"It's dangerous."
Rustle.
Cho-Do’s vines wrapped around Tang Soyeong.
She had no choice but to act.
Even powerhouses like Docheol could barely move in this situation, yet Gaegak Sect’s weakest member had stepped forward.
She was protecting her.
But Tang Soyeong pushed past Cho-Do’s vines.
Rustle.
Brushing away the tendrils that tried to shield her, Tang Soyeong stepped forward.
"Ki-yong...."
The twin spider sisters, who always stood by her side, closed their eyes.
As if they already knew what she was about to do.
"...A child of the Tang Clan, I see."
Something changed.
The overwhelming bloodlust that had been radiating from Gomodo, enough to tear apart everyone on the spot, vanished.
The one occupying Ko Hui’s body was undoubtedly Gomodo himself.
He hadn’t heard the conversation with Bihee, but there was no other explanation.
No one but Gomodo could exude such raw, suffocating power.
That was why Tang Soyeong had no choice but to step forward.
Unlike the others, her clan had always stood by Gomodo’s side.
For generations, the Tang Clan had upheld his will.
"Ah, well now, that does change things."
Gomodo’s crimson eyes dimmed slightly.
"Speak, then. I’ll listen."
Everyone swallowed hard.
Their fate now rested in the hands of one girl.
"You're... not Go Dae-hyeop, are you?"
"I expected a better question. But to answer—no, I am not the one you know. That one is asleep inside me. Just as I once was."
A sharp intake of breath.
The black-scaled lizard they had known was gone.
Devoured by his own inner demons.
"Then you are..."
"Yes. I am the one you call Gomodo."
Gomodo.
The spirit beast the Tang Clan had worshipped for generations.
"Child of the Tang Clan, why do you wear such a troubled expression?"
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Tang Soyeong’s face was grim.
How could it not be?
She had just realized the cruel truth.
The man she had followed was no longer here.
A Tang Clan member was bound by duty to serve Gomodo.
It was an oath, an unshakable obligation, passed down through generations.
So she should be bowing before this Gomodo, the true one.
She knew that.
And yet, her heart refused.
And Gomodo knew it, too.
"How foolish. Think carefully, child. Has the one who owned this body ever truly cared for you?"
The relationship between Ko Hui and Tang Soyeong had always been... strange.
A lizard who avoided humans had dragged back a girl.
And yet, this girl had insisted that he was her divine beast.
She had lived in his den, choosing to stay even after her leg had healed.
She had found temporary refuge in the Heavenly Demon Cult, boasting that she would spend her life there, only to follow Ko Hui once more into the wild mountains.
And Ko Hui hadn’t particularly liked her, either.
At first, he had saved her simply because he didn’t want to see unnecessary bloodshed.
And later, upon learning she was from the Tang Clan, he had thought they could mutually benefit from each other.
Tang Soyeong had believed that by returning with his scales and venom, she could secure her place within her clan.
Ko Hui had thought that keeping her around would help strengthen his poison techniques.
It should have been a transactional relationship.
But neither of them had been cold-hearted enough for that.
Ko Hui had pretended not to care but had watched over her.
Tang Soyeong had constantly schemed to trick him, yet had once thrown herself in harm’s way to protect his mates.
At some point, they had become irreplaceable to one another.
And now, standing before the first Gomodo, Tang Soyeong knew—
The Tang Clan had never served Ko Hui.
They had always served Gomodo.
"The Tang Clan has upheld its oath well. And for that, I shall grant an appropriate reward. Especially to you, who have watched over this body for so long."
Gomodo looked down at her.
"I can even consider making you my mate, should you desire it."
His words echoed like a thunderclap.
To the Tang Clan, nothing could be a greater honor.
It was a feat even their founder had failed to achieve.
By offering such a promise, Gomodo was essentially granting her anything she wished for.
"So then, child of the Tang Clan, tell me—what do you desire?"
A being who could stand against the heavens had just offered her a wish.
Even the most selfless person would be tempted.
And Tang Soyeong was not selfless.
She had always been someone who schemed to take Ko Hui’s scales.
She was greedy by nature.
But her answer came neither quickly nor slowly.
She didn’t hesitate, nor did she act on impulse.
She simply said what needed to be said.
"Give Go Dae-hyeop back."
Gomodo’s eyes widened.
"So, you would drink the poison to its last drop."
That’s what he said.
But strangely, his lips curled into a smirk.
As if he had just witnessed something intriguing.
The weakest person here had just stood against him.
CRACK.
And so—
That became the signal flare.
"Damn it, why do I even like that lizard when he only causes me trouble?!"
Baekrang’s icy energy surged, freezing the earth.
"Ki-yooong!"
"Kiieeng!"
Pus and Tus activated their powers at the same time.
"A fight we cannot win. You are marching to your deaths."
WHOOSH!
Docheol’s crimson flames flared, consuming the air around Gomodo.
BOOOOM!
Even Honhui, though smaller than before, struck with unrelenting force.
"Come, then. Show me what you are capable of."
