Too Much Talk Gets You Killed
The feeling was wrong.
Out of nowhere, a chill ran down my spine.
I glanced at her once, then forced my attention back to the hidden altar.
I had gotten the Blood Demon Pill, but it still wasn’t enough.
Because of that woman, I hadn’t been able to finish my search.
There might still be rare treasures or top-tier information I hadn’t found yet.
...
And I had no desire to hear her thank me for it, either.
"Sojin…?"
The instant I heard that honey-sweet voice, I squeezed my eyes shut.
My bad feeling had been right, as usual.
My instincts were always annoyingly accurate.
I wish Wei Shiyun could see this, too.
She cleared her throat and continued, "You just cut down that demon beast for me a moment ago, didn't you…?"
For you?
What a damn delusion.
Her voice was laced with a coy little sing-song lilt, and the way she let that breathy nasal tone hang on every word was infuriating.
"...I know everything."
...
You know what, exactly?
That was all the confirmation I needed.
Guyang Jihee had put me on the scale.
She was already weighing me up, deciding what I was worth.
And now she was probably getting ready to jump ship.
There might have been others on that scale besides Wei Shiyun and me, but whatever the case, she was thinking of attaching herself to whichever man looked more promising.
That was the kind of woman she was.
Her pink hair had lost all its luster, and her skin was dry and dull, but even so, Guyang Jihee still stood there with her ample chest swaying and her confident eyes fixed on me.
There was unmistakable certainty in those eyes. Confidence in her own looks…
I’d just said she had no real strengths, but even filthy and haggard from being unable to wash or eat, she still wasn’t ugly enough to be hard on the eyes.
In terms of appearance alone, there were very few who could match her.
Guyang Jihee closed her eyes, nodded, and went on.
Was she reminiscing or something?
"Come to think of it, something similar happened before, too. You remember, don't you? Back then, you also…"
Something similar?
I let my memories of her drift through my mind.
Get out of here right now.
To think this kind of person was once my fiancé… I’m so ashamed I can’t even hold my head up.
Didn’t you say you’d make me regret it?
The moments she’d been slapped down by Guyang Gwon, fallen from the lodgings, and sneered at in front of the academy students flashed through my head.
...
Should I just break one of her arms first?
As long as I brought her back alive, that should be enough.
While I half-listened and half-tuned her out, I found a recess about the size of a palm where the Blood Demon Mysterious Orb had been placed.
It hadn’t taken as long as I’d expected.
This is it.
The moment I rose to my feet, Guyang Jihee had already crept up to arm’s length.
With a smile, she folded her arms as if she meant to cling to me.
No, as if she tried to.
"I’ve known it for a while, but you’re even more handsome now, aren’t… oh?"
Smack!
She stared at me in stunned disbelief, eyes wide in panic.
What, you thought I wouldn’t?
I knew she was shameless, but this went beyond even common sense.
"Hey. Have you lost your mind?"
Before the filthy, disheveled Guyang Jihee could even finish speaking, I lowered my voice and cut in first.
"W-why are you being so scary…?"
I’d only called her out once, and already she’d flinched back, shoulders shrinking as tension swept through her whole body.
"Don’t act like we’re close now."
"W-what? I’m not acting close, I’m…"
Hit right in the weak spot, she widened her eyes and waved her hands in denial.
Disgusting as it was, she really did fit the image.
If she was this light in the ass, would she have done the same thing with someone else if it hadn’t been me?
"Forget that. Your life debt. You didn’t forget, did you?"
I reminded her of the promise I’d made when I saved her life.
Only then did Guyang Jihee finally lift her head and nod.
"O-of course. Isn’t that obvious? People of the Guyang family don’t betray kindness. A single Ojidan or Geumseonryeondan should be enough, right?"
...
I’d expected something like this, but…
Was this bitch insane?
I’d tried to calm myself down, and all she’d done was make me angrier.
"You think my life is only worth a middling-grade spirit pill?"
Realizing the mood had taken a strange turn, she hurriedly scrambled for an excuse.
"...I-I mean, not just one pill. I’d give you five, or—ah! Wh-what are you doing righ—!"
Too late.
In one hand I grabbed the demon beast I’d split in half, and with the other I seized the back of her head and dragged her face toward it.
"H-hiiiii! What are you doing, you crazy bastard!!!"
...
The black inner flesh of the beast drew closer and closer to her face.
Its innards, lined with little nodules and writhing tendrils, put their grotesquerie on full display.
In a way, I almost envied her.
This was the kind of rare experience you couldn’t easily get anywhere else.
Smack! Smack!
Enjoy it for both of us.
"H-hiiiiii!!"
As befit a demon beast with monstrous regenerative power, it was still alive enough to twitch as it clung to Guyang Jihee’s face.
Every time its bodily fluids splattered, she let out a delightfully shrill scream.
She tried to pry my arm away with her delicate hands, but—
Smack! Smack!
She didn’t have the strength to shake off my grip.
"...Mm."
I slowly rubbed the innards up and down across her face.
Just enough for her to really feel it.
"Mmph! Mmpph!!! P-please… nggh!! Blegh!"
Only after she’d been whimpering with exhaustion did I finally tear the beast’s entrails away from her face.
Judging by her expression, the bodily fluids had made a strong impression on her, because she was writhing and gagging in disgust.
"Ugh, augh, bleeegh."
What a woman with absolutely no dignity.
"At the very least…"
What should I ask for?
