Chapter 58: The Poisonous Xi Shi’s Rage - 1
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 58: The Poisonous Xi Shi’s Rage - 1
Grab.
Sun-woo quickly lunged forward and seized Madam Tang’s wrist.
He applied pressure, ensuring the hairpin could no longer press into her neck.
"Let go! Let go of me this instant!"
She struggled with all her might, but she was no match for Sun-woo. As a master who had reached a high realm of martial arts, his grip was absolute when he intended it to be.
"……"
Sun-woo found himself unable to say a word to her.
Though he had been the one accosted while in a drunken stupor, the fact remained that he had violated her.
However, he couldn't just stand by and watch her die.
That was Sun-woo’s conviction.
He wasn't a "good" person.
But he wasn't a purely "bad" person either.
He was just an ordinary man standing on that thin boundary.
In a situation where he had the luxury of choice, he was the type to feel compassion, uphold ethics, and prefer doing good. But he was also the type who could transform instantly if pushed into a corner.
Falling into the world of Murim was the greatest crisis of Sun-woo’s life. He had vowed to use anything and everything to survive.
That was why he had unhesitatingly infiltrated White Flower Peak and deceived Ok-ryeong, clinging to her affection just to keep his wretched life going.
But then, he had truly fallen in love with Ok-ryeong.
It was then that Sun-woo realized a fact he had been overlooking.
The people of this Murim world—whom he had treated lightly because they were characters in a novel—were all real people with emotions, people who laughed, chatted, grieved, and shed tears.
He realized that if he continued to view them as non-existent fictional characters, looking down on them and using them for his desires without a second thought, he would become no different from the man he loathed: Lee Jae-won.
Yet, Sun-woo’s current situation was the worst it could be.
Branded as a Public Enemy of the Murim, the entire world had turned against him. Meanwhile, Lee Jae-won—the strongest being in this world—was constantly hunting for his life.
To survive this nightmare, Sun-woo might have to commit countless selfish acts in the future, including using and deceiving others.
No, he definitely would.
At first, he had vowed never to give his heart to anyone but Ok-ryeong.
He figured that if he didn't give them his heart, he wouldn't be plagued by guilt even if he used them to his heart's content.
But it didn't take long for him to realize that such a vow was impossible to keep.
He had felt it during his days of conversation with Tang Seo-yoon.
The human heart isn't something that can be controlled at will.
Even if it was a temporary alliance, talking to someone not as "Jang Sam" but as "Jang Sun-woo" for the first time in a long while had been incredibly refreshing.
His conversations with her were pleasant and fun.
So much so that he found himself looking forward to visiting her quarters.
Despite his vow not to give his heart away, Sun-woo had already begun to consider her a friend without even realizing it.
He realized then that emotions cannot be regulated by choice.
He had already given her his heart.
Thus, Sun-woo had to reconsider his path.
If he used the people of Murim without hesitation, he might gain an advantage, but he would be consumed by guilt.
On the other hand, the Murim was not a place so lenient that one could survive while strictly adhering to modern ethics and being "good."
So, he reached a conclusion.
At the very least, he would not do anything that destroyed his own humanity.
He was neither a villain nor a saint.
He was just a human being struggling desperately to live.
But he wanted to remain human.
He had no desire to cast aside his humanity and become a beast just to survive.
He wanted to maintain his humanity by staying within the lines he had drawn for himself.
And right now, the woman before his eyes, Madam Tang, was trying to take her own life.
This was an act that crossed the line Sun-woo had set.
Sun-woo’s grip on her hand tightened.
He could never let Madam Tang die like this.
"Please… I beg of you, let go!"
Madam Tang pleaded with him, her voice trembling, but it was no use.
The moment he let go of this hand, the hairpin would surely pierce her throat and end her life.
How could he possibly let go?
After a tense standoff that felt like an eternity…
Clang.
Finally, Madam Tang dropped the hairpin she had been clutching onto the floor.
"Ugh… hic… Waaaaah!"
She began to wail sorrowfully.
She was utterly miserable.
Nothing in her life had gone the way she wanted.
The youngest son she had struggled to conceive had turned out crooked, becoming a target of public scorn. No matter how much love she poured into him, he did nothing but cause trouble.
Her husband, Tang Jin-cheol, a kind man who used to whisper sweet nothings to her every night, hadn't visited her quarters in five years.
And now, her beloved sons were supposedly going to kill each other for the position of Clan Head.
