Chapter 242

Gyeongdamgan answered weakly, almost as if he’d resigned himself to whatever happened next.

“I don’t know. He hasn’t shown up since this morning. How would I know if he’s passed out from drinking or is off enjoying himself with the right ingredients?”

Ingredients? Please, he’s still not even up to speed.

Qing clicked her tongue in disapproval.

In short, it sounded like a big fat nothing.

Qing didn’t doubt Gyeongdamgan’s testimony for a second, accepting it straight away. When it came to throwing a fellow comrade under the bus, Gyeongdamgan was as trustworthy as they come. The loyalty of scoundrels like these was shallower than a puddle on a road.

Moreover, the concept of someone being ‘missing’ was practically non-existent in the Central Plain.

The mental roots of Qing’s Han people might not fully get this.

The government there collects every piece of personal information, even fingerprints, of all its citizens.

In the whole world, only the Han people operate like a complete police state.

Foreigners do a double take when they hear this, while Han folks remain utterly baffled.

Even the Chinese populace doesn’t officially register non-citizens (those referred to as ‘rats’).

So in Qing’s hometown, unless the police were buddies with the kidnapper and choosing to look the other way, no one gets abducted and turned into a slave.

Along with voluntarily providing personal info, every individual has a real-time communicator and tracker on them.

So if someone suddenly goes dark, it raises immediate suspicions, leading to conclusions of them being ‘missing.’

If you’re not venturing far and suddenly find your tracker switched off, that’s when the gut-wrenching worry kicks in.

But what about the primitive and uncivilized Central Plain?

If someone leaves home to attend the Martial World Tournament, they can be out of contact for a month there and back, and nobody thinks much of it.

After about half a year, when they finally start wondering what’s up, they might even accept it as their loved one meeting an untimely end.

Let alone, the Central Plain’s postal system is monopolized by officials, relying heavily on either hefty fees or connections to get anything delivered.

In a world where you lack money and connections, you can’t even send a single text message!

So, if Qing disappears for a couple of days, it’s not a big deal to anyone. “Oh, he probably went off somewhere or just crossed paths with someone,” they’d think.

Even if Mo Yong Joo-hee didn’t leave a letter saying she’d head back home first, her family wouldn’t start to panic for at least a week.

They’d think, “Has she gotten into some trouble? Is she avoiding us because she’s embarrassed?”

Similarly, Gyeongdamgan’s comment about not showing up since morning fell into this category.

Could be off having fun alone or might’ve been tasked with something by his superiors. If the Great Lord is off somewhere, it’s nothing serious.

“Um. Just wondering if you’d be interested in removing the solitude of those addicted?”

“Ugh, just kill me already. If I’m headed to the afterlife, I might as well take a bunch of my buddies along.”

“Aren’t they enemies instead? You’d probably get a beating on the way to the afterlife.”

“Once dead, it’s over. If the heavens want to punish the wicked, they ought to do it while still living. It’s all nonsense to think you’ll face penalties after death.”

“Um. You’ve got a point.”

If bad deeds immediately brought heavenly retribution, there wouldn’t be any bad people left in the world.

The idea of suffering after death is just self-soothing wishful thinking for the living.

“Ugh, what am I going to do now, if you kill me—”

“Ah. By the way, the ronin are all drugged up and fast asleep. So your threats about pulling a Queen Solitude unlimited self-destruct mission aren’t going to work.”

Gyeongdamgan scoffed at that.

“I’ll remove the solitude for you. Just spare my life.”

“Um. It looks like we think alike.”

At that, Gyeongdamgan’s expression brightened.

Qing chuckled merrily as he continued.

“You don’t have to worry about removing solitude, but I certainly hope Grandpa the Eunuch lives a long, long time. You can’t die, okay?”

***

They say the great evil, Blood Wheel Demon, has surpassed the Realm of Transformation. The exact level is still unknown, even to the source of this information.

In the martial world, hiding your abilities is a given, so revealing them throughout the stages is pretty foolish.

I had intended to request help with the Blood Wheel Demon from my Master, but sadly, he was absent.

So Qing grabbed the sparse hair of Ji-tan Gwangma, whom she had knocked out, and dragged him outside.

While wandering around in the underground hideout of the Blood Sect, she spotted Seomun Sulin looking around and greeted her with a bright smile.

“Master! I’ve caught Ji-tan Gwangma!”

“Are you hurt anywhere? There’s not a spot on you without blood.”

“My own blood? Not a single drop. How could I get hurt catching a mere supreme martial artist?”

“Right. You’ve casually dealt with someone at the supreme level now. Impressive.”

Seomun Sulin viewed Qing’s blood-smeared form and warmly praised her.

Seeing her like that brought back sweet memories—those carefree times spent blood-soaked while vanquishing the enemies of martial world women.

“Looks like the Blood Wheel Demon has left. I’m not sure if he just stepped out briefly or what.”

“Well, I guess I should stick around a bit longer. But what are you planning to do with that scoundrel? Not planning to chop him up and toss him in a pigsty, right?”

Ji-tan Gwangma’s notorious bad habits were well-known.

Had they not been, he wouldn’t have received the nickname Ji-tan Gwangma in the first place.

“Um, I want to try something. It could help with my training. Hmm. But where’s the Master? We need to do this together.”

“Hmph. It’s not like Shintu is an ordinary person. He probably found some valuable treasure to steal again. Who knows, there could be a woman wearing my inner clothes running around out there.”

“Or a man, perhaps?”

