Chapter 239: Tang Soyeong Causes Trouble
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 239: Tang Soyeong Causes Trouble
Tang Muyeong’s line of thought was perfectly reasonable.
Because there was no way that Tang Soyeong's chest could have changed so drastically.
“What a hurtful thing to say.”
“Insolence! Will you not remove that human skin mask at once!”
He had encountered countless spirit beasts in the 100,000 Great Mountains.
A bird that called forth storms, a snake that shattered mountains with beams of light.
He had even witnessed a precious scene that forced him to re-evaluate the entire ecology of unicorns and bicorns.
These 100,000 Great Mountains could be called a demonic realm beyond human comprehension, a place teeming with an absurd number of spirit beasts.
In such a place, was it so strange for there to be a spirit beast that mimicked humans?
It was highly likely that there were vicious creatures, like the Rakshasa Bird, that transformed into the likeness of an acquaintance to lower a person’s guard before devouring them.
“What have you done with Soyeong? Answer me now!”
“Brother?”
“Do not call me that with your detestable mouth!”
Tang Soyeong’s eyes narrowed.
Seriously? He tells me to answer, then tells me not to call him.
“It really is me, you know? Tang Soyeong, the precious child of the Tang Clan.”
At her words, Tang Muyeong was dumbfounded.
To think it had not only mimicked her appearance but had also obtained such information.
Did that not mean this strange creature had met Tang Soyeong before?
“You wretched creature! What tricks are you playing! My Soyeong’s chest is as flat as her back, how could I possibly be mistaken! You might fool others, but you can’t fool me!”
At first, Tang Soyeong had been happy to see him.
After all, he was her brother, Tang Muyeong.
He had been quite good to her, the youngest child born late in his parents' lives.
But as time went on, irritation began to bubble up inside her.
What on earth was he so fixated on?
And it felt like he was subtly dissing her, too.
“Brother.”
“Don’t call me…”
“No, Tang Muyeong.”
An icy chill filled the air.
It was a side of her that even Tus and Pus had never seen before.
“Do you have a death wish?”
To put it crudely, Tang Soyeong was royally pissed off.
Just as Tang Muyeong was about to shout “Insolence!” again, he suddenly came to his senses.
“Hmm, it seems you really are my Soyeong.”
He began to think logically.
Only Tang Soyeong had that kind of temper.
Especially since she was the only person who would dare speak to him that way while he was preparing to unleash his poisons and hidden weapons.
“Sigh, you only listen when I get angry.”
Tang Soyeong then thought to herself.
Why is this guy here?
She had considered that someone from the Tang Clan might come looking for her.
Although she had realized too late that she had fallen for the radical faction’s scheme, it meant the moderate faction would surely try to rescue her.
Of course, even so, she had thought they would send someone else. She never dreamed that the young master of the Tang Clan would come in person.
“You must have suffered so much here. You’ve… hmm, you seem to have put on a little weight.”
For someone who had supposedly suffered, Tang Soyeong looked far too well-kept.
And for good reason.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult had several sets of clothes made for her, enough that she could change her outfit almost daily.
Furthermore, with a hot spring and a cool river nearby, bathing was no issue.
As for food, it was so plentiful that she had, in fact, gained a little weight.
Her own desires were fulfilled, and she had bonded deeply with the spirit beasts, so it was only natural that she looked so healthy.
Tang Muyeong’s gaze soon moved past Tang Soyeong to the two spirit beasts beside her.
“…As expected of the pride of the Tang Clan. To think you’ve tamed two precious venomous insects in this perilous place. It makes me wonder if all my worrying was for naught.”
“Kiong?”
Tus and Pus tilted their heads.
Tamed?
Her? Us?
They turned their heads to look at Tang Soyeong.
Tang Soyeong glanced nervously at Tus and Pus, then let out a sly laugh.
“Hehehe…”
For some reason, she felt that a mysterious laugh was appropriate for the moment.
