Chapter 260. The Misunderstanding of the Rising Stars

“Of course it’s possible—…huh?”

Yeon-ah answered boldly, then flinched.

Namgung Jin asked back, wanting to be sure he had understood So-hwa correctly.

“When you say ‘hold them,’ do you mean that you want the Namgung Clan to remain near the Tang Clan estate?”

“Yes. I would like you to remain within a distance from which you could return within an hour—or, at most, half an hour.”

At those words, Yeon-ah let out a troubled groan.

“Umm, but do all of us have to stay? Th-that is, the Sect Leader and the Sword Saint…… they could leave, right?”

“No. Everyone else may leave, but I would like those two to remain.”

Yeon-ah parted her lips and spoke.

“To be honest…… my position isn’t very good right now, so it’s hard for me to make such a request of them. Of course, I can bring it up, but they probably won’t listen.”

“There are ways to persuade them, aren’t there? You could collapse, saying you’re sick, make excuses about something you forgot behind, or create a situation where you ‘accidentally’ took something belonging to the Tang Clan and need to go back to return it.”

Namgung Jin spoke in an offhand tone, though it seemed that wasn’t truly what he wanted to say.

He soon asked in a stiff voice,

“But why are you asking us to stay within a distance of at least one hour?”

“Huh? Young Lord, your words sound a bit strange?”

Sensing that Namgung Jin’s tone was unusual, Yeon-ah subtly stepped in on So-hwa’s side.

“There could still be Demonkin lying in wait nearby, and we don’t know when the Blood Sect might send reinforcements. From Young Lady Tang’s perspective, it’s natural she’d want members of the Murim Alliance to stay a bit longer.”

Namgung Jin replied with a dry, almost laughing voice.

“If she were worried about the Blood Sect attacking again, she would have asked us not to leave at all. No—she wouldn’t have said anything and would have slipped poison into the meals brought to our pavilions so we couldn’t leave. But instead, Young Lady Tang is asking us to stay outside.”

“Good heavens! How can you make such a cruel accusation…..! Apologize at once!”

Yeon-ah shouted in outrage.

However, the person concerned fell silent, unable to refute it, because it was indeed something she might do.

Namgung Jin’s gaze remained fixed on Tang So-hwa.

“The Young Lady Tang I know is not someone who makes requests lightly.”

He suddenly cleared his throat, as if correcting himself.

“Well, you may think of it as a request, but from the listener’s standpoint, it can feel like a threat.”

Bang.

“I’ve had enough of this! Young Lady Tang is not that kind of person!”

At Namgung Jin’s words, Yeon-ah sprang to her feet. She was so worked up that she couldn’t even continue speaking.

Namgung Jin believed Tang So-hwa had anticipated this situation, while Yeon-ah thought she had been hurt.

“Young Lord, if you don’t apologize right now, I’ll…….”

As Yeon-ah placed a hand on her sword, showing signs of charging ahead, So-hwa spoke.

“No. The Young Lord is right.”

Yeon-ah stared at So-hwa with a look as if her world had collapsed. Realizing that Yeon-ah had once again misunderstood something, So-hwa added,

“It’s not a threat…… I said it with the hope of cooperation.”

“Helping Young Lady Tang is not difficult. However, we need to know the reason to help you properly.”

At Namgung Jin’s words, So-hwa had no choice but to lay out her thoughts.

“Each sect has its own circumstances, and now that the Tang Clan’s situation has stabilized, it’s natural for opinions to arise about leaving the Tang Clan. However, for opinions to unify overnight and for everyone to leave all at once is unnatural. If someone intentionally made everyone leave, wouldn’t there be a reason?”

Namgung Jin and Yeon-ah silently agreed with her words.

In the first place, they had found the situation strange themselves and sought out Tang So-hwa while pressed for time to pack.

So-hwa confided a bit more honestly to the few friends she could trust.

“In truth, I lured the Blood Demon to the Tang Clan. And it seems he intends to respond to that.”

“You lured…… the Blood Demon?”

Unable to comprehend the situation, Yeon-ah alternated her shocked gaze between So-hwa and Namgung Jin.

Neither of them doubted the Blood Demon’s existence. Rather, the name seemed familiar, and they exchanged glances in silence.

“Did you spend the past three days luring the Blood Demon?”

“Something like that.”

Namgung Jin let out a deep sigh.

“Does the Clan Head know?”

“No.”

He raised both hands and buried his face in them.

Still unable to grasp the situation, Yeon-ah frowned and asked,

“What in the world are you two talking about? That Young Lady Tang lured the Blood Demon to the Tang Clan estate, and the Clan Head doesn’t even know…….”

Lowering his hands, Namgung Jin spoke in a bitter voice.

“You should get used to it, Taoist. When Young Lady Tang moves, that becomes the will of the Tang Clan of Sichuan.”

“Huh?”

At Namgung Jin’s strange remark, So-hwa narrowed her eyes.

As the atmosphere grew odd, she continued.

“If the Murim Alliance’s support does not vacate their positions, he may not enter and instead try to lure me outside. However, I would prefer that he come inside.”

“Are you planning to face the Blood Demon with the Tang Clan’s forces?”

“No. As I said, the Clan Head does not know. And the goal is to finish it quickly so that he never needs to know.”

