Chapter 542

Qing blinked her eyes, again and again.

“Uh?”

So, does that mean someone stole a custom-made outfit, made with care for their own partner, and gifted it to me?

Oh dear.

No wonder I felt like the middle and lower parts were a bit tight; it wasn’t just because of the underwear!

This scary girl, seriously.

Did she deliberately prepare small underwear to trick me so completely?

I thought it was just that the underwear was too small, but it was actually a trap!

“Hey, can’t you… take this off right now?”

“Ah. Um, that’s not what I intended? It was just given to me, so hold on, I’ll take it off—”

“No need!”

The Heart Consumption Demon yelled.

“Are you really going to gift me clothes that another girl wore? Do you think that makes any sense!?”

Her face, with tears threatening to fall, looked both frustrated and sorrowful.

Qing awkwardly scratched her head; uh, this is getting a bit uncomfortable.

Then suddenly, is this really something I should feel sorry for?

I didn’t steal it out of malice or desire; I’m the victim here, the victim!

Qing shot a fierce glare at Unyeonjeong.

But no matter what, Unyeonjeong was just looking at Qing with a bright smile.

She seemed to be having a blast.

“Damn it, what are you all doing!? Kill that girl or, no, don’t kill her; capture her and make her kneel in front of me, I’ll have my fun with it piece by piece.”

Creeeak!

With the sound of the door being thrown open, people poured out from the rooms at both ends of the corridor.

Qing’s head spun quickly.

Can I get through them? No, not the corridor. Then, right, the window.

I had already seen the layout of two rooms.

If I drilled through the wall and escaped out the window, that would work, so I was about to make my move.

What’s going on?

Why do I not feel any hostility from these people blocking the corridor?

“Hey, what are you doing!? Kill this girl now!”

Yet there was no response.

They just stood there, blankly watching the corridor.

“Un Unni?”

“Oh my. Unni? Why would you say that? You can still call me things like the rotten Jiangshi or the stinky girl, you know? Did you ever call me that filthy Jiangshi girl like this before?”

“Uh, uh?”

“You know you have to handle your own matters?”

Unyeonjeong takes a step back.

Then she turns to Qing with a grin.

“This person here is called Yu Yang, affiliated with the Blood Sect’s Heart Consumption Demon. Oh, by the way, the Blood Sect is what the Heart Consumption Demons claim it to be, and it’s usually called the Siksim Sect.”

Qing’s eyebrows twitched.

“Blood Sect? That bastard who creates Blood Ghouls?”

“Actually, it’s called Blood Ghoul. Just a creature that eats hearts, but he foolishly dares to compare himself to a Jiangshi, that clueless old man. And this girl is the one and only daughter of the Heart Consumption Demon.”

“You! How dare you, dealing with corpses, to my father, and you… you think you’re something?”

Yu Yang screams loudly.

But regardless, Qing’s mind drifted back to memories from Guangdong, Jin Gajang.

Blood Ghouls.

A hideous creature that even forsook the heavens.

A child that devoured her own mother’s heart, the most horrific dining scene in the world.

The voice of a frail mother, who continued to protect her child devouring her own heart, her fading gaze…

I wondered how a monster like that could have a child.

Did such a monster ever have a precious wife?

Would such a monster consider their child precious?

Like a drop of ink spreading in a glass of water, the unsettling color left Qing’s eyes.

The murderous intent that gripped her was unfurling as the Heart Consumption Demon screamed again, shaking off her fear.

“What, what is this! Yulno, what are you doing!?”

Almost before the words ended, a flood of red energy surged forward.

In front of Qing’s neck, a white hand clashed with a blade, creating a loud clang.

But the arm that held back the iron dagger showed no sign of trembling.

Yulno, so that’s what they are called, visibly stiffened.

“Lady, please evade!”

Yunyul, in a panicked voice, slashed with the two daggers held in both hands.

A dense net of blood-red energy surged toward Qing.

But in the midst of it, it couldn’t quite gather, like it got ripped apart, creating a continuous loud ringing.

Qing stepped back, one step, two steps, three steps.

Slowly retreating while swinging her arms.

Her back hit the changing room door, but could a simple door like that truly stop Qing’s progress?

With a crash, the door was knocked aside without any resistance, as if it were a mere grain of sand.

Did she say Yulno?

What kind of name is Yulno?

~No is a term used to address slaves, so Yulno means ‘slave Yul.’

As Qing thought this over, it looked like she was retreating continuously, but in reality, she was completely at ease.

Because she actually was at ease.

It was fast, but that was it.

No, it was debatable whether it was even fast.

Because the attacks were so lightweight that Qing just deflected the daggers, sending them flying far away.

Thanks to that, it made a loud commotion, but since the attacks were so shallow, not even a tiny bruise was made, much less real harm.

Still, the reason Qing was retreating was simple.

If it gets noisy, she’ll lose face.

Not to mention, just moments ago, she had peeked her head out to check the outside, and there were multiple people watching.

Among them was the fat head of Pobidon, who, with his Heart Consumption Technique, had practically scattered blood-sucking browsing martial artists all over the neighborhood.

So she figured she had to fight somewhere out of sight and quickly return.

But what’s this?

Is this really Sword Aura?

This feels too light to be Sword Aura, and too sharp to be energy; it’s stuck somewhere in between, a bizarre sensation indeed.

Energy, no matter how deftly one wields it, still carries a basic weight.

The more concentrated the energy, the stronger it is?

