Chapter 239
'That's right!'
Dang Jong-gyeok shouted with joy. His hands were clenched tightly together.
Watching Wei Yan-ho frantically devouring food made his shoulders naturally shake with excitement.
'Stupid fool.'
Dang Jong-gyeok clicked his tongue while looking at Wei Yan-ho.
'This is why you people can never beat us.'
These so-called martial artists were all hopelessly stupid without exception. Those who thought the only way to defeat an opponent was to draw weapons and fight could never beat the Dang Family, who didn't discriminate between various methods. This was only natural.
Even now, it was the same.
No matter how skilled Dang Jong-gyeok was at flying through the air, if he faced Wei Yan-ho head-on, he wouldn't have been able to touch even a hair on his head. But right now, Dang Jong-gyeok was holding Wei Yan-ho's life in his hands and wielding it.
"Kuk kuk kuk."
Every time Wei Yan-ho's chopsticks touched the food, Dang Jong-gyeok felt a spine-tingling pleasure.
'Stupid fool.'
When the Dang Family used poison, the most important thing wasn't how certainly they could poison someone. How precisely they could target only their intended victim was most important.
If they carelessly used poison and ended up poisoning others as well, they would have no qualification to call themselves a righteous orthodox sect. They had to be able to deal with precisely only their target.
To tell the truth, they were more careful because there had been several occasions where they'd used poison only to have unrelated people get poisoned as well, leading them to the brink of clan extinction.
That's why Dang Jong-gyeok didn't do something as stupid as putting poison in the food. As long as Wei Yan-ho wasn't moving alone, there would be people to share the food with, and if two people had problems simultaneously, suspicion of poison would grow stronger.
'Lee Seol-hwa… '
Dang Jong-gyeok quietly licked his lips.
There was also the fact that he didn't want to see her cough up blood and die. But the more fundamental reason was that Mount Hua was a burdensome existence even for the Dang Family.
When only Wei Yan-ho was dealt with, the remaining Guangdong Wei Family with only Wei Jeong-han and Wei San-ho would be nothing to fear. No matter how Wei Jeong-han was called the Righteous Hero Sword, there were probably at least ten people in the Dang Family alone who had similar or greater martial prowess than him.
And no matter how Wei San-ho was called the future's greatest under heaven, that was a matter for the future.
The best outcome would be if it wasn't revealed that he had acted, but even if it were discovered, the Guangdong Wei Family alone was something they could handle sufficiently.
But Mount Hua was quite burdensome. So Lee Seol-hwa being harmed by this incident had to be avoided as much as possible.
'Hu hu hu.'
While this might be extremely difficult for others, it wasn't particularly difficult for Dang Jong-gyeok. He was an expert in poison application to the extent that if he wanted, he could poison just one person even among thousands.
The method he used was simple.
First, he applied the basic poison to Wei Yan-ho's chopsticks. But that poison alone shouldn't cause an attack. Although the chopsticks were used by Wei Yan-ho alone, the poison on the chopsticks could be transmitted through the food.
Using extreme poison on eating utensils was something only amateurs would do.
'Yes, drink it.'
Wei Yan-ho, who had been stuffing food into his stomach with the appearance of a complete beggar, grabbed his teacup and gulped down the tea.
'That's right!'
Dang Jong-gyeok smiled with satisfaction.
Now it has finished.
What he had prepared most carefully was Wei Yan-ho's teacup. He had applied the core poison there.
To avoid suspicion of poison, the Dang Family possessed several poisons that weren't known to the world. One of them was the Yin-Yang Soul Summoning he used this time.
Yin-Yang Soul Summoning was composed of two poisons. The interesting thing was that each individual poison couldn't be called a poison.
The yin poison and yang poison alone wouldn't even cause a stomachache, but when these two poisons met in one place, they became an absolute poison that no one could avoid.
The moment the yin poison on the chopsticks and the yang poison on the teacup became one in the stomach, Wei Yan-ho would cleanly go to the afterlife.
And right now, those two poisons were meeting in Wei Yan-ho's stomach.
Dang Jong-gyeok was feeling indescribable pleasure.
Properly speaking, he wouldn't even dare to dream of facing Wei Yan-ho until he had mastered the Ten Thousand Flower Rain to the tenth level or higher. But he could kill martial artists several times stronger than that easily.
This is being proven right now.
Along with the warm pleasure in his stomach, Dang Jong-gyeok began preparing to slip away. If Wei Yan-ho collapsed, people would first suspect poison.
Later, when they examined the utensils and found nothing, he could escape suspicion, but if it was discovered that he had been in the kitchen before then, everything would be ruined.
So now he had to slip away gradually…
'Just a little more.'
Dang Jong-gyeok couldn't easily lift his feet.
Even knowing he should escape now, he couldn't move because he hadn't performed his final ritual.
It was his iron rule to capture in his eyes the sight of people contorting their faces in the pain that came when the poison in their stomachs attacked.
'Come on, quickly!'
Dang Jong-gyeok looked at Wei Yan-ho with a tense face.
Dang Jong-gyeok was confident that if he could just poison properly, he could cleanly send even the Plum Blossom Sword Master to the afterlife, let alone Wei Yan-ho.
So no matter how strong Wei Yan-ho was, he couldn't remain fine.
If he was properly poisoned and died, that would be perfect, and if not, if he became half-dead and sickly, he would either forfeit the tournament or lose his life in combat.
Either way was fine. As long as he was poisoned!
At that moment, Wei Yan-ho contorted his face and suddenly raised his head.
