Sichuan Assassin Sect (2)

That was when it happened.

Seonu Jin smiled faintly and asked him,

“You seem to be using an exceptionally precious poison, Elder?”

The Fifth Killer, Naeng Jidan, stared at Seonu Jin in shock.

“…What?!”

Seonu Jin smiled and stuck out his tongue.

A mysterious bead glowing in five colors rested upon it.

Naeng Jidan cried out in astonishment when he saw it.

“A-An Antidote Pearl?”

It was unmistakably an Antidote Pearl that protected its bearer from poison.

Moreover, a five-colored Antidote Pearl was an item of the highest quality, capable of neutralizing most poisons except corrosive toxins….

In the next instant, Seonu Jin’s sword transformed into a streak of light.

Swish!

“Urgh!”

Naeng Jidan’s hands and feet were severed in an instant.

He groaned in pain and stared at Seonu Jin with terror-filled eyes.

Seonu Jin smiled coldly at him and said,

“Oh, I have finally found someone who seems willing to talk.”

He was somewhat different from the other assassins, who had shown no fear or uttered even a groan while dying.

An assassin human enough to be unable to endure pain or conceal his fear—perhaps if they spoke at length, he might reveal many things.

Seonu Jin smiled triumphantly and said to him,

“Let us have a long conversation.”

The Third Killer, Jeon Seokjil, who had been watching from concealment in a corner, let out an incredulous laugh.

To think someone that powerful even possessed an Antidote Pearl.

Moreover, a five-colored Antidote Pearl was an item of the highest quality, supposedly carried only by high-ranking officers of the Tang Clan.

This was clearly impossible.

It seemed he had no choice but to abandon the attack on Seonu Jin for now.

Of course, the Third Killer Jeon Seokjil’s concealment art was far superior to that of the Sixth Killer Do Danmu, but targeting an opponent who was already prepared to such an extent would be no different from suicide.

Jeon Seokjil thought inwardly,

‘It seems I will have to join forces with that arrogant Seventh Killer.’

Despite being merely a brat in his twenties, the Seventh Killer was a genius who had mastered concealment and hidden-weapon arts to such a degree that even Jeon Seokjil, the Third Killer, could not confidently claim victory over him.

Therefore, if they joined forces, perhaps they could seek another opportunity.

Having decided that, Jeon Seokjil chose to withdraw first while Seonu Jin dealt with the aftermath.

That would allow him to arrive ahead of Seonu Jin and prepare for the next attack.

Thus, just as Jeon Seokjil began slowly retreating while concealed, Seonu Jin suddenly looked in his direction and spoke.

“What? You are giving up already? I was wondering what would come next. Where do you think you are going?”

The moment Jeon Seokjil heard that voice, chills ran across his entire body.

That man had already known of his presence as well.

Thud!

Jeon Seokjil launched himself away with all his strength.

He had to flee as quickly as possible.

The distance between them was considerable, so with his movement art, he should have been able to—

Jeon Seokjil glanced behind himself while thinking that and was horrified.

Seonu Jin’s figure was approaching him at an absurd speed.

It was a speed impossible to believe belonged to a human movement art.

Jeon Seokjil instinctively turned around.

Continuing to flee would fail anyway.

He had to struggle with everything he possessed.

“Haaah!”

Fwish-fwish-fwish!

As an assassin, he even released a battle cry while throwing hidden weapons with all his strength.

He had unleashed every one of his secret hidden weapons at once, the specialty upon which he prided himself.

The rain of hidden weapons filled the entire space, scattering like the Sichuan Tang Clan’s Myriad Heavens Flower Rain.

However, Seonu Jin did not slow down at all within that rain.

He merely swung his sword.

Whoosh!

Seonu Jin’s blade divided like an illusion and covered his entire body.

It looked like a translucent, pale-violet curtain.

The hidden weapons that touched that curtain were helplessly deflected.

Clink-clink-clink-clink!

Jeon Seokjil’s expression turned horrified as he muttered blankly,

“A-A sword curtain?”

