The tip of my tongue tingled.
While some poisons were potent, perhaps because I had reached the realm of Immunity to All Poisons, my senses for detecting poison had become more delicate.
'Hmm.'
I swallowed what I had been holding in my mouth and took another gulp.
Then, as if savoring it, I swirled it around in my mouth a few times.
It certainly wasn't because it tasted good.
'What kind of poison is this?'
What could this poison be for?
First, I wanted to confirm that.
Right after swallowing the tea, I briefly checked my body's condition.
The poison would soon be broken down and disappear anyway, but it lingered for a fleeting moment, so I had to observe that instant.
Swish.
The swallowed poison began to slowly spread before quickly vanishing.
Feeling this, I nodded.
I figured it out.
'Eunyeolcho (Hidden Heat Grass).'
The poison mixed into the plum tea was likely the poison of the Eunyeolcho.
Perhaps because I recognized it at once, a sense of satisfaction rose within me.
'The studying paid off.'
The past few years.
Occasionally, with the help of Dang So-yeol or the Dang Family, I had studied poisons.
Thanks to reaching Immunity to All Poisons, it wouldn't matter if I didn't know about poisons, but ironically, that was why I tried harder to memorize them.
'Being immune to poison means it's easier for me to use poison.'
They say the Heavenly Demon of my past life wasn't someone who resorted to poison assassination.
But I was not her.
'I have to use whatever I can use.'
Whether it's poison or whatever else, if I can use it, I will.
For that, I had to study on my own.
Thanks to that, I could immediately identify what kind of poison it was.
Eunyeolcho (隱熱草) is a poisonous plant that only grows in shaded areas during sweltering summer-like weather.
Its characteristic is...
'It disrupts the flow of inner qi.'
It wasn't a permanent poison, but upon ingestion, it was a poison that could cause problems for a few days.
"Hmm."
In terms of potency, without resistance, it was at a level where one could consider thirty percent of their strength bound.
It had almost no taste, and while it did have a vinegar-like scent that pricked the nose, it was mixed with the plum fragrance and didn't even emerge.
This meant...
'It was that well-mixed.'
It meant they prepared quite thoroughly.
Gulp.
Right after drinking all the remaining plum tea, I casually tossed the teacup.
Thud! Rumble-roll!
Watching the cup fall and roll, I tilted my head.
'First, they don't intend to kill... What's the purpose?'
If they intended to kill, there were stronger poisons in abundance.
Even if one's realm is high and poisons would have difficulty taking effect, there were more than enough poisons that could kill a martial artist.
At least, if I weren't immune to all poisons, that is.
"That's why it's even more suspicious."
Crack.
I loosened my neck and moved slightly.
At that moment.
"K-Heuh...Heu..."
The person in front of me began to sob and burst into tears.
It was a woman who seemed terrified out of her wits.
Looking at her, I slowly lowered my body and met her gaze.
And asked.
"Excuse me."
Flinch-!
At my words, the woman shuddered greatly.
"What was your name?"
"...B-Bae...B-Baekryeon...is...my name."
Right, Baekryeon.
That's right. That was her name.
"Right, that's correct. Attendant Baek."
"...Y-Yes...Yes. Y-Young Master..."
Looking at the trembling Baekryeon, I smiled slightly and spoke.
"There was poison in this tea. In the tea you brought, Attendant Baek."
As I reached out my hand, the fallen teacup flew into my grasp with a smack.
"Did you know?"
"I-I didn't know...I truly...didn't know..."
She was desperate and frantic.
A woman denying it, trying somehow to escape danger.
Looking at her, I put strength into the cup I was holding.
Crash-!
"Hiek-!"
The cup split in half, and seeing this, Baekryeon trembled violently.
Then I saw her lower garments becoming damp. She had probably wet herself.
"Right, you didn't know. You wouldn't have known."
Watching her tremble, I slightly raised my body.
Though her appearance was somewhat pitiful, my cold gaze did not return.
That was because...
"You probably didn't know there was poison in it... But you must have received a request to bring the tea. Right?"
"...!"
At my question, Baekryeon's eyes wavered.
"Th-That is..."
"Without that, the situation doesn't quite make sense. Attendant Baek."
Appearing at dawn and abruptly offering tea.
And making an excuse about Lady Mi while bringing Maehwaseon's tea.
There was more than one or two strange things.
Yes, an obviously suspicious situation.
That was why I let the attendant into my room.
Rather, because it was too strange, I wanted to see what they would attempt.
"I was wrong...! Please forgive me, Young Master...!!"
