“Ho... jin.... That child....”

“!”

At Tang Munryong’s strenuously breathed words, Namgoong Mucheon’s face filled with shock.

Tang Hojin.

Namgoong Mucheon knew that name.

The Tang Clan’s second son, a youth active in the Martial Alliance’s Demon-Slaying Corps.

Overshadowed only by the Tang Clan’s first son, born with the Thousand-Poison Constitution, he was adept in poison and hidden weapons, and was counted among the quite promising post-generation talents.

That child has even carried out missions with Seolhwa...?

Hadn’t Seolhwa given no hint whatsoever about that child?

Could it be that even Seolhwa had not known—an infiltrator of the Great Blood Cult?

“Sword Emperor... seal... my points....”

TAK— TAKTAKTAK.

Namgoong Mucheon swiftly pressed along Tang Munryong’s Blood Channels.

The poison had already spread through his whole body, but this would slow its effects as much as possible.

Slowing the blood-flow risked necrosis beginning at the fingertips and toes, but Tang Munryong’s breath would end before that.

“It will be hard, but tell me. If you don’t speak, no one can redress the wrongs done to you and your household.”

Namgoong Mucheon gripped the shoulders of Tang Munryong, whose mind was beginning to drift.

With effort, Tang Munryong lifted his head and met his gaze.

Had it been anyone else, could they have handled this as calmly as Namgoong Mucheon?

Most would have lost their senses at the sight of the corpses and their own dying body.

They would have robbed him of his last moments with empty words that he could yet be saved when it was already too late.

Tang Munryong truly counted it a blessing that the one who appeared to him at the end was the Sword Emperor.

Meeting that mountain-steady gaze fixed on him without a ripple, Tang Munryong parted his lips.

“I never once... looked upon that child... in full....”

In the emptiness of Tang Munryong’s eyes rose the day he had held a newborn in his arms.

****

The first child was born.

The child had the Thousand-Poison Constitution.

In a clan that dealt in poison, a body born with the Thousand-Poison Constitution was a celebration for the clan.

Since he could learn poison arts that required building poison resistance from early childhood, what great fortune was that.

So from the moment the child was born, every eye of the clan focused on the firstborn, Gajin.

Gajin grew up getting anything he wanted.

Martial arts, wealth, clothing, food—anything the child desired was prepared within the clan’s means, and even if he caused trouble, he was never severely scolded.

Meanwhile, the second and third children who followed were naturally neglected.

The third was a daughter.

In the Tang Clan, girls who would marry out were not easily taught martial arts.

The third, Jureong, likewise had little interest in martial arts, so there was no friction.

The second, Hojin, was the same.

Hojin’s temperament was quiet and gentle beyond any comparison with his elder brother Gajin.

“That child... from an early age... never caused great trouble....”

Even when they gave Gajin whatever he wanted, even when the elders doted on Gajin—

Hojin only stood behind and watched, never demanding the same for himself, never throwing a tantrum.

No—had he ever once thrown a tantrum?

Had he tried to seize something from his brother?

After being scolded by an elder—“Being born without the Thousand-Poison Constitution blocks the clan’s path”—it seemed he no longer coveted his brother’s things.

At first such a child weighed on his mind, but since he made no further fuss, he assumed it was fine.

“I should not have done so.... If only... if only I had turned back then....”

The firstborn Gajin, who lived taking whatever he wanted, grew increasingly warped as he matured.

The scale of the things Gajin did grew, and his nature only became more arrogant.

Even so, he remained the clan’s future, so attention could not help but skew even more toward the firstborn.

Around that time, the second, Hojin, began ranging outside more [N O V E L I G H T] often.

When asked once where he kept going, the child said he was meeting friends.

In truth, Hojin handled himself so well that praise of him sometimes reached them even from outside the clan, so they let him be.

Thus the attention toward the second child thinned, and thinned, by degrees.

Perhaps because of that—

He learned that Hojin surpassed Gajin in poison arts only after Gajin entered his first confinement.

“I... did not know... in the clan’s indifference... what lack... and what poison... that child raised within....”

In truth, the child wanted everything his elder brother monopolized.

Love, attention, wealth, the clan.

He had been preparing for a long time to grasp all of it in his own hands.

“He fed poison... to everyone in the clan.... Without our even... know... ing when....”

And then he told them to choose.

Cast off the clan’s name and follow him, or guard the clan and die.

At first they didn’t believe it, but when the elders who would rebuke Hojin began to die, one by one, before their eyes, they could not help but believe.

Yet even knowing, there was no way they could cast off the clan.

