Chapter 16 : Poison Phoenix

Chapter 16: Poison Phoenix

Sewoon had been thinking without pause ever since he returned to the past.

He thought about the reason why he came back to the past.

He could have buried the question and lived happily in the reality before his eyes.

But Sewoon couldn’t do that.

Even the very fact that he returned to the past and began preparing for revenge—he couldn’t help but suspect someone was using him like a piece on a chessboard to cause an even greater bloodshed.

There was a persistent sense of unease rooted in a corner of his heart that wouldn’t go away.

That was why Sewoon kept thinking about it again and again.

‘Blood Demon...!’

The last moment when that man took his life.

The reason Sewoon suspected the Blood Demon as the cause of his regression was simple.

The Blood Demon, who held martial power surpassing the best in the world, even greater than anyone past or present, possessed skills that didn’t end there.

‘The King of Sorcery, who rules over all anomalies in the world inside and out.’

His sorcery could mock and toy with even the laws of the world.

While being enslaved, Sewoon had witnessed several of the impossible feats the Blood Demon accomplished.

When he seized the Eighteen Strongholds of the Yangtze, he broke the laws of nature and bent the river's flow to his will, taking countless lives.

Thousands of sorcerers joined forces to stop him by casting powerful spells, but the Blood Demon easily dispelled them with a single finger.

That was why Sewoon felt a splitting headache just from recalling him. It was likely due to the sorcerous influence imprinted in the Blood Demon's very 'existence'.

Even so, Sewoon gritted his teeth and endured the pain as he retraced his memories.

The Blood Demon’s final words.

‘...See, ...you.’

A hundred times, a thousand times, ten thousand times.

As he clung to those fleeting moments flashing by like a revolving lantern,

Suddenly,

The Blood Demon’s voice, which had seemed forcibly erased by someone,

Slowly but clearly rang in his ears.

– See you again.

Yes, he definitely said that.

As he plunged the Invisible Dagger, imbued to the brim with Reverse Heaven Qi, into his own forehead.

But at the same time, another question surfaced in Sewoon’s mind.

...Why on earth?

If he returned to the past with future memories intact, it would only place himself in danger.

Was this the whimsical game of an absolute being who coveted the realm of gods?

No. It couldn’t be.

‘That bastard wouldn’t have done this on a whim.’

Many strategists who tried to stop the Blood Demon described him as impulsive.

But in hindsight, all his unpredictable actions were part of a perfectly interwoven plan, like a spiderweb.

‘...What on earth are your intentions?’

Just as Sewoon’s mind became entangled with these thoughts,

“Didn’t you hear me say move?”

“Ah, Miss. You mustn’t do this.”

Suddenly, an icy cold voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

A familiar voice came from outside his room.

‘Sister?’

His sister, Tang Serin, had come to visit.

He assumed she wouldn’t come, in accordance with their father’s strict order to let no one in.

Why was she suddenly arguing with the gate guard outside?

“...The Clan Head strictly ordered us not to let anyone in.”

“That order was to prevent unknown assassins. Did he mean to cast out even blood-related family?”

“T-That is...”

“If you understand, move aside.”

A beautiful flower is bound to have thorns.

Tang Serin, known in the martial world as the Poison Phoenix, was infamous for her ruthless personality and cruel hands against evildoers.

While their father Tang Muyeol was called a traitor to the clan for not resembling the Tang Clan, she was deemed the True Tang for upholding their traditional values.

She was especially known for her stubbornness in never backing down once she made up her mind.

“Sigh, then please come out as soon as possible.”

In the end, even the gate guard had to surrender to her.

The medicinal decoction Tang Serin had brewed was still steaming.

However, upon entering the room, Tang Serin stood silently, staring at Sewoon’s face for a long while.

Sewoon, troubled, met her gaze.

Her emotionless and unreadable face revealed nothing.

‘I-Is she mad?’

Looking back, it was natural that Tang Serin would be angry.

After the Alliance Leader departed, she had visited Sewoon to sternly warn him.

