Side Story 17. Gyun-go And Nok-su (1)

Poison. There was no other way to explain it.
Whether poison powder had been scattered, or poison had already been planted throughout the venue beforehand, there was no way to tell.
What was certain was that people collapsed right after some sweet scent spread through the air.

They didn’t simply fall over.
They coughed up mouthfuls of blood, nosebleeds streaming down, and crumpled where they stood.
The faces of those who fell had turned deathly pale, and their bodies trembled in spasms.

At that horrifying sight, the people were appalled.
This was not just one or two people gathered here.
Nam Family Manor’s outer courtyard was packed to the brim.
There were dozens from Nam Family Manor, dozens from the Three Pleasures Butchering Guild, and nearly a hundred who had come to watch the martial match.

Of them, roughly fifteen people collapsed while vomiting blood.
There was no way to tell what standard had been used.
Since poison had been released from atop the martial platform, it was only natural that those near it would be in the greatest danger.
But Cheongho, who was closest of all to the bamboo-hatted figures, was still standing there blankly.
The same was true of the others near him.
A few people mixed in among the audience went down, and even a Nam Family Manor martial artist standing guard far off in the distance collapsed.
Ah, and so did the Guild Master of the Three Pleasures Butchering Guild.

“G-Guild Master!”
“Kuhk, kehk!”

The Guild Master clutched at his own throat and writhed as if in agony.
The officers of the Three Pleasures Butchering Guild shook him and even poured internal energy into him, but it was useless.

“Y-You bastards of Nam Family Manor!”

Someone shouted that.
The Guild Master had been poisoned and collapsed in Nam Family Manor’s outer courtyard. It was not unreasonable to think it was Nam Family Manor’s scheme.

“Keeegh!”

But the Nam Family Manor Lord and his people were equally shaken. The Nam Family Manor Lord himself was fine, but several of his retainers coughed up blood and collapsed.

“S-Stop them! Seize them!”

The Nam Family Manor Lord shouted that.
It was obvious they had spread a poison that selectively killed people.
But there was no one brave enough to charge straight at those who had released the poison.
An uneasy silence hung for a moment.
The first to speak was none other than the bamboo-hatted woman.

“It’s progressed quite a bit.”

Progressed? What had progressed?
The meaning became clear soon enough.

“U-Urgh!”
“Guild Master! Calm down, calm down!”

The Guild Master, who had been coughing blood and writhing on the ground, bit the arm of the subordinate tending to him.
Startled, the subordinate slapped the Guild Master across the cheek.

“Ah, s-sorry……”
“Grrrrr.”

But instead of getting angry, the Guild Master snarled like a beast.
The Guild Master of the Three Pleasures Butchering Guild wasn’t the only one behaving strangely.
All the people who had collapsed while coughing blood rose back to their feet.
Their eyes were rolled white, and beastlike cries poured from their mouths.
Then they began biting and clawing at the people around them at random.

It was a horrifying scene.
People screamed and fled, tangling together and falling over one another.

“Catch them!”

The Nam Family Manor Lord even came rushing down while shouting, but the chaotic crowd kept him from getting close.
Only those closest to the bamboo-hatted figures could stop them.

That meant people like Cheongho, still standing on the martial platform, or Tsering, who had just come down after finishing her match.
Tsering had grown up under Divine Monk’s teachings.
Save the weak, do not turn your head away before evil people, and never lose the heart of a human being.
So how could she stand by and do nothing when these people had poisoned others and, on top of that, made them rampage like monsters.
She leaped up onto the martial platform.
For a moment her eyes met Cheongho’s, but Tsering immediately turned toward the bamboo-hatted figures.

“Put those people back to normal!”
“Mm.”

The bamboo-hatted woman seemed to smile.

“Little girl, why are you speaking so casually to an adult? Try asking a bit more politely.”
“……Hand over the antidote.”
“No.”

Tsering clenched her teeth.
Then there was no more need for words.

“If you won’t hand it over, I’ll take it myself!”

Tsering stamped her advancing steps.
Had she shown all the skill she possessed in the martial match just before?
Not at all.
She had held back. She aimed not to kill, and she still had not steeled herself to take a human life.
But Tsering could feel it by instinct.
The bamboo-hatted figures before her were enemies who required her full strength.

The bamboo-hatted woman didn’t move.
Instead, the other bamboo-hatted figures stepped in front of Tsering.

