A Night Intoxicated by Blood
"This is an absolute goldmine."
After scouring the entirety of the World of Chaos Palace, Ryeong had finally uncovered Mu Geon's secret storehouse. Arrayed within were dazzling treasures, glittering gold and silver, and exquisite precious stones. Rare elixirs sat beside weapons that rightfully deserved the title of divine armaments, along with secret martial arts manuals and even esoteric tomes detailing occult sorcery. The sheer volume was enough to equip an entire army.
"Now, how do I deal with all this?"
Her first thought was to sweep up all the gold and silver and send it to Mount Jongnam. It would serve as proof of her survival and double as a greeting to let them know she was doing fine, saving them the worry. As for the elixirs, she could pocket a few, but carrying them all was out of the question. Upon reflection, the Jongnam Sect would surely rejoice if she sent the medicine their way, so that was easily settled.
The divine armaments gave her little pause. Fine weapons though they were, they had steeped in yin energy for far too long; unless someone practiced martial arts aligned with dark, yin cultivation, they couldn't even wield them properly. As for the occult tomes, perhaps she could toss them into an auction house later. At any rate, the secret storehouse proved far more bountiful than expected.
The World of Chaos Palace was a natural fortress, a cursed domain no fool—no matter how brazen—would dare wander into lightly. Just in case, however, Ryeong channeled her Azure Dragon Lightning Qi and Black Tortoise Water Qi into the entrance of the storehouse. The moment any intruder dared breach it, they would be roasted to a crisp like a spit-fired chicken. That was more than enough theft prevention. Now, it was time to return to Jinyeong.
"...Come to think of it, this is kind of annoying."
A scowl crossed Ryeong's brow at the thought of Jinyeong. What was that formation called again? The Dream of Whatever? Whatever it was, she had been forced to endure Jinyeong's unadulterated hatred inside it. For some reason, remembering it gave her the illusion of sharp daggers pricking at her chest. Yet, unfamiliar as she was with the nuances of a woman's heart, Ryeong could not fathom what kind of emotion it was.
She had lived as a man for decades. Accustoming herself to a woman's emotional landscape was hardly something that came easily. Though she had blended into Jongnam well enough—largely because she barely interacted with anyone—she still hadn't reached a conclusion on what to make of Jinyeong. Unused to sentiment, she tried approaching it logically, yet cold logic only made her feelings more incomprehensible.
The vicious cycle only deepened her confusion. In the end, Ryeong shook her head vigorously, banishing thoughts of Jinyeong from her mind. What had transpired inside that illusionary formation would never come to pass in reality. Barring qi deviation, under no circumstances would she stand idly by and watch Mount Jongnam burn. To Ryeong, the Jongnam Sect had already become family.
Yet as Ryeong departed the World of Chaos Palace in high spirits, word reached her ears that dragged her buoyant mood straight down into the gutter.
"What? Who took whom? Tell me I heard that wrong."
"I-I'm so sorry! Your companion got into a brawl with the Paeng Family's young master, and the Paeng Family...!"
"Ha! So the great righteous sects, instead of treating one of their own with proper courtesy, decided to stab him in the back?"
Jinyeong had been detained by the Paeng Family. And as the result of a scuffle with one of their sons, no less. Rather than furious, Ryeong was simply dumbfounded.
In all likelihood, Jinyeong had beaten the brat to a pulp. While a young rising talent reaching the Peak Realm was not entirely unheard of in history, Jinyeong was the only one in the current generation. Even without knowing the full details, the chances of Jinyeong being defeated and dragged away by force were close to zero; circumstantial evidence suggested he had let himself be taken quietly to avoid escalating the matter.
The waiter who delivered the news bowed repeatedly, stammering apologies. Since it wasn't his fault, Ryeong tossed him a silver coin and told him to scram. With profuse thanks and an assurance that she could stay as long as she liked, the waiter scurried away. Ryeong swept back her hair, a chilling, murderous smile spreading across her lips.
"Right... So you take Jongnam for fools, do you?"
They had touched something they should never have laid a hand on. If they belonged to the same Orthodox faction, couldn't they have resolved it through civilized discussion? Jinyeong would have said as much had he been standing here. But in Ryeong's eyes, this was nothing short of an open provocation by the Paeng Family. And returning that provocation didn't call for the Orthodox way—it called for the Unorthodox way.
"They say the third son is quite the degenerate. Wouldn't it be doing the Paeng Family a favor if he disappeared from this world entirely?"
Ryeong drew the Evil-Slaying Dagger. The sun was still high in the afternoon sky, giving her no cause to bare the blade just yet, but once that sun dipped below the horizon...
