Chapter 80: This Hostage's Life Is Safe. (1)
Chapter 80: This Hostage's Life Is Safe. (1)
Talk about being caught completely off guard. Dozens upon dozens of martial artists followed me as I ran across the roofs of the Beon family manor, trousers off and causing a public disturbance.
Those who weren't accustomed to sexual matters refused to chase me after seeing my enormous member swinging to and fro.
Even after I'd weeded them out in that first round, countless guests of the manor joined the guards in pursuing me.
Had the Beon family head treated his guests better than I'd expected? Somehow, it felt like there were more guests than salaried guards.
"Catch that bastard!"
"Catch the Lust Demon! There's a hundred strings of gold on his head!"
So it was just the money, after all.
I struck an approaching martial artist with a knife-hand strike and knocked him unconscious, then stole his sword. Having his sword taken by an enemy would mean this guy was no swordsman, but a mere underling—and he would sink to the very bottom of the wandering martial artists' world.
Of course, whether that happened or not was none of my concern, so I used the sword I'd stolen to perform the Boundless Azure Sky Swordsmanship.
"Gah! Get out of the way!"
When a tyrannical, weighty strike shot forth without warning, the horrified guests threw themselves to either side like the parting of the Red Sea, dodging the Sword Energy Projection.
...Maybe because most of them were wandering martial artists, but their Donkey Rolls were practiced to an unusual degree.
"Such a big, beautiful strike!"
Even now, there was another bastard whose way of speaking was all wrong. "Big and beautiful" was something women were supposed to say when they saw my package.
What the hell is a man doing saying that?
I seriously considered killing him.
"Boundless Azure Sky Swordsmanship! That's the Namgung clan's sword art, the Boundless Azure Sky Swordsmanship!"
"Oh? You recognized it?"
He seemed like a wandering martial artist with a fair bit of experience in the Rivers and Lakes. His skill was around Second-rate, but the hint of experience on his face made it abundantly clear how he had survived in the harsh martial world.
And judging by how he'd recognized the Namgung clan's martial arts in a single strike, his eye for such things wasn't bad, either.
From the state of his clothes, he seemed to be living pretty well, even among wandering martial artists.
Like you'd expect of people who made their living with a sword, wandering martial artists took care to maintain their weapons, no matter what. If a tooth chipped during a fight, they would grind away at it furiously with a whetstone.
Because if your sword broke in a fight, you could die an untimely death right then and there.
That was why a wandering martial artist's weapon was his livelihood, his lifeline.
Most of their personal funds went toward maintaining their weapons. So, if a man could afford to dress well on top of that, it meant he was doing pretty well for a Second-rate martial artist.
"How is the Thousand-Faced Lust Demon using the Namgung clan's martial arts?"
"I fucked the Namgung clan's matriarch, and she personally taught it to me."
"...You lunatic."
Maybe it was because I'd just claimed to have fucked the matriarch of one of the Five Great Clans. The wandering martial artist who'd asked didn't bother hiding how disgusted he was.
"Anyway, no one else coming? I'm waiting for you on purpose. It'd be a shame if nobody showed up."
"Hooh. So you knew?"
"Of course."
I gave my shoulders an exaggerated shrug to make a show of how relaxed I was.
"I may not look it, but I'm a Peak Realm master who's broken through the wall. I even escaped the Murim Alliance's dragnet. Wouldn't it be ridiculous if I couldn't sense your presence?"
"If you knew we were there, why bother talking to me?"
"I was bored. It's been a while since I went on a Lust Demon rampage, so let's take our time, friend."
"So you really are a lunatic."
He shook his head, as if he couldn't believe it.
He looked like he'd never realized the Lust Demon was a madman who would strike up a conversation just because he was bored during a rampage. I laughed loudly at the guy who swore at me.
"Kheh-heh-heh. It's not exactly a job you can do unless you're crazy, being a Lust Demon."
A Lust Demon is an existence with the ultimate potential to eat his fill of any woman he likes, as long as she's pretty and has a good figure. The job of a Lust Demon—evading the law whenever he pleases, pursuing freedom, and craving women—isn't something a sane person can do.
Just as a tavern boy has his own troubles,
a Lust Demon has troubles of his own.
If you ask how I know tavern boys have troubles, I'll tell you I heard it from a female tavern boy I ate in the past.
"...Being a Lust Demon is a job?"
"I dunno?"
The two of them had whipped up a whole comedy skit over an opening line I'd tossed out as a joke.
The price I paid them for listening to me so seriously was the Boundless Azure Sky Swordsmanship's Azure Mist, One Break. Once again, a weighty Sword Energy Projection shot forth, and the wandering martial artists skillfully performed their Donkey Rolls, bringing about a second parting of the Red Sea.
Did they really believe they could escape the dragnet by using a move they'd already figured out?
Boundless Azure Sky Swordsmanship
—Azure Mist, One Break
Crack-boom!
The enormous sword energy, resembling mist, suddenly shattered into countless fragments and shot outward. Faced with something that looked like a grenade exploding, the bewildered wandering martial artists did whatever they could to raise their own weapons and block it, but the fragments of the Sword Energy Projection were not so weak.
"Aaargh!"
"M-my eyes! I can't see!"
Of course, fragments of a Sword Energy Projection like these would be neutralized with a single burst of Protective Aura by a Peak Realm master—but not by Second-rate martial artists.
At least the First-rate martial artists, who had some talent for controlling their internal energy, managed to raise their Protective Aura in time and block the fragments.
Of course, they weren't at the Peak Realm, and, befitting First-rate martial artists, even that defense wasn't entirely intact. Their complexions were hardly reassuring.
