Jilin (7)

73. Jilin (7)

 "Y-young Master... These clothes?"

 The servant who received the clothes asked, startled. My clothes, reduced to bloody rags. The one fortunate thing was that my room had plenty of outfits, so I handed the martial robe Lee Eun-ha had made for me over to the servant for washing and changed into comfortable clothes I used to wear.

 "Throw them out."

 "Ah... Yes. Understood, Young Master."

 The servant was tight-lipped, so I wasn't particularly worried, but since I'd handed over clothes like that after spending the night in the same room as Gyeong Su-yeon, by now he was surely letting his imagination run wild.

That damned Moon Immortal. The bitch had clearly slowed her sword on purpose so that even my dull eyes could recognize its path, all to provoke my fear. Infuriatingly, she had the excellent justification of helping my training, so I couldn't take revenge in front of the other Four Heroes. I couldn't throw her away either when Son Yeong was surely waiting desperately for Moon Immortal. Why had Son Yeong become so entranced by this psychopathic sword art?

 I was cut thousands of times. Not quite ten thousand, but definitely more than five thousand. As that vivid sword trajectory surfaced in my mind, my body began to trace out Heosan's Taiji, which I had never even learned, almost unconsciously.

—Fine Taiji. This training method is remarkably efficient. At first, I thought it would merely accumulate internal energy quickly.—

Heosan sincerely praised the torture, which only made me angrier. Worse, nothing he said was wrong. Whether one read an oral formula in a secret manual, received direct instruction from a master, or tried to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠explain the sensation of moving the body and circulating qi through the meridians, language could convey only so much. Those who understood quickly were geniuses, those who learned slowly were average, and those who failed were dullards. But such classifications were meaningless before this unprecedented training method using the Spirit-Binding Art. After the spirits repeatedly entered me and directly moved my body and meridians, even a dullard like me came to understand with his body rather than his mind. Yesterday, I had gathered Flame Qi in my hand in an instant to resist Eun Seol-hye's Ice Soul Divine Art. I had never even experienced Sword Qi, yet I could condense extraordinary flame energy in my bare hand because the Flame Emperor had imprinted that sensation on me hundreds of times.

 A master completed instantly in that manner would inevitably be riddled with weaknesses. Combat was not only internal energy and techniques. Reflexes, dynamic visual acuity, split-second judgment, concentration, and countless other elements had to combine. I had planned to give up on those weaknesses ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and rely on the Spirit Vessel Art, having the Four Heroes wield the sword directly as they had against the Black Heaven Association Leader. But the Flame Emperor, a master of both combat and training, found a way to temper me through training that used the Spirit-Binding Art.

—I agree. Even if you couldn't block it, you grasped the First Stage sword paths of the Moonlit Divine Sword in only one day. Most ordinary swords should no longer startle you so badly.—

—F... First Stage? That was the First Stage?—

—Do not worry, Reverend. At every stage, the Moonlit Divine Sword contains twice as many variations. Until you adapt to the Twelfth Stage, I, Moon Immortal, shall gladly cut you, though it pains my heart.—

C-crazy. It hadn't even been ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a formal technique, just one downward stroke, yet it contained nearly ten variations. Twenty at the Second Stage? Forty at the Third? No wonder no one but a genius could even learn it. I wasn't blocking it myself; just watching the sword path head-on felt like dying. Just how advanced was the Flame Emperor, who could personally block the Moonlit Divine Sword through its Twelfth Stage?

—Don't worry too much. Someday, you too will be more than capable of blocking the Moonlit Divine Sword when it only carries sword qi.—

 Flame Emperor said something that sounded almost like consolation.

—I believe so as well. Until that day comes, this Moon Immortal stakes her name on raising your level, Reverend, to the very end.—

 Moon Immortal, speaking as if she were an utterly loyal subordinate, her voice laden with all the resentment she had accumulated. I really ought to avoid tormenting Moon Immortal too much from now on, and maybe brighten her mood from time to time.

—I shall help as well. Transforming Force is not a special martial art. It's a fundamental principle applicable to every martial study, whether the Flame Emperor's Flame Blossom Art or Moon Immortal's Moonlit Divine Sword. Attacking with Flame Aura and defending with Taiji... Had I not become a ghost freed from sectarian interests, I could never have witnessed such a sight.—

 Now even the dignified Heosan was murmuring along. These people... they had developed a taste for raising a disciple in a way that could never have happened while they were alive.

