The First Yao Flower

The shame was so overwhelming that calling it a burning face felt like an understatement.

Baek Mo-ran's face and entire body flushed crimson, as if someone ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had doused her in oil and set her ablaze.

She was a woman who had never shown weakness to anyone. The youngest assassin in Salmak's history to claim a seat among the Ten Great Assassins, the unparalleled killer who stood as the closest aide to Sado Yun—one of the Three Ghost Killers, the Yin Snake Ghost.

Yet here she was, toyed with by some nameless wench, soaking between her legs, shaking her hips, and acting coquettish...!!!

I've gone mad. I must have truly lost my mind.

Because of the drug?

That it was unavoidable?

No. Those were nothing but cowardly excuses.

She wasn't immune to all poisons, but her body had been tempered through rigorous training to withstand every kind of toxin. No matter how potent the aphrodisiac, it shouldn't have been able to shatter her reason so completely.

Me—Baek Mo-ran—desiring another woman's body...?

Yes.

The Taiyin Huanle Powder had only assisted. Baek Mo-ran's own flesh had clearly craved the woman before her. It had yearned for her touch, desperately seeking it.

The one who had shattered the dam holding back those suppressed desires with her own hands was none other than Baek Mo-ran herself.

"I won't... forgive this...!!!"

The moment she acknowledged that truth, the shame boiling within her transformed into ferocious killing intent.

The sole witness to her beastly panting and disgraceful behavior. She could not be allowed to live. No—for her own survival, that woman had to die.

There was only one way to wash away this horrific humiliation: to cleanse her eyes with that woman's blood...!!!

- Sreung.

Baek Mo-ran rose from the bed, bloodshot eyes fixed on the dagger she snatched from the nearby table.

"Huu... mmmnya..."

The white nape of the soundly sleeping Seol-hye lay completely defenseless before her.

That slender, pale neck. One thrust there and it would all end. The lewd moans from last night, the shameful memories burned into her mind—everything.

"Die!"

She clenched her teeth until they felt like they might shatter and raised the dagger high. Without a moment's hesitation, she brought the blade down toward Seol-hye's throat—

- Goooooo—!

"...Kuk?!"

From the deepest abyss of Baek Mo-ran's dantian, an unbelievably vast and explosive surge of internal energy erupted like a volcano.

Her hand holding the dagger shook violently, like a tree trembling in a storm.

The overwhelming energy flooded all the way to her fingertips, making it difficult to even grip a mere piece of metal.

"What... what is this?"

With an expression as if struck by lightning, Baek Mo-ran looked back and forth between her trembling hand and the peacefully sleeping Seol-hye.

She had no idea what could have happened in the span of a single night.

- Clang!

She hastily set the dagger down on the table beside the bed, steadied her ragged breathing, assumed a lotus position, closed her eyes, and carefully drew up the energy within her dantian.

- Uuuuuung—!

The moment her acupoints opened, a fierce resonant sound erupted from her dantian.

"Ah..."

Baek Mo-ran gasped, her whole body shuddering.

Her internal energy, which had been stagnant at the peak of first-rate for years as if blocked by an invisible wall, had now swelled to the brink of the supreme peak realm.

How is this possible?!

Since learning the mysterious dual cultivation art known as the Flower-Plundering Art, her internal energy had increased steadily—but never at such an absurd rate in just one night.

The boundary of the supreme peak that seemed unreachable even with five more years of training. Yet the energy now pooled in her dantian had already touched that threshold, overflowing like an inexhaustible spring and filling every meridian in her body.

The change wasn't limited to quantity alone.

It's gone.

The hazy fog that had pressed down on her mind had lifted, leaving her thoughts clear as polished crystal.

The headaches that had tormented her since learning the Flower-Plundering Art, the heavy pain constricting her chest, the unpleasant heat that would suddenly blaze through her dantian—all of it had vanished without a trace.

And the most unbelievable change of all—

It's not there anymore.

The sinister, ominous energy that had coiled in a corner of her dantian like a snake. That horrible foreign sensation that clung like sticky serpent mucus, seemingly impossible to remove, had disappeared completely, leaving not even a trace behind.

"What... what is this..."

With an incredulous expression, Baek Mo-ran felt her own chest and lower abdomen. Her body felt light as a feather, as if she had been reborn.

"Is it that marvelous?"

A low, seductive voice laced with lingering sleep ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠came from behind her.

"?!"

Baek Mo-ran whirled around in shock. At some point Seol-hye had woken up and now sat on the bed, brushing back her disheveled hair as she looked down at her.

The corners of her red lips curled upward in a bewitching arc.

"The power I granted you. Receive it with gratitude."

"P-power...?"

Baek Mo-ran only knew of one demonic art capable of explosively increasing internal energy overnight—the Flower-Plundering Art she herself practiced. But that required stealing another's essence.

Did she overlap bodies with me for that reason?

A fragment of last night's memory suddenly flashed through her mind.

Amid waves of pleasure so intense they nearly stole her consciousness, the sensation of something strange and scorching wriggling its way into the depths of her dantian. At the time she had thought it merely the afterglow of climax, but now it was clearly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a foreign energy.

