As soon as Qing turned her back, a stern voice followed suit.
“Unyeonjeong! Return at once! Your revolutionary thoughts opened my eyes to my mission, truly akin to that of my master! Are you genuinely thinking of abandoning the revolution? Were you only planning to evade danger with empty words? If that’s not the case, come back immediately and declare your intentions to your comrades!”
“Ugh, what the heck do you want! Hmph, I’m outta here!”
With the poison still in her mouth, Qing shouted back.
What’s the point in declaring anything when the situation is like this?
“Stop right there!”
“Stop right there!”
“Freeze, you punk!”
The voices of the Three Fools sounded in unison.
Just like when they were prying the door open, they moved in perfect sync as though they were one body.
Qing glanced back fleetingly, thinking, that chubby one is a bit too much!
Well, it’s not really cheating though.
The Diamond Indestructible Skill was all about being hard and solid, so when it clashed with an enemy, the enemy would feel all the pain.
But the Salamander was too soft and squishy, so even if it tried to smack someone with its flesh, it wouldn’t have that much power.
Thanks to her combat experience, Qing couldn’t really discern the effectiveness of the martial arts.
In fact, all she sensed was that it could block off her breathing, and that was about it.
Pobidon wasn’t wielding his sword just for show.
And so, one, two, three, four.
Well then, did I manage to take out two?
Qing unconsciously performed a prayer for safety.
And since she was a Daoist with some rituals up her sleeve, the ceremony turned out to be quite effective!
“I’ll kill you!”
“Argh!”
Thanks to that, two men leaped out with howls amidst the chaotic scene.
One was spitting blood, his mouth drenched in crimson.
The other was shedding tears of blood from his left eye.
But both of them were in a crazed state of rage, exuding lethal intent.
These are Demon Entrants!
This was the real difference between a true transformation and a wannabe in transformation.
If venom mingled in the eyes or seeped into the Dantian, typically, one would assume a meditative position to stabilize themselves first.
But once true rage takes over, intentions consume the body, and the individual can only think to charge at the enemy, ignoring their own well-being.
Swallowing hard, Qing didn’t realize she was anxiously gulping.
“Gulp.”
A fiery poison burned down her esophagus!
The remaining venom went down Qing’s throat like a shot.
After all, humans aren’t meant to hold liquid in their mouths; she had managed to keep it there quite a long while.
Looks like it’s been a while since I last had potent poison.
The Gisaeng Salamander slithered in her abdomen, giving her a strange, mildly refreshing sensation as it stirred her insides. Lady, what’s happening?
Did that Wine Bottle have this skill? Is this some kind of joke?
Feeling buzzed like she just drank fine liquor, her innards shook.
Meanwhile, the supposed defeated masters transformed into demons and shrieked menacingly as they closed in.
The Divine Merging weapon and men kept flaring in and out of existence with flickering transitions.
“This is insane!”
Qing shouted just then.
Boom!
With a distinctive explosive sound, an arrow shot from the wall.
The One-eyed Demon, running straight, got hit and went crashing into the wall with a loud bang! The arrow missed its target, sending the One-eyed Demon tumbling across the floor.
But the blood-spitting demon, gaining speed, charged forth!
Then suddenly, with a clunk, it dropped out of sight.
At the same moment, the trap’s hatch swung back down and closed with a snap.
Ah! Master! Guys!
The Blood Sect members had been meticulously dealt with, making it anyone’s guess who activated that trap.
Qing gave a thumbs-up as she had no idea where the observation window was but decided to signal in all four directions.
To the warriors chasing her, it would look like a bizarre attempt at communication.
Funny how fools never raise suspicion; thinking back, it seemed like some sort of mockery.
Qing dashed off again, while the three masters kept throwing strikes at her.
“Argh!” “I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you!”
The One-eyed Demon screamed while the blood-spitting demon followed closely with terrifying mutterings.
In the midst of it all, the (former) Dokkogu’s Jongjeongpil was just minding his business, following along lightly.
In that moment, Qing’s mind went blank.
Numerous blows targeted her arms and legs, each strike causing her to feel the ever-rising intent to kill.
As the enemies launched in for the kill, she stumbled and skidded across the floor in a confused scramble, enduring relentless bloodshed yet still getting back up to dash chaotically forward.
It was a relentless escape race!
Run, Seomun Qing, run!
Just as the ground opened, arrows flew, and rocks rained down, if they hadn’t been aiming for her in the first place, she would have easily been caught.
Thanks to the Blood Sect thinking they could control the number of survivors, many traps remained unused.
Qing hopped and rolled round, getting to her feet, lunging and rolling over and over.
Jumping high, she stomped the ceiling, landing thud-thud on the ground, bouncing against walls until she pounded her way forward.
Even for Qing, this gig was getting exhausting.
Taking a few steps then tumbling down, she sprang to her feet again, darting through a seemingly endless physical training that was pushing her limits.
Sometimes, she would even slap the pursuers when they got too close, or, when bored, grab the closest hefty 300-pound fatty and whip them around like a shot put!
And so the chase continued until—
Suddenly, Qing burst into a huge stone cave.
Amidst the still-warm bodies scattered around, five paths lay ahead.
A smile spread across Qing’s face.
Ah, here! The cave where everyone was supposed to fight!
Just a little further!
I’m already sweating buckets, nearing the limit.
