The gazes of the opposing martial artists all turned towards Tang Yuhwa.

"It's sorcery!!"

"This isn't martial arts!"

A gaze filled with a burdensome hostility that would have made Baek Yoonjun's heart stop for a moment if he had received it.

"How dare you use such strange tricks in the sacred arena of a life-and-death duel!!"

The atmosphere began to grow more hostile, and the opposing side exuded a presence as if they would rush onto the stage and drag Tang Yuhwa down at any moment.

'What I was worried about has happened. What do I do?'

In that hostile scene, Baek Yoonjun grabbed the hilt of his sword with a trembling hand.

'My condition isn't good right now, but if necessary...'

And so, Baek Yoonjun was steeling himself in his own way.

As time passed, the commotion spread even further.

"They said she was a divine doctor, but it turns out she was a demonic doctor who uses vicious poison!!"

There were even people who were not from the opposing side but were naturally mixed in and instigating.

'Damn it! Do I really have to rush in?'

Baek Yoonjun steeled himself once more to rush onto the stage.

But.

'But what can I do in my current state? Wouldn't I be more useless than Yuhwa and just be a nuisance?'

Baek Yoonjun's nature diligently held him back.

And so, as Baek Yoonjun was in mental conflict, the person in question, Tang Yuhwa, calmly received those gazes and opened her mouth.

"My martial art has been recognized as a poison art."

"Who recognized it as such!"

"My master."

"Who is that...!"

The martial artist who had raised his voice moved his gaze to where Tang Yuhwa's gaze was directed and hastily shut his mouth.

Not only that martial artist, but all the martial artists who had turned their gazes there shut their mouths.

Because there was Baek Yoonjun, who was sitting with his hand on the hilt of his sword, looking noble as if this commotion was trivial.

His overwhelming display of martial power from before.

Because of that, the military faction of Zhongnan had to desperately prevent his participation in the life-and-death duel.

Since he had recognized Tang Yuhwa's martial art as a poison art, there was no one who dared to question it carelessly.

And Baek Yoonjun, who had received such gazes.

'Why? Why? Why is everyone looking at me? Why did that brat Yuhwa have to mention me!'

There was no nobility or anything, he was just frozen on the spot as the gazes suddenly focused on him.

Whatever Baek Yoonjun's inner thoughts were, the situation seemed to be settling down.

It wasn't that there were no complaints, but individual martial power was bound to be broken in front of overwhelming martial power.

And so, in the midst of the confusion.

"Then we will proceed."

It continued under the direction of Ye Eunhee of Gongtong, who was in charge of judging.

"You cunning wench. I will shatter your petty tricks!"

The next martial artist to come out from the opposing side was a man with a more slender build than the previous one.

As the gazes were lifted from him, Baek Yoonjun was relieved and observed the opponent.

'This opponent doesn't seem to have a good compatibility with Yuhwa.'

Unlike the previous opponent, Tang Yuhwa's current opponent handled a swift sword, and his personality also seemed belligerent.

"I am Tang Yuhwa."

"Shut up and take my sword!"

After the opponent went up, a moment later, the two faced each other and took a ready stance.

"Then, you two, please claim your righteousness by deciding life and death!"

With Ye Eunhee's command, the second life-and-death duel began.

This time too, Tang Yuhwa threw the Butterfly Dart as soon as it started.

"Where are you trying your shallow tricks again!!"

The opponent quickly stepped back and parried the Butterfly Dart with the tip of his sword.

'Oh no! That's right, if you use the Butterfly Dart like that, it'll be countered quickly.'

Baek Yoonjun looked at that sight with pity.

By Yoonjun's standards, the Butterfly Dart was a heinous hidden weapon itself.

'If she had used it with the intention of properly tearing the opponent apart, it wouldn't have been countered so futilely.'

Although he felt pity, he was not worried.

'That's not Yuhwa's only weapon.'

As Baek Yoonjun was thinking so and looking at Tang Yuhwa, just in time, a glove that she didn't usually wear was on Tang Yuhwa's hand.

A glove of a faint ink color with metal embedded here and there.

Tang Yuhwa stretched out her gloved hand and blocked the sword flying towards her.

Clang!

Even though it was an overwhelmingly disadvantageous situation of a glove versus a sword, the glove deflected the sword without difficulty.

'Elder Blacksmith made something just right. Of course, Yuhwa's dexterity in handling it also played a part.'

A sturdy glove that could block a blade.

