Chapter 97: Xi'an (9)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 97: Xi'an (9)
“The reward will not be disappointing. So, would you be willing to accompany the investigation team to Jinheung Village?”
Jo Jawon’s request sent my mind reeling, but the answer came quickly.
Taking Cheon Yeo-hwa to a place swarming with Orthodox Faction bastards was no different from crossing a crumbling stepping-stone bridge on one foot.
No matter how much he offered, rejecting this was the right call.
“That would be difficult…”
“I’ll do it.”
“Yeo-hwa?”
The one who cut me off was none other than Cheon Yeo-hwa.
—I’ll explain later. For now, can you trust my judgment?
I nodded at the telepathic message that echoed in my head. It was hard to understand right now, but I could trust Cheon Yeo-hwa’s words.
“Oh, thank you. We depart in three days, so please rest comfortably until then. If you need anything, just tell a servant, and they will provide it for you.”
With that, our conversation with the sect leader ended. We returned to the room we had been assigned.
“Hyun-woo.”
Pat, pat. Cheon Yeo-hwa sat on the bed and patted the spot next to her. I had a lot to say, but I doubted she would have accepted Jo Jawon’s offer without a good reason, so I sat on the bed without a word.
The moment I sat down, she immediately threw herself into my arms. She buried her head in my chest and took a deep breath.
“Snnniff… Haaa… Yes, this is the scent…”
“…”
Don’t tell me she didn’t have some other plan and just gave a random answer because she wanted to smell me as soon as possible?
The suspicion flashed through my mind, but I held onto the last shred of faith that Cheon Yeo-hwa wouldn’t do something like that.
“Yeo-hwa, why did you accept the Hundred Flowers Sect Leader’s request? What if something happens when we go to a place where the Mount Hua, Zhongnan Sect, and even Shaolin sects are gathered?”
“You need not worry about that. Once one reaches the Transcendent Realm, they can suppress the demonic energy that flows from their body. As long as I don’t use my martial arts in front of them, it will be fine.”
At some point, Cheon Yeo-hwa had climbed onto my lap. Burying her face in the crook of my neck, she rubbed against me like a large retriever.
I wondered what on earth she was doing, but she was so cute I just let her be.
“Besides, dozens of silver coins is by no means a small amount of money. Of course, it’s nowhere near enough to hire two Transcendent masters, but haven’t we already profited enough from the ‘Black Killing Mad Demon Sword’ alone?”
As Cheon Yeo-hwa said, the Black Killing Mad Demon Sword was more than just a lump of gold to me. For some reason, I was unaffected by the sword’s demonic nature. And she knew that.
It was like I’d obtained a Gilenium-grade artifact, so that alone was payment enough to grant Jo Jawon’s request.
“Most importantly, if the Orthodox Faction members are gathered together, my pursuers won’t be able to move rashly even if they find me. I also thought we should risk a little danger to earn the travel funds we’ll need for our journey ahead. As for not asking for your consent beforehand… that was my mistake.”
Cheon Yeo-hwa’s voice grew quieter. I could feel her anxiety, worried that I might be angry. When I gently pulled her into a hug, she relaxed and leaned against me.
In the first place, I had no reason to be angry. An old temple where the strongest martial artist of his time, known by the epithet Vajra Divine Monk, spent his final years? To be honest, I wanted to go.
*
We had three days until our departure for Jinheung Village. I decided to devote that time to training.
“Hoo, hoo…!”
It was 6 AM. The sun had risen only a short while ago, but I was already moving diligently in the training ground.
The training was simple. I was just conditioning my body to make it suitable for learning martial arts and repeating meditation to bridge the disharmony between my Circles and my physical form.
Meditation was easy, but the physical training was so grueling I felt like throwing up. As I moved my body exactly as Cheon Yeo-hwa had instructed, sweat poured down like rain in an instant.
Still, the mana concentration here was denser than on Earth, which made the training feel satisfying.
For the record, Cheon Yeo-hwa was still sleeping in her room because I had worn her out too much last night.
“…Should I give it a try?”
I took the Black Killing Mad Demon Sword from my inventory. The jet-black blade was so beautiful it was captivating just to look at.
The hilt fit into my hand so smoothly it felt like it was being sucked into my palm. It was obvious this was a masterwork sword.
Just as Cheon Yeo-hwa had said, no sinister demonic energy flowed from the sword. I didn’t know why, but she said it was because I was instinctively controlling the demonic energy.
I wondered if that was even possible, but since Cheon Yeo-hwa, an expert on demonic energy, was the one who said it, I just accepted it and moved on.
In any case, it seemed fine to use this in front of the Orthodox Faction members.
