Level Up
Yunryongdae Pal-sik.
A famous lightness skill of the Kunlun Sect, one of the Nine Great Sects.
But how could a lecher from some backwater village—a bastard who practiced the vile evil art of Plucking Yin to Nourish Yang—be using a martial art from one of the Nine Great Sects?
"That's why the fucker hasn't been caught yet."
I pulled out the iron sword I'd stashed in my room and gave chase.
My inner power was shit, so my lightness skill wasn't great, but right now the bastard's core was smashed to pieces. He was leaving tracks everywhere as he bolted into the distance.
"Let's see how far you go."
Still, the fucker was fast.
I grabbed the hem of my skirt with both hands and sprinted at full speed.
Pababababat!!
The village vanished behind me in an instant.
The pre-dawn wind was chilly, and a long Milky Way stretched lazily across the sky.
Running all out like this felt goddamn refreshing for the first time in ages.
Was I some potbellied thirty-something office drone, or a Murim master with a special constitution?
Chasing the lecher, a surge of heroic spirit welled up out of nowhere, and I burst into mad laughter.
"Hahaha!!"
My laughter echoed through the valley, bouncing every which way.
"Huh? A mountain?"
I skidded to a halt.
The bastard's tracks were heading straight up the mountain.
"Weird fucker."
If he was confident in his lightness skill, he should've put as much distance as possible and fled to another region.
Why the hell was he running into a dead end?
"This bastard."
I rubbed my stubbly jaw, guessing at his scheme.
There were probably only two reasons he'd hole up here: he'd set a trap for pursuers in advance, or he had something to grab.
"Looking forward to it, you lecherous shit."
Whatever it was, to me—with my mind set on killing him—it was just a bit of fun.
Tak.
His tracks led into a cave halfway up the mountain.
Instead of rushing in, I scoped it out from outside first. Vines choked the entrance, and dried animal shit was scattered everywhere.
"Sniff. Sniff."
The stench was brutal—clearly, there'd been an owner here until recently.
"A bear, maybe."
I trudged forward and stood at the cave mouth. It was pitch black inside, like a curtain had been drawn. I closed my eyes for a moment, awakening my senses.
-Hoo… hoo… hoo…
Deep inside the cave.
I could hear the lecher's ragged breathing and pounding heartbeat.
I took a step forward, slipping behind the curtain of darkness.
Slowly, I opened my eyes.
My pupils dilated rapidly, using the faint moonlight to dimly illuminate the cave.
"Not bad."
I started moving toward the back, where the lecher bastard was waiting.
Step. Step. Crack. Step. Crack.
Bones littered the floor here and there. Mostly small animals, but human traces showed up now and then.
-Hoo… hoo… hoo…
The cave was deeper than it looked from outside.
From some point on, a biting chill prickled my skin.
But the lecher's breathing was definitely getting closer.
He was waiting for me, no doubt.
'Oh ho.'
Wondering what trap the bastard had set, I heightened my senses to the max.
No gold wires on the ceiling? No blades or arrows hidden in the walls? Nothing fucked with on the floor?
'Hm. The floor, huh.'
Thud.
I stopped and looked down about three jang ahead.
Small hidden weapons were scattered around, reeking faintly—they were poisoned, alright.
If I'd been focused only on chasing without noticing, I'd have been fucked unless I was immune to all poisons.
'So this is your lifeline, huh.'
I decided to turn the bastard's trap against him to catch the rat who'd run despite his skill.
"Fuck. Where'd he go? Gotta see something to find him."
I deliberately glanced around.
My acting must've been off, 'cause his breathing didn't change.
Step.
I took a step forward.
"Ow!"
Of course, I sidestepped the obvious hidden weapons.
But how would the lecher know that?
-Hahahahaha!
As I let out a groan like I'd been poisoned, a hearty laugh echoed from inside the cave.
And right then.
Shiiik! The bastard appeared before me.
His lightness skill really was top-notch.
"Oh my! Big brother! How could you run off like that!"
I feigned surprise and clapped a hand over my mouth.
The lecher looked dumbfounded for a second before bellowing.
"Shut the fuck up, you psycho! Who the hell are you!"
This time, I shut my mouth briefly.
"You fucking prick starts with insults on first sight. Hey, you dogshit lecher, don't you have any manners with women? The fuck you cursing for? Cursing."
"What! You're properly insane. Does putting on a skirt make you a woman? Cut the bullshit and tell me where you're from! Murim Alliance?!"
"Fuck. It's not just the skirt."
I ripped the skirt off over my pants with a rrrip.
Then I pulled out the heavy shit I'd stuffed in my chest and chucked it with a whoosh.
Thud. Thud.
"Ah. Much lighter now."
"...What the hell did you stuff in there?"
"Pumpkin. Needed something this big."
"……."
The lecher gawked, blinking hard.
Hard to see clearly in the dim light, but he looked mid-to-late forties.
The one clear thing was his sly, narrow eyes.
