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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 107
Chapter Title: 107
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Seolhwa looked at Seop Mugwang, who had appeared from somewhere and sent Hwangryongdaeju flying with a single strike.
Seop Mugwang, who had been huffing, finally turned to Seolhwa, meeting her piercing gaze.
Seop Mugwang's eyes swept over Seolhwa from head to toe.
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
"I'm fine. More importantly..."
Seolhwa glanced towards where Yu Gang lay. Following her gaze, Seop Mugwang saw the collapsed child and subtly furrowed his brow.
"He needs treatment."
"Good thing I dragged Choryeon along, just in case."
Hearing that Choryeon had come with him, Seolhwa felt a sense of ease. It was relief.
"...Did Grandfather go to Father?"
"Yes."
At that brief answer, Seolhwa's heart quickly calmed. She unconsciously let out a soft sigh.
Seop Mugwang ruffled Seolhwa's hair.
"Just wait a little. I'll take care of that rotten scoundrel first."
He turned his steps back towards Hwangryongdaeju.
Hwangryongdaeju, barely steadying his reeling mind, pushed himself up.
'What was that...?'
He hadn't even sensed a presence.
He had realized he was attacked only at the moment of impact.
His current self, having consumed the Explosive Blood Pill, was on par with the peak of the Jeoljeong realm.
The fact that he hadn't even sensed a presence meant that the person who ambushed him was an overwhelmingly powerful master.
"I knew you were a rotten seed, but I didn't realize you were such an utter bastard."
Hwangryongdaeju, who had been holding his throbbing head and getting up, flinched and froze at the familiar voice.
Slowly raising his head, he saw the person standing before him, and his face turned ashen.
"Bi... Bipunggeom...?"
"What did you babble to that child?"
What? About her 'living by staining herself with dirty blood'? About 'why she came back'?
"Even if I cut out your tongue and threw it to the pigs, they wouldn't eat it."
"No, no, it's a misunderstanding, Bipunggeom."
"Misunderstanding...?"
Misunderstanding?!
Seop Mugwang's ominous aura exploded even more ferociously. The emanating power made his clothes flap wildly.
Seop Mugwang raised his sword.
At that moment, it felt as though a bolt of lightning had struck down from the dark night sky.
*CRACK!*
Like thunder belatedly shaking heaven and earth, Seop Mugwang's sword descended towards Hwangryongdaeju.
However, what struck the ground with a deafening roar was only bare earth.
"Oh? Look at this...?"
Seop Mugwang's eyes glinted as he looked back at Hwangryongdaeju, who had dodged his sword.
"What did you do? That's not a move a wretch like you should be capable of."
"W-wait a moment, Bipunggeom! I'll explain everything! So just a moment...!"
"It's not worth hearing."
Seop Mugwang's figure vanished in an instant. Then, bolts of lightning struck one after another.
*CRASH! BOOM! CRASH!*
It was truly immense internal energy, shaking heaven and earth.
It was a level of power vastly superior to Hwangryongdaeju's unstable aura, which he had forcibly raised.
"Agh!"
Hwangryongdaeju couldn't even think of retaliating and frantically dodged the attacks.
"J-just a moment...!"
But Seop Mugwang gave him no chance to speak.
His attacks raged wildly, like lightning striking indiscriminately.
Thanks to the Explosive Blood Pill, he was barely managing to dodge, but the gap in power was insurmountable.
'Damn it...! Damn it!!'
Hwangryongdaeju was flustered.
At this rate, he wouldn't even be able to counterattack, let alone escape. His heart ached, and he felt the effects of the Explosive Blood Pill beginning to wane.
'When the Explosive Blood Pill's effects wear off...'
It was clear he would be captured without even a moment to react.
'If that happens...'
He would be interrogated. About his connection to Hwaoru and why he betrayed the Namgung.
And...
'...Damn it.'
"You rat-like bastard! Is 'scrambling like a rat' all a Namgung Grand Leader like you can do with that much energy?!"
Hwangryongdaeju, who had once again barely dodged Seop Mugwang's attack, let out a grinding sound from his mouth.
*SWISH—*
The moment Seop Mugwang's sword was about to surge towards the stopped Hwangryongdaeju, Seolhwa rushed forward to block the sword aimed at him.
"!"
Seeing Seolhwa suddenly intervene, Seop Mugwang shifted his sword path and cut down a tree behind Hwangryongdaeju.
Watching the thick tree split in two and fall, Seop Mugwang sheathed his sword.
He knew the confrontation was over.
"..."
Seolhwa grabbed Hwangryongdaeju by the collar.
Hwangryongdaeju's body slumped limply in her grasp.
'...No.'
He was already dead. Blood poured from his eyes, nose, and mouth, his eyes still wide open.
By the time she realized Hwangryongdaeju was trying to consume poison, it was already too late.
She had rushed in blindly to try and save him, but there was no time to stop it.
"..."
Her gripped hand tightened. Her heart pounded, *thump, thump*, and her breathing grew ragged.
'By my own hands...'
I should have killed him with my own hands.
After torturing him until he vomited blood, severing his limbs, and making him spill all the information he knew.
