“No matter how we look at it, it is crazy.”

Baek Cheon was the one who said it.

“It is definitely crazy, but knowing what Chung Myung is usually like…”

Yoon Jong felt it was reasonable considering what Chung Myung’s behavior was like.

“… isn’t it because he ate too much spicy food back there?”

Jo Gul felt a bit suspicious, and it was enough to make the people there ponder the situation.

“Mad.”

Yu Yiseol said firmly.

Baek Cheon looked at Chung Myung. A spar with the Elder of the Tang family?

‘If we think about it… right, it isn’t that crazy considering his personality.’

Because that guy went against an Elders of Wudang back in the Sword Tomb. And compared to Wudang Elders…

‘Thinking about it, how is this guy still alive?’

But if they looked at things that way, shouldn’t Chung Myung have died a hundred times already?

“He must have a plan, right?”

“Probably.”

Baek Cheon glanced at Tang Gunak who was next to him.

“Lord.”

“Yes.”

“Did something happen between you and Chung Myung before?”

Tang Gunak smiled, and Baek Cheon nodded at the smile.

“Ah, you must kno…”

“It is my first time hearing about this.”

“…”

“…”

Seeing Baek Cheon, who looked dazed at his response, Tang Gunak added.

“The thing I talked about with Mount Hua’s Divine Dragon in advance was about something different. We haven’t talked about anything even remotely related to him going against the Elder on his own.”

Baek Cheon smiled happily.

‘Right.’

‘This is our Chung Myung.’

‘Damn it!’

“Since you sparred with Chung Myung yourself, you should roughly understand what this situation is. If Chung Myung and the Elder fight, who do you think will win?”

“It will be a one-sided slaughter.”

“…by Chung Myung?”

“No. The Elder.”

“…”

Everyone was wide-eyed as they heard that.

“I-I thought that the Lord has a good impression of Chung…”

“Don’t get me wrong. Mount Hua’s Divine Dragon is really strong. It is impossible to find someone that strong in his age group.”

“Yes.”

“But the Elder is strong too.”

Tang Gunak shook his head.

“The real power of the Tang family comes from poison and needles combined together. As you know, I didn’t use poison against Mount Hua’s Divine Dragon during our spar.”

“Ah…”

“If it were just the assassin techniques being used, it would be in Chung Myung’s favor. Because Mount Hua’s Divine Dragon is strangely strong while moving his body and sword. However, the Elder excels at defense too. And if he has no countermeasures against poison, the disciple’s body will eventually succumb to it.”

‘No, don’t say such horrifying words with that face!’

‘Who was out there fighting now?’

“But even the Elder of Wudang couldn’t…”

“Tang Woe is the great Elder of the Tang family.”

“…”

“I, too, heard that Mount Hua’s Divine Dragon survived the fight with Wudang Elder Heo Sanja. However, Heo Sanja is an Elder of the Wudang sect, and he cannot compare to our Elders. The retired Elders of Wudang have to come out for this man to lose.”

Baek Cheon’s face went stiff.

Yoon Jong, after listening to all that, spoke right away.

“Should it be stopped then?”

Baek Cheon bit his lip.

“This is a battle a warrior started for his own honor. What will happen to Chung Myung’s honor if we drag him out?”

“Does he have a thing called honor?”

“…”

‘Uh?’

‘True.’

Jo Gul grabbed Baek Cheon, who was about to go into the ring.

“Ahh, sahyung. Would he stop because you asked him to?”

“…that is true too.”

“Such a damned bastard.”

In the end, they had to look at Chung Myung with a worried face and just trust him. Tang Gunak, who looked at the disciples of Mount Hua, clenched his fist.

‘Friend.’

-Let’s just call it my whim.

Mount Hua’s Divine Dragon had said that. Because of his whims, he wanted to be friends with the Tang family.

But…

Tang Gunak had a bitter smile.

‘Will you risk your life because of a whim?’

He clenched his hands even stronger.

‘Friend. A friend…’

It felt like he was incorrectly thinking about this word.

‘It is probably a friend who does things for you without a price.’

Tang Gunak gripped the daggers inside his sleeve.

‘I will not let you die.’

‘Even if it means war with the Elders.’

Tang Gunak clenched his teeth.

“Dismantle the party of Elders?”

“Yes.”

“And just disappear into our residences?”

“It would be nice if you leave the Tang family.”

