The Eldest Daughter of the Tang Clan of Sichuan Protects the Family

Chapter 258

After searching every floor, Tang Hae-han finally climbed to the ninth.This was the place where poisons capable of breaching a Body Impervious to All Poisons were kept. And such a poison did not yet exist in this world.

At least, not within the Tang Clan.

As a result, this vast space was always empty, with no one coming or going.

Creeeak.

When Tang Hae-han opened the door to the storage chamber, he witnessed a strange sight.

"...... What are you doing?"

Tang So-hwa was sitting at a desk, burning something like poison incense, her eyes closed.

At a glance, she looked like a master of profound internal cultivation, circulating internal energy while inspecting every corner of her body.

But since she was a half-wit with not a shred of internal power, the sight made Tang Hae-han snort in disbelief.

"Did you steal and eat some spiritual medicine and hide in here?"

He mocked her out of sheer absurdity, though he was curious. What in the world was she doing?

"What did you poison yourself with? I don't know what kind of poison it is, but where's the antidote?"

As he approached, Tang So-hwa spoke with her eyes still closed.

"It's a poison that's useless to you, brother, so there's no need to worry."

"No, why do you get to decide that? It could be dangerous to me, too."

Only then did Tang So-hwa open her eyes.

Perhaps she thought his point was valid, because she replied gently.

“It lasts for one incense stick's time at most, so just bear with it for that long.”

"...... Since when was enduring poisoning something I could do at will?"

He casually looked around the inside.

There was clearly nothing in here except three secret manuals. Yet there was a box on the floor. The fact that it had a lock on it made him uneasy.

"What's that? No, who brought something like that in here?"

"I was going to tell you later."

"Tell me what later?"

Tang So-hwa stood up from her chair and walked over to the box.

Click.

When the small box opened, a single pill and a lump of horn-shaped paste inside revealed themselves.

Watching Tang So-hwa's actions, Tang Hae-han realized what those items were.

'No, that can't be. There's no way.'

Even as he told himself it couldn't be, his mouth opened.

"...... Did you make a poison that can breach a Body Impervious to All Poisons?"

He had asked, hoping to hear a denial, but Tang So-hwa nodded.

"One is a pill, and the other is poison incense. If I had more time, I could probably make it as a liquid poison or in other forms too."

"What are you talking about? No, forget that. Whether you're right or wrong, does the Clan Head know about this?"

"No, not yet."

At those words, Tang Hae-han's face twisted violently.

"Then get rid of everything. You can't store poisons on the ninth floor on your own authority. It's not even confirmed yet—how can you leave it here? With so many outsiders around, what will you do if word gets out that an extreme poison capable of breaching a Body Impervious to All Poisons is being stored here?"

Hearing him voice worries similar to her own, Tang So-hwa felt once again that her decision had been right.

If the method were to be left in this world, the key had to be entrusted to Tang Hae-han.

She stared at the long box and held up another key.

"The book that organizes the manufacturing method is in there. I was debating whether to give the key to the Clan Head or to you, but I think this one should be entrusted to you, brother."

Tang Hae-han staggered back a step in shock.

"If anyone else said something like that, I'd think it was a joke, but coming from you, it's terrifyingly serious. Please tell me you're joking. You're using me to defy the Clan Head, aren't you? Are you holding a grudge over being locked in the dungeon?"

Ignoring him, Tang So-hwa closed the small box and said,

"These are spare pills and poison incense that I made. Making the ingredients denser doesn't lengthen the poisoning time. Currently, it lasts about one incense stick's time, but if I research it further, I might be able to extend that.”

Click.

Tang So-hwa pried up the floor beneath the shelf. The wooden planks split apart, revealing a small hidden space.

"When did you even make this? No, have you really lost your mind? How can you tamper with the Nine Turns Pavilion like this on your own!"

“No one comes up here, so I thought it would be safe. As you said, Brother, there are many outsiders, so even my room isn't safe.”

Tang Hae-han stamped his foot in shock, but Tang So-hwa didn't try to placate him. She placed the box she had brought into the space and hid it.

It would soon be time for the Main Blood Hall Lord to arrive.

Since he had broken into her room before, he was her biggest concern.

'No, if it were just Min Haerak coming and going, I'd be less worried.......'

