The Flower-Plundering Art
Previous life.
The final stages of the Great War between the Orthodox and Unorthodox factions, which had drenched the Central Plains in blood for five years.
The Black Path Alliance, which was inevitably inferior to the Orthodox factions in terms of troop quality, had resorted to all manner of underhanded schemes and freely deployed forbidden demonic arts to turn the tide of battle. Among them, the most vicious was none other than Tamhwagong.
A grotesque harvesting art that absorbed not only the inner energy and innate vitality of the opposite sex one coupled with, but even the turbid qi that should have been filtered out, piling it all into the dantian.
At a glance, it might seem no different from the Cheonseokyanghwanheojeonggong I had cultivated—an art of lust that allowed one to increase inner energy through intercourse with the opposite sex. In truth, however, the two were worlds apart. Their very roots diverged.
While Cheonseokyanghwanheojeonggong could unilaterally take a partner's inner energy, it also possessed the profound principle of harmonious union and dual cultivation, allowing mutual resonance of energies to expel turbid qi and retain only the pure. Though it required a specific constitution to learn, once mastered it benefited both parties without side effects, and the gained inner energy became an unshakable foundation.
In contrast, the essence of Tamhwagong was destructive exploitation. It forcibly tore away a partner's energy, exhausting them, and crammed even the turbid qi that should never be accepted straight into the dantian, polluting the practitioner's own body.
In the end, the victim would have not only their inner energy but even their innate vitality stripped away, drastically shortening their lifespan. The practitioner, meanwhile, would mount a runaway horse and begin a mad dash toward ruin. At the end of Tamhwagong lay only two words: mutual destruction.
The art itself was cruel, but its greatest harm lay in its accessibility. Since it required neither special constitution nor enlightenment, even third-rate wanderers or ignorant bandits lacking talent could, by practicing Tamhwagong, obtain the inner energy of a first-rate master in mere months.
However, the more inner energy accumulated, the more the foreign energies forcibly crammed into the dantian would clash, gnawing away at the practitioner's mind. Their temperament would turn beastly and violent, their muscles would swell grotesquely as if about to burst, and their brain would seethe with uncontrollable lust and murderous impulses.
Once the critical point was crossed, reason vanished, leaving only a blood demon consumed by slaughter and destruction.
A person turned blood demon would tear apart every living thing in sight in a frenzied dance until the last spark of life burned out, finally meeting their end when the unbearable internal pressure caused every blood vessel in their body to rupture.
Moreover, the tragedy brought by Tamhwagong did not end with physical death.
From the corpse of one who had run rampant as a blood demon and died, a dark-red crystalline mass would remain near the dantian—the condensation of all their life's energy. It was called the Flower-Plundering Blood Pill.
The efficacy of this bizarre elixir was truly tyrannical. Swallowing it granted enormous inner energy that bypassed decades of cultivation in an instant. Yet it seethed with the resentment and evil qi of the deceased, so the consumer had to pay a harsh price—either falling into qi deviation or having their lifespan devoured.
Even so, the leaders of the unorthodox factions did not hesitate. They took this cursed relic without scruple as a trump card to overcome crises or face peak masters.
In other words, Tamhwagong was a mad art that used humans as raw material—living practitioners as expendable fodder for the battlefield, the insane as cruel weapons, and even the dead as potent medicinal ingredients. It was utterly merciless and cruel.
The identity of the one who created this heaven-offending demonic art was never revealed.
Its characteristics were so grotesque and vicious that rumors in the jianghu speculated it might be the worst legacy left behind by either the mad physician-immortals of the unorthodox factions who had gone insane while studying the human body, or the Poison Demon, one of the Seven Great Evils of the Martial World like myself.
'But why is Baek Mo-ran, an assassin of Salmak, practicing this damned art that only appeared thirty years later?'
In my memories, Tamhwagong had been the final measure the Black Path forces pulled out to push back the Orthodox factions. Not only was the timing thirty years too early, but the user was wrong as well.
