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At that very moment, the Sex Demon Couple—this time master and disciple disguised as father-in-law and daughter—were secretly sharing the Cloud and Rain Affection deep within the Mount Hua Sect.
Meanwhile, at the Yangtze Waterway Seven Slaughter Stockade, the central stronghold of the Green Forest 72 Stockades where the Green Forest King personally resided, the bandits were trembling under the weight of his wrath.
"Yeong-hui has gone missing?!"
"Y-yes...."
Jang Ho-gol, chief of the Tiger Bone Stockade—the very place Bang Yeong-hui had been serving as temporary chief—could not pull himself together in the face of the Green Forest King's fury.
Whack, whack.
The Green Forest King's rage manifested straight as fists. Jang Ho-gol took the blows full in the face, and blood streamed from his mouth.
"...cough."
Something white came out with the blood. The Green Forest King's punch had been so violent that shattered teeth were dislodged along with the gore.
"Damn it, you worthless bastard!"
As if a single tooth wasn't enough, the Green Forest King kept swinging at Jang Ho-gol. When his fists weren't enough he added kicks, yet Jang Ho-gol did not raise hand or foot to resist the beating.
"You son of a bitch! You should have protected my daughter even if it cost you your life!"
"P-please calm yourself, Great Axe Mountain Lord!"
"That's right! The brothers of Tiger Bone Stockade say they're in pursuit of the kidnapper right now, so please, don't fret!"
The surrounding bandits clung to Bang Deuk-pae's arms, frantically trying to pacify him. No matter how massive a man of muscle he was, he was drunk, and when several subordinates of similar bulk latched onto him at once, even he couldn't shake them off.
"Damn... damn it...!!"
If he used his inner energy he could throw them all aside. But right now Bang Deuk-pae was deliberately keeping the intoxication inside him because he enjoyed the buzz, and he lacked the finesse to expel the drunkenness without effort.
"Yeong-hui, my Yeong-hui...! My daughter, the one I'd never want to hurt even if I tucked her into my own eye...!!"
Bang Deuk-pae slumped to the ground and began to lament.
"How could you, born from the most beautiful woman in the Central Plains, suffer such disgrace...!"
The mother who had borne Bang Cheol-su and Bang Yeong-hui had been a renowned beauty. The slight issue, if you could call it that, was that he had fathered the children without the beauty's consent.
"How am I supposed to face your dead mother after this! Ah, my Yeong-hui!!"
The woman had chosen to take the long journey on her own because she could not endure Bang Deuk-pae's rough touch. That problem existed, but to Bang Deuk-pae it was a trivial matter he didn't give a second thought.
The only thing that mattered was that Bang Yeong-hui, the Green Forest King's daughter, had been kidnapped by some thug.
"Who is it?! Speak! Who kidnapped her?!"
"...It was a middle-aged man with black hair and red eyes. He swung his sword as if we were children, and we were helpless."
Even as he spoke, Jang Ho-gol could not be certain. Something felt off, but his memory was clearly telling him exactly that.
"Black hair and red eyes! Was his hair thin?!"
"...It may have been."
"This can't be! How could such a thing happen! My daughter... my daughter abducted by the Sword Demon?! How can a dead man kidnap our daughter!!"
"M-my Mountain Lord!"
A bandit came scrambling inside in a breathless rush.
"A letter has arrived at Tiger Bone Stockade! In young miss Yeong-hui's own handwriting!!"
"!!"
Bang Deuk-pae snatched the dispatch the bandit had brought and unfolded it. The letter, steeped in fury and hatred, was sealed with a bloodstain.
"Ye-Yeong-hui...!"
After taking in every line, Bang Deuk-pae let the letter slip from his hand. So great was the shock that his mind went blank.
I, the girl, have been violated by the Sex Demon. I cannot bear such injustice and cannot live in such resentment, so I will leave the Green Forest to take revenge on the Sex Demon. I shall not return until I have killed the wretch and raped him before his wife.
Bang Yeong-hui, submitted.
"Guh, uuurgh...!!"
Bang Deuk-pae clenched his fist until his knuckles cracked. His bloodshot eyes fixed on his fist, and before long that fist turned once again toward the chief of Tiger Bone Stockade.
"You son of a bitch! Because you didn't protect her properly at her side, our daughter was raped by the Sword Demon! You think I gave you Tiger Bone Stockade so you could let this happen, goddammit?!"
Thud. Bang Deuk-pae drove his foot into Jang Ho-gol's stomach. The man collapsed, vomiting dark-red blood, and Bang Deuk-pae, breathing hard, let out a roar.
"Find that Sword Demon bastard! Whether he's a dead man come back as a ghost, or the next Sword Demon, or a Sex Demon—find any black-haired, red-eyed bastard with a sword! And present him before me!"
At the Green Forest King's furious bellow, the bandits all scattered.
"The Green Forest will kill any Sex Demon on sight, without fail!!"
Jang Ho-gol lost consciousness under Bang Deuk-pae's thick killing intent.
It was the small trigger that would turn the Green Forest, which had been riding the rampage of Sex Demons that began with the Ice-Colored Demon, into constables suddenly charged with hunting the Sex Demon down.
