ch 7

 

Chapter 7

Flower Hero Yun Seung-hyo, despite his glamorous appearance, was not a man of extravagant tastes. As a precious young master from a powerful Beijing family, no one would have faulted him for demanding the finest delicacies at every meal. However, unlike a certain cult leader with a notoriously picky palate, he was a man of simple tastes, satisfied with a bowl of vegetables and a couple of dumplings to stave off his hunger.

“The item they lost… it’s most likely opium poppies.”

After a simple meal to satisfy their hunger, the two men arranged a new table for drinks, ordering a spread of delectable side dishes and a bottle of Wuliangye, the famed liquor of Guizhou. With the subject of the Tang Clan as their appetizer, they began to empty their cups.

Yun Seung-hyo, his face still wearing a kind, friendly smile, began to tell Munpyeong the truth the Tang Clan had been hiding.

“Poppies? Aren’t those a medicinal ingredient? I’ve heard they’re often prescribed to patients in severe pain.”

Munpyeong tilted his head at the word. Having grown up on the battlefield, he had seen wounded soldiers drink poppy extract to endure the pain. Poppies were the most readily available anesthetic for soldiers; a moderate amount could numb the pain, but too much caused hallucinations. It was also highly addictive, and those who couldn’t quit in time were utterly ruined.

Munpyeong had seen many men become husks of their former selves after turning to poppies for pain relief. Among them were martial arts masters and learned scholars alike.

“Since you know of them, this will be easier to explain. Poppies are commonly used as an anesthetic, but because of their strong addictive properties, their use is strictly limited to when it’s absolutely necessary. They are regulated far more stringently than ordinary medicinal herbs because, if misused, they can easily harm people.”

“But why poppies, specifically? As I recall, those men never said what it was they’d lost.”

The Wuliangye he had only heard of was a most peculiar liquor. Its aroma was mild and its taste was smooth, but the moment it went down his throat, a searing heat erupted, proving its high alcohol content. Munpyeong, a lover of drink, focused more on the alcohol than the story and asked his question perfunctorily.

Seeing the delight on his face, Yun Seung-hyo smiled and refilled his cup. Munpyeong happily tilted it back, and the fiery sensation once again filled his belly.

“Due to the nature of their clan, the Tang Clan handles a wide variety of medicinal herbs. They are most famous for their poisons, of course, but refining those poisons requires many different ingredients, so their consumption of herbs is substantial. That’s why the Tang Clan has a ‘Collection Party.’ As the name suggests, it’s an institution that gathers necessary herbs. It’s no exaggeration to say they supply all the core herbs consumed within the clan.”

Munpyeong didn’t understand why Yun Seung-hyo was drawing the story out so long. But since Yun Seung-hyo was the one who had bought the drinks and saved his life, Munpyeong didn't interrupt.

Among Munpyeong and his friends, it was an unspoken rule that whoever paid for the drinks was the master of the table. His stance was the same here. He was prepared to listen to anything the man who was letting him taste Wuliangye had to say.

“Items that must not be known to the outside world are cultivated directly by the Collection Party. The more minor ingredients are procured from outside, a task entrusted to the Eunseong Escort Agency. Therefore, the goods they transport are almost never anything special. With the exception of one single item.”

“And that one item is the poppy?”

“Correct. Poppies are used as medicine, but they are also the raw material for opium. For a clan that calls itself part of the Orthodox Sect, cultivating opium themselves would be problematic, so they purchase it from the outside. The poppies escorted by the Eunseong Agency are of the highest quality, harvested in Yunnan where the soil and climate are ideal—a quality hard to find in the Central Plains.

“Tang Jeok-hyeong carelessly mentioned it was an item that ‘must not fall into the hands of the unjust.’ Hearing that, I was certain. If rumors were to spread that the Tang Clan was dealing in poppies, the consequences would be severe. That’s why they didn’t send simple trackers, but dispatched the Five Venoms of the Tang Clan to clean up the mess.”

Munpyeong nodded. It made sense. For an issue of this magnitude, the Five Venoms’ direct involvement seemed appropriate. For the Orthodox Sect, reputation was paramount; they would never allow word to get out that opium had been leaked from their own clan.

“I suppose you’re right,” Munpyeong agreed nonchalantly. Yun Seung-hyo’s brow furrowed slightly. The smile vanished from his lips as he asked, “Do you not understand what I’m saying? Sir Guan, you are now aware of a secret the Tang Clan wishes to hide. He may not have realized it at the time, but Tang Jeok-hyeong will soon figure out his slip of the tongue. Anyone with even a little knowledge of the Tang Clan’s affairs could piece it all together from his words. Just as I have.”

Munpyeong sucked in a sharp breath. Only when Yun Seung-hyo spelled it out did he realize the predicament he was in. `He had gotten entangled with the Tang Clan again, damn it all.` And it hadn't been his intention in the slightest.

Having made an enemy of the Tang Clan not through his own mistake, but through theirs, Munpyeong’s face turned a sickly yellow. `Surely they wouldn't murder me to silence me over such a thing?` he thought, but he knew too much about them to be so optimistic. They were the kind of people who would slit a man’s throat without a second thought for far less. What wouldn’t they do to prevent their family’s name from being tarnished?

“I don’t know what brought you to Guizhou, but with things as they are, you cannot stay here for long. Unless your business is of the utmost importance, why not give it up and return to Anseo? If you are within a military encampment, not even the Tang Clan would be able to reach you easily.”

His face pale, Munpyeong’s mind raced. He could be murdered at any moment to keep him quiet. But he couldn’t simply run away either. If he were pursued by the Tang Clan, he would have to use his lightness skill. Using his movement techniques would reveal his style. And if, by some chance, a single person recognized his techniques…

From bad to worse, from the frying pan into the fire. The moment that happened, his life would be over.

He had wronged their clan not once, but twice. Both times, he had been falsely accused, but the Tang Clan wouldn’t care about such details. If anything, they would add a charge of insolence and try even harder to kill him.

But could he return to the Demonic Cult? For Munpyeong, that was also impossible.

The Demon Shadow Corps was following him, two days behind. If he failed to leave a black flower symbol every three days, the secret branch that last confirmed his mark would send a carrier pigeon to Po Yeong-ui, informing him of his betrayal. If that happened, he was dead, regardless of the Tang Clan. The poison stirring in his gut would instantly spread through his body, and he would die without even a chance to scream.

`A dilemma.`

Stuck with nowhere to go, forward or back, Munpyeong felt like smashing his own skull in. `What terrible deeds did I commit in my past life to deserve this?` Frustrated by his perpetually tangled life, he began to suspect his past incarnations.

`Did I sell out my country like Qin Hui? Or was I a legendary rapist who brutalized and murdered countless women?`

Anything less than sins of that magnitude would make this fate seem unjust. How could one man’s fortune be so wretched? The more he thought, the more absurd it seemed, and his eyes grew hot. If there hadn’t been someone sitting across from him, he might have burst into tears.

As Munpyeong sat silently, his eyes reddening, Yun Seung-hyo, who had been watching him quietly, refilled his empty cup. Munpyeong reflexively took the cup but didn’t drink. Even his beloved alcohol held no appeal. His chest felt heavy, and a surge of indignation rose in his throat. In this situation, even the most magnificent liquor wouldn’t go down.

“…Is there some reason you cannot leave?” Yun Seung-hyo asked calmly, having noticed the heavy shift in Munpyeong’s mood. Seeing him unable to make a decision so crucial for his own safety, he seemed to guess there was more to the story.

“…There’s someone I have to find.”

An image of a person surfaced in his mind. A slick face. A rotten personality. Cheonma, the greatest obstacle of his life. At this moment, Munpyeong could think of no face he hated more.

“Who is it?”

“My younger sister’s… son. My only nephew.”

Munpyeong dredged up the memory from his pale mind, piecing the words together with difficulty. He couldn’t very well say he was looking for Cheonma, so he fell back on the story he’d prepared beforehand.

Perhaps because his mind was in turmoil, he couldn’t immediately recall the rest of the story he himself had created. This made him speak hesitantly, as if searching for the words, which somehow made the tale sound more effective. His distraught expression lent the story an air of reality.

“Not long ago, I received word that my sister lost her child. The boy left home in the morning, perfectly fine, and never returned… We asked around, and strangely, someone claimed to have seen him here in Guizhou. A child who disappeared in Guangxi turning up a province away in Guizhou… it’s likely not him, but a parent’s heart isn’t so logical. My sister, half-dead with grief, sent me a letter, weeping and begging. I couldn’t bring myself to ignore it, so I came here on the off chance… I never imagined I’d get caught up in something like this.”

