I Shouldn't Have Joined the Martial Arts Alliance - Chapter 16

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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It was a reckless decision to join the Murim Alliance — Episode 16
Jang Hye-in, who sat inside the carriage, knew nothing of this.
“……What? Why is the carriage leaving? Where’s the youngest?”
Joo-un, seated on the cold floor, spoke up.
“The youngest took the spacious carriage at the front. I ended up sitting down here like this.”
Jang Hye-in’s eyes widened like saucers.
“……What? He took the front carriage? Why?”
“Dok-hwa said something like that. ‘That one’s cramped. This one’s roomier.’ And then the youngest just bolted off.”
He hadn’t bolted, exactly — he’d simply walked.
Only, he’d reacted instantly without a moment’s hesitation.
“…….”
For a moment, Jang Hye-in found himself speechless.
The clan members riding in the carriage with him were equally dumbfounded.
“……We’re finished.”
“……He won’t die, will he?”
“……Well, no one’s dead yet, at least.”
“Though there might be some who’d be better off dead, probably.”
“You’ve got a charming way with words, hyung.”
“It’s the truth, you bastard.”
“What do we do, leader?”
Jang Hye-in seized his own hair and pulled. The clan members who saw him screwed up their faces in alarm.
‘There’s no stopping the carriage now…….’
Jang Hye-in shouted at Joo-un.
“You should have gone!”
Joo-un, bewildered at the absurdity, widened his eyes.
“Me?”
“Yes, you bastard.”
“You’re telling me to go die?!”
Crack!
Jang Hye-in struck Joo-un across the back of his head.
“Watch your eyes, you fool. Can’t you look straight?”
“……But sir, that’s what you’re saying. The youngest can’t die, but I’m expendable…….”
“No one’s dead yet, I said.”
“But if I end up crippled…….”
“She won’t even spare a glance for someone like you.”
“Exactly. If I’d been the one to get in, she probably would have……poisoned me before I even sat down.”
It wasn’t an unreasonable assessment. In fact, Joo-un might have hit upon the exact truth.
And Leader Jang Hye-in couldn’t fail to see it.
“I said it out of frustration. Out of sheer frustration. Leave it at that.”
“……Yes, sir.”
The light mood that had soared so high at the mention of receiving a reward had vanished entirely, and the carriage had become as somber as a house of mourning.
O Hyung-jun, worry etched into his features, spoke his mind.
“What worries me more is…….”
Jang Hye-in’s head snapped toward him sharply.
“What is it?”
“That youngest — he’s not the type to go down easily. We all saw it. When you went to retrieve him, and the way he carried himself in front of Dok-hwa today.”
Jang Hye-in’s jaw clenched involuntarily.
“Damn it.”
Even the thought of it was unbearable.
Meanwhile, Jung-geol offered a different perspective.
“Actually, I see it differently.”
“Go on then.”
“From what I saw, Dok-hwa seemed to show genuine interest in the youngest. So I don’t think she’d go that far with him.”
Hye-chan voiced his agreement with Jung-geol’s words.
“That’s right. The youngest’s face isn’t ordinary, is it? And when you think about it, Dok-hwa’s no different. She exclaimed the moment she saw him.”
Jang Hye-in shook his head at Jung-geol and Hye-chan’s remarks.
“There’s some sense to that, but that’s only if the youngest behaves himself.”
“Ah…….”
“Yeah, you’re right about that.”
“And as I’ve told you before, never forget — the reason why I need to rise in the world, and why all of you must rise with me.”
It’s not just about surviving in Kangho for a long time—it’s about refusing to grovel beneath the gaze of those above.
Complacency in one’s present position meant ruin could come in a heartbeat.
“Those arrogant high-born fools think they’re heaven itself, and they believe everyone below them should stay there. But what about the youngest?”
Sighs rippled through the carriage.
“The youngest is absurdly strong, there’s no question. But that’s only compared to others his age. Within all of Kangho—or even just within the Murim Alliance we belong to—he’s barely middle-tier, if that.”
