WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Damned Transmigration ◈
Chapter 137: Seongju 3
──────
Should I twist the blade and cut off her arm, make her one-armed? The thought crossed Haryeong’s mind for an instant, but no matter what, Tang Seo-woo was still her niece. That seemed a little too cruel, so she simply pulled the dagger out.
Then she stabbed her again. Crunch! Two holes appeared in Tang Seo-woo’s forearm in an instant, and she twisted her shoulder as she screamed.
“AAAAARGH!”
All strength left her repeatedly pierced arm, and she could no longer hold her whip. Haryeong spun White Fang halfway around after pulling it from Tang Seo-woo’s forearm, then swung its hilt like a blunt weapon.
Thud! The hilt crushed through Tang Seo-woo’s protective force aura and struck her neck. She could not even scream. As Tang Seo-woo collapsed, choking for breath, Haryeong immediately sat on top of her.
Even in that situation, Tang Seo-woo tried to fight back. Her right arm, now bearing two holes, could barely move, so she had dropped her whip. Her throat had been struck, and she could hardly breathe.
But her left arm was unharmed. Tang Seo-woo thrust her hand, shaped like a blade, up at Haryeong, who was sitting on her stomach.
It was not a simple knife-hand strike. Poison Qi, hastily drawn up, wrapped around her hand. A deadly poison capable of poisoning someone with the slightest touch. Yet the technique used to handle that powerful poison was nothing special.
For an instant, Haryeong felt as though time had slowed.
Tang Seo-woo’s Poison Hand approaching her looked slow enough to make her yawn. She could clearly see the Poison Qi squirming and spreading through the green light around it.
As time slowed nearly to a halt, Haryeong unknowingly reached toward Tang Seo-woo’s Poison Hand.
Fwoooosh! It was colorless, but Haryeong saw the light blooming from her fingertips.
The slowly advancing light met Tang Seo-woo’s Poison Hand and interfered with the source of its Poison Qi.
That was all. The thrusting hand was no longer a Poison Hand, but Tang Seo-woo did not realize it at once.
‘Huh?’
What she belatedly realized was that the Poison Hand, which should have poisoned Haryeong the instant it touched her, had been brushed aside as easily as shooing away a bug.
Until then, Tang Seo-woo had been unable to breathe properly because her throat hurt. A different pain made her eyes fly open.
White Fang pierced her palm. So she could not swing her hand again, Haryeong used White Fang to pin Tang Seo-woo’s palm directly to the ground.
“Ghhhhh!”
Tang Seo-woo screamed as she jerked her body and thrashed her legs. Haryeong, seated on her stomach, swayed along with her.
She changed position. Haryeong’s legs pressed down hard on both of Tang Seo-woo’s thighs. At the same time, she poured in more inner power and forced her weight downward. Tang Seo-woo’s stomach was crushed under the pressure, and her mouth fell open with a Ghk!
“Fuck-you niece.”
Haryeong’s whisper reached her as her muddled mind could no longer think clearly.
“My thoughtful little fuck-you niece fed this auntie all sorts of things since you were young. Now that I think about it, I received plenty from you, but I never fed you anything in return.”
“Ghhhhh, ngh...!”
“I’m an auntie who knows how to repay her niece’s kindness.”
Unfortunately, there were no spiders or centipedes nearby. But she could see ants crawling over the damp soil. Without hesitation, Haryeong grabbed a handful of dirt and shoved it toward Tang Seo-woo’s mouth.
“Ghk, urk! Ghk!”
Tang Seo-woo gritted her teeth and sealed her lips as tightly as she could, but it was useless. Haryeong pressed down on her jaw joint with her fingers, forcing her mouth open before stuffing the damp dirt inside.
She did not stop after one handful. Haryeong kneaded Tang Seo-woo’s throat, making her swallow. As Tang Seo-woo’s mouth wriggled and sent the dirt down her throat, Haryeong grabbed another handful and crammed it into her mouth.
It was not just dirt. Small pebbles scraped against Tang Seo-woo’s teeth. After packing her mouth full of soil, Haryeong raised her dirt-covered hand and slapped Tang Seo-woo across the cheek.
Smack! It was a slap, but it sounded like a punch.
“...”
It had happened so quickly, and it was such an unbelievable sight even when seen firsthand. Tang Seo-jin could only stand there with his mouth hanging open, unable to intervene.
Smack! The sound repeated several times. Only when Tang Seo-woo’s legs went rigid and her toes bent backward did Tang Seo-jin finally come to his senses.
“S, Seo-woo!”
Tang Seo-jin bellowed and rushed forward. Estor, who had been watching Haryeong with a grave expression, also gripped his sword hilt and took a large step forward.
“Hah.”
He did not take another step. There was no need for him to act himself. Estor let out a dry laugh and sneered.
“How much did you see?”
Crackle!
Lightning energy flowed through the air. Yuri straightened from his bent-knee stance as he answered.
“From when Lady Tang drove a dagger through her left palm.”
“If you’re curious about what happened before that, I’ll tell you.”
“I think I can guess without hearing it.”
