Chapter 516 - Let Me Hold It Just Once.
More time passed, and by the time noon came around.
The incident that had erupted in the middle of the night had caused quite the commotion.
For now, it was only noisy within the Tang Clan.
But how long would that last?
If the Poison King failed to firmly seize public opinion within the great family, it wouldn't be long before it spread throughout Sichuan, let alone the entire Central Plains.
It was an incident worthy of that.
'Rather... it couldn't be helped.'
How could it not be?
The Tang Clan had, of all things, been conducting human experiments in secret.
The truth about that matter had burst forth.
If they couldn't contain the rumors, it was only a matter of time before they spread throughout the realm.
The captured First Elder confessed everything, begging forgiveness for his sins.
The evil deeds committed over the past hundred-odd years to make the Tang Clan the foremost great family.
The Heavenly Martial Body Creation Plan that had been mentioned continuously.
The full story of this plan had been properly revealed.
'It was far more cruel than I thought.'
By the time I had checked in my previous life, it had already been erased over and over, leaving only traces, so I had only seen tiny fragments.
I could know that truth by looking at the Tang Clan's current underground.
I remember the corpses of poison-filled demonic beasts stacked like mountains.
There were so many that, despite the underground chamber being considerably large, they filled it to the brim.
Up to that point, it didn't really matter.
Experiments using demonic beasts? It was something one heard of from time to time.
Even the Murong family immediately came to mind—they locked demonic beasts underground, extracted silk from them, and used it for their business, and the Martial Alliance had also been continuing experiments using demonic beasts.
So, this wasn't something that should cause such an uproar over something of this degree.
Naturally, there would be no need to proceed with the work hidden from the Family Head.
Then, what was the problem here?
That was precisely—
'Human experiments.'
That was probably the problem.
Around the time we subdued the First Elder and took care of the unconscious Heavenly Venerable.
Ah, the fire that had been attached to the Heavenly Venerable's body had gone out around then.
Strangely, it went out right as the Poison King arrived.
I wondered if Father had controlled it, but I didn't know for sure.
Anyway.
When the Poison King dug deeper into the Tang Clan's underground, even deeper than that place.
A sight that would make even Father, not to mention him, furrow his brows was spread out before them.
The thick scent of blood, enough to make one's nose tingle—wondering where this stench was coming from, it was from beyond a space where the door had been packed and sealed tight.
When we forcibly opened the door and entered the space, everyone covered their mouths at the sight inside.
Something was stacked so densely that not a gap could be seen on the floor.
It took a little time to realize that they were all human flesh.
Flesh that had rotted and rotted away.
They were damaged to the point where it was now difficult to properly discern their forms.
The blood had dried and hardened.
Chunks chopped up to the point where one couldn't tell which part was which were rotting and emitting a foul stench.
"Uuugh...!"
One of the martial artists in the back abruptly retched.
If they were the Poison King's sword troops, they must have experienced quite a few trials, yet they couldn't endure it.
That was how disgusting a sight it was.
Then.
Swish.
Father suddenly placed his hand on my back.
The moment I wondered why, I felt a thin barrier being erected around my body.
Only then could I realize.
That thick poisonous energy was spreading throughout this space.
Hwoosh—!
At the same time, wind blew.
I could see the poisonous energy spread within the room being sucked away somewhere.
It was the Poison King's hand.
The Poison King was gathering the floating poisonous energy in one place.
'How fascinating.'
Was it the Tang Clan's martial art? I wondered if it was a technique for handling poisonous energy, just as the Gu family handled heat.
Before long, all the poisonous energy in the space disappeared, and what remained in the room was a grotesque feast of corpses and mechanisms that hinted at some kind of experiment.
I already knew what those things meant.
Because I had heard it from the First Elder earlier.
Moreover, even with corpses piled up like this, I didn't feel particularly moved.
Because I had seen worse in my previous life.
Something of this degree was nothing.
Of course, that was from my perspective. It wouldn't be the same for the Poison King or the others.
Crack.
As proof of that, a harsh sound came from the Poison King's hand.
It was the feeling of wanting to smash everything yet forcibly holding back.
The sound of him forcibly smoothing out his breath, filled with emotion, could also be heard.
The Poison King, having spent a few seconds—a brief moment—to compose himself.
"M-Might... you... step aside for a moment...?"
He spoke while looking at Father and me.
I had to be quite flustered inwardly at those words.
