The Girl Who Was the Mad Demon (7)
"So. Can you do it?"
"…I'll have to try first. I believe I can open the blocked meridians to a fair degree."
"Really?!"
"However… that is only if the young lady accepts the bargain."
"Petty bastard."
"…I need something out of this as well."
"The Nine Yang Divine Art?"
"…No. There is something else I would like to add to the terms."
"Spit it out."
Dokgo Ryeong folded her arms and stared him down. The Lust Demon spoke with a face of absolute seriousness.
"I would like the young lady's virginity."
"…What?"
"…I understand your shock. But you heard correctly. I wish to take the young lady's first night."
"…"
Dokgo Ryeong stood there, arms still crossed, staring blankly at Wi Ilcheong—then her arm snapped free.
Clang!
"You want to fucking die, you bastard…!"
"Please wait, young lady. Calm yourself just a little and hear me out."
"…Calm myself my ass…"
"I am entirely serious! Please just listen!"
Wi Ilcheong caught hold of Dokgo Ryeong's blade.
"…Why the hell does screwing me suddenly show up in the middle of a business deal?"
"I have mastered the Classic of the Plain Girl."
"…That filthy, perverted piece of trash?"
The Classic of the Plain Girl was a text devoted to the union of yin and yang between man and woman.
In other words, pure erotica.
"…Everything circulating in the world is a forgery. What I practice is a treasure my Wi family has guarded for generations."
"Bullshit. Absolute bullshit. You're spinning one hell of a story just to get a woman into bed."
"Haa… Miss Dokgo. Think about it."
"What, you bastard."
"I am a man past thirty. And yet my name is always listed among those who possess the most formidable inner energy in all of Murim."
"…Keep talking."
"The foundation of that inner energy is the Classic of the Plain Girl."
"…"
Listening to Wi Ilcheong's nonsense, Dokgo Ryeong felt her temper surge all over again.
Should I just say fuck it and go alone?
She was already regretting the stupidity of trusting the Lust Demon when Baekri Sohyeon opened her mouth.
"…It's true."
"Huh?"
"Brother Wi… can't build inner energy unless he performs the union of yin and yang."
"What?"
"…That's how the Classic of the Plain Girl works as a mind method."
"What kind of insane…"
"…It's really true…"
Baekri Sohyeon murmured, her expression a little downcast.
Wi Ilcheong pressed on.
"…Young lady."
"What, you bastard."
"I know how precious a woman's virginity is."
"Fuck off. I have zero intention of spreading my legs for you."
"Miss Baekri was healed the same way!"
"…What?"
Dokgo Ryeong looked at him again, and Wi Ilcheong seized the opening.
"The Classic of the Plain Girl is a bedchamber art. Yes—a book primarily concerned with the coupling of man and woman. That much is correct."
"…"
"But the sage who created it sought, through that process, to properly combine a man and woman's yang and yin energy so that both might attain the finest possible body."
"What the fuck…"
"Do you not understand, young lady? Severed meridians are a problem precisely because excess yin prevents the acquisition of yang! But there is a method of introducing yang energy from an outside source."
"…"
Dokgo Ryeong wavered, just a little.
Wi Ilcheong's nonsense was starting to sound like increasingly plausible nonsense.
"…So what you're saying is, if you and I fuck, you pump yang energy into me, and that can treat the severed meridians?"
"…Yes. Exactly so."
"Shit. Why does this batshit garbage sound more and more reasonable the longer I listen?"
"…Because it is the truth."
"…It's real, Ryeong Mae…"
With Baekri Sohyeon chiming in from the side as well, Dokgo Ryeong furrowed her brow.
Ah, for fuck's sake. I have to spread my legs for a man just to get my martial arts back?
She had a woman's body now—but until very recently, she had been a man. For someone who had lived an entire lifetime as a man, the sudden proposal that she open her legs once in exchange for reclaiming her power was not a matter of pride. It was a matter of raw, physiological revulsion boiling up from somewhere deep inside.
"…Miss Dokgo. I will not take your virginity immediately."
"Huh?"
"There are preparatory stages. And I give you my word—nothing bad will befall you."
"No shit. If you fix the severed meridians, of course it won't be bad."
"…I am extremely skilled."
"You fucking—seriously!"
"Aah, young lady, please stop swinging that saber!!"
Just as she was about to take another cut at Wi Ilcheong, a thought bloomed in Dokgo Ryeong's mind.
…Wouldn't it be better to use this bastard without actually giving him my virginity?
The idea flashed through her head, and she offered Wi Ilcheong a new proposal.
"Hey. Lust Demon."
"…Yes."
"If I put out for you, you gain something too, right?"
"…If Miss Dokgo is a virgin, I would also receive an enormous increase in inner energy."
