WHOOOOOOOSH!

The sun sank, and before long the world had gone dark.

The darkened sky was as black as the darkness hanging over Tang Gwan’s heart.

“...That’s all?”

“Hm?”

Tang Gwan twisted his mouth into a crooked smile.

“So this is all I was called here for? To drive a wedge between me and Clan Lord Mo Yong?”

Yeon Hojeong tilted his head.

“I’ve thought this for a while, but you do have a habit of overestimating yourself.”

“What?”

“Poison and hidden weapons are frightening, yes. But we are all inside the Alliance of the Martial World. As long as we remain within that frame, there is something even more frightening than poison and hidden weapons.”

Yeon Hojeong tapped his head.

“Do you understand? If you want to kill me with poison and hidden weapons, you have to stake your life on it. Even if you do kill me, the Tang Clan will have no choice but to lose its head. But the ones who use this don’t.”

“......”

“They control all under heaven with nothing but their heads. And Mo Yonggun, too, is far too sharp to dismiss as some petty schemer. He is using that insight to expand not only his own faction, but his entire power base.”

“That kind of childish game...”

“You’re wrong.”

Yeon Hojeong’s voice turned serious.

“As you said, it is a childish game. But children’s games end when the sun goes down. Adults’ games only end when one side dies.”

“...!”

“That is why I keep watching Mo Yonggun. Why I fear him. Why I oppose him. Why I run until the soles of my feet sweat, looking for any way to smash him in the back of the head.”

“So.”

Tang Gwan’s voice sharpened.

“What is it you want to say? That I should stop working with a man like that and return to Sichuan?”

“Then you die.”

“What?!”

“If you sever ties with Mo Yonggun and return to Sichuan, the Tang Clan will not escape annihilation.”

The claim was so sudden and so enormous that it struck like a blow.

Tang Gwan’s face flushed red.

“What ridiculous nonsense.”

“That is exactly what I’m saying. Truly ridiculous. To think that someone who has already stepped into the mud can still return home in one piece. You really are ignorant of how the world works.”

“...!!”

“Until Mo Yonggun dies or falls, our little game will not end.”

Tang Gwan glared at Yeon Hojeong as if he wanted to kill him, then spat out each word.

“You’re talking too much. Get to the point.”

“Stay out of the factional struggle, and stand with Venerable Gonggong.”

“...What?”

That was the last thing Tang Gwan had expected to hear. Inwardly, he was genuinely startled.

Yeon Hojeong smiled.

“If I had my way, I would tell you to come over to our side. But the truth is, neither we nor you trust the other. And if you go back to Sichuan instead, Mo Yonggun will find some way to brand the Tang Clan a public enemy of the Martial World and burn it to the ground.”

“How can you be so certain?”

“Because a blade once it slips from my hand can wound me at any time.”

“......”

“Look at yourself. You joined hands with Mo Yonggun, yet you still know nothing about him.”

Tang Gwan’s cheek twitched.

Yeon Hojeong continued.

“Go to Venerable Gonggong. Go and help him. You know it too. Venerable Gonggong’s Buddhist devotion and chivalrous spirit are acknowledged by everyone in the martial world.”

“......”

“It is not too late yet. Stop doing pointless things and stand with him.”

“...Ridiculous.”

“I agree. I didn’t think you would be this slow to understand.”

“You’re saying Mo Yonggun would point to me as the culprit?”

“Probably.”

“Why do you think that? If you cannot explain that part with certainty, you will not leave this place alive today.”

As if he had been waiting for that, Yeon Hojeong pulled a handkerchief from his clothes.

Tang Gwan frowned.

“What is that?”

“Take it.”

Yeon Hojeong tossed the handkerchief.

WOOOOONG.

Carried by powerful internal force, the handkerchief flew into Tang Gwan’s hand.

“What kind of trick is this supposed to be?”

“Take a good look at the handkerchief.”

Tang Gwan frowned and looked down at it.

“What is so special about—”

Then he flinched.

This smell?

Yeon Hojeong said, “It’s faint, but the concentration is still considerable, isn’t it? It did not seem like something I should overlook, so I asked Trooper Tang Sang-a for her opinion. Do you know what she said?”