This story of a lost nephew was Munpyeong’s own creation, fabricated on the spot after he confirmed his mission. He couldn’t go around advertising that he was searching for the mastermind of a conspiracy, so he needed a plausible cover. Coincidentally, his new fake identity included a younger sister living in Guangxi Province.

Munpyeong had crafted the story to be as simple as possible to avoid unnecessary attention. Easy to remember, and therefore, easier to forget.

After hearing the story, Yun Seung-hyo looked at Munpyeong without a word. His eyes, usually a lovely sky-blue, darkened to a deep indigo, their color shifting with his emotions. It was the first time Munpyeong had ever seen a person whose eye color changed with their feelings, but overwhelmed by his own problems, he had no mental space for such trivial details.

“You said your sister lives in Guangxi Province?” Yun Seung-hyo finally broke the silence that had fallen as they were each lost in their own thoughts.

“That’s right.” Munpyeong nodded, sticking to his story.

“A child who disappeared from Guangxi appearing in Guizhou… I have an idea. As it happens, I’ve been chasing a similar case myself. Listening to your story, Sir Guan, I feel your matter is not unrelated to the one I’m investigating.”

To his surprise, Yun Seung-hyo said he too was tracking a series of child abductions. The case hadn't yet been made public, and aside from the incident in Fujian, it hadn't received much attention. Yet this man already knew about it and was digging into it. Munpyeong’s jaw dropped in genuine astonishment. But the surprises didn't end there.

“According to my investigation, this isn't just happening in Guangxi. It seems the damage is far more widespread, stretching across Guangdong, Fujian, Sichuan, and even into Yunnan. The number of missing children is roughly 800 to 900, nearly a thousand in total. The reason there's no uproar is because the children are disappearing in ways that don't attract public attention.”

From the way he spoke, it was clear he had been tracking this for a long time. He had even uncovered the number of missing children, something the Demonic Cult's secret branches didn't know. His information network might be even more formidable than the cult’s.

Munpyeong was surprised by the unexpected coincidence, but also a little moved. Unlike him, who had been strong-armed into investigating the abductions, Yun Seung-hyo had no reason to be involved. Yet he was approaching the case with a far more proactive attitude than Munpyeong, whose life was in double jeopardy.

As Munpyeong saw it, Yun Seung-hyo was doing this for one reason alone: chivalry. Many in the world called themselves knights-errant, but true heroes were rare. Yun Seung-hyo was one of those rare, true heroes.

“If your business and mine are one and the same, it will be difficult for you to solve this alone, Sir Guan. They are large enough to have reached into several provinces, and meticulous enough to have committed hundreds of abductions without a trace. If you intend to pursue them, why not accompany me? Two heads are better than one, are they not?”

Yun Seung-hyo made an unexpected offer. He was inviting Munpyeong to join him in hunting down the masterminds of the abduction case. While he said Munpyeong would be a help to him, his true intention was to protect Munpyeong from both the kidnappers and the Tang Clan.

Despite being complete strangers until today, Yun Seung-hyo was genuinely worried about him. It was the first time in his life Munpyeong had received such pure goodwill, and for a moment, he was speechless.

Normally, he would have jumped at such an opportunity. What a stroke of luck! he would have thought. Surviving is what matters. It's not the strong who survive, but the survivors who are strong. He would have gladly accepted the good fortune that had come his way. But in front of Yun Seung-hyo, he found it difficult to make that choice.

Yun Seung-hyo was the kind of person who would unhesitatingly choose to help someone in trouble. He wasn't afraid to stand against the Tang Clan for a man he had just met. He was a man who grieved with others in their pain and was the first to jump in and get his hands dirty to right an injustice no one else cared about. Using such a person for his own benefit felt wrong.

Investigating the child abductions was just an excuse; he was actually looking for Cheonma. Was it not excessively shameless to use a righteous man like Yun Seung-hyo to save the life of someone who was a mortal enemy to the Orthodox Sect?

Since when did you start living with a conscience, Seok Munpyeong? he chided himself. If you turn down this golden opportunity, what's your plan? You think you can evade the Tang Clan on your own? Will you be safe when the Gu worm bursts in your stomach? You have to save yourself first. Who are you to be worrying about others?

Munpyeong struggled to steel his wavering heart. He felt sorry for Yun Seung-hyo, but he wanted to live. He hadn't survived this long just to die like this.

It wasn’t as if he was forcing himself on an unwilling party; the offer to help had come from Yun Seung-hyo himself. There was no need to refuse something like that, was there? It wasn't like he had any brilliant plan to get himself out of this situation.

“Are you… truly sure it’s alright?” Munpyeong asked, hesitant but ultimately choosing reason. His long-dormant conscience pricked at his heart, but his desire to live was stronger than his sense of decency.

“Of course. It’s more than alright. This is wonderful, Sir Guan. We have a comrade now. I feel as if I’ve gained a whole army.”

Yun Seung-hyo beamed, oblivious to the thoughts racing through the other man's mind. His already blue eyes cleared, shining as beautifully as a crisp autumn sky. Munpyeong couldn't meet his gaze and subtly looked away. The man was so dazzlingly bright that it was hard to look him in the eye.

Yun Seung-hyo seemed to be a naturally cheerful person. He loved to joke, laughed often, and thoroughly enjoyed casual conversation. Within just a few days of spending time with him, Munpyeong learned a great deal about him.

On the second day, Munpyeong learned that he was the youngest of three siblings, born late in his parents' lives and thus doted on. Thanks to this, he was the only child permitted to roam the Jianghu freely. His blue eyes were a recessive trait inherited from his foreign-born maternal grandmother. For this reason, his maternal grandfather, the Prince of Xiping, had been particularly fond of him, and he had spent most of his childhood at the prince’s estate.

It was at the Prince of Xiping’s estate that he began his martial arts training. Among the prince’s guests were many renowned masters of the Jianghu, and what began as learning a move or two from them blossomed when he showed talent, eventually leading him to formally take on a master. He seemed reluctant to name his school, never mentioning who his master was, but given his achievement of reaching the pinnacle at such a young age, his master was undoubtedly a formidable figure as well.

It was the first time in his life Munpyeong had met someone like this. Raised with love by respected parents, he grew up bright and upright. He was a man who possessed everything Munpyeong had never had, yet he seemed entirely worthy of it.

His back was as straight as a plant that had grown only in the sun, and his smile smelled of bright sunshine. He was a different breed, different from the root, from someone like himself who had grown only in the shadows. He was so fundamentally different that Munpyeong didn’t even feel a shred of envy. He merely had the small realization that people like this existed in the world, and that being raised well in a good family didn’t mean everyone turned out like Tang Jeok-hyeong or Po Yeong-ui.

If he had a single flaw, it was that his excessively striking beauty drew attention wherever he went. The gazes of women were particularly fervent, but whether it was a trait of handsome men, Yun Seung-hyo, much like Cheonma, was oblivious to the stares.

Even so, anyone would feel self-conscious being stared at like that. `He’s really pretending not to notice.`

Munpyeong glanced uncomfortably to his side. Yun Seung-hyo was chattering away with a shop clerk, taking an eternity to pick out a single set of clothes, while an intensely piercing gaze had been fixed on his face for some time. It was the gaze of a pretty young girl, one you could only describe as lovely, who had followed them from the street right into the shop.

Yun Seung-hyo was handsome, but the girl was no less remarkable. She was still young and hadn't fully blossomed, but in two or three years, she would have a face that could captivate the world. Dressed in a red skirt and yellow top befitting her age, her appearance was utterly charming.

Her eyelashes were long enough to be made into a brush, her cheeks were like ivory, and her full lips were a luscious red, like ripe cherries. She wore a coral necklace and a jade bracelet, befitting a young lady from a wealthy family, yet her appearance was elegant, not ostentatious.

He wondered why a young lady like her was wandering around alone without an attendant. From her attire, she certainly didn't seem to be from a family that would let her come to the market by herself.

`She looks like she’s about to cry. How can Seung-hyo be so oblivious?`

The young lady had been startled from the moment she first saw Yun Seung-hyo. It wasn’t the surprise of seeing a handsome stranger, but the shock of unexpectedly meeting someone she knew.

She had smiled brightly, as if in greeting, and waved at Yun Seung-hyo. But he had walked right past her as if he’d seen nothing. The bewildered girl turned to watch him, but he acted as if he hadn't noticed a thing.

