Chapter 175
Resentment is persistent and complicated.
Blinded by revenge, one bathes in blood, abandons reason in pursuit of martial power, and sometimes even creates new grudges for personal gain.
Thus, all manner of human figures live a life reeking of blood, telling themselves there must be something of value in the pile of corpses.
“Murim is a forest that feeds on blood.”
“Sword Demon, you truly lack tact. Must you say such things right now?”
Congratulating me for defeating the Poison Demon and reaching the Flowering Stage?
“It’s late. But I’ll forgive you. Today is a good day, after all.”
Tang Sowol said with a faint smile as she sat down beside me. I shifted slightly to make room, and we each fixed our gaze in different directions.
I looked at the camellia blossoms, which had just begun to bud with the onset of cold weather.
Tang Sowol looked at the unusually bright full moon tonight. At some point, we had begun to gather in this spot every night. Without making any specific arrangements—it just happened naturally.
Perhaps it was inevitable. Driven to the brink by the Heavenly Demon, the Righteous-Murim Alliance had been chased all the way to Hebei Province.
There weren’t many places left to rest peacefully. And among them, how many could boast both camellia trees and a clear view of the moon?
By coincidence, this place satisfied both conditions.
We didn’t know each other’s circumstances, but we weren’t heartless enough to drive the other away from one of the few remaining sanctuaries.
And this—right now—was the result.
Though the camellias had only begun to bud, a few months later, crimson blossoms would be in full bloom.
Just imagining that scene seemed to calm the inner demon that had always boiled within me. I had been gazing blankly at the tips of the branches when—
Tang Sowol spoke in a low voice.
“So?”
“Hmm?”
Normally, aside from brief greetings, she’d sit quietly and leave without a word. So her suddenly speaking caught me off guard.
“So, what did you mean by what you said earlier? About Murim being a forest that feeds on blood.”
“It’s nothing. Just that everyone in Murim is broken in some way.”
“I knew that already, but hearing it from you really drives home how negative a person you are.”
“But it’s the truth. You’re the same, Tang Sowol.”
“Hehe. I’m not here to lecture you on being wrong or criticize you for being negative. I just meant that it’s reassuring—because you’re always the same.”
She said this, taking her eyes off the moon and letting out a soft chuckle.
Her white, graying hair swayed, and through it, I could see a glimpse of her half-melted face. She was smiling, and yet a faint killing intent radiated from her.
It wasn’t directed at me. It simply overflowed naturally.
Twisted to the point it was hard to believe she was the cherished daughter of the Tang Clan in Sichuan, raised with the best things, in the best home, surrounded by the best.
But anyone who knew her circumstances would understand her strangeness.
How many people could remain sane after watching their family and loyal retainers—who were like family—slaughtered before their eyes?
Tang Sowol could no longer be called a warrior of the Righteous Faction.
Though at this point, the distinction between the Righteous and the Demonic seemed meaningless.
Tang Sowol, who had been quietly watching me, turned her gaze back to the night sky and spoke in a quiet tone.
“To bring up such a thing out of nowhere... I suppose you become sentimental at night as well, Sword Demon.”
“That’s the first time anyone’s called me sentimental. But, well. Just for today, I suppose you’re right.”
“Pardon?”
“To be honest, I wasn’t sure you could carry out this mission properly.”
“Care to explain what you mean?”
Tang Sowol narrowed her visible eye, hidden partly by her bangs, and gave me a sharp look.
I replied in a calm voice.
“Murim is a forest that feeds on blood. But that forest is now entirely ablaze, engulfed by the hands of a giant named Heavenly Demon.”
“But the one I fought this time wasn’t the Heavenly Demon, but the Poison Demon.”
“And yet, he was the last blood relative of the Tang Clan.”
Officially, all those of Tang Clan blood—both direct and collateral lines—had been wiped out.
The Tang Clan valued family so deeply that not a single one fled. They all fought the Heavenly Demon to the end.
Except for Tang Sowol.
Why she alone escaped, no one knows. She never told anyone.
But judging from her actions over the past few months, it likely wasn’t because she feared death.
Perhaps she had been given an order—to survive, so that the bloodline of the Tang Clan would not be extinguished.
Tang Sowol was the most gifted of her clan. The late Poison King’s judgment was likely correct.
Except for one thing—he failed to consider the agony of having to abandon her dying family to survive.
“Even such deep-rooted grudges have faded. The Righteous and Demonic factions have set aside the past and joined hands. Even the rule of non-interference with government affairs has long since been broken.”
“So you're saying I might hesitate to fight the Poison Demon because of our blood ties.”
“At worst, I even considered the possibility that you might defect to his side.”
“Hmm.”
Tang Sowol rested her chin on her hand with a hum and looked at me again.
“And what would you have done if that happened?”
“What else? Like I said earlier, I’d just be using this place alone from now on.”
“Is that really all?”
She shrugged as I failed to answer.
“That was a rather mean-spirited question. But I understand your point, Sword Demon. However, I believe there’s something you don’t know.”
“What is it?”
“The Poison Demon was also my mother’s killer.”
“Huh??”
Surprised, I listened as she told me about something from when she was just a baby. After she finished, she looked quietly up at the sky and continued.
“The reason I volunteered for this mission wasn’t to avoid unknown dangers, or to eliminate threats obsessed with capturing me, or even to reunite with the last remaining relative of the Tang Clan, as you feared. It was to avenge my mother.”
