Chapter 243: Even Vagabonds Have Their Own Code Of Honor. (16)

In fact, there’s probably no difference in intelligence between primitive humans from pre-modern times and modern humans.

But there was one area where the difference between the two stood out – modern humans are physically much weaker than their ancestors. Instead, they gained adaptability to tools.

At least when it comes to operating tools, modern people can get a feel for them after playing with them a bit.

This was the same for Qing, so she gradually mastered the operation of the Flowing Willow Soft Refinement training device that Cheon Yuhak had memorized while enduring all kinds of scolding from his master (Ha, you can’t even memorize that, you’ll end up cutting off all your disciple’s limb meridians later, sigh, I guess this is as far as the Divine Thief goes, etc.).

As someone with a production job background, there was one rule to follow to avoid breaking these non-electric primitive mechanical devices.

Don’t force it. That’s all.

Thanks to this, after turning and tightening various parts, Qing was able to operate the training device quite skillfully.

Unfortunately, due to inexperience, she accidentally broke three precious fingers, snapping each joint backwards without even getting to enjoy the sensation of them slowly breaking.

“Mmph! Mmmph! Mmmmph!”

“Grandpa. Do you have something to say?”

“Mph! Mph!”

Gyeongdamgan responded violently.

Qing pondered for a moment.

Hmm, should I untie him, but what if he bites his tongue, hmm, bite?

Qing soon slapped her palm with her fist and removed Gyeongdamgan’s gag.

“What are you doing! An orthodox martial artist-“

Qing firmly grasped Gyeongdamgan’s jaw as it moved up and down, so the latter part became muffled.

“I just remembered, the gag was to prevent you from biting your teeth and tongue. But we’re not close enough to care about each other’s dental health, are we?”

Then Qing shoved her fingers into Gyeongdamgan’s mouth.

Gyeongdamgan bit down with all his might, but it would be ridiculous if the beautiful hands of the White Hand Demonic Arts that all under heaven fear were damaged by mere teeth.

“Ah. What I’m going to do is pull out all of Grandpa’s teeth. Then there’s no need for a gag since you won’t be able to hurt yourself, right?”

“Aah!”

“I’ll give the pulled teeth as a gift to Miss Murong. I heard Grandpa likes pulling teeth too. You pulled four of Miss Murong’s molars. Revenge should be a hundred or thousand times over, so if I pull them all out and give them to her, it should be comforting, right? Now. One.”

“Aak!”

“Two.”

“Aak!!”

“Damn, why are you licking my hand? Are you a dog, Grandpa? Well, you are a son of a bitch. Do you think you can push my fingers out with your tongue? Just give up and think you’re paying for your sins in your final years.”

“Aak!”

“Now. Four coming up. Oh my, the old man has such healthy teeth. I don’t know why masters have such good dental health too. Is it the mysterious power of inner force?”

Qing pulled out Gyeongdamgan’s teeth one by one, skipping every other one.

Originally, human teeth are called “i” and animal teeth are called “ippal” in Korean. By that standard, it would be more correct to call Gyeongdamgan’s “ippal”.

Qing thought they would pop out easily like snap-together toys, but unexpectedly there was something like a tough tendon, ooh.

Of course, since the tooth roots were firmly attached, when Qing applied force, there was a very solid, satisfying sensation as they were torn out with chunks of flesh.

Writhing in pain is an animal instinct to distract the nerves to slightly reduce pain.

Conversely, if you prevent writhing, the pain is doubled.

“Kyaak! How can you be so cruel! You heartless bitch! How can someone like you be an orthodox martial artist! You’re the world’s greatest slaughterer!”

Of course, Gyeongdamgan’s pronunciation was very inaccurate with all his teeth gone, but this is how Qing understood it:

“Oh my, I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!”

“Hmm. You’re wrong. It’s not ‘I’ll kill you’ but ‘Please kill me’. Very politely. Please kill me. Even if you beg with tears, I might or might not listen. Though I won’t anyway.”

Qing said with a bright smile.

Gyeongdamgan was still unsure and confused.

Was this revenge from a martial artist belonging to the extreme faction among the orthodox sects who believe evil people must be killed very painfully?

Or was it just an event for the pleasure of a slaughterer who enjoys others’ pain?

And now he knew.

This is, someone similar to me.

“Oh my. You’re showing some fear now. Hmm. Respect originally comes from fear. Will you be more polite now? How dare an old man who’s eaten so many blue years speak informally to a young lady who could be his granddaughter. Really, these old people these days have no sense of hierarchy, tsk.”

It was almost like a world with reversed age hierarchy.

Since she was just spouting whatever came to mind, even Qing didn’t know what she was saying.

It was just the psychology of a child chattering excitedly.

“Spare me, spare me…”

“Oh dear. You don’t understand. It’s not ‘spare me’ but ‘kill me’. That’s how old people should beg. But I won’t listen. Hehe. Doesn’t that annoy you? But what can Grandpa do? Do you want to bite your tongue since you have no teeth?”

“I-“

Qing just smiled sweetly and cut off Gyeongdamgan’s words.

“Think of it as a preview before going to hell. Ah. And the soundproofing here is really good, and I really love hearing screams, so don’t hold back and scream as much as you want. Well then, shall we start playing in earnest?”

A noisy and fun time passed.

Qing greatly deepened her understanding of the human body.

After numerous attempts, she fully mastered how far joints and tendons can endure, what resistance follows when they reach their operational limit, and how much more force is needed to completely break them.

After all of the Condemned Demon’s joints were disabled like that, Qing was also exhausted and sprawled out on the floor.