After a moment of shock at being ignored, the girl clenched her jaw. She strode after Yun Seung-hyo, looking as if she was about to hike up her skirt and run.

Yun Seung-hyo knew she was following him, yet he didn't acknowledge her. He acted as if he was unaware of her presence, pulling Munpyeong along and entering a tailor's shop to start picking out clothes.

Munpyeong, an unwilling witness to their encounter by virtue of being Yun Seung-hyo's companion, noticed the girl's patience rapidly disappearing. At first, she was bewildered; then, she grew angry. She stared daggers at Yun Seung-hyo.

Her glare grew more and more venomous as she waited for him to look back at her, but her wait was unrewarded. With each passing moment, her shoulders heaved with indignation. A clear wetness began to well up in her large, doe-like eyes. Biting her red lips in wounded pride, the girl finally couldn't hold back any longer and spoke first.

“Gege, what are you doing? Why are you pretending not to know xiaomei?”

Huh? Gege?

It was an overly bold way for a young girl to address a man. Munpyeong couldn't help but glance at Yun Seung-hyo.

As far as he knew, Yun Seung-hyo was the youngest and had no younger sisters. The term gege was not used for just anyone; if the speaker wasn't a blood sister, it implied they were lovers. But if they were lovers, Yun Seung-hyo’s attitude toward the girl was decidedly strange.

Even the shop clerk who had been showing them the clothes was stealing furtive glances, but Yun Seung-hyo, his face still indifferent, merely rustled through the fabrics without answering her. It was an obvious, deliberate snub.

Unable to bear it any longer, the girl reached out and grabbed Yun Seung-hyo's sleeve. Only then did he seem to notice her, flinching slightly and turning to her with a look of puzzlement.

“What is it, young lady? Do you have something to say to me?”

Yun Seung-hyo asked her with his usual gentle demeanor. But his warm attitude wounded the girl more sharply than any cold insult could have.

At Yun Seung-hyo’s tone, as if addressing a complete stranger, the girl's round eyes grew even wider. As if she couldn’t believe what she had heard, she called his name again in a trembling voice.

“Gege?”

“You must have me mistaken for someone else. I do not know anyone like you, young lady. If you have no business with me, please let go of my arm.”

Yun Seung-hyo spoke kindly, a troubled look in his eyes. He gently tried to pull his sleeve from her grasp, but the girl held on tight. Her eyes were shaking uncontrollably.

She wasn’t even angry anymore, just frightened as she clung to him.

“What are you talking about, Gege? How can you not know me? It’s me, Ja Somae. The Somae you always called Myorang. Do you really not remember me? You don’t, do you? You’re just teasing me, right?”

“I do not know anyone named Ja Somae, and I certainly don't know the childhood name Myorang. You truly seem to have the wrong person, so please let go.”

Listening to Yun Seung-hyo, it seemed plausible that the girl had made a mistake. But her conviction was not so easily shaken.

She unhesitatingly lifted the collar of her sleeve, revealing the bracelet on her pearly white arm. It was a beautiful bracelet made of a rare blood jade, so valuable that even someone with no knowledge of precious goods could recognize its worth at a glance.

“Mistaken? How could I ever mistake you, Gege? Look at this. This is the very bracelet you gave me as a gift at the Pear Blossom Pavilion when I was ten. We promised then, as we put on our matching bracelets. You promised that when I came of age, you would perform the Spring Dream Rite with me. I still remember that day’s promise perfectly.”

A normal person in this situation would speak of marriage, not a Spring Dream Rite. But the girl mentioned this name he had never heard before. Though he didn’t know its exact meaning, the way she said it was so similar to how other young ladies spoke of marriage that he guessed it must be something similar.

“What bracelet are you talking about? I don’t know any place called the Pear Blossom Pavilion, nor have I ever promised a Spring Dream Rite with anyone. If you doubt me, see for yourself. Am I wearing a bracelet?”

In the middle of someone else’s shop, the young girl had rolled up her own sleeve to show her arm. For a woman to reveal her bare skin in front of a man was something that required considerable resolve, yet this unmarried girl had done so. That was how desperate she was. But even this act failed to persuade Yun Seung-hyo.

As if to prove her claims were baseless, Yun Seung-hyo rolled up his own sleeve to show that he was not wearing the bracelet she spoke of.

As he bared his arm, a smooth limb was revealed. Though thicker and more solid than the girl’s, his skin was just as clear and translucent. There was no bracelet on his arm. Not a single thing.

The girl stared at Yun Seung-hyo’s arm in disbelief. As she blinked, tears fell like rain from her large eyes. She looked down at his arm, her face a mask of bewilderment, and asked softly, “…How could you?”

The girl whispered like a woman betrayed in love.

“What did you do with the bracelet? Why aren’t you wearing it? You promised. You promised you would always wear it. That you wouldn’t even take it off when you slept. You said you thought of it as if it were me, keeping it by your side. So we would always be together… that even when we were apart, we weren’t truly separated. …How could you take it off?”

Her small shoulders trembled pitifully. She stared at Yun Seung-hyo, unable to stop the endless stream of tears.

A commotion of this kind was bound to attract onlookers. Soon, their dispute had become a spectacle for passersby. The other customers in the shop, people walking by, even the owners of other stores were all watching them.

Usually, in a situation like this, the woman would receive sympathy and the man would be blamed. But the onlookers here were reacting differently. While they looked at the crying girl with pity for having cast aside her pride in such a public place, very few were blaming Yun Seung-hyo.

People felt sorry for her, but at the same time, they wondered if she had really mistaken him for someone else. This was because Yun Seung-hyo was looking at her with an expression of genuine concern.

Even the most cold-hearted man would waver when such a beautiful girl pleaded so desperately, yet Yun Seung-hyo consistently treated her as a stranger. He wasn’t cold or dismissive, but gentle and kind. It was so natural that it was impossible to believe he was faking it.

Munpyeong knew Yun Seung-hyo was a man of rare character, but in matters like this, no one could be trusted completely. He looked back and forth between them, unsure who was telling the truth. In doing so, his uncertain expression was caught by Yun Seung-hyo.

Noticing that even Munpyeong doubted him, Yun Seung-hyo gave a troubled smile. At the trace of bitterness in that smile, Munpyeong felt a pang of guilt and turned his head away.

“I don’t know what your circumstances are, young lady. You must have a sorrowful reason to be this distressed. But the person you are looking for is truly not me. You have mistaken me for someone else.”

Yun Seung-hyo looked the girl straight in the eye and stated his case calmly and clearly. But just as he remained firm, so did she, stubbornly refusing to believe him.

“Have you truly forgotten me? It’s only been two years since that beautiful day of our promise. You said you would wait for me. You said you would never forget me, no matter how much longer it took. Have you already forgotten me in that short time? Is there truly no turning back now?” the girl murmured, her voice filled with pathos. It was less a question for someone else and more a thought spoken to herself.

She looked at Yun Seung-hyo with a tragic expression. He looked down at her, forlorn as an orchid in the rain, with a sigh in his eyes.

“But I cannot forget. I cannot erase the promise of that day. In my life, the partner for my Spring Dream Rite is you and you alone. No matter how much you’ve lost your affection for me, you must keep that promise.”

“I will say it again, I have never made such a promise with anyone.”

“If you do not know, you will come to know. Even if you have forgotten, I will make you remember. For us, the vow of the Spring Dream Rite is sacred. Not even what the outside world calls marriage is as important as our Spring Dream Rite. The promise will be kept, Gege. I will make sure of it.”

The girl wiped her wet eyes and smiled faintly. Her tear-streaked face, like a pear blossom in the rain, looked like that of a tragic heroine, yet her eyes held a vibrant will. She gathered up her last shreds of pride to form a smile, then turned and strode away.

Yun Seung-hyo watched her disappear with a worried expression. Even after she was completely gone, the look of concern did not leave his face.

While the two of them had been staging a scene straight out of a Beijing opera, Munpyeong, who had been sidelined as a spectator, hesitantly approached him. Yun Seung-hyo rubbed his brow, looking embarrassed, and turned to Munpyeong.

“Well now. I seem to have been caught in a strange misunderstanding.”

He laughed it off, saying it was the first time he’d ever been in such a predicament. Munpyeong smiled faintly and nodded. He still had his doubts, but what could he do when the man himself insisted it was a misunderstanding? He had no choice but to let it go.

“He must look a lot like you. So much so that even his lover couldn't tell the difference. They say that happens sometimes.”