Therefore, weapons wielded with energy are much heavier than their original weight, pressing down on their opponents.

But the attack I’m facing right now lacks that weight.

Yet, with that sharpness, it comes close to matching the energy’s quality.

Weightless sharpness is only effective against soft, feeble targets.

Indeed, Yunyul’s dagger was gradually losing its sharpness.

It was being ground down against Qing’s Supreme Hand-to-Hand Combat, reducing its edge more and more.

Suddenly, Qing’s right hand twisted strangely.

Like a snake or a centipede with countless joints, or like a thin string waved across the ground, wriggling as if all her bones had just vanished, moving fluidly.

The mastery achieved through the Martial Art of Stealth and the perfected Martial Art of Body Refinement created this illusion.

So Qing’s hand wormed its way and firmly grabbed Yulno’s neck.

“Cough! Chok, choke…!”

Qing lifted her hand.

Yulno’s feet dangled in the air, flailing helplessly.

That’s when it happened.

Suddenly.

The feeling of a blade plunging in, something Qing had experienced many times before, was equally grim.

Qing glanced down.

The blade had burst through the flesh between Yulno’s belly and pierced deep into Qing’s right chest.

A critical hit, avoiding the center of the rib cage.

“Ugh!”

Qing screamed as she hurled Yulno away.

Thud! The loud noise of a person collapsing echoed.

Qing dropped to her knees, clutching her chest.

The exquisite handcrafted armor she wore was turning red.

Qing thought to herself.

Lady, I’ve got another hole in me. I need to patch this up or cut it off, it hurts like hell!

In truth, Qing’s defensive energy had already reached the realm of the unconscious.

Just as people from the North Sea can wield the Lamentable Skill in their sleep, Qing too raised her defensive technique from the realm of her own awareness into the unconscious.

Her defensive technique clung to her bones and muscles, and the pectoralis major is one of the strongest muscles in a person.

“Ugh. Make sure the enemy doesn’t find out about my death. No, oh, I knew that I might end up like this…”

Qing suddenly flopped down on the ground with some rather cliché last words.

Thanks to the volatility of her injury, it actually created a loud, genuine scream.

But still, at least she managed to pull off a pretty convincing dead act along with her final gasps.

And so, across from the fallen Qing, Yulno, half of his waist severed, vomited blood and his internal organs.

“Cough! Cough! Lady…?”

“I did it! I defeated the Cheonhwa-geom! Hehe, this will impress the Association Head too!”

Behind, she beamed with delight as she shouted, the Heart Consumption Demon Yu Yang.

“Lady, help, please save me…”

“Uh? How am I supposed to help with that?”

Yu Yang’s question was likely understandable.

With the healing arts of the Central Plain, there’s no viable method to save someone whose waist has been severed in half.

But saying that as the one who did the crime seemed rather inappropriate.

“Cough. Please…!”

“Even so, it looks pretty hopeless…”

Yu Yang cast a glance at Qing.

Then, for some reason, swallowed deeply.

“Lady?”

“Well, Yulno’s done for, right? I’ll make it easier for you.”

“Lady, wait, cough! Cough! Just a moment, no, ugh.”

With closed eyes, Qing lay there, pretending to be a corpse.

A surprisingly credible act of being dead.

Believe it or not, faking one’s death is indeed one of the techniques practiced by Great Master Muhak and is scientifically termed “Guisik Daebeop.”

Though it’s merely a method to feign death, it has a remarkably grand name among Central Plain’s killing techniques.

To the Qing playing dead, Yu Yang, a physician recognized for her skills, would see it as quite a bold and radical treatment method.

What is the root of suffering?

Life! Because they are alive!

So let’s destroy life!

Yu Yang’s hand plunged deep into Yulno’s chest.

Yulno convulsed, desperately gripping his master’s wrist, but with half his belly taken, his dantian wasn’t safe either, meaning how much power could a dying person muster?

Thus, Yu Yang’s hands cautiously rummaged inside the ribcage, extracting his heart, and Yulno coughed up blood profusely.

Qing was utterly appalled by the sight.

Why are evil deeds always so successful?

I wish they’d learn to judge if someone is worth killing or not before they act, but what on earth is that pitiful sight?

Why rip out the heart? Oh, why? What are you going to do with it? Ugh, don’t eat it.

“Why are you trying to eat it raw? Shouldn’t you grill it or something? Ugh, that’s disgusting.”

“Wh-what are you!?”

Yu Yang jumped as if ambushed by a cat.

Her lower jaw painted in crimson.

“How did you, you definitely felt the sensation of piercing the heart!”

“It didn’t pierce.”

“No! There was definitely something solid that got stuck, it can’t have not been the heart!”

“Well, if you insist. Fine, you’re right. I pierced the heart. Ouch, that hurts.”

“Aha! I knew it!”

“Tsk tsk.”

Qing clicked her tongue.

What’s going on? Does this friend have low intelligence?

Could it be that while eating a heart, she’s damaged her brain?

“But if the heart got pierced, how are you so fine? Ah, I see, now I get it!”

What’s this? What does she think she’s figured out?

She’s been making me wonder.

“You, you’re also a Jiangshi! A person can’t stay fine after having their heart pierced! No wonder that stinky Jiangshi girl was acting suspiciously! I should’ve noticed sooner when that suspicious girl was being suspicious!”

Then Qing went, hmm.

And the Heart Consumption Demon shrieked.

“What, what’s wrong! Why that look on your face…!”

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