Chapter 272: Journey To Shaolin (3)

What’s this? Is it me?

Qing looked at the pair of high-quality shoes above her head and glanced left and right while turning her head as little as possible.

Conclusively, it seems it is me?

Qing slowly raised her head.

In fact, Qing is not from this place.

She wasn’t particularly honored or at a loss for what to do with herself.

She just didn’t want to be the center of attention alone in this atmosphere.

The Empress? Well, I was friends with a prince too. I ate meals with Jayoo and didn’t go to the bathhouse or sleep together, but we did eat meals.

If I had to say, am I about the friend of the Empress’s son?

To be precise, not the prince’s friend but Jayoo’s personal friend.

Qing raised her head and looked at the self-proclaimed and other-proclaimed mother of all Central Plains people.

Though there was backlighting, Qing’s superhuman vision could clearly distinguish the Empress’s face hidden in the shadows.

A very, very beautiful noblewoman.

It was hard to guess her age just by looking at her face, as she maintained her youth with taut skin despite having some traces of age.

Well, at the Empress’s level, wouldn’t she spend about two shichen a day solely focused on her skin? she thought.

Unlike Qing who had no particular thoughts, the Empress’s eyes looking down trembled uncontrollably.

“Child, what, what is your name?”

“I am called Ximen Qing of the Divine Maiden Sect, Your Majesty.”

“How old are you?”

“I turned twenty this year, Your Majesty.”

“Oh my. Ximen Qing, Ximen Qing…”

And then after staring down uncomfortably, she abruptly said one more thing.

“You’re carrying a sword? Are you a martial artist?”

“Yes.”

“What level of achievement have you reached?”

“Shamefully, it’s only been a few days since I reached the Transcendent Realm.”

“Eunuch? What level is the Transcendent Realm? Should it be considered admirable to achieve at twenty, or is it shamefully late?”

“Your Majesty, it is an amazing achievement unprecedented in Central Plains history. If Your Majesty were not here, it would be such an outrageous claim that I would harshly rebuke and scold them for daring to lie.”

“Is that so? Then it is truly admirable. I have heard about the lives of many common people, but I don’t think I’ve heard how female martial artists live. I was thinking of hearing about it this time.”

And then the Empress and the eunuch stared at Qing at the same time.

What’s this? As Qing just blinked her eyes, she heard words hurriedly spoken in one breath with no pitch, just breath sounds, from beside her.

-Your grace is boundless.

Miss Seol! You weren’t an ice cube!

Qing swallowed the answer raw and replied as is.

“Ah. Your grace is boundless, Your Majesty.”

And so Qing followed behind the Empress towards the golden carriage.

Uncomfortably crossing between everyone pressed to the ground, she put down all her weapons in front of the carriage.

“A flute? Do you know how to play the flute?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Though my skill is clumsy.”

“Then there’s no need to put it down. Play for me too.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

In fact, to Qing the Bokshinjeok is more of a short staff with the added function of making sound when blown, a very hard Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron weapon, rather than a flute.

Qing boarded the golden carriage with the Empress while carrying her weapon, so it could be said that the last words of Grand Historian So-and-so, that a man should climb the Emperor’s stairs carrying a seven-foot sword, were realized here.

After boarding the huge golden carriage like that and chasing out even the court ladies to have some conversation, Qing was face to face with the Empress alone in the vast space.

Didn’t she ask to hear about the life of a female martial artist?

As Qing was choosing what story to tell, suddenly a shocking order like a bolt from the blue, lightning on a clear day came down.

“Take off your clothes.”

“…Pardon?”

“Did you not hear? I told you to undress.”

For a moment, all kinds of feelings crossed her mind.

What on earth is this bizarre order?

As soon as we’re alone, the first thing she says is to take off my clothes. It’s fortunate she’s a woman and a wife, if it was a man I would have thrown the Bokshinjeok immediately.

A pervert has possessed her! Exorcise the demon! Be quiet! she thought.

Qing looked at the Empress in shock, but there was no lewdness or other strange colors in her eyes, just affection.

“I just have something to confirm, so don’t be too hesitant.”

“Y-yes…”

So Qing reluctantly pulled off her clothes. She doesn’t even turn her head away, just staring intently, so the pressure is a thousand, ten thousand times greater.

After stripping completely naked like that from the first meeting, the Empress spoke again with trembling voice and ordered:

“Lift your left breast.”

“L-like this?”

“More tightly, yes.”

When Qing lifted her heavy flesh, the Empress froze completely like a broken person. Then suddenly she reached out with greatly trembling hands and rubbed under Qing’s left breast.

“Um, Your Majesty, this is troublesome.”

“There’s a mole here. There’s a mole…”

“A mole? There’s a mole there?”

At this, Qing looked down and twisted and turned her breast mound this way and that making a fuss, but she couldn’t confirm because of the flesh in the way.

Afterwards, the Empress observed Qing’s body from various angles, telling her to stand, turn around.

Then suddenly a tear streamed down.

“Your Majesty?”

“Child, don’t you know? I’m your mother, your mother is right here. This mother recognized you at a glance, you cruel child, how can you not even greet me warmly, how can you do this…”

And then she couldn’t continue speaking as tears overflowed, sobbing quietly, so Qing could only be dumbfounded.

And then.

It took quite some time for the Empress to calm down.

When Qing didn’t know what to do, she suddenly hugged her tightly, making her even more at a loss.

After all, suddenly hearing something like “I’m your mother” is like dialogue coming from that noisy universe, wondering if this is really okay.

