Chapter 1
Chapter 1
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Cold Snow Poison
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A woman dashed through the trees in the forest, her breaths coming in ragged gasps.
"Look! She's getting closer!"
Behind her, men clutching axes panted heavily as they tore through the underbrush.
The man at the forefront, a grim-faced brute with a bushy beard and a tiger pelt draped over his shoulders—No Cheol—bared his yellowed teeth.
"Dang Ha-ryeong! Why not just give up already? You know you can't run forever!"
"Shut up!"
The girl, Dang Ha-ryeong, shot back sharply.
But No Cheol merely laughed uproariously.
"Fine. Give it everything you've got. No matter how hard you run, you're still in the palm of my hand!"
Dang Ha-ryeong squeezed her eyes shut against the pain surging from her dantian.
'These idiots wouldn't even be worth a single punch in my normal state.'
Dang Ha-ryeong's condition was dire.
The injury she'd sustained at the recent grand tournament hosted by the Murim Alliance was the problem.
That internal wound kept holding her back.
She'd used up every last poison she'd brought from her clan.
And without enough inner energy, her hidden weapons wouldn't carry their full power even if she threw them.
"Your man's right here—where are you rushing off to in such a hurry?"
Dang Ha-ryeong's expression hardened at the bandits' crude laughter.
At this rate, getting captured was only a matter of time.
She gritted her teeth.
What would happen if they caught her was obvious as day.
The fact that they were messing with her, knowing full well who she was, meant they were staking their lives on it.
No helping it.
What she drew out was a small vial.
Dang Ha-ryeong bit her lip as she stared at it.
No matter that she was a warrior of the Tang family, no one could build resistance to every poison out there.
She'd been acclimated to most since childhood, but plenty she hadn't.
Inside the vial was Cold Snow Poison.
Infamously difficult and dangerous to produce, it was permitted only to the direct descendants of the family head.
The moment it was ingested, rampaging yin energy would freeze every drop of blood in the body solid, bringing instant death.
But this wasn't for them.
Dang Ha-ryeong closed her eyes and downed the vial in one gulp.
It burned her throat like steeped mint water, cold as if she'd chugged ice.
She felt a massive surge of yin energy flooding her dantian.
"Ssss... haaa."
White mist billowed from her mouth with every exhale.
And at the same moment, a trickle of blood ran down from the corner of her lips.
Already nursing an internal injury, her body couldn't withstand the rampaging yin energy.
Dang Ha-ryeong casually wiped the blood from her mouth with her sleeve.
"Finally come to your senses? Heh heh."
The bandits cheered as she finally halted her flight.
Her beauty was stoking their base desires.
And she wasn't just any beauty—she was Dang Ha-ryeong, direct blood of the Sichuan Tang Family.
A woman they wouldn't dare even glance at under normal circumstances.
The sight of her, reduced to frantic flight without a chance to fight back, delighted them to no end.
Even injured as she was, she'd evaded them admirably thus far as a woman of a martial clan—but it seemed she'd hit her limit.
"No matter how lofty the Tang family's flower, she's nothing before the mighty heroes of the mountains!"
No Cheol guffawed, spreading his arms wide.
"Finally grasped your situation, eh? Come on, give us a hug!"
"......"
Dang Ha-ryeong stepped forward meekly.
No Cheol's mouth split into a massive grin.
Just look at that figure.
Curves that dipped perfectly in and swelled enticingly out, like a vase.
Beneath her disheveled martial robes, an alluring yet voluptuous form revealed itself.
Her hair tousled from the chase, clothes in disarray—yet she still exuded a noble grace.
It wasn't for nothing the martial world called her Sichuan's Number One Beauty.
Her eyes slanted sharply like a serpent's, pupils sunken low.
And those tightly clenched lips.
Imagining the screams bursting from between them made his tool twitch already.
'Unbelievable!'
Goosebumps prickled as she drew nearer.
His body shivered.
No Cheol was in a state of extreme arousal unlike anything he'd felt in his life.
But something felt off.
'This venomous bitch wouldn't come so tamely.'
Until now, she'd showered them with poison smoke and venomous projectiles to keep them at bay.
She was the type to draw a dagger and charge, dragging at least one down with her.
Everyone with "Tang" in their name was ruthless—that was common knowledge in the martial world.
If she'd come lunging for mutual destruction, he'd have bought it—but not this obedient compliance.
'Something's wrong.'
Bandit leader seats weren't won by chance.
No Cheol's sharp instincts had always set him apart among the riffraff.
Sensing the situation turning strange, he thrust out his palm to halt further approach.
"...Hold up."
"You called me over."