“...Pure-Shade Poison.”

“So you do know it well. That’s right. Trooper Tang Sang-a said the same thing.”

Disbelief spread across Tang Gwan’s face.

“I don’t believe it. Pure-Shade Poison is one of the Tang Clan’s extreme poisons. Where in the world did you get this?”

“From the source of the rumor.”

“What?”

“It was extracted from an inn in the outer district of the Alliance, where Mo Yonggun began laying the groundwork. Quite some time has passed, but the poisonous trace was still there.”

“...!!”

“Trooper Tang Sang-a told me this. Pure-Shade Poison does not harm people on its own. But it reacts to the Inner Qi of someone who has cultivated the Tang Clan’s Three-Solar Art, and can cause death by poisoning at any time.”

Tang Gwan’s eyes trembled.

“Do you understand? If an investigation ever began, whoever spread that poison could use it on a subordinate to sever the trail.”

“......”

“And tell me this. Has Mo Yonggun cultivated the Three-Solar Art?”

“......”

“No. The only two people who practice {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} martial arts built on the Three-Solar Art are you and Trooper Tang Sang-a.”

Yeon Hojeong’s eyes flashed.

“So then, would Trooper Tang Sang-a have spread this? I do not think so.”

Tang Gwan did not think so either.

No matter how capable Tang Sang-a was, she could not have stolen Pure-Shade Poison from inside the Tang Clan.

The same was true even for Tang Gwan himself. The Tang Clan’s secret extreme poisons were protected by layers of mechanisms and formations. Unless one was among the Thirteen Seats of the Supreme Heavens, stealing one in secret was impossible.

And besides, Tang Sang-a had not even come into contact with Pure-Shade Poison since childhood. Then how had this poison—something that could only be made in the Tang Clan—leaked outside?

“It was Mo Yonggun.”

“...Nonsense.”

“I do not know how he got his hands on it either. But if not him, who else would do such a thing?”

“Enough of this garbage! Do you even know what kind of poison Pure-Shade Poison is?! Without the clan lord’s permission, even an elder cannot enter the forbidden grounds where—!”

“Then that makes it an even more certain trap. If it is a poison from forbidden ground that no one can steal, then who else but a Tang could be named the culprit?”

“...!!”

Tang Gwan froze where he stood.

Yeon Hojeong’s eyes darkened.

“I hate Mo Yonggun. But I have not the slightest doubt about his capability. If he wants something, he is the kind of madman who will get it by any means necessary.”

“......”

“Don’t idle around until you truly become his stepping stone. Wipe the haze from your eyes and look at the world.”

Yeon Hojeong turned away.

Tang Gwan, still staring blankly at the handkerchief, suddenly shouted.

“You bastard! Stop!”

Yeon Hojeong looked back at him.

“I’m finished here.”

“Shut up! Take one more step without my permission, and I will melt you into a puddle of blood!”

Yeon Hojeong let out a short laugh.

“If you can, then try.”

With that, he turned again and walked away.

He was really leaving. Even under Tang Gwan’s threat, in his current state of extreme agitation, there was not the slightest hesitation in Yeon Hojeong’s steps.

Tang Gwan’s pupils turned a deep green.

“You little whelp!”

FWIIIIIIIT!

A formless finger-wind shot out at terrifying speed.

It was a fearsome art. The finger-wind moved even faster than Mookbi’s arrows. Calling it a ray of light would not have been an exaggeration.

Flames ignited in Yeon Hojeong’s eyes.

BOOOOOOM!

FWOOOOSH!

With a single palm of crimson flame, the finger-wind shattered into pieces. Scarlet fire clung to the scattered fragments, and the extreme poison riding the finger-wind was burned away completely.

Tang Gwan’s eyes shook.

He blocked it?!

He had been too agitated to load the attack with poison properly, but it was still powerful enough to punch through an iron plate. And Yeon Hojeong had blocked that finger-wind with his bare hand.

Not even both hands.

One.

“There is one thing I did not tell you.”

“...?!”

“This meeting was requested by Trooper Tang Sang-a before I ever spoke of it.”

“...What?”

