Chapter 56 "The Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Clans have been toyed with by a single Salmak for years, their secret manuals and spiritual medicines stolen in plain sight. Perhaps this gathering seeks to sever the root before the same happens again."
"An admirable deduction. Not flawless, but not easily dismissed either."
Not flawless?
Then perhaps Yeonghwang Yuse is not the only one entangled in this affair.
A sect bold enough to join hands with Yeonghwang Yuse.
She could not yet be certain which, but the bait had proven worthwhile.
"In any case, thanks to you, the discussion proceeds swiftly. Then… Clan Leader? Please."
Dang Maeryeong, who had remained silent until now, spoke in her characteristically sharp tone.
"Miss Namgung. I have a question regarding the incident at the Namgung gathering. You said you sensed an unusual scent from the wine served to you. Could you describe it?"
"Burnt wood."
"And the color?"
Jin Cheong-ak cut in before she could respond.
"Hm. Are you mocking our young lady for being blind…?"
"…I misspoke. My apologies, Miss Namgung. Despite noticing the unusual scent, was there a reason you drank it?"
Again, Jin Cheong-ak answered.
"Our young lady has always avoided drinking and revelry. She knows little of wine. A slight difference in scent does not immediately suggest poison."
"And the taste?"
Once more.
"What else? It tasted like wine. A bit of poison does not turn it into honey."
"Jin Cheong-ak, I heard you administered the antidote to Miss Namgung."
At this point, it had become a dialogue between the two of them. Since it was convenient, Yeo Il allowed it.
"Perhaps I did."
"…Judging from the symptoms displayed during poisoning, the scent described, and the course of treatment, the poison Miss Namgung ingested can be narrowed down to three."
The Tang Clan had long been versed in poisons. Even so, deducing the existence of Hongyu from a handful of confirmations was no easy feat for someone of Dang Maeryeong's age.
"How astonishing. Narrowed down to three—how worthy of celebration."
"Two are poisons for which no antidote exists. The third has an antidote, but it cannot be obtained through ordinary means. That you possessed such an antidote implies—"
"Why not say it plainly? You suspect that our young lady and I have joined hands with Salmak."
A frigid silence swept across the table.
Dang Maeryeong's voice rang out, laced with fury.
"I have endured enough, Jin Cheong-ak! I know not from which gutter you crawled, but this is not a place for you to behave as you please!"
"How discourteous."
The air heated as though fists might soon fly.
"Enough!"
The Alliance Leader infused his voice with a trace of inner force, mediating between them.
"I understand the fervor of youth, but I would have restraint here. This meeting is not for conflict."
Yet Jin Cheong-ak was not one to yield easily.
"Restraint is hardly simple when anyone with ears can hear the insinuation—that Miss Namgung and I are in league with those scoundrels."
"Calm yourself. As I stated earlier, neither we nor the Clan Leader summoned Miss Namgung with such intent."
"Intent is what we perceive. And is that the proper tone to take toward our Miss Namgung, who barely returned alive from death's door? Hm? Young Clan Head?"
Namgung Jeok-myeong spoke coldly.
"Great Hero Jin. Do not place Soyo in a difficult position."
"I? Place our Miss Namgung in difficulty? Perhaps I overestimated you, Young Clan Head. You still do not understand her."
The chill in the room only deepened. Then Dang Maeryeong struck the table with a sharp cry.
"Silence!"
Thud—
The table trembled faintly. She had placed something upon it.
"This is Hongyu. The very poison Miss Namgung swallowed—the same vile toxin that melted the entrails of my mother, my father… and my siblings. The blood of Salmak!"
Her words poured forth like blood. All present fell silent. None were ignorant of the incident that had once shaken the martial world.
The Tang Clan poisoning of Sichuan.
At a glance, one might assume the Tang Clan to be perpetrators.
In truth, every victim had been of the Tang Clan's direct line—six in total, including the Clan Leader and the Young Clan Leader, dead in a single gathering.
That day, the existence of Hongyu spread throughout the martial world.
As no antidote could be found, a grim maxim circulated for months: Touch no food given by another.
"For years I searched relentlessly for the antidote to Hongyu."
"..."
"Yet I found not the slightest trace. Which means no physician upon this continent has discovered its cure."
So the antidote remained undiscovered.
With Salmak vanishing without a trace, there would be no means to steal it either.
The reason she had used Hongyu's antidote was simple. No expert within the Namgung Clan could identify the poison as Hongyu.
That the Tang Clan itself had intervened was an unexpected turn.
Unexpected did not mean unmanageable.
Feigning a cough, Yeo Il covered her mouth with her sleeve.
"And yet you appeared with an antidote no one could find nor produce. Naturally, its origin must be suspect—!"
A short cough.
"Cough!"
Bright red blood splattered across the center of the table.
Yet even after expelling a mouthful, the blood lingering within exceeded what she had intended.
The effect, however, was immediate. The chamber erupted.
"Miss Namgung! Are you well?"
"Miss!"
"Soyo, again—!"
Had she cut too deeply?
Even Jin Cheong-ak, who had been acting indignant, seemed genuinely startled. Grasping her wrist, he pulled her toward him.
"Open."
He caught her collapsing body against his chest and pried her jaw open to inspect inside.
Soon discovering the self-inflicted wound, he shut his eyes tightly before releasing his grip.
"Yeo Il."
It seemed he wished to say something, yet held back.
As she buried her face in his chest, the Alliance Leader ordered urgently,
"Steward, summon a physician at once!"
"Yes!"
While Moyong Sang-hwi hurried out, the Alliance Leader approached swiftly.
"This degree of hemoptysis is grave. I was told she had nearly recovered thanks to the antidote… Could she have been poisoned again on her way here? Azure Sword Flash, do you suspect anything?"
Namgung Jeok-myeong, clearly shaken, could not answer at once. It seemed he could not discern whether she was truly afflicted or feigning as part of a stratagem.
Yeo Il pushed Jin Cheong-ak aside and spoke in her harsh, damaged voice.
"It is fine… the antidote's effect… was incomplete… cough, cough. If I overexert myself, the poison resurfaces…"
"Soyo, enough. That is sufficient. You may write the rest—do not strain your throat further."
Despite his concern, she clutched her chest and shook her head.
To overcome one's parents' murderer, one's life was bound to hang in peril.
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