Chapter 34
Chapter 34
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Dragon-Phoenix Tournament (7)
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Mok Ri-won was, at his core, someone who liked people.
Meeting strangers brought him fresh stimulation and experiences, and the bonds he formed with others were each precious treasures to him.
However, even Mok Ri-won had a type of person he found uncomfortable.
Namely, those who cast lecherous gazes his way.
White Phoenix Hye-un, standing before him now, was a prime example, as were the courtesans he had encountered back in Gangseo's Suyang County.
Whenever he met such lascivious eyes, an inexplicable sense of repulsion and fear gripped him.
"You must have been training. Your body is drenched in sweat."
"Uh, y-yes..."
Mok Ri-won took hesitant steps backward.
Hye-un felt a surge of playfulness at the sight.
*Oh, I want to make him cry.*
How thrilling would it be to see tears welling up in those pretty eyes?
How exhilarating to watch him bite his lip in barely contained shame?
And that face gasping for breath as desire finally overwhelmed him—the face of Dang Hwa-seo watching him in that state...
"...Heh."
A laugh slipped out unbidden.
Her cheeks flushed at the vivid imagination.
Mok Ri-won's lips quivered at the sight.
"W-well then, I have urgent business, so I'll be going...!"
Hye-un's approach, and Dang Hwa-seo's instruction to come to her.
Mok Ri-won remembered it clearly.
He tried to flee straight to her.
Thud-.
"Ow-!"
He couldn't help but freeze at the sound from behind him.
Mok Ri-won's head whipped around.
There lay Hye-un on the ground, clutching her ankle.
For a nun, her attire was scandalously revealing, her pale ankle blatantly exposed.
"I tripped over a stone..."
It was nonsense.
For a martial artist of her renown to twist her ankle on a mere pebble was as absurd as claiming the Black Dao helped the poor.
But Mok Ri-won, already flustered, couldn't think that far.
"A-are you alright?"
Mok Ri-won hurried over with a worried expression.
And that moment of carelessness came at a terrible cost.
Grab-.
"Got you."
Hye-un grinned mischievously as she seized Mok Ri-won's wrist.
The tremor that ran through his wrist at her touch, the face slowly coloring with fear, the body twisting helplessly—it was more intoxicating than any aphrodisiac to Hye-un.
"Let go..."
"Why are you running away?"
"I-it's not running. I just have places to be."
"Is that so? It doesn't feel that way to me. I just wanted to get closer to Young Hero Mok, but you're avoiding me so much that even I feel hurt."
Even now, well over a week into the Dragon-Phoenix Tournament.
There was a clear reason Hye-un hadn't approached him rashly until then.
Like a seasoned hunter studying her prey's habits before the hunt, she had observed Mok Ri-won closely.
*He's weak to things that prick at his conscience like this.*
Despite his appearance, he had an innocent side.
"It's not like that...!"
Mok Ri-won felt indignation rising.
*Why is she doing this to me!*
Why torment him like this?
He hadn't done anything wrong to her, so why was she intimidating him?
"Could it be that Lady Dang badmouthed me to you?"
Mok Ri-won's eyes flickered at the sudden question.
Hye-un adopted a pitiful expression, lamenting like a tragic heroine.
"As expected... Lady Dang must dislike me. With her strong competitive spirit, she might resent being on the same level as someone like me. Maybe that's why she's been spreading bad rumors about me all this time..."
Her lament clearly aimed to sow discord between him and Dang Hwa-seo.
Hye-un's goal was simple.
To slip into the gap created by that momentary doubt.
But it was a blunder.
"...Lady Dang isn't like that."
Mok Ri-won countered firmly for the first time.
His face bore a resolute anger, different from his earlier panic.
"...Pardon?"
"She's not like that. Apologize."
"What..."
"As Nun Hye-un says, Lady Dang is indeed very prideful. But she doesn't resort to belittling others to protect that pride."
*Oh dear.*
Hye-un panicked.
She had touched a nerve.
*Fix it first. And avoid this angle from now on...*
Her quick thinking led to words of apology.
"Ah, I misspoke..."
"Most would call that a slip of the tongue. What Nun Hye-un did was clearly sowing discord."
White Phoenix felt incredulous.
"...Is that such a grave matter?"
"If this isn't important, then what is?"
Mok Ri-won shook off her wrist, stood, snorted, and declared.
"I'm an upright man! And I always consider others! That's not all! I'm so generous that I even cover meal expenses for someone as penniless as me!"
He crossed his arms, his praise for Dang Hwa-seo flowing freely.
Hye-un suddenly thought he resembled a child bragging about his parents.
"What..."
"I'm smart too! On the journey from Gangseo here, I mapped out every city we'd pass and the best routes entirely in my head—I'm that knowledgeable about geography! Think that's all? I've read so many books that I can identify every plant and flower we pass on the road!"
Strength built in Mok Ri-won's voice.
Though it was late at night, in Seohyeon where the Dragon-Phoenix Tournament raged on, martial artists began gathering at the commotion.
Hye-un spat out her fluster amid the growing crowd.
"M-Mok, Young Hero Mok. Just a moment..."
"And I'm an incredible beauty too! In every city we visited, there were more than a few blushing at the sight of Lady Dang!"
The surroundings grew boisterous.
-What's going on?
-No idea. That guy's Mok Sword, isn't he? And he's been praising Poison Phoenix right in front of White Phoenix.
-Good heavens, could Mok Sword and Poison Phoenix be...!
