Chapter 69
"What is it? That brat?"
Tang Yunlong said, glaring at Baekji's back.
Suspicion grew in Tang Qianhui's heart. His son, Tang Yunlong, did not speak in that tone.
Habits and speech patterns are things that cannot be hidden even if one tries.
'Can a person's soul really be changed?'
While talking with Baekji, he realized that he was already dealing with the situation assuming that the young family head had been possessed by the 'soul exchange grand law'.
"Never mind. Why are you looking for that doctor?"
"The 'using poison to counteract poison' assignment was submitted by my father, and they are difficult problems that even I can only solve about half of. I was interested because he had solved seven of them, so I wanted to meet him."
"I have something for him to do, so see him after he's finished."
After sending Tang Yunlong away, Tang Qianhui, who had returned to his office, called the head of the inner hall's escort brigade, Tang Tiebao.
"There is a doctor named Wu Qingshu in the medicine hall. Someone might be aiming for him, so you personally take your subordinates and secretly guard him."
"I understand."
When Tang Tiebao left, a shadow flickered on the ceiling.
Then, a person dropped down.
"What should we do about the Honored One of the Yang-Bai Merchant Sect?"
"..."
"If we all go out, we can subdue him."
Tang Qianhui thought for a moment. If all four of the 'bodyguard shadows' went out, could they face a master of the 'transformation realm'?
He shook his head.
Although he could not know what the 'transformation realm' was, he knew that it was not an opponent that the four shadows could handle.
The reason he had not blamed Baekji for coming in disguise was because he did not want to turn him into an enemy.
"Leave him be. His identity will be kept secret, shared only among you."
As the first shadow was about to leap back to the ceiling, Tang Qianhui added, "Do not treat him as an enemy."
He had added a word out of excessive worry.
The misfortune of an absolute master becoming an enemy must never happen.
No, if he could get the help of one absolute master, it would be like getting a thousand troops and ten thousand horses.
* * *
Nangong Zhao and Tang Yunseol, who had gone to the abandoned estate, returned without any particular results.
There were no traces left, to the extent that it was hard to believe that Tang Yunlong had been ambushed and had lost his subordinates.
Nangong Zhao was silent for the entire return journey. After seeing the scene, his mind was spinning rapidly.
'What if the young family head was not hit this time? Could the Blood Sect have been playing tricks since before then?'
When Nangong Zhao was silent, Tang Yunseol felt uncomfortable for some reason.
"I'm sorry for dragging you into a pointless matter."
Nangong Zhao, 'ah', replied with an awkward expression. He tried to smile and answer, but since he had always been expressionless, when he tried to smile, his expression became strange.
"This is a case involving the Blood Sect. It is something I must do as a chief investigator. Besides, aren't the Five Great Families like one family? We should help each other."
After speaking, Nangong Zhao felt somewhat embarrassed.
Although the Five Great Families were said to be one family to the outside, in reality, they were also the most fierce competitors.
Tang Yunseol nodded.
"I truly feel that we are one family. I will also repay the Nangong family someday."
She thought that Nangong Zhao was not just a chief investigator of the Martial Alliance, but a direct descendant of the Nangong family, helping the Tang family, which was also one of the Five Great Families.
'That's not it.'
Since she was showing favor, there was no reason to correct her.
Nangong Zhao, who had returned to the inn, asked Tang Yunqing about Baekji's whereabouts when he was not there.
"I don't know. He suddenly disappeared."
Although he was worried about what kind of trouble he would cause where, he had to deal with the matter at hand first.
When Nangong Zhao was about to leave the inn, Tang Yunseol asked, "Where are you going?"
"I have to interrogate the Blood Sect members disguised as the Twin Wing Brigade."
Nangong Zhao could not meet Tang Qianhui without a card in his hand.
The Blood Sect members were locked up in the Martial Alliance's secret safe house in Chengdu.
"I'll go with you."
"It would be better if you just stayed."
When Tang Yunseol tried to follow, Nangong Zhao stopped her. He did not want to show her the scene of torture.
"Don't you know that I have a truth serum?"
"Wasn't it useless against the Blood Sect members?"
"That may be so for those possessed by the 'soul exchange grand law', but it will be different for ordinary Blood Sect members."
When Nangong Zhao thought about it, it seemed plausible.
"I want to go too."
Tang Yunqing, who was bored from being alone, insisted on following. In the end, the three of them went to the secret safe house together.
