Chapter 181
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 181
Chapter Title: Chuno's Myriad-Mile Journey (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Cheon Luri quietly fed me puffs of demonic qi to heal my internal injuries, and I listened intently to Cheon Yuri's story.
......Of course, it was hard to just quietly listen.
Because.
"......So, if I can't go to the Heavenly Demon Cave, the Heavenly Demon Divine Art I learned is just a flashy demonic art on the surface, right?"
"Aw, you don't have to think of it that way. Good is good, you know."
This mother-daughter scam duo.
They'd deliberately sold me scam coins.
Getting backstabbed first by the Silk Road, now by the Heavenly Demon Divine Art—my head was spinning a bit.
"Hmm, well, there is another method."
"What is it?"
"Demonic qi infusion."
......?
The word evoked images of that sacred bond between master and servant during the Holy Grail War, right? Just my imagination?
"Luri and I didn't have anyone to help with that kind of dual cultivation method, but you're lucky, Sir Geum? You've got two of them."
"I refuse."
It's mana transfer, isn't it......!
At my firm refusal, Cheon Yuri tilted her head.
"Sir Geum, do you not get hard? Or have you cultivated some virgin boy technique?"
"Don't insult my little Geum Sihyeon......!"
"Then why?"
Milton Friedman once said, "There's no such thing as a free lunch."
If I went for that free topping rice here, I'd end up helplessly switching to the Demonic Cult route, and then the Azure Heaven Society bastards would cheer and declare Deus Vult.
That wouldn't do at this point in time.
"Curious."
"Yeah, yeah. Luri, what are you so curious about?"
Thankfully, Luri—whose inner energy wasn't deep enough yet to understand Cheon Yuri's outrageous words—cut the conversation off at the right moment.
But.
"Why hold back?"
"Gal."
"Pinned."
"Bury."
"Fake pinned post."
......Listening to the brutal words from affinity-concealing Lupica-nim made my qi and blood churn involuntarily.
As the demonic qi flowing through my body surged a bit stronger from the serendipitous encounter, I pieced together the letters spilling from Luri's mouth afterward to decipher their meaning.
"That's impossible."
I explained rationally to this green newbie with barely a year's gallery experience—about a third of a Niknunsam.
"Even if you tried, it'd get deleted or buried right away. Posts blatantly stirring up disputes like that are grounds for deletion and bans."
"Hate pics?"
"......Yeah, it'd be nice if they deleted those quickly too."
That's enough Gal etiquette for now.
I whispered a more realistic reason.
"Right now, it's not fully public yet, so they can't attack me openly. But even if it did go public, what do you think happens if I die?"
"No!"
"I'm not saying I'll die...... Anyway, in time, it'll all fizzle out without issue. They're not worth clashing head-on with yet."
It wasn't a simple matter.
The connections they had.
The power they could wield was overwhelmingly different.
No matter how well I gathered evidence.
I was still just a sixth-generation Peak scrub, a mere late-stage practitioner.
My opponent was Mount Hua's Supreme Sect Leader, who'd built fame in the jianghu for over a century and touched the Profound Realm with his martial arts.
No chance in a present-life showdown.
Suppose the two of us started a flame war.
There'd only be two reactions.
Desperately avert their eyes from the truth.
Or bury me for insulting the Nine Great Sects.
Regrettably, that's the murim. That's the jianghu.
"Demonic Cult. Help."
At Luri's ever-so-kind words, I looked up straight at the Demonic Cult Leader.
"Ahaha...... Sir Geum, I'll help however I can? But all-out war is, well, tough?"
Cheon Yuri gave an awkward smile.
It was the natural response from the leader of the massive Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
She couldn't drag the entire cult into a quagmire of total war with the orthodox sects for someone not yet confirmed as her son-in-law.
The Green Forest Bandits, Moyong Family, Tang Family—they'd probably say the same.
Even if, by some miracle, they all sided with me......
"Of course all-out war is impossible. Too much blood would spill. So...... I need to head to the Heavenly Demon Cave."
One person tangled in grudges is enough.
In other words.
If I grow strong enough to overcome all the haters, every problem solves itself.
You bastards.
I'll smash you all with my Heavenly Demon Death Beam Scimitar.
* * *
After patching myself up decently.
I set off with my all-purpose transport, the innovation shortening Central Plains travel distances: my living express mover and warm, cozy blanket incarnate—the wolf pup.
And also......
