“Gyeonga. Are you done with the bok choy yet? Ah, it is done. Trim this too.”

Gyeonga nodded, accepted the vegetables, and busily began peeling and cleaning them.

“Is the steamed fish still not ready?”

“Bean sprouts! Where are the bean sprouts?”

The kitchen had been a battlefield since early morning. An unexpected guest had arrived.

Everyone was busy preparing food to serve a man who had come under orders from someone highly placed.

The fact that even Gyeonga, who would normally have been made to wash dishes, had been called over to help prepare ingredients showed just how urgent the cooks were.

And for good reason. The person who had arrived was the Spear King, Ak Jibaek, a supreme master counted among the Ten Supremes of the Martial World.

Tang Un blinked behind a gentle smile.

His vision was nothing but darkness, but even the darkness that had stolen the world from him could not conceal the presence of a master.

An aura like a massive flame was billowing before him.

Tang Un slowly set down his teacup and asked, “Elder Ak. Is the tea to your liking?”

“Yes. Your skill at brewing tea is still quite good, kid.”

“I am glad it suits your taste.”

“You were good at brewing tea even when you were this small. I remember thinking there wasn’t anything that little kid couldn’t do.”

Ak Jibaek spoke with one knee drawn up and his chin propped in his hand.

It was not a particularly courteous posture, but neither Tang Un nor Ak Jibaek cared. If anything, they looked accustomed to drinking tea comfortably together.

He was as large as the enormous spear slung across his back.

His body, easily over six feet tall, overwhelmed most grown men, and his voice was rough as well.

Tapping the floor with the tip of his foot, Ak Jibaek asked, “Your eyes. You cannot see at all?”

“Yes, Elder.”

“Tsk, tsk... If I had known sooner, I would have brought an Alliance physician at least. I am sorry, kid.”

Clicking his tongue, Ak Jibaek looked at Tang Un with pity in his eyes.

“Just hearing Elder Ak say so is a comfort to me.”

“Those are not empty words. Once I return, I truly will send a physician.”

“Ahaha, yes, Elder. Thank you.”

“You hopelessly dull brat.”

Ak Jibaek sighed and drained the remaining tea in one gulp.

“That is enough private talk... The reason I came all the way to Sichuan is to confirm whether the information that the Tang Sect has been colluding with the Demonic Sect is true.”

“If that is the matter, it would have been faster to visit my father.”

“I will meet the Tang Clan Head as well. Before that, I came to see you first, kid. There is no reasoning with your father.”

Ak Jibaek frowned as though he did not even want to think about the Tang Clan Head.

“And it is better to ask you, kid. You do not lie. You merely refuse to answer.”

“Ahaha, Elder. I am also of the Tang Clan’s blood. I may not be able to give you the answer you want.”

Tang Un laughed lightly and swept back his long hair. He folded his pale hands atop the table and asked, “Where did the information that my clan is colluding with the Demonic Sect originate? It is an unpleasant rumor.”

“Where else but the Alliance? Ah, kid. Check whether this is one of yours first.”

Ak Jibaek answered blandly and took a Butterfly Dart from inside his robes.

As Tang Un felt over the object Ak Jibaek had offered with his fingertips, the smile vanished from his face.

He lifted his eyes and looked toward the place where Ak Jibaek’s presence could be felt.

“It is a Soul-Chasing Butterfly Dart. The forging was certainly done at the Tang Clan’s iron workshop. The shape is somewhat unusual...”

Tang Un let the end of his sentence trail off. He had realized who had made this Butterfly Dart.

Judging by the winding pattern carved into it to make poison easier to apply, it was Tang Chohui’s work.

There was only one reason a Butterfly Dart belonging to Tang Chohui, who did not leave the Tang estate, let alone Sichuan, would have ended up in Ak Jibaek’s hands. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Tang Sohae. His youngest sister had undoubtedly become entangled in Martial Alliance business.

A line of cold sweat ran down his spine.

Surely Sohae had not...

“That Butterfly Dart was found near a corpse melted by Hwagol Powder. If it is one of yours, it seems a Tang Sect martial artist did act there.”

At the words that followed, Tang Un felt relieved. If Hwagol Powder had been used, then Sohae had killed someone. She had not died.

His sister, who had fled, seemed to have escaped Sichuan safely.

“Kid. You know something, don’t you? Do you know who was there?”

Ak Jibaek, who had been watching Tang Un, tapped the table and asked. Instead of answering, Tang Un smiled brightly.

“Elder Ak. It seems you will have to hear the answer directly from the Clan Head.”

*****

Tang Geunmyeong entered the Assembly Hall with a stiff face.

He had thought he might be able to rest at ease while Tang Jung was away, but with one misfortune after another breaking out, his head throbbed.

When the Assembly Hall decided to expel the child the Poison King cherished, Tang Geunmyeong had believed all of this would merely be a passing gust.

He had believed the Clan Head would appease the Yuzhou Merchant Guild by pretending to drive Tang Sohae out, then call her back once time passed and the uproar settled.

