The Introverted Heavenly Demon - Chapter 71

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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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The Introverted Heavenly Demon Episode 071
Peach Blossom Arrow
I laid her down as she remained unconscious, then found the pressure point on her wrist and checked her pulse.
My pulse-reading technique was still far from refined….
Her pulse was unstable—fluctuating between weak and strong—which clearly indicated an abnormal state, yet it didn’t seem like a condition that would claim her life immediately.
“Miss Jin, please hold on. I’ll take you to a physician.”
Since I couldn’t simply leave her be, I helped the woman called Miss Jin to her feet.
She continued to whimper softly, struggling to lift her head.
Her legs had given out beneath her, causing her to stumble several times before she finally managed to speak.
“A physician… won’t work.”
“What do you mean? Why can’t you see a physician?”
“I have… circumstances I cannot reveal. I cannot go to a physician.”
“But….”
This woman looked as though she might breathe her last at any moment, yet she refused to see a physician.
It was a strange thing to say, but she held firm to her resolve, unwilling to bend.
“The Left Elder…, the poison he gave me is a confusion drug….”
“A confusion drug?”
“He… I heard him speak of it. It won’t kill me, so I beg you…. Please, absolutely not a physician….”
“Miss Jin! Miss Jin! Come to your senses!”
If she wouldn’t see a physician, what was I supposed to do?
I was about to ask her where she lived so I could take her home, but she spoke only of her refusal to see a physician before losing consciousness again.
This was troublesome.
I knew nothing of this woman I’d never met before except that her family name was Jin—not her given name, not her address—and here she lay unconscious in my arms with no way forward.
‘There’s no choice.’
I practically dragged her toward a bustling area.
At least my height had grown enough that supporting her weight posed no great difficulty.
As I walked through the streets supporting her, the people I passed clicked their tongues and stared at us with expressions of disapproval.
To them, I must have looked like some strange young boy dragging along a woman so thoroughly drunk she’d lost all sense of herself.
Wandering aimlessly through the streets like this was hardly the best course of action.
After deliberating, I spotted an inn with its banner flying nearby and headed toward it.
“I need a room.”
The innkeeper eyed me with suspicion as I entered in broad daylight, supporting a woman and seeking an empty chamber.
Yet the woman’s beauty was impossible to conceal, and some of the men present looked at me with expressions of jealousy.
“My sister is drunk and needs to rest for a while….”
“Never mind what anyone says. Take the inner room on this floor.”
In that moment, my introverted nature revealed itself as I offered an awkward excuse, then managed to support her into the room, close the door, and lay her on the crude bed before I could finally feel somewhat at ease.
The woman remained unconscious, breathing heavily.
Looking down at her flushed cheeks as she gasped for breath, I felt deeply uneasy.
Especially since she was under the influence of a confusion drug.
Then I remembered the Hao Wen Disciples, who by now might have arrived at the tavern where we were supposed to meet.
I desperately wanted to abandon this woman and leave, yet I found myself unable to do so.
In that moment, the lustful gleam in the eyes of those men I’d encountered on the way here flashed through my mind.
Had I pretended ignorance from the start, it would have been one thing, but having come this far, I could not possibly leave this defenseless woman to her fate.
As I wrestled with these thoughts, the woman’s face flushed crimson, her body writhing in evident agony.
At last, she forced her unfocused eyes open and began to murmur.
“Ah, my body is burning so… I cannot bear it.”
To my shock, she began undoing the buttons of her light armor from the top, one by one, and I hastily averted my gaze in alarm.
The sound of her disrobing echoed briefly in the cramped chamber before ceasing, followed by her labored, gasping voice.
“Please… help cool the fever.”
Turning my head slightly to look at her, I saw she lay prone, her upper garment removed, her body completely exposed.
Her shoulders trembled from both fever and shame, and upon the bed lay her pristine, snow-white back, utterly bare.
I could not remain idle and moved with urgency.
I soaked a clean cloth in the bathing water the inn had prepared and returned to her.
“Miss Jin, I must beg your pardon for this necessity.”
Then I began wiping her trembling back with the wet cloth.
Her body was so fevered that steam rose visibly from the damp cloth.