Yuri spun around without even glancing at Tang Seo-jin, who had stopped awkwardly in place. It was as if Tang Seo-jin was not worth his notice.
“Lady Haryeong.”
Haryeong was still slapping Tang Seo-woo’s cheek, but the sound was no longer a dry smack.
Blood from Tang Seo-woo’s split lips and nose soaked her swollen cheek, and only a wet splat continued to sound.
“Lady Haryeong.”
Yuri called her name again, but Haryeong’s violence did not stop. Her unfocused eyes showed that she was not in the present. She had returned to the past, over ten years ago.
Back when Tang Seo-woo mercilessly bullied her every day. Back when she held her mother’s dagger and first felt the urge to kill. It was a symptom of her Inner Demon.
Yuri strode over and grabbed Haryeong by the wrist.
“...Ah.”
Haryeong’s shoulders trembled as she forcibly pulled back her hand caked with dirt and blood. She blinked several times and looked down at Tang Seo-woo’s face.
Her mouth was packed with mud clumped with blood. Bloody foam bubbled from her nose, while one side of her face was swollen and wet with blood. Tang Seo-woo’s eyes had already rolled back, and she was unconscious.
Haryeong stared at Tang Seo-woo’s face for a moment before lifting her head. Her face was expressionless, without a trace of a smile. Her unfocused, hazy eyes turned toward Yuri.
Emotion immediately welled up within her. Haryeong flinched at the tears running down her cheeks and quickly turned her head away again.
“W, what is it?”
Yuri chuckled and released her wrist at the stammered question.
“Are you finally back to yourself?”
“When did you get here?”
“Just now.”
“How much did you see?”
“From when you drove a dagger through your fuck-you niece’s palm.”
Yuri laughed again at the repetition of his exchange with Estor.
“You could have come a little sooner.”
Haryeong swiftly wiped away the tears on her cheeks with the back of her hand as she answered.
She did not know precisely when it had begun, but it felt as though her mind had returned to the past.
The time after she lost the mother she had always been with and could no longer see her father. The time when she was despised by the rest of the family and forced to chew spiders and centipedes.
After coming to her senses and returning to the present... why were tears falling?
Was it joy at fulfilling a desire she had held since long ago, the desire to beat her fuck-you niece senseless? Or was it because she had returned from those bleak memories and seen this?
“Have you calmed down a little?”
“I was never upset to begin with.”
“Yes, yes. Of course.”
Yuri answered with laughter in his voice and patted Haryeong on the shoulder.
“Were you planning to kill her?”
“I have thought of killing her many times, but not now.”
“Well done. She is not worth dirtying your hands over.”
“My hands were dirty long ago.”
“Just because they are already dirty does not mean you should wash them in a shit pit.”
A shit pit. He had called her a shit pit. He was openly saying Tang Seo-woo’s life was no better than shit.
Tang Seo-baek, the eldest son, and Tang Seo-jin, the second son, were not close because of their struggle over succession. But Tang Seo-woo, their younger sister, was different.
She might be selfish and fierce-tempered, but to Tang Seo-jin, she was still a precious younger sister. That sister had been beaten to within an inch of her life with her mouth full of dirt.
‘What is this...?’
His fury boiled into killing intent, but Tang Seo-jin could not move easily.
Cloud Dragon’s back stood right before him. The back of that man, who had turned away without giving him so much as a glance, as if he were beneath notice, looked far larger than his actual frame.
No one had told him to stop, yet his advancing feet had halted. It was not Tang Seo-jin’s will. His body had simply stopped on its own. To approach meant stepping into that gap.
Tang Seo-jin swallowed dryly and gripped his Folding Fan.
“Lord Tang Seo-jin.”
The voice came from Cloud Dragon’s turned back.
“Will you teach me another lesson this time?”
It had been a year ago. Their spar in Gwangseo. Judging only by the result, Tang Seo-jin had lost, but to him, it had been an unbearably unfair defeat.
He had used neither Intent, Poison Qi, nor killing moves. Since he had yielded the initiative, the match had gone badly from the very beginning.
“...It doesn’t seem like we can settle this with a spar as we did then.”
Even while he still sensed something alien from Cloud Dragon, Tang Seo-jin forced a smile.
The amusement deliberately mixed into his voice was false composure that did not come from his heart. It was also an expression of pride he could not abandon.
“If you’re afraid, a spar is fine too.”
Yuri straightened the waist he had been holding slightly bent.
That was all, yet Tang Seo-jin’s vision filled with Yuri. He even heard a thump. It was not an actual sound, but one he felt from the psychological pressure.
He forcibly ignored it. Tang Seo-jin stroked his Folding Fan and deliberately laughed aloud.
“Afraid? Who? Me?”
“Because I’m not afraid.”
Yuri, standing straight, slowly turned and looked Tang Seo-jin in the eye. Just from that gaze settling on him, cold sweat ran down Tang Seo-jin’s back.
At this point, he had no choice but to accept the reality he had been forcing himself to ignore. Cloud Dragon had become incomparably stronger than he had been a year ago.
