## Chapter 91 – 91. 서안(3)
# 91. Xi’an (3)
Cheon Yeo-hwa hated winter.
She hated the winter that stole warmth from her.
And that was an emotion no one could understand.
Cheon Yeo-hwa was the Second Princess of the Demonic Cult and the sixth successor of the Moon Spirit Demonic Art.
The Moon Spirit Demonic Art, one of the Ten Great Demonic Arts of the world, had the characteristic of increasing the efficiency of Qi accumulation as the Yin energy deepened.
For the successor of the Moon Spirit Demonic Art to hate winter, the season when Yin energy was at its peak, who would believe it if you said a pure white Arctic fox hated snowy places?
Despite such worldly perceptions, Cheon Yeo-hwa hated winter.
Those who mastered the Moon Spirit Demonic Art gained resistance to the cold due to the dense Yin energy, and their bodies became unable to feel warmth.
However, it wasn’t that they couldn’t feel the cold either, just like warmth. It was just that the cold couldn’t adversely affect the body, but the sensation of being cold and chilly remained.
Some would say:
-Is that supposed to be an advantage? That’s absurd.
On a cold winter day, even if the icy wind lashed at the skin as if tearing it apart, if you had mastered the Moon Spirit Demonic Art, you wouldn’t freeze to death.
However, in that cold, you couldn’t even tell if you were alive. Even though the heart was beating, the whole body was as cold as a corpse.
Even if you wrapped yourself tightly in thick blankets in front of a blazing fire, the warmth you desired would never come.
That was why Demonic Arts were called Demonic Arts.
Even the few advantages they had couldn’t remain advantages.
Of course, there was a time when she was surrounded by cozy warmth and fell asleep feeling good.
She could feel the warmth that no one else could, in the arms of her mother and nanny. When she fell asleep in their arms, even the cold winter wasn’t so bad.
However, even such small happiness was not allowed for her.
-Mother…?
Her mother was caught up in some kind of incident and passed away, and her nanny was murdered by an unknown assailant.
Cheon Yeo-hwa, who was still young, didn’t have clear evidence, but she was certain that all these atrocities were the work of the First Prince.
From that day on, Cheon Yeo-hwa lived for revenge.
Using her position as the Second Princess, she aggressively gathered talent and trained in the Moon Spirit Demonic Art, which she resented.
She scattered her hair, which was dyed white with snow, and slaughtered martial artists of the Orthodox Faction. Hardly a day went by without her rampaging in the conflict zones between the Orthodox and Unorthodox Factions, and when the blood on her hands couldn’t be washed away and she couldn’t count the number of people she had killed.
Cheon Yeo-hwa inherited her master’s title and became the Sixth Moon Spirit Witch.
As a result, her reputation within the Divine Cult grew day by day, and before she knew it, she became a candidate for successor comparable to the First Prince.
But that was it.
Due to the betrayal of her close aides, her power collapsed in an instant, and she was poisoned and became a fugitive overnight. To survive, she had no choice but to leave the Ten Thousand Great Mountains and head to the distant Central Plains.
After shaking off countless pursuers and wandering aimlessly, half a year had passed.
She walked through an uninhabited forest.
The sunlight coming through the leaves looked warm, but Cheon Yeo-hwa couldn’t feel anything.
The Heavenly Heart Extreme Yang Fire Poison Lotus, which had invaded her dantian, scattered her internal energy and slowly devoured her life.
Her desire for revenge against the First Prince remained, but her attachment to life was gradually fading.
What was she running away for?
Without even a decent answer to that question, she wandered through the forest with lifeless eyes when a small lake appeared.
It was a lake so clear that the clouds in the sky were reflected in it.
‘…My appearance is a mess.’
When she lowered her head to drink water, she saw her haggard appearance. Deep eye circles, dirt smeared everywhere, and a terrible smell coming from her tattered robe.
Even though her mind was exhausted and she had lost the will to live, Cheon Yeo-hwa was still a woman.
After realizing that there was no one around, she carefully took off her clothes and immersed herself in the lake.
It was still far from summer, so the water was cold.
An ordinary person would have shivered, but Cheon Yeo-hwa started bathing without a care. She washed away the dirt from her body and gently washed her dusty hair.
‘What… am I doing?’
She wasn’t running around trying to find an antidote for the Heavenly Heart Extreme Yang Fire Poison Lotus, and she didn’t have a clear destination.
She was just moving forward aimlessly, endlessly.
Either she would be killed by the pursuers who found her, or she would die in a deserted place when her strength ran out.
She felt that was the only future assigned to her.
Cheon Yeo-hwa quietly looked up at the sky.
The clear and beautiful scenery of the sky, unobstructed by trees, was reflected in her eyes.
‘Maybe this is…’
The end of her miserable life…
Crack-
“?!”
Cheon Yeo-hwa’s head quickly turned at the sound of a twig being stepped on.
“…Hello?”
A man with a dazed face stood there waving his hand.
That was her first meeting with Kang Hyun-woo.
***
So many things happened after meeting him.
