Chapter 43
Secret History (3)
Along with a foul sensation unlike anything he’d ever felt in the Tang Clan, a small pink light caught in his inner sight.
But why the heart?
Strangely, the location was different.
Unlike Saheukryun’s Yeom Gijin and Jin Sang’s Jin Jo-yeon, where heretical sorcery had been planted into the brain, this trace appeared in the heart.
And there’s something else odd.
It was the inside of Chil Suk’s robes.
The faint black light he had sensed beyond the walls of the Poison Refinery also appeared there.
“Hahaha. Where are you coming from, Elder Chil Suk?”
“Heheheh. From the Poison Refinery. The cauldrons and vessels used to refine poison all corroded, so I was disposing of them along with the failed poison.”
“I see. Well then, Yongun, this elder here—”
But Kang Yong-un cut Tang Sobaek’s words like a blade.
“I see traces of heresy in his heart. And what is it that he hides in his bosom?”
He shouted with his inner force.
Flash.
Chil Suk’s eyes changed.
“Who are you to spout such nonsense?!”
His voice was icy.
“R-really?”
Tang Sobaek could only blink in disbelief. He had thought the clan was safe, so the sudden turn of events was too much to accept.
But there was someone who was not shaken.
Whoosh—!
With a gust of wind, Clan Head Tang Se-hwang dropped down, blocking Chil Suk’s retreat.
“Do not move.”
His voice was stern and cold.
Just as promised.
The Clan Head had secretly accompanied them all along during their patrol with Tang Sobaek.
“C-Clan Head?!”
“Yes, it is I. So do not make any reckless moves.”
Though clearly flustered, Chil Suk immediately resisted.
“What is the meaning of this?”
“I said, do not move.”
Whooom—!
With Tang Se-hwang’s command, an overwhelming aura crashed down on Chil Suk, suffocating him.
“Ugh—!”
“Yong-un! Prove it!”
Though Chil Suk faltered, Tang Se-hwang didn’t relent and instead shouted to Kang Yong-un.
“There are two things, Clan Head!”
Kang Yong-un raised his voice, proving what he had said.
“First, unlike the two times before, this is not in the head but the heart. Traces of heresy lie in his heart. Second, inside his bosom—something very dangerous, and it feels like it belongs to the Tang Clan…”
That was as far as he got.
“Damn it—!”
Crack. Boom—!
Chil Suk unleashed his movement art, unable to stay still any longer. He tried to flee.
“How dare you—!”
Furious, Tang Se-hwang flicked his hand.
A streak of light shot out like a harpoon toward Chil Suk’s thigh.
Thud—!
A coin-sized hole pierced his leg.
“Aaagh—!”
Mid-leap, Chil Suk tumbled to the ground.
“You may be collateral, but you are still of Tang blood. And yet you became a servant of the heretics?!”
Tang Se-hwang advanced with a cold face. Desperate, Chil Suk screamed back:
“Tang blood—?! Was I truly ever of Tang blood, Clan Head?!”
What did he mean?
Tang Se-hwang’s steps halted.
Having given up everything, Chil Suk poured out words soaked in bitterness.
“The most dangerous task of detoxifying poisons in the Poison Refinery always fell upon us collateral lines! The short-lived posts where one inhaled poison while disposing of toxins—that was all we collateral were ever given!”
“How dare you—!”
Tang Se-hwang could no longer restrain his fury.
“Your lineage was too distant to stand in the family halls, yet I let you work at the very heart of the Refinery, and you say such things?!”
Rumble—!
His killing aura was so fierce that the very air trembled.
But—
“Wahaha! The heart of the Refinery? The truly important poisons were all handled only by the direct line, while we collateral were given only the body-rotting detoxification! And you dare flaunt that as benevolence?!”
“You fool! Detoxification and poison-refinement are the same thing!”
Tang Se-hwang’s roar was like divine thunder.
“Turn detoxification around, and it becomes poison-refinement! In truth, detoxification is even more important! Do you not grasp that you were entrusted with the very key to our poisons’ remedies?!”
It was proof of trust and responsibility.
Chil Suk’s body shook.
For once, he had no words to refute Tang Se-hwang.
“What is it you carry in your bosom?”
Flinch.
Tang Se-hwang pressed harder.
“Speak! What have you stolen, and what did you intend to do with it?!”
“You truly wish to know?!”
Chil Suk raised his broken voice, staring directly into the Clan Head’s eyes.
“It is an item that can turn a collateral like me, destined only to rot away at detox, into one of the direct line!”
His voice rose, a cry of lifelong resentment.
“To make you a direct descendant?”
It was usurpation.
“You wretch—!”
“Hahaha! For over a hundred years since the direct line replaced the collateral, my ancestors have rotted away in the Refinery. This is for them—!”
Crash—!
As his words ended, Chil Suk pulled something from his robes and hurled it at Tang Se-hwang.
A faint black light.
With it came a strange wailing that shook the soul, and Kang Yong-un caught it with his inner sight.
That’s…
He realized it was the same as the object hidden behind the Refinery’s wall.
“Danger—!”
There was no time to stop it.
“Hmph! Fool!”
Tang Se-hwang unleashed his Triple Yang Palm.
He mistook it for an ordinary hidden weapon or poison and caught it head-on. No Tang poison or weapon could possibly harm him.
