Chapter 231: Wanderers Have Their Own Code of Honor

The highly motivated martial artists cut through the night.

Cheon Yuhak tracked them using the Tracking Scent, a mysterious Eastern art whose principles were unknown. It was a skill Qing would have to learn later.

Finally, Cheon Yuhak stopped before the wall of a secluded, abandoned estate on the city's outskirts, holding up a finger.

Qing asked, "They're in here?"

"Yes," Cheon Yuhak replied. "Hmm. I don't sense anyone else nearby, though."

Qing closed her eyes and focused on the surrounding sounds. Using her superhuman Hearing Ability, she listened intently, but aside from the breathing of the nearby wanderer warriors, nothing significant reached her ears.

She scanned the estate wall from end to end, leaped lightly to confirm the modest layout—one main building and one annex—then whispered again.

"I'll go over the wall with the men here. Could you keep watch, just in case? The target or any hidden accomplices might try to flee."

Cheon Yuhak asked, "Hmm. Wouldn't it be better if I went with you? How can I send you in alone when we don't know what's inside?"

"I'm good at getting myself out of tight spots anyway," Qing said. "Speed is crucial; watch out for any rats trying to escape. Besides, if things go south, we need someone out here to call for my Master."

"Ahem. I worry this might cause the Madam unnecessary concern."

Unlike the previous generation, the middle-aged Cheon Yuhak was unaware of Ximen Surin's colorful past and true nature. In fact, since the predecessor had kept completely silent to hide his own embarrassing history, Cheon Yuhak knew practically nothing about her.

"So, where is he? Main building? Annex?" Qing asked.

"Main building, reception room," Cheon Yuhak answered. "If it seems dangerous, get out immediately. Don't do anything foolish trying to show mercy to these insignificant wanderers."

This was how wanderers were treated in the Central Plains.

But even if they weren't wanderers, even if they were of noble status, Cheon Yuhak's words wouldn't have changed. Whether lowly or noble, wasn't ensuring his disciple's safety the priority?

"Alright, wanderers!" Qing announced. "Our target is in there. Main building, central reception room. I'll hit the front. Ma Sohyeop, you take the rear. Wang Sohyeop, the right..."

It was a simple four-directional pincer, hardly worthy of being called a strategy. But since the world fundamentally has only six directions, attacking from four sides leaves only sinking into the earth or soaring into the sky as escape routes.

And so, Qing and the wanderers vaulted the wall.

The estate, with only an annex the size of a warehouse, was abandoned, and the weed-choked courtyard wasn't large.

They crossed it in an instant, kicked open the reception room door—Bang!—and found an old man sitting inside as if he'd been waiting.

Despite the abrupt arrival of harsh guests in the dead of night, he showed no sign of surprise, suggesting he knew they were coming.

His eyes flashed sharply as he spoke.

"Hmph. In the dead of night—"

Crash! A group of wanderers burst through the rear wall. It was Ma Sohyeop's group, assigned to the rear.

The old man went 'Hmph,' maintaining a composed expression as if he hadn't started speaking, and his eyes flashed again.

"In the dead of night—"

Then, Crash! Cutting the old man off, wanderers smashed through the right wall, flooding in and lining up left and right, swords drawn.

The old man nonchalantly brushed off pieces of stone that had fallen onto his lap and spoke again.

"When a person is speaking—"

Crash! The remaining left wall gave way, and the wanderer-born martial artists gathered, forming a circle around the old man.

Qing thought, Seriously, their coordination sucks. Why couldn't they burst in all at once instead of crashing in staggered groups?

"..."

"..."

"..."

The old man waited silently, holding himself with a certain gravity as if expecting something more, before finally seeming convinced everyone had arrived and getting to the point.

"Ahem. Yes. I expected you insolent whelps might come looking after daring to plant that Tracking Scent."

"Huh?" Qing glanced between the old man and Cheon Yuhak.

"I thought it was a rather covert operation," Cheon Yuhak muttered.

"Ahem."

The old man let out a dry chuckle. "Aren't you wanderer scum all the same? Never doing anything properly. Gorging yourselves on Blood Vitality Pills and still couldn't win a children's sword fight, managing only two opponents."

"Blood Vitality Pills!" "The Blood Vitality Pills!" "Blood Vitality Pills!" About three of them shouted simultaneously.

