The hospitality of the Sichuan Tang Clan was quite impressive.
He was given a very spacious room all to himself, and at every meal, they served him dishes worthy of being called delicacies.
They didn’t even hint at when he should leave, which made him feel as if he could stay indefinitely if he wished.
It was the perfect environment to become lazy. Though he acted like someone idle and careless, in reality, his mind was constantly at work.
“So, no one can enter the head’s quarters unless they’re a designated maid?”
“That’s right. Some people who took a wrong turn ended up getting chased out.”
“Oh, really? They got kicked out just for that?”
“Well, that’s the fate of servants like us, isn’t it?”
Though they looked after him well in many ways, his movement was restricted. Whether it was because the guest quarters were inside the inner hall, he couldn’t go too far without guards showing up to block his way.
As it stood, the only source of information for him was the maids who brought his meals and cleaned his room.
In wealthy households, it was often the servants who knew the layout better than the owners themselves. By engaging them in lively conversation, he managed to pick up some rather useful tidbits.
“Don’t you have any other interesting stories?”
“Oh, come on, it’s already so late…”
The pretty maid twisted her body before she cast a quick, sidelong glance at him.
He could sense a certain sense of “intent” emanating from her. The atmosphere began to take on a charged tension as if it would lead seamlessly into a heated night if he took even a single step forward.
“Oh, is it already that late? Then I suppose you should hurry along.”
“W-What…?”
To say he wasn’t tempted would be a lie. The maid’s clumsy and stiff attempts to entice him made it clear she’d come with no small amount of resolve, which made rejecting her a bit regretful. But Baek Woo Jin had no choice but to turn her away.
“Well then, sleep well, hmph!”
She shut the door behind her with an exaggerated scoff, as if she wanted him to hear it.
“Haah…”
As Baek Woo Jin let out a small sigh, a shadowy figure slipped into the room through the window on the opposite side of the door.
“Huh. That was unexpected.”
Hearing the voice from behind, Baek Woo Jin whirled around in surprise.
There stood Tang Seon Yeong. She was staring at him with an expression that made it impossible to tell if she was pleased or displeased.
“Oh! You startled me.”
His exaggerated gesture of clutching his chest drew a sharp look from her.
“You knew I was here, didn’t you?”
“No? Not at all.”
When he made this blatant denial, Tang Seon Yeong smiled faintly and came closer before sitting gently on his lap. Then she raised her hand and smoothed back his disheveled hair.
“I’m curious.”
“About what?”
“Why our dear young master Baek turned down that woman.”
Baek Woo Jin must have sensed her presence nearby. She had no intention of assuming he hadn’t noticed her. There was no point in picking at him over something that hadn’t even happened.
She was simply curious to see how he would respond to her question.
A fragrant scent filled the air around him. Though he knew he shouldn’t let it consume him, he felt an almost overwhelming urge to drop his guard, become a beast, and roll around with her in that sweet haze.
“Hey.”
Baek Woo Jin rested his face on her chest, choosing this rather than the worst possible option.
“Oh my.”
He heard her surprised voice.
Baek Woo Jin pulled her slender waist into his arms.
“After all, I’m a man with someone already.”
Her response to this unexpected answer was an involuntary smile.
With the hand that had been gently stroking the back of his head, she clasped his cheeks and lifted his face from where it lay on her chest.
As much as she wanted to stay here with him, she had broken through the tight security around his quarters tonight for a reason; she had something to tell him.
“I have something to show you. And… something to tell you too.”
Her mouth curled up as if in a smile, but the eyes that looked at him were steeped in sorrow.
The gentle weight she had added on his lap lifted as she rose to her feet, and she held out her hand to help him up.
“Come quietly, follow me.”
The two of them climbed out the window and quickly made their way up to the roof.
“Follow close behind me; there are mechanisms and formations set up on certain spots up here.”
“Alright.”
