Surviving as the Sacheon Dang Clan’s Servant - Chapter 104

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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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Chapter 104
Yeon Liang chuckled at the tremor in my voice and ruffled my hair.
“That’s enough. Yonseok. What’s a little runt going to do, killing someone?”
“But……”
“I said that’s enough. Don’t worry. Your brother’s here, isn’t he?”
He grabbed my cheek and pulled it out as if to say I shouldn’t speak nonsense, his face returning to its usual mischievous grin.
“Will it really be okay?”
“You covered your tracks well, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. I did just like you taught me. I kept checking for pursuit the whole time, and I deliberately climbed a different peak, circled around, and came back down.”
“Then it’ll be fine. You did well.”
He nodded, folded his arms, and raised the corners of his mouth.
“Well, it’s not bad to put faith in human integrity once in a while. With Sohye looking like such a bumpkin, no one would have suspected anything.”
Then he cast a glance at the hermitage perched at the mountain’s peak.
“Still, I should set up the Qimen Formation. Better to hide the hermitage so no one can find it.”
“The Qimen Formation? Brother, you know how to handle formation techniques?”
“Just a clumsy imitation. Someone skilled in formations would see through it immediately, but it’s better than nothing.”
Yeon Liang pried a rock from the ground.
“Hey, hey, let me do it! Brother! Your wound will reopen!”
“This much is fine. Sit down. It’ll take about an hour.”
He sat me on a stump and began bustling around the narrow path leading to the hermitage, adjusting the terrain.
At first I didn’t know what he was doing, but as I watched, the outlines of a familiar formation began to take shape.
Once, Dang Un had shown me a trick for escaping when trapped in a formation technique.
‘I can’t teach you the Jeol Gal Family’s formation, but……if you don’t understand it, you can just break everything. Start by smashing the obvious landmarks—a large boulder, a tree stump, a stone pagoda.’
It resembled one of the formation techniques Dang Un had shown me, offering that advice in his gentle voice to simply destroy it all.
I narrowed my eyes and asked.
“Brother. Isn’t this the Jeol Gal Family’s formation technique?”
“Probably. I heard the higher-ups acquired a formation manual from someone connected to the Jeol Gal Family.”
“What? There’s a Demonic Cult spy even in the Jeol Gal Family?”
“Shh. My head’s coming off if certain people hear this.”
Yeon Liang winked as if sharing a secret.
If Dang Un heard this, he’d cough up blood.
The Demonic Cult’s ability to steal the Jeol Gal Family’s secrets suggested their infiltration ran deeper than anyone realized.
They’d burrowed into one of the Five Great Families through the Hao Gate? Was it really all right to just pretend not to know?
My own affairs were dire enough without worrying about others, but the creeping unease was hard to ignore.
I watched Yeon Liang’s back as he set up the Qimen Formation, unable to smile or frown.
* * *
Fortunately, Yeon Liang’s fears never came to pass.
For more than seven days, no one came searching for the hermitage, and no one sought the sword.
The old man had kept his promise and guarded the secret.
Once assured, we dismantled the formation and restored the path to its original state.
Yeon Liang seemed happier than he had been in some time—likely on account of his new sword.
“Brother. Cleaning the sword again?”
“Dust got on it.”
“Dust gets on things whether you do anything or not.”
“True. But there’s dust on the blade now.”
“……Right. I won’t bother you. Go ahead and finish.”
Despite his orders to put it back where it came from, Yeon Liang doted on his new sword.
The shock I felt the first time I saw that man—who used to scrape debris off blades with clumps of grass—now carefully wiping the blade with cloth dampened in oil, each stroke deliberate and tender.
As I looked down at him, I murmured softly.
“Brother. They say when a person does something they’ve never done before, death is near.”
“I see. Then bury the sword with me when you hold my funeral, sister.”
Yeon Liang deflected with ease, polishing the blade steadily.
……I wish I’d left that sword in the armory then. I would’ve wept.
He turned the blue-gleaming blade this way and that, seeming about to grin, when his expression suddenly hardened and he asked with concern.
“Sohye. Is it really all right for me to use this sword?”
“Brother. If you ask that one more time, it’ll be the hundredth. It’s your sword now, so stop it.”
“I’ve never held a sword this fine before, so I’m not used to it. I’ve only ever wielded a worn-out steel blade my whole life.”
“The Demonic Cult doesn’t even equip weapons properly? Utterly shameless.”
“Well, it’s better to look third-rate. Good swords stand out, after all.”
“……That makes sense. I’m convinced.”
Wandering around Zhongyuan gathering information would certainly be easier if I looked like a common street thug.
I never thought the day would come when I’d understand the plight of a Demonic Cult member. It’s strangely dispiriting.
I shook my head vigorously as I spoke.
“You sold even your brother’s name to bring me this sword—so who else would use it if you don’t? It’s your sword, so carry it well.”
“All right. I understand.”
Yeon Liang nodded, his eyes still hazy as if the reality hadn’t quite sunk in.
“When can I start training? I’m itching to try it out.”
“Once we eliminate it.”
“That sounds like you’re telling me never to use it at all.”
“Hardly. I’ve completed all the preparations. I delivered the medicinal decoction for the Deposed Queen over seven days to Master Seol Jae, and I’ve finished synthesizing the poison to mix into the Parasite Removal Pills. Now all you have to do is take them for seven days straight.”
At my words, the vitality that had dawned on Yeon Liang’s face drained away in an instant, leaving him ashen.
