Surviving as the Sacheon Dang Clan’s Servant - Chapter 75

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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 75
“Eeeee-squeeeeak!”
“Quiet, you fool!”
I stuffed Ju Ryeong into my sleeve and channeled Internal Energy into my legs. The moment I vaulted over the wall, the rogue martial artists began shouting.
“There! There she is!”
“Don’t let her get away! She’s worth a thousand silver taels! That way! Grab her!”
From the voices, at least two rogue martial artists were chasing me. The speed at which they closed the distance didn’t seem amateurish.
Could I actually handle them?
Panic made my heart pound. I stripped off my robe and frantically rummaged through my sleeves, grabbing whatever poison came to hand.
There was no time to identify which one. I tore open the Poison Pouch and scattered the powder. The man right on my heels immediately began coughing, clutching his mouth.
“Hack, cough! Poison!”
“Good thing we brought Antidote Pills.”
Even through the thick poison mist, the rogue martial artists showed little alarm. Instead, they swung their blades at me.
I tried to dodge, but I couldn’t track the sword’s trajectory. My trouser leg tore open, and my thigh burned with sudden heat.
Gritting my teeth, I used the obscured vision to crawl into the tall grass higher up the slope.
Terror turned my blood to ice.
Dang Jung hadn’t warned me about lacking Real Combat experience for nothing.
Real Combat was nothing like a Training Match. Internal Energy reserves meant nothing when cold, murderous intent paralyzed your limbs entirely.
My lips trembled as I forced myself to move. The rogue martial artists, now having consumed their Antidote Pills, were already closing in.
“Where did the thousand-tael prize go?”
Footsteps mixed with the sound of grass rustling in the wind.
Tension locked every muscle. I took slow, deep breaths and slipped my hand into my sleeve. The cold touch of the Hidden Blade snapped my mind into focus.
One chance. I had to drive it through the enemy’s throat cleanly and swiftly, or die.
Holding my breath, waiting for the opening, I hurled the Hidden Blade at the nearest man.
Clang!
“Damn bitch…!”
The man instinctively raised his sword to block the blade. It only grazed his arm, failing to cut deep, and bounced away.
Damn.
“Found you?”
The man, blood dripping from his wound, began charging at me like a demon.
With each blink, he drew closer, and my heart hammered wildly.
Poison. I need poison.
I fumbled frantically through my sleeves, but the man was faster.
“Enough parlor tricks.”
He vaulted forward and drove his fist into my belly. White-hot pain exploded across my vision.
I stumbled backward, trying to rise, but my body wouldn’t obey.
I tasted blood. Internal injury—no question about it.
“Why make this difficult? Just stay still. You don’t look like you’ve seen much Real Combat.”
The man crouched before me with a cruel grin, our eyes meeting.
“Does poison flow in the veins of a girl who wields the Poison Art? I’m curious.”
“Don’t touch me recklessly. Even if I’m expelled, I’m still Dang Sect bloodline. Those madmen will bring three generations down for vengeance if a blood relative is harmed.”
“Is that so? A pity.”
The man licked his lips and grabbed my face with his filthy hand.
I bit down hard on the tender flesh inside my mouth. I couldn’t just submit like this.
As my breathing grew ragged, he laughed softly.
“What fierce eyes. You seem resentful?”
Yes. I’m resentful. You bastard.
In that moment, Ju Ryeong burst from my sleeve and raked her front claws across the man’s eyes.
“Aahhh!”
The man shrieked, both hands flying to his face.
Crunch!
I bit down on his fingers with all my strength, clamping my jaw until flesh tore and bone snapped. Simultaneously, I twisted the snake head of my earring.
Hisss!
Poison mist sprayed across his face, and the sound of burning skin filled the air.
“Arghhhh! You insane witch!”
As I spat out his severed finger, Ju Ryeong leaped onto my shoulder.
I gritted my teeth and bolted in the opposite direction.
My insides felt pulped. My abdomen screamed as though it might split open. Waves of nausea kept rising.
I glanced back to see shadowy figures of the rogue martial artists floundering in the thick poison mist.
“What? More poison? Cough! Cough! Does anyone have an Antidote Pill?”
“I used it all up earlier. Kang Il. Are you—wait, this bastard’s finger is severed?”
“Get back! The flesh is melting!”
The rogue martial artists seemed torn between chasing after me and treating their wounds first.
The gash along my thigh burned as if on fire. When I rolled up my trousers, bright blood welled up in thick blobs.
I clenched my teeth and tore at my sleeve, wrapping it around the wound. I had a sickening premonition the muscle would be damaged, but there was no choice.
I had to move if I wanted to escape their grasp.
Eyes squeezed shut, I plunged into the forest.
* * *
Four days had passed.
My strength had deteriorated to its limit as I wandered the woods without food or water to sustain me.
The provisions pouch Dang Juhee had packed for me had been lost long ago.
“Kee?”
Ju Ryeong, carrying the Poison Pouch I had dropped, let out a small whimper as if asking if I was alright.
My exhausted body wouldn’t obey my mind. My thoughts had become hazy as though fog had settled in my skull.
I staggered forward, moving mechanically. The thigh wound, which had broken open several times, no longer sent any sensation. The nerves themselves seemed damaged.
I rubbed my dry eyes and surveyed the surroundings. In the distance, I could make out a small shelter.
Would there be people? Could I ask for help?
Part of me wanted to grab anyone at all and beg them to help me.
If I begged, surely one person might—
No. There was no chance of that.
I bit my lip and steeled the weakness creeping into my resolve.
Who would help a bloodied martial artist being hunted, unless they had a taste for living a life of complications?
