Chapter 17: Set Course North-westward

Long ago, a Daoist with the surname Jang reached Ja Sobong Peak in Mount Taihua and built a Daoist temple. 

One day, Jang had a dream where he met a Sword Immortal and asked for his teachings. 

When he woke up from the dream and meditated for ten months, he had already reached the realm where the sword moved on its own. 

Jang then built a shrine and named it 'Wudang'. 

Thus, people called Mount Taihua by a different name.

They called it Mount Wudang because it was the home of the Wudang Sect. 

And here, there were people heading to the Wudang Sect. 

"Master, do you still need to be carried on my back?"

"Yes. This is enough."

"Then..."

"Oh dear, what a sorrow it is to be old. My only disciple is thinking of throwing me away for a single silver tael. Oh, Heavenly Venerable Lord."

"Master, what are you talking about? You are someone who will live forever. At least know that your disciple is always praying for that to happen."

"Yes. But what good would it be for me to live forever alone? I am also always praying for my disciple's path to immortality."

The Daoists following them laughed.

They said that being cursed makes you live longer.

"But Master, why are you hanging there?"

"I was tired of being carried on your back, so I decided to hang."

"The Jade Emperor is truly uncaring. How can he leave you, the living embodiment of a Daoist Immortal, here on earth? Why doesn't he call you back and take you with him?"

"If I were to become an immortal and only do trivial things in the celestial realm, would there be any reason to prepare?"

"I have a reason. Since the Daoist Immortals do not accept earthly connections, wouldn't their ranks be based on who arrives first?"

"Haha, please, that's my wish too."

The young man carrying the old man, Hwan-Yuk, gritted his teeth and sighed.

"My life is so hard! I heard that Daoist Chang-Bin in Mount Hua is taking such good care of his master that he's eating elixirs like meals and aiming for the Peak Master realm. But I haven't even learned the most basic techniques. They say fate is determined by your actions in past lives, but what did I do to deserve such miserable luck!"

"Oh, well said. I could also feed my disciple elixirs like meals if he were Chang-Bin. It's truly a shame."

"Master! Isn't that too much?"

Hwan-Yuk was offended.

The Wudang Sect's Taiji was so gentle in deflecting attacks, but compared to his master, Hwan-Yuk was still a novice.

They were Wudang Sect Daoists returning to Wudang. 

The Hyungsan Sect's Taesangjangro's birthday celebration was a month ago, and since they were out, they cultivated their Tao, enjoying the scenery of Dongjeong Lake. 

Daoist Seung-Su, the master, soothed his sulky disciple.

"Hey, are you upset? Even if I can't take care of my disciple as well as Jeong-Hu, I gave you something more valuable."

"You did, Master? I don't remember receiving anything, what marvel are you talking about?"

"You fool, what's so great about having a good reputation? Peak Master or whatever, they're all beneath you, so why be jealous even if they're good?"

"Now that I think about it, Master's words are like precious jade. Are you tired from hanging there? Would it be alright for this unworthy disciple to dare touch his heavenly master's buttocks, hmm?"

Hwan-Yuk's expression became serious.

"Did you hear that?"

The sound of someone screaming.

It was faint but terrible, a scream that made you feel awful just by hearing it.

The rat-faced man, now a gruesome sight, crawled on the ground.

Suddenly, a shadow fell over him, and he looked up to see A-Qing squatting down, looking down at him.

"S-save me..."

"Me? How? Do I look like a doctor?"

"Please save me, please..."

"That's not my specialty."

A scene suddenly came to mind.

A bunch of friends gathered in front of the flower bed.

Someone shouting to come quickly.

An earthworm was crawling on the cement floor.

And a magnifying glass in her friend's hand.

It was a day when they gathered sunlight, each shouting for their turn, wanting to try it too.

She didn't really remember the faces or names of any of her friends from that time.

But the desperate wriggling, the earthworm's body quickly cooking and swelling under the concentrated sunlight from a piece of glass the size of a child's palm, was vivid.

It was a childhood memory.

"That's right."

"Save me."

"Did the earthworm wriggle more?"

"Please save me, please..."

"But doesn't it hurt? It would be easier to just die, right? Why don't you just ask me to kill you?"

A-Qing tilted her head as if she didn't understand.

The rat-faced man looked up at A-Qing.

And he met her eyes.

In the depths of A-Qing's shadowed eyes, a strange light flickered.

At first glance, it was purple, but it was also red like blood, blue like veins, and a burning yellow like the sun.

It was all black, sometimes white, yet transparent.

It was truly a color that didn't exist anywhere else in the world.

When the Slaughtering Qi of the Heavenly Slaughtering Star seeps into the bone marrow, it illuminates the world with an ominous starlight.

"A monster! It's a monster!"

As he looked up abruptly, a young man with a sword charged straight at her.

A-Qing raised her sword to swing, but the young man dodged by stepping on the air and soaring upwards.

There was one of the unspoken rules of the Murim Jianghu.

After witnessing the marvelous footwork of the direct disciple of the Wudang Sect, one must express their admiration with awe.

A cultured martial artist would, in such moments, inevitably exclaim, "As expected of the Sky-Stepping Technique!"—a name synonymous with the pinnacle of Wudang footwork.

But A-Qing had no culture.

She was just caught off guard by the unexpected aerial maneuver and was busy defending against the attack.

He jumped seven times in the air, changing direction.

