Chapter 9
The moonlight shone brightly, illuminating a grand building that seemed to reach the sky. Its dazzling lights decorated the structure lavishly, captivating all who beheld it.
This was Cheonghwaru, the largest and most splendid gisaeng house in all of Sichuan. As always, the night at Cheonghwaru was filled with sultry laughter.
"Hahaha!"
"Hohoho!"
On the highest floor of Cheonghwaru were two exclusive rooms. Not just anyone could enter these chambers.
Only those with the greatest power or wealth in Sichuan were permitted inside.
Tonight, the sound of singing drifted from one of those rooms.
"You seem to be in an especially good mood today, Young Master."
A man with sharp eyes sat in the seat of honor, drinking wine. His decadent aura permeated the air. Around him, three or four sword-bearing men also appeared flushed with alcohol.
The man in the seat of honor smirked at his subordinate's words.
"Is that so?"
"Yes. It seems something good must have happened."
"Hmm, something good... Heh. Indeed, something good."
"May I ask what it is?"
The man called Young Master took another swig of wine before slowly beginning his tale.
"There was a flower I admired for a long time."
Oh.
The men present perked up their ears. A love story from their Young Master?
"Uncharacteristically, I fell for her at first sight. My feelings, which I thought would wither quickly as always, lasted quite a long time. It was truly strange."
"My, I didn't know our Young Master was capable of such pure emotions."
"Hmm. Pure emotions, you say... I wonder."
Everyone seemed surprised by this revelation.
The man chuckled before continuing.
"So I tried to possess her. I was quite curious, you see."
"About what?"
As far as they knew, their Young Master was colder, fiercer, and more tyrannical than anyone.
They all leaned in, intrigued by this unexpected tale of pure love from such a man.
But then,
"I wondered what kind of face she would make... what I would feel... if I kept that radiant flower by my side and slowly crushed and trampled her."
A chill ran down their spines.
As the man smiled, everyone felt their hair stand on end.
It was a smile filled with madness. One that made the viewers shudder.
As expected, he was not in his right mind.
Their Young Master.
That's why he was even more terrifying.
This man.
His eyes always seemed as if something inside him was broken, instilling fear in all who beheld them.
The Young Master continued sipping his wine.
*In the end, I wasn't able to possess her.*
Even he hadn't expected her to disappear like that.
Moreover, her partner turned out to be some unknown scholar.
*Tch. What an interesting world this is.*
Thanks to that incident, many people had laughed at him behind his back, but he didn't really care.
He only felt regret.
The fact that he couldn't fulfill his desire.
Then, after several years passed, he finally... found her.
Where she was.
Now that flower would surely begin to wither slowly in agony.
And before long, she would lose her light completely.
Because he had made it so.
The man unconsciously grinned.
Corrupting Blood Poison.
One of the worst poisons, infamous even among nerve toxins.
Its symptoms progressed so slowly that even masters with some knowledge of poisons would never notice it.
At first, one's vitality gradually disappeared. Then came unimaginable pain, as if one's entire body was being hammered.
Next, numbness spread from the limbs to below the head, until finally one couldn't even breathe properly, gasping and choking to death.
It was truly the most vicious of poisons, making instant death seem merciful by comparison.
*Ah, how much pain she must be in. What expression will she make when she finally suffocates to death? Oh, oh.*
Just imagining it filled the man with ecstasy.
Everything was perfect, except that he couldn't witness it directly.
Of course, there was no chance of failure.
The man he had sent was one of his most loyal subordinates, highly skilled with poisons and quite strong in martial arts as well.
One of the top ten experts in the entire family.
So he didn't doubt for a moment that the mission would succeed.
"Heh, hehehe..."
The man in the seat of honor downed another cup of wine.
The alcohol tasted especially sweet tonight.
"...Tang Gu-hwi?"
Yeo Un-hwi's face showed confusion.
A completely unexpected name had suddenly come up.
Moreover,
"Are you talking about the Young Master of the Sichuan Tang Family?"
"Y-Yes."
The culprit, his body battered by Yeo Un-hwi, nodded while gasping for breath.
*Hmm. The Sichuan Tang Family...*
It was the appearance of an unexpected big player.
The Sichuan Tang Family.
