The Urge Unleashed
If Cheong had majored in science, engineering, or the arts, she would have gone mad wrestling between her murderous impulses and her guilt. But because she had studied the humanities and social sciences, she was still alive and kicking in this literary style! Of course, if she had gone into medicine or law, she would not have had a single moment to spare for games as a hobby. In that case, she would never have ended up in this mess to begin with—so really, people ought to study. As the French philosopher Francis Bacon once said, knowledge is power. That was exactly the principle at work here.
“Bad guys aren’t people, so there’s no need to treat them like people. Master Mencius said as much. So come at me, punk. If the beast doesn’t bare its fangs, the hunter won’t have any fun either.”
Nogal swallowed a sigh deep in his throat. He had run into a truly insane woman. It was the exact sort of thinking one would expect from a bloodthirsty killer. Nogal racked his brain for a way out. Escape was hopeless. His opponent possessed peerless movement arts and could even strike distant foes with projected palm force. Even if he somehow fled, there was another problem. If a bodyguard abandoned his charge to save himself, he would be hunted for the rest of his life. The Black Shadow Society Lord would never forgive a guard who fled and left his daughter behind. Nogal’s wife and ten-year-old son would also meet a gruesome end.
That left only two options: defeat her somehow, or beg for mercy. In the face of death, the mind often displayed unprecedented focus. That was why martial artists sometimes broke through to higher realms in the midst of life-or-death battles. At last, Nogal’s brain found the most reasonable path among countless futures. Masters often displayed strange generosity. “Good heavens, your integrity is truly admirable!” That sort of thing. Of course, the odds were one in ten thousand. Still, if he was going to die anyway, he had to at least save his wife and son. The Black Shadow Society Lord was a member of the unorthodox faction, but he was the kind of man who would take good care of the family of a guard who had offered his life for his daughter.
Nogal steeled himself with grim resolve. “I will offer my life in apology to the noble lady. Could you not sever this evil connection with just me alone?”
Unfortunately, Cheong had already passed the limit of her thirst. Life had been far too peaceful lately, and fighting without a proper blade had caused her bloodthirsty nature to explode. “I don’t want to.”
Her hand moved on its own. Her long, outstretched fingers raked across Nogal’s throat from right to left. Fingers were the most sensitive part of the human body. The brief instant was enough to feel the sensation at one-hundredth speed. The satisfying resistance as they tore through the soft skin of the neck and buried themselves in muscle. The elastic blood vessels wrapped around her knuckles like rubber bands, adding even more tension. Then came the solid resistance of the Adam’s apple. She dug deeper, as if scooping out sand, until her fingers closed around the laryngeal cartilage. The carotid artery she had hooked stretched taut, passing over the collarbone and toward the shoulder before finally snapping under the strain.
Only then did time return to its normal speed. With a wet shlick, the torn aorta sprayed blood violently. At last, the fragrant warmth of fresh blood washed over her face. At the same time, the world burned white. A sticky lightning bolt raced from her spine to the tips of her fingers, toes, and head. A sea of light whispering in a majestic, silent universe. Two hundred and six bones, tendons, muscles, and two hundred and fifty thousand li of blood vessels swirling together as one. A flower garden blooming hazily in the midst of roaring flames. A heart pounding in her skull, pulsing through brain and eardrums. A chorus of ten thousand voices singing in falsetto. Salty and sour. A spicy sigh. One sweet tear.
……… …… …
And then it was like waking from sleep. At some point, she simply became aware that she was awake—a natural budding of consciousness. It was the first time she had felt this refreshed in this world. The pleasant feeling of waking after a deep sleep, without any lingering drowsiness. A sense of fulfillment filled her, like after watching a movie that ended happily. Yet despite her healthier-than-ever mind, her body felt terrible. Her limbs trembled for some reason—the classic sign that you would be sore the next day after sleeping too deeply. And what was this? Her hand felt heavy. When she lifted it, she saw a fistful of hair and a woman’s severed head dangling from her grip.
“Oh, miss, when did you end up with just a head? How pitiful.”