Hearing my words, Baekryeon immediately knelt and prostrated herself.
"I truly didn't know... They, they just said if I brought the tea, they would give me a large sum of money..."
As expected.
"How much?"
"Pardon...?"
"How much did they say they'd give you?"
Hearing the question, Baekryeon spat out the amount.
In terms of money, it was slightly less than what the Gu family paid their attendants every half year.
For her, it would be a large amount, if anything.
"Truly... I had no idea there was poison-!"
She desperately grabbed my leg and cried out, so I asked her in that state.
"But you must have expected it."
"...!"
Hearing my words, Baekryeon stiffened.
"'Bring tea first thing in the morning.' The request itself is strange, isn't it? After hearing that, you must have imagined at least once what could be in the tea."
"...Y-Young Master..."
"What if there's poison? There might be poison. Someone could die from drinking this. Thoughts like that."
Slip.
I pulled my leg away and shook off Baekryeon's hand.
"You must have thought it. You definitely must have thought it at least once. But you did it anyway. How is that different from doing it knowingly?"
"P-Please spare me... That... I never did it with such intent...! I-I have a widowed mother and a young younger brother in my hometown...! Because of that-!"
"A widowed mother and a younger brother. Understood."
"Pardon...?"
The moment Baekryeon expressed confusion.
Smack.
"Gurgle."
I shot qi into Baekryeon's neck, killing her instantly.
Watching Baekryeon collapse, I stroked my chin.
"As expected, not a martial artist."
She was truly a commoner without a trace of qi.
Making an indifferent expression at that fact, I murmured.
"Clean this up."
[Yes.]
At my words, someone appeared, opened the door to the quarters, and removed Baekryeon's corpse.
It was one of Amwang's subordinates.
Since I had assigned Nahui a mission, I had someone else deployed.
As the person was removing Baekryeon, they suddenly asked me.
"Young Master."
"Yes."
"Given that there was an assassination attempt, wouldn't it be better to strengthen the guard?"
At those words, I casually waved my hand.
"That's fine."
"However..."
Normally, even if she were an attendant of the Gu family, she wouldn't be able to enter my quarters so freely.
Since this was foreign territory, it was a time when vigilance should have been extremely heightened.
However.
"I left it open on purpose, so it's rather a good thing."
I had deliberately lowered my guard, as if welcoming the opposite.
'It's actually easier to figure things out when they come at me like this.'
After sending an assassin, it was easier to judge where they were watching me from.
And easier to grasp the timing.
Moreover.
'I control the greatest assassin squad in the Central Plains anyway.'
The assassin squad that Amwang possessed followed my orders.
Even if other assassins moved, they wouldn't pose much of a threat.
"Then, I will prepare personnel and identify the mastermind who prepared the poison..."
"Please do it as quietly as possible."
"Understood."
According to Baekryeon, the person who gave the request had their face completely covered with a black cloth, making identification impossible.
Judging by the level of preparation for the tea, they probably didn't leave any traces either.
'Who could it be.'
Just who would have done such a thing.
Right now, I needed to ponder that.
First, the plum tea Maehwaseon gave was genuine.
But it wasn't Maehwaseon or the Huashan Sect.
'They also have no justification to do such a thing to me.'
Nor would they prepare something so openly.
Then where.
'The Alliance side?'
The Martial Alliance.
That side had some credibility.
They were also an organization with that kind of power.
However.
'For it to be the Martial Alliance, the execution is too sloppy.'
If it were them, they wouldn't have bothered with such a method.
This was rather...
'It would be correct to see this as intentionally appearing sloppy.'
The possibility that they never even considered Baekryeon succeeding in the first place.
I focused a bit more thought on that angle.
'The possibility of sending an attendant to serve poisoned tea at dawn is almost nonexistent.'
Thinking it would work was strange in itself.
'This is a probing attempt.'
To see how high my guard is; if it somehow succeeds, great, and even if it fails, they can still learn something.
More precisely, there was also the possibility they hoped Baekryeon would be caught and spill information.
'Because then my vigilance would rise.'
Using an attendant to poison and attempt an approach.
Just that alone would raise my vigilance, so perhaps that was what they were aiming for.
'Or there might be another meaning I'm not aware of.'
There wasn't enough information to determine exactly.
Moreover.
'What's important right now is...'
Rather than identifying who did it, I needed to focus on the fact that someone targeting me had emerged.
'It's probably because of yesterday.'
If the appearance I showed in the preliminaries became a problem and created people targeting me like this.
'Good.'
That was a situation I had expected.
'I can find out who did it gradually.'
