Someone is living today diligently to survive tomorrow, while someone else is living today diligently to die tomorrow.
Yodong Province.
Murong Family.
A personal training hall.
There is a woman here who is living today diligently to die tomorrow.
In the current Martial Arts World, she is called a venomous snake for having killed her husband. A wicked woman likened to a praying mantis that devoured her husband.
“Report.”
Murong Sang-a.
It has been months since the incident where she killed her husband.
Murong Sang-a paused her personal training and spoke to the Great Lord of Spear Peak, who came to report.
“Some of the Kang Family businesses are still refusing to transfer ownership.”
“Even when I show them the documents sealed with the guild’s seal?”
“They said they were forged documents and tried to tear them up right in front of me. I barely stopped them.”
“They tried to tear up the guild’s documents?”
A moment of anger slipped from her normally calm words.
The documents left for her by the guild instructed her to take over the Kang Family’s businesses in the Central Plains.
Through these documents, she gained overwhelming rights and legitimacy to seize many of the Kang Family’s businesses in the Central Plains.
“I did threaten them to hand over the businesses, but the Joseon people are quite stubborn and seem unwilling to yield.”
“Then let’s go together. Prepare the Spear Peak Band.”
With her marriage, the Spear Peak Band, which was supposed to be disbanded, started regaining strength again from that day onwards.
“Miss, we’ll take care of it ourselves.”
“They are disregarding the guild’s wishes. I need to see it for myself.”
The few things left behind by the guild.
Someone tried to ignore it and tear it apart, erasing any trace of the guild.
It cannot be overlooked.
Murong Sang-a headed towards one of the Kang Family’s businesses with the Spear Peak Band.
————
“Absolutely not!”
The person Murong Sang-a encountered was the innkeeper who had absorbed all the businesses he was operating after the downfall of the Kang Family, in the city of Hengcheng in Yodong Province.
“This is a business left by the guild. If you give it up, I will let you operate it as before.”
Murong Sang-a coolly pointed out a way that could be mutually acceptable.
“Operate? Who do you think you are trying to eat this all up and make me your servant? Do you even know who I am?”
“I don’t know. I only know that you illegally absorbed the Kang Family’s business.”
How dare an ignorant fool steal from the guild. Murong Sang-a kept her thoughts to herself and spoke to the man.
“I’m the cousin of the head of the Kang Family. What? Illegal?! I barely managed to keep the Kang Family’s assets intact. What? You want all of it?”
His connections were very flimsy. The man, having escaped the disaster that befell the Kang Family, had taken over the businesses in Hengcheng through various illegal and violent activities.
On the other hand, Murong Sang-a’s rights were solidly based under the name of Kang Yoon-ho.
“I won’t waste words. Just put it down quietly.”
If any of the Spear Peak Band members were by her side, they would have sensed the subtle fury in her words, but the innkeeper could not.
“You’re saying that not because you can’t. Hey! The whole world knows you’re the culprit who brought about the downfall of the Kang Family! And you want us to give up the Kang Family’s assets? In the name of the very Yoon Ho you killed? You have no shame at all!”
Seeing Murong Sang-a’s generosity, the man mistakenly thought he was in a favorable position, shouting loudly enough for everyone in the establishment to hear.
“This is outrageous for the lady!”
“Stop it.”
A Spear Peak member who couldn’t hold back drew his sword, but Murong Sang-a raised her hand to stop him.
Initially, it had been relatively easy to seize the Kang Family’s businesses in the Central Plains, but now, after several months, she had not been able to take over completely because of such reasons.
As news spread that the betrayal of the Kang Family emanated from Murong Sang-a herself, many of the Kang Family’s businesses in the Central Plains turned their backs on her.
Murong Sang-a stared at the man before her.
Should I give up?
She is eternally a sinner in the eyes of the Kang Family.
She had already taken over many businesses. Shouldn’t she be able to give up something as a means of atoning?
Murong Sang-a had come here to wield the rights given by Kang Yoon-ho, but in front of his name, she felt utterly diminished.
The man, seizing the moment as Murong Sang-a fell into dark thoughts, continued his vitriol.
“Kang Yoon-ho, that foolish brat. Ugh. I always knew that punk would have a grand downfall. What did he leave for his family’s enemy? Did he deceive with his looks? You want the Kang Family’s assets in Yoon-ho’s name? That brat didn’t just die, he made sure to go out in a blaze of shame… cough!”
In an instant, a blade plunged into the man’s belly.
“You… how dare you… insult him.”
Murong Sang-a’s furious sword slowly pierced into the man’s gut.
“Cough!”
Her cold anger twisted the blade, amplifying the man’s agony.
“He isn’t that kind of person.”
For just a moment, Murong Sang-a self-deprecatingly questioned herself for worrying about such matters.