“Someone who looks like me? That would be a rare case indeed. To be frank, my appearance is quite unique, isn't it? I've always consoled myself with the thought that I'm the only one in the world with a face like this. If there really is someone who looks so much like me, I'd like to meet them. I'm curious to see just how similar we are.”

When Munpyeong offered the platitude, feeling bad for not having expressed his trust earlier, Yun Seung-hyo chuckled and tilted his head in thought. As he said, Yun Seung-hyo’s features were not the kind to be easily mistaken for someone else. His face had a delicate beauty that surpassed most women's, and his gentle, kind features combined with his blue eyes made him look like a one-of-a-kind sculpture.

Finding someone with a similar face in the vast Central Plains would surely be a difficult task. This was the same reason Munpyeong had found it hard to believe him. How could there possibly be someone who looks like him? The question had thrown him into confusion.

“By the way, Sir Guan, what color do you think would suit you better? Given your build, blue would probably be best, don’t you think? White would look too frail, and red is overly flashy… Yes, I think blue would be good. What do you think?”

What’s past is past. With a frighteningly quick change of mood, Yun Seung-hyo quickly brushed aside thoughts of the girl and focused on their original purpose.

He nonchalantly took out a bolt of fabric, draped it over Munpyeong’s shoulder, and even added his own critique. They hadn’t even left the shop where the incident occurred, and the clerk and other customers who had witnessed it were still there, so it was only natural that their every move became a subject of interest. Yet Yun Seung-hyo didn’t even blink at the gazes fixed upon them.

It was hard to imagine from his gentle appearance, but the man truly had a thoughtless side to him. Whether he was genuinely oblivious or deliberately acting that way, the result was the same: he paid no mind to others’ eyes, which made it extremely distressing for Munpyeong who was standing next to him.

`Well, I suppose this is why his moniker has the character ‘eccentric’ in it. When has a nickname ever been given without reason? There’s always a reason people are called odd.`

Unable to bring himself to suggest they go elsewhere, Munpyeong grumbled inwardly and held the fabric that was slipping from his shoulder. Was it because it was a task he was not fated for? Getting a single set of silk clothes was proving to be far too difficult.

There is a term in the world: human skin mask.

Human skin masks are a staple of the fantastic tales of the Jianghu, a wondrous object that common folk who enjoy stories believe to be real. According to the storybooks, these gruesome items can only be made by killing a person and flaying their skin. By wearing it, one can take on the face of the dead and deceive everyone.

However, if you were to ask a true martial artist about human skin masks, they would surely give an incredulous laugh and treat the questioner like a fool. They would say it was more believable that a mouse could transform after eating a human fingernail than to believe in such a fanciful tale.

This is because martial artists, second only to physicians in their knowledge of the human body, know all too well that a person is not made of just a single layer of skin.

At the core of a human is the skeleton, with the organs filling the spaces between the bones, and muscles covering it all. The human face is no exception. To steal someone’s face, you would need to steal not just the skin, but the muscles and bone structure beneath it as well.

But that is not to say that techniques to change one’s appearance do not exist in the Jianghu. Among the many skills collectively known as the Art of Disguise, there are serious martial arts like the Bone-Shrinking Technique, mesmerizing arts like the Soul-Bewitching Smile, and more advanced forms of makeup using drugs and cosmetics.

Munpyeong, who had learned a bit of everything in his travels around the Jianghu out of a belief that it was good to know as much as possible, also knew a few simple disguise techniques. His skills weren’t refined enough to fool the eyes of a master, so he’d given up on that, but he was proficient enough to deceive commoners who knew nothing of martial arts.

“Your face will be itchy for a while. But don’t move. If you move, the clay mold could shift and your face might end up strangely crooked.”

But Munpyeong’s simple tricks were nothing compared to Yun Seung-hyo’s methods. He didn’t know where he had learned such a skill, but Yun Seung-hyo was capable of creating a disguise that was nearly perfect. Although it required special drugs and took a long time, the finished result was so exquisite that it made one forget all complaints about the process.

“I told you not to frown!”

Yun Seung-hyo warned him sharply as his hands moved. He applied a special drug to Munpyeong’s face to stiffen the muscles, then applied clay on top to change the overall bone structure. Once the clay dried, he applied glue and fitted a meticulously crafted pigskin mask over it.

The pigskin, pre-treated with chemicals, was as smooth as human skin. Eyebrows were made from horsehair, and a simple layer of makeup was applied to hide his deathly pale complexion. The result was the face of a man in his forties with a slightly villainous look. A man with a faint scar on his left cheek and a harsh set to his eyes and mouth. He was a perfect match for the thin, nervous-looking man Yun Seung-hyo had disguised himself as.

Munpyeong donned this face and the new blue silk clothes. Yun Seung-hyo also changed out of his usual white robes and into a set of black silk clothes he had prepared. As Yun Seung-hyo tightened his belt, a golden carp embroidered on the back danced amidst the waves.

His frame, already slender, looked even more diminutive in the form-fitting black robes. With a gaunt face and piercing eyes, looking every bit the part of a thief, Yun Seung-hyo even put on leather gloves and opened the window. It was clear they couldn't leave through the front door looking like this.

“We’ll go up to the roof first, then head west. I heard the Snake Blood Society’s headquarters is in that direction. Follow me.”

Yun Seung-hyo stepped onto the windowsill and leaped lightly onto the roof. It was a levitation skill, rising smoothly as if he felt no air resistance at all.

Munpyeong’s own lightness skill was no less impressive, but he deliberately moved clumsily to deceive Yun Seung-hyo. His technique was surprisingly well-known thanks to that old man Man, and he could easily be identified. Since he was using a false name, his identity could not be revealed, so Munpyeong was careful to hide his true abilities.

*"This way."*

Yun Seung-hyo sent a telepathic message and ran across the rooftops. Despite stepping on dry tiles, he made no sound. Munpyeong followed with a bit more clatter and landed awkwardly in an alley. Yun Seung-hyo waited for him patiently.

Their target was the headquarters of the Snake Blood Society, a triad that was said to control the nightlife of Kaiyang.

Like most triads, the Snake Blood Society’s base was a gambling den. Deep inside what looked like an ordinary alley, hidden in a way that an unknowing person would pass by, was a concealed door. Opening it revealed the entrance to the gambling den, guarded by hulking men with their sleeves torn off to expose their massive biceps.

Normally, gambling dens run by triads didn’t welcome strangers, wary of government informants. But Yun Seung-hyo had somehow learned the password, making them open the door themselves.

Yun Seung-hyo entered the gambling den with an arrogant expression. Munpyeong, tasked with guarding his back, gave a slight flash of the knife hidden in his chest and followed him silently.

The moment they stepped inside, the acrid smell of tobacco smoke stung his nose. The den was so thick with smoke that his vision was blurry. Inside, countless gamblers were gathered, testing their luck in various ways.

No one was playing a simple game like mahjong. In one corner, they were betting on a cockfight; in another, some were playing with bone tiles or gambling with cards. A staircase leading to the second floor was barely visible through the thick smoke, and it was toward that staircase that Yun Seung-hyo headed without looking around.

“Hold it. Haven’t seen your face before.”

It seemed the stairwell was also guarded. A man, not as brawny as the ones outside but with a sharper aura, emerged from the shadows and blocked Yun Seung-hyo’s path.

Yun Seung-hyo looked down at the man who blocked his way and scowled. A wrinkle formed on his gaunt face, making his already sharp features look even more menacing.

“I came on the recommendation of Lord Liu. He said I could find some entertainment here. Did I come to the wrong place?”

Yun Seung-hyo spat out the words in a raspy voice, as if one side of his throat was scratched. The guard, who seemed more tense about the content of his words than the sound of his voice, stiffened. His attitude became much more cautious.

“Lord Liu, you say?”

“Lord Liu of Jinsha.”

“Ah, you came on Lord Liu’s recommendation? In that case, please come this way. A guest of Lord Liu is always a guest of ours.”

The name Lord Liu seemed to carry some weight in the underworld. The guard’s posture changed, and he bowed deeply. Yun Seung-hyo waved his hand dismissively and went up the stairs.

Munpyeong, who had been ordered to say nothing and just stand behind him tonight, faithfully followed his command.

The air on the second floor was a bit clearer. Unlike the first floor, where everyone sat haphazardly on the ground, this floor had proper tables and chairs. The floor was clean, and the smell of food wafted through the air.

