Chapter 232

The title “Ji-tan Gwangma” refers to a lunatic martial artist obsessed with the lamentations of others. It’s the bane of people’s despair and sorrow.

This is precisely why the Blood Sect is so dangerous.

The chaos they create in the world isn’t motivated by noble causes like martial supremacy or revenge; it’s purely based on their twisted personal motives.

In any case, what drives Ji-tan Gwangma’s insanity, the very reason for his existence, is the pure, ecstatic pleasure of pushing others into utter despair and reveling in the sight of their devastation.

And amongst all that despair, he sought the finest ingredients.

He craved those who were fundamentally good, noble, and unwavering, those who held that brilliant feeling of righteousness.

And now, Ji-tan Gwangma was overwhelmed with joy at having such a choice ingredient right at hand.

“Cough! Hehe! Yes, incredible, truly incredible. Loyalty? How can a young one bet his life on loyalty! What a masterpiece!”

Gyeongdamgan burst out laughing maniacally.

“Tell me, how should I play with you? What’s the best way to enjoy this?”

To finally toss that dazzlingly beautiful child into a boundless pit of darkness, to make her curse the world with her cries—how delightful it would be to thoroughly destroy her.

Gyeongdamgan was struggling to contain his laughter as he spoke.

“Now, now, the promise is a promise. You lot of ronin can scurry away. If you attempt a half-hearted removal, you’ll meet a painful end. However, if you obediently follow my commands afterwards, you may keep your wretched lives. Though, you’ll obviously have to obey me for life.”

The exhilaration of threatening them into submission and commanding them was intoxicating.

The rotting expressions of the ronins, who sensed their impending doom, filled Gyeongdamgan with ecstasy.

Meanwhile, what made him even happier was the unwavering gaze from the Divine Maiden Sect’s disciple, who seemed unshaken.

Yes, strength is key.

Like a brilliant and steadfast diamond.

“Awk!”

Another scream echoed throughout the hall.

The disciple of the Divine Maiden Sect fell to her knees, bending over as the solitudes began to exude poison all at once.

“Did I not tell you to heed my command? When I say retreat, you retreat; when I say come, you come. Like a well-behaved dog.”

At that moment, the disciple of the Divine Maiden Sect stammered.

“I—I’m fine, so please, everyone, retreat. I’ll figure out a way… somehow…”

“Cough, young lady…”

The ronins, with red-rimmed eyes, could only leave without uttering any more words, perhaps out of shame.

What a splendid sight!

Gyeongdamgan felt sensations he hadn’t experienced in ages creeping in.

Meanwhile, Qing had started to catch on.

Hmm. This poison feels quite hot.

It seems the worm won’t kill me after all.

The poison it exudes is harmful, but it seems the worm itself inside doesn’t actually harm me.

If the solitude had completely digested like some piece of fried chicken, or if the poison caused no reactions, I wouldn’t know when to pretend to be in pain.

Fortunately, just as I felt a sharpness in my solar plexus, the ronins screamed in unison.

Qing decided to mimic their pain, and the martial artist looked quite satisfied.

“Cough! Ah, yes. I must enlighten you about your circumstances. First, so be it.”

The old man chuckled.

“Let’s see. I want to see your body.”

Qing frowned deeply.

What a perverted old fool. If you’re going to age, age gracefully!

Suddenly, Qing remembered: wasn’t this sicko supposed to be a middle-aged man with a prominent nose? Why the old man vibe?

Regardless, without any hostages in play, Qing had no particular reason to obey that order right now.

“Dream on. I’ll take off my clothes if you pay me a fortune in gold. Consider it a pre-payment, dear customer.”

“Cough! Good! At first, there has to be a challenge! It’s simply no fun if you’re trembling while obediently complying. However, misbehaving little ones must be punished!”

Then, the heat in her solar plexus intensified, as the solitude began to spew poison.

Qing promptly collapsed, groaning painfully, putting on a show of agony.

However, if Qing were genuinely in pain, she’d be gasping and struggling to breathe while making raspy sounds; her staged groans were more akin to seductive whispers.

Of course, Qing, as a performer, was confident in her act, knowing no one would replay her performance for critique.

As she feigned seductive pain, Qing thought to herself.

If this worm spewing poison feels like drunken warmth, isn’t that a score? If I can feel like I’m drinking without actually drinking, that’s a win!

Thinking about her favorite drink sharpened Qing’s thoughts for once.

Infinite supply? That’s a stretch.

After all, how much poison could this tiny creature produce?

Moreover, being a parasite, it must consume something to produce poison; it can’t continuously spew poison nonstop.

It wasn’t all that useful since Qing was immune to it anyway.

But still, if this solitude was truly that beneficial, everyone would be raising it to use it together; there must be some glaring drawbacks for it to be unknown to her.

Lost in thought, Qing failed to notice the solitude halted its poison and took a breather.

At that moment, Gyeongdamgan chuckled.

“How long are you planning to whine? You’re standing there confidently, yet trembling like a worm. Hah!”

“Ah, it’s over? Phew. Is that all? Not much, is it? If you want to take off my clothes, be a bit more generous. I was just about to feel some pain; huh!”

Seriously, I’m talking here.

With that eager heat rising within, Qing got lost in her acting once more.

“Over? Aw. Ugh.”

“Is that how you plan to undress me? You ought to treat me with sunlight rather than cold wind! Ugh!”

“Enough! Enough! I get it! Ah, you got me there! The solitude isn’t anything special. Ugh!”

“Alright, alright! Seriously, that’s enough! But what do I need to understand? Ugh!”

Seducing Gyeongdamgan, Qing provoked the solitude to release more poison.

