Despite their bold entrance, the three of them didn’t charge at the martial artists of the Demon Sect. Charging headlong into a larger group would only lead to being surrounded.
Sure, if they were supremely confident in their skills, they might have dared such a move, but Namgung Myung and Hyun Gong weren’t quite that confident. So, they took a defensive stance.
With their swords held at an angle, Namgung Myung and Hyun Gong exchanged glances with Tang Mujin.
“Hey, didn’t you say you had something up your sleeve? Hurry up and do it.”
Tang Mujin responded with a look of his own.
“Just wait a little longer.”
The martial artists of the Demon Sect, like the three, hesitated to make the first move, holding back slightly.
“Hey, you in front, why aren’t you moving?” “Why are you telling me? If you have a problem, you go first.”
The Demon Sect fighters knew that Namgung Myung and Hyun Gong were no ordinary opponents. But it wasn’t them that held their feet in place—it was Tang Mujin. Who would dare rush at someone who could point a finger and command death?
In fact, the Demon Sect fighters were slightly misunderstanding the situation.
“Can’t we just retreat?” “Retreat? Are you blind? Can’t you see the orthodox sects waiting outside the gate? The whole area around this estate, maybe even the entire city, is probably surrounded.” “If there was a rift between the orthodox sects, it would be great, but isn’t that something Hwa Ho-beom should handle?”
Such talk would never have surfaced if the cult leader were present. But Hwa Ho-beom, despite his martial prowess, lacked the ability to control the organization effectively.
While some of the Demon Sect fighters subtly glanced at Hwa Ho-beom, one fighter, whose personality had become volatile due to the demonic energy seeping into his bones, suddenly shouted.
“What are we waiting for? The cult leader and the great tiger have fled, and we’re surrounded with no escape! Are we going to die here, cowering like cowards? I refuse!”
The impatient fighter charged bravely at Namgung Myung. Even with his mind clouded by demonic energy, he showed a keen sense of judgment by targeting the seemingly weaker one-armed opponent.
He was quite skilled, too. Despite being clearly outmatched, he managed to hold his own against Namgung Myung.
Meanwhile, Tang Mujin, whom the Demon Sect fighters feared the most, stood back, not yet unleashing his deadly arts.
“It looks like the Poison King is up to something.”
Each of the Demon Sect fighters came to their own conclusions.
“We need to help our comrade in danger.” “The Poison King is preparing something. It must be something truly sinister…” “We can’t see a way out. But if we want even the slightest chance to turn the tables, we have to act now.”
Different thoughts, but one conclusion.
“Charge!”
The Demon Sect fighters surged forward like a tide, surrounding Namgung Myung and Hyun Gong. It was a rather overwhelming situation for Namgung Myung.
The three of them had come together to avenge Hong Gyeol-gae. But the plan wasn’t to confront all the Demon Sect fighters head-on like this.
The idea was to sneak in quietly, take out Jo Hwa-jung, and kill as many Demon Sect fighters as possible before slipping away when things got too dangerous. That was Namgung Myung’s plan, and even that was risky enough.
But upon arriving in the city, Tang Mujin had set the stage for a direct confrontation.
Even Namgung Myung and Hyun Gong, who knew Tang Mujin well, hadn’t expected such a bold move. They thought Tang Mujin had some extraordinary trick up his sleeve. Perhaps he would unleash a deadly poison to wipe out the enemies or use a paralyzing toxin to incapacitate them.
It wasn’t an unfounded assumption. Tang Mujin had shown similar feats before, and this time, he hadn’t been hiding away in seclusion for nothing. Yet, Tang Mujin remained at the back, showing no signs of helping in the fight.
Suddenly, a spear thrust out from the midst of the Demon Sect fighters, aiming for Namgung Myung’s thigh. He deflected it with his golden sword and glanced back at Tang Mujin.
“Hey, when are you going to use the poison?”
But Tang Mujin’s response was disheartening.
“Poison? I’m not going to use it.”
A sense of foreboding crept in. Thinking back, whenever Tang Mujin used poison against a large group, it always required careful preparation. And today, there had been no such preparation.
Namgung Myung couldn’t shake off his unease. Even as he barely managed to fend off attacks, he kept glancing back. Hyun Gong did the same.
Tang Mujin was holding some wooden tubes, slightly longer than half a foot. Namgung Myung and Hyun Gong instinctively recognized them. They were needle containers. Not the usual slender ones Tang Mujin carried, but they were definitely needle containers.