She then poked Tus and Pus in the back with her finger, as if to say, Just save my face this once.
“So you’ve noticed. That’s right. I am now in command of two spiders with the potential to become Human-Faced Spiders. No, beings that should now be called spirit beasts.”
Quick on the uptake, Tus and Pus played along with Tang Soyeong.
“Ki, kiooong!”
“Ki, kiaaak!”
They didn’t know why they had to roar like that, but the atmosphere seemed to call for it.
“Incredible. Seeing you like this, you are definitely my sister. I curse my own eyes for not recognizing you at first glance.”
“…Well, it happens. I can see how you might make a small mistake, given how much I’ve… grown.”
Tang Soyeong puffed out her small chest slightly.
It was an act that would have made a certain lizard ponder just what she was doing.
“But Brother, how did you get all the way here? And all by yourself?”
“…I made a connection with someone from the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.”
Tang Muyeong explained what had happened at Danggata.
How a member of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult had entered Danggata and killed all the elders of the radical faction.
And how Gu-poison had been discovered on those elders.
The patriarch’s worsening illness had been their doing, and thanks to the removal of the Gu-poison, he had been able to recover.
Tang Soyeong couldn’t help but be shocked.
She had eventually figured out that the elders had plotted against her.
But to think they had laid a hand on the patriarch as well.
And by restoring the forbidden art of Gu-poison, no less.
“The radical faction’s elders are dead, and the others with serious crimes have been imprisoned. Thanks to that, the moderate faction’s position has strengthened considerably. Father has recovered from his illness, giving me the leeway to come here myself.”
“The Patriarch… I feel like I realized it all too late. No wonder… there was no way Hero Dal would have attacked me.”
“Hero Dal? Don’t tell me that creature attacked you!”
In truth, the Dilophosaurus had attacked Tang Soyeong not because of the radicals’ scheming, but because it was a naturally violent creature that had been biding its time.
However, Tang Soyeong believed she had been very close with Dalopo and that it had no reason to hate her, so she blamed the radical faction.
“It was a shock. It used a sleeping poison in a surprise attack, and I was almost in big trouble, but thankfully I survived.”
“Thank goodness, what a relief.”
Tang Muyeong let out a sigh of relief.
The Dilophosaurus, Dalopo, was an unstable spirit beast.
It could use the Tang Clan’s secret martial arts, including the Sky-Filling Flower Rain, but that was the extent of it.
It couldn’t communicate with humans, nor could it take human form.
It could be called a being on the borderline between a beast and a spirit beast.
Of course, the talented members of the Tang Clan were skilled at handling such creatures, but if the radical faction had intervened, it was a different story.
She could have been devoured by the very beast she was handling, without anyone ever knowing.
Then, a thought occurred to him.
Dalopo had attacked Tang Soyeong.
And recently, one of the Tang Clan’s spirit beasts, Duulli, had gone missing.
“…Have you by any chance seen Duulli?”
“Hero Duulli… Yes, he came here to attack me.”
“What? Don’t tell me those radical bastards…”
Tang Muyeong’s face flushed red and purple with rage.
The members of the radical faction had not only sent Tang Soyeong to her death but had also dispatched one of the clan’s spirit beasts to finish the job.
“Those… damn old geezers! I ought to grind them to dust!”
Of course, since their heads had already been separated from their bodies by Baek Yeon-yeong, there was nothing he could do to them.
But that didn’t mean Tang Muyeong’s anger had subsided.
“The Mount Hua Sect? Those… those… mediocre fools who are losing to Wudang dare to interfere!”
He had even heard that the Mount Hua Sect was involved.
“I see. So that woman collected the Gu-poison, and those rumors started spreading from the Mount Hua Sect because…”
At the same time, Baek Yeon-yeong’s actions made sense.
The Mount Hua Sect’s entry into the 100,000 Great Mountains must have displeased her.
Her response—seizing control of the elders after the Sect Leader went missing and installing a Dragon Person from the 100,000 Great Mountains as the acting Sect Leader—was retaliation for their transgression.
