Chapter 6 (2)
Chapter 6 (2)
"The warriors of the Jeongmumae have mostly disappeared now."
I informed Ha-yeon of the situation after checking the atmosphere around the city gates while buying food.
"It's been a long time. If they're hiding, it means they've hidden so deep they can't be found, and if they've run away, they're likely being pursued."
She nodded, assessing the situation roughly.
"It's time to escape now, Jin-rang."
"But is there a reason we have to escape that far?"
Ha-yeon insisted that we run away to the far Western regions or deep into mountains where no one lives.
I had chosen the deep mountains to obtain the Fire Artisan's legacy, but she was afraid of being pursued not by the Righteous faction, but by the Demonic Cult itself.
"The Heavenly Demon Cult never forgives a traitor. Furthermore, they try to cruelly kill everyone around them too. They don't fear a hundredfold loss if it means killing a single traitor."
Her eyes were clearly worried about me.
"But right now, the Heavenly Demon Cult doesn't know if I'm dead or alive. So, this is the only chance to escape the Heavenly Demon Cult's grasp."
Ha-yeon said that by the time she had memories, she was already a beggar without parents.
Not knowing where her parents were or where she was born, she just wandered here and there.
However, because she looked different from the people of the Central Plains, she was persecuted, and having no way to make a living, she had no choice but to join the Heavenly Demon Cult; she said she had never once been infatuated with its doctrine.
That must be why, even though she was a member of the Demonic Cult, she could think of betraying them so easily.
"Alright. Then I'll try to get as much money as I can. In the meantime, loosen up your stiff body."
Our goal is to bribe the soldiers with a large sum of money to escape when there are no Jeongmumae warriors around.
That is why I was getting money by selling the remaining medicinal herbs after treating Ha-yeon to an herbalist.
Since her injuries are almost healed now, she just needs to loosen up her stiff body.
"Jin-rang."
"Yeah?"
"I have a place I need to go for a moment, too."
"What? Where?"
"The Heavenly Demon Cult's safe house."
I made an absurd face at her words.
"No, didn't you say we shouldn't get caught by the Demonic Cult?"
"I won't get caught."
"There's no reason to go there, though."
"When I checked the safe house in Chang'an, I confirmed the Heavenly Demon Cult's Maryeonghwan. And there were 10 of them."
"Maryeonghwan?"
According to her explanation, Maryeonghwan is a spiritual pill made by the Heavenly Demon Cult that has the effect of healing injuries as well as increasing internal energy.
It is said to be a spiritual pill mainly used to raise up-and-coming experts supported by the sect, or for high-ranking officials injured on missions.
Because it was an important mission to obtain the Heavenly Demon Divine Sword, the contents of the safe house were more substantial than usual.
"Jin-rang, who has been learning martial arts for half a year, is eyeing the realm of a first-class warrior. With the effects of the Maryeonghwan, and if I help you absorb the internal energy easily, you'll be able to reach first-class... no, even higher realms."
"Hmm......."
That's tempting.
But it's too dangerous if we get caught by the Demonic Cult.
"Don't worry, Jin-rang. It usually looks like a ruin, and people only go in and out when they're doing regular inspections. If I think there's someone inside, I'll just give up and come back."
Noticing my hesitation, she preempted me.
Tsk. I have nothing to say if she puts it that way.
Besides, above all else, her determination to do anything for me shook my heart.
"If you think it's dangerous, come back immediately."
"Yeah. I will."
I hugged her, and kissed Ha-yeon on the lips as she lifted her face on her own.
Mmm~ As expected, women are soft all over, so it feels great.
"I'll be leaving at night, so take into account the time to rest."
"Hehe, did you forget that I'm a higher-level expert than you, Jin-rang?"
Chu-chu-chu
After kissing a few more times, we smiled at each other and pulled away.
I never thought that living with a woman I clicked with would be this enjoyable.
As expected, even if it's realistic, the reactions are completely different from a game made of 0s and 1s.