What could be more delightful than realizing it was almost over?
“Damn it! That girl! She’ll really escape!”
“You silly boy from the Central Plains! The entrance is blocked! She’ll end up trapped against the wall!”
“You foolish impostor! Didn’t you see her power? She’s trying to break the door and escape!”
“I’m no impostor! And you, fat pig! If she breaks down the door, the path collapses, #!!”
Suddenly, A-mook-hap-rab spat out a slew of curses.
And alongside him, Jun Gi-chung and Jang So-nam’s eyes widened, jaws dropped.
Weren’t they the three that had diligently taken apart the passage earlier?
If this stone door was the same, then?
“Stop her! She’s trying to collapse the passage!”
The three wannabe masters picked up speed and charged forward.
Now was the time for them to reveal their hidden abilities!
But Qing, too, was squeezing out every last drop of strength at the exit.
Exceeding her limits made her joints scream in pain.
But is this even the time to focus on self-preservation?
Once she made it beyond the outer boundary, she’d be back to her base and could return as Unyeonjeong, leaving this life behind!
Qing dashed across the stone cave, slaloming into a pathway, the three fools closely tailing her.
But Qing had an easier route.
The One-eyed Demon and the Blood-spitting Demon, both wreaking havoc following her, had suddenly vanished.
The blood-spitting demon dropped out from exhaustion, while the One-eyed Demon succumbed to the poison, but Qing could have no way of knowing this.
And then there was the peculiar layout of the winding second passage.
Sticking close to the curved wall allowed her to dodge the direct lines of attack from the Three Fools.
Fueled by desperation, Qing ran like mad, revealing the barricaded stone door before her.
Now what do I do?
If I stop to cut through the stone door, that would come to a halt, converting all forward momentum into a cessation of movement.
So, what then?
I’ll break through with my body!
Finally, Qing took the ultimate plunge.
Like an arrow, she positioned herself, arms stretched out ahead of her, and shot forward.
“Don’t!” “Stop!” “##!”
Shooting forth into the three fools’ cries, Qing’s fists shattered the wall.
At long last, beyond that wall—
Boom!
However, her grand scheme succeeded only halfway.
With arms raised triumphantly above her cumbersome hips, the weight was too much.
Thanks to that, while her upper body exited—
Where’s the lower body? Inside the door of course.
But who could she blame for this?
Should she despise her glorious behind instead?
“Lady, why can’t I get out?”
In this situation, Qing’s upper body had emerged through the wall, but alas, the thickness of the door left her stuck around the solar plexus area.
And the Three Fools trailing behind her were left flabbergasted.
Seeing Qing’s predicament, they couldn’t help but shout out, as if seeing a dangling lower half of a body.
A squishy, chubby backside worthy of ridicule.
“Um?”
“What the heck is this?”
“Looks like the passage won’t collapse after all. Well, let’s see if we can yank her out.”
“Is there even a reason to pull her out? We can just call to her like this. Hey, Supreme Brain-slaying Young Lady, can you hear me? Can you hear me?”
-…Yes.
A rather deflated voice came back.
Jang So-nam chuckled and asked.
“Hey, are you planning to stay stuck like that?”
-Well, that was never my plan, but um, this is a bit embarrassing, could you maybe break the wall a bit for me?
Of course, that was only logical.
When she squeezed in, her arms were raised to get through, but now they were fully stretched out.
“…You really have a knack for this.”
Jun Gi-chung shook his head in disbelief.
Qing always seemed subservient when things didn’t go her way.
And such a humble charade should never be taken lightly, that’s how she would gain momentum.
There were two methods for breaking down walls, thrusting a fist in or pulling back and smashing through it.
Which would hold more destructive power?
Qing had backed up as much as she could, her two legs firmly planted, prepared to spring out.
This meant she was also getting ready for a propulsion launch.
After all, the ones eyeing the divine skills weren’t necessarily looking to take her life, right?
If it succeeds, great. If it fails, well, an apology wouldn’t hurt.
And so, Qing’s arms raised high, pushing with a rush, when a crash erupted as the Divine Magi shot forth.
Boom!!
With a deafening noise came a horrible pain that smacked right into her pelvis.
At the same time, Qing’s body slipped out!
Tumbling to the ground, she quickly regained her feet.
“Haha! You foolish morons! You stay here! I’m off to my home! I, Supreme Brain-slaying Young Lady, Seomun Qing, am the strongest!”
-You fool! You again!
From the newly-created hole emerged the angry voices of her pursuers, but Qing dashed away in exhilaration.
The sound of them pounding the stone door echoed behind her, signaling their intent to break through and chase her down.
But haha! Too late!
In a moment, she could escape into the mountains.
With a gleeful laugh, Qing sprinted away.
The passage grew darker and darker.
The brightness of the pathway remained, yet to Qing, it felt increasingly dim.
That’s because light flooded in from the gigantic gap ahead.
Thus, at last, Qing was about to hurl herself out of this cursed Blood Sect’s cave, into the blinding light.
“Bring it on, world! I’m back!”
With a victorious roar, she raised her arms high!
Casual nonsense was flying from her mouth in her good spirits!
In response to her display, dozens of eyes turned to stare at her.
Naturally!
Who wouldn’t be suspicious of someone entering a dangerous, ghostly cave seeking treasure?
Or perhaps hanging out outside, waiting to nab something as it came out.