"…How many virgins has this bastard already taken?"
"Coming from someone in a woman's body…"
"Ah-ah! Tsk…"
"…"
Dokgo Ryeong stroked her chin and spoke.
"So you stand to gain more than I do, then?"
"…Pardon?"
"No, look, you bastard. A woman only gets one virginity in her whole life, and you're a guy who's taken countless of them."
"…"
"So doesn't that make this a little unfair for me? Right?"
"Th… that is so, yes?"
"We're rewriting the terms of the deal."
"I absolutely still need the Nine Yang Divine Art…"
"I know, you bastard."
Dokgo Ryeong organized her thoughts for a moment, then spoke.
"I give you the Nine Yang Divine Art and my virginity. Is that enough for you?"
"…Yes."
"Then here is what I demand in return."
One. The Lust Demon Wi Ilcheong would escort Dokgo Ryeong all the way to Noeum Temple in Tianzhu.
Two. The Lust Demon Wi Ilcheong would guarantee Dokgo Ryeong's safety, food, and lodging.
Three. The Lust Demon Wi Ilcheong would absolutely not make the first move on her until he had delivered her to Noeum Temple.
Having heard it all, Wi Ilcheong tilted his head.
"…Why are you going to Noeum Temple?"
"There's a reason… uh. I'm going to find my father."
"…Pardon? The Mad Demon, sir?"
"…Yeah. My father's there."
"…Isn't that the complete opposite direction from the Black Dragon River here?"
Compared to the Black Dragon River in the northeast, Noeum Temple lay past Yunnan in the far southwest of the Central Plains, on the border of the nation of Tianzhu.
Wi Ilcheong said,
"You aren't simply trying to meet the Mad Demon and then cast me aside, are you?"
"…I can see how it might look that way. But that's not it."
Dokgo Ryeong glanced sidelong at Baekri Sohyeon, then brought her lips close to Wi Ilcheong's ear.
"…There are two main reasons I have to go to Noeum Temple. First—I don't know the final formula of the Nine Yang Divine Art."
"I don't need the Nine Yang Divine Art out of greed for martial power. I simply require an extreme-yang mind method capable of circulating yang energy."
"You idiot. My father is the Mad Demon."
"…What does that have to do with anything?"
"If you don't master the final formula of the Nine Yang Divine Art, the madness comes for you. My father left to find that last formula."
"…"
It was a lie she had spun on the spot, but even Dokgo Ryeong herself found it reasonably convincing.
"Earlier you said he had merely gone out for a stroll."
"Fuck, did you really think I was going to tell you every single thing without a single lie?"
"…I see. Then what is the second reason?"
"The Jeomchang Sect."
"…!"
Wi Ilcheong's eyes widened slightly. He swept a hand through the air and raised a barrier of qi—an inner-energy wall so that Baekri Sohyeon would not overhear.
"…Miss Dokgo, if this is merely pity for Miss Baekri, please stop."
"Bullshit. Do I look like such a raving lunatic of a Mad Demon that I'd pick a fight with the Jeomchang Sect just because I felt sorry for a woman I met yesterday?"
"I heard you fought the Namgung over a single inn waiter."
"Ah…"
Come to think of it, she had once beaten the young master of the Namgung Clan half to death because she couldn't stand the way he treated a waiter.
"And I heard you made an enemy of the Moyong over a boatman."
"…Aah, for fuck's sake. Just shut up for a second."
"…"
Wi Ilcheong closed his mouth. Dokgo Ryeong scowled.
"Hey. So what, we just leave her like that?"
"…Miss Baekri has already forgotten Jeomchang."
"Bullshit. Every time she looks at the scar on her belly for the rest of her life, that memory is going to come back. Am I wrong?"
"…"
"Revenge works like this—you tear everything connected to the target to shreds, burn it all down, and even when nothing but ash remains, a knot still sits in your heart. And if the target is still alive? You can't even sleep properly. That's the thirst for revenge. That's the 'grudge and favor' you Murim people love so much."
"…I know."
Wi Ilcheong clenched his fists, his body trembling.
"But… is taking revenge truly the right thing to do?"
"Right and wrong? Leave that shit for the immortals to argue about."
Dokgo Ryeong grinned, sharp and bright.
Looking at that smile, Wi Ilcheong thought it was a remarkably fine one.
"You live however the hell you want and then you die. Who knows when you're going to drop dead—how are you supposed to live if you weigh every little thing like that, for fuck's sake."
"…"
Wi Ilcheong unclenched his fists and straightened his posture once more.
"…Do you believe the Mad Demon will help?"
"The moment I reach Noeum Temple, he will. Guaranteed."
