The Eunuch Regains His Manhood in the Second Round

14. I Will Live as a Man

-Shhh, shhh!

As soon as I raised my sword, the viper opened its jaws wide and lunged at me.

I quickly stepped on the Soyangbo to avoid its attack.

-Shhh!

The viper’s jaws narrowly missed.

The viper, frustrated by its missed bite, made a sound and lunged at me again.

But I am a master who reached the highest level of Hyungyeong in my previous life.

Such a creature is nothing more than a trivial matter.

I raised my inner strength and avoided its attack again with the Soyangbo, then executed the first move of the Soyang Sword Technique and struck its neck with my sword.

Clang!

But its scales only got scratched, and its body remained intact.

Blood flowed from the scratch on its body.

-Shhh!!

The viper, seemingly humiliated by the wound, went berserk.

Though not a spiritual creature, it seemed to have gathered some spiritual energy, making its scales quite tough.

Unexpected, but it’s fine.

—

—

Rather, it’s good.

The fact that its scales are hard means that it has accumulated a lot of spiritual energy.

Having a lot of spiritual energy means that when I boil it down into snake soup, its efficacy will be much better.

Better snake soup!

“Hehehe.”

I sublimated my overwhelming joy into laughter and operated the Soyang Heart Method to draw up my inner strength.

The internal energy method of the Gongdong Sect is based on reverse blood.

Of course, the basic heart method does not include the reverse blood technique that temporarily explodes latent power, but as a master of the current realm, I could apply the mystery of reverse blood to the Soyang Heart Method to temporarily amplify my inner strength.

I operated the Soyang Heart Method with the mystery of reverse blood.

Wooong.

With the feeling of my dantian vibrating, the amplified inner strength through the mystery of reverse blood rushed roughly through my meridians.

It slightly hurt my meridians, but it’s okay, I can endure this much.

I injected the amplified inner strength into my sword.

The sword imbued with inner strength vibrated weakly.

I raised the vibrating sword and immediately plunged towards the viper.

“No! Brother!”

I heard my senior brother’s desperate scream from behind.

He must be worried because it looks like I’m going to get bitten.

Of course, my senior brother’s worry was correct.

I intended to get bitten by the viper.

Naturally, I wasn’t crazy, I was perfectly sane.

‘The viper’s venom contains the energy of Yang, if I neutralize the poison within my body and leave only the Yang energy, there is no better tonic.’

One of the basic principles of medieval martial arts medicine was that medicine and poison come from the same source.

Depending on how it is used, poison can become medicine, and medicine can become poison, so there was no need to distinguish between them, a miraculous logic.

Therefore, the viper’s venom could also be used as a tonic, or rather, as medicine, according to the principle of medicine and poison coming from the same source.

Of course, if an ordinary person were bitten by a viper, they would naturally be poisoned and die in agony, but I was not an ordinary person.

With my inner strength control skills as the top master of the imperial palace in my previous life, I could easily expel the poison and take only the Yang energy with just the operation of my inner strength.

Therefore, I received the viper’s bite on my shoulder and at the same time, I struck its body with my sword imbued with amplified inner strength.

-Kyaaa!

With the viper’s scream, its dark red poisonous blood spurted like a fountain.

—

The sword, imbued with a stronger inner energy, precisely cleaved the assassin’s body in two.

As I did so, I felt a fiery toxin coursing through the assassin’s shoulder area, spreading rapidly throughout the body.

“Disciple!”

I heard the assassin’s voice, trembling with fear, from a distance, but I ignored it.

I grasped the assassin’s head, which was still attached to my shoulder, with my hand and shut my eyes tightly.

This was crucial.

From now on, I had to expel the toxin using my inner energy and only take in the yang energy.

Normally, it would be impossible to expel the toxin, which had accumulated over the course of a month, from my body using just a small amount of inner energy.

However, with the amplified inner energy from the reverse flow and my refined inner energy control, it was possible.

As I felt my body going numb, I stirred up my inner energy.

“Disciple! No! Disciple! Disciple!”

The assassin, tears streaming down her face, covered me.

I rolled around on the ground, which was covered in dirt and leaves, with the assassin on top of me.

What’s going on?

