Chapter 182: Subdue (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 182: Subdue (2)
"Let go of me this instant!"
Joo So-yang screamed, glaring up at Sun-woo, who was pinned on top of her.
Even for a lawless rogue, this was crossing the line. To mount the belly of a married woman? It was an unthinkable act, both as a martial artist and as a human being.
"Do you think I’d let go? Do you know how hard I worked for this chance?"
Sun-woo stared down at the shouting woman and continued. Why on earth would he let her go now? It was a ridiculous suggestion.
"Do you have no respect for your elders?!" Joo So-yang barked, her eyes burning with rage.
"I don't think a woman who kidnapped Tang Seo-yoon has any right to talk about respect," Sun-woo countered with a scoff.
She had kidnapped someone to use as a hostage, and now she was demanding etiquette? It was a classic case of double standards—a way of thinking typical of the elitist, "elder-knows-best" culture of the Murim's high-born.
"I am of the same generational rank as your master—!"
CRACK!
Joo So-yang’s impassioned speech was cut short. Sun-woo’s fist had slammed directly into her face.
"Ugh!"
Joo So-yang let out a pained groan at the impact. An agonizing throb radiated through her face.
"You talk too much. I told you at the start, didn't I? We aren't exactly on terms where we need to be polite. Let's keep this simple."
THUD!
As soon as he finished speaking, Sun-woo drove his fist down again.
"Ngh!"
This time, he hit her cheekbone. A stinging pain began to spread across her entire skull.
"You son of a bitch!"
She grimaced at the sharp agony. She began to struggle violently, thrashing her body. She realized that if she couldn't escape this position, she would never be able to seize the upper hand.
Thwack!
Thwack!
Thwack!
She raised her legs to strike Sun-woo’s back and swung her fists at his torso repeatedly. However, it was her own body that felt the brunt of the pain.
"Aaaagh!"
She let out a cry of agony. Every attack she launched seemed to reflect right back at her.
CRACK!
While she was writhing in pain, Sun-woo’s fist struck her face once more.
Drip.
She felt blood erupting from her nose; he must have broken the bridge. Joo So-yang quickly raised both arms to shield her face. She realized that protecting her vital points was the priority. At the very least, she had to prevent her brain from being rattled. If she lost consciousness, she wouldn't even have a chance to counterattack.
It was then.
THUD!
"Guh...!"
This time, a sharp pain erupted from a different area. Her breath hitched, and she felt the strength drain from her limbs. It was her solar plexus.
"Cough... hack!"
Having taken a direct hit to the solar plexus, she coughed uncontrollably. Sun-woo did not miss the moment her body went limp.
CRACK!
He struck her face again. This time, her lip split, and blood splattered.
THUD!
THUD!
THUD!
Sun-woo began to pummel her body, his fists laden with internal energy. Joo So-yang tried to endure by manifesting her Protective Qi, but it was useless. Under his relentless assault, her Protective Qi shattered.
SMASH!
"You crazy bitch!"
Sun-woo threw a punch fueled by pure emotion. How much had he suffered because of this woman? Not only had he nearly suffocated to death, but he had almost been forced to take his own life. His life had been threatened multiple times.
But what angered him most was that she had touched Tang Seo-yoon. It was no exaggeration to say that, after the Yin-Yang Demon, Tang Seo-yoon was the person to whom he owed the greatest debt in the Murim. She was a precious existence who allowed him to be his true self, not some fabricated persona.
And yet, this woman had kidnapped someone so dear to him—all to "restore the honor" of her daughter. How could he not be furious?
CRACK!
Sun-woo’s fists, heavy with emotion, began to carry even more devastating power. Consequently, the pain Joo So-yang felt only intensified.
*
"Haah... haah... haah..."
Joo So-yang panted heavily, slowly looking up. A massive fist was flying toward her.
CRACK!
"Gah!"
The fist struck her face again, and she screamed. She couldn't understand how this situation was even happening.