No wonder his moves were so sneaky.
'Waiting for the poison to spread.'
The lecher rolled his eyes sneakily.
No words, mouth clamped shut.
But to understand each other, talk was needed.
In the end, I spoke first.
"You okay there?"
"Fuck!"
"Got a rag in your mouth? Every word's a curse, lecherous shit."
"You, you rip-you-apart bastard!"
"Ah, sorry. Meant eunuch shit."
"Fuck! I can't take this anymore!"
The cautious little kitten finally snapped at my taunt and lunged.
Mindful of the floor weapons, he skimmed the walls in a flurry of steps.
Impressive lightness skill.
"Whoa!"
"Eat this!"
As I admired with pure appreciation.
He thrust out his right fist.
Back in the village and now, his other specialty was fist arts, apparently.
Bwoooong!
"Don't wanna."
I leaned back, dodging his right fist.
"Fuck!"
He fired off right fists in succession.
I retreated just as fast.
Air exploded with pop pop pops in the space between us.
Lucky I'd broken one arm earlier, or it'd have been a slight pain in the ass.
"You slippery fuck!"
Long-distance lightness skills demand massive inner power. With my weak inner power, I was inherently limited.
But in combat, body control mattered more than inner power, so with my Heavenly Sense Sacred Body, no one could match my movements.
Paat!
Realizing fists weren't enough, he leaped from the floor, kicked off the wall.
Then a kick whistled in from an unexpected angle.
A true Yunryongdae Pal-sik technique.
"Nice!"
With a short exclamation, I raised my leg to meet his diagonal stomp.
Then I whipped my right hand around.
The scabbard spun like a top and thwacked his crotch dead-on.
"Graaack!"
Not a hard hit, but right in the shattered spot between his legs.
He curled up like a pillbug mid-air and crashed to the floor with a thud.
Sring!
I drew the iron sword one-handed and stabbed both thighs deep.
For a lightness expert, destroy his legs first.
"Aaaagh!"
The cave filled with the stench of blood in seconds.
Unable to bear the pain, he rolled around on the floor.
Worried he'd hit the poisoned weapons by accident, I kindly rammed the iron sword into his dantian.
"Kaaaaaaaah!!!"
A scream beyond anything before exploded from him.
The ceiling rumbled, pebbles raining down.
Even I flinched a bit.
"My dantian! My dantian! My fucking daaaantian!!!"
The iron sword piercing his dantian slammed into the cold cave floor.
One hand still free, but in shock, he didn't even try pulling it out—just kept screaming like a maniac.
"How I gathered it! How I gathered that inner power!!!"
Pssshhhh!
A weird sound came from somewhere, like a fart leaking from an ass.
My eyes went to his lower belly.
"Tch. What a waste."
"Fuuuuck!"
The inner power he'd gathered with Plucking Yin to Nourish Yang was leaking from his dantian.
Never heard of inner power leaking from a stabbed dantian, but with arts like that existing, whatever.
But that wasn't all that was weird.
"Huh?"
His face, which had looked mid-forties, was rapidly wrinkling up.
Fifty… sixty… seventy…
He just kept aging.
"Hooo… hooo… hooo…"
Inner power draining, resigned maybe.
He stopped cursing and thrashing, just closed his eyes and breathed irregularly.
"I'm a disciple of Great Kunlun."
"...?"
Suddenly? Spilling his backstory now?
Dogshit plot twist, but I listened.
"Never thought it'd end like this. I just learned bedchamber arts… never dreamed it'd come to this."
Tears trickled from his wrinkled eyes.
I'd usually hear out a sob story, but this was too ridiculous, so I chimed in.
"Cry all you want—will that bring back the women you killed, you dogshit?"
"Didn't know it'd be like that. Really didn't. Once I tasted Plucking Yin to Nourish Yang, I couldn't stop. Not my fault. Not my fault."
"Psycho. Go tell that to the parents of the dead women. 'Didn't know they'd die.' Nah, fuck. Then forcing them isn't a crime?"
Irritated, I spun the iron sword.
"Kaaaaack! Stop! Spare me! Spare me!"
"Fuck off."
"Bedchamber arts! I'll teach you bedchamber arts! I learned 'em wrong, but done right, Kunlun's secret lets you become an immortal!"
"Oh. Yeah?"
I stopped spinning the sword.
The lecher, sweating bullets, flashed hopeful eyes.
He'd raped countless women and filled his gut with their yin.
Seeing that look from him made me feel like shit.
"Yes! Learn from me, and you too can become an immortal—"
"Shut your trap."
Shiiik! Slash!
Tired of listening, I yanked the sword free and lopped off his head.
Blood erupted from the stump.
"Ugh. What."
Instead of a thick blood stench, the cave filled with the scent of night-blooming flowers.
Just as it started feeling even shittier.
Woooong.
"Huh?"
My lower belly started tingling.
This heavy, euphoric swell. The certainty of a warrior taking the next step.
It was a level up.