Chapter 98: Fight to the Death, Then Life

A round, pale face cast a soft glow like the moon.

An androgynous beauty with a face so mesmerizing it dulled human reason.

It was truly a moment when the phrase “Beauty Beneath the Moonlight (月下佳人)” naturally came to mind.

“Uuugh……”

And perhaps Ilhong’s warning had been true.

For some reason, ever since the moment our eyes met, I couldn’t tear my gaze from that face.

As if bound by sorcery, my body froze stiff, staring blankly at that face.

“Urgh.”

Even beside me, Tang Yeo-hye showed no movement. She seemed to have fallen into the same state as I had.

So this was the demonic power of a beast that had survived for hundreds, even thousands of years in the brutal murim.

“Ku-hwaaargh!”

But then, Blood Panda, who knew nothing of human aesthetics, let out a roar that jolted us back to our senses.

It nudged me and Tang Yeo-hye, breaking the spell’s hold.

“Haah, thanks, Panda!”

“That was terrifying!”

We both let out sighs of relief.

Blood Panda gave a satisfied expression, grunting, “Ku-hng.”

Krrrr—

Meanwhile, as we regained our senses, the Human-faced Spider tilted its head sideways in puzzlement, as if wondering why its trick hadn’t worked.

“This is a grenade.”

Chik—

I should’ve done this from the start. As the torch touched, the fuse began to spark and burn.

I hurled the iron sphere Ilhong had given me with all my might toward the creature.

Kwaaang—!

A flash and blast shook the cave.

The explosion itself wasn’t great, but for the beast accustomed to darkness and silence, it was as if it had been struck directly by a flash bomb.

“Kiiirrrrk—!”

Its grotesque face twisted in agony.

Then, with a heavy thud, something large dropped from the ceiling of the cave.

“……Holy shit.”

“Wow, I’d heard about them, but to think a spider could be this big.”

I tossed a torch nearby, illuminating the spider’s body.

A spider the size of a grown man twitched its twelve legs, glaring at us.

Its eyes glowed red with poisonous malice under the torchlight.

“Those bones……”

“They’re mixed—both animals and humans. Traces of what it’s eaten.”

They must all have belonged to the people around here. From the Five Poison Sect, Poison Valley, or the Palace of Southern Beasts—slowly devoured one after another.

“Kiiirrrrk—”

Though its body was that of a spider, its face was human, an unsettling sight by itself.

But upon closer look, below the human face, it also had the true jaws and mouth of a spider.

Massive fangs perfect for piercing, hard chitin, and solid mandibles.

Click, click.

The beast glanced between us, clashing its fangs together like it was savoring its meal in advance.

“As I said before, you must never let those fangs pierce you.”

Those venomous fangs were directly connected to the venom gland—the very ingredient we were here to obtain.

One of the fifteen materials for the Grand Ten-thousand Emperor Pill. The final piece that would unite all poisons into balance.

If dried and brought back, it could raise Clan Head Tang Yangcheon to his feet again, and I would gain immense karmic merit as well as powerful guanxi within Sichuan.

“That venom is on a completely different level from the poison mist it regularly spews. Even you would die instantly.”

Tang Yeo-hye clenched the antidote pill between her teeth, continuing grimly rather than encouragingly.

I glanced sideways. Her small, pale face brimmed with worry.

Her main weapon—the poison—was all but sealed against this creature. Even with antidote pills in her mouth, she couldn’t unleash more than half her usual power.

If she had come alone, she wouldn’t even have fought properly, and her bones would’ve been added to that pile.

“Advance and never retreat (臨戰無退)!”

Which meant I had to step up and cut down this beast.

Gathering every bit of my anti-demonic internal energy, my Dog-Beating Staff erupted with white energy, blazing like a holy flame.

‘……!’

As the power of the Starfall Heart Cultivation Method pulsed through my body, the Heaven-Slaying Star reacted violently.

“Kiiiirk—!”

A red line cut across my vision. The Human-faced Spider leaped, slashing down at me with its blade-like legs brimming with killing intent.

“Fight to the Death, Then Life (必死則生)!”

It was the same in all battles. When you fight as though to die, you win.

I twisted my head, dodging the stabbing leg by a hair’s breadth, and unleashed Whirlwind Steps.

Vanishing into the ground, I left the spider startled, its eyes darting wildly.

Taah!

From behind, I sprang up like a coil and swung the Dog-Beating Staff. A pale arc shot forward in a clean semicircle.

