Chapter 242: Even Vagabonds Have Their Own Code Of Honor. (15)

Gyeongdamgan answered weakly. His voice was deflated, almost like he didn’t care what happened anymore.

“I don’t know either. He’s been out of sight since morning. How would I know if he’s passed out drunk or enjoying himself alone after finding suitable material?”

What material? He still hasn’t come to his senses.

Qing clicked her tongue disapprovingly.

Separately from that, it meant she had come up empty-handed after all.

Qing didn’t doubt Gyeongdamgan’s testimony and immediately believed and accepted it. At least when it came to selling out comrades, Gyeongdamgan was a very reliable person. The loyalty of these kinds of people is shallower than muddy water pooled on the road.

Moreover, the very concept of “missing persons” is extremely vague in the Central Plains.

The Korean people, Qing’s spiritual roots, may not understand well.

The Korean nation’s government collected all information on every individual, even fingerprints.

This is a fully police state achievement unique to Koreans in the whole world.

Koreans don’t understand at all why foreigners suddenly shout “Big Brother” and are shocked when they learn this.

Even the Chinese people couldn’t officially register all their non-citizens (unregistered people, called “rat kids”)!

So in Qing’s homeland, as long as the police aren’t turning a blind eye because they know the kidnappers, it doesn’t happen that someone is kidnapped and used as a slave.

In addition to voluntarily submitting personal information, the entire population was equipped with real-time communication devices that also function as location trackers.

Therefore, if someone suddenly couldn’t be contacted, people would immediately notice something was wrong and reach the conclusion of a missing person.

Just having the location tracker turned off while not going far would already raise great anxiety in people’s hearts.

However, how is it in the primitive, uncivilized Central Plains?

If someone leaves home saying they’re going to watch the Murim Conference, even if there’s no contact for at least three months – a month to get there, a month to watch, a month to return – people just think they must be having fun.

After about half a year passes, they start to think it’s about time they came back, what are they doing, and after about a year, they accept eternal parting thinking the kid must have been stabbed somewhere.

Moreover, in the Central Plains even basic postal systems are the exclusive domain of the government, relying on huge amounts of money or connections with people going that way who can take care of your business too.

It’s a world where you can’t send even one letter if you don’t have money or connections!

So even if Qing is absent for 3-4 days, no one particularly worries. They just think she must have gone somewhere or maybe they missed each other.

Even if Murong Juhui hadn’t left a note saying she was returning home first, her family probably wouldn’t have worried much for about a week.

They’d think, did she cause some trouble again? Is she avoiding showing her face because she’s embarrassed?

Similarly, Gyeongdamgan’s words that he hadn’t been seen since morning also fell into this context.

He might be playing alone somewhere or maybe he was given a separate mission from above. If the Leader is absent, people just click their tongues, it’s not a big deal.

“Hmm. I’m asking just in case, but do you have any intention of removing the parasites from the infected people?”

“Kuhuhuk, just kill them. I should take plenty of companions on my way to the afterlife.”

“Aren’t they enemies rather than companions? You’ll get beaten on the way to the afterlife.”

“When you die it’s over, is there a road to the afterlife? If heaven wants to punish evil people it should show it while they’re alive, would it spout nonsense about paying for sins after death, believe it or not?”

“Hmm. That’s true.”

If divine punishment fell immediately for doing bad things, there wouldn’t be any bad people in the world.

Suffering after death or whatever, in the end it’s just pitiful self-comfort from the living wishing it were so.

“Kuhuhuk, what will you do now, if you kill me-“

“Ah. By the way, the vagabonds are in a deep sleep after taking strong medicine. So threats like ‘if I die the queen parasite will carry out an unlimited self-destruct operation’ won’t work.”

Gyeongdamgan snorted at this and said:

“I’ll remove the parasites. Just spare my life.”

“Hmm. You think the same as me.”

At this, Gyeongdamgan’s expression bloomed.

Qing smiled refreshingly and continued:

“You don’t have to remove the parasites, but I hope the impotent grandpa lives for a very, very long time. You can’t die, okay?”

They say the Second Line Blood Parasite Team Leader Blood Wheel Demon’s martial prowess surpassed the Unrestrained Realm. The information provider didn’t know his exact realm.

It’s natural to hide one’s abilities in the martial arts world, so revealing early, mid, or late stages would be a bit foolish.

I was going to ask Master to take care of the Blood Wheel Demon, but it’s truly regrettable that he’s absent.

So Qing grabbed the Condemned Demon’s sparse hair, who she had knocked unconscious, and dragged him outside.

Then she found Ximen Surin, who was looking around the underground Blood Cult base, and smiled brightly.

“Master! Your disciple has caught the Condemned Demon.”

“Are you hurt anywhere? There’s not a spot without blood on you.”

“Not a single drop of my blood. How could I get hurt just catching a mere Transcendent Realm nobody?”

“I see. So now you can easily handle Transcendent Realm opponents. Well done.”

Ximen Surin just gently praised Qing despite seeing her blood-covered appearance.

Seeing that state rather brought up nostalgic memories. The joyful times of her youth, soaking in the blood of her targets while slaughtering the enemies of women in the martial arts world.

“It seems the Blood Wheel Demon has left. They say they don’t know if he just briefly left his post or what.”

“Then I should stay here a bit longer. But, what are you going to do with that scum you caught? Without cutting off his limbs and throwing him in a pigsty.”

The Condemned Demon’s evil tastes are quite well-known.

It’s natural, since he wouldn’t have gotten the title Condemned Demon if they weren’t known.

“Hmm, I have something I want to try. It might help with training too. Hmm. But where is Teacher? We need to do it together.”