Red Wolf Stronghold, one of the Eighteen Green Forest Strongholds, had not fallen because its people were weak. It had fallen because the Three Heroes were strong, and Cloud Dragon was the strongest among them.
“...Have you reached the sixth tier?”
“Yes.”
“Haha... You achieved much during your year of closed-door cultivation. Is it thanks to the Calamity Star’s teachings?”
Tang Seo-jin kept fiddling with his Folding Fan. He could not decide whether to open it or not.
“This is an internal matter of the Dang Family.”
That was what he said first.
“I know.”
Things had gone wrong from the time they first met in Gwangseo.
Before leaving the airship, the Dang siblings had arranged assassins to set the mood. They had tried to dominate the conversation with their high-handed manner and take Haryeong away.
It might have been different if they had at least explained why they had to take her. But they had not even done that. Haryeong had not wanted to go either.
So Yuri’s answer had not changed from a year ago.
“...”
Tang Seo-jin’s eyebrows twitched. Sixth tier... Were they equals? He did not know.
Even when he had seen Yuri at Yonghwa Lake, he had not been someone Tang Seo-jin needed to be wary of. But now that they were at the same tier, he had to be cautious.
Tang Seo-woo might have acted of her own will, but a blade had already been drawn. Tongue clicking, Tang Seo-jin opened his Folding Fan. Yuri did not clench his fists.
He did not bother to mention a spar or holding back. Tang Seo-jin slowly waved his Folding Fan while wrapping dull poison force aura around his other hand.
‘Come.’
Their spar in Gwangseo helped him form a strategy. The Sound Art of the Ghost-Sound Killing Fan Dance would not mean much against that man. Tang Seo-jin did not know why, but Cloud Dragon had strong resistance to Sound Art.
He would have difficulty gaining the advantage in a simple close-quarters fight as well. Most martial artists would when facing a hand-to-hand fighter. He needed to maintain the distance as much as possible, unsettle Yuri, and look for an opening.
Fwap... He prepared concealed weapons behind his fully opened Folding Fan. He knew Cloud Dragon was fast. But Tang Seo-jin was confident in his own speed as well.
A year ago, he had simply underestimated his opponent, let down his guard, and yielded the initiative, causing his response to come too late. This was different from now, when he was already on guard.
‘Hide concealed weapons in the Ghost-Sound Killing Fan Dance, then drive in the poison force aura the instant an opening appears.’
That was when Yuri moved.
Tang Seo-jin made several mistakes, but the greatest was his misjudgment of Yuri’s speed.
He believed that now that he was wary, he would not lose track of Yuri’s speed and would be able to respond. But in reality, he could not.
That misjudgment naturally led to the next. By the time Tang Seo-jin swung his Folding Fan, Yuri’s fist was already close.
Crunch! The Folding Fan struck by Yuri’s fist shattered helplessly. The concealed weapons he had intended to fire with that swing scattered weakly.
The first clash did not merely break the Folding Fan. The right hand holding it rang painfully and went numb.
Tang Seo-jin grimaced and leaped backward, but Yuri leaped with him as if he had read the move in advance.
Yuri’s tightly clenched fist opened wide. Blood-red rings wrapped around his forearm. Tang Seo-jin had no idea what kind of martial art it was, but he knew that he could not shake Yuri off now.
Then Tang Seo-jin misjudged things again.
He thrust his poison force aura-wrapped palm straight forward. He planned to sacrifice flesh to take bone. The Poison Qi would seep in the instant they collided. That would end it. He would win.
As Tang Seo-jin’s hand approached, the Blood Wheel wrapped around Yuri’s forearm spun with fierce momentum.
Rumble!
Their palms did not touch. The red vortex of Yuri’s Blood Wheel Soul-Locking Palm shoved Tang Seo-jin’s palm backward.
Even the Poison Qi desperately sent forward was erased by the flames of the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil before it could reach Yuri.
With an explosive roar, Tang Seo-jin’s arm flew backward. It had only been caught in the rotation for a brief moment, yet his arm was already ragged as though it might be torn off at any second.
The advancing red vortex of the Blood Wheel Soul-Locking Palm ripped Tang Seo-jin’s protective force aura to shreds.
“Ghk, AAAARGH!”
With a scream, Tang Seo-jin flew away, spinning like a kite with its string cut. Crash! After flying for quite some distance, he fell and rolled across the ground.
That was the end. Tang Seo-jin could not even rise before losing consciousness.
Even that was only because Yuri had withdrawn his palm force at the last moment. If he had not, Tang Seo-jin’s heart would have burst from that strike, killing him.
‘Tsk...’
Yuri frowned as he clenched the palm he had extended into a fist.
‘I wanted to try it out a little more.’
He had wanted to use Tang Seo-jin as a sandbag to test the power of the Blood Wheel Soul-Locking Palm. He had not expected Tang Seo-jin to be unable to endure even one palm strike.
Footnotes:
“Fuck-you niece” reflects Haryeong’s deliberate vulgar distortion of the Korean word for “niece.”
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