Not only Tang Geunmyeong, but most of the household had thought the same.

She was his own daughter, and the disciple Tang Jung, the very embodiment of the clan’s authority, had taken after seventy years.

The general opinion of the household was that there was no way the Clan Head would let Tang Sohae die.

That was why Tang Geunmyeong had stepped in and sent her toward the Central Plains.

If she boarded a boat from Chongqing, she would naturally end up in Wuhan, and he had intended to quietly go there and bring her back later.

Wuhan was the city where the Martial Alliance headquarters stood, so the likelihood of Tang Sohae encountering real danger was not that high.

She was young, but she possessed the Myriad-Poison-Immune Body and had been taught directly by the Poison King. She should be able to hold her own.

However, when several elders, who seemed to think their heads were decorative objects sitting atop their necks, tried to hand Tang Sohae’s portrait sketch over to the Yuzhou Merchant Guild without a second thought, Tang Geunmyeong realized he had been mistaken.

“Wait, wait! Fifth Elder. How can you hand over the portrait sketch as it is?”

“What is the problem? They must be furious after losing a son. We should at least give them something like this.”

“No. Fabricate another portrait sketch and send that instead. The Poison King would not even allow that child’s portrait to be drawn.”

“Is that necessary? Well. If the Seventh Elder says so.”

These fools did not even understand what the problem was.

Handing over her portrait sketch was no different from saying they would not care if the Yuzhou Merchant Guild caught and killed her.

“Did you perhaps tell them anything else?”

“I do not know about that. I believe someone said she travels with a black sable. Was it the Eighth Elder?”

Damn it all.

Tang Geunmyeong wanted to smash his fist into that endlessly loose elder’s mouth.

How many sables familiar with human hands could there be in the entire Central Plains? And a black sable, at that?

Now, even without knowing Tang Sohae’s appearance, anyone could identify her by seeing the black sable.

Tang Geunmyeong newly understood why his master’s temper had been growing worse and worse.

If he had to spend over a hundred years watching those dull-headed fools occupy elder seats, he too would have found it difficult to restrain his anger.

The situation only grew worse.

Tang Sohae’s trail, which they had naturally assumed would continue by water, ended at Langzhong.

They had carried boxes of silver to the Beggars’ Union and asked around, but she must have hidden herself in some mountain valley because even the Beggars’ Union’s information network could not catch her.

Tang Geunmyeong wanted to cross over to Langzhong and search for her immediately, but he was not in a position to move recklessly.

If he disobeyed the Clan Head’s order and was expelled, he would have to cripple all the martial arts he had learned in the Tang Clan.

What use would a martial artist who had lost his martial arts be? He could only help Tang Sohae from within the clan.

Around the time anxiety over whether something had happened to her was costing him sleep, the Assembly Hall summoned the elders.

Tang Geunmyeong had been sitting there without interest, intending only to keep his seat and leave, when he heard why Ak Jibaek had come to Sichuan and nearly shouted aloud.

The reason the Spear King, Ak Jibaek, had come to investigate the Tang Clan under orders from the Vice Alliance Lord of the Martial Alliance was because of Tang Sohae.

“So you are saying that expelled child caused trouble?”

“Colluding with the Demonic Sect. How could such a thing... Tsk, tsk.”

“There is no evidence she colluded with the Demonic Sect, is there? It was merely lying ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ nearby. They say when a crow flies, a pear falls. She was unlucky.”

“Must we take responsibility? She is no longer a child of the Tang Sect.”

“But she is the Clan Head’s blood. When responsibility is assigned, we cannot stop the arrows of blame from turning toward the main clan.”

“Why not find that child and bring her back instead? I dislike the thought of those stiff-necked Martial Alliance bastards laying hands on Tang Sect blood.”

“It will be difficult for us to bring her back. They say the Clan Head handed the child’s custody over to the Martial Alliance. The Alliance will release a search party and interrogate her under the pretext of an investigation.”

One elder, who had been staring silently into the air, scratched his cheek with a troubled look.

“Oh dear... If the Poison King learns of this, he will not stay still.”

At that, every elder sighed as if they had planned it together.

“Hah...”

“This is miserable. At our age, must we be scolded while being grabbed by the collar?”

“He kicks and throws even the Grand Elders. What are we supposed to do?”

“No, why did the Clan Head make that choice? Just thinking of the moment the old master finishes his closed-door training frightens me to death. He will fly into a rage. That child was the one he carried around and doted on so dearly...”

“I only hope nothing serious happens.”

Tang Geunmyeong, who had been listening in silence, grimaced with his entire face and clutched his head.

That girl really had gone and caused a tremendous accident!

The fact that Tang Sohae was alive and well was happy news, but the news that she had caused trouble was not happy at all.

What in the world had she been doing to get entangled with a Demonic Sect member and be pursued by the Martial Alliance?

Tang Geunmyeong pressed hard against his throbbing temples.

He had to figure out how to save the old master’s reckless disciple.