She had begged him to stop causing trouble and stay in his room quietly, given the chaos they were already struggling to contain.

Sewoon could only nod quietly.

Though he was the Young Lord, she was the one handling the family’s complicated duties and affairs.

Yet on the very day she made that request, he snuck out and was ambushed by an assassin.

Even if she took up a switch like she did in childhood, he’d have no excuse.

‘Tsk. Getting hit on the calves again... I was nearly forty before regression...’

Scratching the back of his head in awkwardness,

At last, Tang Serin, after examining Sewoon’s body, opened her mouth.

“You look surprisingly fine for someone who caused such a commotion.”

“...I’m sorry, Sister.”

Feeling the chill in her voice, Sewoon apologized immediately.

His sister, more than ten years his senior, always scolded and disciplined him harshly.

At this time in his life, Sewoon feared and found her difficult.

‘Well, not anymore though.’

But that was only true when he was young and immature, unable to see deeper.

Now, after regression, he fully understood her true intentions and demeanor.

Suddenly, Tang Serin silently picked up the bowl of decoction and handed it to him.

“Drink this.”

“...What is it?”

“A medicinal decoction made by boiling the root of a Hundred-Year Snow Ginseng for two days.”

“Drink it and circulate your qi. It will help recover damaged qi and blood and nourish your body.”

Hundred-Year Snow Ginseng?

Though she spoke as if it were nothing,

As soon as he heard ‘Hundred-Year Snow Ginseng’, Sewoon’s expression stiffened.

“Sister, this was the item you received for placing in the top ranks at the last Dragon and Phoenix Assembly. You’re giving it to me?”

True to her nickname, Poison Phoenix, she had been part of the previous generation’s Nine Dragons and Four Phoenixes.

At that year’s Dragon and Phoenix Assembly, she placed among the top three and received the Hundred-Year Snow Ginseng as a reward.

Though not on par with the miraculous Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng, the Hundred-Year variant still possessed exceptional efficacy.

If ingested under the guidance of a Supreme Peak Master or higher, one could easily gain ten years' worth of internal energy.

However, since the Tang Clan didn’t have a Supreme Peak Master, it had been stored in the clan's vault while waiting for a suitable expert to be invited.

Tang Serin had willingly given it up for Sewoon instead of taking it herself.

‘Before regression, I took the Snow Ginseng, broke through the wall of Full Maturity in the Peak realm, and was so overjoyed.’

Due to the already declining state of the clan, there was hardly any support from the family.

Under such poor conditions, she struggled alone to reach the threshold of the Peak realm, only to hit an inevitable, prolonged stagnation.

And the item that helped her break through that long stagnation before the regression was precisely this Snow Ginseng.

He knew very well, even though she didn’t show it, that she had high hopes for it—yet she brewed it into a decoction for him.

Had he known beforehand, he would have stopped her, saying she mustn’t do it.

At that moment, seeing Sewoon’s dark expression, Tang Serin spoke with her usual expressionless face.

“It’s fine. It probably wouldn’t have helped me much anyway, so I’ve just left it in storage until now.”

“That won’t do. Sister, you should take it. I can’t accept this.”

“Hah, are you trying to disregard my sincerity now?”

At Sewoon’s refusal, Tang Serin spoke in an angry tone.

But from Sewoon’s current perspective, it seemed awkward.

At the time, his sister had just barely passed thirty.

Always playing the strong heroine outside for the sake of the clan, it had become awkward for her to show her true feelings even to her younger brother.

He hadn’t realized it back then, but he had always just received from her.

Just as a pang of guilt struck his heart—

– …Sewoon… ah, run…

Suddenly, her final moment flashed before his eyes.

Her horrid state as she worried for his safety even while her body was pierced through by the swords of Blood Cult warriors.

Sewoon’s complexion turned deathly pale.

His strength left him, and his body swayed.

Startled, Tang Serin rushed over with lightning speed to support him.