Why did she cover me suddenly?

Now that I’ve accumulated some inner energy, my physical state is normal, so I should be able to detect the assassin’s sudden rush and avoid it using my ki sense. However, unfortunately, I’m currently concentrating all my energy on controlling my inner energy and the toxin is coursing through my body.

Even if I had sensed something using my ki sense, I wouldn’t have been able to avoid the assassin’s rush due to the toxin numbing my body.

As a result, I had no choice but to let the assassin pin me down shamefully.

‘b*stard······!’

I felt a sudden pain.

Tears of sorrow flowed from my eyes.

I had been taken advantage of by the assassin, a man who was not a woman, for the first time in my life, starting with the first embrace and the first kiss, and now the first time I was being pinned down.

Originally, under the beautiful night sky, with the scent of incense enhancing my desire, I had been unable to control my passion, but now, instead of the moon, the sunset had come, and instead of incense, the gentle fragrance of wildflowers wafted through the air, and I lay on the cold ground, as if I were a woman, but I was a man, and I was being pinned down by the assassin.

The tears that had burst forth like a broken water pipe continued to flow.

The assassin’s toxin had paralyzed my body, and I wanted to tell him to leave me alone, but my facial muscles were numb and I couldn’t speak.

“Disciple! I’m sorry, I said I’d help you······. I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise······. Just a little longer! I’ll heal you! Disciple······. You can’t die······. Please······.”

The assassin, who had climbed on top of me, was crying, her face illuminated by the moonlight, as if she were experiencing the pain of a broken intestine. She slowly untangled my hair.

—

I tried to resist, but my body, paralyzed by the viper’s venom, did not listen to me.

Just blocking the venom from penetrating my bone marrow with my inner strength was overwhelming.

When Yujinhui unbuttoned my front, the solid chest muscles and abs I had built through external training were exposed under the red sunset.

I shed tears again.

To show my bare upper body to a man, not a woman.

How much more of my pure heart (純情) does this ruthless and cruel senior brother need to take to be satisfied?

I feel a sense of shame at my helpless self, unable to resist the senior brother’s hand movements.

Regardless, the senior brother brought his lips to the wound on my collarbone, where the viper had bitten, under the full moon.

At that moment, I felt a chill down my spine.

‘No way, right?’

He wouldn’t be trying that emergency treatment, which is too horrible to even imagine, would he?

But my faint hope was betrayed by the senior brother.

His soft lips touched the area between my neck and shoulder.

The warmth of his body and the softness of his lips were transmitted through my body.

Yes.

The senior brother kissed the area near my shoulder.

“Ugh… Ughhh…”

I tried to move my body with all my strength and shout that it was not okay, to stop.

But my body, paralyzed by the viper’s venom, could not produce proper words.

My meaningless cries echoed in the twilight fields.

Chu, Chuu, Chuuu.

The senior brother licked my wound and sucked it carefully.

The sound of sucking, which could be misunderstood by anyone who heard it, echoed from the senior brother’s lips touching my shoulder.

The senior brother was holding me tightly, sucking the wound on my shoulder.

I knew in my head.

The senior brother was performing emergency treatment by sucking out the venom with his mouth because I was bitten by a viper.

It was a fairly common emergency treatment in this world’s medical practice when bitten by a viper.

But even though I knew it in my head, I could never accept it in my heart.

“Ahhh, Ughhh!!”

—

—

The sunset had already faded, and the full moon began to rise in the night sky.

My vision blurred as tears covered my eyes.

This couldn’t be happening.

To be honest, I could have reluctantly accepted the hugs, feeding me fish after removing the bones, and even being pinned down.

But to take off my shirt and kiss my neck! Even if it was for first aid, my first neck kiss! A hickey! Given to a man!

I was furious.

I was indignant.

I felt so wronged.

Tears streamed down my face as if I had been hit by tear gas.

Chuoo, chuu.

The senior brother who sucked out the poison removed his lips from my shoulder.

A silver thread briefly connected the wound on my shoulder and his cherry-like red lips before breaking.

With his handsome cheeks flushed, the senior brother spat out the poison he had sucked out.

“Ugh…”

The poison… The poison was decreasing.

