A Wanderer's Loyalty
A wanderer has a wanderer's sense of loyalty. Gyeong Damgan answered weakly, his voice completely drained, as though he had resigned himself to whatever fate had in store. "I don't know either. He hasn't shown his face since morning. Whether he drank himself unconscious or went off alone to enjoy himself with suitable ingredients, how should I know?"
Ingredients? This bastard still hasn't learned his lesson. Cheong clicked her tongue in disapproval. Separate from that, it meant her efforts had been in vain. She accepted Gyeong Damgan's testimony without suspicion. At least when it came to selling out his comrades, the man was utterly reliable. The loyalty among bastards like him was shallower than a puddle of muddy water on the roadside.
Besides, the very concept of a "missing person" was extremely rare in the Central Plains. People from Cheong's spiritual homeland, the Korean people, might not understand this. Their nation had the government collecting every piece of personal information on every individual, even fingerprints. This was a police-state achievement found only among Koreans worldwide. Foreigners who learned of it would suddenly cry out for their "big brother" in shock, something Koreans themselves could never comprehend. Even the Chinese people could not register all their non-citizens (the so-called "black households" or "rat bastards") whom they officially refused to acknowledge!
Thus, in Cheong's homeland, so long as the police were not deliberately looking the other way because they knew the kidnapper, no one could simply abduct people and turn them into slaves. On top of voluntary submission of personal data, every citizen carried a real-time communicator and location tracker. If someone suddenly stopped responding, people immediately sensed something was wrong and concluded they were missing. Even without going far, if the tracker went offline, a great wave of anxiety would surge in one's heart.
But what about this primitive, barbaric Central Plains? If someone left home saying they were going to watch the Murim Alliance tournament, it would take a month to get there, a month to watch, and a month to return. Even if there was no contact for three months, everyone would simply assume they were having fun. Only after about six months would people start wondering if it was time for them to return. After a year, they would conclude the brat must have gotten stabbed somewhere and accept the eternal farewell. Even the basic postal system was the exclusive property of the government, relying on enormous sums of money or personal connections formed along the way. It was a world where, without money or connections, you could not send even a single letter!
Therefore, even if Cheong disappeared for three or four days, no one would particularly worry. They would simply think she had gone somewhere or perhaps crossed paths with them. Even if Moyong Juhee had not left a letter saying she would return home first, her family would not have been especially concerned for about a week. She must have caused another accident. Or she's avoiding us out of embarrassment.
The same logic applied to Gyeong Damgan's claim that the leader had not been seen since morning. He might be amusing himself somewhere, or perhaps his superiors had assigned him a separate mission. A vice-leader stepping away was nothing to click one's tongue over; it was hardly a serious matter.
"Hmm. Just in case, let me ask. Are you willing to remove the gu from those who have been poisoned?"
"Kuhuk... Just kill me. On my way to the afterlife, I'll drag along plenty of my comrades."
"Comrades? Aren't they your enemies? You'll get beaten half to death on the road to the afterlife."
"When you die, that's the end. There is no road to the afterlife. If the heavens wish to punish the wicked, they should do it while they're alive. All that nonsense about paying for sins after death, whether you believe it or not, is just empty talk."
"Hmm. You have a point."
If bad deeds were immediately met with heavenly punishment, no villains would exist in the world. All that talk of suffering after death was nothing more than the pitiful self-comfort of the living, wishing for such a thing.
"Kuhuk... Now what will you do? If you kill me—"
"Ah. For your information, the other wanderers have taken strong medicine and are sound asleep. So threats about the queen gu launching an unlimited self-destruct operation if you die won't work."
Gyeong Damgan snorted at that. "Remove the gu. Just spare my life."
"Hmm. We're on the same page, then."
At those words, Gyeong Damgan's expression brightened. Cheong smiled refreshingly and continued. "You don't need to remove the gu, but I hope the eunuch grandfather lives a very, very long time. You can't die, okay?"
----
The martial prowess of the Double-Line Blood Gu Unit Leader, the Blood Wheel Demon, was said to have surpassed the Harmonious Realm. The exact stage was unknown even to the informant. It was only natural for experts in the Jianghu to hide their true strength, and revealing whether one was early, middle, or late stage was rather foolish.
Cheong had wanted to ask her master to handle the Blood Wheel Demon, but learning he was absent left her truly disappointed. Thus, she grabbed the sparse hair of the captured Sighing Mad Demon and dragged him along as she headed outside. While inspecting the underground Blood Sect base, she spotted Seomun Su-rin and broke into a bright smile.
"Master! Your disciple has captured the Sighing Mad Demon!"
"Are you hurt anywhere? There is not a single spot on you not stained with blood."
"Not a single drop of it is mine. Why would I get hurt just catching some insignificant Super Peak nobody?"
"Indeed. You now handle Super Peak experts with ease. Well done."
Even upon seeing Cheong completely covered in blood, Seomun Su-rin offered only gentle praise. The sight instead brought back faint memories. Of her own youthful days, when she had drenched herself in the blood of lechers and slaughtered the enemies of Jianghu women. Those were joyful times.
"It seems the Blood Wheel Demon has left. Whether he stepped away briefly or for some other reason, I don't know."
"Then I shall remain here a while longer. By the way, what do you plan to do with that lecher? You haven't chopped off his limbs and thrown him into a pigsty."
The Sighing Mad Demon's perverse hobbies were fairly well known. If they had not been, he would never have earned such a nickname in the first place.
"Hmm, I have something I want to try. It might help with my training too. But where is my other master? We need to do this together."
