Chapter 35
Chapter 35
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: Please Kill Me.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Thud.
Confirming that Dang Yeonmyeong had completely breathed his last, Dang Wolhwa dropped to her knees and collapsed onto the floor.
“Haa… haa…”
Should she feel relieved now that the chains binding her had come undone…? Or should she feel sorrow at having watched her own father die by her hand…?
Either way, it was a complex, indescribable emotion.
She knelt there in a daze, staring blankly at Dang Yeonmyeong for a long while, until something suddenly occurred to her, and she jumped to her feet.
“Sir Hero!”
“Yeah? What is it?”
“Didn’t you just get hit with poison from Dang Yeonmyeong…? Even a master can’t avoid being poisoned if a Poison Person uses their deadliest toxin on purpose. Let me detoxify you right away…”
In her fixation on her enemy’s death, she had overlooked her benefactor’s dire condition. Dang Wolhwa panicked and hurried to check Muyun’s body, but…
“Ah, that’s fine.”
“…Pardon?”
“Before I cut that guy’s throat earlier, I already purged the poison from my own body.”
“How could that…?”
Unable to believe his words, Dang Wolhwa inspected Muyun’s body with her own eyes.
And…
‘…It’s true?’
…She confirmed that his body was completely clean, without any issues.
It must have been the power of that bizarre martial art he had demonstrated moments ago.
‘That was something beyond words…’
Recalling how Muyun had sliced through Dang Yeonmyeong’s poison with his blade earlier, Dang Wolhwa steeled her resolve.
And then…
Thud.
…She knelt down to make that resolve into a request to Muyun.
As she suddenly dropped to her knees again, Muyun frowned down at her.
“…What now?”
“Would it be too shameless of me to ask a favor of you?”
“…Go ahead.”
With an expression like he’d hear her out, Muyun prompted her. Dang Wolhwa took a deep breath and spoke.
“Just now… with that sword you used to cut down Dang Yeonmyeong… would you cut me down with it too?”
“…What?”
…It was more shocking than expected.
Muyun’s eyes widened in surprise, but Dang Wolhwa continued calmly.
“As you know, I’m a Poison Person, but I haven’t reached full maturity. The reason is that the Tang Clan of Sichuan never gave me the antidotes I needed.”
“…So?”
“Because I’m not a fully mature Poison Person, poison courses through my blood and flesh… but the pain hits me full force. It might not seem like it, but even now, my whole body feels like it’s burning. And just now, Dang Yeonmyeong injected me with even more poison.”
“……”
“…The only reason I haven’t died until now is that I was worried my corpse would release poison gas and harm those around me after I died. But the body of Dang Yeonmyeong, whom you cut down, isn’t emitting any poison gas. Isn’t it because you severed both his neck and the poison in one stroke?”
“…Correct.”
Hearing that, Dang Wolhwa lifted her head and bared her own throat.
“Then… kill me with that sword too… I beg you…”
“……”
“…I’m so tired now. I don’t have the strength to keep living with this pain, and I don’t want to rot away like my mother did. I’d rather end it now…”
“……”
“…End it now. Please.”
This was her truest wish.
The hope that if she obeyed the Tang Clan’s words, she might one day escape this agony.
That false hope had been the driving force that kept her enduring somehow until now. But Dang Yeonmyeong had no intention of ever curing her, and now he was dead.
Any records of her had been burned by Dang Yeonmyeong when he sold her to Haomen, so there was no longer any connection between her and the Tang Clan of Sichuan.
Even if she reconnected with them, they would only use her like Dang Yeonmyeong did—they would never save her.
In that case…
Better to die than live in this hellish torment.
That’s what Dang Wolhwa thought.
“…Of course, I know killing someone comes with all sorts of complications. So I’ll pay you for it.”
With that, she removed a ring from her index finger and rushed to the desk, pressing her finger seal onto a piece of paper.
