Chapter 199

Instead of red blood, dense demonic energy sprayed in every direction.

The Bishop looked down at his severed left arm twitching on the ground, and rage flooded his face.

“You insolent little brat...!”

At the same instant, sinister energy crushed down on the air so heavily I could barely breathe.

Shhk!

It felt as though a red-hot iron spike had punched straight through my shoulder.

My teeth ground together from the agony of living flesh tearing apart.

I forced myself not to bite my tongue and opened my eyes wide.

The Bishop was glaring down at me with the face of a malevolent ghost, as though he wanted to devour me whole.

At some point, his sword had gone straight through my shoulder.

“You damned Tangs...! I could chew your bones to splinters and still not be satisfied! Every last one of you keeps getting in my way! The moment the great undertaking is complete, I swear I will turn Sichuan into a sea of fire!”

With a furious roar, he ripped the sword free and flung it aside, then seized my throat with his remaining hand.

“Ghk! Khh—!”

I thrashed my arms and legs, trying to pry away the hand crushing my windpipe, but the Bishop did not budge.

If anything, his grip tightened.

My mind began to blur.

It felt as though all the inner force in my body were draining away.

Dark-red mist swam before my eyes.

Just as my consciousness began to fade, Yeon Ryang shouted sharply.

“Don’t touch her!”

The Bishop faltered, and his grip loosened.

When he turned around, Yeon Ryang was grinding his teeth, snarling at him.

“Unless you intend to ruin the great undertaking with your own hands, don’t touch that girl. The moment you do, your precious sacrifice will smash his own skull open.”

“You remain as insolent as ever. Do you truly think you are in any position to make demands?”

“I said I’ll go! I’ll go and do whatever you tell me! Just let the girl go!”

Yeon Ryang screamed the words.

The Bishop glared at him for a long moment, breathing heavily.

Then, apparently having finished his calculations, he tossed me aside like a rag.

The world lurched.

Nausea surged through me as I rolled helplessly across the ground.

With my throat finally free, I broke into violent coughing.

“Cough, cough...! Ptuh!”

I spat out bloody saliva and braced a hand against the ground, but I could not put any strength into my left arm.

The sword must have mangled the nerves when it pierced my shoulder.

The stench of blood was so thick it numbed my nose.

The whole world looked red.

My vision kept fading in and out, so I bit hard into the soft flesh inside my mouth.

Get a grip.

Losing the use of one arm won’t kill you. Stop the bleeding first. You hit him. You can do this. You can kill him.

I ran my tongue over the ragged flesh inside my mouth.

The pain cleared my head, bringing the world back into focus.

I tore through the sleeve of my robe with my teeth and crawled across the ground, struggling to bind the wound one-handed.

If my left arm swung loose, it would throw off my balance.

If I wanted to use my right arm at all, I had to secure the injured shoulder tightly enough that it would not move on its own.

While I swallowed curses and pulled the knot tight with trembling teeth, the Bishop picked up his severed arm.

He drained the vital essence from one of his subordinates and used it to attach the dangling chunk of flesh back in place.

But his left arm did not move freely as before.

Instead, the skin around the reattached wound began rotting black.

“Th-this damned...! Master and disciple alike—you’re both rabid dogs!”

He pressed points around the wound to keep the poison from spreading and glared at me as though he wanted to kill me on the spot.

It looked as if he desperately wanted to tear me apart but was forcing himself to endure it because he needed Yeon Ryang to cooperate.

Despite the killing intent pouring off him, strangely, I wasn’t afraid.

I almost laughed.

So that’s why he lost his wrist.

It seemed the poisonous energy contained within Grandfather’s inner force had left a wound even demonic energy could not restore.

He should have carved out your heart instead of taking an arm.

He should have cut your throat in one stroke.

I should have killed you myself.

I refused to shrink back and stared at him through bloodshot eyes.

The Bishop spat a curse and jerked his head away.

“Those viper eyes of yours... One day, I will carve them out myself.”

You took the words right out of my mouth.

I wanted to sneer back at him, but I no longer had the strength.

Clots of blood kept surging into my throat, bringing on fit after fit of shallow coughing.

My twisted energy channels blocked the flow of inner force, and pain tore through my insides as though my entrails were being ripped apart.

Gravel dug into my fingertips as I clawed at the ground, cutting the skin, but my senses had dulled so badly I barely felt it.

The fact that my body would not obey me was so maddening I thought I might lose my mind.

Why...! Why won’t it work...?!

Just fifteen minutes—no, one form. Just give me one more attack! Even if I die here, let me kill that bastard first!

But no matter how desperately I wished it, strength continued draining from my limbs.

All I could do was lie helplessly on the ground and twitch.

With tremendous effort, I lifted my head and looked at Yeon Ryang.

He was trying not to look at me, staring only at his own feet.

Meanwhile, the Bishop struck one of the subordinates who had been trembling nearby across the neck, knocking him unconscious.

Then he threw the body at Yeon Ryang.

“Use essence absorption.”

“...”

“You said with your own mouth that you would obey me. Stop resisting and swallow it. What do you think you can accomplish with a body like that? Your flesh is meant to serve the great undertaking.”

