Chapter 180
The cold raindrops tapping against her face—With their touch, Tang Sowol's eyes slowly opened after lying still for so long.
“Brother... Cheon...”
Her voice was cracked and parched beyond dry. She quenched her throat with rainwater and slowly raised her body.
In truth, she had regained consciousness quite some time ago.
While she had returned to awareness, she had been unable to lift even a single eyelid.
The great art had been halted by Cheon Hwi's intervention, but that was only a temporary effect.
The Poison Demon had merely stopped progressing further, yet the technique still connected them, allowing him to draw out and use Tang Sowol's poison.
Thus, Tang Sowol only regained freedom of movement after the Poison Demon's death.
She hadn’t been able to move her body, but her senses had remained intact, allowing her to hear and feel what had happened.
She could roughly guess what reckless acts Cheon Hwi had committed, and how he had managed to bring down the Poison Demon. Perhaps it was the aftereffects of having her internal poison drawn out to the limit, or the havoc wreaked on her blood vessels. Even the slightest movement or breath brought excruciating pain, yet Tang Sowol did not stop.
She rose to her feet, stepped down from the altar, and barely managed to stand.
Before her was Cheon Hwi, who had lost consciousness just short of taking his final step.
Kneeling on one knee, sword plunged into the ground as rain poured down on him—his appearance was far too pitiful to be called that of a victor.
Tang Sowol forced her heavy legs to move.
"Kh!"
Splosh.
She nearly stumbled with her first step. Even so, it brought her one step closer, and finally, she could see Cheon Hwi up close.
Though the rain was washing him clean, his body was still stained red with blood. Even in unconsciousness, his eyes were wide open, refusing to yield until the end.
His grip on the sword was so firm it showed no sign of loosening.
Were it not for the faint breaths he still drew, he could easily have been mistaken for a corpse.
But even more dreadful than what was visible was the condition within—and Tang Sowol could easily guess how dire it was.
“Qi deviation... and even poison…”
A hint of urgency crept into her voice as she checked Cheon Hwi's pulse.
The Poison Demon’s residual poison in his body was nothing more than traces of remnants. Even in her weakened state, Tang Sowol could easily absorb that much.
The real problem lay in his shattered meridians and internal injuries.
With a sound mind, famed elixirs, and a powerful expert nearby in case of emergency, perhaps his life could be saved somehow.
He might never be able to use martial arts again, but survival was what mattered most.
But right now, none of those conditions were present.
Cheon Hwi was unconscious. There were no elixirs left—Tang Sowol herself had nearly become one—and no expert strong enough to help was anywhere near.
“At this rate…”
A dreadful thought flashed through her mind, and Tang Sowol bit her lip hard.
In her frantic search for a solution, one idea suddenly came to her.
Her gaze turned toward the Poison Demon’s lifeless corpse. His venomous blood, still potent in death, was corroding the floor as it bubbled and hissed.
Tang Sowol’s expression hardened with resolve.
“The Poison Demon... he used my poison as if it were his own.”
Though he had drawn it out through the great art and taken control of it, he had refined and amplified its potency himself.
Tang Sowol possessed the Poison Spirit Body. When it came to poison, she was second to none.
“If the Poison Demon could do it, then so can I.”
More accurately—she must.
Depending on how it’s used, poison can become medicine.
A moment ago, Tang Sowol had recalled a particular combination of poisons that could help heal Cheon Hwi’s internal injuries, if even slightly.
The issue was that she didn’t have those poisons herself. After all, the Poison Demon had ripped most of them out from her to use in his technique.
All she had left were one or two basic poisons.
But what about the Poison Demon’s poison, created from decades of accumulation and mixed with the very toxins he had stolen from her?
Surely everything she needed was in there.
“Hoo…”
Taking a deep breath, Tang Sowol reached toward the stream of poison flowing from the Poison Demon’s body.
“Ugh!”
Responding to her will, the empty vessel that was her Poison Spirit Body began greedily absorbing the poison contained in the blood.
Veins bulged on her pale hand, dyed in deep violet—a sign this was no ordinary poison.
“Just a little more... just a little…”
She murmured through cold sweat trickling down her forehead.
Though the Poison Spirit Body was a special constitution that allowed one to control poison at will, it wasn’t absolute.
Just like when she had absorbed the Purple Flower Poison Enhancing Grass and had to spend days restraining the strengthened toxins, unable to use poison arts properly.
The amount and strength of poison she could absorb at once depended on how much she had built up and on her own ability.
And right now, Tang Sowol was pushing herself beyond her limits.
If she made even a slight mistake, the deadly poison might spiral out of control, destroying Cheon Hwi, who was already half-dead, and even claiming her own life.
