Chapter 40
Chapter 40
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: Dragon-Phoenix Tournament (13)
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The next day, in the early morning before the dawn had fully broken.
Dang Hwa-seo opened her eyes in her bedroom.
She stared blankly at the ceiling with unfocused pupils, blinking for a moment, then suddenly shuddered and covered her face with both hands.
‘…I’ve lost my mind.’
Only after the drowsiness began to fade did the events of the previous day come rushing back.
The half-sibling she had met the night before and his sharp words.
Mok Ri-won, who had held her as she nearly crumbled, and the moment her heart felt cleansed by his smile.
Despite all that had happened, enough to stir a complex swirl of emotions, there was only one strikingly clear feeling in Dang Hwa-seo’s heart.
‘I…’
I’ve fallen in love.
I’ve come to look at another with romantic affection.
The realization felt so utterly foreign, so embarrassingly new, that her body trembled.
It was a strange sensation.
She had heard that falling in love made one’s heart pound wildly, flushed the face with heat, and scattered the mind.
But her own reaction was a little different.
Her heart felt more tightly constricted than pounding.
Heat filled her lungs rather than her cheeks, making her breaths the hottest of all.
And in the midst of it, her scattered mind matched what she had heard.
Dang Hwa-seo examined her body and suddenly let out a hollow chuckle.
‘What a bizarre feeling.’
Her current situation was so complicated, with so many problems demanding resolution, yet she couldn’t focus on any of them.
She should have been worried about that, but she wasn’t in the slightest.
Instead, joy welled up first.
It was truly odd.
Dang Hwa-seo rose from the bed.
She placed her hand on her chest and took a deep breath, then pressed her inexplicably hot cheeks to cool them down.
Only then did she brush herself off and stand.
In that moment.
—Little Sister! Did you cough?
Mok Ri-won’s voice came from outside the door.
He must have come because he was concerned about what happened the day before.
At the thought, the corners of Dang Hwa-seo’s mouth twitched upward for a second before settling back.
“Yes, I’m awake.”
After shedding so many tears yesterday and leaving with a smile, she felt it would be unseemly to appear otherwise.
With a pointless show of pride fitting her temperament, Dang Hwa-seo stepped out the door.
*
“Did you sleep well?”
Mok Ri-won smiled as brightly as ever.
It was a smile without a single wrinkle of tension, one that once again conveyed his intent to pretend the previous day’s events never happened.
It was a grateful and apologetic consideration.
Dang Hwa-seo felt her insides tighten at the sight as she replied.
“Yes. Did you sleep well, Young Hero Mok?”
“Yes! Well, not perfectly. Actually, last night, Brother Jegal came by with some fascinating stories. About a merchant from Seo-hyeon, you see…”
Mok Ri-won began chattering away.
Dang Hwa-seo listened, smiling at the tales, gasping in surprise alongside him as they walked.
And she thought.
‘…Can I leave?’
Can I leave this man behind?
Will this affection, only now dawning on her, allow her to let him go in that moment?
The answer came easily.
At the mere thought of parting from him, Dang Hwa-seo felt an overwhelming wave of rejection.
What a troublesome emotion.
Her long-held resolve was shaking because of this baseless flutter with no reason or cause.
Dang Hwa-seo pondered why she had developed such feelings.
It was a perfectly natural question.
Every moment of her life had been a chain of endurance and hardship, leaving no room to devote herself to another.
She had a body that made even romantic affection feel like a luxury, so she had tried to turn away from such things.
In other words.
Her life had been so grueling that Dang Hwa-seo needed a reason even for love.
Why did she like him?
The moment that thought surfaced, she unwittingly blurted out an answer that struck even her as terribly superficial.
‘His face…?’
Self-loathing crashed over her the instant it crossed her mind.
Had she always been so weak to appearances? Did it take someone like Mok Ri-won to stir her heart, proving her tastes were that discerning?
Her face flushed suddenly.
Mok Ri-won tilted his head at the sight.
“Little Sister?”
“It’s nothing. I just remembered something embarrassing.”
“What embarrassing thing?”
“It’s a secret.”
