"The deadliest flowers bloom unseen, nurtured not by sunlight, but by venom and silence."
The Tang Clan was once a name that shook the heavens and shattered alliances. Generals feared its assassins. Sects trembled at its poison manuals. But those were days drowned in memory. Now, the Tang Clan lingered like a venomous shadow in the eighth seat of the Great Eight Clans, its fangs dulled by internal decay.
Yet within the clan's inner stronghold behind walls steeped in toxic mists and whispered betrayals a strange wind stirred.
A boy, reborn with memories of a life lost, walked quietly beneath a crooked plum tree in the Poison Courtyard. He was only twelve, yet the weight in his eyes was older than any elder.
Tang Yun, the forgotten twelfth son of the Tang Clan, had returned.
The Twelve Thorns of Tang
The children of the Tang Clan were not raised with affection. They were cultivated like venomous beasts isolated, tested, and set against each other from birth. The late Patriarch had taken many wives and concubines, each child born from a different woman, forming a garden of competing thorns.
Their names echoed through Murim in fear and infamy.
1. Tang Jinhai (20) – Crimson Fang of Hundred Nights (백야홍아 – Baekya Hong-a)
The eldest and undisputed heir candidate. Known for his deadly blade soaked in nightshade poison, Jinhai once massacred thirty bandits under moonlight earning his title. Arrogant, ruthless, and cruel, he saw no brother, only obstacles.
2. Tang Feiyan (19) – Velvet Orchid of Death (사망의 비단란 – Samang-ui Bidanran)
Ethereal and unreadable. Feiyan's poisons came in the form of perfume, oils, and powdered silks. Her smile preceded slow, painful deaths. Feared even among her siblings, she never raised her voice, yet silence followed her.
3. Tang Wuhen (18) – Silent Serpent (묵사의 독사 – Muksaui Doksa)
A phantom of the night. No one saw him arrive or leave. His poisons paralyzed the nervous system before the target realized they'd been struck. Assassins of the Hao Sect whispered his name with dread.
4. Tang Rouxi (17) – Ghostneedle Princess (유침공주 – Yuchim Gongju)
The most sadistic. Her silver needles pierced through acupoints without a sound. Her opponents often danced in agony before collapsing. She viewed pain as poetry and martial arts as sculpture molded in flesh.
5. Tang Huian (16) – Thousand Venom Scholar (천독서생 – Cheondok Seosaeng)
The scholar among killers. He spent years deciphering ancient poison scriptures. It's said he once killed a Martial Master using nothing but incense. His study was forbidden even to elders.
6. Tang Mingzhe (16) – Duskgloom Talon (황혼갈고리 – Hwanghon Galgori)
Specializing in claw techniques and paralytic venoms, Mingzhe tortured his enemies with slow deaths. He recorded the screams of his victims to refine his techniques. The Wei Clan once declared a blood feud against him.
7–11. Tang Ruolin, Tang Bao, Tang Lixue, Tang Shenli, Tang Jiayi
The lesser-known children. Not because they lacked talent—but because their methods were never witnessed. They operated in absolute silence. Rumors said at least two worked within the Hao Sect under aliases. One was believed to have defected to the Beggar Sect—but still sent poisoned offerings to rivals.
12. Tang Yun (12) – The Forgotten Root
No title. No presence. No strength. Labeled talentless, his qi was declared stagnant at birth. His mother, a concubine from a fallen minor clan, died shortly after giving birth. The other children barely acknowledged his existence.
But now, Tang Yun was more than he appeared.
A former martial sovereign reborn.
A serpent among serpents.
The Ceremony of the Vine
Held once every five years, the Ceremony of the Vine was both tradition and test. Each child would present their inner poison affinity by placing their hand into the Obsidian Vine Cauldron. A seed would react to their poison qi, blooming into a symbolic vine that revealed their path.
It was a rite of passage and a brutal reminder of status.
The Poison Courtyard was filled with tension as twelve cloaked figures walked to the center. Elders, servants, and inner court members watched in silence. Among them stood four of the Tang Clan's most influential elders, their auras heavy and venomous.
The Four Pillars of Venom
◉ Elder Tang Mo – Whispering Venom (속삭이는 독 – Soksagineun Dok)
Master manipulator. His poison techniques caused hallucinations and illusions so vivid that enemies killed themselves. He favored the subtle kill and was known to guide internal clan politics from the shadows.