“No matter how deep the rift is, a father and daughter are still father and daughter. Trooper Tang Sang-a said she did not want to see her father fall in utter misery. That is why she asked me to persuade you.”

“...!!”

Tang Gwan’s eyes shook as if an earthquake had struck them.

He remembered his daughter’s voice.

‘That life was already offered before the campaign. If you mean to take it back, then do so. I’ll wait.’

She had smiled when she said it, then turned away. The sight of her back had been cold to the core.

Tang Gwan could not help but feel hollow.

She had come because she was worried about her father, yet all he had done was drive the wedge between father and daughter deeper. He had spoken of her like a doll. He had threatened to strip away her martial arts. Nothing but ugly words.

Emotions too tangled to describe. Confusion too deep for words.

As Tang Gwan looked up at the sky, strength suddenly draining from him, Yeon Hojeong spoke.

“If you decide to confront Mo Yonggun, avoid being alone with him.”

“......”

“If you are going to challenge him, do it in front of everyone. That way even Mo Yonggun won’t be able to run his mouth.”

“...And what kind of game is that?”

Tang Gwan’s voice sounded strangely drained.

Yeon Hojeong shrugged.

“Trooper Tang Sang-a helped me a little during this mission. I’m saying this not for your sake, but for hers. You do not need to thank me.”

“......”

“I’ll be going now.”

Yeon Hojeong left the forest and set off toward Warbreaker Pavilion.

At that moment, Tang Sang-a appeared from an alley.

“Is it over?”

“Yes.”

Yeon Hojeong answered with a conflicted look on his face.

“I did it because you said it was fine, but... is it really fine?”

“Of course.”

“......”

“If cutting the alliance with Clan Lord Mo Yong is ultimately the better path for my father, then the confusion and pain of the present are things he has to endure.”

That was the truth.

The one who had spread the Pure-Shade Poison was Tang Sang-a herself. And provoking Tang Gwan after meeting him had also been part of the plan from the start.

Yeon Hojeong let out a sigh.

“I’m sorry.”

“If you say that, Commander, then I’m the one who should feel sorry.”

“It might have taken some time, but I would have found another way. You didn’t have to push yourself this far.”

“Commander.”

“......Go on.”

“Do you know what I learned during this operational-team mission?”

“......”

“How important time is.”

Tang Sang-a smiled bitterly.

“My father is already trying to cast me out of the clan anyway. Using the affection between parent and child doesn’t bother me that much.”

“......”

“If this is what it takes to let him pull his foot out of this filthy game, that alone is enough for me.”

Yeon Hojeong looked at her quietly, then asked as if tossing out the words.

“Do you have time?”

“Pardon?”

“I asked if you have time right now.”

“Ah. Yes.”

“Then let’s go to Warbreaker Pavilion. Mookbi probably hasn’t eaten yet either, so let’s have a meal together.”

“I’m fine, but...”

“I’m not. Let’s go.”

“......Yes.”

With that, the two of them headed for Warbreaker Pavilion.

“By the way, about that Pure-Shade Poison. Where did you get it?”

“I made it.”

“You made it? A secret Tang Clan extreme poison?”

“My grandfather taught me everything. Not just martial arts, but all the knowledge of poison and hidden weapons too.”

“...The Dark King.”

“My father probably still doesn’t know. That Pure-Shade Poison can be made by mixing herbs that cost next to nothing.”

“......”

“I suppose this is just the way my father and I are fated to live. Maybe we’ll never understand each other.”

*****

The next day, at noon.

BANG!

Mo Yonggun had been eating with Daoist Yonghwa, Namgung Clan Lord Namgung In, and Deung Cheongyo, the sect leader of the Kongtong Sect, when he jolted in surprise at the sight of the man who burst in without warning.

“Clan Lord Tang?!”

“Oh, Clan Lord Tang has come?”

Tang Gwan fixed Mo Yonggun with coldly gleaming eyes.

In that instant, Mo Yonggun sensed that something had gone wrong.

Daoist Yonghwa rose slightly from his seat.

“First, take a seat—”

At that moment, Tang Gwan spoke in a chilling voice.

“Is it true that you’re targeting Venerable Gonggong?”