A New Family Member in the Dantian

A new family member had joined Cheong's dantian. It was a cold, dark newcomer possessing an extremely yin nature. The Ice Heaven Demonic Qi! An evil demonic energy hailing from the North Sea. The Ice Heaven Demonic Qi strode into her dantian with boundless confidence. Then it saw the Joyful True Qi.

The properly yang divine art that was the Joyful True Qi gave the newcomer a single glance before signaling the Moon Maiden True Qi. The Moon Maiden True Qi nodded once, pretending not to know anything. The Joyful True Qi kicked off from its position as the Ice Heaven Demonic Qi immediately spun around and fled.

This one does automatic training too. Jackpot...

Cheong could feel the Ice Heaven Demonic Qi wandering through her body on its own. It was the Ice Heaven Asura Demonic Art, now at three stars. She had tested it the night before, and the efficacy at three stars was precisely enough to offset one star of the Girl's Joyful True Scripture. Since the stat boost from golden-tier martial arts was higher than red-tier ones, the Ice Heaven Asura Demonic Art alone was woefully insufficient to suppress the side effects of the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Girl's Joyful True Scripture.

What now? Did this mean she had to learn the Bingbaek Divine Art?

In truth, there was one martial art Cheong had originally planned to exchange 1,500 points for. It was the internal energy cultivation method known as the Muscle Tendon Change Classic.

She had heard about it during a previous conversation with Seomun Su-rin.

That was how the conversation had gone. So when she searched the martial arts window, it had indeed been purple. Though it was quite an irreverent thought, it had to be a martial art superior to the True Yang Mind Method. If they had been equal, her master wouldn't have delivered a nuclear noogie brimming with discomfort. She had nothing to say, so she simply...

The plan had been to learn it this time, return, and proudly announce, "Ta-da! Master, your disciple has learned the Muscle Tendon Change Classic!" and bask in her joy.

Instead, she had only accumulated more demonic arts...

But she needed to grow stronger immediately. What was she supposed to do?

Cheong had eyes. In the latter half of the kidnapping procession, she had seen the swarming crowd of high-level experts. While she might be an absurdly powerful expert compared to her actual career, within the Heavenly Demon Cult she was nothing more than a common Peak realm martial artist. The fact that they were leaving her this comfortable was partly thanks to her pretending to be crippled, but it essentially meant they were daring her to escape if she could.

So for now, she would collect whatever martial arts she could get her hands on. Like when she had reached the Peak realm, if her stage rose, she could even set her sights on that tyrannical Jijon bastard. If her stage didn't rise? Well, she would gather strength while keeping an eye on the situation, then set the place on fire and make a run for it.

She had underestimated it because the leader was a son of a bitch with a bad case of delusions of grandeur, but this really was a proper tiger's den.

Still, what could she do? How was she supposed to know she would get kidnapped right in front of her own house? Honestly, it was pure bad luck. Nothing but bad luck.

Gurgle.

Hunger snapped Cheong out of her thoughts.

"Ah. I'm hungry."

The sun was already high in the sky. After staying up all night for a night walk, she had skipped breakfast and slept straight through until now. She vaguely remembered someone waking her in the morning. Had it been a dream?

Hmm. She didn't know. She was hungry. Had lunch not arrived yet? Surely it hadn't passed already?

It was right as Cheong was smacking her lips with her empty stomach that a sound suddenly reached her ears from beyond the wall.

-Kyaa, kkeuak, euk, ak, kyaa.

It was coming from the next room. Gyeon Po-hui's room.

What was it this time? Was that airhead getting beaten up again?

Cheong frowned and stood up. Even then, she didn't forget to stay in character as a cripple, limping and dragging her leg as she flung the neighboring door wide open.

Sure enough, a scene of utter torment was unfolding. Though it was slightly different from what Cheong had expected—

"Ah, Simae! You're awake?!"

Gyeon Po-hui, sitting atop five neatly stacked disciples, waved her hand cheerfully. The disciple at the very bottom looked especially pale. She might actually suffocate at this rate. What a waste.

"Um? Gyeon-ssi? What exactly are you doing right now?"

"Huh? Education! I'm the second senior disciple now! It's my duty to educate my simaes!"

She had indeed said something like that yesterday. So she had been serious.

"What? Cheon simae? Aren't you hitting your head properly? How do you plan to survive in this harsh world if you're that weak? If it's too difficult, should I just help you stop living?"

Cheon simae flinched and fumbled across the floor. She found the fallen wine cup, placed it down, and slammed her forehead against it. For reference, Central Plains wine cups were dainty little things that only held about two spoonfuls of alcohol. Wow, wasn't this basically headbutting a bottle cap? A miracle that transcended time and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠space. Anthropologically speaking, human thought ultimately boiled down to the same thing whether in the past or present. Especially when it came to methods of tormenting people. The philosophers who claimed human nature was evil might have been right after all.

