Chapter 96

Posted by Kuze, ? Views, Released on January 26, 2025

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When Qing suddenly regained consciousness, she found herself standing in the middle of the tavern.

Qing naturally settled into her seat and shouted.

“Hey! Jeomsoi!”

“Yes, Young Lady. Coming right up!”

The tavern employee, Jeomsoi, eagerly appeared.

“I need one serving of fresh meat kimchi stew, and add some ham, please. And a cold cola, not hot.”

“Young Lady, I apologize, but this tavern operates a kiosk.”

“Oh. Alright.”

Qing rose from her seat, looking a bit embarrassed.

Seriously, there isn’t a single place these days without a kiosk.

But if that’s the case, why pretend to take orders?

Qing grumbled as she placed the order and returned to her seat.

Suddenly, a warm, dull pain stabbed at her lower abdomen.

Qing thought.

Stay calm. You need to pay attention.

Pinching off the signal, Qing propped her chin on the table and looked around.

As she grew accustomed to life in the Central Plain, she was already proud to consider herself at the level of a local when it came to tavern culture.

Even so, this tavern was uniquely bizarre.

The entire space was gray, with the floor, walls, and even tables and chairs all made of stone.

It felt like they had carved out the inside of a stone mountain.

On the other hand, it had the sensation of being in an unfinished building lacking any decoration or embellishment.

Is this the so-called “emotionally charged tavern”? But hasn’t that trend faded?

Even if it has faded, the tavern was packed with guests.

It was nearly full.

Well, it’s up to the shopkeeper.

As long as the room is good and the food is tasty.

In the meantime, the food arrived and was neatly set on the table.

The longed-for kimchi stew and white rice.

Qing took a spoonful of the kimchi stew and put it in her mouth.

The well-fermented kimchi had been boiled down to a spicy, thick broth that slid down her throat.

Oh my gosh! Qing’s eyes widened.

She immediately dove into her meal like a battle.

She soaked the rice in the broth, mixed it all up, and crowned it with a piece of aged kimchi, a piece of tofu, and a piece of lean meat before claiming a mighty mouthful!

Then she cracked open a cool can of cola, relishing the fizzy sound on her tongue as she gulped it down!

Fireworks exploded in Qing’s mind.

Yes, this flavor! This fits perfectly with our home style.

I’ve really missed it.

This taste almost made me cry, or maybe it literally brought tears to my eyes.

“What’s wrong with me?”

Qing wiped the tears streaming down her face.

But crying is crying, and eating is eating.

Qing, looking quite a sight, kept shoveling food into her mouth despite her tears.

Sniffle, gulp, chew, chomp. Sniffle, cough, choke.

Crying and eating; it was a complete mess.

Yet her hands moved like a pro.

She even sprinkled some seaweed onto the mix, constantly adjusting her rice with tofu, kimchi, and meat in various combinations.

After all, kimchi stew is meant to be served with two bowls of rice.

With the self-served second bowl of rice, Qing once again battled her food.

“Phew. That was delicious. *Sniff*.”

With her swollen eyes, Qing rubbed her belly.

Even after all that, her belly still felt a bit empty.

And then she felt a sense of relief.

Whether it was due to the delicious food or the good crying, she couldn’t tell.

She had conquered her meal while simultaneously sobbing.

Qing leaned back in her chair.

But what a shame. Is there anything else?

Then, suddenly, she spotted a stone plate that had taken a place on the table.

Curiously, she leaned in and found a large screen showing the tavern’s menu neatly grouped.

Ah, a tablet. Lots of places have these nowadays.

But did this one always have it?

Then why go through the hassle of ordering at a kiosk?

Qing deftly manipulated the stone plate.

Just then, Jeomsoi pushed a cart loaded with desserts, filling the table with a feast of cakes.

From tiramisu to gleaming sugar-coated rare cheese, crispy New York cheesecake, and blackened Basque cheesecake, it was a full-blown cheese cake extravaganza.

Along with chocolate chiffon and the warm, oozing molten chocolate cake. Strawberry cream with no decorations and the elegant milk cream, layered with dough and cream in a crepe style that could even be considered bread.

Each with differently colored toppings, the éclairs aligned neatly, and on top of pancakes soaked in maple syrup sat opera cakes, waffles, brulees, custards, brownies, pies, tarts, macarons, cannoli, meringues, and croissants baked to perfection…

On top of that, a gigantic 31.01 fl oz Trenta iced americano was in Qing’s hand, signaling the birth of a dessert-destroyer who no one in the martial world could stop.

Sweet, sweet, sweet, oh-so-sweet.

After indulging in food and tears, her mood soared with a dangerously high amount of sugar, leading to the terrifying addiction symptoms known as “sugar high” in the martial world.

Then suddenly, a thought struck her.

When did I start liking sweets so much?

Qing’s hand froze.

As she was about to take a bite of the pie, the melted apple marmalade dripped down extravagantly.

Before she entered this world, she hadn’t deliberately avoided sweets.

But she hadn’t particularly made it a point to eat them either.

Sweets were clearly a preference of her current body.

Does this mean something’s off?

“Ugh, dang it. Just when I wanted to enjoy myself.”

Qing tossed aside what she held.

At that moment, she released the grip on her dantian.