By the time Seonu Jin had knocked away every hidden weapon, he had already approached within arm’s reach.

Jeon Seokjil merely stared at him with a vacant expression, as though he had now given up everything.

However, that was when it happened.

The instant Seonu Jin’s sword slowed briefly, as though he intended to capture rather than immediately kill him, Jeon Seokjil’s gaze transformed.

Even his defeated expression had been a deception.

“Ptooey!”

Jeon Seokjil spat something from his mouth with a sharp gaze.

Whoosh!

It was his final secret technique, a tongue needle fired from his mouth.

Precisely because the situation appeared completely settled, it was an even deadlier move.

A minuscule, slender needle shot toward Seonu Jin’s forehead.

Jeon Seokjil smiled viciously and thought that no matter how great an expert Seonu Jin was, he could not evade it from such a short distance.

However, in the next instant, his expression froze.

Seonu Jin had lightly drifted aside like a flower petal scattered by the wind, allowing the needle to pass him.

Then a streak of light swept across Jeon Seokjil’s stiffened neck.

Slash!

“How…?”

A thin red line appeared across Jeon Seokjil’s neck as he muttered in disbelief.

Then his head slowly began to slide.

Splurt!

By the time his head fell and blood belatedly erupted, Seonu Jin was already returning toward the old man he had captured.

He had already secured someone from whom he could extract information, so he did not need anyone else.

Besides, Jeon Seokjil had not seemed likely to speak anyway.

However, when Seonu Jin returned to stand before the old man, he could only frown.

“Damn.”

The assassin disguised as an old man was already dead, blood flowing from his mouth.

He had apparently bitten down on a poison pill and taken his own life.

Seonu Jin clicked his tongue and muttered,

“In the end, I failed to learn who they were. They must belong to a fairly famous assassin organization.”

It was deeply regrettable.

Had he discovered their identity, he might have been able to launch a counterattack….

They possessed the cruelty to brutally massacre completely unrelated people, the vicious resolve to carry out an assassination without fearing death, and a wide variety of assassination methods. They were highly systematic assassins.

Moreover, despite Seonu Jin moving swiftly because he had anticipated an attack, they had still been waiting ahead of him. They clearly belonged to an organization with an extremely broad sphere of influence.

It was unlikely that the attacks would end here.

“Still, there is nothing I can do.”

Seonu Jin immediately cast the matter from his mind.

There was no point dwelling on something that had already become impossible.

Furthermore, there was also something reassuring.

Thanks to the Mind’s Eye he had learned from Squad Leader Seol Pung and the Thousand Kill Secret he had studied in the Seonu Clan’s library, the assassins’ attacks had not been particularly threatening.

Their ambushes would have been fatal to other martial artists, but to Seonu Jin, the assassins actually felt easier to face than martial artists who specialized in direct confrontation.

“Besides, I have the Antidote Pearl.”

Seonu Jin removed the Antidote Pearl from his mouth, placed it inside his pouch, and smiled contentedly.

Then he suddenly recalled the face of the person who had given it to him.

The person who had given him this Antidote Pearl was Tang Yeo-eun.

While they were learning the Moonlit Phantom Sword Dance under the Radiant Sword, Tang Yeo-eun had refused to speak about what she herself had experienced, yet repeatedly asked about what had happened to Seonu Jin.

She said she could not understand how she, with her inferior ability, could possibly have killed him.

Seonu Jin did not tell her that he had deliberately left her pulse gate unrestrained, but he did explain that he had been struck by Formless Poison when he subdued her.

Tang Yeo-eun had then fallen into thought with a serious expression before handing him the Antidote Pearl she possessed.

She said that she could obtain another after returning to the Tang Clan, but Seonu Jin also needed a way to protect himself against poison.

With a grave expression, she had told him,

‘One of the first things Tang Clan children are taught is that they must always keep this Antidote Pearl in their mouths before entering a battle. Poison is never absent from a Tang Clan fight. It may feel uncomfortable at first, but you must do the same, Jin. This small difference may save your life. Understood? Promise me you will.’