She took to the sky first. Baek Woo-jin followed close behind and landed on the opposite roof.
The number of patrolling warriors multiplied exponentially as they moved deeper into the inner hall.
If it hadn’t been for her who knew the terrain inside and out, he wouldn’t have dared to venture this far in.
After a good while of running across the rooftops, they arrived at a large pavilion that stood halfway between the back of the Tang clan and the mountain beyond.
“There’s no one here on guard.”
Just a few yards back, warriors had been stationed all over, yet here, there wasn’t a single person in sight.
“That’s because something else guards this place instead of people.”
Baek Woo-jin followed Tang Seon Yeong to the entrance of the pavilion and saw what she meant. The pavilion was surrounded by a huge network of mechanical traps and formations.
“This pavilion is equipped with both mechanisms and formations. The Tang clan even paid a hefty sum to the Jegal clan to design it. You could say this place contains the very essence of the Jegal clan’s mechanisms and formations.”
“Definitely… looks incredibly dangerous.”
As he looked at the pavilion, every instinct he had screamed in alarm, warning him that sneaking in here would make it almost impossible to get out alive.
But Tang Seon Yeong was by his side. With practiced hands, she skillfully disabled the mechanism installed on the door.
Clank!
With the sound of something clicking into place, the locked door opened.
She looked blankly through the narrow gap in the doorway before taking his hand with a forced smile.
“Let’s go in.”
Together, they stepped into the darkness beyond the door.
The moment they crossed the threshold, strange smells that were completely undetectable from the outside began to assault his senses.
When Baek Woo-jin wrinkled his nose, Tang Seon Yeong smiled gently and said,
“The smell is strange, isn’t it? I also had a hard time with it too, back in the day.”
All kinds of smells mixed together. Even taken individually, it was hard to imagine any of them being pleasant, but when they got combined like this, it felt as if his nose might twist from the intensity.
“These smells…”
With his keen sense of smell, he quickly identified the source of the odors.
Tang Seon Yeong nodded her head.
“That’s right. These are the scents produced by various poisons. That’s why it was built in such a remote place.”
Chiiik, chiiik.
She used the flint she’d brought to light the wall and pillar candlesticks.
As the candles flickered, one by one, the darkness began to lift. Slowly, the interior was revealed.
On one side of the wall, small bottles were densely stacked. Just from a glance, it was clear they weren’t meant for anything good.
On the opposite side, small white rats were trapped in cages with their eyes glinting in the dark.
He didn’t need long to understand what it all meant.
After lighting candles around the room, Tang Seon Yeong approached him.
“You’ve figured it out, I’m sure… but this is a laboratory. One of the most important places in the Tang clan.”
What they experimented on here was obvious.
“They’re researching poisons.”
“Yes.”
She nodded heavily.
Researching poisons. For another clan, it might have seemed strange or unsettling, but coming from the Tang clan, it made perfect sense. This was a clan that had risen to prominence in the orthodox martial world through the arts of poison and concealed weaponry.
Just as martial artists practiced and studied their martial arts to grow stronger, they researched poisons to strengthen their own poison techniques.
If that had been all, it would have been good and all. But as Tang Seon Yeong gazed at this musty, foul space, her eyes were filled with deep sorrow and regret.
“You know…”
Her voice trembled with the difficulty of getting the words out.
“I was born here.”
And then…
“From the time I was little, until I entered the academy, I had to spend every day here.”
Her shoulders shook slightly. Each word she spoke felt laden with moisture, heavy with emotion.
“As… an experiment subject.”
***
“Argh!”
“Gah!”
Amidst the battlefield that was filled with screams and wails, Shin Ye Hwa swung her crescent blade in a frenzy.
“Hah… hah…”
In the cavern she finally found at the end of the day, no fewer than ten demons and demonic beasts appeared before her.
With the presence of Go Myeong Han in the Peak Master level, she had thought that even this many enemies would be easy to handle, but the appearance of one last demon shattered that illusion.
