous merchant guild.”
“Which guild?”
“How should I know? I asked, but she wouldn’t tell me!”
“Hmm. Is that so?”
It was suspicious.
Of course, no mother would feed her son something dangerous.
Even taking that into account, the smell of these pills was far too vile.
I took several of the pills and slipped them into my robes.
“Who do you think you are to take those?”
“When something is suspicious, investigating it first is the rule within this family.”
“Then who the hell are you to dare—”
“If you interfere any further, I can always throw you into the underground prison just like the chief of the White Dragon Unit.”
“……”
Only then did Ju Sang-jin fall silent.
He must have realized he couldn’t beat me with force, and he was probably already lying low to avoid being caught for conspiring with the chief.
Whether he had directly participated or not didn’t matter.
The bigger issue was that the chief had dared to act arrogantly in front of the family elders.
I returned to my quarters with the pills.
I immediately handed them to Yak-seon.
The moment he took them, he frowned deeply and hurled the pills outside.
“What are you doing? We need to figure out what they are—”
“I already know what they are, you idiot.”
Yak-seon pinched his nose, face twisted in disgust.
“Those aren’t medicine. They’re poison. Extremely low-grade poison, at that.”
“Poison? That can’t be…”
These belonged to Namgung I-hwa.
Did that mean she was trying to kill her own son?
“It’s poison, you fool. It’s a type of mind-ensnaring pill given right before using soul-stealing or spirit-commanding techniques. The side effects grow severe with prolonged use, which is why it has disappeared even from the demonic path. Seriously, where on earth did she get her hands on this?”
“……”
I let out a hollow sigh.
“I went through all that trouble for nothing.”
Still, it seemed I had caught onto something.
Beyond her secret agreement with the chief of the White Dragon Unit, Namgung I-hwa appeared to be connected to someone even higher.
There was no way she could have obtained these pills on her own.
“Elder, I think you should come with me.”
Confirmation was necessary.
Namgung I-hwa.
The chance that she was linked to Sa-an Gwi-gun was extremely high.