“Um, I think you’re misunderstanding something, there are types of martial arts that make you pretty. My appearance comes from that, so my original form was twisted and tangled and hideously ugly, so I think Your Majesty is mistaken…”

Qing’s beauty comes from the Fairy Arts, or more precisely, the transcendent charm ability points from raising ability scores by learning various martial arts.

When Qing first entered the martial arts world, she was truly an ugly creature no one would take even if given, so recognizing her from her current beauty doesn’t make sense.

However, the Empress was not discouraged.

“A strange disease caused fever sores to bloom, your skin festered and your face was twisted by facial paralysis, so your beautiful face changed to an ugly creature in an instant. Now that the disease has healed, your original form has come out.”

“No, that’s not it. If I was really a princess or something, I wouldn’t have been sitting alone in that cave with my eyes open in the first place.”

“You mean the cave at the foot of the western mountains in Liaoning?”

“Ah.”

“Yes. They said that when you came back to life, you would forget everything from your past life and become a new person. Those wicked monks didn’t completely deceive me with lies.”

“Could you explain a bit to this Divine Maiden…”

On the first day of the fourth month, Princess Yeon Sul fell ill with a strange disease.

All kinds of skilled physicians came but there was no improvement.

The one called Divine Doctor, the greatest physician in the martial arts world, diagnosed and said: Her brain is already dead, she’s just a living corpse. She’ll stop breathing in three days, so it’s best to prepare your hearts.

At that time, monks calling themselves priests of the Divine Maiden Temple, wicked nuns from India, came.

And they said:

Her soul and spirit have already reached the brink of death, she has already crossed the river of the underworld and is just a corpse breathing with only her physical body alive.

But if we keep her breathing for forty-nine days with divine rituals, we can deceive the ledger of King Yama’s messengers in the underworld.

Then the soul missing from the ledger will return and the dead person will come back to life.

However, since the soul has already been soaked in the yellow springs of the underworld, all memories of the human world will be forgotten, so even if she comes back to life she won’t be the ruler from before.

At this, the Crown Princess took charge of the ruler with maternal love and departed for the spiritual cave in Liaoning with 2,500 gold taels and all kinds of elixirs.

And on the sixty-first day, she returned with a healthy body along with the monks, so the Emperor and Crown Prince were overjoyed and impressed by their wondrous magic, giving them official positions as imperial palace monks and writing the signboard for the Divine Maiden Temple.

“This foolish mother was deceived. Those wicked Indian witches must have put forward an impostor imitating you. But the Emperor has long since lost his former intelligence and fallen for those witches’ illusions, so I came here to at least pray for your soul in my sorrow at losing my child, losing you, and oh my, thanks be to the Buddha for his great compassion…”

“Uh…”

To be honest, it wasn’t very believable.

If the mission window hadn’t flashed, she wouldn’t have believed it at all.

What Qing felt at this was relief.

Ah. So I wasn’t something that suddenly appeared assembled out of thin air with a human-like appearance, or some kind of monster.

I really am a person, a human.

There was an original owner of the body I was using, and from what I hear if her brain died was she brain dead? A vegetative state?

When the mental parasite invaded, I confirmed there was no other mind inside me, so it seems the original owner of the body had already gone to the afterlife long ago.

Whether the protagonist of Murim Chronicles: A Tale of Life and Death that Qing chose originally had this background story, or whether this body was exactly right with a twisted and festering appearance from a strange disease in the world because she set charm ability points to the lowest, was unknown.

It would remain unknown forever.

If some omniscient being had seen, they might have clicked their tongue saying who threatened you with a knife to choose Blood Poison constitution, did you really have to forcibly summon the Heavenly Slaughter Star with a long activity cycle still remaining?

If Qing had known, she would have felt wronged.

Who sits around considering such details in a virtual world setting enjoyed as a hobby? she would say.

And then she became perplexed again.

So what are you going to say now?

Unfortunately, your daughter has already passed away.

I’m using the body she left behind very well, so don’t worry and just offer some devotions. While you’re at it, could you do it somewhere that doesn’t ban women’s entry instead of Shaolin, like the Emei Sect? She couldn’t say something like that.

But she also couldn’t make a fuss saying oh my, so you were my mother.

Regardless of the mission, Qing was not the Empress’s daughter.

At least the body seemed to be, but in this situation the saying that a person’s identity lies in their memories was felt keenly.

My mom doesn’t exist in this world but is living well in that world.

I’m not sure if she’s still fine after losing a child, but my older brother and younger sister should have comforted her well.

At that moment, the Empress stroked Qing’s cheek.

It was an incredibly affectionate touch.

“You were alive. My daughter. You were alive. Yes, seeing your face alive like this, I’m grateful, just for you being alive. Though this mother was sorry for not daring to follow you in death, seeing you living so beautifully and well is truly admirable.”

This is becoming like I’m really going to become a princess.

Qing spoke with difficulty:

“Um. I’m sorry to say this, but this Divine Maiden is already living as Ximen Qing, disciple of the Divine Maiden Sect, so Your Majesty…”

She started to say it but couldn’t finish.

Your Majesty what?

Please pretend not to know? This is strange.

I am not your daughter?

Isn’t this even stranger?

Either way, Qing was at a loss.

At this, the Empress nodded instead.

“I see. Perhaps it’s for the best. The current imperial palace is a den of wicked demons. Rather, it’s fortunate that you came out to the safe secular world.”