“With these, you can take control of all of Haomen. After you kill me, deliver them to the Sichuan branch chief.”
She placed it in Muyun’s hand and knelt again.
“So please, just kill me…”
As she kept begging, Muyun pondered for a long moment before asking,
“You really want to die that badly?”
“…Yes.”
“Alright, then. I’ll do it.”
Muyun drew his blade again.
And assumed the stance from that technique he had shown earlier.
The moment she saw it, Dang Wolhwa closed her eyes.
‘Ah…’
Finally, this pain would end.
Even before she was born, her mother had been ingesting poison. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say Dang Wolhwa had been born with poison in her veins.
When others had blood flowing through their bodies, hers had poison too.
When others drank water and ate rice, she ate with poison.
Every moment of her life had poison in it. And pain along with it.
But now it was over. With her death, it all would end.
‘After I die…’
Imagining what came after her death, she recalled what she had said to Dang Yeonmyeong earlier.
Wander the nine heavens forever in bitterness as a lonely ghost, you bastard.
In truth, her afterlife wouldn’t be much different from his.
Even if it wasn’t entirely by choice, she had committed evils no less than his.
To rise to leader of Haomen, she had killed many people. Even in the cutthroat jianghu, that guilt and responsibility didn’t just vanish.
When she died, the souls of those she had killed would drag her down to the deepest pits of hell.
“Alright, here I go.”
Shing.
As she thought that, she felt the blade slowly moving right in front of her. She could sense Muyun’s qi flow shifting too.
‘Ah.’
When death is at hand, people reveal their true hearts—even lifelong martial artists.
Her body began to tremble slightly, her qi grew unstable, and she wanted nothing more than to run away right then.
Yes.
Truth be told, she wanted to live.
But not like this, bound to poison again.
Just an ordinary life like everyone else. Breathing easily, not hurting when idle, eating something tasty now and then.
She wanted that kind of life. And with that fierce longing…
Slash.
She was cut.
……
……
“Ah…”
Even though Muyun swung his blade, no pain came from her neck as expected. Puzzled, Dang Wolhwa touched it and found her head still attached.
Opening her eyes and looking ahead, she saw Muyun sheathing his blade.
She had survived. For now, she was alive.
A strange thrill washed over her at still being alive, but mixed with regret at missing this chance to die, she asked in a voice tinged with resentment,
“…Why didn’t you kill me?”
“I thought about it—if I kill you, Old Man Munseok will suddenly get swamped with work, and who’ll brew my liquor if you’re gone?”
“For such a trivial reason…? Huh?”
The moment she drew breath to continue…
“……”
She sensed something off.
Her lungs had always been filled with poison gas, so every breath brought searing pain. But now…
She felt nothing.
In her shock, Muyun’s indifferent voice continued.
“I just precisely cut out the poison gas clinging to your core. There’s still some left in places… but the root is gone, so it’ll be completely purged within a few days.”
“…Ahh.”
Breathing didn’t hurt. The wriggling poison inside her body was gone.
Her body felt light. Refreshed.
“…Ahhh.”
For the first time in her life, she realized air could taste sweet. For the first time, she felt her body warm.
Everything was new. It was as if she had been reborn into a new world.
After twenty-five years, she was reborn with a new body and heart.
All thanks to one person. Muyun had given her new life.
“En” wasn’t enough to describe it, but the man himself…
“Try to stay alive.”
…said it as if it were nothing.
Tears welled up in her eyes and streamed down.
Drip.
As Haomen’s leader… as a Poison Person, shedding tears wasn’t ideal, but she couldn’t hold back the wave of emotions crashing over her.
“…Thank you.”
Swish.
It might mean nothing to him, but it meant everything to her.
“Hic… thank you.”
She knew mere thanks weren’t enough to repay this grace, but…
“…Thank you.”
She kept bowing her head, repeating her gratitude.
Her face was already soaked with tears. And naturally…
…those tears contained no poison.