Chapter 50
Chapter 50
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Chang'an Ink Sword Grove Tang Medicine Hall (1)
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Just before dawn broke. The early morning still not fully bright.
We left the empty inn a bit early.
Tang Sohye said that if she took the lead, we could reach Chang'an today without even resting a day in Hanzhong.
No reason to refuse that. The sooner the schedule, the better.
We're not out sightseeing, and there's no need to linger on the road, right? Better to get back quick.
So we moved briskly.
Following Tang Sohye at the front, we began climbing the mountain. Lightly and swiftly. Without hesitation.
The funny thing was, Tang Sohye hadn't put on her disguise even in the morning.
Tang Sohye, who'd gone to the apothecary from dawn, showed up before me acting nonchalant, but there was a subtle shyness in her gestures.
But that forced pretense of hers was just so cute. Cute enough to make me chuckle.
Really... what kind of place is the Tang family? To raise a girl this adorable.
As expected of a prestigious house. They really have class.
Maybe that's why the aura Tang Sohye gave off was so distinctive.
Androgynous charm is a rare thing. It's not just some vibe from short hair.
Something only possible for Tang Sohye, who's played the man's role for so long.
A face and figure like a model's, yet with short hair and boyish actions—that gap just warms the heart.
And crucially, she's unmistakably a woman. Which matters, since I like women.
She's a girl with real promise. You can already see the clear 'completion' of a boyish beauty.
A woman who acted like a man fully becoming a woman. That's the ideal tomboy finish.
By the time that girl's hair grows out nice and long, we'll probably see it, huh?
Thinking about it naturally lifts the corners of my mouth.
Ah. Definitely a creepy old uncle.
But any guy would be the same. So I'm not the weirdo here.
The three women kept a good pace.
Me, going at my leisurely speed—no issue. The key is Seolha and Yeonhwa.
Whether they could handle this schedule.
But Seolha and Yeonhwa pushed their qi and ran hard.
Well, I get it. Last night we just held each other and slept, didn't we?
During travel, sleeping without anything to save stamina had become standard.
So those girls had their reasons to rush back to Chang'an even a moment sooner.
Cute bunch.
Nothing but cute girls all around.
And now, those cute girls were getting sexy too.
Thanks to pushing hard, we reached Hanzhong around noon.
Having a girl who knows the way is great. Cutting time like this.
Well, we had taken a total mess of a non-road before.
Ate a simple lunch that wouldn't burden the stomach, and Tang Sohye visited one apothecary.
Finished all business here, we set off for Chang'an again.
After crossing the mountain range with a bit of overexertion, we finally made it to Chang'an just as the sun was setting.
Upon arriving at Ink Sword Grove, Seolha and Yeonhwa's faces finally relaxed.
Tang Sohye still had some reserve left, it seemed.
Definitely, in terms of cultivation, she was the strongest of the three.
She'd grown nonstop without breaks in between, so that tracked.
"Seolha. Give Tang Sohye a room. Plenty of rooms, so wherever she wants. Oh, right. Tang Sohye."
"Yes. Grove Lord."
"Need a separate annex by chance? Tang family folk have lots to gather or brew, right?"
"Yes. Grove Lord."
"Then Seolha. Give her an annex. That unnamed Jia Hall still open? Use that."
"Yes. Great Hero."
Ink Sword Grove had unused halls overflowing.
So we called them roughly Jia Hall, Yi Hall, Bing Hall, Jeong Hall, and so on.
"If you need anything, don't hold back—say it. Can get most things."
"Understood. Grove Lord."
With that, Seolha led Tang Sohye off to Jia Hall.
But Seolha's demeanor was pretty amusing.
Her usual calm self, but there was a leisure to her expression and gestures.
And a sense of enjoyment?
Thinking it over, I had a rough idea.
How to put it. Woman's superiority? Something like that?
Seolha had noticed how Tang Sohye looked at me.
Seolha at twenty-three, Tang Sohye at twenty-one, Yeonhwa at twenty.
So Seolha seemed keen to lock in the pecking order from the start.
Well, might be my imagination. But low odds.
I already knew what Seolha was like.
She's blindly devoted. Scarily so at times.
So definitely not one to yield top spot in a setup like this.
And as those two left, Yeonhwa sidled up to me slyly.
"Great Hero. Now that you're back, you'll want to bathe first, of course?"
Beaming all the while.
Wow. Not letting the opening slip either? Straight in she goes.
"Yeah. Let's."
"Then I'll get it ready right away."
She hurried off toward the bathhouse, face full of smiles.