To the right, to the left, up and in all directions, finally flipping his body at some point in the air, he kicked off the invisible ceiling and charged down in an instant.

The tip of the sword loomed large like Mount Tai.

A-Qing gritted her teeth and swung her sword diagonally.

The Moonlight Sword, barely catching the tip of the enemy's sword, desperately twisted its trajectory.

The sword tip, which had been charging towards her eyes, passed by the right side of her vision.

The relief was short-lived as she saw the young man's empty left hand.

A fist rotating and clenching, starting from the pinky.

Oh no.

A-Qing poured her Qi into her heel.

Thud. A-Qing went flying and rolled on the ground.

As she stood up, her stomach churning, she vomited a bowlful of black blood from the surge of nausea.

Unfortunately, A-Qing's front was more protruding than others. The vomited blood poured entirely onto her clothes, making them wet.

"Hmm...?"

A-Qing blinked.

Why did she feel refreshed after getting hit?

In fact, both the Wudang Sect's Seven Star Qi and the Demon Subduing Fist originally had excellent exorcism and purification properties.

Two powerful purification Qis combined to create a synergy, resulting in a purification power three times stronger than A-Qing's.

Fortunately, A-Qing possessed the Yue Maiden Cultivation Technqiue.

This technqieue was also a Daoist martial art.

It was difficult for Daoists to use their Qi to harm each other.

Daoist Qis tended to avoid causing significant damage to each other, as if they were all on the same side.

However, the Yue Maiden Cultivation Technqiue, which had been fighting the Slaughtering Qi of the Heavenly Slaughtering Star alone, used the Wudang Sect's pure Qi to exert some strength.

The Slaughtering Qi of the Heavenly Slaughtering Star seeped out of her bone marrow and into her blood, and the tainted blood rotted and exited her body.

It was an unexpected opportunity.

But it was only a temporary postponement of the fate that would lead her to the Heavenly Slaughtering Star's tribulation.

It was a strangely refreshing feeling.

A-Qing, back to her usual self, shouted.

"How dare you attack me from the front!"

"What...?"

"No time for explanations! Today, in this place! The disgusting perverts will not survive! Die, pedophiles!"

It was A-Qing's usual nonsense when she gained the confidence of victory.

And for good reason, after being hit, it turned out to be nothing special.

She was just a little surprised by the three-dimensional maneuver she had never seen before, but it was enough to pin him down so he couldn't jump.

The Sky-Stepping Technique was a marvel of Murim, but the Yue Maiden Footwork was a forgotten legend and myth of Murim.

It was an anti-gravity footwork that surpassed even three-dimensional maneuvers.

As her figure, which seemed to be floating, suddenly appeared before him and charged, Hwan-Yuk was startled and clashed his sword against hers.

"Pervert! Child molester! Horny bastard!"

The sword technique, with its mix of reality and illusion, was threatening, but the constant stream of curses that filled his ears was even more terrifying.

"To a child who hasn't even grown up! And you still get a boner? You fucking heartless bastard! Even animals don't do it with their young! You're worse than an animal! You should apologize to animals for being compared to them! Cut off your dick! Cut off your dick!"

"W-wait, wait a minute...!"

It was then.

"Stop!"

At the urgent voice and the sound of rushing footsteps, A-Qing hurriedly created some distance.

Tsk, just how many bastards are there who want to do something to that little kid? Murim is in a good state.

I'll just finish them off with the Budda Palm and run away.

With that thought, A-Qing looked at the young man.

Suddenly, the number of karma she saw was 57.

What the hell, why is it so high?

Soon, Wudang Sect Daoists dressed in blue robes came rushing in. They all had good deeds, although to varying degrees.

There was even a new record among them. 183.

The old man with 183 karma said.

"Please calm down your anger for a moment. There seems to be some misunderstanding."

"Misunderstanding? Is it okay to hit someone if there's a misunderstanding? Don't you see this?"

A-Qing grabbed the front of her blood-soaked clothes and flapped them.

There were coughs here and there, and eyes wandered around as if there were interesting things happening in the distant mountains.

"Disciple, what is the meaning of this? Why is that Fairy yelling such shameful things at you?"

"Well, I clearly saw a demon, Slaughtering Qi..."

Daoist Seung-Su looked into A-Qing's eyes.

The Yue Maiden Heart Sutra Qi, which had completely suppressed the Slaughtering Qi of the Heavenly Slaughtering Star, was working hard for once.

He felt a mysterious energy from A-Qing's eyes.

It was sharp and cold for a Daoist, but it was definitely of the same origin.

Originally, the internal energy of Daoists and Buddhists was evident in their eyes.

"Haha, your eyes must be very, very bad. No matter how I look at it, that Daoist seems to be a friend."

"No, I clearly saw that woman emitting an ominous starlight and trying to kill that man."

At that, everyone's eyes turned to the rat-faced man.

He was a gruesome sight to behold.

Their eyes then turned to A-Qing.

A-Qing protested.

"That bastard is a bad guy! He's a pervert who tried to rape, no, attack a child!"

Their eyes went back to the rat-faced man.

"No, that's not... It was just kidnapping..."

"Look at this bastard? Kidnapping? Just kidnapping? Did you know what would happen to that kid? Huh?"

"That's..."

The rat-faced man couldn't speak.

A-Qing said triumphantly.

"See? Whether it's a pedophile or a guy who was going to offer her up."

Daoist Seung-Su stroked his beard and said.

"Huh, I've never seen such a beastly bastard in my life."