Chapter 111

However, that was all. As he raised his left hand to deflect the sword energy pouring down like rain with a single strike while retreating, an intense pain exploded in Cheong-ra's side. When he came to his senses, he was rolling on the ground, groaning.

"This was a bit surprising. It seems you haven't been neglecting your training."

As he heard Dang Ran-yeong's voice, Cheong-ra felt his side. What was it? What had he been attacked with... As he barely managed to push himself up off the ground, what his hand grasped was a jade token. It was one of the ornaments Dang Ran-yeong wore on his body, and it had cracked, perhaps from the impact of deflecting the sword energy.

Cheong-ra was inwardly shocked by Dang Ran-yeong's use of an expensive item as a disposable weapon and his quick reflexes. Gathering his wits, he quickly got to his feet. However, in that brief moment, Dang Ran-yeong had once again vanished.

"Haa, haa..."

The side that had been hit by the jade token was unbearably painful, so Cheong-ra leaned against a pillar for a moment, catching his breath while looking around. Not knowing where the other had disappeared to or how he might appear, he couldn't easily take a step. In a hurry, he leaned his body against the wall to minimize blind spots as much as possible. Trembling breaths involuntarily escaped his lips.

Even after experiencing it several times, this man was truly strong...

The Spring Dream Encircling Rain Sword was something like a secret move he had prepared after learning about illusion swords from Dang Ran-yeong last time. However, it had only managed to surprise the other slightly. In fact, it was a failed attack no matter how you looked at it. Dang Ran-yeong was completely toying with him.

Yet, Cheong-ra couldn't help but feel exhilaration before the bitter taste of defeat or despair. It was due to an instinct that preceded even a martial artist's pride.

He was glad that the other was strong enough to toy with him like this even barehanded. Because the other was around his age, it made him feel even more miserable and helplessly drawn to him at the same time... As Cheong-ra's body trembled faintly, he suddenly felt something strange and lowered his gaze slightly.

A sound-breaking noise rang out. By the time he heard it, it was already too late. A whip that had torn through not only the paper windows but also the wooden frames entered the inner chamber and wrapped around his ankle.

"Ah...!"

Before Cheong-ra could react, his body was dragged outside. His body, half-suspended by the whip wrapped around his ankle, soared into the air, but he quickly regained his balance and landed. He moved urgently to first untangle the whip from his ankle. However, the whip end that had already unwrapped and made a sharp turn in mid-air now wrapped around his sword handle and hand in one go.

"Ugh!"

With a sharp sound, the back of his hand felt like it was about to burst as it was struck while being wrapped by the whip. Cheong-ra tried to untangle the whip with his other hand while enduring the pain, but Dang Ran-yeong's form was suddenly right in front of him.

"Weapons...!"

"I never said I wouldn't use weapons."

Cutting off Cheong-ra's involuntary cry, Dang Ran-yeong replied smoothly while throwing a punch. Cheong-ra barely managed to block it with his free arm, but a fierce impact sound erupted from the forearm that blocked the fist. It was a pain that felt like his bones were resonating.

Although Dang Ran-yeong also had one hand occupied holding the whip handle, there was no hint of awkwardness in his movements. The punch that had struck Cheong-ra's arm instantly transitioned into a grappling technique, twisting and gripping Cheong-ra's wrist.

One hand was wrapped in the whip, and the other was caught by the wrist. Cheong-ra, in a predicament, struggled hard to break free, but he was no match for the opponent who once had the strength to move ships. As soon as Dang Ran-yeong yanked the whip, Cheong-ra was helplessly dragged along, rolling on the garden floor.

"It seems even half an hour was too long."

Cheong-ra, who had been gritting his teeth and resisting because he didn't want to roll on the ground anymore, suddenly raised his head. Both his cheeks were flushed red with shame. Dang Ran-yeong, who had pulled the whip taut, spoke in a cunning tone.

"Then shall I reduce it to a quarter-hour? You only need to hold out a little longer for it to be a quarter-hour."

"A quarter-hour..."

Cheong-ra's gaze wavered. Skilled martial artists all develop their own way of perceiving the passage of time through repeated training, various battles, and experiences of sleeping outdoors. As Dang Ran-yeong said, it would be a quarter-hour in just a little more time.

No matter how excited he might get from the humiliation of being defeated and subjugated by a strong person, being forcibly violated was a different story. Even though he had already shown many unsightly appearances to Dang Ran-yeong and done various lewd acts, that was like the last bastion.

Suddenly, Cheong-ra shuddered. He recalled the scene of Neung Jeong-dong being brutally violated in the basement of The Pavilion of Golden Fragrance last time. Whenever he remembered that, he felt very uncomfortable. He didn't want to end up like that... Repeating this to himself inwardly, Cheong-ra suddenly charged forward.