In a whirlwind of fear and suspicion, Baek Mo-ran voiced the only possibility she could imagine.

"Don't tell me... the Flower-Plundering Art?! What exactly did you do to my body!"

"Ha. The Flower-Plundering Art, you say."

Seol-hye let out a hollow laugh, as if utterly astounded.

"To compare the Heavenly Color Illusion Art to a third-rate trick like that. How deeply unpleasant."

"Wh-what?"

"You asked what I did to your body, didn't you?"

Seol-hye lazily leaned forward, bringing her face so close to the frozen Baek Mo-ran that their eyelashes nearly brushed.

"I performed a treatment. A thorough one—cutting away the rotten parts and clearing the blocked channels."

She spread her white jade-like ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fingers one by one, continuing with relaxed grace.

"Shall I guess for you? Even without words, your body already knows the truth."

Seol-hye's eyes sparkled with mischief.

"First. The headache that always felt like your skull was stuffed with wet cotton—heavy and foggy—has been washed clean, leaving your mind crystal clear."

"...!"

"Second. That unpleasant heat that would randomly blaze through your dantian has completely subsided."

She flicked her index finger, lightly poking Baek Mo-ran's chest.

"Third. The suffocating chest pain that felt like a boulder pressing down has vanished, making each breath feel like it's soaring freely, hasn't it?"

"...!!!"

With every word Seol-hye spoke, Baek Mo-ran's pupils trembled as if struck by an earthquake.

"And most importantly..."

Seol-hye's gaze pierced straight through to Baek Mo-ran's lower abdomen—her dantian.

"That sticky, sinister energy coiled in the corner of your dantian. The monstrous lump that was devouring your life force must have vanished without a trace."

"H-how could you possibly know that...!"

Baek Mo-ran stammered, stumbling backward.

"Be grateful to the heavens that you met me now, at least."

Seol-hye's red eyes narrowed, gleaming sharply. Her next words were a cruelly precise verdict.

"If left alone, you wouldn't have survived to see the end of this year."

"D-died...?"

Baek Mo-ran's lips quivered.

"Of course. Because of the Flower-Plundering Art."

Seol-hye answered without the slightest hesitation, her voice clear.

"That is not a martial art. It's a poison. No—something even worse than poison."

She pointed a finger at Baek Mo-ran's lower abdomen, where her dantian resided.

"The turbid energy accumulating in your dantian through the Flower-Plundering Art would have gradually eroded your sanity until you became a bloodthirsty monster driven mad by slaughter. And after that—"

Seol-hye clenched her fist tightly, then flung her palm open.

"Bang. Your meridians would have burst from the internal energy swollen beyond control, granting you a truly horrific death."

"...!"

"Heh heh. And even death wouldn't be the end."

Seol-hye picked up something from the table beside the bed and tossed it lightly in front of Baek Mo-ran's knees.

- Rollll.

What rolled forward with a clear sound was a brilliant bead emitting a dark blood-red glow. Within the grape-sized crimson pill, an energy faintly resembling a human scream flickered.

"...!!"

The instant she saw it, Baek Mo-ran instinctively recoiled.

Goosebumps erupted across her entire body. The fishy aura radiating from that small bead was eerily similar—almost like a twin—to the ominous, evil energy that had lurked inside her until last night.

"What is this...?!"

"It's the Flower-Plundering Blood Pill. I extracted it from the dantian of your subordinate, Number Forty-Eight. It used to be much larger than this."

Seol-hye continued with a chilly smile.

"This is what forms inside the dantian of those who practice the Flower-Plundering Art. It was inside your body as well. You could call it a pill that grants enormous internal energy the moment it's consumed."

"S-such a thing..."

"With this much explanation, you should understand. Practicing the Flower-Plundering Art means that even your soul after death remains bound to that cursed demonic art."

"...Ugh."

At Seol-hye's words, Baek Mo-ran pressed her lips tightly together and lowered her head.

"..."

Seol-hye gazed down at her with a small, faint smile—neither mocking nor pitying.

A heavy silence filled the room, thick enough to suffocate.

I knew.

In truth, she had suspected. That this bizarre martial art she had learned on her lord's orders was an evil flame that burned using her own life as fuel.

The spine-chilling cold she felt in her stomach every time her internal energy increased. The broken memories that vanished every night and the scattering fragments of her sanity had been warning her all along.

Yet Baek Mo-ran had deliberately looked away. Sado Yun, who had pulled her from the gutter when she was worth less than an insect. With nothing but blind, almost religious loyalty toward him, she had covered up the obvious truth right before her eyes.

"...If what you say is true,"

Her voice finally broke the long silence, brittle as dry autumn leaves.

"Then Salmak—no, Lord Sado-yun—intended to use me thoroughly and then throw me away."

"That's right."

Seol-hye nodded without hesitation and delivered a cruel correction.

"I don't know exactly what that bastard was planning, but it wouldn't have stopped at simply discarding you. You would have met the most horrific death imaginable."

"......"

Once again, heavy silence descended upon the room.