She must have lost her mind for a moment. She had no idea how much havoc she had wreaked. Every part of her body ached. Cheong quickly checked her virtue points. Fortunately, it seemed she had only killed this one woman before regaining her senses. Her virtue had increased by a tiny amount compared to before. Cheong tossed the head aside and scratched her own head vigorously. “Whew, it’s been so long that I got carried away……”
Well, at least everything had turned out for the best. She had gained some virtue, and her mood was quite good. That counted as a win, didn’t it?
----
When she returned to the teahouse, the place was in an uproar. The three young masters were also making a fuss, so Cheong gave them a simple explanation. “I had no choice. They were going to capture her, cut off her limbs, and throw her into a brothel. I couldn’t just stand by and let that happen.”
Her tone was as casual as if she were discussing what she had eaten for breakfast. The content was so gruesome that the listeners’ expressions hardened. On top of that, she was covered head to toe in blood, with droplets still dripping from her chin. “It’s fine, it’s not my blood.”
“Miss, you should at least wash your face first. Innkeeper, could you prepare some water for washing, please?”
The innkeeper wanted nothing more than for them to leave. But he lacked the courage to argue with a blood-soaked woman and a muscular giant. “At least wipe yourself off.” Paeng Daesan held out a handkerchief. Since she had deliberately drenched herself, one handkerchief would not suffice. She would have to throw it away afterward, but the fact that he offered it so readily made her both grateful and oddly touched. “Ah, keep it. A rough wipe is enough. There are plenty over there.”
Cheong stepped outside the teahouse, picked up a fallen handkerchief, and wiped her face. After cleaning her face, wringing out her hair, and repeating the process of discarding and retrieving handkerchiefs, the dampness had mostly subsided. When she returned to her seat, water had been prepared, so she splashed her face vigorously. “……So, let’s talk now.”
“What talk?”
“You said you were going to the outhouse and came back looking like that. What talk?”
“What? Why? Why are you suddenly angry?”
“Ha, who? Me?”
Paeng Daesan’s reaction was quite sharp. Cheong no longer held back after entering the martial world. But right now her mood was excellent, and she had no desire to argue and ruin it. “Wait! Stop the anger!”
“Trying to escape like that……”
“You over there too, stop! If you go there now and get dragged into it later, it won’t be my fault, right? What is curiosity? Curiosity is what kills!”
Cheong shouted toward the back door. The man who had been sneaking toward it wore an expression of sudden enlightenment and returned to his seat. Cheong focused back on the table. “No, I really don’t get it? Calm down. We just had a little argument, and I won. I put down my sword, so they thought I was an easy target, that’s all.”
“Is that something you can say so casually?”
“Then what, is it supposed to be a big deal? This happens all the time.”
This happens all the time. Paeng Daesan felt as if he had been struck. Cheong was a young master. Young masters did not simply appear out of nowhere. Only those born with talent and placed in the right environment could become young masters at such an age. For example, the support a family could provide. Or perhaps a continuous series of life-or-death battles. While Paeng Daesan was lost in thought, Cheong snapped her fingers and changed the subject. “Ah, right. Jegal, since you’re Jegal, you know a lot about martial arts, right?”
Actually, they were not that close yet, and as cousins of opposite genders, the two had been awkwardly observing each other without intervening. Jegal Ihyeon answered when called. “Are you asking about martial arts, miss?”
“Yeah. What’s the strongest hand technique?”
Cheong recalled the moment she had torn off Nogal’s head. That perfect sensation in her hand. It had been the best. In that instant, she had a lightning-like realization. Ah. She needed to learn a hand technique. It was an abrupt question, but Jegal Ihyeon, who could never resist explaining, answered. “Miss, even if you ask what the strongest martial art is, there is no immediate answer.”
“Why?”
“Because the martial world has been arguing about it for thousands of years. Honestly, whenever two or more men gather, the question of the strongest martial art is inevitable.”
“Then what do you think?”
“In my opinion, hand techniques are not particularly good martial arts.”
“Why?”
“Because hand techniques are inherently extremely cruel. If people already dislike the sensation of injuring an opponent with a sword, how much worse would it be to tear flesh apart with bare hands?”