She was the Heavenly Sword Empress. She was a hero of the Great War of Righteousness and Demons who had saved the Murim from the Demonic Cult, the "Best Among Women" who commanded the respect of every female martial artist in the land. Furthermore, she was the primary wife of Lee Jae-won, the Absolute Martial God and Leader of the Cheonmu Alliance—the strongest man and the head of the greatest power in the world.
She was a perfect being who possessed honor, power, and martial prowess. So why was she suffering like this? Why was she lying here in such a disgraceful position? Why was she pinned beneath a man who was infinitely younger than her?
She had only intended to punish a villain who had deceived her daughter. How had things turned out this way?
THUD!
Agony surged through her body once more. It hurt. It hurt far too much. The pain was so intense that her face contorted involuntarily. Her breathing became labored; the blood filling her nose and mouth made it difficult to draw air.
Every kind of pain began to torment her. She wanted to push the man off and escape this agony immediately, but it was futile. No matter what attack she tried, it didn't work on him. Everything was simply reflected back.
She fell into despair. She realized there was no way to escape the violence this man was inflicting upon her.
CRACK!
Another wave of sharp pain enveloped her. This time, he had hit her jaw. Her brain rattled, and her consciousness began to fade.
‘Am I going to die like this?’
As her mind grew hazy, negative emotions began to crawl into her thoughts. Soon, those dark feelings amplified without limit. Although she had spoken of a life-and-death struggle to Sun-woo, she had never once truly considered the possibility that she might die.
Even if the Poison King himself had come, she would have found it laughable. What could his mere disciple possibly do to her? She had believed he would simply meet his end at the edge of her sword.
Expecting an easy victory, she had never intended to put her life on the line in the first place. When he had fallen to his knees earlier, she had been certain of her triumph. In the end, she thought, even this man had succumbed to the Bright Wheel, the secret technique of the Heavenly Moon Bright Wheel Divine Art.
But suddenly, the situation had inverted. Her foot had been stabbed, her leg grabbed, and she had been thrown down and subjected to countless acts of violence by the man now mounted on top of her. She had resisted fiercely, but it was no use. The man simply continued to strike her in silence.
Faced with a reality where she couldn't even resist, all the negative emotions in her heart began to coalesce into one. Finally, it revealed its true form: the feeling of defeat.
At first, she denied it. She told herself it was impossible, that it couldn't be. She was someone who had reached the pinnacle of the Transcendent Realm and was looking toward the Profound Realm. How could she feel despair against someone who hadn't even reached the age of thirty?
But in the face of such overwhelming, irresistible violence, she was forced to admit it. She had been defeated, and if this continued, her life was in danger.
The realization that her life was at risk immediately triggered fear. She was terrified. She felt her entire body trembling. As a martial artist, being on the boundary between life and death was supposed to be natural, but she didn't want to die.
She had too much to lose. Her beautiful face, her seductive body, her high-level martial arts, her lovely daughter who was called the best among the rising stars, her husband who was the strongest in the world, and her reputation as the Best Among Women.
If she died here, she would lose all of it in an instant. She was terrified that everything she had built over decades would come crashing down at once. She didn't want to die. She really didn't want to die.
"...S-stop..."
Joo So-yang managed to squeeze the words out, enduring the agony racking her body.
Thwack!
But Sun-woo ignored her plea and simply drove his fist down again.
"Guh-ha!"
Struck squarely in the stomach, she groaned as the contents of her stomach threatened to surge up.
Thwack!
"Agh... p-please..."
Thwack!
"Ugh... s-stop..."
Thwack!
"Ngh... p-please... stop..."
She continued to speak through the pain, even as her stomach was pummeled repeatedly. The fear that she might actually die had overcome her agony.
"Requests should be made more politely."
Sun-woo looked down at Joo So-yang with cold eyes and spoke.
Thwack!
"Gack!"