At first, she thought he was a common lecher, and when she was trapped in a bandit’s trap while chasing him, she thought he was part of the bandit gang.
But it didn’t take long to realize that all of that was her misunderstanding.
He saved her, and even took care of her with a warm place to sleep and food. It was the first kindness she had received in a long time, but she couldn’t easily let her guard down.
Apart from the pursuers, there were countless martial artists who approached her with ulterior motives.
But he was different somehow.
He occasionally looked at her chest, but she didn’t feel the slimy disgust that was unique to lechers.
Moreover, it was difficult to see him as an assassin sent by the First Prince. He had several chances to kill her, but he didn’t try to harm her.
She became more and more confused.
Why is he being so nice to me?
Because he’s a martial artist from the Orthodox Faction?
No way, there were many Orthodox Faction guys among the martial artists who were after her body. In the first place, he wasn’t even a martial artist.
When she heard the suggestion to accompany her to the nearest city, she was suspicious, but after looking at his goofy face, she was convinced.
She walked through the forest with him.
Just having someone standing next to her, who had been alone until now, made her feel a strange feeling she couldn’t identify.
Besides, he became talkative.
She wasn’t usually this talkative.
Suddenly, her instincts sounded an alarm.
They were shouting at her not to get involved with him anymore.
-…I can’t explain the details, but if you travel with me, you’ll be in danger too. If you’re going to Xi’an, I’ll tell you the way, so how about we part ways here…?
He was a rare good person.
She didn’t want him to get caught up in the Divine Cult’s conflict.
-Although it was a meeting caused by misunderstanding, I owe you a lot in a short time. No more…
Like a mute who had eaten honey, she couldn’t bring herself to say the rest.
What would happen after she let him go?
She would wander aimlessly again.
What’s at the end of that?
Suddenly, she became scared.
She thought she had lost all attachment to life, but it seemed that wasn’t the case.
-I’m sorry, but that won’t work. I’m a terrible navigator, so even if you tell me the way, I’ll get lost soon and die from a fall?
She had to put her hands behind her back to hide her trembling hands at his answer.
His nonchalant appearance was so grateful.
At that moment, she felt a warmth in her heart.
She had never felt that way since she lost her mother and nanny.
-…Thank you.
The sincerity that wasn’t mixed with a single lie took the form of words and popped out of her mouth, but the discomfort in her heart still remained.
If she thought about him, if she wanted to repay him for what she had received, she had to let him go.
No, she had to force him away.
The First Prince was a snake-like man.
He wouldn’t give up the chase until he saw her head.
With her dantian gradually deteriorating due to the poison, there was no way she could protect him from the pursuers.
-Name.
But the selfish her couldn’t do that in the end.
-We haven’t even introduced ourselves yet.
He said his name was Kang Hyun-woo.
The Hyun in appearing and the Woo in helping, did he appear in front of her because she was a woman in need of help?
Before she knew it, a faint smile spread across her lips.
After that, with his help, she was able to live like a human being for the first time in a long time. A warm place to sleep and delicious food gave her dying body a little bit of vitality.
But that was it.
-Haa, haa, haa…
-Cheon Yeo-hwa!
The poison of the Heavenly Heart Extreme Yang Fire Poison Lotus began to rage inside her body again.
She could tell because it was a body that had overcome countless crises so far.
That she wouldn’t be able to make it through tonight.
In the pain of her dantian tearing and her heart about to explode, Cheon Yeo-hwa was able to smile.
When she died, he would be able to leave this place without regret, and then he wouldn’t be threatened by the Divine Cult’s pursuers.
She was sorry that she couldn’t repay the benefactor who had given her hope in the last moment of her life, but she was originally such a woman.
Even though she only said harsh words and treated her subordinates harshly, they risked their lives to help her escape.
All they wanted was one thing.
Just to survive, but the incompetent master couldn’t even fulfill their last wish.
-…Huh?
She definitely thought so and closed her eyes.
But in fact, she was alive, and the poison of the Heavenly Heart Extreme Yang Fire Poison Lotus had subsided.
Without even having time to think about what was going on, her face became as hot as if it would explode at the sight of Kang Hyun-woo, who remained in her memory.
At that moment, even the side effects of the Moon Spirit Demonic Art didn’t work.
It was warm even when she was in the arms of her mother and nanny, but this was a different kind of warmth.
It was hard to even look at his sleeping face properly, and every time she saw his lips moving slightly in his sleep, her heart ached.
She quietly snuggled into Kang Hyun-woo’s arms.
He fondled her buttocks in his sleep, but she didn’t feel any repulsion.
Rather, she wanted him to touch her more.
However, when the name of another woman came out of his mouth, she was so angry that she almost froze everything.
Now she had no choice but to admit it.
He was a kind and attractive man. It was inevitable that women would flock to him.
Even the Cult Leader had five wives and twice as many concubines.
The difference in power couldn’t be discussed, but in terms of pure charm, he was more handsome than the Cult Leader.
It was the moment when a new goal was born in her blank life.