He should have been brought to a slow death.
Painfully, until he begged for death...!
"Hold yourself."
"..."
"I distinctly told you not to be swayed by anger."
At Seop Mugwang's voice, the strength drained from Seolhwa's hand clutching the collar.
Seolhwa's eyes flickered briefly.
'...Anger?'
Am I angry?
It was just that when she heard Hwangryongdaeju casually speaking of her father's and Yu Gang's deaths, her chest throbbed and her blood felt like it was flowing backward.
In her previous life, she had killed countless people, but she had never once *wished* to kill someone.
But this time, she wanted to kill him. By any means, no matter what.
'Anger...'
So that's what it is.
This foul feeling, it's anger.
Seop Mugwang placed a hand on Seolhwa's shoulder. Seolhwa's killing intent slowly subsided.
With a cold expression, Seolhwa casually tossed the already dead Hwangryongdaeju aside.
"Kid."
"He committed suicide."
"Yes."
He had known Hwangryongdaeju's breath had stopped.
He had heard Hwangryongdaeju's last breath as he twisted his sword away.
"How vicious."
A poison that instantly kills the moment one bites into the pellet.
It was practically a poison designed to minimize suffering and deliver only death.
A poison that brings death the moment one decides, preventing anyone from saving them in a short span of time.
'I thought he would at least put up a final struggle.'
He committed suicide even before the confrontation was fully over.
They couldn't find out why he betrayed the Namgung, or with whom he was connected, nothing.
He died before they could even interrogate him.
*Tsk.*
"That fellow, the internal energy he displayed before he died was strange. Do you know why?"
"It's because he took a pill that invigorates the blood and qi."
"A pill that invigorates the blood and qi?"
"It's a pill that temporarily makes one stronger. However, as a side effect, when the effects wear off, the body becomes limp. It was made by Hwaoru."
"Hmph. What exactly *is* that Hwaoru place?"
"It's a place that does anything related to blood."
Seop Mugwang frowned.
Long ago, he had sent Bipunggeomdae members to investigate Hwaoru, but the weekly reports always said the same thing.
[No information found. Appears to be an ordinary tavern.]
By now, it seemed the members wanted to return, and he had been wondering if he should issue a recall order.
'What *is* the truth?'
But considering the abnormal aura from a moment ago and the current situation, the kid's words didn't seem false.
'I'll have to tell them to dig deeper.'
Regrettably, he decided to withdraw the recall order.
Just then, a massive surge of energy was felt from afar.
Seop Mugwang and Seolhwa simultaneously looked in that direction.
"Let's find the two kids and go back. That boy also needs treatment soon, so we should hurry."
"Yes."
Seop Mugwang carried Yu Gang on his back, and the two headed in the direction Hwarin and Soyak had fled.
All the while, the immense energy reverberated through the forest repeatedly.
* * *
*Thump, thump.*
When Seolhwa and Seop Mugwang joined Cheongun's group, Cheongun's group was far from where the previous battle had taken place.
Seeing that all the trees and grass in the area had been swept away, leaving a vast, desolate space, it seemed a fierce battle had also occurred here.
Under the moonlight, the Hwangryongdae members were busily moving to clean up the traces of the intense engagement.
Wounded Hwangryongdae members, the bodies of the dead, and the belatedly arrived Bipunggeomdae and Heukryongdae members—the surroundings were chaotic.
Seolhwa set Soyak and Hwarin down and looked around.
'Where...'
"Seolhwa...!"
"!"
Turning instantly, she saw Namgung Cheongun, leaning against a broken tree trunk, receiving treatment from Choryeon.
"..."
*Thump.*
Seolhwa immediately ran to him and checked his condition.
Choryeon, seeing Seolhwa, greeted her warmly with an "Oh, my," but Seolhwa's mind was entirely focused on Cheongun.
His arm, splinted with a broken tree branch, seemed fractured, and his entire body was covered in wounds.
More serious than that were his internal injuries.
His aura, which had been unstable from the start, was now so chaotic that he needed to enter qi circulation immediately.
A gentle hand cupped Seolhwa's cheek.
"Dad's fine."
"...What about your leg?"
"It's perfectly fine. My strength just gave out, so I'm resting for a bit. I'm relieved to see you're safe too."
"..."
Her lips trembled faintly.
He clearly said he was fine, but she couldn't understand why her chest ached.
"Hehe, it's nice to see such a close father-daughter bond. Don't worry too much, young lady. I'm here, aren't I?"
"Yes. I told you I'm fine."
Cheongun smiled faintly.
His smile was still clear and unblemished, making her throat tighten.
"If you're not in a hurry, why don't you look at this kid first?"
Just then, Seop Mugwang approached from behind. He carefully set Yu Gang down.
"Oh, my, what happened to this child...?"
Choryeon quickly examined Yu Gang's condition.
Cheongun, too, looked on with surprise and concern.
"What happened?"
"Hwangryongdaeju betrayed us."
"What?"
"Huh?"
Everyone nearby who heard those words, including Cheongun and Choryeon, turned to Seop Mugwang in shock.
