Chapter 15: Set Course North-westward

Holy shit, I almost died. Again!

There were actually a few times I nearly kicked the bucket.

I only survived thanks to Yang Sowol's help and the fact that I used Jin Zhangmyeong as a human shield.

But Jin Zhangmyeong wasn't attacked.

That meant the goal of all those evildoers gathered at the inn was this sassy little brat.

And to think she was almost kidnapped...

Who is she? Some kind of princess?

She doesn't really look like a princess...

Just then, Yang Sowol bowed deeply to A-Qing.

A-Qing was startled.

Even though she had aged gracefully, she was old enough to be her mother, which made it a hundred times more awkward.

"I am once again indebted to you, master."

"Oh, come on, it was nothing. Here, here, put it away. Ah, my arm!"

A-Qing screamed as she swung her arm in protest.

Blood was gushing from her arm.

I like other people's blood, but mine is precious. Am I selfish?

"Master, your wound...!"

"It's okay. I'll just put some saliva on it."

A-Qing didn't have to worry about infection.

It was a wound that would heal with just some medicine and rest.

It would take a while and be quite uncomfortable, though.

"But master, your arm...!"

"Oh my god, my patience is wearing thin..."

"Master?"

"It's okay. It's just an arm. I'm just glad the kid is safe."

I did it! A-Qing grinned like an idiot.

"More importantly, we need to treat this quickly."

Fortunately, Yang Sowol knew some basic medicine.

She also had a decent wound healing medicine.

Unfortunately, there was also a not-so-fortunate point.

There was no way to numb the pain.

In the end, she bit on a handkerchief instead of anesthesia.

So, while she was pulling out the flying dagger and stitching up the wound, A-Qing tasted the hell of the mortal world.

Deep wounds are turned inside out.

She kindly pushed it all back in and stitched it up with big stitches, repeating the process depending on the depth.

Afterwards, she stitched the outside with small stitches.

By the time she bandaged the wound with a clean cloth, A-Qing's eyes had turned red.

All the blood vessels had burst.

Of course, her loud crying also played a part.

Man or woman, it was just too painful.

Really.

After calming down, A-Qing, embarrassed, changed the subject.

"So, what were those guys?"

"Well..."

Yang Sowol hesitated, trailing off.

But after a moment, she had a determined look on her face.

"It's only right that I tell my benefactor."

"Oh, I wasn't that curious."

I asked without thinking, and now I feel awkward.

I meant it, but Yang Sowol didn't believe me.

"Thank you for your consideration. Actually, this child..."

She's making it sound so serious, so it must be a big secret!

A-Qing gulped.

"She's a child born with Pure Yin Blood."

What a shocking conclusion!

Yin Blood? I have no idea what that is!

Yang Sowol, with her years of experience, noticed the clueless look on her face.

"Master, Pure Yin Blood is..."

Yang Sowol was originally a martial artist, but after marrying her husband, she retired and settled down in distant Fujian.

Her husband was a kind man, and so on.

Basically, it was about how happy she was with her husband.

The peak of that happiness was when she became pregnant.

The child was weak.

Her hands and feet were always cold, she got sick easily, and once she fell asleep, she couldn't wake up easily.

Of course, that didn't hinder their happiness.

Then, when the child grew a little and she started teaching her basic self-defense skills, she realized that the child's constitution was strange.

It was a kind of meridian blockage.

A child born with blocked meridians rarely lives past thirty.

The startled couple spread the word and brought in doctors who were skilled in meridian blockage.

The result was the worst.

Innate Qi.

It refers to the basic Qi that people have.

The amount of Innate Qi varies slightly from person to person.

But it's all similar.

There are slight differences, but no major ones.

The nature of Qi also varied slightly from person to person.

It was commonly referred to as the Five Elements of Yin and Yang.

But that was also similar.

There are slight differences, but no major ones.

But very occasionally, really very occasionally, a child is born with this nature pushed to the extreme.

Yin and Yang each have two properties.

Yin Qi is cold and dark.

The cold Qi separated from this is called Pure Yin.

Only dark Qi is called Yin.

Yang Qi is bright and hot.

Similarly, brightness is Pure Yang, and hotness is Yang.

These are the six extreme children that are very occasionally born.

A boy born with Pure Yang, Extreme Yang, or Yang Qi.

A girl born with Yin, Extreme Yin, or Pure Yin Qi.

Of these, girls with Pure Yin Blood were the most precious.

The child was precisely that Yin Blood.

On the other hand, there was a wicked technique in the Jianghu called 'Plucking Yin to Nourish Yang.'

It was the act of stealing Yin Qi through sexual intercourse with a woman.

It was different from the Taoist's art of bedroom arts.