The child who had ranged outside in indifference had already become a Blood Cult man to the marrow, and was attempting to subjugate the entire clan to the Great Blood Cult.

“As Clan Lord... as a father... all I could... say was... live... that... is all....”

I will not force a choice.

Those who fear death, follow Hojin.

If you live, surely a chance to escape will come, and thus carrying on the clan’s will is also for the clan.

Only, as Clan Lord, I cannot cast off the clan’s name for even a single instant.

I cannot betray the Central Plains.

That is the responsibility of the Tang Clan’s Clan Lord of Sichuan, who represents the Martial Alliance.

Many offered a final bow, then turned and left.

And many followed the Clan Lord’s will.

“That was... three... days ago....”

The moment Hojin turned with those of the clan who would follow him, the poison began to spread.

Hojin knew every poison and poison art of the Tang Clan.

A poison concocted by such a child, determined to annihilate the clan—of course it could not be detoxified.

As his family collapsed and died one after another, Tang Munryong blocked his own Blood Channels to slow the spread of poison.

He reduced his breathing to a minimum and did not move at all.

Thus for three days he waited for someone to come.

“I am... a poor father....”

TOK—

Tang Munryong grasped Namgoong Mucheon’s hand that rested on his shoulder.

In his hand was a sheet of paper folded twice.

Namgoong Mucheon took the paper and unfolded it.

A location was written upon it.

“Please... our Tang Clan.......”

Ssssss....

A faint breath slipped past Tang Munryong’s lips.

It was the last breath he had left.

Without closing his eyes, without lying at ease, Tang Munryong ended his life.

“...”

Namgoong Mucheon slowly closed his eyes.

His eyelids trembled finely.

Had he not desired the position of Martial Alliance Lord?

Having ascended to the Lord’s seat, had he not wished to raise the Tang Clan’s prestige above any power in the martial world?

More than any sect, more than any great clan—had he not longed for it with urgency?

Some called it excessive greed beyond his station, but Namgoong Mucheon did not think so.

People are not born to pursue the same things, nor to aim at the same goals.

The Tang Clan simply bore a clearer ambition than any sect or clan; thus he believed they would one day surely seize it.

Such was the ferocity of the Tang Clan of Sichuan.

“I cherished you greatly.”

Namgoong Mucheon closed Tang Munryong’s eyes and eased him to lie flat.

Then he took in, one careful sweep at a time, the blood-soaked manor of the Tang Clan.

Thinking of the fear and resolve of the clansmen that could not fit within the labored tale he had just forced out, he set that sight in his eyes, then turned his steps and left that place. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

“Alliance Lord!”

Leaving the inner quarters and coming out past the outer quarters, he saw the White Tiger Division, whom he had ordered to wait near the front gate.

But there was one more beside the Division Lord.

A disciple under a Branch Lord of the Beggar’s (Network).

“Chunpal of the Beggar’s (Network) pays respects to the Alliance Lord.”

Chunpal stepped forward and bowed to Namgoong Mucheon.

“What is it?”

“I bring a letter from Namgoong Seolhwa.”

Namgoong Mucheon faintly drew his brows together.

Arriving at the Tang Clan hardly moments ago, for her to have sent a letter using even the Beggar’s (Network) relay meant she had dispatched word immediately after he left the Martial Alliance.

In other words, news that urgent.

Namgoong Mucheon at once unfolded the letter Chunpal had brought.

Grandfather. The Tang Clan’s young lord Tang Hojin was of the Great Blood Cult. He will surely be more skilled with poison than is known. We don’t know what he’ll do to the Tang Clan—warn them to be careful. I’ll send someone separately to Kunlun.

As expected, Seolhwa too had only now learned Tang Hojin’s true identity.

But the cup had already shattered, and all the water had leaked away.

...No, it’s not too late yet.

Namgoong Mucheon looked at the blood-stained sheet of paper in his hand.

It was what Tang Munryong had left him, just before his breath ceased.

Most likely, the Tang Clan’s first young lord who had vanished not long ago—Tang Gajin—would be at that place.

“Division Lord of White Tiger.”

“Yes, Alliance Lord.”

“Gather the bodies inside. Take care not to damage them, and move the Clan Lord’s remains to the Martial Alliance.”

“!”

“...!”

The faces of the White Tiger Division Lord and Chunpal filled with shock.

The Clan Lord of the Tang Clan was dead.

The head of one of the Five Great Clans representing the Martial Alliance.

If this became known, the entire Central Plains would be plunged into shock.

The two looked at Namgoong Mucheon with taut gazes—the man who would have to bear that shock in full.