Repeatedly jabbing her lower abdomen, the true energy of the Grand Virtue Seeker was unleashed.

The calm yet clear true energy flowed along her spine to her brain.

They say there are eight practices of the Buddha; the first is right view, which is seeing the world correctly.

Thus, Qing recognized the illusion.

What she was seeing, hearing, and feeling wasn’t reality.

Qing licked her lips.

Well, at least I ate my fill of kimchi stew.

I should be able to manage for another three years.

When I get back to the Divine Maiden Sect, maybe I’ll make some kimchi.

It’s just a matter of soaking the cabbage in brine, chopping up some green onions, garlic, onions, and peppers, and letting it sit, right?

If not, I can always come back here.

But seriously, what on earth is going on?

Qing had a very late moment of doubt.

From the start, she sensed something was off because the true energy of the Grand Virtue Seeker was running rampant.

She put a lid on it just to satisfy her cravings.

And now that she had thoroughly enjoyed herself, it was genuinely a happy moment.

What is this? Is it like a mental hallucinatory magic?

Is there really such a thing in martial arts?

Her master could shoot fire from his hands, fly on swords, and do everything else.

Now there’s even hallucinatory magic involved.

If that’s the case, what’s the difference between martial arts and Harry Potter?

Flying around, shooting fire, showing illusions, and with public enemies like the Demon Cultists around…

Is everything about martial arts just featuring those “Chinese lads”?

What a sacrilegious thought; the greatest creation in human history and the eight hundred billion readers of martial arts would surely have a fit!

While Qing pondered these thoughts, she walked out of the tavern.

And as she stepped outside, the scenery changed dramatically.

Inside the vast main hall of a lofty palace.

Countless thrones were occupied by figures, each having a seat for themselves.

As she familiarized herself with some of the faces, she realized they were the elite Demon Cult leaders.

One of the leaders was sitting atop a high throne, being fed fruits by a beauty, while another sat on a throne accepting bowing from silk-clad court officials, and still another Demon Cultist sat on a high throne…

Qing frowned.

“What the heck, why do they all look like they could be kings? Can’t we get some originality here?”

It was because most of the powerful figures in the Demon Cult dreamed of being kings.

After conquering the Central Plain, they wanted to be awarded a title and govern a territory, living well and prospering.

Qing brandished the Magic Flute.

She intended to help wake them up, stunned and clueless.

In fact, she thought of sending them on a one-way trip to the heavenly paradise.

As Qing approached the nearest throne with a ghastly smile, she was suddenly interrupted.

“Stop!”

A youthful voice halted her in her tracks.

Qing turned her head.

Her ghastly smile remained.

“Hey, is that you, Seung-ju? It’s so nice to see you like this! I was just hoping to see your face.”

Ji Seung-ju looked back and forth between Qing’s smile and the Magic Flute and took a few steps back.

Then, he hurriedly opened his mouth.

“If you kill me, you’ll be trapped in this illusion forever. Are you okay with that?”

“Huh? Illusion?”

“Hwan-sang-mi-jong-bul-geo-jin. It’s an evil formation of the Blood Sect belonging to the bloodline of the previous sect. You might have heard of it.”

“Huh? Formation?”

Qing asked again.

Ji Seung-ju looked at Qing with trembling eyes.

His eyes were filled with the shock of wondering how a person could be this ignorant.

“Was I supposed to explain from there?”

“Yeah, so what is this formation?”

The formation was a type of magic using the energy of nature.

To use it effectively, one had to know the geography where the ley lines flowed and read the outcomes based on how the flow twisted.

When humans walked into the formation, they would experience illusions and hear sounds, mixing all five senses and failing to recognize the unreality, leaving them unable to wake up.

“Oh. This whole mania is because of the formation?”

“Hwan-sang-mi-jong-bul-geo-jin shows mortals the illusions they desire or yearn for most.”

“And what’s so bad about that?”

Qing asked, puzzled.

Wasn’t she just able to indulge in everything she wanted and completely healed from her dilemma?

“It makes you not want to escape the formation. The illusion you consume isn’t something you actually consume; you remain awake without sleeping, making it a sweet poison that steals a person’s life.”

Qing tilted her head.

Wasn’t it just fine?

She thought as she usually did, not voicing her opinion.

“Hmm… Is that so?”

“Damn it. Oh, sorry.”

Ji Seung-ju quickly apologized.

For some reason, he couldn’t hold it back.

How just one line could irritate her so much was beyond his understanding.

“It’s a formation so intense that a person’s true thoughts can escape and be visible to others. It seems to intertwine the five elements with the 108 sacred texts, but finding the living door will first require the basic steps of the eight trigrams and the seven positions…”

“Hey.”

Qing interrupted Ji Seung-ju’s rambling.

It was all useless chatter she couldn’t understand anyway.

That’s the problem with smart people.

They think everyone else is as smart as they are.

That’s precisely why Qing deemed Seolga the brightest in their neighborhood—

At least he always explained things in a way that was easy to understand.

Smart guy talking only about what he knows?

Qing had already grasped an effective means to get through this.

The most effective conversation tool from her professor, the Magic Flute!

Qing brandished the Magic Flute as she spoke.

“You want to use fancy words?”