"The Boundless Azure Sky Swordsmanship is, by nature, a lesser art than the Hegemon Sword Form. Mastering it doesn't mean you can perform the Hegemon Sword Form, but it does let you unleash sword qi that overwhelms large numbers of opponents, much like the Hegemon Sword Form."
Of course, the Azure Mist, One Break had the drawback of consuming an extreme amount of internal energy. It was only natural, since it worked by loading a sword strike with a full measure of inner power and then firing it to shatter. There was no way it wouldn't consume a great deal of energy.
So it was the sort of technique that was impossible for anyone in the Namgung Clan except a direct-line disciple who could consume Spirit Medicine as casually as a meal.
Anyone who knew the Namgung Clan well would see this and mistake me for someone who had been taught by one of their direct-line disciples.
After all, no matter that I was the Lust Demon and a Peak Realm master, they would assume I needed someone's guidance to master the ultimate principles of the Namgung Clan's Boundless Azure Sky Swordsmanship. That would usually be the normal assumption.
'So even after becoming the Lust Demon, I still get the protagonist's plot armor.'
The Thousand Martial Body was different from the Heavenly Martial Body. It wasn't a talent for reaching the utmost limits of a single field; it was an all-around talent, but one that fell short of allowing someone to master anything completely.
That was the sort of constitution I, Geum Tae-yang, had, wasn't it?
The reason I had mastered Lightning Qi and reached Super Peak was that I had the special constitution known as the Thunder God Body. Without it, no matter how much I used my knowledge of the original story to claim every Fortuitous Encounter for myself, it would have been difficult for me to reach Super Peak.
But lately, along with the realization that I was becoming proficient even in Swordsmanship, I had come to understand that, unexpectedly, the protagonist's plot armor applied to me too.
The fact that someone like me, who had lived in the modern world, had mastered Swordsmanship so easily without any help from my constitution or physique made no sense otherwise.
"Ugh! Don't tell me the Namgung Clan's matriarch really...!"
"Well, think whatever you like. Looks like it's about time I gave my real guest a proper welcome, so the small fry can get lost."
She'd be here soon.
"Lust Demon! I'll avenge the women of the Murim Alliance!"
I watched a woman come running from far away, all in a panic, as she prepared to swing her long, trailing Chain Sword. I gave her a bright smile.
"Hahaha. Long time no see, Red Phoenix. So, how's the hymen holding up?"
At my lecherous joke, Red Phoenix's face turned the same shade of red as her hair, and she shouted furiously.
"Shut up! Do you think I'd listen to the words of a lecher?"
At the same time, her Chain Sword swung toward me, slashing wildly like a whip. The fiery sword qi wreathing it was just like a blazing hell-cart.
That was the Red Phoenix herself, Baek Ri-yeon-hwa: the Murim Alliance Leader's one and only granddaughter, and the strongest of the Six Phoenixes.
She was a woman who, before long, would break through the wall and be praised as the next heroine of the martial world, succeeding the Murim Alliance Leader.
"I'll cut off your pathetic dick and comfort the souls of all the women who've spent their nights in tears!"
"Are you sure those tears aren't coming from somewhere lower than the eyes?"
"Shut up!"
Whoosh!
"Aaagh! Red Phoenix is on a rampage!"
"Everybody run for it!"
Her Chain Sword, blazing as though it had been smeared with oil, turned the place into a madhouse. She made full use of a woman's flexibility, unleashing endless rapid slashes that formed lines, and then, in no time, a plane.
As her sword paths took shape, flames followed in their wake, creating a spectacle where it was impossible to tell whether it was Swordsmanship or the sun itself.
'She really is the heroine with the Extreme Yang Physique. You can tell she's got extraordinary potential.'
It was easy to see she'd grown even more since the last time I saw her.
Before, she'd been doing nothing more than unleashing countless slashes.
This time, the slashes came one after another, to the point that it wouldn't have been unreasonable to call them a small sun.
The secret Swordsmanship of the Baek Ri Clan, combined with the flames formed by the yang energy of a woman with the Extreme Yang Physique, made it feel like an extraordinary martial art. Wasn't that closer to magic than martial arts?
"Ha! Azure Mist, One Break!"
"Hah! Phoenix's Descending Clutch!"
The small sun and the Azure Mist collided. Though she was still only First-rate, perhaps befitting the Murim Alliance Leader's one and only granddaughter, the amount of internal energy she possessed was far from ordinary. The small sun looked as though it were almost canceling out my Azure Mist, One Break.
There, I formed Protective Aura with Lightning Qi, then used my body to break through the point where our techniques had canceled each other out!
"Huh?!"
Baek Ri-yeon-hwa let out a dazed cry, as if she'd never dreamed I would attempt the reckless move of breaking through the lingering force with my body, even after our techniques had canceled each other out. I closed the distance at top speed, and then—
"Gut punch!"
"Gwehh!"
I threw a completely shameless gut-punch at a woman.
After she passed out, I wrapped an arm around her neck as if to choke her, then wedged my erect member—which I'd forced into arousal with the Sexual Art—between her plump thighs and warned the pack of jackals waiting for a chance:
"Take one more step toward me!"
I moved my member back and forth between her legs.
"Take one more step, and I won't be able to guarantee the Murim Alliance Leader's granddaughter's hymen will remain intact!"
"...Fuck."
Amid the atmosphere that had gone icy cold, one wandering martial artist furrowed his brow and muttered,
"That's one dirty way to fight."
"Hehe. Thanks for the compliment."
"It wasn't a compliment?!"
I mean, c'mon.