By Zephyria 
The aftermath of Moonless’s rampage left a number of people injured. Thankfully, most sustained only shallow cuts, but Chu Yong was in critical condition and needed immediate medical attention, so two Martial Alliance members hastily helped him out of the inn.
Ak Mujin, setting aside his thoughts about his future daughter-in-law for the moment, tried to smooth things over between Namgung Eui and Jin Geum-ryeon as best he could. However, with someone seriously injured and teetering on the brink of death, the situation was unlikely to improve easily. Unless Jin Geum-ryeon knelt and begged for forgiveness, that is.
But there was no chance of that happening, so the Orthodox Sect members seemed to harbor even stronger resentment towards the Sandow Union and its Lord. What could Ak Mujin, who was less than a third party in this situation, possibly do? All he could do was appease Jin Geum-ryeon and ensure he didn’t cause any more trouble before leaving.
Jin Geum-ryeon left the cleanup to Janghyo and obediently followed Ak Mujin out of the inn.
As Ak Mujin led Jin Geum-ryeon outside by the wrist, he launched into another long lecture.
“What were you thinking? Have you forgotten that causing trouble with Martial Alliance people is a serious matter given your position? I could have easily stopped them, so why did you act so rashly?”
“Since when?”
As he was busily talking, Jin Geum-ryeon asked an unexpected question. Since when? Since when what? Ak Mujin raised an eyebrow, and Jin Geum-ryeon gently but firmly grasped his hand, stepping closer.
“When did you regain your Inner Force?”
Jin Geum-ryeon asked with a serious tone, but for some reason, from the moment he stepped closer, Ak Mujin couldn’t focus on his voice and his vision gradually blurred. A clear and subtle fragrance tickled his nose.
“I noticed it when we first met, but I remained silent since you didn’t mention it. However, if you continue to act so recklessly…”
Ak Mujin’s eyes were half-closed. He felt a haze rising from deep within his stomach, and he inhaled sharply, grasping Jin Geum-ryeon’s shoulders to barely support his collapsing body.
“Ahn Do-hyun?!”
Ah, this feeling.
Again.
*
The space, devoid of light, was entirely consumed by darkness. He stood blankly, groping at the stone walls. It was strange. He had clearly escaped this wretched Spirit Mausoleum, so why was he back here?
Beside him was the Stone Coffin he had just been lying in. For some reason, the gold and silver treasures inside were gone, replaced only by rotten grass and the corpses of rats.
Ak Mujin stared up at the impossibly high walls with a dazed expression. Then, he began to feel with his palms, strike with his fists, and eventually scratch with his fingertips.
“Let me out…”
He had been scratching and pounding on the walls for so long that his hands were covered in cuts. But he couldn’t even see properly. His eyesight wasn’t what it used to be. Was recovering his Inner Force by eating the Spirit Herb just a dream?
“Let me out! I want out!”
His fingertips burned with pain, but Ak Mujin didn’t seem to care about the pain as he continued to strike the walls.
He simply couldn’t face it. He couldn’t face repeating those three years in the Spirit Mausoleum.
He smelled a faint metallic scent. His hands felt sticky, and it seemed he was bleeding. It was too painful to be a dream.
With his regained Inner Force now gone, there was no way he could break the rocks with his fists. When the situation became unbearable, he turned and collapsed to the ground, then began to grope around on the floor. His hand landed on a fist-sized rock. He gripped it and threw it at the wall with all his might.
Thud…
That was it.
Ak Mujin’s chest began to tighten with anguish. He screamed at the ceiling.
“You crazy, dogshit Doujinshi!!!”
He had never despised fan fiction before. In fact, he found it interesting. But at this moment, he hated it so intensely he didn’t know what to do.
Ak Mujin screamed until his throat was raw, clawing at the floor as if trying to dig through it. His bloodied fingertips were stained with dirt, but he didn’t care. As long as he could get out.
His body gradually began to heat up. And he felt a faint haze rising from inside his navel. Ak Mujin curled up into a ball, gasping for breath. He smelled a faint and fragrant Water Lily Fragrance. The moment he recognized it, his entire body seemed to burst into flames.
“Hah… No… No…”
Ak Mujin already knew what this was from his three years of experience. It was the same reaction he had when Seo Moon-gwang tried to defile him, and when he had sex with Jin Geum-ryeon. That’s why he found it even more unwelcome.
