Tang Clan’s Sword Phoenix (2)

Tang Yeo-eun lay sick in her bed for three days.

She couldn’t do anything.

It felt not like she had lost Myeong Sahyeon, but as if she had lost a part of herself.

Only the times she had spent with him, the many things he had done for her, drifted in confusion through her head.

She could not believe that all those memories remained exactly as they were while he himself no longer existed in this world.

It felt as though a hole had been punched somewhere in her soul so she could hardly even breathe.

An emergency was declared in the Thirteenth Unit.

They had to find not only the Spider Ghost that had assaulted Vice-Captain Mae Yeogyeong of the Fourth Platoon, but also those who had performed Soul-Seizing on Myeong Sahyeon.

Based on testimony from a Third Platoon member that Do Huiyeong of the Fifth Platoon had called Myeong Sahyeon out to the western forest early that morning, Commander Pung Yang, Captain Han Gyoseong of the First Platoon, Captain Sa Gunil of the Second Platoon, and Captain Seol Pung of the Seventh Platoon stormed the western forest as fast as they could.

But once they realized the operation had failed, the Twin-Sickle Fiends fled with everything they had; they only managed to confirm the culprits’ identities and failed to execute them.

Only the still Soul-Seized Do Huiyeong remained at the scene.

The Thirteenth Unit decided not to kill her for the time being and locked her in a cell.

Her martial ability was weak enough to pose no threat, and without orders from the spellcaster she took no actions at all.

The atmosphere in the Thirteenth Unit could not help but turn grim.

Even for frontline warriors well accustomed to sending comrades to their deaths, this was the first time they had lost the vice-captains of two platoons at once.

What made it worse, the captains who should have steadied the center—Tang Yeo-eun and Ma Yugyeom—were in no state to collect themselves, and so the mood only grew darker.

A few days passed like that.

The Spider Ghost that had ambushed Mae Yeogyeong left no trace in the end, just as in Seonu Jin’s previous life, and the Sword Saint of Heavenly Righteousness, Hae Unbaek, announced amid the heavy mood that he would return to the Martial Alliance.

“I never imagined this place would be so hellish. It pains me that we failed to pay heed to it sooner. I apologize on behalf of the Alliance elders. I’m sorry.”

With a sincere expression, he bowed his head to the members of the Seventh Platoon.

Having experienced his straightforward and guileless character over the past few days, the Seventh Platoon could feel that his words were heartfelt.

Nothing about the situation had actually changed, but it was still somewhat comforting.

Hae Cheong-yeon reiterated to her departing father:

“Father, you must not let on that you know anything. Now more than ever, you have to stay calm, gather information, and find evidence first. In fights like this, the side that’s hasty loses. All right?”

Hae Cheong-yeon was wary that her father, Hae Unbaek, would not be able to restrain his chivalrous spirit and would jump in rashly.

No matter how strong his martial arts were, as someone ignorant of politics, he could not possibly overcome Zhuge Jigang within the Martial Alliance.

With a sigh at his daughter’s anxious injunction, Hae Unbaek still nodded as if he had no choice.

He knew full well that his daughter was far wiser than he was, and that he himself was a novice in this kind of struggle, and yet pretending to be ignorant of all these facts was unbearably hard for him.

All the more so because if he stayed silent, the frontline warriors would continue to die unjustly.

Honestly, he didn’t know how long he could endure.

Hae Cheong-yeon, knowing her father that well, emphasized it to him again and again.

But judging by his reaction, she felt frustrated; he might accept it with his head, but not with his heart.

Hae Unbaek was a man who had always moved according to his heart, not his head.

At that moment, Seonu Jin, who had been watching from the side, spoke.

“How about we create a situation where you can’t help but act? One that even they would accept as unavoidable.”

At those words, Hae Cheong-yeon looked at Seonu Jin with a puzzled face.

“A situation even they could accept?”

“Yes. For example, I’m the only one whom Lady Hae has told her secret. I could send a letter to the Sword Saint. A letter saying you’ve been abducted by the Demonic Sect.”

The instant she heard that, a different picture flashed through Hae Cheong-yeon’s mind.

With her eyes flashing beneath her long bangs, she said:

“Then Father shouldn’t pretend not to know—he should make an even bigger fuss. So that everyone in the Martial Alliance knows.”

“Exactly. And he should say he’ll personally investigate and then return to the front.”

“He also mustn’t come alone. The more people he brings, the more widely it’ll be known—and the safer it will be.”

“He’ll need a bit of acting skill.”

“That is an issue. But if we pull it off, we might make the front entirely Father’s sphere. Then I won’t have to leave this place either.”

After volleying words without a pause, the two soon looked at each other and smiled faintly.