Of course, the function of that glove was not just its sturdiness.

Having blocked the blade, Tang Yuhwa quickly increased the distance.

Since a long-term close-quarters battle was impossible with Tang Yuhwa's abilities.

Having increased the distance, Tang Yuhwa swung her gloved hand.

At that, the tip of the glove glittered in the sunlight, and that glitter continued for a long time.

A long thread continued as if the thread at the tip of the glove were unraveling.

That thread grazed the cheek of the opposing martial artist who was at a distance.

Drip.

A line appeared on the opponent's cheek, and blood flowed out.

A very shallow cut.

But for Tang Yuhwa, that was enough.

The glove was full of the poison that Tang Yuhwa had shed with her hand, and it had flowed all the way to the thread at the tip of the glove.

Having confirmed that there was a wound on the opponent's cheek, Tang Yuhwa clenched her fist.

At that, the thread at the tip of the glove was rolled up and fused with the glove.

Tang Yuhwa briefly turned her gaze to the glove.

Since she had received it not long ago, it was the first time she was using the armament in a real battle.

'It's hard to handle.'

Having briefly evaluated the glove in her mind, Tang Yuhwa turned her gaze to the opponent.

"Keuk. What did you do to me?"

Using the previous battle as experience, this time she used a poison that had a lower effect but took effect more quickly.

"Poisoning."

"Isn't it different from before!"

"Because it's a different poison from before."

While they were talking, the opponent began to stiffen even more and could do nothing but blink his eyes.

Tang Yuhwa quietly turned her eyes to the opposing camp and opened her mouth.

"Next."

---

Zhang Sanfeng was looking up at the stage with a serious expression.

'The Divine Doctor of Sichuan is doing better than I thought.'

Although it was nerve-wracking, she had perfectly suppressed two opponents.

Although there was some opposition in the process.

'As expected, just having Brother Baek as an ally is reassuring.'

The situation was resolved just by Baek Yoonjun being here.

A situation that was flowing smoothly.

In that situation, Zhang Sanfeng felt a strange sense of incongruity.

'The other side... their armament and martial arts are all different. But. For some reason, it feels like they're wearing clothes that don't fit.'

And so, Zhang Sanfeng, who was quietly observing the opposing martial artist, met the eyes of a martial artist from the Martial Alliance.

That martial artist looked at Zhang Sanfeng with a complicated gaze for a very short moment and then turned his eyes away.

'He is someone I have never seen before. But why do I feel a familiar feeling?'

Having met the eyes of the opposing martial artist, Zhang Sanfeng felt his chest become heavy.

Zhang Sanfeng, who had been immersed in sentiment, forcibly composed himself and woke up from his sentiment.

'Rather than trying to know the unknown, let's focus on the current situation.'

And so, while Zhang Sanfeng was forcibly composing himself, Tang Yuhwa's next opponent came up onto the stage.

---

Tang Yuhwa's next opponent was the leader of the Zhongnan military faction, Seo Heoyun.

He stood facing Tang Yuhwa without saying anything special.

Seeing this, Tang Yuhwa felt it.

'He's strong.'

An opponent on a different dimension from the opponents who had come out so far.

He seemed to have a level of martial arts that surpassed Zhang Sanfeng on their side and was similar to Gu Wolju.

Having sensed this to some extent, Tang Yuhwa threw the Butterfly Dart as soon as the decisive battle began and stepped back.

The Butterfly Dart, flying in a bizarre, unpredictable path.

But Seo Heoyun, as if lightly parrying the Butterfly Dart was not enough, caught it with his hand after parrying it.

"Crude. If you can make this much poison, you could have made a stronger fatal poison."

Seo Heoyun quickly approached Tang Yuhwa.

Tang Yuhwa swung her gloved hand towards Seo Heoyun.

The thread, so thin that it was invisible to the eye, which was drawn from the glove, attacked Seo Heoyun, but.

"As expected, it's petty."

Seo Heoyun rotated his sword on the spot and then wrapped all the thread around the sword.

Seo Heoyun strongly held up the sword with the thread wrapped around it.

At that, Tang Yuhwa's body, which was connected to the thread, floated up.

Tang Yuhwa, who had become in a state of flying towards Seo Heoyun, stretched out her ungloved hand towards Seo Heoyun.

Tang Yuhwa's long sleeve fluttered, and her wrist was revealed.

A silver cylinder that glittered in the sunlight under her wrist revealed itself.

Tudududu!!