The attire of the groups gathered around the tables was also better than on the first floor. While the customers downstairs looked like they lived hand-to-mouth, the people on the second floor were wealthy individuals dressed in clean silk clothes.

“Welcome, welcome.”

Perhaps the guard had sent a signal upstairs, because as soon as they reached the second floor, someone acknowledged them. It was a man sitting at the largest table, in the seat of honor, acting like the master of the house. From his position, Munpyeong knew this must be Gongye Xu, the head of the Snake Blood Society, also known as the Northern Dog.

“You said you came on Lord Liu’s recommendation?” the man asked, still seated.

Yun Seung-hyo looked at the man with cool eyes and answered briefly, “That’s right.”

“Then you must be on your way from Jinsha County.”

“I am. But why do you ask?”

The host asked warmly, but the guest’s reply was curt to the extreme. Yet the host’s mood did not sour easily.

“I’ve been so busy with affairs in Kaiyang lately that I haven’t had a chance to visit Lord Liu, so I was just asking after his well-being. No matter how busy life gets, a man has his duties. This foolish younger brother has not seen Brother Liu or Brother Wu in far too long. Brother, did you happen to meet Brother Wu on your trip to Jinsha? Is he well?” the man asked, a rather charming smile on his handsome face.

“If you’re asking whether Lord Liu’s left hand now looks the same as his right, then the answer is no. Lord Liu’s left hand still has six fingers. He’s not ashamed of it, so I imagine he’ll live that way for the rest of his life.”

He replied to the Northern Dog’s question in his characteristic raspy voice. Despite the almost mocking tone, Gongye Xu burst into a hearty laugh. He chuckled good-naturedly and said to Yun Seung-hyo, “Alright, that’s enough. Sit. Sometimes, a drifter comes through using Lord Liu’s name, so I was just testing you. Anyone who has seen Lord Liu’s sixth finger and lived to tell the tale is no stranger to me. Since you’re here, have some fun. I guarantee you the best of accommodations.”

Gongye Xu smiled with a deliberately magnanimous air and invited them to his table. Yun Seung-hyo, once again without hesitation, approached them. Munpyeong, with sharp eyes, studied the men seated around the table.

Tough-looking men with well-trained bodies stood by the table, but to Munpyeong’s eyes, their skills were negligible. The true masters were not the ones standing, but the ones sitting. Among them, the man who had called them over possessed a level of martial skill that was hard to believe for a member of a triad.

`Besides that man, most of them are second-rate. They don’t seem to have properly learned internal energy; it’s mostly external arts. …But that one’s internal energy is suspicious. It’s rare for a triad member to cultivate internal energy. And it’s a rather pure technique at that. Did he learn from a lost manual from a major sect? Or is he an expelled disciple?`

It takes a lower-level fighter to truly recognize the skills of another. And among them, someone like Munpyeong, who had seen all sorts of low-level fighters, had an eye sharper than most masters. He determined that the only real threat at this table was the one man who had cultivated internal energy.

To be more honest, he was a problem for Munpyeong, but he wasn't sure about Yun Seung-hyo. Would the famed master at the pinnacle of his art not even consider him a threat, or would his lack of experience lead him to suffer an unexpected loss? Having traveled with Yun Seung-hyo but never seen him fight, Munpyeong couldn’t accurately gauge his skill.

“Thank you for the invitation. I am Yeom, from Guangdong.”

Yun Seung-hyo gave a cool fist-and-palm salute and took the seat offered to him. They were playing with bone tiles, and since a round had just finished, they were in the middle of shuffling the tiles. Yun Seung-hyo chewed on a piece of licorice and looked around. The other two men at the table gave him a nod of greeting.

“What are you playing?”

“We were short on players, so we were just playing a simple matching game. But now that we have enough people, we can play Pao.”

And so, the game was decided. They drew tiles to determine the dealer, and coincidentally, it was the host of the place, the Snake Blood Society’s head, Gongye Xu.

Gongye Xu dealt five tiles to each person, then drew two more for himself and flipped one over. It was a ‘left’ tile. The game began without the tiles being passed.

“Brother Yeom, what is your line of work?” Gongye Xu asked as he discarded an unneeded tile and drew a new one.

Yun Seung-hyo, who was frowning and staring at his tiles, answered in his raspy tone, “I deal in King Yama’s Debt.”

King Yama’s Debt was the most basic way for triads to make money: loan sharking. Gongye Xu continued to ask questions as he watched the others discard and pick up tiles.

“And?”

“Anything that makes money, really. But the business I’ve had the most fun with for the longest time is the one that costs nothing. It’s always been profitable, but these days, it’s not doing so well.”

“The business that costs nothing is always booming. Why is that?”

“I’ve run out of usable girls. Some bastards came into my territory and cleaned it out. Their reach is so wide that it wasn't just my area in Yangshan, but other towns too. Turns out the same thing happened all over Guangdong province.”

The "business that costs nothing" was, simply put, human trafficking. Since all it took was grabbing a passerby, from a triad’s perspective, there was no easier business.

One of the men listening to Yun Seung-hyo’s words expressed his complete agreement. He was a man with a thin body and long, narrow eyes—a classic rat-faced man. The funny thing was that his surname was even Shu, which sounds like the word for rat.

“It’s not just Guangdong, it’s the same here in Guizhou. The shop I run specializes in young girls, and I’m on the verge of closing down because I can’t find any decent goods.”

The rat-faced man lamented as if it were the most unjust thing in the world. As he complained, the person next to him chided him. This man, so plump his chin was a double, was frowning because he wasn’t getting good tiles, but still managed to grumble, “Hey, is your situation the same as Brother Yeom’s? The reason your shop isn't getting new goods isn't because there are no goods, it's because of the So Manor.”

“The So Manor?” Yun Seung-hyo asked, his expression indifferent as he swapped a tile in his hand.

Hearing his question, the rat-faced man snorted in displeasure. “They exist. A bunch of hypocrites. They set up some kind of charity house in their estate and gather up all the beggars. If that’s all they did, it would be tolerable, but the problem is they also buy up the kids who are about to be sold off due to debt. Whether they sell to us or to that estate, the result is the same, but all those people selling their kids for money flock to that place. So how is my business supposed to thrive?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. How is being sold to your shop the same as going to the So Manor? If they go to your shop, their bodies are ruined at a young age. At the estate, they feed them, clothe them, and even educate them.”

The plump man seemed to be a rival of the rat-faced man. He ran an opium den and seemed to be opposing the other man’s opinion not out of any moral objection to human trafficking, but purely to get under his skin.

Already annoyed, the plump man’s goading made the rat-faced man fly into a rage. He complained to the table about his unjust situation, as if he were a righteous merchant suffering because of a competitor who violated business ethics.

“What’s so different? I told you before, that So Manor or whatever it is, they’re in the kid-selling business too! You know that girl Yeojin I’ve been eyeing for two years? The daughter of the Ha family, the porters from the outer alley. I heard she went into the So Manor, so I checked up on what happened to her, and after only two months, she was gone. And it wasn't just her. Chunhui was gone, Sugyeong was gone too. All the decent-looking ones had disappeared. I don't know where they went, but they were definitely sold off. You have no idea how much I regretted that. They’re only ten now, so if I had them, they would have been a great investment. I could have squeezed a few good years out of them.”

If they were ten now, they would have been only eight two years ago. And he’d been lusting after such a young child for years with the intention of turning her into a prostitute?

Munpyeong lowered his eyes to hide the thick disgust rising within him.

He prided himself on having seen his fair share of filth in his life, but this was the first time he had ever heard something so foul. Even the demons of the Heavenly Mountains, who were treated like monsters with three heads and six arms in the Central Plains, didn’t speak with such shamelessness. Worthless scum of the earth. It felt like the phrase was invented for men like these.

“Let’s stop the useless chatter and flip the tiles. We need to place our bets first. How much are you in for?” Yun Seung-hyo said nonchalantly, chewing on his licorice.

The rat-faced man, who had been lamenting his lost business assets, quickly looked at his tiles. Gongye Xu also looked down at his own tiles with a serious expression. Yun Seung-hyo took out a whole pouch from his robes and threw it on the table. The silk pouch, full of silver ingots, landed with the satisfying clink of money.

“I’ll bet one silver yuanbao.”

“One yuanbao for me too.”

“All I have is silver coins, so I’ll bet fifty liang. Is that alright?”

“Tonight, Sir Guan, you must not say a word. Just stand silently behind me. That alone will be more than enough. Thank you for your help.”