Even if unorthodox wanderers might resort to it, for a Salmak assassin—who needed to maintain cold reason—to practice an art that turned one into an uncontrollable monster just to increase inner energy was, before even considering efficiency, tantamount to suicide. An assassin who lost their mind and ran rampant? That made no sense.
"……I need to check."
—Swish
While untying the ropes tightly binding Baek Mo-ran's body, I simultaneously released the sealed acupoints.
—Slither, thud
"Huu, ugh……! Haaah…!"
With the supporting ropes gone, she collapsed limply to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut.
Her appearance resembled crimson flower petals crushed into the ground after a violent storm, soaked through by rain. Her sweat- and love-fluid-stained white naked body heaved pitifully with each ragged breath.
"Ah, hngh, haaah!!!"
Realizing the ropes were gone, Baek Mo-ran spread both thighs wide like a beast that had lost its reason. Beneath the moonlight, her secret place glistened, overflowing with honey far beyond mere wetness.
—Squelch, squish, squelch!
Obscene sounds filled the once-silent room.
Instinctively extending trembling fingers, she roughly parted the already honey-soaked, fully bloomed crimson petals and began frantically stirring the drenched crevice.
"Ahn! Good, ah, aaaah……!"
Each time her fingers plunged in and out, viscous saliva and love fluids mixed, stretching into silver threads.
With eyes rolled back in pleasure, drool trailing from her lips, and her lewd hand moving ceaselessly to comfort herself, Baek Mo-ran looked exactly like a bitch in heat.
—Rustle
While Baek Mo-ran floundered in her own pleasure, I circulated the energy of Cheonseokyanghwanheojeonggong and silently approached her from behind, gently embracing her sweat-slick naked body.
"Haaah?!"
She twisted in surprise, but I paid no heed and pressed my soft palm firmly against her trembling lower abdomen, right over her dantian.
—Wuuuung—
Energy starting from my palm permeated her skin and seeped deep into her belly, beginning an internal qi diagnosis that thoroughly scanned her insides.
—Ting
The moment the inner energy penetrated, a sharp, foreign sensation—like a venomous snake coiled in a corner of a clear lake—transmitted through my fingertips, an unpleasant, sticky vibration.
'It's still small. But……'
What my intent, riding the meridians, captured was a small nucleus clustered like a dark-red blood clot.
Though it currently rippled weakly, the slightest external stimulus or influx of inner energy would instantly turn this cursed seed into an uncontrollable blaze that would consume her body.
'At this rate, it wouldn't be strange if she went berserk before the year is out. That answers my question.'
Why, during my time as Wi Yeon-seol, I had visited Ningbo yet never encountered the beauty named Baek Mo-ran. The reason was clear. By the time I set foot there, she was already no longer of this world.
I clicked my tongue with a bitter expression.
'Sado Yun. That bastard.'
The order he had given Baek Mo-ran—"Demolish the brothel before the year is out"—I could now somewhat grasp the true intent hidden within. I couldn't know his exact purpose, but he had issued the withdrawal order after calculating the timing when his subordinates would degenerate into blood demons.
"Ahngh, haaang, hick……! Good, aaa……!!!"
I looked down at Baek Mo-ran, who was frantically comforting herself in a heat-induced daze, with eyes full of deep pity.
'What a waste.'
Loyalty to Salmak. High martial prowess despite her young age. And above all, that bewitching figure that put even the moonlight to shame. She was a top-tier talent with nothing to discard.
Yet instead of letting such a beautiful flower live out its natural span, they planned to use her up and throw her away like a worn-out shoe.
'They say beautiful women are ill-fated, but this is too cruel.'
As a man who loved all the world's beauties and cherished talented individuals with beauty above all else, her loss was a sin I could never overlook.
"Huuang, aaaang! More, more……! No, it's not enough……!"
Baek Mo-ran cried out, bucking her hips in the throes of pleasure. Compared to her blazing desire, her hand movements were far too clumsy and rough.
—Scratch, squelch, squish, squelch, squish……!
