Chapter 113
Chapter 113
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 113
Chapter Title: Thirteenth Chapter - Sichuan, Conclusion (4)
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The moment the door to the Clan Leader's chamber opened, the first thing Dang Hwa-seo saw was a translucent white screen.
Beyond it, the faint silhouette of an emaciated old man was visible.
Poison King Dang Sa-geuk.
Her grandfather, a man she could hate ten million times and it still wouldn't be enough.
Dang Hwa-seo gazed at his silhouette for a moment before clasping her hands in a formal salute.
“I greet the Tang Clan Leader.”
Without a speck of emotion.
“I am Dang Hwa-seo, Leader of the Dragon-Phoenix Squad of the Murim Alliance.”
She revealed the purpose of her visit.
The response came only after she had bowed her head and waited even longer.
“…Yes.”
Just that one word.
In that instant, Dang Hwa-seo’s mind raced with many thoughts.
What did he think of her rebellion?
Why had he summoned only her here?
Was he even considering the Alliance's request?
But the reply had nothing to do with any of that.
“You've reached the Pinnacle Realm. Excellent.”
Dang Hwa-seo’s eyes flickered.
Dang Sa-geuk continued.
“What poison have you realized upon reaching the Pinnacle Realm? What have you created?”
She could sense what lingered in his voice.
Pride, curiosity, and affection.
A bitter smile curled on Dang Hwa-seo’s lips.
‘How twisted this affection is.’
In that moment, something slipped through the door she had sealed shut in her heart.
It was long-festering hatred.
“…Is that what you wanted to ask?”
“Wouldn’t I naturally be curious now that my granddaughter has achieved this?”
“You won’t ask about my escape?”
“The follies of youth are nothing special.”
“Then you must not be curious about why I fled.”
“Do I have any reason to hound you so harshly?”
His voice remained warm throughout.
That warmth was utterly cruel.
Despite vowing not to show emotion, that cruel affection gnawed at Dang Hwa-seo’s insides.
His arbitrary assumptions dragged out the resentment she hadn’t wanted to reveal.
Dang Hwa-seo gritted her teeth.
She lifted her head, her face now markedly more furrowed than before.
Her breathing had grown ragged.
“I fled because I resent you. I fled because I loathe this Tang Clan to the point of horror. Is that not reason enough?”
“You’re saying such things again. What exactly displeases you so much?”
“How can you even ask that? After taking my life and future...”
Her surging rage choked her words.
Dang Hwa-seo closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Only then did she calm enough to speak.
“…How can you ask such a question after turning me into nothing but a tool for the Tang Clan?”
In truth, as she had come here, Dang Hwa-seo had harbored a faint hope.
Perhaps the reason he had called her back to the Tang Clan now was to apologize—that was her hope.
It wasn’t baseless delusion; there were clear grounds for it.
On the day of the Dragon-Phoenix Tournament, after Dang Un-gyeong returned, the Tang Clan had fallen silent.
After the Dragon-Phoenix Squad was formed, they had sent gifts.
When she returned to the Tang Clan this time, they had shown her So Hyang alive and well, serving as a maid.
It wasn’t strange at all that Dang Hwa-seo had considered the possibility of “perhaps.”
‘But…’
This was the reality.
Dang Sa-geuk had never once questioned her escape.
That arrogant old man had dismissed her cries as mere youthful folly.
Her hatred deepened.
“…Did it have to be me?”
Dang Hwa-seo forged that emotion into words and hurled them beyond the screen.
“Did I have to be the one to fulfill your lifelong wish?”
Dang Hwa-seo hadn’t asked for much.
The dream she had cherished since childhood was simply peace and happiness.
A Transcendent Realm warrior or the clan’s long-cherished wish meant nothing to her.
“…There was Dang Un-gyeong, who desperately wanted to devote himself to that wish. Why force it only on me?”
A sob clung to the end of her voice.
The shards of shattered hope pierced her heart like daggers, and the pain was excruciating.
That old man would never understand.
That the person she had envied more than anyone in her childhood was her half-brother.
That he was just a spoiled child raised only in love.
“Please, give me an answer, anything.”
Dang Hwa-seo pressed, but the response was far from satisfying.
“…Why don’t you understand my heart? Wasn’t it all for your sake?”
Frustration crept into Dang Sa-geuk’s voice.
Red veins rose in Dang Hwa-seo’s whites of her eyes.
Just as she opened her mouth to retort.
“Look at me.”
Dang Sa-geuk pulled back the screen.
Dang Hwa-seo gasped in shock at the sight.
“What is this…?”
Her eyes widened as if they might tear.
Dang Sa-geuk looked nothing like the image in her memories.
In one word, he resembled a dying patient.
No, even that was too generous.
“Behold. This is the side effect of poison arts that have reached the Transcendent Realm.”
Dang Sa-geuk’s skin was rotting away.
Not a single strand of hair remained on his head, and his left eye socket was hollow, who knows where the eye had gone.
That wasn’t all. His body was like a withered branch, skeletal and frail.
Death’s shadow loomed over him entirely; he seemed unable even to rise from his spot.
As the screen was lifted, the emanating poison qi made Dang Hwa-seo feel suffocated.
“Gasp…!”
“Why do you think the Tang Clan’s lifelong wish was Invulnerability to All Poisons? Why did we obsess over it so?”
