Chapter 339

Stepping into the bathhouse, the hot steam enveloped my body, and I felt the warm humidity seep through my nose, moistening my heart.

Ah, this is it. This is the good stuff.

“What the heck? Who’s there?”

“Don’t worry about it, just wash that filthy body of yours. By the way, you happen to have any Xiangzhao? If not, I’ll settle for Wall Han or Fruit Juice. Maybe some Ban? Ban is a bit hard to wash out though. If you have any of those, let me borrow them.”

Xiangzhao is the highest quality beauty soap in the Central Plain. Wall Han is somewhat cheaper, but it’s still pricey, so common folks can’t even think about it.

Fruit Juice is the juice from the silk tree, and Ban is rice water.

It’s almost like asking for a favor.

“What’s with you? Who do you think you are to speak like that?”

“Shouldn’t you watch your words? Who do you think you are to be so familiar? Just because you think you’re someone special, calling me the daughter of a bandit?”

The woman shut her mouth with a gasp.

Typical characteristic of these Sapa types.

When confronted strongly, they tend to second-guess themselves, wondering if they’re talking to someone of high status.

And so, the woman’s head was spinning.

Who is she? Is there really someone who would dare to call me the daughter of a bandit?

Is she from Sapa-Ryeon? Is she perhaps one of their martial artists?

But even if she is, calling the Great Chief of Green Forest just a mere bandit was a bit too much.

“Ahem. So, who might you be—”

“Forget that, I asked you a question! Do you have Xiangzhao?”

Seeing the woman’s hesitation, Qing pressed on.

Then came the hesitant reply.

“Uh, there’s some on that platform over there…”

“Oh. There really is some? Bandits really have plenty of money. Look at this precious Xiangzhao! It’s quite large. You must have spent a good Gold Coin on it.”

A bathhouse usually has a standard setup.

Three pits carved from stone: one for hot boiling water, one with room temperature water, and in the middle, a tub where you can adjust the temperature.

Naturally, it’s common sense to wash up before entering the bath.

With Wall Han in hand, Qing settled beside the hot water and scooped up some.

Is it too hot? But oh well.

Qing has Ice Qi.

Its effectiveness might not be that strong, but it’s the best technique for cooling down hot water.

So, soaking in just the right warm water, splashing around, “Wow, this is it, this is living.”

The woman was dumbfounded.

Who is this person, using all my water in my bath and washing himself with my Xiangzhao?

But then again, outside, wasn’t there Yangsan Park Corps’s twenty-ninth-ranked Tianjue guarding the bathhouse?

They wouldn’t let anyone in without permission unless they had some high status.

Moreover, their casual demeanor, completely ignoring me—is it possible that they really are someone of high status?

It felt awkward to start a conversation, but escaping felt like losing.

As I was pondering this, the intruder who’d been sloshing in the bath finally showed up, plopping down on the opposite side.

But the beauty! The woman could hardly believe that such a stunning lady existed; even as a woman herself, she stared blankly at Qing.

But whether she believed it or not, Qing tilted her head in confusion.

“Hey, the water is lukewarm. What’s with this hot bath, it’s more like a plain pot.”

And then she opened the faucet for hot water.

It didn’t take long for it to heat up to a scalding temperature, and satisfied, she closed the faucet, leaning back with a “Ugh, yeah.”

“Excuse me.”

“What? What is it?”

“Could you tell me who you are…?”

“If you’re asking me, I’m Seomun Qing.”

“Seomun Qing!”

With a shrill scream, the woman shot up.

Though they weren’t close at all, she couldn’t help thinking, “Thank goodness, this is a chance to enact revenge on a foe!”

Qing, who was sitting on the opposite side, suddenly found her vision flooded with flesh tones.

“Oh dear. The wild forest.”

“You! How did you get here? You came to kill me! Guards! Warriors!”

At the same time, she turned to flee, but Qing yanked her hair back roughly.

“Ahhh! Let go, let me go!”

Here’s a fun fact!

You can’t scream when your mouth is full of water!