”…Poison needles?”
Since Tang Mujin had started using ratios, Namgung Myung and Hyun Gong hadn’t seen him use poison needles. It was frustratingly hard to understand why he would bring out poison needles now.
Of course, they knew Tang Mujin was skilled with poison needles. But the Demon Sect fighters were no easy opponents.
Among those Tang Mujin had subdued with poison needles, the most notable was the head of the Taeui Sword Sect they encountered at Nokwan-su. But there were many here stronger than that sect leader.
It seemed unlikely that many would fall to Tang Mujin’s poison needles. Even if he unleashed a dozen or twenty needles with pinpoint accuracy, it wouldn’t change much.
Namgung Myung shouted.
“Just throw the ratios instead!” “No, I have something else prepared.” “Whatever it is, just do it quickly!” “Just wait a little longer. It’s not easy, even for me…”
Tang Mujin’s words trailed off.
It was an absurd situation, but there wasn’t much Hyun Gong and Namgung Myung could do. All they could do was stand their ground.
’…At least we brought people who can help when things get dangerous.’
Namgung Myung sighed deeply as he swung his sword.
Tang Mujin found the term “Three Great Physicians of the World” a bit odd.
Gwi-ui Lee Seung treated patients but had no qualms about killing people. Eui-seon Yang Ho was called one of the three great physicians despite not treating patients. The most suspicious was Ma-ui. At least Eui-seon had cared for patients in his youth, but Tang Mujin had never heard of Ma-ui treating anyone.
Thus, the medical book left by Ma-ui, the “Fear of Poison Book,” was far from an ordinary medical text.
The first chapter of the book contained only information about poisons that could kill.
The second chapter detailed poisons that were more about causing harm than death. Paralyzing poisons, poisons that made breathing difficult, poisons that caused immense pain. Poisons that left disabilities. Poisons that made the body rot like a dumpling. Poisons that destroyed internal energy.
And the first sentence of the first chapter of the “Fear of Poison Book” was this:
[Poison affects not only the human body but also the mind.]
The first poison mentioned in the first chapter was a mixture of cinnabar, black stone, and cowbane.
This poison could induce hallucinations in the victim. Tang Mujin had used it before, during the battle with the Salmak’s leader.
Of course, hallucinogenic poisons were more common than one might think. There were mushrooms growing on mountain slopes that could cause hallucinations, and even the easily made Oseoksan could induce visions in those who ingested it.
But the poison recorded first in the “Fear of Poison Book” had a unique feature: the flow of time felt different to those affected by it compared to reality.
And the degree of this effect depended on the amount of poison used.
It could be just a slight sense of disorientation, or it could make a person experience a whole day passing in the span of a single cup of tea.
Ma-ui used this poison to inflict greater suffering on people. Neither Eui-seon nor Gwi-ui placed any special significance on this phenomenon.
But on the day when the boundary between evil and poison collapsed in Tang Mujin’s mind, his perspective changed.
‘Experiencing a short time as a long one. Isn’t that something only masters who have faced life and death experience occasionally?’
If so, wouldn’t it be better to use this as a technique rather than a poison? When Tang Mujin’s thoughts reached that point, he first used the poison on himself.
And now, the poison flowing through Tang Mujin’s body seeped into his bloodstream. It was a potent poison. Even a martial artist would find their life in danger from such an amount. But Tang Mujin could withstand it.
Tang Mujin looked around. People moved slowly. Their desperate expressions were comically mismatched with their sluggish movements.
Tang Mujin raised his left hand. It was slow. His hand moved slowly, just like everyone else’s.
This wasn’t a slowing of time; it was Tang Mujin’s thoughts accelerating. Naturally, this was the case. The world slowed down, but he slowed down with it, so it didn’t mean much. Until recently, Tang Mujin had thought so.
Then he let the second poison flow into his bloodstream.
As the second poison coursed through his body and reached his head, he felt a pulse at his temples. Even in the slowed world, Tang Mujin could tell how much faster his pulse was than usual.
Tang Mujin’s senses expanded dramatically. All the sensory waves he had previously overlooked now washed over him.
The sensation of the ground beneath his shoes. The crisp, dry air unique to autumn. The sound of his own heartbeat. The clamor of people shouting. The countless footsteps. The feeling of his tongue pressing against the roof of his mouth. The smell of nervous sweat. The scent of dust.
