**Chapter 19: The Carelessness of the Possessor**
“Insolent!”
Cheong-heo-ja leaped backward, his sword flashing through the air.
It wasn’t quite enough to be called a sword curtain, but the momentary brilliance of his blade successfully deflected the hidden weapons.
*Clang, clang, crash!*
“Do you truly wish to die—ugh!”
“Shut up!”
*Clang! Cling, clang, clatter!*
Before anyone could intervene, Dang Hwa-rin lunged forward.
An elder of the Mount Qingcheng Sect versus the daughter of the Tang Clan head.
In a fair fight, Cheong-heo-ja would undoubtedly emerge victorious, but perhaps due to the surprise of the ambush, he was currently struggling just to parry Dang Hwa-rin’s relentless strikes.
“You wretched vixen!”
“Who are you calling wretched, you filthy Taoist!”
“W-what did you say!”
The two traded insults as if they were mortal enemies, their swords clashing violently.
Neither I nor the Mount Qingcheng disciples could find an opening to intervene.
Still, if this dragged on, Dang Hwa-rin would be in danger.
I hadn’t recovered the Blood Jade yet, and I couldn’t afford to lose her, so I took a step forward.
“Hmm?”
Something felt off.
My physical state was different from usual. I checked my condition for a moment and immediately realized the cause.
*‘So, it was a muscle-weakening poison.’*
The strange energy that had drifted down on the wind earlier—it was a muscle-weakening poison that Dang Hwa-rin had secretly dispersed.
Since I didn’t rely on internal energy for combat, it didn’t affect me much. However, for a typical martial artist who depended on it, this poison was devastatingly effective.
Wasn’t Cheong-heo-ja himself stumbling about right now?
“You wench! How dare you use poison!”
“Ha! A poison user uses poison! What do you want me to do, throw dung instead?”
“I’ve never seen such a foul-mouthed girl!”
At first, the poison hadn’t taken deep root in Cheong-heo-ja. But Dang Hwa-rin had seized the opportunity of the ambush to close the distance and saturate him with the toxin.
“If you’re an elder, act like one! Stop bullying innocent people and talk to me!”
“Do you think I’d be brought down by such pathetic poison?”
*Clang! Cling! Clang!*
One thing was certain: an elder of the Nine Great Sects was still an elder. Even with his internal energy scattering, he quickly regained his composure and shifted from defense to offense.
Dang Hwa-rin, who had been pressing the attack, began to pale and was slowly pushed back.
Then, in an instant.
*Clang!*
With a sharp ring, Dang Hwa-rin was sent flying backward.
*Thud, crash!*
“Ugh!”
Dang Hwa-rin tumbled across the ground.
Under normal circumstances, he would have rushed in to seize her throat, but Cheong-heo-ja was clearly struggling, gasping for air as he held his ground.
“Hoo… hoo… what are you doing! Capture that girl at once!”
“Yes!”
Dang Hwa-rin staggered to her feet. I moved to stand in front of her.
“Young Master Jang…”
“I told you to stay still. Why did you step in?”
“How could I just stand by and watch?”
The Taoist who had regained consciousness joined the others, and the Four Qingcheng Archers approached again. However, unlike before, their shoulders were stiff, and their eyes were filled with tension as they looked at me.
Just then.
“Argh!”
One of the young Taoists clutched his chest and collapsed.
“Junior brother!”
“What’s wrong, junior brother!”
The other disciples rushed to support him.
“P-poison…”
Fever spots began to bloom on the fallen disciple’s face, and blue splotches rose on his neck. Judging by appearances, it was a quite dangerous toxin.
“You vicious wench! Hand over the antidote immediately!”
“Ha! There is no antidote. If you want to save him, run to a pharmacy!”
“You crazy bitch!”
“You bastards! You were the ones trying to kidnap me! Did you expect me to just take it?”
The Four Qingcheng Archers and Dang Hwa-rin were so emotionally charged that they were practically spitting at each other.
Eventually, I stepped forward again. The Four Qingcheng Archers flinched and retreated, supporting their poisoned companion.
“Jang U-gil! Do you see now? This is the true nature of your woman!”
“Elder, shouldn’t you prioritize saving that man first?”
“Indeed! We must capture that girl and extract the antidote!”
“As Lady Dang said, there is no antidote right now. You should return to Chengdu and head to a pharmacy.”