Yeon Ryang pressed his lips tightly together.

The Bishop frowned, strode over, and drained the Demonic Sect operative’s vital essence himself.

Then he forced Yeon Ryang’s mouth open and shoved the dark-red energy inside.

“Kh—! Cough!”

Yeon Ryang coughed violently as he was forced to swallow another person’s vital essence.

His body twisted in horror.

But in stark contrast, the demonic energy that had been surging so violently it seemed ready to run rampant began visibly calming.

Yeon Ryang’s dark-red hair had now turned a vivid blood-red.

The Bishop continued feeding him vital essence until color returned to his deathly pale face.

Then he dusted off his hand and snapped at him.

“I’ll give you the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. If you run again, I will flay that girl alive. Conduct yourself accordingly.”

“...I’ll come soon.”

The Bishop snorted at Yeon Ryang’s reluctant answer.

He fixed me with a chilling glare, then turned his back.

Yeon Ryang met my eyes.

An emotion I could not put into words flashed across his face and vanished.

It lasted only an instant.

But I knew.

He had made a decision.

“Brother, no...”

I shook my head and clawed at the ground, trying to drag myself toward him.

But no matter how much strength I put into my body, I could not get up.

Every time I tried to push myself upright, blood streamed from the wound in my pierced shoulder.

Every time I planted a foot to take a step, my knees buckled.

None of the muscles in my body would obey me.

All I could do was struggle in place like someone drowning in a swamp.

Yeon Ryang bit down hard on his lip as he watched me flail.

Then he picked up the sword lying on the ground.

Using the chipped blade as a cane, he staggered toward me.

For some reason, his shoulders looked smaller than ever.

“...Sohae.”

He called my name with difficulty and gently stroked my head with his large hand.

“Your brother... Your brother has to go now.”

Guilt filled his blood-red eyes.

The instant I realized what he intended to do, I thought I would go insane.

He was going to knock me unconscious himself.

“Don’t. Don’t touch me. Brother. If you do this, I’ll never forgive you for the rest of my life.”

Even at my threat, Yeon Ryang only smiled bitterly.

“Good. Don’t forgive me.”

“Brother!”

“My little sister is too kind to hate anyone properly. What am I supposed to do with you?”

“Hey! You seriously—!”

In my panic, I dropped all restraint and grabbed the hem of his clothes.

But this time, he had no intention of giving in to me the way he usually did.

He simply and gently removed my hand.

“I should have sent you straight home back then... I got greedy, and now I’m making you see something like this. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t. I said don’t!”

“Your brother... was happy. So happy it frightened me to think I was allowed to be that happy.”

The muscles in Yeon Ryang’s cheeks trembled as he forced out the words.

I begged him.

“Brother. Brother, I was wrong. Don’t do this. Please don’t. Okay? I’ll listen to you from now on. If you tell me to go to the Martial Alliance, I’ll go. If you tell me to go home, I’ll go home. So please don’t do this. Don’t. Please...”

Tears kept obscuring my vision.

Instead of answering, Yeon Ryang wiped them from the corners of my eyes.

The way he was behaving—as though this were the end, as though we would never see each other again—nearly drove me out of my mind.

Sniffling, I clutched his hand tightly.

He let me hold it without resistance.

His hand was sticky with blood.

I couldn’t even tell whether it was his or mine.

“Don’t forgive your brother. Blame me as much as you want. But only blame me. Don’t hate the world. All right?”

“Brother, please... Please...”

“Forget all about people from the Demonic Sect and live your own life now. Don’t ruin yourself because of me, and don’t go piling up grudges and debts of vengeance. Promise me. Treat it like one bad dream and forget all of it.”

“Forget what?! Don’t say insane things!”

My hoarse voice broke apart in my throat as another surge of blood rose behind it.

Yeon Ryang bit his lip and forced a smile, then reached toward me.

I tried to avoid his hand.

But with my inner force in chaos, my body could not move fast enough.

Yeon Ryang pressed the vital point that would put me to sleep and slowly lowered me to the ground.

“Good girl. I sent the furball to find the Poison King. It’ll bring him here soon. Just hold on until then. My little sister can do that, right?”

“No... Don’t go... Don’t leave me here, Brother...”

“Shh. When you wake up, everything will be fine. Everything will be all right.”

Yeon Ryang gently stroked my cheek.

Then his hand slowly withdrew.

My entire body felt as though it were burning.

At the same time, it felt cold as ice.

I fought desperately to keep my eyes open, but strength kept leaving me.

It was as though something had covered my eyes.

I couldn’t see anything anymore.

“...I’m sorry.”

For what? What are you sorry for? You didn’t do anything wrong, so what could you possibly be sorry for?

I wanted to scream at him not to say something so stupid.

But now I couldn’t even hear my own breathing.

The world had gone silent, as though I were sinking into the depths of the sea.

No.

Not yet. Not yet.

Move.

Move, damn it!

I fought with everything I had and reached toward Yeon Ryang’s fading presence.

But not even a single joint of one finger would obey me.

Then, at last, thick darkness swallowed me whole.