Chapter 213
Chapter 213. Soul-Binding Poison
At the command of the Deputy Hall Lord, two Blood Sect members rushed over and bound the Black Sky Demon's arms and legs.
Because his body was riddled with concealed weapons, the Black Sky Demon flinched at even the slightest stimulus.
The Deputy Hall Lord frowned.
"Tsk, tsk. Why would you damage the body like this? I was lucky enough to get my hands on a long-honed internal energy from the Central Plains. Ah, come to think of it, they say there are Tang Clan fellows who absorb poison into their internal energy. If only the Black Sky Demon's internal energy were just as rare."
The Blood Sect member binding the Black Sky Demon's hands asked cautiously,
"But if the poison wears off before we send him to Jin Yin Mountain, what then?"
"Hm. It'd be best to poison him again before the paralysis wears off, but judging by the effect...... I'm a bit reluctant to open the poison vial again."
The Deputy Hall Lord glanced at his pouch and snorted.
"It'd be a waste, too."
After pondering, he spoke in a bitter voice.
"If only we hadn't run out of Five Minerals Powder, I wouldn't be worrying about this....... For now, I'll take this one to Jin Yin Mountain myself. You lot tidy up the pavilion properly and guard it well until that sorcerer bastard arrives."
"Yes."
The Deputy Hall Lord unconsciously reached for the pouch at his waist, then flinched. The poison's effect was far more terrifying than he had expected.
It was a great poison that paralyzed the entire body with mere skin contact. They said it was a poison that made one forget how to move the body, as though the soul were trapped inside it.
Thus, one would not die and would feel every pain exactly as it was.
They said the Tang Clan had developed it for the purpose of torturing masters who were close to being immune to all poisons.
Looking at the Black Sky Demon, who could not even blink, the Deputy Hall Lord curled his lips.
The Blue Blood Hall had committed a great sin against the Blood Demon and had been watching the mood carefully, but this looked like it would make an excellent gift for Him.
Recently, the Blood Demon had lost the entire framework of the North Sea Ice Palace, and the Great Desert Solar Palace had also fallen to the Main Blood Hall Lord, leaving Him in a state of great fury.
If he were to absorb the internal energy of a fellow brought from the Central Plains, wouldn't that provide at least some comfort?
It was also the ultimate reason the Blood Demon sought to devour the Central Plains, so he would surely be pleased with this man's internal energy.
As he descended the stairs, the Deputy Hall Lord called out cheerfully,
"Go and bring out the wagon."
"Yes!"
The subordinate guarding the first-floor door moved swiftly.
The Deputy Hall Lord turned his head toward the subordinate following behind him.
"Uwon, you......."
He was about to order the subordinate to bring new clothes for the Black Sky Demon.
But at the sharp sound of wind, he failed to finish his sentence and twisted his body to the side.
Whish.
The flying dagger that grazed past him embedded itself in the subordinate. Since the subordinate was carrying the Black Sky Demon on his back, he couldn't move and simply took the dagger head-on.
A finger-length flying dagger was lodged in his thigh, yet the subordinate's expression did not change.
The Deputy Hall Lord frowned as he looked at the concealed weapon.
It was so faint that he hadn't even sensed the energy—what kind of freak had thrown a concealed weapon at them?
The Deputy Hall Lord's gaze moved toward the direction the flying dagger had come from.
On the railing of this floor stood a woman of about twenty.
Recognizing her face, the Deputy Hall Lord curled his lips.
There was no reason not to smile. Just as he was about to head to Jin Yin Mountain, the woman the Blood Demon sought had fallen right into his hands.
"Today is a very lucky day indeed."
The Deputy Hall Lord rejoiced at the fact that he had gained one more piece of prey.
At that moment, an immense surge of energy pressed in from behind.
Turning his head, he saw the Black Sky Demon, slung over the subordinate's back, staring up at the Tang Clan woman on the second floor with bloodshot eyes.
He seemed greatly agitated, but regrettably, there was nothing he could do.
