Chapter 14
Chapter 14
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: First Steps into Jianghu, and the Enchantress (8)
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Time stretched into infinity.
It was a moment Mok Ri-won could only describe that way.
The sensation of his sword slicing through human skin and the muscle beneath.
Then tearing into bone—the dialogue that had accelerated beyond normal limits had caused that phenomenon.
Mok Ri-won's pupils, narrowed to pinpricks, stared at the blood spraying into the air.
And there was a response.
Thump-.
His heart pounded.
The tip of his sword trembled belatedly.
His breath quickened, and an electric current raced up his spine.
-Suppress your killing intent.
‘Suppress.’
He had to suppress those sensations.
He had to ignore them, crush them, deny their existence.
Yet, they were sweet sensations all the same.
“Urk…!”
At Pyo San's stifled groan, Mok Ri-won felt a thrill of pleasure.
His thoughts raced ahead, imagining what came next.
What he had just severed was the wrist holding the short sword.
With a clanging sound, Pyo San's final weapon fell to the floor—he could no longer resist in any way.
Slice the ankle to slam him down, stab the center of his calf, then slash up toward the thigh, and escape would become impossible too.
He would be too busy thrashing and screaming in agony.
Next?
Ah, stab behind the elbow and tear it open, then while he's writhing, sever from the shoulder.
His forearm would already be gone by then, but he would feel the illusory pain as if his elbow were burning away, and pitifully scream once more.
His thoughts expanded infinitely.
Infinite ways to inflict pain on his opponent rose and faded.
It was an instant.
All these thoughts had formed in the brief moment before the blood from the severed wrist even settled on the floor.
Drip, drip-.
The blood pattering on the floor rang in Mok Ri-won's ears.
Only then did he regain his reason.
“Ah….”
His breath caught in his throat.
In that short instant, realizing the nature of the desire he had felt while gazing at the neutralized man brought a sense of dismay.
‘…Suppress.’
He repeated it to himself and gritted his teeth.
He steadied his trembling sword tip and glared at Pyo San.
Pyo San glared back, teeth clenched as well.
Despair had not yet settled in his eyes.
‘I am a martial artist.’
A hero as well, so what he should do before an enemy was not indulge in depraved fantasies prioritizing pleasure, but a proper duel.
Mok Ri-won thrust his sword, envisioning such a life.
It was the final strike to neutralize him.
However, the form lost focus as he tried to cool his overheated mind, leaving a clear opening.
Pyo San sensed it.
He coated his remaining hand with dark blue qi and struck Mok Ri-won's sword flat.
Claaang-!
The resounding crash filled the space, revealing the obvious result: Mok Ri-won's disadvantage.
His sword flew into the air.
It was unavoidable.
Even setting aside his martial talent, in a pure clash of internal energy, the difference between Mok Ri-won at the entry to the Pinnacle Realm and Pyo San at its edge was vast.
The first opening Mok Ri-won had shown since the reversal of fortunes.
Pyo San spun his body and extended his leg.
‘Waist.’
Mok Ri-won sensed it and swiftly swung his hand.
What he grabbed with a smack was Pyo San's sharply thrusting ankle.
This too was his talent acting on instinct.
A counter that seized the opponent with bare hands.
It utilized the principles of the Grappling Hand.
Mok Ri-won twisted the wrist, breaking Pyo San's ankle.
The force was applied beyond the joint's range of motion.
Crack-.
Pyo San's ankle was crushed.
“Kuaaaagh-!”
His final struggle ended there.
Pyo San screamed from the sudden pain and collapsed face-down.
His mind went white from the pain as if his ankle were entirely aflame.
Yet, amid it all, one question lingered unerasable.
‘How!’
How was this possible?
How were all his attacks being read?
It was absurd.
That man was a mere novice barely past adulthood, while he was a veteran who had weathered countless storms of the jianghu.
The one rolling on the floor screaming should be that man.
“Hup…!”
The man merely looked down at him with a face furrowed like a ferocious god of evil.
“It’s over!”
Mok Ri-won shouted.
Pyo San glared at him with bloodshot eyes.
The sight of him picking up his sword, dark qi aura flowing steadily.