To say she would give up the guild’s will for her atonement?
The one she should atone for was not the trash who lost sight of heaven and earth in his greed.
The one she should atone for is,
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry I couldn’t meet you sooner. I’m sorry I couldn’t run to you sooner. I’m sorry I couldn’t be with the wife who will be pointed at in the future.”
Her husband, who gave his life for such a selfish woman.
Murong Sang-a recalled the unforgettable memory of that day, picturing the guild’s face.
Yes. That person cared more about the future of the wife who would be pointed at than their own precious life.
How could she hesitate over something like this?
How could she betray the will of the guild who gave his life?
After everything was done, she must go and seek forgiveness.
She had to beg for forgiveness in hell while her body was torn apart.
To do that, she decided to become the wicked woman.
What was it that she hesitated over?
“Cough! Cough!”
Murong Sang-a’s grip on the sword tightened.
“Who do you think you are, daring to threaten the innkeeper!”
A man who seemed to be an aide of the stabbed man shouted at Murong Sang-a.
“I am. The guild’s will. The legacy. Everything.”
Murong Sang-a etched her steel resolve into her heart and bisected the man.
“Miss!”
The Spear Peak Band members were taken aback by her sudden action. But Murong Sang-a, unfazed by their reaction, turned to those in the establishment with a blank expression.
“From now on, anyone in favor of the Murong Family taking over this business, kneel.”
“Kneel quickly!”
“Are you crazy? The innkeeper has been killed! And you want us to give this business up?”
“I’d rather kneel.”
Do they realize they could die?
At her cold command, some sharp individuals quickly knelt down right there.
“All rights to the Kang Family’s businesses belong to me, Murong Sang-a. I won’t say any more. Kneel.”
At her declaration, most of the people knelt down. However, there were some who just couldn’t let go of what they held onto and the warriors guarding them did not kneel till the end.
“Spear Peak Band.”
Murong Sang-a gazed at the remaining defiant ones and called on the Spear Peak Band.
“Yes, Miss.”
“Kill everyone still standing.”
“Eh?”
One of the Spear Peak members looked shocked, thinking he had misheard her.
“All of them. Kill them.”
Murong Sang-a said it again to assure him he had heard correctly.
“Charge!”
The Spear Peak members moved swiftly.
“Please, spare me!”
“I’ll give you everything! Please!”
The Spear Peak members quickly began to behead those standing.
In a short while, the floor of the establishment was littered with those trembling on their knees and headless corpses.
“Organize the subordinates and bring the seal of the Murong Family to confirm that we are taking over this business.”
Murong Sang-a glanced expressionlessly at the blood-soaked establishment and turned to leave.
————
“Miss.”
On the way back to the Murong Family, the Great Lord of Spear Peak quietly sought Murong Sang-a in her guest room.
“Yes. Speak.”
“Such bloodshed isn’t right for the righteous Murong Family.”
Though the Great Lord participated in her orders, he felt uneasy about killing defenseless commoners.
“I had the justification. They illegally seized my businesses.”
“That’s fair. But some among them weren’t martial artists.”
“Did the Demonic Cult only target martial artists?”
“We are not the Demonic Cult.”
“But here we are, the Murong Family under the influence of the Demonic Cult.”
“… This is precisely why we must uphold our integrity. Just because their hands are dirty doesn’t mean ours should be as well. Surely we should punish them justly?”
“I’d rather have my hands dirty than see them exist.”
“Miss!”
“Now, any businesses from the Kang Family that resist should receive one last warning. If they resist after that, there will be no mercy. Kill them all. We have a long way to go.”
“Miss, what has happened to you? You seem not like the Miss I once knew.”
The Great Lord lamented as he recalled that day.
The day they returned after killing a reckless man.
After the death of that man, he had hoped everything would return to normal.
However, the day that man died, the woman he had served all his life still had not returned to the way he remembered her.
“… If you want to leave, you may.”
“I will pretend I didn’t hear that.”
The Great Lord of Spear Peak bowed to Murong Sang-a and quietly exited the guest room.
Murong Sang-a sat by the window once the presence around her vanished and gazed at the sky.
“We have a long way to go… It’s too long.”
Murong Sang-a whispered once more the words she said earlier to the Great Lord of Spear Peak.
The path to reach that person feels as distant as the stars in the sky.
There should be no more delay here.
It is a road that cannot be reached by seeking someone’s understanding.
“Guild…”
The chilly night wind brushed against her shoulders.
A trembling heart. She wants to lean her heavy head against that sturdy shoulder.
If she could do that, that person would have embraced her trembling self quietly.
But the man who could embrace her no longer exists.
She killed him with her own hands.
Only she can stabilize the trembling heart of the wicked woman now.
Whoosh the chilly night wind.
Murong Sang-a quietly wrapped her arms around her own shoulders.