The only problem was that if I injected a considerable amount of magic power, the Mad Demon Sword would once again spew out demonic energy.
‘So this is demonic energy…’
The black haze shimmering over the blade gave off a strong, ominous feeling just by looking at it. On top of that, the magic power consumption was substantial.
The silver lining was that I didn’t feel dizzy or sick. It was proof that the sword’s demonic nature couldn’t harm me.
‘I’ll use the Mad Demon Sword for normal situations and switch to Gilenium when I need to go all out.’
I gripped the sword and slowly began to move.
A horizontal slash, a vertical slash, a thrust. It was a repetition of these three movements. Following my master’s words, I kept my speed slow but focused on maintaining perfect form.
At the same time, I opened my entire body to accept the natural mana. This was something I never usually did.
[Mana Sensitivity Increased +1000%]
A massive amount of mana began to be absorbed into my body.
If I converted all this mana into magic power, my body would surely pop and explode within seconds.
It was like blowing air into a balloon until it burst, so I just let it be. I absorbed it into my body but didn’t assimilate it into magic power.
The process of assimilating mana typically involves it moving from the skin, through the magic circuits, and into the Circles. But what if I intentionally chose not to assimilate it?
The mana would naturally linger in the magic circuits before exiting the body again. In that process, as a price for exceeding their capacity, the magic circuits would become stronger and wider.
Crack, creak—
This was one of the methods Iris had taught me to grow my magic circuits.
Of course, it was originally a training method for mages of the 5th Circle or higher, performed through meditation. It wasn’t something to be done while moving your body so vigorously. What made all this possible was the app’s mana sensitivity buff.
Naturally, it was accompanied by a gut-wrenching pain, but when I thought of it as part of the training, it was somewhat bearable.
I continued training like that for a long time, completing a thousand horizontal slashes, a thousand vertical slashes, and a thousand thrusts before lowering my sword. A faint steam rose from my entire body.
“…How long are you going to keep peeking?”
I said, lacing my voice with magic power.
“Heh, hehe…”
Only then did the owner of the gaze I’d been feeling emerge from behind a pillar. It was a woman in a pure white martial arts uniform, her long hair tied up neatly.
I couldn’t help but be surprised when I saw her face. She was the second most beautiful woman I had met in this world. The first, of course, was Cheon Yeo-hwa. I hadn’t seen a single pretty woman in the complex streets of Xi'an.
Her awkward smile was pretty enough to belong to an A-list idol. However, because she was wearing a rather loose-fitting martial arts uniform, I couldn’t get a good look at her figure.
I immediately suppressed my magic power and sheathed the Mad Demon Sword.
“I’m sorry!”
The woman immediately bowed and apologized. According to Cheon Yeo-hwa, secretly watching another person train was considered a serious crime.
By the laws of Murim, it wouldn’t be strange at all for me to challenge this woman to a life-or-death duel right here and now.
But I didn’t. Instead, I approached her with a friendly smile.
“Who might you be?”
“Ah, I am Jo Yeon-hee, a second-generation disciple of the Hundred Flowers Sect.”
“Jo Yeon-hee?”
“…Yes. Embarrassingly, my father is the leader of the Hundred Flowers Sect.”
Now I understood why a woman with such looks was wearing a martial arts uniform in this barbaric Central Plains.
If she were from an ordinary family, she would have been married off to a rich man instead of learning martial arts. But since she was the daughter of the Hundred Flowers Sect Leader, she was able to learn martial arts at her age and with her looks.
“Let me formally apologize once more. I let my petty curiosity get the better of me and spied on a guest’s training. If you tell me what you wish, I will compensate you somehow.”
Jo Yeon-hee bowed again to apologize. It was a sincere apology.
‘A D-cup? No, at that size, she could even be a G-cup…’
Honestly, I had no interest in her apology. What caught my eye was the cleavage that was clearly visible as she bowed. Her underwear kept me from seeing her nipples.
“It’s fine. It wasn’t much of a training session anyway.”
If my audience had been some sweaty guy, I would have immediately challenged him to a duel, but for a beauty like Jo Yeon-hee, I could be as generous as she wanted.
“Ah, u-um…”
“Yes? Is something wrong?”
“…It’s nothing.”
Jo Yeon-hee’s face had been bright red for a while now, as if it were about to explode. I wondered why, but I thought I knew the reason when I saw her sneaking glances at me.
Her gaze was mostly fixed on my upper body and face. For reference, I was currently shirtless.
‘The daughter of a martial family is getting shy just from seeing a man’s bare chest?’
Well, thinking about it, it wasn’t that strange. I was confident I wouldn’t get tired of seeing a beautiful woman’s naked body even if I saw it a thousand times over ten years.
