“Ah… Young Master!? If you suddenly do this…!”
I could feel Dang Soyeol flustered by the sudden contact from within my embrace.
It was only natural, considering I had abruptly grabbed her ear.
That said, I had no intention of letting go.
“…What… did you… just say?”
I did not want Dang Soyeol to hear my conversation with the person standing before me.
“What are you splitting apart? You’re making me feel like shit.”
“Young Hero.”
At my words, spoken with the corner of my mouth curled up, the old man Dang Bwi’s expression collapsed.
The face that had been chuckling crumbled, and one of his eyebrows rose.
It was a rather pleasant expression to look at—for an entirely different reason.
“I heard you were a young hero of the Central Plains, but it seems you lack even the etiquette required when dealing with others. I’ll say this again: I am an elder of the Tang Clan. Do you not understand how dangerous your current actions are?”
A high-ranking member of the clan’s bloodline, one of the pillars supporting the Tang Clan.
The abuse I was hurling at such a figure could, in turn, be taken as an attack against the Tang Clan itself.
*You know that, and yet you still act this way?*
The old man was warning me with his displeasure clearly evident.
As far as I was concerned, hearing such an obvious argument only made me want to laugh.
How could I not?
“Do you know what I find the most disgusting and irritating?”
I could feel Dang Soyeol’s ear growing hotter and hotter.
“Those bastards who’ve eaten the wrong number of years and put on airs as if they’ve aged properly—as if they’re noble, pretending all the while. People like that make the world rot.”
Once a human being began to rot, it only grew worse with age.
Once corruption began, it spread until it affected everything around it.
At times, I found myself thinking that rotting humans were more troublesome than mere garbage.
Hearing my words, Dang Bwi’s face twisted into something vicious.
“How dare you…! Despite my showing you courtesy first, you respond with such arrogance. It seems you truly fear nothing in this world, using your talent as a shield.”
I snorted at the anger in his voice.
“Wow, what a funny bastard.”
“You insolent…!”
“Then tell me—do I really have to show courtesy to the bastard who shoved poison into my mouth?”
“…!?”
“No matter how shameless you are, that’s going a little far. Do I really look that much like an idiot to you?”
I told him with a broad smile, and Dang Bwi flinched.
Yes, it was this bastard.
The one who had poisoned me with the Biyu Flower.
It was definitely him.
Of course—
*He might not be.*
My suspicion that he might not be the one did not mean the old man had nothing to do with this.
It merely meant he might not have been the one who ordered my poisoning.
There was no question that the old man was part of the same lot.
“…What are you talking about? Poison you?”
Dang Bwi, who had flinched for a moment, soon reddened and shouted.
He looked deeply wronged. His expression seemed to claim his innocence, as if asking how I could possibly harbor such suspicions.
“How dare you utter such slander…!”
“If you’re going to say that, you should at least get rid of the smell first. You’re irritating me.”
At my added remark, Dang Bwi’s expression changed drastically.
Yes, there was a smell.
A subtle scent I had detected in the food—one I judged to be the scent of the Biyu Flower—was wafting from the old man.
Perhaps it was that remark that caused the problem.
Dang Bwi spoke to me with an utterly dumbfounded expression.
“You speak nonsense. The Biyu Flower is an odorless poison. Do you truly think it makes sense that you can smell it?”
Was that so?
But I really could smell it.
It was not overpowering, but I could definitely sense a strange fragrance.
*To be able to smell an odorless poison…*
Was it because I had reached the stage of Immunity to All Poisons? Was that why I could detect even a scent I should not have been able to?
In the first place, I was not certain that I had reached Immunity to All Poisons.
*I haven’t been able to properly confirm it.*
Still, it was certain that I had developed a powerful resistance to poison.
Ah, that was not what mattered right now.
“An odorless poison, huh.”
“I do not know what suspicions you harbor, but your words constitute an insult to the Tang Clan—”
“But how did you know? I never said I had eaten the Biyu Flower.”
“…!”
Dang Bwi, who had been speaking earnestly, clamped his mouth shut and stiffened at my words.
The sight was truly amusing.
“Unfortunately, it seems you’re not very bright. Even doing bad things requires intelligence. Don’t you think?”
“Haa…”
A low sigh.
I felt the atmosphere change completely at the sound of Dang Bwi’s breath.
I pulled Dang Soyeol a little closer into my arms.
Woom.