Dang Sa-geuk’s phlegmy voice roughly tore through the space.
“This is why.”
Dang Sa-geuk’s expression was unreadable.
His face was too grotesquely sagging to discern any.
“Do you know? Poison that reaches the Transcendent Realm is so horrific and powerful that merely harboring it destroys the body. This tragedy has plagued the Tang Clan like a curse since the day it was founded.”
Anger welled in Dang Sa-geuk’s voice.
Even in that, affection lingered.
“I truly didn’t want you to live in such pain. I wanted you alone to close your eyes with that innocent smile intact.”
Dang Sa-geuk’s empty left eye socket narrowed.
“That’s the reason. Because you were more precious to me than anything…!”
*Cough!*
Dang Sa-geuk spewed black blood.
His shoulders heaved violently, his body trembling.
It was a wretched sight, unworthy of the title Poison King.
Immediately after, he creakily lifted his head and stared at Dang Hwa-seo with his one remaining eye.
“…Why don’t you understand such feelings?”
Dang Hwa-seo was speechless.
“Has your youthful folly not ended yet? Even after giving you so much time?”
The rebuke tore at her gut once more.
‘Clearly…’
This was something Dang Hwa-seo hadn’t known.
And it was clear enough that it stemmed from his own form of affection.
But still, it wasn’t justification.
Dang Hwa-seo clenched her fists and glared at Dang Sa-geuk.
“…I never wished for transcendence.”
“You will in the future. Martial arts ultimately lead to the greed of reaching the end.”
“I don’t want to sacrifice my life for transcendence.”
“Was a woman’s life that precious to you?”
“Then do you want me to abandon it?”
“Yes.”
For a moment, Dang Hwa-seo’s face went blank.
Dang Sa-geuk continued.
“Live not as a woman, but as the master of the Tang Clan. Live not as mere blood kin, but for this vast lineage. Isn’t it the most natural thing? Isn’t it proven by the countless history that has upheld it…!”
It was a clear bellow.
Yet Dang Hwa-seo couldn’t comprehend what she had just heard.
“…Why are you so certain that matters? I’ve never once thought that way?”
“Because I did!!!”
*Hwaaaaaak—!*
Poison qi filled the space.
Dang Hwa-seo staggered.
“Ugh…!”
Even with her Invulnerability to All Poisons, the viscous poison qi made her dizzy for a moment.
This was the weight of transcendence.
“Do you think there were no others like you before? Me, my predecessors, their predecessors’ predecessors—they all felt the same! They each had lives they desired! But look! Where did their choices lead? They all returned to their roots!”
With each bellow, the poison qi thickened.
The intensifying poison qi was the density of his rage.
“It’s because of longing! In this heartless, cold jianghu, the only place to lean on is blood ties! Because the reality we awaken to from dreams is so cruel! Do you think you’ll be any different!”
*Gooooh—*
The poison qi heavy enough to choke her breath slammed Dang Hwa-seo’s body downward.
*Thud!*
Dang Hwa-seo’s knees buckled.
Yet Dang Sa-geuk did not stop.
“Are those squad members filling your head with nonsense now? Yes, the Black Dragon or whatever. That clueless bumpkin must have bewitched you…!”
Dang Hwa-seo jerked her head up in shock.
His expression was no longer gentle.
“Shall I tear him apart to bring you to your senses!”
“Try it if you dare!”
Dang Hwa-seo shouted.
Instinct rebelled first at the old man’s stubbornness turning toward Mok Ri-won.
*Hwaaaak!*
Filled with defiant will, Dang Hwa-seo unleashed her aura.
The most alluring poison she had cultivated upon reaching the Pinnacle Realm began to dominate the space.
Rage and hostility burned in her wide-open eyes.
“I will never allow it, not even over my dead body! I’ll stake my life to stop you! Do you have to face catastrophe before regretting it belatedly!”
The squad members were her hard-won companions.
She absolutely could not tolerate them being taken away.
“You say the jianghu is heartless and this is the only place to rely on? You have no right to say that, Clan Leader!”
Dang Hwa-seo clenched both fists tighter, intensifying her aura.
The transcendent poison was heavy, but her Invulnerable body alleviated the pressure.
The boiling rage within her showed the will to resist this poison qi even if it meant emptying her dantian.
“You were the cruelest to me!”
*Grrrrrind—!*
The floor cracked under the strain.
It was the clash of auras.
“The Tang Clan was the most ruthless to me! Do you know? My childhood was a swamp in every moment. Every day was hell, and even the dream I harbored amid that—you stole it!”
In days writhing in agony, what grew in Dang Hwa-seo’s heart was a longing for warmth.
Someone who was absolutely on her side—family.
A happy household where they loved and protected each other.
That was the dream Dang Sa-geuk had stolen.
“Why do you equate me with yourself! My dream was so small that I surely could have achieved it if not for you!”
Rage turned to hatred, thickening the poison qi.
The poison qi became a venomous heart, lifting Dang Hwa-seo’s body.
“I won’t let you take anything more from me!”
*Kwaaaang!*
The auras exploded, sweeping everything between them away.
Now, even the screen was gone.
“So….”
Dang Hwa-seo bit her lip once.
Then, staring at Dang Sa-geuk with gleaming eyes, she said.
“…Don’t entertain foolish thoughts.”
With that, she turned away.
Dang Sa-geuk did not stop her.