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Chapter 34
Tangrip, who had been busy searching for witnesses, came running breathlessly when he heard that Jinhyeon might have discovered something.
“Uncle! I heard you asked for Jeonggyeong to be brought!”
Tangrip knew Jeonggyeong as well.
He was a fifteen-year-old disciple of the Tang family — young, but exceptionally talented, and therefore favored.
There were countless people who wished to learn the Tang family’s poison arts, but the Sichuan Tang Clan accepted almost no outside disciples.
Only a few who swore to sever all blood ties and devote themselves fully to the Tang family were allowed to enter as disciples, and they were granted the same education as the collateral branches.
Furthermore, a select few of these disciples were allowed to train together with the direct and collateral descendants in the Dokryong Pavilion — the Poison Dragon Hall — and Jeonggyeong was one of them.
He was also a boy Jinhyeon had always cherished.
Jeonggyeong had been an orphan since birth — he had no family ties to sever.
Tangrip knew his uncle’s soft spot for orphans well.
Carefully, he asked,
“What have you found out?”
“Some time ago,” Jinhyeon said,
“Jeonggyeong’s martial skills improved rapidly, so I allowed him to train here whenever the Poison Dragon Hall was empty.”
He continued,
“I was too preoccupied with the matter of Bia to look after him myself, so I taught him how to activate the mechanisms.”
“What…!”
“He was clever and learned it quickly.”
At that, Tangrip finally understood why he hadn’t been able to find the culprit.
He had already known someone tampered with the mechanism — but among those who could do so, there was no one who would harm Tangbi.
That was why his investigation had gone nowhere.
Only Jinhyeon could have solved this puzzle — only he knew who the true culprit must be.
Because he was the one who had taught them how to operate the device.
At that moment, the warrior who had been sent to fetch Jeonggyeong came running toward them, face pale with fear.
Standing side by side, Jinhyeon and Tangrip instantly sensed that something was wrong.
The warrior gasped out,
“Jeonggyeong is dead!”
“What did you say?”
“I went to bring him as ordered, but he was dead — inside the Seonhak Hall!”
The Seonhak Hall was where the disciples lodged.
Upon hearing this, Jinhyeon and Tangrip immediately set off for the hall.
Sure enough, the place was crowded with shocked onlookers.
“Everyone, step aside!”
At Jinhyeon’s icy command, the crowd quickly parted.
He strode up to Jeonggyeong’s quarters.
“Jeonggyeong…”
There lay Jeonggyeong’s lifeless body, cold and stiff.
Jinhyeon knelt and examined the corpse.
His lips were blue, his eyes dull and clouded.
His tongue was swollen, and his complexion had a bluish tinge.
The cause of death was clear — poisoning.
He had been killed by poison.
Yet Jeonggyeong had trained in poison arts; it would have taken a powerful toxin to kill him!
As Tangrip examined the body, he noticed that the boy’s shin was torn.
“Uncle, here—!”
He drew a dagger and cut open Jeonggyeong’s trouser leg.
Three distinct fang marks were revealed on the shin.
They both knew instantly what that meant.
“The fangs of the Myunhyeol Serpent!”
Tangrip quickly felt the boy’s torso.
Wherever he pressed, the flesh sank in — as if everything inside had melted away, leaving only skin.
It was the telltale sign of being poisoned by the Myunhyeol Serpent.
“Then… did the serpent avenge its master’s death on its own?”
Could this truly be nothing more than the spirit beast’s retaliation?
While Tangrip struggled to make sense of it all, Jinhyeon said quietly,
“It wasn’t the serpent’s doing.”
“If a venomous snake had bitten him, the bite should be swollen.”
He pointed to the shin.
There was no swelling around the three fang marks.
“The lack of swelling means Jeonggyeong was already dead before the serpent found him.”
Tangrip examined the body again — Jinhyeon was right.
So Tangbi’s serpent had merely vented its rage on a corpse.
Then…
“The one who killed Jeonggyeong was…”
“We’ll find out now.”
Jinhyeon rose to his feet.
“Don’t move the body. Take it to be examined thoroughly. Also, investigate when Jeonggyeong returned to his room, who was with him, and how many disciples entered or left Seonhak Hall recently. Report everything.”
The Tang warriors bowed and hurried off.