A single saber came at her first.
It was still sheathed.
It was arrogance.
Tsering swatted the saber aside with a flick of her hand.

Ppeok!

The swinging saber instead struck her hand and bounced away.
The bamboo-hatted figure recoiled in shock, but another immediately lashed a hand toward Tsering.
Something shot out from that fluttering sleeve.
This time, even Tsering didn’t dare block it and twisted her body away.
There was no sound, but something had definitely swept through the space where her face had just been.
It was a Cow-Hair Needle, as thin as a strand of hair.
A chill ran down Tsering’s spine.

“Your instincts are pretty good.”

The bamboo-hatted woman was praising her.
The other bamboo-hatted figures scattered hidden weapons at Tsering, who had lost her center of balance.
Tsering drew up her True Qi.
A faint golden glow spread over her body, but she had not yet reached the level where she could draw out Defensive Aura Qi.
It was a life-and-death crisis.
At that moment, the one who moved to save Tsering was none other than Cheongho.

The saber Cheongho swung knocked away every hidden weapon flying at them.

Ttadadadang!

Along the path of the saber, flowers of sparks bloomed.
Tsering’s eyes met Cheongho’s for a moment.
Cheongho had decided to step in.

“Thanks!”

Thanks to the opening Cheongho had bought her, Tsering regained her stance.
A golden aura rose around her body.
Prajna True Qi began gathering in her right fist.
Doing this was no different from pulling even the internal energy that protected her body into one hand.
It was dangerous, but it was fine.

Kagak, ting!

Cheongho was fighting wildly with his broken saber.
He was not using some profound saber art, nor was his internal energy particularly overwhelming.
But Cheongho used the blade with terrifying speed and efficiency.
Even the fearsome bamboo-hatted figures were unable to deal with him easily.
Then, in the middle of that fight, Cheongho abruptly fell back.

Was he trying to retreat?
No.
The bamboo-hatted woman pointed at Tsering.

“That one is dangerous. Stop her!”

The bamboo-hatted figures moved to shield the woman as if guarding her.
Tsering’s fist shone brightly.
Instead of punching someone, she drove her fist into empty air.
From that violent strike against empty space came the ringing of a temple bell.

Deeeng-!

Three bamboo-hatted figures were blown away at once.
Even during all that, the bamboo-hatted woman had not moved from where she stood.
Her strength spent, Tsering dropped to one knee.
Her part was done.

Cheongho’s eyes met the bamboo-hatted woman’s.
Though her face was veiled in fine cloth, Cheongho could tell.
The bamboo-hatted woman was still smiling with perfect ease.

“What are you doing? Come.”

Cheongho was already charging in with his saber drawn.
His speed was like a flash of lightning.
Like a fox spotting prey, he closed the distance in an instant, right in front of the bamboo-hatted woman.
Without losing that momentum, he tried to swing the saber up from below.
He thought blood would spray.

Tak.

Absurdly, Cheongho’s wrist was caught.
Who could possibly just grab the wrist of someone swinging a saber?
And Cheongho’s speed surpassed even Peak Realm masters.
The situation was so unreal that for a moment Cheongho could not judge it properly.

“The way you thrash about is just like a fiery lion.”

The hand gripping Cheongho’s wrist was pitch black.
If only it had been pale, it could’ve been described as delicate jade-like hands, but instead it was black like charcoal.
The ornate rings on those fingers stood out.
The bamboo-hatted woman whispered into Cheongho’s ear.

“Lie down.”

A floral scent spread, and Cheongho dropped to his knees with a thud.
His body no longer had any strength in it.
He strained hard enough for his face to turn bright red, but instead his body simply collapsed onto the ground.

“Don’t struggle. It would be better if you just rested.”

The bamboo-hatted woman said that, then stepped past Cheongho and stood before Tsering, who was slumped on the ground.
Then Tsering, too, collapsed.
The bamboo-hatted figures quickly closed ranks around the bamboo-hatted woman.

“We’re sorry, Hall Master!”
“No. Those children were no ordinary lot. Stay here and wait.”

Then the bamboo-hatted woman walked forward alone.
Unable to move, Cheongho could only watch her.
Her movement art was incredibly elusive.
Though she was not faster than Cheongho had been just before, she floated down from the martial platform as lightly as a falling petal.
He had felt it the moment she grabbed his wrist. The bamboo-hatted woman was a master. A truly great master.
There was only one person here who could compare to her in martial skill.