Snap!
With a perfect technique, Tang Se-hwang seized the object Chil Suk had thrown.
Then—
“You—!”
Thud.
Blood spurted from Chil Suk’s heart, lungs, and dantian.
In that instant, the clan’s infamous Death-Needles had struck him down.
“Khuh—! R-remember this, Clan Head. C-collateral is direct, and direct is c-collateral…”
Thump.
With those words, Chil Suk died.
“Elder—!”
“Father!”
As Kang Yong-un and Tang Sobaek rushed forward—
“Do not come—!”
Tang Se-hwang’s trembling hand clutched the object he had caught with his palm.
“B-bring the Poison Sovereign!”
“Father!”
“I’ll be in the training hall. Hurry—!”
That was all.
Whoosh—!
With a compressed gale, Tang Se-hwang vanished at shocking speed.
“His hand… it’s turning black.”
Kang Yong-un had seen it clearly—
that the unknown, terrible thing hidden behind the Refinery’s wall was now invading Tang Se-hwang.
“Grandfather—!”
Tang Sobaek sped off with movement arts, and Kang Yong-un followed, determined to help.
They retraced their steps—through the annex, outer grounds, Poison Refinery, and Thousand Hand Manor—before breaking through to the inner grounds and heading north.
Moments later—
A lake? Here?
Kang Yong-un’s eyes widened.
Whether natural or manmade, it was a breathtaking sight. If not for the crisis, he might have stopped to admire it.
Tap-tap-tap—!
Tang Sobaek raced along the shore.
In the middle of the lake lay a small island, connected by an ancient bridge.
“That’s the Poison Lake.”
Tang Sobaek’s voice was heavy.
“You were bound to come here anyway, so I’ll warn you—once inside that island, touch nothing. It’s filled with poisons beyond anything you can imagine.”
That was all.
He said no more, only increased his speed.
Poisons beyond imagination…
Why had the Elders of the Firmament sent him to this place?
I know nothing of poison arts. Yet they told me to draw upon the Great Heavenly Divine Art—why?
As he pondered the Elders’ words, they neared the island.
Whooom—!
A powerful resonance struck his spirit.
What? This is…
Kang Yong-un’s eyes went wide.
It was familiar—the same resonance from behind the Refinery’s wall, and from the thing Chil Suk had thrown.
And then—
“Ha—!”
He gasped.
At last he saw it.
A massive lump of black light, deep in the center of the island.
“Grandfather—!”
Tang Sobaek reached the island, calling out loudly.
“Disaster has struck, Grandfather—!”
“What is it, Brother?!”
From within the forest at the island’s center, Tang Sosso unexpectedly appeared.
“Fetch Grandfather, quickly! Hurry—!”
“Wait just a moment—!”
Reading the urgency in his tone, Tang Sosso darted back inside.
A moment later—
“What has happened?!”
The Poison Sovereign, Tang Gun-u, emerged with Tang Sosso.
“It’s…”
Tang Sobaek quickly explained everything that had happened with Chil Suk.
“…and when he threw a strange poison, Father seemed to have been poisoned, Grandfather—!”
“What? Poisoned? The Clan Head?!”
The Poison Sovereign’s eyes widened in disbelief. Then suddenly, they bulged further.
“C-could it be?!”
He had a terrible suspicion.
“That he smuggled out the centuries-old poison of the Poison Lake?!”
Boom—!
Tang Gun-u shot into the air like lightning, racing toward the Clan Head’s training hall.
“Grandfather—!”
“I’ll come too!”
Tang Sosso followed with movement arts.
Tang Sobaek hesitated, then glanced back.
“What will you…”
He trailed off.
Kang Yong-un, dazed, had sat cross-legged on the ground.
“Hoo—! I’ll just trust this.”
Tang Sobaek stared at him for a moment, then rushed after the others.
Kang Yong-un hardly noticed.
The voices of the Firmament Elders filled his mind, and he began channeling the Great Heavenly Divine Art with all his strength.
[Do you wish to save the Tang Clan youth?]
The question echoed in his spirit, as the black mass before his inner sight shimmered.
“Of course. I wish to save him, Elders.”
At his reply, their voices poured down like a waterfall.
[Poison is born from excessive medicinal power.]
[Herbs, when aged, gain spiritual essence. Why should poison be any different?]
[The Poison Lake has gathered countless discarded poisons over centuries. Their toxicity, their medicinal strength, has merged and intensified…]
[Just as the Three Kings gained spiritual essence, so too has this place’s poison. The blood, sweat, and tears of those who spent lifetimes here became its seed.]
[This budding spirit is called Poison Essence.]
[In its infancy, it is like a blank page.]
[Yet the nature of Poison Essence is wild and violent. It must be tamed and taught.]
[And with what will you tame and teach it? With Primal Heaven.]
[Primal Heaven is Heaven’s will itself! Nothing else in creation can commune with such condensed essence, but Heaven’s will can.]
[Show Poison Essence the will of Heaven, child. Teach it so that it cannot run wild forever.]
It was a flood of revelations.
But Kang Yong-un did not let awe paralyze him—he acted at once.
“Ying Heaven follows Heaven. The will of Heaven is absolute…”
He drew forth every ounce of his strength, summoning the Great Heavenly Divine Art.