She had opposed it fiercely, but no matter how much she tried to stop them, no one would listen. Not Tang Jin-cheol, not Tang Do-uk, and not Tang Se-gi.
She was lonely.
She just needed one person to listen to her and hold her, yet no one looked her way.
That fact was so painful that she had drunk herself into a stupor, something she had never done in her life.
And in that drunken state, she had accosted her own son.
Her beloved youngest son, at that.
Even when she tried to end her life out of guilt toward her husband, this man wouldn't let her have her way.
She was so wretched and sad that the tears wouldn't stop flowing.
"Waaaaah!"
Madam Tang began to sob like a small child.
There was nothing Sun-woo could do.
He could only pull her into a silent embrace.
Squeeze.
As Sun-woo held her, her crying grew even more intense.
He could do nothing but pat her back until the sobbing subsided.
"Hic… Do you… hic… also think your mother is… a filthy… hic… lewd whore?"
She asked him in a voice thick with tears.
"No. You are, as always, a virtuous and beautiful woman."
"Don't lie! You must think I'm disgusting too!"
She shouted back, her grief turning into sudden anger at his response.
"It's the truth. You were so beautiful, Mother, that I couldn't help myself."
At Sun-woo’s words, Madam Tang lifted her head to look at him.
Looking up, she saw the face of her beloved Tang Jin-cheol in his youth.
At the same time, the rugged scent unique to a man tickled the tip of her nose.
Her face flushed crimson.
"You… you're teasing your mother!"
Madam Tang shook her head.
What was she thinking?
The person in front of her was her son.
How could she have such thoughts about her own son?
She tried to pull away from Sun-woo’s embrace.
But it didn't go as she planned.
Sun-woo would not let her out of his arms.
"Let… let go!"
Madam Tang resisted, but the intensity she had shown before was long gone.
"Mother, promise me one thing. That you will never think of doing something so terrible again."
"I understand… I understand, so please just let me go."
She answered in a pleading tone.
She felt that if she stayed in his arms any longer, strange thoughts would keep bubbling up.
Hearing her answer, Sun-woo obediently released her.
'Ah!'
As he let go, an involuntary cry of regret escaped her heart.
Realizing this, her face turned even redder.
'I've gone mad. I've truly lost my mind.'
"I… I shall be going now."
With those words, she quickly walked toward the door.
She felt she had to escape this place immediately.
However…
Grab.
Sun-woo caught her by the wrist.
'Could it be that this child is feeling lust for me again!?'
Panic seized her as her hand was caught.
"Let… go… This is not right."
"At least let me treat the wound on your neck before you go."
"……"
Madam Tang’s face burned with embarrassment.
Was she the only one constantly having these delusional thoughts?
"It is fine. I will tend to this wound myself…"
"I won't let you go unless you treat it here."
Sun-woo spoke firmly.
How could he let her wander around while bleeding like that?
Thump.
Sensing Sun-woo’s resolve, Madam Tang sat back down in the chair.
"Fine… treat it quickly."
She hung her head low in shame.
She only wished for this moment to pass as quickly as possible.
Sun-woo used his Yin-Yang Harmony Qi to stop the bleeding on her neck.
Once the bleeding ceased, he slowly wrapped a bandage around her neck.
In the process, the distance between Sun-woo and Madam Tang became incredibly close.
As the gap closed, the scent of a male began to fill her nostrils, and her eyes grew hazy as if she were being mesmerized.
"It's finished."
Startled back to her senses by Sun-woo’s voice, Madam Tang hurriedly stood up.
"I'm leaving now."
She rushed out of Sun-woo’s quarters in a flurry.
Watching her retreating figure, Sun-woo let out a long sigh.
"Haa, what am I going to do?"
Sun-woo muttered to himself.
He had managed to soothe her and keep her alive for now, but he didn't know when she might try something extreme again.
He couldn't think of a proper solution, and a headache began to throb in his temples.
'Should I consult Tang Seo-yoon?'
They say a woman understands a woman's heart best.
He thought Tang Seo-yoon might be able to offer a better solution than he could.
But he immediately shook his head.
No matter how he looked at it, telling Tang Seo-yoon that he had slept with Madam Tang weighed heavily on him.
Technically, hadn't he just had an affair with Tang Seo-yoon’s sister-in-law?
She would surely radiate murderous intent.
Yet, he couldn't just leave Madam Tang like this without a plan.
Caught in a dilemma where he could neither move forward nor back, Sun-woo fell into deep thought with a heavy sigh.