Of course, by sheer numbers he’d surpass the middle ranks, but in terms of Martial Power alone, he wouldn’t.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
“Still, even that’s remarkable. Truly exceptional. If we measure his value that way, he could rank among the greatest in Kangho. But here’s the thing—Dok-hwa doesn’t know that, does she?”
“Ah.”
“Tsk.”
“Hm.”
“And that’s the problem too—knowing or not knowing both cause trouble.”
“Why?”
“Think about it. The youngest is just another martial artist in the Murim Alliance like us. If such a person is too strong? How will those high-born fools treat him? If he were of their blood, they’d trumpet it from every corner, but he has no clan, no temple backing him.”
“The Dang Family took him as a son-in-law, didn’t they?”
“He’s still the son of an obscure house.”
“True enough.”
“Of course, I could be wrong. Not all the high-born are alike, and even if they were, they don’t all think the same way.”
“It’s complicated. So complicated.”
“If it were simple, it wouldn’t be Kangho. There’d be no intrigue, no excitement.”
“I just hope our youngest comes through this alive.”
“Surely she won’t… go that far?”
“No poison, no merchant can survive. You didn’t know that?”
“Well, I suppose, but…”
“Truth is, I’m worried too.”
“Why? I thought no poison, no merchant survives?”
“…You never know what might happen.”
During the Friendly Match on the welcoming day, Sa-u-rin had let the opponent win despite being able to defeat her. His true martial strength remained unknown.
“If something like that were to happen…”
Everyone’s heads shook wildly, as if seized by madness.
Madness.
Such a thing could never happen, and must never happen.
* * *
What Dang I-ryeong had scattered toward Sa-u-rin was poison. Not a deadly toxin that would kill outright.
The Mabi Shae Dok San.
The Mabi Shae Dok San was a poison that paralyzed the entire body while slowly clouding reason and spirit, ultimately draining the vital points until death—but what Dang I-ryeong had scattered now was the powdered form.
Rather than maximizing the poison’s effects through the mouth, it entered through the respiratory system, producing only the diminished effects of the Mabi Shae Dok San. It was a poison designed to render the target unconscious temporarily.
In other words, she harbored no intent to kill Sa-u-rin.
There would only be the symptom of slight mental cloudiness, followed by gradual sleep.
But the one afflicted wouldn’t know this. Gripped by the terror that poison was killing him, he would thrash about like a madman.
For a living person, there was nothing quite as lethal as such fear.
Dang I-ryeong wanted to witness Sa-u-rin on his knees, head bowed, begging for his life.
Sa-u-rin had seen it.
Something scattering from Dang I-ryeong’s hand.
Had it been a hidden blade, he would have evaded—but it wasn’t a blade. It was powder.
‘…Poison?’
Apparently so. She was of the Dang Family, after all. But he felt no alarm.
Because of the Honyeon Technique.
Honyeon was the source of all things in creation. Poison too was among the myriad things. Therefore, poison could not harm Sa-u-rin.
Simply put, to Sa-u-rin, poison was no different from ordinary food.
And knowing that Dang I-ryeong would have no reason to kill him without cause, he had no grounds for fear.
She wasn’t mad enough to kill without reason. The thought of such a madwoman roaming Kangho was beyond imagining anyway.
Dang I-ryeong’s lips still curled upward in a smile.
“Do you know what this is?”
“Poison, I’d assume.”
For someone of the Dang Family, it was either a hidden blade or poison.
Dang I-ryeong’s smile faltered.
He knew it was poison, yet remained utterly composed.
‘…What kind of man is he….’
“…Aren’t you frightened? Aren’t you afraid?”
“Not at all.”
It made no sense. Any person ought to fear poison, to be terrified of it.
Poison existed to kill people, after all.
“……Why?”
“You have no reason to kill me. Which means you won’t die from the poison you’ve scattered now.”
And yet, something felt wrong. Deeply wrong.
By now, the Mabi Shae Dok San should have begun showing symptoms gradually…….
So why was he completely unaffected?
‘Could he possibly……?’
Immunity to all poisons?
Or was it immunity to every poison that existed?
‘……No, that’s insane. I’m losing my mind.’
It was absolutely impossible.
He’d said he was eighteen, hadn’t he? Even if he were twenty-eight, such a thing would be unthinkable.