It was while Cheong watched with curious eyes that—

"Uup, uuup...! Weeeek!"

The woman beside her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠began vomiting.

"Dan simae? I specially prepared raw meat because cooked food is bad for the body, didn't I? Since you're a simae who values food so much, I have to set an example, right?"

"But..."

"You know what comes next, don't you?"

Dan simae looked down at the floor with trembling eyes. Ah. So she was the one. The one who was forced to eat raw meat and then eat her own vomit if she threw up.

Now that she saw it, this was Gyeon Po-hui's revenge bloodbath. In that case, she should just let her enjoy it. Gyeon Po-hui wore a delighted expression.

And above that, her evil karma had increased. Huh?

Strange? She had definitely brought it down to -145 yesterday. Why had it gone back up to one hundred and fifty?

It was then that the Cheon woman, still banging her head and trembling, lost her balance and toppled over with a crash. Cheong burst into laughter at the perfectly round dark bruise on her forehead.

"Cheon simae? Are you okay? That makes five times, right?"

"Huk, n-no, it's not!"

"Lying won't work. You're a bad bitch."

Gyeon Po-hui pulled out a hairpin and threw it. The motion was clumsy, but it carried proper technique. The hairpin stabbed into Cheon simae's thigh with a sharp pok.

"Kyaaak!"

"Huh? A leaking sound? When your senior is personally bestowing education, is making noise allowed or not allowed?"

"S-sorry..."

"It's all because you're not tense enough. Cheon simae taught me before, remember? That you get tense when you're getting beaten."

Gyeon Po-hui sprang to her feet, grabbed the Cheon woman by the hair, and began working her legs with practiced speed. Holding her firmly so she couldn't escape, she delivered solid kicks. The Cheon simae sobbed and begged for mercy.

"Sorry, I'm sorry, I apologize..."

"Is sorry everything? Ah. That's right. You always used to say it, Cheon simae. Is sorry everything? But if sorry isn't everything, then what is it?"

"I was wrong... heuk..."

"Cheon simae. Your senior asked you a question, didn't she? Is the Joyful Palace funny? Does this senior look like a fucking cock to you?"

"I was wrong, I was wrong! Senior! Please forgive me!"

The Cheon woman groveled like a fly. Then Gyeon Po-hui's evil karma decreased.

Cheong's eyes sparkled. It went down this time? What was the difference? Why did it fluctuate even though she was enjoying it the same way...?

Huh? Was it that?

A thought suddenly occurred to her. Cheong pointed at one of the women.

"Senior, senior. That one's giving you a weird look with her eyes."

"What!? How is she looking at me?"

"Look, she's still doing it. Shooting such disrespectful glances at her senior? Can she do that? Maybe she thinks you're a pushover?"

"N-no! I didn't!"

"Jin simae. You used to like drawing pictures, right?"

"Hiik...!"

"Jin simae? Shouldn't you take it off?"

Gyeon Po-hui drew a dagger as she spoke.

Ah. So that's what "drawing pictures" meant. Cheong understood.

The revenge bloodbath came to an end.

It seemed that clumsily touching a villain in a way that only made them more vicious would increase one's evil karma instead. By turning a bad person into an even worse one? That appeared to be the judgment.

In the same sense, the act of breaking and crushing a villain's spirit must accumulate good ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠karma.

If so, then the condition for good karma was probably preventing future evil deeds.

Come to think of it, even during the Jangmyeong incident, that Im Muchang bastard... Ah, but the kid was probably living comfortably. While she was suffering like this...

Why? Why only her?

Thinking about it made her angry. Cheong raged through a stream of consciousness.

Half of the Joyful Palace disciples lay sprawled out, eyes unfocused and breathing shallowly. The rest still had some fight left in their gazes. She was getting heated too. She should pick one to play with.

Which one shall I choose?

It was while Cheong was selecting a target for her frustration that Gyeon Po-hui suddenly scooped her up in a hug. The ride was comfortable—no, the villain-riding sensation was comfortable. She seemed to have grown quite accustomed to her role as a pedestal.

The pedestal spoke to Cheong.

"Simae! Aren't you hungry!? Let's go eat lunch!"

Lunch! Cheong's killing intent subsided instantly. Food was a serious matter, after all. At least to her.

Didn't the second pedestal prefer something else? The now-curious Cheong asked.

"Senior, aren't you going to finish it this time?"

"Huh? That won't do. I'm the senior, aren't I?"

What did being senior have to do with finishing? Cheong asked again.

"Because you're the senior?"

"Challenges are for juniors to do. Seniors can instead order the education of juniors."

"Ah. So there's a rule like that."

Indeed. Could seniors simply devour their juniors at will? In the end, only the highest one would remain. It must be a rule to prevent that.

But could something in this state even be called a sect? It was just a broken, dysfunctional mess.

Cheong suddenly felt a deep longing for the Goddess Sect. And a short while later, she missed it even more.

Today's lunch was an absolute disaster......