That Child
16
“Damn it... I really thought I was going to die.”
Tang Soyeong collapsed onto the floor.
Now that the tension had drained out of her, pain came surging through her entire body.
Her right arm was broken, every rib she had was on the verge of snapping, and even the bones that hadn’t broken seemed to be cracked to the marrow.
Every muscle had been torn, every ligament stretched thin.
“It’s a miracle I’m still alive.”
Every breath sent a stabbing ache through her lungs.
She forced herself upright.
If she lay down and fell asleep here, she would die.
She had to recover somehow.
“Ghh!”
Tang Soyeong gritted her teeth and dragged her broken, cracked bones into a cross-legged seat.
In the end, for a martial artist, recovery always began with the dantian.
“Huu...”
Tang Soyeong began regulating her breath and cultivating.
The demonic energy she had just drawn upon was already lying quietly within her dantian.
It’s even more obedient than the inner energy I built myself.
Viewed that way, it was like a well-trained dog.
With each breath, she accepted the inner energy around her and circulated it once through her body, then pushed it back into her dantian to replenish pure internal power.
She recovered only a tiny amount of energy.
“Ugh...”
Tang Soyeong forced herself back to her feet.
Her whole body screamed in protest, but she had no choice.
Straining every last bit of strength, she picked up the two demonic corpses and headed for the Tang Clan.
It was time to report the results.
Early the next morning, the Sichuan Tang Clan was buzzing with a strange sort of energy.
Well, if gossiping about something bizarre counted as energy, then yes, it was lively indeed.
“Th-that... isn’t that Lady Soyeong?”
“Why is she covered in blood... and w-what’s that? Are those corpses?”
At the center of it all was Tang Soyeong, drenched in blood and dragging a corpse in each hand.
She crossed the Tang Clan’s vast grounds in that state, still moving forward.
She hadn’t meant to draw attention.
She simply didn’t have the luxury to care about anyone’s gaze.
She was only taking the shortest route while carrying the proof of what had happened, heading for the second wife.
And because the aura around her was so frightening, no one in the Tang Clan dared speak to her carelessly.
That is, until Tang So-gang appeared.
“Hey...! Are you okay!?”
The moment Tang So-gang saw her, Tang Soyeong let go of the two corpses she had been dragging along.
The bodies hit the ground with a heavy thud.
“Hey, Tang So-gang.”
“You... you’re hurt?”
Tang So-gang realized instantly that something was very wrong with her body.
Her bones were already cracked all over, and some were broken outright.
The fact that she was walking at all was nothing short of a miracle.
Tang Soyeong knew she was at her limit too.
So she decided to leave the aftermath to someone she could trust.
“Take... these for me...”
With those words, her body collapsed.
Tang So-gang caught her before she hit the ground.
“Hey! Are you all right!? Open your eyes!”
The uproar only ended after Tang So-gang carried her to the Medicine Hall.
“Isn’t this outrageously arrogant!? She caused a commotion in the Tang Clan! She must be punished!”
In the Tang Clan Lord’s study sat Cheon Bu-in and Tang Cheon-ak.
Seon-hyeon, one of Tang Cheon-ak’s trusted men, was there as well.
Cheon Bu-in was in a furious rage.
“Because of that girl, all of Sichuan is mocking the Tang Clan! They say that wretched thing is like a killer demon!”
“...Cheon Bu-in.”
“At the very least, she should be expelled!”
Even after Tang Cheon-ak spoke, Cheon Bu-in did not stop.
Her own plan had gone badly off course.
The Golden Coin Society Lord said he’d call off the marriage... Damn that old codger!
By now, the rumor had spread that Soyeong had killed two grown men and dragged their corpses through the clan grounds.
At the very least, everyone within the Tang Clan and the prominent figures of Sichuan knew of it.
The Golden Coin Society Lord was one of them.
“She has disgraced the Tang Clan’s name! Her eyes are full of murderous intent, aren’t they!? She should be sent far away, or killed!”
“Cheon Bu-in!”
At that line, which had crossed far beyond the limit, Seon-hyeon shouted.
But Cheon Bu-in only flew into a rage, as if he were the one being unreasonable.
“Shut up, you insolent fool! This is a conversation between me and the clan lord. It’s not one a mere servant has any right to interrupt!”
With Cheon Bu-in’s words, the atmosphere in the room grew increasingly ugly.
Just as Tang Cheon-ak was about to speak for himself,
“If that’s the case, then I’ll say a few words in her place.”
“You are...?”
Everyone in the room was taken aback when the second wife opened the door and walked in.
That included Cheon Bu-in and Seon-hyeon, and even Tang Cheon-ak himself.
The second wife was famous for rarely leaving her quarters.
So if she had come outside, it could only mean something important enough to demand her personal involvement.
Everyone in the room understood that much.
“What is it? Am I somewhere I’m not supposed to be?”
The second wife swept the room with a cold glance.
Cheon Bu-in reacted most strongly.
“Get out! I’m speaking with the clan lord right now.”
“I know. I came in knowing that.”
“What did you say!?”
Cheon Bu-in flared up at the second wife’s indifferent answer.
They had been like this from the first time they met.
The arrogant, overbearing Cheon Bu-in, and Mi Bu-in, who never bothered to speak with any consideration for others.
They were like oil and water.
“This has nothing to do with you! Whatever it is, come back later!”
“Oh? I’m sure whatever you’re saying has plenty to do with me.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Seon-hyeon cut in and asked after hearing the second wife’s words.
It was rude, but the second wife didn’t seem to mind.
“I’m saying that this matter involving Soyeong is also my matter.”
“...What?”
Now it was the clan lord’s turn to look flustered.
Of course, he wasn’t the only one. Seon-hyeon and Cheon Bu-in were just the same.
