Chapter 52: Winning Hearts
“Without even noticing my presence, the bastard was mixing the dicinal ingredients one by one, creating poison.”
Sewoon began spilling out lies without so much as wetting his lips.
When he had secretly infiltrated Poison Demon’s hideout, the Poison Demon had been engrossed in producing so unknown poison.
Since the hostage had already been rescued, Sewoon claid he had waited with bated breath for an opportunity to assassinate him.
“But the poison qi that filled the surroundings was beyond imagination.”
Sewoon thought that this new poison being created by Poison Demon could bring a terrifying nightmare upon the martial world.
So, in order to deduce the antidote by observing the process, he began morizing all the ingredients that were being combined according to the formula.
Fortunately, he recognized all of the ingredients being mixed.
But then, after the final ingredient was added—
Suddenly, the poison went rampant, and Poison Demon himself was poisoned, writhing in agony.
“……If that was a failed formula, then how did you complete the Immortal’s Cripple?”
Tang Muyeol shot a sharp question at him.
But Sewoon smoothly gave the prepared answer.
“Poison Demon went berserk, cursing Grandfather with vile words unfit for anyone to utter. Among his raving, he shouted about where the poison was that could alter other poisons.”
“W–Wait. That’s…!”
At that mont, Tang Serin, who had been listening to her younger brother’s words, gasped in shock.
The property of transforming into completely different poisons when mixed with other poison ingredients—ever-changing in nature.
That was none other than—
Exactly what Sewoon had explained back in the abandoned mine when talking about the Black Waste Stone.
“You’re right, Sister. Shockingly, that was the very property of the Black Waste Stone I brought from the abandoned mine.”
“What! Then the things Young Master brought to the training hall that ti were…!”
“Does that an the Immortal’s Cripple has truly returned to the Tang Clan?!”
The clan mbers began buzzing in excitent, talking all at once.
But not everyone was rejoicing with tears of joy.
The warriors of the Dark Flower Unit, including Ha Huyeong, looked increasingly uneasy, unable to manage their expressions as Sewoon continued.
‘Ahh… just what kind of fools were we…’
That was why they had been told to switch from internal arts to poison arts.
Sewoon’s words flowed on like a clear stream.
“After returning from the abandoned mine with Sister, I tried manufacturing the poison that Poison Demon had been making.”
“!!”
“I replaced just one ingredient with the Black Waste Stone, and it fit together perfectly. Once I completed it, I realized naturally… that this was none other than Grandfather’s Immortal’s Cripple.”
At Sewoon’s words, cries to Heaven and exclamations erupted everywhere.
So were even moved to tears.
“…Haa, what a blessing that Immortal’s Cripple was completed not by Poison Demon’s hands, but yours.”
“It feels as though Grandfather in Heaven must have aided .”
“…Yes. He must have been watching over us always.”
Tang Muyeol muttered with a sigh, sinking into deep thought.
anwhile, Sewoon quietly held back further words, observing the room.
‘This should be enough.’
Confirming that no one doubted his story, Sewoon subtly turned his gaze toward the Dark Flower Unit and finished with his final remark.
“In any case, with this power that I obtained by a stroke of heaven’s fortune, I intended not just to strengthen myself, but to make all of you stronger in poison arts…”
“……”
The entire unit bowed their heads in sha.
Even after so ti, not one mber of the Dark Flower Unit dared raise their head.
And rightly so.
With what face could they lift their heads and et their Young Master’s eyes?
The clan mbers watching them wore expressions of pity mixed with disdain as they observed the unfolding scene.
Then it happened.
Thud.
Vice Captain Ha Huyeong fell to his knees before Sewoon.
“…For the cri of rashly judging my master’s thoughts and resisting him, I am prepared to accept whatever punishnt you decree, Young Master.”
With that as the beginning—
Thud.
Thud.
Every mber of the Dark Flower Unit simultaneously knelt before Sewoon.
They had truly realized their mistake and repented.
It was never their intention to belittle Sewoon or go against his will.
They had only ant to offer loyal counsel, thinking their master was making the wrong choice.
But through today’s events, they understood.
That their master possessed a vessel so imnse and overwhelming that they could not even fathom it.
That the shallow wit of ordinary n could never hope to comprehend the profound will of a genius.
“To say you’ll gladly accept any punishnt… you do realize the aning of those words, don’t you?”
“!!”
Sewoon’s expression and aura were rciless beyond compare.
Would the weather of the far North Sea, where the Ice Palace resided, be like this?
The voice was as cold and sharp as ice itself.
The warriors of the Dark Flower Unit trembled in fear, cold sweat streaming down their backs.
Yet even Tang Muyeol, the Clan Head, did not dare intervene.
All justification belonged to Sewoon, and if he made even the slightest misstep here—
then the relationship between Sewoon and the Dark Flower Unit might truly never be nded again.
Cheok.
At that mont, another figure moved.
“…Young Master.”
“Yes, Uncle.”
It was none other than Tang Bi, the Dark Flower Unit Leader.
He stepped away from Tang Muyeol’s side and walked forward slowly.
Thud.
He too knelt before Sewoon and bowed his head.
The clan mbers gasped at Tang Bi’s unexpected action.