He issued an order to the Blood Sect member on the third floor who had just recovered.
"Bind that wench as well. We'll take her along to Jin Yin Mountain."
The recovered Blood Sect member rushed at Tang So-hwa without a word.
It seemed the Black Sky Demon's internal energy exploded once more, stirring a fierce wind from behind, but the Deputy Hall Lord and the subordinate ignored it and went down the stairs.
Just then, the Blood Sect member who had gone outside returned, pulling the wagon.
Drrrk.
Eager to take the Black Sky Demon away quickly, the Deputy Hall Lord hastened his steps.
Swish. Whoosh. Swish.
The sound of concealed weapons flying rang out, but the Deputy Hall Lord did not think much of it.
However, the moment he stepped onto the first floor, the subordinate descending behind him overtook him.
Thud, crash!
The subordinate tumbled down the stairs and sprawled on the floor, his body twisted at an unnatural angle.
The Deputy Hall Lord's eyebrows rose slowly.
The Black Sky Demon's paralysis had not worn off.
Flung away, the Black Sky Demon had struck his head against a table and was bleeding profusely from the back of his neck.
Even so, he stared intently at the melee unfolding on this floor.
The Deputy Hall Lord kicked over the subordinate's body, which lay sprawled before him.
The subordinate lay with his eyes open and his mouth agape.
Frowning, the Deputy Hall Lord pried open the front of the subordinate's clothes with his toe. It was because a black line was visible on his chest.
The black line ran straight down to the solar plexus.
Panicking, the Deputy Hall Lord collapsed to the floor and stripped off the subordinate's clothes with his hands.
Several black lines were branching out around the heart.
It was the symptom that appeared when the Blood Demon's Gu poison killed its host.
"W-what is this!"
The Deputy Hall Lord instinctively felt over his own body.
Yet there was no reaction of the Gu poison from him.
The Deputy Hall Lord could not understand the situation.
The Blood Demon had said he would bolster their strength and had personally imparted blood and Blood Arts to the elite. Then why, at this late stage, would he wish for us to die?
Fear crept over the Deputy Hall Lord's face.
Boom.
The Deputy Hall Lord, frozen in place, startled and turned his head to the side.
It was the sound of a subordinate who had been fighting on this floor crashing down.
Hastily looking up to this floor, he saw that the melee was already over.
Tang So-hwa was bound to a pillar. It seemed she had resisted fiercely—her clothes were torn, and her face bore wounds.
Surveying the surroundings, the Deputy Hall Lord's expression twisted violently.
The subordinates were lying collapsed with their eyes rolled back.
Ttap.
The Deputy Hall Lord leapt up to this floor.
By a hair's breadth, he undid the ropes binding Tang So-hwa. Fortunately, the Deputy Hall Lord's attention was fixed not on her, but on something else.
"Could it be.....!"
The Deputy Hall Lord checked the upper bodies of the subordinates lying on the floor. Likewise, black lines had sprouted around their hearts.
So-hwa took advantage of the moment he was stunned and leapt down to the first floor.
Thud.
She went straight to the Black Sky Demon and began undoing the ropes binding him.
Thuk. Thuk.
Concealed weapons rained down from above, embedding throwing darts into her back and shoulder. They were thrown by a Blood Sect member who had recovered on the fourth floor.
One after another, concealed weapons lodged into her body, yet So-hwa merely frowned for a brief moment and continued untying the Black Sky Demon's bonds.
Even after the bindings were removed, the Black Sky Demon could not move.
Realizing he was poisoned, So-hwa drew a flying dagger and brought it to his finger.
“Please endure it.”
So-hwa immediately cut the Black Sky Demon's finger and brought it to her mouth. The instant the taste of blood spread through her mouth, the Deputy Hall Lord came to his senses and jumped down to the first floor.
Kwaaang.
So-hwa avoided the Deputy Hall Lord's concealed weapon. Falling far back, she landed atop a table.