Though he did not fully grasp what they meant, the Sword Saint Hae Unbaek watched the two’s coordination with a satisfied smile.

Then he asked:

“Now, could you translate that into language a normal person can understand?”

Hae Cheong-yeon smiled and told him:

“It means you’ll need to act, Father—act like a man who has lost his beloved daughter.”

After hearing the details, Hae Unbaek left the Thirteenth Unit with a satisfied smile, quite unlike before.

As expected, his daughter—who combined wisdom, beauty, and martial talent—was second to none.

And discovering a man who suited such a daughter so well pleased him greatly.

Though everyone believed Ma Yugyeom to be spending every day soaked in drink, in truth he was never drunk.

No—he couldn’t let himself be.

He was too anxious that something bearing his trace might be found on Mae Yeogyeong’s corpse.

So, while always pretending to be drunk, he had been watching the course of the investigation and the overall mood.

But after about a week, even he could finally relax a little.

The search for the Spider Ghost ended with nothing found.

It was an immense relief.

Wearing an inwardly satisfied smile, Ma Yugyeom took out a poison pellet and put it in his mouth.

The true qi he had absorbed from Mae Yeogyeong felt like it was about to flare out of control.

True qi absorbed from a person was far more violent than the qi absorbed from elixirs.

So unlike the Seventh Platoon members who took poison pellets only on rare occasions, he had to take them every day.

“At last… seventy years. It took a long time.”

Gauging the heavy fullness of his internal energy, Ma Yugyeom smiled again in satisfaction.

His internal energy now filled a solid seventy years.

The groundwork to advance to the next stage was laid.

He knew Sa Gunil’s internal energy was roughly between seventy and eighty years; if he could attain enlightenment, surpassing the man would not be a dream.

Ma Yugyeom’s smile turned vicious.

“Unlike him, I can now raise my internal energy easily.”

Of course, it wasn’t as if he meant to absorb essence from just anyone.

What he had done to Mae Yeogyeong had been an unconscious mistake, born of terror.

Truth be told, he remembered nothing up to the midpoint of what he had done.

So Ma Yugyeom had no intention of harming his frontline comrades—so long as they did not threaten his secret.

“Right—never my comrades. But what if they aren’t comrades? If I can make good use of those inhuman Blood Cult fiends, why hesitate? I’d be eliminating cult demons and gaining internal energy—wouldn’t that be killing two birds with one stone?”

As those thoughts spread, the light of ambition burned in Ma Yugyeom’s eyes.

“By doing that, I’ll surpass Sa Gunil and be acknowledged as Diancang’s Number One Sword. Then all those fools who have spurned me will kneel.”

He did not realize how far he had drifted from his former self—the self that had felt aversion merely at the idea of using demonic cult methods.

Thanks to the Absorption Art he had used, thinking of it as a mere technique rather than a martial way, he had been tainted by the madness inherent in the Blood Cult’s arts.

Once Ma Yugyeom’s mind felt somewhat at ease, the only person who entered his sight was Tang Yeo-eun—who had grown half a person thinner over the past few days.

After three days bedridden, she was back up, carrying out her duties as captain.

She herself tried hard to show nothing, but everyone around her felt sorry for her.

It was all too easy to see that she was making a desperate, flailing effort to pretend she was fine.

Watching the woman he had long loved from afar, Ma Yugyeom thought: in such a shattered state, he might be able to use the Suggestion Arts on her.

The very thought made him feel crazed with excitement.

He would make her his.

“Euh-heuh-heuh-heuh-heuh-heuh!”

Letting out a greedy laugh before he knew it, Ma Yugyeom steadied his breathing and rearranged his face into a grave expression.

Then he began to watch for an opening:

A moment when she would be alone.

Catching that chance wasn’t very hard.

She wanted to be alone if at all possible, and everyone accommodated her.

At last approaching Tang Yeo-eun, Ma Yugyeom casually called her name.

“Tang Yeo-eun.”

Tang Yeo-eun looked at him with a cold gaze without even answering.

It was the attitude of someone who didn’t particularly want a conversation—say what you came to say and be quick about it.

Yet within that coldness, Ma Yugyeom sensed a fragility, as if she might shatter at a touch.

He could not let this chance slip.

Looking at her with a desolate gaze, he said,

“Will you have a drink with me?”

Tang Yeo-eun looked at him as if it were absurd. It seemed she thought such nonsense didn’t merit a reply.

But with a faint, powerless smile, Ma Yugyeom threw out the next line— the very words that would strike deepest at her heart right now.

“There’s a place where I used to drink with Yeogyeong. It’s a good place to remember the departed.”

In that instant, Ma Yugyeom caught the way Tang Yeo-eun’s eyes shook violently.

He almost had her.