Cracking my stiff neck this way and that, I went outside the room.
Since there was a faint smell of urine, I'd need to have it cleaned as well.
"Ah, and also."
Passing through the hallway, I continued speaking.
"The dead attendant has a sibling and a mother."
Right after I spoke, the person who had disappeared earlier appeared from behind.
"I will handle it."
"Crazy, handle what? What do you mean handle?"
I showed disgust.
What kind of scary talk is that.
"First, check if they actually exist."
I requested them to determine whether Baekryeon had said it just to live or not.
Then, if the words were true.
"I'll give you a pouch later. Find her family and send it to them."
I planned to send money through someone.
The amount was exactly what Baekryeon said she received along with the request.
It was the price of her own life that she had mentioned.
"...Understood."
At my words, the person finished answering and then disappeared without another word.
Tap tap.
After that, I dusted myself off and walked on.
A sky without a single cloud in sight.
As sunlight gradually shone upon it, a warm atmosphere lingered.
However, unlike that, my mood was utterly foul.
Killing someone first thing in the morning?
That wasn't it.
'She was someone trying to fuck with me, so what does it matter.'
It was just that the dream was unsettling.
But I couldn't even recall that dream.
That was why my mood was so terrible.
I clicked my tongue sharply and took a step.
'So, the one who would pull such a stunt on me.'
I thought about it briefly earlier.
No matter how I thought about it, the culprit would be one of two people.
'One is the Blade King (刀王). That man is highly likely.'
And the other side.
'The Emei Sect (峨嵋派).'
One of the Nine Sects and One Faction based in Sichuan.
It was a peculiar sect composed entirely of female monks.
There were some 'rumors' I had heard in my past life, which suddenly came to mind.
'I should look into this.'
A strange scent was definitely starting to emanate.
******************
Around the time Gu Yang-cheon was racking his brains with thought.
The Martial Alliance side was busy preparing for the first day of the preliminaries.
"White robes this way...!"
A situation not much different from the first day.
If there was a difference, it was that there seemed to be even more people.
Not quite double, but definitely more people than the first day.
The reason was none other than...
"They've arrived..."
Everyone's gaze was fixed on one spot.
People were walking in from the entrance.
"It's Shaolin."
The sect based in Henan.
The place that had been raising its momentum lately.
Shaolin's people had arrived at the preliminary grounds.
And naturally, among the countless Shaolin martial artists, there was one who drew everyone's attention.
"It's the Divine Dragon (神龍)..."
"So that young man is the Divine Dragon."
The young man standing at the very forefront among the Shaolin participants of the martial tournament.
He was a handsome man with distinct features and a face that looked like he had just passed twenty.
The unusual thing was that his eyes were yellow (黃眼).
The yellow eyes said to be possessed by the Heavenly Killing Star.
Seeing the Divine Dragon who possessed something similar, the surroundings began to murmur.
"...If they're yellow eyes, doesn't that mean he's definitely the Heavenly Killing Star? That's what I heard."
As a man watching muttered this, the person next to him snapped in anger.
"Look at this crazy bastard. Shaolin's Divine Dragon, a Heavenly Killing Star?! Do you want to be beaten to a pulp by them?"
"No... I just thought I heard something like that, so I said it."
"Keep your mouth shut. If they hear you, it's going to be a big problem."
The youngest Huajing realm verified by the Alliance.
A rare genius who would go down in history being the Heavenly Killing Star? That was nonsense.
"Of all days, it had to be the same day as them... I pray we're in a different group."
"They look like mere kids, why be so scared? Tsk tsk."
Those already frightened made up thirty percent.
Those who looked down on them made up thirty percent.
Those who watched with interest made up thirty percent.
"..."
The Divine Dragon, seeing those gazes, was quietly surveying his surroundings.
"Are you nervous?"
Someone spoke to him.
It was Museong, who was like a senior brother to the Divine Dragon.
"...I am not."
"Of course you could be. You haven't even experienced the Dragon and Phoenix Gathering, so it's natural to be nervous."
"..."
Since the incident had just occurred, the Dragon and Phoenix Gathering hadn't been held, so this was like the first time the Divine Dragon had appeared at an official event.
"However, you can do it. We are Shaolin, after all."
Words with a heavy presence.
It was a tone with firm pride and faith in Shaolin.
Hearing that, the Divine Dragon nodded heavily.
An uncomfortable emotion rose within him. Suppressing it fiercely, he spoke.
"...Yes. I can do it."
No, I must do it somehow.
The Divine Dragon swallowed those unspoken words.