Ssshhh—!

The driving cold locked my muscles rigid.

A room that was already cold turned glacial.

At this rate, I half expected to see my breath.

And it wasn’t just the chill.

‘At this pace I might die...?’

Brrrr—!

Pressure pouring from ahead rattled the entire room.

His gaze had gone markedly colder than at first.

The presence inside it was immense.

The force Tang Gyeongak exuded was so intense and eerie I couldn’t even swallow my saliva.

“This isn’t the sort of thing a man says idly.”

He spoke as he set something on the desk.

A dagger.

“If you were merely testing me, I could let it pass as something to ignore. But it doesn’t look that way. Which means I’m going to have a great many questions for you, Bang.”

“......”

Was I imagining it? The dagger was clearly lying on the desk, yet it felt pressed up against the hollow of my throat.

Chilling. It drove the truth back into me.

‘This is the Tang Clan, and the Poison King is in front of me.’

Not just anyone—the Poison King, one of the Five Kings Under Heaven.

He was warning me.

He had many questions?

Drawing a dagger and saying that was another way of saying he could pry answers out of me by torture if he wished.

‘...Ah, Father. You were right.’

Sichuan was dangerous ground; he’d told me not to keep their company.

For once, Father seems to have been right.

‘Hoo.’

I sighed inwardly. I should have just kept my mouth shut.

I ran it and made trouble for myself.

But could I have helped it?

‘Half of this is on your side.’

They spread the information everywhere and then wanted me to pretend I didn’t see it. Nothing is more annoying.

This was their fault for making it obvious.

Creeeak—!

The pressure kept climbing. I was getting close to retching.

Then—

“You were certain.”

Tang Gyeongak addressed me.

“You were certain the Tang Clan would need Full Moon. I don’t understand that. Why did you think so?”

My eyes were parched dry.

At any moment I felt that dagger on the desk might dart for my brow.

If I kept my mouth shut, the pressure would only increase. It could reach the point I couldn’t speak at all, so I had to open my mouth slowly before then.

“There’s nothing to question, really.”

“......”

“The clues thus far were more than enough.”

He didn’t answer. I felt the look of a man telling me to go on.

“The information we picked up on the road, the behavior the Clan Head showed, and even the contents of the carrier letter that came to the Blue Moon Sect. That was enough to figure it out.”

“......With only that?”

“Only?”

Calling that “only”? That’s almost funny.

“You already know this, Clan Head.”

I spoke toward Tang Gyeongak’s glare.

“Before we reached Sichuan, we ran into a certain incident in a village.”

“......”

His eyes widened.

“I assumed you already knew. Was I wrong?”

“What matters is why you assume that.”

“Because after we went through it, we filed a report at the nearest Martial Alliance branch, and at that range I expected the information would naturally reach the Tang Clan as well.”

This wasn’t just anywhere. This was the Tang Clan of Sichuan.

The Five Great Clans aren’t kennel names, and given their reach, it would be stranger if they didn’t know already.

“And I figured your side would be watching that incident closely.”

“......Why?”

“Because it would tie directly to the Tang Clan.”

“......”

The more I spoke, the colder the room grew.

Only, the ghost watching me burned so hot its stare felt like it might bore through my face.

“Do you know who those bastards were—the ones who raided the village?”

“Well now. I can’t say I do. Do you, Bang?”

I couldn’t help the faint laugh that escaped me at his answer. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

“First off, that means you acknowledge you know we went through the incident, doesn’t it?”

“......”

That was enough.

The clumsy explanation after didn’t actually matter.

“I don’t know the details, but they called themselves Heaven-Breaking Palace.”

“...!”

Rougher than before—his reaction spiked.

“A group I’d never heard of... but set that aside.”

From here on was the crux.

“They said they were looking for a certain secret archive.”

The name was probably—

“—the Poison Sovereign’s secret archive.”

The air heaved when I spoke the words.

Wow. So pressure alone really can make the air surge. That was something to gape at.

In that instant—

Thunk—!

My knees buckled as I swayed.

My vision blurred at the same time. What now?

It was a baffling turn. While I was still wondering what this was, Tang Gyeongak spoke to me.

“It’s the poison of the Lotus-Lantern Herb.”

Lotus-Lantern Herb?

“As a fragrance it spreads easily through the body. Agitate it with inner energy and you’ll be paralyzed in short order.”

“......Ahh...”

His explanation brought it together.

No wonder there’d been that out-of-place floral scent in the corridor.

Feeling the state I was in, I let out a thin laugh and asked,

“Am I going to die now?”

I was calm. The Poison King answered in a weighty tone.

“That depends on how you answer next.”

If need be, he could kill me.

The warning was plain.

“Are you saying those men truly spoke the Poison Sovereign’s secret archive aloud?”

“Who knows.”

“......You brat.”

“Let’s not, shall we. You won’t kill me, Clan Head.”

“......Huh?”

I said it with conviction and my vision blurred further. I couldn’t even make out his face now.

“You dare make sport of me?”

“As if. Who am I to insult the Tang Clan’s Clan Head?”

“In that case...”

“I only became certain because of what you just did.”

“......What?”

Because of his own actions—I saw his face tighten.