The cylinder on her wrist made a weak bursting sound, and then numerous needles were shot out and attacked Seo Heoyun.

"You bastard!"

Perhaps because he hadn't expected this move, Seo Heoyun hastily swung his sword and stepped back.

Having narrowly parried and dodged the needles, Seo Heoyun quickly rushed towards Tang Yuhwa again.

"Are you done showing your tricks?"

He grabbed Tang Yuhwa's neck and then threw her to the ground.

"Keok."

Tang Yuhwa, who was thrown hard onto the ground from her back, let out a groan and rolled on the floor.

At the pain that ravaged her whole body, starting from her back, Tang Yuhwa couldn't breathe properly and barely managed to half-raise her body.

Seo Heoyun looked down at such a Tang Yuhwa indifferently and opened his mouth.

"On the battlefield, the most dangerous things were not spears and swords, but poison and hidden weapons."

He continued to speak indifferently, as if the current battle was nothing to see.

"Seeing you reminds me. Of that person who was known only to those who knew on the battlefield."

His face, which seemed to be talking about old memories, for some reason, was full of a look of ridicule.

"Seeing that young brat who was dragged here as a military slave, everyone thought, he'll die soon."

Seo Heoyun suppressed Tang Yuhwa, who was trying to stealthily increase the distance, with his hand and held her head up to face him.

"But perhaps because he had a talent, he survived well. Especially, his talent in handling poison was outstanding."

Tang Yuhwa struggled to get out of Seo Heoyun's hand, but she couldn't get out.

"And yet, he would go around saying that he would establish a family with medicine and make it so that no one in the entire Central Plains would die from illness or injury."

"Surr...!"

"Oh no, you can't. The story isn't over yet."

Seo Heoyun covered Tang Yuhwa's mouth, who was trying to declare her surrender, and continued his story.

"It's a story that only makes one laugh. If he was dragged here as a military slave, he should have naturally died as an arrow fodder. But that brat managed to do it!"

Seo Heoyun exaggeratedly held up his hands.

"He released poison in the middle of the night and annihilated thousands of barbarians! It was truly a one-man army achieved with poison!!"

An exaggerated gesture as if talking about a great achievement.

But that act was clearly filled with ridicule.

"That day, I told that brat, with respect. The Tang family has produced a poison demon!!"

In his words, which he expressed as respect, there was not a single bit of respect to be found, and it was only full of ridicule.

"And then that brat came at me pettily. Since he didn't even use his specialty, poison, I beat him up until he was a complete cripple. I didn't see him after that day, so I looked into it, and it seems he was discharged in commemoration of being recognized for his merits and becoming a cripple."

Seo Heoyun quietly took his hand off Tang Yuhwa's mouth and smiled crookedly, meeting her eyes.

"I thought he had died somewhere as a stranger, but it seems he was living well. To even have a daughter like this."

"What are you talking about?"

"Tang Yeongjun."

As a name was mentioned from Seo Heoyun's mouth, Tang Yuhwa's body froze on the spot as if frozen.

Seeing that, Seo Heoyun smiled with satisfaction.

"Isn't your father's name Tang Yeongjun?"

"..."

"Kuhahahahat! The poison demon of the Tang family has produced an outstanding poison woman! What is the ambition of the Tang family? Is it to cover the entire Central Plains with poison!"

Tang Yuhwa glared at the madly laughing Seo Heoyun with murderous eyes.

"My father is not that kind of person."

"That's right! He's not a good person!"

Tang Yuhwa glared at Seo Heoyun and tried to move her body forcibly.

But perhaps because the shock of being thrown to the ground earlier had not yet subsided, she couldn't even stand up properly.

Not only that, but the words that Seo Heoyun had spat out earlier also played a part in binding Tang Yuhwa's movements.

Looking down at such a Tang Yuhwa, Seo Heoyun held up his sword with a face full of ridicule.

"But today, the ambition of such a Tang family is also over."

Seo Heoyun's sword was brought down towards Tang Yuhwa.

Unlike before, it wasn't such a fast sword, but perhaps because the shock was great, Tang Yuhwa couldn't move even after seeing the sword being brought down.

And so, just before Seo Heoyun's sword reached Tang Yuhwa's neck.

Clang!

A blade of ink color stopped Seo Heoyun's sword.

In front of Tang Yuhwa, a pure white robe and hair were fluttering.

"I'm sorry I'm late."

As if it were natural, with a face full of apology.

(End of Chapter)