Sure, you can scream, but it doesn’t get heard due to the nature of sound in water.

But in this situation, seeking a scientific approach is hardly the right time; only a nerd would butt in with such rules.

With a sense of wonder about the natural laws of humanity, Qing decided to ponder.

Holding the woman’s head underwater, she indeed didn’t put much power into it.

Qing’s strength has already transcended that of a human, making it easy enough to dunk a bear.

And while the woman flailed about happily, splashing water everywhere, I could feel exhilarating joy.

Seeing her enjoy it made Qing happy inside.

Counting to thirty, Qing pulled her head up again.

With a huff, she sounded like someone who’d just devoured a spicy bowl of beef soup.

Wow, that’s quite the soulful sound.

Do you know how to eat soup?

No radish soup here, but instead let’s serve you Qing’s special soup.

It should be quite the beauty bath, right?

You can’t just stop at one time, so let’s dive back in.

Splashing about is the new fun bath time.

One, two, three… thirty.

Qing pulled the head back up.

Gack, gack, she gasped for air.

Qing glanced at the woman’s head, now above water.

Three hundred eighty-three points.

Through the moment of pure truth, “spill all your secrets,” Qing heard all sorts of random tales.

Among them was unique information about the Great Chief’s daughter’s appetite; apparently, she is indeed the daughter of the one who eats people.

Cannibalism isn’t rare for bandits.

Since she’d been around it since childhood, she likely doesn’t even realize it’s a problem now.

Yet, a few like her have bizarre tastes, relishing dishes made from freshly caught meat right before their eyes.

Amongst bandits, it’s a split preference.

Given her striking beauty and status as the Great Chief’s daughter, some would go through the trouble to sometimes catch her alive.

And there are those who shake with horror at how terrible she is, no matter how beautiful they think she is.

The closest guard, the ugliest guy around, Tianan, assigned because there’s no chance she’d fall for him, also trembled at the thought of having to deal with a daughter who eats people.

Feeling a bit guilty toward the Great Chief now.

Through the variety of tunes being sung, Qing discovered later that the Young Master and his siblings were related.

Well, looking at how those siblings turned out, you can deduce what kind of upbringing the Great Chief had.

How could the first, second, and third all become rapist-murderers, cannibalistic killers?

That’s a self-inflicted downfall, right?

So in that case, water torture—gosh, water torture? It seems a bit lacking with just two times of water play.

Still, it doesn’t quite feel complete.

You know, our people’s feelings usually go for three times.

Diving back in.

Wow. Today, I’m really generous.

I’ll throw in one more for good measure.

Diving back in.

No way. I can throw in another for free!

One plus one!

Diving back in.

The boss has lost it!

Wow! Diving in costs less than my shoes!

Of course, when compared to those overpriced luxury goods named after some deities or golden geese, I might as well be treating my dive as a luxury.

Nah, not my soul, just diving.

I might sell my dive but not this conscience.

Why, because it’s way too precious and expensive to waste on you losers.

Submerge!

Technically, submerging doesn’t exist? It’s just a splash of water, don’t you see? Since it’s all washed off by water, isn’t that actually a good thing?

What’s wrong? Not buying? Just looking? Window shopping?

Dear guest, that wouldn’t do; oh, my fist might start crying, and I really could knock you out, you know? Damn it!

Diving!

Wow, I went all out today.

If I keep this up, what will be left for me?

Nothing’s left. It’s a disaster.

Time to close shop, pack things up.

Diving. Diving. Diving.

Finally, at the end of this lengthy play, the exhausted woman, having had a genuine water play experience after so long, leans back against the bathhouse, utterly spent.

“Save me, cough.”

She had swallowed too much water, protesting from her stomach.

“Burping right in front of me? What kind of home training did you get? Oh, bandit daughter you say? I can somewhat understand, but that’s not gonna be forgiven! Water breeds etiquette!”

“Yikes.”

With that, the woman, struggling to keep herself together, flailed and managed to slip once, but somehow clung to the bathroom wall and dragged herself out.