Hearing Yun Seung-hyo’s voice as he placed his bet, Munpyeong recalled the words he had said before they left for this place. Yun Seung-hyo wasn’t sitting with these human dregs because he liked them. He was mingling with this trash and even gambling with them because there was information he needed to get from them.

Munpyeong didn’t want his efforts to be in vain. If they failed tonight, they would have to move to another location tomorrow and do the same thing all over again. But they didn’t have time to waste like that.

An unpleasant smell still clung to the collar of his clothes. The deeply ingrained stench of tobacco smoke, the odor of stale sweat, and the musty smell characteristic of a poorly ventilated building had attached themselves to his new silk clothes and refused to leave. Even for someone not particularly sensitive to smells, it was becoming unbearable.

`It’s late, but if I ask for bathwater, will they bring it?`

Munpyeong frowned at the foul smell clinging to him and wondered. `…They probably won’t, will they?`

“Stop by my room for a moment before you go. You’ll need to take off the disguise before you can sleep.”

Yun Seung-hyo, who had been silent since they left the gambling den, finally spoke. Munpyeong, who had been giving him quiet space assuming he needed time to organize his thoughts, looked at him as they landed on the roof of their inn and smiled faintly.

“Thank goodness. I was worried you might say you were too tired and not help me take it off. My nose has been itching for a while now.”

Munpyeong confessed with an awkward laugh that he had wanted to scratch but couldn’t because of the clay. Yun Seung-hyo let out a short laugh.

After hearing nothing but that raspy, scratched voice for so long, hearing his real voice felt like a stuffy ear had suddenly been cleared. Munpyeong looked at Yun Seung-hyo, inwardly marveling.

`Even his voice is refreshing. Is it because he’s young? Or does a person’s character show even in their voice?`

People are simple creatures. Once you start to see someone in a good light, everything about them seems good. That was how Munpyeong saw Yun Seung-hyo. It was definitely a case of being blinded by gratitude for the man who had saved his life from their very first meeting.

Yun Seung-hyo removed his own disguise first, then started on Munpyeong’s face. Just as applying it had, removing the disguise required time and patience.

First, he applied oil along the edges of the mask and rubbed it in well to loosen the edges of the skin.

The problem started after that. The mask was attached with clay and glue, so to remove it completely, the skin and clay had to come off together. But the clay was also stuck to his own skin, so removing it required meticulous care.

Yun Seung-hyo channeled his internal energy, warming his hands, and gently massaged Munpyeong’s face as if stroking it. The hardened glue began to melt with the heat, loosening the bond with the clay. The dry clay also began to soften with the moisture and heat from the glue. As the whole mask heated up, it felt like having warm mud applied to his face.

Once the clay was sufficiently soft, the final stage began. Yun Seung-hyo moved his hands with delicate precision, lifting the disguise from Munpyeong’s face. As the heavy mask that had been covering his face was removed, he could finally breathe.

“Phwaah.”

Even the air touching his face felt cool and delicious. The air was so sweet that he took a deep breath without realizing it. Yun Seung-hyo, who knew well what his disguise felt like, watched him with a faint smile.

“Feel better now?” he asked, rolling up the mask that had come off in one piece.

Munpyeong nodded, scratching his finally accessible nose. “I really feel alive again now. If it weren’t for today’s experience, I would have gone my whole life not knowing that you can breathe through your skin.”

“Hahaha. Your face looks quite interesting. It’s as if you’ve powdered your entire face.”

“There’s clay under my fingernails. I need to wash my face.”

Even if he couldn’t have a bath, he had to at least wash his face before sleeping. Sweat had mixed with the clay under the mask, smearing his entire face with mud. As Munpyeong stood up, Yun Seung-hyo stopped him. He took the initiative, opening the door and saying, “Stay seated. I’ll go get the water.”

“It’s alright, Seung-hyo. It’s better if I go…”

“I’ll have better luck than you, Sir Guan. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m quite popular with the ladies.”

Yun Seung-hyo said teasingly and left the room. He was out so quickly that Munpyeong was left standing there.

Awkwardly, Munpyeong stood there for a moment before straightening up with a resigned smile. A man of such noble birth was truly unpretentious. Yun Seung-hyo never asked him for anything, no matter how small.

`If Cheonma had been here, he would have been a complete servant. No, even if it had been the Four Demonic Kings, he would have been forced to wait on him hand and foot. But Yun Seung-hyo was different. Even though he was the one providing help, he never lorded it over him, and he was always considerate of others in even the smallest matters. Perhaps this is what a true descendant of a noble family is like,` he thought.

The likes of those who were arrogant, self-centered, and thought nothing of squeezing their subordinates to achieve their goals were decidedly different from Yun Seung-hyo.

Since Yun Seung-hyo had gone to get water himself, Munpyeong couldn’t just sit around. He decided to tidy up the room before he returned.

He neatly arranged the tools used for the disguise and folded the black robes Yun Seung-hyo had thrown off. Looking at it again, the carp embroidered with gold thread was still cringeworthy. `Why is the aesthetic sense of these triad goons so terrible?`

Munpyeong clicked his tongue and placed the clothes on the table. An inn attendant must have come by while they were out, as a new pot of tea sat on the tea table. He thought they had emptied it before they left; they were diligent.

He happened to be thirsty, so Munpyeong poured a cup of tea and drank it down. It wasn't leaf tea but flower tea; a strong fragrance was noticeable. Just one sip, and the dense aroma that rushed in was enough to make his head spin.

The fragrance was so strong that after one cup, he had no desire for more. Wiping his lips, Munpyeong put down the cup and turned around. But he felt a sudden lurch.

Munpyeong blinked, feeling the objects in the room warp. His legs gave out, and his head spun. His skin began to tingle, and he suddenly felt hot, as if he were on fire. Panicked, Munpyeong clutched his throat and gasped for breath.

`Poison.`

Only then did Munpyeong realize what was in the tea he had drunk. The venomous face of Tang Jeok-hyeong flashed before his fading vision.

`You goddamn bastards. Calling yourselves a renowned orthodox sect and resorting to assassination? I knew you wouldn't come at me nicely, but to stoop to such a cowardly act… the name of the Tang Clan must be weeping!`

He tried to circulate his internal energy to push out the poison, but it didn't work. The damned bastards must have used a skill-scattering powder along with the poison.

`I can’t die like this… I can’t.`

After fighting so hard to survive, it was all too pointless, Munpyeong thought as his eyes fluttered shut. His unconscious body slumped to the floor like a sack of grain.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

Pressing her ear to the floor to spy on the next room had paid off. Finally, she heard the thud of a body hitting the ground. Her face lit up with glee, thinking it had worked, and Ja Myorang quickly left her room and crossed over to Yun Seung-hyo’s.

But when she checked the face of the fallen man, it wasn’t the one she wanted.

`Damn it. I failed.`

Ja Myorang felt her heart, which had been swelling with anticipation, deflate with a hiss. She let out a frustrated curse.

To her great vexation, the man who had fallen into her trap was not her intended target, her dear Gege Yun, but the strange man who was always by his side. She vaguely recalled seeing this man—Gege Yun’s companion or guard, she wasn’t sure which—at the tailor’s shop when she had her confrontation with him.

`Why did you drink it when the person who was supposed to drink it didn’t?`

Realizing that things had gone unexpectedly wrong, Ja Myorang stomped her foot in frustration. She never imagined that someone other than her Gege Yun would drink the tea. She hadn't anticipated that anyone else would be in his room at this late hour.

“Ugh, you idiot! Why did you have to cut in at a moment like this? If you go and pass out first, my Gege Yun will get suspicious. Don’t you know how cunning and clever he is? You’ve ruined everything! I was supposed to be lulling him into a false sense of security, and now you’ve just made him more guarded. What am I going to do now? If I can’t bed my Gege Yun because of you, are you going to take responsibility?”

A stream of curses poured from Myorang’s small mouth. Her demeanor at the tailor’s shop had been so pure and pitiful, but now it was clear that was all an act. The sharp, spiteful person she was now seemed much closer to her true nature.

Whoever had given her the childhood name Myorang must have known her true nature well. Right now, Ja Myorang truly looked like an angry cat.

Her tantrum didn’t stop there. She didn’t hesitate to kick the man on the floor with her small, flower-embroidered slipper. The only saving grace was that she didn’t use her internal energy in her kicks. As nasty as she was, it seemed she knew that would be crossing a line.

“Ugh, uungh…”

As Myorang’s kicks landed, the unconscious Munpyeong let out a groan. Not much time had passed since he drank the tea, but his face was flushed a deep red. Sweat dripped from his forehead, smudging his already messy face.