"Uncomfy."
The Heavenly Beast Heart-Returning Art pet 1+1 event.
Luri was dangling off my back too.
I'd wanted to leave her somewhere safe—abandon her if possible—since who knew what might happen on the journey.
- Sir Geum. Only the Cheon clan can open the Heavenly Demon Cave? It'll be obvious right away if I disappear, so take Luri with you.
She'd forcibly joined as the walking human key special admission.
"Gotta get used to the discomfort. You're famous, after all."
"In-sider."
"Hmm, seems like a different kind of fame......"
But Luri had that one-of-a-kind puffiness in the entire universe, so a little tweaking was needed.
The result.
I undid her two signature buns—her biggest identity marker—and neatly tied them into a ponytail in the back.
Since hairstyle makes up half of a person's impression, that alone should do the trick for now.
I didn't know how she knew to pack it, but Cheon Yuri had given her a completely non-Demonic Cult outfit, so I changed her into that.
"Mm."
"......Might need a wig too......"
It ended up looking roughly like Luri's long-lost twin little sister.
No time to teach disguise arts, and reshaping her face with disguise arts felt wrong on principle.
If I just covered that distinctive mixed-breed dog hair color with a wig later, it'd be manageable.
"Lemme use the navi."
"Grrr."
"You've seen it all anyway."
I snatched the smartphone from protesting Luri and set the route.
First stop: Lanzhou, Gansu Province.
The stronghold in Gansu, and per Cheon Yuri, a place where her influence still lingered.
From there, grasp the overall situation in the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, pick up a wig for Luri while at it, and head to the cult.
* * *
Walking, running, dashing—before I knew it, deep into the night.
Squish-squawk, squawk-squawk, ears filled with the mountain pigeon's distinctive gurgly call evoking childhood rural memories.
"Hmm......"
I pondered how to spend the night.
We hadn't found a place to stay yet.
To avoid potential pursuers before entering Gansu, we'd stuck to sparsely populated areas as much as possible, so it was only natural.
"Ungh...... snooort......"
Luri, glued to my back refusing to let go, had cutely started snoring in sleep.
I thought camping with wolf pup fur as a blanket might work.
"Kyau!"
"Oh, found one?"
"Kyau!"
But my spoiled wolf pup hated outdoor sleeping, so she urgently sniffed around and toddled toward the presence she'd found.
.
.
.
A moment later.
With Luri on my back and the wolf pup grazing leashless, a rundown inn came into view.
Hard to believe they were doing business in a place like this, but there were signs of people.
Tonight, here......
"Huh, wolfie. Have we been here before?"
The wolf pup tilted her head.
What, why so familiar?
It felt like we'd been here once.
Well, all these primitive ancient Central Plains buildings look the same.
Probably saw something similar in Yunnan.
"......Hmm."
The closer I got.
The stronger the eerie sense of déjà vu.
And an unpleasant feeling bubbling up from deep inside for some reason.
Too vivid to dismiss as imagination, but I couldn't leave Luri to camp outside the building.
"Anyone there?"
A low rustle came from inside at my call.
Soon.
"Hehe, customer! Come on in!"
A man with a not-unpleasant face opened the door to greet us.
But......
The moment I saw his face, and took in the inn's interior layout.
I instantly realized the source of that nagging déjà vu.
In the past.
Before being thrown into Geum Sihyeon's life.
- Those damn cowardly bastards, poisoning first and fighting, filthy petty shits......!
There was the time I'd ended my thirteenth murim life.
Yeah, right—it was during a Gansu dispatch quest back then too.
That time.
I'd eaten dumplings laced with mountain airy poison, then got done in by an assassin posing as the innkeeper, who massacred travelers to make human flesh dumplings.
Of course, the human flesh dumpling backstory I'd only learned later from raging on Namu Wiki.
"What's wrong, sir? Come eat. The young lady looks exhausted, haha!"
No wonder there was a Peak-level presence inside.
I thought it was another guest.
Didn't expect it to be the fake owner.
......No, wait.
This is just déjà vu.
"Uh, do you serve dinner?"
"Of course, sir. Our dumplings are top-notch."
......Just déjà vu.
.
.
.
At the most secluded table, I parked the wolf pup and Luri snoring amiably together.
I poured alcohol into the cup on the table and downed it in one go.
Hmm.
This spicy aroma.
Is this goddamn murim programmed so every inn I hit has dogshit bastards?