“Hmph. The Divine Thief isn’t eccentric for nothing. He must have found some precious item to steal again. There might be another woman wearing underwear made of treasure maps.”

“Or it might be a man.”

When Qing joked back, Ximen Surin pretended to lightly flick her forehead.

“You brat. How can you joke about your senior like that?”

The woman wearing underwear made of treasure maps refers to Wang Zhuhui, the Heavenly Dull Sword and leader of the Divine Maiden Sect.

Ximen Surin often teases Wang Zhuhui when she sees her, asking how the world’s most valuable underwear is.

Leaving behind Ximen Surin, who said she would stay underground in case the Blood Wheel Demon, the Second Line Blood Parasite Team Leader, returned, Qing headed to the surface.

On the way, Blood Cult warriors with their limbs cut off appeared one by one, strangely without bleeding, writhing and groaning.

Qing thought about finishing them off, but left them alone since it would be disrespectful to carelessly clean up the guys Master deliberately left.

Even if that wasn’t the case, they were living relays for the queen blood parasite’s unlimited self-destruct operation.

There was also a need to keep them alive to clean them all up at once later.

In the Wucheon Pavilion bathhouse, there was a device for torturing Qing, no, for Flowing Willow Soft Refinement training.

And someone other than Qing was firmly fixed to it, namely the villain known to the world as the Condemned Demon Gyeongdamgan.

After Cheon Yuhak bound his limbs with the precious items he used to tie up Qing, Qing brought a blazing torch right up to his cut wrist.

“Mmmmph!!!”

“Oh my. Stay still. Just stopping the bleeding at the acupoint isn’t enough, the blood will gush out again. I’m treating you so you can live long.”

“Mmph!!”

“No, you’re acting like you’re dying just from a little wound. It’s just a bit stinging. Such exaggeration from an old man.”

Qing thoroughly seared Gyeongdamgan’s wrist.

Since she directly applied fire to roast it, it would be classified as direct grilling if we had to categorize it.

Ah. I want to eat samgyeopsal.

It wasn’t something to say while roasting a person’s wrist alive, but Qing couldn’t help it as the smell of cooking meat stung her nose.

Qing knows from direct experience, but once you’re properly tied to the Flowing Willow Soft Refinement training device, you really can’t make even the slightest movement.

This was because it was ergonomically designed, as the patient could become completely disabled if they moved during the delicate work of cutting joints and tendons.

So Gyeongdamgan, who had been screaming muffled screams through his gag, went limp.

“Ah, did he die!?”

Qing hurriedly checked Gyeongdamgan’s pulse.

A Transcendent Realm master’s lifeline doesn’t break from medical procedures like cauterizing wounds.

Qing was deeply relieved at this.

Then when she returned to the Wucheon Pavilion, there was a welcome familiar face she hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Ah, Grandpa! Have you been well?”

“Yes, have you been well?”

The gently smiling, gracefully aged old man was none other than the Tang clan’s patriarch, whom Qing called Poison Grandpa.

Poison Grandpa casually asked:

“Hmm. So. I heard Surin is here?”

“Ah. Master is staying below to take care of the Blood Cult’s leader.”

“Is that so?”

The patriarch’s expression brightened.

His shin that was broken after being kicked for making some aphrodisiacs still ached when it rained.

After hearing news of Ximen Surin’s appearance, he didn’t even turn his head towards the Wucheon Pavilion.

But what does an aching shin matter when they’ve caught the Second Line Blood Parasite?

It’s not easy to remove others’ parasites.

Qing just stabbed the belly and pulled it out, but that was an action taken with the intention to kill from the start.

It’s a big problem if the intestines are punctured, but if you try to forcibly pull out the parasite, it spews out the poison gland it’s holding, so deadly poison flows into the body.

Qing just roughly pulled it out since she only needed them to be alive while she enjoyed for a moment.

But she couldn’t do that to Murong Juhui and the vagabonds, so she needed the help of a giant who had mastered both poisons and medicine.

And so, late at night.

Poison Grandpa, who had packed lots of living Second Line Blood Parasites in glass bottles, left excitedly.

Qing watched closely as the master of human anatomy worked, and it was truly the divine skill of a doctor specializing in the human body.

And the Second Line Blood Parasite was unexpectedly, hmm, cute?

Qing had imagined something like earthworms or fleas since they were parasites, but when she saw the actual contents, it was closer to a translucent salamander in appearance.

With a broad head and two horizontal lines drawn, she thought ah, so that’s why it’s called the Second Line Blood Parasite.

But wondering if such creatures originally existed, she thought about it and realized, isn’t this a world where people use the mysterious power called inner force and shoot light swords and even fly around?

A parasitic salamander wouldn’t be strange either, she thought.

Now if only Teacher would return.

She wanted to learn the Flowing Willow Soft Refinement procedure since she had good teaching material.

She thought it would be good to learn now since she’d have to do it for her disciples later too.

Moreover, the work of cutting joints and tendons almost to the point of destruction through sensation, wow, just thinking about it made her so excited.

However, Cheon Yuhak did not return.

Instead, a stranger appeared and only delivered Cheon Yuhak’s message saying not to worry because he’d be late.

Hmm. Why did he send the messenger collect on delivery?

Teacher has a lot of money too.

Isn’t five silver taels a bit expensive for ten characters saying “I’ll be late, don’t worry disciple”?

In the end, it meant Cheon Yuhak was doing something and would be late.

Qing made a decision as the tied up Gyeongdamgan was getting weaker and she thought he might die at this rate.

Plus she needed to send the queen parasite’s self-destruct signal while the Blood Cult warriors, the relays, were still alive.

Well, if I turn the handles and try it myself to see how it works, can’t I learn on my own without Teacher necessarily teaching me?