After repeating this several times, the treatment proved effective—the heat radiating from her body gradually diminished.
Yet as her body recovered, her shoulders trembled all the more violently.
“Sob, sob….”
Watching her finally break into tears, I found myself consumed by conflicted emotions.
Had someone mentioned seeing a calamity of romantic entanglement upon her?
Though I knew little of fortune-telling or physiognomy, such a calamity speaks of a destiny that draws the opposite sex through powerful allure.
Not merely from today’s ordeal, but simply by virtue of being born a woman, I could imagine the humiliations she had endured, and unbidden sympathy welled within me.
“Your name is Miss Jin, is it not?”
“….”
“What befell you is not your fault. Therefore….”
Just as I struggled to offer some words of comfort.
I sensed movement outside the inn, and I fell silent, concentrating intently on the sounds drifting from beyond.
‘He still refuses to give up?’
Anger surged unbidden within me, and I hastily covered her body with a blanket before yanking open the guest chamber door.
Standing outside was Jwa Mak Dong, his face twisted with rage, wielding a short blade of unknown origin.
It was clear he had searched the streets and somehow tracked us to this place after we departed.
“Miss Jin is mine…!”
Jwa Mak Dong, his eyes rolled back in madness, lunged at me.
Crack!
This time, the situation was different.
Though I possessed more compassion than most martial artists, I was not so foolish as to show mercy to an armed opponent.
My fist, infused with inner force, drove into his abdomen, and as the sound of breaking bone echoed, Jwa Mak Dong spewed blood from his mouth and collapsed, moving no more.
Whether fortunate or unfortunate, no one witnessed this, and I dragged Jwa Mak Dong’s lifeless body into the guest chamber, covering it with cloth.
And when I turned back to check on the woman’s condition….
She had quietly drawn a hidden dagger and was attempting to drive it into her own throat.
“Miss Jin!”
I cried out and rushed toward her.
As I wrenched the dagger from her trembling hand—tears streaming down her face—she drew several shuddering breaths before releasing them in succession.
“Sob!”
Then came a wail so anguished it seemed to tear from the depths of her being.
Finding no words adequate to console her, I removed my outer robe and wrapped my bare form around her weeping figure.
In the confines of the guest chamber, her sorrowful sobs gradually subsided after a considerable time had passed.
She spoke to me in a voice tight with emotion.
Her tone was hollow, as though she had surrendered all hope.
“I have received a great debt of kindness from you, sir.”
“I merely did what was necessary. Please, speak no more of it.”
As she struggled to continue, fresh tears traced down her cheeks.
“You told me my suffering was not my fault… but you cannot possibly comprehend how unbearable it is to live as a woman cursed by such a fate.”
“….”
“Had you—even for a moment—sought to dishonor me, I would have ended my life in this very room.”
She spoke these words calmly, wiping away the tears that continued to fall.
Hearing this, I found myself unable to lift my gaze, as though I myself bore the guilt.
“All I can offer now is encouragement to persevere.”
“Thank you. Your words have brought me comfort, and more than that—your gentlemanly conduct has been a profound solace.”
“Now that you seem to have regained some composure, we should depart. Allow me to escort you home.”
It would be difficult to encounter the Hao Wen Disciples again now. I needed to return to Chong Dan and devise another strategy.
Even as I prepared to leave, the woman seemed reluctant to see me go.
She gazed at me with gentle eyes and spoke.
“Before you go, might I at least learn your name?”
“What use would my name be to you?”
“A debt of kindness must be repaid.”
“What could you possibly do for me?”
For the first time, she offered a faint smile, then glanced down at Jwa Mak Dong, whose body was growing cold, and posed a question in return.
“Then permit me to ask—what do you intend to do with him?”
Ah, that was indeed the problem.
I could have simply disappeared with the woman, but if a corpse were discovered in the guest chamber, someone would inevitably launch an investigation into the perpetrator.
As I searched for an answer, the woman spoke.
“As it stands, I….”
She hesitated, unable to finish her sentence, then let out a soft laugh and continued.
“It would be improper to hide my identity from you any longer. I am a Disciple of the Sun and Moon Divine Sect. I work for an intelligence organization called Maryeom Palace, so I have some experience with such matters.”
“What…?”

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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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