Myst, Might, Mayhem

Chapter 339 – Mastermind (6)

Tang In-hae, the patriarch of the Sichuan Tang Clan, couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

Since they were thoroughly opposed to each other, he had thought they would fight to the death, with only one of them surviving.

But why did the one known as the guardian of the Tang Clan appear alongside the person mentioned in the Holy Fire Priestess’s prophecy?

Unable to comprehend the situation, Tang In-hae’s mind was thrown into confusion.

What on earth was happening?

At that very moment…

“Foolish of you to be distracted in front of this old man!”

-Flinch!

Startled by the resounding rebuke, Tang In-hae turned his gaze.

At that instant, as if a toad had been waiting for its prey, the Eight Poison Snake Staff Guyang Sa-oh unleashed a pair of palms imbued with tremendous momentum and poisonous energy.

‘Toad Poison Technique Secret Art: Eight Poisons Domination!’

-Boom!

‘Oh no!’

Tang In-hae’s eyes wavered as he realized he had been caught off guard and lost the initiative.

If he didn’t handle this carefully, he might lose his life not to the person from the prophecy but to this old man.

-Whoosh!

Despite the panic, Tang In-hae maintained his composure and tried to create distance by leaping backward.

Of course, Guyang Sa-oh had no intention of letting him escape and immediately pursued him.

‘Incredible.’

For a fleeting moment, Tang In-hae couldn’t help but marvel at the flawless and tremendous poison palm technique and its momentum.

Naturally, compared to before, Guyang Sa-oh’s power had risen, and Tang In-hae could feel the increased sophistication of his techniques and the growth of his martial power.

However, he could tell that this move was thoroughly designed to target him.

Realizing that Guyang Sa-oh had taken all their previous duels as a stepping stone and honed this technique solely for this moment, Tang In-hae had no choice but to acknowledge it.

‘He created it solely to make me submit thoroughly.’

If it had been him just a few months ago, he would have had no way to block this technique.

But after a few real battles, he had nearly perfected it.

‘Formless Poison Technique. Nine Bereavements Dark Grievance!’

-Whoosh!

Tang In-hae, his entire body seeming to ripple like a mirage, stopped retreating and boldly leaped forward.

The foundation of the poisonous arts was to internalize poison within the body and emit it along with one’s energy.

Therefore, the power and momentum of the poisonous arts varied depending on how strong and abundant the internalized poison was.

‘Old Guyang. I have no choice but to win this match.’

Until now, no one in the Tang Clan had ever internalized the Formless Poison as a poisonous art.

However, over three generations, they had systematized a way to internalize the Formless Poison, and based on that, he had perfected the Formless Poison Technique.

It was regrettable that there wasn’t much Formless Poison left, but he was confident that this Formless Poison Technique was invincible.

‘Old man, this is the end!’

Seeing the resolve in Tang In-hae’s eyes, Guyang Sa-oh steeled his determination.

From the moment the color of the poisonous energy turned colorless, he had suspected that Tang In-hae might have become capable of wielding the Formless Poison, so he had already prepared to risk his life.

‘It doesn’t matter. Anyway, this was also within expectations. Even if I succumb to the Formless Poison, this old man will win the duel.’

Sacrificing flesh to gain the bone.

There was a saying about giving up one’s flesh to obtain the bone.

Guyang Sa-oh was determined to sacrifice his own life and seize victory in this final duel.

To remain the undisputed master of poisonous arts in this era.

That was his final wish.

-Boom!

Thus, the two masters of poisonous arts were about to collide.

It was at that very moment.

-Slam!

Just as they were about to clash, someone intervened between them.

It was none other than Mok Gyeong-un.

‘What?’

‘Young Master Mok?’

Mok Gyeong-un grabbed Guyang Sa-oh’s wrist as he unleashed the palms of the Toad Poison Technique and flung him upward.

-Crash!

“Ugh!”

No matter how much of a secret art it was, in an unexpected situation, Guyang Sa-oh’s body was sent flying up to five jang in height since his martial power was inherently inferior to Mok Gyeong-un’s.

-Slam!

At the same time, Mok Gyeong-un and Tang In-hae’s palms collided.

Upon impact, Tang In-hae’s face turned red and blue, and he was sent flying backward.

Just like Guyang Sa-oh, since he was inferior in martial power, the moment their palms collided, internal pressure surged from within.

-Whoosh!

The repelled Tang In-hae was pushed back more than ten steps before he could stop.

Although it was just a single collision, his five viscera and six bowels were boiling, and it felt like blood would surge up at any moment.

‘That monster.’

Tang In-hae inwardly clicked his tongue.

He knew that Mok Gyeong-un had just fought against the Yoo Clan, who could be considered the guardians of the Tang Clan.

