The Joyful Palace Lord's Death and the Burning of the Secret Manual
The news of the Joyful Palace Lord's death during the prisoner escort reached the sect like a thunderclap. Every elder of the Joyful Palace fell into profound grief.
Hamwol had never been a good palace lord. Her personality was vicious; she treated the elders like maids and was quicker with her fists than her words. On top of that, her greed was anything but ordinary. She hoarded every handsome man or occasionally captured high-level death row prisoner for herself, sucking them dry until nothing remained.
Still, Hamwol was the master of the Joyful Palace. And the master of the Joyful Palace was the sole inheritor of the Maiden's Joyful Art. In other words, she was a living, breathing secret manual capable of fully transmitting the technique!
In truth, the elders had secretly called her the Western Corpse Goddess behind her back, or simply "that retarded bitch." Sometimes, with affection, they called her "that fucking cunt." Every single one of them had wished for Hamwol's death.
But they had wanted her to die after passing on the divine art.
So, amid their sorrow, the elders asked: Then what about the manual?
Learning martial arts from a manual alone was difficult. But it was still better than the technique vanishing entirely. They could even gather all the elders and higher ranks to study it together and add new annotations.
Glints of hopeful light passed between the elders through their shared grief.
But the manual had been burned at the stake.
If physics had been highly developed in the Central Plains, they might have comforted themselves by saying the manual hadn't truly disappeared—it had merely transformed into heat and light and still existed in the world. Unfortunately, the Central Plains were still too primitive for such consolation. All they could feel was regret.
Following the five stages of grief, the elders immediately moved to denial.
No way! There's no way such a reality could exist!
There must be some mistake.
No matter how much of a brainless, world-class fucking bitch Hamwol was, surely she wouldn't have carried the secret manual of the palace lord's succession technique on her person. If the palace lord died while carrying the manual, the Joyful Palace's supreme art would vanish forever.
No matter how thoughtless and selfish she was...
But the more they thought about it, the more they realized Hamwol was exactly the kind of bitch who would do something like that.
That retarded bitch really fucked us over!
The elders overcame the denial stage through cold, logical reasoning.
And so came the next stage.
Next was rage.
Wasn't it enough to just kill Hamwol? Why burn the manual too?
I thought Hamwol was the worst fucking bitch in the world, but there's always a bigger fish!
I will never forgive this heinous villain!
A group of furious elders stormed toward Cheong, who had only just unpacked her luggage in a corner of the Joyful Palace.
“Was it you?! You vicious wench who burned the Maiden's Joyful Art!”
What the hell? Who are these people? Why are they suddenly showing up and cursing at me?
Cheong briefly analyzed their personalities and preferences before deriving the single most infuriating answer possible. It was a god-given talent comparable to artificial intelligence.
“That’s right! It was me!”
Cheong shouted confidently.
While the elders were left speechless, she followed up with another blow.
“By the way, who are you old hags? And seriously, you should take better care of your wrinkles. You think makeup hides them? Well, I guess there’s nothing you can do about getting old.”
Old! Hag! Wrinkles! Makeup!
The Law Enforcement Elder clutched the back of her neck.
It was a terrifying tongue that had precisely struck at the weakness she had always been most conscious of. On top of the mental and physical instability caused by the loss of their divine art, it was a fatal blow.
The Law Enforcement Elder gasped for air with a choked sound, then suddenly vomited a huge spray of bright red blood.
The qi and blood of a early-stage Transcendent expert had twisted, sending her into qi deviation.
As her internal energy leaked out, her once taut and beautiful skin instantly shriveled into that of an old crone.
The position of Law Enforcement Elder was usually held by the strongest active elder. Since the Joyful Palace was no exception, their greatest fighting force in the absence of the palace lord had just been eliminated once again.
“Wow. So she wasn’t an auntie, she was a grandma.”
Wow. Not only did she commit a mountain of evil deeds, she was ancient too.
Cheong offered her impression of the mysterious real-time aging phenomenon.
Another elder, shocked by the word “grandma.”
“Y-you bitch!”
“No! Account Keeper Elder, get a hold of yourself!”