Why was a Yin Person’s body so inefficient and inconvenient? Tears welled up in his eyes with injustice and resentment. He had never imagined such a thing before being trapped in the Spirit Mausoleum. Of course not. He had planned to hold the funeral and run away immediately. But if he were to experience his heat cycle in a place where there were no living people… it would be utterly miserable.
How many cycles had it been already? In fact, nothing had happened in the early days of his confinement in the Spirit Mausoleum. After taking the Spirit Herb and his physical condition improved, his irregular cycle seemed to have fallen into place, and he began to experience his heat cycle regularly. It was difficult to estimate the exact cycle in a place where he couldn’t track the passage of time, but he had experienced it more than ten times in the Spirit Mausoleum.
Okay, let’s say that’s fine.
But what was strange was that every time, a longing for Jin Geum-ryeon’s Water Lily Fragrance dominated Ak Mujin’s mind. He always wanted to look at his face, touch his firm and well-trained body, and even hear his low and pleasant voice.
Had he gone crazy from being trapped for too long? Was it because he had only smelled his Body fragrance? No, that couldn’t be it, since he had also smelled Seo Moon-gwang’s and an unknown warrior’s…
The space between his weakened legs was already sticky. Ak Mujin was beside himself, feeling like his body was burning. He buried his head in the ground and unconsciously reached between his legs. Then, he hastily loosened his clothes and pulled down his underwear, gripping his hard-on and shaking it roughly.
“Ugh… Haa…”
He had made such a fuss under the stone walls that he no longer had the strength to suppress the moans escaping through his teeth. He moaned and stroked his member haphazardly. With that friction, his member became even harder as a matter of physiological course, and the tip began to moisten with clear and transparent fluid.
For some reason, he wasn’t coming as quickly as usual. Whenever this cycle came, he would quickly ejaculate and quickly become erect again. After struggling for a long time, Ak Mujin felt a sense of release and his thighs became wet.
But that was it, his lust was still not satisfied.
This isn’t it… What I want isn’t this…
As Ak Mujin began to specifically imagine what he wanted, he finally started to hiccup.
There’s no way there could be such a thing! There’s no way there could be a fresh Living Root from a living person! The corpses’ dicks were so rotten that he couldn’t even look at them.
Just as he was about to lie on his side and sob, he suddenly felt his body being lifted up.
Ak Mujin woke up from his dream with a face stained with tears.
*
“Ahn Do-hyun!”
The first thing Ak Mujin saw when he opened his eyes was none other than Jin Geum-ryeon’s face.
“Are you alright? Right now…”
His face was filled with concern for Ak Mujin, but the slightly healthy rose color on his cheeks showed that he, too, was barely holding back his lust.
Ak Mujin couldn’t take it anymore. He immediately wrapped his arms around Jin Geum-ryeon’s neck and pressed his lips against his. The moment Jin Geum-ryeon was startled and tried to pull away, Ak Mujin pulled him even closer, opening his lips and running his tongue over his teeth. Surprisingly, his mouth opened easily, and Ak Mujin closed his eyes with a slight relief, meeting the incoming tongue with his own.
Sweet flesh repeatedly stuck and separated softly, making a smacking sound. Even in the midst of this, Ak Mujin groaned, tormented by his unresolved lust.
“Ugh… Please, haa, please…”
“Ahn Do-hyun… Wait, listen to me for a moment.”
Jin Geum-ryeon managed to pull his lips away from Ak Mujin and created some distance, gazing into his eyes. Ak Mujin smelled a faint Water Lily Fragrance. It was a fragrance so vivid that it couldn’t be compared to what he had felt in his dream. The moment he recognized it, he felt elated and incredibly satisfied. He looked at Jin Geum-ryeon with a dazed expression.
Jin Geum-ryeon swallowed hard.
“There’s a good medicine. It’s said that taking it can suppress even the onset of the heat cycle.”
Ak Mujin still stared at him with blank eyes. Jin Geum-ryeon tried to ignore his ardent gaze and spoke earnestly.
“Because you… suddenly collapsed on the street, Cheong-aeng urgently obtained it.”
As he said that, Jin Geum-ryeon pointed to a medicine kit placed on the table.
Was that all he had to say? Ak Mujin nodded slightly as if it were nothing, then gently grasped his wrist, which was extended towards the table, and pulled it between his legs.
“Jin Geum-ryeon…”
The words that came out of Ak Mujin’s lips were Jin Geum-ryeon’s name.