There's a Traitor Among Us (3)

"How?"

Hwa Mu-rin looked up at me, fear flickering in her eyes.

"I can do it."

I slid the hem of Ryu Su-gyeong's short qipao aside. Her thighs gleamed, snow-white and yielding to the touch.

"Ah…"

A small sound escaped Ryu Su-gyeong's lips.

"Hurry and suck it out! Before Senior Sister gets any worse!"

"Got it."

My lips met the cold inner flesh of Ryu Su-gyeong's thigh.

Slurp.

"Nnh!"

She twitched. I sucked the poison from the inside of her thigh and spat it out, over and over.

Tentacle Monster Transformation.

When it came to sucking something out, a tentacle monster beat a human body every time. Hwa Mu-rin could only see the back of my head anyway. I transformed nothing but my mouth and went back to work on Ryu Su-gyeong's thigh.

"Haa… haa… nnh—!"

Her reactions grew sharper, more violent. The poison's grip was loosening.

"Aahh♡"

Ryu Su-gyeong's eyes fluttered open. She blinked slowly, taking in her surroundings.

"Eek! Wh-what are you doing?!"

The moment she saw her own lower body, she shrieked and nearly went into convulsions. I dropped the transformation at once.

"Senior Sister, please calm down. I'm drawing the poison out of you."

"Poison?"

"Yes."

I showed her the wound on her leg. The flesh along her inner thigh had been charred black. The sight of it snapped her back to herself.

"Damn it! Where are the yokai?"

"One's been dealt with. The other fled."

Ha Bo-yeon, who had been freeing the other victims behind Ryu Su-gyeong, spoke up.

"To think I would suffer such humiliation…"

"Senior Sister, let's get the poison out first. We can take our time going back."

"Very well."

Slurp.

"Khh♡"

A girlish little sound slipped out of her — nothing like her usual composure.

"Are you all right?"

"Haa… I'm fine. Nnh!"

Clear fluid spilled from between her legs and slicked the inside of her thighs.

I spat.

"Why are you spitting that out?"

"It's mixed with poison."

"R-right. Of course."

I sealed my mouth over ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her thigh again.

"Nnh! Ah—!"

She couldn't hold it in. Her hips jerked as a spray of fluid burst from her. I dragged my tongue along the inside of her thigh and stroked that soft, yielding leg. She flushed scarlet and ducked her head, too ashamed to look at me.

"Hnnn…"

"It's all right. I'll keep this a secret."

"…Thank you."

We gathered the survivors and headed back to the Mount Hua Sect.

More than a dozen people rescued from the yokai filed through the gates of the Mount Hua Sect.

"Good heavens! Cheongsong saved all of these people?"

"Yes."

Hwa Jeok-gyeol, Sect Leader of Mount Hua, stared at me in astonishment — then pulled me into her arms.

"Well done. Truly, well done. That frail little cloth-shop boy has become a proper master."

"Hah hah hah. Anyone who inherited the true essence of the Nine Solitary Swords ought to manage at least this much."

Hwa Jeok-gyeol and Chu Yang-hon both smiled, thoroughly pleased.

"Yokai who keep this many captives are rare. Even traveling with Su-gyeong, facing creatures like these would have been no small trial."

"They would have been among the stronger of their kind, too."

No fewer than forty people had been held prisoner. And those were only the survivors — there was no telling how many Ha Bo-yeon and her partner had already eaten.

"Yokai have been multiplying of late. Thanks to Grandmaster's aid, Mount Hua has hope again. I believe it is time we went to the Wulin Alliance and asked for help. Grandmaster, I beg of you."

Hwa Jeok-gyeol took Chu Yang-hon's hand.

Huh?

These two did something while I was gone. I'd bet on it. I'd have to interrogate them later.

"I am sorry, but that will not be possible."

"What? Why not?"

"Look upon me."

Chu Yang-hon's form flickered, turning faintly translucent before solidifying again.