***
Late at night.
The Five Heroes of Night Rain sat around a campfire they had lit in a clearing.
"Elder Brother, do you really think it was the Sword Demon?"
"I don't know...."
The Five Heroes of Night Rain had found few solid clues. All they had managed to discover was that the person who had toppled the Green Forest gang and abducted someone named Bang Yeong-hui was a 'demon,' and little else.
Black hair, red eyes, and a sword.
Those were the classic traits of the 'Sword Demon,' the most widely known martial artist among the Ten Demons of the Demonic Cult in the Central Plains.
"Strange. I heard the Sword Demon has no particular interest in women."
"Little Brother, in the end that guy is still a man, isn't he? Once you get a taste of women, you fall fast."
"But we're talking about Bang Yeong-hui. The one I saw at the last Two Phoenixes Decisive Battle was clearly...."
The Five Heroes of Night Rain gulped. Although Dokgo Yeon had defeated her in a single blow, if you were to pick the ten most memorable participants of the Two Phoenixes Decisive Battle, a hundred out of a hundred people would put Bang Yeong-hui on that list.
"Did you watch the Two Phoenixes Decisive Battle?"
The youngest, who had been quietly fidgeting with his scabbard, spoke in a soft voice. At that, the other Four Heroes of Night Rain grinned.
"Yeah. We watched it reeeal well. You weren't there then, Hyup-man, but Seol and I have even witnessed the Six Phoenixes Supremacy Battle."
"I see...."
"Youngest, who do you think is the prettiest among them?"
"......The Taiji Flower."
At the youngest's reply, everyone nodded.
"The title White Path's Number One Flower wasn't given for nothing."
"Then who's next after the White Path's Number One Flower? Put aside the Demonic Cult's Little Princess—who among the White Path seems prettiest next?"
"I think the Swallow Maiden Phoenix of the Moyong Clan is the prettiest."
The youngest stated his opinion with conviction. At that, the Five Heroes of Night Rain looked at one another and then burst out laughing.
"Moyong Ran? Haha, so that's your taste, youngest!"
"Maybe because you're both blade users? Or is it you like the imperial-princess looks? Heh-heh, it seems our youngest is a man after all."
"......Isn't Swallow Maiden Phoenix obviously the prettiest?"
The youngest retorted sulkily.
"She has an outstanding background, her martial arts are strong, and no one can match her with the blade. Even among the Nine Dragons, she'd be a powerhouse at least in the middle."
"This guy praises Swallow Maiden Phoenix practically at the level of a Taiji Plum Fanatic!"
"Well, maybe not if it were the Taiji Flower... but to praise her that much when it's Swallow Maiden Phoenix, isn't that a bit much?"
"Yeah. She's about to get violated by the Sex Demon anyway. Heh-heh."
Maybe it was the alcohol, but the Five Heroes of Night Rain didn't notice how the youngest's expression was hardening.
"What a pitiful woman. Getting tangled up with the worst kind of Sex Demon."
"Elder Brother thinks so too? I feel the same. Tsk, if she's going to be ravished by a Sex Demon anyway, couldn't I lay her once first before the Sex Demon does?"
"You bastard, is that what you're saying now?"
"So what? She's not even married or a mother. It's not like she's going to let her lower mouth collect cobwebs her whole life."
As the lewd talk grew more and more explicit, the youngest quietly rose from his seat.
"Where are you going?"
"I'll step out to the river for a moment. I'll do a patrol while I'm at it, so don't worry."
"Heh-heh, going to drain some water? Take care, ahaha!!"
The Five Heroes of Night Rain were dead drunk and not in their right minds. The youngest ran to a more distant spot and dipped a hand into a somewhat wide lake.
"...huff."
The youngest began to remove the daoist robe. Bathed in moonlight, the youngest's body was too slender to be a man's, and the chest was tightly bound with white bandages.
Ripple.
When even the bandages came off, two peaks that had been trapped inside revealed themselves. He—no, she—let down the hair she had tied up like a topknot and slipped her naked body into the lake.
Splash.
The cold water soaked her face. Even before undressing, the face had been quite feminine, but now stripped bare she puffed out her cheeks and rinsed herself with water.
...Isn't Swallow Maiden Phoenix clearly the best?
The youngest studied her own face reflected on the water's surface. With a face that looked exactly like Swallow Maiden Phoenix—no, the very face of Swallow Maiden Phoenix herself—she smirked.
"Hmph. The way they talk."
Swallow Maiden Phoenix Moyong Ran. She cleansed her sullied body in the moonlit river where no one else was present. Her jade-white bare skin glistened under the moonlight, but fortunately there was no one around.
Ting, ting.
Someone began to approach, slowly. The youngest—Swallow Maiden Phoenix Moyong Ran—reached for the sword resting atop her neatly folded clothes on the bank.
If by any chance someone showed up—
Ta-dat—!
Moyong Ran snatched up the scabbard in alarm. Then she submerged into the water to conceal her bare body and swung the blade with a flash.
Splash!