Curiosity deepened on Mok Ri-won’s face.
He clearly wanted to pry, but bound by yesterday’s promise, he could only grumble.
Even that was beautiful.
“I’ll tell you later.”
“Ah! A promise!”
“Of course.”
Dang Hwa-seo chuckled softly as she entered the inn.
The gazes that instantly turned their way were all fixed on Mok Ri-won.
—It’s the Swordless One.
—Incredible, isn’t he? Challenging the Sword Dragon at that age already.
—I wonder how it’ll go… Considering the sword he showed against the Immortal Dragon…
—Come on, even so, he can’t beat the Sword Dragon.
Whispers drifted from all around.
Dang Hwa-seo glanced at Mok Ri-won, but he was humming a tune, lost in his meal.
‘That’s right.’
A realization struck her anew.
Mok Ri-won was a finalist in the Dragon-Phoenix Tournament.
A martial artist whose strength far exceeded his age, with talent so outstanding that the entire Central Plains martial world salivated over him.
‘Compared to that…’
What about herself?
A fugitive from the Tang Clan.
Martial arts stalled for six years.
And a body incapable of even bearing children.
She knew such comparisons were meaningless, yet Dang Hwa-seo couldn’t stop pitting herself against him.
“Tomorrow’s already your match, Little Sister!”
“…Yes.”
“How about it? Got any special preparations? You could whisper it just to me…”
She had no special preparations.
Nor any confidence in winning.
She would probably lose.
And disastrously at that.
It was only natural.
Sword Dragon Namgung Jincheon was on another level entirely.
He had been great until now and would become even greater in the future.
A person far too incomparable to someone like her, who merely sought a peaceful life.
Even if it was natural.
‘…Even now.’
Dang Hwa-seo felt a fresh surge of frustration.
She was a true martial artist at heart.
No matter that she had fled her clan or hidden herself seeking peace—she harbored ambition when it came to martial arts.
But that wasn’t the only reason.
Dang Hwa-seo added another to her thoughts.
She wanted to stand on the same stage as Mok Ri-won.
To become someone she could face with more pride.
An irrepressible desire.
Dang Hwa-seo looked at Mok Ri-won without suppressing the rising emotions.
“…I’ll do the best I can.”
“You can definitely pull it off, Little Sister!”
“I hope so.”
Dang Hwa-seo clenched her fist tightly.
‘I don’t want to leave.’
She wanted to stand by his side.
No—more precisely, she wanted to keep him by hers.
But circumstances wouldn’t allow it.
Even if Mok Ri-won had intervened, the Tang Clan would continue pursuing her.
Now that persuasion had failed, they would come with threats or force.
What could she do against that?
Dang Hwa-seo agonized.
Drenched in this affection whose reasons she still didn’t fully grasp, she pushed practicality aside to protect it.
Only then did she reach a near-forced resolution.
‘If…’
If she could achieve a result in her match against Namgung Jincheon that let her stand tall before herself.
If she could earn the right to knock on the Murim Alliance’s doors with her own strength, without relying on Shaolin.
Then perhaps she could change her plans.
A small smile curved Dang Hwa-seo’s lips.
‘It’s a gamble. And forced.’
But what did that matter?
Dang Hwa-seo had only just learned something.
A trite truth she had come to know through the man before her eyes.
‘Those who have committed no crimes need not flee.’
No need to fear what came or cower preemptively.
“Young Hero Mok.”
“Speak!”
“If I get a good result in this match.”
“If you do?”
“Could you grant me one request?”
Mok Ri-won blinked.
He gaped blankly for a moment, then broke into a wide grin.
“As many as you want! Anything within my power!”
‘Anything.’
A fine answer.
Dang Hwa-seo wanted to pin her hopes on it.
She wanted to make a selfish request—born of her own desires—to go to the Murim Alliance together if she won this bout.
“They say a man’s word is worth a thousand gold.”
Thus, Dang Hwa-seo swallowed her rising anxiety and fear, layering his firm promise atop it as she spoke.
“You must keep it.”
Dang Hwa-seo smiled with resolve.