“Aargh, what do I do with this? If I leave him here, Gege Yun will definitely find out. Should I move him to the next room? If I cover him with a blanket and pretend he’s asleep, maybe he won’t notice? I can’t lose a golden opportunity like tonight because of this moron. Even my Gege Yun will be off his guard right now.”

Of course he would be. No one would expect a girl who had left in tears that morning to recover, reignite her passion, and return that very evening.

`I have to try again.` Deciding she couldn't retreat so meekly, Ja Myorang quickly made up her mind. There was no human endeavor without a little trial and error, right?

`I’ll get rid of this man before Gege Yun returns and wait again. He likes tea, so he'll surely have some before bed. Whether it's a cup or a sip, as long as it goes down his throat, everything will go smoothly from there.`

Ja Myorang grabbed the fallen man by the shoulders and lifted him. His body, heated to the point of being scorching, hung limp and heavy. A hot, panting breath escaped from his slack lips. He shifted lightly, his brow furrowed as if his breathing was labored, and a strangely alluring scent emanated from him.

“What do you think you’re doing in someone else’s room?”

Just as she was about to drag Munpyeong’s body through the window, a voice rang out. Startled by the voice she could never forget even in her dreams, Ja Myorang whipped around.

Yun Seung-hyo was standing in the doorway, having returned at some point. For some reason, he was holding a washbasin, a dry towel draped over his shoulder, a disheveled look. But to Ja Myorang, he looked like the grim reaper himself.

“Ah, no, I, I was just…”

Myorang stammered, desperately trying to come up with an excuse. But her mind was blank, and no proper words would come.

As she fumbled, unable to form a coherent sentence, Yun Seung-hyo let out a smirk. He looked with amusement from her, one foot on the windowsill, to Munpyeong, unconscious in her arms.

“Well, well. Aren’t you the young lady who was crying and wailing this afternoon that you couldn’t live without me? What are you doing now? Don’t tell me you’re kidnapping my Sir Guan?”

His lazy, mocking tone cut into her ears. Ja Myorang couldn't meet his gaze and avoided his eyes. She wanted to flee, but her feet wouldn't move. Her muscles must have frozen from the tension.

“But didn’t you say just a little while ago that you couldn't give up on me? So why are you kidnapping Sir Guan instead of me? Did your tastes change so quickly, young lady? You must have taken quite a liking to my Sir Guan.”

Yun Seung-hyo asked with a deceptively gentle expression on his ever-so-kind face. Hearing his question, Ja Myorang looked up, her face pale. Her panicked eyes met his.

“What… are you talking about?”

“You must really like him. This scent… it’s Ten Nights in a Dream, isn’t it? To use the highest-grade aphrodisiac of the Joyful Pavilion on a man you just met today… you must truly be from the Joyful Pavilion, where love, once kindled, burns like a wildfire. If you want to take him that badly, go ahead. Just… I can’t wait ten days, so make it five.”

Yun Seung-hyo walked nonchalantly into the room, set the washbasin on the tea table, and picked up a scattered teacup to smell it. The thick floral scent, one you could never forget, still lingered in the cup. `Just as I thought. Ten Nights in a Dream.`

“Gege Yun… How can you say that to me?”

Her ears were ringing. It felt like she had been slapped. Ja Myorang couldn't believe what she had just heard. That man, the very first man she had ever loved, had insulted her. And he had deliberately picked at the one thing she was most sensitive about.

Though she was cunning, she was still young and in the throes of her first love. Being treated like a wanton woman who changed her affections so easily by the man she adored, Ja Myorang finally snapped and glared at Yun Seung-hyo.

She fought back tears, knowing he was deliberately trying to hurt her and refusing to give him the satisfaction.

“I don’t know what happened in the last two years, but you’ve gone too far. You’ve changed, Gege Yun. You’re not the person I used to know.”

Ja Myorang spat, roughly shoving Munpyeong away. Yun Seung-hyo raised an eyebrow and looked at her.

“So what? What do you want me to do about it?”

He accepted her resentment with a shameless nonchalance.

Are all men like this when their feelings change? Are all men whose hearts have turned away so thoroughly cruel?

His attitude, showing no remorse for having abandoned their love, made Ja Myorang’s heart break all over again.

The man with whom she had once touched foreheads and promised a future was now looking at her like a complete stranger. His sweet voice calling her ‘kitty cat’ was still vivid in her ears, but the tender heart that had spoken those words was nowhere to be found.

“But you’re mistaken about one thing. I am not your plaything. All the men in the world may trifle with a woman’s affections, but in our Joyful Pavilion, things are different. We choose, and we discard. We don’t let anyone dare to play with us. You are no exception. The one between us who has the right to end this relationship… is me, not you.”

Ja Myorang bit her lip, pausing to catch her breath. In truth, she was desperately holding back tears, knowing that if she spoke another word, they would burst forth.

“No matter how hard you try, you won’t be able to discard me. I will make you regret treating me like this.”

Clenching her jaw, she finally finished what she wanted to say and leaped out the window. The tears she had been holding back so fiercely finally fell, landing with a soft patter on the windowsill.

Yun Seung-hyo, who had been standing by the table the whole time, sighed as if bored and gestured with his hand to close the window. Tak. Tak. The open windows shut by an unseen force, and the latch slid into place on its own.

He slowly walked over to Munpyeong, who was sprawled out beneath the window, and looked down at his face. It was a mess, streaked with dirt like a child who had come home after playing in the mud. His forehead was flushed red, and his eyelashes fluttered restlessly as if he were having a nightmare. While he had been bickering with Ja Myorang, the drug had spread throughout his body, and the heat radiating from him was far from ordinary.

`This is a pain.`

Cursing under his breath, Yun Seung-hyo felt for a pulse. First, he needed to see how far it had spread, then use his internal energy to drive it out of the body.

Yun Seung-hyo sent a thin stream of internal energy to probe Munpyeong’s body. His blood circulation was raging like boiling lava, coursing through his body with unstoppable force. The thing between his legs that should have been asleep was also stretching proudly. If Munpyeong were to regain consciousness in this state, he would literally become a beast in heat.

“There are things you can and can’t just pick up and eat. You idiot, why did you eat this?”

Yun Seung-hyo muttered to himself and attempted a microcosmic orbit with his own internal energy. The energy began to flow through the Conception Vessel, passed through the Chengjiang point, and went up to the Baihui point at the crown of his head. He gently dispersed the heat that had gathered dangerously there and then guided the energy down the Governing Vessel.

The drug was indeed potent; his entire body was blazing with heat. If he had been subjected to a The Art of Plucking Yang to Supplement Yin in this state, he would have been drained dry without a fight.

`Hm? What’s this?`

This should be easy enough to treat. Just need to draw out the drug’s energy. Just as Yun Seung-hyo was thinking this leisurely, a flash of light glinted in his eyes. At the same time, Munpyeong’s body convulsed violently, and the heat emanating from him intensified.

A pained groan escaped his unconscious lips. His calm face twisted in agony. As his limbs suddenly began to spasm, Yun Seung-hyo pressed down on him from above, inwardly shocked. He couldn't understand the cause of this sudden change.

`God damn it. There was a Gu worm?! This damn fool, he even managed to pick up a Gu worm?`

Circulating his internal energy faster to scan Munpyeong’s body, he finally found the cause in his dantian. He had been completely unaware until now, but this fool had been hiding a Gu worm in his belly. If he had known beforehand, he would have dealt with it sooner, but now it was a problem. The neglected Gu, influenced by the Ten Nights in a Dream, had transformed into something extremely dangerous.

A Gu was a venomous creature with a strong spiritual presence. Although it was trained to respond only to the will of its master, it was not completely immune to the influence of its host, reacting to emotional shifts. It was therefore inevitable that the Gu, exposed to an explosive burst of yang energy and poison, would be affected.

What had been an ordinary slumbering Gu was now a Yang Gu. And a Yang Gu without its balancing Yin Gu to control it. It was like a rampaging horse with no reins.

The instinct of a creature seeking its mate is incredibly powerful. The Yang Gu was no different. If left alone, it would undoubtedly tear through Munpyeong’s insides, frantically searching for a trace of its mate, dissolving anything that blocked its path and shredding anything that got in its way.

If that happened, not even the gods could save Munpyeong. Who could save a man whose internal organs had been completely dissolved?

