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“Aaaaaaah!”
Zhuge Kwan screamed.
At the pitiful cry, every head turned toward him.
“Commander! Commander!”
The Zhuge official who had been yelling now called frantically for the commander.
Un Ji-kang watched the duel from beside Bukgung Bi-beom.
“Uh—!”
“What are you doing!”
Zhuge ripped the needle from his arm and ran toward them.
The crowd murmured, but Zhuge Kwan ignored them.
He stumbled off the duel arena and fell to his knees before the lord of Solitary Cloud Manor, shouting.
“I’m poisoned! Quickly—an antidote!”
This was happening in the middle of a duel watched by countless people.
Yeon Mujin, Hwangbo Ryeong, the duel announcer, and the warriors of both families stared in bewilderment.
Bukgung Bi-beom was equally flustered.
He frowned. “What nonsense is this? The match is not over. Return to the arena at once.”
“Shut up, you idiot! I’m poisoned by the toxin your commander gave me!”
Zhuge Kwan snapped, furious and terrified.
Bukgung Bi-beom’s face flushed. “Has he lost his mind all of a sudden—!”
“Hand over the antidote quickly!”
Ignoring Bukgung Bi-beom, Zhuge turned on Un Ji-kang.
Un Ji-kang frowned and looked down at him, then finally spoke.
“I truly don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Zhuge’s face twisted with anger and humiliation. “It was the poison you gave me! A deadly toxin made by combining Heart-Stealing Herb and White Blood Poison! Didn’t you say it would spread through the body in half an hour? I’m poisoned—give me the antidote at once! Quickly!”
By now even a fool could see the situation.
The crowd chilled at Zhuge Kwan’s confession.
He rolled up his sleeve and exposed his right arm. “Look! I was targeted! If you don’t give the antidote, I’ll be dead within half an hour!”
Two red puncture wounds marked his arm like snake bites.
Zhuge looked on the verge of collapse.
But Un Ji-kang showed no sympathy. He regarded Zhuge as one regards a distant fire and spoke coldly.
“Zhuge young master, if you intend to cause any more commotion, I will strip you of your duel qualifications in accordance with Solitary Cloud Manor’s rules.”
Zhuge Kwan’s trembling stopped. He realized Un Ji-kang had no intention of giving the antidote willingly.
A transmitted voice from Un Ji-kang flowed into Zhuge’s panic.
—This is your mistake, so bear the responsibility for it. Weren’t you the one who promised we’d act as if we’d never met?
It was true. Zhuge had never planned to reveal their secret deal.
But this was different—he had never expected to be the one poisoned.
Do you think I’ll meekly die alone?
Just as Zhuge Kwan opened his mouth to confess everything, Un Ji-kang cut him off.
“It seems the Zhuge family’s young master prepared a low trick and paid for it instead. I do not know the circumstances, but if you forfeit the match, I will summon Solitary Cloud Manor’s physician.”
“I—I will forfeit! I will forfeit!” Zhuge Kwan shouted, desperate. His life mattered more than the match.
Un Ji-kang turned to Bukgung Bi-beom. “Lord, it seems we must call a physician.”
“And the final duel?”
“Let’s suspend it for the time being.”
“Hmm… If that is the command of the commander.”
Just as Bukgung Bi-beom moved to call a physician, another transmitted voice from Un Ji-kang reached him.
—Tell them to arrive as late as possible. Delay so that Zhuge Kwan’s breath may cease.
“…?”
—Don’t ask stupid questions; do as I say!
“….”
Bukgung Bi-beom sent a warrior with the orders.
Un Ji-kang transmitted to Zhuge Kwan.
—I’ll spare your life, so don’t try any nonsense. Your current disgrace is enough to soil the Bukgung Family’s reputation.
Zhuge Kwan could not trust him, but he had no choice.
“Young lord!”
“What is the meaning of this!”
The Zhuge family warriors stepped forward and surrounded Zhuge Kwan.
“What are you saying—poisoned!”
“Do not move. Keep your arm below your heart and breathe as slowly as possible.”
The duel arena descended into chaos.
Zhuge Kwan felt death creeping closer. His head swam, chills rippled through him, then his chest burned and his breath quickened.
Un Ji-kang’s claim of a deadly poison was not empty words. There was no way Zhuge could hold out until a physician arrived.
“Make space! Lay the young lord down and watch over him!”
Yeon Mujin watched the commotion, then turned his gaze to Un Ji-kang.
Through the chaotic crowd their eyes met.
Un Ji-kang’s stare was cold as north wind and snow; Yeon Mujin’s burned like flame.
So, you noticed my presence, didn’t you.
It was all the trap Un Ji-kang had set.
“Physician! Is the physician still far away!”
Zhuge Kwan’s condition deteriorated by the moment.
A few medically knowledgeable Zhuge warriors tried to take his pulse, but a true physician was needed.
“Ghaa—!”
His breath faltered. The Zhuge warriors fell into grief.
At that moment someone shouted.
“Captain Yeon!”
A woman’s voice—strangely familiar to Yeon Mujin.
A woman, face concealed by a bamboo hat and headwrap, pushed through the confusion and climbed onto the duel arena.
When she removed the mask, a stunning beauty appeared.
Yeon Mujin looked at Bukgung Yoon in disbelief.
“Lord, why are you here?”
“That’s what I was going to ask… But first, is Zhuge family’s young lord poisoned?”
“Judging by the situation, it seems so.”