But while all the joints in his body were broken, his bones and flesh were still intact, so there was still plenty left to enjoy.

Qing could definitively say that the Flowing Willow Soft Refinement training device was truly the best tool in the Central Plains.

And then Qing did everything she wanted to do. The only regrettable point was that the Demonic Adept who had been screaming pleasant screams gradually reduced his volume after a certain point.

Qing tried pouring salt water into his mouth to encourage the Condemned Demon’s voice, but that only worked for a moment.

“Please kill me, please, I beg you. Kill me, kill me. I’m a sinner who deserves to die. So please kill me…”

“Damn, it’s noisy when someone’s trying to rest.”

“Hup.”

“I’ll kill you so wait. The game is over now.”

“Thank you, thank you.”

Qing smiled and replied:

“The game is over and we’re about to start for real. It’s not fun without seeing blood after all. I’ll untie you, so if you don’t want to be dissected alive, run away. If you don’t run, I’ll take it as consent and start peeling your flesh from your fingertips.”

He was the Demonic Adept of the Blood Cult, the Condemned Demon with no parts of his tendons left attached to bone throughout his body.

Even if untied now, he couldn’t do anything but squirm.

“Hiiik, kill me, kill me, I said kill me!”

“I answered that at the beginning, didn’t I? That I won’t listen anyway. You’ve been torturing others all your life, but you can’t even endure this much while talking about torture. Tsk.”

As someone who endured, and splendidly endured a long three-shichen process at that, Qing had the right to say this.

Qing smiled and drew her Blue Sword.

It was the sharp divine weapon returned through the willing cooperation of a Blood Cult warrior.

And.

In movies, why do they always torture in bathrooms? It’s so nice to be able to clean up neatly right after. They all know the good things.

Qing’s eyes were clear as she left the bathroom.

It was a gentle gaze like that of a Buddha who had reached nirvana, without a single trace of desire remaining.

Qing’s next match was against Wang Nopil, the master of chair violence.

But he applied for withdrawal because he couldn’t participate in the martial arts competition due to aftereffects from having his stomach cut open and the poisonous salamander removed.

“You didn’t have to withdraw. I could have gone easy on you. You could have at least swung your chair coolly before going down.”

“Hahak.”

Wang Nopil tried to laugh manfully but clutched his solar plexus. Hearty laughter consumes abdominal muscles more than expected, so his incompletely healed stomach ached.

“Don’t we have to measure to know which is longer? No matter how much of a sword master Miss Ximen is, the outcome of a martial arts match-“

“Do we really need to measure bamboo shoots and bamboo to know which is longer? This is purely an honorable defeat.”

“Honorable defeat?”

“You would have lost anyway, but now you can say you couldn’t participate in the match because of surgery, so isn’t it an honorable defeat? You’re going to say that if only you didn’t have a hole in your stomach, you could have taken down the Hidden Dragon Martial Arts Competition winner in the top 8.”

At this, Wang Nopil laughed again and then crumpled.

“You take victory for granted.”

“Well, it’s only natural?”

After finishing visiting the vagabonds who had illegally taken up residence on the third floor of the Wucheon Pavilion, Qing climbed the stairs briskly and headed to the top floor she used.

There was another illegal resident in the Murim Alliance’s best guest quarters used by Qing and Ximen Surin.

“Miss Murong. How are you feeling?”

“Hiiik.”

Murong Juhui flinched greatly and pulled the blanket over her head.

Then she slowly lowered it and peeked out with just her eyes to look at Qing.

Qing looked at Murong Juhui with pity.

“Wh-what! That look! It’s unpleasant!?”

“It’s okay. I understand everything. Here, I don’t know if this will comfort you, but. It’s a gift.”

Qing handed over a fine silk bundle.

Murong Juhui opened the bundle with half suspicion, half reluctance, then startled and jumped back.

With that momentum, Gyeongdamgan’s well-cleaned white teeth flew and scattered in all directions.

“What are you doing! Why are you doing this to me!”

“Um. These are the Condemned Demon’s teeth. I hoped it would be even a little comforting to Miss Murong. Of course, I pulled them all out while he was alive.”

“I don’t need this, this kind of thing! Why! Why are you doing this to me! What did I do wrong! Just go away! I hate you! I despise you! I don’t want to see you!”

Murong Juhui shouted as if having a fit.

No, it was a fit.

The corners of Qing’s eyes trembled.

Damn, she’s throwing a fit even though I saved her.

But she could understand.

After going through such a terrible ordeal, how could her mind not be sick?

Qing offered comfort in her own way.

It was the comfort her sworn sister gave her when Qing was having a hard time in the Demonic Cult. Because that really was a great comfort.

Qing forcibly hugged Murong Juhui.

“Let go! Let go! What are you doing!”

“It’s okay. Shh. It’s okay. Miss Murong did nothing wrong. I took care of all the bad guys. Think of it as a bad dream, a terrible nightmare. I believe Miss Murong can shake it off because you’re a strong person. Strong in body and mind.”

“Let, let go…”

Murong Juhui’s voice was wet.

“Everything’s okay. And people in the world will never know about Miss Murong’s incident. Only four people know, and they’re all people who know to keep their mouths shut, so don’t worry.”

The only people who knew about Murong Juhui’s kidnapping were Qing, Ximen Surin, Tang Nanah, and Poison Grandpa.

“So don’t worry and focus on recovery- Ugh! Aak!”

Qing suddenly stopped comforting and screamed at the intense pain that rose up.

Qing’s pain-filled voice trembled finely.

“Why, why…?”