Chapter 478: Damned Bastard (2)

Blaze-

The blue flame continued to burn passionately on the piece of the broken pillar.

It burned with great energy, failing to read the room.

“…”

Grr.

During this, I felt a sharp gaze from what was once the Red Water Snake.

Its gaze of betrayal felt rather sharp.

…But friends help each other in life, right…?

I had to do my best to ignore its gaze for now.

Oh, after having thought about it for a moment, I realized that it was difficult to use the word ‘life’ from this point.

After all, neither of us were humans.

Hehe.

…Fuck.

I tried playing it off as a joke, but of course the bastard wasn’t going to feel any better.

-Descendant.

Then, Tang Jaemoon called me.

Her voice sounded cold as it stabbed my chest.

“Um… I somehow accidentally… Haha.”

I tried to make an excuse with an awkward expression, but I shut my mouth and started to speak again after a moment.

“…I’m sorry.”

Tang Jaemoon nodded lightly after I gave an apology.

Then, she glanced at the collapsed pillar.

-As I thought, you are similar to Shincheol… It would’ve been nice if you weren’t so similar to him in this regard.

“Isn’t that a bit too far…?”

[How am I ever similar to this dumb bastard!?]

I frowned after hearing Elder Shin shout out in anger.

What did this old man just say?

“Why are you stealing my words?”

[Of course I’m saying it. How would it make sense for you to say it?]

“It should obviously be me saying those words. Like you are any better than me…”

To be honest, Elder Shin was much better than I was.

He was the Divine Sword of Mount Hua, the most respected martial artist of the Sect, and he was one of the heroes that saved the Central Plains.

He was in a different league compared to me, who was just a renegade.

But I don’t want to be compared to this dumb old man.

The Divine Sword or what not, I didn’t want to be compared to the man named Shincheol.

After hearing my thought, Elder Shin smirked and spoke.

[Haha. Coming from a shorty.]

“…What?”

Annoyingly enough, he started to make fun of my appearance.

It was more annoying that I wasn’t able to really argue against it.

“…I got a bit taller though, you know that right?”

I spoke while grinding my teeth.

It was true that I grew a few centimeters after my body changed.

Of course,

[Oh, so are you taller than me now?]

“…”

I was still shorter than this old man which was the problem.

Damn it… couldn’t they have made me a bit taller?

I was taller compared to before, but I was still much shorter compared to actual tall people.

Even with the growth, I was shorter than bastards like Woo Hyuk and Yung Pung.

At the very least, this old man should’ve been small for me to feel better.

Yet, this old man was rather tall. Nothing went my way as always.

“You are really going to make fun of me for my appearance?”

[Yes, I am. What are you going to do about it?]

I let out a sigh after hearing his shameless response.

“…Fair enough, I can’t do anything about it.”

[Hmph… Finally, you seem to unders-]

“I just have to understand that an old man has a nasty personality because he never got to even hold hands with a woman in his life.

[…!]

Slam-!

After I spoke with a smirk, I started to hear loud thuds coming from inside my body.

[Haha… You little brat…]

“You are the one who started it.”

As we continued to growl at each other while grinding our teeth,

-Stop there.

We both shut our mouths after hearing a cold sharp voice that stabbed into my ears.

-…Sigh.

Her sigh sounded rather scary.

-You two really are the same, seriously…

[No, I’m not-]

-Silence. Shincheol.

[…]

Elder Shin became silent in an instant after Tang Jaemoon scolded him.

That was a nice sight to see.

So you learned the truth judging from your behavior towards her huh.

[…What do you mean.]

That Lady Tang Jaemoon was a lady all along.

[Why are you calling Tang Jaemoon like that? Lady?]

He wasn’t denying it, so it seemed like he figured out her true gender.

I wondered what kind of conversation they had.

It was a mystery of why Elder Shin showed such a weak presence in front of her, but I had to ask her something else for now.

-Descendant.

“Yes, Senior.”

Tang Jaemoon was already right in front of me when she started to speak to me.

After coming closer, she spoke while looking at the pile of Heavenly Poison Orbs.

-As I promised, you may take the Heavenly Poison Orbs.

“…Thank you.”

I was going to take them anyway even if she didn’t offer.

I worked my ass off in order to get these as rewards, so of course I was going to take them.