But she didn’t stop. She didn’t hesitate.
“Brother Cheon risked everything for me. I can’t be the only one to retreat.”
It was strange. Tang Sowol had originally meant to sacrifice herself to save Cheon Hwi.
Yet when she came to her senses, it was Cheon Hwi who had risked his life to save her—again.
She always felt that she was the one who drove Cheon Hwi to extremes, feeling both grateful and secretly guilty.
But only when she became the one risking her life for him did she truly understand—
That while it was indeed something great, it was also something natural.
To give your all for the one you cherished more than yourself—that was simply how it should be.
In fact, upon awakening, she had offered her neck to the Poison Demon, and now, without much thought, she was absorbing poison without hesitation.
If Cheon Hwi had just burned himself for her, now it was her turn.
That was all there was to it.
Her veins burned, and her heart stopped and started in agony.
But even through her fading senses, her heartscape grew clearer.
She pictured holding hands with Cheon Hwi, sharing silly conversations. On sunny days, perhaps they could go on outings—just the two of them, or with others she liked.
She wanted to hear his voice before falling asleep and see his face first upon waking.
She didn’t need sweet words or a broad, reliable back.
All she wanted—Was a landscape that included Cheon Hwi.
She just wanted him by her side. That was enough.
At the moment her will solidified, not only the poison she touched but also the toxic energy lingering in the air began reacting to her Poison Spirit Body and flowing in.
She began to dominate the entire floor’s poison—and more than that, the range was expanding.
Fourth floor, third, second… and finally the first.
Before long, the entire hall of the Thousand Poison Gate began falling under the influence of Tang Sowol’s will and the ability of her Poison Spirit Body.
Ordinarily, such a feat would be impossible.
But her empty body instinctively craved poison, and her resolve was burning brighter than ever—creating an extraordinary phenomenon.
From the fallen warriors of the Thousand Poison Gate, to the various poisonous creatures raised in the halls, to rare minerals and plants stored away—Every last bit of poison was now converging on Tang Sowol.
Clenching her teeth, she swept the influx of poison into herself.
The toxic energy swirled and intensified, endlessly combining and separating, generating countless new combinations.
Among this sea of countless mixtures, Tang Sowol sought only one.
A reckless task akin to stirring the ocean with a twig to extract a single drop of water…Yet not a meaningless one.
Her ever-clearer heartscape became a guiding light, attracting the necessary poison and filtering out the rest.
As proof, the dark purple vortex of poison swirling around her began to fade, and a dense green aura slowly rose from within.
A poison crafted for one person only—Cheon Hwi.
“Brother Cheon.”
He didn’t respond to her voice.
Tang Sowol gently caressed his cheek and then softly embraced him.
Her arms wrapped around his neck. The damp rain, the cold skin—Yet still, there was a faint trace of life, rising and falling with each breath.
As if engraving it into herself, she held him close, then spoke quietly.
“If I am the moon, then Hwi , you are my light.”
She called him by name for the first time.
The vibrant green aura born from a swamp of venom began concentrating into one point.
“I can only shine if you’re by my side.”
With those words, Tang Sowol gently pressed her lips to Cheon Hwi’s.
Just like before—it was still a kiss that reeked of blood.
But what entered him now was not a bitter sleep-inducing poison.
It was a strangely sweet liquid.
Though she didn’t realize it herself, by coincidence, it was the same poison she had once used to heal Cheon Hwi’s internal injuries in her past life.
After a long while of administering the poison, Tang Sowol finally withdrew her lips.
Perhaps it was the dim sunlight breaking through the gray clouds that seemed so dazzling…
She rested her head against Cheon Hwi’s chest. Her voice, weary from handling so much poison, emerged in a faint murmur.
“I love…you, Brother Cheon.”
And with that final whisper, Tang Sowol lost consciousness again.
Not long after, just as the rain fully stopped, a small sound came from Cheon Hwi’s body.
Ududck.
The sound of something breaking apart and reforming. The poison Tang Sowol had administered temporarily stabilized his meridians, and the long-delayed transformation of his body had begun.
The torn meridians expanded and solidified. Damaged organs regenerated. Skin melted by poison shed like a husk, revealing fresh skin underneath.
But all this was not something Cheon Hwi, even at the Flowering Stage, could have achieved alone while dying.
His metamorphosis was centered around Tang Sowol’s poison.
That poison had a name—Love.
***
Half an hour later—Having heard the situation from Sama Yuryeon, Tang Jincheon and Seo Mun-Hwarin hurried to the scene—
What they found was Cheon Hwi and Tang Sowol, peacefully asleep, wrapped in each other’s embrace.