Puhk!

The exoskeleton, which was said to repel blades, shattered under the blow infused with internal energy.

“Kiiiirrrraaaagh—!”

Its human-like mouth gaped as it let out a grotesque scream. The closer I looked, the more hideous it was.

Shwik! Shwik-shwik!

With a vicious glare, the Human-faced Spider unleashed a storm of slashes with its twelve legs.

Red streaks crisscrossed like dozens attacking at once, as if I were trapped inside a crimson web.

All my past real combat experience against humans felt useless now.

Thwack!

At last, one leg struck my side.

“Gahk! Fuck!”

The blow rattled my organs. I flew into the cave wall and rolled across the dirt floor.

Struck by a spider leg, but it felt like being smashed by an iron club.

“Die!”

Seizing the moment when its attention was fixed on me, Tang Yeo-hye’s eyes flared with venomous light.

Her five fingers, curved like a raptor’s beak, stabbed into the joint of one massive leg.

“Kiiiirrrrk—!”

A gush of dark-green fluid sprayed as one of its massive legs snapped.

But in return, a wild strike hurled her into the far wall, just as I had been.

“Damn it, this isn’t the Stone Age—what kind of spider is this?!”

Its size was absurd, its strength monstrous.

The biggest spider I’d ever seen before was palm-sized. Truly, this damned thing called “Qi” that exists between Heaven and Earth was the problem.

Spat!

Red droplets filled the air. The beast lifted its abdomen, spewing spider silk mixed with venom.

“What the hell…?!”

If it had been a blade or spear, I could’ve countered by sacrificing flesh for bone.

But this outlandish attack left me scrambling, rolling desperately to avoid it.

Spat! Spat!

It seemed to view me as the greatest threat, pursuing relentlessly.

At last, one sticky strand of web caught my ankle.

“Kiiiirk!”

Its eyes gleamed as if to say “Got you.” With a lightning-quick motion, it began to reel me in.

“Goddamn it…!”

Agonizing pain tore through my ankle. No matter how I struggled, my body was dragged toward it.

The Human-faced Spider opened its lower jaws wide, revealing saw-like fangs.

“Ku-hwaaargh!”

At that moment, a deafening roar. A massive beast charged straight at the spider.

Thud—!

With a headbutt heavy enough to crush a thousand catties, the Human-faced Spider was sent flying, slamming into the wall.

“Kiiiirrrk…!”

It staggered back to its feet, trembling on twelve legs.

Blood Panda didn’t miss the chance. It lunged again, slamming down its heavy claws.

Thud! Crack! Smash! Crunch!

Focusing all its strength into one point, it tore apart the spider’s hard exoskeleton.

Yellowish ichor spurted everywhere as the Human-faced Spider shrieked in pain.

It must have decided things weren’t going its way, because with its half-torn belly it spewed webbing that covered Blood Panda’s face.

With its vision blocked, Blood Panda flailed wildly, all martial-arts-like movement gone.

“Kiiirrrrk─!”

“Ku-hwaaargh─!”

The spiritual beast and the demonic beast clashed in a frenzied melee. Claws and fangs collided, flesh tore, and blood sprayed—it was a pure beastly brawl.

A true monster battle, with things ripping and bursting apart. The cave walls shook under the weight of their desperate struggle.

Chiiiik!

I ripped off the sticky webbing from my skin and rose to my feet.

At that moment—

Puk.

The Human-faced Spider’s lower fangs sank deep into Blood Panda’s shoulder. Dark venom poured into the beast’s flesh, dripping back out in streams.

Though raised on venom, so it didn’t melt, its whole body stiffened, blood spewing from its mouth—it was at the brink of death.

“No…! You bastard, how dare you do that to our Panda!”

The creature’s human face twisted into a cruel smile, as if it meant to finish him.

“Roar… Hell-Revenge Staff!”

Taah!

Unleashing Whirlwind Steps with all my strength, my body shot forward like an arrow.

In an instant, I closed the distance. The sharp legs that had been about to finish Blood Panda turned toward me.

With my Dog-Beating Staff blazing with the white aura of Demon-Breaking Qi, I struck them head-on.

Thwack! Thwack!

Only three legs remained after its battle with Blood Panda. Now, one after another, they burst and sprayed fluid.

From twelve legs at first, now it was reduced to something like fighting a mere three-sword style opponent—no longer the overwhelming threat it had been.