'Maryeonghwan, huh. With that, I can leave to find the Fire Artisan's legacy right away.'
If I obtain the Fire Artisan's legacy, even the Demonic Cult won't be able to mess with me easily.
And in a few years, the Heaven-Breaking Association, the main villains of this world, will be slowly gnawing away at the foundations of the Righteous, Evil, and Demonic factions.
No, are they gnawing away at it even now?
Anyway, within the next 10 years, a war that will engulf the entire continent will break out in this Murim.
Before that, I need to eat all 4 fated encounters I've selected and get stronger.
And while watching the situation, I'll catch the experts who will become my women and break them in.
Of course, the ones with outstanding talent.
That talent is a hassle, but I'll have to see and verify it myself.
Tsk. If you're going to transmigrate someone into a game world, shouldn't you at least make the status window visible by default?
That's a basic passive skill and a promised development, isn't it?
Anyway, whoever sent me to this world has no sense, no sense at all.
While grumbling to myself, I moved my feet, looking forward to getting stronger by going around to obtain fated encounters with Ha-yeon.
That said, I get the feeling that Ha-yeon is hiding something from me sometimes.
If I get the chance later, I'll have to use a breeding press to pin her down and make her confess.
After confirming that Jin-cheon had left to sell the herbs, Im Ha-yeon dressed like an ordinary married woman and began to move cautiously.
'Rather than using martial arts, let's stick to the dark alleys.'
If she used martial arts, an expert with keen eyes would immediately notice that she wasn't an ordinary woman.
Furthermore, her tan skin stood out, so she had to head to even darker places.
With her whole body wrapped tightly in clothes except for her face, Im Ha-yeon moved along places where there were as few people as possible.
When she had no choice but to cross a main road, she waited until there were few people and then scurried across.
Chang'an is shaped such that the wealthy live in the center, and the poor live towards the outskirts.
Im Ha-yeon headed for a place that could be called the boundary between the middle class and the poor.
However, since she wasn't using martial arts, unexpected riffraff clung to her.
"Hey, you there. Don't you know you have to pay a toll to our Heungnyongpa to pass through this area?"
5 or 6 rough-looking men appeared threateningly, blocking her path.
They probably saw Im Ha-yeon, who was alone and had a slender build, and thought she was easy prey, so they picked a fight.
'Heungnyongpa... Heungnyongpa....... I don't remember them.'
She thought about the place called Heungnyongpa, but nothing came to mind.
That meant they were small fry, not even worth looking at among the small fry.
"Well, if you spread your legs for us, we'll let it slide just this once... Ack!?"
In an instant, Im Ha-yeon, who was planning to subdue them lightly and leave, unconsciously unleashed her martial arts with full power and stabbed her fingernails into his neck.
Swish-swish-swish-thwack!
"Argh!?"
"An... expert......!?"
"Spare m... Kuek!"
They realized that she was an expert whom even hundreds of them couldn't defeat, and tried to flee in a hurry or beg for forgiveness, but Im Ha-yeon didn't let a single one go and dealt with them all.
'How dare you covet my body? My body belongs only to Jin-rang!'
In the past, she would have sneered or ignored it, but now that she had become one man's woman, she reacted hypersensitively to such jokes.
Having dealt with the thugs of the underworld in one fell swoop, she threw the corpses into a pile of trash and headed back to the safe house.
The safe house looked like an ordinary ruin on the outside.
In fact, homeless people without houses even lived here.
But now, because experts from the Heavenly Demon Cult needed to use it, the manager had already cleared out all the homeless people.
'There's... no one around.'
After checking the surroundings, Im Ha-yeon confirmed that no one was hiding, and immediately headed to a corner to sweep away the dust on the floor.
'There are no signs of use!'
There were no traces of the dust being moved artificially.
If so, now is the perfect opportunity!
From this point on, it's a race against time.
