Chapter: 700
The tip of my tongue feels tingly.
Though the poison is strong, perhaps it’s because I’ve reached the level of being invulnerable to poison that my senses regarding it have become more refined.
Hmm.
I swallowed the tea that was in my mouth and took another sip.
Then, savoring it, I swirled it around in my mouth a few times.
It certainly wasn’t delicious.
What kind of poison is this?
I pondered about its purpose.
I wanted to check that first.
Immediately after swallowing the tea, I took a moment to assess my physical condition.
Anyway, the poison would quickly decompose and disappear, but there was still a moment to check how I felt.
Hisss…
The swallowed poison started to spread slowly, then soon vanished.
I nodded, feeling this.
I had figured it out.
“Eunyeollha.”
The poison mixed in the plum tea was probably the poison from the Eunyeollha plant.
Perhaps because I recognized it all at once, a sense of pride swelled within me.
“Studying paid off!”
In the past few years, I had studied about poisons occasionally, getting help from Dang So-yeol or Dang Mun.
Thanks to my invulnerability to poison, I didn’t really have to know about them, yet that made me want to memorize more about poisons.
“The fact that poison doesn’t work on me means it’s better to use it.”
They say in my previous life, Cheonma was a person who wouldn’t resort to poisoning others.
But I wasn’t her.
“You have to use what you can use!”
If there’s something I can utilize—even if it’s poison—I’ll use it.
To do that, I had to put in the effort to study.
Thanks to that, I was able to immediately identify the poison.
The Eunyeollha is a toxic plant that only grows in shady areas during hot weather, like summer.
Its characteristic is…
“It disrupts the flow of energy.”
It’s not a permanent poison, but it can cause problems for several days if ingested.
“Hmm.”
In terms of strength, I could say that, without any resistance, it would definitely incapacitate thirty percent of a person.
It barely had a taste and had an acerbic vinegar-like scent, but since it was mixed with the plum fragrance, that didn’t come through.
This means…
“That means it’s well mixed!”
It indicated thorough preparation.
Gulp!
Right after finishing the remaining plum tea, I casually tossed the teacup aside.
Thud! Roll!
I nodded while observing the cup rolling away.
“First of all, I don’t intend to kill anyone… What’s the purpose?”
If the intent was to kill, stronger poison would be overflowing.
Even though it seems difficult for poisons to work at my realm, there’s still an abundance of toxins potent enough to kill.
At least, it would be if I weren’t invulnerable.
“That’s what’s making me even more curious.”
Knock, knock.
I cleared my throat and shifted a bit.
At that moment…
“Ugh… heuh… heuh…”
The person in front of me burst into tears.
She seemed completely terrified.
I slowly bent down to meet her gaze.
And asked,
“Excuse me.”
Bam!
At my words, the woman trembled intensely.
“What was your name?”
“…B-b-b Baekyeon…”
Oh, Baekyeon.
That was indeed her name.
“Yes, that’s right. Baek Shi-jong.”
“…Yes… Yes… T-the Young Master…”
I glanced at the quivering Baekyeon, smiled gently, and then said,
“This tea had poison in it; the tea that Baek Shi-jong brought.”
As I reached out, a teacup that had fallen flew into my hand.
“Did you know?”
“I—I didn’t know… I truly had no idea…”
She seemed urgent and desperate.
A woman denying her involvement, trying to escape the danger.
I tightened my grip on the cup as I watched her.
Crash!
“Eek!”
The cup split in half, causing Baekyeon to quake in fear upon seeing it.
I noticed her lower garments getting wet; she must have peed herself.
“Well, you probably did not know. You truly didn’t know.”
I straightened up slightly, watching her tremble.
While her situation was somewhat pitiful, my cold gaze remained unyielding.
It was only expected.
“You likely didn’t know it was poisoned, but… you must have been asked to bring the tea, right?”
“…!”
At my question, Baekyeon’s eyes widened and flickered.
“That, that…”
“Otherwise, this situation is quite absurd, Baek Shi-jong.”
Showing up at dawn and handing me tea outright?
And on top of that, using the excuse of Lady Mi and giving me tea from the plum blossom line?
There were several oddities.
Clearly, this scenario was strange.
So I brought the servant into my quarters.
Out of sheer strangeness, I wanted to see what would happen next.
“I—was wrong! Please forgive me, Your Excellency!”
Hearing my words, Baekyeon instantly dropped to her knees, bowing down.
“I truly had no idea… He—he just said he would give me a lot of money if I brought the tea…”
Just as I had suspected.