Even if someone did, I couldn’t trust them. They’d only help for their own scheming reasons.
So I couldn’t trust anyone. Only myself.
I patted my cheek and forced myself forward.
One step. Then another.
The shelter I reached by limping had its roof caved in from long abandonment.
I doubted it could even shelter me from a night’s dew, but this was no time to be choosy.
The anesthetic won’t work. The wound medicine won’t work. My only option left is to absorb the Spiritual Energy from the Spirit Pill that Dang Muhyeok had so graciously thrown my way. For that, I needed to hide somewhere even remotely safe.
When I glanced back, I could see the trail where I’d dragged my leg through the brush.
Since I couldn’t cover my tracks partway through, any skilled hunter would find me in no time.
Even hiding in the shelter would only buy me a moment’s respite.
I looked at Ju Ryeong quietly. The luster had left her black fur—now it was matted and caked with dust.
A Spiritual Creature who understood human speech, and a precious black fox at that. If Ju Ryeong stayed with me, she wouldn’t fare well either.
“Ju Ryeong. Go. Now.”
“Whimper.”
“I can’t be with you anymore. Run far away.”
Ju Ryeong blinked her large eyes and, refusing to go, bit at the hem of my clothes.
“Leave. Hurry!”
I shouted and pushed her away. Whimpering, Ju Ryeong backed off. I watched her retreating form disappear into the distance, my body curling inward.
A clever creature like her would manage well wherever she went. It was better this way for both of us.
The half-collapsed shelter reeked of rot. But I had no luxury of being fastidious.
Like a wounded beast burrowing into a den, I crawled into the cramped shelter.
Raw grass and gravel scraped and pierced my skin, but my half-numbed body felt no pain.
By now, I could barely hold onto consciousness.
I sniffled and reached into my robes.
I was terrified I couldn’t properly absorb the Spirit Pill in this state, but if death came whether I ate or not, trying was the only sensible choice.
With trembling hands, I pulled out the Spirit Pill from my robes. But my hands had so little strength left that the pill slipped from my grasp and fell.
The Spirit Pill rolled across the ground, coating itself in dirt. I stretched desperately, seized it, and stuffed it in my mouth.
Dirt crunched between my teeth as I chewed, but I swallowed even the grit. I had to eat. Even if I died eating, I had to eat.
Tears streamed down my face as I folded my legs into a sitting position. No matter how much I wiped my eyes with my sleeves, my vision remained blurred.
But even crying was a luxury. If I had enough strength to sit and weep, I had to pour it all into Qi Circulation Cultivation.
There was no Dang Jung to guide me now, no Deok Ju to stand watch.
The moment I began to circulate my energy, the Spirit Pill’s force descended through my throat and erupted with wild frenzy.
Something felt wrong.
The undigested energies of the Ten Thousand Poison Pill collided with the new Spirit Pill’s force, my Internal Energy pathway tangling into complete chaos.
Move.
Move!
I gritted my teeth and fought to regain control of the flow.
My fingernails dug into my skin as blood dripped steadily down.
The spiritual energy never reached my dantian. Instead it scattered wildly, clawing through every meridian in my body.
An overwhelming force threatened to devour me whole.
My entire body burned as though consumed by fire. I felt like a ship swept adrift in a raging tempest.
Thud!
Thud!
Each time the uncontrolled spiritual energy ravaged through me, my meridians twisted and my internal energy scattered.
Bile rose in my throat, and then something worse—a scalding mass of blood surged past my lips. My insides felt shredded.
My body, unable to withstand the relentless battering, crumpled to the ground.
I clawed at the dirt, trying to push myself up, but no strength answered. My vision dimmed by degrees.
I could feel it with absolute certainty.
This was the end.
The death I’d fought so hard to avoid now sat upon my chest, strangling the breath from my lungs.
A sound escaped me—something between a laugh and a sob.
Perhaps everything had been written from the beginning.
I’d tried so hard to pretend, to act as though I belonged, but I was a stranger here.
This world had cast me in a role so minor I wasn’t even worth a line in the story.
If my fate wouldn’t change, then I wanted only to be freed from this agony that tore through every nerve.
Just as I surrendered to it all, a sharp cry pierced the air.
“Kee-ik! Kee!”
Ju Ryeong’s piercing shriek cut through the silence like an accusation.
Why had that foolish creature come back?
My eyes burned with tears. The thought of Ju Ryeong being caught in harm’s way tore at me. Yet seeing her return kindled something warm in my chest.
Cast out from the sect, stripped of everything, to die alone in such a place…….
It was lonely.
Then it happened.
The sound of footsteps approached. Hearing the assured gait of a skilled martial cultivator, I held my breath.
“Hairball. You want me to go in there? It’s too cramped.”
“Kyuu! Kee-ik!”
“Fine, fine. Just wait. Is your master in there or something? One tap and this whole thing’d collapse. I should probably tear off the roof…….”
“Cawk!”
“Such a feisty little thing. Would you stop pestering me already?”
The martial cultivator chuckled, drawing nearer with lazy steps.
Crack!
With a thunderous sound, dust and debris rained down upon my face.
The roof of the shelter was torn away, and harsh sunlight flooded in, stinging my eyes until tears streamed down my cheeks.
I forced my heavy eyelids open. Against the glare, I saw a silhouette looking down at me.
“Huh? I thought some heterodox sect bastard with sword wounds had stumbled in here, but it’s a girl instead. What’s a young lady like you doing dying in a place like this?”
“I… don’t want to die.”
“You don’t want to die?”
That barely whispered reply was my last conscious thought.
Then darkness claimed me.

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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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