"My martial path already points toward the heavenly realm. Were I to leave Mount Hua — the place in which my entire life is rooted — I might lose what spiritual power remains to me. More likely, I would simply ascend before I ever arrived."

Even sacred beasts were bound to the places they inhabited. A master of Chu Yang-hon's caliber was already a living sacred beast in human skin.

"Then what are we to do?"

"Send your disciple, and mine, to the Wulin Alliance."

Ryu Su-gyeong and me?

"If you want help from others, you must look pitiable. If elders go themselves, a request for aid will twist into a negotiation — or a contest of pride. Children begging for help will stir sympathy. That is far more useful."

"But the children have so little experience."

"That is precisely the point. Those with experience already know Mount Hua is a half-abandoned hand. They will not commit themselves in earnest. They will make a show of offering help while quietly scouting a new nest for themselves."

"That would be the practical choice, yes."

"Children will not do that. Their blood still runs hot."

"So it's a gamble."

"Junior Sister, Mount Hua's very life is already a piece on the gambling table."

Junior Sister?

These bastards.

I was definitely going to need a private conversation with each of them later. I stared at Hwa Jeok-gyeol's enormous breasts. Sooner or later, I was going to wreck her properly.

Inside a cave along a gloomy mountainside, a fire was burning.

"Moo!"

A beastkin built like a dairy cow was tending the flames.

"The spider yokai got taken down? Those two were a Rank-1 combat unit, same as us."

Another cow yokai snorted, turning meat over the fire.

"The Cult Leader told us not ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to trust outsiders so easily. They might be weaker than we thought."

"Hmph! Spider yokai venom isn't something a human shrugs off."

"Then they must have been third-rate spiders."

A presence stirred at the mouth of the cave.

"What was that? Third-rate?"

Ha Bo-yeon walked in, still wearing her spider-yokai form.

"Mooo— so you made it."

"I did. And I brought a new comrade."

"A new comrade?"

The cow yokai lumbered toward the entrance, her massive body filling the passage.

"What is that? I've never seen a yokai like this."

It was a tentacle monster — a green, slime-like mass bristling with writhing tentacles.

"You brought a complete stranger? What if the Cult Leader flies into a rage?"

"I was an outsider once too. There's a major battle with Mount Hua coming in a matter of months. You think the Cult Leader is going to care about one extra body?"

"Moo! Fair point! Mount Hua is smaller than Black Demon Valley, but it's an old, established power. If we want to keep our losses down, we need every fighter we can get."

They welcomed me in.

"Moo! I'm Udder!"

"I'm Teat!"

Simple names, huh.

I shifted, tentacles rippling.

"Ah — this one can't talk. If you want to have a conversation, there's something you'll need to do first."

"Something we'll need to do?"

"That's right."

The cow yokai thudded forward until she stood in front of me.

"And what's that?"

A tentacle slithered up her leg and climbed as far as her thigh.

"Are you sure about this? This one runs hot. You might not be able to handle it."

Ha Bo-yeon asked the question as if she were trying to talk the cow yokai out of it.

Udder stamped a hoof into the dirt.

"How dare you! I am Udder of the Quanzhen Sect! I was an elder once!"

"Hmph! Now you've wounded my pride too. I'll show you what real power looks like!"

Ha Bo-yeon smirked. She was following my instructions to the letter. The Eye of Truth had already laid out their combat capabilities, and their behavior almost never strayed outside the predicted margin of error. Especially these cow-bitches, whose skulls were packed with nothing but muscle. Their next move was painfully obvious.

"Come on, then! I want to talk to our new comrade!"

"Yeah! Runs hot, does it? I'll run hotter! Moo!"

Ha Bo-yeon glanced back at me.

"You heard them."

My tentacles began climbing Udder's and Teat's legs.

"Hmph! That just tickle—aahhh!"

"My mighty powerrr—!"