Ignoring everyone’s reaction, Mi Bu-in continued.
“That child going out was my doing. More precisely, it was a bargain.”
“A bargain? What sort?”
Seon-hyeon asked.
Tang Cheon-ak and Cheon Bu-in did not object to his interruption.
After all, they were all curious.
“There had been a recent case of villagers disappearing, so I had her investigate it. In exchange, I promised to call off her marriage.”
“What!? Hey, that’s...!”
“Her marriage?”
At Tang Cheon-ak’s single remark, the air in the room grew heavy.
The clan lord’s displeasure landed squarely on Cheon Bu-in.
Cheon Bu-in only averted her eyes in silent refusal to meet it.
Tang Cheon-ak decided to leave that matter for later and listen on.
“Mi Bu-in, continue.”
“That child came to me and begged. ‘Mother, I don’t want to get married,’ she said.”
At that, both Tang Cheon-ak and Seon-hyeon were shocked.
Tang Soyeong had gone to the second wife and begged her?
And she had even called her mother?
The second wife was not the kind of person who lied.
So those words had to be true.
Which meant it was also true that Tang Soyeong had gone to her and begged to avoid the marriage.
“I was surprised too. I never imagined Cheon Bu-in would try to marry off a seventeen-year-old child to the Golden Coin Society Lord.”
“...The Golden Coin Society Lord?”
Tang Cheon-ak’s gaze, heavy with killing intent, turned to Cheon Bu-in.
Cheon Bu-in had nothing to offer but excuses.
“Th-that is...!”
“Enough. I’ll hear the details later.”
Even that excuse was cut off by Tang Cheon-ak.
Cheon Bu-in bit her lip.
This was a disaster.
“Anyway, when I had that child investigate the disappearances, she tracked down the source behind them in one go.”
“So this wasn’t a simple missing-person case?”
At Seon-hyeon’s question, the second wife nodded.
“No. It was a case connected to the Demonic Cult.”
“The Demonic Cult!?”
Tang Cheon-ak slammed the desk and rose as if he might smash it apart.
Anyone who lived in the jianghu would know the Demonic Cult.
For them to appear meant bloodshed was right before everyone’s eyes.
“The details will have to wait until the child wakes up, but it’s certain that the Demonic Cult was involved.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“I had no choice but to be sure. The two corpses that child brought back were the bodies of demonic men.”
The room was swept up in shock.
One reason was that demonic men had appeared.
The other was that Tang Soyeong had killed two of them.
“One of them was even white-haired.”
“A white-haired demon!”
Seon-hyeon shouted.
The white-haired demons were the name given to the Demonic Cult’s elite warriors.
Those who practiced demonic arts inevitably died young. It was not their faces that aged, but only their hair and certain other parts.
So all demons who had trained in demonic arts for a long time became white-haired, and that was why white-haired demons became a symbol of high-ranking Demonic Cult masters.
The lowest of their martial attainments was the Peak Realm at minimum!
“Did Soyeong really do that alone?”
“Judging from the circumstances, yes. Well, the details will have to wait until she wakes up and we can ask her.”
What the second wife said was hard to believe.
But they all knew she was not the kind of person who lied.
More than that, she had even less reason to lie about something this serious.
“The reason I came here today is to make sure no one punishes Soyeong.”
“...That’s only right. Rather, she deserves a reward.”
Tang Cheon-ak was sincere.
For a seventeen-year-old girl to thwart the Demonic Cult’s schemes and cut down their men, even a white-haired demon among them, was a deed worthy of praise across all of the Central Plains.
If the Tang Clan punished a child who had achieved such a feat, it would become a stain upon their honor.
At Tang Cheon-ak’s reaction, Mi Bu-in nodded.
Then she turned her gaze to Cheon Bu-in, who was trembling slightly.
“And the other reason I came was to warn you.”
“...What are you talking about?”
Cheon Bu-in finally forced out a voice.
Looking at her, Mi Bu-in said in a low tone, “Soyeong called me Mother. So I’ll treat her like my daughter. I’ll handle my daughter’s marriage myself, so don’t touch her, Cheon Bu-in.”
“...Hah!”
Cheon Bu-in’s face turned red, then pale, then red again at the words.
Before long, she could no longer bear it and stormed out, shoving the door open as if to kick it down.
“...She still can’t control that temper of hers.”
Mi Bu-in muttered a small insult at Cheon Bu-in, then shifted her gaze back to the clan lord.
“I’ve said everything I came to say. I’m leaving now too.”
“...Miryung.”
From the clan lord’s mouth slipped a name, soft and distant.
Mi Bu-in’s real name.
At that name, Miryung’s face twisted sharply.
“Don’t call me by that name.”
“Did Soyeong truly... call you Mother?”
“...I’ve never lied.”
She did not bother mentioning that when she had told the girl to call her Mother, Soyeong had made a face like she’d swallowed a mouthful of filth.
That insolent brat. And who exactly do you think I’m doing all this for?
“So you... have decided to accept that child?”
At Tang Cheon-ak’s words, Miryung stopped walking toward the door.
There was more than one meaning hidden in his question.
After a short silence, Miryung answered in a faintly trembling voice.
“I have never hated that child, not once.”
That was all she said before walking out without looking back.
Tang Cheon-ak listened to her words and rubbed his face with a pained expression.
Soyeong... every time I see your face, I think of that child.
On the way back, Miryung suddenly found herself remembering the face of someone she missed.
A child whose smiling face had been beautiful.
A child who had always smiled beside her.
A child who had shone like a star.
And because of that, a child who had won the clan lord’s love.
A child who had come to love the clan lord.
The only trace of my dear friend.
To Miryung, Soyeong was a special child.
She was the daughter of her one and only close friend.