I couldn’t get Eumyangdan, so…
"Cheonbodan."
"...C-Cheonbodan? You want that top-grade spirit pill… mmph!! Nngh!!"
If you like the demon beast’s innards so much, keep talking.
It’s still fresh.
Smack! Smack!
When she started trembling all over and sagged weakly, I pulled the beast away again.
"Cheonjidan."
"P-please stop… a-alright! I’ll get you Cheonjidan…."
...
Cheonjidan was a supreme-grade spirit pill, one tier above Cheonbodan and something rarely seen even in the martial world.
The Guyang family might be able to get their hands on it, but I couldn’t even begin to imagine how much money that would cost.
And she’s promising to hand it over right away?
I doubted the truth of her words.
Her thoughts were painfully easy to read.
"Wh-why are you—? T-take it away. I said I’d give it to you! I’ll give it, so… damn it! Mmph! Nngh!!"
Smack! Smack!
"Bring me Cheonjidan."
"H-hik! ...F-fine, just please stop…"
"And don’t pull any more nonsense until I’m out of here."
Even while her eyes met mine, she trembled all over and still lifted her head, her face smeared with bodily fluids.
That was resistance, however small.
Even in a situation like this, the fact that she still had some pride left was very much like Guyang Jihee.
One corner of my mouth curled up slightly.
The higher the pride, the stronger the backbone, the better.
It made the moment of breaking them all the more satisfying.
"But how are we supposed to get out of here…"
"Shut up."
You don’t have the right to speak.
...
She lowered her head in resentment and muttered under her breath.
Every now and then she kept sneaking glances at me and smiling faintly, and I had no idea what horrible fantasy she was indulging in.
Rattle—
Using the information I’d gotten from Saecheolseong, I slid the Blood Demon’s command tablet into the recess, and the bookshelf flipped over, revealing a passage leading inward.
Inside was a room slightly smaller than the hideout.
However,
...
I immediately frowned.
"How could they do something this vile…"
Near the altar, blackened bloodstains had hardened into ugly crusts, and the surrounding area was littered with bones of unknown origin.
Some of them looked like animal bones, but even accounting for that, there had to be hundreds of them at a glance.
I already knew the Blood Cult made human sacrifices, but seeing it with my own eyes felt very different.
Pitiable, but there’s nothing to be done.
They were already dead.
I looked around, but nothing especially unusual caught my eye.
Was this all for nothing?
After all that suffering, the extra reward was nothing but the Blood Demon Pill….
At least I had the spirit pills I could extort from Guyang Jihee and Jong Jinwon.
If luck was on my side, I might even push beyond the Tenth Flower and make the Eleventh bloom.
"Let’s go."
The moment I turned to leave the room, something glittered beneath the altar.
What’s that?
I stepped over and checked it, and there it was: a purple orb about the size of a fist, gleaming faintly.
Inside the orb, a murky current swirled and churned, and at a glance it was no ordinary object.
"What is that? It looks dangerous. You should probably leave it alone…"
"Shut up."
...
A faint demonic aura leaked from it, making it a dangerous item for sure.
But considering the Saecheolseong bastards had placed it so carefully beneath the altar, it had to be something important.
Things like this needed to be taken.
"Ah! Are you out of your mind—!"
"Last warning. Shut up."
...
No matter what she said, I was going to do what I had to do.
I took out a wooden box and, careful not to let it touch my hands directly, placed the purple orb inside.
I could investigate the details once I got back.
It was time to leave.
*
Scrape—
After a long struggle, the tightly locked door finally split in two.
"Hoo…."
I drew in a rough breath and slid my blade back into its sheath.
Why the hell was it this tough? It took longer than I thought.
In one way or another, it was a reminder that I still wasn’t at a high enough level.
When I stepped outside, the sun was already setting beyond the mountain.
"We’re finally out… w-what happened here…!"
Her relief lasted only a moment before Guyang Jihee’s eyes and mouth flew wide open in a scream.
The ground was soaked in blood, and here and there, the bodies of the squad members and corpses dressed in blood-red martial robes lay strewn about.
...I’d already guessed as much when they hadn’t opened the door, but a fierce battle had broken out.
...
When I checked their pulses, there was still a faint trace of warmth left in the corpses.
From far off, a faint ringing of blades and the scent of blood drifted on the wind.
It’s nearby.
Fortunately, there were still people alive.
Tap!
"Wait, don’t leave me behind! Wait, please!!"
I heard her tearful cry from behind, but that wasn’t important.
I pushed Pungsinbo to its limit and sprinted toward the source of the noise.
Four people.
First I saw Namgung Hye, collapsed on the ground, then Wei Shiyun, and then Jong Jinwon, his face covered in wounds.
"Kuh! So this is as far as I go."
"Kekek… you held out longer than expected, but this is the end for you too. Disgusting righteous sect dogs…!"
A one-armed man brought down a blood-colored sword toward Jong Jinwon.
It was a blade heavy with killing intent, one that could cleave a tree cleanly in a single strike.
Swish!
"I’ll send the rest of you after him soon enough… cough!"
No, that was what he tried to say while swinging down.
This was why people who talked too much during a fight died first.
"A-ah!! M-my arm!"
If it had been me, I’d have cut him down and then spoken.
"Ch-Cheon Daehyup!"
"H-how dare you!"
A man with no arms shouting threats was only funny.
The sword drew another arc through the air.
Whoosh!
The man’s head flew up, spraying blood, and silence fell over the battlefield.
##
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