Gomodo did not counterattack.
Even Qiongqi and Bihee had failed to wound him.
There was no reason to block.
But...
He needed to assess their level of power.
SWOOSH!
That’s when he saw it.
A web hurtling toward him.
Though he had stood motionless against their attacks,
he instinctively knew he could not let this one land.
Crimson eyes locked onto golden hair.
It was Nephila’s web.
Weaker than the others, yet somehow—
far more dangerous.
Gomodo tried to sever it with his claws.
But—
He couldn’t.
"Tch... Are you still awake?!"
His body refused to obey.
His arms stiffened as if paralyzed.
Ko Hui—
Had not been fully consumed.
From within, he was still fighting.
Rustle.
The web tightened, completely binding Gomodo.
A restraint of this level should have been easy to break, but—
He had lost control of his body.
For a brief moment, escaping was impossible.
No matter what, he would have to take one hit.
At least, until this web was severed.
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And the one who stepped forward once again—
Was Tang Soyeong.
"Ki-yong!"
"Ki-eeeng!"
With the spider sisters by her side.
Gaegak Sect boasted many powerhouses.
Compared to them, Tang Soyeong and the spider sisters were weak.
The spiders might have had some skill, but Tang Soyeong was undoubtedly the weakest among them.
Yet, without hesitation, they moved forward.
Tap.
Tang Soyeong’s lips moved nonstop, whispering instructions.
Pus and Tus scurried around Gomodo’s immobilized body, their movements quick and precise.
They touched every part of his unprotected form.
"...No way!"
Watching their actions, Gomodo roared.
Gogol Point, Cheonju Point, Biyu Point, Gokji Point.
Hogu Point, Baekhae Point, Wijeong Point, Chukbin Point.
"He revealed... all his pressure points?!"
Giving away one’s pressure points was akin to handing over one’s life.
If a person did not trust their opponent completely, they would never reveal such a thing.
Even during training, if one was careless while touching these points, they could die instantly.
The night before the battle, Tang Soyeong had touched every scale on Ko Hui’s body.
He had given her everything.
He had planned for this.
He had prepared for the possibility that his body might be taken.
And so, he had given her the means to stop it.
Gomodo seemed invincible.
But he had a weakness.
This body did not belong to him.
It was Ko Hui’s.
And no one knew it better than Tang Soyeong.
She knew exactly where to strike to paralyze him.
But that wasn’t the only weakness.
"Ki-eeeng...!"
Compared to Gomodo, his immunity to poison was insufficient.
Not Ten Thousand Poisons Immunity.
Only Thousand Poisons Immunity.
Even that was an incredible resistance, but it wasn’t absolute.
There existed poisons that could work on him.
And Tang Soyeong had them.
After the fall of the Black Cloud Sect, she had collected and refined poisons from countless venomous creatures.
She had studied Ko Hui’s body hundreds, thousands of times.
Now, with deadly accuracy, she struck his pressure points.
And alongside it—
A lethal poison, one capable of piercing through Thousand Poisons Immunity, began to take effect.
The deadliest flower had begun to bloom.
"Think carefully, child of the Tang Clan."
Gomodo, unable to move, spoke.
"If word spreads of what you’ve done... what do you think your clan will do to you?"
He couldn’t stop the attack.
The only thing left was to sway her.
This wasn’t a desperate plea.
It was logic.
In his view—
In the Tang Clan’s view—
She should be serving him, not some lost lizard.
"The one who saved me was not you," Tang Soyeong said firmly.
"It was Go Dae-hyeop."
"A foolish choice. This is your final chance—think carefully."
Tang Soyeong had considered it.
There was no doubt.
To the Tang Clan, the true spirit beast was Gomodo, not Ko Hui.
If she followed duty, she should be standing by his side.
Her hands trembled.
Her vision blurred with tears.
She remembered falling.
The helplessness.
The certainty of death.
The moment when he had saved her.
The tears that had welled up then—
The same ones welled up now.
But they did not fall.
She wiped them away.
And took another step forward.
"You are bound to serve me," Gomodo said.
His voice carried weight.
"Do not take the oath of your ancestors lightly, child of the Tang Clan."
A flood of memories surged through her mind.
The Tang Clan’s vow.
The Tang Clan’s rules.
The Tang Clan’s duty.
Her family.
The servants she grew up with.
The happy childhood she spent as a cherished daughter.
Gomodo’s lips curled into a smirk.
He thought—
She was hesitating.
She was weighing her choices.
She remembered her father collapsing.
The radicals seizing power.
The elders deceiving her into coming to the Ten Thousand Great Mountains.
The ambush by third-rate martial artists.
The moment she almost died in the swamp.
But her heart had already decided.
She had never hesitated.
"The one I serve is not some mythical dragon.
It's the lizard I met in the swamp."
Her final step.
Her final strike.
She reached out—
With the same trembling hands that had once tried to touch that lizard.
And she struck—
Gongsong Point.
She sealed all nine demon acupoints.