"A woman needs some fight in her—too compliant, and she loses her appeal."
"Screw you."
Her eyes turned frosty cold at the sudden critique from the bandit.
Dang Ha-ryeong unleashed a palm strike like lightning.
"Hurgh!"
Palm force slammed into No Cheol and his men in an instant.
With frosty momentum scattering about her, Dang Ha-ryeong stood tall before No Cheol.
He clacked his teeth together unwittingly, trembling.
The yin energy invading his body was paralyzing it.
'This mad bitch has resolved to die!'
Frost bloomed white over her already pale skin.
Her flesh had turned so translucent that blue veins showed through clearly.
Only then did No Cheol realize why her skin had looked so deathly pale.
The yin energy was affecting not just her body, but the very air around her.
Dang Ha-ryeong slowly exhaled.
She looked for all the world like an ice spirit from legend.
"Did you really think you'd survive after messing with the Tang family?"
"You treacherous wench! You tricked us!"
'She was clearly injured—how can she still muster this power?'
No Cheol spotted the faint bloodstain at the corner of Dang Ha-ryeong's mouth and understood.
'She's prepared to die!'
He hadn't expected her to be such a viper.
No Cheol wanted to flee, but his body wouldn't move.
Everything but his face had frozen solid.
"S-spare me... If you do, I'll tell you... who, who commissioned us..."
"No need."
The fact that she was injured was known only to a select few in the Murim Alliance.
Those who'd commissioned a hit on her wouldn't be sloppy enough to leave tracks leading to mere bandits.
Dang Ha-ryeong slowly covered No Cheol's mouth with her hand.
A chilling smile played at her lips.
Her clan would handle the revenge.
"Everyone connected to you—everyone tied to my death—won't go easy. Your acquaintances, your kin, everyone around you... all turned to piles of toxic ash."
Dang Ha-ryeong declared.
"N-no!"
"Feel the full weight of touching the Tang family... slowly."
The yin energy pouring from her hand turned to ice as it invaded his mouth.
Ice that gagged him tight, like a muzzle.
It crept slowly deeper inside.
"Mmph mph!"
The yin energy eroded No Cheol's insides bit by bit.
He thrashed in terror and agony, trying to speak, but it was futile.
Her power at its peak, amplified by the yin energy.
No Cheol, a mere first-rate, couldn't escape her grasp.
As Dang Ha-ryeong withdrew her hand, an ice statue stood frozen in his place.
"Cough!"
Blood streamed from Dang Ha-ryeong's eyes, nose, and mouth.
She'd kept circulating her qi despite the internal injury.
'Medical texts say those afflicted with frostbite suffer pain akin to burning alive.'
He wasn't dead yet—but he'd die in excruciating agony, very slowly.
Dang Ha-ryeong placed a hand over her chest.
Her heartbeat was slowing, ever so slightly.
Even moving her body was growing laborious.
She couldn't hold back the yin energy; her body was freezing over.
"So cold..."
Alone in the empty forest, her true feelings finally surfaced.
A single tear traced down her cheek, hitting the ground and scattering into snowflakes.
To think she'd die like this.
Dang Ha-ryeong slowly leaned against a tree.
She wanted to face her final moments with her back straight.
She exhaled her remaining breaths.
Indescribable agony flooded her as yin energy filled her lungs.
She forced down the gush of blood rising in her throat.
Rustle.
At the sudden presence, Dang Ha-ryeong's eyes flashed.
Had something survived her palm strike unfrozen?
Crunch crunch.
Footsteps drew steadily nearer.
Poisonous intent flickered in Dang Ha-ryeong's eyes.
She flicked her finger, sending a blade of finger wind.
"Ow!"
But the newcomer hurriedly leaped aside, dodging it.
Then ducked behind a tree and shouted.
"Trying to kill me out of nowhere!"
"You think I'd let filth like you live?"
Dang Ha-ryeong focused her gaze.
The figure emerging before her wasn't a bandit, but a clean-cut youth.
Too young to pass for one, and his clothes far too neat for a mountain dweller.
"...Not a bandit."
"Where do I look like one?"
"...Sorry."
"Sorry make it all better?"
The youth closed the distance with bold strides.
Spotting Dang Ha-ryeong half-hidden in the brush, his eyebrow twitched.
"Huh. You're dying."
"Good eye."
The youth shuddered at the chill radiating from her.
"How'd you end up like this?"
"Ate poison."
"Why eat poison?"
"To die on my own terms. Didn't want to die by someone else's hand."
The youth burst into laughter.
The boy—Lee Seon—laughed heartily before tossing out a single line.
"Want me to save you?"