One of the Five Great Families representing the martial world, renowned as the best in hidden weapons, second in poison usage, and third in martial arts. They were called peerless in the realm of hidden weapons and poisons.
But,
"Why would the Young Master of the Sichuan Tang Family want to kill my wife?"
"You didn't know?"
"Know what?"
"It was widely known that the Young Master admired your wife. The Sichuan Tang Family even went to great lengths to propose a marriage."
Was there such a thing?
This was the first Yeo Un-hwi had heard of it.
He had simply fled with his wife to escape her family, who opposed their relationship to the end.
He had no idea there were other circumstances like this.
Anyway, shortly after the Sichuan Tang Family proposed marriage, Tang Gu-hwi heard that the woman he had proposed to had eloped with some scholar.
*And that scholar was me.*
Moreover, when it became known that the man she chose was an orphan scholar with no particular background, Tang Gu-hwi's position became quite laughable.
"...So he tried to kill her because of that?"
"In the martial world, people kill and save each other over matters of face alone. That's reason enough."
"That's why I hate you martial artists."
"What do you mean?"
The culprit looked puzzled at Yeo Un-hwi's incomprehensible words.
Was he saying he wasn't a martial artist?
With martial arts like that?
"Hmm."
Hearing the circumstances, Yeo Un-hwi could understand why Tang Gu-hwi might be angry.
But his methods had already crossed the line by far.
No matter how angry one might be, who would do such a horrific thing?
And above all, Yeo Un-hwi had already lost his wife once to Tang Gu-hwi in his past life.
That was when it all began.
The start of that hell.
At the time, he couldn't have imagined.
That there was someone else who had set it all in motion.
He was furious at his own incompetence and patheticness, losing his wife without knowing anything.
And,
*Tang Gu-hwi...*
The position of Young Master of the Sichuan Tang Family was once untouchable to Yeo Un-hwi.
But now things were different from back then.
Yeo Un-hwi mulled over Tang Gu-hwi's name.
"Now then, please let me go."
"Why should I?"
"I told you. I'm from the Sichuan Tang Family. And the one who ordered all this was the Young Master of the Sichuan Tang Family."
"So?"
"Surely you're not planning to make an enemy of the Sichuan Tang Family?"
There's a famous saying in the martial world.
The Sichuan Tang Family never forgets a debt.
Whether it's a debt of gratitude or revenge.
Moreover, they would stop at nothing to achieve their goals, and to protect their secret poison techniques, even sons-in-law had to live within the family as adopted husbands.
That's why even among martial artists, there was an extreme aversion to crossing the Sichuan Tang Family.
No one wanted to risk being poisoned or having hundreds of flying daggers embedded in their face at any moment.
"You'll regret this. You should give up on any foolish notions now..."
"Who says?"
Yeo Un-hwi cut off the culprit, who was speaking smugly despite his battered state.
"The Sichuan Tang Family isn't the only one who doesn't forget debts. The same goes for me."
"And let me make one thing clear."
Yeo Un-hwi's eyes began to shine with an intensely cold light.
"You started this first. So this is revenge. Revenge for daring to touch and harm my person."
*W-What kind of eyes...*
Could the legendary Heavenly Killing Star, said to bring about a terrible blood calamity in the martial world, have such eyes?
The culprit involuntarily trembled as he met Yeo Un-hwi's gaze.
Though he boasted skills that ranked among the best in the Sichuan Tang Family, for some reason he felt like a rabbit facing a viper before this man.
Step, step.
Yeo Un-hwi approached the culprit.
"Ugh... p-please spare me."
"Have you ever spared those who begged you like this?"
"T-That's..."
"You probably didn't even give them the chance to speak. Those people."
And his wife from his past life as well.
"So shut your mouth and... die."
Yeo Un-hwi's hand covered the man's face.
And then,
SHWAAAAAAAA!
An enormous light poured out from Yeo Un-hwi's hand.
"Guh, guh, guaaaaaaah!"
A horrific scream that chilled the blood echoed through the forest for a long time.
It was surely one of the most painful deaths in the world.
It was far too miserable an end for a master boasting skills among the best of the Sichuan Tang Family, one of the Five Great Families of the martial world.
After dusting off his hands, Yeo Un-hwi's gaze turned eastward.
"It seems I need to make a short trip."
That was the direction of Sichuan.
And so it began.
The time for revenge.