My vitality… was decreasing.

As the poison slightly decreased, the paralysis eased a bit.

Only then did I struggle to escape from the senior brother’s embrace with my limbs that had slightly recovered from the paralysis.

Is this cosmic horror?

I had to escape this terrible situation, like cosmic horror, where my mind was contaminated just by imagining it.

“Junior brother, what’s wrong? Does it hurt a lot? I’m sorry. Just bear with it a little longer… I’ll make sure it doesn’t hurt…”

But the senior brother, misunderstanding something, hugged me tightly so I couldn’t escape and started sucking the wound on my shoulder again.

Chuup, chuuup, chuuu…

His lips touched my shoulder again. The sticky sound of water and the soft touch of his lips and tongue tickled my body.

Chuu… Chuup… Chuuu…

The senior brother’s first aid continued.

I had to endure this terrible time, held by the senior brother, until all the poison was sucked out of my body.

*

The moment the junior brother was bitten by the viper,

Yoo Jin-hwi’s thoughts came to a halt.

—

—

She was my one and only precious disciple.

I had resolved to protect her. I had vowed to help her stand by my side. That day, as I comforted my crying disciple.

But today, I couldn’t do that.

Just because I found snakes disgusting, I left my disciple alone in front of the venomous creature.

So now, my disciple is on the brink of death after being bitten by a viper, and it’s my fault.

Yoo Jin-hwi thought so.

“Disciple!”

She cried out her disciple’s name.

Tears flowed endlessly from her eyes.

Her precious disciple might die now.

Such fear and guilt overwhelmed Yoo Jin-hwi’s heart.

Yoo Jin-hwi threw herself.

“Disciple! No! Disciple! Disciple!”

Rolling, rolling.

On the moonlit field of the communal mountain. Yoo Jin-hwi, who had pounced on Lee Cheol-soo, tore open his front.

“Disciple! I’m sorry, I said I would help you… I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you… Just, just wait a little! I’ll, I’ll treat you! Disciple… You can’t die… Please…”

Tears flowed endlessly from Yoo Jin-hwi’s eyes.

In her mind, she recalled the first aid method for viper bites that she had once heard from her master, Jeon Young.

The method of sucking out the venom with her mouth and spitting it out.

It was a shameful method for a woman to do to a man, but Yoo Jin-hwi didn’t care about such propriety now.

Her precious disciple. Her one and only disciple. Outwardly mature but actually more fragile than anyone. Yet, without a single complaint, enduring the tough training, and striving day and night to stand by her side.

If she could save such a disciple, Yoo Jin-hwi was willing to do anything.

Suck, suck, slurp.

Yoo Jin-hwi sucked out the venom from the bite wound on Lee Cheol-soo’s shoulder through her lips.

“Ahhh, ughhh…!!”

Lee Cheol-soo groaned and writhed in pain.

Tears flowed endlessly like a waterfall from the disciple’s eyes.

Hearing his groans and seeing his tears, Yoo Jin-hwi’s heart pounded.

How much pain must he be in to scream and cry like that…

It felt as if the disciple’s pain was being transmitted directly to her.

—

—

“Disciple, what’s wrong? Are you in a lot of pain? I’m sorry. Just hold on a little longer… I’ll make sure it doesn’t hurt…”

Yujin Hui hugged the disciple tighter to ease his pain, pressing her lips to the wound and sucking out the poison blood faster.

Tears continued to flow from her eyes.

‘It’s all my responsibility.’

As the senior, she had resolved to protect and guide her disciple. She had decided to be a dependable senior. She had resolved to take responsibility for her disciple.

But what about now? Instead of protecting him, she ended up being protected.

When he was bitten by a venomous snake and was on the brink of death, Yujin Hui couldn’t do anything.

Yujin Hui felt a piercing sense of responsibility and guilt.

A conversation with her master Jeon Yeong from some time ago suddenly came to her mind.

‘Cheolsu is now a formal disciple of our sect. Originally, you should have told Cheolsu that you are disguised as a man… But the master is worried. Hui-ah. You must live as a man in the martial world. To do so, you must act thoroughly as a man within our sect, not just outside. Your usual behavior must be flawlessly manly, so that you can also act as a man in the martial world.’