“What did you say!”
Cheong-heo-ja’s beard trembled violently.
“You scoundrel! Do you, a disciple of Wudang, intend to betray your sect by siding with a girl from the Tang Clan?”
“Siding with her? I am merely questioning what is righteous. Lady Dang, what poison did you use?”
I turned to look at Dang Hwa-rin. The girl, who had been radiating killing intent, instantly softened her expression and replied gently.
“Heavenly Flower Acid. If they take the antidote within half an hour, they will recover without any aftereffects.”
I looked back at Cheong-heo-ja.
“That is what she says.”
“You… you wretched pair of wretches…!”
Cheong-heo-ja looked back and forth between me, Dang Hwa-rin, and his fallen disciple. Right on cue, blood trickled from the mouth of the poisoned disciple.
Cheong-heo-ja’s pupils wavered.
“Jang U-gil. I will certainly hold Wudang accountable for today’s events!”
“I am not sure if you are in a position to be so confident.”
“You brat! To the very end…!”
Just as Cheong-heo-ja raised his sword again.
“Master! Junior brother has lost consciousness!”
“There’s no time! Master!”
The Four Qingcheng Archers tugged at Cheong-heo-ja’s robes. Cheong-heo-ja’s beard shook as he glared at me and Dang Hwa-rin with eyes burning with rage.
“You two. We shall see. I will never forget what happened today!”
“…….”
Having already made up my mind to leave, Dang Hwa-rin and I received his gaze with calm indifference.
“Let’s go!”
Cheong-heo-ja shouted, turning his body with a jerk. The Four Qingcheng Archers and the Song family party followed in a hurry. The Song fellow kept looking back at us with an anxious expression.
Once they had all vanished, the cliff returned to its former silence. As if mocking the ugliness of the world below, the mysterious Milky Way shone with nobility in the sky, and the insects that had been holding their breath began to chirp once more.
“Whew… if you hadn’t been there, Young Master, I would have been in big trouble.”
Perhaps the tension had finally dissipated, as Dang Hwa-rin let out a sigh of relief. I smiled at her.
“Didn’t you use a bit too much poison? What will you do if it causes trouble later?”
“Hahaha! It’s just a poison that makes you recover after a good day’s rest. They saw me as a wicked woman because they only see what they want to see, so they’re just overreacting.”
“Is that so? Mount Qingcheng really got a taste of their own medicine from you today, Lady Dang.”
“What do you mean? They got it from you, Young Master Jang. Hahaha!”
Perhaps it was because we had weathered a crisis together, but Dang Hwa-rin showed a newfound sense of intimacy toward me.
“Today was truly the worst.”
“And yet, I enjoyed it because I was with you, Lady Dang.”
“Oh my! I feel the same way, but…”
I smiled and met her eyes. Dang Hwa-rin’s eyes widened, and she turned her head toward the cliff.
“But we lost the Thousand-Faced Fox.”
“Hm? What do you mean, lost the Thousand-Faced Fox?”
“Because Mount Qingcheng interfered, she must have already fled far away.”
“Hahaha! Don’t worry. I have certainly caught the Thousand-Faced Fox.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
Dang Hwa-rin’s eyes grew even wider as she looked at me. Her two pitch-black pupils sparkled like a lake holding the moon. I smiled softly as I looked into them.
“The Thousand-Faced Fox is right in front of me.”
“…What?”
“Well, perhaps I could be wrong. But one thing is certain: you have the item I am looking for. The item stolen by the Thousand-Faced Fox.”
“…….”
Dang Hwa-rin’s face stiffened. But only for a moment. The corners of her mouth curled upward.
“How did you know?”
“It was a coincidence.”
“You coincidentally found out I was the Thousand-Faced Fox?”
“To be precise, it was because of this.”
I held up the ring on my left hand. A ring that glowed red alone in the darkness.
“This is a ring made of Blood Jade. It is the same material as the jewelry you stole, Lady Dang. They say that when Blood Jades are near each other, they glow like this.”
“I… didn’t know that.”
“Indeed. Isn’t it fascinating?”
For a while, we stared at the red light without a word. The red glow, floating in the darkness like a firefly, felt like a blood-light that unnecessarily unsettled the heart when watched for too long.
Dang Hwa-rin took her eyes off the light and looked at me.
“So, what are you going to do now?”
