Chapter 60

“Go on, tell me more, detail by detail.”

“Is it the Demon Sect’s advance… Tide? Wave Combat Unit?”

Qing tilted her head in confusion.

Wait a minute. Was that name a mix of the first and second units? It felt like it might be correct, but also a bit off?

Qing took a moment to retrace her memories.

Seomun Sulin was aghast.

It was no surprise, given that the sentence had taken her breath away from the very start.

“Demon Sect! Those filthy bastards!”

“They’re really bad guys.”

There definitely wasn’t a single one of them who wasn’t up to no good.

I heard the Demon Sect was a place where all the bad guys gathered, and that information turned out to be spot on.

“That was when I, um, entered some city. There an old grandmother…”

Qing casually passed over the name of the city.

Rattling off a proper noun like that was something only protagonists in novels would do.

In a similar vein, she recited an epic tale with the name of the hero who obtained the flute conveniently omitted.

However, the storyteller’s subjective interpretation felt a bit mixed in.

The invincible, relentless advance wave of the evil Demon Sect!

Qing, like a lone warrior equipped with the Thunder Sword Paladin set, single-handedly plucked the enemies’ scalps.

Consequently, the minions of the evil Demon Sect were hastily scampering away, peeing their pants in fear.

Thus, the disciple pursued the enemies like a fierce storm.

Eventually, facing the enemy’s leader, the villain was about to finish what had been started in the tomb raid.

So the disciple, at a supreme level of skill, questioned…

“Was the leader of the Demon Sect’s combat unit at a supreme level? I hadn’t heard of the ‘Relentless Wave’ name among such an elite group.”

Qing felt a bit prickly.

Oh. So you know about the Demon Sect’s combat unit?

Qing quickly changed her words.

“Well, it wasn’t quite supreme. More like, um, a full, late stage of peak…”

With some guilt prickling, Qing shifted the story from a legend to a more personal experience.

Cornering the enemy and saying she’d spare one, she recalled a moment where there wasn’t a single shred of loyalty as she poked the enemy leader right in the ribs.

“Yeah, that’s how the Demon Sect bastards are. Oh my! Your disciple’s performance was remarkable! Yes, it seems a famous female martial artist has emerged in the Jianghu!”

Seomun Sulin was overjoyed.

Although it was a bit awkward for Qing to genuinely share in the joy.

“However, the disciple’s achievements are still minor, so it’s not yet time to make a name for herself in the Jianghu…”

“But that disciple is already at a late peak level…”

“Just a late peak, huh? In a world where any decent martial official in a city should have at least a peak master, why is this disciple so weak and frail…”

It was a bitter remark towards the peak masters in the Jianghu.

If a twenty-year-old girl at a late peak level was deemed weak, then folks who celebrated reaching peak mastery at fifty should really shed some tears and rethink their lives.

That said, it wasn’t entirely off either.

After all, the opponents Qing would have to face wouldn’t always appear at a similar level.

The standard of martial artists in the Jianghu was unprecedentedly high now.

Thanks to Master Mucheondae who had liberated the martial world from imperial oversight.

Weak, pitiful, sickly, Qing protested.

“But I actually defeated a supreme master!”

“Oh? A supreme master must have a nickname associated with them. Spill it!”

“The Cannibal Demon…”

“……?”

Seomun Sulin’s attitude suggested she was willing to hear more, but she was taken aback when a familiar name came up.

Widely notorious, and a being whose skill exceeded the late peak of the supreme level.

“What on earth does that mean? The Cannibal Demon!?”

“Well, there’s a lake called Dongjeongho. Ah, do you know Dongjeongho? It’s an incredibly vast lake, and at first, I thought it was the sea.”

“Is there anyone who doesn’t know Dongjeongho?”

Oh, so you know about Dongjeongho too?

Qing regretted not displaying her knowledge.

“The Cannibal Demon, did you eliminate it completely?”

“Yes. Just as Master told me, I used the Restoration Method and blew him up!”

“What kind of talk is that? No, you did well. Those demons are small-minded; they’re worse than bugs. You must crush their roots tightly.”

Seomun Sulin nodded satisfactorily.

Then abruptly recalling a question, she asked again.

“Wait. You mentioned the Restoration Method, but no matter how profound your inner strength is, there’s no way a regular technique could overcome such a gap in skill.”

“Oh. That’s because, you know the Buddha’s Physical Body? I was so scared. I used the Buddha’s Physical Body and BOOM! The Cannibal Demon went BOOM! Just like that.”

Qing mimicked the motion of striking, proudly showcasing her skill.

With the “BOOM” she swung her hands, producing cute bell sounds like “dong, dong.”

“……?”

Seomun Sulin was caught off guard again.

The Buddha’s Physical Body… That was a vision of the Shaolin.

Unfortunately, it had long since become a legendary tale recorded in history.

Thanks to a similar martial art known as the Hundred Step Divine Fist.

Since it was fundamentally a boxing technique, it matched well with Shaolin’s martial arts, boasting great power and range.