Water sprayed up, tracing a beautiful arc. The glinting tip of the sword clashed against something like a sharp needle, which dropped to the water's surface, and with one hand covering her chest Moyong Ran retreated backward.
"Haha! You really are bold enough to call yourself the prettiest!"
"Youngest, we've come to ravish you instead of a Sex Demon!"
The men approaching with leering eyes were none other than the Five Heroes of Night Rain. Moyong Ran leveled her sword, grinding her teeth.
"You dog-like bastards...!"
"Whoa. Look at that fine body. They really don't make them like that outside the great clans. She looks like she'd bear a child like nobody's business."
"Elder Brother. What did I tell you? I said if the youngest turned out to be a man, I'd cut off my own cock."
"You little shit. Anyone could see she's a woman in men's clothing; only an idiot wouldn't know. Kihihihi."
The Five Heroes of Night Rain snickered with greasy grins. The two of them toyed with the clothes that had fallen by the waterside and mocked her.
"All it took was a few months of trust and you were grinning and letting your guard down. Hey, bitch, we've known from the start you were a woman."
"We've been sharpening our knives for this, and only now do you let your guard down. Heh-heh-heh, did you get wet down below because of that handsome guy you saw during the day?"
"You... bastards...!!"
Moyong Ran retreated further, shuddering. The water was already lapping near her navel, but there was no deeper part of the lake.
Because of that, Moyong Ran had no choice but to expose her upper body just as she was. She trembled with mortification, and the tip of the sword she kept pointed sharply at them began to quiver.
"You deceived me for three months... just to rape me?"
"That's right. Heh-heh, three months was a fair enough price to claim one of the Six Phoenixes! You worked hard taking care of us as our youngest all this time, youngest! Now come take care of our cocks too!"
He yanked his pants down and tossed them aside, then shook his manhood—exposed to the whole world—from side to side. Moyong Ran felt genuine revulsion, but now that her body was in the river her movements were inevitably restricted.
"Shut up, you filthy lecherous villains...! If you come one step closer I'll cut off your heads!!"
She couldn't cover everything with a single hand. To protect her chastity from the Five Heroes of Night Rain—no, from these Sex Demons of Night Rain—she had no choice but to endure.
"Let's see how long you can hold out in there. Heh-heh, we can just take turns finishing our business...."
"Do you think you can hold out without eating or sleeping? Heh-heh."
"You...!!"
Moyong Ran's eyes genuinely misted with tears. She had run away from the Ice-Colored Demon, leaving home, and had let her guard down thinking she'd finally met proper heroes.
But her opponents were Sex Demons—four of them—who had been deceiving her for three months.
"I won't forgive you... you Sex Demon bastards. Even if I end up being laid, I'll take at least one of you down with me...!"
"Haha! Youngest, there's still something you don't understand. Do you know why we're called the Five Heroes of Night Rain?"
"We used to have a youngest before. But before we met you, that little bastard took a blade to the gut and died. Tch... he swore he'd definitely stick his cock in a cunt."
"!!"
Moyong Ran's face went pale. The Five Heroes of Night Rain were beings for whom threats no longer held any meaning.
"If one of us dies, the remaining three will ravish you to make up for the dead man's share. It's not too late even now. Slowly put down the sword, cover just your crotch, and step out. Heh-heh."
"We'll be gentle. Hm?"
"You... Sex Demon bastards...!!"
"SEX DEMON——!!"
A lion's roar so mighty it stirred waves on the calm water ripped through the night. The Five Heroes of Night Rain turned their heads toward the furious roar that had erupted from the distance.
"Sex Demon, I'll kill you!!!"
Bam!
The giant who burst out from the forest drove a fist into the lower back of Ya Hyeop-man, who was closest. Ya Hyeop-man crumpled, vomiting blood from a single blow, and pitched face-first into the river.
"Wh-who are you?!"
"Sex Demon Fist of Death!"
Thud, thud.
Moyong Ran had never seen a person fly through the air in all her life. Until now.
The giant woman who swung her fists with only a coarse sackcloth covering her vitals—you could tell she was a woman because her chest was covered—was someone Moyong Ran knew well.
"Bang... Yeong-hui...?"
The Green Forest King's daughter.
With that massive frame resembling her father's, she knocked out all four of the Sex Demons in a single blow. As if that alone still didn't satisfy her, she stood there panting, then picked up Moyong Ran's clothes that had been scattered on the ground.
"You were nearly assaulted by a Sex Demon. Be careful, guh, h-haah...!"
Bang Yeong-hui dropped to one knee. Heat rose from her body, and Moyong Ran rushed out of the water to check on her.
"Are you all right?!"
"Guh, h-huk... my inner energy...!"
Her inner energy, her muscle power, began draining away. As the white steam settled, Bang Yeong-hui transformed into the shape of a beauty who rivaled Moyong Ran. The sackcloth, which had been draped over her enormous frame, slid off at once, leaving her completely bare.
"......Wow."
"......Ah, geez."
Late at night, in the deep shadows.
Unintentionally, the two women, now suddenly stark naked, stared at each other and swallowed hard.