“…… What do you mean by finishing it without him needing to know?”

Namgung Jin asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Are you saying you intend to face the Blood Demon alone?”

Tang So-hwa nodded.

A brief silence fell.

Yeon-ah blinked, then let out an “Ah,” as if she had reached an understanding, and asked,

“Oh! Then this Blood Demon isn’t the Blood Demon I know! There must be another martial artist using the same epithet, right?”

“No. It’s that Blood Demon.”

As Namgung Jin corrected her, So-hwa gave a small nod.

“No, why would Young Lady Tang say such nonsense…… ah—sorry, that slipped out.”

Yeon-ah clapped a hand over her mouth mid-sentence.

“I know it’s an unreasonable request to ask you to hold your sects back. Pretending to be sick seems best, so I’ll prepare a poison that can give you a high fever for about half a day.”

As she pressed the request almost forcibly, Namgung Jin gave up and sighed.

“No. There’s no need to actually take it.”

“…… Please give it to me. If I don’t even pretend to be sick and end up lagging behind, I might really get beaten.”

The reactions of the two rising stars were starkly different.

So-hwa asked them to wait a moment, went into her sleeping quarters, and returned with two small pouches.

“Young Lord said he wouldn’t need it, but since we don’t know how the situation will unfold, please keep it with you.”

“Delaying things isn’t the issue, but what exactly are you trying to do, Young Lady Tang?”

“I’ve tried making a poison to use on the Blood Demon. I intend to poison him.”

“What? If that fails, wouldn’t it only provoke the Blood Demon’s anger? Wouldn’t it be better to wait for another opportunity and entrust this to someone like the Alliance Leader or the Four Directions Hall Lord?”

So-hwa shook her head.

“It’s impossible to let the outside world know that there exists a poison lethal to the Blood Demon. As you know, once word leaks out, it will be seized before we have any chance to act. This moment—when the Blood Demon is drawing close to me in the Central Plains—is the opportunity.”

“Why can’t it be revealed? If you’re that confident in the poison, wouldn’t it be better to make as much as possible and launch a joint attack?”

So-hwa curved her lips.

“One poison’s method isn’t impossible to share. Given the presence of spies, it would require accepting great losses, but if we could take the Blood Demon’s head, it would be worth it. However, the other poison cannot be shared.”

Though she emphasized that it was absolutely impossible, So-hwa’s voice remained calm.

“The repercussions would be impossible to bear, so only I can know of it.”

Yeon-ah parted her lips as if she wanted to say more.

However, Namgung Jin let out a small laugh.

“So once again, you’re telling us to follow without asking.”

He looked at Tang So-hwa with an unreadable gaze.

So-hwa recalled the time she had lured Namgung Jin into a trap to take him to the North Sea. She felt a renewed sense of guilt for having subjected such a straightforward person to that humiliation.

“…I am sorry for not being able to explain in detail this time as well.”

“It’s all right.”

Namgung Jin spoke as if to comfort her.

“Even if it doesn’t make sense at the time, when we look back, Young Lady Tang’s actions always turn out to be necessary. If I hadn’t gone to the North Sea that day, and if I hadn’t helped restore the North Sea Ice Palace, all the kin of the North Sea would have lost their lives.”

“What? Lost their lives?”

Yeon-ah’s eyes widened in shock.

“The kin of the North Sea Ice Palace had been subordinated to the Blood Sect. They were exploited and treated as less than human.”

A faint anger surfaced on Namgung Jin’s face.

“When we arrived, the children had been driven to the cliffs, starving, and exposed to sulfur—an extremely dangerous situation.”

Yeon-ah, who had known that the North Sea Ice Palace was restored but not the details, was stricken with shock.

“Then…….”

She murmured in a trembling voice, then abruptly turned her head.

“Young Lady Tang…… you went to the Blood Sect-infested North Sea to save the endangered North Sea kin…… even enduring suspicions of being a spy?”

It was true that she had sought to make the North Sea Ice Palace independent from within the Blood Sect, but judging by Yeon-ah’s eyes, the misunderstanding unfolding in that girl’s mind seemed to differ from the actual intent.

As Yeon-ah’s eyes reddened, So-hwa recoiled in alarm and parted her lips.

Just as she was about to shout, Namgung Jin spoke.

“Once again, Young Lady Tang acts first without explanation.”

The corners of Namgung Jin’s mouth curved as he added in a teasing voice,

“If that is the will of the Tang Clan of Sichuan, then there must surely be a reason.”

“…….”

There was no such thing as a reason.

At least, not the kind of reason that existed in Namgung Jin’s imagination.

The second extreme poison that Tang So-hwa could not reveal was her own blood.

She hypothesized that if she could alter the will contained within the Blood Demon’s blood, it might also affect that body which held the Blood Demon’s blood.

However, it could only be confirmed by using it directly on the Blood Demon’s body, so for now, it was impossible to prove.

How could she tell outsiders about the existence of such an uncertain poison?

To explain why she placed hope in this second poison, she would have to reveal that the Gu poison antidote given to the Murim Alliance was made from her blood, and that it might be connected to the Blood Demon.

Even if she trusted those before her, she could not lay bare the secret of her own body.

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