As if about to jump into Dang Ran-yeong's arms, he twisted his sword at the same time. As the distance closed, the taut whip loosened, and finally, the sword blade came free. As soon as it was free, he struck out with his palm, hitting the other's chest. While Dang Ran-yeong raised his arm to block his chest, Cheong-ra used the rebound to leap back, his clothes fluttering.

Dang Ran-yeong didn't try to grab Cheong-ra but stood still, raising the corners of his mouth in a smile. Then he mocked,

"Or perhaps half an hour would have been better for Beauty."

His gaze blatantly pointed towards Cheong-ra's lower body. Cheong-ra looked down involuntarily and was shocked. Unlike usual, there was an obvious sign of his manhood hardening and rising beneath his robe.

"Wh-why is this...!"

He didn't mean why he was aroused, but why his arousal was visible from the outside. Only then did Cheong-ra realize that the ties he always wore around his lower body were nowhere to be seen. He had been so accustomed to wearing them that he only now noticed they had disappeared while he was unconscious.

"Oh, a quarter-hour has passed."

Soon, Dang Ran-yeong announced that a quarter-hour had ended and put down the whip he was holding. As he saw Dang Ran-yeong rolling up the whip and wrapping it around his waist, Cheong-ra hesitantly lowered the tip of his sword, confused.

'Is it really ending like this?'

At that moment, Cheong-ra was startled by his own feelings that resembled disappointment rising in his heart. Disappointment? Disappointment... This was as if he had secretly hoped for Dang Ran-yeong to violate him.

No, he was surely just disappointed that the intense fight had ended so anticlimactically. That was all. Even as he thought this, he unconsciously sighed.

Suddenly, Dang Ran-yeong rushed at him like a flying tiger and pinned the off-guard Cheong-ra to the ground. Then he violently twisted his wrist.

"Aagh...!"

Cheong-ra tried his best not to let go of his sword, but when his wrist was twisted with a cracking sound, he helplessly dropped it. Dang Ran-yeong kicked the sword away and grabbed Cheong-ra's collar tightly. Cheong-ra's eyes widened as his outer robe was stripped off with the sound of threads snapping.

"Wait, a quarter-hour has passed! So why!"

"Naive Beauty. This is why righteous faction people... Did you really think I would stop just because a quarter-hour had passed?"

Speaking as if he wasn't from the righteous faction himself, Dang Ran-yeong said in a sinister voice.

"Even if you had endured for half an hour instead of a quarter-hour, I couldn't stop."

"How can a man speak with two mouths!"

There was a limit to being toyed with. Cheong-ra's voice was tinged with slight anger, but Dang Ran-yeong's face only showed deeper enjoyment. Having lost his weapon in a moment of carelessness, Cheong-ra struggled to push the other away while engaging in hand-to-hand combat. However, the other was also skilled in close combat.

While barely avoiding punches aimed at vital points, Dang Ran-yeong violently pinned Cheong-ra down with his whole body. Just when Cheong-ra thought he might push the other off, he was grabbed by the collar and rolled over, ending up pinned to the ground again. As thick, firm thighs like those of a horse tightly wrapped around his abdomen and a solid elbow pressed down on his chest with full body weight, his breath was cut off.

Until now, Cheong-ra had been half-doubting Dang Ran-yeong's words about violating him. He had thought that surely he wouldn't go that far. But as things turned out this way, he began to think that it might not be a joke after all.

Moreover, the look in the other's eyes as he gazed down at him was frighteningly fierce. Was it real? Was he really going to forcibly violate him here, outside in the garden? With the annex right next to them? Cheong-ra began to break out in a cold sweat.

"Wait, let's talk first at least!"

"That's why I'm letting you babble as you please right now."

The response to his words was so base that Cheong-ra was momentarily at a loss for words. In that time, his long robe had already been completely stripped off and was rolling on the ground. As his undergarments began to be removed as well, he suddenly felt a sense of crisis. His heaving chest was exposed white through the gap in his collar. As even his nipples became visible, Cheong-ra's face hardened with shame.

"Stop it! This, this isn't right! I didn't allow this!"

Until now, their acts had taken place in The Pavilion of Golden Fragrance, or in carriages, or in ship cabins. Accordingly, Cheong-ra had unconsciously set boundaries for the 'base acts' obtained through Dang Ran-yeong's deal. Safely indoors where others couldn't see, and never going all the way.

That was the limit of play that Cheong-ra had set. And now Dang Ran-yeong was trying to leap over that limit in one go.

At Cheong-ra's cry, Dang Ran-yeong looked down at Cheong-ra whom he was straddling. A gentle smile appeared on his lips, and his sensual lips moved.

"Why would I need your permission?"