The Training Elder, who had been relatively close with her, hurriedly poured her true qi into the Account Keeper Elder’s pulse gate. The Account Keeper Elder barely managed to avoid full qi deviation.
Cheong clicked her tongue.
What a shame. I could have sent one more off.
The Head Elder of the Council of Elders roared at her.
“You! Do you even realize what you’ve done?!”
“You mean killing the big shot of you aunties? Is there something wrong with killing someone who deserves to die?”
Cheong continued trying to provoke them.
But this time it didn’t work.
“That doesn’t matter at all!”
Hamwol’s death was treated as something trivial. In fact, it was something they were fine with. This was exactly why one should usually build up good karma with others.
“How dare you burn a divine art!”
Ah. So that’s what this is about?
Cheong reflected for a moment. Even after previously hearing “the dead guy was the one at fault” when she killed someone, she still hadn’t fully understood the law of the strong.
What? Are they serious? Is every single member of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult really pushing this narrative?
Then how does a group like this even survive?
A sudden sociological curiosity surged within her. It was the magnificent teaching of the university that had turned Cheong into a self-made blue-collar worker.
So Cheong immediately dropped the interest. It really had been a useless choice from the past. If Taecchang won and she could return to reality and go back to the past, she would major in something more useful like information science.
After finishing her reflection, Cheong refocused on her target.
“What’s wrong with burning an evil demonic art?”
The effect was outstanding.
“L-look at her! The way she’s talking!”
“Calling it an evil demonic art!”
The agitated women shrieked like pterodactyls and chattered noisily.
Cheong tilted her head with a calm expression.
“Then it’s not?”
“H-how can you say something so horrifying! The Maiden's Joyful Art is an orthodox divine art! Even though we are treated as part of the unorthodox faction…! Urk, ugh.”
The Grand Elder staggered. She was currently second in rank with the palace lord gone. Of course, Cheong had zero interest in that.
She had developed a different interest instead.
“What? It wasn’t a demonic art—oops.”
Suddenly, a palm flying toward her cheek!
Cheong reflexively grabbed the wrist.
“Let, let go! Let go of me… kyaaaak!”
It was the Training Elder, who had charged in, unable to contain her rage.
From Cheong’s pitch-black hand, the highly toxic Black Killing True Qi dug in. The long-suppressed resentment of being treated as a fraud met a perfect target and launched a ferocious infiltration. It tore through every blood vessel. Black bruises raced up and down the elder’s arm at a visible speed.
Cheong’s grip was truly that of a maiden Xiang Yu. The arm that tried to pull away in shock and pain was held tight and only shook slightly.
Cheong frowned.
“Ugh. I ended up using a demonic art. I tried so hard not to use it. I got startled and used it by accident.”
“Kuhuk, let, let go! I said let go…!”
“This auntie is funny. Do I look like the kind of person who lets go when told to let go and grabs when told to grab? Your attitude when asking is terrible from the start. If you politely say ‘please let go,’ I might consider—oops.”
Cheong hurriedly caught the other arm flying at her as well. Both of the Training Elder’s arms were now captured. The two women were now forced to face each other.
Cheong counted.
Three hundred and twenty-four.
Why is everyone in this neighborhood like this? Is it because their leader is a crybaby?
Cheong squeezed with all her strength. It was a grip that could crush iron. The auntie’s fragile wrist was pulverized like squeezed tofu and oozed out between Cheong’s fingers.
“Kyaaaaak!”
The Training Elder screamed and staggered. Her flailing arms had their forearms completely crushed and snapped off. The swinging arms sprayed blood in all directions.
In the middle of it all, Cheong’s body trembled.
What is this? What the hell is this feeling?
Cheong looked at her palm with a deeply moved expression.
How could she even describe this?
The flesh being crushed and bursting out, tickling her fingers as it squirted between them. And right there in her hand—the sensation of bones failing to endure, snapping and shattering, still felt vividly alive.
“Haaa…”
Cheong let out a heated sigh.
The elders who saw this turned deathly pale.
“S-she’s insane…!”
Another terrifying murderous devil has arrived!
The elders swallowed their lamentations. However, since there were already so many lunatics in the Demonic Cult, they didn’t wet themselves or vomit at the sight. There were even bastards who enjoyed cannibalism and time manipulation at the same time. Compared to that, a woman who enjoyed exploding people was nothing.
