Camellia 87

Surprisingly, Tang Yujae didn’t lash out at Shi Pungjae. If anything, he seemed completely indifferent to Pungjae’s emotions. Perhaps that was precisely why he could remain calm now.

“Ugh…”

The oppressive force of a true master’s Qi painted dazzling streaks before Pungjae’s eyes.

Yujae knew well that saying nothing and pressuring him was far more effective than any scolding.

“Cheonsin-nim…”

Only when tears of blood were beginning to fall from Pungjae’s eyes did he speak.

“Do you know why I saved you, Pungjae?”

Why he had reached into the dirt to pull up the boy buried in Mount Hwang. Why he had promised to be the level heavens that would shelter his broken fate.

Yujae, recalling the past, continued slowly.

“Because your hand looked like my younger sister’s.”

Hayeon’s hands had always been covered in wounds. Calluses were one thing, but there were always fresh cuts and scrapes, so Yujae often had to chase her down with medicine.

‘What kind of lady has such rough hands?’ he would tease.

And Hayeon would reply:

“Orabeoni’s hands are soft and warm, not like a man’s at all. It must be proof of your kind heart.”

“Then what about yours?”

“…I never thought that far.”

Back then, when the Namgung clan’s trash buried young servants alive, it wasn’t something that warranted his fury. Even when Pungjae begged him to recover the corpses, Yujae hadn’t felt much. Death was as common as dust in the martial world, and righteous hypocrites committed atrocities like that daily.

But Pungjae’s hand kept scratching at his nerves.

Small, pale, and littered with the marks of abuse. His index and ring fingers were almost the same length, and his pinky was unusually long. That fragile hand had been the reason Yujae, unintentionally, found himself acting righteously.

“You know better than anyone,” he continued, “the Cheonma Singyo Sect is full of people more skilled than you. So why do you think I chose you to stay at my side, someone so mediocre?”

Another question.

Yujae swept his wet hair back with a faint sneer.

“Because my older sister loves you.”

In the end, it was thanks to two women related to him by blood, Tang Hayeon and Tang Yuwon, that Pungjae had survived. Without them, he’d have long since died at the hands of the Okhaenggak Lord. Or had his head taken by the Daeyounggak Lord.

Finally, Yujae turned his head toward Pungjae. His sharp profile came into view, followed by the click of his tongue.

“…But I can’t tolerate your overreach anymore.”

Now was the perfect time, when Yuwon was down from the mountain to avoid the cold.

“Because I never liked you.”

Dark green Qi unfurled like a slippery mist. The twisted energy of forbidden arts stirred the air ominously, and Pungjae, sensing danger, gasped and begged.

“L- Lord…! If you must, then please… please just kill me. Let me die as your servant, I beg you…”

His desperation met no sympathy.

“That would be a reward, not punishment.”

“Cough–!”

An icy Qi pierced through Pungjae’s spirit like lightning. He writhed and cried out as pain exploded in his mind.

“Ah, ghh…!”

It was brutal. Cold power gnawed at his thoughts, clawing at every memory, every feeling, as if to rip them away.

When he tried to bite his tongue and end it, his body seized up, then went limp. The dark aura that had wrapped around him melted like mist.

Yujae sighed.

“…Haa.”

He should’ve done this earlier. Delaying because of Yuwon’s disapproval had been a mistake.

Leaving the bath, he threw on a robe and approached Pungjae. Nestled in the boy’s mouth, twitching between his teeth, was an insect parasite, a gu Yujae had implanted long ago. Pungjae had begged to live as a martial artist, not a helpless civilian. Yujae had graciously granted his wish.

The Qi emitted by the gu allowed him to cultivate poison arts. But now it writhed in protest, refusing to leave its host.

Yujae crushed it with his fingers. The bug split clean in two, and its limp body dragged out like a thread.

“One day, you’ll understand that a normal life is the most extraordinary.”

He had stripped Pungjae of his memories. And now, his martial arts too. Tang Yujae murmured quietly. He had never liked Pungjae. But he hadn’t hated him, either. That was just the kind of man Tang Yujae was, detached, indifferent.

‘You… don’t feel human at all. No one I’ve ever met anyone as cruel as you.’

Except for that mad bride with the bright, tear-filled eyes.

As the memory flashed, Yujae considered paying his wife a visit. But remembering that the Hanhoe leader was waiting in the office, he barely reined in the urge.

Now that the sacred pill of the North Sea had chosen his bride, it was time to extend proper courtesy to the Bing family’s princess.

“I wish to duel the Gyo-mo.”

But as soon as Yujae entered the office and saw Biyu, his face hardened.

“…What did you say?”

He repeated the question, voice low. Biyu answered crisply.

“As you know, the sacred energy of the Ice Palace has chosen the Gyo-mo as its master. However, I cannot take his martial arts through absorption techniques like huingong, nor through forced transfer like Gyeogchejeon (Body Transmission Duel). That would be unacceptable.”

Unacceptable was putting it mildly.

Huingong techniques and Gyeogchejeon were methods used to steal another’s martial prowess. Both could drain nearly all of the target’s Qi. Even the Cheonsin’s aura bristled at the thought.

Biyu quickly clarified,

“There must be a reason the Heavenly Heart Ice Pill chose him. If I am defeated in a fair duel, I will leave the Sipman Daesan without question. But if I win…”

“…If you win?”

Yujae’s voice sharpened. Biyu bowed respectfully and said,

“I would like to invite the Gyo-mo to the Ice Palace for a month. I wish to present him to the Palace Mitress and investigate why the heavens of the North Sea chose him. O Cheonsin who blooms flowers even in the dead of winter, please grant this…”

“That’s not wise, Biyu.”

The Ice Palace was, and had always been, a forbidden place for men.

Only breeding slaves were allowed to enter. And this woman wanted to bring his bride there?

“Surely you haven’t forgotten my wife is a man?”

He suspected Biyu might have been blinded by Seolyeong’s beauty. But she answered clearly.

“No matter how beautiful, a man is still a man.”

“…Well, that’s a relief to hear. You also know that in the North Sea, only breeding slaves may enter as men.”

“Yes. But the Gyo-mo received the grace of the Heavenly Heart Ice Pill. That makes him, in a way, one of the Ice Palace’s own. The Palace Mistress will wish to know how someone with a man’s body came to receive such a blessing.”

And so, the discussion became even more entangled. Tang Yujae didn’t bother hiding his displeasure as he asked,

“And after your little investigation, you plan to return my bride safely, I presume?”

“Of course, Sect Leader. The Gyo-mo will return with joyous news and in perfect health.”

Then her light gray eyes gleamed with a sudden, intense resolve.

“…Because he’ll return with the body of a woman, fit for the role of Gyo-mo. Using a secret art of the North Sea, we will transform his body into one capable of bearing life.”