If she said that I wasn’t allowed to take them, I might have burned the whole place down actually.

I reached my hand towards the Heavenly Poison Orbs after getting her approval, but I realized there was one question I didn’t ask her yet.

“Uh, Senior.”

-Yes.

“Can I take this as well?”

Tang Jaemoon’s head turned after hearing my question.

I was pointing at the White Demonic Stone that sat next to the Heavenly Poison Orbs.

-This?

Tang Jaemoon tilted her head.

I believe she said this was the stone she kept so that she could brag about it to Elder Shin.

This stone was my original goal of coming here, so I asked her.

Do you know as well, Elder Shin?

[Know what?]

She said she prepared this so that she could show it to you.

[…I already heard.]

It was really concerning how he spoke with a dead tone.

Did he really get beat up by her or something?

Unlike before, I wasn’t able to see his face now, so I didn’t know what he was thinking.

I just prayed that his eyes turned purple after getting punched in the face.

-Descendant. You need this?

“Yes… it would help me a ton.

Oh, yes it would indeed.

The pile of Heavenly Poison Orbs was one thing, but the White Demonic Stone had a ton of energy as well.

It was definitely more than a single Heavenly Poison Orb.

I’ll take everything I could.

Now wasn’t time to hide my greed.

Was it because I spoke too shamelessly?

Chuckle.

Tang Jaemoon started to chuckle while covering her mouth.

“…Senior?”

I gazed at her slightly feeling nervous. I thought that I was a bit rude there.

Thankfully, she spoke with a smile on her face as she wasn’t insulted by my action.

-Shincheol said this.

“Elder Shin?”

-He said you’ll definitely try to take it all, and he was right.

“…”

I immediately frowned after hearing her response.

Just what did this old man tell her?

It seemed like he already spoke badly about me when he could’ve helped me instead. I clicked my tongue at the thought.

I guess I’ll just have to give up the White Demonic Stone for now.

Though of course, I plan to come back here in the future to take it.

There was no way that I could just leave this thing here.

As I thought to myself in slight disappointment,

-You may take it if you want to.

“Huh? Really?”

I opened my eyes widely after hearing Tang Jaemoon. Was she really going to let me?

-Yes, and if you wish-

Tang Jaemoon’s gaze went towards the pillars and the walls as she spoke.

-You may also take these Luminous Pearls.

“…”

Damn.

It seemed like she noticed that I was also eyeing those things as well.

This is rather embarrassing.

“…Ahem.”

As I let out a fake cough in order to break the awkward silence,

-But.

Tang Jaemoon’s finger tapped the White Demonic Stone.

But it didn’t move the stone.

Instead, her finger easily penetrated through the stone without making contact.

It made me realize once again that she wasn’t a living being.

-There is one favor I would like to ask from you, descendant.

“…”

Favor, huh?

I took a step back after hearing that ominous word.

-Descendant?

“Never mind. I don’t need it anymore.”

What kind of bullshit was she trying to pour on me this time? I had to go through nonsense every time I heard the word ‘favor’ from these heroes of the past, so just hearing it made me annoyed by this point.

“…I’ll just take my leave quietly. It was an honor to meet you, Senior.”

I briefly took the Heavenly Poison Orbs and hurriedly walked away.

It was to leave this place.

“Ugh, where is the exit?”

Grr.

As I looked around to find the exit, the Red Water Snake came towards me and poked its head out.

I nodded after seeing the bastard.

“Oh, good you are here. Look for a way out. You are good at that, aren’t you?”

Grrr?

I was reminded of when the bastard found me the entrance to the secret vault back in the lake, so I asked again.

However, the bastard showed a confused expression after hearing my words.

“…Tsk.”

Does this bastard not know either?

In the end, it seemed like it was up to me.

-Tang Soyeol.

Pause-

But then, I quickly turned my head towards the voice I suddenly heard.

“…What… did you just…”

My heart felt cold and heavy.

I didn’t expect to hear that name from Tang Jaemoon.

I stared at her with a strange look on my face.

-It’s about that child. Aren’t you curious about it at all, descendant?

For some reason, her expression was filled with sadness.

I thought to myself as I looked into her eyes.

It was a surprise that she mentioned Tang Soyeol, but why was she making that expression?

