Surviving as the Sacheon Dang Clan’s Servant - Chapter 107

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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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Episode 107
“What? But……. You’re affiliated with the Alliance…….”
You can’t come with me.
Yeon Liang, who grasped the words I couldn’t bring myself to say, let out a soft laugh.
“I’m coming with you. If I let you go alone, you’d never make the trip.”
“No. I don’t even want you to come. I wish you’d stay nowhere near Wuhan.”
“It’s better if I come. If you went alone, the Orthodox Sects would use you to drag me out. That small temple master seems convinced you’ve turned on me. They’re searching for me too.”
When words failed me and I fumbled at my lips, Yeon Liang asked gently.
“Sohye, you don’t want to be mistaken for a cult member and become a Martial World Wanted Criminal, do you?”
“Of course not.”
“It’s no good being at odds with the Alliance. Especially not if you’re a martial cultivator of the Orthodox Sects. Let’s settle this before it’s too late. Since you’re being pursued because of me, I need to put an end to it.”
“What are you planning to do if you go to the Alliance? If your identity gets exposed, you might never leave the interrogation chamber. They’ll torture you until they extract whatever information they want.”
“That’s why I’m thinking of finding Beop Gong and bringing him along.”
“Your friend? What do you need him for?”
“As a character witness.”
At this unexpected idea, I blinked.
Did he just say he was going to use a Shaolin disciple as a character witness for a cult member?
He had more than nerve—his audacity knew no bounds.
“Are you serious? You know you’ll both die if you’re caught?”
“That fellow would find it amusing. Since it’s duping the Martial Alliance, he’d jump at the chance the moment he heard.”
“Well, I suppose…….”
I couldn’t decide whether to be grateful for having such an unhinged friend or to regret how I’d come to befriend someone like that.
Either way, it wasn’t a terrible idea. The Alliance wouldn’t treat a martial cultivator vouched for by the Shaolin abbot’s direct disciple casually.
“That’s all well and good, but where do you plan to find this monk?”
At my question, Yeon Liang let out a heavy sigh.
“Truth is, I’m worried about that too. We’ll have to stop by the Hao Gate just to track him down.”
“Isn’t it past time for you to receive your termination of affiliation? Won’t that raise suspicion?”
“They might think I failed while trying to escape and came back late. They’d never imagine I’d completely severed ties. Cutting it off too cleanly draws suspicion, so I’ll gradually reduce the frequency of my visits for the termination allowance.”
“You’re planning to fake your death at the right moment?”
“Wouldn’t that be best? Besides, the stipend they give me is substantial. It’s not bad to drop by now and then to pocket some spending money.”
“Then we should go.”
At my quick shift in tone, Yeon Liang chuckled.
“My sister does love money.”
“The more money, the better. That’s just how it is.”
“Right. Right. Having clear values about life is a good thing.”
Yeon Liang shrugged as if he understood completely.
“In any case, I’ll narrow down the places where Beop Gong is likely to be. If we wander wherever our feet take us, we’re bound to meet him eventually, aren’t we?”
His awkward smile gradually darkened. He stammered, then apologized weakly.
“I’m sorry for dragging you into this.”
“Don’t say strange things. You dragged yourself into it, not me. If it weren’t for me, there wouldn’t be any traces to begin with.”
I flatly denied his words, but Yeon Liang only offered a dim smile and said nothing. His face bore the weight of self-reproach.
A quiet sadness settled over me.
Yeon Liang had never chosen to become part of the Demonic Cult or to learn their techniques.
‘I was the same at his age. I didn’t want to die. Every day I prayed for someone to appear and save me from death itself.’
He had simply clawed his way to survival in a place no different from hell.
I remembered him speaking so matter-of-factly about wanting to live, and my throat tightened.
After searching for words for a long moment, I called to him with difficulty.
“Listen, brother.”
“I’m listening.”
“I believe……that people can change their lives through the choices they make.”
“…….”
“It doesn’t matter what choices you’ve made so far or what kind of life you’ve lived. What matters is that you chose to save me. From that moment on, you were a good person to me.”
“Hah…….”
Yeon Liang laughed with a deflated sound.
“If you knew how many people I’d killed, you wouldn’t say such things. Hearing words like that makes me feel obligated to become good, whether I mean it or not.”
“No. You’re already a good person.”
Because you came back when you worried I’d be lonely standing alone.
Because you’re someone who can stake your own life on nothing but what’s right.
“So stop thinking such strange thoughts and try to remember where that fat monk usually goes. Can you think of any places?”
“All right. All right. I won’t say anything strange anymore, so don’t burden yourself with worry either.”
My reproach drew a sheepish grin across Yeon Liang’s face.
Then he knelt and began sketching on the ground—a remarkably detailed map of Zhongyuan.
“Let’s see… That fat monk wouldn’t show his face anywhere near Shaolin. Nothing around Mount Song either. My guess is he’s in one of these three: Yong Jung, Luoyang, or Bo Ju.”
I studied the circles Yeon Liang had drawn, my brow furrowing. No matter how long I thought about it, I couldn’t see what those three places had in common.
“Aren’t these places you’re predicting all over the map?”
“There’s a reason to each. If he ran out of coin and went looking for someone else’s wine cellar to raid, he’d probably end up at the Jegal House in Yong Jung. He’s friendly with their master—he stays there as a guest scholar often enough.”
“Raiding a wine cellar? And he’s supposed to be a monk?”
