Chapter 279

“Out of the blue comes this filthy banter.”

However, Seoliri neither looked shocked nor frowned; she merely blinked and tilted her head in confusion.

“Aren’t you a master?”

The man, who didn’t seem particularly skilled despite his bravado, thrust his sword forward, making it look ridiculous.

Seoliri was a peak warrior.

To Qing, she was just a fledgling who barely managed to scrape by at the peak level, but by Central Plain standards, she was a solid young master.

Without the “young” in front, there’s debate about whether she should even be called a master, really.

“Dumb girl. There’s a way of fighting for the lowly! Look at her; she was properly knocked out! Might want to stop yawning soon, huh?”

Watching Qing sleeping soundly, Seoliri occasionally nodded off herself.

With her companions asleep, the rain pouring outside, and the coachman’s skills being rather impressive, it was only natural for her to feel sleepy.

“What now, ya bum…”

Her hands were weak and droopy, not just due to sleepiness.

It was then Seoliri’s expression turned serious.

“Hahaha! You don’t know how long I’ve waited for this moment! Everyone called me a fool! But I! Have waited for this moment!”

“……”

“Aren’t you curious? What kind of miraculous poison I used to get caught so easily, and how I managed to hide my gradual poisoning?”

“……”

“It took me five years! To buy this poison, I spent all my income for five years! Everyone called me a fool! But one day! I knew I would need it! Hey, are you listening?”

Ignoring her, Seoliri was hard at work, pushing her inner strength to expel the poison.

It was subtle enough that it only became apparent after she’d learned about the poisoning, requiring a significant amount of inner strength to even recognize it.

“If you talk, then listen! You should know to be quiet when someone’s sleeping!”

The coachman shouted as he threw something out of the cart. Dust billowed up from whatever was harshly tossed onto the floor of the carriage.

“Kekek, in a bit, you won’t even have the strength to lift a finger. Then, it’ll just be a gaping hole left behind. I wonder how big your hole will be, haha!”

Then, bang! The carriage door slammed shut.

Seoliri stumbled and kicked the carriage door, but whatever it was made of, it didn’t budge.

In response, Seoliri surged her inner strength.

Frost began swirling around her hands.

Suddenly, the cold air began swirling fiercely as it rushed out in all directions.

Any martial world individual with good eyes would have jumped up, wide-eyed, and cried out “Bing Baek Sinjang!” right then and there.

With a bang! Seoliri’s palm slammed against the carriage door, echoing loudly.

With a crunch, white frost slowly spread in concentric circles, centered around Seoliri’s hand.

The innards of the carriage crumbled away.

Through the shambles emerged a well-placed grid of iron bars.

“Ugh, who puts iron nails in a carriage? They must’ve really meant business!”

“What?!”

Seoliri’s head whipped around.

“Everyone’s being so rude! When someone’s sleeping, you should tiptoe around and keep it down! Yelling and banging on walls is absurd! You must think of the person trying to sleep!”

“Hey, is that you, young lady? Are we in trouble?”

“Stop wasting your energy and just rest. Don’t push yourself when you’re feeling unwell.”

“Right now is not the time for that—”

“Aah, this is why peak warriors are so dramatic over nothing.”

Rarely did a clear emotion surface on Seoliri’s face. This time, it was sheer disbelief.

“Come here. If you act that way, they’ll get scared and run away. You know bad guys are easily frightened; they’ll only approach if they feel confident and then take off at the first sight of trouble. It’s not like I’m keen on tracking people down in the rain, you know?”

Qing said, extending her hand.

Seoliri tried to dodge, but sluggishness overcame her for a second, and a beautifully soft hand gripped her wrist, yanking her closer.

But with the sleeping poison, paralysis poison, and gradually dispersing inner strength all mixed in her system, it was as if her body was indeed fine.

“If only I was in good shape,” Seoliri chastised herself, but even then, nothing would change.

Qing’s Mugeong Shinsu was a pickpocket technique that could technically be classified as a divine skill.

Seoliri’s body helplessly collapsed into Qing’s embrace.

“What the heck. Were you still channeling your inner energy? How unbearable is the heat right now?”

“Right now is not the time—”

“Just stay still. You should have listened to what I said! When catching a carriage, you should choose your coachman carefully. That was sound advice!”

“You think so, huh?”

“Geez, blaming others isn’t good.”

“I’m not blaming you—”

“Hmph. How can a martial world individual blame others? If you get stabbed, is it the stabber’s fault? Isn’t it just nature to face whatever comes your way?”

Well, that was a fair point.

Getting stabbed is your own fault for not dodging. You should have taken out the enemy before they noticed you, and if the likelihood of losing was high, you should have run off or avoided the confrontation altogether.

Seoliri closed her mouth in frustration.

But that’s that, and this is this. It seemed a bit unfair to be scolded for just watching without helping while Qing had handled everything alone, capturing the carriage and the coachman with complete finesse.

However, just watching everything happen without doing anything wasn’t exactly an honorable act either.

Qing lay down across the carriage seat, resting a bamboo mat with cooling properties atop herself, holding on tightly.

The sleeping mat tried to wriggle free, but it seemed too weak as the effects of the poison began to take hold.

“Is there any way to wake a sleeping beast?”

“Um, I think they’re hiding more of their crew. And what should we have for lunch today?”

“Hey, don’t mess around.”

“I don’t want to. I’ll speak casually! So what can our girl Seoliri do, huh?”

“I’ll speak casually too!”

“You can’t! I’m the only one who will! You already look ugly and if you start talking casually too, you’ll be even uglier. If you so much as utter a word, I’ll drop you and leave!”