I also raised my head to meet her gaze. There was no sign of anger at being deceived, nor any surprise at her identity being exposed. She remained confident and self-assured, and her eyes held a faint trace of amusement as she looked at me.
“Whether you are the Thousand-Faced Fox or not is not important to me. My mission is simply to recover the Blood Jade.”
“I am the Thousand-Faced Fox. You are the first person to figure that out, Young Master Jang. Your skills are impressive. Even the branch leaders of the Murim Alliance gave up after chasing me.”
“As I said, I was just lucky.”
“Hahaha! Luck is a skill in itself. Anyway, you want me to return the Blood Jade, right?”
She wouldn’t hand it over willingly. Still, I nodded confidently.
“That is correct.”
“And if I refuse?”
“Then I shall have to use another method.”
Dang Hwa-rin’s eyes twinkled mischievously. I was currently under the effects of the muscle-weakening poison. She didn’t perceive the current situation as a crisis at all.
“How? I know you are an excellent swordsman, enough to suppress the Four Qingcheng Archers. That is something even I could not do. But can you suppress me without internal energy?”
“Lady Dang.”
“Yes?”
“Do you happen to like wagers?”
“A wager…?”
Dang Hwa-rin tilted her head at the sudden topic. I grinned and continued.
“Life is a gamble anyway, isn’t it? As you said, I cannot use my internal energy right now. By the book, I wouldn’t be able to recover the Blood Jade from you.”
“So?”
“Let’s make a wager. If I win, I get the Blood Jade, and if you win, well… name your price. Regardless of the outcome, I will not breathe a word about you being the Thousand-Faced Fox.”
Dang Hwa-rin chuckled.
“That sounds fun. Let’s hear what kind of wager it is.”
“It’s simple. We won’t use poison or weapons. Whoever pins the other to the ground wins.”
“Hahaha! You want to wrestle? Aren’t you underestimating me too much, considering I’m from the Tang Clan?”
“Underestimate? I respect the Tang Clan. It’s just that I am confident in wrestling. That is something I can do even without internal energy.”
Dang Hwa-rin pondered for a moment before nodding immediately.
"Very well. But I can't think of what I want right now. If you agree to grant me one favor later, I’ll accept the wager."
"When you win, Miss Dang?"
"Yes. When I win."
I shook my head, my expression hardening slightly.
"I cannot comply with anything unjust."
"Ho-ho! Now you sound like a stuffy Wudang disciple. Don't worry. I have no intention of asking for anything of the sort. If you don't like the request, you may refuse it. I'll just make a different one."
"Hmm. If that is the case, very well."
"Great."
The wager was set.
People who think highly of themselves are easily hooked if you give them even the slightest advantage.
Dang Hwa-rin was no different.
As a precious daughter of the Sichuan Tang Clan and a woman talented enough to earn the moniker of Thousand-Faced Fox, she never once considered that she might lose simply because I had been struck by the Dispersing Internal Energy Poison. On the contrary, it was plain to see that she was already thinking about what to demand once she won the bet.
"Now then. How shall we begin?"
"Come closer."
"Very well."
In any case, I am accustomed to fighting without internal energy.
Even at my peak, I only had about half a year’s worth.
Even if I couldn't use my internal energy due to the poison, my combat effectiveness wouldn't decrease significantly.
The only variable was the possibility of Dang Hwa-rin using her movement technique to flee, but I had successfully bound her feet with a well-placed provocation.
"Is this close enough?"
"Perfect."
We smiled at each other from a distance where we could touch if we reached out our arms.
Neither of us doubted our own victory for a second.
I picked up a stone from the ground and showed it to her.
"When this hits the ground, we begin. Any method is acceptable. You win if you pin your opponent to the ground."
"Understood. Throw it."
"Then, I wish you luck."
*Whiz.*
I tossed the stone lightly.
Dang Hwa-rin’s pupils followed the stone as it rose into the air.
And the moment it struck the ground with a soft thud, she kicked off the floor and thrust her palm forward.
"Hah!"
It was a moderate strike, not one delivered with full force.
It seemed she was trying to go easy on me, but I had no such intentions.
I twisted my body slightly to deflect the attack and immediately struck her acupoints.
*Tap-tap-tap!*
"Ah!"
Frozen like a statue with her arm still extended, Dang Hwa-rin could only blink her large eyes in shock.
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