What he desired to see was completely different from this. He wanted to see her trembling in fear, stripping down obediently, but instead, she was provocatively challenging him even while faking pain.

At this moment, the biggest victim, or rather, the biggest parasite was the little solitude residing within Qing.

Damn humans! Let the solitude take a break!

Eventually, the solitude’s poison spent itself, leaving the little worm drained and lifeless, disregarding Queen Solitude’s signals.

“Hmm. It looks like the solitude has exhausted its poison. Is this where it ends for today? What a waste; we could have gotten a bit further. Do better tomorrow.”

“…You’ve put in all this effort and still have the gall to talk back.”

Gyeongdamgan’s voice had a strange tremor to it.

Although Qing was the one who had been rolling around in pain, bizarrely enough, Gyeongdamgan felt a sense of discomfort.

Is this how a lady who swallowed a solitude should behave? Isn’t her unwavering spirit inherently different from being carefree? How dare she?

As Gyeongdamgan gritted his teeth, Qing continued to speak whatever came to her mind. Not everything that came from her mouth made sense, but it was accurate to say she was throwing out nonsensical words.

“Then, can I go now? I just need to come back when you call for me, right? Trying to pull something weird again won’t work.”

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Eh? I thought you let our ronin friends go?”

Qing asked back as if confused.

Weren’t they supposed to force her into doing nasty things while holding the solitude as leverage?

“Come on, don’t be like that, let me go. I need to hustle for some bread, and if I don’t get back, my master will worry. I’ll just keep my mouth shut until you call me back; we’ll end our business for today. What say you, old perverted geezer?”

“You little rebellious brat. You were clearly plotting to go out and eliminate the solitude. Why would I let you?”

Why am I the only one not allowed to leave?

If I’ve planted a solitude or whatever, from now on, you are a spy for the Blood Sect! After that, wasn’t I supposed to be coerced into doing something shady?

But.

Eliminate the solitude?

If you let me go, it means you want me to eliminate the solitude.

The ronins couldn’t do it, so they let me go.

Meaning, I have something—a resource, a skill, or background—that they lack.

For my safety, Qing’s brain was working overtime.

But honestly, if she’d just asked Je-gal Lee-hyun or anyone knowledgeable about it, she wouldn’t have to overthink.

Since information about the solitude wasn’t some closely guarded secret.

This is why one should always learn.

“Fine. Let’s see just how long you can play this game.”

Gyeongdamgan said as he struck the floor, and shortly after, a cleverly concealed lid opened, revealing a hidden passage.

The lid was, of course, manual.

Seeing the passage lid being opened, Qing’s eyes sparkled.

So, there are Blood Sect puppets below!

Wow! Blood Sect! Wow! Bad guys!

“Now, go in.”

Gyeongdamgan commanded.

Qing obediently headed down the stairs to the underground.

As she entered the dimly lit staircase, her eyes filled with a sinister violet hue, revealing their true colors.

—-

During the time Qing was captured and dragged to the terrifying secret stronghold of the Blood Sect after being overwhelmed by a brutal solitude—

Or while the wicked and sinister Qing infiltrated the Blood Sect stronghold with a solitude-carrying wine bottle within her—

Cheon Yu-hak, on the other hand, wasn’t just sitting around watching.

As soon as Qing crashed in there, tearing the door down with a splendid air, a new character quickly dashed up to the rooftop and made a rapid escape.

“Tsk tsk. Honestly.”

When the disciple fumbled at the finish line.

Cheon Yu-hak clicked his tongue, and if Qing had heard that, she would have asked him who exactly was fumbling.

—-

What kind of ancient, primitive place has such an advanced underground facility? Isn’t this sort of thing only found in modern settings?

Of course not.

Underground architecture was one of the skillful specialties of all humans before the modern era, even from the times of primitive chimpanzee-like humans.

And cities in the Central Plain, resting on great rivers, had a history of flooding and being buried by sediment, only to build anew on top of that.

Thus, a constantly recurring underground structure meant that utilizing ancestral heritage to build underground strongholds was quite convenient.

And so, with not a single sliver of moonlight seeping in, inside an underground prison dimly illuminated by a tiny lantern, Qing comfortably lay down.

What shabby treatment for a young prisoner.

How come they didn’t even give me one sheet? I’m not expecting a pillow, but they should offer at least a torn blanket, right?

It’s uncomfortable—stiff and cold—how am I supposed to get some sleep in a place like this?

Half an hour later.

Qing was snoring softly.

And inside her, the exhausted little solitude barely started to regain consciousness.

Plants can produce their own poison.

However, venomous animals need to consume what can create poison to produce it.

Solitudes are the same.

Originally, solitudes began as beneficial parasites that fed on harmful things in the human body but evolved into scheme-filled foes only after developing techniques for handling specific species.

On the other hand, Qing, with her Blood Poison Body, was immune to the poison, but that didn’t imply that poison would be eradicated like some mythical artifact.

The poison entering her didn’t harm her; it simply lingered for a while before decomposing, while some would exit, remaining inside her and lingering.

Thus, the conscious little solitude began wandering inside Qing’s insides, seeking something to replenish its empty poison sac.

It was a truly solitary existence for a poison-consuming parasite.

Yet, when it reached a certain point and tasted a drop of gall, it was like discovering the most exquisite nectar it had never encountered across all existence!

The solitude wagged its little tail, intoxicated by the alluring poison.

As it savored the bile, the solitude’s color darkened, becoming ever so slightly more crimson.

Of course, Qing, unable to see inside herself, remained oblivious, and the blind solitude couldn’t gauge color changes either.

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