The sight of her scratching her tender skin with her nails, tormented by an unquenchable thirst, was so pitiful it was hard to watch.
—Grab
Without a word, I tightly embraced her sweat-slick naked body from behind until it seemed it might break.
"Shh, be good. Try stopping for a moment."
"Huu, hngh? Uuuung……! Let go, let gooo, I don't want……!"
I gently but firmly grasped her wrist as it stirred between her legs and pulled it away. She struggled against the restraint, but with her body already drained of strength, she couldn't shake off my hand.
"Stay still. I'll help you."
Brushing the sweat-dampened hair stuck to her cheek behind her ear, I pressed my lips firmly over hers as she let out a moan.
"Mmph, huuung……!"
Unable to scream with her lips sealed, Baek Mo-ran could only let out muffled whimpers.
My tongue invaded her mouth, writhing like a snake as it forcibly shared saliva.
—Suck, slurp……
While our tongues tangled, my other hand slid downward and delved between her flooded thighs.
—Squish, lick
Beyond simple caressing, my fingers moved with every technique that pleased a woman's body. My middle and ring fingers scraped each fold of her narrow, hot inner walls while my thumb simultaneously ground against the swollen bud atop the petals.
"Here. This is where it's burning, isn't it?"
"Hyaaah, hngh! Ah, no, too deep, it feels so gooood……!"
Without removing my lips, I murmured while gently biting her white nape, leaving red teeth marks. As sharp pain from above and mind-melting pleasure from below struck simultaneously, Baek Mo-ran's back arched like a bow.
—Squish, squelch, splash—
The lewd, wet sounds of her love fluids dripping from the back of my hand onto the floor echoed through the room.
'Well then, shall we begin?'
Baek Mo-ran, burning with desire and panting from the mere pleasure of being held.
Slipping my thigh between her legs, I gradually opened the energy in my dantian.
—Wuuuung—!
The inner energy of Cheonseokyanghwanheojeonggong enveloped both our bodies.
Energy burst forth from my fingertips like a dam breaking and penetrated deep into her body through her most secret mucous membrane.
"Ah, aaaaah—!!"
Baek Mo-ran's head snapped back as a scream-like cry erupted.
Experiencing a fullness that seemed to melt her from head to toe—surpassing even the pleasure of insertion during intercourse with a man—her inner walls convulsed violently, clenching my fingers as if to snap them.
"S-Seol-hye-nim! Huaaang! Seol-hye-niim……!"
She clung desperately to my shoulders as if grasping a lifeline.
"Good, it feels so good……! Inside, inside is so full……!"
Intoxicated by pleasure, she burrowed frantically into my embrace. As her sweat-slick, elastic breasts and belly pressed tightly against me, our two hearts began beating as one.
"Hngh, ah, haa……!"
It wasn't only her breathing that grew rough. Every time Baek Mo-ran's body convulsed, mine responded as if mirroring it.
Due to the nature of Cheonseokyanghwanheojeonggong, which created resonance of inner energies with one's partner, as my energy filled her, the pleasure she felt flowed back to me in full.
Extreme pleasure that seemed to melt my brain, steeped in aphrodisiac and inner energy. A tingling thrill racing up my spine and the dizzying sensation of my womb contracting assaulted my nerves as if to burn them away.
"Ahn, hngh! D-Damn it……!"
While the heat of my lustful body rose ever higher, I gritted my teeth and struggled to hold onto reason.
'Now!'
In that instant when she reached the peak of pleasure and every acupoint in her body opened defenselessly.
I poured the condensed inner energy all at once into the deepest, most secret part of my dantian.
—Wuuuung—
Like light tearing through darkness, pure energy resonated with Baek Mo-ran's dantian and directly struck the turbid qi of Tamhwagong coiled in her belly.
In the past, as the unorthodox leader Wi Yeon-seol, this would have been an impossible feat. Trying to wash filth with filth would have sent both of us into qi deviation, vomiting blood and dying.
'But now it's different.'
