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Chapter 32
“Father!”
When Dang Cheon-gi staggered out, Jin-hyeon, who had been waiting anxiously outside the door, ran up to him.
“How is Dang Bi…?”
“Sayuk, go inside.”
Dang Cheon-gi ordered.
“Yes, sir,” Sayuk answered briefly and went into the room.
As Jin-hyeon tried to follow, Dang Cheon-gi called him back.
“You, come with me.”
“But Bia—”
“I said, come!”
Dang Cheon-gi’s bark silenced him.
Still clearly worried for Bia, Jin-hyeon hesitated, then followed after him.
The head of the clan walked with unusually long, quick strides — an urgency far removed from his usual calm demeanor.
He led Jin-hyeon to the clan leader’s private chamber.
Then, he dismissed all the guards and servants nearby.
“No need to serve tea. Until I give an order, no one is to enter!”
His voice was razor-sharp.
Frightened, the servants hurriedly shut the doors.
Silence followed — heavy and taut.
It was Jin-hyeon who broke it first.
“Clan Leader.”
“……”
“If you have something to say, please do it now. I must go check on Bia.”
It was the kind of remark that could easily be taken as disrespectful.
But Jin-hyeon didn’t care.
And Dang Cheon-gi knew it well.
He was his son, after all.
After a long pause, the old man spoke.
“Tell me honestly what happened.”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Jin-hyeon! This is no joke!”
He strode up until he was right before his son.
“What happened to your daughter?”
Jin-hyeon blinked.
“What did you see?”
“What are you hiding?”
Dang Cheon-gi was the head of the great Sichuan Dang clan — a position that alone spoke volumes of his standing in the martial world.
And his martial prowess was equally unmatched.
Even at a distance, he could accurately gauge another’s inner energy.
That was no easy feat.
But Dang Cheon-gi could do it.
Especially if the opponent practiced poison arts.
‘That’s why I examined Dang Bi as well.’
From what he sensed, Dang Bi already possessed a dantian at a young age — not strange for a direct descendant of the main family.
He had merely found her progress admirable, nothing more.
Nothing had seemed unusual at a glance.
But then…
‘What on earth was that?’
Inside Dang Bi’s body, he had felt something abnormal.
Something he had never once encountered before in his life.
It greedily devoured his own energy — not only his chi but nearly his entire inner strength.
Had Dang Cheon-gi not been a seasoned master, he would’ve been utterly drained.
Even a veteran of the martial world like him had never seen such a thing before.
And that… was inside Dang Bi’s body.
He suspected whatever it was had affected the girl’s very constitution.
Instinct told him that whatever lurked within her was unimaginably dangerous.
So of course, his thoughts turned to his son — the man who had hidden the girl from the world for the past eight years.
Dang Jin-hyeon had kept her existence secret.
He had concealed her peculiar constitution.
Was it really, as he claimed, because he feared his elder brother would harm her?
Was that truly the only reason?
Following that line of thought, Dang Cheon-gi had no choice but to summon his son.
“Whatever you saw… please pretend you didn’t.”
Jin-hyeon’s voice was calm.
“So you truly mean to tell me nothing?”
Dang Cheon-gi’s voice carried both resignation and fury, laced with sighs and the bitterness of a father distrusting his son.
But Jin-hyeon didn’t waver.
“I ask you to forget it because I myself don’t know the cause.”
“What?”
“I only suspect that something my wife — Bia’s mother — possessed has influenced the child. But I don’t yet know for certain.”
Dang Cheon-gi flinched.
Bia’s mother.
Jin-hyeon’s lover.
She had been erased from existence eight years ago.
For one simple reason — she had belonged to the Demonic Cult.
That alone made her someone who should never have existed here.
She should never have met Jin-hyeon — much less borne his child.
Sighing, Dang Cheon-gi recalled those troubling days.
“Are you sure?”
“It’s only a conjecture.”
Then, he understood why Jin-hyeon had gone to such lengths to hide the girl.
If something his wife carried truly affected their daughter — and altered her very nature —
‘Then it’s no ordinary thing.’
After all, even his daughter’s mother had not been of low standing within the cult.
Which meant… if word of this spread, Bia’s life would be in grave danger.
As if reading his father’s thoughts, Jin-hyeon spoke firmly.
“Fortunately, almost no one outside the clan knows of Bia’s existence.”
He continued,
“And since her innate constitution can’t be concealed, we should say she was simply born immune to all poisons.”
He spoke on, unwavering.
“I’ll make sure no word leaks out. Until we learn exactly what’s inside her, this secret must not spread.”
He was right.
If people learned that Bia’s mother had been a demonic cultivator and that her daughter bore some strange power, both the girl and the entire Sichuan Dang clan could face destruction.
It was that serious.
Even Dang Cheon-gi knew he couldn’t act rashly.
After a moment of thought, he asked,
“Do you think Bia’s attack today could be connected to this?”
“Impossible. Only you and I knew of her mother’s inner power. I believe someone simply grew jealous or resentful of Bia’s talent.”
“So it’s a different matter?”
“That’s my belief.”
Dang Cheon-gi nodded.
If the two incidents were separate, that was at least some relief.
But until the culprit was found, nothing could be certain.
For now, all they had were Jin-hyeon’s assumptions.
Still, it was not an unreasonable one.
Even he had only sensed the strange energy after probing deeply into her body; no ordinary person could ever detect it.
Thinking that far, the turmoil in his heart finally eased — somewhat.
He steadied himself against the table, drew a slow breath, and looked up.
Dang Cheon-gi met his son’s eyes.
“How can anyone truly silence every mouth? Secrets always leak, no matter how tightly you seal them.”
“They won’t leave the clan.”
Jin-hyeon’s eyes flashed — full of conviction.
Dang Cheon-gi looked at him, puzzled, as his son met his gaze squarely.
“I’ll make sure of it,” Jin-hyeon said.
“So that I can protect Bia.”
There was no tremor in his voice — as steadfast and unyielding as a tree unmoved by the wind.
“Ugh…”
Ah, my head…
I opened my eyes carefully.
A simple, carved ceiling came into view.
Where am I?
The Medical Hall?
Judging by the faint scent of herbs, that seemed right.
‘I guess they moved me after I collapsed.’
My vision blurred and cleared again.
My head throbbed; the spot where the blade had grazed me stung; my stomach churned unpleasantly.
But—
‘The pain’s gone…’
The agony that had once melted my insides and seared my veins had completely vanished.
Did Grandfather help me?
I recalled the moment I’d fallen.
At that instant, the poison I’d been suppressing had surged back up — and then something strange had stirred within me.
‘What was that…?’
I exhaled slowly and pressed a hand to my abdomen.
I didn’t feel anything.
No pain.
But that didn’t erase the sensation I’d experienced.
I was sure of it.
‘There’s definitely… something in here.’
Something that wasn’t my poison core or my dantian.