She had no experience with men, but she was able to successfully hold him in her arms and have a relationship.
Of course, she ended up fainting because he was more amazing than she had imagined, but she could say that she was happier than ever.
And that happiness reached its peak when she woke up from sleep, lifting her heavy eyelids in the dazzling morning sunlight.
Just like when she was in her mother’s arms, she was surrounded by a cozy warmth that enveloped her whole body, and before she knew it, she snuggled deeper into his arms.
-It’s cold…
It was a body that couldn’t feel the cold with the Moon Spirit Demonic Art, but it was a happiness that made her lie without changing her expression.
Was she allowed to be this happy? Just when she was thinking that.
-…Hmm?
She smelled another woman on him.
It was strange.
She had definitely been intimate with him all night, so it didn’t make sense that she smelled another woman.
-Hyun-woo, I smell another woman on you.
-…
-I think we need to talk… What do you think?
The result was beyond imagination.
The ability to travel to other worlds, of course, she was a little angry when she heard that he had a relationship with another woman with that ability, but she had no intention of resenting him.
In the first place, it was natural for a good man to hold many women in his arms.
Rather, with his ability, he could hold any woman he wanted in his arms. But there are still less than 10?
When she heard that, she could see her lips twitching. Moreover, she even felt grateful to him for choosing her among so many women.
However, as time went by, happiness was replaced by anxiety and nervousness.
Training together, sweating together, walking around the city together. Not fancy, but drinking delicious food and alcohol in a human-smelling inn, and spending happy moments with a lover that seemed trivial at first glance.
Perhaps it was the life she had been hoping for.
When the Orthodox Faction called the White Blossom Gate flirted with her without knowing the subject, he didn’t hesitate.
Her heart fluttered as he nailed her as his woman.
However, was that enough?
The poison of the Heavenly Heart Extreme Yang Fire Poison Lotus had lost its momentum and was dormant, and even if the crisis was okay for the time being with the neutralizer he gave her, it would soon wake up again and devour her body.
Wearing the clothes he gave her and walking down the crowded streets with his touch, she could feel it even more clearly.
That this was not yet a future allowed for her.
The First Prince’s demonic hands would become more and more vicious day by day. Even if her physical condition returned to its prime, there would be hardships and adversities that she would not be able to endure.
In the end, she and Hyun-woo would be destroyed.
In that case.
“…Hyun-woo, let’s break up here.”
“What?”
***
The atmosphere of the accommodation changed with Cheon Yeo-hwa’s shocking remarks.
“…Why?”
“…If you stay with me, you’ll be unhappy too.”
“Do you think that’s a good enough reason?”
As I took a step closer, Cheon Yeo-hwa also took a step back.
“You don’t know. How cruel and persistent the First Prince is.”
“That’s okay-“
“No!”
Cheon Yeo-hwa’s voice rose.
The eyes that were looking at me were trembling slightly.
“I’m sorry for deceiving you so far, but I’m the Second Princess of the Demonic Cult.”
It was something I already knew.
“And the one who’s trying to kill me is the First Prince, who’s closest to being the next Cult Leader.”
“…”
“Right now, the level of the pursuers isn’t that high, so it might be okay. But what if an elder who was bribed by him comes later? What will you do then…? They’re the kind of guys who will chase you even if you run away to the end of the Central Plains…!”
A voice filled with moisture echoes throughout the room.
Seeing Cheon Yeo-hwa trembling pitifully, my heart ached.
“…If they find out that you’re related to me, you’ll die too. So please…”
Cheon Yeo-hwa, who was shouting as if begging, finally collapsed. She sat down on the floor and let her long hair hang down, pleading with me.
“…Okay, I’ll leave.”
I pulled out the Millennium from my waist and threw it on the floor. The sword, which rolled away with a loud noise, stopped in front of Cheon Yeo-hwa.
“Instead, kill me and go.”
“…There’s no way you can do that…”
In the end, Cheon Yeo-hwa shed tears.
Traces were left on the wooden floor by the pearl-like tears that fell drop by drop.
After watching her quietly, I slowly approached and hugged Cheon Yeo-hwa.
“Yeo-hwa, do you know what?”
“…What are you talking about?”
“It took me less than a month to get this strong.”
Of course, if you think about the time I spent in other worlds, it’s been more than a month. However, that wasn’t the case for each world.
I believe without a doubt that I’m getting stronger faster than anyone else in the past and future.
“Before that, I was just an ordinary person. I’ve only touched a kitchen knife a few times, and I was weaker than the people walking around outside right now?”
“…That’s a lie.”
“Don’t you believe me?”
I gently stroked Cheon Yeo-hwa’s cheeks, who was hanging her head down. Only then did Cheon Yeo-hwa raise her head.
Her eyes were red, and her eyes were full of moisture.
“What if another month passes, half a year passes, a year passes?”
“…”
“No one in the world will kill you. I won’t die either.”
Even if I have to spend decades in another world and come back.
“So, are you going to say let’s break up again?”
Cheon Yeo-hwa slowly shook her head.