So-ryu.
So-ryu stepped in front of the bamboo-hatted woman as she approached Baek Sang-ye.
So-ryu drew her sword.
Perhaps she had no intention of underestimating her opponent, because she drew her aura to its utmost.
If she swung that blade, a full foot of Sword Aura would surely surge out.

But the bamboo-hatted woman showed no sign of wanting to fight So-ryu.
She casually took off her bamboo hat.
Then she stripped away the veil covering her face as well.
Gasps of shock sounded from all around.
Some people had recognized her.

Beautifully tanned skin.
Beautiful ornaments hanging from her ears and around her neck.
And a young woman ranked among the most poisonous of poisoners, the Hall Master of the Tang Clan’s Hall of Ten Thousand Poisons.

“……Poison Beauty?”

Poison Beauty, Tang Eun-seol.
She had come here to Nam Family Manor.

“That’s right.”
“Why are you here?”

So-ryu and Tang Eun-seol.
They had never moved together, but they knew of each other.
Tang Eun-seol raised a hand lightly as she spoke.

“This is the land of Sichuan. Is there any reason a daughter of the Sichuan Tang Clan could not come here?”
“That’s not what I meant.”

Then the Nam Family Manor Lord shouted.

“What is the Tang Clan doing here!”

Those who had coughed blood and collapsed had risen and begun attacking those around them.
And by now, most of them had already been subdued.
Those who could flee had fled, while those who remained wanted to know why the Sichuan Tang Clan had committed such a vile act.

“We didn’t spread poison. On the contrary, we spread an antidote.”
“An antidote? What absurd nonsense is that……”
“The ones who collapsed were already poisoned. We helped them.”
“Ridiculous……”
“It is yokai poison.”

Tang Eun-seol said it clearly, emphasizing each word.

“We came all the way here chasing a dangerous yokai. The yokai that killed two children of the Tang Clan.”
“……”

The Tang Clan never forgot a grudge.
Anyone from Sichuan both feared and revered the Tang Clan.

“That yokai hides beside humans while wearing a changed form. Then it spreads a poison in the form of spores. Those poisoned seem to live normally for a while, then suddenly collapse and die. After that, the spores sprout and take control of the corpse. They become living puppets.”

It was a terrifying explanation.
If anyone else had said it, no one would have believed it, but this was the Hall Master of the Tang Clan’s Ten Thousand Poisons Hall. They had no choice but to believe her.

“Nam Family Manor Lord, did you not request assistance from our Tang Clan? Why are you pretending not to know?”
“N-no, that was to deal with the yokai beyond that bridge. This is the first I’ve heard of such a bizarre yokai.”
“Hm. Then what about your purchasing of a yokai corpse, which is forbidden by national law?”

The Nam Family Manor Lord’s complexion went white.

“What, wh-what do you mean……”
“Bring it.”

At that moment, two other bamboo-hatted figures appeared.
With them were Geum Yang-bae and Warrior Jang’s missing group.
They were dragging along something like a large coffin.

“While tracing the yokai’s whereabouts, we took testimony from those merchant guild people.”

The ones who had abducted Warrior Jang and the other guild members had been the Tang Clan.
In truth, it had not been an abduction.
One of the guild members had already been heavily exposed to the yokai’s spores.
The moment the antidote was administered, he died and then went berserk. It was different from what had happened to the people around the martial platform here, who soon quieted down.
So they had no choice but to kill him and take the other guild members away.

“I-it’s this one.”
“Open it.”

The bamboo-hatted figure opened the coffin.
Inside it truly lay a yokai corpse.
The Nam Family Manor Lord turned pale and clamped his mouth shut.
Seeing that, Tang Eun-seol tilted her head.

“Was there some kind of misunderstanding?”
“N-no……”
“It doesn’t matter either way.”

There was only one reason she and the Tang Clan people had come here.

“We only need to catch Gyun-go.”

To capture or kill the yokai ‘Gyun-go.’

“Then that yokai is……”

Baek Sang-ye asked that.
Tang Eun-seol gave a small laugh and replied.

“I heard you kept carrying it around in your arms.”
“……”

Baek Sang-ye’s eyes wavered.

“Kkwiik.”

At some point, the piglet Baek Sang-ye had named herself had appeared nearby.