When I came to my senses, I was back in Gwiyeong Sin-tu's secret vault. More precisely, in the small side chamber where the coffin he slept in was buried.
As soon as I grasped the situation, I spoke to Sama Yuryeon, who must have brought me here after I lost consciousness.
"Sama Yuryeon."
"Ugh! Why in the world did the Poison Demon show up here? They left behind all the bundles we carried in with us, so it seems their goal was only the Flying Butterfly Poison Peak—but how can luck be this bad, to this extent?"
"Can you hear me?"
"Ahh! I was flailing around just trying to catch a breath in this godforsaken hole, and look what's become of me…"
"…"
Was it because she was so flustered? Sama Yuryeon paced back and forth in the narrow room, muttering to herself as if she couldn't quite hear me.
So I took out the Alliance Leader's Token I had received from the Lord of the Black Alliance the other day and held it up before her eyes.
"Hup! This is…?"
Only then did Sama Yuryeon snap back to her senses, and I continued with what I had been about to say.
"I have a favor to ask."
"…The Alliance Leader's Token is tempting, but if it's something that dangerous, I'll have to decline. It seems things are already dangerous enough as they are."
"You don't have to worry about the Poison Demon coming to kill you too. That bastard is only interested in Tang So-wol in the first place. And it's not even that dangerous a task."
With that, I lightly tossed the token to her. As Sama Yuryeon caught it reflexively with a dazed expression, I casually checked the state of my body.
It's not perfect. Even though the poison energy of the Seven Treasure Soul-Severing Powder is gone, the internal injuries I've already sustained can't be helped.
Under normal circumstances, these injuries would require at least a full month of recuperation. But there's a way to recover quickly.
I take out the Spiritual Medicines I was planning to return to their original owner from my bundle and toss them into my mouth one by one.
Since they're Spiritual Medicines from a well-known martial sect, each one is at least classified as mid-to-high grade, so they should be enough to put out the immediate fire.
"Y-you're insane?! Why are you eating all of those by yourself! The potency will be wasted, and our negotiation material will disappear…"
"But I'll be able to wield my sword right away. Give me the Soul-Returning Pill too."
"Ah… You're not saying you want to take back the Soul-Returning Pill you already gave me, are you?"
I swallowed the Soul-Returning Pill I'd just received in one gulp and shook my head.
"In addition to this, I'd like you to run a small errand for me."
"An errand…"
"Go to the Tang Clan and deliver the message that Tang So-wol was taken by the Poison Demon, and that I'm now heading to strike the Heavenly Poison Sect."
"W-wait a moment. Are you saying you're going to take down the Poison Demon alone right now?"
"There's no time. After you deliver my message and the luggage to the Tang Clan, don't return to the Sama Clan—head straight to the Black Alliance."
"You already fought the Poison Demon one-on-one and lost! What's going to change by charging into the Heavenly Poison Sect?! This is practically suicide!"
"If you say I sent you, the Alliance Lord won't turn you away at the door. Whether you work as a strategist or in a clerical position, figure it out yourself. The Alliance Lord may not care about much else, but he cherishes his own people—that should be enough to get you out of the Sama Clan's grasp."
"Hey? Are you even listening to me?"
"If you accept, take the Alliance Leader's Token and leave for the Tang Clan. If not, return it and be on your way."
"Blood Flower Sword Demon, you'll really die, you know? Maybe your meridians will burst from all those spiritual medicines you've been gulping down!"
"Die, huh."
What flashes through his mind is the last scene he saw before the regression.
Tang So-wol's poison was crushed beneath a demonic qi that blanketed the sky, and then her heart was pierced.
Seol Ri-hyang, Seomun Hwa-rin, and Tang So-wol all left with words to live on in their final moments.
But the reason he didn't heed them in that last moment—the reason he swung his sword at the Heavenly Demon knowing full well he would die—was simple.
Because even if he survived that place, it would have meant nothing.
If living is not truly living, then what difference is there from being dead?
"What I truly fear is not death."
That was a statement only someone who had died once could make. Perhaps it was because, ever since dreaming of Tang So-wol, even the scene right before his death had resurfaced in his mind.
The killing intent that he normally kept so well controlled began to leak out, again and again.
Sama Yuryeon's gaze sank heavily—no matter how low her martial level, there was no way she would fail to notice this.
"…Those eyes. You're being sincere."
"I have always been sincere."
"Very well. I accept those conditions. …However, I can no longer help you beyond this point."
"Anyone overhearing that would think I'm desperate to help people. Don't worry—I have no intention of asking for more than that."
"Even if I wanted to help, I really…"
Sama Yuryeon, carrying my share of the bundle, let out a deep sigh.
"…I hope we can meet again next time. The female hero of Flying Butterfly Poison Peak as well."
With those words, she climbed the stairs and departed first.
At this point in time, unlike before the regression, she was a bit clumsy and overly warm-hearted… but in the fundamental aspects, nothing had changed.
She was someone who kept her promises to the letter, so there was no need to worry about her eating her fill and running off.
As the medicine's effects began to circulate, I felt the energy starting to rage wildly, and I settled into a cross-legged sitting position.
The properties, purity, and effects beyond internal energy enhancement all differed from one another… but I had never been one to be picky about spiritual medicines.
After all, the internal energy of the Crazy Wolf Life-Stealing Art was hardly pure to begin with, and no matter how rough the energy, it couldn't overcome the internal energy that had my killing intent melted into it.
"Hoo."
I let out a light breath and settled into a cross-legged sitting position.
It didn't take long before I shook off my internal injuries and rose to my feet.
***
Needless to say, consuming over a dozen different spiritual medicines at once was indeed an act of madness.