I'll slaughter that Paeng family bastard and toss his severed head into the marketplace.
She fully intended to unleash the killing intent she had kept locked away. Fighting Mu Geon in the World of Chaos Palace had been pure misery; discovering the spoils had briefly lifted her spirits, only for this news to plunge them right back down. The Paeng Family would pay the price. Naturally, that degenerate scum had racked up so many sins that no one would even guess who the culprit was. Nor did she intend to do it quietly.
Her vow of chivalry forbade her from slaughtering those who bore no hostility toward her. Yet Ryeong had a simple method to silence her surroundings by force. If someone at the consummate Transformation Realm erected a qi barrier, third-rate martial artists who hadn't even reached the First-Rate realm couldn't breach it no matter what they tried. And what if someone did manage to break it? What else? She would simply kill them all and make her escape.
Besides, the moment I break into the third young master's quarters, his guards will harbor killing intent on their own.
That would settle it. In response to their hostile intent, the third young master's arrogance would only swell. And the moment vile desires crossed his mind, blood would spray into the air like the Milky Way. Jinyeong might resent her for it later, but right now, Ryeong's mood took precedence.
Time passed, and deep darkness fell over the land.
"Time to move."
Clad in midnight-black robes and a hood that completely concealed her identity, Ryeong slipped out of the inn and took to the air with Void Walking.
Her destination: the Hebei Paeng Family Compound.
Her objective: the severed head of the Clan Head's third son.
"Haaah... How on earth did I end up in this state?"
Locked inside the Paeng Family's detention cell, Jinyeong let out a heavy sigh. His eyes clearly showed that, no matter how much he thought about it, he had done nothing to warrant being locked up here. He had complied quietly and accompanied them to the Paeng Family solely to avoid stirring up unnecessary trouble, only for them to seal his internal energy without preamble and throw him into a dungeon. Where had the chivalrous code of the Jianghu gone?
"Listen here. I am giving you a clear warning: if you keep me locked up like this, every last one of you will die."
"Cut the bullshit. Do you think the crime of harming the Third Young Master's precious person is something so light?"
"Serving a degenerate like that is your pride? Is the Paeng Family truly such a pathetic lot?"
Jinyeong did his best to grate on the guards' nerves, hoping to provoke an opening and stir up a minor commotion. But the guards merely snorted and dismissed his words, taking them for nothing more than the petulant tantrums of an arrogant brat.
"Ridiculous. Do you take us for fools who would lose their temper over mere words?"
"I am warning you for the last time. If word gets out that I am imprisoned here, all of you will die."
"We're warning you for the last time as well. Spew any more nonsense, and we'll gag you."
Jinyeong was already certain that Ryeong would dance a dance of blades. Without someone nearby to rein her in, she was the type of person who invariably assumed the worst possible outcome. Furthermore, with Jinyeong—her sole inhibitor—locked away in chains, how would she react once she learned of this through the inn's waiter? Having accompanied her through numerous trials, Jinyeong couldn't suppress a deep sense of dread.
Even if the Clan Head of the Paeng Family had attained the consummate Transformation Realm, could he truly stand against Ryeong, a warrior forged and victorious through brutal slaughter? Moreover, her return meant she had just subdued the World of Chaos Palace. If a woman steeped in such ruthless combat experience unleashed both her assassination arts and her sword arts at once, could the Paeng Clan Head withstand her?
He can't. Not a chance. I have to prepare for the possibility of the entire Hebei Paeng Family being wiped out.
One might wonder if that was taking the assumption too far, but Jinyeong knew all too well that it was a distinct possibility. Ryeong had shown utter ruthlessness against the Green Forest bandits. If the Paeng Family's conduct caused her to view them in the same light as common outlaws, their entire clan could be annihilated in a single night—long before half a month had passed.
Even so, Jinyeong had no intention of warning them further. He had told them dozens of times already, yet they refused to listen, staring at him as though he were a raving lunatic.
When the commotion breaks out soon, I'll have to make my escape.
In truth, though Jinyeong's internal energy had been suppressed, he could still access it. The only qi they had sealed was what resided in his lower dantian. The qi of the Heaven-Killing Art, which he had learned from Ryeong, remained fully intact within his middle dantian. While bound to the chair he could only employ the Ghost Soul Steps, that alone was more than enough to handle a few guards; all he had to do was surge with sudden momentum to shatter the wooden chair to pieces.
Or perhaps I should just break the Paeng Family's laws and escape right now.
Jinyeong was the only one who could stay Ryeong's hand from wanton slaughter. Yet what he did not know was that Ryeong had infiltrated the Paeng compound long ago—and the very nightmare he feared was about to unfold.