“How much?”
“Huh…?”
“How much did you say they would pay you?”
After hearing my question, Baekyeon quickly replied with an amount.
If I converted it to currency, it was only a bit less than what the household would typically give its servants every six months.
For her, it must be quite a sum.
“Really… I didn’t know it was poisonous!”
Desperately clinging to my leg, she cried out.
“But you had an expectation, right?”
“…!”
Upon hearing my words, Baekyeon stiffened.
“They asked for tea as soon as morning broke. Doesn’t that sound strange? After hearing all of this, you must have thought about what could be in the tea.”
“…Your Excellency…”
“What if it’s poisoned? It might indeed be poisonous. Someone could die from this tea. You didn’t have those thoughts?”
Thud!
I pulled my leg away and shook off her hands.
“You must have thought about it at least once. Yet here you are, still doing it. How is that any different from knowing you were doing wrong?”
“P-please spare me! This was never my intention! I… I have a single mother and a young brother back home! Because of this…”
“A single mother and a younger brother. I understand.”
“Huh…?”
At the moment Baekyeon showed confusion,
BAP!
“Crackle.”
I struck her neck with energy, rendering her lifeless in an instant.
Seeing her fall, I stroked my chin.
“As expected, you’re not an untouchable fighter.”
Honestly, she was just an ordinary person devoid of any energy.
I uttered with an indifferent expression about that fact.
“Clear this away.”
“[Yes.]”
Someone appeared at my command to open the door and carry away Baekyeon’s lifeless body.
One of the Dark King’s subordinates.
Because I assigned missions to Nahi, I had set someone else to take care of this matter.
As they were clearing Baekyeon away, one of them suddenly addressed me.
“Your Excellency.”
“Yes.”
“Given the assassination attempt, wouldn’t it be wise to enhance security?”
I waved my hand dismissively at that suggestion.
“That’s not necessary.”
“But…”
Normally, even if you served under the Nine Houses, you wouldn’t just waltz into my quarters uninvited.
This shouldn’t be the moment where security is anything but ultra-tight since it’s a foreign land.
However…
“I intentionally let my guard down, so it worked out well.”
In truth, I was welcoming them in, having deliberately relaxed my defenses.
“With them showing up like this, it’s easier to think things through.”
It also helps me determine where the intruder is spying from as soon as I receive word.
And it’s easier to grasp when the next move might come.
Moreover…
“After all, I’m in command of the best assassins in the central plains.”
The assassins under the Dark King follow my orders.
No matter how many other assassins there are, they don’t pose much of a threat.
“Then we shall prepare a unit to investigate and find out who set this up…”
“Please do so as quietly as possible.”
“Understood.”
Baekyeon mentioned that the individual who commissioned her was completely masked with black fabric, making recognition impossible.
Given how meticulously the tea was prepared, it seemed unlikely any traces would be left behind.
“Who could it be?”
Who on earth could have orchestrated this?
Now this thought preoccupied me.
For starters, the plum tea that Maehwaseon provided was indeed genuine.
Yet it wasn’t brewed by the clans of Plum Blossom or Mount Huashan.
“There’s no reason for them to do this to me.”
This wasn’t a place to prepare for such open hostility.
Then where might it have come from?
“Could it be from the Alliance?”
The Murim Alliance.
That group has some credibility.
They certainly wield enough power.
But…
“If it were them, they wouldn’t have acted so carelessly.”
They wouldn’t have gone through all this trouble; it simply doesn’t suit them.
This feels more like…
“It’s more reasonable to see it as being intentionally sloppy.”
There’s a chance they didn’t even consider that they might succeed.
I pondered deeper on this.
“It’s highly unlikely they’d send a servant to drug me first thing in the morning.”
It’s a bizarre strategy that would be silly to assume would work.
“This is merely a probe.”
To determine how far I might let my guard down, to see if there’s a way to succeed or fail.
To be more precise, they might have wanted Baekyeon caught and spilling the beans.
“That means my vigilance would heighten.”
They tried to approach me by using poison.
Even that alone would have escalated my caution, possibly by design.
“Unless they had some other purpose I wasn’t aware of.”
It’s tough to pin down facts since information is lacking.
Furthermore…
“What’s crucial at this point is.”
Rather than getting caught up in who did this, I need to focus on the fact that someone is indeed targeting me.
“I suspect it’s related to yesterday’s events.”
If the actions displayed during the preliminaries became a problem, leading to people targeting me like this.
“That’s fine.”
This aligns with what I anticipated.