The bastards from the Main Blood Hall lacked caution and entered her room as they pleased.

The day So-hwa returned from Sichuan, she encountered the Deputy Hall Lord in her room.

With a satisfied look, he handed her medicinal ingredients taken from the Blood Demon's pavilion, his expression saying he had repaid his debt.

So-hwa hadn't expected the Deputy Hall Lord to steal medicinal ingredients. Yet he brought everything back without missing a single thing.

With an unexpected surplus on hand, So-hwa made something she had long wanted to try while waiting for the Main Blood Hall Lord.

She wondered if the pill could be converted into another form, and since she had both time and materials, she tested the method she had only imagined in her head.

And by good fortune, she succeeded in making poison incense.

So-hwa rubbed her upper abdomen. The churning in her stomach calmed. The room was still filled with poison incense, but after one incense stick's time, her recovery ability returned.

'It's good I wrote down the method for this too.'

To preserve what she had discovered, she recorded secret manuals in the Nine Turns Pavilion.

They were assets that absolutely had to be left behind if she disappeared or died.

And someone needed to know that such a weapon existed.

Someone suitably tight-lipped, capable of using the Nine Turns Pavilion's weapons at the right time. A companion who could move in and out of the Nine Turns Pavilion without issue.

There was only Tang Hae-han.

"If this really is an extreme poison that can breach a Body Impervious to All Poisons, we should report it to the Clan Head first."

But he refused.

"Honestly, how often will you or I ever meet monsters of the Murim? Whether it's the Demonic Sect or the Blood Sect, the ones who'll fight those guys outside aren't us. The one who oversees the entire Tang Clan needs to know about such weapons."

Tang Hae-han's face darkened.

"I realized something this time. I thought we were the ones saving those people in the martial units, but I was wrong... Without them, we are useless.”

"......."

"Think about it. What could we do guarding the Nine Turns Pavilion in an empty Tang Clan estate? They'd take it and use it wherever they pleased, as if it were theirs. So in the end, there was nothing to do but burn it so others couldn't get their hands on it."

It seemed this incident had changed the priorities engraved in his heart.

"The person who knows the circumstances of the martial units and the other organizations is the Clan Head. So we shouldn't arbitrarily judge what's best for the Tang Clan and hide it away. If this were the old me, I'd probably be getting excited and saying we should keep this to ourselves, but that doesn't feel right."

Putting on an uncharacteristically solemn air, he continued,

"If the Clan Head deems possessing this item dangerous, then it should be destroyed immediately. So give the key to the Clan Head and inform him first."

So-hwa looked at Tang Hae-han for a long moment, then slipped the key into her sleeve.

"Are you going to the Clan Head right now?"

"No."

Tang Hae-han narrowed one eye.

"Then where are you going?"

"To work."

"No, work is important, but...... after doing something this bizarre, you're just going to go back to work?"

"I don't have the courage to tell the Clan Head yet. I want to think it over a bit more."

She extinguished the fire and gathered up the remaining poison incense. More than half of it was still unburned.

"Hey, hey, this isn't something to think over! Go to the Clan Head immediately!"

So-hwa thought there was no longer any need to persuade Tang Hae-han, now that he knew of the poison and the key.

He had seen that the key was in her possession.

He had heard what the items inside the box were.

That poison would no longer disappear from this world.

When Tang So-hwa ignored the nagging and headed down, Tang Hae-han spoke as if something had just occurred to him.

"Ah! Right. Then what are those jars in that storage room? Did you slaughter a cow or something? Why is there so much blood? What are you planning to use it for?"

"Have you heard about an antidote that removes Blood Sect Gu poison?"

"Oh, right. Someone came to the Medical Hall yesterday asking about that. I was wondering what they were on about, but they said you obtained a medicine in the North Sea that removes Gu poison?"

So-hwa nodded as she replied.

"That's the raw material. Once I add the ink, it's finished, so it's no different from already being completed."

"Oh, so that's the raw material. Then it makes sense to store it on the fourth floor. No—wait, no. It should probably be placed on a higher floor. No, hold on...... did you get permission from the Clan Head for this? You didn't, did you?"

When he asked in a voice full of suspicion, Tang So-hwa quietly picked up the box in the corridor and moved it to another hidden chamber.