“So I worried for nothing.”
In a time when revenge and survival held greater value than righteousness or justice, no words could be more trustworthy.
But Tang Sowol responded in an unexpected way.
“Worried? Did you say you were worried?”
“Yes, I did.”
“You say that, yet you seemed awfully lonely standing out here alone in the cold night.”
“I never said that.”
“Then why did you volunteer for the task of protecting me from the Demonic Cultists who might sneak up from behind while I fought the Poison Demon?”
“Why don’t you be more honest?”
“You know, Tang Sowol, you really are a bothersome woman sometimes.”
“And negative men are just as troublesome.”
Letting out a small sigh, I answered.
“Because I thought it was too close to call.”
“What do you mean?”
“I didn’t think you could win against the Poison Demon.”
“You didn’t…”
“I was ready to step in if necessary. I never imagined you’d absorb his poison and reach the Flowering Stage in the process, though.”
“Oh my.”
Tang Sowol dragged out her words with a tone of satisfaction. After a brief awkward silence, she cautiously asked,
“I heard you suffered serious internal injuries during that fight.”
“Not enough to die.”
“How long will you need to recover?”
“Might not be able to fight properly for half a year.”
“In times like this, half a year is practically a death sentence! With your skills, I thought such injuries were impossible... what happened?”
“Nothing much. That damn Sword Demon came looking for me again. And more cultists swarmed me than expected.”
“Still, that doesn’t explain it…”
“Half of them fled in fear.”
“Ah.”
Tang Sowol nodded, seemingly understanding now.
In this era, only revenge and survival held value. Those who stayed and fought alongside me chose revenge. Those who ran chose survival.
“Why did you stay until the end, Sword Demon?”
“Like I said, I was ready to step in if needed. There’s nothing more reliable on the battlefield than your poison.”
“Is that really a reason to risk your life?”
“Well.”
Why did I risk my life and stay until the end?
Perhaps it was because I was tired of this hollow life where no one remained around me. Or maybe it was because I felt a sense of kinship with Tang Sowol, who was consumed by vengeance.
But whatever the reason, it wasn’t exactly a noble one. Not enough to justify putting my life on the line.
So I could only say:
“No particular reason.”
But it must have sounded unconvincing to Tang Sowol.
“How can someone so tactless and pessimistic also be so dishonest?”
“I didn’t expect you to pick a fight all of a sudden.”
As I stood dumbfounded, she suddenly climbed into my lap.
A comfortable weight. Warmth that soothed my chilled body in the winter wind. Before I knew it, the budding flowers and bright full moon had vanished from view.
Only Tang Sowol, looking down at me with a strange expression, remained.
Before I could say anything, she leaned in and kissed me.
Soft lips. A tongue that slipped between them. Then, a strange liquid flowed down my throat.
Vitality surged through the body that had been suffering from internal injuries.
“What is this…?”
“Puhaha! A very special poison created by permanently consuming part of my inner energy.”
“You numbed the pain? No, the internal injuries really are healing fast…”
“Have you never heard that the line between medicine and poison is thin?”
“I thought it meant that the wrong medicine could kill.”
“It also means that the right poison can be used as medicine.”
Tang Sowol, who initiated it all, couldn’t meet my gaze. In a slightly flustered tone, she continued.
“Sword Demon, are you familiar with the Tang Clan’s law?”
“A favor must be repaid double, and a grudge tenfold. Isn’t that the famous saying?”
“Yes. Thanks to you, I was able to fight without interference and defeat the Poison Demon. So I must repay you at least this much, don’t you think?”
Why did it bother me?
She had acted on impulse and was now retreating out of embarrassment. So this time, I decided to ask.
I wrapped my arm tightly around her waist and asked again.
“Is that all?”
“Excuse me?”
“I’m asking if you did it solely to repay a favor.”
It was a question half born of impulse. But speaking it aloud, I realized.
Why I had involved myself in something so dangerous. Why I hadn’t left her side even knowing I could die.
I gently brushed aside her long white bangs.
She flinched slightly, but didn’t cover her face or turn away.
There, her right cheek appeared melted, as if burned.
One might call it grotesque, but I felt no revulsion.
No, if anything, I felt a small satisfaction at being the one to whom she showed this unguarded side.
There really wasn’t a particular reason.
Just as a man born with nothing and a woman who lost everything needed no special reason to grow close.
I simply didn’t want to let Tang Sowol go.
She had seeped into the scar I thought would never heal—and I didn’t want to lose her this time.
As I gently stroked her ruined cheek, Tang Sowol poked at my chest with a slightly flushed face.
“This poison rapidly heals internal wounds, protects your meridians, and even prevents future injuries. But… there’s one issue.”
“What is it?”
“Once you’re addicted, you have to keep taking it—regularly, for the rest of your life.”
“That means…”
“Tomorrow, the day after, the day after that, ten years from now… you’ll have to keep taking my poison.”
After saying that, Tang Sowol chewed her lip slightly.
Then, she smiled. A pure smile, unlike any before, free from distortion.
“Sword Demon. You’ve been poisoned by me.”
It was the clearest answer to my question.
***
When I opened my eyes again, Tang Sowol was gone.
“Sama Yuryeon. I need a favor.”
I took out the lotus token I had received from the Black Lotus Sect Master.
Yes. From that night before the regression, I had long been addicted to the poison called Tang Sowol.
There is no antidote.