Drawing on my energy, I thickened the energy barrier around us without letting Dang Soyeol notice.
“…I thought you were troublesome, but it turns out you’re much more of a nuisance than expected.”
“Looks like you’re done acting now. Why don’t you keep going?”
That would have made me want to kill him even more. It was a little disappointing.
Dang Bwi looked at me with changed eyes. His pupils were clouded and rust-colored.
Many things that had been hidden while he was smiling were now reflected within them.
“Originally, I intended to come merely to show my face for a moment, but you’ve created an unnecessary mess.”
“You didn’t have to. I was planning to go see the faces of your lot anyway.”
Though I had not expected to see them this soon.
Perhaps this was actually fortunate.
“What is your purpose? What is it that drives you to act this way?”
“My purpose…”
I had to think for a moment at Dang Bwi’s question.
I did think about it, but nothing in particular came to mind.
So I decided to answer honestly.
“I was asked to do it.”
“Asked?”
“Someone important told me to overturn all the dogshit you people have been doing.”
“Hah.”
Dang Bwi laughed as if he found my calm answer absurd.
“How dare you. What piece of filth said such a thing?”
“…Uh, you probably shouldn’t put it that way.”
Especially not you.
If one judged by standing, Dang Jemun was a person who could practically be called the Tang Clan itself.
To be honest, even if she returned from the dead and ordered the Poison King to roll around like a dog, he would be at a level where he would have no choice but to obey.
Calling her a piece of filth meant he was saying something he would be severely punished for after death.
But Dang Bwi had no way of knowing that, and continued speaking with a rotten smile.
“This is the Tang Clan. It is destined to become the greatest clan in the Central Plains before long.”
“Oh.”
He had admirable self-esteem. Dang Bwi was dreaming of a goal he had failed to achieve even in my previous life.
After the Namgung Clan had been exterminated and Sichuan occupied, the place where those who barely escaped had fled was none other than the Tang Clan.
Knowing that, I could not help but feel that his dream was remarkably grand.
“And yet some ignorant rat has crawled in here, intending to muddy the waters. I even took the trouble to warn you kindly. Do you truly not fear the Tang Clan?”
As expected.
The poison sent to me had indeed been a warning.
It meant: *Do not act recklessly.*
However, calling it kind was contradictory.
“You were already dead set on killing me, so why put on this act as well? How disgusting.”
“…”
“You’re still trying to pull something….”
These people had no intention of ending matters with a mere warning.
If that had been their intention, they would never have started this in the first place.
Dang Bwi’s expression shifted slightly, as if my words had struck home.
“Knowing that, you still continue to run wild?”
“You seem to have been mistaken about something this entire time…”
Of all the things Dang Bwi had said, one in particular had grated on my nerves.
*Do I continue to run wild despite knowing?*
No.
It was this:
“You are not the Tang Clan.”
The way that old man dared to claim he was the Tang Clan itself was thoroughly revolting.
“You’re merely one of its rotten roots. You don’t even know your place, yet you dare spout such bullshit?”
The one who did not know was Dang Bwi.
He was merely an elder barely holding up one pillar. A discarded piece of timber, no more than that, secretly carrying out other schemes through the back door.
Why he acted so arrogantly was beyond me.
To call a man like that the Tang Clan would be an insult to the Poison Consort, who had sacrificed her eyes and her life to protect it.
That could not be allowed.
“So just sit quietly and wait until I come for you. If you’re going to run, run quickly. In consideration of the courage you’ve shown, I won’t stop you.”
“You insolent brat…! Do you even know where you are…!”
Fwoooosh—!
Perhaps he could no longer endure it. A murderous fighting intent erupted from Dang Bwi’s body.
The energy of someone who appeared to have reached the Hwagyeong realm, as befitted an elder of one of the Four Great Clans.
Feeling it, I tilted my head.
The Poison King’s residence was not very far away. Releasing such fighting intent in a place like this carried meaning in itself.
Dang Bwi was not particularly afraid of the Poison King.
It meant he either had a way to conceal the situation if he killed me here, or a way to deal with the aftermath.
I understood that much.
Now, I wanted to ask Dang Bwi something more fundamental.
“You going to?”
I was asking whether he truly intended to fight me here.
As a martial artist in the Hwagyeong realm who used poison techniques, he was a troublesome opponent in some respects.
But I did not find him particularly frightening.
If he wanted to fight, I could oblige him.