Extreme pain flared in her abdomen once more. Hearing Sun-woo’s words, Joo So-yang realized what he wanted. This man wanted her pride to be dragged through the dirt. He wanted her to crawl and beg pathetically. If she just begged, she could escape this pain.
"S... stop... ple..."
She slowly looked up at Sun-woo and began to open her mouth cautiously.
"Mmph."
She abruptly clamped her mouth shut. She realized that, consumed by fear, she had almost thrown away her pride. A wave of shame washed over her. No matter how much she wanted to live, she was a martial artist. To succumb to pain and sell her pride? It was humiliating.
Grit.
She clenched her teeth. She would rather die than pathetically beg for her life.
Sun-woo’s eyes glinted as he watched her.
‘Look at this?’
Just a moment ago, she looked ready to beg for her life, but she had closed her mouth in an instant. A flash of inspiration crossed Sun-woo’s mind.
Truthfully, when he was beating her, he had only intended to make her suffer as much as possible. He wanted to pay her back for the hell he went through and the humiliation Tang Seo-yoon had endured. But a better idea to make her suffer even more had just occurred to him.
It was to break her spirit.
She was a woman who had reached the highest position a woman could achieve in the Murim, to the point where the word "perfect" suited her. She had a perfect appearance that had made her the Number One Beauty twenty years ago. She possessed a terrifying martial prowess that earned her the title of Best Among Women. She held the status of the mistress of the Cheonmu Alliance, the greatest power in the Murim. She had the fame of having slain countless demons during the Great War of Righteousness and Demons. On top of that, her child, Lee Ye-seol, was evaluated as a peerless talent among the rising stars.
She was a woman who possessed everything other women in the Murim desired. What would be the most humiliating and mentally taxing thing for such a woman?
Sun-woo believed it was the destruction of her pride. He figured that since she had so much, her pride must be equally mountain-high. The reason she had shut her mouth even while wanting to beg for her life was likely because her pride wouldn't allow it.
Sun-woo flashed a cold smile at the tight-lipped Joo So-yang. How much would her pride be wounded, and how miserable would she feel, if those refined lips were forced to utter pathetic pleas for mercy? He felt a sense of sadism stirring within him.
Sun-woo made up his mind. He would be an even worse bastard.
‘You deserve this.’
Rationalizing his actions, Sun-woo began to circulate his internal energy. He knew a martial art perfectly suited for this.
Wooooooong.
Before long, a green aura began to shimmer around Sun-woo. He started to combine and recombine the toxins within his internal energy to create a torture-grade poison.
It was the Scorching Poison. It was the same poison that even the haughty Lee Ye-seol couldn't endure for long before wetting herself.
Soon, the toxins began to gather in Sun-woo’s palm. The concentration was so high that the green hue turned dark.
‘Done.’
Sun-woo’s hand was now saturated with the Scorching Poison. He slowly reached out and placed his hand on Joo So-yang’s breast.
Squish.
He felt a soft sensation against his hand, but he felt no arousal. His mind was entirely focused on making her suffer.
The Scorching Poison began to seep into her body. Joo So-yang tried to resist the poison by circulating her Heavenly Moon Bright Wheel Qi, but it was futile. The sheer volume of incoming toxins was too much to resist. She tried to focus her mind as much as possible to push the poison out.
"Not so fast."
Seeing this, Sun-woo raised his fist and struck her solar plexus.
Thwack!
"Gack!"
Joo So-yang screamed as her solar plexus was hit. The Heavenly Moon Bright Wheel Qi she had been gathering instantly scattered due to the impact. Her concentration had been broken.
In that moment, the toxins pushing into her body began to spread instantaneously.
"AAAAAAAAGH!"
Not long after, a sharp, ear-splitting scream pierced Sun-woo’s ears. It was Joo So-yang. She began to thrash and tremble violently, writhing in absolute agony.
Sun-woo felt a surge of triumph. The Scorching Poison was working perfectly.