“What do you mean?”

“I kept wondering. Why did the successor have to come in person? Why not just take Full Moon over and be done with it? That was my thinking.”

As I spoke I pointed at something: the wooden case on the desk.

“Back when we were talking earlier—before we exchanged sealed letters—you reached for the case first.”

“......And what is wrong with that?”

“It was highly strange. The Tang Clan’s Clan Head doesn’t forget something that basic.”

This was business between a sect and a clan.

Reaching for the item before an agent-to-agent agreement was concluded? Unthinkable.

Yet the Poison King had almost done exactly that.

I focused on that.

“It was merely a mistake.”

Maybe so.

Anyone can make a mistake.

But—

“Right. People can err. But the odds that you would are low, Clan Head. So.”

I assumed he wasn’t that kind of man.

Not just anyone—the head of one of the Five Great Clans. A man like that making such a basic blunder? The master of this terrifying house?

Not a chance. And if he still slipped, there were two possibilities.

“Either you made the mistake in front of me on purpose, with intent...”

Or—

“...you were urgent enough—and the matter important enough—that you slipped.”

“......”

“If it’s the former, I’m wrong. If it’s the latter—”

Grrrk.

I forced my fallen body upright. Strength had drained clean away and I was tired to the bone, but getting up by brute will was possible.

“—it means you need Full Moon that badly.”

Thap! My hand found the desk just in time. If I didn’t brace, I was going down.

Strangely enough, even in this state, my voice didn’t shake.

I’d been scared at first; now even that was gone.

Because I was sure.

“But it’s not just Full Moon. You called for me specifically...”

I squinted. I couldn’t make out Tang Gyeongak’s expression.

“Which likely means, along with Full Moon, you needed the Sword Saint’s successor. If I ask what for...”

Tie the information.

Even scraps that shouldn’t link—if you force ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) them together long enough, something emerges.

And what turns that force into something other than force—

—is information only I know and the other side does not.

The former Tang Clan Head, the Poison Sovereign.

And, with Full Moon, the “snack pantry” Yoo Cheongil secretly built.

The line between them.

This, precisely, was something only I knew—and the Poison King did not.

“The Poison Sovereign’s secret archive, Full Moon, and the Sword Saint’s successor. The three are connected. That’s how I see it. What do you think, Clan Head?”

“......”

He said nothing.

Silence slid by.

I waited a long while for his reaction, and then—

Sssssss—...

I heard something slowly dissipate, and strength began to seep back into my body.

My blood ran again. My breathing started to steady.

Wow... I felt like I might live.

I finally caught my breath, calmed my breathing—

“...Well.”

Tang Gyeongak spoke.

“I brought a serpent into my clan.”

That sounded... not bad.

“You... You really are that lunatic’s disciple. No—worse. You’re even more insane.”

An irksome voice muttered behind him, but still.

****

Clang! Clang-clang!

A place filled with harsh ironwork and searing heat.

CLANG—!!!

Sparks flew with the noise, and the smell of hot metal flooded the space.

There, someone with cloth tied tight around her head swung a hammer with all her might.

Clang! Clang-clang!!

Clean movements, steady tempo.

Each time the hammer struck a cross-section, the heat flared and sparks leapt, but the woman seemed not to care.

If anything, only fire gathered in her eyes.

She even moved on to the quench, looking pleased—happy.

After she’d worked a long while, sweating—

“Daughter.”

A gentle voice from behind stilled her hand.

She turned.

Its owner was a middle-aged woman whose looks seemed too fine for her age.

She was also the woman’s mother.

Pi Yeonjin, mistress of the Tang household.

Wife of the Poison King, mother of the Young Clan Head Tang Jun.

And also—

“Mother.”

—mother to the woman holding the iron in front of her.

Pi Yeonjin frowned at her turned face.

She’d gone to the trouble of bearing a daughter so fair, and here the girl had smeared ash and dust all over it.

This was why she hated coming here, to Iron River.

“...Why don’t you come when I call you.”

Her daughter was so hard-headed she had to come in person.

“Ah.”

The woman reacted to Pi Yeonjin’s words.

“You called?”

“I must have called you well over ten times.”

“Sorry. I was at the best part.”

“......”

She flicked the hammer aside and untied her kerchief.

Straight, glossy hair fell to her shoulders.

As she roughly gathered her long hair, the woman asked,

“What is it?”

“People came from the Blue Moon Sect today.”

“Ah.”

She’d heard. They’d said guests would be visiting soon.

“I see.”

That was about the extent of it.

She answered like she didn’t much care, and Pi Yeonjin sighed.

“Your father will likely call for you this evening.”

“That makes sense.”

It happened often enough that she didn’t think much of it.

“Just in case, I’ll say it again...”

“Yes, I know.”

The woman smiled, cutting her off.

“Do not speak of this matter. Keep your mouth shut as much as possible, and also...”

What else? Right.

“If there is anyone with the surname Bang, do not get involved. Ever. That was it, right?”

“Correct. The last one especially—you must remember it at all times.”

Pi Yeonjin warned her, heat in her voice as if to burn it into her.

“Don’t worry.”

The woman answered with a small smile, as if her mother was cute.

Not that she was paying particular attention.