But the fact that they would have to teach martial arts to such a person inevitably drained the blood from their faces.
Cheong, savoring the aftertaste, noticed the elders secretly trying to slip away.
Come to think of it, who the hell were these aunties anyway? Why did they all rush over to her?
Whether these nameless, identity-less aunties left or stayed to get beaten up didn’t really matter to her. But she wanted to hear the rest of the explanation.
“So, what do you mean the Maiden's Joyful Art isn’t a demonic art? One of you stay behind and finish explaining before you go.”
Originally, dual cultivation arts were a Daoist life-nurturing technique. It was a method of circulating qi by exchanging true energy between two people (or more!) through the act of intercourse. As a bonus, one could also enjoy pleasure along the way.
In its original form, it led to happy results for everyone involved, which is why it was considered a life-nurturing art. Therefore, techniques like harvesting yin to replenish yang or harvesting yang to replenish yin were not originally one-sided. A man and woman would train together so the man would replenish yang by harvesting yin, and the woman would replenish yin by harvesting yang.
Thus, sects that mainly practiced dual cultivation without harming their partners lived perfectly normal lives. There was even a joke that the disciples of the World's Greatest Red House, the Ascending Peach Blossom Gate, ate spiritual herbs instead of rice thanks to their enormous income.
However, once a man entered the Joyful Palace, he never came out again. Naturally, they could only become public enemies of the martial world.
The Maiden's Joyful Art was the secret essence of dual cultivation. It was a method that circulated and harmonized the various energies accumulated in the body after the act, thereby expanding the dantian. The downside of typical energy-draining dual cultivation was clear: the gathering of impure qi made it impossible to reach high realms.
The Maiden's Joyful Art was the mental technique that overcame this flaw. That was why only the palace lord could learn it. Through this, the Joyful Palace Lord could possess unrivaled martial prowess and rule the palace alone.
Therefore, the loss of the Maiden's Joyful Art was truly a massive shock to the elders.
In any case, this is why the Maiden's Joyful Art can be said to have inherited the orthodox lineage of the Daoist school...
The last remaining elder gave this explanation and then fled.
Cheong was satisfied with the explanation.
What? Then it’s fine to learn it.
Cheong hesitated… then invested her training points.
Because the introduction felt like having her brain eaten, there was no way she wouldn’t hesitate. And then the formulas were forcibly imprinted into her mind.
As was typical, the introduction began with imagery of “who I am and what I observed to create this”—
When people enjoy the principle of mutual growth through pleasure, that love flies and falls through the vast heavens, freely roaming in the joy of clouds and rain. This is called the pleasure of intercourse.
However, this fairy was born with a heavenly punishment and became a stone maiden, never knowing pleasure, and could only bring the same sorrow to her husband. She considered this a regret of ten thousand generations.
Thus, this fairy created these two hundred and sixty-nine characters of formulas and roamed a new world. The practitioner, too, shall thereby come to know the true pleasure of womanhood that they never knew before in life...
Even amid the horrific sensation of someone violently kneading her brain, Cheong felt something strange.
This formula... isn't something about it a bit... off?
The Account Keeper Elder, who had stayed behind because her power was too weak to escape quickly, had not explained the true efficacy of the Maiden's Joyful Art. She had wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. Besides, the question asked had been “why isn’t it a demonic art,” so there had been no particular need to explain further.
Why else would it be named the Maiden's Joyful Art?
Because it was a dual cultivation art practiced by maidens, it was called Maiden. Because it greatly increased pleasure, it was called Joyful Art.
By nature, it possessed the properties of the Fairy Art and enhanced a woman’s beauty. It also greatly increased flexibility, enabling all sorts of extraordinary Daoist positions. It made one resistant to both cold and heat, toughened the skin so it wouldn’t scratch, and prevented one from getting tanned by sunlight so one could enjoy outdoor activities without hindrance.
But above all, there was one greatest function.
It was a miraculous martial art that dramatically amplified the pleasure a woman felt.
Created by a stone maiden who poured all her resentment into it.
It was powerful enough to cure frigidity.