Pressed by her insistence, Seonu Jin had no choice but to promise that he would.

In the end, it was thanks to that promise that he had easily overcome the present danger.

At that moment, Tang Yeo-eun’s radiant, sunlight-like smile suddenly came to mind.

At the same time, Tang Yeo-eun sat in her room, immersed in deep thought.

Seonu Jin’s words continued circling through her mind.

‘Do not forget that only you can change your own life. I believe in you, Yeo-eun.’

Tang Yeo-eun bit her lip firmly.

No matter how many times she considered it, his words were correct.

She could not continue allowing those around her to drag her along and leave her fate in the hands of others.

Even if those orders came from her father, the Clan Head, an absolute existence to the members of the Tang Clan.

Therefore, if she truly did not wish to enter a political marriage, she could not entrust everything to Seonu Jin. She herself had to do something.

Even if only so she could stand proudly before the man who believed in her….

However—

No matter how much she thought, she could not devise a suitable method.

‘What in the world can I do?’

Within the Tang Clan, the Clan Head’s commands were absolute and inviolable. It was considered perfectly natural and ordinary for a direct descendant of little importance like herself to be used as a tool for a political marriage.

Therefore, this was something that required her to shatter what every Tang clansman regarded as common sense.

She sighed in despair.

“Hooo.”

She felt powerless.

The helplessness of being unable to do anything once again threatened to color her heart with despair.

However, Tang Yeo-eun soon shook her head fiercely and cast away the hopelessness that was eating at her.

‘No. There must be a way. I simply do not know it yet. Think about what he said. There is no situation without a solution.’

Then she desperately thought.

About what she could do.

About every possible method.

‘Going to the Clan Head and saying I cannot do it will not work. Far from listening, he will only try to suppress me even further. He will never tolerate anyone within the Tang Clan refusing to submit to his authority. No one can reject the Clan Head’s will….’

As Tang Yeo-eun thought that far, something suddenly came to mind.

People who remained within the Tang Clan yet did not have to submit to the Clan Head’s authority….

Such people certainly existed.

Tang Yeo-eun shot to her feet.

Her eyes shone clearly after discovering a clue.

‘Someone capable of that would surely be….’

The first name Tang Yeo-eun recalled was Tang Mugwang.

He was the half-brother of the previous Clan Head, Tang Mujeong, the former Poison-Dark Sovereign and Tang Yeo-eun’s grandfather.

He was also known by another name: the Eccentric Poison, one of the Five Eccentrics of the World.

He was Tang Mugwang, the Eccentric Poison and strongest warrior of the Sichuan Tang Clan.

No one in the Tang Clan—not the current Clan Head Tang Jeonghu, nor even the Supreme Clan Head Tang Mujeong—could control him.

He was a poison-obsessed eccentric and an obstinate tyrant who refused even to exchange words with anyone he did not acknowledge.

Tang Yeo-eun’s thoughts moved rapidly as she considered him.

‘If he were willing to intervene, he could make my political marriage disappear as though it had never existed.’

That was true.

Of that much, she was certain.

Once the Eccentric Poison Tang Mugwang made a decision, even the current Clan Head Tang Jeonghu would never dare object.

However, there was still a problem.

Tang Yeo-eun had absolutely no connection to Tang Mugwang.

She possessed neither an excuse nor compensation with which she could ask him to prevent the political marriage.

Without anything capable of persuading him, there was no possibility that a man who treated even the Supreme Clan Head’s words as a joke would listen to Tang Yeo-eun.

However, Tang Yeo-eun had never intended to seek him out in the first place.

‘Besides, I do not even know where he currently is.’

Tang Yeo-eun immediately recalled a second and third person—people whose reputations within the Tang Clan were great enough to defy Tang Jeonghu’s will….

Her eyes gleamed as she muttered,

“Yes. With those people, there should be more than enough room to negotiate. Even with only what I currently possess.”

Tang Yeo-eun immediately sprang from her seat and left the room.

Now that she had seen a possibility, there was no need to delay even slightly.

