Chapter 349

Posted by Kuze, ? Views, Released on January 27, 2025

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Qing focused on the sound, crawling on the ground—

“Cough…!”

Qing froze in an awkward position, arms outstretched like a statue, trembling uncontrollably.

What the heck, what’s going on with my body? How is this happening?

“Hey! Did you just hear that? You heard it, right?”

“Hear what? Why are you suddenly flipping out?”

“I said, didn’t you hear a moaning sound? Damn it.”

“Moaning? Is it a dying guy? I just took one out a moment ago.”

“It was a woman’s voice. Is it a ghost, or what?”

“Are you stupid? Why would there be a female ghost here? If there were, I wouldn’t mind.”

“What do you mean, you wouldn’t mind, you crazy fool?”

Their voices grew distant as they bickered amicably.

Alright, time to get out of here.

Qing gritted her teeth and crawled again.

Laying on her injured side, with her arm stretched out, the weight pushed down and hurt like hell.

Rolling over, she crawled with one arm and thought, Damn, that Great Elixir is supposed to be the best thing for recovery. Why am I still in pain?

After all, the Great Elixir specializes in internal injuries and recovering energy while external injuries just take time to heal.

Sure, some ointments can speed things up, but no amount of elixirs will magically regenerate flesh!

First, I need to check my wounds.

Getting out of here is my first priority.

As Qing crawled a bit further, a thought struck her: why the heck am I crawling?

I could just rip through and get out!

Qing propped her long Moonlight Sword like a pillar and used her Qing’s sword to make a light opening in the window.

Checking my condition comes first anyway.

So she carefully untied her belt, loosened her clothes, layer after layer, until her skin peeked through the five layers of garments.

As light filtered in through the torn tent, colors blurred and intertwined, revealing Qing’s hometown, like looking through a photo with the focus off.

Hmm. My eyesight’s still a bit messed up.

It should be fine in a few days.

Let’s see.

The red is my chest covering.

The white is my skin.

And the dark lump stuck to my side is—

“Whoa. What the hell.”

I shouldn’t have looked.

People have this weird tendency to feel less pain until they see their own wounds, as if their perception of pain is somehow linked to their observation.

So just when I thought it was a mere sting, I looked and saw it was torn and bleeding, and the immense pain crashed over me afterward.

In other words, I didn’t realize how bad it was until I laid eyes on it.

My vision was blurry, but I could tell my side was swollen like a mountain, utterly bruised.

Qing is a qualified physician acknowledged by the Rangjung chief.

Pressing and gently rubbing her wound, the self-inflicted diagnosis continued as she herself caused the tears to come.

Luckily, my pelvis is fine; only the ribs are cracked.

The lowest rib has a crack too.

All the muscles are ruptured. I’m officially lopsided now; after I heal, I’ll have to exercise just my left side to balance things out.

The spleen is swollen with pus.

It feels like there’s water trapped in the peritoneum.

What if there’s a crack in the bone? With time it’ll heal.

For the ruptured muscles, I need to apply medicine.

The spleen will recover over time.

And the water in the peritoneum will gradually drain away.

Luckily, I don’t need to do anything drastic; time will take care of everything.

That massive hammer hit me squarely.

At least I can say I held my own.

Good job, body. You’re my pride.

This is why one can say it’s the self-discipline of a martial artist.

And thus, my final diagnosis.

Am I going to die? Nah, I’m fine, not dying.

Can I move? Yeah, I can.

Can I move around wildly? If I can.

It will definitely hurt like hell.

But seeing the wound now makes the pain bearable, as I’m fine—definitely not dying.

I do worry a tad about my damaged internals, but I took the Great Elixir, so I should be okay.

Thus, Seomun Qing, resurrection.

The temporary tent, raised unnaturally, silently split open as Qing crawled out on all fours, then stood upright, stumbling to find her footing.

Those guys seemed like they were searching for something.

That’s not happening.

Claiming trophies is the right of the victor, right?

So the stuff from that villain I took down belongs to me. It’s mine to do as I please.

These bastards, creeping in like real bandit trash as if they can’t let go of their “professional ethics.”

Qing’s gaze darkened.