As it happened, I had been wanting to fight someone.
I looked at Dang Bwi with that intention in my eyes.
Then—
Flinch.
I saw the old man’s body suddenly stop.
What was he thinking?
An unexpected emotion passed through Dang Bwi’s gaze as he looked at me.
Fear? Terror?
I sensed emotions more or less like that.
Why?
*I hadn’t even released any fighting intent.*
All I had done was look at him while considering whether to fight. Why was the old man feeling that way?
I could not understand.
As I watched him, I was the first to move.
I released Dang Soyeol’s ear and gently pushed her away from my embrace.
Then I smiled.
“Thank you for your kind words, First Elder.”
“…?”
Dang Bwi’s expression wavered at my sudden change in tone. His face seemed to ask, *What the hell is he doing?*
“I’m truly grateful that you think so highly of me.”
“…What are you talking about?”
“You’ve even invited me to a meal next time. I hardly know what to do with myself. Haha. I’ll be sure to attend.”
“…”
Dang Bwi’s expression grew so rotten that it became strange.
It took only a few seconds for the face that had been unable to understand what was happening to change into a stare that seemed to ask, *What kind of bastard is this?*
“Then, please return safely.”
“…”
Even after my farewell, Dang Bwi did not move.
I confirmed that and sent him a look.
*Are you going to keep going?*
*If you are, then do it.*
When I conveyed that with my eyes, Dang Bwi ground his teeth slightly, then turned around.
Could I say that he had backed down first?
It did not seem that way.
“I apologize for the intrusion… I have business to attend to, so I should be going. Young Lady, I hope you enjoy the rest of your time.”
After showing Dang Soyeol the proper courtesy, Dang Bwi soon disappeared with slow steps.
I, too, held back my disappointment as I watched his back.
*Not yet.*
Now was not the time.
I had a plan in mind, so for now, I had to be satisfied with merely prodding them.
Besides, I considered this a decent harvest.
*I was certain he was someone who deserved to die. That was enough.*
For now, this would suffice.
Thinking so, I widened my eyes.
“Ah.”
Until now, I had not thought about Dang Soyeol, who had been in my arms the entire time.
I hurriedly lowered my head and looked at her.
“Sorry, you must have been startled… huh?”
The moment I saw Dang Soyeol’s face, I was the one who had to flinch.
That was because not only her ears but her entire face had turned bright red.
“…You.”
“Are you all right? What’s wrong?”
Had I unconsciously released some heat?
The warmth emanating from Dang Soyeol’s face was considerable.
It would not have been strange if steam had begun rising from the top of her head.
“What… Why is this happening…?”
I was about to touch her forehead out of concern when—
“I-I-I’ll be going!”
Dang Soyeol slapped away my hand and suddenly ran off.
The problem was that she was not running toward the path.
I wondered whether I should tell her, but—
Dang Soyeol had already vanished in the distance with quick steps.
“Hmm…”
Watching her go, I had to scratch the back of my head.
Did she have some urgent business?
*Well… she’ll figure it out herself.*
I decided not to worry about it too much.
******************
A day passed.
Originally, we should all have gone to the county seat yesterday, but our schedule had been pushed back because I collapsed after being poisoned that morning.
As a result, our schedule had become rather tight.
We had to immediately visit the Sichuan branch of the Baekhwa Merchant Alliance in the county seat.
Afterward, I intended to meet the Tyrant.
I had preparations to make for the training that would follow.
With my physical condition having changed, it was also time to reconsider how I should proceed.
Just as I was about to set out for my busy schedule—
“…What?”
I was forced to face something I had not anticipated at all.
The one blocking my way as I tried to leave was none other than Nahi, an assassin of the Tang Clan.
She had come to deliver a message under the Poison King’s orders—not as my servant, but as a member of the Tang Clan.
However—
The information itself was the problem.
“Say that again. What happened?”
At my urgent question, Nahi, who had been kneeling on one knee, carefully spoke.
“The Clan Head sent a letter to the Gu Clan, informing them that Young Master had nearly been poisoned to death in the Tang Clan.”
“…”
“We expect the messenger to arrive within five days at the latest.”
It meant that news of my having been poisoned in the Tang Clan would reach my father in Shanxi.
As I heard that, a thin sheen of cold sweat ran down my back.
Apparently—
*…This might be a bit of a problem.*
It seemed an unexpected complication was about to arise.