Hao Sect Shandong Branch (4)
Hearing Eun Yakbyeok's words, Dokgo Ryeong wondered if she had misheard.
"That… what?"
"Semen. The milky-white fluid that issues from a man's yang root when his pleasure reaches its peak…"
"You… you crazy bitch!!"
Dokgo Ryeong shot up from her seat, kicking it back as she roared.
"What… what kind of demonic art is this?!"
"My, how did you know?"
"What?!"
"I took the Moon Shadow Demonic Art that the rare witches of the Demonic Cult practiced and refined it a little — and that became the Moon Shadow Divine Art of today. Originally, one would have needed the pure blood essence of virgin boys and girls every night, and…"
"Fuck, it really is a demonic art!"
"…I already told you it isn't anymore."
Eun Yakbyeok's face tightened slightly as she answered, her tone curt.
"Even so, those witches were second to none in the jianghu when it came to handling Yin energy — on par with the Ice Palace itself. And since I had already cultivated a fair amount of Absorb-Yang-to-Supplement-Yin technique, I thought this was the one, and refined it. Guest, you're in a rather desperate situation yourself right now, unable to use all that overflowing Yin energy, aren't you?"
"Ah… even so…!"
"It's merely a side effect. When you learned the Nine Yang Divine Art, you knew full well it could drive you mad — and you learned it anyway, did you not?"
"…"
At Eun Yakbyeok's words, Dokgo Ryeong shut her mouth.
Back when Dokgo Jin had obtained the Nine Yang Divine Art by chance, a warning had been written boldly across the very first page of the manual.
If the practitioner's innate Yang energy is already abundant, do not under any circumstances cultivate this art. Madness shall take hold…
But what did that matter?
A supreme mental technique had appeared right before the eyes of a Dokgo Jin who wanted nothing more than to grow stronger that very day. He had had no choice.
And it was the same now.
The Yin energy of the Ten Thousand Years Ice Jade settled in her lower dantian was greater in quantity — and purer — than all the internal energy the Mad Demon Dokgo Jin had amassed over a lifetime.
If she could only wield that Yin energy, nothing would stand in Dokgo Ryeong's way any longer.
"W-wait a second!"
"What is it?"
"I'm going back to a man's body eventually, you know?"
"And until then, you plan to live in that frail body while the Wulin Alliance's kill order hunts you down?"
"That's…"
"Changing bodies doesn't erase knowledge. With the experience of a master, you should be able to handle most situations even in your current form, shouldn't you?"
"W-well, that's true, but…"
"Is the side effect really that bothersome? It's just receiving a little semen."
"You filthy slut!!"
"Hoho…"
Watching Dokgo Ryeong thrash and shout, Eun Yakbyeok covered her mouth and laughed.
"Guest, have you perhaps grown weak simply because you became a woman?"
"What? Me?"
"Strange. The guest I knew would have thrown both hands up in welcome the moment she heard about the Moon Shadow mental technique."
"…"
"Do you intend to live out your life relying on other people's hands?"
Hearing Eun Yakbyeok's brazen words, Dokgo Ryeong's pride reared its head.
"Your life as it is now isn't so bad, you know. Honestly, I think it wouldn't be terrible if you simply forgot the past and lived as a woman. I even find myself a little envious."
"Bullshit."
"Oh my, I mean it."
Eun Yakbyeok drifted toward Dokgo Ryeong as if floating on air and stroked her cheek.
"Looking at you now, who would ever think of that Dokgo Jin…? Probably no one at all."
"What are you…"
"You spent your whole life burning with vengeance, Guest. Perhaps Heaven has granted you this opportunity so that you might finally rest?"
"…"
"A fire of vengeance like that will eventually consume even you. But now, a once-in-a-lifetime chance to break that chain of grudges has arrived. What do you think?"
Eun Yakbyeok whispered sweet words of temptation into Dokgo Ryeong's ear.
"Hasn't it been enough?"
Hasn't it been enough already?
"You piled up mountains of corpses and seas of blood to avenge your family. Along the way, you saved many children who would have been used for the Tang Clan's Absolute Poison and Gu Poison. And yet the Tang Clan shows not the slightest sign of decline."
The enemy is simply too strong.
"The life of an ordinary person, not a martial artist. Have you never longed for it?"
Don't you want rest?
"If you desire the life of an ordinary person, I will take full responsibility and help you. We'll send a suitable corpse to the Wulin Alliance, claim it is Dokgo Ryeong's body, and with a little negotiation, they will accept it. Then Dokgo Ryeong's existence will vanish completely from the jianghu."
"…"
"How does that sound? I am entirely at the guest's…"
"Shut up."
"…"
Dokgo Ryeong cut her off coldly.