—-

Bae Jong-gu is unofficially ranked ninety-fifth in the Green Forest organization, with no formal ranking.

In the Green Forest, anyone ranked fifty or below isn’t considered official.

Official rankings remain strictly unofficial, and Jong-gu could say he’s friends with Tae-yun, who is one hundred and seven.

Even with the hierarchy, despite being friends, it wasn’t uncommon for those trying to buddy up to the higher-ups to get beaten to a pulp, making it far worse.

If the older ones were in a particularly bad mood, one could get beaten to a serious degree.

Thinking back, it’s an awful place to work.

He kept thinking he should quit, but the reason he didn’t was he had no other means to survive.

But now, the Green Forest was done for.

With his subpar skills, joining another band would likely lead to just menial labor; it’s not like he had any exceptional skills to offer.

Then a memory flickered in his mind.

“Great Chief, isn’t this the Treasure Map?”

“Who doesn’t know it’s a Treasure Map? So what’s this place?”

“There are a few places in Central Plain that look like this. If I had a proper map, I could match it up quickly. Can you get one?”

“Oh, you can find out? So where do you get your hands on a proper map?”

“The Commander of the Daofeng Province’s military office.”

“Dude, are you insane? You think I’m gonna get chased by thirty thousand soldiers just to steal a map? Quit talking nonsense, you haven’t been smacked around lately.”

“Accuracy won’t be as good, but the small strategy map in the Vice Commander’s military office will do. Just be careful to grab the right region. Damn, it hurts, I’m gonna die! It really is that hard to determine a location with just map fragments, and I’m not kidding here, ugh, ow!”

Behind the strategy department building, Bae Jong-gu and Tae-yun had been eavesdropping on the high-level conversation between the Green Forest’s top-ranking officer and someone in the second or third tier.

Of course, the current Great Chief was well aware that there were two idiots messing around outside while he made plans.

Sons of servants are like objects that exist everywhere, so he didn’t think much of it.

It’s like a waiter not bothering to pay attention since customers don’t make noise.

However, waiters are still people.

They have ears to hear, eyes to see, and brains to think.

Given how things had turned out, he wondered if maybe there was still a hint of that Treasure Map left behind.

A Treasure Map, no less.

If only he could find it, his life would be turned upside down.

He could score big and live luxuriously in town.

And so, he found himself back in this morbid graveyard.

Yet the scene was all around him; corpses, corpses, corpses.

And the few intact corpses were rare, making it hard to stifle the screams that tried to escape every time he saw the limbs.

He even thought he heard a woman wailing eerily.

If it hadn’t been for Tae-yun’s prodding, he wouldn’t have set foot in such a cursed place.

But now that he was inside, what could he do?

Praying that there was a Treasure Map out there, and fervently beseeching all the deities he knew—Buddha, Confucius, the Three Sovereigns—pouring out apologies and mercy for protection from any evil spirits.

Then Bae Jong-gu froze, his hand stopping as he spied an unnatural shape bound underneath an extravagantly lovely bed frame.

He took a glance around.

Tae-yun was off searching in a different tent for anything of value.

That meant if he found the Treasure Map and hid it, he’d get to keep it all for himself.

But soon met with a dilemma.

It was too narrow to crawl underneath.

He’d have to either break or flip the bed over to check what was inside the bag.

Making noise might lead Tae-yun to come back.

He couldn’t manage to flip it over by himself.

So what now?

Bae Jong-gu finally called for his friend.

“Hey, Tae-yun! Tae-yun! Over here! Hurry!”

Bae Jong-gu was flustered.

But oddly, he got no response.

The surroundings were silent; it was impossible for him not to hear his shouting.

Given Tae-yun’s personality, he should have come running, bouncing with excitement, yelling, “Did you find something! Did you find something?”

“Tae-yun!? Are you there?”

But all he heard in the lifeless camp was complete silence.

“Tae-yun? Quit messing around! Are you in there?”

Then he spotted it.

An arm slid in and out of the tent, moving as if to show, “I’m fine!”

Bae Jong-gu, terrified, nearly jumped out of his skin.

“Ah! Who, who the hell is that?!”