“A demon at the Peak Master level?”
Unlike the other demons and demonic beasts who had barely reached the Peak Master level, the last demon to emerge from the cave exuded an aura that was every bit a match for Go Myeong Han on their side.
The moment that creature unleashed its power on the battlefield, death for all was a certainty. To stop this, Go Myeong Han stepped forward to face it one-on-one, while the remaining demons engaged the investigation team.
The four squad leaders who accompanied Go Myeong Han were all skilled warriors who had reached the peak master level. Led by them, the investigation team fought a grueling battle against as many as nine demonic beasts.
The Divine Dragon Team also held their own against a demonic beast. Like they had practiced, Jegal Yeon Ji who was skilled in defense stood at the front and blocked the creature’s attacks. Jang Sam and Gu Wang Soo took positions on the flanks, while Shin Ye Hwa, the team’s strongest attacker, circled around and swung her crescent blade into the perfect openings created by her teammates.
“Nice hit!”
“That was the best strike yet!”
“Well done!”
But their relief was brief. They had expended most of their strength taking down one demon, only to face another charging toward them.
“Move… move out of the way!”
Thanks to Jegal Yeon Ji quickly intercepting the attack, the other team members were able to retreat unharmed, but in the process of stopping the sudden ambush, she spat a significant amount of blood.
“Cough!”
The blood she spat was dark. This was a clear sign that she had sustained internal injuries.
Shin Ye Hwa bit her lip in frustration.
I don’t like this!
Jegal Yeon Ji had led the Divine Dragon Team surprisingly well in Baek Woo Jin’s absence. She hadn’t stuttered as she usually did and spoke with a firm resolve even in front of the intimidating Go Myeong Han.
Shin Ye Hwa followed her faithfully. After all, she was Baek Woo Jin’s personally chosen substitute, and she saw Jegal Yeon Ji’s words as his own.
However, Baek Woo Jin had always said that in battle, the one he trusted most was himself.
Therefore, she felt that she should have intercepted the ambush a moment earlier. Had she done so, she might have avoided Jegal Yeon Ji’s serious internal injuries, or at worst, she would have suffered only minor injuries.
Along with this self-reproach, resentment toward Jegal Yeon Ji clouded her thoughts.
Why would Woo Jin…
Why would he go so far as to confess his feelings for a girl like her?
She didn’t understand it. But she knew exactly what she had to do right now.
Another demonic beast charged forward. Jegal Yeon Ji who couldn’t even think of dodging was readying her stance to block it.
“Move aside!”
A sharp, piercing voice rang in her ears, and the next moment, Shin Ye Hwa shoved Jegal Yeon Ji aside and took her place.
The approaching beast was a reindeer that was corrupted by demonic energy. Its already long antlers had become jagged and chaotic, and with its enhanced leg strength, its attack power was deadly. A single blow from those antlers could be fatal.
“……!”
A swirl of emotions gripped her.
Resentment toward Jegal Yeon Ji, self-reproach for falling short of Baek Woo Jin’s expectations.
And an intense desire followed. The pure and enormous desire to no longer disappoint his expectations pushed her forward.
A crescent blade that was taller than herself scattered a brilliant light through the darkness.
“S-Sword energy!”
“Did she reach the peak master level… in a situation like this?”
A trail of light cut through the air.
“Hiyaaaaat!”
With a fierce cry that shook the mountain, the descending blade shattered the demonic beast’s giant horns as easily as snapping a pair of chopsticks and continued pushing forward.
Crack! Crackle!
Finally, the blade reached the head of the demonic beast. Its solid skull was no match for her divine strength, and it split cleanly in two.
Thud!
The headless corpse collapsed to the ground.
“Hmph!”
She drove the back edge of her crescent blade into the ground and a triumphant smile spread across her face.
She looked over at Jegal Yeon Ji, who had collapsed helplessly in the direction she had shoved her.
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