Qing quipped back, and Seomun Sulin pretended to lightly slap her on the head.

“Hey. How can I joke around when I’m your mentor?”

The reference was to Wang Juhee, the leader of the Divine Maiden Sect, who was sometimes teased about whether the most valuable inner wear belonged to her.

Not wanting to linger too long in case Blood Wheel Demon, the great evil, returned, Qing headed above ground.

On the way, she began noticing the blood-sect warriors, strangely moving around in a wriggly fashion, even without their limbs and, oddly enough, no blood loss either.

Qing considered finishing them off but felt guilty about randomly eliminating the ones her Master had intentionally left alive.

Besides, those were living transmitters of the Queen Solitude’s unlimited self-destruct mission.

Keeping them alive might come in handy for a big cleanup later.

—-

In Muchen Pavilion’s bathhouse, there were devices not for torturing Qing, but specifically for practicing the Martial Art of Body Refinement.

And there, other than Qing, another was firmly secured—Gyeongdamgan, the notorious villain known around town.

With the tools that Cheon Yu-hak had bound Qing’s limbs with, he brought a flaming torch right up to Gyeongdamgan’s severed wrist.

“Ugh!!!”

“Hey now. Just stay still. Pouring blood out from capturing a mere blood-type is hardly enough to keep you alive. I’m doing this to make sure you live a long time.”

“Ugh!!”

“Come on, you’re not dying from a little burn, are you? You’re such an old man making a fuss.”

Qing seared Gyeongdamgan’s wrist until it was well-cooked.

Considering she was literally roasting a person’s arm, it was the kind of dish that could be categorized as direct grilling.

Ah, how I’d kill for some grilled pork belly.

Though it was clearly inappropriate to be thinking about food while roasting a human limb, the aroma of cooking meat wafted through the air, and Qing couldn’t help but feel it.

Having personally experienced the tight bindings of the Martial Art of Body Refinement, Qing knew that once you were properly tied down, barely a twitch was possible.

If the recipient of the blood technique moved during the intricate cutting of joints and tendons, they could end up disabled, which was precisely why it was crafted ergonomically.

Thus, Gyeongdamgan, who had been howling behind the gag, went utterly limp.

“Did he just die!?”

Qing hastily checked Gyeongdamgan’s pulse.

The life of a supreme master certainly wouldn’t snap from the medical act of sealing a wound.

Qing felt a wave of relief wash over her.

Returning to Muchen Pavilion, she encountered a familiar face she hadn’t seen in a while.

“Ah, Grandpa! How have you been?”

“Ah, yes, I’ve been well. And you?”

A gently smiling elderly man, who had aged gracefully, was none other than the Grand Elder of the Tang Family, whom Qing affectionately referred to as Grandpa the Eunuch.

Grandpa the Eunuch quietly asked, “Hmm. I heard Seomun Sulin was here?”

“Oh, she’s downstairs dealing with the Blood Sect’s leader.”

“Is that so?”

Grandpa the Eunuch’s expression brightened.

After kicking off some attempts at making spring medicine, the shins he broke long ago would twinge in rain.

Hearing about Seomun Sulin’s return, he didn’t even turn his head toward Muchen Pavilion.

But catching the Blood Wheel Demon was surely more pressing than his shin discomfort.

It’s not easy to remove someone else’s solitude.

While Qing just forcefully pulled it away from the belly, that had been the plan from the start.

Having a hole in your intestines is a serious issue, but trying to forcibly extract solitude could lead the poisonous essence to leak back in and flow through the body.

During Qing’s little jaunt of joy, it was enough to just have air in her lungs, so she could yank it right out.

But for Mo Yong Joo-hee and the ronin, that couldn’t happen either, meaning they’d need the help of a giant with mastery of both poison and medicine.

And so, in the dead of night.

Grandpa the Eunuch danced giddily, having gathered plenty of living Blood Wheel Demon specimens in glass vials.

Qing watched closely as the master of human anatomy displayed his skill, truly an expert in human quirks.

And the Blood Wheel Demon was surprisingly… well, cute?

Expecting something like a worm or flea when they called it a parasite, when she actually saw it up close, it resembled a translucent salamander.

With its large head sporting two horizontal lines, she thought, “Ah, that’s why they called it the Blood Wheel Demon.”

But then she pondered if such a creature even existed before, realizing she lived in a world where mystical powers let people shoot light sabers and even fly around.

A parasitic salamander certainly wouldn’t be out of the question.

Now it was just a matter of waiting for her Master to return.

With a good teaching aid in hand, she thought it would be beneficial to learn the Martial Art of Body Refinement techniques.

She figured she’d have to pass them on to her disciples later, so learning them now would be a great idea.

On top of all that, the thought of cutting through joints and tendons right up to the point of almost obliteration excited her to no end.

But Cheon Yu-hak did not return.

Instead, an unknown messenger appeared with a message saying not to worry as he was running late.

Hmm. Why’s the errand boy sending a cash-on-delivery note?

Master’s got plenty of cash.

Besides, “Don’t worry. I’m late” was kinda pricey with a five-string note for the ten-character message!

Eventually, all Qing understood was that Cheon Yu-hak was just delayed with whatever he was up to.

With Gyeongdamgan growing weaker by the moment, Qing decided enough was enough.

Furthermore, while the Blood Sect warriors, the living transmitters, were still alive, they needed to send out the self-destruct signal for Queen Solitude.

Well, if she fiddled around with the handles and figured out how they operated, it wouldn’t take a Master to teach her, right?