Then he saw a head peeking in cautiously like a kid trying to avoid trouble.

Spotting his friend’s familiar grin, Bae Jong-gu felt relief wash over him.

“You little brat, is this the time to joke around? Get over here and help me flip this!”

But Tae-yun shook his head.

“What? Why?”

Once again, he shook his head.

“What the hell, man! Speak up. Talk!”

Tae-yun tilted his head as if he didn’t understand what he was saying.

At that moment, a chill ran down Bae Jong-gu’s spine.

What kind of position do you have to be in to peek your head over and look sideways at shoulder height?

Could a person actually bend enough to look sideways like that?

“Y-You! What the hell! How are you…!”

Tae-yun’s head sank and then popped back up, that peeking face bobbing up and down like it was playing a game.

“Ahhhh!”

Bae Jong-gu screamed and fell back, scrambling away.

Thud, hitting the bed, he pushed himself off the ground to get back up.

Then he felt another thud.

Tae-yun’s head landed between his legs, rolling down and tipping over, coincidentally making eye contact with Bae Jong-gu—

“Ahhh!”

Bae Jong-gu screamed like he was being murdered.

In that commotion, Qing let out two giggles, her face scrunching up as she unleashed a slash of her Moonlight Sword.

Sticking the head onto the ground, blood and guts splattered everywhere.

It was such a vigorous action that she grimaced again.

“Seriously, if you’re gonna take something that doesn’t belong to you, cut it out! And you, you idiot, you’re not even a mutt.”

Bae Jong-gu’s pants grew dark with a stain, and to top it off, the sound of a stream flowing echoed.

Tae-yun’s head, soaked in the water source, still retained that grinning expression it used to have, but surely he’s weeping blood now in the afterlife.

And then came the usual business.

“Give me everything you have, you scum!”

“Y-Yes, of course!”

“Tell me everything you know.”

“I-I’ll tell you everything.”

(He rambled about something to do with the Treasure Map…)

And then, “How dare you try to steal from me, you scoundrel! You can’t be forgiven!”

“Please, spare me!”

“No way! I never said I’d spare you!”

“Still, please spare me!”

“Then crawl under the bed and fetch that bag. I’m feeling a bit uncomfortable.”

(He pulled it off somehow.)

So, what else was new?

“Good job! Now die!”

“You promised to let me live!”

“Ha! You fell for it again! I never said I’d let you live!”

“This is what happens when you steal!”

The blade flashed as it severed Bae Jong-gu’s arm.

“This is for Tae-yun’s portion!”

Another chop followed as it severed the other arm.

“This is the earth’s grievance against you!”

And then came the throat.

“Ah, I forgot to grab my share.”

Only then did Qing’s expression contort.

“Ugh…”

It was bearable to mess around after slaying a villain.

But now, the pain registering in her side yelled, Why, why the hell did you do this to me? Do you want me to die? What if I get an infection? What if it becomes a rotten wound?

It was a passionate protest that surged through her.

So what could she do?

She couldn’t very well tell them to shut up while hitting her side.

Despite the filth and misery, Qing had no choice but to endure, wishing to heal more than anything.

She opened her bag and dumped the contents onto the bed.

First, a secret manual.

It had a title, but her vision was so fuzzy that she couldn’t make it out.

However, Qing used her hands to check instead of her eyes.

As she felt around, there was something shiny that resembled her Martial Arts Inventory, registered temporarily, all framed in red—its lettering smaller, where the dark portions were words and the blue portions reflected her status.

There was a box.

Not sure what it was, but it felt medicinal.

When she opened it to smell, although it had a pleasant fragrance, it was probably something used by scum who wouldn’t mind eating anything.

Hmm. I should probably ask someone knowledgeable about it later.

And there was something else—a pink, fluttering cloth that felt like a handkerchief.

Qing pictured the Great Chief’s appearance.

That fluffy guy with too much hair on top and bottom was oddly matched with a pink handkerchief?

Thinking back, that excessive hair must be genetic.

His daughter was indeed impressive, like a tropical rainforest, like coral.

Ah? Was it meant for her?

Then suddenly…

The mission panel started twinkling.