Chapter 2

Kidnapping (1)

“Did I really go through with it…”

I kidnapped the youngest daughter of the Sichuan Tang Clan.

I was confident I had handled things cleanly, so a pursuit team wouldn’t immediately follow. But that was only a matter of time.

In the orthodox sects, there’s an odd tradition where young elites roam the martial world alone, under the name of Murimchuldo (무림출도), a sort of coming-of-age journey for martial artists.

However, just because they leave home doesn’t mean they’re abandoned.

If a sect is large enough, they periodically check on the young warrior’s wellbeing, and if something happens, they send reinforcements. After all, they want these future elites to gain experience, not to die. That’s only natural.

Still…

Even knowing all of this, I had no choice.

It felt like yesterday was the only opportunity I’d ever get.

So, I went for it.

Feeling a bit guilty, I awkwardly smiled at Tang Sowl.

“Did you sleep well last night?”

“Mmmph! Mmmph!”

Tang Sowl writhed furiously, as if telling me to shut the hell up.

How harsh.

I rolled her over and pushed her into a corner. Then I sat down a fair distance away and began to circulate my inner energy.

Gwangrang Talnyungyong (광랑탈늉용 / Wolf Stealing Life Technique).

It was a revised cultivation method developed after gaining enlightenment when I reached the peak.

Now, unlike before my regression, I wouldn’t suffer from a chronic lack of inner energy or its impurities.

In fact, after only a brief session of energy circulation, my completely drained internal energy and stamina from overexertion yesterday began to recover rapidly.

“Huu…”

With the urgent matter of recovery dealt with, I opened my eyes.

I had been distracted by the sound of Tang Sowl struggling and wriggling her way toward me.

“Were you planning to wait until I was cultivating and then try to cause inner energy deviation (주화입마, a state of losing control over one’s energy flow)?”

“Mmmph!”

“I’ll tell you now, it’s a waste of effort. In your current state, you won’t be able to undo the pressure points I sealed or escape from the stake holding your ropes in place.”

Even by some miracle, she did manage to break free and land a hit on me, the unique nature of Gwangrang Talnyungyong’s inner energy makes me less susceptible to inner energy deviation.

I didn’t explain that part, but it seemed she couldn’t really harm me no matter what she did.

Her glare was still fierce, but her body slightly relaxed, as if she had lost some of her tension.

I crouched down in front of her and spoke.

“You can scream or curse all you want, but don’t bite your tongue. If you promise that, I’ll remove the gag.”

“Ugh—”

Tang Sowl hesitated for a moment before nodding.

She seemed displeased with the idea of complying, as she angrily gnawed on the wooden gag in her mouth. Still, since I was about to remove it, I figured it wouldn’t be a problem.

Carefully, I pulled out the gag.

A long strand of saliva stretched and broke as it came free.

I wiped her mouth roughly with my sleeve, and soon enough, her composed voice reached my ears.

“What’s your goal?”

“Hm?”

“You’re a senior martial artist who’s somehow regained your youth. Surely you understand what it means to turn the Tang Clan into an enemy.”

“A senior martial artist?”

So that’s what she thought.

I suppose it made sense.

Before my regression, I had been a fully grown adult. Tang Sowl is five years older than me.

Now, she was barely twenty, and I, who was even younger in this life, was still in my mid-teens.

The age difference probably felt even greater since I was still growing.

But to her, the idea that a mere child had defeated her, a direct descendant of the Tang Clan and one of their most promising young elites, must have been inconceivable.

Even though it had been a surprise attack, being captured without a single wound would have made her acutely aware of the disparity in our abilities.

Since she wouldn’t even consider the possibility of someone traveling back in time, it was only natural that she assumed I was an old martial master who had regained his youth.

It’s not unheard of for such masters to occasionally return to the martial world after reversing their aging.

Still, I didn’t particularly like being viewed that way by Tang Sowl.

Think about it.

From my perspective, I had only recently pledged my future to her, and now she was treating me like some old grandfather.

This misunderstanding needed to be corrected somehow.

“I’m fifteen this year.”

“Is that so.”

She said it, but for some reason, her wariness only increased.

She looked at me as if I were some crazy old monster pretending to be a fifteen-year-old.

Sadly, it didn’t seem like I could clear up this misunderstanding anytime soon.

Strictly speaking, I wasn’t entirely wrong in claiming to be fifteen, but still, I decided to change the subject for now.

“Relax. I don’t intend to harm you.”

“If that were true, shouldn’t you have kidnapped me in the first place?”

“I understand why you’re misunderstanding, but I did this for your sake.”

“Well, that’s reassuring.”

Tang Sowl responded with a sarcastic tone, clearly uninterested in hearing me out.

That night, beneath a sky without even a trace of moonlight, when we made our promise and shared various stories, I learned something.

The reason half of Tang Sowl’s face had melted away had to do with an incident that occurred shortly after she debuted in the martial world.

“Double grace, tenfold vengeance.”

That was the famous law of the Tang Clan.

Because of this widely known rule, few dared to antagonize them. Conversely, many sought to curry favor with them.

Despite their rigid approach to navigating the complex web of grudges and favors in the martial world, the Tang Clan was not without enemies.

There are people who only remember the wrongs they suffered, never their own misdeeds.

There are even those who hold dear the most vile of villains.

And no matter how thorough one is in seeking vengeance, it’s inevitable that a few flies will slip through the cracks.

Returning tenfold vengeance means planting tenfold the seeds of hatred.

Few dared to oppose the Tang Clan, but those who did were enemies of the worst kind—ones who could be called mortal foes.

Tang Sowl had been ambushed by such enemies.

Survivors of a black-market sect wiped out by the Tang Clan, forest bandits whose stronghold had been destroyed, the disciple of a notorious demonic lord, assassins whose organization was shattered after being framed for their crimes—

All of them had deep grudges against the Tang Clan, and they banded together to attack Tang Sowl.

They likely sought to repay their losses in kind.

In that sense, Tang Sowl was their ideal target.

She was the youngest daughter of the Tang Clan, beloved by all, and possessed a unique constitution known as the Poison Spirit Body (독성체).

If they could kill Tang Sowl, they believed it would leave a lasting scar on the Tang Clan.

Though they failed, Tang Sowl was only barely alive at that time, and her survival was entirely thanks to her Poison Spirit Body.

The Poison Spirit Body allowed her to store poison within her body and synthesize it into stronger toxins.

Using that ability, she had managed to unleash a poison so potent that it even began to dissolve her own body, enabling her to narrowly escape.

Afterward, the enraged head of the Tang Clan personally pursued and eliminated every surviving attacker, reducing them to nothing but a handful of poisoned dust.

As for Tang Sowl—

She had lived the rest of her life ashamed of her scarred face, keeping it hidden behind her bangs.

“Still… how did things come to