Thud.
However, her face was icy cold. Rather than frightened like someone who had fled, she looked intensely angry.
Spitting out the Black Sky Demon's blood, Tang So-hwa asked in a low voice,
"How does Soul-Binding Poison (牽魂水) end up in your hands?"
The Deputy Hall Lord wore Namgung Jin's face, yet So-hwa questioned him as she would a Blood Sect member.
Finding her reaction amusing, the Deputy Hall Lord smiled.
"They say you know everything, but you're even more knowledgeable than the rumors claim."
"I asked how the Tang Clan's Eight Great Poisons ended up in your hands."
“If I were you, instead of asking how I obtained it, I would ask this.”
The man tore the corners of his mouth up to his cheekbones and spoke in a spine-chilling voice.
“How much of that Eight Great Poisons I have prepared.”
His voice sounded like a ghost's wail, sending a chill down the spine.
The Eight Great Poisons were the Tang Clan heirlooms kept in the Nine Turns Pavilion.
There was no way to know how this Blood Sect bastard had siphoned them out.
'...... No, I think I know.'
Several years ago, the Blood Sect had once used Blazing Herb Poison. At that time, she had realized that Tang Clan poisons had been leaked.
So-hwa clenched her hand.
The Eight Great Poisons. Even those with bodies close to total poison immunity struggled against them.
Thus, the Nine Turns Pavilion had long refined the Eight Great Poisons while devising toxins capable of breaking poison-immune bodies.
The formula for Blazing Herb Poison had been a Tang Clan asset too precious to hand over to other sects, but it could not compare to the Eight Great Poisons. If they had been siphoned away, they had to be recovered by any means.
If outsiders squandered the Eight Great Poisons, it could become a threat to the Tang Clan.
'Especially if those who can freely change their faces use the Tang Clan poisons.......'
For an instant, a chill washed over So-hwa.
In her previous life, the Tang Clan had been framed and expelled from the Murim Alliance. It was because someone had impersonated the Tang Clan and annihilated an entire village with a great poison.
So-hwa rolled her stiff tongue once inside her mouth and finally spoke.
"...... Did you also siphon off Seven-Step Soul-Severing Powder (七步斷魂散)?"
Instead of answering, the man let out a laugh. It was the look of someone mocking a foolish question.
So-hwa became certain that the group that had impersonated the Tang Clan belonged to the Blue Blood Hall.
Chwak.
Tang So-hwa pulled out the flying dagger embedded in her shoulder. By a hair's breadth, the arm of a Blood Sect member approaching from behind covered that spot.
So-hwa stabbed the arm wrapped around her shoulder with the flying dagger. Yet the Blood Sect member only groaned and did not withdraw his arm.
"Urgh, I've got her!"
The Blood Sect member seized both of So-hwa's wrists tightly.
Watching this, one of the Deputy Hall Lord's eyes narrowed.
Even while being restrained, Tang So-hwa did not resist and merely stared at the Deputy Hall Lord.
Seeing her submit so easily despite her sharp momentum, the Deputy Hall Lord found himself asking without realizing it,
"Have you given up?"
Tang So-hwa gave an answer that did not match his question.
"All of you will die here today."
Seeing such bluster from a woman so much younger, the Deputy Hall Lord let out a chuckle without thinking.
Ignoring So-hwa's threat, the Deputy Hall Lord slid his gaze to his subordinate.
"Bind her tightly."
"Yes!"
A Blood Sect member wound the ropes with enough force to cut off circulation and was just about to tie the knot.
"Urgh!"
The subordinate suddenly threw his head back and stretched his body straight like a rod. He beat at his chest with his hands, foamed at the mouth, and then fell backward.
Thud.
Silence spread at the sound.
The Deputy Hall Lord's eyes moved back to Tang So-hwa.
The gaze that had been fixed on her took in the fallen Blood Sect members.
In a voice devoid of mirth, it pierced into So-hwa's eardrums.
"Was this your doing?"