Im Ha-yeon quickly pulled the hidden ring to open the door, then climbed down the ladder into the basement.
Darkness where one couldn't even see an inch ahead.
Im Ha-yeon used the Samadhi True Fire, which burns by emitting energy outward, to create fire on her fingertips.
After checking the surroundings and lighting several candles, she withdrew the Samadhi True Fire and checked the inside of the safe house.
'It's here! All 10!'
10 sealed wooden boxes containing the Maryeonghwan.
She quickly put them all inside her sleeves and looked around to see if there were any other spiritual pills, just in case.
But this Maryeonghwan was added because of the mission to obtain the Heavenly Demon Divine Sword; there was no way there would be spiritual pills to increase internal energy in a safe house for hiding.
A few 50-nyang Eunwonbo (processed silver ingots rather than currency; the value varies by size and weight) caught her eye, but since she was going to a remote place with no people anyway, there was no reason to take them.
Having packed all the Maryeonghwan, she extinguished the lights, climbed up the ladder, and carefully checked the surroundings.
'None.'
Confirming that there was no one around, Im Ha-yeon quickly moved away from the safe house.
'I did it! I did it!'
Now she just needs to make Jin-cheon absorb these Maryeonghwan and run away together to a place no one knows.
Because things went better than expected, Im Ha-yeon, who was more excited than usual, did not realize that her attentiveness was lower than usual.
Returning home like that, Im Ha-yeon placed all the wooden boxes she had put in her sleeves onto the bed.
When she removed the seals and checked the inside of the wooden boxes, a slightly bitter yet refreshing scent wafted into her nose.
"Hehehe~ Now if only Jin-rang comes... Huh?"
Expecting a happy life for the two of them, she sat on the edge of the bed and looked at the floor, noticing that one floorboard was slightly higher than the others.
"What is this?"
Usually, she didn't have time to check such things because they were busy mingling their bodies.
In the first place, Im Ha-yeon's gaze was mostly directed at Jin-cheon, so she had no reason to look at the floor.
Creak-
When she applied force to the floorboard in various directions with her palm, the floor slid to the side, revealing a dug-out hole and a small money pouch.
'They said the man was addicted to gambling, so the woman must have been hiding money like this.'
That dead wife seemed to have quite good dexterity.
To think she would come up with a device like this on the floor.
It was all copper coins, but it would still be somewhat helpful if used for bribes.
'It's the best. It's like the earth and the sky are all blessing us.'
A chain of continuous good luck.
Im Ha-yeon stacked the wooden boxes containing the Maryeonghwan into the hole where the emergency funds were kept, in order to surprise Jin-cheon.
A pleasant twist where she would lower the mood as if she had only found one, but in reality, there were more.
Having not been able to have a proper relationship or love during her nearly 60 years of life, she giggled at the childish but fun roleplay.
Step-
At that moment, feeling that someone was approaching the house, Im Ha-yeon stood her hand up without realizing it.
'This footstep....... It belongs to an expert.'
Unlike Jin-cheon's, footsteps that felt both fast and heavy stopped in front of the door.
"Ah......."
And through the energy felt from beyond, the mood that had been trying to pierce the sky until just a moment ago pierced through the floor.
Because it was a very small but clear Demonic Energy.
'No....... I've only just found my happiness... Jin-cheon... Jin-rang......!'
"Hwan-yo. I know you're inside."
"......."
If it were a member of the Demonic Cult with lower skills than herself, she could have chosen to kill them to destroy the evidence, but the owner of the voice happened to be Blood Flying Tiger, an expert of a higher rank than herself.
Although her internal energy had risen due to the intercourse with Jin-cheon, he was a high-level expert who could not be caught up to with just a slight increase in internal energy.
'If he finds out about Jin-rang's existence... Jin-rang will die......!'
He was a thorough member of the Demonic Cult to the bone.
Mu-ryeong was a subordinate, so he had to listen to her orders, but Blood Flying Tiger was different.
