Chapter 237
Chapter 237. A New Tragedy
So-hwa helped Tang Hae-han to his feet. As she dragged him—his height a head taller than hers—toward the pavilion, the Black Sky Demon muttered,
"There's an assassin hiding behind the door."
He spoke loudly enough, but the surroundings were so noisy that his words were swallowed up.
As if she hadn't heard him, So-hwa grasped the pavilion door.
Creeeak.
The moment it opened, a hidden weapon flew over her head. A flying dagger lodged itself in the infiltrator's forehead as he thrust a shuriken toward So-hwa.
Thud!
As the infiltrator toppled backward, So-hwa stepped past him and went inside.
A man had died right before her eyes, and raging flames roared nearby, yet Tang So-hwa's face showed no expression to speak of.
Only when the Black Sky Demon moved to approach did So-hwa finally speak.
"He released all of the Eight Great Poisons into the pond. If you come into contact with that smoke, Grand Elder, it will affect you as well, so please keep your distance."
"Ah, so that's why breathing felt irritating."
The sound of the Black Sky Demon clicking his tongue followed. Ignoring him, So-hwa adjusted her hold on Tang Hae-han.
Just then, a violent gust of wind swept through.
Heat hotter than the inferno itself washed over the back of her neck.
As if intent on blowing the pond away entirely, Tang Min poured all his strength into his palm strike.
Fwoosh!
Fanned by the wind, the flames flared higher before tearing apart into several streams. As the pond water was pushed into the clearing, embers scattered along with it.
The toxin-laced smoke also began to lose its strength.
Step.
As So-hwa moved to climb the stairs, the Black Sky Demon, who had come up beside her, slung Tang Hae-han over his back instead.
"What is it?"
Tang Min swore every time to keep his mouth shut if he could help it, but this child—impenetrable as a snake—always made him ask for reasons.
"The medicinal ingredients are stored in the second-floor workshop. I intend to take him there and detoxify him."
"No, I already know you're trying to give this halfwit an antidote. I'm not that clueless."
Tang Min was curious about the reason why So-hwa had such a dazed expression.
When they first arrived at the Tang Clan estate, he and the other martial artists had no time to be shocked by the Blood Sect's vile arts.
They were faced with a burning forest. Beyond it came screams and the sounds of battle.
The moment they burst out of the pavilion, they split up to secure their sectors. The Namgung Clan held the main gate, the Mount Hua Sect the east gate, the Wudang Sect the rear gate, while the Tang Clan moved to stabilize the center, where the western gate burned and the inner courtyard lay.
The Clan Head and the Black Sky Demon each led the White Tiger Unit and the Blue Tiger Unit, dividing their forces into two. Tang So-hwa followed the Blue Tiger Unit and ran toward the inner courtyard.
So-hwa, who had been left in the pavilion, saw the Nine Turns Pavilion burning and rushed out, ignoring her own safety.
Tang Min left the center to the Young Lord and chased after Tang So-hwa.
Only after seeing Tang Hae-han bleeding out did he understand why she had rushed in so recklessly.
‘……How did she even know this half-wit was dying?’
Normally, one would assume someone would flee when a fire broke out, not set up a last stand amid the flames.
And it certainly wasn't something to worry about with Tang Hae-han, who was famed for his quick calculations.
Still, Tang Min couldn't ask her any more questions.
It wasn't out of consideration.
Step.
He was simply struck speechless by the shocking sight before him.
Reaching the second floor, Tang Min faced a workshop turned into utter chaos.
Medicinal drawers had been pulled out and lay scattered everywhere, while filthy cloths and bowls—no one could tell what stained them—covered the worktables.
"Ugh, what is this stench?"
As if there had been no time to go outside, more than a dozen chamber pots sat on the floor at a glance.
The horrified Black Sky Demon shrieked,
"Was the Nine Turns Pavilion always this filthy?! Aagh, I'm never taking antidotes you lot make ever again!"
Ignoring Tang Min, So-hwa shoved aside what was on the table and cleared the workbench.
"Set him down here."
Originally, the Nine Turns Pavilion had been a spotless place.
If even a single ingredient went wrong, an antidote could turn into poison, so it had to be kept scrupulously clean.
Seeing the filthy workshop, So-hwa could guess what the Nine Turns Pavilion's people had been through over the past two days.
"Ugh. The smell."
No sooner had the Black Sky Demon put Tang Hae-han down than he pinched his nose.
In the meantime, So-hwa selected her ingredients. She took down a medicinal pouch hanging from the ceiling, scraped together what powder remained in the drawers, and grabbed several medicine bottles from the shelves.
Since finding a clean bowl was impossible right now, she placed small amounts of the gathered ingredients directly into the medicine bottles.
Tang Min stared at her with eyes full of betrayal.
"... Have you been making antidotes this sloppily all along?"
So-hwa didn't answer.
She licked Tang Hae-han's blood from her hand, then tilted a bottle and dropped a single bead of antidote onto the back of her hand.
After sampling it, she seemed to find something lacking and opened the pouch again, adding one more dried fruit.
Tang Min spoke in a troubled voice.
“This isn't some chef seasoning food; is it really okay to just throw together a concoction like that?”
Having held the Nine Turns Pavilion in high regard, Tang Min's feelings were complicated.
Tang So-hwa still offered no explanation, and Tang Min no longer expected one.
As So-hwa finished the preparation and moved toward Tang Hae-han, Tang Min quietly stepped back.