The depletion of his true energy must have been tremendous, yet he still had this much strength left.

However…

‘Ha!’

While suppressing his inner turmoil, the corners of Tang In-hae’s mouth twitched.

An unexpected fortune had occurred.

Originally, that palm strike should have hit that old man Guyang Sa-oh, but Mok Gyeong-un had taken it instead.

He felt like cheering inwardly.

‘Hahaha! Foolish bastard.’

He didn’t know why Mok Gyeong-un had intervened, but since he had received the Formless Poison with his bare body, it was over.

His grandfather, the Thousand Poison Hands Tang Yeon-jong, had said that even if he were a supreme master who had reached the pinnacle of internal energy, if he were poisoned by the Formless Poison, he would not survive.

That’s how much the Formless Poison was the epitome of poison.

No matter how high a realm a supreme master had reached, if properly exposed to this poison, detoxification was impossible.

The only variable was that since this was the first time someone who had surpassed the wall’s wall and reached the realm of a great master had been afflicted by the Formless Poison, it was difficult to estimate how long they could endure.

-Thud!

At that moment, Guyang Sa-oh, who had soared into the air, landed on the ground.

Landing, Guyang Sa-oh spoke to Mok Gyeong-un with a perplexed expression, as if in protest.

“Young Master Mok. Isn’t this different from our agreement?”

The agreement he had received from Mok Gyeong-un was simple.

To let him have a final duel with Tang In-hae, the Tang Clan patriarch, without anyone’s interference.

However, he had never anticipated that Mok Gyeong-un, who had made the agreement, would intervene midway.

In response, Mok Gyeong-un shrugged his shoulders and said,

“Well, what agreement did I violate?”

“No. Intervening during the duel…”

“If I hadn’t intervened, you would have certainly lost your life.”

“It’s a duel, Young Master!”

“Have you already forgotten the price you paid to make a deal with me? What did I say back then?”

“That’s…”

Guyang Sa-oh couldn’t bring himself to finish his sentence.

Thanks to Mok Gyeong-un, he had been able to lose his face instead of his life and escape the organization’s attention by becoming a dead man.

Because he had become a dead man, his family would no longer be threatened.

As a result, Guyang Sa-oh had vowed to dedicate the rest of his life to Mok Gyeong-un if he could fulfill just one wish.

“Throwing away your life before paying the price is a violation, isn’t it?”

“…”

At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, Guyang Sa-oh couldn’t give any response.

After all, it was unlikely that a supreme master who had reached the realm of a great master like Mok Gyeong-un would fail to read his intention of sacrificing his flesh to gain the bone.

That’s why he had intervened.

With this, Guyang Sa-oh’s gaze naturally shifted to Mok Gyeong-un’s hand.

Although he hadn’t seen it clearly, it seemed that Mok Gyeong-un had not only disrupted his secret art but also collided with Tang In-hae.

‘…Surely he didn’t directly collide?’

He thought that the person who had stepped in to save him wouldn’t have done something so reckless.

For every poison, there was an antidote, but the exception to that was the Formless Poison.

Since Young Master Mok also had some knowledge about poisons, he believed he would have noticed that Tang In-hae had internalized the Formless Poison to wield it as a poisonous art.

At that moment…

“May I call you Young Master Yu?”

Tang In-hae, with his arms crossed, called out to Moo-jin, who was observing the scene.

In response, Moo-jin spoke.

“I’m Moo-jin. Call me whatever you like.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Young Master Moo-jin. As you can see, given the situation, I couldn’t properly greet you, so I apologize for that.”

“There’s no need to mind such things.”

“Thank you for your understanding. Since the matter is urgent, I’ll get straight to the point. If I’m not mistaken, the Yoo Clan has been protecting our clan like a shadow for generations. Am I right?”

“…Let’s say that’s the case.”

The somewhat lukewarm tone made Tang In-hae inwardly puzzled.

Why was he showing such a half-hearted attitude?

As far as he knew, regardless of what he did, the Yoo Clan had a duty to protect him and the Tang Clan according to the dying wish of their ancestors.

Finding this strange, Tang In-hae continued with what he was saying.

“But why are you together with that vicious beast who is trying to threaten our clan? I’m asking just in case, but surely the Yoo Clan hasn’t abandoned the duty upheld by their ancestors, right?”

At these words, Moo-jin scoffed.

“Duty…”

“Young Master?”

“You seem to be misunderstanding something, Clan Leader.”

“Misunderstanding? What do you mean?”

“I find it quite unpleasant that you’re talking as if our Yoo Clan is some sort of subordinate to the Tang Clan. You seem to regard the fact that we protect you because of the ties with our ancestor’s wife and her dying wish as some kind of master-servant relationship.”

-Flinch!

