Chapter 19: Set Course north-westward

"Madam, I regret to inform you that we've run out of time."

Yang Sowol was pale. A-Qing had never seen anyone so pale in her life.

Her hand trembled as it covered her mouth. Her legs were shaking so badly that she seemed to be using all her strength just to stand.

"I won't ask about any unpleasant matters. Please hand over the child now."

Yang Chaemu was polite and courteous. That's what made him so resolute.

A-Qing, flustered, pointed her finger and stepped forward.

"Wait, I've been listening, and this is ridiculous. How can you be so bold as to ask for a child? Is it your child? If you take her, will you at least feed her a meal and return her quietly? Every time I hear something..."

"Miss. Sigh."

Yang Chaemu rubbed his face. He looked as tired as if he hadn't slept in a week.

"It seems you've misunderstood something."

"Misunderstood? Oh, I misunderstood, alright. Fucking perverts,"

Just as A-Qing was about to launch into her specialty, a barrage of indiscriminate personal attacks, Yang Chaemu's next words stopped her in her tracks.

"We have already paid a sufficient price."

"...... What?"

A-Qing looked back at Yang Sowol. This was news to her.

"It was a thousand gold taels. We raised the amount by selling the family's fields."

"Oh...."

"And a while ago, we received a call from the trading house we deal with. They said all the gold had been transferred to the Golden Coin Trading House."

Large sums of money were managed using promissory notes. A thousand gold taels would be enough to fill ten carts.

So, they sent the gold to the trading house first and issued promissory notes in that amount.

In fact, promissory note transactions were advantageous to the issuer. If the other party didn't keep their promise, they could simply contact the trading house and stop the payment.

However, all the gold had been transferred to the Golden Coin Trading House. The Yang family had completely relinquished all ownership of the gold.

"But then you disappeared. So, we had no choice but to put a bounty on you. The bounty is five hundred gold taels. We raised this amount by mortgaging the family's business and manor. Now, we've staked the entire future of our family on this."

The total was fifteen hundred gold taels. This was the amount that the Shin Chang Yang family, a family with the power of a small province, had raised by putting all their effort into it.

"It's money we raised to bring the child back anyway. If a thousand gold taels weren't enough for you, Madam, I'll give you five hundred more. Isn't this enough to be the price of... another life to save one?"

The last words were directed at A-Qing.

Only then did A-Qing look at Yang Chaemu properly. She saw his high karma score. He wasn't some kind of human trash who would do terrible things to a child for fun.

He was the son of a dying man. A son trying to save his father.

"It may not be honorable to buy a life with money, but our family has shown all the sincerity we can."

The words she saw in the mission window came to mind.

Yang Sowol had sold her daughter. A-Qing felt dizzy. She had gotten involved for no reason and only seen dirty things.

"Well then."

When Yang Chaemu took a step closer, A-Qing instinctively grabbed Jin Jangmyeong's hand and pulled her back.

"Wait! Just a moment! Stop! I said stop!"

If it were a matter of one person dying and another living, like a heart transplant, A-Qing could have left with a heavy heart.

But she already knew the fact that Yang Chaemu was desperately trying not to mention. She remembered the terrible story Yang Sowol had told her.

Jin Jangmyeong wouldn't just die. She would be violated until all her Yin energy was taken.

Even after that, which was too horrible to even speak of, she would be subjected to repeated cycles of recovery and violation, her life miserably and cruelly prolonged as she slowly died.

A-Qing understood why Yang Sowol had told her that story. She had wanted A-Qing to protect her child.

Her scheme was so wicked that, even though A-Qing knew about it, she couldn't help but fall for it.

A-Qing looked at Yang Sowol.

"If... If we could somehow return the gold..."

"... My child, my child was sick."

"Ah."

Only then did A-Qing fully understand the situation. Yang Sowol had never intended to hand over her daughter.

She had committed fraud. Against a son desperate to save his father. To raise money to save her daughter.

No parent gives their child a name carelessly. It was the first gift parents gave their child, chosen with the best words and meanings.

Jangmyeong.

Live long.

What must it have been like for a parent to simply wish for their child to live long?

"Benefactor, I won't deny it. But, even if it's just a cowardly excuse, what would happen if we didn't accept the deal? Then what? We had no other choice."

"That's..."

At first, it would be a deal, and if they refused, next would come the sword. Not because Murim was heartless, but because the desire to save a loved one was heartless.

A-Qing didn't know what to do.

Then, Yang Chaemu's words were directed at someone else.