`This is insane.`

Yun Seung-hyo let out a sigh as he barely managed to catch the Gu, which had just started moving toward the internal organs. As his internal energy pressed down on it, the crazed Gu thrashed about. Yun Seung-hyo increased his energy, completely enveloping the Gu and beginning to crush it.

The cunning Gu spat out venom in a threatening display. Yun Seung-hyo blocked even that with his energy and slowly squeezed the Gu.

The Gu began to thrash wildly. It writhed and struggled, trying to escape the energy cocoon surrounding it. Left with no choice, Yun Seung-hyo had to increase the amount of energy he was channeling.

He poured in as much energy as he could, up to the limit of what Munpyeong’s meridians could handle. As the immense power surged in, Munpyeong’s meridians stretched painfully. It was an unavoidable consequence, as this was not energy generated naturally within his own body.

Munpyeong’s meridians swelled taut, to the point where they could burst at any moment. He was still holding on, but Yun Seung-hyo didn’t know for how much longer.

The amount of energy flowing into Munpyeong’s body was steadily increasing. The color drained from his flushed face. He couldn’t even make a sound of pain, only trembling his lips faintly. Weak, gasping breaths echoed pitifully in the room.

Yun Seung-hyo desperately wracked his brain for a way to get the Gu out of Munpyeong’s body. But no matter how he thought about it, there was no way.

It would be difficult even with a normal Gu, but this one was completely berserk. To prevent it from tearing Munpyeong’s organs apart, the only way was to dissolve it from within. He had to hold it tightly with his internal energy and squeeze it until it was crushed.

But even then, a problem remained. After killing the Gu, its remains would be left inside Munpyeong’s body.

This was a Gu that had turned into a Yang Gu after being exposed to an aphrodisiac. It contained a concentration of energy that was incomparable to the Ten Nights in a Dream. If that spread through his belly, Munpyeong would become a beast steeped in aphrodisiac down to his very marrow. And because Munpyeong’s meridians couldn't handle it, not even Yun Seung-hyo could push that energy out of his body.

It meant that whether he died this way or that way, he was going to die. The only difference was whether he died from his guts being torn apart or from being consumed by lust.

`…No. There is one other way. The problem is, I have absolutely no desire to use it.`

Yun Seung-hyo frowned, pressing down on the squirming Gu. There was only one path left to save Munpyeong. At least, as far as he knew. But Yun Seung-hyo was truly reluctant. It was an act so unpleasant that the mere thought of it was repulsive. He would rather let Munpyeong die than do it. That was his honest feeling.

Even a four or five-year-old child knows not to eat just anything they find. But this fool had gobbled it down without a second thought, worse than a child. Ignorance was no excuse. To be out in the Jianghu and not anticipate the enemy’s schemes was a mistake in itself.

He wasn’t a man ignorant of the ways of the world, yet he had acted foolishly and ended up in this state. He had brought this upon himself. He had no one to blame but himself.

He looked down at Munpyeong’s face, which was now releasing shallow, gasping breaths. Beneath his closed eyelids, his pupils were moving faintly. Though unconscious, he seemed to sense the danger to his body, his eyes darting about as he trembled slightly.

`Idiot. Fool. Imbecile.`

Yun Seung-hyo let out a long sigh, wishing he had a free hand to smack him.

Munpyeong thought he was lying beneath a river of molten lava.

His entire body was a furnace. His hands, his feet, his organs. The skin covering his whole body. Even the breath coming from his nose felt like it was on fire.

He tried to escape, but his limbs wouldn’t obey. He couldn't move a single thing, as if he were bound to the earth by chains.

“Stay still.”

As he struggled to move his body, a voice reached him. His ears were ringing from the fever, so he couldn't tell whose voice it was.

`Who is that? Who’s speaking?`

Munpyeong was curious about the owner of the voice, but his hazy mind made it impossible to think about it. All he knew was that it was the voice of someone he knew.

Something cold touched his hot skin. Something moist and cool. It gently brushed past his face, his arms, and his legs. For the brief moment it passed, the heat seemed to recede. But the cool sensation was only momentary, and after it passed, the hellish heat descended upon him again.

Munpyeong frowned in agony and shook his head. It felt as if every pain receptor in his skin had been activated at once. The pain was so intense that he wished he could just die.

But at some point, that terrible pain began to subside. To be precise, it happened whenever something touched his body. Unlike the moist touch from before, this sensation was more sustained and steadily eased the pain.

“Ah…”

An involuntary sigh escaped his lips. His chest felt cool. Someone was touching him there, their hand making the nub of his chest harden. A chill spread as if ice had been placed on his skin, and the hypersensitive feeling faded, replaced by a sense of relief bordering on peace.

The lips that touched his neck had the same effect. As they bit and licked his throat, the pain in his skin vanished. It was as cool as if cold water had been poured over him. Only the parts that person touched and licked didn’t hurt at all. It was a strange phenomenon.

Munpyeong wanted that person to touch every part of him. To bite his stomach as they had bitten his neck, to squeeze his buttocks as they had rubbed his chest. In his right mind, he would never have had such thoughts, but without reason, he was more honest with his instincts. He reveled in every touch, trembling with pleasure no matter which part of his body the other person touched.

The hand that had been playing freely with his body moved to his perineum. If Munpyeong could have moved, he would have spread his legs wider to welcome that hand.

He felt something cold and hard parting the crease between his buttocks. He didn’t know what it was, but it felt so good it brought tears to his eyes. He liked the rough, almost violent way it entered, the way it stretched his opening until it felt like it would tear. To be honest, Munpyeong welcomed anything that hand did.

“There’s no time. I’m going in like this, so bear with the pain.”

The man’s voice fell from above his head. But Munpyeong couldn’t properly understand the meaning of his words. He didn’t even remember that he had heard that voice just a moment ago.

Who is that? Who’s speaking?

Munpyeong repeated the same thought, genuinely puzzled. The voice was somehow familiar…

“Ah. Aaaah!!”

Munpyeong could no longer think unnecessary thoughts. Something was suddenly entering his anus. It stretched wide as a massive object pushed its way deep into his belly. It was thick, cold, and cool. And for that reason, it felt so good it was almost deadly.

That pleasurable thing began to pound at his insides. From the very beginning, it pushed in with a battering force, and Munpyeong trembled with a joy that was close to a seizure.

`Yes. This is it. This is exactly it!`

Munpyeong realized with certainty what he had been longing for with his entire being. He had wanted this. This huge, thick thing. This cool, yet sweet thing. The deeper it went into his belly, the happier he was.

`More. More. More!!`

Munpyeong arched his neck and cried out in ecstasy. His insides were cooling down. The pain in his rear was gone, and his back no longer felt like it was on fire.

“Aahng!!”

A refreshing sensation spread through his body. Was this what nectar tasted like when you were dying of thirst? Was this what it felt like to have a bucket of cold water poured on a parched field? With every movement the other person made, the pain disappeared, and a sense of ease took its place.

This wasn't just the effect of intercourse; the other person was performing a technique on his pressure points with one hand while using a cultivation method to absorb his yang energy with the other, causing the heat to be expelled from his body. But Munpyeong, unaware of this, believed it was all due to the act itself and praised it.

Munpyeong’s body craved everything the man gave him. He especially worshipped the thing that occupied his rear. If he could have moved his body, he would have rocked his hips to help the massive object penetrate deeper inside him. He would have wrapped his arms around the other’s shoulders and his legs around their back, trapping them so they couldn’t leave.

The thought that the other person might leave him was terrifying. He was afraid that this comfort and happiness would disappear, and the agony of his burning body would begin again.

But his worries were unfounded. As time passed, the pain gradually faded until, at some point, it vanished completely. In its place was a pleasure so intense it was almost lethal. A primal, sensual pleasure completely different from the cool, enjoyable sensation from before. Munpyeong’s body was completely dominated by this new feeling.

When his arms actually started to move, Munpyeong grabbed the other’s face and showered it with kisses. When his legs moved, he wrapped them around the other’s waist and pressed his body close.

He tried to keep the other person from leaving his body every time they entered. He clenched his glutes tightly to envelop them, and in that state, he arched his back, hoping to prevent their body from pulling out of his.

But his attempts failed time and again. Fortunately, they always came back, but it wasn’t enough to satisfy him. The more he failed, the more frustrated he became. So he squeezed harder, moved his hips more forcefully, trying to trap them inside his body.

Every time he pulled them in, a deep groan sounded from above him. A low curse, and something like a grumble, could also be heard. But Munpyeong didn’t stop clenching. He liked the feeling of it inside him. If he could, he would live like this forever.