But he deliberately walked past her and left a final remark.

“If you don’t want to, forget it. I’ll go alone. I think I need to get drunk today, thinking of Yeogyeong.”

And after he had taken a few more steps, a voice came from behind him.

“Does… getting drunk help?”

The voice sounded utterly exhausted.

With greedy eyes, Ma Yugyeom smiled in triumph.

But when he turned back to Tang Yeo-eun, he answered again with a desolate gaze.

“Well… it’s better than being sober.”

At last, Tang Yeo-eun spoke in a drained voice.

“Fine. Let’s drink—that drink.”

Without realizing it, she had taken off the mask of her cold face, and she had no mind left to note the look in Ma Yugyeom’s eyes.

She was simply too spent.

Ma Yugyeom gathered drink and snacks and led her into the forest.

It was a hollowed-out recess at the corner of a small rocky hill.

“What is this place?”

Looking around, Tang Yeo-eun asked, and Ma Yugyeom replied,

“A place I often came to with Yeogyeong. And… the place where she was last found.”

Then, as he poured her a drink, he said,

“Don’t do anything like blowing off the alcohol with your internal energy. It’d be a waste of good liquor.”

Finishing his words, Ma Yugyeom filled his own cup and downed it in gulps first.

“Haah!”

Seeing that, Tang Yeo-eun also emptied her cup in one go.

“Kh-mm!”

She wasn’t used to alcohol; the bitter taste filled her mouth, but she forced herself to endure it.

She didn’t want to show weakness now that she had come this far.

And so the two continued to toss back cup after cup in single gulps.

The intoxication rose quickly.

When Tang Yeo-eun’s head was quite dizzy, Ma Yugyeom suddenly asked her,

“Why are you grieving so much, anyway? Wasn’t Myeong Sahyeon the one who chased after you one-sidedly?”

At the sudden question, Tang Yeo-eun froze.

For a moment, a hazy mist veiled her vision.

“I….”

She regretted it.

That she had never told him a single word of her heart.

That she had sent him off without letting him know, up to his final moment, that she loved him too.

The regret ached in her chest.

“I… loved Sahyeon….”

Just then—

As she lowered her head toward her knees and was about to break into sobs, Ma Yugyeom struck her pressure point like lightning.

Tak!

The sudden turn left Tang Yeo-eun unable to regain her senses.

By the time she grasped what was happening, Ma Yugyeom had already thrown her roughly to the ground.

Her vision was filled with Ma Yugyeom’s face, grinning with greed.

“What are you—?!”

Kwak!

“Agk!”

Ma Yugyeom gripped her throat.

Because he was still unskilled with the Suggestion Arts, to place a suggestion on her he had to drive her to the limit both mentally and physically.

He squeezed her throat until her breath stopped and her mind blurred; only then did he release his grip so she could barely draw air again.

“Haa—!”

But she still could not move an inch.

Powerless in the face of her inability to do anything, with a mind already exhausted, and seeing Ma Yugyeom’s greedy face before her, she broke down and began to cry.

“U-h-heuk!”

Ma Yugyeom, about to squeeze her throat again, hesitated.

She had shown tears far more easily than he expected.

With her level of skill, he had thought it would take far longer to push her to the limit….

As a test, following the formulas of the Suggestion Arts, he cast his gaze and spoke to her:

“Repeat after me. ‘I am Tang Yeo-eun.’”

A master of Soul-Seizing like Du Dang, the Black Blood Phantom, could place suggestions with a glance alone, but as someone attempting his first suggestion, Ma Yugyeom had to proceed slowly from the basics.

And the basics began with making the target obey without resistance and repeat his words.

At once, as though caught by his gaze, Tang Yeo-eun sobbed and said,

“I… I am Tang Yeo-eun.”

Ma Yugyeom’s eyes grew strange.

It was far easier than he’d thought.

Even if she had been shattered mentally, for it to be this easy was not normal.

A hollow laugh slipped out of him.

The woman he had worshiped as an ice-forged goddess was, in truth, far too weak.

It was laughable that he had been wringing his heart all this time, unable to approach such a woman.

But now none of that mattered.

He would make her his and settle all the turmoil his heart had suffered.

With a rancid smile, he spoke to her again:

“Repeat after me: ‘Tang Yeo-eun belongs to Ma Yugyeom.’”

Still crying, Tang Yeo-eun opened her mouth to echo him.

“Tang Yeo-eun belongs to Ma Yu-—”

Just then, someone suddenly shouted loudly:

“What are you doing?!”

Startled, Ma Yugyeom looked up and saw throwing darts flying in.

Fyushu-shuk!

He hurled himself aside in a rush and dodged the darts.

Then he looked toward the one who had thrown them.

It was Seonu Jin.