“I don’t want that.”

Qing’s eyes glimmered mischievously.

Because she was excited about the things that were about to unfold and her inner desire was rising.

How long Qing had waited for this moment.

The people of the Central Plain evaluate others based on physiognomy.

But Qing looked at things a bit differently.

Rather than 3D, she saw more precise numbers floating above their heads that were written in a number system no one else in the Central Plain used.

After stopping by the horse stable to look for the coachman, she found a super special dog and thought, “Wow! It’s been a while since I got to spill some blood, let’s have a feast!”

And now she was about to unleash her Qi.

Once you get a new knife, everyone wants to use it as soon as possible, right? You want to stab, slice and dice to see how well it cuts or how it feels in your hand. A warrior would naturally be excited to explore the excitement of using a new blade.

But this wasn’t just any blade; it was Sword Aura.

Since this was before the unveiling of her sword aura, Qing’s patience was now nearly at its limit.

So, how would it go? Would the coward wait until they were drugged before getting involved?

How many would there be? It would be nice if there were a few.

Qing’s heart raced with anticipation.

But why hasn’t there been any action for so long?

How long do I have to wait?

This feels like a new form of torment intended to drive a person mad!

Consequently, the bamboo mat fell fast asleep, snoring loudly through a stuffy nose.

Qing’s eyes shimmered with an otherworldly hue, growing more radiant with each passing moment.

Feeling bored, she thought, “I’ll just give her chest a little squeeze.”

“Feed me, let me sleep, buy me clothes,” she mused. “If not for me, she’d still be shivering in front of the King of Hell last night.”

So obviously, she had rights to this much.

Qing’s white hand snaked into Seoliri’s front hem.

Hmm, it feels a bit small though.

It’s supposed to come full and soft, squeezing and twisting for the real treat, but…

Looks good, but it’s just not fun at all.

But, what can I do? I’ll just fool around with this instead.

Oh, it’s starting to get a bit stiff. What a lewd girl.

She should be grateful; after all, I’m playing with this boring thing.

Of course, Seoliri could feel it was a bit outrageous.

It’s a natural physiological reaction to stimulation.

But since she was under the influence of sleeping poison, she wasn’t in a position to complain.

Then, Qing’s fingers began to itch.

Thinking about it, squeezing would really hurt. How would she respond, I wonder?

A quiet bamboo mat might not scream, but would she shrilly cry for help, begging to set her free? Or would it be riddled with curses, revealing fierce disdain? How would she wail? Would she plead with pitiful cries or express hatred at being betrayed?

What would her expression look like? Would she think she was betrayed? Or would she look at Qing with a loathing stare as if to say, “I knew it all along”?

Either way, it sounded like it would be fun.

Qing’s lips curled into a wicked smile, reaching almost to her ears.

And then—

With a bang. The door flew open.

“Finally!”

Qing yelled, jumping up from her seat.

“Cough!”

The coachman launched into a stupid laugh just before Qing yanked him into the carriage, seizing his jaw.

With her grip firm on his jaw, she pressed her foot down on his instep.

Qing’s training shoes were pinned directly to the coachman’s toe. The sound of her shoe echoed against his foot as it dug deeper.

From the toe, that feeling of intrusion spread.

Crunch! His bones crumbled, plunging down further until—wow! Right through the hard carriage floor!

“Ugh!”

The coachman’s jaw was clamped down, muffling his scream as warm air escaped through his shaky nostrils, heating Qing’s cold hands.

“Hey there, buddy! Why keep such a good person waiting? So, how many are we dealing with? How much fun am I going to have?”

“Ugh.”

“Your silence means pain?”

Qing’s foot hovered slightly off the ground.

Just a little to the side, she pressed down again.

The coachman’s eyes rolled back in his head.

Qing frowned, irritated.

What’s with this guy passing out so quickly?

She hadn’t even unleashed her Sword Aura yet!

She scraped the bottom of her foot on the ground to clean her shoe and then switched feet, changing her target, thinking this time would be the one.

Snap!

“Eek! Ugh!”

The coachman’s eyes popped wide open.

This time he was awake for real.

“Now, I’m going to let go. If it gets noisy, I’ll kill you. Get it? Then answer me.”

“Ugh. Ugh.”

“Oh. You’ve got your mouth blocked. Then use your eyes. If you understand, nod. If not, shake your head.”

With that, the coachman’s eyes obediently commenced their up-and-down dance.

Qing hadn’t even told him to move his eyebrows, so it seemed like he was full of zeal.

Qing smiled, satisfied, and released her grip.

Like a ragdoll, the coachman slumped to the ground.

With gaping holes in both feet, he dared not touch them, left flailing awkwardly in a state of disarray.

Qing squatted down, locking eyes with him.

“So, coachman, what kind of poison did you use to render a peak master useless? And where on earth did you get such an invaluable poison?”

“I-I bought it from the Blackspot. And…”

Apparently, he had bought some secret medicine for three gold coins.

Everyone laughed at him, but it was also the determination of a man who had spent an entire five years of income to capture a precious woman that they’d never dared to even look at.

That meant if they captured her, they could afford to sell her and still make plenty of profit.

“Ah. Those Blackspot scum…”

They claimed they could find anything, including poison.

Back then, she regretted not wiping out all those Blackspot warriors. It was a pity she hadn’t taken the chance when she should have.

However, no matter how much she reflected on her past regrets, it would only keep her stuck in regret.

Rather, she wanted to cherish the future and what she currently had.

That’s how Qing had always lived her life.

And now, she was doing just that once again.

“You didn’t act alone, did you? Your gang, wait… I don’t need any of that. Just how many of you are there?”

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