The sight of him overturning the tide of internal energy and looking down.
The scene of the victorious man.
‘Talent…!’
This was the unfair naked truth of the jianghu.
Humans were such insidious creatures.
The moment defeat was sealed, what rose in Pyo San was not guilt for failing his orders or shame as a warrior, but rage at this reality.
Grit-.
Pyo San ground his teeth so hard blood oozed and glared at Mok Ri-won.
Mok Ri-won exhaled, his protective qi finally calming.
Silence settled over the space.
Then another voice intruded.
“Young Hero…?”
It was Hwa Seo's voice.
*
It was an unbelievable sight.
For Hwa Seo, it was a scene she had never imagined in her life.
‘Pyo San….’
Had lost.
The shadowy figure who had always dragged her to ruin with his gloomy eyes, who seemed utterly indestructible, now lay pathetically rolling on the floor.
A man stood before him.
Breath not yet settled.
Blood trickling from wounds all over his body.
And the dark qi aura.
Only then did Hwa Seo understand the source of his confidence.
‘…Pinnacle Realm.’
A warrior of the Pinnacle Realm.
It was truly absurd, yet there in reality, he demonstrated it.
That he had already reached superhuman heights.
“…Little Sister.”
Flinch-.
Hwa Seo's shoulders trembled.
Her gaze blankly turned to Mok Ri-won.
“What did I tell you.”
His face, still sharp from the battle's afterglow, softened bit by bit into his usual smile the moment their eyes met squarely.
“I said it didn’t look like I’d lose.”
It was a pretty, clear smile.
Something welled up from deep within Hwa Seo.
-A hero never yields to villains. These are the words of the Sword Hero in the first chapter of Tales of the Jianghu Heroes.
Indeed, he had proven his words with his entire body.
It was what made Hwa Seo's heart feel moistened.
“Now no one will torment you, Little Sister.”
Her throat tightened.
Hearing his words, the moments he left and she agonized, the moment she resolved to come here.
He was so dignified that she felt ashamed of herself for hoping not for his victory, but mere struggle.
“…It seems so.”
Hwa Seo forced a smile.
Mok Ri-won's qi aura subsided.
She stepped forward to him—and to Pyo San.
Pyo San glared at Hwa Seo with a grotesquely twisted face.
“Miss. It won’t end like this….”
“Young Hero.”
“Hm?”
“Could you handle my children and the remnants of the One Wheel Society? I have business with this man.”
Cutting off Pyo San, Hwa Seo said this, and Mok Ri-won nodded.
Not just because it was her request, but because the face before him held so much that he felt he shouldn't interrupt.
Mok Ri-won walked away.
Hwa Seo looked down at the utterly wrecked Pyo San and murmured.
“You are human after all, it seems. Seeing you collapsed so pathetically like this.”
On Hwa Seo's face as she spoke were emptiness and resentment.
*
There were memories painful just to recall.
“Aga, you will be the next generation's master.”
Moments that ached just to revisit.
“This old man will make it so. I will make you the greatest under heaven.”
Hwa Seo hated enclosed spaces.
She hated dark rooms reliant on a few candles.
And she hated the suffocating stench.
Perhaps that disposition led her to become a brothel madam.
The madam always looked down on the city from the brothel's top floor, free of any obstacles blocking sunlight, and surrounded by the scents of powder and liquor that numbed the nose.
That must be why she chose such work.
“Aga. Do you know? At that bloodbath, we lost so much. We became heroes who vanquished the Blood Demon and saved the jianghu's martial world, yet we lost countless things for a single sliver of fame.”
“Grandfather….”
“The jianghu is heartless. And fickle. We gained such great renown, but without the power to protect it, we are always on the brink of ruin.”
“It hurts too much….”
“So you must rise and prove it. That we have not yet fallen.”
Hwa Seo knew that look in his eyes—stubborn obsession or madness.
“…The Sichuan Tang Clan is an impregnable fortress that will never fall. You must prove it.”
She knew how grotesque the delusions of a frail, aged man could become.
*
Hwa Seo knelt and extended her hand.
She placed it on Pyo San's chest, where he lay gasping raggedly.