She may have been out of energy in the bath, but without the buoyancy of water, she wasn’t exactly agile outside the bath, loudly thudding and crawling desperately across the floor.

“Count to ten and come back. Or I’ll dunk you ten more times. One, two, three…”

“Yikes.”

The woman flinched and desperately jumped a couple steps before face-planting hard against the stone floor.

It looked like it hurt really bad.

But aside from that, fleeing? How galling!

A sinister aura filled Qing’s eyes.

After finally warming up, getting irritated.

I was just planning on playing around a bit before finishing her off, but now she wants to run off to the bathhouse again?

Still, letting her go is quite the risk; she might stir up a mess nearby, and even if just a few stragglers manage to escape, that’s just a waste.

Qing, lifting her heavy back, stepped outside the bathhouse and grabbed the woman’s hair tightly.

“Ah, please! I made a mistake!”

“You should’ve apologized before you turned into a little monster. Have I ever spared anyone when they pleased themselves while dismembering a person?”

“I won’t do it again! Please, I swear!”

With that, Qing resolutely shook her head.

“Regretting it after the fact is what anyone would do. That’s not reflection; that’s just regret. So, you should have reflected and corrected yourself before it became too late. But hang in there. If you try hard, I’ll let you live.”

—-

In the past, Qing sought help from a remarkably smart person who could represent a complete administration.

And thus, with their formidable intellect, they willingly assisted Qing, and through that, she gained considerable insight.

So from the esteemed sage’s teachings came this odd little lesson:

To throw a whole organization into chaos, just burn it down.

Burning is the best way.

However, the first channel of Green Forest was lodged between the Tianzi Peak and the adjacent hill.

And from the midway point of Tianzi Mountain, the fog is so dense that one can barely see three feet ahead.

So, should a fire break out, there wouldn’t be a way to notice it down below.

It was two days before they received the news that their home had burned down.

That day, the sun had set; everyone retired and slept deeply.

Since at night, anyone wandering would be like a blind man with eyes wide open, lost in the Great Gagye, so nighttime searches would be rather futile.

After enjoying a late dinner, they lit a fire inside the barracks for warmth.

Seomun Qing, who had to sleep in that cold and damp jungle, continued losing stamina, hence the decision for a long-winded strategy seemed more favorable.

The next day, after teams were deployed, but for the incidental work crew that went back for supplies, the fire would likely have gone unnoticed.

And only after Wang Cheol-gun returned from a hunting expedition, empty-handed, did he hear the news.

The first channel of Green Forest—it was almost completely burned down.

“Say that again!”

“It seems someone set a fire…”

“What about Rani? What happened to Rani?”

The bandit chief Ajan Deok looked nervously at the Great Chief.

“Unfortunately….”

Ajan Deok, awaiting orders in his serious manner, quickly commanded his reserve team to roll out into a search operation within the main stronghold.

Though, even calling it a search was unnecessary since everything had burned down thoroughly.

The first channel of the Green Forest is its main base.

Initially, they had taken thorough fire precautions, so it wasn’t set up to spread to the neighboring buildings.

This means someone had gone to the effort to ignite them one by one.

Which indicates someone has been burning things down.

Among the few structures left unburned was the bathhouse.

The Young Lady was hanging there.

Hanging upside down, her head barely submerged in the bath.

It was a horrific sight.

She must have tried hard to bend over to breathe till the end.

How many times did she cry out for help?

Enduring between the terror of death and the pain of her injured body.

But Ajan Deok did not feel the need to share the full details.

“Who, who did this? How, who! Seomun Qing! Is it that girl again!? No way, tell me that’s not true!!!”

The Great Chief screamed like a madman.

After losing two sons, now his beloved daughter had fallen to the enemy! It felt like he might genuinely lose his mind.

Fortunately, Ajan Deok granted that wish.

“Well, there’s a traitorous mark left behind.”

Seeing the ominous glare in the Great Chief’s eyes, Ajan Deok, with trembling knees and a mouth that wouldn’t budge, managed to swallow hard and continued speaking.

“I am Unyeonjeong, the head of the Jiangshi Blood Sect…”

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