Seeing the horrified expressions on many of the martial artists' faces, Qing wondered, Hmm, is that a really famous medicine? Famous in a bad way?

"Hey, old man," Qing called out, "aren't you a bit too relaxed? What realm have you reached to be so composed? Are you like, in the Profound Realm[^T/N In case anyone forgot. Third-Rate → Second-Rate → First-Rate → Peak → Transcendent → Unrestrained → Profound → Life/Death → Celestial → Natural] or something?"

"Keke, quite an amusing child. This old man is Gyeongdamgan. Yes, the one you Orthodox Faction types call the Reviled Mad Demon, correct?"

"The Reviled Mad Demon!" "A villain of the Blood Cult!"

Qing, however, couldn't join the shouting because a Mission Window notification was suddenly flashing insistently in the corner of her vision, demanding attention.

Right. It had been suspiciously quiet. Leaving it blinking was distracting, so Qing reluctantly brought up the Mission Window.

Crisis number something-something. Blood Cult blah blah blah, bottom line: Heavenly Slaughtering Star must kill them all. The end. She had long since realized the Mission Window was all noise and no substance.

Whatever. I'll do what I want. Qing dismissed the Mission Window.

"Hmm. Is he famous? Wu Sohyeop, do you know him?" Qing asked.

"He's a Demonic Adept of the Blood Cult..." Wu Sohyeop replied.

"Is that all?"

"They also say he commits acts of madness."

"Well, his moniker is 'Mad Demon,' so that figures."

The wanderers' knowledge was wide but shallow, gleaned from bits and pieces heard here and there. Reviled Mad Demon. Bad guy from the Blood Cult. Uses Demonic Arts. Has a very nasty and dirty personality. The end. In truth, just being from the Blood Cult already implied being a bad guy who used Demonic Arts and had a rotten personality, so their knowledge amounted to little more than having heard the name associated with the Blood Cult once.

Qing found herself missing Zhuge Ihyeon. He would have rattled off everything from the origin of the moniker and the martial arts used, to the cultivation realm, and even related anecdotes she hadn't asked for.

Faced with Gyeongdamgan's excessive composure and the mention of the Blood Cult, the wanderers were already tense, swallowing hard and breaking into cold sweats. But surely, with so many experts gathered, they could handle a single Demonic Adept?

This isn't good. Qing used her words to rally the atmosphere.

"Hey, old timer! Can't you read the room? Don't you see we have you surrounded? Are you looking down on us because we're wanderers? So relaxed even when swarmed by mere wanderers? What, do experts not bleed when stabbed?"

The interpretation was this: This bastard is looking down on wanderers. Even experts aren't invincible when stabbed, so stop being cowards.

At that, the wanderers' fighting spirit surged ominously once more.

Gyeongdamgan, however, merely let out another dry, unpleasant chuckle, completely unfazed. "Still, this old man can take more than half of you with me on my way out. What about it? Aren't you wanderers creatures who cherish your own lives above all? Hmm? What's this? Child. Why are you mixed in here so naturally?"

"Because I'm from a wanderer background too?" Qing replied.

"A Divine Maiden Sect disciple from a wanderer background? I see. Then you understand too, child. If you all attack together, you might win. But do you think it will come to that?"

Qing retorted without backing down. "Wanderers have their own loyalty!"

Fired up, their spirits soaring for the first time in a while, the wanderers responded in kind.

"That's right!"

"Wanderers have their own code of loyalty!"

Thick killing intent filled the wanderers' eyes. It wasn't just words; in that moment, their hearts truly burned with fervor.

"Loyalty, you say? Well then, how about this?" Gyeongdamgan snapped his fingers.

"Ugh!" "Keeeeuk...!" "Aaargh...!"

Instantly, the wanderers collapsed, writhing on the floor. All of them clutched their chests, letting out pained groans, their faces pale as choked gasps escaped their throats.

Only Qing and one other wanderer remained standing. Gyeongdamgan clicked his tongue in disapproval. "See? You shouldn't just swallow medicine from strangers without suspicion. What would you have done if it contained Gu Poison?"

"Gu Poison?" Qing asked.

"You don't even know what Gu Poison is? Since the child doesn't know, this old man must explain. Gu Poison is... hmm, yes. A parasite. It releases poison according to its master's command."

Qing internally swallowed a curse. Damn it, the Murim world has all sorts of weird crap. What the hell are remote-controlled parasites? How can something like that even exist? Does he control them with psychic waves or something?