He then regretted his earlier thought.
The thought that, based on her appearance, Tang Soyeong had been living well.
Her survival was nothing short of a miracle.
“You’ve suffered so much. It’s all over now. Let’s hurry back to Danggata. The radicals who tried to harm you have lost all their power, so all you have to do is return.”
Although they had tried to harm the moderate faction, the radicals were still members of the Tang Clan.
Their deaths and loss of power meant that the Tang Clan’s influence had weakened.
If she returned to Danggata, she could conduct research that would compensate for the loss of the radical faction’s martial artists.
The venomous insects by her side would also be a valuable asset, and there was a need to utilize the poisons that only Tang Soyeong could handle.
Of course, the most important reason was to ensure his sister’s safety.
It seemed she had been managing well, but her situation had been as precarious as a candle in the wind.
There was no way the radical faction had orchestrated this alone.
Tang Muyeong was certain there was someone else behind it all.
He had to get her back to Danggata as soon as possible and prepare countermeasures.
“Go back to Danggata?”
“Yes. When we get back, you can have your favorite…”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can do that.”
Silence fell.
Tang Muyeong couldn’t believe his ears.
Had she grown fond of this wilderness?
Or had she come to dislike Danggata?
“You don’t have to worry about the radical faction anymore. Their power has been decisively crushed, and everyone involved with the Gu-poison has been imprisoned.”
“If you say so, Brother, then Danggata must be safe now.”
“So, let’s hurry…”
“But I can’t go back.”
Tang Soyeong shook her head.
Her green eyes were looking not at Tang Muyeong, but somewhere else.
She had wanted to return to the Tang Clan.
But she had stayed here because she knew her life would be in danger from the radical faction even if she did go back.
And now, in a situation where the radicals had been completely wiped out.
Her safety was essentially guaranteed.
“There is someone here to whom I’ve already given my body and soul, so I plan to stay.”
But she couldn’t leave Gomodo behind.
The spirit beast revered as sacred by the Tang Clan, and the divine beast of the Gaegaek Cult.
And the being who had saved her life time and time again.
How could she leave that lizard behind?
Without her, he would surely just mope around all day, crying, Ge-eeeng.
“W-What did you say?”
Given my body and soul.
Tang Muyeong mulled over the meaning of those words.
No matter how he thought about it, it didn’t sound good.
“Ugh…”
Tang Soyeong clutched her head.
She now understood why Nephila had given her this artifact.
It wasn’t without its side effects.
Of course, in Tang Soyeong’s opinion, a side effect of this level was something she could endure over and over again.
Tang Soyeong had clutched her head without much thought, but it was different for Tang Muyeong.
As she raised her hand, the ring on her finger came into view.
Seeing it, the thoughts in Tang Muyeong’s mind began to coalesce into one.
A ring he had never seen before.
The declaration that she had given her body and soul.
And the fact that she had put on weight.
It wasn’t just her chest that had gotten bigger; her belly seemed to have grown a little, too.
No, it can’t be.
Surely not.
As he repeated those words in his mind, the final blow struck his ears.
“Urp…”
As a side effect of the Plumpness Pill, Tang Soyeong had let out a small retch.
Tuk.
Tang Muyeong dropped the hidden weapon in his hand.
He had tried his best to deny it, but everything he had just witnessed pointed to a single conclusion.
No, it’s still not certain.
He looked at Tang Soyeong, clinging to a final sliver of hope.
“Ah…”
Before his eyes, he saw Tang Soyeong hastily wrap her arms around her abdomen.
She had done it because the Plumpness Pill’s effects were about to go to the wrong place, but Tang Muyeong interpreted it differently.
Because Tang Soyeong, clutching her belly, wore a tender expression he had never seen before.
As if she were embracing something more precious than life itself.
He realized he could no longer deny it.
“INSOOOOOLEEEEEEEENCE!”