"Dao Master Seungsu, my father has dedicated his entire life to the peace and safety of Murim."

"... That's what my friend did."

"Please help us. I know it's something I shouldn't dare ask."

"You..."

"If this goes against the laws of nature!"

Yang Chaemu yelled.

"I will speak of the greater good! The Demonic Cannibal has the Hellfire Demonic Arts! The wicked Blood Cult has already taken over half of the East Sea! We can save thousands, tens of thousands of people suffering because of that child! Am I wrong?!"

"... Oh, Heavens."

Dao Master Seungsu squeezed his eyes shut.

"... Fairy. Hand over the child."

"Teacher?"

"Didn't you also see it? It takes a hundred people's blood essence to make one Jiangshi. We couldn't figure out where those lives were coming from. But now we know. The officials don't even bat an eye when foreign enemies are rampant, so even if the wicked disguise themselves like this, we can only watch and suffer."

Dao Master Seungsu tried to persuade A-Qing.

"Fairy, Murim has been in turmoil lately, and there's no place in the world without misfortune. Every piece of news that reaches the Murim Alliance is urgent, so everyone is looking out for themselves and has no hands to help others."

"Even if you say that to me..."

"The Yang family is a pillar of the righteous Murim, blocking the East Sea. When the old factions and the secluded sects can't help anyone, someone has to stop the Blood Cult's evil deeds, and I know who the most eager warrior is, who doesn't hesitate to shed blood for that cause."

Then, Yang Sowol knelt and prostrated herself on the ground. She pressed her knees, chest, and forehead to the ground, rubbing her hands together like a fly, begging in the most abject posture in the world.

"Expert Yang, please. I'll do whatever it takes to repay the gold, even if it means any humiliation, even if it takes my whole life. Please have pity on my child. Please..."

Dao Master Seungsu, the Dao Masters of Wudang, Yang Chaemu, and the warriors of the Shin Chang Yang family all looked at A-Qing.

What's with this atmosphere? Why are they looking at me?

Just decide among yourselves and let me know.

Am I the one who decides?

Do I have to decide?

If I decide, are you going to just say okay and move on?

A-Qing tightly squeezed Jin Jangmyeong's hand.

At that moment, she felt a wriggling sensation in her grasp.

"... I'll go."

For a moment, all breathing in the room stopped.

"It's my fault. All my fault. Dad's gone because of me. Mom, I knew… I knew everything, and I did nothing. Mom, please, forget someone like me. Find your peace, your happiness. If only I'd done this sooner… Dad would still be here. It's all me. Just me."

Jin Jangmyeong whimpered.

"Go somewhere beautiful, Mom… even if it's just to… to become ashes. Look at healthy children, Mom, children who aren't… broken like me. Please, Mom… live. Live happily."

"Myeong-ah!"

Yang Sowol crawled on the ground towards her daughter. The child cruelly pushed away her trembling hand that stretched out with difficulty.

"No! I hate it too! I hate it! I hate it! I'm sick and tired of living as a burden! I didn't want to be born like this either! Ugh, ugh..."

Finally, Jin Jangmyeong burst into tears.

All the crying in the world is ugly. Tears falling with a pretty expression were a lie that only existed in stories.

The child cried with a harsh voice, screaming and scratching her throat.

Yang Sowol was out of her mind, and the Dao Masters and warriors couldn't bear to look and lowered their heads.

And A-Qing made up her mind.

Once she made up her mind, there was no hesitation in her actions.

"Fucking hell! This is so ridiculous!"

Everyone's eyes were drawn to her.

"You're putting on a goddamn drama! Murim is shocked, the Emperor expresses his respect, the fucking Chi-na dra-ma has arrived! This is why fucking Chinese people are hopeless. The thing I hate most in the world is racism, and the second thing I hate most is Chinese people."

A-Qing lifted the child and tucked her under her arm.

"I don't need anything! I'm going to fuck this kid. I'm going to fuck her and make her reach Transcendent Realm, so if you have any complaints, don't say them now, just keep them to yourselves."

A-Qing looked around the group.

They all had stupid expressions on their faces.

It was so funny that A-Qing laughed like a madwoman.

Then, in an instant, she straightened her expression.

A-Qing kicked off the ground.

The astonishing anti-gravity leap of the Grandmaster level Yue Maiden Footwork unfolded.

And only her fading voice could be heard, gradually diminishing.

"This child is mine now! I can do whatever I want with her! I'm leaving! Goodbye, everyone! I'm leaving to find my happiness, free from shackles and restrictions! You guys be happy too!"