“Why, what’s wrong all of a sudden?”

“I’m fine. Just a bit dizzy.”

“Drink the decoction quickly! If you refuse again, I’ll truly punish you severely!”

Her cold demeanor momentarily broken, she shouted in genuine anger.

Sewoon tried to refuse again, but when he saw the sincerity in her eyes, he swallowed his words.

As expected of siblings.

The unwavering determination in her eyes showed she wouldn’t back down.

‘Whew, fine. Once I take the medicine and reach a realm far beyond Full Maturity, I’ll just return the favor then.’

If he couldn’t break his sister’s stubbornness, then the least he could do was accept her sincerity properly.

Resolving himself, Sewoon looked at Tang Serin.

“…Then, will you guard me during my circulation?”

“Of course.”

Tang Serin’s face brightened at once.

Afraid he might change his mind, she quickly handed him the decoction.

Sewoon gulped it down in one go without leaving a single drop.

Normally, elixirs aren’t turned into decoctions.

In most cases, they are consumed raw.

Turning them into decoctions might increase effectiveness, but also often raises the toxicity.

However...

‘Even in decline, the Sichuan Tang Clan is the ancestor of poisons.’

It was a clan secret unknown to the martial world, but only the Sichuan Tang Clan possessed the secret technique to suppress the poison in such elixirs.

Tang Serin had stayed up two nights to tame that toxicity.

Fwoosh!

Suddenly, Sewoon’s body began to heat up as if engulfed in flames.

The enhanced energy of the Snow Ginseng rapidly spread through his meridians.

Before the energy reached his dantian—

Swish!

Sewoon began the Golden Bridle Movement Technique, moving his limbs like a ritual dance.

At the same time, Tang Serin stood guard so that no one could disturb him.

Looking at Sewoon concentrating, a deep sadness filled her gaze.

‘We need to find a way to heal his dantian quickly…’

If Sewoon could circulate qi normally without the Heavenly Punishment curse, she could have helped him absorb even more energy through True Qi Guidance, if not the top-tier Qi Transfer Technique.

‘It will be hard, but please hang in there a little longer.’

Her wish was modest.

That her brother could gain at least a year’s worth of internal energy.

No, even if he didn’t, she hoped his damaged body would at least recover.

But—

Ssssaaa!

‘…What?!’

The scene that followed stunned her so much, her mouth gaped and her eyes blinked in disbelief.

Without her guidance, Sewoon had naturally entered the realm of Complete Unity.

His body exuded an extraordinary energy.

The energy spreading like falling cherry blossoms through his entire meridian system was vast, even to the naked eye.

It was unbelievable, but—

‘…At least fifteen years’ worth?’

It seemed he was absorbing over tenfold of the energy contained in the decoction.

Clang! Clang!

Even though they were in an ordinary room,

Tang Serin could hear a clear hammering sound echoing from Sewoon’s body.

She forgot about guarding and just watched in a daze for quite some time.

“Hoo.”

With a final, sharp hammer sound, Sewoon finished circulating his energy.

Snapping out of her trance, Tang Serin realized two full hours had passed in the blink of an eye.

As she looked at her brother, who had completed his internal work, she was momentarily startled.

For a brief moment, the sight of her brother gathering his energy felt unfamiliar.

“…Are you done?”

“Yes. Thanks to you, Sister, it helped a lot. My body feels much lighter.”

“Really?”

But only briefly.

Her surprise at Sewoon’s unfamiliar look quickly turned into joy.

Though she had lost her chance to step into Full Maturity of the Peak realm, she was genuinely happy for Sewoon’s recovery.

‘Hmm. That’s…’

Just then, Sewoon glanced at her belt and spoke.

“Sister, you’re still using the iron fan as your main weapon, right?”

“Hm? That’s right.”

“Then come to the smithy on the day my restriction is lifted. I’ll…”

Knock knock.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door.

“Young Master, the Clan Head is looking for you.”

So it comes.

A glint of understanding flashed in Sewoon’s eyes.