“That one’s not right in the head, I’m telling you. Don’t expect common sense from him.”
“He sounds worse than you are.”
If he’s taken a fancy to Dujiang Wine, he’d be in Luoyang. If neither of those, then Bo Ju becomes the strongest bet—because Beop Gong’s favorite drink is Ancient Capital Wine. So it has to be one of the three.
“It sounds like complete nonsense, and yet somehow it almost makes sense. That’s what’s so strange about it.”
I found myself wondering what kind of person this monk Beop Gong really was.
He’d been excommunicated, hadn’t he? And yet he was off traveling the realm—so it was safe to get his help? Wouldn’t that just make things messier?
“Brother. That monk is still affiliated with Shaolin, right? You’re not just trading one problem for another?”
“For now, at least. He’s mastered seven of the Seventy-Two Techniques of Shaolin—skills that are supposedly difficult to master even one of. Shaolin might want to throw him out, but they can’t afford to do it carelessly.”
“‘For now’—that sounds like he’ll be excommunicated soon. I don’t trust that monk. Wouldn’t it be better if you just ate Mountain Void Poison and pretended to have no internal power?”
At that, Yeon Liang’s face crumpled with genuine sorrow.
“Sohye… Over the past month, I’ve consumed enough poison to last a lifetime… Please. No more…”
His expression was so pitiful I thought he might actually cry, so I waved my hand and dropped the subject entirely.
“Fine, fine. I’ll stop. I won’t mention Mountain Void Poison again.”
Only then did Yeon Liang’s face relax as he pressed his palm against the ground to continue.
“We’re around here now, so if we head north, Yugan should come into view. I think we should stop by the Hao Gate branch in Yugan, gather some information, and then move from there.”
I stroked my chin, lost in thought.
The Hao Gate branch in Yugan… Did every major city have one?
How many branches does the Hao Gate have across all of Zhongyuan? I think I heard the Beggar Clan has over a hundred scattered around—could it be similar?
This might be a good chance to map out where the Hao Gate’s locations were. Sooner or later, I’d probably need to find them myself.
“Let’s think a bit more about when to leave. Have you finished maintaining the Whip Blade?”
“Yes. I’ve oiled it completely.”
With that, Yeon Liang’s lips curved upward and he swung the wooden rod in his hand lightly.
“Then we should test it out. Sister, you need to loosen up too.”
* * *
Crack!
The wooden rod swept through the air with sudden speed and rapped against my crown. A sharp, stinging pain flared instantly.
Yeon Liang, who had just added another bump on top of the bump already on my head, giggled teasingly.
“Oh dear. Our sister’s dead again.”
I rubbed my crown and glared at Yeon Liang.
“Again.”
“Shouldn’t we stop here for today? You’ve already died twelve times.”
“Again. This time I almost caught a glimpse of the Sword Path.”
“What good is glimpsing the Sword Path when you keep giving the sword practitioner distance? You need to prevent him from closing in from the start.”
Yeon Liang shrugged and shook his head. I narrowed my eyes.
“I know that already! I know—but when you charge at me like a raging bull, how am I supposed to maintain distance? The moment I blink, you’re already in front of me.”
“Ha! Still, you need to adapt to it. Sister, there are plenty of martial artists faster than me in this world.”
He had a point there.
“That’s true. That Jin Seong was incredibly fast too. Even though he was clearly holding back, I was breathless by the end.”
“That young master showed real skill. They say he’s barely past his twenties, but the internal energy he can release is beyond what his age should allow.”
“It’s no wonder he’s the disciple of the Greatest Swordsman Under Heaven. When he deployed the Song Gate Ancient Sword, I was genuinely frightened. My skin crawled.”
“Don’t lose heart, sister! You’re the disciple of the Poison King!”
“What are you talking about! My spirit isn’t broken!”
“That’s right. You’ve got excellent spirit. A martial artist lives by momentum.”
Yeon Liang chuckled warmly as he tapped the wooden rod against the ground.
“Ideally, you’d never let the distance close in the first place, but once it has… there are three methods to handle it.”
“Three methods?”
“First: if your opponent is weaker than you or seems careless, destroy their weapon.”
“What? Destroy their weapon?”
“You’re strong, sister. I saw you break a sword blade with bare hands before. Common bandits lose the will to fight the moment they lose their weapons.”
I remembered the bandits who knelt the instant their blades snapped and nodded.
“What’s the second method?”
“Simple. Create distance again.”
“…Brother. If that were possible, my head wouldn’t be covered in bumps.”
“You just need to make them back down first. A martial artist’s center of gravity is in the legs. Target the legs without hesitation, shake your Sword Path, and if you can paralyze one of their legs with your poison, they’ll retreat on their own.”
“Right.”
So that’s how it works. Clever, isn’t she?
I clapped my hands in admiration.
A tactic I would have cursed as underhanded in the old days now seemed like brilliant strategy.
That’s right. Poison isn’t underhanded. It’s my weapon—what can anyone do about that? If they object, they should have been born immune to all poisons.
“The last method is to run. It’s even better if you obscure their vision with poison and escape.”
“Run away?”
“The Orthodox Sects will posture about honor and call it cowardice, but what matters isn’t playing fair. It’s surviving.”
Yeon Liang’s eyes, which had been explaining in that languid way, grew dim and distant.
“So if anything happens, you run—even alone. Sohye.”

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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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