* * *
Wu Qingshu was grinding the dried 'life and death grass' in the Tang family's medicine hall.
He was wearing leather gloves and his face was tightly covered with a cloth.
Baekji leisurely approached and sat next to him.
"What business does such a great person have with me again? I can't return the gold ingot."
"Who asked you to return it? Don't worry. I'm not so petty as to take back what I've given. But is this the 'life and death grass'?"
Baekji picked up the powdered 'life and death grass' with his finger and was about to put it in his mouth.
Wu Qingshu quickly hit Baekji's hand and stopped him.
"Are you crazy? This is a deadly poison."
"Can't I just taste a little?"
"Of course not. The moment you put it in your mouth, your blood vessels will burn."
"Oh. It's that scary of a poison?"
"Isn't it called the 'life and death grass' because it clearly divides life and death? Hurry and wash your hands."
As Wu Qingshu had said, the fingertips that had picked up the 'life and death grass' were burning.
Baekji drove out the energy of the 'life and death grass' with his internal energy. Something like fine water vapor escaped from his fingertips.
'A descendant of a noble family and a master. To drive out the poison with internal energy.'
Wu Qingshu thought that Baekji was not just a noble son.
"If you make a poison with the 'life and death grass', even a master will be helpless, right?"
"Would a master be defeated? First of all, the smell is unique and the color is bright red. Since it's so conspicuous, a cautious person would immediately think it's strange."
"Then how do you detoxify it?"
"I am a doctor. I am one who detoxifies, not poisons."
Wu Qingshu put the powdered 'life and death grass' in a jar and covered it.
"To prove the detoxification, you have to feed it to someone, right?"
"There is a test subject over there."
When he looked where Wu Qingshu was pointing, a pig was tied to a tree in the shade.
Baekji looked at the wall beyond the shade of the tree where the pig was tied.
A suspicious energy was shimmering.
'An assassin?'
'This is the Tang family's medicine hall. No matter how bold the Blood Sect members are, they wouldn't be able to carry out an assassination openly.'
Just in case, he did not let his guard down.
Pirit!
As Wu Qingshu stood up and was going to the place where the pig was tied, a faint sound was heard.
Thwack!
A fine silver needle was held in the hand of Baekji, who had appeared in front of Wu Qingshu in an instant.
Wu Qingshu, not knowing what was going on, was bewildered, but then grasped the situation and his face turned pale.
"Who is it!"
The sound of someone shouting was heard from outside the wall.
Baekji went up to the top of the wall.
The Tang family's warriors were chasing a person in brown clothes. The movement of the brown-clothed, masked person was very fast.
"Can they catch him like that?"
Baekji knew that Tang Qianhui had also laid an ambush in preparation for an attack on Wu Qingshu. A person who could come this close, breaking through the layers of ambush, must be a person with outstanding stealth skills.
Baekji stomped his foot.
Boom!
The wall broke.
Baekji flew like an arrow released from a bowstring.
"Heo-geok!"
Wu Qingshu was horrified to see Baekji fly over ten zhang.
He flew like a bird, not a person.
Baekji instantly passed the Tang family's warriors and caught up with the assassin. The assassin, feeling the momentum of someone following him from behind, turned and sprinkled something.
Papapat!
What spread widely in a semicircle was poison sand.
Buung!
Baekji swung his bamboo staff widely. The energy swirled and sucked in the poison sand.
The assassin was horrified and was about to put his hand in the poison sand pouch again, but Baekji extended his hand.
The poison sand pouch flew from the assassin's hand to Baekji.
"You have all sorts of things."
Baekji put the poison sand he had sucked in into the sand pouch and took it.
The assassin, whose hidden weapon had been taken away in an instant, ran for his life, but the bamboo staff that Baekji had thrown flew like an arrow and hit the back of his head.
"Keuk!"
The assassin fell forward.
Baekji ran and hit the assassin's acupoints. Only then did the Tang family's warriors run up.
A warrior who seemed to be the leader cupped his fists and asked, "I am Tang Tiebao of the inner hall. May I ask for your esteemed name?"
"I'm a medicine boy."
Tang Tiebao also knew that. Since he had been secretly guarding the two. But the fact that a medicine boy had caught an assassin that even they had missed meant that he had another identity.
"If you're really curious, ask the family head."
When he mentioned Tang Qianhui, Tang Tiebao just retreated.
When the Tang family's warriors were about to take the assassin, Baekji stopped them.