“I can uncover who did this gradually.”
I walked out of the room, neck cricking as I stretched it.
A faint smell lingered, hinting that cleaning would be needed.
“Oh, and.”
As I walked past the hallway, I continued,
“The deceased servant mentioned having a mother and younger brother.”
As soon as I spoke those words, the figure that had vanished earlier appeared behind me.
“I’ll take care of it.”
“You crazy? What’s there to take care of?”
I expressed my frustration.
This was quite a peculiar statement.
“First, please verify if it’s true.”
I requested them to figure out whether Baekyeon’s claim was believable or just an act for survival.
Then, if what she said was true…
“I’ll hand you a pouch later. Track down her family and send them to me.”
I was planning on sending money through some means.
The sum would match the amount Baekyeon mentioned she was offered alongside her life.
“…Alright.”
After the individual responded to me, they slipped away without further comment.
Thump, thump.
Afterward, I walked on without any hesitation.
A cloudless blue sky.
As the sunlight gradually warmed it up, a pleasant aura filled the air.
Yet, contrary to that, I felt immensely uneasy.
Murdering someone as the morning breeze blows?
That definitely didn’t sit right.
“What does it matter to me if someone tried to do something to me?”
It simply felt unsettling due to a confusing dream that I couldn’t quite remember.
So I marched forward, feeling terribly off.
“Someone dared to pull this on me?”
I had thought it over just a moment ago.
No matter how I consider it, I felt certain the culprit must either be one of two people.
“One of them is the Sword King. That old man seems likely.”
As for the other?
“The Amipha.”
One of the ancient sects located in Sacheon.
They were a unique sect made up entirely of female warriors.
I suddenly recalled some “rumors” I heard about them in my previous life.
“I think it’s time to investigate.”
A strange scent began wafting in the air, almost palpable.
While Guyangcheon was deep in thought, the Murim Alliance was busy starting preparations for the first round of preliminaries.
“White over here…!”
The atmosphere wasn’t drastically different from day one.
If there’s a change, it’s that there seemed to be even more people present.
Not exactly double, but certainly more than the first day.
The reason for this can’t be more straightforward.
“They’ve arrived…”
All eyes fixated on one direction.
People were entering from the entrance.
“It’s Shaolin.”
A place nestled in the Hanam region.
A sect gaining notoriety recently.
The Shaolin clan had arrived at the preliminaries.
Naturally, among the multitude of Shaolin warriors, one person garnered intense attention.
“The Divine Dragon…”
“That young man is the dragon.”
The most striking figure at the forefront of the Shaolin warriors participating in the martial arts tournament.
A handsome youth, with sharp features, appearing to have just crossed twenty.
The peculiar thing was the color of his pupils—yellow.
The yellow eyes associated with Chunsal-seong.
Surrounding spectators began murmuring as they caught sight of this dragon with the distinctive eyes.
“If it’s a yellow eye, then that certainly points to Chunsal-seong, doesn’t it? That’s what I’ve heard.”
When one onlooker muttered this, another nearby exploded with anger.
“What are you, crazy? The Shaolin’s Divine Dragon is not a Chunsal-seong! You looking for a beating?”
“I wasn’t implying that—just saying what I heard.”
“Shut your mouth! If they catch wind of this, you’re in big trouble!”
The youngest prodigy shown to be a part of the Alliance.
The notion that the greatest genius who will leave a mark in history could be Chunsal-seong was outright absurd.
“Why did it have to be on the same day as them? I hope we’re in separate groups.”
“It’s just a bunch of kids; why are you so scared? Tsk tsk.”
Three out of every ten watching appeared frightened.
Three also held a dismissive attitude.
And three were merely intrigued by the unfolding events.
…
Observing the gaze of these individuals, Shinryong was quietly scanning the area.
“Are you nervous?”
Someone spoke to him.
It was his senior brother, Museong.
“…No.”
“Don’t kid yourself; you might just be nervous. You haven’t even faced the Yongbong Gathering yet, so it’s only natural.”
…
With the incident recently igniting tensions, the Yongbong Gathering hadn’t been convened, making this the first time Shinryong found himself in an official setting.
“We can do this. We are Shaolin.”
A profound declaration with significant weight.
It echoed a strong sense of pride and faith in the Shaolin.
Upon hearing that, Shinryong nodded his head earnestly.
A disquieting feeling began swelling within him, which he suppressed with a fierce effort, stating:
“Yes, we can.”
No, it really meant we must succeed no matter what!
Shinryong swallowed his unspoken thoughts down hard.
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