 "Ugh... Mm. Young Master?"

 Gyeong Su-yeon, finally opening her eyes as the rising sunlight touched her.

 "You're up now? You seem really bad with alcohol, so be careful next time. Like with Murong Rin, I'm the kind of man who'll violate a woman even if she's a friend."

 At my joke-like words, Gyeong Su-yeon didn't even fluster; she sat up and laughed.

 "You refused to take my body even when I told you to. Why say that now?"

 The girl I'd expected to jump in shock and flounder about spoke with a strangely composed ease.

 "Here. Honey water."

 I handed her honey water a servant had prepared. She accepted it with both hands and sipped it again.

 "A kind person..."

 "What do you mean, kind? Do you not remember how I made you spread your cunt and touched you?"

 "I liked that."

 "An unmarried maiden who's a complete pervert."

 "Because I'm a friend of the lustful Young Master."

 She had completely transformed, as if some change of heart had occurred in the span of just one night.

 "Could I, too, leave Gyeongse Sect and go to the Central Plains?"

 "If you just ignore your father's wishes."

 "Will you help me? If you tell my father that you're taking me to the Central Plains to serve as your attendant, I think he'll send me."

 "That much is easy. But where are you planning to go?"

 "Mm... Sword Empress Pavilion?"

 It was the first genuinely bright smile I had seen from her. Had she always been capable of smiling like that?

—Sword Empress Pavilion? Don't tell me that wretched place still exists.—

 Moon Immortal. This woman. There really were plenty of things that irked me.

—Among female martial circles, it's probably second only to Emei Sect, I'd say?—

—Preposterous!—

—Emei aside, Sword Empress Pavilion, of all places! You mean that pack of mad bitches is still in the Central Plains?—

—Yeah. And they're still a pack of mad bitches, just like you said.—

 "Is it because you want to learn how to cut my cock off there?"

 "For now, that's a joke, but even if Sword Empress Pavilion accepts me and I become a sword empress, I'll still look after your penis, Young Master."

 "Wow. You really are kind, Miss Gyeong. I, on the other hand, have decided that the next time I meet Murong Rin, I'm going to pour Shaoxing wine into her cunt and use it like a cup."

 "What an excellent plan. Would you like to practice using my cunt?"

 "You can't be ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a cup, though. You still have your hymen."

 Of course, I was already aware that a hymen wasn't completely sealed shut like a valve. If it were truly that tightly blocked, a woman couldn't even menstruate.

 "I understand. Even if she, too, is a friend, Miss Murong is truly beautiful. Maybe I, too, should find a quiet, peaceful sect like you, Young Master."

 "It won't be only good. Once you go out into the martial world, you'll realize places like Baek Clan Estate and Gyeongse Sect are better than you think. It's only because you always hear about huge sects like the Nine Great Sects, the Beggars' Sect, and the Five Great Clans—the small, obscure sects genuinely struggle to even afford a bowl of rice gruel."

"It's not that hopeless. I heard that Mount Tai Sect, once one of the Nine Great Sects though diminished now, is holding a question-and-answer entrance examination. I'm too old and my aptitude isn't outstanding, but this examination ignores such conditions. If I give the answer the examiner wants, they will accept me as a disciple. Many martial artists have attempted it and failed, but I still want to try once. Like you, Young Master, I want to challenge my own life now."

—Hm? The question-and-answer entrance exam? They're still doing that?—

 Geo Am came from Mount Tai Sect. That Cho-ryeong fanatic usually ignored almost every other subject, but he quietly joined in when his former sect was mentioned.

—Do you know of it?—

—Of course I know. I created it. Her Buddhist-lineage internal energy is faint, but she already possesses some, and a well-bred young lady wishes to enter our Mount Tai Sect. What an admirable girl.—

 Even this Baek Clan Estate, which resembled a Green Forest stronghold, had originally started from a lay disciple of Shaolin. Gyeongse Sect, which learned its martial arts from the Baek Clan Estate, had also—though corrupted—originated undeniably from Shaolin.

—Tell her the answer. It is Amitabha Buddha. If they ask why, tell her to close her mouth and say nothing.