Though I had managed to gather the energy somehow, to be precise, I was merely holding onto the leftover energy after healing my internal injuries so that it wouldn't burst out.
Normally, I would have to spend a long time here absorbing it into my dantian… but there was no time for that now.
After spreading it through my meridians, I used it bit by bit to race at full speed toward Yunnan, where the Heavenly Poison Sect was located.
Now that I had recovered most of my martial level from before the regression, I could run far faster and longer than words could describe. I ran without rest, and I was able to arrive in less than three days.
As a bonus, I had also consumed a significant amount of the spiritual medicine's energy, which had been threatening to tear through my meridians and burst out at any moment.
I had hurried as fast as I possibly could, but that didn't mean I could relax.
The Poison Demon must have known well that he couldn't stay in the Central Plains for long after kidnapping Tang So-wol.
Naturally, he would have been trying to return to the Heavenly Poison Sect as quickly as possible.
After running for another half a day, I saw a large hall in the distance.
It wasn't as grand as the main headquarters of the Murim Alliance or the Black Alliance, but it was wide enough that anyone could tell at a glance it was no ordinary place. The hall, stacked five stories high, was more than any single sect should have been able to claim.
Yunnan was a region where the Imperial Court's power barely reached, so they must have been showing off their strength without worrying about anyone's judgment.
Or perhaps, having absorbed the remnants of the Five Poison Sect, they needed to flaunt their authority and pride.
Either way, it would all come crashing down at my hands.
I walked slowly, taking stock of my body one last time.
Perhaps it was because I had replaced most of the internal energy normally used for the Lightness Skill with the energy of the Spiritual Medicine I hadn't fully absorbed. My body was brimming with vitality.
On the other hand, having run for three days and nights without sleep had left my nerves a bit frayed… but considering what I was about to do, this was just about perfect.
I looked up at the sky one last time.
The ash-gray sky hung heavy and gloomy, as if it would pour rain at any moment, and even though it was midday, the sunlight was shattered into fragments behind the clouds.
The air today felt as heavy as if it were pressing down on my shoulders.
On the other hand, all the emotions that had been dormant until now began to stir as the Heavenly Poison Sect came into view.
For a moment, the boundary between past and present began to blur.
Even if this regressed body no longer carried it, the poison called Tang So-wol had seeped into my memories, into this very image.
The clumsy confession. The longing gestures. The pride that was needlessly high, the revenge I couldn't give up until the very end, and even the promise made under the faint moonlight on a day as overcast as this—a promise I could never keep.
Even if no one else remembers it, to me it's as vivid as if it happened yesterday.
"Ah."
A sigh escaped me on its own. Whether I was drunk on the liquor, drunk on the past… or drunk on the killing intent I had deliberately stirred up, my body staggered beyond my control.
Past and present blurred together, distorting my vision, and only emotion filled the void.
Affection. Regret. Frustration. Anger. Lingering attachment. And murderous intent.
Originally, Tang So-wol and I were like two pieces that fit each other perfectly.
We each had our own wounds, and we were a pair who could lick each other's clean.
Without Tang So-wol, I knew no reason to wield a sword, and without me, Tang So-wol knew no reason to live.
Only with each other could we become whole.
Even if time were reversed and all of this became nothing but my own delusion. Even if I could tell no one.
Even so, Tang So-wol remains the piece lodged deepest within me.
At this very moment, the mere fact that Tang So-wol is not by my side is enough to break me this badly.
So I will take her back. Even if I have to walk the path of Asura I once so feared.
Hwaaah!
The killing intent that had been seething only within me bursts outward without restraint, engulfing the entire surrounding area.
"Wh-what…"
"Kugh!"
The two Martial Artists of the Heavenly Poison Sect, who appeared to be gatekeepers, clutched their necks and trembled violently.
I severed the necks of the two, who had gone completely rigid and couldn't even put up a proper struggle.
Swick.
Two heads rolled across the floor. The Martial Artists of the Heavenly Poison Sect, finally grasping the situation, began to swarm in—but they were no different from the two who had died before them.
Either they died defenseless, or they died trying to flee.
The killing intent I had unleashed without any pretense continued to widen its range even now, growing more vicious by the moment.
Sensing something was wrong, the masters of the Heavenly Poison Sect began to emerge one by one.
"You bastard! Do you know where you are, acting like this…? He's no ordinary man! Everyone, spread out and focus only on Poison Application!"
Though each of them was a master who had reached the Peak Realm, the moment their eyes met mine, they flinched in terror and scattered their poison.
As befits the subordinates of a Poison Demon crazed by poison, every one of their poisons was vicious, and they all bypassed the resistance that was primarily cultivated in the Central Plains—more precisely, in the Tang Clan.
However, none of them would ever touch my body.
The reason poison humans like Tang So-wol and Tang Jincheon had such strong resistance to all poisons was simple. Their bodies were already so filled with poison that there was no room for other poisons to enter.
And Tang So-wol, before the regression, had once said that if poison breaks down the body, then the Simma breaks down the mind—so the two were not fundamentally different.
That had been her explanation of the heart poison she had reached in the Harmony Realm, but to me, it carried a different meaning.
If the Simma were to cover the body beyond the mind—that is, if one were to fall completely into Qi Deviation—then perhaps no other poison could enter.
I did not reject the Simma I had been slowly drawing up; I accepted it. I abandoned all control over my killing intent and surrendered my body to instinct.
My vision narrowed, and my reason blurred as if I were drunk, but what I needed to do became all the clearer.
"Cut."
The smell of burning brushed past the tip of my nose.
This place was now beneath a collapsed wall, and a burning hall.
And also a midnight garden where the full moon was hidden behind Tang So-wol's face.
Until I reached Tang So-wol.
Four stories ahead.