-Then White Phoenix approached Mok Sword and got thoroughly rejected? Serves her right for touching someone who's taken.
-Shh! Shh! Don't spread that around!
The whispers grew louder.
Mok Ri-won, lost in his own words, didn't notice, but Hye-un, hearing it all upfront, flushed crimson.
*T-this...*
What humiliation in the dead of night.
No, more than that, this Mok Ri-won...
*...He's completely insane?*
He was a madman.
How could anyone spout such embarrassing words without a shred of shame?
Why did he seem proud instead?
Hye-un felt secondhand embarrassment from his eloquence.
"N-now, enough..."
"My hands are delicate too! You might think they'd be callused from fist and claw techniques, but I minimize physical strain through proper qi circulation! Once, when I held hands with Lady Dang, it felt like a dream!"
Cheers of "Ooh..." erupted around them.
Some even clapped.
Hye-un's head spun.
Amid it all.
"...Young Hero Mok."
Another protagonist arrived.
Dang Hwa-seo, drawn out by anxiety over the nighttime disturbance—"Could it be?"
And it was.
As Mok Ri-won declared "Lady Dang is an incredible beauty," shame had shaken her, but she could endure no longer and stepped forward.
"Ah! Lady Dang!"
Mok Ri-won's face bloomed with innocent joy.
Dang Hwa-seo couldn't lift her head, staring at the ground as her body trembled.
Her flushed earlobes were exposed to the world.
"Nun Hye-un misunderstood you, so I was clearing it up! Come here!"
Slap-!
Dang Hwa-seo grabbed Mok Ri-won's wrist.
She dragged him away with steps as swift as lightness skill.
The onlookers cheered at the departing pair.
Hye-un stared blankly at the sky.
*W-what was that...*
For the first time, Hye-un thought men were incomprehensible.
*
If anyone in the Central Plains ever died of shame, it would surely be her.
Back in their manor quarters, Dang Hwa-seo cooled her burning face while making Mok Ri-won kneel.
"What on earth were you thinking, saying all that there...!"
Flinch-.
Mok Ri-won's shoulders hunched.
Dang Hwa-seo sighed deeply, unable to say more.
"Nun Hye-un insulted you... So..."
His excuse was pitiful.
What a walking disaster.
She had told him to run if they met, yet he praised her there—what logic was that?
The more she dwelled on it, the more she wanted to hang herself, but deep down, a spark of joy flickered.
*Once, when I held hands with Lady Dang, it felt like a dream!*
Those words that dragged her out lingered in her mind.
Why did they make her happy?
A little deeper thought might reveal the answer, but Dang Hwa-seo didn't pursue it.
She wasn't generous enough with herself to face such feelings head-on.
"...Anyway, you did well repelling that lustful phoenix."
Mok Ri-won beamed.
The scolding seemed shorter than usual.
"But."
"...!"
"Never do it again. Never. Absolutely."
"Y-yes!"
"Go to bed."
"You too, good night!"
Mok Ri-won bolted from the room.
Dang Hwa-seo slammed her head on the desk, trembling.
Jegal San showing up giggling after hearing the rumors—and getting punched in the solar plexus—was another matter.
*
[Mok Sword! Victory!]
"Waaaaah!!"
"Kyaaaaah!!!"
The next day, the group match finals.
Mok Ri-won felled his opponent in one exchange and descended the arena.
Dang Hwa-seo welcomed him back to the stands with a smile.
"Well done."
"Easy!"
Mok Ri-won grinned brightly and added.
"It's almost your turn, isn't it, Lady Dang? Win this one too!"
Group Three, with Dang Hwa-seo, faced finals today alongside his Group Four.
The arena still buzzed from his victory, awaiting her.
"Yes, I'll make sure to win."
Dang Hwa-seo smiled faintly, steadying her mind.
*White Phoenix...*
Today's opponent.
A woman she couldn't stand, yet an undeniable truth remained.
While she had stagnated for five years, Hye-un had first breached Pinnacle Realm.
Dang Hwa-seo clenched her fist.
*The odds are low.*
But that didn't mean defeat.
Her arts held up against swordsmanship, and her training and preparations overflowed.
She had invested over half her funds into poison qi absorption.
She had refined and absorbed the Human-Faced Spider's venom gland from the Residual Blood Valley.
Her inner power was ample.
She couldn't lose.
*I must reach the semifinals.*
For her future plans, she needed to show the world she was still a force.
As her thoughts deepened.
[Group Three finals, begin!]
The announcer called.
*
Martial artists had an ingrained habit.
They loved stories so much they bestowed "nicknames" on those achieving feats.
From that view, Mok Sword's speech last night and the tale of the two women made perfect gossip fodder.
Rivals by nature, now clashing over one man—it was prime fuel to heat the arena for spectators.
"Poison Phoenix! Protect your love!!"
From supporters of Mok Ri-won and Dang Hwa-seo's romance.
"White Phoenix! True love is seized!!"
Those preaching conquest, urging Hye-un to steal him.
"Just get along as a trio! Mok Sword! The more the merrier! More the merrier!!"
...Even those chanting for polyamory.
Laughter bloomed in the arena.
But two couldn't laugh.
"..."
"..."
Dang Hwa-seo and Hye-un faced each other atop the arena.
Shame hung thick on both faces.
Hearing the cheers upon ascending erased their resolve and tension.
[Begin!]
At the call, both women shared a rare thought.
*End it in one exchange.*
Win fast and escape this place.