The bedroom arts benefited both men and women by sharing, circulating, and growing Qi.

Therefore, although the bedroom arts might be indecent, they were not evil. It was a kind of Taoist cultivation technique in the first place.

And among the six Yin and Yang, Pure Yin was too convenient.

When it met Yang Qi, it settled below, adding to its heat and brightness.

For a martial artist who practiced Yang-strong martial arts, there was no better elixir.

For a martial artist who practiced Yin-cold martial arts?

It was an excellent elixir that made Yin Qi even purer.

And the thoughts that martial artists had about elixirs.

Elixirs were worth risking one's life for.

If one didn't risk their life for an elixir, then what was the point of saving one's life?

Martial artists were a people who would not hesitate to die for an elixir.

If it became known that she was born with Pure Yin Blood, the child would not survive.

She would face the most miserable death in cruel pain.

They needed a background that could protect the child from threats too terrible to even mention, at least until she reached the first-rate realm, where no method could steal her Innate Qi.

Fortunately, there was such a sect in the martial world.

The Mount Hua Divine Maiden Sect.

However, the journey from the remote countryside of Fujian Province to Mount Hua in Hubei Province was too harsh for the child.

A journey across half the continent with a child who was already weak.

But after her husband died, Yang Sowol had no more time to hesitate.

So, the mother and daughter left home, hand in hand.

"Wait a minute. Then, all these crazy motherfuckers..."

It meant that all those bastards gathered to do this crazy shit just to fuck a middle school girl.

This is... martial arts?

Apart from that, the identity of the little girl was a bit shocking.

You... you're a middle school girl...?

A-Qing looked down at the little girl sleeping soundly on her thigh.

Unable to withstand the torture disguised as treatment, the little girl, who had been complaining of pain with a handkerchief stuffed in her mouth, her cries muffled and tears streaming down her face, suddenly kicked her thigh.

She was a truly wicked little girl.

"I... I apologize for saying this, but if you have any pity for the child, would it be too much to ask you to accompany us to Mount Hua?"

"Of course! Those horny bastards..."

The quest window that suddenly popped up shut A-Qing up.

It was a quest window in a format she had never seen before.

Quest windows were usually something like 'Sudden Quest' and then either kill the bad guy or do bad things together?

Or even further, kill the bad guy's friends too.

Kill everyone, regardless of whether they're good or bad.

It was always like this.

I should have read some quest guides if I knew it would be like this.

Character creation and early farming routes.

These were the only two pieces of information A-Qing saw before entering the game.

There was no time to look up other information.

The game's capacity wasn't that big in the first place.

The installation finished quickly, so she turned on the game right away.

What's a Sign? And what's the nth Crisis?

The second condition for achieving good deeds was the same.

Give the elixir to its rightful owner?

Besides, the choice of words was unpleasantly blunt.

There was only one way the quest treated Jin Zhangmyeong as a human.

Elixir?

Calling a child who's breathing just fine an elixir and whatnot.

Grit. A-Qing gritted her teeth.

What the hell is this?

What do you want me to do? What am I?

Am I in the game? Am I the main character? What is this world?

The child? Her mother? Are they people or programming?

Why me, why only me, why, how.

What's a Sign

Why did I meet the middle school girl?

If it's not a coincidence but we were meant to meet

If whatever choice I make leads to a predetermined ending

Then after this game is over-

Suddenly, something cold touched her wrist.

With faded, empty eyes, A-Qing moved her neck like a rusty machine, her movements jerky.

A small hand holding her wrist.

So cold it cleared her head.

"Cold..."

The child pulled on her wrist with her weak strength.

A-Qing's hand followed and touched the child's unusually cool cheek.

"Sighh."

A-Qing let out a deep sigh.

What a shitty feeling.

Having a breakdown just by looking at the status window is a disease.

Is this a mental illness? Am I mentally ill?

What a surprising fact.

But you'd understand if you were in my shoes.

A-Qing forced down the rising nausea.

The bitter gastric fluid that had momentarily climbed up her esophagus and reached the root of her tongue retreated, unable to come out.

As if to vent her frustration, it scratched her throat roughly.

"Master?"

"Ah. Yes. What were we talking about? Oh, right. Of course, I have to go with you. How could I say such a thing? Of course."

A-Qing replied.

Is there no settings window or something?

To turn off the quest window that keeps popping up.

That damn thing.

Instead of cursing, A-Qing looked down at the child's face.

A sleeping child naturally calms the mind and body.

Humans probably evolved that way.

To protect weak children? Maybe?

Quest or whatever, there was only one choice A-Qing could make.

The middle school girl is a baby. Babies need to be protected.

It was common sense for a cultured modern Korean.