It definitely wasn’t something I could ignore.

I wanted to run away this instant, but I couldn’t bring myself to.

My priorities were always determined by my emotions, and it wasn’t different this time around.

With that thought, I cooled down my emotions and responded to Tang Jaemoon.

After all, there was only one response I was able to give her.

“…What is the favor you want to ask of me?”

Tang Jaemoon walked up to me after hearing my question.

-I only want one thing.

Her expression was still dark, and I didn’t know what she was thinking.

-…Once you make it outside…

The words I heard from her mouth was extremely shocking which contracted her calm expression.

Swish…

The sound of water waving along with the breeze continued.

It was still noon, and the lake remained its beautiful color.

It was the same sight as ever.

“…”

However, the girl watching this still had her eyes shaking nervously.

What’s going on?

She continued to stare at the lake as if she wasn’t bothered by her swollen cheek, and the blood that leaked from it.

It was the assassin from Tang Clan, named Nahee.

Just… what is happening?

It had been a few minutes ever since Gu Yangcheon threw himself into the lake.

It was already strange that Gu Yangcheon somehow knew her true identity, but he wasn’t coming out of the water after saying that he was going to take a dive in it for a moment.

Did he die in there?

That was the only thought that came into Nahee’s mind.

He… really… killed himself?

That was the only reasonable answer that was able to come from this situation.

Even if it was the Poison King who had high immunity to poison, it would be difficult for him to last that long inside that lake.

With that in mind, Gu Yangcheon who was an ordinary martial artist, threw himself in the lake which only seemed like a suicide.

What do I do?

Nahee bit her lips nervously.

It was her who guided Gu Yangcheon to this place.

But considering Gu Yangcheon randomly threw himself into the lake and killed himself,

…How am I supposed to explain this to the Lord?

She had no idea how to report this news to the Poison King.

It may have been Gu Yangcheon’s own will to take a dive in the lake, but it was obvious that Nahee was going to be punished for letting him do such a thing, and she couldn’t afford to the Lord the reason why she allowed this to happen.

…Hgh…

A dilemma.

That was a perfect word to describe her current situation.

Brother…

She bit her nails and thought about her brother.

She lived a life full of hardships after taking his hand to take revenge on this disgusting clan.

Then why…!

She could neither understand or believe why her older brother betrayed her for a young prodigy.

There had to have been a reason. That had to be why.

Think… what must I do?

She was going to be done for at this rate.

Nahee had to quickly work her brain.

She couldn’t afford to die like this.

At the very least… I’ll die after getting rid of that ‘basement’.

The rotten truths of Tang Clan.

She had to destroy the Tang Clan’s basement filled with disgusting truths even if it meant it costed her life.

That was the path she had to walk for her siblings that died before her.

Drip-

She bit her nails so much that blood started to come out from her thumb.

Drip.

Right as the blood drop fell on dirt,

Swooosh…!

The lake suddenly started to change.

“…?”

Nahee’s eyes widened at the scene.

“What the…?”

She quickly got up and ran towards the lake.

“…Huh?”

It was easier for her to see the change as she got closer.

She should’ve felt denser Poison Qi while getting closer, but she felt nothing for some reason.

“What is going on…”

What was happening? Right as Nahee arrived right in front of the lake,

Craaaaash-!

The lake water suddenly started to rage. It was a whirlpool.

A huge whirlpool appeared in the center of the lake, and it started to drain the lake without stopping.

“…Huh… Huh?”

The lake known as Tang Clan’s treasure, was disappearing.

Nahee showed panic at the sight, but it didn’t stop.

After only a few seconds, the lake water disappeared into nothingness.

It definitely wasn’t a small amount of water judging by how it was called a lake.

But then where did all that water go?

Nahee observed the center of the lake with her hands still shaking.

Considering the fact that’s where the whirlpool appeared, she believed that something happened in the center.

In that spot,

“…Huh?”

In the center of the lake without a single drop of water, she saw someone standing still, tapping away at his clothes.

“Ptoo.”

He spitted on the ground as if something went inside his mouth.

Then, he started looking around.

After checking that the lake turned into an empty crater,

“Oh.”

He seemed to have realized what happened.

“…Shit… I’m fucked.”

He started to curse out loud.