'He's trying to send us away after seeing this.'
No matter who looked, this was clear evidence that the Tang Clan had been conducting foul play underground.
Whether the Poison King had been involved in the matter or not, forcibly sending away witnesses was a situation that could cause problems.
There was no way the Poison King wouldn't know that. Had his mind gone somewhat mad?
As I looked at the Poison King with a strange expression.
"I shall do so."
Father didn't say much and expressed affirmation to the Poison King's words.
Though I felt somewhat uneasy, since Father said it was fine, there was nothing more for me to say.
And so, as I moved to follow Father who turned around first, I briefly looked over the Poison King's back.
Due to the characteristics of the Tang Clan, most of them had relatively small builds.
Perhaps that was why the Poison King's back looked particularly small.
It bothered me for some reason.
After going up, I couldn't go straight to my quarters.
Because given the situation, I had to wait in the main hall.
After that, matters progressed at a considerably rapid pace.
"...The Third Elder and Fourth Elder are involved in the matter."
Because the captured First Elder ceaselessly spat out the truth about the matter.
"Everything was for Lord Dokgun's will...."
"So that the Tang Clan could become the greatest great family...."
They had proceeded to make the Tang Clan number one.
The current Tang Clan was not a proper great family.
How could a great family that had lost its martial might become number one?
The words the First Elder spat out, filled with his sincerity, amounted to that.
Right after the Tang Clan began handling and selling iron.
The point at which they had turned away from the will they originally sought to achieve.
The First Elder said that time was the problem.
It was the flow that the Poison King's father and former Family Head had chosen and begun to change.
The elders who had opposed this resolved to cause an incident, and that incident had finally exploded now.
That was roughly what it meant.
It wasn't a particularly interesting tale.
'I told him to speak with sincerity, so it doesn't seem to be false.'
Because there was a restriction placed on the First Elder, the words he spat out wouldn't be false.
However, they were merely words that seemed truly futile to call sincere.
Up to that point, it was fine in its own way.
Even when I heard that the disappearance incidents that had occurred in Sichuan over the past few years were the Tang Clan's doing.
Even when he said they had used that to conduct human experiments.
Even when the First Elder spewed nonsense that the Family Head's abilities were lacking and he had tried to take his place.
The Poison King, who had been barely listening and holding back.
"Right after the medicine was completed.... Through the Young Miss, to the world...."
Swoosh—!
At the words that they had intended to ultimately kidnap Tang Soyeol and feed her the completed medicine, the Poison King personally beheaded him with a sweep of his sword.
The Poison King, who didn't use swords, had gone out of his way to pick up a sword and cut him down.
Blood splattered, soaking the floor, and the atmosphere around him grew frigid at the Poison King's fierce action, the likes of which had never been seen before.
Perhaps because he was quite angry, the Poison King ground his teeth and ordered the Tang Clan's martial artists.
"Bring the Third Elder and Fourth Elder."
His face, twisted like an evil ghost, was extremely fierce.
Seeing that, I couldn't help but be surprised inwardly.
'Ah, he shouldn't have killed him.'
There was much information to extract. But because the Poison King arrived at that time, I hadn't been able to hear it all.
Since he killed him like that, it had become quite troublesome for me too.
'... Damn it.'
Still, it wasn't without gains.
I had learned that if one succeeded in Demonization, one could restore a broken mind to some degree.
As the First Elder's head rolled across the floor and the martial artists began to scatter at the Poison King's words, I too left that place.
It would have been troublesome to stay there any longer.
I could see it was about to get noisy, so I decided to lie low for a bit.
I was about to ask if Father wouldn't come with me.
"Go on ahead."
As if knowing I was about to bolt, he spoke first.
"...What about the Family Head?"
I was asking what Father intended to do.
When I asked that, Father looked at me with eyes that seemed displeased about something.
What? Did I do something wrong?
As I was watching his reaction, Father spoke to me.
"Use the proper address."
"Pardon?"
"This is not the Gu family."
"... What do you mean?"
It was a rather strange thing to say.
Then what should I call him? If not Family Head, what should I call the Family Head?
Thinking that for a moment, I spat out the only word that came to mind.
"Father...?"
"..."
Upon hearing my address, Father soon nodded.
So this was the correct answer.
I didn't know why he liked this, but for now, I moved past it and asked the main point.
"Aren't you coming with me?"
"The deal is not yet finished."
"The deal?"
As I looked at him wondering what he meant, Father moved.