"An opportunity from Heaven? Don't give me that fucking nonsense. The only 'opportunity' my life ever got was that day! Of all places! Those Tang Clan bastards decided to use the mountain my family lived on as their testing ground. That was it."
"You're deliberately kicking away the chance? The chance to become an ordinary person? You've done enough…"
"That's for me to decide."
"…"
Hearing Dokgo Ryeong's words, Eun Yakbyeok let out a long sigh and murmured.
"Haa… I see. Guest, you are still the same guest."
"I'm me — who else would I be?"
"…Indeed. It seems I underestimated the depth of your vengeance."
Eun Yakbyeok composed her expression, held both hands forward, and made her resolve plain.
"Since the guest's goal remains unchanged, our agreement stands as it always has."
"If that's how you see it."
"Then I, too, shall continue to treat the guest as I always have. Should you bring greater upheaval upon the Murim, we will make use of it. And in return, we will provide you with every convenience."
Looking at Eun Yakbyeok, who still treated her with such care despite how utterly weakened she had become, Dokgo Jin spoke with complete candor.
"…Meeting a bitch like you really was one hell of a disaster."
"I think the guest is quite the disaster herself, you know?"
"Ha!"
When Eun Yakbyeok delivered such an unfitting line with a bright, refreshing smile, Dokgo Ryeong couldn't help a dry laugh.
"Then, assuming the guest is ready, I shall transmit the Moon Shadow Divine Art to you right now."
"Huu… fine."
Dokgo Ryeong had chosen.
Achieve her vengeance by borrowing someone else's hands?
She didn't like it.
If she was going to do it anyway, then no matter how pathetic and weak she had become, vengeance meant doing it with her own two hands.
I start over from the beginning…!
That day her family died.
Recalling the razor-edged fury of that day — when she had stormed into an unorthodox gambling den with a sickle in hand and eyes like drawn steel, demanding to know who had killed her family — Dokgo Ryeong steeled her heart.
"I shall perform True Qi Guidance for you. Easier than simply teaching you the formulas, wouldn't you say?"
"…Please."
"You already have a considerable amount of Yin energy in your lower dantian, so we'll leave accumulation for a little later. If you end up with even more excessive Yin energy, the side effects will only worsen."
"Alright."
"When you do accumulate energy, it's best to do so at night, somewhere the moonlight falls clearly."
"I'll keep that in mind. Let's start."
"Then…"
Eun Yakbyeok placed her hand on Dokgo Ryeong's back and poured her internal energy in.
As her energy entered and began to show the path of circulation for the mental technique, Dokgo Ryeong quickly grasped what kind of art the Moon Shadow Divine Art truly was.
Indeed… worthy of being called a divine art.
Eun Yakbyeok's internal energy was a touch murkier than the Yin energy of the Ten Thousand Years Ice Jade, yet pure enough. If the Ice Jade's energy was like endlessly transparent ice, Eun Yakbyeok's was like a lake of infinite clarity under falling moonlight.
When one round of True Qi Guidance ended and Eun Yakbyeok withdrew her hand, Dokgo Ryeong opened her eyes.
"…A fine mental technique."
"I told you so. Now try circulating it once, right away."
"Alright."
Dokgo Ryeong settled into a cross-legged seat and turned her gaze inward.
The moment she tried to move the Yin energy of the Ten Thousand Years Ice Jade in her lower dantian along the path Eun Yakbyeok's energy had shown her, she noticed something wrong.
"…Guest?"
After a long while with no sign of Dokgo Ryeong circulating her energy, Eun Yakbyeok was just beginning to find it strange when the other woman opened her eyes.
"…Hao Sect Leader."
"Speak."
"…The Yin energy won't move."
"Oh my…"
"What now?"
To circulate energy, one first had to be able to move one's internal power — yet the Yin energy of the Ten Thousand Years Ice Jade in her lower dantian would not so much as twitch.
I can't even accumulate energy.
Terrified of the side effects, Dokgo Ryeong couldn't bring herself to attempt accumulation with the Moon Shadow Divine Art either.
Then Eun Yakbyeok clapped her hands as if something had just clicked.
"Ah!"
"You think of some brilliant plan or what?"
"Yes, Guest. Now I understand what Gwanyeong's report meant."
"…Huh?"
At the sudden mention of Eun Gwanyeong's name, Dokgo Ryeong was seized by a nameless dread.
"Guest. According to Gwanyeong's report, you can circulate Yin energy under 'certain specific conditions.'"
"Ah…"
"Would you like to masturbate?"
"Fuck."
"Just a moment ago you said you'd learn the Moon Shadow Divine Art! You said you'd take your revenge!"
"No, fuck! Why the hell does masturbation come into this?!!"
"I'm saying it because otherwise you can't move the Yin energy. Is that so hard to understand?"