*
Madam Tang’s Quarters
"Haah… haah… haah…"
Madam Tang panted heavily, trying to catch her breath.
She couldn't stay in Tang Se-gi’s quarters because of the strange feelings that kept overwhelming her.
"Haah… haah… Why am I like this?"
It was so bizarre.
Whenever she saw Tang Se-gi’s face, her own would flush, and her heart would pound.
And her lower half was being strangely stimulated.
Why had she become like this?
It was likely because of the night she had spent with Tang Se-gi.
It was the first time.
The first time she had ever been so lost in pleasure that she fainted upon reaching a climax.
Madam Tang could not forget the sensation of that pleasure being amplified two, four, ten, a hundred times.
And seeing her son, Tang Se-gi, she felt that pleasure being recalled.
She knew she shouldn't, but her body began to burn even hotter.
"I… I shouldn't… Ahh…"
Madam Tang’s hand naturally drifted down and slipped inside her skirt.
When she touched the traditional undergarments beneath, they were already soaking wet.
"Ah… ah…"
Holding her breath, she began to touch her drenched undergarments.
"Ahn… ahhh…"
She let out soft moans as her fingers began to rub more vigorously.
A bizarre phenomenon occurred in her heart where a sense of immorality and intense pleasure coexisted, and this phenomenon only served to excite her further.
"Ahhhhhh!"
Madam Tang’s quarters were soon filled with nothing but the sound of her moans.
*
"Die."
Tang Seo-yoon’s poisonous Qi swirled violently and swept toward Sun-woo.
"Wait a second!"
Sun-woo quickly used his Wind-Dust Step to widen the distance and escape the range of her poison.
"Are you crazy?"
But the wave of poison didn't stop, surging toward Sun-woo once again.
Sun-woo exploded his internal energy into his feet, smashing through a wall to get outside and evade the poison.
"Listen to me, you crazy woman!"
Having narrowly escaped the poison, Sun-woo shouted at Tang Seo-yoon.
She soon emerged through the window, glaring at him.
"And what exactly should I listen to?"
"I told you, it was unavoidable!"
"Drop dead."
She began to hurl hidden weapons from her sleeves.
'Shit.'
Since he hadn't brought his sword, Sun-woo had no choice but to coat his hands in internal energy to block them.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Sun-woo moved his hands rapidly, parrying the incoming projectiles.
However, there were so many that he felt overwhelmed trying to deflect them all.
'Dammit, am I actually going to die here?'
It was then.
A massive number of hidden weapons began to swarm toward Sun-woo all at once.
'Rain of Ten Thousand Flowers!?!?'
It was too late to dodge.
Sun-woo had to envelop himself in Protective Qi to withstand the rain of weapons.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The hidden weapons struck his Protective Qi and fell to the ground.
However, the weapons she had fired were packed with internal energy and poison, and they began to slowly eat away at his Protective Qi.
'If this breaks, I'm dead.'
Sun-woo gathered all his internal energy, focusing it entirely on his Protective Qi.
He had to hold out until the rain of weapons ceased.
Swaaaaaaa—
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
The sound of the weapons pouring down and hitting the ground grated on Sun-woo’s ears.
"Fuuuuuuuuuuck!"
How much time had passed?
Plink.
As the very last hidden weapon fell to the earth, Sun-woo let out a sigh of relief.
"Whew."
Slap!
But the moment he exhaled, a burning pain erupted on his cheek.
Smack!
Tang Seo-yoon, who had approached him unnoticed, began to lash out at Sun-woo’s cheeks.
"Wait a—"
Slap!
"—second—"
Slap!
"—spare—"
Slap!
"—me—"
Slap!
As if his words weren't even worth hearing, she continued to slap his face like a woman possessed.
Sun-woo could only stand there and take her blows.
.
.
.
.
After some time…
The hand that had been striking Sun-woo’s cheeks finally stopped.
Sun-woo’s face was a sight to behold.
He had been hit so many times that his face was not only swollen but also covered in blood from various cuts, painting his entire face red.
Seeing Sun-woo’s face, Tang Seo-yoon turned around and walked back into the pavilion.
Flop.
She tossed a piece of cloth onto the ground.
"Wipe the blood off and come inside."
'Son of a…'
Knowing he was the one in the wrong, Sun-woo swallowed his curses and picked up the cloth to wipe his face.
At least he wasn't dead, which was a huge relief.
After roughly wiping away the blood, Sun-woo stepped into the pavilion where Tang Seo-yoon was waiting.