Even granting he possessed such Martial Power, it defied reason. A man with strength like that would have no earthly reason to serve as a mere warrior in the Murim Alliance.
There was simply, without question, no possible way this could be true. Not unless the heavens themselves split in two.
The world would have to turn upside down.
The more Dang I-ryeong entertained this thought, the more her own mind began to cloud over.
‘……Then what on earth is he?’
“But what kind of poison is this?”
“……Mabi Shae Dok San.”
“That doesn’t tell me anything. I’m asking what symptoms it causes.”
‘No……, how can a man who doesn’t even know what Mabi Shae Dok San is be like this……?’
She’d never encountered anything like it.
It shouldn’t be possible.
“I’m asking you right now.”
Dang I-ryeong, confronted by a situation that defied all comprehension, was rapidly losing her grip on reality.
“……Huh? What?”
“Mabi Shae Dok San. What symptoms does it cause?”
“Ah. Slight paralysis accompanied by mental fog, then sleep comes.”
Yes. That’s what should happen…….
“Does it cause any permanent harm to the body?”
“……You might feel somewhat dizzy when you wake, but nothing lasting.”
“Then what happens if you inhale it?”
“……Me? Are you serious right now?”
“I’m just curious.”
‘Is he genuinely foolish?’
Yet he didn’t appear to be.
“I’m from the Dang Family. Direct bloodline at that. So what would happen? Do you lack imagination, or do you simply have none? Well?”
“I said I was asking because I didn’t know.”
In all her years, she’d never met anyone quite so strange.
“This level of poison — I have an immunity to it. It has no effect on me whatsoever.”
“……Is that so?”
“Of course.”
“Do all Dang Family members have that?”
“You really lack basic knowledge about Kangho, don’t you? Or do you have none at all? Isn’t that right?”
There was no other way such elementary matters could escape someone’s understanding.
“……Well, I suppose you could say that.”
She’d spent her entire growth years doing nothing but training. Or rather, locked away as she’d been.
In any case, that’s how it had been.
“But even lacking common knowledge, there’s quite a bit I can do.”
“I didn’t ask.”
She’d felt no need to ask. He seemed to have nothing worth displaying except his face.
And yet…….
The fact that the Dang Family’s poison wouldn’t touch him suggested there might be something more to him after all.
“You’ll find yourself asking.”
“……?”
‘What is this confidence?’
Was he truly so lacking that poison couldn’t even work on him?
The thought was absurd, and yet wasn’t he himself making such thoughts inevitable?
At that moment, Sa-u-rin exhaled a long breath.
“Hah.”
“……What in the world are you doing?”
It looked as though he were offering his lips for a kiss.
For an instant, that’s exactly what it seemed.
But Sa-u-rin was expelling the poison he had drawn in, nothing more.
Then he manipulated the expelled energy with his hands.
He was moving the Honyeon.
The Honyeon could not be seen by anyone’s eyes, nor detected by anyone’s senses.
The Honyeon was something distinct from inner power—the breath of nature itself, you might say.
This was the truly formidable and terrifying nature of Honyeon Technique.
Which was why the other martial artists found it so difficult to perceive Sa-u-rin’s momentum or aura.
To Dang I-ryeong, Sa-u-rin’s actions appeared utterly mad. After all, her eyes perceived nothing at all.
“……Have you lost your mind?”
Everyone breathes to live. Even one as beautiful as Dang I-ryeong could not survive on dew alone.
Through Dang I-ryeong’s breathing—she who bore tolerance to common poisons—the Mabi Shae Dok San, mingled with Sa-u-rin’s Honyeon, flowed inward.
“You’ll understand soon enough.”
“What……, ah, ah……this, this is…….”
The symptoms of Mabi Shae Dok San were manifesting in Dang I-ryeong.
‘……This can’t, can’t be happening…….’
Dang I-ryeong’s head tilted to the side, and she collapsed onto the soft mattress.
“It’s definitely improved.”
He had attempted it on a whim, half-expecting failure.
Sa-u-rin, his ability to manipulate the Honyeon now vastly enhanced, stood before the sleeping Dang I-ryeong with a pleased smile.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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