Chapter 213
Chapter 213
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 213
Chapter Title: Reunion
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"...Why are you here?"
"M-Master, why are you...?"
The Sword Empress and her disciple were both wearing stunned expressions.
They clearly hadn't expected to run into each other here.
'Of course not...'
How could they have?
From the Sword Empress's perspective, her disciple—whom she'd thought long dead—had not only come back to life but was tied up in my house. From the disciple's side, her master—whose whereabouts she didn't even know—had suddenly shown up at the house.
Still, it was a miraculous master-disciple reunion, so I figured there might be a touch of heartwarming vibes...
"M-Master! I've missed y—"
"Are you still out of your mind, approaching him like this?!"
"...Pardon?"
...Huh.
This was heading in a completely different direction from what I'd imagined.
"How much more trouble do you plan to cause him, the one you scarred for life because of you?! That poor boy lost even his dreams and has to live with this broken body—how much more recklessly do you have to act before you'll be satisfied?!"
"Master...?"
"I tried everything to make you repent for your sins, but seeing you like this, I doubt giving you another chance would do any good. Better I send you back to hell myself this once—at least pray you reflect down there..."
The air grew thick with killing intent, like she might draw her sword any second.
Shing.
Except she actually drew it.
Wait, hold on—what the hell is going on here?
"W-Wait a minute, Sword Empress! There's some kind of misunderstanding!"
"Step aside. Whatever that child told you, it's all blatant lies not worth a bird's feed. Once I deal with her, I'll tell you the truth—so close your eyes and step back for a mo—"
"Th-the disciple has amnesia!"
"...What?"
I quickly explained the situation while the Sword Empress hesitated in shock.
The Blood Cult had raided Shaanxi Province. Her disciple, turned into a bloodsucker, had tried to kill us, but we'd subdued her. While waiting to hand her over to the Murim Alliance, she'd reverted to human form and lost her memories—from age fourteen onward, leaving her mental age stuck at that point.
"...What nonsense."
"W-Well, sure, it could be a lie... But from what we can tell, it seems real? So maybe you judge for yourself first, then decide how to handle her..."
"N-No, that's not..."
A trembling voice came from behind me as I held the Sword Empress back.
"E-Even if I've lost my memories, that doesn't erase my sins... If Master is reacting like this, I must've been a terrible disciple. The one I trusted joined that vile Blood Cult and went around harming people... I have no defense even if Master responds this way. Expulsion is only natural."
"..."
"Th-This body's already died once and come back. Death's fine. I've met the one lingering regret I had—my Master—and confirmed I wasn't a good disciple... No reason to cling to life while denying my crimes. A-And what I did... I'm truly sorry. Even if I don't remember... I apologize from the heart."
I glanced back to see her eyes brimming with tears.
...If this was acting, she should've been an actress, not a martial artist.
Assuming everything she said was true, imagine: a fourteen-year-old suddenly snapping to awareness, bound and amnesiac, having committed heinous crimes in the interim—with even her master trying to kill her. More than enough to shatter anyone's mind.
'She's definitely no saint...'
But why did I empathize so easily? Ah, right—Master had said her situation mirrored mine, and that kept nagging at me.
Amnesia and possession weren't the same, but the sense of being inexplicably hurled into a whole new world? Identical.
The days before meeting Master—rotting away in back alleys, half-dead—still lingered as trauma deep in my memories. That must've sparked some solidarity.
The Sword Empress listened to my explanation and her disciple's words, then spoke with a furrowed brow.
"...In that case, I suppose I must share the old tale as well."
"...Pardon?"
"The truth about you, So-yeon—who claims amnesia and hides it—and me."
She took several deep breaths beforehand, as if it was incredibly hard to say.
And the moment her lips parted...
"The one who shattered your dantian... was So-yeon."
I finally learned the truth I'd wondered about for ten years.
.
.
.
The Sword Empress's explanation dragged on for quite a while.
I seemed to have forgotten the past due to various incidents, but back then, I'd been an internal disciple of Mount Hua Sect. I'd befriended her disciple, then called Sword Flower, until one day Sword Flower tried to rape me...
Passersby intervened just in time, foiling the rape, but in her final desperate struggle as they dragged her away, she crushed my dantian.
The Sword Empress had been in secluded training at the time; by the time she emerged, I was long gone, impossible to track.
"...Hate me all you want. I hid this fact even after growing close to you—it's the truth. By the time I realized you were that boy I'd sought, my feelings had grown too strong to contain..."
Tremble, tremble.
She covered her face with shaking hands as she spoke, as if reliving the tremor.
It was a confession of a lifetime; her voice quivered visibly throughout.
So unlike the confident Sword Empress I usually saw—fragile, almost pitiable.
Her guilt toward me must've run that deep.
She looked ready to accept even if I screamed abuse at her right then.
But honestly? That wasn't what I felt hearing her words.
'...This really happened?'
It felt detached, like someone else's story.
The biggest sticking point? The attempted rape.
If it happened around the same time as my dantian shattering, then my age—no, this body's age back then...
'...'
Glance.
I peeked at the Sword Empress's disciple. Her face was pale as a ghost, utterly horrified.
'Her?'
This girl, growing up to lose her mind and try raping someone even younger than her now?
Hard to picture.
Sure, people change over time, face all sorts of things, personalities twist... But this innocent, almost excessively upright girl falling that far?
...Though if she lacked sexual knowledge, did she even know what rape was?
No idea the details, but she got that it was bad, right?
'...World's full of surprises.'
Well, if the Sword Empress said so, it must be true.
Truth be told, I didn't feel the betrayal or disgust she'd feared.
It was someone else's ordeal, really.
I'd suffered because my soul possessed a dantian-shattered body, sure—but if it'd been intact when I arrived, things wouldn't have changed much.
This body couldn't build muscle or flesh regardless of the dantian, and Master took me in out of curiosity for the insane combo: ruined dantian, unfamiliar soul inside. Different soul? She might've passed me by.
I'd have stayed in that alley...
'Or maybe Mount Hua.'
Exercise sucks, though.
Either way, not sure it'd beat my current life.
Minus the women troubles—I had few complaints about my lot.
99% of my crises stemmed from women, though.
...Wait, even the dantian got wrecked over a girl?
Maybe I was the problem.
One or two incidents? Fine. But nonstop girl-related disasters? Gotta be my fault.
'No, I cover my face properly—why do problems keep cropping up...'
...Thinking about it, this body's original owner pre-possession had no status window, so no cloak. As an internal disciple, probably didn't wear one anyway.
So he walked around bare-faced?
'Sigh, what was he thinking.'
Even veiled as I am now, trouble brews constantly. Bare face? Disaster waiting.
Half-joking, but overlapping my reality, it wasn't funny.
Early post-possession, I'd loved this cute, handsome body. Now? Looks too good without the strength to defend it—like carrying irreplaceable treasure defenseless.
"...Your silence means the betrayal cuts deep, I see. No excuses for my vile act. I'm prepared—if you wish, we can pretend the engagement never happened..."
"No... That's not... Actually, there's something I should tell you too."
She looked unwell, and letting misunderstandings fester seemed unwise. Time to come clean.
"Truth is, this body of mine..."
"Waaaiiit!!!"
"Mmph!"
"I-I just need a quick word with him!"
Yeo So-cheon suddenly clamped my mouth shut and dragged me into a side room, cutting me off.