"…"
Dokgo Ryeong rationalized it to herself: she had not actually lied.
After all, once she reached Noeum Temple, used the extreme-yang divine treasure to reclaim a man's body, she fully intended to personally mince the Jeomchang Sect into paste.
"…Very well. I accept the pact."
Wi Ilcheong cupped his fist in a martial salute and declared it to her.
"I shall escort Miss Dokgo all the way to Noeum Temple. Along the way I will provide food and lodging, and I will not take the young lady's virginity before we arrive. And I will do everything in my power to treat the severed meridians."
Seeing this, Dokgo Ryeong returned the salute.
"Then I'll give you the formulas of the Nine Yang Divine Art, and I'll help you wreck the Jeomchang Sect."
"…You have sworn it?"
"What, if you don't trust me… should we swear it to the heavens?"
"No. If the young lady has spoken falsely, then I simply misjudged the person."
"…You bastard. You've got guts."
Wi Ilcheong swept his hand again and dissolved the qi barrier. Sensing the shift, Baekri Sohyeon spoke up.
"…Is it over?"
"Yes, Miss Baekri."
"…Mm. Then shall I get ready?"
"Yes—the thing I asked you for…"
"…Mm."
Watching Baekri Sohyeon leave, Dokgo Ryeong turned to Wi Ilcheong.
"Huh? Get ready? Are we heading out right now?"
"No. We must treat the young lady's severed meridians first."
"Ah~."
Dokgo Ryeong nodded as if she understood—then froze.
"Wait. Fuck. By 'treatment' you don't mean fucking, do you?"
"I do not. Did I not say so earlier? Preparation is required for the treatment."
"…What?"
"What meaning is there in coupling without love? The Classic of the Plain Girl is a path that maximizes the vital resonance between man and woman, achieves the highest pleasure, and through that pursues health and longevity."
Wi Ilcheong smiled brightly and held out his hand to Dokgo Ryeong.
"I give you my word. You will enjoy it."
"Fuck…"
Dokgo Ryeong's final, hollow curse echoed into the empty air.
A middle-aged martial artist with white hair and a white beard walked a road that radiated cold, and let out a long sigh.
"Haa…. I trusted you far too much, Seorin."
"…I am sorry, Father."
The middle-aged man who breathed cold was the Lord of the Ice Palace, the man called the North Sea Ice Emperor—Baek Ryeonhwi.
Trembling with rage, he spoke in a voice as chill as the frost he carried.
"Even having a divine treasure stolen is a grave crime difficult to forgive…"
"…"
"And you fell for the Lust Demon and let the culprit escape?!!"
"Please kill me, Father!"
"Silence!!"
At Baek Ryeonhwi's roar, the surrounding trees shuddered and leaves rained down.
"Hoo… hoo…. Do not try to flee your sin through death. I did not raise my daughter to be so fragile."
"…Yes. I will reclaim it without fail…"
"Damn it. That Mad Demon is so conspicuous—why is finding a single trace this… hard?"
Something snagged on Baek Ryeonhwi's senses.
"…Father?"
"Those hiding over there—come out at once."
"!!"
At her father's words, Baek Seorin looked toward the trees. One by one, the people who had been concealed there stumbled out into the open.
"Green Forest bandits…"
"Uh… honored elder, we… we weren't trying to harm you, we were just…"
"Seorin."
"Yes."
"Kill them all."
"Yes, Father."
"Fuck…"
Clang!
As Baek Seorin drew her sword, despair settled over the bandits' faces.
"Damn it. Didn't I say we shouldn't work today…"
"That Mad Demon bitch didn't even steal anything from us—what was the rush to come out and work that we end up in this mess, damn it."
"Hm…?"
Listening to what were essentially the bandits' last words, Baek Ryeonhwi caught a term that grated on his ear.
He fully released the inner energy he had been holding in check. The bandits began to shake like aspen leaves—crushed beneath the sheer weight of his presence.
"…Mad Demon? Did you say Mad Demon?"
"…"
"Speak, and I will spare you."
"W-we met the Mad Demon's daughter."
"Daughter?"
At that single word, Baek Ryeonhwi's inner energy vanished as if it had never been, and silence fell.
"Keuk… kuh-kuh-kuh…. Kuhahahahah!! So even that dog of a thug who had nothing left in the world to lose—had a family!!"
"…"
Watching the Ice Palace Lord suddenly cackle like a madman, the bandits wore expressions of pure bewilderment.
"Seorin."
"Yes, Father."
"Do not kill them. We will need to hear what these men have to say."
"Yes…"
"And prepare a messenger pigeon."
"Where shall it be sent?"
A gleam of fierce delight lit Baek Ryeonhwi's eyes.
"Hefei. To the Wulin Alliance."