I Won't Die So Easily
“You must have wanted me dead. Too bad I’m still alive.”
Except for Uncle Tang Ho, every one of Father’s siblings had a faction of their own. Second Uncle Tang Gang backed his own son. First Aunt Tang Seon backed Yuhyeon. Youngest Aunt Tang Cheong backed Hongseojae. To all of them, he was nothing but an obstacle. Even if his younger brother Yuhyeon received Father’s favor, the eldest son of the Tang Clan was still him.
“I haven’t even taken my revenge on you yet. How could I die so easily? I am, after all, the legitimate heir of the Tang Clan.”
Legitimate heir. In the Tang Clan, that single word carried enormous weight. Even the retired elders could not ignore the words of the legitimate heir. Of course, in his previous life he had abandoned that status, left the clan in his brother’s hands, and walked away. This life would be different. While his brother grew, he would clean up every problem in the clan. He would not wipe them out all at once. He would slowly tighten the noose, giving them the deepest, darkest despair and agony. That was why he had returned to the past.
You dared touch what is precious to me? I will pay it back a hundredfold—no, a thousandfold. You will feel the pain of your guts being torn apart.
As he made that vow, Hwancheonjihwan’s voice reached him.
You’re hated by everyone, aren’t you?
The ring was an artifact; it could read every current of energy in this place.
Is it because your talent is outstanding and they’re jealous?
It had asked the same question the first time they met.
It’s more because I’m the legitimate heir of the Tang Clan.
It was envy. The jealousy that had flowed down through the long history of the Tang Clan. They resented that a wastrel like him had been born holding what they themselves could never possess.
Ahh, the Tang Clan still has its insidious side.
Father’s siblings were especially so—except for Uncle Tang Ho. Factional strife inside a clan that prized bloodline above all else. It was a side effect of the family growing too large.
It wasn’t like this when the Tang Clan was small.
He had heard that story from Hwancheonjihwan as well. In the past, people of the Tang Clan would not have hesitated to throw away their lives for their blood kin. That was the romance his mother had spoken of. The present Tang Clan had nothing left but the dark struggle for power.
And now that insidiousness will be wiped out clean, won’t it?
Why do you think that?
Because you, who became a Ten Thousand Poison Ghost, won’t just let it go. You reek strongly of blood.
Hwancheonjihwan’s eye for such things was surprisingly sharp.
If you just train properly, there’s no one here who can stand against you.
You think highly of me?
Do you think a Ten Thousand Poison Ghost, the pinnacle of poison masters, is something common? Even the Poison Saint, the founding ancestor of the Tang Clan, only barely reached it at the age of thirty.
He had heard that until his ears rang. That was how extraordinary a body the Ten Thousand Poison Ghost was.
While he was still speaking with Hwancheonjihwan, Father called for Uncle Tang Ho.
“Ho, report what happened at the Poison Blood Pond.”
At Father’s command, Uncle Tang Ho explained everything from beginning to end. Second Uncle and the aunts listened, their expressions shifting moment by moment.
“Cheonwi entered the ranks of the poison bodies…”
“After Yuhyeon, now Cheonwi as well…”
“It can only be called auspicious.”
“It is a blessing for the Tang Clan, Clan Lord Brother.”
Congratulations filled their mouths, yet wariness filled their eyes. Then the next words made them cheer in secret.
“It seems Cheonwi’s dantian has been destroyed.”
“He became a poison body, yet his dantian is broken?”
“How is that possible, Brother?”
“Normally the dantian should have expanded, should it not?”
“About that…”
Tang Ho searched for an excuse. He knew that if he told the truth, his nephew Cheonwi would be thrashed within an inch of his life. Tang Baek saw through him at once.
“Ho. Do not think of lying to this brother.”
“Swear that you will not be angry.”
“Very well.”
Tang Baek agreed without resistance. Trusting his elder brother, Tang Ho continued.
“I believe Cheonwi’s desire to become a poison body outran him, and he absorbed the Black Deep Abyss far too greedily.”