"Urgh…! Fuck, isn't there another way?! You're the Hao Sect Leader who supposedly knows everything, aren't you?!"
"Even I don't know what I don't know. At the moment, no other clever solution comes to mind."
"No, shit…!"
Dokgo Ryeong slammed her fist into the floor in frustration.
"This goddamn Yin energy, why the fuck…!"
"Guest, guest."
"What, fuck."
"Do you know the origin of the Moon Shadow Demonic Art?"
"How the hell would I know that."
"The founder of the Moon Shadow Demonic Art was a woman who resented — and longed for — the husband who abandoned her for another woman, and who masturbated every single night as she created…"
"Kyaaaaagh!!!"
Dokgo Ryeong clawed at her own hair.
"This fucking—! It really is a demonic art!!"
"…Stripping away the lewdness from that and refining it into a more orthodox martial art produced the Moon Shadow Divine Art of today…"
"But fuck! Why does masturbation still come into it?!!"
"Isn't that the guest's own responsibility? A lewd body that can't circulate Yin energy without masturbating…"
"Die!!"
Dokgo Ryeong hurled a teacup, but Eun Yakbyeok stopped it midair with Object Control.
"Guest, please calm yourself for a moment. Once learned, the Moon Shadow Divine Art is a mental technique that rivals the Ice Palace itself when it comes to handling Yin energy, I tell you."
"Fucking bullshit."
"That 'fucking' of yours sounds rather lewd — shall I call Young Master Wi over right now? If he heard that sound, his lustful thoughts might…"
This time Dokgo Ryeong flung the entire tea table, and only then did Eun Yakbyeok bow her head.
"…A slip of the tongue. I apologize."
"You fucking filthy bitch! You taught Eun Gwanyeong too, didn't you?!!"
"Of course. I am her master, after all."
"Haa… haa…"
After one full rampage, Dokgo Ryeong quickly felt the exhaustion in her body.
"This piece-of-shit body can't even throw a proper tantrum…"
"For me, that is a tremendous relief."
"Yeah, fuck…. If I just get my prime martial prowess back…"
"To do that, you'll first need to masturbate."
"No, just—!"
When Dokgo Ryeong shrieked again, Eun Yakbyeok looked down at her with cold eyes.
"…How disappointing, Guest. Shall we call the deal off?"
"What?"
"It's only masturbation. In the Murim, people drink the blood of their own kin for the sake of martial arts. And yet here you are, throwing a child's tantrum because you can't bring yourself to masturbate once for a peerless divine art… your current state is simply disappointing."
"No, fuck…"
"My eyes were not wrong after all. Becoming a woman has made you weak, Guest."
"…"
At Eun Yakbyeok's pointed jab, self-loathing boiled up inside Dokgo Ryeong.
Seeing her bow her head, Eun Yakbyeok pressed even harder.
"Even at this very moment, the Tang Clan is sacrificing countless young children to create new Absolute Poison and Gu Poison. The number of missing children has risen sharply of late. The Beggars' Guild is likely aiding them as well."
"…"
"With a kill order finally issued against Dokgo Jin — that thorn in their side — they must think they can operate unhindered for a while. I don't care for how brazenly they're acting, but… ah. I have no card powerful enough in my hand to shake the Tang Clan."
"Just… fuck…"
"Ahh…. Now that I look at it, the opportunity didn't fall to the guest — it fell to the Tang Clan. Heaven itself has aided them: the enemy who obstructed them lost all power overnight and became a young, delicate girl. Does that not mean Heaven is protecting the Tang Clan?"
"Y-you…!!"
Dokgo Ryeong clenched her teeth so hard they ground, her body trembling — and watching her, Eun Yakbyeok smiled in secret.
You really haven't changed at all, Guest. So simple…
A little provocation, and he reacted all on his own. That was Dokgo Jin.
Having spent so long at his side, Eun Yakbyeok knew Dokgo Jin better than anyone.
Perhaps even better than he knew himself.
"Fucking hell! I'll do it! I said I'll do it! Fuck, I said I'll do it?!!"
"Oh my… until a moment ago you were saying masturbation was too embarrassing."
"No, fuck! I was worrying about how the hell you're supposed to circulate energy while masturbating at the same time! That's what I was thinking about!!"
"Ah… now that you mention it, that is a point. Then how about this?"
Eun Yakbyeok's smile deepened further.
"In the end, as long as lustful desire boils up, the Yin energy moves, doesn't it?"
"You… you fuck!"
Looking at her face, Dokgo Ryeong strangely found herself thinking of Eun Gwanyeong.
"I am, after all, the foremost in the jianghu when it comes to that sort of thing, am I not? I am the Lust Venerable. Allow me to assist you."