“Kiiirrrrk…!”

It writhed and collapsed, as if powerless. Thinking it defeated, I rushed in—only to realize it had been a ruse to spray more web.

Spat!

At close range, it spewed webs wide like a net.

There was no avoiding it. I twisted desperately, but part of the web caught my right hand and my staff.

Spat!

Then, squeezing its swollen abdomen, it bound my other hand as well.

“Kiiirrrrk, kiiiirrrrk!”

Its human face twisted into a grin of malice.

It meant to smother me in its venom-dripping webbing.

But then came a sharp sound, like the strike of a raptor’s beak.

Puhk!

A pale, jade-like hand pierced straight through the Human-faced Spider’s laughing face.

There was no brain or skull inside—just skin and flesh collapsing in shreds.

“Die, you son of a bitch…”

The Human-faced Spider collapsed heavily to the ground.

Behind it stood Tang Yeo-hye, her face pale.

“Huff, huff…”

“Noona, are you alright?”

She shook her head, gasping for breath.

“Of course not. Haa… and you?”

Chriiip.

Tearing off the stubborn webbing from my arm, I answered.

“I’m wrecked all over.”

Panda was too, and none of us were in any good shape.

“Nnngh… the venom gland… We have to harvest the venom gland if we’re to save Father.”

Even exhausted, she muttered as she drew her dagger, approaching the Human-faced Spider’s shattered head.

“…Maybe take it slow?”

I followed with a grimace.

“No, it has to be fresh. Only then is its efficacy the best…”

But then—red killing intent flared from the supposedly dead beast.

I saw a crimson line cut across, aiming for Tang Yeo-hye’s temple.

“Shit!”

Its last act of defiance. I thrust my arm out just in time, blocking its fangs right before her face.

Puk!

One of the fangs I’d warned her so much about pierced straight through me. Tang Yeo-hye’s eyes went wide in horror.

Crack!

Her hand, surging with qi, severed the beast’s life for good.

And I collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

The Human-faced Spider’s venom spread inside me, burning like fire, melting me from within. My limbs writhed in agony, as if I’d been thrown into hellfire.

“Ughhh, gaaaah!”

“No! No, no! The Human-faced Spider’s venom has no cure!”

She collapsed on the spot, her face full of despair.

The sharpness in her eyes was gone, replaced by tears as she looked at me.

My body trembled like one seized by qi deviation, my skin melted, and her hopeless face filled my vision. My mind flashed like a lantern with scenes of my life.

‘So this is how I go.’

When I fell from the cliff, at least there’d been some hope.

But this venom that exceeded regeneration—I’d never experienced anything like it.

“Yeo-hye noona.”

“Y-yeah?”

“If I don’t make it…”

“Don’t you dare say that! I’ll find a way—I’ll do something, anything!”

As I tried to give my last words, she desperately sucked venom from my wound and spat it out.

I’d heard it was dangerous, but she did it anyway.

“Tell Murong Cheonghye… to live strong. And tell Ilhong I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise.”

My tongue slurred, my body melting—I knew I didn’t have much time.

“And you too, Yeo-hye noona… Fix that foul temper of yours, and maybe try making some friends.”

“……”

My tongue grew heavier, clumsier.

But there was one more thing I had to say.

“And tell my master, Hwang Geolgae, who beat me every damn day…”

“And…?”

“That his ‘Mysterious Daoist’ act doesn’t suit him, it’s lame as hell… so please tell him to stop…”

It was a lighthearted will, but heartfelt.

Too many people had suffered for the sake of his self-image.

“His… what?”

She probably got the gist.

I’d said all I needed. And with that, strength left my body.

“No! Don’t close your eyes, Mujin!”

But my eyes closed on their own.

Her scream echoed through the cave, the last thing I heard as my consciousness slipped away.

Out of the haze, my mind slowly surfaced.

It felt like I’d been dead for quite some time.

My whole body was heavy, even opening my eyes was exhausting.

Chirp chirp.

Birdsong—so it wasn’t hell, then.

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was a ceiling of stone and wood.

And beside me, Tang Yeo-hye, looking haggard as though she’d been tending to me for weeks.

I vaguely recalled leaving behind some will… but embarrassingly enough, I’d survived.

“Good morning.”

Well, what could I do? The living must go on living.

“…!”

At my quiet greeting, Tang Yeo-hye’s half-closed eyes flew open wide.

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