"Just a moment."
Baekji rolled his eyes back and then lightly tapped his head, sending ki to the 'brain protection point'.
There was no change.
"Take him."
Baekji released his unique acupoint technique and, after performing a general acupoint technique, handed over the assassin.
Tang Tiebao cupped his fists and took the assassin.
'So there is a sympathizer besides the Blood Sect members?'
* * *
Late at night.
Tang Qianhui was sitting in his study office, and after receiving a report that an assassin had entered, he was carefully reviewing the situation.
'An assassin has entered the house? It is only possible if someone has opened the way. Does that mean there are spies of the Blood Sect in the family?'
Just in case, he had laid an ambush around Wu Qingshu's person, but the assassin had cunningly avoided it and had approached Wu Qingshu.
It was impossible without knowing the location of the ambush.
He had confirmed the location of the young family head, Tang Yunlong, and he was in his residence.
Then, it meant that there was a sympathizer.
He had been confident that he knew what was going on in the Tang family as if looking at the palm of his hand, but now he could not be so sure.
'What is the reason for aiming for the main family?'
In the past, the sects that had been hit by the Blood Sect had been small and medium-sized sects. Since the great sects and the great families had a structure where the sect master or the family head could not make decisions arbitrarily, even if a few people fell to the 'soul exchange grand law', they were not shaken.
The Tang family was also the same. Although it seemed that the family head had absolute authority, the influence of the clan elders could not be ignored.
'What is the purpose of the Honored One of the Yang-Bai Merchant Sect for coming?'
It didn't seem that he had hostile intent. Had he really come to track the Blood Sect? To what extent should he believe the simple words that he had come because he hated the Blood Sect? If the young family head had been possessed by the Blood Sect's 'soul exchange grand law', he might use his poison techniques right away. Then, Tang Yunlong would lose his chance of recovery.
'I have to stop that.'
Tang Qianhui thought that even if the young family head had been possessed by the Blood Sect's 'soul exchange grand law', there would be a way to reverse it.
As the night of various worries deepened.
Sreureuk.
'At this hour?'
The secret passage door opened.
The young family head, Tang Yunlong, came out of the dark passage.
"What is it?"
"After hearing my father's words, I had a thought and went to Yunseol's residence. I found something strange there."
"What is it?"
"It would be better if you confirmed it yourself."
Tang Qianhui thought for a moment and then said, "Let's go."
The secret passage of the Tang family connected the residences of the direct descendants.
Tang Qianhui led the way to Tang Yunseol's residence. The passage was so narrow that only one person could barely walk.
When they reached Tang Yunseol's residence, Tang Qianhui was about to touch the mechanism that opened the door, but then quickly withdrew his hand.
His palm was dark red, as if covered in a deadly poison.
The moment Tang Qianhui turned and looked at his son, an impact came to his back.
Thwack!
"...!"
"..."
Tang Yunlong, who had stabbed Tang Qianhui with a dagger, was rather surprised and took a step back.
Tang Qianhui's face hardened coldly.
"What are you doing?"
Tang Yunlong looked back and forth between the dagger and Tang Qianhui and then chuckled.
"You're still the same."
"...?"
"I knew you were timid, but I didn't know you would wear a protective vest even in your own room."
Tang Qianhui glared at his son.
He knew that it was his son, but not his son.
Although he had been suspicious, he could not help but be shocked when it was revealed to be true.
Tang Qianhui secretly raised his internal energy and pushed out the poison that was digging into his palm, glaring at his son.
The corners of Tang Yunlong's mouth went up.
"In any case, you have to die today. I will settle the old debt with that."
Tang Qianhui found Tang Yunlong's way of speaking somehow familiar.
"Tang Tian'e?"
A blood-red light flashed in Tang Yunlong's eyes.
"I'm disappointed. Is that all you can call your older brother whom you haven't seen in a long time?"
"...!"
Tang Qianhui's mouth fell open in surprise at the surprising fact.
Tang Tian'e was his step-brother who had been kicked out of the family after being stripped of his position as the young family head for committing all sorts of atrocities.
"Y-you, my son?"
"Why? Kehehe. I have lived for this moment today."
Tang Tian'e, who had possessed Tang Yunlong's body, gritted his teeth.
"You can't even imagine how I have lived. But now that I think about it, it seems that heaven has given me this trial to present me with such a triumphant day."
"You're crazy. To have joined the Blood Sect!"
(End of Chapter)