‘So I am also treating you as a man. But the master is worried whether young Cheolsu, knowing that you are a woman, can still treat you as a man. Cheolsu is a pure child who is not good at acting. So I planned to tell him the truth when he grows up. But if you, as the senior, want to reveal it now, you can. The choice is yours.’

The master said that revealing her identity as a woman was her choice.

‘That’s not something to decide right now. I’ll think about it over time, Master.’

Yujin Hui had asked for time, thinking it wasn’t an immediate decision.

But as of today.

Yujin Hui made a decision.

‘A senior is needed for a pure and sincere disciple who is strong on the outside but soft on the inside. A dependable senior who is manly, reliable, always protecting, guiding, and taking responsibility. But with a frail woman’s body, I can’t be a dependable senior.’

So, she decided to live her life as a senior, as a man.

For the sake of her disciple.

With that resolve, Yujin Hui sucked out the poison blood from Lee Cheolsu with a determined heart.

“Ugh…”

The sorrowful scream of the disciple reached her ears.

*

“Disciple. You’re okay now. Thank goodness…”

The senior, who had finished checking my pulse, let go of my wrist with a relieved expression.

The dreadful emergency treatment, which was terrifying just to imagine, ended only after the senior had sucked out enough poison to relieve my paralysis.

As soon as I could move my body properly, I told the senior that I would expel the poison through internal energy circulation, and the senior finally let go of me.

After that, I expelled the poison from my body through internal energy circulation and absorbed only the positive energy.

Since the senior had removed a lot of poison, I absorbed less positive energy than expected, but my vitality increased nonetheless.

I still touched my burning shoulder.

—

—

My shoulder was swollen red in the shape of lips, thanks to how many times my senior brother had sucked on it.

Yes, it was a hickey.

A hickey left by a man covered my neck.

I touched my swollen red neck and collarbone.

Along with it, terrible memories resurfaced.

I forcibly suppressed the terrible memories that struck my brain just by imagining them.

“Thank you for saving my life, senior brother.”

Grinding my teeth inwardly, I adjusted my clothes and spoke with utmost politeness, clasping my hands in a respectful gesture.

The grudges of the martial world are tenacious.

The terrible grudge engraved on my body will surely be repaid to my senior brother later, twice over.

“No, junior brother. You don’t have to think of it as a favor. You’re not a stranger, you’re my junior brother, and we’re senior and junior brothers. Yes, it’s something I should naturally do. Rather, I’m sorry. I said I would help if it got dangerous…”

My senior brother blushed and waved his hand as he spoke.

“Still, thank you, senior brother. Now that we’ve driven out the poison… Let’s make snake soup with that snake.”

Nodding at my senior brother’s words, I released my clasped hands and took out the pot I had prepared before coming out to gather herbs to brew the elixir.

Originally, I intended to eat it alone, but I had no choice.

After all, on the surface, it seemed like my senior brother had saved me, who was wandering on the brink of death due to poisoning, so I couldn’t claim 100% of the snake’s share.

It’s a pity, but what can I do?

I have to share a little with my senior brother.

As I swallowed my tears at that moment,

“Snake, snake soup? Junior brother, are you saying you want to eat that snake? Now?”

My senior brother spoke to me, startled.

Why is he reacting like that when I’m offering to share a precious health food?

I spoke to my senior brother with an indifferent expression.

“Yes, senior brother. If we don’t eat it now, it will lose its freshness. And you might not know, but snake soup is a good health food for men.”

“Men?! Health food!?”

My senior brother was overly agitated by my words.

It seems he doesn’t want to eat snake soup.

Well, that’s fine with me.

“If you don’t want it, I’ll eat it alone.”

Passing by my senior brother, I set up the pot and brought the knife to the chopped snake’s body as I spoke.

—

—

It’s late at night, so we need to quickly eat the snake soup, find the Gwangseongdan blood, farm the elixir, and also find the secret techniques of the Gongdong sect.

At that moment.

“Wa, wait! I, I want to eat it too! Saengsatang! If it’s good for men…”

I heard the voice of my senior brother from behind.

I clicked my tongue inwardly at his words.

Ha.

He always knows what’s good for men.