“Is there any way to detoxify him?”
“How would I know that? I’m not a physician.”
Bukgung Yoon fell silent, thinking. She seemed about to say something, then hesitated.
“There might be one way to detoxify him.”
“What is it?”
“I’ve heard that Dragon Eye Pearl can draw out and neutralize poison.”
Only then did Yeon Mujin think of the Dragon Eye Pearl.
It looked like a flashy jewel, but in truth it was an exquisite blood-poison liquor that expels toxins. Beyond its antidotal properties, it was a luxury—each worth a hundred gold coins.
Huh? This might work.
In a previous life, Yeon Mujin had seen a physician treat poison with such a blood-poison liquor, using its ability to absorb toxins. The practitioner had deep medical knowledge and skill in blood-control to prevent the poison from spreading to other meridians.
But surely there were those here skilled in blood-control techniques?
Yeon Mujin glanced at the Zhuge warriors trying to save their young lord. Yet there was a problem: to draw out poison already lodged in the meridians required a healer superior to the afflicted man. If amateurs meddled, they’d risk entanglement.
Among those Zhuge men, none surpassed the fallen young lord.
If a master wasn’t available, no one could be expected to save him.
Do I really have to do this now?
“Grrr…”
Bukgung Yoon addressed the troubled Yeon Mujin. “What do you think?”
“It might be possible…”
At the word ‘possible’, Bukgung Yoon’s face darkened. “But if you use Dragon Eye Pearl to save Zhuge family’s young lord, Captain Yeon will…”
“…What about me?”
“It’s something you need as well.”
“What is it?”
“Dragon Eye Pearl.”
“Dragon Eye Pearl?”
Yeon Mujin blinked.
“Why would I need that?”
Bukgung Yoon was taken aback by his reaction. “Weren’t you searching for Dragon Eye Pearl to treat your internal injuries?”
“Me? When?”
Bukgung Yoon flushed. “Then why did you disguise yourself and infiltrate Solitary Cloud Manor?”
“…It wasn’t because of the Dragon Eye Pearl.”
That answer puzzled Bukgung Yoon. She seemed to have misunderstood.
“You don’t actually think I’m here to steal the Dragon Eye Pearl, do you?”
“I thought Captain Yeon had suffered a grave internal injury at the Namsa Lake incident and needed the Dragon Eye Pearl to treat it…”
“Where on earth did such a rumor come from?”
Seon Nak-il, standing behind Bukgung Yoon, subtly averted his gaze.
Then Bukgung Yoon sank onto her seat.
“Manor Lord?”
Yeon Mujin looked over in alarm. Bukgung Yoon clutched her chest, tears glistening at the corners of her eyes.
“Thank goodness…”
…
Yeon Mujin stared at the seated Bukgung Yoon.
He hadn’t known—hadn’t expected anyone to worry for him like this.
Across seven regressions, fighting and clawing under the Bukgung family, no one had once worried about him.
To the Bukgung bloodlines, Yeon Mujin had always been that kind of existence: a serviceable blade, replaceable at any time. No one cared for the blade itself; they only cared whether it was drawn.
Her concern felt oddly refreshing.
What could he mean to the young master who had only just begun to take his first steps?
“Manor Lord.”
Yeon Mujin spoke to the seated Bukgung Yoon. “I’m not a blade that gets damaged, broken, or ruined so easily. So rest assured. And…”
The words ‘I’m sorry for worrying you’ wouldn’t come. He still felt awkward saying them.
Instead he added, “For now, I’ll do what I can.”
Yeon Mujin stood and moved toward the Zhuge group. With each step he shed the disguise of the reverse-use technique—his gait shifting from Mujin of the Lonely Claw Troops to Yeon Mujin of Flying Swallow Manor. He changed his expression, gestures, and stance; his mask came off.
He spoke to Bukgung Bi-beom. “Lord of Solitary Cloud Manor, lend me the Dragon Eye Pearl.”
“What?”
“I will try to save the Zhuge young lord’s life.”
The Zhuge House warriors who heard him reacted with surprise and hope.
“What did you say?”
“You can treat the noble?”
“But I need the Dragon Eye Pearl in return.”
Un Ji-kang regarded Yeon Mujin coldly. Bukgung Bi-beom snorted and mocked him. “Who are you to boss people around? Are you a physician?”
“By the time the physician comes, it will be too late.”
Yeon Mujin pointed to Zhuge Kwan, whose complexion had drained to an ashen, sallow hue—the poison spreading through him.
“I will try to detoxify him.”
Bukgung Bi-beom laughed, but a transmitted voice from Un Ji-kang reached the Sixth Young Master.
—Allow him.
‘…What?’
—This man is Bukgung Yoon’s trusted subordinate, Yeon Mujin of Flying Swallow Manor.
‘…What?’
On closer inspection, the face was indeed familiar. It was odd they only remembered him now; moments before he’d appeared as someone else.
—This is an opportunity. If Zhuge Kwan dies by this man’s hand, we can pin the Zhuge Family’s anger on Flying Swallow Manor. We can claim he acted independently before the physician arrived and met with misfortune.
‘But what if this man actually manages to detoxify him?’
Bukgung Bi-beom asked, and Un Ji-kang answered without doubt.
—This is not a poison that a mere wanderer who rose in the family by chance can detoxify. Never.
Bukgung Bi-beom took the cue and commanded, “Hand over the Dragon Eye Pearl.”
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