"Innkeeper!"
At the voice that rang thunderously through the hall, people's gazes instantly focused on Wei Yan-ho.
Even Lee Seol-hwa was startled enough to look at Wei Yan-ho, surprised by his sudden shouting.
"What's wrong?"
"Wait a moment."
When Lee Seol-hwa asked casually, Wei Yan-ho spoke with a determined face.
"Stop eating for now."
"Pardon?"
"I said stop eating."
When Wei Yan-ho spoke with a stern face, Lee Seol-hwa seemed to sense something strange and quietly put down her chopsticks.
Not long after, the pale-faced owner came running to Wei Yan-ho. Seeing the fat owner's face, Wei Yan-ho contorted his expression.
'This is trouble.'
The owner, examining Wei Yan-ho's expression, wiped the cold sweat flowing down his forehead.
The clothes the young man was wearing were definitely martial robes, and the clothes worn by the young lady sitting across from him were even Mount Hua's martial robes. Having lived for decades at the foot of Mount Hua, there was no way he could mistake Mount Hua's uniform.
In other words, this was a situation where a martial artist with enough status to dine with a Mount Hua disciple was angry.
Having done business with martial artists for many years, he knew very well how explosively violent these martial artist ruffians could be.
He had experienced the hall being half-destroyed several times.
"Young hero, what seems to be the matter?"
"What seems to be the matter?"
Wei Yan-ho looked at the owner with his face full of disgust. Seeing that unpleasant expression, the owner quietly clutched his heart.
'I'm doomed.'
Just from that expression alone, he could tell what a foul-tempered fellow this was.
"Who made this?"
"Th-this, you say?"
"Who made this food?"
"Ah…"
The owner looked at the food with a stiff face. When martial artists showed this kind of reaction, there was only one reason.
'Come to think of it… '
Today, the cook who usually made the food couldn't come because he was ill. Instead, he said he would recommend someone else, so a new cook had entered the kitchen.
'This is no ordinary matter.'
A new cook. And Wei Yan-ho's contorted reaction.
If someone who had lived with one foot in the martial world for half his life couldn't figure out what was happening from just the circumstances before his eyes, he had no qualification to run an inn at the foot of Mount Hua.
"A new cook came in."
"Bring him here."
"…Hero."
"I said bring him here."
When Wei Yan-ho's face became menacing, the owner sighed quietly.
From the way things were going, it seemed someone had put poison in the food, but how could he, an ordinary person, bring the culprit? If he spoke carelessly, he would die first.
But it seemed there was no law saying he had to die. When he turned his head to look at the kitchen, he saw a stranger peeking out with half his face showing.
"Th-that person! That person came in new today."
"Oho?"
Wei Yan-ho's eyes lit up.
'Damn it.'
Cold sweat began flowing down Dang Jong-gyeok's back.
'This isn't right… '
He had missed his chance to escape. If he showed any movement to flee now, Wei Yan-ho would chase after him. Unfortunately, he hadn't built up enough martial prowess to run away from Wei Yan-ho.
'There's no evidence.'
Since there was no evidence that he had used poison, Wei Yan-ho wouldn't be able to pressure him. So now it would be better to go out naturally instead.
The human skin mask covering his face was crafted so precisely that even someone with the best eyesight couldn't notice it, and no matter how much they investigated the dishes, they wouldn't be able to find poison.
There remained the question of why Wei Yan-ho was still so fine even after being poisoned, but that wasn't important right now.
"Come here."
When Wei Yan-ho beckoned with his finger, Dang Jong-gyeok walked toward the table as if entranced. Seeing Wei Yan-ho's blade-like gaze, he felt as if all strength was draining from his body.
"Why… are you doing this?"
"Did you make these dishes?"
"…Yes, that's right. Is there some problem?"
Wei Yan-ho's body trembled. Then he pointed at the dishes.
"Try eating it."
"Pardon?"
"I said try eating it."
Dang Jong-gyeok's body swayed slightly.
'Did he really notice?'
There was no other reason he would make him eat the food.
"Won't you eat?"
Wei Yan-ho's voice rose.
'No. There's nothing wrong with the food.'
The poison was in his chopsticks and teacup. So there would be no problem eating that food. Right now, obediently eating the food as Wei Yan-ho ordered would be the way to escape suspicion, but…
'Just in case.'
If tea water had splashed on the places Wei Yan-ho's chopsticks touched, this would be inescapable. Yin-Yang Soul Summoning was a poison without an antidote. No matter how much resistance to poison Dang Jong-gyeok had, if he was poisoned by Yin-Yang Soul Summoning, there would be no answer.
"You can't eat it, can you?"
"N-no. I'll eat it. I'll eat!"
When Dang Jong-gyeok grabbed the plate with trembling hands, Wei Yan-ho abruptly stood up from his seat.
"You!"
When Wei Yan-ho glared with an angry face, Dang Jong-gyeok felt that something was wrong.
That was a gaze full of killing intent beyond anger.
'I'm caught.'
Escape!
Only escape was the sole method to survive. Dang Jong-gyeok's vision, as he tried to turn around without looking back, suddenly went pitch black.
'Huh?'
At that moment, the plate Wei Yan-ho had thrown struck Dang Jong-gyeok squarely in the face.
Hit by well-fried Sichuan-style fried chicken and bounced into the air, Dang Jong-gyeok heard the furious shout of the enraged Wei Yan-ho in his ears.
"You expect people to eat this! And for one nyang of silver at that!"
'Ah… '
So that was the problem.
That was it.