Besides, my face had gotten quite a bit better after awakening my magic power, and my body was improving thanks to the physical training. It was enough to attract a woman’s attention.
“Is there something you want to say?”
“W-What?!”
“You’ve been sneaking glances at me for a while now.”
As I approached with a smirk, Jo Yeon-hee jumped in surprise and took a step back. Of course, my stride was wider, so the distance between us closed in an instant.
Normally, I wouldn’t have done this because of the smell of sweat, but today was different.
[Third Step Towards an Alpha Male]
[Grade: Epic]
[Your bodily fluids become sweet.]
[Your bodily fluids take on a faint aphrodisiac component.]
[Your bodily fluids exude a pheromone that mesmerizes the opposite sex.]
I didn’t know if pheromones could be detected by smell, but it was a scent that even the great Cheon Yeo-hwa would sniff like she was possessed.
“Ah…?!”
It was clear that Jo Yeon-hee, whose realm was far below Cheon Yeo-hwa’s, wouldn’t be able to resist.
The pheromones wafting from me at arm’s length made Jo Yeon-hee’s eyes glaze over slightly. The effect was much better than I expected. The skill was certainly living up to its Epic grade.
“Miss Jo.”
Thanks to the ‘Blessing of Infertility,’ I didn’t have to worry about pregnancy, and she was the one who showed interest in me first. If this wasn’t a consensual situation, what was?
“Y-Young Master, if you do this…”
Despite her words of refusal, even when we were close enough for our breaths to mingle, she didn’t push me away. Instead, she was busy staring at my body with trembling eyes.
I let out a laugh at the sight, grabbed her arm, and pulled her toward me.
“Kyah?!”
Instantly in my arms, Jo Yeon-hee struggled to get away, but that didn’t last long.
“…Hahh, haah… haah…♡”
As she buried her nose in my chest and sniffed my scent, I could see a faint heat in her eyes.
About five minutes passed like that.
“Haah, haah…♡”
Drenched in pheromones, Jo Yeon-hee was half-dazed. Her martial arts uniform was soaked, though I couldn’t tell if it was my sweat or hers.
I gently pulled Jo Yeon-hee away from my chest.
“…Wow.”
“Y-You can’t look…”
Her face was completely slack, as if she had been caressed for nearly half an hour.
Even so, she still seemed to feel shy, constantly turning her head to avoid my gaze. I grabbed her chin and kissed her.
“Mmph…!”
Jo Yeon-hee’s eyes widened at the sudden kiss. I took advantage of her surprise to slip my tongue inside.
“Hmph?! Mmph, hnnph…”
I met her stiff, frozen tongue. For the record, this wasn’t rape. If she really hated it, she would have bitten my tongue off the moment it entered.
Far from pushing me away, Jo Yeon-hee slowly began to move her tongue, responding to me. Of course, it was awkward enough to scream ‘first kiss.’
Slurp, schlick, suck…
Jo Yeon-hee squeezed her eyes shut and, like a baby bird receiving food from its mother, she drank my saliva.
As she focused on the kiss, I squeezed her ass. As expected, it was incredibly large and firm. It was clear she took good care of herself, as befitting a martial artist.
Jo Yeon-hee struggled again at the touch caressing her ass, but there was no way I was going to stop.
I continued to kiss her while groping her ass with both hands. Thinking this was probably fine, I spread her buttocks and lightly stroked her pussy with my index finger.
“Heek?!! N-No…!!”
Smack! The moment I touched her pussy, Jo Yeon-hee used all her strength to break free from my embrace and run away.
She fled in such a hurry that I clicked my tongue at the sight of her leaping over the wall instead of using the perfectly good gate.
‘Was I too hasty?’
Well, considering this was a world with a strong sense of chastity, I suppose it was possible.
Of course, I could have caught her if I wanted to. If I had been a little more forceful, Jo Yeon-hee wouldn’t have refused.
But thinking of how wet her pussy had felt even through her uniform, it was clear that Jo Yeon-hee would soon come looking for me of her own will.
The possibility of Jo Yeon-hee telling Jo Jawon about this?
From what I could see, that wouldn’t happen. We had known each other for less than ten minutes, but I could tell that Jo Yeon-hee wasn’t the type of person to tattle to her dad about something like this.
Besides, Jo Yeon-hee had a prior offense of secretly watching a guest of the sect train. If she had any sense, she wouldn’t be able to tell anyone about this incident.
“…Still, it’s a bit of a shame.”
I was quite disappointed that I hadn’t gotten to touch her breasts.
“Oh? May I ask what you find so disappointing?”
“…”