She now realized the one unaffected wanderer was the man who had mentioned taking Jamlamdan before and had kept half a pill. Ah, so he planted the parasites in those other pills.

"So, child. Did you say wanderer's loyalty? Are you going to let them die like this?" Gyeongdamgan asked.

"Damn it, you dirty old man! Fine, let's fight. One-on-one. Deal?" Qing leveled her sword, but Gyeongdamgan shook his head.

"Hehe, just so you know, if this old man dies, all the Gu Poison parasites die too. The poison they carry will burst out all at once. What do you think will happen then?"

"What the— Fuck! How can you have such a convenient ability? Then what are we supposed to do?" Qing exclaimed.

"Either this old man changes his mind and takes them out, or you call a physician to cut open their bellies and remove them. Though the moment the belly is cut, they'll spew their poison."

"So, you're just going to dangle their lives over us?"

"Kekeke, it's this old man's favorite pastime. So, I'll give one to you too. If you swallow it obediently, I'll spare these useless wanderer scum. Well? Will you uphold your loyalty as you said? Or will you watch them die for it?"

Making his absurd wordplay, he opened his hand, revealing a whitish, bean-sized object resting on his palm. Qing focused and saw something seemingly squirming inside a translucent membrane.

But Qing had eaten plenty of bugs before. If anything, this is practically considerate, being packaged so nicely for consumption. Besides, Qing had never worried about repercussions from eating all sorts of insects.

It releases poison inside? Well then, isn't that just excellent protein? Qing now had confidence in her Blood-Toxin Body constitution. If it was harmful to her body, it was simply blocked entirely. In terms of convenience, Qing's body also possessed an utterly arbitrary, cheat-like ability.

"Haaah, I'll swallow it, so stop tormenting them. Quickly! They're going to suffocate at this rate."

Instantly, the groans ceased, replaced by the loud sounds of gasping, ragged breaths.

"Hoh. You'll swallow it?" Gyeongdamgan said. "Do you truly not understand what this means? The remainder of your life now rests entirely in this old man's hands."

"In exchange, remove the Gu Poison from these warriors. I'll… I'll take their place," Qing spoke tragically. Her voice was that of a world-class swindler.

"Young Lady, you mustn't!"

"Young Lady Ximen...!"

Anguished voices tried to dissuade Qing. But wait, aren't there fewer voices protesting than before? These lowlifes. Wanderers have their own loyalty, my ass. Still gotta save their own skin, is that it? Wanderer scum loyalty is just like that. Truthfully, Qing hadn't expected much anyway.

"I'm fine," Qing said. "If my sacrifice can ensure all of you are safe..."

"Why? Why go so far?" one wanderer asked.

"We're fellow wanderers, aren't we? Loyalty. Remember?"

Hearing this, the wanderers couldn't lift their heads, their faces filled with shame. Ashamed that while she spoke of loyalty, they couldn't bring themselves to say they'd rather die.

"Now. Release these men," Qing demanded.

"Keke, why should this old man?" Gyeongdamgan chuckled. "Are you, wench, worth that much? You want me to give up all these men just for one ugly woman hiding her face? That's hardly a fair trade—"

Gyeongdamgan's words stopped abruptly. Because when suddenly confronted with a self-illuminating beauty that brightened the room, one naturally becomes speechless.

"I really don't get why everyone makes such a fuss just because I cover my face," Qing said, having removed her covering. "There. Satisfied? One beauty is better than twenty swarthy men, right?"

At that, Gyeongdamgan burst into mad laughter. Mad laughter means laughing like a lunatic.

"Kuhuhuhuk! Truly a masterpiece! But what to do? I said I'd spare those scum if you swallowed it, not that I'd remove the poison from them."

"You petty—" Qing started.

"Still got a sharp tongue, I see," Gyeongdamgan interrupted. "The old man's offer stands. Swallow the Gu Poison, and I'll spare the lives of these wanderer scum. Otherwise, they die."

"Ah, damn it. Give it here."

With that, the Gu Poison bean-like object flew through the air. Qing snatched it immediately and swallowed it without hesitation.

Pitiful sighs spread from the wanderers.

However, Qing wasn't afraid of poison anyway. Still, one thing bothered her.

The poison is nullified, but what happens to this thing? Will it die or not? It needs to stay alive so I can pretend to be controlled and then bash his head in later.