◉ Elder Tang Ren – Frostbite Venom Sovereign (동빙독존 – Dongbing Dokjon)
Once froze an entire river with ice qi laced with cold poison. Stoic and cruel, his disciples all trained in cryo-venoms. He oversaw punishment and exile–his name was synonymous with internal purging.
◉ Elder Tang Liansu – Guardian of the Venom Scriptures (독경수호자 – Dokgyeong Suhoja)
She was ancient, perhaps older than even the patriarch. Keeper of forbidden venom arts and mental toxins. It was said she could poison thoughts with a glance. Her loyalty to the clan's legacy was absolute.
◉ Elder Tang Weiwu – Bone-Rotting Sage (골부독성 – Golbu Dokseong)
His poisons dissolved bone marrow. Scarred and shriveled from self-testing toxins, he was feared even by the elders. He trained outer disciples in war poisons–none graduated unscarred.
Atop a black stone dais stood the Obsidian Vine Cauldron, carved from Blackwind Stone mined deep beneath Mount Hundred Venoms.
One by one, the children stepped forward.
Tang Jinhai's seed bloomed crimson and fanged symbolizing lethal burst venom.
Feiyan's flower was translucent orchid-purple deadly upon touch.
Wuhen's curled into a coil silent, thin, and quick-reacting.
Rouxi's bore silver thorns.
Huian's opened slowly, oozing a foul mist—delayed toxins.
Mingzhe's reeked of rot and shadow.
Each seed shimmered with qi-rich color. Murmurs of admiration followed every display.
Then came the twelfth child.
Tang Yun walked silently to the cauldron. A servant scoffed. One sibling snickered.
"Will it sprout mold instead of poison?" Tang Mingzhe whispered.
Tang Yun placed his hand on the stone.
For a moment–nothing.
Then a single pulse. Dim. Murky.
A deep, black-green shimmer emerged. Not vibrant. Not blooming. It coiled–slowly–into a thin vine with cracked bark and strange textures.
"It's... diseased," someone muttered.
"Rotten."
"Even the vine refuses him."
But none noticed Elder Tang Liansu's slight twitch. Or the way Elder Mo's half-lidded eyes opened slightly wider.
The vine seed had not failed. It had dormant toxicity. A rare, ancient trait signifying serpentine latency.
It meant the poison would not strike quickly but once it did, it would devour every resistance.
Elder Mo stroked his chin.
"A poison that sleeps... or a serpent coiling before the strike?"
Nightfall Calculations
That night, Tang Yun returned to his secluded courtyard. No lanterns burned. No servants waited. Only silence and a faint scent of bitter herbs.
He sat in lotus position. The vine seed lay beside him, pulsing faintly.
He smiled.
"I do not need them to see me now."
"The venom within will see them when it's ready."
He etched a poem on bamboo and burned it:
"Laughed at by kings who sat on thrones,
I drank their poison and chewed their bones.
In death I learned what life concealed
That shadows strike where wounds don't heal."
The Patriarch Stirs
High atop the Tang Clan's Forbidden Venom Hall, a lonely figure stood behind a silk veil.
Tang Qingshan – The Immortal Toxin Monarch (불사독군 – Bulsa Dokgun)
The clan's patriarch.
He had not attended the ceremony, nor spoken to his children in years. Many believed he had gone mad, trying to merge venom with divine dao. But that night, he opened his eyes.
He had felt something.
"A sleeping poison," he muttered.
"With a will... and a grudge."
He summoned no one. Gave no orders.
But in the darkness, he smiled.
Seeds of Power, Roots of Hatred
Across the clan, elders began to whisper of the failed seedling.
Outer disciples laughed behind walls.
Siblings returned to their schemes.
But Elder Tang Mo called for a servant.
"The twelfth child–watch him closely."
"If he dies, let him die."
"But if he survives…"
"I want to know what crawls beneath his skin."
Tang Yun knew.
To be scorned was not a curse it was a shield.
He was not the weakest of the twelve.
He was the only one unseen.
And the most venomous creatures always waited... beneath the surface.
[Tags]: Reincarnation, Martial Arts, Poison, Scheming Protagonist, Cultivation, Weak to Strong, Anti-Hero, Cold Protagonist, Clan Wars, Hidden Identity, Revenge