"Hmph. The Divine Thief is an eccentric for a reason. He must have found some rare treasure to steal somewhere. Who knows, there might be another woman wearing underwear made from a treasure map."
"Or it could be a man."
When Cheong returned the joke, Seomun Su-rin pretended to lightly thump her on the head. "You little thing. How dare you joke about your senior sister?"
The woman who wore underwear made from a treasure map was none other than the Heaven-Fleeing Sword, Wang Juhee, Sect Leader of the Goddess Sect. Seomun Su-rin often teased her by asking what the world's most valuable underwear felt like.
Leaving behind Seomun Su-rin, who said she would stay underground in case the Blood Wheel Demon or the Double-Line Blood Gu Unit Leader returned, Cheong headed to the surface. Along the way, a few Blood Sect warriors whose limbs had been severed appeared, writhing and groaning. Strangely, they were not bleeding. Cheong considered finishing them off but felt it would be rude to carelessly dispose of those her master had deliberately left alive. Besides, they served as living relays for the queen blood gu's unlimited self-destruct operation. They needed to be kept alive so she could wipe them all out at once later.
----
In the bathhouse of Mucheon Pavilion, there was a device meant to torture Cheong—no, to train her in the Flowing Softness Softening Refinement. And now someone other than Cheong was firmly secured to it: the villain known in the world as the Sighing Mad Demon, Gyeong Damgan.
After Cheon Yuhak had bound the man's limbs with the same strange tools he once used on Cheong, she brought a blazing torch to his severed wrist.
"Mmmph!!!"
"Now, now. Stay still. Simply stopping the blood isn't enough to prevent it from gushing out again, you know? I'm treating you so you can live a long, long time."
"Mmmph!!"
"Goodness, you're acting like you're going to die just from having a wound cauterized. It's just a little sting. What a big baby this old man is."
Cheong thoroughly scorched Gyeong Damgan's wrist. Since she had applied the flame directly, it could be classified as open-flame grilling. Ah. I want some samgyeopsal. It was not something one should think while grilling a living person's wrist, but the smell of cooking meat filled her nose, and Cheong could not help it.
Having experienced it herself, Cheong knew that once properly secured to the Flowing Softness Softening Refinement training rack, one could not make even the slightest movement. It was designed with ergonomic precision because if the subject moved during the delicate process of severing joints and tendons, they could become permanently crippled. Thus, Gyeong Damgan, who had only been able to scream through his gag, eventually went limp.
"Ah! Did he die!?"
Cheong hurriedly checked his pulse. The life force of a Super Peak expert would not be severed by something as minor as cauterizing a wound. She breathed a huge sigh of relief. When she returned to Mucheon Pavilion, a welcome face she had not seen in a long time was waiting.
"Ah, Grandfather! How have you been?"
"Yes, have you been well?"
The kindly smiling old man, who had aged gracefully, was none other than the Tang Clan's retired patriarch, the one Cheong called Poison Grandfather.
Poison Grandfather asked casually, "So. I heard Su-rin is here?"
"Ah. Master is downstairs, taking care of the Blood Sect's leader while she's at it."
"Is that so?"
The retired patriarch's face bloomed into a wide smile. His shin, which had been broken by a kick for making aphrodisiacs, still ached whenever it rained. After hearing that Seomun Su-rin had appeared, he had not even turned his head toward Mucheon Pavilion. But if they had captured the Double-Line Blood Gu leader, what did a sore shin matter?
Removing someone else's gu was no easy task. Cheong had simply stabbed the belly and yanked it out, but that was because she had intended to kill the host anyway. A hole in the intestines was bad enough, but forcibly extracting a gu would cause it to spew its stored venom, flooding the body with deadly poison. Cheong had pulled it out roughly because the host only needed to stay alive long enough for her to enjoy herself. But she could not do that to Moyong Juhee or the other wanderers, so she needed the help of a giant versed in both poison and medicine.
Thus, late that night, Poison Grandfather left in high spirits, carrying numerous glass bottles filled with living Double-Line Blood Gu. Cheong had watched closely as the master of human anatomy demonstrated his skill. It was truly a marvel befitting a physician who specialized in the human body.
And the Double-Line Blood Gu was surprisingly... cute? Cheong had imagined something like an earthworm or flea since it was called a parasite, but what she saw was closer to a translucent salamander. Its broad head had two horizontal lines, which explained the "double-line" in its name. She tilted her head, wondering if such a creature had always existed, then realized this was a world where people used a mysterious power called inner energy to shoot sword beams and fly through the air. A parasitic salamander was not that strange.
With that settled, she now only needed her master to return. Since they had obtained excellent teaching materials, she planned to learn the Flowing Softness Softening Refinement procedure. She would eventually need to perform it on her own disciple, so learning it now seemed wise. Moreover, the process of severing joints and tendons almost to the point of destruction based purely on sensation was... wow, just thinking about it filled her with anticipation.
However, Cheon Yuhak did not return. Instead, an unfamiliar person appeared, delivering only the message that he would be late so she should not worry.
Hmm. Why did he send the messenger collect-on-delivery? My master has plenty of money. "I'll be late, don't worry, my disciple" was ten characters. Five taels of silver for that was a bit expensive, wasn't it?
In the end, it seemed Cheon Yuhak was doing something that was making him late. The bound Gyeong Damgan was growing weaker by the day. Cheong, fearing he might actually die, made a decision. Besides, she needed to send the queen gu's self-destruct signal while the Blood Sect warriors—the relays—were still alive. If she fiddled with the handles and figured out how it worked herself, she might be able to learn it through self-study without her master teaching her.