Because of that, the legitimate disciples chose the Hundred Step Divine Fist, abandoning the Buddha’s Physical Body, leading to it dying out at some point.

It was the highest technique of Shaolin that had already been lost to practical use.

How could it be unfolding in the hands of her disciple?

Yet dismissing it as bragging wasn’t easy, given the unique qualities of the supreme cultivation power, and she had just heard the bell sound firsthand.

“No, how is this possible?”

Seomun Sulin fell into a whirlwind of confusion.

But she quickly regained her composure, thanks to the considerable depth of her inner strength.

“Well then, what does it matter? Those monks from Shaolin neglected their vision, so what could they possibly say if it continued through my disciple?”

Seomun Sulin’s face brightened.

“How fitting! The vision that they treated women like some kind of monster ultimately passes on to a woman. Ha! Even now, it feels so refreshing. You, my disciple, are lucky to have such beauty.”

In Seomun Sulin’s view, the Shaolin were nothing but rude creatures who banned women from entering.

As if they believed women would tempt their monks. Those bald-headed bastards.

Faced with her sudden outburst of radical feminist warrior rhetoric, Qing was at a loss for words.

And ordinarily, in such situations, laughter was the appropriate response.

“Hehe…”

“Don’t laugh so shamelessly! I’ve said it repeatedly—ah, no. If those monks ever cause trouble with that technique, just mention my name. How dare they!”

“Yes, Master.”

“Well, there must be a story behind this, so I won’t ask about the origins of the technique. But, is there another martial art you’ve learned?”

Qing gauged Seomun Sulin’s mood.

Seeing her pleased with the Buddha’s Physical Body might slip her past the Supreme Hand-to-Hand Combat.

After all, if the secret was discovered, she’d be caught!

Her Master was a grand master of traditional medicine!

So maybe it would be best to be honest now, given how pleased she seemed?

“Well, Master. I accidentally learned a demonic art…”

“Demonic art?”

Seomun Sulin’s eyebrows shot up as if they were dancing.

Qing flinched.

Seeing that reaction, Seomun Sulin’s heart softened again.

“Sure. A young girl wandering the Jianghu might as well have a wicked technique up her sleeve.”

To a martial artist, having a secret weapon was a requisite skill.

In that light, having one demonic art isn’t a huge deal.

Seomun Sulin thought so.

“So, what might that demonic art be?”

On the other hand, Qing felt a great sense of relief.

Oh, it connects!

“Yes! It’s the Supreme Hand-to-Hand Combat!”

Qing exclaimed brightly.

It was a betrayal of a disciple’s affection for her dearly loved master.

BAM!!!

“Yikes!”

A frog-like scream burst from Qing as she was stomped on.

Felt like her head had just exploded.

Qing clutched her head, rolling on the ground.

The pain was akin to a skull-crushing nightmare.

In an instant, her face heated up, tears and snot flowing down.

In a snow-white haze of consciousness, only pure agony existed, comparable to torture itself.

Holy crap! It hurts like hell! Did my head just bust?!

Normally, she would’ve received a fist in the gut for saying that.

However, for whatever reason, Seomun Sulin happened to be holding Qing’s gift at that moment.

For ages, and extending into the future, the flute is one of the most powerful weapons and divine objects in her master’s possession!

Besides, the Magic Flute was made of everlasting steel.

“Oh no! Are you okay!?”

Seomun Sulin suddenly felt a pang of regret.

She forgot that the everlasting steel club could be a little unwieldy.

She completely failed to control her strength.

It was like a tungsten rod weighing 18,300 grams falling from an astronomical orbit.

What a divine power it held!

If it hadn’t been for Qing’s impressive bone density, a catastrophic incident where the master crushed her disciple’s skull would have occurred.

In reality, even if she did crush it, it would have been considered an accident.

After all, the disciple was learning the Supreme Demoness’ techniques!

Even if she smeared her sect and master’s name, there was a limit to how much one could stumble.

“Stop whining and get up already.”

“This really, really hurts…”

As Qing’s eyes turned red, another tear rolled down.

Seomun Sulin sighed deeply.

“Where on earth did you learn the Supreme Hand-to-Hand Combat? No, even if I accept that, what the hell compelled you to learn such a vicious demonic art?”

“I didn’t realize demonic arts were that bad…”

Qing had a point there.

Qing’s background was that of a modern world beyond time, space, or even whatever screen meaning, she didn’t know.

In the modern world, the expressions were so harsh that they could find themselves beyond the realms of the Jianghu.

And in modern exchanges, there was no one who would frown upon friends swearing lightly at each other, despairing over family discord or societal collapse.

In fact, Koreans are known to be more tolerant of tough language than any other nation on earth.

That’s Qing for you.

There’s no way she’d grasp the weight of a term like “demonic arts.”

If it was something along the lines of “scum art,” “brat art,” or “life sentence art,” she surely wouldn’t have learned it.

So, to her, demonic arts and magic arts both seemed like the same thing, a family of the “Ma” clan.

She originally thought there wouldn’t be an issue at all.

“This useless girl, what am I to do with you…”

Seomun Sulin could only sigh in frustration.

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