Tang Woe laughed.

“I thought you were smart, but you sound so stupid. I already made a bet with the Lord that if Tang Hak loses, I will not interfere with the Lord’s decisions. And do you think I will be able to even say anything if I lose to someone like you? A kid?”

“Yes.”

“…what?”

“Do you know?”

“…”

Chung Myung shrugged his shoulders and said.

“A person who knows shame wouldn’t do such things. But…”

He titled his head and continued.

“…you must know.”

“…what do you mean?”

“Do you know what shame is?”

“Y-You brat!”

Chung Myung smiled like he was enjoying it.

“Anyone who had even a little shame wouldn’t have let things get to this point. This is the same. Maybe you will try to use some excuse and interfere with the family matters again… Why? Because that is all that you have left.”

Anger rose inside Tang Woe. At the same time, he snarled. And Chung Myung drew his sword.

“If you cannot let that go though…”

He aimed it at Tang Woe…

“I will cut it off. Those hands of yours.”

Tang Woe felt a bit intimidated.

‘Not all grown-ups are old.’

Chung Myung was someone who had no hostility to the Elders of the sects. From the start, he too, was an old man in a child’s body, and he had experienced what it was like to be an adult.

But these people weren’t adults.

True Elders of sects took care of their subordinates. They had to realize that the moment they pressed down on their subordinates to establish their power, they lost their right to be called an adult.

If Tang Bo had seen this, he wouldn’t have been as respectful as Chung Myung was. He would have shed tears of blood and killed them with his own hands. Real adults weren’t like this.

Hyun Jong, the sect leader of Mount Hua. And Hyun Sang who silently supported them. And now, ah, Elder Hyun Young, that man as well!

And…

‘My sahyung.’

‘Now I know.’

How much they thought, cared, and loved Mount Hua. Chung Myung had just thought it was just unnecessary nagging. But what did he do for Mount Hua?

‘Now I know what you mean.’

Tang Bo had also regretted it.

He had wasted his whole life regretting it. But now, nothing could be done about that. All he left behind was a worthless reputation.

Was Chung Myung different from him?

“Phew.”

He sighed.

‘Still, it is fine.’

Because I have a chance to make it right. This life will be different from the past.

“Come, jump in.”

“…I haven’t accepted the condition yet.”

“Then tell me.”

Chung Myung looked at both sides.

“Let’s say you won’t accept it because of your fear of losing to me in front of so many people. Then we can just head down. There is no need to fight.”

“Haa…”

Tang Woe took a step back.

“Come. Whatever you want to do, I am ready. Instead…”

A dark blue light shone in Tang Woe’s eyes.

“You will die in the most painful manner.”

“Ah, I am scared~”

Chung Myung smiled.

“Don’t worry. I will finish you without pain.”

There was no need for more words.

The expression on Tang Woe’s face disappeared in an instant.

‘I was stopped by his words.’

Everyone here had heard his words. He could feel the denial and dissatisfaction they had against him from their eyes.

Even if he killed Chung Myung, he wouldn’t be able to regain his former honor.

‘This was it.’

In any case, winning or losing didn’t matter. Mount Hua’s Divine Dragon had achieved the goal he had been aiming for. And no one would think it was weird for a child to die in the hands of an Elder of the Tang family.

Tang Woe had lost.

‘But.’

He had to do the bare minimum. Because he couldn’t stay cooped up in a room for the rest of his life.

‘You need to die!’

He shoved his hand deep into his sleeve. He held on to the poison bottles that were deep inside.

In some ways, it would be overkill to use such poison in simple spars. But it was Mount Hua’s Divine Dragon who had brought things this far.

This was the price he had to pay.

He retreived a red poison bottle. And slowly opened it and sprinkled that poison onto his hands.

Now anything he chose would have this poison on it. Seeing that, Chung Myung’s expression darkened.

Usually, the people of the Tang family used a glove made of deer skin when using poison, but now this man was using his bare hands.

This meant that he was a master when it came to internal defense.

Chung Myung smacked his lips.

“Ready?”

“I don’t need to be any more prepared to deal with you.”

“…that is an overstatement. You will find that those words won’t protect you.”

“Let’s start.”

Chung Myung lowered his sword. As if asking the Grand Elder to come at him.

And eventually, qi began to flow from the body of Tang Woe. It felt soft at first and then turned a bit harsh. After a few seconds, it felt like waves of qi were swirling around him.