“Seven days? I don’t expect the poison to taste pleasant, but couldn’t you reduce the honey a little? The pills you make taste like refuse that even a dog would avoid, wrapped up in honey.”
“Pills are made by mixing powdered medicine into honey and rolling them into balls. Since you have the strength to complain, your body must be holding up well. Let’s get you to swallow the poison.”
“You don’t mix yours in honey—you make honey preserves…. Never mind. I’ll say no more.”
Yeon Liang swallowed a sigh and rose with an expression of resignation.
As he shuffled toward the cave, his receding figure looked as exhausted as someone bearing all the world’s suffering on his shoulders.
I shrugged and followed after him.
* * *
I adjusted the composition of the Parasite Removal Pills bit by bit each day, recording the changes that appeared in Yeon Liang’s body.
For the first four days, there was no reaction even after taking the pills.
But by the fourth day, the parasite, unable to withstand the poison’s toxicity, began to reveal itself.
At the same time, Yeon Liang’s complexion visibly deteriorated.
Yeon Liang seemed to be trying not to show his distress, but as the pain made it difficult for him to contain his strength, Demonic Qi seeped out little by little.
The strange energy was enough to make even the monks in the hermitage sense something amiss.
After much deliberation, I moved Yeon Liang’s quarters entirely to the cave.
It was a choice made to protect the monks and to hide his condition.
“You’re making a sick patient sleep on a stone floor? That’s too cruel, isn’t it, sister?”
Despite his complaints, Yeon Liang, sprawled on the ground scattering Demonic Qi recklessly, wore a peaceful expression.
“I even laid out straw for you. Be patient. If anyone’s being too harsh, it’s you, isn’t it? Your Demonic Qi is so thick I can’t breathe.”
“Ha, my apologies, my apologies. The creature’s settled itself above my dantian, you see. My qi channels are completely blocked, so I can’t control it as I wish.”
“The parasite moved above your dantian?”
“Yes. Whenever I try to gather my Internal Power, it intercepts in the middle and drains my True Qi. Now it isn’t even bothering to hide it.”
Hearing this unwelcome news, my brows knitted of their own accord.
Is it making a final struggle? Above the dantian is dangerous. I need to find a way to lure it elsewhere.
In that moment, a cough burst from my lips as Demonic Qi poured down, suffocating.
Had the one releasing this Demonic Qi not been Yeon Liang, I would have fled—such was the sinister nature of the energy.
“Cough, cough! Can’t you at least control it a little? Whew, how did you even manage to hide this before? Now I really understand why you’re Demonic Cult.”
“Does anyone look at this wretched face and think of the Demonic Cult?”
“Shave your beard and stop talking. Right now you’re the very picture of some sinister Demonic Cult member. That menacing beard makes you look twice as frightening.”
At my reproach, Yeon Liang, who had been rolling across the straw bedding, slowly pushed himself up.
His hair, which gleamed only a reddish tint in certain light, burned like a roaring sunset, and his eyes held a vivid blood-red hue.
My body instinctively recoiled at that frightening gaze. I forced myself to speak with feigned composure.
“Your eyes look just like a Demonic Cult member’s too. Even redder than a crimson jade.”
“Ha, I didn’t get this nickname for nothing.”
“A nickname? What nickname?”
At my question, Yeon Liang stretched and wrote characters on the cave floor.
Water Goblin.
As I was trying to make sense of it, I let out a cry.
“What? Brother—was “Liang” not your real name, but a nickname?”
“Yes. It means Water Goblin of the Training Cave. Among those captured with me, my eyes were the only ones that turned this red. That’s what they called me because my eyes terrified them.”
“What kind of person calls someone a water goblin?”
“Ha, even so, I was happy to have a nickname. Isn’t being called Water Goblin better than being called Number 24?”
“What are you saying? Both are awful. This is maddening. Did they really call everyone there by numbers?”
“Yes. Since people die so quickly when locked in the Training Cave, using numbers was easier for management. We called each other by numbers too.”
So there really was a separate den of madness. They brought children there and… this….
I couldn’t think of anything to say in response.
I opened and closed my mouth helplessly before finally managing to speak.
“I naturally assumed it was the name your parents gave you. Don’t you remember your original name?”
“I’m not sure. I was so young…. I remember my mother’s voice calling me “agha,” but I don’t remember the actual name.”
“Then where did the surname Yeon come from?”
“That’s the surname of Gyodu, who sent me to Zhongyuan. He told me to go out and use his family name.”
“Was he a good person?”
“He fed me well.”
“……You’re going to drive me mad. Your standard for a good person is whether he feeds you? Does that make me your brother’s benefactor? I bought you meat all the time.”
I frowned and wiped away the characters written on the ground with quick strokes. Then I wrote a new character in the same spot.
Bright—Liang.
I brushed the dust from my hands and tapped the ground twice.
“Forget about Water Goblin. From today on, this is your name.”
Yeon Liang looked at the character I had written, his expression utterly bewildered.
“What? It doesn’t suit me at all. Sister, it really doesn’t.”
“You don’t understand. There’s no character that suits you better than this one. You’re too bright—far too bright.”
Even at my words, Yeon Liang did not laugh. He simply gazed down at the ground in silence.
Lost in thought, his face bore an expression that could not be easily named.
He swept his loose hair back quietly, then slowly traced over the character I had written, copying it line by line.
A gentle smile bloomed at the corners of his mouth. Yeon Liang, smiling wordlessly, nodded slowly.
“……Yes. Let’s do that.”

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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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