Chapter 92

“Hoo…”

Qing let out a breath and tossed the whip aside.

In the room lay a gruesome corpse, its torso and innards gruesomely hacked apart.

Qing surveyed the surroundings, disgusted.

Fortunately, the Sutra Sword had a cloth draped over it, covering the lower half of the body.

“Hmm. Good. This makes it look better.”

The old man’s repulsive backside.

For the sake of the person who might discover it later, it was better to cover it up.

But it looked a bit boring.

What if I added a little more decoration?

With a gleam in her eyes, Qing glanced around again.

She grabbed a couple of thick wooden carvings shaped like phalluses and placed one in each hand of the corpse, scattering a few more around the area.

Great! Now it looks like a proper erotic scene.

Qing nodded in satisfaction and pulled out a crumpled mask from her chest pocket.

She looked highly suspicious, wearing just a mask on her face in the summer heat.

Gingerly, she pushed open the only iron door, revealing a dimly lit cave illuminated by candlelight.

At the end, she reached a ladder, cautiously pushing the lid aside to peek outside, and was met with a lavish room’s scenery.

Awesome, no signs of life around.

Ah. Could it be a treasure room!?

A treasure room is the rightful claim of the protagonist.

Qing stealthily descended and began rummaging through the drawers and tossing clothes aside.

But it was just the Sutra Sword’s bedroom.

There were indeed fine ceramics, scrolls, and silk clothing that looked expensive at first glance.

However, there was no way to cash them in.

So, all she found was an old secret manual tucked away in a box under the bed.

The Martial Arts Inventory lit up, revealing the registered name.

Hundred-Eight Sura Sword.

At the same time, a mission window popped up.

[Fortuitous Event – Remembering the Great Dragon]

[You have gathered one-third of the Ten Great Demonic Arts of the World.]

Triple Kill: Achieve all ten mastery levels of the Ten Great Demonic Arts and accomplish the great success of the Reverse Transformation Technique.

[Upon completion, acquire the ultimate martial art: Northern Star Divine Skill.]

“Oh wow. Ultimate martial art.”

Qing exclaimed without realizing it and then thought again.

But isn’t that a bit too strong of a word?

Using such an intense term makes it seem weaker, right?

Besides, I’ve never even heard of Northern Star Divine Skill.

If it’s a martial art that’s as powerful as it sounds, Seolga, the top figures, and even Lady Seomun would have mentioned it.

But what’s with this connection between ten demonic arts and the Reverse Transformation Technique?

I have no idea.

For now, Qing burned the secret manual in the lantern’s flame.

Because such a cursed demonic art that creates masochists should not exist in this world.

In any case, Qing was already registered through underhanded means.

Whether she burned the manual or not didn’t matter to her.

She tossed the burning manual onto the massive bed, which was stuffed with feathers and wrapped in the finest silk from the Central Plain.

The expensive bed, worth dozens of golds, was set ablaze.

Once I escape, it will be a rewarding day.

Qing inhaled deeply.

—-

Seolga had said to inform him of the outcome, whether it ended in success or failure.

This was a different reaction from his usual “Once it’s done, don’t come back to splash water; go wash your feet and sleep.”

So, despite the tense timing, she returned to tug on the line and stepped into the tiny Seolga.

As per usual, she tried to lie down, but for some reason, she found herself facing the seated Seolga, who hadn’t slept.

“What happened?”

“Who am I? Seomun Qing. The embodiment of greatness. The title of greatness exists solely for me.”

“Looks like you succeeded.”

With that, Seolga shot up.

“What? Where are you going? You just got here.”

“I’m going to unpack. I was all set to leave if you didn’t come.”

The already narrow room seemed to grow a bit wider for some reason.

It was apparent that he had every intention to bolt if things went south!

Qing was incredulous and asked,

“Didn’t you say if I got caught, you would plan for the future?”

“I tend to look a bit further ahead. When the storm hits, one must take cover.”

“But your friend was in that storm.”

“If you intended to drag him into the underworld, then he could hardly be called a friend.”

He really wouldn’t budge an inch.

But this time, his logic seemed a bit weak, and it was already that tone she had heard before.

Qing frowned, realizing that he always just talks a good game.

There’s no loyalty in that guy, no loyalty at all.

Evidently, the greatest intellect of the Central Plain has dropped to the level of the town’s best intellect.

Seolga’s evaluation of him had dropped several notches.