But with her naturally stern features, the smile somehow carried a hint of threat.
“O-Of course…!”
Mok Ri-won felt inexplicably intimidated.
*
The day of the match dawned.
Just like Mok Ri-won and Hyeon-gong’s bout, the arena was packed to the brim today as well.
The rising heat and humidity, the cheers.
Mok Ri-won sat in his assigned, relatively quiet spot and watched Dang Hwa-seo ascend to the stage.
Then he looked at her opponent, Namgung Jincheon.
Still those piercing blue eyes.
And the sharp features bearing an overwhelming presence.
‘Definitely a different level.’
He recalled a story Jegal San had told him back in Seo-hyeon.
About Namgung Jincheon’s upbringing.
—Brother Mok, do you know this? The cost of the spiritual elixirs Namgung Brother consumed growing up could build a whole castle in Anhui. Some even say his body still harbors unabsorbed elixirs forming inner cores.
How many spiritual elixirs he had consumed to gain that foundation.
—Oh, that story too. From around age ten to seventeen, as he grew, masters from the previous generation took turns visiting Anhui for his sparring sessions.
How many masters he had crossed swords with to build his experience.
—So you see, it’s inevitable. For Namgung Brother, this Dragon-Phoenix Tournament is just child’s play.
Even his sentiments toward this tournament.
“What are you thinking so deeply about?”
As his thoughts continued, a woman’s voice came from behind Mok Ri-won.
He startled and whipped his head around.
“Nun Hye-un?”
White Phoenix Hye-un was there.
Beside her stood a man with a dopey grin, staring blankly at the sky.
Mok Ri-won swallowed dryly.
‘The rumors were true!’
They said she always brought a man along to the Dragon-Phoenix Tournament, and now it made sense.
“Why glare like that?”
Hye-un shot Mok Ri-won a look.
He flinched and bowed his head.
“Ah, it’s nothing…”
“Hmm…”
Hye-un eyed him briefly before sitting in the seat beside him.
The man next to her seemed utterly uninterested in their conversation, just grinning nonstop.
He looked like he’d fallen victim to a soul-ensnaring spell.
“Are you cheering for Poison Phoenix?”
“Of course. Little Sister will show something impressive.”
“You’re not saying she’ll win.”
Mok Ri-won fell silent.
An awkward smile crossed his face.
“…I hope she does.”
An evasive reply.
Hye-un gazed at the smile impassively before turning her eyes to the arena.
“…At least you can still discern reality.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just mumbling to myself.”
Hye-un looked at Dang Hwa-seo on the stage.
‘She’s remarkable, that’s for sure.’
As a martial artist, Dang Hwa-seo had much to admire.
Her mindset, her resolute nature, the delicacy of her qi control.
But in the end, that was all.
“Obvious outcome.”
Her opponent was Namgung Jincheon.
And the victor would be him too.
“Wonder how many exchanges she’ll last.”
Three at most.
That was the ceiling, surely.
Mok Ri-won blinked at Hye-un’s confident words.
Then he spoke.
“Why do you think that?”
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“Why assume Little Sister will just endure?”
Mok Ri-won spoke to Hye-un as if he truly couldn’t comprehend.
To her, it was absurd.
“Don’t you know, Layman Mok? Poison Phoenix can’t beat the Sword Dragon.”
“I won’t deny it. But that doesn’t mean she’ll be utterly crushed.”
Utter nonsense.
Hye-un even suspected he was blinded by love, harboring vain hopes.
As she suppressed a budding headache.
“Ah! Little Sister’s looking this way!”
Mok Ri-won waved enthusiastically at Dang Hwa-seo.
Hye-un followed his gaze.
‘Oof, that glare stings.’
It was the kind of look that could kill if stares were lethal.
Hye-un let out a wry chuckle at Dang Hwa-seo’s piercing glare, then embarked on a whim.
If she had to name a reason, it stemmed from mischief—and a wicked urge to tease this fool.
She leaned her head on Mok Ri-won’s shoulder.
He froze, and bloodshot veins appeared in Dang Hwa-seo’s eyes.
‘This is fun.’
Truly a pair fun to toy with.