She lifted Tang Hae-han's upper body, pressed his acupoints, forced his mouth open, and slowly poured the medicine in.
"Will that make him better?"
"He won't die."
"Well, then I suppose that means he'll be fine."
Relieved, Tang Min went to sit down, noticed the stains on the chair, and stood back up again with an uneasy expression.
"But just what did this fool ingest to end up like this? Why is a Nine Turns Pavilion member poisoning himself?"
The Black Sky Demon looked down at Tang Hae-han as though he were the dumbest man alive.
After finishing pouring the medicine into Tang Hae-han's mouth, So-hwa replied,
"His organs are overreacting because he took completely different antidotes all at once. On top of that, he was exposed to the Eight Great Poisons, so his defensive mechanisms have exceeded their limits and are wringing out his body's energy."
Tang Min narrowed his eyes.
“……Doesn't a person die when their energy is exhausted?”
"Yes."
"Then did this fool really touch the Eight Great Poisons without knowing even that, despite working in the Nine Turns Pavilion?"
"He knew."
After a brief silence, Tang Min asked,
"He touched the Eight Great Poisons, knowing his body couldn't withstand the antidotes?"
So-hwa nodded.
"Yes."
"Was he always this stupid?"
At Tang Min's sneer, So-hwa nearly nodded unconsciously.
“Then isn't there no point in taking the antidote? If he dies from poison or dies because he can't endure the antidote's energy, it's all the same, why bother taking it?”
"There is a difference."
So-hwa's voice turned cold.
“It seems he thought that if his body could withstand the Eight Great Poisons for even a short while, he would be able to neutralize all the poisons of the Nine Turns Pavilion during that time.”
"......."
Tang Min made no further sound. So-hwa quietly checked Tang Hae-han's pulse.
The pulse that had been thrashing wildly gradually returned to its proper rhythm.
The current Tang Hae-han was immature. Given another twenty years, he would be able to predict his body's reactions precisely, but not yet.
With the Nine Turns Pavilion's current techniques, they could not achieve the detoxification effect Tang Hae-han had envisioned.
So-hwa swallowed a heavy breath.
'If I'd been even a little later.......'
She brushed aside the thought that followed.
He was alive, that was enough.
The time that had yet to flow still existed in her mind, and with it, she could treat Tang Hae-han's mistake.
Gradually, the noise outside subsided.
The Tang Clan estate seemed to be regaining its calm, but just as one past memory was resolved and relief set in, another tragedy was already beginning to raise its head.
* * *
Slash!
Blood from a Demonkin stained the Sword Saint's blade.
He stood at the vanguard, yet moved while deliberately giving the young Wudang martial artists opportunities to act.
It was a margin of composure made possible by the strangely scarce presence of the Demonkins.
The road leading to the rear gate was as silent as a dead rat, and since most of the enemies had turned their backs to flee, there had been little need for serious fighting.
However, it seemed the Sword Saint was not the only one who felt something was off.
Upon reaching the clearing at the rear gate, the Sect Leader lowered his sword.
"Something is strange."
Staring at the open rear gate, he spoke to the Sword Saint.
"If the rear gate had been breached and Demonkins had poured in, shouldn't there be more of them the closer we get to it?"
The Sword Saint halted as well.
He looked back and forth between the rear gate and the middle gate.
Something was wrong.
This was not the appearance of a breached gate.
There were no traces of battle anywhere.
The gate was undamaged, and the entrance—where corpses should have been piled highest—was not merely clean, but peaceful.
At this point, it could only mean that no one had been guarding the rear gate at all.
Just then, Yeon-ah darted forward.
Picking something up from the ground, she rummaged through her robes.
“Uh, uh!”
She stared back and forth at the white objects clutched in both hands, so startled she could barely form words.
"What is that?"
“It’s a cloth for wiping tears. No, it’s a handkerchief that Young Lady Tang always carries with her, and the pattern is identical.”
As if pulling herself together, Yeon-ah shook her head sharply.
“This is the cloth Young Lady Tang used to carry and later gave to me. The material is excessively fine, and the edges are embroidered with gold thread. Normally, you wouldn't hand over such an expensive cloth so casually. For Young Lady Tang, though, it must be something easy to obtain."
Looking back and forth between the cloths, Yeon-ah muttered softly.
"Did this person also receive a cloth from Young Lady Tang? Did they cry their eyes out in front of her or something?"
A Wudang disciple standing beside her examined the cloth in her hand.
"Isn't this a character?"
"Hm? A character?"
There was something odd attached to the cloth they had found. Besides the butterfly embroidery, several pink, worm-like shapes were stitched in. It was difficult to believe it was writing at all, yet the Wudang first-generation disciple read it with calm eyes.
"It appears to say 'Ye-hwa.'"
When the first-generation disciple reported this to the Sect Leader, Yeon-ah's eyes went wide.
"Ye-hwa? Ye-hwa is Young Lady Tang So-hwa's younger sister."
At that moment, the clouds hanging over the sky parted.
In the gentle morning sunlight that settled softly, the shadows etched into the clearing were revealed.
Silence flowed among the Wudang martial artists.
The dirt ground was filled with hoofprints.
And over them, human footprints were stretched out in thin, thread-like lines.
The footprints connected the rear gate to the middle gate in a narrow trail, clearly marking a route.
As the Sword Saint standing before the rear gate sprinted outside, everyone followed as if by unspoken agreement.
Before the rear gate, there were only footprints leading outward. Not a single trace of footprints trying to enter.