Chapter 118
Chapter 118
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 118
Chapter Title: Thirteen Palms - Sichuan, Conclusion (9)
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He came to his senses at the cave entrance.
Mok Ri-won stared blankly at the cave before gritting his teeth and standing up.
It was because he still hadn't heard a single satisfying answer.
It was because he needed to know why he had been born under such a cruel fate.
Driven by that thought, he walked toward the snake.
Thud!
It was impossible.
He couldn't go any further inside from the entrance.
It was as if an invisible wall stood right in front of him.
Mok Ri-won pounded on the cave entrance with heightened agitation.
As he did, he shouted.
“Hey! I still have so much more to hear! Open up!”
It was desperate.
Anyone who knew Mok Ri-won could never imagine him like this; he was utterly worked up.
His cries, with veins bulging in his neck, were filled with nothing but injustice, and his eyes were a mess from the tears he'd shed just moments ago.
“I said open up! Why is this happening only to me! What is this heavenly mandate that's tormenting me like this!!!”
He didn't stop at just shouting; he thrashed about wildly.
Kwaaaaang!
A fist loaded with full internal energy struck the wall.
Ripples spread across the transparent barrier, but that was it.
The wall was firm, and there was nothing more Mok Ri-won could do.
Mok Ri-won's body slid down slowly.
Slumping to the ground, he covered his face with his hands and muttered.
“Why….”
He endlessly repeated the mutter of “why.”
He had thought he'd finally found a place to resolve the question he'd harbored his entire life, only to gain nothing—leaving him with utter emptiness inside.
Even as he sank into despair, time passed relentlessly, and the promised two hours approached.
Mok Ri-won gritted his teeth.
If he didn't go now, the squad members would worry about him.
He had to achieve his goal and get out quickly, so he couldn't cause trouble.
Staggering to his feet, Mok Ri-won walked toward the Secret Cave, his mind filled only with desolation.
*
In front of the Secret Cave, where the rock blocking the squad members had vanished, stood a massive door.
Dang Hwa-seo, who had been standing there, spotted Mok Ri-won approaching from afar and lit up with a bright smile.
“Young Hero Mok!”
Mok Ri-won was the last one.
Considering that the others gathered before him hadn't found the mechanism, it must have been Mok Ri-won who discovered and activated it.
Should she call it commendable?
Grateful, Dang Hwa-seo rushed forward in one step but suddenly halted.
“Young Hero Mok…?”
Mok Ri-won's eyes were red-rimmed.
His complexion was as pale as someone who had lost his soul.
In that instant, before the question of what had happened crossed her mind, something else occurred to Dang Hwa-seo first.
“What's wrong? Are you alright?”
Dang Hwa-seo grabbed Mok Ri-won's face and said.
She turned his head this way and that to check his condition, wiping away the tear-streaked face. Worry and distress filled her own expression.
Startled by her reaction, Mok Ri-won widened his eyes like a rabbit before shaking his head.
“…Nothing happened. I was just extremely fatigued on the way.”
Mok Ri-won smiled weakly.
Dang Hwa-seo bit her lip and glared at him.
“Really? You're not hiding anything?”
“Really. What reason would I have to lie?”
Mok Ri-won said that and mumbled to himself.
He glanced at the cleared rock and spoke.
“It's open.”
“Yes, it is. Where was the mechanism?”
“I'm not sure. Embarrassingly, I got attacked by a spirit beast on the way and lost my direction. By chance, I found the spot, fiddled with the mechanism, heard a rumbling sound, and came straight here.”
So the spirit beast attack was the cause.
Dang Hwa-seo was surprised that a spirit beast strong enough to make a Peak Realm warrior like Mok Ri-won flee had been here.
But she pushed the thought aside.
‘…No, as long as he's safe.’
Whatever it was, it was a place they'd never return to.
With Mok Ri-won confirmed safe, they just needed to finish up and leave.
Dang Hwa-seo exhaled and looked at the squad members.
“Then let's go in now. Is everyone uninjured?”
The squad members nodded.
Dang Hwa-seo led Mok Ri-won to the Secret Cave door, then gripped the handle first.
In that moment.
“…Hm?”
Dang Hwa-seo's brow furrowed.
“What is it, Sister?”
“Wait.”
Dang Hwa-seo felt a tingling in her hand and puzzled over it before clicking her tongue.
“…Poison.”
The door handle was coated in poison.
Not just any poison, but an extreme toxin that could kill upon skin contact.
If she didn't have her Invulnerable to All Poisons constitution, she would have collapsed from poisoning too.
Dang Hwa-seo pondered.
‘Is opening the door all there is?’
No, absolutely not.
The Tang Clan she knew was notoriously ruthless, and considering what might come after opening the Secret Cave, the inside was obviously dangerous.
‘The whole space is probably soaked in poison.’
Dang Hwa-seo glanced at the squad members.
‘I can't bring them.’
If the place was rigged with poisons and hidden weapons as traps, taking the squad inside would be the worst possible mistake.
“…I think I should go in alone. Can you all guard this place?”
The squad members nodded as if instantly understanding Dang Hwa-seo's words.
“Got it. Be careful, Sister.”
“Yeah, we leave it to you.”
Dang Hwa-seo exhaled deeply and gripped the handle tighter.
Then she pulled.
*
A long, endlessly descending passage.
That was the first thing that met Dang Hwa-seo's eyes upon opening the Secret Cave.
‘Underground.’
As expected, poison gas seeped into her body the moment she entered.
Dang Hwa-seo immediately locked the door behind her.
It was to protect the squad members, who had weak resistance to poison.
Now fully inside the Secret Cave, only silence remained.