The shock on their faces was almost cute. Hidden behind those enormous chests, their faces were surprisingly young. That kind of monstrous physique paired with those babyish looks…

Decision made.

"From now on, you will offer me your morning milk. Every single day."

The tentacles plunged in, thick and relentless.

"Kyaaah♥"

"Moooo♥"

Both cow-girls screamed, their minds already slipping. I wrapped more tentacles around their chests and squeezed.

Milk erupted from them in a torrential downpour.

"Kyaah! This is— too hot, I can't take it♥"

"Mooooooo♥ Please! Be a little gentler—!"

I had no intention of being gentle.

"Moooooo♥"

"Hah♥ Nnh♥ I'm cumming for my hot new friend—!"

"All brawn and no bite. Your cunts are as weak as any other girl's."

"Hhk! I'm sorry! Please, be gentle—"

"We're begging you!"

My tentacles climbed higher. The tips unfurled like starfish and latched onto their nipples, suckers sealing tight, and began to drink.

"Kyaah! Ghk! Please! We're begging you!"

"Mooo— I'll never act tough again♥"

The plan unfolded without a hitch. Within minutes, both of them had become cow-girls who endlessly excreted small eggs.

"Haa♥ Haa♥ Master, please have some milk."

I latched on and drank.

"Hyaah!"

"Not bad, for such stupidly huge tits."

"Haaaahn♥ Thank you!"

I had already returned to human form and was nursing at their breasts. When I sucked at Teat's chest, I used Udder's enormous udders as a mattress, climbing up them to reach Teat's nipples. My sexual prowess was already the strongest in this world — that was the only reason a stunt like this was even possible.

"I have a special assignment for the two of you."

"Hnnn! Y-yes…♥"

"In preparation for my next visit, you will gather pretty female yokai and keep them here — or somewhere equally convenient."

"Hhk! Are we not enough for you?"

"Please don't throw us away!"

I slapped their chests. Milk jetted from the nipples of these brainless cow-girls.

"I am the King of Reproduction. I won't be satisfied until I'm impregnating someone around the clock!"

"Y-yes!"

"Have stronger, more beautiful females waiting for me. I don't care what tricks you use."

"Yes."

"You're a pair of stupid cow-girls, so you will obey my words and that spider-bitch's words without question."

I pointed. Ha Bo-yeon dangled from a strand of spider silk she'd spun from her own ass, endlessly laying eggs.

"Nnh! Master! I really think my belly's going to burst!"

"You're the one who asked me to fill you with eggs."

"But this is too many! Hnn♥ Hwaaah!"

Eggs kept spilling from her swollen belly without pause.

"You're an egg factory now. Raise those baby spiders well."

"Heheh♥ Yes!"

I drank from the cow-girls' breasts and pulled information out of them while I was at it.

"We are the Quanzhen Sect. We were human once, but we studied Taoist arts and ended up branded as a heretical sect."

The Quanzhen Sect had been a major school in Shaanxi, one of the great names alongside the Zhongnan Sect and the Mount Hua Sect. Unlike Zhongnan and Mount Hua, they had specialized in Taoist arts rather than martial techniques.

"A few years ago, yokai started visiting our sect. We were friendly with them — we would have befriended anyone if it furthered our research. Then one day they gave us a spiritual elixir, and everyone who took it gained tremendous power."

"And that's what turned you into yokai?"

"Yes. Not all at once, of course. One month, two months, three… After months of taking that precious elixir, our bodies and minds started changing, little by little."

"I see. Black Demon Valley picked the Quanzhen Sect as their forward base so they could swallow Shaanxi Province without a fight."

"Yes. By the time we realized it, the entire Quanzhen Sect had already finished transforming."

So the vanished Quanzhen Sect had become a mouthpiece for Black Demon Valley, the yokai nation.

Which meant… if I claimed the Quanzhen Cult Leader, the whole sect would become mine. Pull that off, and protecting Mount Hua would get a whole lot easier.