At the same time, a voice transmission entered my ear.
—I made a deal with the Poison King. If I helped with this matter, he would grant priority trading rights with the Tang Clan.
My eyes widened at Father's words.
'No, when did you talk about that...?'
And by 'this matter,' surely he didn't mean...
'Is he talking about capturing the Elders?'
Thinking that far, I quickly looked at the Poison King.
'That man, could he have anticipated this far and called Father here?'
'No wonder he made such a big show of handling the matter.'
Since these kinds of matters should be handled quietly, lest the criminals sense the mood and flee, a quiet surprise attack was the norm.
I had found it strange that the Poison King handled it so loudly in front of everyone.
'That man...'
The Poison King was a far more serpentine man than I thought.
The reason he deliberately caused such a commotion was clearly to raise the Family Head's authority.
By processing the elders while showing he could hold together the scattered pieces of the Tang Clan, he was trying to display the Family Head's influence.
'Ha...'
I let out a hollow laugh at the feeling of being entangled more deeply than expected.
The Poison King was a far more capable man than I had expected.
However, what worried me was:
'Priority trading rights, huh.'
Since they were the great family holding the highest commercial rights regarding iron.
Being able to trade with them preferentially was considerable value.
If I recalled correctly, the Martial Alliance had held that.
'Can the Gu family take this?'
At a time when there was already much talk due to the collaboration with the Murong family.
I wondered if they could snatch this from the Martial Alliance too. If this happened, the Gu family's power would grow too much.
For one great family to become so huge—this was something the Martial Alliance would least want.
'...Well, Father will handle it.'
I brushed the thought aside as soon as it rose.
Father would handle it.
If anything went wrong, Lady Mi would step in and it would usually be resolved.
I watched Father leisurely disappear to capture the elders, then moved my steps again.
My destination was already decided.
"Ah, Young Lord...?"
A quarters slightly set back from the main hall.
A woman petting a somehow familiar-looking wolf was visible.
The woman was none other than Tang Soyeol.
This was Tang Soyeol's quarters.
Tang Soyeol smiled brightly at me who had suddenly visited.
There was something about that smile that looked bright yet shadowed. It bothered me.
Because it was something I had been subconsciously concerned about, it bothered me all the more.
"What brings you here?"
"I wondered what you were doing."
It was around the time the Poison King was busy handling matters.
But seeing Tang Soyeol's reaction, it felt like the Poison King had kept it secret from her.
'The guard presence around her is much tighter than usual too.'
Around Tang Soyeol's quarters.
The number of martial artists standing guard was twice the usual, and most of them were of a higher level than normal.
It seemed to be in preparation for any possible situation, and it appeared she hadn't been told.
As if to inform me of this, a Tang Clan martial artist who suddenly appeared reacted upon seeing me.
—Young Master Gu...
—I already know. Don't worry.
...
Probably about to warn me not to speak of the First Elder, I spoke first.
"Ah, Young Lord. This is a wolf I raise. Cute, isn't it?"
Tang Soyeol, simply happy that I had come, introduced the wolf she had been petting.
It was a large wolf with black fur... um... how should I put it.
"...It looks really ill-mannered?"
For some reason, its appearance was displeasing.
Grrr...!
As if understanding my words, the wolf bared its teeth. This little thing?
Just as I was about to growl back to teach it a lesson, Tang Soyeol quickly raised her hand and stopped me.
"That's what's cute about it!"
"... Ah, I see."
Yeah, if you say it's cute, that's fine.
I couldn't say anything about the animal she raised.
I myself was raising a strange snake, after all.
'Come to think of it, I haven't named that guy yet.'
I recalled Jeoksusa, which would be sleeping in my quarters by now.
I kept it around because it seemed helpful and smart, but somehow I hadn't given it a name yet.
What should I make it?
The worry was brief.
'Let's go with Ttolttoli.'
Since it's a smart, helpful guy, I should roughly call it Ttolttoli.
—Shaaa!
From somewhere, it was as if I heard Ttolttoli scream.
It must be my imagination.
I nodded slightly, then looked at Tang Soyeol and spoke.
"The reason I came is, well. I have something to ask."
"Of me?"
"Yes."
A light-green eye, dyed lightly on only one side.
I looked into those eyes and asked.
"By any chance, do you have any thoughts of wanting to become stronger?"
"...Huh?"
It was admittedly a rather out-of-the-blue question, even to me.