—Excellent. If your friend enters Mount Tai, you'll have a reason to help Mount Tai as well.—

 Yeongsan Sect was currently reduced to scorched earth. Mount Tai had grown shabbier than in the past, but even at the lowest estimate, it was a second-class sect. Deep down, Geo Am wanted to help Mount Tai, but seeing Yeongsan Sect's situation had made him too reluctant to bring it up; now, with Gyeong Su-yeon's words, he seized the chance to speak.

It wasn't a bad idea. I had promised to return Geo Am's martial arts to Mount Tai one day. If I passed the sect's lost martial arts to her, she would be treated as someone precious in her new sect.

"I... I know the answer. It is Amitabha Buddha. If they ask why, don't answer. Just keep your mouth shut."

 "I heard the questions in the entrance exam aren't about Buddhist scriptures, but about martial studies."

 "Even so, that's the answer. If you absolutely can't think of an answer, just do as I say."

 "I'll keep it in mind."

She didn't believe me, but neither did she deny it. For the fresh start of my friend, who had spent her entire life confined within Gyeongse Sect and the Baek Clan Estate in Jilin, I wrote the letter she wanted and handed it to her.

 "Thank you. As thanks, shall I serve you once, like I used to?"

"I'm telling you one last time: I really wouldn't refuse this, so don't offer if you don't mean it."

 She giggled and approached me, pulling down my pants.

 "We're friends, right? You helped me, so I'll repay you."

As in the past, she knelt before my penis. Though the act itself was the same, her eyes were different. She was no longer enduring humiliation and obeying my orders, but standing as an independent person in an equal relationship, helping me and repaying what I had done for her. This wasn't what I had intended, but I had admittedly gone hungry for quite a while. To respect the will she had shown me for the first time in her life, I relaxed and decided to enjoy her mouth again.

Naturally, I couldn't show this to the Four Heroes, Medicine Immortal, or Hwangseong. I placed the swords, White Feather Fan, and rice paddle on the bed and covered them with a blanket. The Spirit Vessel Art's limited field of vision was fortunate in situations like this.

 "Ah... It smells so good!"

 "I burn fine incense every day, so the scent has completely soaked into my body."

 When I offered the excellent excuse Murong Rin had taught me, she did something strange. Rather than using her tongue, she rubbed my cock against her cheek. After doing that for a while, she stripped naked and rubbed it over every imaginable part of her body—her breasts, armpits, buttocks, and legs—as though trying to leave my scent all over herself.

 "What are you doing?"

 "The scent is so nice. I think it would be truly wonderful if this scent remained on me, too."

 She placed my cock over her pussy and rubbed it as though we were having sex. I had enjoyed both oral sex and intercourse plenty of times, yet this was strangely arousing. I grabbed her breasts, and without penetration we instinctively moved our hips and enjoyed the friction between our genitals. Unlike when I had imposed myself on her, her pussy grew wet almost instantly, leaving a glistening, sticky fluid over my cock wherever it brushed past.

 As our tightly pressed bodies grew hotter and our breathing roughened, she suddenly kissed me. She had never kissed me even when I held power over her. Her tongue, still sweet from the honey water, explored every part of my mouth. Her own desire, free of coercion, was strikingly honest and tender.

 "I... I'm now... Y-... Young Master!!"

So a person could climax from caresses alone. Her body grew hot and her tense muscles stiffened. I tried to time my ejaculation with her climax, but she belatedly dropped to her knees and opened her mouth to swallow my semen. Our timing failed, and I came spectacularly across her face. Without panicking, she calmly wiped it away with a towel, brought the cloth to her nose to sniff it, and touched it with the tip of her tongue to taste the semen.

 "As I thought. Even your seed had the fragrance. How was it? Did you enjoy it?"

 "You didn't come to offer your body, so don't ask that anymore. We did it because we both liked it."

 "We did. This, too, is the last time now. Because I'll leave Jilin and go to the Central Plains. Honestly, since it was the last time, I thought you'd take my virginity, but in the end, you didn't."

 "You guarded it for over ten years. Now that you're about to make a fresh start, I don't particularly want to."

"I thought you would say that. If you ever miss it, come find me. Even if I become someone's wife or someone's mother, the body I couldn't give you will always be yours whenever you ask, Young Master."

 With those unexpected words, she straightened her clothes, tidied her face and hair, and left my room.

 "Thank you. Young Master Baek."