Chapter 65: Resolution
Tang Sogyeom.
I had clearly seen three masked men rush at him just moments ago.
Handling three martial artists alone was never easy unless you were exceptionally skilled.
And the masked men themselves weren't weak either.
And yet...
all three men who had attacked Tang Sogyeom were already lying on the ground.
Meanwhile, Tang Sogyeom stood there completely at ease, calmly watching the remaining masked man.
What happened?
It didn't take long to realize why.
Several thin silver needles were embedded in the necks and foreheads of the three fallen men.
Poison needles.
...I knew he'd have some skill.
But this much?
So this was what it meant to come from the Sichuan Tang Clan.
A prestigious martial family that had carved its name into the martial world using poison and hidden weapons alone.
At the same time...
another question surfaced.
A branch family member is this strong?
I couldn't help becoming suspicious of Tang Sogyeom's ability after seeing him subdue three martial artists so quickly.
But I didn't have time to think about it for long.
“Damn it... how did this happen...?”
The large masked man standing at the rear looked flustered.
Then, perhaps realizing the situation was hopeless, he turned around and tried to flee.
I couldn't let him escape.
“You bastard!”
“Stop right there!”
Tang Sogyeom and I moved almost at the same time.
Then...
“Got you.”
The masked man, who had looked like he was fleeing, suddenly turned back toward us.
A small bottle was in his hand.
Don't tell me...!
Smash!
He hurled it onto the floor.
The bottle shattered.
A cloud of pale powder burst upward from the ground and engulfed both me and Tang Sogyeom.
It was Trance Powder.
I immediately held my breath.
But it was already too late.
I had inhaled the powder.
“Ghk...!”
Tang Sogyeom coughed beside me and staggered.
I also dropped to one knee.
The masked man who had thrown the Trance Powder laughed mockingly.
“Hehehe.”
“How does it feel?”
He spread his arms.
“Can't breathe properly, can you?”
Then he said,
“This is called Trance Powder.”
He deliberately took a deep breath in front of us, as though showing off.
“Unlike us, you didn't take the antidote beforehand.”
“Soon your entire body will become paralyzed and you'll lose consciousness.”
Then he glanced toward Tang Sogyeom.
“Ah.”
“Looks like one of you is already there.”
I raised my head toward him.
He sneered.
“What?”
“Do you want to beg for your life?”
Then he laughed.
“Actually, that won't work either.”
“By now, even your tongue should be paralyzed.”
A short while later, the other masked men gathered around us.
They were the ones I'd injured earlier.
One of them looked toward the large masked man.
“What should we do?”
The large man answered without hesitation.
“Kill them, of course.”
As if they had planned it in advance...
the four remaining masked men raised their swords.
The large masked man looked down at me.
“Just think of yourselves as unlucky.”
The four men lifted their swords overhead.
Then...
“Right.”
I looked at them.
“You lot were pretty damn unlucky.”
“What?! H-How are—”
He never finished.
Because my sword had already moved.
SHHK!
A single streak of sword light flashed.
At the same moment...
all four masked men froze.
Four pairs of eyes stared at me.
Disbelief filled every one of them.
"...?"
Then...
Pshhk! Ghk!
Blood burst from all four throats at once.
Their final choking breaths overlapped.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
All four masked men collapsed to the floor.
Blood spread across the ground.
Drops of it slid from the tip of my sword.
Only one masked man inside the shrine was still breathing.
The large one.
He lay on the floor, staring up at me with vacant eyes.
“...H-How...?”
He muttered in disbelief.
I stood.
Then calmly took a breath.
And sneered at him.
“What do you mean, how?”
“Maybe I took an antidote beforehand too.”
In truth...
Trance Powder could no longer affect me at all.
Ever since I consumed the Iceblood Serpent...
the poison resistance I'd gained also worked against Trance Powder.
I placed the tip of my sword against the fallen man's mask.
Then cut through it.
The cloth split apart, revealing his face.
I'd never seen him before.
I lowered the sword tip to his throat.
“Who are you?”
“Why did you kidnap Young Master Jang Ho?”
"..."
Then I immediately asked the question I truly wanted answered.
“Are you with the Shadow Corps?”
The man's eyes shook violently.
That reaction alone was as good as an answer.
I pressed the sword tip down.
“...Ghk!”
His eyes remained open as he died.
I looked at him without emotion.
“If you're connected to the Shadow Corps...”
“then you weren't worth keeping alive anyway.”
Then I turned.
Tang Sogyeom was lying on the ground.
I knelt beside him and checked his condition.
All color had drained from his face.
Even his breathing was irregular.
This is bad.
He inhaled far too much Trance Powder at once.
If things went wrong...
his heart could stop.
I needed to stabilize his breathing as quickly as possible.
To do that...
I had to stimulate the heart by pressing down on his chest.
I placed both hands over Tang Sogyeom's heart.
Then, just as I was about to apply pressure...
...?
Something felt strange beneath my fingertips.
That area should have been firm.
Instead...
it felt soft.
“...What?”
I loosened Tang Sogyeom's upper robe.
Several layers of cloth were tightly wrapped around the chest.
Was he injured there?
I tilted my head.
Then, a thought suddenly struck me.
...What?
Don't tell me he's a woman?
I was completely caught off guard.