Fortunately, night pearls were embedded in the walls here and there, so visibility wasn't an issue.
Dang Hwa-seo let out a hollow chuckle.
With night pearls overflowing like this, the Tang Clan's wealth hit home once again.
‘Not the time.’
Dang Hwa-seo moved downward.
After traversing the long passage for a while, she reached a slightly wider space.
At the end of that space was an iron door.
Was it locked?
After a brief hesitation, Dang Hwa-seo placed her hand on the handle.
‘Extreme poison here too.’
Even stronger than before.
Dang Hwa-seo closed her eyes and began to breathe.
Suuuu—
She inhaled, drawing in the poison gas.
With her exhale, she expelled the impurities.
‘High purity.’
An unexpected gain, perhaps.
Just breathing here was enhancing her internal energy.
‘Perfect for secluded training.’
Of course, she had no intention of ever returning.
Clack!
Pulling the handle unlocked the latch with a sound.
The scene beyond the door revealed itself.
Dang Hwa-seo swallowed hard.
‘This place….’
What should she call it?
If she had to pick a fitting term, it was this.
“Pill Refining Chamber?”
Pill Refining Chamber.
A space for researching and producing elixirs.
She couldn't describe it any other way, as display cases occupying most of the not-insubstantial room were filled with refined poisons from various creatures.
One wall was covered in logs of records.
In the center, a desk held needles and various tools.
Dang Hwa-seo read the label on a vial.
‘…Twin-Headed Serpent's poison gland.’
Next to it: centipede poison pill, black tile gastric juice, scorpion stinger.
Dang Hwa-seo's expression darkened.
She knew all of these.
No, she couldn't not know them.
‘A place for researching Invulnerable to All Poisons.’
All these poisons were the ones injected into her as a child.
Poisons synthesized into her body in specific ratios to produce various effects.
Dang Hwa-seo's fists clenched tight.
-It's the twin-headed centipede poison. I've mixed in 20% concentration of the human-faced spider saliva, so endure it. It'll feel prickly, like your veins are being scraped inside, but it'll fade by tonight, so no worries.
Dang Sa-geuk's voice flashed through her mind, sending chills down her spine involuntarily.
Dang Hwa-seo turned her gaze away.
Next, she examined the bookshelf stuffed with logs.
She picked one up and opened it.
‘Not this generation's records.’
The author was Dang Cheon-myeong, the Tang Clan's fourth-generation leader.
The contents… were horrific.
Dang Hwa-seo looked at the log with contemptuous eyes.
‘…They captured commoners for experiments.’
The fourth-generation leader had experimented on commoners for poison resistance.
The impersonal handwriting detailed the effects of various poisons discovered through sacrificing innocent lives.
She pocketed the log and opened another.
Same thing.
She rifled through documents from all over the shelf, wondering if there was anything different, but all were records of facts learned through experimenting on the innocent.
The final records were Dang Sa-geuk's.
He hadn't used commoners as subjects.
He had simply documented the experiments performed on himself, based on prior ones.
The log's last sentence stirred Dang Hwa-seo's emotions.
『With this, the Tang Clan's tragedy has come to an end.』
Kwaak—
Dang Hwa-seo crumpled the book in her grip.
Her head tilted blankly toward the ceiling.
‘What tragedy has ended?’
After centuries of atrocities, was this all they had to say?
After ruining so many lives, was this their final word?
Absurdly, now that she'd found documents to condemn the clan leader, what surfaced in Dang Hwa-seo was guilt.
She knew there was no reason for it, but the records of those sacrificed to perfect this constitution tore at her insides.
The thought that they had all died because of her wouldn't leave her mind.
Dang Hwa-seo closed her eyes.
She circulated her heart method while standing, to calm her turbulent heart and maintain composure.
Suuuu—
The dark green poison gas reacted with the surroundings, turning an even darker hue.
‘I'm sorry.’
Since she lived bearing the body completed by their sacrifices, she inwardly apologized as it seemed only right, then opened her eyes.
She steeled her resolve.
‘I will ensure your deaths are not in vain. I will make the clan leader pay for his crimes.’
Energy gathered in Dang Hwa-seo's fist.
She swung it.
Kwaaaang—!
She smashed the display case.
She had already taken the necessary documents.
Judging that this space shouldn't exist in the world, Dang Hwa-seo began destroying everything inside.
Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaang!
Vibrations and explosions rang out.
The thick dark green energy melted all the unnecessary research logs and reduced the wall of poison vials to powder.
The released poison gas enveloped Dang Hwa-seo.
She absorbed it and channeled it straight into her power.
Kwaaaaang—!
The Pill Refining Chamber was now unrecognizable from what it had been.
Leaving it behind, Dang Hwa-seo exited the Secret Cave.
The moment she opened the exit door, intent on heading straight to the clan leader's quarters.
“You're out.”
…Waiting for her was Dang Un-gyeong.
With dozens of Tang Clan guards in tow.
Dang Hwa-seo's eyes darted around.
The squad members looked at her, at a loss.
Kneeling beside Dang Un-gyeong, bound with rope, was So Hyang.
She pieced together the situation.
‘They were waiting for an opening from the start.’
She had expected them to enter the forbidden area.
Dang Hwa-seo fixed a cold gaze on Dang Un-gyeong.
He acted bold, but fear was in his eyes.
This situation wasn't his idea.
‘The clan leader.’
What a vicious person.
Dang Hwa-seo exhaled slowly and moved her lips.
“Step aside.”
Her voice carried an aura ready to erupt at any moment.
“I'm in the mood to tear you apart right now, so if you want to live, move.”
Dang Un-gyeong swallowed dryly.