Biting her lips that had turned deathly pale, Baek Mo-ran stared at Seol-hye's feet without saying a word.

"That expression tells me you had some inkling of it after all."

At Seol-hye's words, Baek Mo-ran nodded with a sigh that sounded like scraping metal.

"I knew. That something was wrong."

She twisted her dry lips into a self-mocking smile.

"I simply chose to ignore it. I never imagined my end would be a dog's death even more wretched than a fallen flower trampled into the dirt."

Baek Mo-ran covered her face with both hands like a woman driven mad.

The trust she had placed in her master had returned as betrayal. Her loyalty had come back as death. Before that cruel truth, Baek Mo-ran hung her head like an empty shell whose soul had already fled.

What exactly have I been living for?

She didn't even have the strength left to feel rage or shed tears. Only the hollow emptiness of her past life turning to ashes and scattering tormented her heart.

Curled up after losing everything, Baek Mo-ran looked exactly like the young girl dying in the gutter from the dream she had the previous night.

"Hmm."

Seol-hye, who had been quietly observing the dazed Baek Mo-ran, suddenly broke the silence with an unexpected question.

"There's one thing I'm curious about."

"...?"

"Where did an assassin of Salmak learn such refined artistic skills?"

Baek Mo-ran slowly lifted her head, gazing at Seol-hye with unfocused eyes. Right after learning that the person she had devoted her entire being to had discarded her like an old rag, what did mere artistic skills matter?

Yet Seol-hye, seeing her expression, simply lifted one corner of her mouth and continued.

"Yesterday's performance and song were quite excellent. It went far beyond simple imitation. Who taught you?"

"...I learned it myself."

Baek Mo-ran answered in a small, dry voice.

"The order was to pose as the signature courtesan of the brothel. I obtained a few books containing basic scores and plucking techniques and practiced for about half a month. It wasn't perfect, but I could imitate well enough."

"...Half a month?"

For a moment, Seol-hye's eyes narrowed sharply, a strange gleam appearing in her red pupils.

"You reached that level in only half a month?"

"An assassin needs adaptability above all. It's nothing more than a basic survival skill."

Baek Mo-ran replied indifferently, as if it were nothing special, but Seol-hye's reaction was entirely different.

"Ha...!"

Her eyes sparkled with peculiar greed. It was the gaze of a collector who had accidentally discovered an invaluable pearl buried in mud.

"Good. I've made my decision."

Seol-hye slid closer like flowing water and gently lifted Baek Mo-ran's slender chin with her index finger. As their gazes locked in midair, Baek Mo-ran's face flushed faintly.

"Wh-what? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Just wondering. Whether you'd moan in that coquettish voice again like last night—'Aang, Seol-hye-nim, Seol-hye-nim.'"

"......Ah!"

Baek Mo-ran's mind went completely blank.

The memory of clinging to Seol-hye, begging desperately while lost to the drug and pleasure last night. The moment that shameful scene she had briefly forgotten resurfaced, Baek Mo-ran's face burned bright red like a fully ripened persimmon.

"You—you...!! You—!!!"

Just as the trembling Baek Mo-ran opened her mouth to protest—

- Chuuup.

Seol-hye tilted her head and covered Baek Mo-ran's parted lips with her own.

"Mmph...?!"

Soft, hot flesh met. Seol-hye's lips gently overlapped the stiffened Baek Mo-ran's, transmitting a tender warmth.

"Mmph, huuup...!"

Baek Mo-ran reflexively tried to push Seol-hye's shoulders away.

But the moment their lips pressed together and hot breath mixed with saliva, the dense, dizzying memories of last night engraved deep inside her body came flooding back in an instant.

- Chuuup, chut...!

Pleasure that seemed to melt her brain raced down her spine. The hand that had tried to resist lost all strength as if by magic and slid limply down. With every ounce of power drained from her body, she could only helplessly accept Seol-hye's lips.

- Slither.

Seol-hye wrapped her arms around Baek Mo-ran's waist and delved even deeper into her mouth. Wet sounds filled the room as their tongues intertwined, saliva mixing together.

Damn it...!

In her fading consciousness, Baek Mo-ran instinctively realized she would never be able to escape this woman.

- Chuuut.

After thoroughly ravaging the inside of Baek Mo-ran's mouth for a long while, Seol-hye slowly withdrew her lips.

A thin silver strand of saliva stretched between them before snapping.

"Haa... haeu..."

With dazed, unfocused eyes and swollen red lips parted, Baek Mo-ran gazed up at Seol-hye while breathing heavily.

Seol-hye looked down at her and smiled softly.

She slowly raised her right hand and gently placed it atop Baek Mo-ran's disheveled hair.

- Stroke, stroke.

Her touch was unbelievably warm and gentle, like soothing a wounded beast or comforting a lost child.

The moment that kind warmth reached her, Baek Mo-ran felt something unfamiliar yet warm rising heavily within the empty depths of her chest.

"From now on, serve me. Hwa-jung-sal Baek Mo-ran."

Her ruby-like red eyes gleamed, as if binding Baek Mo-ran in place.