The power boiling in my current dantian was the virgin boy's art Seol-hye had cultivated her entire life in Botamun, the pure orthodox qi of Buddhism without a single speck of impurity. The nature of this inner energy was like the flame of destroying evil and revealing righteousness that burned away wicked energies.
—Hissss—!
The moment it touched the pure white energy resonating with Baek Mo-ran's dantian, the turbid qi that had been silently eroding her body melted away like snow and scattered.
"Ah, aaaah! No, it feels too good, uwaaaang!!"
Baek Mo-ran's eyes rolled back completely. She dug her nails into my shoulders and screamed, while between her legs an unbearable flood of love fluids and yin energy gushed out, soaking my hand.
"Ah, Seol-hye-nim, I-I'm, I'm, I'm going! No, good, so good……!! Aaaaah!!"
"Ahn, hngh, I-I too……!"
Along with the thrill racing up my spine, we sank together into an endless abyss of ecstasy, clinging to each other as if to crush one another.
—Kwaaa—!
With an explosion of pleasure so intense it seemed to mix even our souls, a storm of inner energy swept through the room.
The moment our inner energies achieved perfect resonance, the heat erupting from her body collided in the air, creating black haze.
It was the sight of the aphrodisiac's poisonous qi that had paralyzed her reason, and the sinister energy of Tamhwagong that had been devouring her life, being driven out into the air by the energy of Cheonseokyanghwanheojeonggong.
"Huu, ah, S-Seol-hye-nim……."
"Haa, uung…… haa……!"
—Rustle
Calming my wildly heaving chest, I held the exhausted Baek Mo-ran in my arms. Her eyes had lost focus and were dazedly unfocused.
I traced her wet lips from her shoulder line down to the soft flesh inside her arm.
—Kiss, lick.
"Uung, ticklish……."
Perhaps because my lips tickled, Baek Mo-ran flinched, but I didn't stop, using the tip of my tongue to read the flow of energy beneath her skin.
'At least that's a relief.'
The aphrodisiac's poison that had dragged her into the swamp of pleasure had mostly been washed away along with the operation of Cheonseokyanghwanheojeonggong. The red energy of Tamhwagong, which could have erupted at any moment, had also visibly faded.
However.
'As expected, once isn't enough.'
Even though the foreign substance in her dantian had subsided, her meridians were still contaminated with minute amounts of turbid qi. It was proof that Tamhwagong's energy was so vicious that even the pure inner energy of Cheonseokyanghwanheojeonggong and Seol-hye couldn't completely expel it with a single coupling.
—Slide
Forcibly calming my body still trembling with the afterglow of pleasure, I lightly kissed Baek Mo-ran's swollen, reddened lips.
"Did it feel good?"
"Hngh, y-yes…… uung……."
She answered dazedly with her tongue half-loosened, her shoulders trembling finely. The defenseless, disheveled sight of her looking up at me with unfocused eyes was so lovable and lewd.
'Damn it. What a temptress.'
Even though I had just tasted an unfathomable climax, that single expression of hers made my lower abdomen heat up heavily again. Feeling the sensation between my wet thighs, I nibbled on her earlobe and whispered softly.
"Then let's do it one more time."
"Eh, ah……? Hngh?! W-Wait a moment……!"
Startled, Baek Mo-ran tried to back away, propping herself up on trembling arms, but it was futile. I firmly wrapped my arms around her slender waist as she tried to escape and roughly pulled her back into my wet embrace.
"Where do you think you're going? Once isn't enough for either of us, is it?"
"……Aaa……!!"
The disheveled flower had nowhere to run.
In the dead of night when even the moonlight held its breath, the remaining hours of darkness were cruelly long, and both the turbid qi to be washed away and the desire to be filled overflowed.
"Ah, aaang……! Seol-hye-nim……!!"
"Huuung, ah……!!"
At the highest point of Monghwagak, beneath the red lanterns, two naked bodies intertwined.
The night of the two women plucking the honey from the wildly blooming crimson flower grew endlessly deeper.