Chapter 131
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 131
Chapter Title: New Year's Eve (2)
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It had been an exhausting day.
She would have preferred clashing swords with barbarians in a bloody battle. The Hundred Flowers Academy, which she'd returned to after so long, had turned into utter pandemonium.
"Release Yeon Hongun! Release him!"
"I want Lord Husband's abs!"
"Ban all those lame Eagle Claw techniques outright!"
She didn't even have time to catch up on her backlog of administrative work.
Moyong Seol had been thrown headfirst into the nightmare of handling the flood of complaints from these frenzied women.
- Since they're all women, this job should go to a female instructor...
Crunch.
Unable to deny the perfectly reasonable excuse she'd been given, Moyong Seol unconsciously clenched her fist.
Of all things.
Why on earth were they making such a fuss?
The man these women were clamoring to free, Yeon Hongun.
Despite his nickname of Lust Demon, he just looked pathetic and worthless in her eyes.
"My Sihyeon is so much better."
Murmuring softly enough that the women wouldn't hear, Moyong Seol let out a quiet mutter.
And then.
"Ah-woo..."
Recalling her first day back at the desk unbidden, Moyong Seol swallowed her embarrassment.
.
.
.
Three days ago.
Returning to the capital with great fanfare, Moyong Seol headed straight for the inn before going back to the Hundred Flowers Academy.
Of course, she could have used the instructors' dormitory even during the break.
But a dormitory was still a dormitory—its bathing facilities couldn't compare to those of a high-class inn.
So.
After thoroughly bathing her curvaceous, desire-filled figure, she donned the silk robe her mother had painstakingly tailored and brought from home.
She even spritzed on some precious perfume imported from the Western Regions.
Savoring the tension swelling in her modestly endowed chest, Moyong Seol clutched the marriage proposal she'd carefully tucked away in the same spot and set off toward the Ten Thousand Gold Treasury Fortress.
Typically, the marriage proposal came from the groom's family to the bride's.
But Moyong Seol was in a hurry.
It was already December.
Come the new year, she'd turn twenty-nine.
That's right.
Just one step away from thirty...!
She was in no position to be picky anymore!
She hadn't even told Geum Sihyeon she'd arrived in the capital, too desperate to make it a done deal first.
Well.
Once the proposal was delivered, he'd find out naturally.
If he was at home, they might even run into each other by chance.
And chance encounters always made a woman's heart race.
"E-hee, e-heehee...!"
Immersed in happy fantasies, the tension faded from Moyong Seol's steps, replaced by an ever-growing sloppiness with each stride.
And then.
"Oh dear, what should we do? Sihyeon's already off the family registry."
"Pfft, what...?"
Not even catching a glimpse of Geum Sihyeon's robes, Moyong Seol was led into the inner quarters of the Ten Thousand Gold Treasury Fortress's residence—where she nearly spat out the tea she'd been sipping.
Geum Sihyeon's mother, Yeon Hwalan, beamed cheerfully as she gave the adorable, bold young woman her answer.
"He moved out on his own this time. It's bittersweet watching the kids leave one by one... but he's got big ambitions, so what can you do."
"Ah..."
"And he always said something."
"What... was it?"
"A Hero's True Colors. He wants to choose his own fiancée. Hmm, I don't quite get what 'Hero's True Colors' means, but it seems we've raised a boy with more of an eye for women than I thought."
Moyong Seol was momentarily dumbfounded by the words.
But she quickly grasped their meaning.
How many women were already around Geum Sihyeon?
That's why she couldn't hold back her impatience and had come in person, proposal in hand, swallowing her shame.
"Of course, if our Sihyeon does get married, I'd have to attend as his mother... but it might not be that simple. Since you've come all this way..."
Yeon Hwalan slid open a drawer, briefly lifting and setting down a few envelopes.
Moyong Seol's sharp eyes could easily make out the names written on them.
Tang Family of Sichuan.
Nangong Family.
Zhuge Family.
Storm Wind Escort Agency.
And at least five more besides...
"Mother, surely..."
"Mm-hmm. I wasn't planning to at first. I sent polite rejections, but they keep piling up... You'll understand when you have sons of your own, Seol dear. You're quite the beauty yourself, aren't you?"
"Ah, ahaha. Thank you...?"
The marriageable woman from the Tang Family of Sichuan was surely Poison Flower Tang So-rin, and from the Nangong Family, that venomous Sword Flower Nangong So-hye.
Moyong Seol's face stiffened involuntarily as her rivals' faces flashed in her mind.
But feeling Yeon Hwalan's soft hand cover hers.
I'm one of the Five Flowers of the Martial World! The Ice Flower!
Chatting so warmly with my future mother-in-law!
Even called 'Seol dear'!
Aw yeah! Nailed it!
Moyong Seol was getting drunk on an inexplicable sense of victory.
"Seol dear. I can't promise anything, but won't you give me that proposal?"