No, the sooner she hurried, the better.

Tang Jeonghu’s promise to wait until Seonu Jin returned might itself have been a lie.

Tang Yeo-eun did not realize it, but before embarking on her journey with Seonu Jin, she had never once possessed such proactive resolve.

At last, she was breaking free of her shell and attempting to stand on her own feet.

Tang Yeo-eun headed toward a forest located deep within the Sichuan Tang Clan.

The members of the Tang Clan called that forest—

The Outer Guest Forest.

Tang Yeo-eun had infiltrated the Outer Guest Forest using the concealment art Seonu Jin had taught her.

As a direct descendant of the Tang Clan, she could naturally have entered properly through the forest’s entrance, but Tang Yeo-eun chose to sneak inside instead.

‘It would not be wise for the Clan Head to learn of my actions. I must move with the greatest secrecy possible.’

After entering the outskirts of the forest, she released her concealment, glanced toward the entrance, and strode fearlessly deeper inside.

Into the Outer Guest Forest, which was likely filled with countless monsters.

The Outer Guest Forest.

Although it was located within the Sichuan Tang Clan, it was called a place outside the clan because numerous reclusive eccentrics of the martial world resided there.

Many martial clans traditionally invited outside martial artists to remain as honored guests.

There were many reasons for that, but the most important was naturally military power.

‘A martial clan’s strength is determined by how powerful its honored guests are and how many it possesses.’

Honored guests who placed themselves under a clan’s protection were like hidden blades that could lend their strength to the clan at a crucial moment.

Merely possessing them also acted as a deterrent against provocations from hostile sects.

That was not all.

Martial arts always developed through conflict and exchange with other martial arts. Thus, whether a clan possessed honored guests trained in diverse lineages was an important factor determining how quickly its martial arts progressed.

For that reason, every martial clan constantly worked to persuade exceptional honored guests to remain with them.

‘Except for our Sichuan Tang Clan.’

That was right.

Unlike other martial clans, the Sichuan Tang Clan had no need to make any particular effort to attract honored guests.

Many people came to it even when it did nothing.

As the foremost prestigious poison clan in the martial world, the Sichuan Tang Clan naturally possessed medical and pharmaceutical skills superior to almost anywhere else.

Those unfamiliar with it might believe that the Sichuan Tang Clan was merely a hellish place filled with poisonous creatures, but among all the sects of the martial world, it was actually the Sichuan Tang Clan that possessed the greatest number of miraculous medicines.

Therefore, countless people who needed treatment—or their acquaintances—came to the Tang Clan.

Naturally, some among them were powerful martial artists.

There were even experts whom the Tang Clan could not treat lightly.

The place where such experts who wished to live in quiet seclusion resided was precisely this Outer Guest Forest, a place located within the Tang Clan but called outside it.

“…….”

Tang Yeo-eun suddenly stopped walking and surveyed the dense forest surrounding her.

At least to her eyes, nothing unusual was visible.

However, the senses sharpened by activating the Moonlit Phantom Sword Dance told her something.

Someone was watching her.

Tang Yeo-eun suddenly clasped her hands respectfully toward the forest and raised her voice.

“Tang Yeo-eun, daughter of the Tang Clan, greets a great senior of the martial world! I am searching for Elder Yang Munheon. May I ask where he is?”

After a moment, a resonant voice came from an impossible-to-determine direction.

—A daughter of the Tang Clan? Tsk, how disappointing. You sneaked inside, so I was expecting something interesting to happen. Why are you looking for Brother Yang?

As expected.

Tang Yeo-eun felt proud that her instinct about someone being present had been correct.

However, she also felt tense.

There was not a single person within the Outer Guest Forest who was not a monster.

The slightest whim from one of them could easily extinguish her life.

She had to be cautious—then even more cautious.

Tang Yeo-eun answered as respectfully as possible.

“It is a private matter that I must discuss with him in person. Great Senior, please forgive me for being unable to answer you.”

At that instant, someone dropped in front of her like a shadow.

Tap!

“!”