Even these trivial sensations stood out distinctly, not blending with others. In this slow-moving world, Tang Mujin could still distinguish the footsteps of dozens of people.
Tang Mujin lifted his head and looked ahead. It was as if he had five pupils in his left eye and five in his right, allowing him to see far more than usual. He scanned the faces of hundreds of people, and at the same time, watched the slowly setting sun beyond them.
A powerful headache struck him. This was more information than a human mind could handle.
Yet, Tang Mujin slammed his palm against the bottom of a large needle case.
Thwack—
A thousand needles, packed tightly in the case, shot up into the sky.
The tips of the needles shimmered with a faint blue hue, a testament to their deadly nature.
Tang Mujin’s ability to control the needles or the number of them wasn’t limited by his internal energy. The challenge lay in having to be aware of each and every needle at every moment.
Any needle he failed to control could become a weapon against friend, foe, or even himself.
But now, Tang Mujin was determined to remember the position of each of the thousand needles. It felt as if his brain was on fire, the headache intensifying.
His mind couldn’t withstand the overwhelming influx of information.
The human psyche instinctively protects the body. Just as one pulls back from a hot surface or recoils from a frightening touch, the mind sets limits to safeguard the body. What people often call limits are not true limits but rather the safety boundaries set by the mind.
Tang Mujin’s mind was no different.
Thus, he sought to protect himself by shutting out external sensations.
His consciousness flickered briefly. As his awareness dimmed, just before he fainted, a third poison seeped into his mind.
And Tang Mujin exhaled a breath full of heat.
“Haah!”
His heart, already racing, beat even faster. An overwhelming euphoria spread through his body. For a moment, Tang Mujin’s mind forgot the limits it had set.
This didn’t mean his body became faster or stronger. It simply meant he could surpass the boundaries his mind had established for protection.
Now, he could run until his leg muscles tore or clench his fists with enough force to break his own fingers.
Despite the searing headache, Tang Mujin couldn’t cough. Even in a life-threatening moment, his mind wouldn’t restrain his ambition.
‘One mistake, and it’s death or oblivion.’
Tang Mujin closed his eyes.
And so, he transcended his limits. He stepped beyond the boundaries of danger and safety that every human mind perceives, onto a new frontier between life and death.
He stood atop a pile of branches that divided life from death, entrusting his life entirely to his senses.
Three deadly poisons, each capable of killing on their own, fused within him.
Tang Mujin had a simple reason for believing no one else could master this martial art. He was convinced that no one but himself could withstand the simultaneous onslaught of these three poisons.
Moreover, the poisons must not be neutralized. If their potency faded, he wouldn’t be able to fully unleash this martial art. Thus, Tang Mujin maintained a delicate balance, suppressing, soothing, drawing in, and pushing away the poison as needed.
He knew the immense burden this placed on his body. But he had to succeed. He had to offer a magnificent tribute to his oldest friend’s memory.
He had to succeed. He believed he could. And so, he would.
Before opening his eyes, Tang Mujin visualized the positions of the thousand needles suspended in the air. Then he opened his eyes. The thousand needles hovered precisely where he had imagined, without a single deviation.
Tang Mujin smiled silently, confident in his ability to control each and every one of the thousand needles with his mind.
Everyone looked up at the sky with him.
The martial artists of the Demonic Sect, the Namgung clan, the Hyeongong, and even the orthodox sects observing from beyond the gate were all the same.
“What on earth…”
It was a sight that transcended amazement, bordering on the bizarre.
A thousand needles floated in the sky, gazing down at the multitude below.
A skilled practitioner of aerial manipulation might move a few light objects with ease. But this scene was far beyond the realm of ordinary human capability. It was as if countless stars had risen before nightfall, their metallic sheen reflecting the sunlight in a brilliant white glow.
One of the Demonic Sect’s martial artists muttered, “A swarm…”
Tang Mujin replied, “No, it’s a flower.”
He, too, thought the scene resembled a swarm. But a decade ago, the person who first named this martial art called it a ‘flower,’ and so it must be a flower.
Tang Mujin spoke, “Namgung Myung, Hyeongong. You might want to move soon. Avoid it as best you can.”
“Avoid what?”
Tang Mujin grinned, baring his white teeth.
“Mancheonhwau.”
The thousand white petals that filled the sky began to fall, each tracing its own path to the earth.