It'd take a bit for the bath to fill, but I followed her anyway.
Yeonhwa had the water pipe already set to fill the bath, boiling water on the side.
Seeing me arrive so quick, she looked a touch surprised.
"Great Hero. Water's not boiling yet..."
"So what. A cool soak's fine right now."
As I pulled her into my arms, Yeonhwa flushed red but her smile wouldn't fade.
I stripped Yeonhwa's clothes off, and she stripped mine.
Feet dangling in the still-filling bath, I sat on the edge and settled Yeonhwa on my lap.
"Still... haven't even washed yet..."
"So what. You hate it?"
"No..."
Right. No way. Not with her body this heated up.
So I kissed Yeonhwa.
Our tongues tangled, and she savored my lips and tongue like a delicacy, relishing having me all to herself after so long.
As our tongues mingled, I lifted her a bit, aligned my manhood below, and thrust deep into that glistening slit.
Yeonhwa twitched as she took me in. Her back arched straight.
Mingling like this, locked in embrace, felt pretty damn good. Face-to-face lotus, was it?
Petite Yeonhwa especially loved this position.
And I loved how she fit so snugly in my arms.
"Gr-Great Hero... sweat..."
As I suckled her breast, she spoke in a flustered voice.
But no mind paid to that. And it wasn't as bad as she made it sound.
I hugged her slim waist tight, buried my face in her breasts, and rocked her body gently.
Yeonhwa clutched my head close, pleasure rippling through her whole frame.
We went on like that a good while when I sensed Seolha approaching.
She entered the bathhouse right away.
Saw us locked together, smiled brightly, then casually checked the boiling water, killed the fire, and hung the hot pipe over the bath.
Then she shed her own clothes with a soft rustle.
Oddly, Seolha was blindly devoted to me but showed zero jealousy or rivalry toward Yeonhwa.
Childhood together and her risking life to save her? Had to be.
Left me wondering: if another woman entered this circle besides Yeonhwa, how would Seolha react?
"Guided the Tang girl and came back. Great Hero."
Now nude, Seolha came up behind me, pressing her breasts flush against my back as she whispered.
"Good work. She like it?"
"Yes. Great Hero."
As she answered, her slender hand grazed my side caressingly.
She nuzzled into my nape, lips licking at my neck and shoulders.
A way to amp me up without interrupting Yeonhwa.
Effect so solid, I'd invest heavy in Jade Radiance Pavilion's courtesan training for it.
Yeonhwa melted away in my arms while Seolha bided her turn, checking the bath temp now and then.
This really drove home how great it was to be back at Ink Sword Grove.
The girls got so bold here. Couldn't pull this outside.
Thus, the bathhouse lewdness soon spilled over to the bedroom.
Not an exhausting trip, but still, they could've been weary—yet the two women ignored it and threw themselves at me.
Blissful time. Pure happiness.
Maybe amplified since the Sichuan trip went off without a hitch.
A calm mind makes everything else shine brighter.
After returning to Chang'an and reclaiming our peaceful days—unlike us, Tang Sohye stayed slammed busy.
For starters, her hall got named Tang Medicine Hall.
Putting the Tang character right in the name showed how much she treasured her family.
Plus, uniquely, while main focus was meds and poisons, it doubled as Ink Sword Grove's intel hub.
A spot tapping straight into Tang family intelligence.
They'd even share top-tier stuff only the clan head got—utility off the charts.
Intel of a whole great house, basically. For empty-handed Ink Sword Grove, a massive upgrade.
Kept Tang Sohye swamped all day.
Even just Chang'an's apothecaries numbered plenty.
So she had to hit them all, resecure that influence.
Ties loosened while Tang struggled in Sichuan. Time to refortify.
"You've arrived. Grove Lord."
A few days later, around evening, I headed to Tang Medicine Hall.
Tang Sohye greeted me politely. Busy, sure, but enjoying it—face looked decent.
"Holding up?"
"Yes. Grove Lord."
"Good. Speak up if trouble. Oh. Absorbing that energy inside you okay?"
"Ah. Got something to report on that."
"What?"
"By chance... could you redistribute those energies?"
"Not hard. Why?"
"The elixir energies are mixed up—hard to take in smoothly. Extreme poison and meds blended; better sequentially, but they're clumped now..."
"Ah. Gotcha. I'll separate 'em right now. Not here, though. Head in?"
"...Yes. Grove Lord."
Funny kid. Why the sudden nerves?
Just us two now? She's surprisingly innocent. Amusingly so.