Tangrip stood and followed his uncle.
When he had been acting head of the clan temporarily, Tangrip had seemed quite grown-up. But beside the true master of the pavilion, he looked like a mere boy again.
He asked,
“Uncle, whom do you suspect?”
“Jeonggyeong.”
Tangrip said,
“But wouldn’t the one who activated the mechanism and the one who threw the blade be two different people?”
Respectfully, he continued,
“I believe you have someone else in mind, don’t you?”
Jinhyeon turned his gaze toward him.
After a moment, he said slowly,
“The owner of the dagger that flew at Tangbi.”
His lips moved faintly.
“I have a fair idea who it might be.”
At that same time—
Tangyeong nervously bit his nails.
‘W-What should I do?’
He slipped his hand inside his robe.
Until just yesterday, a small dagger had been there.
But it wasn’t anymore.
Of course — he had thrown it.
At Tangbi.
‘Why did I do that?’
It was Tangyeong who had triggered the mechanism in the Poison Dragon Hall,
and Tangyeong who had thrown the dagger at Tangbi.
A few days earlier, he had overheard that Jeonggyeong had learned from Master Jinhyeon how to operate the mechanism.
Passing near the hall, Tangyeong had seen Jeonggyeong training alone using it.
He thought it would be funny if the mechanism suddenly activated during Tangbi’s test.
He had threatened Jeonggyeong into revealing how it worked,
then set it so that it would activate during the exam — with Jeonggyeong’s reluctant help.
There was no way he’d get caught.
Jeonggyeong had been silenced, and by the time the device went off, Tangyeong would be standing behind his father.
Even if it activated, no one would suspect him.
And besides, Tangyeong believed Tangbi wouldn’t be harmed.
The hall was always full of Tang family warriors with top-tier martial skill — surely they could block a few blades from a statue.
They’d all seen the mechanism dozens, even hundreds of times.
Tangyeong had pulled off many pranks before and never once been punished.
The elders of the Tang Clan believed his upbringing was the duty of Tang Paejin and Lady Hwangbo, so they left him alone.
With no discipline or consequences, he never learned what wrongdoing meant — he only thought it was amusing.
He assumed this, too, would be brushed off as just another “mischievous prank.”
Tangyeong was twelve years old — just barely young enough that some might excuse him.
…Though in truth, there was no excuse.
“…”
The real problem began afterward.
According to Jeonggyeong, the statues should have activated before Tangbi’s test began.
Normally, candidates arrived early to inspect the arena.
Tangyeong had aimed for exactly that time — when Tangbi would enter early with the guards.
But Tangbi hadn’t come early.
That was the first problem.
Then the statues didn’t activate on time.
That was the second problem.
Tangyeong nervously chewed his nails as he watched the silent statues.
The blades were set — they would definitely fire — but he had no idea when.
He couldn’t confess to the adults now.
This time, he really would be severely punished.
It was only then that Tangyeong began to realize this wasn’t an ordinary prank.
All his life, he’d caused trouble and been spared every time because he was the direct descendant of the Grand Tang Clan.
As the only son of Tang Paejin, he’d been coddled — and he lacked the wits to understand the gravity of what he’d done.
So he just swallowed dryly and hid behind a building, at a spot where he could see Tangbi clearly — but where no one could see him.
He silently prayed that his prank would go unnoticed.
The test was nearly over.
If the statues activated afterward, that would actually be fine.
That was what he was thinking when—
Just as Tangbi was circulating his inner energy to purge the poison from his body,
Tangyeong suddenly saw it — the Myunhyeol Serpent.
It shot out from Tangbi’s sleeve, jaws open wide — toward him.
A hallucination?
No — maybe it wasn’t.
Perhaps the spirit beast had truly sensed what he’d done and come for him.
The thought made cold sweat run down his back.
“!”
A terror unlike anything he’d ever known seized him.
“Get away!”
Panicking, Tangyeong hurled the dagger toward the vision of the serpent.
It happened in an instant — he hadn’t even meant to aim at Tangbi.
But the dagger left his hand.
And at that exact moment—
Swishhh!
Twelve blades shot out from the statue.
“Ugh…”
Tangbi let out a faint groan.
Once blades have left the mechanism,
they cannot be taken back.
And the same is true of a dagger once it has left one’s hand.