“So greed made him a poison body, yet he lost his dantian?”
“…That is correct.”
“Remarkable that he is still alive.”
“Heaven must have helped him.”
The words had barely left his mouth when Tang Baek’s hand moved. An arm stretched into empty air.
“Kuk!”
Tang Cheonwi was sucked straight into Tang Baek’s grasp. It was a terrifying display of Void Object Seizure.
“Brother!”
Tang Ho cried out. The sudden violence did not slow Tang Baek in the slightest. He locked eyes with Tang Cheonwi.
“Do you know how much damage you have done to the Tang Clan?”
“…Kuk… do I… need to know that…?”
Even through the pain, Tang Cheonwi smiled.
“The Poison Blood Pond is a treasure of the Tang Clan. Because of your greed that treasure is gone, and still you show no remorse?”
The scolding crashed down like a mountain. Any other child of the Tang Clan would have wet himself on the spot. Tang Yuhyeon, who had been watching, tried to intervene.
“Father, please let Brother go.”
“You step back. Because you always cover for this brat, he still has not come to his senses.”
Frost-edged pressure rolled out. Tang Yuhyeon forced the words out.
“Bro-Brother had other intentions—”
“Enough. This is not the time to speak with you.”
When Tang Baek turned his head, Tang Cheonwi deliberately scraped the wound raw.
“…That treasure Father boasts of… what will you do now that you can never use it again? All those treasures are inside my body, kuk!”
“You still have not come to your senses.”
Tang Baek simply flung him away.
Bang!
Tang Cheonwi slammed hard into the cave wall. Fearing Tang Baek would move again, Tang Ho stepped between them.
“Stop, Brother!”
“Step aside.”
“This is a child who became a poison body by swallowing the Black Deep Abyss. If we only mend the ruined dantian, he will grow stronger than any other child of the Tang Clan.”
Tang Ho spoke with absolute conviction. Even so, Tang Baek did not believe in Tang Cheonwi.
“There is no hope for that one. You saw it yourself—the rebellious look just now.”
“It is merely Cheonwi’s free-spirited nature.”
“Why do you always cover for him so thoroughly?”
“Is he not the legitimate heir of the Tang Clan?”
The words “legitimate heir” made Tang Baek waver. Then his voice turned cold once more.
“That is precisely why he must restrain himself and hide his true nature. Yet that one is hostile to every person he meets. If he recovers his dantian, how do you think he will act? He will do whatever he pleases and drag the Tang Clan into danger.”
“I will try to soothe him. For this younger brother’s sake, overlook it just this once, Brother.”
The younger brother Tang Baek cherished most was Tang Ho. Whenever he had worries, he always called Tang Ho to talk them through. For the sake of that cherished younger brother, Tang Baek finally stepped back.
“Tsk. Next time, even if you ask, it will not end like this.”
Tang Baek clicked his tongue and turned away.
“Yuhyeon, follow this father.”
“Huh? Yes!”
Tang Yuhyeon looked at his brother one last time, then hurried after Tang Baek. Father’s siblings did the same.
“Tsk tsk. Even arrogance needs its limits.”
“Not a single quiet day.”
“That such a wastrel is the legitimate son of the Tang Clan… I’m afraid of the rumors spreading.”
Each of them tossed out a parting shot and left. The Poison Blood Rite had been reduced to chaos. The only one who had gained anything was Tang Cheonwi.
“Are you all right?”
“…I expected it.”
“Who else but my little wastrel of a nephew would act so cocky without reading the room.”
“Kuk kuk. I suppose I have a strong rebellious streak. Just looking at Father makes me angry without realizing it.”
“Because of Hongseojae?”
“Just one of many irritations.”
“You’ve been misunderstanding for a long time—”
Uncle Tang Ho was about to say something more when a voice transmission cut him off.
—Ho, come to the Clan Lord’s Hall at once.
“We’ll talk later. Take care of that body.”
He patted Cheonwi’s shoulder twice and vanished like the wind.