Then Tang Bi spoke in a heavy voice.
“…The fault lies with
for failing to guide my subordinates properly. I beg you, let
bear the full punishnt in their stead.”
He declared that he would take Sewoon’s wrath upon himself.
Ha Huyeong and the warriors of the Dark Flower Unit flinched in shock and tried to stop him, insisting it was absurd.
“Hmph, I understand Uncle’s intention, but still—wrongdoing is wrongdoing. The unit mbers must receive their rightful punishnt.”
“……”
Sewoon cut off the plea sharply, leaving no room for argunt.
He clearly had no intention of retreating even a single step.
Short sighs of despair escaped from several mouths at the Young Master’s uncompromising stance.
But Sewoon’s face did not waver in the slightest. Instead, he turned his gaze toward Yeo Seon.
“Now then.”
“Yes, sir!”
Creak!
Yeo Seon rushed forward and threw open the tightly shut doors of the training hall.
At that, not only the Dark Flower Unit but also the clan mbers turned pale.
‘C–Could it be?!’
‘Does he an for them all to leave the clan?!’
It looked as though he was ordering all who had defied him to leave the Tang Clan.
“Y–Young Master! Please, anything but expulsion! These n have only ever been loyal to the Tang Clan…!”
Tang Bi cried out in panic, but quickly choked on his words.
Step, step.
Clang, clank.
‘…What is that?’
From beyond the doors ca strange sounds—
the mingling of countless footsteps and the clinking of iron.
Cheok!
And soon, the ones who appeared were wholly unexpected.
Everyone’s eyes went wide.
“T-Ten Thousand Iron Hall Lord?!”
“Why are all the smiths of the Ten Thousand Iron Hall here…?”
Indeed, it was Tang Clan’s Ten Thousand Iron Hall Lord, Gu Yongyeon, who entered the hall, followed by his smiths.
Each smith carried a wooden case of varying size.
“You have worked hard, Lord.”
“I only obeyed as commanded.”
Gu Yongyeon bowed deeply to Sewoon as he replied.
The clan mbers looked on, jaws agape.
One shock followed another.
Gu Yongyeon had never shown such courtesy even to Tang Muyeol, the Clan Head.
Without their knowledge, the Young Master had already made even Gu Yongyeon, the Black-Handed Craftsman, his own man.
“Then I shall proceed as you ordered.”
“Yes, go ahead.”
When Sewoon nodded, Gu Yongyeon signaled the smiths standing behind him.
Step, step.
Clang.
The suspicious sounds from earlier grew louder.
‘…What in the world is inside those?’
The clan mbers blinked in confusion, not understanding.
The smiths halted in front of the kneeling warriors of the Dark Flower Unit.
For a mont, it seed they might be carrying shackles or chains ant to punish them.
But smiths also stood before the three who had sparred with the Young Master earlier, as well as Tang Bi, the Dark Flower Unit Leader.
Clack!
Finally, the smiths opened the wooden cases all at once.
“…!”
Everyone who glimpsed the contents could not hide their shock.
As they stared, Gu Yongyeon continued.
“These are specially crafted weapons and arms, made to match each individual’s martial arts and traits.”
As he said, the wooden cases were filled with hidden weapons and arms.
Just as it had been ntioned, not only Tang Bi but also every single person’s personal weapon was inside.
As if bewitched, they pulled out their weapons and examined them—only to be struck with shock.
The quality was so unbelievably high that their old weapons now felt like worthless trash in comparison.
And indeed, they had no choice but to be extraordinary.
“All of these items—every last one—were personally crafted by Young Master Sewoon over the past ten days.”
Every weapon and armant had been born from Sewoon’s own hands.
For the past ten days, whenever he finished training guidance, Sewoon had gone straight to the smithy of the Ten Thousand Iron Hall to forge weapons.
So much so that Gu Yongyeon, who assisted him, worried because he hardly slept.
‘Ahh…’
‘What have we done…’
The eyes of the Dark Flower Unit that looked upon Sewoon now glead not just with emotion, but with reverence.
The clan mbers watching shared the sa gaze toward their Young Master.
Then Sewoon raised his voice.
“Those items are not gifts. They are the last traveling money I entrust to you.”
“…!”
Even with Sewoon’s words, foretelling that a terrible ordeal awaited, the warriors of the Dark Flower Unit did not tremble with fear.
Instead, they gripped the weapons given to them by their master with such force that their hands nearly broke, tears streaming down their faces as they bowed deeply.
“Until we achieve the result I seek, you will not even be able to et wife or family.”
“It will be as though your bones are being carved away, your blood set afla with pain.”
“But if you endure that pain, light shall co.”
Sewoon had no intention of abandoning even a single mber of the Dark Flower Unit.
He regarded each and every one of them as his true family.
Thus Sewoon shouted his final words with all his sincerity.
“Prepare yourselves to endure, even if it costs your lives.”
To forge within themselves the strength to survive at all costs.
So that when the war with the Blood Cult arrived, not a single one of them would die.
Though they could not hear the hidden aning beneath his words—
“Loyalty!!”
“Loyalty!!”
Every warrior of the Dark Flower Unit roared until their throats split, shouting their devotion to Sewoon.
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