Wasn’t that exactly why they were good? Cheong tilted her head. It seemed the era simply did not match. “Are you going to keep dodging the question? What’s the strongest one?”
“Well, fortunately, when it comes to hand techniques, all martial artists would agree on the strongest one. That would be—”
Jegal Ihyeon paused with the air of a seasoned talker and raised his teacup for a sip. Then he noticed Paeng Daesan glaring at him and flinched. The look said, I have something to say, so finish quickly. Jegal Ihyeon wrapped it up in a hurry. “The strongest hand technique is the Sosu Magong.”
“Sosu Magong?”
“Ah! My throat is suddenly so dry!”
Jegal Ihyeon made a diversion. Knowing the cause, Cheong changed targets. “Hey, why are you bullying our Jegal?”
“Is this the time to be chatting leisurely about martial arts? Look at the state you’re in.”
“Well, if not now, I don’t think there’ll be another chance?”
“……What do you mean by that?”
Cheong would not hold back, but she had no intention of acting like a mantis before a cart. She knew that even at the late Peak realm, she could not take on an entire sect alone. She had been chased away a few times before. “The Black Shadow Society is a pretty big sect, right?”
“……So they were Black Shadow Society bastards.”
“If they weren’t impersonating them.”
Paeng Daesan wiped his face. There were three major powers in Luoyang: the Chae Clan, the Wine Ghost Pavilion, and the Black Shadow Society. The Chae Clan was a prestigious family that had produced generations of great generals. The Wine Ghost Pavilion and the Black Shadow Society were unorthodox sects. No matter how weakened the government had become, the Chae Clan still held military authority through the General’s Sword. They were the de facto county magistrates controlling most of Luoyang’s interests. The Wine Ghost Pavilion and the Black Shadow Society split the shady businesses that the Chae Clan could not touch for the sake of appearances. “They tried to traffic people in broad daylight, so I figured they weren’t ordinary thugs.”
“You provoked them even knowing that? No, with your level of skill, did you really need to get physical in the first place?”
The Black Shadow Society would not attempt to kidnap a late Peak realm martial artist unless they had lost their minds. It meant she had gone out of her way to shed blood when simply displaying her power would have sufficed. Cheong declared confidently, “I don’t avoid fights. And if a bad guy starts one, I go even harder. A real man doesn’t run away.”
Was she actually crazy? For a moment, something flashed through Paeng Daesan’s mind. Damn it, he had told her to hit him, and she really had. “Can’t you live with at least a little, just a tiny bit of thought? How are you going to handle the aftermath……”
“I’ll run, obviously.”
That was what running away meant. Just a moment ago she had been talking about being a real man. Ah. A real man. Paeng Daesan’s energy drained away. “You intend to flee?”
“When the time comes to leave! The back view of someone who knows exactly when to go! How beautiful it is! The falling petals scattering!”
“Enough of that nonsense! Can’t you be serious for once!”
Paeng Daesan raised his voice. Cheong smiled gently instead. The little punk had grown attached and was raising his voice. “Sorry. It was the Choseon Pavilion, right? I’ll buy next time we meet.”
“If you had just held back a little……”
“Well, it’s not like we’re going to live together for a thousand years. Half a month? We’re parting a little early, that’s all. If fate brings us together again later, we’ll meet then.”
At Cheong’s words, Paeng Daesan’s mouth opened, then closed. Come to think of it, she was right. They had only joined the same convoy heading to Yongseong. They would part ways soon after departure the day after tomorrow anyway. Thinking about it, there was no reason to hold her back, was there? Paeng Daesan leaned back in his chair. Cheong stood up. “Miss, all my luggage is with the merchant caravan. Right, please tell the caravan leader I’m sorry for running away. Young Hero So, and Jegal, I’ll see you later.”
“Take care of yourself, miss.”
“Yes, miss. I’ll see you again.”
Cheong stepped out of the teahouse. She did not actually have anywhere to go. But she had not come to the martial world because she had somewhere to go. She would just live however she pleased, wherever she ended up. She could catch some bandits, rob some mountain thieves, and now she even had a new goal called Sosu Magong. Cheong kicked off the ground and dashed away.