At Moo-jin’s words, which carried a sharp undertone, Tang In-hae seemed to realize his mistake and waved his hands, saying,

“It’s a misunderstanding. A misunderstanding. I absolutely didn’t mean it that way. I was just perplexed that you were together with that vicious beast who was fighting against our clan, so I asked just in case. If I offended you, I, the Clan Leader, will apologize like this.”

-Clap!

Tang In-hae clasped his hands together and even performed a formal salute to appease Moo-jin.

Although Mok Gyeong-un had been exposed to the Formless Poison, the situation was still numerically disadvantageous, so he had to make sure to bring Moo-jin to his side.

At that moment, Moo-jin spoke.

“You said you were perplexed that we were together… Well, there’s something I’d like to ask the Tang Clan Leader.”

“Ask? What is it?”

“Is there any reason for me to interfere in the Tang Clan’s internal strife?”

‘!?’

At Moo-jin’s words, Tang In-hae furrowed his brows.

Now the mystery of why they had come here together was solved.

It seemed that when that monster couldn’t easily win against Moo-jin, he had deceived him with sweet words.

With this, Tang In-hae carefully spoke.

“Internal strife of the Tang Clan? It’s a misunderstanding. That person is not a member of our clan, so how can you characterize it as an internal strife?”

“Not a member of the Tang Clan? Hmm. From what I’ve heard, the one who raised him was from a branch family of the Tang Clan…”

“He can no longer be considered a branch family. How can someone who joined a cult group that incites the people be considered a member of our clan?”

“A cult group that incites the people?”

“You must have heard of the religious group called the Fire Faith Order. They teach strange doctrines to innocent people and lure them astray.”

“The Fire Faith Order? Ah.”

“You see. You know about them too, don’t you? And strictly speaking, that person is someone who was practically kidnapped and raised by someone unrelated to our clan because he fell into the Fire Faith Order and believed in some prophecy or whatnot.”

“Kidnapped, you say?”

“That’s right. A member of a cult group who hasn’t inherited a drop of the Tang Clan’s blood is maliciously targeting our clan for some unknown reason, so how can this be an internal strife?”

Would this be enough to bring Moo-jin back to his side?

At the very least, now that Moo-jin knew about the Fire Faith Order’s involvement, which was being oppressed as a cult group, he would develop some animosity as a resident of the Central Plains.

However, Moo-jin tilted his head and said,

“Clan Leader.”

“Has the misunderstanding been somewhat cleared now?”

“It’s strange. For someone who said he joined the Fire Faith Order and is no longer a member of the Tang Clan, you seem to know a lot about him.”

‘!?’

“You even confidently identified the specific person who raised him, even though I haven’t mentioned who it is yet.”

“…”

For a moment, Tang In-hae was at a loss for words.

What was this?

His intention was to inform Moo-jin that Mok Gyeong-un and Jang Mun-no, the elder of the Haeyeong Sect, were involved with the Fire Faith Order, in order to instill animosity in Moo-jin.

However, Moo-jin showed no interest in the Fire Faith Order at all.

“Young Master. What’s important is not that. This is about the Fire Faith Order…”

“Regardless of the Fire Faith Order, there are more than a couple of things that don’t add up.”

‘What the hell is wrong with this bastard?’

Faced with Moo-jin’s tone and gaze filled with suspicion, Tang In-hae’s mind became complicated.

It was a completely different reaction than he had intended.

Contrary to his expectation that Moo-jin would develop animosity and return to his side because of the Fire Faith Order, his suspicion toward Tang In-hae had grown even stronger.

Why was he focusing on other aspects instead of the Fire Faith Order?

‘I need to calm down.’

Tang In-hae, realizing that if he faltered here, he would be unable to handle the situation, tried to calmly resolve the matter.

“Young Master Moo-jin. I understand what you’re trying to say. There might be some parts of what I said that don’t make sense. But I can explain everything, so first…”

“Ah. Is that so? Then how will you explain this?”

“Explain what? I can explain as much as you want, so please tell me.”

With this, Moo-jin stared sharply at him and spoke in a meaningful voice.

“While I was risking my life fighting to protect the Tang Clan, why was the person known as the Tang Clan Leader secretly trying to run away alone?”

‘!!!!!!’

At that question, Tang In-hae’s expression froze like stone.

He might not know about other things, but this was something he absolutely couldn’t explain.

Surrounded on all sides, he realized he had no more room for choice.

‘…Damn it.’

The only way to escape this situation was to exhaust all the remaining Formless Poison and…

-Bam!

It was at that very moment.

Someone grabbed the back of Tang In-hae’s head and slammed his face into the ground.

The force was so strong that not only his face but his entire head was buried in the ground.

The one pressing down on the back of his squirming head was none other than Mok Gyeong-un.

“From now on, let me handle this.”