"Yes, yes!"
Watching the scene warmly, Yeon Hwalan's gentle whisper had Moyong Seol handing it over without hesitation.
It was only natural.
With Tang, Nangong, and who-knows-what-else families lining up, how could the Moyong Family be left out?
.
.
.
"Ugh..."
Brushing aside the shameful memory with a wave.
"Yeon Hongun! Release him!"
"The Hundred Flowers Academy! Awaken!"
"Please let me in! Give me back my Lord Husband!"
"Please calm down. We'll discuss internally and decide on his disposition."
Feeling pity for their obsessive fixation on a single man, Moyong Seol hardened her expression and let out a quiet sigh.
"Oh. Sister Seol."
In her ear.
A man's voice she hadn't heard in far, far too long.
"Sihyeon!"
Moyong Seol's face lit up with a brilliant smile.
After going away and coming back, Sister Sloppy's condition had gotten seriously weird.
- S-Si-Sihyeon, th-that, uh, uh-uh...
- M-Marr, uuuuh... Woo-woo...
Back when she was Sword Mistress, we'd had perfectly normal conversations.
Her language skills had regressed even behind Luri's—she was stammering so much I couldn't wait and had to enter the academy alone.
She probably couldn't come in anyway, busy controlling the commotion at the gate.
Passing the even more heavily guarded Heavenly Martial Library, I stepped into the main building where the biochemical terror attack had taken place.
And then.
"Amitabha. It's been a while."
Fortunately, today's academy head was smiling like a Buddha statue, solo without his shaved-head entourage.
"How have you been?"
"Haha, this poor monk is always the same. But truly astonishing. How did you find your way here so quickly?"
Guessing the academy head's realm was too lofty to fool with the Chase Ghost Silver trick.
Not that crippling my future father-in-law's dantian was unfilial... no.
"I merely followed justice."
That was the right answer.
The villain Jade-Faced Young Master who'd crippled my future father-in-law's dantian was already erased from this world by my hand.
This was justice. This was truth.
"Excellent, excellent. Amitabha..."
Seeing the academy head nod in admiration brought no guilt surging up... unbidden.
It happens.
I didn't know, okay?
Covering my brain with maximum shamelessness.
"So, about that Lust Demon..."
I passionately and sincerely reported every single one of the Lust Demon's misdeeds without omission.
The villain plotting to eliminate my little Geum Sihyeon deserved to pay the price.
But.
"Haha... It's certainly an outrageous idea, but not a crime warranting dantian crippling. Tricky, very tricky."
"Objection!"
"Hm?"
"Ah, nothing."
My death penalty demand infused with Mitsuruugi spirit didn't reach our beloved bald judge.
In that case.
"I have a way to discern his true intentions."
A fact I hadn't known until now.
The brain prison was in the basement of the main building...!
And some kind of mechanism suppressed internal energy use, or so it felt.
"Scatterpoison is dispersed here, so don't panic. Forcing qi condensation could twist your meridians."
"Got it."
Sip.
Haaa.
A pretty spicy vibe, with even high-grade Scatterpoison faintly permeating the air.
Passing a few cramped rooms designed more like one-person training chambers than cells.
"Guuuh..."
I spotted the Lust Demon's sleazy face, sprawled out starfished in comfort.
The guiding instructor silently handed me what looked like a gong striker.
Hm.
This was still a prison, alright.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
"Ow, starting again...?"
Gazing at the Lust Demon's bleary, squinting face as he rubbed his eyes.
I took a moment to organize my thoughts.
Honestly.
Purely rationally speaking...
The Lust Demon wasn't wrong about what he'd said before.
Born a man with a tough life, but a divine technique that could make one beautiful in an instant and grant supreme martial arts.
...I'd have more landmines to dodge.
But I couldn't crush so many dreams just because of my personal tastes.
"Yeon Hongun."
"What? It's Geum Sihyeon! Jade Transformation Preservation, Jade Transformation Preservation?"
"...Instead of 'let me out' or 'release me,' that's the first thing out of your mouth?"
"Hm. Fair point. Get me out first. Then hand over the Jade Transformation Preservation."
How could there be such a shameless bastard in the world?
Suppressing a sigh, I pulled the manual from my bosom—the one I'd gotten permission from the academy head to bring—and waved it teasingly.
"Ooh, oooh...!"
But I had no intention of handing it over just like that.
As I'd cited before.
"Only those prepared to get shot should fire the gun."
"What's a gun?"
Ignoring primitive savage Yeon Hongun's question.
"Jade Transformation Preservation's first verse is Martial Hero's Self-Castration Swing. In other words, training begins by swinging a sword to cut off your own manhood."
"What."
"Yeon Hongun. If you truly want to release Jade Transformation Preservation upon the martial world, show your sincerity first. Then I'll hand you this book."
The Lust Demon's eyes shook violently.