"Wow, just what was the main headquarters' dungeon like for you to hold such a grudge? You're going to get yourself into serious trouble at this rate, you know? It's only because the Clan Head dotes on you that you're getting away with this, but he's a truly terrifying person! You should've seen how the Four Seasons Hall Lord nearly got slaughtered!"

As Tang Hae-han started nagging again, Tang So-hwa shut the storage room door.

He stopped talking and closed his mouth. That stubbornness of hers couldn't be broken by someone like him.

"Damn it!"

Frustrated, Tang Hae-han pulled at his face cloth, only to gag at the smell of blood.

"Ugh, that's vicious. You've got quite the stomach."

Looking at the closed door with a sickened expression, Tang Hae-han put his face cloth back on.

Over the years, Tang Hae-han had seen Tang So-hwa do countless things he couldn't understand. No—he could count on one hand the times he'd seen her do something that did make sense.

There was one thing he had gained from enduring those years of pent-up frustration.

A method far more effective than trying to persuade Tang So-hwa.

Grinding his teeth, Tang Hae-han bit down hard on his lip.

‘I’m telling the Clan Head!’

He stomped off heavily and hurried out of the Nine Turns Pavilion.

* * *

Warm air seeped into the massive black pavilion.

Thanks to one side of the wall having been blown clean away, a refreshing breeze entered the ancient structure.

If one were to choose the pavilion farthest from ventilation, the Black Pavilion among the Blood Demon's three great pavilions would take first place.

The Black Pavilion had more floors buried underground than rising above the ground.

More than half of the pavilion consisted of zones that would never see the sun in their lifetime, nor ever take in a breeze scented with grass.

The Blood Demon silently gazed at the pavilion whose underground entrance had been laid bare.

The mangled corpses of Red Blood Hall members did not seem to enter his sight.

After a long while, he lowered his gaze.

Step.

The Blood Demon turned his steps away from the pavilion and toward the garden.

He stopped by the edge of the pond.

Before him was a mound of earth, neatly rounded, nestled among green leaves.

The Blood Demon looked at it quietly, then lifted his head.

He strolled leisurely through the garden, bathed in sunset glow.

At times, he stopped before bare branches and gazed up at them, or counted with his eyes the headless stems in a flowerbed with a peculiar fragrance.

After some more time had passed, a small figure appeared in the garden.

The gatekeeper who had departed for the Central Plains had returned.

"You're back now?"

At the Blood Demon's question, the gatekeeper replied without lifting his head.

"I searched throughout the Central Plains but could not find Tang So-hwa. I scoured Hubei and Sichuan, where she was said to have stayed, yet there were only rumors that she vanished on the Clan Head business. However, since she left no trace of her movements, it is presumed she used a Cold Iron passage to travel to the North Sea or the Great Desert."

"Ah!"

At those words, the Blood Demon clicked his tongue as if he had just realized something.

"I forgot to take that with me."

Letting out a murmur of regret, the Blood Demon turned his body toward the gatekeeper.

Only then did the gatekeeper raise his head to look at his face.

Contrary to his voice, there was no trace of regret on the Blood Demon's expression.

He spoke lightly.

"This time, I must remember to secure that first."

"Do you know where Tang So-hwa is?"

"Of course."

He swept his arm wide, indicating the garden.

"With such a kindly written invitation left behind, how could I not know where she is?"

While the gatekeeper remained silent, three or so more gatekeepers appeared around him.

They knew that although the Blood Demon was smiling, his mood was severely twisted.

They also surmised that the partial destruction of the Black Pavilion was not the Blood Demon's tantrum, but the deed of another.

A voice that concealed its fury drilled into the gatekeeper's ears.

"I will go to the Tang Clan estate myself."

Daring not to stop him, the gatekeeper listened in silence.

As if aware of this, the Blood Demon issued a low warning.

“I have no intention of making a scene in the Central Plains, so make sure the Tang Clan estate is vacated”.

"......."

"This time, you must not be slower than that child."

Cold red pupils fixed their gaze on the Red Pavilion beyond the Black Pavilion.

"A rude hound can be brought home and trained later, so I will bring her back quietly."

The gatekeeper accepted the command without a sound.

They withdrew without delay and set off once more for the Central Plains.