Tang Cheonwi forced his aching body upright and trudged forward.
“Damn it. I need to get my old martial strength back soon. Ptooey!”
He spat on the ground; blood came with the saliva.
Still, he’s not a completely bad father.
“If you don’t know anything, stay quiet.”
I think you’re the one who doesn’t know. Take a good look inside.
Following Hwancheonjihwan’s words, he examined his interior.
“Huh?”
See the force wrapping around your dantian? That’s your father’s energy.
“Since when?”
He had not even noticed that another’s energy had entered him. Without Hwancheonjihwan he never would have.
When he threw you into the wall.
“Why?”
Looking at how the energy encircles the dantian, the purpose is treatment, isn’t it?
“What whim made him suddenly do this for me?”
Father had always been especially harsh toward him alone. There were no good memories.
Are you pretending not to know? Or do you really not know?
Hwancheonjihwan’s question made his brow crease of its own accord.
“Because I’m a poison body who absorbed the entire Black Deep Abyss, he had no choice.”
The moment he reached that conclusion, Hwancheonjihwan shook its head. No matter what it said, Tang Cheonwi would never admit the truth.
Just then a shadow stepped into his path.
“Ah.”
They were the side-branch children who had undergone the Poison Blood Rite with him.
“Right. These idiots were still here.”
Only one current had changed from the past: he had absorbed the entire Black Deep Abyss. Aside from that, the flow of time was nearly identical—being scolded after talking back to Father, being blocked by these children afterward. The only difference was that the children were younger now.
“I’m in a really foul mood, so just get out of the way.”
Even at Tang Cheonwi’s warning, the children only sneered harder.
“What the fuck is this bastard saying?”
“There’s nobody else here, you know?”
“So what?”
“Don’t expect us to treat you like the Young Master.”
“Kuk. When did you ever treat me like the Young Master?”
“And you’re still laughing? Read the damn room.”
Their attitude made Hwancheonjihwan explode first.
These fucking bastards dare talk back to a direct descendant—the legitimate eldest son at that?
Ah. This one was absolute about the rules of the Tang Clan, wasn’t he? Being a sacred treasure of the clan, it had inherited the elders’ temperaments whole. Challenges to the legitimate line were never forgiven.
Hey. Are you going to leave trash like that alone?
Of course not.
Make it so they can never use martial arts for the rest of their lives.
In the Tang Clan, being unable to use martial arts was no different from death. The way they openly turned hostile the moment they heard his dantian was broken proved it.
“Apologize to us right now.”
“Me?”
“It’s because of you the Poison Blood Rite got ruined. So you should apologize to us.”
Tang Cheonwi barely held back a laugh. They must have been itching to pick a fight. Looking at the pathetic excuses they used to charge at him made it obvious. Or was it? In the previous life they had also come at him on Second Aunt’s orders.
“You failed to become poison bodies because your talent is trash, so why take it out on me?”
“How would you know we have no talent?”
“I can tell just by looking. And shall I tell you something interesting? You’ll spend your whole lives doing menial labor in the Tang Clan and die in some ditch. I saw it in the future.”
The children’s faces flushed red enough to burst. They did not even realize they were being provoked. They looked ready to throw themselves at Tang Cheonwi that very second. He poured oil on them freely, so they would burn nice and bright.
“But you know what? There’s no need to look at the future anymore. Because today, right here, your lives are finished.”
The smile on Tang Cheonwi’s face was pure arrogance. The children finally snapped.
“That damn bastard!”
“This dantian-less piece of shit can’t even read the situation.”
“You guys stay back. I’ll handle him.”
Among them, one particularly massive boy stepped forward. His frame was as huge as someone from the Hebei Peng Clan.
“So it’s you coming first again this time?”
The big one’s name was Tang Cheolung. In the past he had been beaten by Cheonwi and nursed a grudge. For that reason—no, from the very beginning—he had been one of the minions who betrayed Yuhyeon.
“Good. I shouldn’t kill him as easily as I did before.”