If he thought there was even the slightest problem, he would immediately cut off Jin-cheon's head.
'I must save Jin-rang! No matter what I have to do!'
Thinking that this was the only way to save Jin-cheon, she took a deep breath and her face turned vicious.
Slam-
"Come in quickly."
"Hmm."
Im Ha-yeon, who let Blood Flying Tiger into the house, shot a suspicious look at him.
"There were no pursuers, right?"
"Hmph. If I couldn't even notice that much, I would have died long ago."
"What about the others?"
"Most of the experts have been killed or captured. The only ones left are me, you, Mu-ryeong, and Yeom-ma."
For reference, Yeom-ma had been securing an escape route, so when Blood Flying Tiger and Hwan-yo were surrounded, he attacked from the outside to create a hole for them to escape.
"Looks like you managed to survive somehow."
"I had a hard time shaking off the pursuers. That aside, you were hit by the Sword Empress, but you look in better condition than I thought."
"That woman's techniques are all clean, aren't they? If anything, because I was cut cleanly, the treatment was fast."
"Hmm."
Blood Flying Tiger remembered that her wounds were quite serious, but he kept his mouth shut because he had no particular reason to interrogate her.
"I was treating my wounds and looking for a hole to escape. I brought one Maryeonghwan just in case a pursuer attached themselves. What about you?"
"I also treated all my wounds in the meantime. While I was personally checking the plan Yeom-ma made to find an escape route, I found the thugs of the underworld killed by your martial arts, and while checking the surroundings, I found you."
'Damn it! I should have been more careful when moving......!'
Im Ha-yeon belatedly blamed herself for the fact that her attentiveness and judgment had dropped due to the fact that she could now spend happy days with Jin-cheon.
To show her martial arts while dealing with mere thugs of the underworld!
No matter how she thought about it, she could only describe it as doing something stupid because she was too excited.
"That's fortunate. I found a husband who killed his wife after a marital spat, so I killed the man and took over this house."
"You were lucky."
"Yeah. I was lucky. Instead, the security was tight, so I was just killing time while trying to escape."
"Is that so. Then follow me. Yeom-ma has made a plan to escape."
"......."
At Blood Flying Tiger's instruction, Im Ha-yeon hesitated for a moment.
'Jin-rang....... I'm sorry.......'
"Hwan-yo?"
To avoid having her emotions discovered, she acted as the usual Hwan-yo.
"How are we going to escape? I was at my limit just waiting for the security to disappear before running away."
"That's a long story, so let's talk after joining up with Yeom-ma. Follow me."
With those words, Blood Flying Tiger stepped out of the house.
Im Ha-yeon tried to follow Blood Flying Tiger, but she kept the inside of the house in her eyes, thinking that she had to part with Jin-cheon like this.
A poor, desolate-looking house.
However, inside this place, she and he had shared love and lived happily.
She was a little bored because she couldn't go outside the house, but even so, because of that, she could feel happiness as a woman when Jin-cheon returned.
'This is the only way to save your life. If I were stronger than Blood Flying Tiger... No, it's useless to regret it now.......'
"Hwan-yo, what are you doing."
"Just a moment. I found some emergency money hidden in this house. You never know when you might need money."
Having said that, Im Ha-yeon quickly placed a coin on the floor where she had hidden the emergency money and stepped out of the door.
"What use is the emergency money of a poor commoner."
"Don't you know that if people like us, dressed in shabby clothes, suddenly pull out something like Eunwonbo, it's easier to arouse suspicion?"
"Hmm. That's not entirely wrong."
She spoke as if grumbling without losing a single word, and Blood Flying Tiger reacted to her appearance as if it were natural.
"Then we move."
"Yeah."
'Jin-rang. Please, stay safe.'
Im Ha-yeon, who swallowed her tears inside, prayed for Jin-cheon's safety and followed behind Blood Flying Tiger, heading for the escape route to flee Chang'an.