“You seem to have thought that I held back because I had no power. If I put my mind to it, even the Lord isn’t my opponent.”

“Wow…”

His skin felt tingly. It wasn’t because of the qi in the air, but the poison mixed in it.

Prrr

The blue stone stage was slowly melting.

‘Poison potent enough to melt stone…’

It was a truly terrifying skill to face.

“Get back!”

“Move! To the back! Back!”

The members of the Tang family who saw this were terrified and retreated. Even the members of the Tang family who knew and could handle poison he best seemed scared.

If they were clumsy around such a poison, they could get affected by it. The eyes of Tang Woe were dyed in black as he watched the people retreat.

“Diee!”

Pahhhhhh!

From both hands, something black came out.

Poison Palm!

A technique produced by mixing poison with internal qi was directed at Chung Myung.

Shhh

Chung Myung avoided it by simply twisting his body to the side. It was easy.

“There is no fun if I get hit so easily!”

However, as if he had expected it, Tang Woe took a step forward. And he immediately shook his sleeve.

Swish! Swish!

Poison needles fell toward Chung Myung from all directions.

Fine, very fine needles which were invisible to the naked eyes were carrying poison on them as they moved for Chung Myung. They had a bloody force behind them that made them incomparable to the ones Tang Hak had used previously.

However, it was Chung Myung and not Yu Yiseol who was dealing with this man now.

“Okay!”

Chung Myung swung his sword from left to right. And the wind created by swinging the sword pushed the needles away.

Without missing the gap, he swung the sword again in succession. And Chung Myung, who created a gap, flew towards Tang Woe.

“This isn’t so tough!”

Chung Myung rushed ahead. However, there was a smile on Tang Woe’s face.

“You brat!”

Swish!

Red sand began to rise up with an explosive sound. And in an instant, the entire place seemed to fall apart.

Tang Gunak, who watched it, screamed.

“Ghost King’s Order! Elder! Have you gone insane?! You mad man!”

The disciples of Mount Hua looked at Tang Gunak, who suddenly started screaming.

His face was contorted in shock.

Ghost King’s Order.

The Tang family had two kinds of poison. One were the herbs meant to cure people, and the other were ones used to kill people.

The Ghost King’s Order belonged to the latter. Using that in a spar was nothing different from killing him directly. No, actually, this was worse. One of the things that the Tang family kept in mind was to make sure to never use poisons that don’t have a cure.

But now, the Elder had broken that law.

“Stop it! Damn it! Get that crazy old man out of here!”

Tang Gunak yelled loudly, but no one approached the stage.

No one would do it either. None of the people in the Tang family could cure this poison. In other words, even they wouldn’t survive if they were touched by the poison.

“Tch. Shocking.”

Tang Woe clicked his tongue, looking at the reaction of Tang Gunak.

It was already too late for him to regain his reasoning.

‘I should have done this much sooner.’

If only he had feared the man, this wouldn’t have happened. The problem was that he was too obsessed with honor.

“Ehh. You are too cheeky.”

He pulled out a handful of sand.

“The Tang family isn’t a family of poison and daggers. It is a family of poison alone. You underestimated the family.”

Chak!

The sand was sprinkled all over the stage.

This wasn’t the sand that Tang Hak had used, however.

This was the ‘Chasing Soul in 7 Steps’, specially created by Tang Woe. Like its name, once used, the poison would destroy the soul before the opponent could take 7 steps. A truly terrible poison.

“No matter how great of a warrior you are, you will not be able to avoid all the poison present here. Your sects despise the Tang family. But if we could have used our poison as we wanted, the world would have belonged to the Tang family.”

Seeing the shadow of Chung Myung in the rising dust, Tang Woe laughed.

At first glance, he could see Chung Myung kneeling on the ground.

He would die even if he just left him alone.

“But that won’t do.”

He took out another poison bottle into his hand.

As soon as he opened the lid, he directed it at the opponent right away. With the poison already wafting outside, a fresh blue smoke rose in the air.

“This is the last gift I will give you. It is called Gleeful Smoke. You will suffer like you are in hell until you die.”

It had that name because after being used, the poison would make the victim writhe in pain, but their actions would be as if they were jumping in joy.

After being happy with what he did to Chung Myung, he looked at Tang Gunak.

“How is that, Lord?”

There was blood in the eyes of Tang Gunak.