“Is the Clan Leader still hale?”
“Such words from your mouth?”
“Even so, blood ties remain.”
“Shameless…!”
Pyo San's eyes gleamed.
Hwa Seo met them squarely and parted her lips.
She had always wanted to ask, pondering how to phrase it.
But no fitting words came.
What escaped her lips was resentment.
“Don’t you pity me?”
“Pity? How could the miss be pitiable? How dare you spit resentment after receiving such favor?”
It was resentment that wouldn't reach.
Hwa Seo smiled bitterly.
Even then, Pyo San continued.
“You know it too, miss. The great law you received is what countless jianghu warriors dream of!”
“I didn’t want it.”
“Be grateful anyway! With it, you….”
“Lost my childhood.”
“You gained Invulnerable to All Poisons in exchange!”
Pyo San screamed.
His words, spat like a deathbed frenzy amid choking breaths, pierced Hwa Seo's heart deeply.
But for Pyo San, it was a natural reaction.
Talent.
And environment.
As a warrior, as the Tang Clan of Sichuan's heir Hwa Seo, she had it all.
The chance to learn the highest martial arts from the highest masters, consume spirit elixirs at the perfect times, achieve realms others dreamed of as naturally as breathing.
Yet here she was whining—how could it not frustrate him?
“Invulnerable to All Poisons! Not just any, but the ability to contain every poison of the Tang Clan—no, every poison in the jianghu within your body! A peerless great law! How can you not be grateful to the Clan Leader who bestowed it!”
“I repeat, I didn’t want it.”
“No! You must want it!”
“Must I thank the one who made poison, not blood, flow in my veins?”
“Yes! Of course!”
Hwa Seo found no more words to reply.
Had it been too long a flight?
Something she had forgotten resurfaced.
‘…Yes, that’s the place it was.’
The Sichuan Tang Clan was merciless.
Even to kin.
They always sought only results.
“What a petty clan.”
“What?”
“Isn’t it? ‘Repay favors twofold, grudges tenfold’ as policy, yet they resort to inhuman great laws no better than those of the unorthodox. If that’s not petty, what is?”
Raw fury rose on Pyo San's bloodied face.
This dim-witted warrior knew only loyalty and couldn't deny the clan, so Hwa Seo offered no further persuasion.
She simply acted.
Ssshh-.
Dark green qi swirled over Hwa Seo's hand.
At the cusp of first-rate.
Having begun to gauge qi auras, she could perform such a feat.
“You called it a blessing? Said I should be grateful?”
“Wh-what….”
“Then experience it. The pain I live with every moment.”
The dark green qi seeped into Pyo San's chest.
At that instant.
“Guhk…!”
Pyo San's eyes bulged as if tearing, and he groaned.
“Guehk…!”
Spreading from his chest through his veins was unmistakable poison qi.
Hot, throbbing, stinging pain shredded his every thought.
He couldn't even writhe in agony.
His entire body paralyzed the moment the poison spread.
“You won’t die. It’s not that kind of poison. It’ll fade by tomorrow, so endure.”
Hwa Seo said coldly with sunken eyes.
She withdrew her hand, stood, and turned her gaze afar.
Sharpening her senses, she heard the screams of the Black Daoists.
Mok Ri-won and her subordinates must be cleaning up the One Wheel Society.
“That fool of a man said something.”
“Guhk, kuhk…!”
“Those who commit no sin need not flee. The wicked deserve punishment. So no need to run.”
She didn't expect Pyo San's reply.
With nowhere to vent her muddled heart and to solidify her spat resolve, Hwa Seo continued.
“Tell the Clan Leader that.”
Hwa Seo smiled gracefully as always.
“Dang Hwa-seo will no longer hide from you.”
She had feared it her whole life.
And fled.
Yet nothing changed—she was still mired in the mire.
So now, she didn't want to run.
Call it vain romance, call it idealism or dreams—even so, Hwa Seo now had reason to pursue such ideals.
“If true justice exists, the one punished will be the Clan Leader.”
Foolish romance though it was, chivalry though it was.
Unfit for her though it was.
At the end of long years, Hwa Seo prepared to face the nightmare that had tormented her.