Although he had been overrated, the drop was still quite an embarrassing fall!

“In any case, you managed to pull it off. By the looks of your face, it doesn’t seem like there’s been any misdeeds.”

“Wow. In my lifetime, I witnessed that.”

Qing immediately filled him in on the Sutra Sword’s successes.

To her surprise, Seolga nodded calmly.

“There are indeed quite a few of those.”

“What? There are that many?”

“Not at that blatant level, though. They’re the types that push their muscles to the breaking point during external training.”

“Aren’t they just people who work out hard?”

“Think about it. Such folks likely only survive on gruel or overcooked meat. They view fine dining as some sort of sin, yet find no pleasure in anything else. They just suffer their bodies until they’re wrecked with aftereffects. Not to mention they split their body parts to divide the day, practicing suffering non-stop.”

“Oh? Now that you mention it…”

“Having already found pleasure in suffering, they need fine dining like a hole in the head, and for the same reason, they won’t find other hobbies. They always claim it’s about muscles, but what good are those well-trained muscles anyway?”

That was Seolga’s argument.

Seolga didn’t have an ounce of muscle on him and was as thin as a stick, but that was a very logical inference regardless of that.

“Ah! That’s definitely true.”

Qing was impressed.

Truly, the smartest guy in town.

His observations on people were acute.

Who knew there were so many sadistic perverts out there!

“Having enough strength to wield a weapon without inner strength is all that’s needed. Instead, wouldn’t it be better to gather more energy and grow the Dantian?”

“Right. The more inner strength, the better.”

“Of course. Hmm. How did we get sidetracked?”

Seolga cleared his throat.

“Looks like there’s nothing more to be done. Until the day we head to the Heavenly Demon Sect, it’s best to rest and fine-tune your martial arts.”

“What? Is that it? I just got warmed up!”

“You.”

Seolga let out a deep sigh.

“Don’t underestimate the cult members.”

Among the poisonous creatures of the Central Plain, there was something called solitude.

All sorts of venomous creatures were shoved into a jar, and its entrance sealed off.

Thus, the poisons would consume each other.

In the end, the survivor would absorb all the other poisons, becoming more potent.

The cult had turned the city into a melting pot of solitude, championing the survival of the fittest while eliminating all disciples of the weak.

The weak had no voice in an unreasonable society, and the strong had their way, justified under the pretense of survival.

From the start, the cult didn’t plan to advance the realm.

What they needed were strong contenders for conquering the Central Plain and plenty of pawns.

Qing’s series of bewildering events turned out to be the product of extreme efficiency.

To produce masters swiftly, and in abundant numbers.

“In any case, the real upper-tier warriors probably don’t even dwell within the battalions. You might have taken down several powerful demons, but they were merely resting on their laurels due to years of peace.”

“Hmm.”

“You’ll likely have to prepare to head out at night starting tomorrow. All the top demons of the cult will be crawling out, searching for prey.”

So, what? It’s unfortunate, but there’s nothing I can do about it.

Qing nodded.

She hadn’t been burned when listening to Seolga’s advice before.

Even if his loyalty was questionable, his intellect was genuinely sharp.

In fact, ever since the great master appeared, things had become quite dull.

As expected, they said the divine skill was unbeatable!

It was absurd to the Great Master.

Qing was just tired from too much fun.

There’s a psychological threshold in people, and once you get used to things, even the most amusing activities lose their charm.

Qing completely let go of her longing for a night stroll.

—-

The top investigator of the Divine Sect, Seok Hoom Hoom, gleamed with delight.

“Hehe, that rat won’t be able to scurry around anymore.”

With the death of the Sutra Sword, the Watchtower declared it would no longer overlook incidents.

They granted the top investigator Seok Hoom Hoom extraordinary cooperation authority.

He could now seek assistance from the deputy leaders of the battle corps, as well as any disciples of the sect below that rank.

“Sir Investigator, is this plan really okay? Mobilizing this many masters for a nighttime patrol…”

The aide observed the patrol plan that was nearly incomprehensible in the city’s nighttime routes.

This was more like an elaborate trap than a patrol.

And it consisted solely of top-tier masters.

“Hehe, all the crimes so far occurred at night. That means if we catch all the suspicious individuals at night, one of them must be the culprit.”

Seok Hoom Hoom’s bloodshot eyes glared menacingly.

“If you try to run again, that’ll be your funeral.”

Sadly, that only applied if the culprit dared to act again during the night.

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